Hermione watched the large sails of the Durmstrang ship sink below the surface of the Black Lake. She stood with Harry and Ron, who she was sure were the only reason that she wasn't a complete mess. As it was, she still felt like her world was falling apart.
Viktor was going back to Durmstrang, and then to Bulgaria. And while she was going to see him in less than a week, she wasn't looking forward to the temporary separation. She supposed it would be easier for her when school started back up in the fall and she was busy. She really didn't know.
"Now things will finally get back to some semblance of normal," Ron said as they watched the now still surface of the lake.
"What makes you say that?" Hermione said.
"Just that this year has been strange," Ron said.
"While I'm not going to disagree, when exactly has any year of ours been 'normal,'" Harry asked.
"Ever since our first Halloween, things have been weird," Hermione said. "Though I think I should still say thank you for saving me from that troll."
Harry shook his head and waved it off. "All in the life of first year Harry and Ron."
"I hate to say it, but life threatening situations have become rather normal for us," Ron added.
Hermione laughed, hugging her friends. It was sad, but it was also rather silly how strange their lives had become. It wasn't as if they went looking for trouble. It was as if trouble was looking for them. But they had gotten better at avoiding harm as they went along.
They walked back up the hill to the castle as the Beauxbatons carriage soared overhead. They still had packing to do, and they only had two days left to do it. Hermione was almost done, but she knew the boys were likely to wait until the last moment to get everything in order.
She sat down on one of the couches in the common room, book in hand. She tried to read, wanting to distract herself. It wasn't going as well as she hoped, her attention snapping back to the real world after every sentence.
"Not coping well," Neville asked sitting in one of the chairs near her. It wasn't a question.
"I don't know what I'm doing with myself," Hermione said. "I shouldn't feel this way."
"I'm sorry," Neville said. "Not really sure what that feels like."
"I know I'm going to see him in just under a week, but I miss him already. And he hasn't even been gone that long." She covered her face with a pillow in frustration.
Neville smiled in amusement. Hermione was a normal teenage girl, for all her attempts to convince everyone otherwise. And the fact that she missed her boyfriend was understandable, even if he wasn't sure that everyone experienced the same emotions when separated. But it could have been a soulmate thing.
"You'll be fine. You just need to do something."
"I was trying to read," Hermione said. "It wasn't going so well."
She had a sheepish expression on her face as she glared at the book she had been trying to read. It was a mystery novel, and normally she would have been rather intrigued by it, but she couldn't pay enough attention to it for it to suck her in.
Neville grabbed her by the hand and dragged her to her feet. He didn't let go as he headed towards the portrait hole.
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked.
"On an adventure," Neville said.
Hermione laughed. "Is that you're way of saying you don't know yet?"
"Pretty much."
They headed down stairs, Hermione scurrying after Neville. They wound up in the kitchens, eating, talking and probably annoying the house elves. They made a bit of a mess, and Hermione felt ever so slightly guilty that they were leaving without helping, but Neville dragged her along.
"You guys going somewhere without me?" Padma asked as they walked by where they would normally turn up to go find her.
"No," Hermione said. "I don't know where we're going."
"And we didn't want to bug you if you were still packing," Neville said. While he was fairly certain that she was as organized as Hermione in her packing if not more, he wasn't sure that she didn't have more stuff. After all, Pavarti was her sister.
Padma waved her hand. "I'm done. Where are we going?"
"On an adventure," Hermione said.
"So no clue yet," Padma said.
"Pretty much."
The three of them laughed and headed off outside. They wound up in the greenhouses, sneaking away from both plants and Professor Sprout. It was Neville's happiest space, and the girls enjoyed being with him.
Though Padma wasn't sure that she enjoyed sharing her leg with devil's snare.
"Get it off," she hissed.
"It would be a lot easier to do that if you would stop squirming," Hermione said.
"Devil's snare will let go of you if you can just relax," Neville added.
Padma rolled her eyes. "Like that's easy with a plant determined to turn me into fertilizer."
"Oh for goodness sakes," Hermione said. "I can't believe I forgot. Sunshine."
"I'll hold her if you do the spell," Neville said.
Hermione pulled her wand out of her pocket and chanted the incantation. Light sprang from her wand, and the plant recoiled releasing Padma.
Once the force she had been straining against had disappeared, Padma and Neville crashed to the ground. Even in the magical world, physics still applied. At least until there was a spell cast.
Padma laughed as she straightened herself up and brushed the dirt off. Neville was a little less amused, but he couldn't wipe the grin off his face at her laughter. It was amusing how quickly her "turning into fertilizer" escaped her mind.
