mickume/harry_potter_tiny · Datasets at Hugging Face

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"No," Cormac admitted as they began walking outside, following the path towards the pitch. The air was chilled, but the sun was out and slowly melting the icy grass.
Cormac began talking about the Slytherin team, advising that he expected it to be an easy win for Gryffindor since their best chaser, Vaisey, was off after taking a bad hit during practice, and Malfoy was off sick.
Hermione was surprised by Draco Malfoy being off as the last time he’d been unable to play, he’d managed to get the Slytherin match moved until he could play again. However, as it was, she’d noticed that Draco was a bit busy of late. He wasn’t turning in homework and had even stopped teasing Hermione, though she suspected that was because every time he did, he’d be hit by a new hex from Bellatrix.
Maybe, with his dad in Azkaban, Draco was finding it harder to enjoy school. If that were the case, she would ask Bellatrix to knock off hexing him for a while. She didn’t want to add to someone else’s misery.
Hermione and Cormac chatted about glasses for a bit until the rest of the students joined. From her seat, Hermione could hear the familiar roar coming from Luna Lovegood’s Lion helm that she wore.
"She’s an odd one, eh?" Cormac said.
"I think she’s lovely," Hermione said, feeling defensiveness rise in her.
"Sure, but...a bit of nutcase, huh? She still believes in..." he’d trailed off, watching Hermione’s expression sour. "Come on, you don’t believe that rubbish."
"No, but Luna’s actually sweet, and if you listen to her, she’s really quite intelligent. So I think it’s a bit rude to go around calling people a nutcase when you don’t even know them!" She snapped, her temper growing hot. She was relieved when Cormac seemed to turn away, deciding to give her the silent treatment after that.
In truth, Hermione was just as surprised as him by how offended she was on Luna’s behalf, but the truth was, after doing DA and duelling club with her, Hermione was finding that Luna was genuine, if a bit daydreamy. And sure, Hermione didn’t believe everything she said, and there were things that she thought were a bit odd for someone of Luna’s background to believe still, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t her place to judge.
Sitting in her seat, she watched as the game began, and Lee Jordan’s replacement began commentating as the Quidditch players entered the pitch.
"There they go. I think we’re all surprised by Potter’s team this year. Many thought, given Keeper Weasley’s patchy performance last year, he’d be off the team, but of course, a close personal friend with Captain does help...."
Hermione glowered up at the commentary box, looking to who was speaking and was unsurprised to see it was Zacharias Smith.
"Oh, and here comes Slytherin’s first attempt on goal. It’s Urquhart streaking down the pitch and––" Hermione watched as Ron spun to the left, deftly blocking it. She clapped, her heart heavy in her chest as Demelza dived to catch the quaffle. "—Weasley saves it, well, he’s bound to get lucky sometimes, I suppose...."
Yes, Hermione thought, casting a glare at Harry. And once people started to look into these lucky things, they were bound to become suspicious.
Hermione couldn’t bare to watch Ron, turning her attention to Bellatrix and Ginny both. She was pleased to see Ginny streak through, making four of the six goals for Gryffindor as Bellatrix managed to hit one of the Slytherin chasers.
As a bludger came up towards the Gryffindor seats before Hermione (though Hermione knew the ball was charmed to avoid hitting any spectators, she still flinched), Bellatrix sped up, smacking the bludger into the back of the Slytherin’s seeker’s broom, knocking him into Slytherin chaser who had the quaffle, before he dropped it. Dean Thomas snuck underneath, catching it and throwing it to Demelza.
Bellatrix turned, casting a look at Hermione and giving her a wink before she grinned and sped off.
"Her and Ginny could go professional," Cormac said, breaking his silence since the beginning of the match.
"Yeah," Hermione agreed. "They could." It was a nice fantasy to imagine that she and Bellatrix could have a future together, where Bellatrix and Ginny became professional quidditch players and Hermione attended the matches between her work at the Ministry.
She could imagine Bellatrix in the Holyhead Harpies get-up, her hair wind-tossed, and cheeks pink from the weather as she––
Hermione returned her focus to the game, pretending not to listen to Zacharias Smith move his attention to sneering about Jimmy Peakes and Dean Thomas. With how well the team was doing, Hermione was surprised he was allowed to keep ragging on when Slytherin still hadn’t managed to land a goal.
While Dean hadn’t managed to make any of his own scores, he had, however, made and caught tricky passes, allowing Demelza and Ginny to make the scores themselves. In truth, the three of them worked flawlessly.
And sure, while Jimmy Peakes was nowhere near Bellatrix in ability, he’d saved the chasers and Ron more than a few hits from the bludgers.
Gryffindor was up by a hundred points now, and unless they caught the snitch, Gryffindor would win.
Hermione watched then as Harper, the Slytherin seeker, smacked into Harry. Even Cormac yelled foul as they watched Harry turn, looking sore as he rubbed his shoulder––unfortunately, neither Zacharias Smith nor Hooch apparently witnessed the foul.
"And I think Seeker Harper has seen the snitch!" Zachariah said. Hermione followed Harper, watching as he sped off. However, Harry looked stunned before realising what had occurred and began following in pursuit.
