Hermione, to Harry and Ron's surprise, took Alexis's sudden boyfriend rather well. She and Alexis had apparently already talked about Jack and his acts towards Alexis at the quidditch tryouts, and Hermione seemed genuinely excited when she heard the news. The girl found the fact that Jack had given her flowers 'simply adorable' and they two giggled madly as they ran upstairs to put them in a vase.
Over the next three days things were quite uneventful. If Alexis's romantic life became more interesting, she didn't show it. Jack Sloper had become slightly terrified of her. Though they sat next to each other at meals and Jack had introduced Alexis to a few of his friends, the new couple barely ever talked. Alexis waved to Jack in the halls, but he just turned pink and grinned back. Then all his friends would laugh and tease him when they thought the others had passed.
To her three closest friends, Alexis seemed happy to just have a boyfriend, even if the relationship wasn't a very serious one. As she said, she hadn't really cared for Jack very much in the first place. When Ron and Harry asked Hermione for details, the girl just answered that Alexis said that she'd get to know Jack soon enough, and they'd become closer, but Hermione always added a 'hopefully' when she said this, as if she didn't quite think that the couple were trying hard enough to really 'get to know one another.' Apparently she frequently urged Alexis to talk to Jack, but the girl always rolled her eyes and said that she had other things to do.
During the midst of all this, Alexis, Harry, and Hermione all were told to write a very long and boring essay about what improperly sliced boomslang skin could do to the Polyjuice Potion. Hagrid had added to their load of homework by assigning a report, ending their unit on Giants, in which he said that he would not check spelling, grammar, or sentence structure, obviously because he was not capable of finding these errors. Ron took the criteria overboard when he was writing his essay, and wrote so large and horribly that Hermione confiscated it with a large amount of scolding on the side.
Ron spent the whole of Wednesday night rewriting his essay under Hermione's careful instruction. She forced him to copy it over twice more because he left ink spots on the parchment, and would not approve until he had written one and a half feet without a single grammar or spelling error. Hermione and Ron did not get to bed until much after Alexis and Harry, staying up past midnight so that Ron could finish his essay.
Harry woke early that Thursday, the morning of Hermione's birthday. Surprised, he heard Ron's voice, as well as Alexis's, coming from outside the velvet curtains that surrounded his four-poster bed.
"Ron, that's a bit overdoing it." Alexis's voice traveled through the drapes. "I don't even think that she likes horses."
"What do you mean?" Ron sounded confused. "All muggles like horses, right? They ride them, don't they?"
"Hermione told me that she's scared of horses."
"What the-" Harry groaned and rolled over in his bed, sitting up and pulling back his drapes.
"Wow, we thought you'd never get up." Alexis was sitting on Harry's nightstand, holding the miniature horntail dragon that Harry had received in 4th year. It was playfully snapping at her fingers. Ron was on the floor, holding the package containing Hermione's present. He looked like he'd been up for hours, probably having spent a small enough time sleeping to make Madame Pomfrey's hair stand on end.
"How long have you been up?" Harry asked as he took his glasses from Alexis, who had passed them to him from their usual place on the nightstand next to her.
"I just came up here about two minutes ago." Alexis swung her legs back and forth, socked toes sweeping the floor. "Ron's been up for-" she stopped and glanced at the redhead.
"Three hours," Ron finished for her. "I went down to the library already: I brought up a few books."
"I can see that." Harry looked around the floor, which was barely visible beneath a dozen or so spell books that had appeared overnight.
"He's trying to transfigure some wrapping paper for Hermione." Alexis sighed. "But Hermione's been terrified of horses since she was five years old and she fell off one of the ponies at the zoo. Ron hasn't made them look too kind either." Alexis gestured at Hermione's present, and Harry noticed for the first time that it had been covered in green paper, decorated with magical, moving pictures of horses.
