Chapter Four
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The Prediction Comes True
When Transfiguration class began, all the girls vied for a place in line beside Susie. Pansy won out.
"Ginny's mother has a candy business," Goyle told Blaise as the class assembled.
"No wonder she's so… sweet," said Blaise, looking around at everyone as if he'd just said something clever.
Ginny smiled. The boys groaned.
Mystified by everyone's behaviour, Hermione hung back. Harry came up beside her. "You look kinda… strange," he said. "Like you just lost your best friend."
Hermione smiled at him. He was her best friend. It was reassuring just to have him nearby. She wanted to ask him what he thought of Ginny and whether he'd noticed any change in their classmates, but now was not the time nor the place. Besides, she might be imagining the whole thing. Everybody acts a little different in the presence of a stranger. Perhaps she was detecting change only because she was expecting it. "Nothing," she said. "Did you study for the test?"
Harry hit his forehead with the heel of his hand.
"The test!" he exclaimed. "I forgot all about it."
The word test! Travelled through the line with the swiftness of a current through a wire.
Several people turned panicked eyes on Hermione. Ginny was one of them. As her big sister, Hermione felt duty bound to put her at ease.
"Tell Ginny not to worry," she said to Nevile, who was in front of her.
He just stared at her, his eyes blank.
"Pass it on, Nevile," Hermione urged. "Professor McGonagall won't expect her to take the test." She had a feeling McGonagall wouldn't give the test at all this afternoon. She was about to say so when Pansy asked, "What test?"
"Turning pencils into snakes," Hermione answered, "But…"
"Who told you we were having a test, Hermione?" Pansy asked.
"Professor McGonagall," replied Hermione. "Who else?"
"When?" Nevile said. His hands were still as small as a newborn baby's. "I don't remember anything about a test."
"She told us last week."
"Last week!" Pansy said.
"Serve her right if everyone fails," added Malfoy, smirking at Hermione.
"Right," said Crabbe dully.
"How can anyone remember something as stupid as a test that long?" said Pansy.
"Professor McGonagall said we have to get used to the idea," Hermione reminded them. "She said sometimes in fourth year we'll get assignments for the whole week or even a month. You're supposed to write them down in your assignment book."
"Who needs an assignment book with you around to remind us, mudblood?" Malfoy sneered.
"I didn't remind anybody about anything," Hermione said. "I wasn't even talking to any of you. I was talking to Harry!"
"Yeah," Harry chimed in. "She wasn't even talking to you guys. She was talking to me."
The line began to move.
"And besides, Professor McGonagall's not even going to give the test today," Hermione said.
"Who says?" asked Goyle.
"I have a…"
"… feeling," everyone finished.
Ginny cocked her head and stared at Hermione in a funny way, almost as if Hermione were a creature from another planet.
Oh great! Hermione though. That's all she needed was another person to make fun of her psychic abilities. Averting her eyes, she untucked her hair from behind her ear.
When the class was settled in their seats, Professor McGonagall said, "I promised you a grammar test this afternoon."
Heads turned toward Hermione. Writing her name in the right hand corner of a clean sheet of note book paper, she pretended not to notice.
Pansy muttered, "You and your feelings."
Hermione pressed down on her pencil point. It snapped.
"But I'm postponing it," Professor McGonagall continued.
The class breathed a collective sigh of relief. But no one looked at Hermione. She wasn't surprised. They were quick to tease her when she was wrong, but they rarely gave her credit when she was right.
Professor McGonagall walked towards the blackboard. "We have something more important to deal with this afternoon." She took a piece of chalk and wrote F-A-M-O-U-S W-I-T-C-H-E-S A-N-D W-I-Z-A-R-D-S F-A-I-R.
An astonished murmur broke over the room.
"That's what we're going to talk about?" Malfoy asked.
Professor McGonagall nodded. "I know you were expecting the fair to take place sometime in spring, but there's been a scheduling conflct and it's been moved up. We have only six weeks to prepard."
"That's a long time," someone said.
