November 6
I cannot believe this. I, Hermione Jane Granger, received detention today. Yes. You read correctly. Detention. And why exactly did I receive a detention?
Well, you can ask Harry for that answer. If he hadn't gone insane in class today, I wouldn't have become so angry, and therefore I wouldn't be stuck in a detention with Parvati, Harry, and Terry.
What on earth was he trying to prove anyway? And since when does Harry raise his hand in class?
I am angered beyond words. Detention. Me. I mean, the two don't even add up. It's unheard of. It's almost a taboo.
It is a taboo…or rather a broken taboo.
*****
We filed into NEWTs potions class and sat in our regular seats, as Snape would kill us if we ever switched. Ron and Harry sat next to one another and I had the desk next to them, which I coincidentally shared with Terry, as he had sat next to me on the first day of the year. Parvati was oddly absent, and I figured she was probably still upset with me over yesterday's events.
I smiled at Terry and he gave me a short kiss, which I returned. Then I took out the materials that I'd need and prepared myself for class.
Snape entered the room, the door slamming behind him. He walked briskly over to the chalkboard, his cape billowing behind him. He tapped the chalkboard twice and the name of a reptile appeared on the board.
"Ashwinder," Snape said to the class. "Can anyone tell me what this is?"
I raised my hand immediately.
"Anyone?" Snape repeated, ignoring me completely. However, I grit my teeth and raised my hand higher, containing the urge to shout out the answer. To my complete amazement, someone to the right of me raised his hand…a certain best friend with raven hair.
I stared as Harry looked determinedly at Snape. With my peripheral vision I saw that Terry's head had snapped at Harry's bizarre movement. Everyone knew how much he despised potions, myself included. Ron was gaping at Harry as if he had gone mental, and I honestly didn't blame Ron for the expression on his face.
Snape looked completely surprised by Harry's raised hand. However, his lips slowly curved into a smirk and he called on Harry. "Well Mr. Potter. Let's see you fail this question, shall we? Why don't I just take away the points from Gryffindor now?" Ron made a movement to tackle Snape, but Harry nudged him in the side. "So, Mr. Potter. Tell me. What is an Ashwinder?"
"An Ashwinder is a thin, pale grey serpent with glowing red eyes. It is created when a magical fire is allowed to burn unchecked for too long. The Ashwinder will rise from the embers of the fire and slither away into the shadows, leaving an ashy trail.
"The Ashwinder has a very short life span, approximately one hour. During its short life, it seeks a dark and secluded spot to lay eggs. Once the eggs are lain, the Ashwinder will collapse into dust."
I stared at Harry in utter amazement. That was exactly what I was going to say, as Harry has just recited the textbook verbatim. Since when did Harry recite textbooks?
However, I found myself muttering, "Impressive."
"What?" Terry asked immediately.
"Well, you must admit," I whispered to him out of the corner of my mouth, "Harry knowing an Ashwinder as well as I do…not to sound conceited, but it's impressive."
Terry muttered something unhappily under his breath while Harry, who had always had amazing hearing, beamed at me.
Snape looked as if life as he knew it had ended. However, he composed himself and snapped, "We don't need another know-it-all busybody in this classroom, Potter. That's what Granger's for." I could see Harry and Ron's hands clench into fists. "Try learning the information instead of simply reciting it."
Snape walked back to the board and asked, "Can anyone care to tell me the properties of the Ashwinder's eggs?" My hand went up once more, as did Harry's and, to my surprise, Terry's. Now, Terry was a wonderful student, brilliant even (he was a Ravenclaw), but he was usually always quiet in potions.
Has the world gone mad? I found myself thinking.
Snape chose to ignore all three of us. "Is this class so dimwitted that no one knows the answer to such a simple question?"
"An Ashwinder's eggs are brilliant red and give off an intense amount of heat!" Harry shouted, standing up.
Terry glared at Harry and left his seat as well. "They will ignite the area they're in within minutes if not found!" he shouted, turning towards Harry. Harry in turn spun around to face Terry, a look on his face that I could only imagine was one he gave Voldemort on numerous occasions.
"If found, they must be frozen with a freezing charm!"
"Frozen Ashwinder eggs have a high market price!"
"Shut up!" roared Snape, but Terry and Harry ignored him as I continued to strain my arm by raising it higher, lifting myself slightly off my seat. "Hand down, Granger!" Snape snapped at me, but I didn't comply.
"They're a main ingredient in love potions!" Harry fired at Terry.
