Vignette 6: Chess, Not Checkers

AN: Dedicated to The Shadows Mistress who has also reviewed every chapter so far!

"Err Hermione?"

Hermione looked up from her copy of Gamp's Tales of Terrible Transfigurations, which she had been trying very hard to focus on, instead of on the fact that... that Ron Weasley was getting spoon-fed his sausages by Lavender Brown not six seats away from her at the Gryffindor table.

Her best friend - her actual best friend - slid in next to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lavender snatch away Ron's fork at the last minute and plant a kiss on his lips instead. She almost gagged as she turned towards Harry.

"What is it?" she asked, trying very hard not to watch her other, former best friend.

Harry looked anxious. "Do you think... could you take me to Slughorn's party?" he asked.

"Well, you don't need to sound so miserable about it," she said with a frown. "Besides, I told you, I already have a date. I'm going with Cormac..."

"Well," said Harry looking at her hopefully, "I was thinking maybe you could tell him you changed your mind? You know you'll be miserable going with him, he's such an oaf, and I know you're only going with him to make Ron jealous..."

"I am not!" said Hermione hotly, louder than she intended. Ron turned around to look at her, but quick as the snitch, Lavender grabbed his face and planted another kiss on his lips. "Okay, maybe I am," she ground out, tearing her eyes away from them. "But you haven't told me why you want me to take you anyway."

Harry cleared his throat nervously and glanced over in Ginny's direction. "Well, you see, there's this girl I like..."

Hermione seized her chance for revenge. "Ginny's going with Dean Thomas," she said, feeling victorious. "I don't think going with me is going to make her jealous, Harry."

Harry looked startled.

"What? Who said anything about Ginny?" he asked, leaving Hermione feeling extremely confused. She looked over in Ginny's direction. Ginny was sitting with Dean and Seamus and near here were a bunch of First Year boys who had taken a liking to the Irish boy. There were no other eligible females in that direction, unless you looked over at the Slytherin table...

Hermione gasped.

"Daphne Greengrass?" she asked incredulously.

It made perfect sense. Harry had been disappearing for short periods of time recently. Ordinarily she would have tried to find out why, but with Ron and Lavender going out - she spared another glare for the redhead - and her own resulting emotional upheaval, both she and Ron had been neglecting their best friend. She had honestly assumed he was stalking Malfoy again and she hadn't wanted to pick up another fight about it... had he just been sneaking out to see Greengrass?

"How did you know?" asked Harry in alarm. "Am I being that obvious? Does anyone else know?"

"No no," she quickly reassured him. "I just connected the dots... I saw the way you were looking at her in Snape's class, during the practice duels when she wiped the floor with Malfoy's face..."

"And the walls and the ceiling," added Harry with relish, a goofy grin appearing on his face.

He couldn't help but glance at Greengrass again. She was sitting next to Tracey Davis, calmly eating an egg and cucumber sandwich while Davis talked nonstop at her. Greengrass looked up just then. Her eyes met Hermione's and she nodded ever so slightly before turning back to her sandwich. Hermione started. She had never been acknowledged by a Slytherin before, except to be insulted. She almost missed Ginny preening, who was perhaps wrongly assuming she had Harry's attention. Oh, poor Ginny...

"So why don't you take her to the party?" asked Hermione.

"I can't!" said Harry, throwing his hands in frustration and almost hitting Colin Creevey in the eye as he walked by. His voice dropped to a whisper. "She wants me to... but she's a Slytherin! They'll eat her alive if they find out I like her."

Hermione gave him a skeptical look as she buttered her toast. "You saw how good she is in that duelling class, right?"

"Right, but that was just Malfoy. She can't take on the whole house! We had a huge argument about it, but then she conceded and said that the only way I can get out of taking her is if I take you instead because she doesn't trust anybody else. That's why Romilda Vane ended up in the hospital wing last week by the way; Daphne found out about the love potions."

"And she trusts me because...?"

Harry grinned guiltily. "Well, it's a bit obvious you're head over heels about Ron..."

Hermione groaned. Was she the joke of the whole school? She resisted the urge to pick up her wand and hex the redhead.

"Oh Harry..." She took her sweet, gullible friend's hand in hers. "She's not actually okay with me taking you to the party. She just knows that if you come to me trying to get me to take you, I'll figure out what's going on and talk sense into you."

"What? How do you know that?" he asked in surprise.

"She's a Slytherin," said Hermione, glancing over at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was giving Greengrass a wide berth as he walked over to his usual place. "And a girl. You think you're playing checkers, she's probably playing three dimensional chess. Take her to the party. If she thinks she can take on her house, let her. And if she's not able to... well, it's better if you find out sooner rather than later."

"But..."

"But nothing," said Hermione firmly. "Relationships are based on trust. If you can't trust her then you don't deserve her."

Her friend was silent for a moment. "Thanks Hermione," he said at last. "I think you're right. I should trust her."

"Great," she told him. "Maybe you can return the favour and do something about that, yeah?" She gestured vaguely towards Ron and Lavender, who were pressed nauseatingly close to each other.

He grinned and picked up her wand.

"Flipendo!" he whispered - he still hadn't mastered nonverbal spells - and Ron's pumpkin juice spilled all over the couple. They sprang apart and Lavender shrieked something about her outfit getting ruined and ran out the Great Hall, leaving a confused, dripping Ron Weasley in her wake.

Hermione found it much easier to focus on Gamp's Terrible Transfigurations after that.

AN: Daphne fans know what the title of this chapter is a reference to. Let me know if you figure it out and you'll get a shoutout in the next Vignette.