All of the things we're taking
'Cause we are young and we're ashamed
Send us to perfect places
All of our heroes fading Now I can't stand to be alone
Let's go to perfect places
These days, Ginny felt herself falling into a routine of sorts. She’d wake up, go to class, eat lunch, return to class, do homework, eat dinner, go to practice, do homework, and then finally go to sleep. Granted, this routine mirrored that of many other Hogwarts students, but Ginny Weasley wasn’t the routine type of girl. Winging it was her best strategy, and just going with the natural flow of life, coming and going as everyone else pleased – it didn’t sit right with her. But yet, here she was, so desperate to just blend in for once. After everything from the war, she just wanted to be normal – not Harry Potter’s ex-girlfriend, and not Ron Weasley’s little sister and ESPECIALLY not the stupid first year who opened the chamber. At this point, blending in seemed like the safest option.
It was the conclusion of her day, which meant that she, among the many other students who were bound to the same daily routine, were getting ready for bed. Sleep always proved to be difficult. In fact, she hadn’t a decent nights rest in a long while. The same thing happened after the chamber incident, where she couldn’t sleep for weeks on end at a time. It got to the point where her parents had to start providing her with sleeping droughts. Eventually she got better, but the dreams would still plague her every so often, now being no exception. Between the war and her past, Ginny’s dreams would often start off sweet, until You-Know-Who returned and destroyed everything in a snap of his snake-like fingers. So, despite sleep meaning the end of her mundane routine, it was also her least favorite part of said routine.
Collapsing into her bed, she rolled over to look at Hermione. With Hermione having to repeat a year, that now meant she could be Ginny’s roommates, which was nice considering Ginny couldn’t stand the group of girls in her year. She always found that she got on better with Ron’s friends, anyway.
“ How was your day? ” She inquired, figuring she’d keep the conversation light. “ Solve anymore of that stupid riddle? ”
Since returning, the dread of being back at Hogwarts weighed heavily each passing day. Some days, Hermione found herself reasonably coping with the memories, seeking sanctuary in the library, out on the grounds (when the weather was nicer) and even visiting Hagrid. Little things kept her mind at bay, and since the start of the riddle and completing the task with Viktor, the idea of having her parents back was closer than imagable. She used that fantasy to keep her going, along with her studies, and knew eventually everything would be over and she’d be back in her flat with Crookshanks. Why she thought to return was an excellent idea was beyond her, the greed of knowledge and N.E.W.T.s seemed more satisfying at the time than her own well-being. As she flipped a page in her book, she knew this was just nightly thoughts, and knew better than to question her actions of returning to the one place she watched so many murdered.
The sun had settled and the dorm was quiet, there was nothing but the sound of shuffling feet outside the door and the scraping of her paper against her sheets whenever Hermione turned a page in her book. It wasn’t long before the door rattled and someone slipped through– Ginny, and she walked over and plopped down onto her bed. Hermione had half of her curtains open, enough to look over at Ginny from her bed but to also be concealed from the door and the other four-posters. She really didn’t care much for her other roommates, Ginny was the only exception– she was her best friend, besides the boys, and probably the one that understood her the most.
“Usual day– spent the time doing work, spent some time with Hagrid. Classes were as normal.” Hermione folded the corner of her page and placed the book down on her side table, shuffling in her bed as she turned to look at Ginny. “Viktor and I are going to work on it in the library. We might also solve it tomorrow, depending on how things go.” Her fingers twiddled together, the anxiety of it all really bubbling up within her. She just wanted this to all be over, to have her parents, and to get the year done with. “Did you have practice today? How was it, and the team?”
“Maybe I could tell her of the mess you’re making,” Draco suggested, pausing in front of the table and folding his arms over one another. “Don’t worry, I’d be way too easy. I’d like to beat you fairly instead of by getting you banned from the library.” As fair as Draco Malfoy could do, anyway. Rules were going to be broken anyway. They had to, since the riddle required for Daphne and him to be away from the common room past midnight ( oh, the horror of breaking such an important rule ). “Sneaking around with a professor past curfew,” he said, studying her with a slight smirk on his face. Too bad the Astronomy Tower wasn’t the romantic getaway that they may have been hoping for. “And before you say I’m being an ass and slap me like you did with Zabini, you may consider realizing I’m sneaking around past curfew with my girlfriend’s best friend. So much gossip and none of it true.” Maybe Granger just needed to learn she was inevitably going to be the subject of rumours now that she was world famous for helping defeat the Dark Lord. “We don’t need to try, we’ll get it,” he corrected her.
