Chapter 6
The day after Hermione’s first patrol with Malfoy was spent in a tense kind of tranquility, with both Hermione, Ron and Harry all on edge for varying reasons, trying to distract themselves from the dark thoughts on their minds by going to class, doing their homework, and generally talking about anything but Umbridge, the case of Malfoy’s sister, or the Prefect rounds.
It was after an exceptionally infuriating Divination class that Hermione finally managed to corner Padma outside their classroom. If anyone was down for a gossip in Ravenclaw, it was surely Trelawney’s devoted follower. Padma was a touch more sensible than Parvarti, Hermione had to admit, but still… to be in Ravenclaw and seriously believe in Divination? Come on.
“Padma, hey! Wait up!”
“Oh, hi Hermione. How can I help?” asked the girl, a quizzical look passing over her face.
It wasn’t often that the two engaged in conversation, especially if Padma wasn’t involved, but her twin had already taken off with Lavender, probably to practise reading their own tea leaves, leaving Hermione with an opportunity to ask some questions that had been burning inside her since her run in with Luna.
“I was just wondering… is it true that Malfoy has a sister in Ravenclaw?”
Padma cocked a dark brow, looking mildly surprised at the question.
“Do you mean Altaire?”
“Yes, Luna mentioned… I was just surprised. I don’t remember her name being called during the Sorting Ceremony.” She responded.
Padma frowned, nodding slowly. “Yes, well she wouldn’t have been. She just transferred this year from Durmstrang and started a few days later than everyone else.”
“Do you know why she transferred? Or why she was sent to a different school in the first place?” Hermione asked, her mind burning with curiosity.
“How should I know?” Padma responded, shrugging. “I’m sure their headmaster getting killed off must have had something to do with her parents not wanting to send her there anymore. But as for why she was there in the first place, you’ll have to ask her yourself.”
Padma must have noticed the skeptical look on Hermione’s face, as she quickly added, “She’s alright you know. Mostly keeps to herself, kind of standoffish… but not in an arrogant way like Malfoy. She’s just… I guess quiet is the right word. She doesn’t talk a lot about herself, or her family. They don’t look much alike either. I wouldn’t have guessed if Flitwick hadn’t introduced her to the House using her last name. I haven’t even seen the two interact since she got here. She’s usually just in the library. You’ve probably seen her there, she’s quite pretty, hard to miss.”
Padma was still staring at her quizzically, clearly keen to know why Hermione was suddenly enquiring about the younger girl.
“Oh right, I see. Thanks, Padma.” Hermione replied hurriedly, not wanting to be questioned further on the matter.
The other girl nodded again, looking rather put out at Hermione’s unwillingness to gossip further.
“I can point her out to you if you want. She’ll probably be in the Great Hall with the rest of her year. What do you want with her anyways?” she added, leaning in eagerly.
“That would… actually that would be great. I’ll walk with you.” Hermione flashed a quick smile at Padma. “Oh, it’s nothing really. You know… Malfoy’s always been loathsome, especially to me, being muggleborn and all that. I guess I’m just trying to watch my back.”
Parvarti tittered disapprovingly at her, giving her a hard look. “You know, you really shouldn’t judge before you get to know her. Just because you’re siblings doesn’t mean you’re bound to have identical personalities. It’s quite tiresome having people always assume that just because Parvarti and I look alike, we’ll also be the same person. Hell, we were even sorted into different houses. She’s my best friend, don’t get me wrong, but we’re not the same.” She huffed.
“Sorry… that’s not what I meant to imply.” Hermione winced, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. Obviously, this was a sore subject for the Ravenclaw, and she really didn’t need to be making more enemies for herself or Harry right now, especially since she’d just asked Parvarti last night to see if Padma would be interested in joining their club.
“Whatever,” Padma sighed, pushing open the doors to the Great Hall, “I guess I should be used to it by now. Come, sit with me and I’ll see if I can point her out for you.”
Hermione followed her meekly to end of the Ravenclaw table. A few students looked at her with mild surprise, before turning back to their conversation, both most of the people hadn’t even noticed her intrusion.
She looked behind her to see Ron and Harry, sat at the Gryffindor table, mauling their food, in complete obliviousness of their surroundings. As she was about to look away, Harry caught her eye, raising his brows in a questioning stare, mid-mouthful of turkey.