Hermione could hear the cheering on as people called out as if their will could drive one or the other seeker faster in pursuit, but Hermione could see that Harry didn’t have time to catch up. He was going to miss out on the snitch––
A bludger came speeding forward, knocking Harper sideways as he missed the snitch, allowing Harry to shoot past him and catch the fluttering golden ball.
Hermione screamed, looking to where the bludger had been to where Bellatrix was sitting on her broom, bat swung over her shoulder in a pose that made her look like a sports star. Hermione was becoming more interested in Quidditch and entirely head over heels for a certain player.
"A lucky shot from Black," she heard Zacharias state.
Hermione felt her anger grow, only to watch as Ginny began speeding towards the commentator podium, crashing into Zacharias.
Hermione blinked before watching as the red-headed witch stood up from the wreckage and began making what appeared to be a half-hearted apology. Hermione didn’t care. She raced down the stairs, heading towards the Gryffindor changing rooms. There, she waited outside before Ginny and Bellatrix exited with their brooms, preparing to set them away.
Hermione shrieked, grabbing both of them as she pulled them into a hug. "That was incredible!" She declared, pulling away to grin at them. "You both were incredible. Ginny, you made seventy per cent of all the shots! And Bellatrix, that last hit saved the match, not to mention what a knockout your others were!"
Both of the women looked proud of themselves, smiling proudly. "Your brother managed to pull through in the end," Bellatrix said, offering Ginny something of a peace offering.
Ginny smiled, looking back at the changing rooms with her own pride. "Yeah, he did alright. You heading back?" She asked, turning her attention to Hermione.
Hermione shook her head. "I want to speak with the boys first," she said, remembering why she was there. "I’ll catch you back in the common room for the celebration."
The girls grinned at her, smiling as they exited to put their quidditch supplies away. Meanwhile, Hermione waited, congratulating the team as they passed, making sure to give them sincere praise each before Harry and Ron exited. There, Hermione’s mood lowered.
"Harry, may I have a word?" She said.
Harry nodded, permitting her to speak, given that no one else was around. "That was illegal, what you did, Harry. You could get both of you expelled doing that, or worse...Azkaban."
"What are you going to do, turn us in?" Ron demanded. Hermione looked at him. Despite how much she disliked what Harry had done, she would never put them in trouble like that. Telling McGonagall what they did would only lead to misery for all of them.
"What are you even talking about?" Harry said.
Hermione felt her anger return, desperation clawing at her, "You know perfectly well what I’m talking about. I saw you spike Ron’s juice with a lucky potion at breakfast! Felix Felicis!"
"No, I didn’t," Harry denied. Hermione couldn’t believe he would lie to her.
"I saw you," Hermione said. "Am I meant to believe that it was all just coincidence? That two of Slytherin’s best players were off. That Ron saved every goal?"
"I didn’t put it in!" Harry said, grinning now. Hermione watched as he reached into picked and withdrew the tiny corked bottle. It was exactly what Hermione had seen this morning, but...it was filled to the top with the wax seal still in place. Hermione looked up, not understanding.
"But I saw you," she whispered.
"I wanted Ron to think I’d done it, so I took it when I knew you were looking," he said before turning to Ron. "You saved everything because you felt lucky. You did it all yourself."
Hermione’s shoulders deflated, watching as Ron took a moment to understand the situation before he turned, crossing his arms, looking rather pleased with himself. "See! I can save goals without help, Hermione!"
Hermione felt the embarrassment wash over her. "You thought you’d been given it too," she said rather weakly. Ron only glared as he strode off, his broom over his shoulder. There, Hermione felt guilt knot in her stomach. Ron was right to be cross with her.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked.
"Fine," she lied. Turning away. "I’ll...see you in the common room."
Hermione returned to the common room, feeling awful about herself. She’d taken a while to build up the courage to enter the Common Room, where the party was in full swing, but was pleased to see Ginny and Bellatrix adamantly talking with one another as Ginny played with her pygmy puff.
"You alright?" Ginny asked, turning to look at her. "Did you see Ron?" She asked.
"I did," Hermione said, her shoulders deflating. "I may have unintentionally insulted him when..." she trailed off and realised the mess of the things she’d have to explain. "Anyway, it doesn’t matter."
"Insulted him about his taste in women?" Ginny asked.
Hermione frowned. "No," she said. "What do you..." before she looked to what Ginny was referring to. There, on one of the armchairs, were Ron and Lavender Brown. Hermione felt her stomach churn.
"It looks like he’s eating her face, doesn’t it?" She said. "After all that time he was insulting me for kissing Dean! Fucking hypocrite."
Hermione expected to feel something as she looked at Ron kissing Lavender. Some sort of wave of jealousy would tell her that she still had some type of feelings for him. But nothing particular rose from her. She felt disgusted at the very public display, but...otherwise, it was nothing. Turning away she looked to where Ginny was, her expression still as if waiting for Hermione to react.
"I’m fine," she assured. "And no, it was nothing at all like that."
Ginny’s expression softened. "Guess that’s it. We won’t be sisters then."
