friendships in the library
Hermione finished her chapter and bookmarked the page before noticing that the Boy-Who-Lived had silently joined her in reading. “Harry! Hi, how are you? Do you have a free block too?”
Harry shook his head, his irritatingly long hair falling in front of his scar. “Professor Snape is substituting for Professor Quirrell today, and we were practicing the Bat-Bogey Hex, and my class is with the Slytherins, and Gregory Goyle hexed me and I forgot the spell so I ducked and it hit Draco Malfoy, who blamed me for the spell, and so Professor Snape kicked me out of class.”
”Is that even allowed?”
”Do you see Dumbedore disciplining professors anywhere?”
”No, but according to the handbook, disputes between students are supposed to be handled by the Head of House - oh.” Hermione suddenly remembered Professor Snape was the Slytherin Head of House. “Anyway, that’s dreadfully unfair of him to kick you out. You didn’t even do anything.”
”I’m used to it. Professor Snape hates me.”
”He hates me too. The professor actually vanished my potion the other day, and he did nothing when Blaise Zabini called me a Mu- the M word in class the other day.”
”Bloody git.”
The two read in silence for a bit, Harry feeling strangely lighter after complaining about his travesty of a day. So this is what it feels like to rant with a friend, he thought. Felt nice. Hermione didn’t remind him of Aunt Petunia when she was smiling.
Hermione glanced over at Harry, curiosity burning about the book he was reading that didn’t even have a title on the cover or the spine. Finally, she risked speaking again. “What’re you reading?”
”Occluding octopuses and other defenses of the mind: a guide to keeping legilimens and empaths out. It’s about how to protect your mind from magical attempts to penetrate your nervous system, whether they’re intentional attacks or happenstance empathic connections that certain Beings conduct automatically. Did you know that goblins are able to avoid emotional reactions because their nervous systems evolved to conduct Occlumency automatically, without conscious behaviors involved?”
”I didn’t- Muggleborn, remember?”
”Well, yeah, but you read so often that I thought you might know things the average Muggleborn wouldn’t.”
”Well, I mostly read to keep up with my Muggle subjects from back home, honestly. And, that book’s not in the Hogwarts Library.”
”Nope.” Harry surreptitiously glanced over at the librarian’s desk - she was at a faculty meeting. They wouldn’t be in trouble. Good. Hermione burst through his hypervigilant worries with a question.
“Could I borrow it when you’re finished?”
”Sure. Y’know, I was also raised by Muggles.”
”Really? But you’re- you seem so acclimated to the magic world! How do you do it?”
”I hide my anxiety and fit in by copying the wixen-raised people’s mannerisms. Also I don’t socialize much.”
”I’ve noticed. Thank you for being friends with me, by the way. I don’t have very many people who want to talk to me.”
”Me neither.” Hermione looked like she was about to contradict him, but he held up his wand. “People want to talk to the Boy-Who-Lived, not Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Can-Barely-Hold-A-Quill-Properly.”
”Well I like Harry Potter.”
”Thanks. I’m gonna read now, because I have History in fifteen minutes and I want to finish this chapter before then.”
Hermione nodded her consent, and resumed her own book.