Hermione went straight out to the snow-covered quidditch pitch from the owlery. She knocked promptly on the Gryffindor locker room door. It was Ginny who opened, surprised to see her.
"Oh! Hey Mione,"
Hermione barely processed Ginny's greeting, and peered around her, "Hi Ginny, where's Harry?"
"Well, we're about to start practising right now, so he's probably getting ready with everyone else,"
"May I come in? I'd like to talk to him about something," Hermione was trying her best to not just walk past her friend and grab the boy herself.
"Sorry no, it's just that-"
She gave the girl a pleading smile, "Could you please bring him over? It's urgent."
Ginny looked sceptically at Hermione but nodded and closed the door. She was back with Harry in tow a moment later, dressed all in his quidditch attire but for one unlaced shoe.
"Thanks, Gin! Harry, come here a moment," Hermione said as she pulled the confused boy out of the room and closed the door.
"Where's your potions book? The one from this year that's all old and used."
"First, I'm not giving you my book. Second, what's going on?"
"I have an idea about how to find this prince person who made all those notes, but I need the textbook"
Harry perked up a bit at this, and pressed his lips together in thought for a moment, "Okay, but I'll go with you. Just let me go get my things and tell Ginny to take over. I assume we're heading to the library?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Yes, the library,"
They were standing in the School Records section not long after, and Hermione was stacking books upon books in Harry's arms, who looked about ready to topple over.
"Okay, that seems like enough for now,"
"Thank Merlin!" came Harry's strained voice, as they walked back out to a nearby table.
The section they had searched contained all of Howarts' records about past attendees and staff. Basic information such as names, dates, and house/occupation were included, but Hermione was also hopeful about a possible handwriting match, as most of this information had been filled out manually by the individuals themselves. The wizarding world had yet to assimilate muggle tools like computers or other processing systems and had only recently begun accepting typewriters. This information was all kept in a locked aisle behind the front desk and was impossible for anyone to take out of the library. It was also usually only available to the professors and certain staff. However, students with Madam Pince's express permission could also get access. Hermione had obtained this by promising to help keep the shelves and floors organized for the rest of the year.
Under the sharp eye of Madam Pince who was only a few meters away at her desk, she and Harry separated the staff records from the student records and set Harry's potions books in between the two of them. Harry took the professors' stack and Hermione the students'. They went through each person line by line, looking for any princes or Royalty in general, or any possible handwriting match.
Hermione decided to start with the most recent students and work backwards. After looking through a variety of interesting writing samples and signatures she started to feel a bit embarrassed about her own rather simple writing style. While flipping through the pages she immediately noticed the familiar styles of Harry, Ron, Ginny, and her other friends. Even Draco's sharp yet graceful letters were now easily recognizable after the weeks they'd spent working together.
After some time, they found a few distant relatives of nobles. All of whom Hermione noted down on a piece of parchment, and several possible handwriting matches.
"Harry, look at this one! Dorine Almassy was a half-blood and a third cousin of the Hungarian royal family. She was in Ravenclaw from 1927 through 1934. Her having the book at that time could easily explain its age,"
Harry frowned doubtfully at the page, "Their handwriting hardly looks the same, Hermione. Besides, I think the Prince is a man."
"Oh? How do you know that?"
"Well I don't know for sure, I just have a strong feeling about it,"
Hermione shook her head at him, and wrote down the name anyway, planning to check out this Ms Almassy later.
"Oh, there you two are!" came a loud voice from behind them. It was immediately followed by an aggressive "Shhuuushh!".
Hermione looked around to see Ron, nodding sheepishly at Madam Pince as he walked over to them.
He continued in a whisper to Harry, "I should've guessed you were in the library since you went off with Hermione,"
"Where else did you check?" Harry asked him with a bewildered look.
