Forevermore

After the colossal calamity that had been the first day, Hermione had thought things could only get better. Right? But when had the three friends ever led uncomplicated lives.

Hermione woke the next morning to a thunderous knocking on her door.  Still dazed, she moved through the darkened room, rubbing her eyes, and opened up her door just a crack. She was immediately confronted by a mane of red hair, followed by Ginny’s shrill screaming.

“Hermione, what were you doing? I have been knocking on your door for ages!”

Regaining some consciousness Hermione’s first instinct was that of panic.

 “What’s wrong Gin is someone hurt? I must have overslept, let me just grab my wand –

“Hermione no. No, everyone’s alright. I was just being a bit dramatic. Geez I am so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to panic.”, Ginny said quickly, interrupting Hermione’s descend to full-blown-crazy.

 “I only came to wake you up because it is a beautiful morning and also the day of quidditch try-outs.”

“Wait. What? You woke me up for try-outs? Has someone obliviated you? And who in their right mind keeps try-outs on their second day of term? Maybe I’m still sleeping, and this is just a new nightmare my mind has made up to switch things up. Because never in my life would I have imagined being woken up at the crack-of-dawn, which is the time of day I’m assuming it is, for QUIDDITCH,” growled Hermione in anger while pinching her nose.

 “Fine. I am a little excited about today, being the Gryffindor captain and what not, and yes; it is a little early, but I have an idea - or a plan really - that I would like to see through. I thought it would be good to have you at the pitch, since you would have an unbiased opinion. C’mon, it won’t be that bad I promise.” 

“Yes. Fine. Just give me a moment to get my wits together,” grumbled Hermione, leaving Ginny at the threshold to find her warmest cloak.

“Also, Harry told me I can count on you to confund any rogue players,” called Ginny, only for a pillow to fly out and smack her hard on the face.

The quidditch pitch had been restored to all it’s glory. Hermione was sitting in her favourite spot in the stands, a stack of toast and her favourite coffee roast in hand. Ron, Harry and Ginny were all on the pitch, as were at least a few dozen more students. To their credit all the students looked well-awake and alert. Hermione had just settled in to watch Ginny’s top-secret plan for the try-outs when a voice called from behind –

“Good morning Hermione.”

She turned around to see Theo walking down toward her.

“Oh. Hi Theo,” she mumbled, moving her gaze back to the front and blushing deep red. Ron was never going to let her hear the end of this. She could already picture their multiple rows which would centre on how she was friends with a snake. Yesterday had only been a taster, she was sure.  He sat down beside her and reflexively Hermione moved to put more space between them. She cringed as soon as she did so, but she could not now move back without it becoming even more awkward.

“Is everything alright?” asked Theo with concern.

“Uh – yes. Yes. It is. I just…”

“You know if you’re not comfortable with me here just say the word and I will leave. No hard feelings,” he said softly.

 “No. That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

“I just – why are you suddenly interested in me? As a friend, I mean,” she added hurriedly in the end.

Theo was good-looking, no doubt. His wavy dark brown hair, deep green eyes, and sharp jaw line made him one of the most handsome boys in their year. But his smile. His smile warmed your soul. When he had laughed in the library, it had melted Hermione’s heart, reminding her of the other green-eyed boy she knew who rarely laughed so uninhibitedly. And when he smiled at her now, she knew she would be Theo’s friend no matter what he said next.

“I guess that is a valid question, and even though I have a feeling it isn’t you who is asking it, I will still answer it; for posterity,” he said still smiling. “You have always scored the highest in our year. The most brilliant witch etc. etc. But I am second-best to you in roughly half our classes. And I always believed that we would naturally have a good rapport. You know, just academically, if not personally. But I guess with things the way they were, it never felt right to extend that hand of friendship.”

“Didn’t feel right,” repeated Hermione slowly, mulling his words.

“You mean with me being a lowly muggle-born and you being pure-blood?” she scoffed.

“No Hermione. Trust me, I have never believed in all the blood supremacy shit. If you knew about my childhood – but that is a story for another day. No. What I meant is, you were off saving the world with your hero friends since our first year. And I was a nobody. Worse actually, I was the son of a death eater.”

Hermione felt a weight lift off her.

“I really don’t believe in discrimination myself, you know.”

 “Though It still remains to be seen how much you will be able to dazzle me with your brilliance,” she winked.

“Of course. Dazzle Hermione with brilliance. Noted,” he said, smiling once again.

She gave him a piece of her toast as a peace offering and as they both sat and nibbled, she asked, “Who is the other one?”

“Huh?”

“You said you are second to me in half our subjects. Who comes second the rest of the time?”

“Oh. That would be Draco. Speaking of which -” he started waving to someone on the pitch, and Hermione turned to see Draco Malfoy march on to the quidditch pitch with a bunch of Slytherins.

