Hermione woke up. The alarm clock on her trunk was giving off a loud and irritating beep. She picked it up and threw it away from her. It cleaved the air in a graceful arc and slammed against the wall. It broke apart immediately, which sent parts of it flying through the room.
"Finally up, huh?" Parvati said coolly, "It is ten to eight by the way."
"What?" Hermione whined, "That gives me just ten minutes to get up, get dressed and get something eat before my class begins! Why didn't you wake me up?"
Lavender walked into the room, looking smug. "We didn't want to disturb your beauty sleep..."
Hermione got up. She quickly got into the clothes she'd worn yesterday and stormed into the bathroom. She had been busy all night, trying to find the answer to Ron's riddle. It had proven to be rather hard, so she had been working on it until she heard the clock strike five and had called it a night.

Her hair was standing on end at one side. She had probably been sleeping on it again, which proved problematic. When she'd been sleeping on her hair, it took her ages to get it into a somewhat presentable model. Immediately, she shoved her head under the shower in order to soak it down. This approach really seemed to work, since her hair went limp immediately. After drying it up quickly with a towel and picking the sleep out of her eyes, she ran back into the dormitory.
No time for make-up today. Ron'll be disappointed.
Hermione whipped out her wand and pointed it at her bag, her bed and the remains of her alarm clock. Her bag immediately filled with the correct books, a long piece of parchment flew into her hands and her alarm clock mended itself. Before the last piece of it had mended and it had popped back onto her trunk, Hermione had closed the door behind her and stuffed the parchment in her pocket.

She stormed down the stairs. She still had three minutes to get from the Gryffindor Common room, in one of the towers of Hogwarts, down to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Snape would certainly take points from Gryffindor if she were late. Hermione raced through the corridors and sprinted down to the door. It was still open. She was going to make it!

Snape slammed the door shut. Hermione fell onto her bottom after skidding to a halt against it. A loud bang echoed through the corridor. Snape re-opened the door with a wide, mirthful smile on his face.
"Why miss Granger, was that you knocking on my door?"
Immediately, his smile turned back into the emotionless face he usually wore in class.
"Take your seat. I'll be lenient and won't take points from Gryffindor for your lateness."
Hermione looked at him in mild confusion. Snape had never let an opportunity go to take points from Gryffindor.
"Unfortunately," he continued, "I will take ten points for damaging my door."
Hermione looked at Snape with a baleful stare. Not only had he taken points from Gryffindor, he had also made her look stupid.

Hermione felt the eyes of everyone fixed upon her as she walked towards the table where Ron and Harry were sitting, rubbing the bruise on her forehead. Ron looked infuriated, and by the signs of it, had been restrained by Harry from acting on his fury. His face was reddened and his eyes looked at Snape with even more malice than her own.
"You're late?" Harry asked quietly, "You're never late! What happened?"
"I overslept," Hermione mouthed back angrily as she got her quill and parchment from her backpack, "I thought that was obvious!"
Harry rolled his eyes. Ron coughed rather loudly, signalling that Snape was looking in their direction. Harry and Hermione quickly got into writing position and started to write down what Snape was telling them.

It was a rather uneventful class, wherein they were scribbling down everything Snape was telling them. Hermione had read all of it before, as Snape was quoting directly from several of the standard books about non-verbal spells, such as 'Supreme Silence' by Prewett and Prewett, 'Sourcery' by Pratchett and 'Unarticulated Miracles' by goblin bishop Tak of Hando. Hermione realized she was drifting off with her concentration. She fondled with the parchment she had summoned to herself in the bedroom. That night, she had been reading the riddle over and over for hours, memorizing it completely. She had broken down the riddle into several small parts and written down objects that could possibly be described by it. This had resulted into a list of more than fifty objects. She had scanned the list quickly; noticing none of the objects appeared on each line before falling asleep.

Harry nudged her side. She snapped out of her thoughts, noticing Harry was holding a crumpled piece of paper. She quickly took it into her hands and shoved it into her pocket, together with the parchment holding answers to the riddle. She had spent too many hours in a classroom with Snape to know that reading a note could immediately result into the loss of points for Gryffindor. She would wait for an opportune moment to read the note.

That moment came when Snape walked up to Parvati, who had been whispering to Lavender. While Snape was asking them what they found so interesting to discuss, she quickly unfolded the note in her pocket. She looked down to it. It was from Ron, saying:

"Dear Hermione,

Are my eyes deceiving me or have you actually lost concentration?
How long have you been up, trying to solve my riddle?

- Ron"

Hermione glanced sideways at Ron, who was staring fixedly at his parchment, though a suppressed grin flashed upon his face momentarily. It vanished as quickly as it appeared. Hermione scribbled a five on the parchment. She paused momentarily, realizing she had spent six hours on the riddle already. She also realized she had only slept for three.

The rest of the class had been a complete waste of time for her. Most people were actively writing on their parchments. They had probably not read the books Snape was quoting from, so everything was new to them. Hermione on the other hand had read all of it before, so her concentration began to wander. She began thinking about Ron again, as she did so often these days. She thought about how much fun it had been to keep him busy with the riddles. At first, she only thought it was a bit of fun, but it really seemed to get the best out of him. They really seemed to motivate him.
That it drove him and Lavender apart was just an added bonus.