Hermione laughed. "We can still be best friends who are practically sisters. I wouldn’t want anything else."
To that, Ginny grinned before her eyes went to where Harry was.
"How are you and Dean?" Hermione asked, nudging her friend.
"Fine!" Ginny said, glaring before she playfully nudged her back. "Don’t worry, I’m not doing anything stupid and I’m not chasing after people who don’t notice me either."
Hermione smiled at her friend before turning to move and sitting in the corner, beside Bellatrix. "That shot you did was pretty fantastic. I’m surprised you’re not the star there," she said.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes, handing a spare bottle of butter beer over to her. "I think most people are just thrilled to have such a devastating win against Slytherin."
"Feeling bittersweet about that?" Hermione asked.
"Hardly," Bellatrix said. She turned to watch as Ginny made a brief wave before moving to sit over with Dean and Seamus. Hermione sighed, feeling a familiar painful jerk in her stomach. Ginny was in a relationship, Ron was in a relationship, and soon Harry would be too, going by how Romilda Vane was flirting with him.
"It’s a bit noisy. Do you want to head out?" Hermione asked.
"And go to the library?" Bellatrix asked with distaste.
"I thought we could just sit in a spare classroom for a bit. The teachers don’t mind so as long as you’re not up to anything."
Bellatrix shrugged. Grabbing a few more butterbeers, they headed out to one of the spare transfiguration classrooms and began drinking as Hermione practised charming birds to appear non-verbally. Bellatrix followed, though instead of the bright yellow canaries Hermione created, hers were magpies.
"How do you do that?"
Bellatrix smiled, "Show me your wandwork."
There, Hermione showed her delicate manoeuvre, creating another canary. She turned to watch as Bellatrix did hers. It was a larger, sharper movement but the same shape. Following her example, Hermione did the same and watched as a Jay appeared this time to fly and sit amongst her canaries.
"Easy," Bellatrix said. "If you think about the bird, it helps too, but the movement matters all the same."
Hermione sighed. "You make me feel so stupid sometimes," she admitted. "Don’t get me wrong, I know I’m good, I’m really good. But you’re..."
"A lot older than you," Bellatrix said, her eyebrow-raising.
"Are you, though?" Hermione asked. "Physically you’re not. Mentally you’re even similar, I would say. You don’t have the memories, so it’s not that you’re technically wiser..." she trailed off, looking at Bellatrix. "So you’re just better than me."
"I may not have the memories, but everything feels like I’ve done it before. I don’t have to learn new wand movements because I remember how to do them. I already know everything. You, however, don’t know and learn quickly. Everything’s new and you’re picking up on it fast. Don’t compare us."
Hermione shivered. It was the highest praise she’d ever received from Bellatrix. "I don’t feel like I pick up on things fast," she said. "Everyone seems to be getting on with everything else faster."
"Everything else?"
As if it had been planned, Ron and Lavender burst into the room, giggling. "Oh," Ron said, pausing as their humour faded.
"Oops!" Lavender said, backing out of the room giggling as she dragged Ron behind her. Hermione sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest and setting her chin atop them.
Bellatrix cast her a look. "Do you wish that was you?"
"Yes," she said, "No, I mean, I don’t want to be Lavender, but..." she trailed off, hiding her face.
"But?" Bellatrix prompted. "They’re gonna go off snogging and possibly get at least half a shag in and you want to get half a shag in?"
Maybe, Hermione thought. "I know it’s hormonal. I know it’s not real and I should be grateful that I can just focus on my studies but it feels like everyone is off doing everything else and no one cares about grades. It’s like I’m in a competition but I’m the only one competing whilst everyone’s off doing that."
"Sex?" Bellatrix. "I know you can’t say fuck, but you can say sex without combusting, can’t you?"
"Of course, I can say sex," Hermione said, taking a sip of butterbeer. "I’m not frigid."
Bellatrix shrugged. "It’s natural to be anxious around that when you haven’t done anything. But you shouldn’t be envious of people running off and speed-running their sex life. A lot of them are going to wish they didn’t do it so fast, that they slowed down and waited to have sex with someone who’s going to at least be there the next day for them."
Hermione sighed. Sure, she believed some people would be like that. But lately, she was feeling left behind. The way Pavarti had proudly spoken about it, the way Lavender had spoken about what she’d done over the summer...even Ginny had shrugged when Hermione mentioned it. "Sure, but most people have done that."
"Do you really want to just grab some random person and have their hands up your robes?"
Hermione blushed, looking away. No, but she wouldn’t mind someone’s hand up her robes. "I hate feeling like I’m some kid out of the joke," she said.
"You’re not out of the joke. Most people won’t do anything until after Hogwarts, and some won’t do it for years."
"Do you know when you did it?"
Bellatrix’s eyes narrowed as if she was trying to think about it. "No," she said. "But I feel like I had sex before I was meant to."
Hermione shifted. "I know that sometimes purebloods would be paired off together. Parents would choose their partner for them if they didn’t find a suitable match by a certain age." Sirius had spoken about it with distaste when he showed his parents" lineage. "In the muggle world that sometimes happens too. Not so much in England, but it can."
"Would your parents ever do that?" Bellatrix asked.

