1Chapter 10: Scratching of Quills

Squall felt a bout of nervousness tumbling around in his stomach. Why? Sure, Hermione was cute, but he'd only known her a few days. Why was he so shy around her?

"Good afternoon, Miss Granger," an old woman greeted Hermione from behind the desk. "And... oh? Is this one of our visitors?"

"Yes," replied Hermione. "Madame Pince, this is Squall Leonhart. Squall, Madame Pince."

"Hello," said Squall. He hated having to be introduced to everyone.

"This is Squall's first time in the library," Hermione continued.

"Yes, I know," said Madame Pince. "There is no eating, drinking, talking loudly, or going into the Restricted section."

"Okay," Squall said, knowing all that had been coming. After all, aren't those the rules in every school library?

Hermione settled with him at a table in the corner. "I always sit here," she said. "I like being by the window."

"Yeah, I guess it's nice," Squall replied.

"So, what did you want to come here for? I always come to finish my papers early."

"I just wanted... to read up a little on Hogwarts. It's hard to study it when everybody keeps asking you all the questions."

Hermione laughed a little. She had a very pretty smile. "I know what you mean. Well... the everyone always asking you questions part. 'Hermione, can you help me with this', 'Hermione, what did Professor Sinistra say about Pegasus?', 'Hermione, I didn't pay attention at all. Can you please write this essay for me?'. I mostly get it from Ron and Harry."

Squall smiled a little. What am I doing? I'm Squall. I'm strong and unemotional. I keep everyone on task. So why am I sitting here with this girl listening to her talk about her problems?

Because you like her, a little voice in his head suddenly said.

What are you talking about? I don't do that. I don't get crushes on people, especially ones I just met. And certainly not ones from other dimensions.

We can't help the people we fall for, the voice said. Squall realized that was something Selphie had said to him once. It was that night after she had performed that concert in Fisherman's Horizon. Squall was lamenting over Rinoa and wandering around Garden's main hall when Selphie came out of the elevator, a huge grin across her face. "Hello, Squally!" she said, wrapping her arms around him. He had stood there stiffly. "Did you enjoy the concert?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Selphie."

"Any time, Squally, any time!"

Squall gave her a Look.

"Oh, stop being such a sour puss! The world is so wonderful, Squall. It's full of such wonderful people. You know, Squall, we can't help the people we fall for. It just happens," she smiled, and then bounced off towards the dormitories. When Irvine came out of the elevator shortly after, Squall was pretty sure he knew what she was so happy about.

Back in the library, Hermione sat across from Squall, looking into his face. "Squall? Squall? Are you alright?"

Squall snapped out of his memory. "What?"

"You were staring off into space. I... was a little worried."

"Oh."

There was a moment of awkward silence. "Well, here's a book I used when I first came to Hogwarts," Hermione broke the silence, pulling out of her pile a thick yet small leather-bound book. Hogwarts, A History was its title. She placed it in front of him. "It tells you everything. It's updated every ten years. Next year they'll come out with the new edition, and McGonagall said everything that's happened over the past seven years will be in it, including mentions of me."

Hermione looked proud of herself once more. "You've done a lot while you've been here, huh?" Squall replied, remembering only tiny snippets of all she had said on Friday. While he was worrying about Rinoa...

She nodded. "I hate bragging, but I've seen a lot of the most important events that have taken place since I've learned about the wizarding world. Not that they've all been good..."

She got the same look in her eyes Harry had when he wanted to transfigure someone who died in the past. "Nah, its okay," Squall said, wanting to keep her from getting sad. "Selphie's probably told you all about our situation back home."

"With defeating the Sorceress? Yes, she did. At least everyone where you come from was happy. Poor Harry... the Daily Prophet can't keep their filthy hands off him. It's okay now, but it was bad a few years back."

Squall wondered what the Daily Prophet was. "Well, it's not like our peace will last. Ultimecia came from the future, so we know that evil Sorceresses will come to power again," he replied. Hermione gave him an inquisitive look.

"You should still be proud of everything you've done. Especially making it here... I bet it's as big an accomplishment in your world as it would be in ours."

"Yeah, it is," Squall said, but he couldn't help thinking of the almost greedy look in Cid's eyes the morning they left.

Squall opened up a page in Hogwarts, A History. He leafed through it a little as Hermione took out a roll of parchment and her Potions book. Over the next half hour or so to the scratching of Hermione's quill, Squall read all about the beginnings of Hogwarts, about how there were four witches and wizards a thousand years ago who founded it. He didn't get far, though, when the bell rang signaling the end of lunch hour. "Here's your book," Squall said to Hermione, handing it to her.