Hermione rolled her eyes with slight annoyance, trying to not overthink his words. “I didn’t slap him because of gossip, I slapped him because he was foul. He whistled at me, like some kind of dog, and kept provoking. I’m not going to stand there and just let it happen.” Her arms came to cross over her chest, knowing that the extent of slapping Blaise was rather dramatic, but she didn’t regret it. With a dismissive wave, she wanted the conversation to be over, and as he stated confidently that he and Daphne would achieve the next riddle, curiosity got the better of her. “What are you and Daphne going to wish for, if you make it?”
At Hermione’s words, he couldn’t help but clutch at his chest, ever so dramatically, and act as if her sarcasm had sent him to an early grave. Pretending to gasp for air, he managed to mutter out “ Hermione, your words, they’re even more soul crushing than that wall! ” He quickly fixed himself though, knowing that not many people, particularly those close to the situation, don’t exactly find his repertoire of wall jokes as amusing as he does. But hey, it’s the only thing that keeps him from circling the drain of absolute depression and devastation.
As the pair continued to the back of the shop, Fred couldn’t help but laugh along with Hermione. The two had spent a lot of time together this summer, and as a result, they grew quite close. In fact, Fred considered her to be one of his closer mates now, and he was very much surprised to find that the Hermione Granger had a sense of humor – who’d have thought? “ You know, I think you’re on to something here.. Poor Georgie, so misguided. I wonder what snapped in him for him to end up this way.. ” Shaking his head, he couldn’t help but laugh at the prospect that his twin actually gave up his womanizing ways for a patch of bloody grass. Although, stranger things have happened.
Opening the back door, Fred lead Hermione into the back room, where there were stacks beyond stacks of boxes, each containing a prank desperately waiting to be unloaded on an unsuspecting victim. Though, that’s not what caught Fred’s gaze – it was the three sweaters folded on a table. Walking over to them, he handed them to Hermione. “ Are these yours? If not, they’re definitely one of George’s girls, so in any event, just take them. Not like he’d see them again. ” After a short pause, he looked back to her with a wink, “ Though if they are theirs, you’ll definitely wanna wash them first. ”
She couldn’t help the eye roll at his dramatic antics, wanting to comment on how him and his brother were the most theatrical people she’s ever met but decided against it. When Fred made the comment about the wall, Hermione sucked in her breath and bit her lip, wanting to seem like she was being a good sport by understanding his way of coping was literally with morbid humour. It was tasteless, but there wasn’t much she could do. Again, Hermione was reminded how she couldn’t control everything. Some things just wouldn’t change, and Fred finding relief through comedy, even though it hurt her and his family, they had to deal with it.
She took the sweaters, rather unwillingly, into her arms as Fred handed them over. They didn’t look like hers, and the more is inspected them, the more she began to pull off blonde strands of hair from the wool. “I don’t think I want them, to be frank.” She admitted, handing them back to Fred, slightly disgusted yet slightly amused. “Let George know I wish him the best, however. Blonde is a big step up from green.”
It was a matter of fact that Hermione Granger could most often be found in the library. Draco checked the prefect schedule and she wasn’t supposed to patrol any halls or schedule anything and she wasn’t in the Great Hall either, making the library the most logical option. He wasn’t wrong, even if others may not have seen her due to the books laying around her.
‘Madam Pince will throw an angry fit if she sees how many books you have laying around,” he said by way of greeting. “I was wondering if Krum and you were ever going to solve the riddle so Daph and I can too. I’m getting bored but if we solve it first we’ll be accused of cheating and whatnot and I don’t want to put Daph through that. So are you almost done?”
She looked up from her books, quill frozen in her hand midsentence as Draco approached the table. Her eyes trailed over all the texts she had taken out, some for homework and others for the riddle her and Viktor were working on. “Well, best she doesn’t find out,” Hermione greeted right back, dropping the quill into the ink pot to rest as she pulled away from her studies. “We’re going tonight, we have to wait until after midnight.” She explained but was sure he already knew what the riddle entailed. “Tomorrow the score should change and you and Daphne can go ahead and try for yourselves.”
