Despite the worst of her expectations, Hermione found that organising the initial meeting of the DA had been pretty easy, too easy, as it turned out. She had thought The Hog's Head the perfect spot for a covert conclave, the grimy pub was unlikely to have other students or even staff amongst its Saturday morning patrons. If half of the tales Hagrid told had even a glimmer of truth, the general illegalities occurring under its roof suggested anyone that was present would likely turn a blind eye to a group of rule-breaking school children. All of those considerations were for nothing when she realised they had been overheard. Umbridge had somehow been informed of their meeting, resulting in Educational Decree No. 24: banning any student organisation that hadn't already been approved by the High Inquisitor. Which was what Umbridge was referring to herself as now, the jumped up cow. Hermione hadn't thought her worthy of 'professor', to elevate herself above it seemed ludicrous.
Hermione couldn't be sure if she was more upset to discover the gaping hole in her plan, or that she had risked potential disease, drinking in a pub that had a live goat on the premises, the sole cleaning apparatus a very well-used rag, and all for nothing. Her previous determination wobbled when she watched Filch hammer the decree to the wall. A wobble that became a full shake of her previous resolve when Sirius Black appeared in the fireplace of the Gryffindor common room, his typically dour face breaking into a fiery grin when he told them what a great idea he thought Dumbledore's Army was. Hermione had frowned, Sirius was well known for his reckless impulsiveness, a portion of her summer cooped up with the restless animagus had made her see that. She felt horrible for thinking it, the man had been through so much, but if he thought it was a good idea, maybe it wasn't. After he finished enthusing about the progress they had made on lesson plans he rebuked her, for the meetings setting, employing a previously unheard condescending tone to his voice when he told her that 'she had a lot to learn'. The remark stung. She was still a child, well, sixteen this year, thanks to the time turner, but she was used to being the responsible 'almost adult' in her little group. That she had got something wrong was bad enough, to have it pointed out in front of Harry and Ron was so much worse. The chastisement made her feel ashamed and vulnerable.
After the fire-call ended, Hermione couldn't stop herself from verbalising her hesitancy to Harry. His close to the surface rage, and hero worship of his newly discovered godfather, set against her current thin-skinned sensitivity meant their row was immediate, cutting, and brief. When the final words were uttered, followed only by the slamming of doors Hermione sagged into the nearest armchair and worried her bottom lip. The goal of this year had been to get more friends, not to wind up with none.
The next day Hermione made her way to the Great Hall, determined to get breakfast even earlier than usual. She wasn't avoiding the boys, as such, she had simply decided that it was probably a good idea to give them a little space. An early meal meant little chance of seeing them, and she managed to convince a miserable Ginny to come down with her, so she wouldn't have to eat on her own. However the argument eventually played out, Hermione refused to shut herself off this year. Typically she would have hidden away, and thrown herself head first into other tasks; she didn't want to do that this year, and there was too much going on to risk exhaustion. So she weathered Ginny's complaints and scowls at the unreasonableness of the hour, and forced herself to act normally.
As Hermione finished pouring her tea they were joined at the table by Dean and Neville, both boys showing signs of weariness themselves. As they began a round of polite 'good mornings' Ginny perked up immeasurably, immediately engaging Dean in conversation. Hermione smiled to herself, leaving the two of them to their animated discussion and almost indecent longing glances, at least for this time of the morning, she turned her chair to speak to Neville. They chatted absently, while both stretched over the table to prepare their respective plates until Hermione remembered she had a couple of questions from their last Herbology lesson. She always got good marks in the subject, but it didn't come naturally to her like did to Neville, she found she had to do quite a lot of reading around the subject following lessons to make sure that she understood why the answers were correct. Taking the opportunity, she fired off her queries at Neville in her typical direct fashion, while rooting around in her bag to find a quill and a scrap of parchment to make a note of any advice. Neville answered her patiently and thoroughly, and Hermione smiled. "Thank you, Neville that was really helpful." And it had been, their quick chat had saved her a lot more time in the library later, she reached for her jam covered toast, and a thought occurred to her. "Would you mind being my study partner for Herbology sometime? I don't have the knack for it like you, and I could do with some additional pointers."