"It doesn't look too-" but Harry stopped in mid sentence when one of the horses seemed to gallop up very close to him on the paper, so that all he could see was it's face. It gave a fierce growl (not very horse-like) and snapped at him with a click of its teeth, making Harry jump. Then it gave all three of them a menacing glare and galloped off across the green field pictured on the paper, trampling the miniature figure of a screaming rodeo rider that had just entered the pasture carrying a saddle.
"Oh." Harry stared at the paper, which now portrayed a rather large palomino throwing off its rider into a patch of brambles. In the background, an ambulance crew was tending to the trampled rodeo rider.
"I'm sorry, Ron, but... That's just... really awful." Alexis took the present from its holder and stared at its surface, a slightly horrified look on her face.
"I think she'd probably like it more if we wrapped it in normal parchment." Harry grinned apologetically and pulled several rolls out of his trunk.
"I guess." Ron sighed and took the gift back from Alexis and in one swipe, ripped the pictures off the box's surface, crumpling his three hours of work into a ball.
…………………………
Ten minutes later Ron and Harry were sitting on the couch in the common room, Ron clutching Hermione's newly wrapped present in his lap. Alexis had gone to retrieve Hermione from the girl's dormitory.
Ron was grinning sleepily at the box in front of him as Harry glanced at the clock. They only had half an hour until breakfast was over and the Great Hall doors were closed. He wished that Alexis could hurry up and persuade Hermione to get out of bed.
Just as theses thoughts passed through his head, Harry spotted Hermione and Alexis coming down the dormitory stairs. Alexis was covering Hermione's eyes from behind and the girl was blindly letting her fingers trail along the walls, so that she would understand where she was going.
Harry kicked Ron in the shins and he gave a yelp, his grin leaving his face.
"Wha-" But Harry silenced him when he pointed to the staircase, where Hermione and Alexis had just reached the flat ground of the common room. Ron's grin returned.
"Why are you doing this?" Hermione's hands were trying to pull away Alexis's fingers so that she could see. Both girls were giggling madly.
"Just a little bit more." Alexis said, maneuvering Hermione to a space about twenty feet from Ron and Harry, who had gotten to their feet.
Alexis then moved one hand from Hermione's face, shifting the other so that it covered both eyes. With her free hand she signaled counting.
"One-" she mouthed. "Two. Three!"
"Surprise!" Ron, Harry and Alexis shouted, just as Alexis removed her hand from Hermione's face. Ron posed, pointing at Hermione's gift, which lay on the couch behind the two boys.
"Oh, you didn't have to; you know I didn't expect anything." Hermione's face shone with pleasure as she hugged Alexis, and then moved on to Harry.
"Thanks Harry." She held him tight. "This really means a lot to me." Then she let go and hugged Ron, who had moved closer and was waiting for his turn.
"And you, Ron." Hermione tried to pull away but Ron wouldn't let her, oblivious that she was trying to get away.
"Happy Birthday Hermione," Ron said into the girl's hair, his face pure bliss. "The big seventeen-"
"Thanks Ron." Hermione tried to pull away once more, but Ron held tight.
"Umm..." Hermione didn't seem to know what to do with her arms.
"I think that's enough now." Alexis gave a large, fake grin and crossed her arms. "You want her to live 'til she's eighteen, now don't you Ron?"
"Oh… yeah..." Ron released Hermione and she took several steps backward, looking slightly confused, but happy.
Harry covered up the moment by grabbing Hermione's present off the couch.
"Here." He grinned and pushed it at her. "Open it."
Hermione smiled. She looked near tears herself, though they were of laughter and happiness.
"You know that you didn't have to." She said, taking a seat on the couch with the present in her lap. The box was a little over five feet in length, and Hermione seemed surprised by the size, though she did not mention it. Harry and Alexis sat on one side of the girl, Harry next to Hermione, while Ron settled himself on the other.
"It's from all of us," Harry said as she pulled off the ribbon and began to take off the tape.
"Oh no!" Hermione looked saddened.
"What?" The other three said in unison.