"No they're not," barked Terry. "They're eaten whole as a cure for ague!"
"They are not!" Harry retorted. "It says specifically in the NEWTs potion book that- "
"That they're eaten whole as a cure for ague!" sniped Terry.
I couldn't stand it any longer. Not only was the arguing making my head pound, but I also wasn't being allowed to answer the question, something that always infuriated me.
"SHUT UP!" I cried, jumping up. "The both of you!" Terry and Harry both stared at me, clearly affronted by my outburst. "It's used for both you insufferable…you…argh!" I cried, not able to contain my anger. It was unusual for me to yell like this, but they were acting so odd. I just couldn't stand it any longer. "For Merlin's sake! If you just read the book properly, you'd know that!" I breathed heavily as the classroom became scarily quiet.
Then, from out of the silence came Snape's very happy voice. "Detention," he hissed. "Potter, Boot, Granger. Tonight. Seven o'clock. And thirty points from each of you! Now sit down before I put you in detention for the rest of the week."
The three of us slumped into our chairs as the rest of the class stared at us. I found myself blushing horribly. I could just hear it now. Hermione Granger. In detention. I hadn't received detention since first year, and that was because Harry and I saved Norbert, or rather Hagrid.
How did my life get so complicated?
*****
Oh my God. I am dead. Absolutely dead. We're in detention right now, and I forgot, although writing about it previously, that Parvati would be here, too. I also conveniently forgot that Harry didn't know I had assigned Parvati a detention…
And now I think he may be a bit upset with me… But honestly! He's just acting strange. He's read Hogwarts, a History. Yes, Hogwarts, a History! I'm the only person since the author wrote it that has read that book! Why on earth did he read it?
I'm also upset because the fact that he read it meant I was in big trouble…major trouble, to tell the truth.
*****
"I can't believe I'm in detention," I moaned, banging my head lightly against the table. "I'm Head Girl, and I'm in detention! What an awful role model I must be!"
"I'm Head Boy, and I'm in detention," Harry, who was sitting at the table two rows in front of me, called back to me.
I sighed. "Yes, Harry, but you've gotten detention before. I simply don't receive detentions. I'm the good student!"
"Try lucky," Harry joked, turning around. He was lucky Snape was in his office. He had said that he couldn't stand staying in the same room as all of us and had assigned us to cut up ingredients for hours on end for his stock as our punishment. I grabbed a knife and began chopping carefully, remembering what had happened to Ron in our third year when he chopped unevenly.
As I violently came down on one ingredient, I realized what Harry had said. "What do you mean lucky?" I questioned him, putting my knife down and wiping my hands on the cloth next to me.
"Hermione, think about how many times you've broken the rules," Harry said with a knowing look. "I mean you've gone into the kitchens a numerous amount of times, gone off grounds, helped me with the Triwizard Tournament, made polyjuice in our second year, led our DADA teacher to her possible death in fifth, used a time turner for purposes other than your studies, convinced me to start an illegal defense club, not to mention all the other adventures we went on."
I stayed silent for a moment and then replied, in a slightly hurt voice, "I did all of that for you."
I heard Terry choke on air and I turned to my right quickly. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, just swell," he replied darkly, glowering at Harry. If I hadn't known any better, I would've sworn he was jealous.
Or maybe he was jealous? But I didn't have time to worry about that now, as Harry was speaking again.
"I know you did Hermione," he said kindly. "And I'm not saying that I wish you hadn't done any of those things, because I think it was amazingly brave and brilliant of you to do so." I blushed deeply at his compliment. "All I'm saying is that you're one lucky witch."
"I think I'd try another word that rhymes with witch," an angry voice called. I turned around to find a fuming Parvati enter the dungeon.
"Parvati!" I exclaimed in an unnaturally high voice. "Fancy seeing you here."
"Oh yes, fancy indeed," Parvati remarked, eyeing me furiously.
"What on earth is going on?" Harry exclaimed. "Parvati, why are you here?"
"You can thank your co-Head for that," Parvati told him coldly.
"What?" Harry looked utterly lost. "What did she do?"
"Oh nothing, except put me in detention for chewing gum."
Harry rounded on me immediately.
"You put her in detention for chewing gum?" he asked me quietly.
"Well, you see…" I trailed off.
"Why?" Harry demanded.
"Oh, didn't you know?" Parvati answered in a mocking tone. "According to Hogwarts, A History, it's against school rules to chew gum."
Harry turned to look at me once more, a look on his face that clearly said, "I don't believe you."