Hermione could have been imagining it but as she took her first bite she became aware of a sudden hush at the table around them. Neville went very pink, a dull flush spreading across his cheeks until the twin stains met on the bridge of his nose. "Of course Hermione. That would be... I mean… Yes! Yes, I would like that," he stammered, his voice sounding a little strange to her ears.
Hermione looked at him mildly confused, but when he wouldn't make eye contact with her, she dropped it, thanking him again before making her excuses to leave the table so she could finish getting ready for first class, swiping a piece of toast to wolf down on the way back to the Tower. It wasn't unusual for her to sit at the breakfast table only to be too absorbed in work to eat. As soon as she moved Ginny grabbed her arm to stall her progress, her friend animatedly rushing her toast and gulping down tea, before standing and dragging Hermione down the row of seats ignoring her sharp protests. Once they were in the corridor, Ginny pounced, pushing Hermione against the wall and holding her in place with her hands at her shoulders. "Hermione Jean Granger, what? I repeat what! Was. That?!" Ginny asked, her tone one of startled awe.
Hermione didn't know how to respond; she wasn't sure what Ginny was talking about, maybe she had picked up on Neville being a bit off as well and wanted the gossip. She looked at Ginny blankly for a couple of seconds before unconsciously biting her lip and looking upwards trying to puzzle it out. Ginny's body sagged and she relaxed her grip, her arms dropping back to her sides. "You don't even know, do you?" Ginny demanded, backing away further and shaking her head.
"Know what?" Hermione pressed.
"Never mind," she huffed out exasperatedly before stalking off, muttering under her breath. Hermione thought she heard her say something about 'being bloody blind' but she couldn't be certain, after all, she had excellent eyesight.
That evening Hermione set herself up in the common room, building herself a workstation out of cushions and the ample books in her bag. She was diligently making a list of potential texts for the first DA meeting when Harry fell into the chair next to her, so engrossed in her itemised parchment that she didn't notice him until he waved his hand in front of her face. She shot a quick peek at him, trying to decipher his mood, having managed to get through the whole day without dwelling on their fight she didn't want to have a repeat performance now. He didn't look angry; maybe he had forgiven her for her for voicing her misgivings?
"Sorry Harry, I was miles away," she said hesitantly, closing her book and laying the parchment on the coffee table.
"What were you thinking about?" he asked, eyes sweeping over the texts she had littered about herself.
"The DA," at his sharp look she quickly continued, "not about what I said before, and I am sorry about that. I know that it was my idea in the first place, but I cannot help wanting to be cautious. I don't want us to do anything that will lead to you getting more detentions with Umbridge," she explained gently, and Harry looked slightly appeased. "Anyway, as I said, it wasn't about that. There may be a small issue I initially overlooked. Another one," she admitted quietly. "I knew that you being the teacher would receive an enthusiastic response, but I didn't quite anticipate that there would be twenty-eight of us. With the new decree, an abandoned classroom isn't going to be secure enough, I need a new location idea."
Harry nodded and sat back in the armchair seeming lost in thought for several seconds before jumping unexpectedly and clapping his hands in front of himself "I have an idea… Dobby!" he called loudly. The enthusiastic elf appeared almost before Harry had finished calling for him, popping in the room with a loud crack, standing to look up at Harry, his wide glassy eyes full of admiration and expectation.
"Master called for Dobby?" He asked excitedly.
"Yes Dobby, err, thank you for coming," Harry replied awkwardly. Having given up trying to dissuade the small creatures loyalty he was still struggling with some of the formalities. "I need some help finding an area in the castle for a... club to... practice. It needs to be big enough for twenty-eight people, and it is vital that this place is secure. We cannot have anyone that is not a member of the club access the space; it's crucial that it remains secret. Do you think you can help?"
"Dobby knows of such a place," the little elf answered immediately, hopping from foot to foot struggling to control his eagerness. "Master Harry and Missy Hermy will follow me."
They followed Dobby to the seventh-floor corridor, barely able to keep up with him despite his small stature, until he stopped opposite a truly hideous tapestry depicting Barnabus the Barmy. Hermione wondered, and not for the first time, if the person responsible for art procurement at Hogwarts wasn't as mental as Voldemort himself. Harry turned to Dobby, awaiting further instruction. "You walk back and forth in this spot three times, thinking about what you need," Dobby informed him, hands clasped behind his back giving the impression that the intelligence he had divulged was of grave importance.
