Sea of Constellations
Rose_Quartz_Cloud
3. Drift
The anxiety must have been getting to her as the past two weeks of time had been heart wrenching…she watched as Harry and Ron grew more distant to her with their dislike for Malfoy who had made it his purpose as of late to bother her.
The boys couldn't get beyond their prejudice towards Slytherins and Hermione was growing more tired of the pettiness that she began accepting their cold shoulder than trying to convince them that she wasn't actually friends with their arch nemesis.
They even stopped asking her advice on looking up different types of magical stones and without any information, she was at a loss on how to help them now.
The only thing was that she did think it would be foolish for both of them to go alone into the safeguarded chamber that Hagrid's dog was sleeping on top of. She even felt terrible for considering the option but if she couldn't stay close and join in their adventures this time around, she wasn't able to wait around to hear that they had gotten themselves killed… so she did the sensible thing and approached Professor Snape.
The first time around, the professor probably despised her for being an annoying know it all who was best friends with the 'famous' Harry Potter… this time with her being more quiet, and not apart of the what used to the golden trio Hermione was just another student but there were few Ravenclaw students that the professor did respect and she was one.
"Good evening Professor Snape" Hermione greeted him politely.
"What can I do for you, Ms. Granger?" Snape replied curtly.
"...I wanted to let you know that Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley may be onto Professor Dumbledore's' secret trap door and that perhaps it should be safeguarded in another way…" Hermione revealed awkwardly.
Snape lifted his eyes from marking student's reports and paused, before waving his hand and his classroom door closed with a loud click.
" … tell me how do you know about that?" he asked icily.
She realized that she sounded suspicious and would have to tread very carefully.
"They told me about it after they accidentally found themselves in the corridor… and I just thought whatever was being kept a secret by the headmaster, maybe wouldn't be as well. The two of them are quite adventurous…." she attempted to paint the picture so that they would figure out the mystery eventually…
Snape assessed her quietly before saying.
"Thank you for your honesty and concern for them… but I would advise you to not join them in this adventure." he told her coolly.
Hermione nodded before excusing herself.
That didn't go as well as she hoped but she did hope that Snape saw that there was some real concern in the matter of Harry Potter and his rule breaking ways…
The next week was busy as everyone was sitting their finals before winter break and the holiday season.
Hermione shut herself in the library preparing all of her last assignments and reviewing her notes for the finals which she was sure she would ace but was concerned in what she should do with the holiday as in her old first year, the duo had spent their first Christmas together at the castle, where as she had gone home.
She wondered if there was a point in staying as she was sure the boys weren't going to talk to her any time soon if they suspected her of getting them in trouble with the teachers with all of their recent snooping into the philosopher's stone…
She was beating herself up over messing up such a delicate balance and now she was considered lost in time… nothing that happened this past week was the same and it was though she was really living an alternate version of herself.
Finals flew by and the Christmas break started. Hermione had decided to stay at the castle and see if there was any way she could repair her broken friendship with Harry and Ron, she owed everyone that much in messing with time.
She spoke with Lavender that morning, seeing if she knew where they were and she had revealed that they had gone home… in which Hermione seethed. What a waste.
She would extend an olive branch in the new year but in the meantime to realign herself, she decided to catch up on some recreational reading and checked out some books from the library on the topic of advanced charms…
Not wanting to be disturbed she collected a blanket and picnic supplies before going outside and finding a nice empty courtyard before casting warming charms and sat down to enjoy the morning fresh air.
It was around chapter 8 when someone finally disturbed her and Hermione spotted the green and silver scarf but instead of Malfoy, she saw a wavy brunette haired boy with some of the most tawny brown eyes she had ever seen, and who she didn't recognize.
"Isn't that a bit difficult to understand?" the boy asked.
"What do you even know?" Hermione bit back impatiently.
Instead of being offended by her offhanded nature, he laughed.
"Oh, well I come from a long line of semi-famous wizards, Nott, Theodore and you?" He introduced himself finally.
"...Granger…Hermione" she replied back stiffly.
"Ah, a muggle-born Ravenclaw. The smart one I heard?" he asked.
Hermione could only roll her eyes at the sarcasm rolling off this particular Slytherin. She couldn't remember much about Nott, besides his friendship with Malfoy and the fact that she never spoke to him until now. What really caught his fancy? besides her obvious intelligence and that she was in Ravenclaw.
"Ah, sorry I can see you beginning to tire of my nonsense when I only intended to ask you if I could join you." he revealed his true purpose.
