Chapter 65: Hermione Cracks

The safety measures imposed on the students since Black's second break-in made it impossible for Hermione, Harry, and I to go and visit Hagrid in the evenings. Our only chance of talking to him was during Care of Magical Creatures lessons.

He seemed numb with shock at the verdict.

"S'all my fault. Got all tongue-tied. They was all sittin' there in black robes an' I kep' droppin' me notes and forgettin' all them dates yeh looked up fer me, Hermione. An' then Lucius Malfoy stood up an' said his bit, and the Committee jus' did exac'ly what he told 'em..."

"There's still the appeal!" I said, trying to put some hope into my words. "Don't give up yet, we're working on it!"

We were walking back up to the castle with the rest of the class. Ahead we could see Malfoy, who was walking with Crabbe and Goyle, and kept looking back, laughing derisively.

"S'no good, Ron," said Hagrid sadly as they reached the castle steps. "That Committee's in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. I'm jus' gonna make sure the rest o' Beaky's time is the happiest he's ever had. I owe him that..."

Hagrid turned around and hurried back toward his cabin, his face buried in his handkerchief.

"Look at him blubber!"

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had been standing just inside the castle doors, listening.

"Have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic?" said Malfoy. "And he's supposed to be our teacher!"

Harry and I both made furious moves toward Malfoy, but Hermione got there first.

SMACK!

She had slapped Malfoy across the face with all her strength. Malfoy staggered. Harry, Crabbe, Goyle, and I stood flabbergasted as Hermione raised her hand again.

"Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul - you evil -"

"Hermione!" I said weakly, and I tried to grab her hand as she swung it back.

"Get off, Ron!" said Hermione, snatching away from me.

Hermione pulled out her wand. Malfoy stepped backward. Crabbe and Goyle looked at him for instructions.

"C'mon." Malfoy muttered, and in a moment, all three of them had disappeared into the passageway to the dungeons.

"Hermione!" I found myself saying again. I was both surprised as well as very very impressed.

"Harry, you'd better beat him in the Quidditch final!" Hermione ordered. "You just better had, because I can't stand it if Slytherin wins!"

"We're due in Charms." I said slowly still goggling at Hermione. "We'd better go."

I couldn't help but be proud of her. My Mione did that. I made a mental note to get her a deluxe box of sugar quills one day.

We hurried up the marble staircase toward Professor Flitwick's classroom.

"You're late, boys!" said Professor Flitwick reprovingly as Harry opened the classroom door. "Come along, quickly, wands out, we're experimenting with Cheering Charms today, we've already divided into pairs -"

Harry and I hurried to a desk at the back and opened their bags. I looked behind myself, someone was missing.

"Where's Hermione gone?" I asked, looking around. Harry looked around too. Hermione hadn't entered the classroom, yet I knew she had been right next to Harry when he had opened the door.

"That's weird." said Harry, staring at me. "Maybe... maybe she went to the bathroom or something?"

But Hermione didn't turn up all lesson.

"She could've done with a Cheering Charm on her too." I said as the class left for lunch, all grinning broadly. The Cheering Charms had left us with a feeling of great giddiness.

Hermione wasn't at lunch either. By the time we had finished our apple pie, the after-effects of the Cheering Charms were wearing off, and I was starting to get very worried.

"You don't think Malfoy did something to her?" I said anxiously as we hurried upstairs toward Gryffindor Tower.

"Couldn't have." said Harry. "He would be way too scared to go anywhere near her now."

Wed$ passed the security trolls, gave the Fat Lady the password ("Flibbertigibbet"), and scrambled through the portrait hole into the common room.

Hermione was sitting at a table, fast asleep, her head resting on an open Arithmancy book. Weird. We went to sit down on either side of her. Harry prodded her awake.

"Wh - what?" said Hermione, waking with a start and staring wildly around. "Is it time to go? W - which lesson have we got now?"

"Divination, but it's not for another twenty minutes." said Harry. "Hermione, why didn't you come to Charms?"

"What? Oh no!" Hermione squeaked. "I forgot to go to Charms!"

"But how could you forget?" said Harry. "You were with us till we were right outside the classroom!"