"No," Cormac admitted as they began walking outside, following the path towards the pitch. The air was chilled, but the sun was out and slowly melting the icy grass.

Cormac began talking about the Slytherin team, advising that he expected it to be an easy win for Gryffindor since their best chaser, Vaisey, was off after taking a bad hit during practice, and Malfoy was off sick.

Hermione was surprised by Draco Malfoy being off as the last time he’d been unable to play, he’d managed to get the Slytherin match moved until he could play again. However, as it was, she’d noticed that Draco was a bit busy of late. He wasn’t turning in homework and had even stopped teasing Hermione, though she suspected that was because every time he did, he’d be hit by a new hex from Bellatrix.

Maybe, with his dad in Azkaban, Draco was finding it harder to enjoy school. If that were the case, she would ask Bellatrix to knock off hexing him for a while. She didn’t want to add to someone else’s misery.

Hermione and Cormac chatted about glasses for a bit until the rest of the students joined. From her seat, Hermione could hear the familiar roar coming from Luna Lovegood’s Lion helm that she wore.

"She’s an odd one, eh?" Cormac said.

"I think she’s lovely," Hermione said, feeling defensiveness rise in her.

"Sure, but...a bit of nutcase, huh? She still believes in..." he’d trailed off, watching Hermione’s expression sour. "Come on, you don’t believe that rubbish."

"No, but Luna’s actually sweet, and if you listen to her, she’s really quite intelligent. So I think it’s a bit rude to go around calling people a nutcase when you don’t even know them!" She snapped, her temper growing hot. She was relieved when Cormac seemed to turn away, deciding to give her the silent treatment after that.

In truth, Hermione was just as surprised as him by how offended she was on Luna’s behalf, but the truth was, after doing DA and duelling club with her, Hermione was finding that Luna was genuine, if a bit daydreamy. And sure, Hermione didn’t believe everything she said, and there were things that she thought were a bit odd for someone of Luna’s background to believe still, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t her place to judge.

Sitting in her seat, she watched as the game began, and Lee Jordan’s replacement began commentating as the Quidditch players entered the pitch.

