A/N: Here's chapter 4! The art that comes with it is still on the way for the Wattpad and AO3 version since my accessibility to digital equipment is very limited as of now while I switch between friends' houses for the week. However, here is the finished chapter and if anyone wants to go see the art, I'll update this note when I get it up. Until then, enjoy the fluff!
UPDATE: The art is published on AO3 and Wattpad now! Feel free to go check it out!
Forests of ferns and flourishing flowers were all a blur to Hermione as she stared out the window of her compartment. Aside from the faint chug, chug, chug of the Hogwarts Express and the occasional "checkmate" coming from her two best friends as they played chess, all was peacefully quiet, if she ignored the blatantly dark, looming cloud that filled the atmosphere.
She acted as if nothing was really wrong, like everything would be fine. She hated to admit what she knew was coming to anyone but herself, though. She hated the war that was bound to happen now that he had returned, she hated those fucking Death Eaters targeting innocents, friends, and eventually her family, as much as she assured anyone else that it would never happen. The cause for much of her hatred was, in fact, herself, however. Her body. Her scar.
Purple. Jagged. Permanent. Disgusting. Revolting.
A giant thing, stretching roughly from her left shoulder all the way down to her right hip.
The arm that wasn't currently holding her book tightened around herself and she sunk back into the cushions of her seat. The pain was gone, the little pins and needles she would sometimes feel had faded, but there was only so much potions and spells could undo.
She felt ashamed, really. Harry had it much worse, and she couldn't even deal with a normal scar, while his tended to ache and burn, curiously stretching a little more across his head after each particularly heavy wave of pain. Here she sat sulking in her thoughts about a scar — a perfectly normal scar, she reprimanded herself — ever since she had gotten it.
She tried arguing with herself, of course, as she always ended up doing eventually, like how hers was gained from almost dying for her best friend while other kids her age were out getting them from crashing bicycles or accidentally cutting themselves while preparing food. And, she would add, hers was much more horrific than a simple cut.
Though, she knew it was unfair in the end. Absolutely, it was a rather unsightly thing to look at, but it was a scar, and she was overthinking something as simple as that. Of course, she already knew that she was messed up in the head quite a bit after she had been diagnosed with anxiety somewhere on the lower spectrum of things (which she was very thankful for), but no matter what she argued, there was no excuse.
She leaned against the back of her seat with a huff of air, her book lying open in her hands but long forgotten as she closed her eyes. Subconsciously — or, maybe she simply understood it as well as any common fact — she knew she would only decline steadily from here on out.
Her failing patience for finding that bloody tease of a Patronus certainly didn't help matters at all. She even was a little proactive in it, asking her friends and anyone else she felt comfortable talking with (which, she admitted rather embarrassingly, wasn't many people)— None of them had the same Patronus.
Maybe she was overreacting about the entire situation, but when Hermione Granger was curious, she was bound to find the answer one way or another. Of course, the "another way" everyone else seemed to believe in was becoming futile and she was quickly expending all of the options she had planned out.
Maybe she should've stopped thinking about it a while ago— if anything, it was adding onto the mountain of stress she was carrying on her shoulders. The darkness that wrapped around her head due to her closed eyes was alluring now, slowly guiding her into a somewhat calmer state of mind as she let the worries of something seemingly so insignificant slip from her fingers.
The bags under her eyes gained a strange new weight to them, almost as if they were pulling her eyelids down and not letting them come back up, which she peculiarly allowed, though her mind refused to empty itself of swirling thoughts and worries of the real threat.
She was thoroughly, eternally grateful for the sound of their compartment doors sliding open to snap her from her brooding.
She turned her head to the source of the noise, the chatter of Harry and Ron long lost as they stared up at the younger girl standing rather sheepishly at the entrance of their compartment.
Hermione had to admit, it was fairly unexpected to see Astoria there.