Time had turned back and they were once again in second year. An overwhelming sense of Deja-vu engulfed Hermione. She sprinted to where the Slytherins were approaching the Gryffindors. Her mind, already overwhelmed by emotions, was replaying that day on a loop. Ron puking out slugs. Harry and Malfoy’s stand-off. And - ‘mudblood’. The first time anyone had called her that. The first time he had called her that. The letters that were forever engraved into her skin. Mudblood. Mudblood. Mudblood. A constant chant in her ears. She had tried everything, to heal it, to mask it, to change it. But nothing had worked. Every day it reminded Hermione of how close they had been to being hunted.  Of how lucky they had been to escape. To defeat Voldemort. Of Draco’s eyes when she had been held down and tortured. No! She reprimanded herself. I can’t go down that road. Not right now. Not here. She had actively avoided Malfoy since being back. Actively avoided those grey eyes. Looked like her luck had run out. She pulled herself together and joined the gathering on the pitch.

 Ginny seemed to be explaining something to Harry and Ron.Both had equally incredulous looks on their faces.

“Hermione!” exclaimed Ginny noticing her. “I was just telling Harry and Ron, we are going to have a combined training session with the Slytherins today,” she said a little nervously.

“I think it will give us a much better insight into the players strengths and weaknesses.”

As always Harry was the first of the three to recover.

 “It is a great idea, Ginny,” he said encouragingly.

Hermione was sure had they been alone Harry would have been a little more wary. But ever since they had gotten back together, he had been very supportive of Ginny. His rationale was - “if she could wait for me to defeat Voldemort, and believe in me, when even I doubted myself, the least I can do is be there for her now.”

“If I had known this is how my final year at Hogwarts was going to be...” grumbled Ron.

“Why did you come back Weasley?” asked Malfoy, breaking his silence.

 It was the first time Hermione had heard him speak to any of them since that day at the manor. Still the same snobby insufferable drawl.

“And before you burst a vein Granger,” he continued turning to her, “this was the Weaslette’s idea. She thinks it will be a good bonding exercise between our houses.”

He was positively sneering now.

 “I thought to clear that up in case you and your boyfriend decide to pin this on me. Or accuse me of manipulating my way in again.”

Curious, thought Hermione. He recalled the same day I did. Curiouser, he remembered my accusation of him buying his way in.

“No one is blaming you for anything Malfoy. I already told them it was my idea. Now stop being so sensitive and let’s go fly,” said Ginny with a tone of finality in her voice as she launched into the air.

One hour later, Hermione had to give Ginny credit. Her plan had been a success. She and Edwards, the new Slytherin captain, had made the players of both houses train together within their desired positions. So, all potential chasers had done their basic warm-ups together and then practised passing and scoring. The keepers had done an agility test that had been set up for them. The beaters drill had consisted of hitting non-enchanted balls onto large targets that had been spread out all over the pitch. Lastly, the seekers had had to partake in an exercise designed to test their reflexes. No one from Gryffindor had shown up for the seeker position apart from Harry, which Hermione personally thought was because no one would want to be up against the ‘great Harry Potter’. However, Slytherin had two students competing for the role. One was Malfoy, and the other was a boy named Harper. The three boys were on the ground, no broomsticks. They seemed to be performing the same set of movements, however there seemed to be no particular order or design in which these actions were occurring.

“What exactly are the seekers doing?” she asked Theo. They had both returned to their seats.

“They are doing a basic seeker routine.”, he explained. “See, Weasley performed a charm that gives all three of them a series of rapid and unrelated action prompts, which they all have to perform. This way she can see which of them has slower reflexes.”

Hermione kept watching the three for the entirety of the hour. Both Harry and Malfoy were perfectly synchronised with Harper trailing just by the slightest.

It was only after the session ended, while they were making their way to the great hall, and Ron winked and asked Hermione,” Did you enjoy my drill? You know, with me shirtless and all?”, that she realised she had not paid attention to what anyone else had been doing.

She was saved from answering, as Ginny caught up with them in just that moment.

“What did you think of the training?” she asked them both.

“I think Ginny, you must be barmy to set us up with Slytherin for a ‘friendly’ session. On the second day of term no less!” exclaimed Ron.

“Well, I think it was a brilliant idea. A perfect way to judge everyone’s strengths and weaknesses, not only against their potential team-mates but also our strongest competitors. I really am quite impressed.”, said Hermione, elbowing Ron away. “When did you even plan this?”

“I have been arranging for this day practically since the day I got my badge”, said Ginny beaming. “I could pitch my idea to Edwards only yesterday, and I was so glad he agreed to give it a try. We went to McGonagall and got an express permission for today morning. I couldn’t wait a single day longer. Anyway, I’m going to run up to the dorm and get my books for the day. I’ll see you in class.” She rushed up the grand staircase, blowing Hermione a kiss.

“I need to go and grab my things as well. See you in a bit”, said Ron, leaving Hermione to walk into the Great hall by herself.

Ron had not seen her with Theo then. If he had, he wouldn’t be making jokes. And while Hermione had nothing to hide, she was glad for the small respite.