The Quidditch game on Saturday was one of the most brutal and intense games Hermione had ever seen. The Slytherins were playing dirty, using purposeful fouls strategically and cheating at every chance they got. The Gryffindors played with a fierce intensity Hermione hadn't seen, and the game seemed like it was constantly neck and neck. If Draco hadn't told Hermione the odds were so heavily in favor of Gryffindor, she would have thought Slytherin might actually win.
They didn't, though – the Gryffindor Chasers proved supreme, Harry caught the Snitch, and the game ended at 230-20, a score that didn't seem at all as close as the game had felt when it was all over.
Draco was noticeably absent from the Slytherin common room that night, something even Blaise remarked upon.
"He's not the one who's at fault," he commented. "It was Flint's dumb strategy to use the Beaters as offense on the wrong players. Malfoy did the best he could."
"Yeah, but Flint's not exactly going to own up to it, is he?" Millie said, eyes glinting. "He's just going to storm about in front of the fireplace, posing and being mad all night. Draco's smart to avoid being the scapegoat."
"I bet Flint's considering failing his exams," Tracey said, giggling. "You know, purposefully being held back so he can try and win the Quidditch Cup again next year."
"Harry will still be Seeker. Does he think he would really stand much of a better chance?" Hermione snickered.
"Well, he's already been held back once before, hasn't he? He's clearly not the smartest, so he might…"
"Jade's been on edge all night," Blaise remarked, nodding over to where the Head Girl was helping a fifth year. "Gryffindor got a bunch of house points for winning the Quidditch Cup. If she doesn't get House Cup all seven years running, I think she might murder someone."
"But Flint or Potter?" Millie said. "Who would she want to kill?"
"Five sickles on Flint," Tracey said immediately. "It's not Harry's fault Slytherin lost; he's just why Gryffindor won."
"That is the same thing," Hermione argued, but she was drowned out by a chorus of "No, it's not" from the others.
"Anyway," Hermione said, forcefully pulling the conversation away from Quidditch. "Draco isn't even here tonight. He's off the grounds."
"He is?" Tracey was surprised. "Is that allowed?"
"It is if he's doing certain tasks." Blaise's eyes cut over to Hermione. "What's he doing?"
"Hopefully, charming the silver out of some of the Sacred 28," Hermione said. "Next full moon is Monday night."
Blaise nodded slowly, considering.
"That's a good use for him," he said. "It leverages his status and strengths, and it'll help expose him to the people he's supposed to be protecting." He glanced at Hermione. "Is he going to help them on Monday night?"
"That's the goal," Hermione said, shrugging. "We'll see how well he does."
"If it relies on him talking to the common people and being likeable?" Millie snorted. "Five sickles on 'not well at all'."
Time almost seemed to speed up. Draco's trip to help the hedgewitches had been a success; he'd had little trouble getting the silver from his peers, and the hedgewitches had given him the direction he needed to help with the ritual Monday night.
"They were preparing all day Monday," he told Hermione later, in tones of amazement. "I saw your parents there, that evening. Apparently, they came to help organize even though they were muggles."
That was entirely unexpected to Hermione. "They did?"
Draco nodded. "One of the girls – Clover, I think – owled them directly and asked if they could borrow the equipment your folks had brought last time. Your parents apparently decided to just show up and help out themselves." He paused. "Your father seemed really excited. He was thrilled to get to handle the runes and help distribute them this time. He kept hoping there would be an extra one that he could keep as a souvenir."
Hermione laughed. That certainly sounded like her father. She'd have to owl her parents later to get the full story.
The Daily Prophet continued to blast sensationalist headlines during the lead up to Sirius Black's trial. They managed to get some of the facts correct, like how Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew's trials would be held almost simultaneously, with one right after the other, so testimony wouldn't need to be given twice. But many of the headlines were entirely speculative – for example, there was no indication that Sirius Black would try and annul Narcissa's marriage to Lucius if he was declared innocent and became the official Head of House Black (was that even possible?), but the way the paper wrote sometimes, they made it seem like an imminent threat, heavily implying Lucius Malfoy would vote against Sirius regardless of the truth in order to preserve his marriage.
Soap opera drama and outrageous headlines sold papers, Hermione figured. But it was irritating all the same.
Letters from Fleur came more frequently, now. Fleur had been excited at the prospect of Hermione sneaking out to visit her, and now that May was rapidly approaching, letters to plan out the logistics of everything that would need done were being traded back and forth daily. Blaise raised his eyebrow every time he saw a raven with a gleaming blue-black head descend to drop a scroll on Hermione's lap, often making her flush, but he didn't say a word about it, though his eyes gleamed.
Hermione was reading her latest letter from Fleur when an envelope was dropped on to her lap one morning, startling her. She hadn't been expecting another letter.
"What's that?" Tracey asked. "Whose crest is a frog?"
"No idea," Hermione said, opening it.
Dear Hermione Granger,
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dmitri Forrester, and I am Grand Product Officer here at Charming Chocolates. You may know us by our most popular product, Chocolate Frogs.