"I can't believe you forgot sunshine," she said to Neville.
"I didn't. Relaxation is the easiest way to get out of the tangles of devil's snare. Just remember that it's just a plant. It doesn't actually want to hurt you. It just goes along with movement," Neville answered.
Padma rolled her eyes. "That makes me feel so much better," she said sarcastically. "The plant doesn't want to turn me into fertilizer, but it will because that's what it instinctively does."
"You're the one who got close enough to it," Neville said.
"And I think that's plenty of adventure for one day," Hermione said. She had effectively cut off their argument.
"She has a point," Neville said.
"One near death experience is more than enough for me. How do you ever manage to keep up with those boys?" Padma asked Hermione.
"Lots of patience and experience. First year was sort of obligation, and then stuff just kept happening. I'm just lucky that Harry has enough luck to keep getting out of the scrapes he gets in."
"It's a relief to us all," Neville said. "Especially when you guys went sneaking out in first year."
Hermione smiled at the bravery Neville had shown that night. "Honestly, that night should have been my first clue that someone like you was going to be a good friend. I'm sorry it took as long as it did for me to realize it."
Neville blushed. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad to have friends."
"And I'm grateful to have friends outside Ravenclaw," Padma added. "We're nice and all, but most of us try to be the smartest person in the room. Not always a good idea."
"I'll remember that for later," Hermione said.
They headed inside, talking and laughing as students scurried around. There were a few Hufflepuffs going off in different directions looking for something.
"You missing something?" Padma asked.
"Oh thank goodness," a short brown haired third year said. "We're looking for Luna."
"Lovegood?"
"Yes," the boy said. "We found her shoes."
"I can take them to the tower," Padma said. "See if she's there. If not, put them where she'll find them."
The train ride back home felt interesting to Hermione. She wound up sitting with Harry and Ron, as was normal. She stretched her legs out over the bench where she sat as she tried to pay attention to their conversation.
They were talking about quidditch. Harry was trying to convince Ron to try out for the team. He was sure that the new captain, whoever they were, would want someone who had spent as much time on a broom as Ron had.
Hermione wasn't particularly interested. She did enjoy watching, but unless she had a specific team to root for she wasn't as invested as the boys were. Which she knew confused Ron to no end since she was dating an international quidditch sensation.
"Maybe you can get advice from Hermione's boyfriend," Ron said to Harry. "Would that work?"
Hermione shook her head, having perked up at the mention of her name. "Unless Harry's going to be in Bulgaria, I'm not entirely sure how that would work."
"Me either," Harry admitted. "Not that I'm worried. I'm sure our captain will work me hard. And I'm going to practice a ton over the summer if I can. If not, I'll just exercise."
They talked about their summer plans. Hermione was excited to get home, even if she had a few days before their flight to Bulgaria. She was excited to see her parents, and wanted to spend time with them. She had a feeling that she might get less time with them as time went on.
One pumpkin pasty, three sugar quills, and half a novel and a halfhearted conversation later, they pulled up to the station. Hermione collected her things, and emerged from platform nine and three quarters to the muggle station. She found her parents waiting, spotting them easily.
"Mum. Dad. It's good to see you," she said as she hugged them.
"It's good to see you too," Mrs. Granger said.
"And how were exams?" Mr. Granger asked knowing that Hermione had a tendency to ramble on about exams for hours.
"I got high marks, as I expected. And all my friends did well. Even Neville managed to pass his potions test with flying colours."
"Doesn't Neville have a bad history of potions?" her father asked.
"He's had some trouble in the past," Hermione admitted. "But I suspect that about half of that is due to his fear of Professor Snape."
Mrs. Granger shook her head. "Such a sad thing. I'm glad he's doing better."
"I think Viktor's help made it a lot easier," Hermione said.
"How did Viktor help?" Mr. Granger wanted to know.
"He told Neville that potions were a lot like cooking, and then had him practice some techniques while making soup. It's less explosive."
"I would certainly hope so," Mrs. Granger said.
They walked to the car in relative silence, occasionally one of them remarking on something. But none of those sparked a conversation. It was strange to Hermione that she felt so out of place with her own parents. But she guessed it was somewhat normal for someone who went to boarding school.
A/N: So November's over. Thank goodness. I'm still writing my story. And I'm working on a blog. It's about Barbra Gordon and Selina Kyle. Not really sure how much anyone else will like it, but you never know. Message me if you want info.