tw : references to sex
good evening! just a few things to say before starting this chapter:
- thank you for your reviews, it makes me so happy to know that you like this story! i hope you like the next part, i'm writing the fourth year, where Draco and Hermione get closer...
- if you want to discuss fanfiction, send me your reviews, or just chat about Harry Potter, you can contact me on insta : elilou_23 or twitter : ElisaManette, I'll get back to you quickly and with pleasure! :)
- some people who don't have an account write me some pretty nasty reviews, which i can't reply to because they're 'guest' without messaging. even if it's anonymous, it still hurts to read such violent criticism of my story or my writing style, especially when they don't really give any details. if you're one of those people: stop, or else give a constructive opinion, otherwise there's no point in commenting. if you don't like it, just don't read my fan fiction :) i can understand if it's long, or even tiring, but given that i'm retracing the 7 books, that's to be expected! and anyway, the story's already written, i'm not going to change it according to your preferences. thank you to everyone who helps me improve it by giving me concrete criticism or corrections.
- i know there are mistakes, or syntax problems. as i've already said, english isn't my first language, and sometimes i have trouble proofreading. if you know or are interested in becoming a beta reader of my fanfiction, please contact me! i don't really know how it works but i'd be very interested!
Happy reading to you all! :)
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Hermione
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Hermione turned her head back to Malfoy sharply. She saw Nott elbow him, as if to stop him from speaking further. It intrigued her: she knew Malfoy was a compulsive liar who would do anything to get her attention, but Nott silently ordering him to be quiet validated his words a little more.
Just then, the teacher arrived and started talking about the assignment they had to hand in for the following week. Hermione slowly turned back to her desk, but wasn't really listening to what Vector was saying and was instead thinking about what Malfoy had just said. "The connection between Black and Potter?" What did he mean by that?
She cogitated, trying to figure out what he was implying, but her brain was too scrambled with fatigue to string two coherent thoughts together. So she just absentmindedly wrote down what Vector was reciting, glancing over to Malfoy and Nott's table from time to time.
He was making fun of her for looking moody, but she could tell that he hadn't slept much either. He kept straightening up to stretch his back and his eyes were crinkled and bloodshot with purple circles around them, contrasting with his pale skin.
As the class ended, Hermione waited for Nott to leave first before intercepting Malfoy by blocking his path:
"What did you mean by that, Malfoy?"
"Aren't you supposed to be first in school, Granger? Get out of my way."
"No. Explain yourself." she said in a harsh voice.
"I don't have to explain anything to you, just think about it on your own." he hissed, articulating each word. "In the meantime, I hope Black succeeds in his plan. Besides, he probably won't spare you. Be careful, Granger, the Slytherin heir didn't get you last year, if I were you, I'd hide even more..."
He curled his bottom lip in a defiant grimace before shoving her past.
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At noon, Hermione decided to tell Ron and Harry what Malfoy had told her in Arithmancy class, even though it would obsess Harry for days to come. She cleared her throat to sound disconcerted:
"Something weird happened earlier."
Ron and Harry slowly looked up at her:
"Hm? What?" asked Harry.
"It was Malfoy, he told me that..." began Hermione.
"When did you see Malfoy?" cut in Ron, his eyebrows furrowed. "You were with us all morning, and we didn't run into him once."
"Uh, that was earlier, when I went to get a book..."
"But you were with us the whole time!" interrupted Ron again, who was thinking, his eyebrows even more furrowed. "And we don't share classes with the Slytherins on Mondays."
Ron stared at her intently with a look of suspicion, which irritated her even more. She was too tired to be interrogated by Ron, who had doubts about her schedule. She got up hastily from the table, spilling her glass of water as she went:
"Never mind, then!"
And she walked away with a determined step. She heard Harry behind her back mutter something to Ron about how she hadn't slept much in the Great Hall, and it was the height of exasperation. But as she reached the front doors, Hermione realised that she had nowhere to go.
There was still an hour and a half to go before the next class started, but now that she had left, she couldn't go back to the Gryffindors' table without Harry and Ron questioning her. So she decided to go to the Library, ignoring her stomach's cry for food.