"Look!" Hermione showed them a miniscule rip in Harry's parchment wrapping paper. "I was going to put it aside, so that we could reuse it." She sighed.
"Well," Ron patted Hermione on the shoulder sarcastically, grinning at her dismay. "There's no use doing that anymore, is there?" With those words he ripped the parchment from Hermione's present in cat-like fashion, leaving it in shreds. The paper fell away to reveal a beautifully decorated cardboard box, the words "Nimbus Broomstick Equipment" framed in gold swirls along the center of the top cover.
"Oh wow-" Hermione's breath was taken away when she saw the broomstick box, and all the others could do was grin as her hands swept the surface, tracing each golden letter with her fingers.
"I don't know what to say-" Hermione looked around at the others with large eyes.
"Just open it." Ron was almost bouncing up and down in his seat, anticipation building up as Hermione fingered the box.
It had been Harry's idea to buy Hermione a broom, since had asked him to take her for another flying lesson after the first. Harry had been very impressed when she asked him to take her flying the same day that she had almost died. Even though that flying lesson hadn't been as successful as he'd hoped, the fact that Hermione asked to go again made Harry feel like she really did want to become better at the sport.
Harry watched as Hermione pulled off the cover of the box, and stared at the sparkling Nimbus 750. Though not the latest model, it was what Harry, Ron and Alexis had decided would suit Hermione best, also deciding that she would probably not accept a top of the line broom. It was also far beyond their reach to purchase her a Firebolt, for they had nowhere near enough money to do that.
"It's beautiful." Hermione was really crying now. She took the broom from the velvet lining that surrounded it inside the box, touching every part of varnished wood that she could get to. After several seconds of silence she jumped up and hugged everyone, coming to Harry last and burying her face in his shoulder.
"It was your idea, wasn't it?" She whispered into his ear.
"I liked the way you wanted to fly again.. after the accident," was all Harry said. He smiled and buried his face in her hair, breathing in deeply. Her wavy brown locks smelled faintly of some sort of tropical mango. Harry smiled. It felt good to hug her.
"Thanks." Hermione mouthed as she pulled away. After this the four of them stood grinning at each other for several moments, not knowing what to say. Hermione stared at her new broom for a few more moments, then burst with 'thank you's again, smiling like she'd never had a birthday before.
"Let's go down to breakfast and grab something to eat before the elves clean up all the food, now shall we?" Ron said after the girl finished her third round of hugs and finally placed her present on the coffee table. He took Hermione by the arm, steering her towards the portrait hole. "We can leave the broomstick here, no one would have the guts to take it." At this Hermione laughed, grabbed Harry by the arm, and then all four of them formed a chain, Alexis on one end and Harry on the other, joking merrily all the way down to the Great Hall.
………………………………
"How do you manage to get it perfect every single time?" Ron said during their last class of the day, Transfiguration, jabbing viciously at the pot of daisies that he was supposed to be turning into a cat. "All that these little," Ron paused to reconsider his words, "weeds" he continued, "are doing for me is turning brown!"
Hermione smiled to herself and pointed her wand at a sleek, Siamese cat that she had just brought to life. With a light popping sound, the animal vanished and was replaced with its origin, a miniature, ten-inch, cherry tree in a pot.
"It's very simple. You aren't pointing right." Hermione picked up her 'victim' and returned to the front of the room, where Professor McGonnagal had placed a large assortment of houseplants for the 6th years to transform.
"Well, that doesn't help us very much," Harry complained, twirling his wand as he stared at the marigold blossoms that stood in front of him.
"She means you need to do this, look." Alexis drew a circle in mid air with her wand tip and then spoke "morphia la flora!" With a pop, her pot of basil transformed itself into- something quite similar to its original form, except- furry.
"Oops."
"Well that sure helps," Ron grumbled, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Alexis opened and shut her mouth several times, trying to think of a reply. Eventually she gave up and placed her wand back on the table.
"Well, at least- at least she did something to it," Harry sighed.