"There they go. I think we’re all surprised by Potter’s team this year. Many thought, given Keeper Weasley’s patchy performance last year, he’d be off the team, but of course, a close personal friend with Captain does help...."

Hermione glowered up at the commentary box, looking to who was speaking and was unsurprised to see it was Zacharias Smith.

"Oh, and here comes Slytherin’s first attempt on goal. It’s Urquhart streaking down the pitch and––" Hermione watched as Ron spun to the left, deftly blocking it. She clapped, her heart heavy in her chest as Demelza dived to catch the quaffle. "—Weasley saves it, well, he’s bound to get lucky sometimes, I suppose...."

Yes, Hermione thought, casting a glare at Harry. And once people started to look into these lucky things, they were bound to become suspicious.

Hermione couldn’t bare to watch Ron, turning her attention to Bellatrix and Ginny both. She was pleased to see Ginny streak through, making four of the six goals for Gryffindor as Bellatrix managed to hit one of the Slytherin chasers.

As a bludger came up towards the Gryffindor seats before Hermione (though Hermione knew the ball was charmed to avoid hitting any spectators, she still flinched), Bellatrix sped up, smacking the bludger into the back of the Slytherin’s seeker’s broom, knocking him into Slytherin chaser who had the quaffle, before he dropped it. Dean Thomas snuck underneath, catching it and throwing it to Demelza.

Bellatrix turned, casting a look at Hermione and giving her a wink before she grinned and sped off.

"Her and Ginny could go professional," Cormac said, breaking his silence since the beginning of the match.

"Yeah," Hermione agreed. "They could." It was a nice fantasy to imagine that she and Bellatrix could have a future together, where Bellatrix and Ginny became professional quidditch players and Hermione attended the matches between her work at the Ministry.

She could imagine Bellatrix in the Holyhead Harpies get-up, her hair wind-tossed, and cheeks pink from the weather as she––

Hermione returned her focus to the game, pretending not to listen to Zacharias Smith move his attention to sneering about Jimmy Peakes and Dean Thomas. With how well the team was doing, Hermione was surprised he was allowed to keep ragging on when Slytherin still hadn’t managed to land a goal.

While Dean hadn’t managed to make any of his own scores, he had, however, made and caught tricky passes, allowing Demelza and Ginny to make the scores themselves. In truth, the three of them worked flawlessly.

And sure, while Jimmy Peakes was nowhere near Bellatrix in ability, he’d saved the chasers and Ron more than a few hits from the bludgers.

Gryffindor was up by a hundred points now, and unless they caught the snitch, Gryffindor would win.

Hermione watched then as Harper, the Slytherin seeker, smacked into Harry. Even Cormac yelled foul as they watched Harry turn, looking sore as he rubbed his shoulder––unfortunately, neither Zacharias Smith nor Hooch apparently witnessed the foul.

"And I think Seeker Harper has seen the snitch!" Zachariah said. Hermione followed Harper, watching as he sped off. However, Harry looked stunned before realising what had occurred and began following in pursuit.

Hermione could hear the cheering on as people called out as if their will could drive one or the other seeker faster in pursuit, but Hermione could see that Harry didn’t have time to catch up. He was going to miss out on the snitch––

A bludger came speeding forward, knocking Harper sideways as he missed the snitch, allowing Harry to shoot past him and catch the fluttering golden ball.

Hermione screamed, looking to where the bludger had been to where Bellatrix was sitting on her broom, bat swung over her shoulder in a pose that made her look like a sports star. Hermione was becoming more interested in Quidditch and entirely head over heels for a certain player.

"A lucky shot from Black," she heard Zacharias state.

Hermione felt her anger grow, only to watch as Ginny began speeding towards the commentator podium, crashing into Zacharias.

Hermione blinked before watching as the red-headed witch stood up from the wreckage and began making what appeared to be a half-hearted apology. Hermione didn’t care. She raced down the stairs, heading towards the Gryffindor changing rooms. There, she waited outside before Ginny and Bellatrix exited with their brooms, preparing to set them away.

Hermione shrieked, grabbing both of them as she pulled them into a hug. "That was incredible!" She declared, pulling away to grin at them. "You both were incredible. Ginny, you made seventy per cent of all the shots! And Bellatrix, that last hit saved the match, not to mention what a knockout your others were!"

Both of the women looked proud of themselves, smiling proudly. "Your brother managed to pull through in the end," Bellatrix said, offering Ginny something of a peace offering.

