Chapter 2
Hermione trudged up the spiral staircase to Ravenclaw Tower, hoping that Luna might be back in her room, now that supper was over. She’d never actually been up to Ravenclaw Tower but knew where it was located due to listening to Terry Boot go on and on in first year about how they had the biggest dorms, and even single rooms, due to their tower being the tallest. She was a bit jealous if she was being truthful to herself.
Sharing a room with Lavender and Parvarti was hardly ideal and rather an inconvenience. Not only did they have nothing in common but hearing the two ramble on about divination and the latest hair straightening charm, and accosting Hermione to try and read her tea leaves every morning was enough to start her days in a foul mood. Plus, Lavender snored like a bear.
Reaching the door, she looked around to see if any Ravenclaw students might be around to let her in. With no such luck, she sighed to herself and willed that her riddle-solving skills were up to par with whatever the Tower thought was an adequate level for its students. She steeled her nerves and rapped on the door with the eagle shaped bronze knocker. On the third knock, the eagle bared its wings, its head protruding out to meet Hermione’s eyes.
It opened its beak, whilst Hermione had not known what kind of voice to expect, the resounding baritone of the bronze eagle nevertheless took her by surprise.
“What always runs but never walks, often murmurs but never talks, has a bed, but never sleeps, has a mouth, but never eats?”
Upon finishing the riddle, the eagle remained still, its yellow eyes unblinkingly fixed on her own, as if challenging her.
Hermione’s mind mused over the question, runs but never walks…doesn’t talk, doesn’t sleep, doesn’t eat… It wasn’t a living creature… was it an artifact? What sort of thing might have a bed? A bed of flowers? No… not wind… perhaps water?
“Oh! A river!” Hermione answered exuberantly.
The eagle gave a slow blink before wordlessly swinging the door open to let her inside.
Not much for enthusiasm, but she supposed the eagle could be quite used to students answering his riddles at least a few hundred times a day.
Stepping inside, Hermione could not help but gasp to herself as she surveyed the inside of Ravenclaw Tower. It was quite beautiful. The tall walls were covered from the floor to the ceilings, with mahogany bookcases that were filled with hard-cover books. The ceiling itself reflected the starry evening sky outside, dark clouds wandering around, and the moonlight shining down on the students sprawled around the long wooden tables below.
The stylish elegance of the pale blue common room was worlds apart from Gryffindor’s, which boasted a homely and friendly warmth, with slightly worn but comfortable furniture, rich red and gold tapestries hung on the wall, and the giant fireplace, around which all the students loved to loiter around.
For a moment, she wondered what her life would have been like had the hat ended his hatstall by placing her in Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor. There would have probably been less chance of having two whole run ins with Fluffy, no almost being suffocated by the Devil’s Snare, no turning into a cat, albeit temporarily, no abusing the use of time-turners, or getting involved in helping with the escape of a convicted mass murderer… But there would also have been no Harry and Ron, her best friends, no visiting the Burrow, no spending Christmases together, going on adventures far beyond what any health and safety guideline might consider appropriate.
No, she thought resolutely. She was glad to have been placed in Gryffindor, with her best friends, despite all the reckless, life endangering moments it had put her in, that would have easily had her parents fainting and pulling her out of Hogwarts all together if they found out.
“Hermione! What are you doing here?” a cheerful voice broke her from her reverie, and she turned to face a smiling Cho Chang, who waved her over from one of the long desks, where she sat surrounded by her friends.
They all had their books out, working on an Ancient Runes project. An impossible sight to see in Gryffindor, she thought to herself.
“Hi Cho.” She responded, as she walked over, returning a smile. “I was hoping to find Luna?”
Cho’s eyes widened in slight surprise, as her friends sniggered around her.
“What do you want with Loony Lovegood?” asked a rather large copper-haired girl with pimples dotted around her skin that reminded Hermione of her own skin troubles before she learned to master the anti-acne charm, thanks to Lavender. She didn’t much care for the girl, but she did have her to thank for better skin.
“That’s unkind Mari” Cho chastised, although her tone was more amused than angry.
“Maybe it’s the nargles.” The girl retorted, sniggering, as the rest of the table burst into peals of laughter.
Hermione shuffled her feet, feeling rather uncomfortable as she watched the girls laughing at Luna’s expense. She herself hadn’t been too kind with regards to Luna in the past, but listening to the girls’ derisive tone made her feel for the dotty witch. She remembered how people had made snarky comments towards her in first year, even Harry and Ron, before the whole troll incident, and she at once felt a huge surge of sympathy for the girl she often dismissed as loony herself.
“Do you know where she is or not?” She snapped, her patience wearing thin in the light of her own guilty conscious.
Cho flashed her an apologetic grin. “I’m not sure Hermione, sorry.”
“Luna likes to feed the thestrals by the Black Lake after dinner,” drawled a bored voice from across the room.
Hermione looked over at the girl who had just spoken. The girl didn’t bother to look up. She was lounging on one of the royal blue chaise-longues that were stationed around the fireplace, flipping nonchalantly through a book.
Hermione studied her closely. She’d seen the witch around in the library from time to time, but they’d never spoken, or even exchanged glances before. Seeing her up close for the first time, she had to admit, the girl was quite hauntingly beautiful. She looked…almost familiar. She had long dark hair, save for a few strands of platinum that framed her face, pulled up into a sleek ponytail. She was also extremely pale, perhaps made more so by the contrast to her dark brows. Her features were soft, and her posture haughtily elegant, in the sort of practised but natural manner of pureblood aristocracy that Hermione despised. But squinting her eyes at the book the girl was reading, she was taken aback to see it was a muggle novel, Albert Camus’ The Stranger.
Strange.
“Since when were you best friends with Loony?” teased the copper-haired girl, Mari was it?
“It’s Luna, and I never said we were best friends. I simply find her quite interesting, just as I find you quite disinteresting Marietta.” drawled the girl from her seat, a bored tone of disdain dripping from her voice.
It was a tone that reminded her of a certain Slytherin boy. One that Hermione was used to having a myriad of insults directed to her from.
Marietta turned back into her seat, flushing with annoyance. The rest of the girls tittered in amusement as they turned back to study their books.
“Well thank you.” Hermione said weakly, suddenly feeling more out of place than ever. “I’m Hermione by the way.”
“I know.” came the curt response, still staring lazily at her novel.
When it became clear that the girl wouldn’t be giving her a name, Hermione sighed to herself, and saying an awkward goodbye to Cho, swiftly left the Ravenclaw tower, feeling once again glad that she’d ended up in Gryffindor.