Disclaimer- I do not own anything related to the Harry Potter series.
Chapter 5- Changes Are Not All Bad
After that odd incident in Dumbledore's office, I decided to go to the one place any trueRavenclaw could find solace, the library. When I got to Hogwarts, the library's extensive collection surprised me, nonetheless, I was in heaven. Since then, I visited the library quite regularly, and once again the library was where I ended up.
I went to my regular table that was always secluded, to find that it was not. Sitting there were the famous Harry Potter, his rather rude best friend Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger, who had a startlingly high IQ. However, I barely noticed this fact, for my nose was buried in an enthralling tale of a vampire. I would have ended up sitting on Hermione Granger had I not noticed at the last moment that the seat was occupied.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I usually sit in this chair and it's become routine, I guess. Well uh, I'll just leave then." I said awkwardly. It wasn't everyday that I came close to sitting in a genius's lap.
"No, It's alright, I'm sorry that we took your table, Erimentha. Why don't you sit with us instead?" Hermione Granger said smiling.
I was so shocked that Hermione Granger knew my name that I made a face, which Hermione must have taken as my rejection of her invitation.
"Oh, well you don't have to..." she said.
"Oh, no! I would love to! I'm sorry, I just..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say, so instead I plopped down into the chair.
Looking across the table I saw the amused faces of Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter. It seemed as if I was seeing a lot of Harry today.
"What are you reading?" he asked politely.
"Oh, some silly story about a vampire." I said, trying not to say anything embarrassing, I was not going to give them a bad first impression, or perhaps I already did with my fight.
Ron, however, was staring at me. It was rather unnerving. He saw me looking at him and smiled. "You know, you have a great right hook, and that look on Snape's face was priceless!" he said laughing. I blushed in reply and decided to look down at my book until that particular part of my life was conveniently wiped from their minds.
Hermione glared at Ron, "Ron! I'm sure Erimentha doesn't want to hear about that now, when she' s obviously trying to relax, right Erimentha?" Hermione was my savior, she asked me sit down, and now she was helping me evade uncomfortable questions, this was really too much for me to process.
"Uh, sure" was my smooth reply.
I returned to my reading as Hermione and Ron were bickering.
"Don't worry they do this often," Harry said seeing me look up at them.
I smiled in return.
"You're too quiet." Harry remarked looking at me oddly.
"How long did it take you to figure that out?" I asked sarcastically, and then stared at him in horror. First the fight, now this, could anything get worse? Then, I realized Harry was laughing and I smiled in relief.
Suddenly, Hermione was staring at me quite oddly. I simply smiled at her and tried to return to my reading but she interrupted, "Have you started any of your homework yet?"
"No, I was going to do it later."
"What! It's 6 in the evening, Erimentha! You'll never get it done! Do it now!"
"Um, sure," I replied slowly, waiting to see if she was joking. Her look didn't change, so I decided to take out my book and parchment to please her and stop further chastising.
Harry and Ron were laughing.
Hermione scowled at them. "This is our last year at Hogwarts. Our academic work is crucial to sucess in our future career. It's exactly that type of attitude that will stop you two from becoming Aurors!"
Harry and Ron shot each other exasperated looks, as if they had heard this speech many times before.
Ron smiled at me, "Don't worry, by the end of the week, you'll be ready to hit her over the head."
"You've had seven years to do it didn't you?" I asked Ron.
"Ah, well if I hit Hermione over the head, my grade point average would sharply fall. If that happens, well my mum would kill me. So hitting Hermione over the head would be suicide."
"That's fascinating logic." I said laughing, however Hermione was not so amused.
"You've wanted to hit me over the head, did you Ron?"
"No, of course not!" Ron said, "It's just a figure of speech!"
Harry jumped in saving the day yet again, "So you three are coming to the Quidditch match next week, against Ravenclaw, right?"
Hermione and Ron nodded, and suddenly it hit me, he said three. I looked up to see him waiting expectantly. "Of course!" I said a little overenthusiastically. They stared at me oddly. That seemed to be happening often today.
I smiled sheepishly and tried to return to my reading, however a huge yawn overcame me.
"Well, I think I should go sleep, but thanks for letting me sit with you." I said. We said our good-byes and I walked back to the Ravenclaw dormitory grinning. For what was perhaps one of the first times in my life, someone decided to befriend me. Not many people ever wanted to talk to me, let alone be friends. This was a wonderful end to a horrible day.
I'm incredibly sorry that I haven't updated in months. For the summer, I was stuck in a remote region of India with absolutely no internet access. When I came back home I was just too busy to update. Today, I suddenly remembered my story and felt bad, so I decided to update. Once again, I'm terribly sorry.
Also, considering HBP, I understand that Dumbledore died, however Dumbledor is clearly alive in my story, and I understand that Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't plan to return to school for a seventh year. Let's just consider my stroy AU, unless I can think up a clever plot twist, however that is beyond my thinking capacities, so I highly doubt it. So far now, AU I guess.