"You need to imagine what you want your animal to look like," Hermione instructed, having returned to their table with a pot of lavender. "Think of the animal."
"Yes. I know." Alexis rested her head on her fist. "God; this is dumb."
"It's very advanced magic. This is what Cedric Diggory had to do during the first task in fourth year. It's actually pretty-"
"Hermione-" Harry cut her off. He sighed as she looked as him with her browns knitted. "Just- just let it be."
"Well- I just.." she fingered the leaves of Harry's plant. "Never mind."
"Look! I got it to work!" Alexis, Harry and Hermione all turned to Ron, who had issued the exclamation. "Look! It's actually moving!"
"What the-?" Harry pushed his chair closer to Hermione's, away from Ron's, a disgusted look on his face. Alexis followed suite, so that she was as far away from Ron's 'animal' as she could manage.
"What were you trying to make?" Hermione looked disgusted.
"Can't you tell?"
"Um... No."
"It's a fish!" Ron poked at the squirming gold thing that had sprouted from his pot. "But it looks more like that Minister of Magic candidate.."
"Oh... that's obscene." Hermione put her head in her arms.
"Odd..." Ron jabbed at the 'fish' once more with his wand. "It's got little blue things all around..."
"There's an election?" Harry looked utterly confused.
"Yes, actually it's supposed to be a major turning point for England! Since I'm old enough to vote, come March, I'll be going to Hogsmeade to cast my ballot. I'm so happy that-"
"Whatever." Alexis cut off a scowling Hermione and then continued to transfigure her houseplant as Ron awed his 'fish.'
The foursome spent the rest of the day at classes, eating, studying and finally, giving Hermione's new broom a try. They eventually got a small game started, dividing up into teams.
"How about we do boys versus girls. It would be fun that way." Harry grinned. Hermione did as well, though Alexis looked unsure.
"But-" Ron glanced at Hermione and then back to Harry. "But what about-"
"Yes, let's," Hermione cut him off and flew towards Alexis. "That's brilliant Harry." Alexis weakly returned the smile that Hermione shot at her. As if reading her mind, Harry realized she was possibly disappointed about being Hermione's partner, since the girl was a beginner. Still, Harry felt that if he had let Ron ask Hermione then Ron's team would probably have lost, and then Ron would have gone and made a horrible fool out of himself in front of his crush.
Harry was knocked out of his analysis when Ron sighed and directed his broomstick towards Harry. The girls huddled in the distance to discuss their moves.
"Why'd you do that?" He knitted his eyebrows at Harry. "You know that- well, I guess I would have lost if Hermione and I were together, wouldn't I? But you know that I-" Ron ran his had through his already windswept hair. He continued in a hushed whisper. "Well, you know I fancy her."
Harry pretended to be interested in a scratch along the varnish of his Firebolt. "Well," he said, his mind working fast for an excuse, "this way Hermione will be impressed, if we cream them, that is, but if Alexis creams us.. Well, then she'll have an opportunity to... I dunno, flirt and tease you while you complement her on her new and improved skills." He let his breath out slowly and looked into Ron's eyes, hoping that his friend would believe him. The older boy waited a few seconds before answering, considering Harry's proposal.
"Yeah, mate," said redhead, grinning after his moment of thought. "You've actually got some brains in that head of yours."
Harry smiled in relief. Ron clapped him on the shoulder.
"Well, let's get this game going, what do you say Potter? We're going to put on the best show these girls have ever seen!"
Alexis and Hermione ended up winning the quidditch game, though only very narrowly. Hermione's horrible keeping talents were a perfect match for Harry's terrible aim, so the boy only managed to score eight goals out of the sixty or so times he took aim. Ron however, was able to prevent most of Alexis's expertly thought out shots, though there were about ten or so that he failed to stop before the quaffle rocketed through the scoring hoops.
Harry once again, marveled at Alexis's extraordinary firing power, and commented on it when they had made their way back to the castle. She smiled her thanks and then focused her attention back on Ron, and trying to explain something from Charms, then getting confused herself and giving up, letting Hermione finish the conversation that she had started.