Her fatigue lasted all week. Hermione couldn't catch up on her lost sleep on top of her homework, so she sacrificed her sleep to study. She had never worked so hard in her life, her hands were lumpy from holding a quill and she could barely keep her eyes open for more than ten minutes in the Common Room at night.
She was so exhausted that she had forgotten to send a letter to her parents because of lack of time. Usually she did this every week, but on Friday evening she realised that she had not sent them any news for almost two weeks. She wrote them a simple parchment, blaming it on her working hours. She didn't even have the strength to reply to Danny.
The only thing that countered her drowsiness was coffee. Hermione drank at least four a day, whenever she could. Fortunately, Ron and Harry didn't make any comment about her mood swings, or the fact that she sometimes fell asleep on a book or on their shoulders on the sofas in the Common Room, or even her hair, which she didn't even bother to comb anymore, so it flew everywhere. She was sure it must look like a bird's nest in the mornings though.
"Hermione?"
She looked up from her History of Magic scrolls. Ginny had a half-worried, half-amused look on her face from the Common Room sofa over which she was watching Hermione.
"Don't you want to take a break? It's the weekend!"
"I can't, I've got this essay to finish..."
"Come on! Come and warm up by the fire."
Hermione relented and ruthlessly pushed her things that she had formed into a pile on the table, then threw herself into the sofa next to Ginny. Crookshanks was lying on her lap and purring under Ginny's petting.
"I love that cat, he's really adorable." she said, looking at the orange ball. "Does he sleep with you at night?"
"Occasionally, but he likes to explore the Castle too." replied Hermione.
"He's tired tonight." continued Ginny as she scratched behind Crookshanks' ears. "A bit like his mistress."
Hermione gave a small laugh and sank further into the couch cushions.
"I've got a lot of classes, I've taken more options than the others this year." she said by way of explanation, the same one she'd been using for everyone else since the start of the school year.
Ginny raised her eyebrows but did not reply. Hermione lazily watched as Ginny's fingers worked their way through her cat's fur and slowly fell asleep to the mesmerizing gesture... until Ron shouted in victory:
"That's it! Checkmate! Haha!"
Seamus, who was playing against Ron, made a sound of disappointment. The portrait of the Knight of the Catogan (which had replaced the portrait of the Fat Lady after his traumatic encounter with Sirius Black), then swung around, revealing a mud-soaked Harry.
"How was practice?" asked Ron.
"Horrible." said Harry, who wiped his glasses against the only place on his robes that wasn't dirty. "I thought I was going to freeze to death."
"Can't I put a spell on your dress to warm you up?" offered Hermione.
"That could be considered cheating, I think." said Ron, who was putting his chessboard away. "You'd better not try, the Slytherins will use any excuse to disqualify you."
"It won't be the Slytherins tomorrow." hissed Harry, visibly wound up. "Malfoy said his arm was too sore to play, so we're playing the Hufflepuffs."
"What?!" yelled Ron, Ginny, Dean and Seamus at the same time.
"But that's not fair, it's not the same game tactics at all!" complained Ginny.
Hermione turned to her, surprised that she was so involved in Quidditch. Crookshanks stood up and stretched, outraged that Ginny could have jostled him like that when she got up.
"Tell that to Wood, he's in the deep end. Well, I'm going to bed, to get my strength for tomorrow. Good night everyone." Harry said.
And he went up to his dormitory, leaving behind traces of mud in the shape of his shoe soles. Hermione did the same, too exhausted to work anyway. She wished the remaining students in the Common Room a good night and went to bed.
Lavender and Parvati were still up, chatting happily on Lavender's bed. Hermione told them that she was too tired to talk, and fell into a deep sleep within minutes.
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The sky in the Great Hall was not encouraging at all. There were big grey clouds, rain, gusts of wind and thunderstorms overhead throughout breakfast. Harry, who had woken up earlier than them, was already on his way to the pitch while Hermione and Ron ate as they slowly woke up.
At about ten o'clock, they got up and headed to the Quidditch towers, their stomachs tight with stress for Harry. Ron didn't say anything, just looked apprehensively at the foggy sky.
