Chapter 18 - Scares
In February, a month after her Ralts had hatched, the tentative peace between Hermione and Ronald was shattered.
"Granger! Look at what your monster cat did!" Ronald screamed at Hermione as he shook his bedsheets in her face. Leaning back from him, Hermione actually took a look at the cloth. "Your demon cat ate Scabbers! He's had it out for Scabbers since the beginning! Look!" There was what appeared to be blood and fur on the sheet.
"Seriously!? Crookshanks is less than half the size of Scabbers," Hermione rolled her eyes. "It isn't physically possible for him to have eaten your Raticate. At least, not in the time between now and whenever you last had him." Hermione informed Ronald. He growled at her like their house's symbol would at someone intruding on its territory, before stomping away.
From then on, Ronald made snide comments to Hermione whenever they crossed paths, resulting in Hermione doing her level best to avoid Ronald. Unfortunately, this caused her to miss seeing Harry except when he joined her in the library to study, which wasn't as often as she would like.
Three days after Scabbers was supposedly eaten by Crookshanks, Hermione awoke to chaos. Hermione found out from her gossipy roommates that Sirius Black had apparently broken into not just the school, but the common room and more specifically, the third year boys dorm room. Later, at breakfast, Hermione quizzed Neville, who slept in that room, about how he was and what happened. Ronald had woken up to see Sirius Black hovering above him with a knife. He had screamed, alerting others to Black's presence and causing the escapee to flee into the night. Neville reported that he was fine and had only woken up when Ronald had screamed.
To tighten security, a couple of Goletts were found and posted about the corridor near the entrance to the common room.
The rest of term passed almost completely uneventfully. For Luna's birthday, Hermione made sure to give Luna a Soothe Bell she had asked her parents to pick up and send her. Hermione continued to study and hang out with her friends. Hermione witnessed a few Pokemon evolve, both those of her friends and others.