"I don't believe it!" Hermione wailed. "Was Professor Flitwick angry? Oh, it was Malfoy, I was thinking about him and I lost track of things!"

"You know what, Hermione?" I said looking down at the enormous Arithmancy book Hermione had been using as a pillow. "I reckon you're cracking up. You're trying to do too much."

"No, I'm not!" said Hermione, brushing her hair out of her eyes and staring hopelessly around for her bag. "I just made a mistake, that's all! I'd better go and see Professor Flitwick and say sorry ... I'll see you in Divination!"

Hermione joined us at the foot of the ladder to Professor Trelawney's classroom twenty minutes later, looking extremely frazzled.

"I can't believe I missed Cheering Charms! And I bet they come up in our exams; Professor Flitwick hinted they might!"

"Soooo Hermione, you wanna calm down a bit maybe?" asked Harry.

"Don't talk to me."

"Okay."

We climbed the ladder into the dim, stifling tower room. Glowing on every little table was a crystal ball full of pearly white mist. We sat down together at the same rickety table.

"I thought we weren't starting crystal balls until next term."I muttered, looking around for Professor Trelawney, in case she was lurking nearby.

"Don't complain, this means we've finished palmistry." Harry muttered back. "I was getting sick of her flinching every time she looked at my hands."

"Good day to you!" said the familiar, misty voice, and Professor Trelawney made her usual dramatic entrance out of the shadows. Parvati and Lavender quivered with excitement, their faces lit by the milky glow of their crystal ball.

Pathetic.

"I have decided to introduce the crystal ball a little earlier than I had planned," said Professor Trelawney, sitting with her back to the fire and gazing around. "The fates have informed me that your examination in June will concern the Orb, and I am anxious to give you sufficient practice."

Hermione snorted.

"Well, honestly...'the fates have informed her'. Who sets the exam? She does! What an amazing prediction!" she said, not troubling to keep her voice low. Harry and I choked back laughs.

It was hard to tell whether Professor Trelawney had heard us as her face was hidden in shadow. She continued, however, as though she had not.

"Crystal gazing is a particularly refined art," she said dreamily. "I do not expect any of you to See when first you peer into the Orb's infinite depths. We shall start by practicing relaxing the conscious mind and external eyes -" I began to snicker uncontrollably and had to stuff my fist in my mouth to stifle the noise - "so as to clear the Inner Eye and the superconscious. Perhaps, if we are lucky, some of you will see before the end of the class."

And so we began. Harry looked as if he felt extremely dumb staring blankly at the crystal ball. I felt the whole thing to be complete hogwash, so I kept breaking into silent giggles. Hermione kept tutting, as if she felt over the entire situation.

"Seen anything yet?" Harry asked us after a fifteen minutes of quiet crystal gazing.

"Yeah, there's a burn on this table," I said, holding in laughter. "Someone's spilled their candle."

"This is such a waste of time," Hermione hissed. "I could be practicing something useful. I could be catching up on Cheering Charms!"

Professor Trelawney walked past. "Would anyone like me to help them interpret the shadowy portents within their Orb?" she asked.

"I don't need help." I whispered. "It's obvious what this means. There's going to be loads of fog tonight."

Both Harry and Hermione burst out laughing along with me.

"Now, really!" said Professor Trelawney as everyone's heads turned in our direction. Parvati and Lavender were looking as if we offended them personally. "You are disturbing the clairvoyant vibrations!" She approached our table and peered into our crystal ball. Harry rolled his eyes. All three of us knew what was coming.

"There is something here!" Professor Trelawney whispered, lowering her face to the ball. "Something moving... but what is it?"

"Two guesses what." I whispered in Hermione's ear.

"My dear," Professor Trelawney breathed, gazing up at Harry. "It is here, plainer than ever before... my dear, stalking toward you, growing ever closer... the Gr -"

"Oh, for goodness' sake!" said Hermione loudly. "Not that ridiculous Grim again!"

Professor Trelawney raised her enormous eyes to Hermione's face. Parvati whispered something to Lavender, and they both glared at Hermione too. I looked at Hermione's exasperated face with both concern and amusement. Professor Trelawney stood up, glaring at Hermione with unmistakable anger.