They sat down in one of the towers and Hermione watched the players take to the pitch. The wind was icy, each time it froze Hermione a little more. She'd had the idea of bringing an empty jam jar that her mother had sent her the week before to hold her blue flames, but even these couldn't warm Ron and Hermione properly, and she clutched the jar in her trembling hands.
The ground was covered in mud. Hermione could hardly see properly because of the pouring rain around her. Ron muttered "come on Harry" without realising it as he tried to make out something in his battered old binoculars.
After a while, the players finally got on their brooms in one motion and took off into the air. Harry's broom was shaking in the wind, which threw it off course.
Then, soon, Hermione was unable to distinguish the players from each other, except for Harry, and had no idea how the game was going. Lee Jordan's comments were drowned out by the wind, which made the entire crowd shake. Hermione clutched her cloak over her head to protect herself from the rain with one hand and the jar of flames with the other.
"Can't see a thing!" wailed Ron in a loud voice to drown out the surrounding noise. "I can't even see Harry anymore!"
Indeed, Hermione couldn't see him anymore either, he had flown far too high and the fog prevented them from making out anything.
"He'll never see the Golden Snitch in this rain..." said Ron.
"Ron, I have an idea!" exclaimed Hermione suddenly. "I know a spell that can repel the rain on his glasses!"
"What? But how can you know a spell like that?!"
Hermione didn't feel like telling him that it was to keep the vapours from her teas or coffees from getting a good look at her parchments when she was leaning over the Library table and pretended not to have heard his question:
"Does that count as cheating to you?" she asked inches from Ron's ear so he could hear what she was saying.
"Whatever, it's not like anyone's going to notice that her glasses are clean in a mess like this!" yelled Ron. "Go for it!"
Hermione jumped to her feet and rushed down the stairs as she heard Madam Hooch's whistle blow. She saw the Gryffindors team being assembled and she walked over to them:
"How do you expect me to see the Golden Snitch in this?" complained Harry as he took off his glasses to try and clean them off his soaked robes.
"Harry! I have an idea! Give me your glasses!" Hermione shouted.
Harry looked back at her. He looked like he was freezing. She took the glasses in her hands and tapped both lenses with her wand, saying "Impervius."
"There you go, now they'll repel the water."
Harry thanked her, she wished him luck and went back up the tower to get a better view.
"There, it's done!" she yelled at Ron.
"They're just in the storm!" he replied with a worried look on his face, hidden by the binoculars.
Hermione saw Harry do a few tricks on his broom, but hampered by the rain, he eventually climbed even higher to look at the ground. They could no longer see him. Hermione paid no attention to the game going on below, she kept her attention focused on the thick clouds, hoping to see her best friend pop up at any moment. But nothing. Long minutes passed, when suddenly, Hermione felt her muscles go even colder.
She let out a high-pitched scream as she recognised the effects:
"Dementors, Ron!" she shouted.
The redhead removed his binoculars as he realised. Hundreds of hooded Dementors had just burst onto the pitch and surrounded the players. Unfortunately, none of them noticed their presence, too involved in the game and unable to see anything.
Then, everything happened in slow motion. Hermione had no trouble understanding that it was Harry's figure that was falling from the black clouds. He fell at full speed, broomless, face down, apparently unconscious.
She didn't even realise that she had shouted his name before she reached for her wand, not having the slightest idea of what spell to use. She did, however, see the figure of Dumbledore rise from one of the stands and stretch out his hand to slow Harry's fall, and he fell hard into the mud.
Hermione screamed in fear and tried to rush out of the tower, but the students were all trying to see Harry, and this created a chaos on the stairs. Dumbledore then raised his wand to the sky and cast a silver charm that sent all the Dementors flying away at once.
"Out of the way! Get out of the way!" ordered Hermione as she pushed the students who were standing still on the stairs.
She had a big lump in her throat that she could hardly shake off and it was compressing her lungs painfully. She kept seeing Harry's fall in slow motion, at least fifty feet up. Even if Dumbledore had slowed him down, he must still have been seriously injured...
"Fucking Quidditch!" she blurted out to Ron who was livid. "Why is he playing? Why did they decide to play in this weather?!"