Hermione looked between them both incredulously, but Harry just shrugged. "Can't hurt." She watched as Harry did exactly as instructed and gasped aloud as a door came into view.
Dobby smiled brightly as a door appeared, his grin filled with an almost uncontainable glee at their reaction. "Dobby must go back to the kitchens now, needs to keep an eye on Winky."
"Yes, thank you Dobby," Harry replied stiffly, laying a hand on his shoulder. The little elf bowed low enough for his nose to virtually touch the stone floor and disappeared again, with an equally loud crack.
Both she and Harry took a step forward to examine the new addition to the corridor. The conjured door appeared to be solid, and was easily three times her height, the dark wood covered in thick bolts and brass tacks. Temporarily stunned, they stood back to stare at it until Harry looked back at her for a second then, mind made up, he squared his shoulders and pushed it inwards.
At first, she couldn't see anything, but after waiting for her eyes to adjust Hermione began to make out shapes. The room was vast and dark, with mirrored walls covering two sides of the space, there were target dummies all along one wall, and dozens of raised platforms that could be used for practice or presenting. A closer inspection revealed a mini reference library in one corner, filled with books on defensive and offensive magic that Hermione was sure she hadn't seen in the Hogwarts library. She mentally added reviewing it to her ever growing to do list and turned to inspect the instructional posters displayed on the far back wall. The signs depicted a broad range of useful instructions, from the correct posture for duelling, to the wand movements for charms, jinxes and defensive spells. The images on the slightly faded parchment shifted like wizarding photographs; the wand movements demonstrated in flashes of shimmering spell colour. Despite her five years in the wizarding world Hermione couldn't help but be slightly overcome by the incredible magic of the Room of Requirement.
"Wow," she breathed.
"Yeah, wow!" Answered Harry in an equally awed tone of voice, as he turned to face her, showing a face splitting grin. "Magic is awesome."
"Ha! Yes, it is!"
A week later Hermione once again found herself in the library. The date for the first official meeting of the DA was set, and now they had a place to meet all that was left on her list was to organise a safe way of communicating. The DA had attracted members from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, making the problem slightly more complex. Had it been all Gryffindors they could have covertly spread the word in the common room. For the first meeting, they were letting the other members know as inconspicuously as possible, in the corridors between classes, but they couldn't do that for long. Hermione had been coming up blank for days then, the previous evening, Ron had sought her out, without Harry. When he had appeared, walking over to her seat almost reluctantly while looking over his shoulder, she felt a cascade of butterflies in her stomach. It was a situation she had imagined many times before, and for a single moment, she wondered if he was going to make some kind of declaration. Almost as soon as the thought bubbled up she squashed it into a tiny ball, vowing not to read anymore Jane Austen for the rest of the year. The idea of someone like Ron, who only last year had opted for 'you're a girl aren't you', as a prelude to asking her to go to a ball with him, as a last resort, making an avowal of any kind was ridiculous. In fact what he wanted to talk about was Harry. It's what we always talk about, Hermione reminded herself sharply. He confessed that their friend was still having nightmares, despite Harry's repeated assurances to Hermione that they had disappeared. When confronted he had apparently insisted that he could handle it, though they had been becoming more frequent, this week occurring almost every night. Ron apparently felt ill at ease telling her but had pushed aside the consequences of his 'betrayal' down to worry.
Hermione managed to corner Harry by the fireplace and hour later. As gently as it was possible for her to do so, she asked him about how he was sleeping. He was reluctant, but she was nothing if not persuasive or at least persistent, and he eventually talked through some of them. Long dark corridors with softly glowing orbs featured heavily. His other visions were less abstract and more painful, night after night he was forced to relive the last task of the Triwizard Tournament, the night that Cedric had died. They had spoken about it before of course, but never in such detail and never with so much emotion from Harry. Hermione figured he was just so tired he couldn't hold it in as well as he normally did. She worried about what would happen when all of those repressed emotions started to surface.