"Can we go talk over in that corner?" Harry asked me, not as warm as usual. "So we'll have a bit of privacy."
"Privacy, right!" commented Terry with a sharp laugh.
"What's a matter Boot?" Harry turned to face Terry, already angry with him. "Jealous?"
"Don't you get started on that, Potter," Terry growled. "You know fully well that- "
"Stop it!" I cried, walking in between the two of them and holding up my hands to prevent them from pummeling one another to death. "Terry," I told my boyfriend gently, "there's no need to worry. Harry is my friend."
Ha! a voice exclaimed. Friend, indeed. I began to panic internally. The voice was back. After being dormant for so long, that voice that had convinced me of my feelings for Harry was back. I shut my eyes tightly. Go away, I moaned to myself. Go away, go away, go away!
"Are you alright?" Harry's concerned voice interrupted my inner argument. My eyes fluttered open.
"Oh, yes," I replied weakly.
"Good," Harry replied. "Let's go talk now."
I took in a sharp intake of breath, but followed Harry to the corner, playing with my fingers nervously.
"What do you think you're playing at?" Harry asked me. For the record, he wasn't yelling at me, as I expected, but instead simply asking me, though obviously a bit annoyed.
"She broke the rules," I shrugged. "You heard Snape in potions class a few weeks back. No chewing gum. Plus, Hogwarts, a History says- "
"Absolutely nothing on the subject!" Harry interrupted me.
"How would you know?" I asked Harry.
"Because I've read the book, Hermione," Harry retorted.
"You what?" I gasped.
"Yes. I, Harry James Potter, read a book! Don't look so surprised." Harry shook his head, clearly trying to shake away his anger.
"Not just any book, Harry," I said in a whisper. "No one else has ever read that book before. Why did you read it?"
Harry didn't catch my eye. "Er, well, you're always going on about how we never read it and it annoys you, and you've read it so many times…I figured I might as well."
"You read it because of me?" I said softly.
Harry shrugged, still not looking at me. "I suppose." He cleared his throat and turned his eyes back on me. "But that's not the point."
"Right," I replied, my eyes now downcast.
"The point is…why did you put Parvati in detention?"
"I don't know!" I cried out despairingly. "I just…I was really stressed out, and I took it out on her," I said quickly.
"You took it out on her?" Harry repeated.
"Yes."
"A little strange that you took it out on my girlfriend, isn't it?" Harry replied.
I gave a short laugh. "You're one to talk, Mr. Fight With My Boyfriend All the Time."
"I do not!" Harry replied sharply.
"Oh, come on, Harry," I laughed at him. "Potions? There was more tension in there than between you and Malfoy! What's going on?"
"He just annoys me, that's all," Harry muttered.
"You seemed to like him before he was my boyfriend," I commented casually.
Harry rolled his eyes. "It's just what you said before. I'm not used to you having a boyfriend. And I'm too overprotective for my own good. You said so yourself."
"Oh," I said softly, finding myself slightly disappointed in his answer. "Right."
Suddenly a voice rang out, "Potter! Granger!" I gulped as I turned around and found Snape towering over us.
"Pro-professor!" I exclaimed weakly.
"What exactly do you two think you're doing?" he hissed. "Having a nice little snog, are we?"
I blushed furiously while Harry glared at him.
"Get back to your assignment," he barked. "Detention isn't socializing hour." He walked up to his desk and sat down, now lording over our work. Harry and I gave each other a look, sighed, and returned to our tables and chopping.
But while I was chopping, I found myself constantly looking up to stare at the back of Harry's head, only to have Snape's glare force me to quickly look down, not to mention Terry's constant suspicious side glances at me.
Could it possibly be that Ginny was right and I still loved Harry? Suddenly all those things about Parvati seemed absolutely ridiculous. Ginny was right - they were all excuses not to like Parvati.
I still love him, I thought softly to myself as I gathered some perfectly chopped up ingredients and stored them in a jar. I still love him…
And to my utter amazement, I found a lone tear running down my cheek.
"What's wrong?" Terry asked me immediately, who had been watching me for any signs of staring at Harry.
"Nothing," I told him softly, lacking any energy. "It made me tear, that's all." I indicated to the jar full of my cut up ingredients and gave Terry a weak smile. He nodded his head shortly and returned to his own cutting.
I put my knife down and wiped away the tear, uncharacteristically sniffing softly. I was with Terry and Harry was with Parvati.
Better yet, we were scheduled to go on a double date tomorrow.
What was I to do now?
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