"We still need to do that Muggle Defense Essay," Harry said to Alexis as they trailed behind the other two. "The one where we say what we already know about the whole 'karate' thing. It's due tomorrow."
The girl grinned. "I've already finished it."
"You've finished it! When?" Harry was surprised. He and Ron had left it to the last minute. He had guessed that Alexis would too.
"Well, it's my best subject I guess, isn't it? I did it in Divination, which I have on Tuesdays and Thursdays while you and the others-" she gestured at Ron and Hermione walking in front of them, "take Care of Magical Creatures. It's just over four feet."
Harry gaped at her.
''I know. But I was really bored out of my mind, and I have been taking it, well, was taking it for the past three years." She laughed and Hermione turned around, walking backwards so that she could face them.
"What?" Ron pivoted on one foot and began walking backwards as well.
"Apparently Harry hasn't done his Defense essay yet, even though it's due tomorrow." Alexis grinned broadly but Hermione looked slightly unpleased.
"Harry! You should have finished that ages ago! Mine's been done for a week."
Harry smiled sheepishly at this.
Ron stuck his hands in his pockets, looking guilty. "I haven't started mine either," he admitted shame-facedly causing Hermione's frown to deepen. "We can do it tonight, can't we Harry?"
"We have Astronomy tonight, you gits!" Hermione said, still frowning. "You're going to be rushed and it won't be anywhere near your best effort. You won't be able to write half the amount of what a good essay should be!"
The boys looked slightly ashamed, but Harry broke the silence in due time.
"I don't know much about Karate, and that's what the essay's supposed to tell him, right? What we already know. So I don't have to write just over four feet like Alexis did!" Harry grinned mockingly at Hermione.
"But that's the whole point!" The girl exclaimed. "I had Alexis tell me all kinds of stuff, and I researched it too!"
Harry stared at her. Ron did as well. Alexis smiled to herself.
"Can I ask why?" The redhead scratched behind his ear, stumbling on a rock, still strolling backwards.
"Because-" Hermione gave an exasperated sigh, "this essay is something that Professor Ronin will judge us on for the rest of the year. If I pretend that I know stuff, well, then... he might consider me one of his better students from the start."
Harry and Ron gaped at her, while Alexis slung her broomstick over her shoulder and tried to hold back a laugh, looking in the direction or the forbidden forest.
"Alexis!" Hermione grinned, trying to still look appalled, but failing.
"What? I can't help it can I?" Alexis laughed. "I'm good at something! I got to help you with something!" She twirled around, almost hitting Harry in the face with the end of her broom. "I'm really, really, actually good at something!"
The three others grinned to themselves as they strolled up the front steps. Alexis took the staircase two at a time and held the door open for her friends, gesturing them through with a flourishing grin and bow that reminded Harry of Lockhart.
"You know what?" Ron said as they entered the building. "I'm not going to take help from you, Alexis. Professor Ronin told us the Japanese Samurai principles were loyalty, something else, something else, and honesty. He's going to know that you cheated, Hermione!"
"I didn't cheat!" Hermione looked aghast. "I just- I just used my own resources!"
"Yeah. And in this case, that's what he'd consider cheating. You should redo the essay."
Hermione looked slightly hurt.
"I'm joking!" Ron exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "Ha ha. You were supposed to laugh."
"Right." Hermione smiled weakly and they turned back to Alexis, who was now skipping around them in circles; "I'm talented! Wohooo!"
A/N: hey IaMjO, what did you mean in your review when you said 'Harry is just…just there'?
Hermione might have seemed a bit evil in the beginning, but think about it, how would you feel if someone came along and your two best friends, one of them being the guy you liked (Ron at that point), decided that the new person was just as, if not MORE interesting, than you were. Would you welcome that person immediately? And made sure that they could take your friends even more? Especially if within twelve hours of meeting your friends, they asked you if they (your friends) were available?