It was only later when she was reflecting back on his words that she remembered how he had witnessed Voldemort summoning his Death Eaters. There was something in that. A summons would be a very effective way of getting everyone together. Though she was pretty sure branding the DA members might be a bridge too far, if a jinxed parchment could give her a morality crisis then a tattoo was unconscionable. Also, a summons was designed to call the person immediately, and she needed to create something that would send a message, not convey a command. After aligning her search to look at replication she hit upon the Protean charm, it was above her skill level, but that was nothing new. Checking her calendar, she realised that with a few late nights she would have just enough time to test a prototype before making them.
Revolutionary underground communication, tick.
Hermione watched with a warm knowing smile as the students entered the Room of Requirement, their faces reflecting the same admiration and wonder that herself and Harry had shared on her first visit. After a quick introduction, Harry got them to pair off to practice disarming each other. Despite his earlier reluctance, he hit his stride quickly, and even a few nasty comments on the 'basic level' of the syllabus didn't get a rise out of him. Hermione hoped this would be good for him, giving him an outlet for his rage and even more subtly slowly get him to understand that the fight wasn't his alone. They were all in this together, she suspected herself and Ron, if not everyone in the room, were in it to the bitter end.
After an hour and a half of being knocked on the floor by various jinxes and one particularly well-timed hex, Hermione was bone tired, and the rest of the room looked similarly peaked. Even with the knowledge that walking up the stairs tomorrow would be hard for her aching body, she still felt completely exhilarated. They were finally learning after weeks of pointless classes, they were preparing themselves for what loomed outside the castle walls, and they were infuriating Umbridge while doing it.
Looking around at the weary faces Harry called time and gathered everyone together. He praised the entire group for their efforts, even after only one session he already sounded so natural in the role of leader. He held up a Galleon and explained the charm Hermione had applied. It had seemed like a good object to use, though the Galleons were fake it would be very hard to determine that without close inspection, and they would be a relatively innocuous item for a member to have on their person if they were ever searched. Harry explained how he would send a message with the time of the next meeting, which would then be displayed on the coin face. When a new message had been sent the coin would grow warm to alert them.
"Protean Charm? But that's... that's N.E.W.T. standard, that is." Hermione heard Terry Boot say, and blushed fiercely at the compliment. Harry gave the command to leave in pairs, hoping the staggered departure would alleviate suspicion, and Hermione moved to find a partner when Terry stopped in front of her, blocking her path. "Would you like to partner with me Granger?" he gestured towards the members lining up by the door. "I wouldn't mind picking your brain on that Protean Charm. Very impressive work, not to mention the ingenuity required to have come up with it in the first place," he smiled at her, his eager words delivered earnestly.
Hermione could feel, to her horror, that she was turning an even darker pink. "Err thank you, Terry, it was nothing really," she stuttered out, her hands clutching awkwardly at the end of her sleeves. "I think Harry said something about travelling back with people from our own house, so that we can go the whole way to our common rooms together," she responded, slightly reluctantly. It wasn't often someone took an active interest in her academic pursuits.
The sentence was barely out of her mouth before Neville appeared, "Good idea Hermione, you can come with me, we best be off," he rushed out, turning them both around to face the door. "Boot, maybe you could walk back Luna yeah? See you next time," he called over his shoulder and with that she was bustled out of the doorway before she could manage a backwards glance.
The term went on, classes continued, and the DA met several more times. The weather began to get colder, and preparations were being made for the Christmas holidays. Hermione had been invited to stay at Grimmauld Place and had eventually accepted. Her parents would understand, she told herself, Harry was more important now. In any case, they had planned a skiing trip in France which would have been no fun for her, given her complete lack of coordination. Their destination choice made her feel better and worse all at once. She had never liked skiing, and they knew that, they weren't the kind of parents to subject her to an activity because they enjoyed it, which meant they had already banked on her making other plans. Hermione made her excuses, and promised to holiday with them over the summer, intimating that somewhere warm would be nice, hopefully conveying that she would make time for them then.
Two days before the Christmas break Hermione woke slightly later than normal, she had been burning the candle at both ends, trying to cram everything in, and now that classes were finished she was hoping to be able to catch up on some rest. She rushed herself getting ready and made it to the common room not twenty minutes later.