Ron said nothing. She was vaguely aware that she sounded like a madwoman screaming like that, but she desperately needed to relieve the pressure she was feeling. They finally reached the bottom of the tower and rushed onto the field, where a circle had already formed around Harry.
"Let us through, please, it's Harry, our Harry!" she said to everyone who stood in front of her.
When she got to the front, she let out another scream. Harry was lying on his back, pale and muddy, his eyes closed. For a brief second of pure horror, she thought he was dead.
The world opened up beneath her as if she were sinking into a giant hole, swallowing her whole.
No, Harry...
Harry...
Draco
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The party was in full swing in the Common Room. Draco knew that there were parties every Friday and Saturday, but he was even more excited knowing that all the Slytherins were celebrating the defeat of the Gryffindors, and Potter's phenomenal fall.
Pansy had informed him on the way back to the Castle that he wasn't dead, but that he was badly injured, that he was in the hospital wing, that the defeat was still on because he had fallen after Diggory had caught the Golden Snitch, and that his Nimbus 2000 had been found broken into a million pieces. So, he had enough good news to be able to cheer up and join the party with a big smile.
They went first to the dormitory to change, because they were all soaked. They found Theo, who was reading in his armchair. He grinned when he saw them enter:
"This is why I didn't want to come to the stands. Look at you! You're dripping all over the place, it's disgusting!"
"Too bad, because you missed the game of the century." said Blaise, who was taking off his soaked shoes.
"Did I?"
"Potter fell off his broom and shriveled up in the mud."
"What?!" indignantly exclaimed Theo as he dropped his book on the floor. "Is he all right?"
"No, he's hurt, duh! Fifty feet down!" exclaimed Draco, who could hardly hide his joy. "And his Nimbus 2000 was found brok..."
"But why did it fall?" asked Nott, concerned.
"Dementors. They invaded the grounds." explained Pansy in a white voice.
Theo's eyes rounded:
"Then I'm definitely glad I didn't come." he said in a strangled groan. "Pansy, are you okay?"
Draco turned to her: she was shaking, but he wasn't sure if it was from the cold or the Dementors.
"Yeah, a little shocked, that's all. I'm going to take a shower, I'll feel better."
And she ran off down the dormitory corridor back to her own. Draco thought it was strange, because she showered every day in theirs, but he didn't protest because it meant he could enjoy the shower first.
He stayed under the hot water for a long time, changed and got ready to go to the Common Room. When he came out of the bathroom, Blaise contemplated his outfit, wary:
"Where are you going, dressed like that?"
"To the party, why?"
"Ohh... I see..." he said with a big smile. "I see... Enjoy, then..."
Draco rolled his eyes and walked around him to exit. Just before the door slammed, he clearly heard Blaise's voice behind his back add:
"And say hello to Astra for me!"
Determined never to do so, Draco entered the Common Room. It had nothing to do with its usual studious appearance, where some students spent time in the sofas or studied on revision tables.
That evening, the students had taken advantage of the greenish light that illuminated the room to create a neon atmosphere. The study tables had been pushed up against the wall, and were now filled with various bottles of alcohol, with green cups on either side.
Draco was relieved to see that he wasn't the youngest student at the party, because there were also third year girls there. He hadn't been to any parties like this before, but luckily no one stopped him from joining in. A small group of students had chosen the place in front of the fireplace as their dance floor. Draco was amazed to see one of the prefects dancing with a girl, kissing her full on the lips, to the rhythm of the wild music coming from the magic phonograph.
Astra was there, standing against the phonograph table, watching the dancing crowd. The dimmed lights of the lake from the windows reflected on her face like green waves. Even though she was alone, Draco didn't have the courage to go talk to her yet, so he decided to go and pour himself a drink to try and relax.
He grabbed a goblet and poured the first bottle he saw into it, then drank the entire drink in one gulp. The hot liquid poured down his throat like pepper, and he had to hold back a loud cough to avoid drawing attention to himself. Then he poured himself another glass, filled a second one, and walked towards Astra:
"Happy anti-Potter party." he said, handing her the glass.
Astra looked at him, slightly surprised, but accepted the glass anyway and raised it in a toast:
"Happy anti-Potter party."
