Chapter 9
Breakfast had passed by rather quietly, with hints of tension just plain pangs of being uncomfortable. Hermione was still in a state of depression due to the behavior of Meredith Banes. Ron and Harry tried to cheer their comrade up, by telling jokes all throughout the meal, complimenting Hermione, and even going to the point of talking about how 'interesting' their upcoming assignments were for their classes. But Hermione did not seem interested. She continued to look into her glass of Pumpkin juice intently, her hand idly controlling a silver spoon in her hand that was pushing around what remained of her bran cereal. Luckily Meredith was nowhere to be seen within the Great Hall, Harry and Ron feared that the sight of the older girl would send Hermione into deeper upset.
After the meal, Katherine Evans, appearing quite cheery for early in the morning, approached the three. The older student was juggling some texts while she spoke. "Oy, Hermione, you think that you're up for Patrol this evening?" Katherine paused, staring a moment before saying "Hey are you alright?"
Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but then shook her head, her bushy brown hair shaking with each denying swing of her head.
Ron stepped in speaking in an annoyed tone, "Yeh there IS something wrong! That girl Mary. Meri.Missy.Magda. WHATEVER her name was! She was extremely mean to Hermione this morning! It was uncalled for!"
Harry gave a nod adding in quietly, "She was just saying thanks for the other day. There was no reason for her to be so rude to Hermione."
Hermione turned to the two, her eyes looking pained and ready to burst into tears at any moment, "Really, it's nothing. I don't mind."
Katherine looked at the younger girl, who was trying to avoid her superior's eyes. Frowning, Katherine placed her fingers under Hermione's chin, forcing her to look up. Katherine looked into the younger girl's brown eyes, which were brimming with tears that she hadn't been able to hold back.
"Listen, please don't be upset. It wasn't personal, not at all." Katherine started, she released Hermione and continued, "Meri. well. she just gets like that." As she finished, a light frown briefly appeared on her face and her eyes gave away the appearance of a troubled look.
Hermione was quickly wiping at her eyes, trying to get rid of the tears that had run down her cheeks. "It's fine. really." She sniffled and then rubbed at her eyes defiantly once more.
Katherine smiled, her previous look of trouble disappearing instantly, "You are a lot stronger than you let on then Hermione." The younger girl looked up, a faint smile coming to her face. Katherine gave a grin and said enthusiastically, clapping the girl on the back, "All right, now that's a better look!" She paused, and then continued on with her purpose of approaching Hermione in the first place. "Anyways, now that you're feeling better, can I count you in for the Patrol? It wouldn't be for too long and afterward you'd switch shifts with Fenton."
Hermione nodded, "Sure, just let me know what times and I'll be there."
Katherine grinned again, "Great, alright well I'll be seeing you guys later. I'm late at the moment, gotta run to Transfiguration! Honestly don't want McGonogal mad at me, today we've got a test!" The Prefect waved as she turned and jogged off, her black cloak swishing.
"The Patrol?" Harry asked as soon as the older girl ran off.
"Yes, Prefects have the duty of going on nightly corridor patrols, seeing if anyone is out of bed and the likes of that." Hermione explained.
"Oh. Sort of like what Filch does?" Harry asked.
"How could you even think of volunteering for that?! You ruin the fun of potential Marauder remakes!" Ron complained.
"It's one of the duties, I can't exactly say 'NO, I don't want to patrol tonight because my two dimwit friends wish to creep around the hallways and cause mischief.' That would be like saying that I do such things!" Hermione said; looking as if having a little mischief was a horrible hell bound idea.
"Oh come on Hermione, you can't tell me that the thought of sneaking around after hours isn't tempting." Ron asked.
"Actually it isn't, since I can already do that.no sneaking required." Hermione said giving a smile.
Ron rolled his eyes, and Harry piped up, "Maybe we could get the Invisibility cloak and meet you, this way you'd have company on your patrol shift." He absently adjusted his glasses that had slipped down the brim of his nose.
Hermione thought about it a moment, finally saying "Well. alright, technically it won't be wrong since I won't be 'seeing' you." Hermione in her years at Hogwarts had slowly begun to become less uptight about rules and such, but she still was a stickler for the rules at times. Today was a rare moment, and Harry and Ron rejoiced at that.
So, the three agreed that once Hermione learned of her shift times, that she would let Harry and Ron know. This way, the boys could sneak out and keep her company on the nightly shift.