After waiting for nearly half an hour she had seen no sign of Harry, Ron or even Ginny. At length, Seamus came down the stairs and told her the boys weren't in their dorm. Maybe they had just assumed she had already gone down? It was unlike her to be late after all. But whatever rationale she considered, nothing removed the gut feeling that something was wrong, a feeling that was confirmed moments later when she walked into the Great Hall and was headed off by Professor McGonagall.
"Mr Weasley has been attacked," Professor McGonagall stated without preamble, once the door to her office had been closed and warded. "It was during the course of his work for the Order, which I will not be giving you any details about," she said sternly after Hermione's mouth had opened in question.
Her professor outlined what they knew about the attack, which wasn't much, but from the scant details they did have, it was impressed upon her just how serious Mr Weasley's condition was. Hermione felt sick to her stomach; she had always felt a strong affection for the Weasley patriarch. Despite his rigorous questioning on the Muggle world, he had treated her beyond kindly from their first introduction. After assuring Professor McGonagall, more than once, that she would keep all of this information entirely secret, she was told she could go.
As Hermione left the office she glanced at her watch; there were still thirty minutes left of breakfast, she knew she should try to eat something, though her stomach rolled in protest at the thought. Pushing discomfort aside she resolved to make an appearance; it was going to look suspicious enough that Ron and Harry weren't there, without her being missing as well.
Hermione found herself sitting at the house table minutes later without really being sure how she got there. The toast she was forcing down tasted like ash, but she kept taking sips of the tea to wash it down. What did it mean that Harry had that dream? What did it mean that he had seen it happen?
Later, once she had calmed down, she went up to the Astronomy Tower to hide and to think. Looking out of the window over the grounds she realised that she hadn't been asked to go. I'm not a Weasley and not even an honorary one like Harry, she reasoned with herself. Being left behind stung a little, though it hadn't been done deliberately, yet, in a way that made it worse. If it had been maliciously done, then they would have at least thought about her, and decided not to bring her, that it had been done unconsciously meant they hadn't even thought of her. She felt a surge of self-loathing to be having such thoughts at such a time. She was being over sensitive, selfish even. But her mind wouldn't stop churning over it, no matter how destructive the train of thought was. She couldn't help but consider how it might feel to be part of a family, a magical family, where she wasn't just one of the number but someone that held a definite place, a defined role within the group.
For now, Hermione resolved to keep away from her housemates in case she would have to answer too many questions about the boy's whereabouts. Then maybe finish her holiday assignments before leaving the castle. That way she could make the best use of the library and be of the most help to Molly when she got to Grimmauld Place. She had been looking forward to the break, but now she would have some extra time on her own, she supposed she could do some more work on her Patronus. Hermione would never say it out loud, but she was a little put out that she couldn't produce one yet. She had managed a lacklustre mist, but it never took corporeal form, not even close. She wanted to be able to do it so badly, partly because it was exactly the sort of beautiful magic that she dreamed of when finding out she was a witch, and she was very curious about what her animal form would be. That, and you don't like Harry being able to do something you can't, her mind whispered. Hermione sighed, sagging against the stone wall of the Tower, that too.
Hermione's departure day came around slowly, and when it finally arrived she woke bright and early. After wolfing down a quick breakfast, she was heading back towards Gryffindor Tower to pack the last of her trunk. She had been given special permission to use the floo in Professor McGonagall's office and wanted to ensure she was out of the castle long before Umbridge realised that she was not planning to use the Express. Hermione had managed to avoid the toad-like harridan entirely for the last two days, and she had no intention of being caught now. While rushing up the stairwell, she spied Luna moving in the opposite direction, like Hermione she was not in her uniform and was instead wearing a flamingo pink wrap dress with what appeared to be a necklace made out of radishes. "Hermione, I'm glad to see you, are you heading off too?" she inquired lightly.
"Yes, but I won't be on the Express, going via the floo," Hermione returned in a half whisper, her eyes scanning to make sure the corridor was as empty. She had no idea why she told Luna.
"Oh I know," Luna replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Do say hello to Harry, Ron and Ginny for me, I hope Mr Weasley is feeling better."
Hermione, alarmingly, felt almost no desire to ask Luna how she knew where she was going, or even about Mr Weasley. The girl could not have heard it from anyone in the castle, the Order had been too careful for that. She realised with the start that despite her reliance on logic and reason it appeared that she had accepted, on a level she wasn't even consciously aware of, that sometimes 'Luna just knew things'.