"I asked Ginny first, but she said she didn't know where you'd gone, then I looked in the common room, the great hall, checked with Hagrid, then professor McGonagall- actually, I only asked her because she caught me running in the halls and said I better had a good explanation for it. I also ran into Dean and Seamus, but they hadn't seen either of you since breakfast. I even considered going to the greenhouses, but I didn't want to walk through the snow again, so I finally came up here"
"That's ridiculous Ronald," Hermione said, as Harry laughed into his sleeve.
Ron punched Harry's shoulder, continuing, "Did you two forget we're going to Hogsmeade today? People are already starting to head there,"
"Oh, right!" Harry said, beginning to gather up the books on his side of the table.
Hermione was disappointed about giving up the search so soon but didn't argue. She and Harry began gathering the books while Ron slouched in his chair waiting. It took them a few minutes to put everything away, but soon they had passed through the large library doors, and down the steps that eventually led to the courtyard.
Hermione wrapped her scarf around her neck and face. She then pulled on mittens in preparation for a long icy walk to the local wizarding town.
Hogsmeade looked almost barren when they arrived. Save a few people shuffling quickly between shops, no one and nothing was outside. She had expected more activity the day before Halloween. Usually, shop doors would be open letting warm light spill out, and the street would be bustling. But the unusually freezing weather and fear of you-know-who's return had probably made everyone more cautious.
That was when Ron piped up, "Oh, this reminds me! Ginny said we're responsible for getting candy for the party tomorrow,"
"Why us?" Harry asked.
"I think they were worried if Dean and Seamus got the job, they might get some of Zonko's joke candies or that Seamus would accidentally make the Exploding Bon Bons extra explodable,"
"That's fair."
Hermione nodded at that, thinking about how during one herbology class recently Seamus had somehow managed to set fire to his fluxweed while watering it.
It was already well into the afternoon, so the trio headed straight into Honeydukes, hoping the shelves hadn't already been cleared out so they would be able to pick up enough for the party.
Despite the desolate appearance of Hogsmeade's streets, the inside of the small shop was packed. There were easily fifty people crowded about, looking through aisles and testing out as many samples as they were allowed. Hermione had to push through the mass, leading Harry and Ron around to where their usual candies were located. It wasn't until they were right up against the wall that they found the skeletal sweets, no-melt ice cream, and sugar quills.
"The Cauldron Cakes must be over here," said Ron as he shuffled a few meters down past another group.
As Harry picked through what was left of the nearby stock, the two heard a familiar jolly voice.
"Harry! We just keep running into each other."
They turned to see the top half of Professor Slughorn, who was red-faced and making his way towards them.
"Now," he said once he was in front of them, "I understand you were not able to make it to my last little celebration, but there have been quite a few now and I'm more than a little disappointed that you've missed them all," he turned to Hermione, "And Miss Granger, I understand your predicament, of course, what with all of your work as a prefect patrolling the school. But I am hoping you both would be willing to meet with me and the rest of my club tonight?"
Hermione looked over at Harry, wondering how he was going to be able to explain that he has to see Dumbledore again today.
With an obvious look of discomfort, Harry said, "I'm sorry professor, but I actually have another meeting with the headmaster later tonight."
Slughorn smiled and patted Harry on the shoulder, "Dumbledore must think a great deal of your talents to invest so much time into private classes. I do not wish to disrupt that, but I expect to see you joining our festivities sometime this year."
Thinking it might lift some pressure off of Harry, Hermione said, "I'm free tonight professor, and I would love to attend."
"Ah! Wonderful news. I shall make sure you have a place at the table. Now, I leave you, children, to your shopping. And Mr Potter, I have no problem talking to Dumbledore for you if these lessons continue to take up so much of your time!" Slughorn said with a chuckle and clapped his hands together in finality. Then, after another look at Harry, he spun his head about, appraising the best way to make his way to the exit, and trailed down another aisle of candies.
Hermione turned to Harry, who glanced back, lips still pressed together in an awkward kind of smile.
"I think we've got enough here. Let's go catch up with Ron," she said.
