POV of Hermione Granger
About ten minutes after Professor McGonagall disappeared towards the castle with James, Madam Hooch returned to declare the lesson over. Parvati and Bella, in particular, couldn't hide their disappointment. Ariana, however, seemed to be the only one who actually looked relieved that our first flying attempts were postponed by a week. Since we didn't expect James to return, we said goodbye to Bella and made our way to the common room. The walk there felt strange: I walked between a dejected-looking Parvati and an almost happy Ariana. I, on the other hand, was worried about James. Even though his action had been absolutely thoughtless and reckless, he had meant well. After all, he just wanted to return Neville's Remembrall safely.
'Caput Draconis,' Parvati's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. We climbed through the hole behind the portrait of the Fat Lady and entered the common room. Together with Ron, we sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace. Since everyone, except for a handful of older students, still had classes, the common room wasn't very busy. Ariana and I chatted while Parvati and Ron started playing chess. I was just practicing Transfiguration with Ariana—teaching her the spell from last lesson—when someone entered the common room. I looked towards the portrait hole and, to my surprise, saw a soaking wet James. He saw us and headed our way. 'What happened to you?' Parvati asked him amusedly. 'First,' I said before James could answer, 'we need to dry your clothes, or you'll drip all over us.' I pulled out my wand and pointed it at James. After just a few seconds, he was completely dry again. 'Thanks, Hermione,' he said, then began to explain: 'Professor McGonagall didn't intend to punish me at all. She wanted to introduce me to the Quidditch captain of our house team. He said I should come to the tryouts next Saturday to show what I can do. If I'm better than the others applying for the Seeker position, I'll be accepted into the house team!' 'But... First-years never make it onto the house team! We're not even allowed to bring our own brooms to Hogwarts!' Parvati interjected. 'I know,' James replied, starting to grin. 'Now I just have to convince Wood that I'm really the best choice. Neville hasn't shown up yet, has he?' We just shook our heads in response to the last question. 'Well, then I'll go visit him in the hospital wing and give this back to him.' He pulled out Neville's Remembrall from his robe pocket for demonstration. At that moment, the white mist in the small glass ball turned dark red. James looked at the ball thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged and put it back in his pocket. He was about to leave when Ariana suddenly jumped up and shouted, 'Wait, I'll come with you!' She was probably worried about Neville and wanted to know how he was doing. After all, the thought of someone getting hurt had already upset her incredibly.
Since my conversation partner was now gone, I watched Ron and Parvati play chess. I knew how the pieces moved but had never played before. After the game, Ron, who had just won, challenged me to a match. Thinking chess couldn't be too hard, I agreed. It turned out I didn't have a particularly good understanding of the logic behind the game, so I lost after just a few moves. Ron was grinning so broadly after his two consecutive victories that I suggested playing something else. 'Okay, what do you suggest?' he asked directly. How about Skat?' I proposed. 'I don't know that game, you'll have to explain it first,' Ron replied. So I explained the rules and then realized, 'We need a third player. What about you, Parvati?' 'No, I'll pass,' she said, then got up to sit on one of the windowsills. While I was still considering who else might join us, Dean Thomas, who was also in our year, came over. He mentioned he was Muggle-born and had often played Skat with his parents, so I didn't need to explain the rules again. Playing with the two of them was so much fun that we completely lost track of time and only stopped when Parvati called out that we should head down to dinner before we missed out on food.