She took a sip and didn't seem at all bothered by the burn.
"Dragon flame brandy, yum." she said as she finished her drink.
She studied him for a few seconds, not embarrassed to stare at him:
"You're Draco Malfoy, right? Lucius Malfoy's son?"
"Yes, that's right. And you're Astra Taylor, seventh year?"
She gave him a smile that revealed her very white teeth:
"Yeah, that's right. Did Blaise tell you that?"
He shrugged vaguely:
"He mentioned you in a conversation."
"Hmm, I see." she said evasively, still keeping her smile. "And why is this the first time I've seen you at Slytherin parties, Draco Malfoy?"
"I didn't know it was a tradition. But I thought I'd attend this one because the theme particularly appeals to me." he replied with a smirk.
Astra burst out laughing:
"There are themes all the time, it's hard to remember what we celebrate each week. I think..." she leaned towards him to whisper the rest of her sentence in his ear, "we're just looking for a lame reason to get drunk, really."
He smiled and took a sip to prove her right. It still burned his tongue, but his throat didn't hurt anymore when the brandy went down.
"You're a fifth year, right?" she asked.
He nodded, thanking his genes for making him grow up so fast over the summer.
"Well... Welcome to you, Draco Malfoy." she exclaimed, pointing to the space around her with both arms.
She was very pretty, now that he could see her in front of him. Her sandy hair was still tied in a ponytail, but she had tied it up at the end. She had brown eyes that tinged with green and slightly darker eyebrows. To Draco's relief, she was a few inches shorter than him, potentially the reason she had mistaken him for a fifth year, which made his ego swell.
They spent the evening together. They chatted on a sofa for half an hour, then when Draco was confident enough from the two glasses of brandy he'd had, he agreed to dance with her. She was quite good at it, and as the minutes ticked by, he felt that she was getting closer to him physically. By the end of the dance, she was practically pressed up against him. Then she broke away from him and said in a mischievous tone:
"I know why you're here tonight."
She still wore that flirty smile she had never once left. Draco raised his eyebrows:
"Really? Why, then?"
"Because that's what all the younger boys do at parties. Did Blaise advise you to do it?"
"Hm?" asked Draco, not sure what she wanted to hear.
"Find a more experienced girl to sleep with?"
Draco's throat tightened a little, and he glanced around them to make sure no one had heard. Thankfully, the loud music completely covered their words.
"What would you say if he did?" he ventured.
"I don't know... I've always tended to say no, because I had a boyfriend not so long ago and I've never been interested in taking someone's virginity before... But..."
She grinned enticingly and Draco seized his chance:
"But?"
"But... I figure for my last year here, I might as well try some new experiences... Besides, you're kinda cute."
"I return the compliment."
"Is that why you came?"
"Not really." lied Draco. "But if you're offering, I'm not against it."
Draco was still half-dancing as he said this. Astra then stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, which brought his movements to an abrupt halt. Her mouth tasted sweet. She grabbed Draco's hair in her fingers and deepened the kiss even more.
Draco was hardly aware of the "ohhh" that rose around them, he only followed Astra's gestures and put his hand against her jaw to stabilize her more and take the ascendancy of the kiss. Draco's thoughts were going in all directions, calculating his next move not to break the agreement they had just created in the space of a few minutes.
Astra then interrupted the kiss to whisper in his ear:
"Are you sure?"
He nodded, and she slipped her hand into his to lead him towards the dormitories. She took him to hers, which was miraculously empty, and pushed him into bed.
He thought of the look on Theo's face the next day when he announced that he had had his first time before him. Blaise would probably make scathing comments all day. He was looking forward to it. Then Theo and Blaise vanished from his mind as Astra started to undress him.
At the end, Draco barely had time to breathe when Astra asked him to quickly get out of the dormitory before one of her roommates saw him. But it didn't matter, Draco was more than proud. He'd had his first time with a Slytherin girl, and he hadn't been bad. At least from what she had told him. He walked proudly down the corridor to his bed, unable to hide his cocky smile, satisfied that he had succeeded in the mission he had set himself without too much effort.