Ginny smiled, looking back at the changing rooms with her own pride. "Yeah, he did alright. You heading back?" She asked, turning her attention to Hermione.

Hermione shook her head. "I want to speak with the boys first," she said, remembering why she was there. "I’ll catch you back in the common room for the celebration."

The girls grinned at her, smiling as they exited to put their quidditch supplies away. Meanwhile, Hermione waited, congratulating the team as they passed, making sure to give them sincere praise each before Harry and Ron exited. There, Hermione’s mood lowered.

"Harry, may I have a word?" She said.

Harry nodded, permitting her to speak, given that no one else was around. "That was illegal, what you did, Harry. You could get both of you expelled doing that, or worse...Azkaban."

"What are you going to do, turn us in?" Ron demanded. Hermione looked at him. Despite how much she disliked what Harry had done, she would never put them in trouble like that. Telling McGonagall what they did would only lead to misery for all of them.

"What are you even talking about?" Harry said.

Hermione felt her anger return, desperation clawing at her, "You know perfectly well what I’m talking about. I saw you spike Ron’s juice with a lucky potion at breakfast! Felix Felicis!"

"No, I didn’t," Harry denied. Hermione couldn’t believe he would lie to her.

"I saw you," Hermione said. "Am I meant to believe that it was all just coincidence? That two of Slytherin’s best players were off. That Ron saved every goal?"

"I didn’t put it in!" Harry said, grinning now. Hermione watched as he reached into picked and withdrew the tiny corked bottle. It was exactly what Hermione had seen this morning, but...it was filled to the top with the wax seal still in place. Hermione looked up, not understanding.

"But I saw you," she whispered.

"I wanted Ron to think I’d done it, so I took it when I knew you were looking," he said before turning to Ron. "You saved everything because you felt lucky. You did it all yourself."

Hermione’s shoulders deflated, watching as Ron took a moment to understand the situation before he turned, crossing his arms, looking rather pleased with himself. "See! I can save goals without help, Hermione!"

Hermione felt the embarrassment wash over her. "You thought you’d been given it too," she said rather weakly. Ron only glared as he strode off, his broom over his shoulder. There, Hermione felt guilt knot in her stomach. Ron was right to be cross with her.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

"Fine," she lied. Turning away. "I’ll...see you in the common room."

Hermione returned to the common room, feeling awful about herself. She’d taken a while to build up the courage to enter the Common Room, where the party was in full swing, but was pleased to see Ginny and Bellatrix adamantly talking with one another as Ginny played with her pygmy puff.

"You alright?" Ginny asked, turning to look at her. "Did you see Ron?" She asked.

"I did," Hermione said, her shoulders deflating. "I may have unintentionally insulted him when..." she trailed off and realised the mess of the things she’d have to explain. "Anyway, it doesn’t matter."

"Insulted him about his taste in women?" Ginny asked.

Hermione frowned. "No," she said. "What do you..." before she looked to what Ginny was referring to. There, on one of the armchairs, were Ron and Lavender Brown. Hermione felt her stomach churn.

"It looks like he’s eating her face, doesn’t it?" She said. "After all that time he was insulting me for kissing Dean! Fucking hypocrite."

Hermione expected to feel something as she looked at Ron kissing Lavender. Some sort of wave of jealousy would tell her that she still had some type of feelings for him. But nothing particular rose from her. She felt disgusted at the very public display, but...otherwise, it was nothing. Turning away she looked to where Ginny was, her expression still as if waiting for Hermione to react.

"I’m fine," she assured. "And no, it was nothing at all like that."

Ginny’s expression softened. "Guess that’s it. We won’t be sisters then."

Hermione laughed. "We can still be best friends who are practically sisters. I wouldn’t want anything else."

To that, Ginny grinned before her eyes went to where Harry was.

"How are you and Dean?" Hermione asked, nudging her friend.

"Fine!" Ginny said, glaring before she playfully nudged her back. "Don’t worry, I’m not doing anything stupid and I’m not chasing after people who don’t notice me either."

Hermione smiled at her friend before turning to move and sitting in the corner, beside Bellatrix. "That shot you did was pretty fantastic. I’m surprised you’re not the star there," she said.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes, handing a spare bottle of butter beer over to her. "I think most people are just thrilled to have such a devastating win against Slytherin."

"Feeling bittersweet about that?" Hermione asked.