"I will, what are you doing for your holiday?" Hermione asked, changing the subject.
"Daddy and I are spending Christmas reviewing his compiled research on the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, we are hoping to narrow down the possible countries that would support a fully-fledged colony," Luna grinned.
Hermione tried to formulate a response that wasn't 'that sounds barmy,' "Lovely... Are they... very hard to find?" She asked politely, trying her best to push down the snort.
"Oh yes, if Daddy and I were to find proof of their existence it would make us quite famous, not that we would want to see them for that reason of course, but we feel our readers would be very interested," Luna explained earnestly.
"Then I wish you the best of luck in your research." Hermione might have thought what they were doing was complete gobbledegook but a Christmas of elective study sounded pretty great, maybe Luna wasn't quite as different as she thought. "I best go, I don't want to keep Professor McGonagall waiting."
"Just a second," Luna requested before reaching into her school bag and producing a small flat object wrapped in completely un-festive lurid yellow paper, tied with an elaborate purple bow. "Merry Christmas!" she declared brightly.
Hermione looked up at Luna's smiling face and back down to the proffered present and back up at her face again. She could feel her cheeks begin to heat. "Err, Luna… I'm so sorry I didn't know we were doing presents, I mean, I normally only by for the boys... I really-"
"Hermione," Luna interjected cutting off her babbling, "It's just a present," and with that she shoved it into Hermione's hand. Despite feeling terrible Hermione managed to thank her and wish her a Merry Christmas in return. Luna smiled, giving Hermione one of those looks that made her fidget then turned swiftly, skipping down the rest of the corridor.
Christmas at Grimmauld Place was a surprisingly lively affair, despite Mr Weasley being in the hospital, all of those in attendance went to great efforts to ensure everyone had the best possible holiday. Mr Weasley was released in time to join in with the Christmas day festivities and despite obviously being in some degree of pain, was clearly very glad to be out of the hospital and surrounded by his family.
Sirius, clearly overjoyed at having guests to distract him from his housebound state, went about the place with firewhisky in hand singing Christmas carols, loudly and way off key. He had even managed, after spending some time with him, to elevate Harry of some of the guilt he had been carrying about the attack. Hermione was very grateful. Harry listened to his godfather even more diligently than he would to Ron, and so when she handed her gift over to Sirius Christmas morning, she felt more at peace with the fact that she had brought him something, even though after his chastisement earlier in the year she had to resist the urge to wrap coal.
As Christmas day drew to a close, a very full, very weary Hermione said her goodnights and made to head upstairs to the room she shared with Ginny. Collapsing onto her bed fully clothed she disturbed the pile of open gifts at the end of her bed, and sighing she sat up so she could stack them on the floor. She had quite a haul this year, with a present from everyone in attendance barring Fred and George who had cornered her that morning.
"Well done on those fake Galleons Granger," Fred began.
"An exemplary bit of magic that was," George chimed in nodding his head at his Twin.
"So good in fact that it's prompted us to raise our game."
"Should I even ask?" Hermione questioned, trying and failing to hold back her laughter.
"Absolutely not," Fred replied suppressing his own but not the broad grin, mirrored on his brother's face.
"There is nothing better than a surprise Granger."
"We will have your Christmas present waiting for you back at the castle."
"So Merry Christmas," they sing-singed together, and Hermione felt slightly nervous about what could be in store.
While tidying, she came across her gift from Luna, a framed picture of the two of them sitting together, smiling and laughing in the central courtyard. The picture had been taken by Colin Creevy during the last term, and you could just make out the shape of their bodies due to the bundles of clothes they were wrapped in, their dark coats standing out in front of the frosty landscape. The frame was a simple, classic, silver band which shone with a high sheen. Hermione loved everything about it.
Hermione felt reasonably content. She, Harry and Ron had returned to Hogwarts rejuvenated following the Christmas break. The DA was organised, everyone was contactable, Umbridge was being kept at arm's length, and she had even followed her mum's advice and was trying to spend more time with girlfriends.