Breakfast had passed by rather quietly, with hints of tension just plain pangs of being uncomfortable. Hermione was still in a state of depression due to the behavior of Meredith Banes. Ron and Harry tried to cheer their comrade up, by telling jokes all throughout the meal, complimenting Hermione, and even going to the point of talking about how 'interesting' their upcoming assignments were for their classes. But Hermione did not seem interested. She continued to look into her glass of Pumpkin juice intently, her hand idly controlling a silver spoon in her hand that was pushing around what remained of her bran cereal. Luckily Meredith was nowhere to be seen within the Great Hall, Harry and Ron feared that the sight of the older girl would send Hermione into deeper upset.
After the meal, Katherine Evans, appearing quite cheery for early in the morning, approached the three. The older student was juggling some texts while she spoke. "Oy, Hermione, you think that you're up for Patrol this evening?" Katherine paused, staring a moment before saying "Hey are you alright?"
Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but then shook her head, her bushy brown hair shaking with each denying swing of her head.
Ron stepped in speaking in an annoyed tone, "Yeh there IS something wrong! That girl Mary. Meri.Missy.Magda. WHATEVER her name was! She was extremely mean to Hermione this morning! It was uncalled for!"
Harry gave a nod adding in quietly, "She was just saying thanks for the other day. There was no reason for her to be so rude to Hermione."
Hermione turned to the two, her eyes looking pained and ready to burst into tears at any moment, "Really, it's nothing. I don't mind."
Katherine looked at the younger girl, who was trying to avoid her superior's eyes. Frowning, Katherine placed her fingers under Hermione's chin, forcing her to look up. Katherine looked into the younger girl's brown eyes, which were brimming with tears that she hadn't been able to hold back.
"Listen, please don't be upset. It wasn't personal, not at all." Katherine started, she released Hermione and continued, "Meri. well. she just gets like that." As she finished, a light frown briefly appeared on her face and her eyes gave away the appearance of a troubled look.
Hermione was quickly wiping at her eyes, trying to get rid of the tears that had run down her cheeks. "It's fine. really." She sniffled and then rubbed at her eyes defiantly once more.
Katherine smiled, her previous look of trouble disappearing instantly, "You are a lot stronger than you let on then Hermione." The younger girl looked up, a faint smile coming to her face. Katherine gave a grin and said enthusiastically, clapping the girl on the back, "All right, now that's a better look!" She paused, and then continued on with her purpose of approaching Hermione in the first place. "Anyways, now that you're feeling better, can I count you in for the Patrol? It wouldn't be for too long and afterward you'd switch shifts with Fenton."
Hermione nodded, "Sure, just let me know what times and I'll be there."
Katherine grinned again, "Great, alright well I'll be seeing you guys later. I'm late at the moment, gotta run to Transfiguration! Honestly don't want McGonogal mad at me, today we've got a test!" The Prefect waved as she turned and jogged off, her black cloak swishing.
"The Patrol?" Harry asked as soon as the older girl ran off.
"Yes, Prefects have the duty of going on nightly corridor patrols, seeing if anyone is out of bed and the likes of that." Hermione explained.
"Oh. Sort of like what Filch does?" Harry asked.
"How could you even think of volunteering for that?! You ruin the fun of potential Marauder remakes!" Ron complained.
"It's one of the duties, I can't exactly say 'NO, I don't want to patrol tonight because my two dimwit friends wish to creep around the hallways and cause mischief.' That would be like saying that I do such things!" Hermione said; looking as if having a little mischief was a horrible hell bound idea.
"Oh come on Hermione, you can't tell me that the thought of sneaking around after hours isn't tempting." Ron asked.
"Actually it isn't, since I can already do that.no sneaking required." Hermione said giving a smile.
Ron rolled his eyes, and Harry piped up, "Maybe we could get the Invisibility cloak and meet you, this way you'd have company on your patrol shift." He absently adjusted his glasses that had slipped down the brim of his nose.
Hermione thought about it a moment, finally saying "Well. alright, technically it won't be wrong since I won't be 'seeing' you." Hermione in her years at Hogwarts had slowly begun to become less uptight about rules and such, but she still was a stickler for the rules at times. Today was a rare moment, and Harry and Ron rejoiced at that.
So, the three agreed that once Hermione learned of her shift times, that she would let Harry and Ron know. This way, the boys could sneak out and keep her company on the nightly shift.