"Erm— Could I come in?" She asked after an uncomfortably long period of silent staring. "My sister's compartment is full and I haven't anywhere else to go,"
"Of course," Hermione answered as brightly as she could with her sleep-deprived state. "There's nothing really going on in here, that is, if you don't mind listening to these two playing chess," She added, gesturing to the two boys still sitting on the floor in silence.
Astoria smiled — Her teeth are almost perfect, Hermione pondered — and took a seat not too far from the older girl.
"Thanks," She sighed, setting her expensive-looking trunk beside her and a covered cage on her lap. She glanced over and saw the orange ball of fur curled right beside Hermione, its chest rising and falling in a perfect rhythm as it slept.
"Oh," she murmured softly, a small grin on her face, "is that your cat?"
"'Feral monster' is more like it." Ron mumbled grumpily, refusing to lift his head up from the currently inactive game board.
"Yes, he's my cat." Hermione said rather averingly, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "His name is Crookshanks,"
"May I pet him?" Astoria asked eagerly, her stunning blue eyes gaining a spark in them that made Hermione's stomach do a few flips.
"Go ahead," she muttered, brushing her entire hand across her face in an embarrassing effort to hide her reddening cheeks.
Astoria happily reached over and gently placed her hand along his back, making him lift his head up with a little surprised trill, until he realized he was getting attention from someone other than his owner which he blissfully accepted, stretching out and exposing his fluffy stomach while Astoria cooed and awed at him.
"Does he do well with owls?" She asked, looking up from the cat purring contentedly and locking eyes with Hermione.
"Mhm, it would be a disaster if he didn't, considering that Harry has an owl and postage arrives almost every day," She chuckled, pushing aside a lock of hair that had escaped from her braid.
Astoria giggled as well, an almost angelic sound though short as it was.
Merlin, it was cute.
Hermione almost punched herself in the face after that thought, scolding herself for letting such a thing run through her mind. She felt her face growing hot again — Gods, it had to stop doing that — but no matter how hard she tried, her eyes were locked onto the girl in front of her.
Her sleek, wavy chocolate hair was pulled into a simple low ponytail that draped over her shoulders, and Hermione wondered how in the name of all heavenly beings she could make it look so elegant even as a Third Year. Her milky white skin was smooth and completely unblemished, her hair making it seem so much brighter than it actually was. And her eyes — sweet Merlin — all but sparkled in the sunlight, except they were sharp, determined, cunning, always piercing through one's soul if ever she made eye contact.
Stop that! She thought aggressively, forcing herself to look away from the girl still petting her cat. God above, Hermione, you're losing it!
She rubbed her eyes roughly then moved to massage her temples with a small groan.
"Are you all right?" Astoria asked in such a soft tone it was almost impossible to question whether she really cared or not. Hermione looked up at her, chilling blue melting with warm cinnamon.
"Just tired," she sighed, and she wasn't really lying at that moment. "You know— End of the year, long train ride home, preparing for overly excited parents…"
Astoria chuckled shortly. "I agree with the first two. It's not really in my family's blood to be 'excited',"
"Hmm. I assume it's because of the Sacred Twenty-Eight thing?"
"Precisely."
They both laughed lightly, but Hermione detected the smallest twinge of unhappiness in her voice. Something about that made her heart jerk slightly in pain, and strangely guilt rushed through her for a moment.
"So," Astoria said suddenly, drawing Hermione's attention back to earth, "will the D.A. continue next year?"
The room was silent as her eyes glided from person to person. A frown grew on her features and she gazed down at her hands resting in her lap.
"I believe you, you know." She muttered eventually. Hermione's head lifted towards hers in sync with the two other boys in the compartment. "I want to help, if I can. The only person in my family concerned about — well — family would be my father, maybe my sister, too. My mother would join sides with You-Know-Who in a heartbeat, though. Anything to keep up the appearance of a 'traditional' Pureblood line."
Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her seat, an odd feeling of guilt and the tiniest bit of protectiveness settling in her veins.