We are intending on doing a limited run of white chocolate frogs for next winter, with limited edition collectible cards honoring young witches and wizards who accomplished great things as children. Your name has come up several times in discussions, and we would like to include you as the Heroine of Hogwarts within this collection.
Please note that the cards in this limited-edition collection will not be considered Official Chocolate Frog Cards, as those are only done for fully-grown witches and wizards who have accomplished great things. Any listing of being included on a chocolate frog card on a CV must include the detail of the card being from a 'special run' to indicate it is not part of the Official Chocolate Frog Card Complete Collection. Being on a special run card will in no way disqualify you from being on an Official Chocolate Frog Card in the future, should you accomplish something great as an adult, but this card should not be considered an Official Chocolate Frog Card.
If you would like to be included in this special run of chocolate frog cards, please write back and let us know. We would like to schedule you for a photography session and copy review session over the summer to allow us sufficient time to prepare for the winter launch.
Best wishes,
Dmitri Forrester
CPO of Charming Chocolates
Amused, Hermione passed the letter to Tracey, who scanned it before she started laughing.
"Please do this important thing for us, Hermione," she said, putting on a snooty voice as she passed the letter to Blaise, "but know that it's actually not important or special at all."
"Right?" Hermione snickered. "You'd think a limited run card would be more special, because it'd be harder to get in the long run."
"Maybe it will be." Tracey shrugged. "I didn't know they seriously curate a special official collection of cards. I wonder if that can be looked up anywhere?"
"Are you going to do it?" Blaise asked.
"Sure," Hermione said, grinning. "How could I pass this up?"
"Even though your card won't be official?" Tracey snickered.
"Are you sure?" Blaise asked, teasing. "Your dentist parents won't be horrified at their daughter's photo being included with a sweet?"
Hermione paused. "…actually, they might."
Blaise and Tracey both laughed heartily at that.
"We'll have to figure out how to do your hair and what to have you wear," Tracey mused. "Think robes made from basilisk skin would be too much?"
"It's a limited-edition card," Blaise said dryly. "It's already going to be ostentatious and flashy, I expect."
"Should I pose with my sword?" Hermione asked, amused. "Ernie took photos of the basilisk's head, I think. We could get one of those and have them combine the photos to look like I just cut it off."
"Is that a thing?" Tracey asked, surprised. "Can wizarding photography do that?"
"No idea," Blaise said, shrugging. "You'd have to ask the obnoxious Gryffindor kid with the camera."
Hermione wrote back in the affirmative, and promptly let the matter drop from her mind. She wouldn't need to worry about it until after exams.
April also held another surprise for Hermione: the consultation of a press release about her coven.
"Milan's doing so well," Jade said, genuinely smiling. "She's so excited, reading up on how to nurse the baby and what to feed her. We're looking for flats near Saint Mungo's, and she's sketching out how she wants to design the nursery."
Hermione laughed.
"Pregnancy not so bad now that you're not the one carrying it?" she teased, and Jade had the grace to look abashed.
"I didn't handle that well, did I?" she sighed. "Look. All I can say, Granger, is when you've planned your life deliberately around never getting pregnant, suddenly finding yourself knocked up is incredibly upsetting." She grimaced. "Water under the bridge now, I hope? Milan is glowing, and the Healing spells we've used indicate everything's going okay."
"Are you excited?" Hermione asked pointedly. "I know Milan's excited, but are you?"
"I mean, I'll be honest; I'm more excited at getting to stay with Milan," Jade said frankly. "Having a kid… that's something I never thought I could have, you know? It was always out of reach, so I never thought about it. It's a new idea. But…" She trailed off, looking into the distance, before clearing her throat. "I mean, I'm not opposed to it. I think it'll be neat, having a daughter with Milan, a little person to raise and teach." A small smile crept onto her lips. "Maybe she'll be Head Girl too, someday."
Hermione smiled softly. It was cute, to see a softer side of Jade.
"Anyway…" Jade cleared her throat. "We're going to make the pregnancy announcement on Beltane. The plan is to tell Madame Pomfrey that Milan is pregnant and request she be seen at Saint Mungo's. At Saint Mungo's, they can do the paternity/maternity spells to confirm whose child it is, and when it comes out that it's mine, someone will undoubtedly leak it to the press." She smiled wryly. "When they demand to have us answer questions, how do you want us to refer to your coven? What level of detail should we go into?" She smirked. "Should we mention your consulting rate for other inquiring couples?"
Hermione laughed. "I don't know. Let me check with my coven and see what they think."
It seemed everyone seemed to be planning for Beltane, to Hermione – including the House Elves this year.
"It is being in our contract," Tolly told Hermione happily. "We is planning on making traditional feast foods. And Dumbledore is just going to be sucking on an egg if he is not liking it."
Tolly had regretfully told Hermione that the goblins were not willing to pass the Philosopher's Stone through the House Elves, but they would let her go to her vault on Beltane if she went to Gringotts.
It was yet another thing to do on an already very full day, but a crucial one, so it was with a sigh Hermione added it to her list nonetheless.