A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows on this story despite the long long wait between updates! I know, I know... I always mean to update and I never do. But, I do have the rest of the story mapped out, so I will get to it... eventually, I swear! You can find me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter five and be on the lookout for chapter six!
After dinner, Hermione laid in her bed, exhausted from the day that she had. She was still annoyed with her friends, tricking her into messing around on the Quidditch pitch, but she also couldn't get her discussion with Pucey out of her mind. He'd certainly given her a lot to think about with regards to Salazar Slytherin.
It was enough to give her pause in running back into the past to hang out with the Founders once again.
Nibbling her lower lip, she thought about how all the other Gryffindors would be down at the Three Broomsticks, seeing as it was Friday night. Hermione knew that it meant she was going to have to spend time with Ron, Ginny and Lavender, but she also knew that maybe it would be good for her to unwind with them a little bit.
Decision made, Hermione wanted to get up and out of the castle before she talked herself out of it. She bounded down the stairs into the Common Room, hoping to catch the trio before they left, only to find that it was already empty. She knew that she shouldn't hold it against them — would she really have said yes if they'd asked her if she wanted to come? — but she couldn't help the little pang of hurt to know that they were happy to go on without her.
The walk across the Hogwarts ground was crisp and refreshing and before she knew it she was standing in front of the Three Broomsticks once again. Pushing open the door, she slipped inside and walked to the bar, ordering herself a firewhisky. A bit of a bold choice, she normally didn't drink more than a butterbeer, but she wanted to try something different.
Glass in hand, she looked around the little bar for her friends, only to find the three of them tucked back in a corner booth. Ginny was chatting away with one of the locals while Ron and Lavender seemed to be deep in conversation, pressed close to one another.
"Hey guys," Hermione said in greeting.
Ron looked up in surprise at her voice and practically shoved Lavender away from him. "Hermione, what are you doing here?" he asked, his voice a semitone higher than it usually was.
She laughed, taking a sip of the firewhiskey. It burned, but it was pleasant, warmth spreading from her stomach out into her extremities. "You don't sound that pleased to see me," she quipped, before sliding into the booth with them. "I wanted to show you that I could have a bit of fun, unwind a bit... so long as it wasn't during volunteering hours."
"I thought your volunteering hours usually went well past midnight," Ron said, with a sour look on his face.
"Midnight? What could you possibly be doing so late, Hermione?" Lavender asked, cocking her head to the side.
"Oh, it's not actual work. Hermione keeps insisting that she's found some sort of way to talk to the Founders," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "I think that so much time in the library is making her delusional."
Lavender tittered away, while Hermione felt her cheeks go hot. It felt as if Ron was making fun of her, but the way he spoke to Lavender was like she wasn't even there. It was like they were having their own little conversation.
"Well, I'm here now," Hermione insisted, forcing a grin on her face. She wasn't going to let them know that it bothered her. "What were you talking about?"
Ron and Lavender looked at each other for a moment, a look passing between them. Hermione felt her stomach turned the longer that the silence stretched on and wondered why she was so bad at making small talk with her own classmates, but not someone like Salazar Slytherin.
"Oh, just what we are going to do after school," Lavender finally said, breezily. "Ron's going to be at the Auror Academy as I am sure you know and I've accepted a position at the Daily Prophet where people can write in with questions and I will use divinations to give them answers."
Godric, that sounded fucking awful. But Hermione didn't say that. She gave her former roommate a tight smile. "That's wonderful news, Lavender," she said. "I look forward to reading it." No, she fucking didn't.
"And what are you going to do after this little volunteer project concludes?" Lavender asked her, her jealousy barely hidden. "I am sure that you have tons of options, being as smart as you are and a war heroine to boot."
That took all the wind out of her sails. Hermione did have offers but she felt nowhere nearer to knowing what she wanted to do with her life. "Oh," Hermione said, cursing herself when she realized that her cheeks had gone red with embarrassment. "I, um, I still am not entirely sure. I've got so many offers, like you said, and I haven't decided where I am going to end up."
Ron snorted at her. "Hermione, when are you going to stop dicking around and just agree to join the DMLE like Harry and me?" he demanded. "You know that it's where you are going to end up anyway."
"You don't know that," Hermione said, heatedly. She hated when Ron tried to plan out her future — their future, as he was so fond of reminding her — and it made her just want to dig in her heels even further. "I was thinking about pursuing a mastery, maybe. I don't know if I'm ready to be done with school."
Admitting that out loud made Hermione feel like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. But, she didn't miss the look that Ron and Lavender shared. Like she was the most peculiar little bug that they'd ever seen.
"How odd," Lavender said, snidely. "I can't imagine that. I've been counting down the days to being graduated basically since I sat my OWLs!" she added with a laugh.
Hermione had to bite her lower lip, to stop from snapping at Lavender that she didn't even care what someone who believed so completely in divinations thought about her or what she did. Suddenly, she wanted to be very far away from Lavender. Turning, she looked at Ron, wondering if she could get him to spend a little time together, so they could talk openly and honestly.
"Ron, I'm not really enjoying myself here," she said, giving him a significant look. "What do you say to walking me back to the Gryffindor Common Room? We could spend a little time alone together, as I know you've been looking forward to."
"Oh, you know, I wish I could Hermione," Ron said, waving her off. "But, the timing just won't work out. I've promised to go dancing with Ginny and Lavender and I just couldn't back out now. Sorry." He didn't sound very sorry.
"Dancing?" Hermione repeated, feeling herself deflate a bit.