After her classes, Hermione walked down to the library. She was determined to solve the riddle as soon as possible, if only to catch up on her sleep after telling Ron the answer. She walked down to the end of the library, sitting down at 'her' table. She always sat there, because it was close to the restricted section and far away from others. She had spent days there, looking in the library and reading the most interesting of books. She folded out the parchment and looked down the list of words. Then, she turned the paper around, reading the riddle on the back.

"Rooted firmly in the ground, I am an unmovable force.
yet I can outrun anyone, even people on a horse.
Up and down, left and right, my movements so cliché.
But when we meet, I guarantee, it'll be touché!"

"Rooted firmly in the ground," Hermione thought, "that must indicate something solid, like a building, or a tree. But trees can't run, and neither do buildings."
It had been those lines that had kept Hermione confused. Every time she thought she had found a suitable answer for one line, another contradicted it.
"Perhaps it's a word that has two meanings, or an object that has two names."

Hermione spent nearly an hour, pondering over possible answers to the first two lines. Her mind began to wander again, thinking about her own riddles. She had never expected Ron to solve the first riddle on his own, even with all the hints she had put into the text. She had used one of the earliest methods of encryption, devised by Caesar to send coded messages to his troops. Using the chessboard made it easier for Ron to-

Chess...
people on a horse...
Merlin, it's so easy, why didn't I see it before. A tower! An unmovable force, moving over the board faster than knights do and in cliché movements, and when it hits another piece, it fights..

Hermione closed her eyes. She couldn't wait to tell Ron she'd finally cracked it. She imagined Ron, beaming down on her and congratulating her. She had never told anyone, but she really needed that confirmation about her abilities a lot. Hermione wasn't as self-secure as everyone thought. She was just a girl, whom had a reputation of 'best of the class' to uphold. She had spent hours upon hours in the library, just for that reason. Whenever Harry or Ron told her she was 'brilliant' or 'a genius', she would feel more secure about herself and her abilities. She had felt euphoric for a week when she had heard that Harry had called her 'the best of his year' to Slughorn.

Her insecurities had been worst in her first years on Hogwarts. She had read every book she could find, afraid that she would be lousy at magic. She had no friends, so she had all the time in the world to spend in the library. Becoming friends with Ron and Harry had been great, but also increased her insecurity. Ron came from a large wizarding family. He had grown up with magic and knew all about the wizarding world. Harry was 'the boy who lived', and he too had magic in his bloodline. Both of them were wizards because their parents had been. Hermione had felt she was 'only muggleborn'. She learned quickly that magic was more about motivation than family, but the insecurities she had about her abilities still plagued her sometimes.

Hermione took the parchment and stuffed it into her bag. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and stormed out of the library. Once outside, she quickly steered herself towards the Gryffindor common room. The fat lady was merrily drinking a glass of wine with her friend Vivian when Hermione arrived.
"Morituri Nolumus Mori", Hermione said.
It had no effect. The fat lady had been drinking again and was pretending not to hear her.
"Morituri Nolumus Mori", Hermione said louder.
Still no effect. Hermione was getting irritated.
She drew her wand. Placing it by her mouth, she whispered: "Sonorus".
"MORITURI NOLUMUS MORI", Hermione said, her voice magnified by a hundredfold.
This certainly had its desired effect. The fat lady jumped up so high, she momentarily appeared in the painting above her.
"My word!" She said, when she opened up, "I was only closing my conversation with Vivian. Kids these days, no respect for elders!"
Hermione climbed into the common room. All eyes were fixed upon her.
"What?", she said innocently, knowing that everyone had heard her booming voice through the door.

Ron was playing wizard's chess with Harry. He had Harry down to three pawns, his king and both bishops. They were trembling and shaking as Ron's queen, both his knights, his remaining tower and seven pawns were tauntingly cracking their fingers or menacingly sharpening their swords. It didn't look like Harry was very happy about this. His pieces were squabbling to each other about who had to stand in front of king, to protect him from being taken by the queen.
"Hi you guys," Hermione said merrily. Ron smiled at her happily, while Harry merely gave her a small, sorrowful glance. He was prodding an unwilling pawn forward, sacrificing it for the greater good. The pawn was scolding at Harry, telling him he was a lousy strategist, while Ron was happily shaking hands with his queen. Hermione stood behind him, leaning over him to whisper into his ears.
"Why mister Weasley," she hummed, "I do believe your Tower is exposed..."
The effect was immediate. Ron sat up straight, turned scarlet and glanced nervously down. He turned his head around, nearly causing his nose and lips to brush passed her face. Hermione could feel the warmth of his breath on her skin. He smiled.
"Took you long enough," he whispered in her ear softly, "I was starting to think you wouldn't be able to solve it."

"What are you two muttering to each other about?" Harry asked glumly as Ron's Queen trampled over his pawn.
"Just basic chess strategy," Ron lied calmly, "Nothing fancy."
Hermione smiled secretly. Ron was looking down on his pieces again, while she was still standing over him, smelling his scent. Ron smelled like vanilla and teak, like he always did these days. It was a pleasant mix, Hermione thought, suiting him well.
"I'm going to catch up on my sleep," she muttered into his ear, "You've kept me up longer than usual last night."
Ron flashed red immediately. He looked at her in shock when she left.
"Boys," Hermione thought as she climbed the stairwell, "They can't stop thinking about that one thing, can't they?"