"I want to help as much as I can. I don't want to be stuck being married off to some random man or woman who only goes along with it for the sake of blood purity, or for You-Know-Who to do anything to my father, and I—" She stopped suddenly, her eyes flicking up to meet Hermione's with the faintest, smallest blush tinting her cheeks. "I want to protect myself in case my mother has her way with You-Know-Who."
The room was silent for a good while. Glances were exchanged between the trio of friends, from Ron's tentative look to Harry's brows furrowed in thought to Hermione's concerned eyes. Finally, as if it were an unspoken agreement, Harry looked up to Astoria and attempted a smile.
"I dunno if we'll be able to do something quite as large now that the threat is bigger, but maybe we could squeeze in some private lessons?"
"I could help — erm — teach some of them," chirped Hermione, cursing herself for stuttering over such a simple sentence, though thankfully nobody seemed to notice. Astoria in particular seemed far too happy to do so.
"Great!" She exclaimed, her poised and proper position replaced by an over-excited hop. Hermione allowed a smile to grace across her lips, her once stiff and uneasy posture falling a tad more lenient.
"If you want, I can even help plan some things out if continuing the D.A. is still a consideration. It helped a lot of people actually, and I would hate to see it discontinued after only half a year." Astoria carried on, her hands fidgeting in her lap. Hermione bit her lip in regard, her own hands beginning to roll around each other from the small, strange feeling of longingness to take Astoria's hands in hers to keep them from moving. She quickly shoved it down.
There was a sudden knock on the door, and everyone's attention quickly turned to the group of people standing there. Harry, Ron and Hermione's faces dropped when the crowd of all the immature First and Second Year students began making faces and loud, childish noises and chants of "You-Know-Who is back!" and "Oh, woe is me living in fame!" that made the trio's blood boil.
Harry groaned, as did Ron, and Hermione looked down and away from them. Astoria glanced around the room, her eyes wide and worried as she wondered how any of them could stand the taunting. Harry stood up slowly, almost as if he were sick and his bones were aching.
"Ron and I will get them out of here, Hermione. Could you find an extra compartment in the meantime?" He asked, fixing his crooked glasses. Hermione nodded with a firm hum of agreement and gestured for Astoria to follow.
"Me?" She questioned bemusedly. "You don't have to drag me along— I'm sure I could sit somewhere on the floor where my sister is now that I think about it. I wouldn't want to attract a larger crowd to you if some of the other Slytherins or Gryffindors saw."
"Nonsense," Hermione replied, trying to shove Crookshanks back in his crate unsuccessfully. "No one is ever comfortable sitting on the floor for that long. And besides," She paused for a moment, pretending to be focused on her cat when she thought, I really enjoyed having you here.
"We need to finish discussing your lessons." She heard herself saying, wanting to pat herself on the back but also feeling the need to bash her head against the nearest wall.
Fuck.
"Thanks," Astoria muttered, after a few moments, a grateful smile on her face. Hermione offered one back over her shoulder before closing the door to Crookshanks's cage and locking it up.
"See you soon?" Ron provided lamely, a grimace passing through him.
"Sure." Hermione replied dryly after a long pause of tense silence.
She looked at Astoria and the two girls hung back while Harry and Ron daringly opened the doors to their cabin and the clear taunts, noises and jeers met their ears. Throughout the chaos of screaming children, Hermione and Astoria managed to slip through unnoticed and quickly shuffled down the train in silence.
"Beautiful evening," Astoria murmured some time later, leaning contentedly against the wall. Near the very end of the train, they had found a completely empty cabin with hardly any surrounding students that would actually care to approach them.
She was staring almost dreamily out the window, the setting sun bathing her in a magnificent red glow. Hermione barely even heard anything else, even her own words as she stared at the girl who — in her opinion — was far too pretty for her younger age.