When he arrived in the dormitory, he was a little surprised to see that it was plunged into darkness. He had half expected them to be waiting for him, theorising about where he had been, but both Blaise and Theo's beds were closed and he could hear their sleeping breaths through the curtains. He drew the curtains of his own bed, and was relieved to see Pansy there, sleeping in a ball. When she heard him enter the bed, she opened her eyes lazily and stretched:
"Draco?" she asked in a sleepy voice. "It's half past two in the morning, where have you been?"
"I was at the Slytherin party!" he said as he folded the duvet over them.
"You were? Is that why you smell like alcohol from ten yards away?"
She straightened up, but he could hardly see her in the darkness.
"Yeah! That was so cool. And you'll never guess what I did next."
"What?" she asked in an overexcited breath, suddenly fully awake.
"I did it! I had my first time!" he confessed in a whisper that couldn't disguise his euphoria.
"Your first time with what? Alcohol?" asked Pansy.
"No! Well, yes, I had a few drinks. But I had sex with a girl!"
"What?! Who?"
He lowered his voice a little, as if he was suddenly afraid of being spied on:
"Astra Taylor."
"Astra? But she's in seventh year, it's not possible!" exclaimed Pansy.
Draco burst out laughing:
"Well yes, I think so, or else I've really had too much to drink..."
Pansy said nothing for a few seconds, probably thinking. That was why she was perfect to tell: he knew she would never be too indiscreet with her questions, but she would be interested enough anyway, without being insistent like Theo or Blaise. And anyway, he preferred to tell her in person rather than her finding out the next day from someone else.
"And how was it?" she finally asked.
"Fine, I guess. I spent more time wondering if I was doing it right than actually enjoying it, but it was good. And at least now I've done it before Theo, Crabbe and Goyle!"
"So, is that why you did it?" asked Pansy in a slightly annoyed tone. "To beat three boys?"
"No, not that. But I have to say, it did motivate me."
"What about love?"
Draco nearly burst out laughing a second time:
"Huh? I don't care about that. It was just a one time thing to help me out."
"I see."
"Pans'?" he asked after a moment.
"Hmm?"
"Are you falling asleep?"
"Yeah. Shall we talk about this tomorrow?" she asked with a yawn.
Draco agreed and rolled over with his back to her to fall asleep in turn.
He thought he heard Pansy's choppy breathing behind him, but figured it must be because of some dream she was having and fell asleep before he could ask if she was okay.
Hermione
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Harry is fine. Harry is fine. Harry is fine.
Hermione had been saying this to herself over and over since she sat in the hospital wing and saw her best friend open his eyes. She could breathe again, taking the pressure off of seeing him fall like that. He, however, was very upset because of the Gryffindors' defeat, and the fact that his Nimbus 2000 was now just a pile of twigs at the foot of his bed. But Hermione couldn't sympathise as much as he wanted to, simply because she was too happy to see that he was safe and sound.
She stayed with Ron at Harry's bedside for as long as we could, until Madam Pomfrey ordered them to leave and let him rest. They didn't even make it to dinner, neither of them was hungry, their stomachs still knotted with anxiety. So they took refuge in the Common Room and played a game of chess to take their minds off it.
But even after Ron had gone to bed, Hermione couldn't calm down. She was too shaken up by the events of today, she couldn't sit still. As she lay in her bed in the darkness of the dormitory, she could not shake the horrific sight of the Dementors invading the grounds. Worse, every time she closed her eyes, she saw Harry fall face first to the ground, and her heart dropped into her stomach every time. When the stress got to her, Hermione decided to sit up against her pillows.
She ran her hands over her face in an attempt to calm herself, but to no avail. She felt like she was bubbling up inside, as if the stress was eating her up piece by piece. It was clearly impossible for her to hope to catch up on her sleep.
Hermione sighed. She was going to have to endure the next week and its infernal rhythm of repeated classes again.
So, she decided to get a head start on her classes, instead of doing nothing in bed. She quietly stepped out, slipped her feet into her slippers at the foot of her bed, took a textbook and a cup of tea and went downstairs to the Common Room so as not to disturb Lavender and Parvati who were sleeping.