"Hardly," Bellatrix said. She turned to watch as Ginny made a brief wave before moving to sit over with Dean and Seamus. Hermione sighed, feeling a familiar painful jerk in her stomach. Ginny was in a relationship, Ron was in a relationship, and soon Harry would be too, going by how Romilda Vane was flirting with him.

"It’s a bit noisy. Do you want to head out?" Hermione asked.

"And go to the library?" Bellatrix asked with distaste.

"I thought we could just sit in a spare classroom for a bit. The teachers don’t mind so as long as you’re not up to anything."

Bellatrix shrugged. Grabbing a few more butterbeers, they headed out to one of the spare transfiguration classrooms and began drinking as Hermione practised charming birds to appear non-verbally. Bellatrix followed, though instead of the bright yellow canaries Hermione created, hers were magpies.

"How do you do that?"

Bellatrix smiled, "Show me your wandwork."

There, Hermione showed her delicate manoeuvre, creating another canary. She turned to watch as Bellatrix did hers. It was a larger, sharper movement but the same shape. Following her example, Hermione did the same and watched as a Jay appeared this time to fly and sit amongst her canaries.

"Easy," Bellatrix said. "If you think about the bird, it helps too, but the movement matters all the same."

Hermione sighed. "You make me feel so stupid sometimes," she admitted. "Don’t get me wrong, I know I’m good, I’m really good. But you’re..."

"A lot older than you," Bellatrix said, her eyebrow-raising.

"Are you, though?" Hermione asked. "Physically you’re not. Mentally you’re even similar, I would say. You don’t have the memories, so it’s not that you’re technically wiser..." she trailed off, looking at Bellatrix. "So you’re just better than me."

"I may not have the memories, but everything feels like I’ve done it before. I don’t have to learn new wand movements because I remember how to do them. I already know everything. You, however, don’t know and learn quickly. Everything’s new and you’re picking up on it fast. Don’t compare us."

Hermione shivered. It was the highest praise she’d ever received from Bellatrix. "I don’t feel like I pick up on things fast," she said. "Everyone seems to be getting on with everything else faster."

"Everything else?"

As if it had been planned, Ron and Lavender burst into the room, giggling. "Oh," Ron said, pausing as their humour faded.

"Oops!" Lavender said, backing out of the room giggling as she dragged Ron behind her. Hermione sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest and setting her chin atop them.

Bellatrix cast her a look. "Do you wish that was you?"

"Yes," she said, "No, I mean, I don’t want to be Lavender, but..." she trailed off, hiding her face.

"But?" Bellatrix prompted. "They’re gonna go off snogging and possibly get at least half a shag in and you want to get half a shag in?"

Maybe, Hermione thought. "I know it’s hormonal. I know it’s not real and I should be grateful that I can just focus on my studies but it feels like everyone is off doing everything else and no one cares about grades. It’s like I’m in a competition but I’m the only one competing whilst everyone’s off doing that."

"Sex?" Bellatrix. "I know you can’t say fuck, but you can say sex without combusting, can’t you?"

"Of course, I can say sex," Hermione said, taking a sip of butterbeer. "I’m not frigid."

Bellatrix shrugged. "It’s natural to be anxious around that when you haven’t done anything. But you shouldn’t be envious of people running off and speed-running their sex life. A lot of them are going to wish they didn’t do it so fast, that they slowed down and waited to have sex with someone who’s going to at least be there the next day for them."

Hermione sighed. Sure, she believed some people would be like that. But lately, she was feeling left behind. The way Pavarti had proudly spoken about it, the way Lavender had spoken about what she’d done over the summer...even Ginny had shrugged when Hermione mentioned it. "Sure, but most people have done that."

"Do you really want to just grab some random person and have their hands up your robes?"

Hermione blushed, looking away. No, but she wouldn’t mind someone’s hand up her robes. "I hate feeling like I’m some kid out of the joke," she said.

"You’re not out of the joke. Most people won’t do anything until after Hogwarts, and some won’t do it for years."

"Do you know when you did it?"

Bellatrix’s eyes narrowed as if she was trying to think about it. "No," she said. "But I feel like I had sex before I was meant to."

Hermione shifted. "I know that sometimes purebloods would be paired off together. Parents would choose their partner for them if they didn’t find a suitable match by a certain age." Sirius had spoken about it with distaste when he showed his parents" lineage. "In the muggle world that sometimes happens too. Not so much in England, but it can."

"Would your parents ever do that?" Bellatrix asked.