"I am sorry to say that from the moment you have arrived in this class my dear, it has been apparent that you do not have what the noble art of Divination requires. Indeed, I don't remember ever meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly mundane."

The whole class was silent. I was about to speak up when-

"Fine!" said Hermione suddenly, getting up and cramming Unfogging the Future back into her bag. "Fine!" she repeated, swinging the bag over her shoulder and almost knocking me off my chair. "I give up! I'm leaving!"

And to our amazement, Hermione strode over to the trapdoor, kicked it open, and climbed down the ladder out of sight.

Everyone broke out in whispers over what had just happened. Harry and I just sat there, looking weary at each other.

It took a few minutes for the class to settle down again. Professor Trelawney seemed to have forgotten all about the Grim. She turned abruptly from our table, breathing rather heavily as she tugged her gauzy shawl more closely to her.

"Ooooo!" said Lavender suddenly, waving her arm in the air. "Ooooo, Professor Trelawney, I've just remembered! You saw her leaving, didn't you? Didn't you, Professor? 'Around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever!' You said it ages ago, Professor!"

Professor Trelawney gave her a smile.

"Yes, my dear, I did indeed know that Miss Granger would be leaving us. One hopes, however, that one might have mistaken the Signs...The Inner Eye can be a burden, you know..."

Lavender and Parvati looked deeply impressed, and moved over so that Professor Trelawney could join their table instead.

"Some day Hermione's having, eh?" I muttered to Harry.

"Yeah...some day."

Later that day, while Harry was at Quidditch practice, I went to the library, knowing that Hermione would be there.

Sure enough, I found her in a quiet corner, sitting in a chair reading a book.

"Reading up on your inner eye? I joked as I sat beside her.

Hermione sighed, slumping into the chair as she put the book on the table. "I can't believe I did that. I insulted a teacher, and I walked out of class. This isn't me."

"You're right, it isn't." I said. "Though I will admit, it was brilliant, but still, that isn't how you word normally act. What's with you?"

"I'm just tired I guess. With exams coming up, and Buckbeak's case, I just have a lot on my plate." she finally admitted.

"Hermione-"

"But I can do it!" she said quickly. "I can. I just have to buckle down even harder."

"Hermione, you're pushing yourself way too hard." I said. "Today proved that. You need to ease up, not buckle down."

"What I need to do I get this revision for Muggle Studies done."

"What you really need to do is stop studying yourself and have this sugar quill that I was so nice to save for you because I know how much you like them." I said as I pulled out a wrapped sugar quill that I had indeed saved for her. "Oh! And look what else I have wrapped in my pocket. Two ham sandwiches, one of your favorites."

I pulled the wrapped sandwiches out of my pocket. She didn't come to dinner, so I knew she had not eaten.

Hermione eyed the food as if she were a vulture ready to swoop in. She sighed, grabbed the sandwiches, and ate both of them within two minutes. Then, she stuck the end of the quill in her mouth.

"Better?"

"Better. Thanks, Ron." said Hermione, as she chewed on the sugar quill.

I felt happy that we were talking again. And even though I did miss Scabbers, and even though I hated her stupid cat, I still felt glad that I had my best friend back.

"You remember when I told you that I would tell you what my boggart would have been?" said Hermione.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I kind of have lived it already."

I looked at her not knowing what the bloody hell she meant.

"When I was standing in line, I was thinking about what my greatest fear would be. At first I thought it would be failing a class, or being expelled, but it was really being alone. Being without you guys. Like I was before I came to Hogwarts."

If I didn't feel guilty the other day enough, I sure as hell felt the full impact when she said that.

"At home, I don't have any friends. People thought that I was trying to be the teacher's pet all the time, so no one would talk to me. When I got here, for a long time, I felt the same way I did at home. That was, until Halloween." she said, smiling.

"I know we fuss and fight a lot, but you are my best friend. And I don't want to go for months not speaking to you ever again." I told her.

Hermione smiled. "Okay."

"Now, about your miniature tiger."

"Ronald..."