"This is one of the things about home I'll ever truly miss," She continued softly, refusing to turn away from the scenery outside but still talking clearly enough for Hermione to hear. "We have gardens in our back lawn, something my father likes to have tended to and kept nice. I sit out there for hours sometimes, and it's just peaceful and…"
Hermione never knew what she wanted to say. Astoria simply trailed off, her blue eyes losing a certain sparkle in them for just a moment. She turned back to the older girl.
"I know we have house rivalries and I know you may not trust me much yet, but could we possibly exchange addresses to owl each other?"
She swallowed nervously when all she got as a response was an analyzing look.
"I just mean," she continued, twirling a loose strand of dark chocolate hair between her fingers, "it's been nice getting to be with other people who aren't… like my sister and her friends, or sometimes my parents. I don't know, you were really the first person who I could actually joke with, and you were really kind even though we're supposed to hate each other and— I just need someone who I can talk to over the summer. And we can plan the lessons, too," Her tone lightened considerably, and a small grin lifted the corners of her lips.
Hermione smiled back, more lopsided and toothy than she'd usually let show. "I'd like that," She said, bending forward and heaving her trunk onto her lap. She rummaged around in it for a moment and pulled out a blank parchment along with an extra Muggle pen she always brought along— just in case.
She tore off a little section, shook the pen to get the ink working, and scribbled her address onto the tiny portion. "Here's mine," she stated, moving over to the other side of the compartment where Astoria was sitting. She handed her another blank section of paper and her pen.
"Er—" Astoria muttered, her face turning as red as the sunset in embarrassment. "How do I use this?"
"Oh, sorry!" Hermione apologized, realizing she had closed the pen on habit. "Here, you just push this," She gestured to the bottom of the pen, and Astoria gazed at it confusedly but did so otherwise.
"Oh!" A tiny gasp escaped her as the tip of the pen suddenly emerged with a rather pleasing click! "Oh, wow!" She murmured. "How does it work?" She turned to Hermione, her blue eyes burning with passion and wonder, just like Hermione's cheeks.
"I-It's like a quill," said Hermione some time later when her brain was done rebooting. "The ink is there, and all you have to do is write with it. It— It really is just a modernized quill, now that I think about it," She chuckled.
Astoria nodded in understanding and pressed the pen to the page, then dragged it across to make a line. She gasped again, a much louder and thrilled noise that made Hermione jump a little in shock.
"Oh my Gods!" She squealed. "Oh, I need to get some of these!"
Hermione grinned amusedly, a mildly concerned expression on her face mixed in. "Um— I-I could owl you a pack—"
A facefull of chocolate hair was suddenly shoved into her face as Astoria leapt into her, arms tightly wrapped around her waist in a hug. Hermione's face exploded into flames, though she (quite embarrassingly) couldn't bring herself to pull away from Astoria, her own arms keeping her close.
"I— Um…" Astoria muttered into her shoulder, pushing back just a little to stare into Hermione's eyes. "Thank you, it really means a lot."
Hermione found herself frowning in concern. All of this over pens? But she remained silent, offering a smile and a quiet "you're welcome". Then, much more comfortably and considerably less stiff, she really embraced her, pulling her close as if she was somehow providing comfort and protection for something even she didn't know.
For some odd reason, however, everything in that hug felt comfortable, and a small thought passed through her mind of how Astoria was hiding so much more than she let on. Maybe she couldn't trust her, but Hermione was certainly the character who looked deeper into people, and a feeling kept nagging her to trust her. Hermione raised her head slightly, her cinnamon eyes glowing red from the sunset blaring through the meadow outside, bathing them in a phosphoresce of rubies.
She closed her eyes again and breathed in the scent of roses and sweets. She could enjoy this for a moment more, she thought, and they still had a long way until home would be on the horizon.
A/N: Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave them in the review stack and I shall answer your brewing thoughts! The next two chapters will have a lot more fluff in them, both with the main to-be couple and with Hermione's parents so stay tuned! Have a lovely week and I'll be back with another update if I survive school!
~ Eclipse