Later. She mouthed at him, at which he nodded, shrugging.
“So Parvarti told me about this training thing that you want to start.” Padma leaned forward, casting a conspiratorial glance down the long dining table.
Hermione’s heart jumped. She hadn’t yet figured out a way to keep people’s mouths shut about her plans for Dumbledore’s Army and it made her nervous just to think about how quickly everything could fall to chaos if information got into the wrong hands.
“Don’t worry.” Padma whispered in a hushed tone, noticing her alarmed look. “I’ll be there on Saturday. I’m in.”
Hermione drew a sigh of relief and cast Padma a small grin. “That’s awesome, Padma.”
The Indian girl returned her smile, rolling her large brown eyes. “Please, it was a no-brainer. Umbridge has us twiddling our thumbs, memorising the fifty basic steps to setting up a safe environment for a controlled duel. There’s no way I’m acing my OWLS if I’m not allowed to carry out any practical practise before the exams.”
Hermione bit back a snort.
Leave it to the Ravenclaws to worry about exams over the impending war for their lives.
Padma must have caught onto Hermione’s displeasure, as she gave her a conciliatory grimace. “My father works for the Ministry and my mother contracts with the Education Office. We don’t have the luxury of questioning the Ministry stance.” She sighed. “Parvarti says there’s even tension in Gryffindor regarding Potter’s story.”
“It’s not a story it’s the truth.” Hermione retorted curtly.
Padma merely shook her head. “You don’t get it because your parents are Muggle.” Before Hermione could interject, Padma quickly continued. “I’m not saying this to look down on you Hermione. It’s simply the truth. Most of the non-muggleborn students have parents and siblings who have their whole livelihoods tied to keeping the favour of the Ministry. One wrong step and we become like the Weasleys. I know Ron’s your friend, but you must know that his family is doing worse than ever now that their father has come out in full support of Dumbledore.”
Hermione lowered her head thoughtfully, thinking about the summer she had spent with the Weasleys at the Order headquarters before term had started. Mrs. Weasley had done her best to act like everything was as it always had been, but the look of despair she’d been not so quick to hide, reviewing the new syllabus demanded for different textbooks, watching the growth spurt of not only her sons, but Ginny also, hadn’t gone unnoticed to her. Ron’s robes were the same he had been wearing since third year, barely covering past his elbows, and skirting over his knees. Ginny’s uniform was an amalgamation of her brothers’ hand-me-downs, almost comically oversized on her tiny frame. The Weasleys had never been a wealthy family, but it was clear that their financial struggles had only worsened this year.
Mr. Weasley, who always tried to maintain a cheerful demeanour on his return from work, had an alarming increase in the greys that now drowned out his red hair. His laughter was forced, the lines on his forehead deepened, and he spent most of his time, apart from dinner, in hushed and stressed conversations with Tonks and Kingsley, both of whom were only being spared the scrutiny due to the fact that both were maintaining their cover of loyalty to the Ministry, unlike Arthur.
Hermione slowly nodded, raising her eyes to give Padma a sympathetic glance. “I understand.” She sighed. “They’re trying to make it impossible for anyone to side with Harry, even if they know that something is wrong.”
Padma nodded seriously. “That’s why you need to come up with a way to make sure this all stays a secret. I’m not stupid. Especially with all these recent disappearances, it’s clear everything isn’t ‘just fine’ like the Ministry is saying, but Parvarti and I can’t risk our parents’ jobs for the sake of teenage rebellion. I know you’re a brilliant witch Hermione. So I’m trusting you on this, but you’ll find people are going to be more co-operative if you can find a way to guarantee discretion.”
Hermione squeezed Padma’s hand briefly, conveying her earnestness. “I’m working on it, Padma. I swear.”
“Good.” Padma smiled at her. “Oh- speaking of, there she is!”
Hermione whipped her head around so quickly she felt the bones in her neck crack. Her gaze followed Padma’s indicating shoulder to the door of the great hall, where Luna was skipping her way inside, her arms linked with another girl that she was happily dragging along.
“I know her!” she gasped.
It was the same girl that had told her where she might find Luna in the Ravenclaw common room just a few days before. The girl was walking authoritatively, not letting herself be hurried by Luna’s energetic pulls. She didn’t resemble Malfoy much at all. They were both pale, with sharp features and a tall, slim frame, but whereas Malfoy and his parents all sported sleek platinum blonde hair, with silver-grey eyes and pale brows, her hairs and brows were dark, almost black.