"It may seem so," Professor McGonagall said, "but it'll go by quickly. I hope everyone will participate." She went on talking about the fair, outlining the steps to follow. Finally she said, "What I want you to do now is make a list of famous witches and wizards that you could possibly create a project on." Over the sounds of notebook rings opening and closing, paper tearing, feet shuffling, she added, "Choose two of three things that interest you and write them down."
"Can we work with somebody?" asked Millicent.
"Yes," Professor McGonagall answered, "but not now. I want each of you to make a list. We'll compare them later and, on the basis of common interest, we'll decide on teams." She glanced at Ginny. "This project wasn't in your year, was it?"
Ginny shook her head.
Professor McGonagall nodded. "If you need any help, just say so."
Malfoy shot to his feet. "I'll help her, Professor McGonagall," he offered.
That was so unlike Malfoy. He had never before indicated an interest in girls – especially a Weasley – except as objects of his teasing. None of the boys had.
Even Professor McGonagall looked surprised. "Thank you, Mr Malfoy," she said. "But I'm sure that Miss Granger can answer Ginny's questions."
Ginny flashed Hermione a grateful smile. Looking disappointed, Malfoy sat down.
"Now, let's get to work," the teacher directed.
The noisy undercurrent trickled down to murmuring.
Hermione glanced around the room. People were bent over their papers or staring out the windows. Millicent's foot swung in circles. Nevile hummed. Parvati tapped her pencil on the desk. Professor McGonagall ambled up one aisle and down another, glancing at a paper here, making a suggestion there. Seemingly unaware of the distractions, Ginny was hunched over her desk, her left arm protecting her paper.
Hermione sighed. Usually she, too, could shut out everything and concentrate on the task at hand, but not this afternoon. Her mind kept skipping from one thing to another: Ginny's arrival this morning; her own mixed feelings about her role as big sister; Malfoy's uncharacteristic offer of help; her premonition that the sixth grade was about to change…
She pushed herself up with her arms and tucked a leg under her. She got out another pencil – her last sharpened pencil – and retraced her name and the date at the top of her paper. Famous Witches and Wizards Project, she printed at the centre of the first line. She skipped a line and wrote, Newt Scamander, immediately erasing it. She knew too much about him already.
The clock above the blackboard clicked and the big hand jumped forwards.
Hermione stared at Harry, hoping to get his attention. Maybe he'd give her an idea, but he was sitting sideways, his back to her.
She sighed again.
"Ssshhh," Nevile whispered.
She shot him a tight-lipped glance. He was the one making all the noise.
He grinned at her and resumed his humming.
"Ssssssshhhhhh!" hissed Mary.
Nearly every head turned to aim a dirty look her way.
o-o-o-o-o
Professor McGonagall kept Ginny after school.
Hermione was glad. It meant she didn't have to hand around playing big sister and miss the chance to walk around Hogsmeade with Ron.
"I'm sure glad Professor McGonagall didn't collect our papers," she said to him as they crossed the street.
"Me, too," Ron said.
Hermione was surprised. "Couldn't you think of anything, either?"
"Nope," he said. "I only thought of one.
"Really? Like what?"
"Viktor Krum."
Hermione grinned. "You can't just pick sports stars. What about a wizard or witch that really made a difference in the world?"
"She didn't say it had to be really nerdy people, Hermione. Just list what interested us," said Ron, rather miffed.
"But you can't just work on Viktor. There's not really much to him, is there?"
Ron said, "Whatever. You weren't the only one who couldn't think of anything. Ginny's paper was blank, too."
Hermione's eyes snapped toward him. She had wanted to bring up the subject of Ginny, but she hadn't known exactly what to say. This gave her an opening. "How'd you know?"
"I saw her paper. It was blank – she didn't even have her name on it."
Remembering how Ginny had hunched over her paper as if it were a treasure, Hermione asked, "How'd you do that? See her paper?"
Ron shrugged. "I looked over her shoulder."
Hermione nodded. It was just as she had predicted: things were changing. And Ginny Weasley was the cause.