When she got downstairs, she chose the table closest to the fireplace so as not to shiver with cold and tapped her wand against the rim of her cup:
"Ferventi aguamenti." she whispered.
Boiling water filled her cup to the brim, and she dipped in one of the cinnamon tea bags she loved so much. Then she plunged into reading her Rune Studies classes, which she loved. Translating the symbols had almost become a game to her, so she enjoyed doing the exercises in her head as she read, gently warmed by the crackling fire in the fireplace.
Hermione didn't feel the hours tick by. Sometimes, she would lift her head to massage her neck, sore from being bent over so much to read, or to change the position of her legs to warm them closer to the fire. Now the corner she occupied smelled of delicious cinnamon.
She looked up from her book when she heard a noise behind her back. It was the first time she'd heard any creaking since she'd sat down, so she put a cautious finger on her wand in reflex and turned to look at the stairs. Fortunately, it was only Fred and George who arrived in the Common Room, wearing their pyjamas.
"What are you doing here?" asked Hermione suspiciously as she looked at the box George was holding.
"We're returning the question to you, Miss Hermione Granger." said Fred as he approached her table with a mischievous smile. "This is the first time we've seen you here this late..."
He leaned over to the book she had placed on the table and raised his eyebrows:
"Merlin, don't tell me you're working!" he exclaimed, losing his smile.
"No, it's just reading..."
"What the hell kind of language is that?" asked George, who had also approached, and was pointing to the runes on the page.
"Runes. It's a class, true, but it amuses me to decrypt them. I couldn't sleep. And you, what are you making?"
Fred and George didn't answer, but both took seats at the table Hermione occupied, opposite her. George put the heavy-looking box down in front of them without opening it. They had suddenly put on worried faces:
"Exactly how many classes do you have, Hermione?"
She felt her hands tighten on her Rune Studies book.
"A few, why?" she answered evasively.
"How many?"
"I don't know, a few more options! Why?"
"Because if you have Runes Studies..." began Fred, pointing to the book she was holding.
"... That's four already." finished George, still concerned.
"What?"
"We've been counting." explained Fred. "We know you have Divination and Care of Magical Creatures with Harry and Ron. Plus, we heard Ronald make a comment about you studying Muggles, so that's three, and with Rune Studies, that's four."
Hermione bit her lip slightly.
"Hmm, yes. How do you know that? Have you been spying on me, or what?"
"Not really. You still haven't figured out that we were the most observant Weasley brothers, all this time?" said Fred with a small smile.
"Note that we say 'brothers', not 'siblings', because Ginny is far more observant than we are. She's the one who's noticed all the options you've been taking, and the overwork you seem to have been putting on yourself since the beginning of the year." continued George.
"Overwork? No, of course not! I just took a few extra subjects, it's nothing!"
"Look!" exclaimed Fred. "It's 3:30 in the morning and you're reading runes in the Common Room because you can't sleep! It's typical overwork!"
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I'm fine. I just had a stressful day because of Harry's match, but I'm managing my schedule perfectly well. Why are you analyzing me like I'm sick?"
Fred lowered his head a little and George's gaze clouded a little:
"Because last year, we failed to see the signs. Of Ginny. She was clearly in trouble all year because of Riddle, and we saw nothing. So we blame ourselves." George said.
"And we don't want it to happen to you too and not say anything to stop it." continued Fred.
Hermione was genuinely touched by their concern.
"Oh... Thank you, really. It means a lot to me that you're so worried about my health. But I promise you I'm not possessed, I'm not having a hard year, I'm fine. I love working!"
"That's probably why we're having trouble understanding you." George finally says with the shadow of a smile.
"You still haven't explained why you were here so late." Hermione said.
"We're working too." replied Fred briefly, pointing to the box with a wave of his hand.
"On...?"
"Prototypes. Trick or treat, among other things. But don't tell the others, okay?"
"I should tell on you." Hermione said, even though she was amused.
"You're not a prefect, Mione." laughed Fred. "At least not yet. We've got another two years before you scold us about school rules. In the meantime, I'll have a tea, if you have any left."
Hermione nodded and went to get two more cups, which she filled, then added two cinnamon bags each and the three of them toasted in front of the fire.