Her dark curls fell elegantly over her shoulders, save for the few strands of platinum that curved over the shape of her cheeks and she held the same placid coolness in her expression from before, save for a small tug of her lips, which betrayed a softness to her otherwise cold demeanour, as she indulged Luna in her excited prattle.
She resembled someone else, although Hermione couldn’t put her finger over exactly whom she was thinking about.
“That’s Altaire. I told you she was pretty. Shall I call them over?” Padma asked.
“Oh no that’s –“ But before Hermione could finish, Padma had already caught Luna’s eye and was waving at them, scooting over the bench to make space.
Hermione gulped, unsure of what to do. She cast a helpless look backwards at the Gryffindor table, but Harry and Ron were now engaged in some animated conversation with Dean and Ginny and did not spare her a glance.
“Hermione Granger, hello again.” The cool tone of Altaire’s voice made Hermione turn around slowly, her heart thudding uncomfortably against her chest as she met the Malfoy girl’s gaze.
Her eyes were dark brown, almost as dark as Padma’s, and her stare was piercing, almost glittering against the many candle lights of the Great Hall.
“Um… hi.” She mumbled, blushing slightly.
“Hermione!” Luna cried happily, either ignoring or blissfully unaware of the awkward tension, and throwing herself down next to Hermione, giving her a warm hug. “What are you doing here?”
Padma tugged Altaire’s sleeve gently, signaling her to sit down, but Altaire ignored her, continuing to stare Hermione down, her emotionless expression giving nothing away.
“She was looking for me, no?” asked the girl, quirking her head slightly to the left. Hermione choked on the water she’d hastily been sipping, looking at Altaire in surprise. “I was hoping to catch you too. Last time in Ravenclaw tower, you were looking for someone else. I didn’t want to interfere.” She continued, a cold smile gracing her face. “Is this a good time? I thought we might speak in private.”
Padma was looking at Hermione curiously, as Altaire’s dark gaze bore into her. Luna was now off in her own world, flipping through an upside-down copy of the Quibbler, clearly disinterested in whatever was going on.
“Uh… oh! Um… yeah sure, do you want to eat first?” Hermione asked, throwing a quick glance at the mountains of food littered down the Ravenclaw table.
“Now is good.” Altaire replied shortly.
“Oh… ok.” Hermione smiled feebly as she got up from her seat, cursing herself inwardly for her awkwardness. She was not used to being caught off guard, going into conversations without knowing exactly what she was going to say, but Malfoy’s sister had caught her completely off-guard, and now she felt as though she was being thrown head-first into what felt like was gearing up to be an important first impression to make.
The other girl merely gave her a curt nod, before giving Padma and Luna a polite but short goodbye and turning to leave.
Hermione hurriedly gathered her things as she stumbled over her bench, dropping a book as she did so. Before she could bend down to grab it, the book was magically deposited back in her open satchel, which was then promptly laced up.
Hermione looked up at Altaire, alarmed. The girl was still stood waiting for her, the outline of her wand visible in her skirt pocket, but her hand a little outstretched, pointed at her bag.
“You know wandless magic.” She gasped, gaping at the girl in front of her.
“I have a class after lunch, shall we?” asked the girl, ignoring Hermione’s statement.
“Lunch ends in an hour, we have time.” Hermione responded, frowning at the girl. “What’s the rush?”
Altaire gave her a hard look, before jutting her chin towards the Slytherin table. Hermione looked to see Malfoy, in the midst of his usual cronies, Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle and a few other younger students, glaring daggers at her, from across the Hall. If Altaire’s expression was one of placidly bored, Malfoy’s was one of barely restrained fury. He was gripping his knife so hard that she thought it might snap in half, and he was half stood, rising from his chair. But it wasn’t only Malfoy that was staring at her. Half the Slytherin table had turned to watch their exchange, their gaze varying from mild curiosity to wary distrust and even hatred. Theodore Nott, one of the quieter Fifth Years was whispering furiously to a dark-skinned Slytherin boy, Zabini was it? Their eyes both locked on her and Altaire.
“A lot of unwanted eyes in here, don’t you think?” Altaire replied.
“Yeah… yes let’s go.” Hermione nodded and followed the girl out of the Hall, not daring to spare another glance behind her.