The talk in the common room had once again become very sports focused, but rather than lose her temper Hermione resolved to find Luna and post a letter to her parents containing her regular heavily edited version of events. For once it wasn't because she had wanted to omit what was happening, the Order had warned them over Christmas that it was highly likely that Umbridge was now checking their post, so it was better to be safe than sorry.
She found Luna upon entering the owlery, engaged in what appeared to be a fairly animated, albeit one-sided, conversation with a huge eagle owl. "Sorry to err...interrupt?" she began briefly wondering what the Hermione of a year ago would have made of her apologising for interrupting a conversation with an owl. "This is for you," she walked over to where Luna was standing and handed her a small red box with a tiny gold bow attached to the lid.
Over Christmas, she had agonised over what to get her friend and then came to the conclusion that the girl who gave her a picture of the two of them laughing together would appreciate a present that reflected heartfelt sentiment, rather than material value. After a lot of careful deliberation Hermione had made her a bracelet, it featured a simple, delicate silver chain, braided with narrow ribbons of ice blue and pale green, with a small moon charm added to the clasp. "Sorry again about before, I liked my Christmas present, it's on my bedside table in the dorm." Hermione watched as Luna opened the little box with almost reverential care and peered inside. "It's what Muggles call a 'friendship bracelet', or at least, that was the idea behind it. Typically they are made with bits of thread, but I thought this would be sturdier," Hermione explained. Luna made no response to either the package or Hermione's words; she didn't even lift her eyes. Hermione felt very exposed by the silence, she struggled a lot with this sort of thing, this is why boys as friends were so easy, there was no subtext, you didn't have to worry they didn't like a gift. She felt herself begin to ramble against her will, "I made one for Ginny too, but hers has different colours, I thought the blue would be good because of Ravenclaw, and your colouring, and I know it's a bit twee and maybe-"
"It's beautiful Hermione," Luna said, cutting her off, her voice sounding slight. She placed the bracelet on her slim wrist and charmed it closed, her too blue eyes looked glassy, but she was smiling. "Nobody has made me anything like this… not since… not since my Mum."
Hermione swallowed, she knew Luna had lost her mother while she was very young in a spell accident. She was suddenly desperate to turn the conversation onto a less emotional topic. "I'm glad you like it. Let's go down to the kitchens and get some hot chocolate, it's cold up here, and I can't get anything from the elves on my own," she linked her arm through Luna's, turning her head when the younger girl sniffed, and the girls descended the stairs together.
Hermione was on her way to the library the following day, the quickest route from the still elaborately decorated Great Hall taking her past Umbridge's office. Noticing a cluster of motionless students in front of her she huffed in annoyance and shoved her way to the front to see the obstruction. Looking down Hermione blinked twice to clear her vision, in the middle of the corridor, blocking the path and the door to Umbridge's office altogether, was a vast swamp, complete with gloopy, sludge brown water, a wide array of aquatic vegetation and if she wasn't mistaken she could hear bullfrogs. Thoroughly confused, she turned to go in the other direction, she did need to get to the library, and she did not want to be here when the toad… the toad HA! Got back. She allowed herself a smile before turning to leave when a glimmer caught her eye.
In the far corner of the swamp, obscured slightly by some leaves, was a tiny, shiny bow, in a festive bright green. Totally puzzled she stared at it, head tilted to the side for several seconds, she looked around at the group of students, but nobody else seemed to have noticed it, moving towards the swamp once more she watched, inexplicably transfixed, as the tiny bow sank slowly into the bog.
Later that evening when she got back to the common room she had forgotten about her diversion earlier in the day, the bizarre sight drawn from her mind by hours of advanced Arithmancy. Making to go straight up the stairs she paused when she noticed a new poster on the pin board.
WOW YOUR FRIENDS, DAZZLE YOUR FAMILY, MAKE YOUR ENEMIES GREEN WITH ENVY!
Weasley Wizard Wheezes presents its newest innovation:
The Portable Swamp
One tiny box, when activated by the charm within, will create a life-size, realistic mud filled swamp.
Upgraded to include sound*
If you have a hankering to see this product in action we are reliably informed that you should head to the 4th floor.
Order now to avoid disappointment.
*no actual bullfrogs are used in this product.
Hermione smiled, Merry Christmas indeed.