"Oh, you can keep for a little while. I've read it already," she replied, packing all her stuff back up. Squall's eyes widened. It was really thick.

"Oh. Thanks. I'll make sure to get it back to you soon."

"Keep it as long as you need it," she smiled at him. "Thank you for the company. You're coming to Herbology next, too, right?"

Squall nodded. "Do we all have the same schedules?"

"They're really similar, but there are some differences. For example, tomorrow morning you have Muggle Studies while I have Ancient Runes. I tried Muggle Studies and found it wasn't that useful for me," she explained as they left the library, still unaware of the looks they were getting. Squall had the sudden urge to reach out and grab Hermione's free hand. Of course he didn't. Hermione gave him a sideways glance.

They walked without conversation to the greenhouses. Squall didn't know the way, so he had to keep watching which way Hermione was going. The castle was such a maze to him.

"I bet you wish you'd come with us on the tour the other day, huh?" she asked with a smile. Squall didn't answer. He was actually happy he'd gotten to sleep that afternoon. He enjoyed taking naps.

Hermione said nothing, either. Squall wondered if he were turning her off. What did it matter if he was?

Because you want her to like you, that voice said again.

Shut up, thought Squall. I don't care.

They finally walked into the greenhouse, and Squall gave a little wave to Hermione as he left her side and approached the professor's desk, where Zell was already with Rinoa and Selphie, who's eyes were still red and her face puffy. "Good afternoon," the squat woman behind the desk answered with a warm smile. "One more is coming, right?"

"He should be," Zell answered. "Have you seen Irvine around, Squall?"

"He went back to the Common Room during lunch," Squall said, wishing he didn't have to say anything but the professor was watching him for his answer. After a few more minutes of silence between them, the bell rang. The professor sighed.

"I guess I'll just have to explain to Kinneas later. I am Professor Sprout, the herbology teacher, and this is the greenhouse I teach my seventh years in. In here, you will learn how to tend to the various herbs and plants useful for potions in the wizarding world. You'll also learn which ones are dangerous and which ones are safe to eat and put in meals. The students who take this class are usually bound to work for either St. Mungo's or the Ministry. I'm sure you've been told about both?"

Selphie nodded. "St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and the Ministry of Magic?"

"Right. Now, today's lesson is pretty easy. All we're doing is making sketches of the-"

But Professor Sprout didn't finish her sentence, as just then a yellow cowboy sauntered into the greenhouse.

"You must be Irvine!" Sprout said warmly, actually standing up away from her desk. Selphie didn't turn to look. Irvine gave Squall a wink and his famous grin before turning on the teacher-charm.

"Yup, that's me," Irvine replied, tipping his hat. "Irvine Kinneas."

For some reason, Professor Sprout seemed quite enlightened to have Irvine in her presence. Squall suspected it was his typical ability to charm females. She quickly explained to Irvine what was going on (Squall failed to catch exactly what they were to sketch), and then got the class settled into the assignment.

"So, did I miss anything during lunch?" Irvine asked Squall as they began sketching a strange plant that supposedly helped reverse some kind of hex. Squall tried to think of a way to be diplomatic about the whole situation with Selphie.

"I went to the library," answered Squall. There. After all, Selphie and Rinoa had no idea Squall had seen Selphie crying. They hadn't even asked where he'd been the whole time.

Irvine laughed. "Interesting. What did the girls do? Or did they come with?"

"I don't know. They stayed in the Great Hall."

"Hmm. Interesting," Irvine smiled. What's with him and that word? Squall thought. Irvine turned his attention to Selphie and Rinoa, who were across the table with their own plant.

"Anything happen today while I was gone?" he asked them. Rinoa looked up and gave him a look of loathing. Selphie continued sketching as though no one had spoken to her. Irvine stopped grinning and went back to his own sketching. Squall took this time to peek at Hermione's table that she shared with Ron, Harry, and Neville. She hangs out with a lot of guys, Squall contemplated. But she doesn't seem to be interested in any of them. He took this as a good sign. He noticed Harry and Ron were leaning over her sketch and copying it on to their's. Hermione acted as though this were completely normal, and her and Neville were talking about something or other.

The rest of Herbology was spent in relative silence, excepting the random, "Can I move this a little?" or "You're in my light!", and Squall wasn't sad when the bell rang. As Selphie and Rinoa stomped away together and Irvine looked as if he wanted to be alone after Herbology though, Squall saw he was going to have to find his way back to Gryffindor Tower by himself, which made him less then pleased. He handed in their sketches and headed out of the greenhouse, feeling, although he would've hated if anybody knew it, depressed that he didn't have anybody to walk with at the moment.