"Yeah, but, I know that you aren't much for dancing," he said, his words coming out in a rush. "And, like you said, you aren't really having a good time. You should still go back. Maybe get some rest. We will see you tomorrow at breakfast, yeah?"
"Are you sure?" she asked, feeling like she'd stepped into some sort of alternate reality.
"Positive," Ron said, a big grin on his face. "Goodnight, 'Mione."
"Well, okay then," she said, standing up from the booth. She slammed what was left in her glass, before leaving the Three Broomsticks. She started on the long trek back to the castle. Only, the problem was, she wasn't exactly tired — she just hadn't wanted to spend another minute with Lavender's stupid face. She didn't think that she could go to sleep if she went back to the Common Room now.
By the time that she was back at the castle, her mind was made up. She headed for the corridor that would take her back to Helga's never ending party.
She knocked on the door and was greeted by Nimue, who waved her in the room. Looking around, Hermione was surprised to see that it was a smaller party than usual. "Quiet night?" she asked the other witch, who was pleased to see her again.
"Godric decided to put together a hunting party at the last minute, so many of them went out riding about a week ago," Nimue explained with a dreamy sigh.
"Hunting?" Hermione asked. "What are they hunting, exactly?"
"Oh, just deer, but I know Godric is looking for an elusive Qilin that has been sighted near the school," she said, rolling her eyes. "I guess he thinks it will determine him to be pure of heart. Or that is his hope. But, come, Rowena has been wanting to meet you and I see her just over there!"
"Oh, I'm sure that she has much better things to do than to speak to me," Hermione tried to demure, but Nimue was pulling her over to where the pretty witch was waiting, speaking to another couple.
Suddenly, she was standing in front of the stately looking witch and was so taken aback by her beauty. Her raven black hair was pulled back in a heavy plait and she looked beautiful in her blue and silver robes. Her gaze swept over Hermione's face and you could practically see the intelligence in her eyes. "So, you are the witch that they call Hermione?" she asked.
Hermione felt a giddy laugh bubble up in her chest. "You know me? You really know me?" she asked. "Wow, I can't believe it. You are Rowena Ravenclaw and you know who I am."
"Yes, Salazar has mentioned you. It seems like you quite amuse him," Rowena said with a hint of a smirk. "And, he mentioned that you seemed rather intelligent as well. He suggested that we meet. And well, any witch that Salazar deigns to mention is worth knowing, in my book."
"Wow," Hermione said. She wasn't sure that she and Salazar had that sort of...relationship. She couldn't deny the warm feeling that spread in her stomach to know that she'd made such an impression on the wizard. "I didn't know that I'd made such an impression."
"Have you met my acquaintances? This is Cassian the Red and Odelgarde of Kent," she said, sweeping her arm to the side. "And, you know Nimue of course."
"Oh, pleased to meet you," Hermione said, still so in awe of everyone she came across. Cassian the Red (owing to his red hair, she thought) was called the Grim in her time because he had a habit of predicting nothing but doom and gloom in his divinations, while Odelgarde was seen as the actual brains behind her husband, the Minister of Magic, once she married him. Based on how closely they stood, it seemed as though Cassian and Odelgarde were very much involved at the moment. Seeing the lusty glances they kept giving each other made her stomach twist as it almost reminded her of...
"Tell me, Hermione, what is on your mind tonight?" Rowena asked, handing her a horn of ale. "You have a sadness about you."
Before she even realized that she was doing it, Hermione was telling her all about Ron. "Trouble with my boyfriend, Ron," she said, her voice squeaking a bit over the word. "I thought that this summer would be a good time for us to figure things out together, but I feel even further apart from him than ever."
"Boy-friend? What does that mean?" Nimue asked, saying the two words like they were strange to put together.
That got Hermione to smile a little. "Oh, you know, we are together," she said, trying to figure out what the medieval equivalent would be. "Together."
"He is your lover?" Odelgarde asked, like she was talking about the weather.
Hermione choked a bit. "No, we haven't done that yet, but maybe sometime in the future," she explained. "I had actually... more or less offered to take our relationship to that level tonight, but he instead decided to remain with another friend, Lavender, so that they could go dancing. They have been spending a lot of time with one another and well, they are always talking with one another and have little jokes now. I don't know, I guess."
"It sounds as though your boy-friend has found another lover," Rowena said smartly.
Her cheeks went red at the suggestion and Hermione wanted to deny that, but maybe Rowena had a point? Ron and Lavender had seemed awfully chummy lately. But, what was more surprising was how little it bothered her to imagine it. Did she even love Ron at all? She wasn't even sure that she did. It felt like their lives were just... on different paths. It felt like he was always asking her to make compromises to match his lifestyle.
"This party is rather dull without Godric and all his friends, isn't it?" Nimue said, wistfully. "I'm thinking it, Hermione is thinking it. It's boring. We shouldn't force her to hang around here while she is in a melancholia about her boy-friend and his new lover. We should get out of here — do something really fun."
"Yes, let's go to Salazar's!" Odelgarde suggested, happily. "I understand that he has been brewing again."
"Brewing?" Hermione asked, though she supposed that he was known for being a potions master.
"You haven't tried his brewing before?" Cassian asked, looking surprised. "Yes, it's decided, we should all go to Salazar's."
Rowena laughed. "You all must go without me. I fear that I cannot leave now or else Helena will try to slip my sight again. I swear that girl is trying to send me into an early grave," she said, ruefully. "But, take good care of our new friend."
The others happily chatted away, nodding and promising to have enough fun for Rowena and Helena combined. Nimue was roping her arm through Hermione's and before she knew it, she was being pulled down the labyrinthine hallways of the castle down into the dungeons.