Hermione raised an eyebrow in surprise, what was with all these Slytherin's wanting to be her friend? Was it cool to have a Ravenclaw friend? Were they trying to improve their own grades through her? Other reasons that she couldn't come up with?
She nodded to him and he sat across from her pulling a book from his satchel and shivering at the temperature. Realizing that he may not know the warning charm she used, she cast it again over him and resumed her reading.
They had a nice chat about potions that interested her, and though she wouldn't call them friends, Hermione decided Nott was okay.
Most of the other girls had gone home for the break, except Mandy. Like many of the others' Hermione never had a close relationship with this girl as well and it was an experience getting to know her better. She was quiet and withdrawn but her interests were baking outside of school. Which then didn't surprise Hermione when she found out that Mandy was friends with several of the Hufflepuff students in their year and was invited down to the kitchens for a prompt evening Christmas baking session.
They met up with Ernie, Hannah and Anthony and two house elves who were there to supervise but they were quite interested in Mandy's recipes from home.
Hannah whispered to Hermione from the sidelines as Mandy instructed the others to create working stations. If they split up the tasks equally then they could make the cookies a lot faster and be able to make more in the time they had.
"It's a compliment to your skill if the school's elves are interested in learning your recipe and technique"
"She must be talented," Hermione whispered back with a small smile.
As more time went on, Hermione discovered that Hogwarts was truly filled with talented and interesting individuals that she never noticed before. Now that she wasn't wrapped in Harry's weird destiny of having to protect the world and the darkest wizard ever known. She could take part in more of a school life than she ever remembered. Mph, the sorting hat must have known that in order to help those she loved. She needed to live a different perspective and she was slowly beginning to appreciate the hats' wisdom.
"Hermione, try this frosting, you'll be amazed!" called Hannah waving her over.
Break flew by and the Hogwarts Express arrived on a Sunday afternoon with everyone who had gone home.
Hermione waited for the boys in the first outside courtyard, she was sure they would pass through, if their goal was to either head to the Gryffindor dorms or go to the great hall.
Before they appeared, Pansy and Daphne dropped in to greet her, gushing about their holidays with their families and though he didn't stop, Malfoy caught eyes with her before giving her a friendly wave, as he passed by beside Nott and Blaise. Hermione decided to accept this parallel existence and offered a friendly wave back before she told the two girls that she was waiting for Harry and Ron and asked them to carry on as well. They knew about how uppity they could be about the house rivalries…
Daphne agreed and went on, and Pansy followed before telling her.
"I don't want to interfere in who you spend time with Hermione but don't let those two twats ruin your other friendships you've made with other housemates, Ravenclaw or not…" she warned before running after Daphne.
Hermione felt a pang of hurt with those words. The whole reason she was here was because of those two… when she wasn't even sure where she had come from if they all would have died because of Harry's stubbornness.
Pansy did have a point… it had only been 4 months and she had made three times the amount of friends than when she was a Gryffindor and well she knew she had many people who didn't like her but she always figured that they were just jealous of her pretentious personality because she thought she was important with how successful and smart she was, but now she was beginning to see that her snootiness and being best friends with her two boys, really dissuaded a lot of people from actually trying to get to know her because she wasn't worth their efforts with how she used to be… and that was sad.
Worst yet… She knew… Harry truly hated being famous, he didn't ask to be a child of prophecy and make a mortal enemy of a dark wizard who was now bent on killing him so he wouldn't be defeated… yes he was stubborn and got into trouble lots because he wanted to make sure no one got hurt on his account and if he could end the nightmare that was waiting for Voldemort to come back, he would do anything for a 'normal' school experience but each year, something always found him and each year it got worse…
Ron… meant well, generally caring for Harry as well but out of the three of them, he was very prone to feeling jealous of being left out and if Harry got attention for something glorious…. As he was the youngest male Weasley, always behind his older brother's accomplishments.
Hermione did find it interesting how the dynamic between the two of them shifted without her holding them together… as she then witnessed Harry arriving on his own without Ron…?
She waved at him, hoping he would walk over but instead, he gave her a disgruntled look and carried on ignoring her…
Frowning now, she waited to see Ron who appeared last out of the returning group and he was with Neville and Seamus, who were all looking chummy and laughing at something as they walked by her. Neville was the only one to acknowledge her as they walked into the school.
This was the final straw… Everything was officially different… and now she wondered if there was a point in staying in the past or if she should return to the present and face whatever dark future laid in front of her and who remained.
A/N: 🐍 girls got Hermione's back, and well after rereading the first book in the series, Hermione is seriously the glue to the golden trio
