Hermione woke up to the insanely annoying noise of her mechanical alarm clock. She groaned and reached an arm out to swat the 'off' button, and managed to knock it to the floor, where the button was pressed for her by a luckily placed wonky floorboard. She sighed as the clock finished it's last ring, and heard four other sighs from the other girls in the room. 'I really should rethink my waking up process' she thought, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. 'I could have a beeping alarm if electricity worked in Hogwarts,'
She pulled a small journal from under her pillow and quickly wrote down the contents of her dream
Bellatrix awoke with a gentle sigh. Oh, how she loved these dreams. She sat up for a moment, thinking about the dream Hermione had told her about, and how she'd had the same dream at the same time, even both waking at dawn. 'Would she have shared that one too?'
Hermione added the final ingredient to her potion, gave it the final anti-clockwise stir, and turned the heat off.
Neville's cauldron had long since melted, around the same time as Ronald's did. Harry's potion had turned a sickly yellow colour not five minutes before. Miss Mills was running around the classroom trying to fix everyone else's potions.
Hermione leant forward and inhaled deeply, smelling fresh parchment, old books, and… Cinnamon? She stood back up, slightly confused. 'Where have I smelt that…?'
The Professor came over and inhaled, smelling her three favourite things: Mint, blood and fresh parchment.
"Wonderful, Miss Granger! Far better than the last potion." They both laughed a little. "Why don't you bottle them up and then clear up. If you finish before everyone else, you can leave early."
The teacher cleaned up Harry's mess of a potion and Ron and Neville's messes of cauldrons before making her way to her desk as Hermione left. "Okay, class, if you'd please bottle up your potions, clear away your equipment and leave your phials on my desk."
All through lunch, Hermione couldn't get the scent of her Amortentia potion to leave her nose.
'Cinnamon? I don't know anyone who smells like cinnamon… Do I? I don't usually even like cinnamon…'
"What's got you so deep in thought?" Ginny piped up from Hermione's left.
Hermione shook her head as she was pulled out of her own little world. "Oh, nothing, just lessons. What was really bothering her mind was the combination of the Amortentia and her tea leaf predictions from the day before. Hermione didn't believe in predictions of the future, but something about those tea leaves just seemed right, accurate.
Ron stood in the middle of the near-empty Gryffindor common room, facing the girl he liked. "So, what d'you say? Will you be my girlfriend?" Ron asked sheepishly.
She smiled and nodded, jumping at the ginger boy and pulling him straight in for a kiss. "Of course I will." Romilda said, grinning happily at him.
He smiled a little flabberghasted that she'd kissed him. "Great! So, you wanna go down to dinner?"
The pair walked into the Great Hall, holding hands. They took seats opposite Harry and Hermione.
"Harry, Hermione, this is my girlfriend, Romilda Vane." Hermione smiled at the girl, already knowing her from their Defence lessons. She was happy for her friends. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Harry look over Ron's shoulder, searching for someone at the Slytherin table. He smiled and then went back to his food. She didn't bother asking him about it. If she was having dreams about a family life with Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, she had no place in berating him for liking a Slytherin.
She picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet that must have been left on the table from earlier, the main article reading: 'BELLATRIX LESTRANGE: MISSING.' Underneath the title, it said 'The Daily Prophet have inside intelligence that notorious Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange, has gone missing from the ranks of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Civilians are warned to stay safe, as it is said that You-Know-Who is extremely angry at the loss of his best and most talented.' She put the paper back in the spot she had picked it up from, wondering to herself if Harry had had any more visions.
It was two weeks before Hermione's next library encounter with the Potions Master. As she strolled into the library, Hermione looked up from her book.
"Hello, stranger. I've not seen you in here for a while."
The teacher took the seat next to her student. "I've been busy with re-planning lessons and other teacherly duties. I'm the one that has to make half the potions for Madame Pomfrey, you know!"
Hermione laughed a little, and the older woman pulled a small rectangular box from a hidden pocket in her skirt. "Happy Birthday."
Hermione's eyes widened and a smile crept across her face. "How on earth did you know it was my birthday?"
"I heard Misters Potter and Weasley wondering about 'what to get Hermione for her birthday party on Friday' and I just thought, we're friends, so I got you a little something."
Hermione took it, blushing, and carefully took the lid off the small box. She gasped as she saw what was inside.
"Professor, you really shouldn't have!"
"Alright, fine then, I'll have it back!" Violet said jokingly.
The sole item in the box was a simple white gold bracelet with red, emerald and black stones embedded sparingly in a simple pattern around the bracelet.
"Professor, really, this looks incredibly expensive!"
"Hermione, really, it's nothing." The teacher looked at her watch. "I've got to go. Happy Birthday again." She smiled.
"Hermione!" Ginny called as the brunette stepped through the portrait hole, running over to engulf he friend in a hug. "Happy Birthday!"
Hermione hugged the youngest Weasley back. "Thank you!"
Ginny held out a large and heavy wrapped object. "Here's what I got you!"
Hermione took it and opened it eagerly. "Occlumency for Dummies! It's perfect, Ginny, thank you!" She pulled her into another hug.
Harry gestured for Hermione to sit next to him, and she complied, taking his gift as he offered it. Unwrapping it, she smiled widely. "Harry this is brilliant!" Inside was a fantastically fancy quill and ink set, including inks and feathers of different colours.
She hugged Harry from the side and put the gift on top of her book, on a small table.
Ron sat down beside her, handing her a small box similar to the one from Professor Mills. "I hope you like it. Romilda helped me pick it, since I had no idea what to get you.
Hermione took the lid off and picked up the gift. It was a small dark copper book on a long chain, and she could hear ticking. Pressing a button on the top, the book popped open. The left side displayed the date and year, 'Friday 20th September, 1996', whereas the right side had a small clock face embedded in it. Underneath the clock were two symbols in circles. One was a 'Z', the other an 'X'. The brunette stared at it in awe.
"You can set alarms on it, that's what the symbols are for, snooze and off, and as long as you're wearing it whilst sleeping, it will wake you up without a sound, just by magic." Romilda explained, whilst Ron just smiled.
"It's like you read my mind! I've been looking for something that would wake me up a bit quieter! It's excellent, thank you both." She hugged Ron and then stood to hug Romilda too.
"Hermione, that's a gorgeous bracelet, where'd you get it?" Romilda asked, noticing the jewellery as Hermione pulled out of the hug.
"I got it today, actually, a present from a friend." She smiled. "Isn't it gorgeous?"
This time, Ginny spoke up. "it looks incredibly expensive!"
"I know! She wouldn't tell me how much it cost, and I kept telling her that I simply couldn't accept something so beautiful, but she refused to take it back."
Romilda took Hermione's wrist in her hand and inspected the bracelet more closely. "I've been reading about gemstones. These are real rubies and emeralds, and I think the black stones are Obsidian."
"Aren't they like, really valuable?"
"Yes, Rubies are very rare nowadays, as are Emeralds."
Hermione took her hand back and fiddled with the bracelet. It really was a very expensive gift…
Harry pulled a crate of Butterbeer bottles out from under the sofa. "How about we have a bit of a party?"
"With Butterbeer?" Dean spoke up incredulously. "I think we should have something a little bit stronger." He pulled two bottles of cheap Firewhiskey from behind a chair. "And there's plenty more where that came from."
"Guys! I'm not getting drunk!"
"C'mon, Hermione!" Ron drawled. "It's Friday, you turned seventeen yesterday, and we should celebrate!"
"None of us are even of drinking age!"
It was Ginny's turn to try and persuade the bookworm. "Hermione, we got you a book, writing utensils and a book clock. You have to party with us. Your rules."
Hermione sighed, remembering the day she'd made that promise to Ginny, the same day she'd said a similar thing to Miss Mills. "Fine. Hand me a Butterbeeer!"
Everyone cheered and Dean came over to her, putting an arm around her shoulder. "You're at least having two shots of Firewhiskey tonight!" She nodded at him, sipping at her Butterbeer.
By the time ginny tucked Hermione into bed that night, the newly-sixteen-year-old had drank far more than two shots of Firewhiskey.
She giggled and played with Ginny's hair as the younger girl pulled the covers over her friend.
"I don't think you should have drank so much, Hermione." Ginny laughed as she sat on the edge of the bed.
"Hey! It's my birthday party!"
"Was! I'll come up in the morning with a hangover cure potion, but for now, go to sleep."
"Wait, Ginny! Wait… Wait…" Hermione wrapped her arms around her young friend, speaking in a stage whisper. "I wanna tell you a secret!"
Ginny leaned in, laughing. "Yes, Hermione?"
"This bracelet, the really expensive one…" At Ginny's blurry nod, Hermione continued. "Professor Mills bought it for me. Shhhh! Don't tell Harry or Ron!"
Hermione's 'words' soon began to turn into mumbles and she fell back, falling asleep as soon as she hit the pillow.
Ginny laughed again and unravelled herself, leaving the room, muttering. "She's going to regret that Firewhiskey in the morning!"