The next few weeks passed quickly though with a sea of homework.
The teachers seemed to have all agreed that the first years were
now competent enough to truly dive into the subject matter, which
meant that the slower pace of the first few weeks of school were
over. Harry didn't mind as he truly enjoyed most of his subjects, even
potions, though Snape was his usual cantankerous self. However,
not everyone felt as he did.
"Two rolls of parchment?" Moaned Ron as they left transfiguration
one day. "McGonagall's gone barmy! How are we supposed to write
two rolls of parchment on turning a matchstick into a needle?" Harry
didn't answer, he'd found it easier to just let Ron get it out when he
started complaining, but not everyone shared his philosophy. A scoff
came from behind them and both boys turned to see Hermione.
"You got something to say?" Ron asked in the rude manner he
reserved just for Hermione.
"Yes, actually." Hermione was never one to back down from a fight.
"Professor McGonagall has not gone barmy, she's trying to make
sure we fully understand the theory of basic transfiguration before
moving on to more difficult magic."
"What theory? It's a matchstick into a needle!"
"Perhaps if you paid more attention in class, Ronald, then you'd
know that she's obviously referring to the theory of transfiguring
objects of a similar size and shape.""Obviously." Ron sneered.
"Did you even read your textbook?"
"I looked at it." That was a lie, Harry knew; Ron had not once opened
his textbook outside of class.
"Then perhaps you ought to 'look at it' again." With a superior sniff
she barged passed them.
"Can you believe her? Telling me what to do." Ron asked as he
glared after Hermione.
"She's got a point, you know." Harry cringed as the glare turned on
him, but he'd been ready for it, knowing it'd happen when he decided
to speak up. "You should read your textbook. Things would make
more sense, and two rolls of parchment wouldn't seem so scary."
"Oh, shut up Harry."
-H/GThings between Ron and Hermione didn't get any better in the
following days. The two took every opportunity to snipe at the other
until Halloween when things finally went too far.
"It's Levi-O-sa, not Levio-SA." Ron imitated in a snobbish voice to
the laughter of Dean, Seamus and Neville. Harry, who knew
Hermione was behind them, shot her a look and saw the tell-tale
signs that she was about to retaliate, except, Ron wasn't done. "And
it's not just classes. Have you seen that hair of hers? And those buck
teeth? She's a nightmare, honestly." Harry stopped walking and
opened his mouth to start yelling at Ron but it was too late.
Hermione shoved passed them, knocking into Ron as she went and
sped off down the corridor, but not before Harry saw her eyes filled
with tears."You know, you're a right prat sometimes, Ron." Harry snapped
before running after her.
"Hermione!" He called. "Hermione, wait!" Though Harry was sure she
heard him she didn't slow and just when he was catching up she
made a mad dash into the girl's lavatory. Harry sighed and knocked
on the door. "Hermione, please come out. I'm sorry about what Ron
said."
"Just go away, Harry!" Came the reply from inside and Harry sighed
again, deciding to give it some time before he did something drastic,
like go into the girl's lavatory after her. Turning to go, Harry was
surprised to see Ron standing nearby, a sheepish look on his face.
"Is she alright?" He asked.
"So now you care about her feelings?" Harry was still angry with
Ron.
"I didn't mean to hurt her, really." He insisted. "We've been having a
go at each other since we met. I expected her to start yelling at me
with that fierce, scary look she gets, not to run off in tears."
"Until now you've always stuck to academics and her being studious
and you lazy." Said Harry. "But today you got personal."
"It just came out, I didn't know it would hurt her, honest. I'm sorry I
said it." Ron had such a forlorn look that Harry realized not only that
Ron hadn't meant to hurt Hermione, but also that he cared for her
more than he admitted.
"You need to tell her that, Ron." The redhead nodded and went up to
the lavatory door.
"Hermione, I-"
"I SAID GO AWAY!" Ron and Harry both jumped back with terrified
eyes at the screech that had come from inside."M-maybe I'll let her calm down a bit before apologizing." Said Ron
and Harry nodded in agreement. The two went to lunch, expecting
Hermione to return in time for the start of afternoon classes, but she
didn't show. Getting worried, Harry and Ron asked Hermione's dorm
mate, Parvati, if she'd see if Hermione was still in the girl's lavatory.
"She's still in there crying." Parvati reported and the boys felt their
hearts sink. Finishing their lessons for the day, where Hermione still
didn't show up, the two made their way to the Great Hall for the
Halloween feast. They were halfway through, still with no sign of
Hermione, when Harry decided that enough was enough. Pulling
Ron away from the pile of drumsticks he'd been eyeing, they made
their way back to the girl's lavatory and Harry pounded on the door.
"Hermione, you need to come out now." He called. "Ron's sorry, he
didn't mean to hurt you."
"Uh…right." Ron agreed when Harry nudged him. "I'm sorry
Hermione." They received no answer, though they could hear
sniffling from within.
"What do we do now?" Asked Ron.
"We go in." Harry said determinedly.
"But it's the girl's lavatory! We can't go in there!"
"Everyone's at the feast, Ron. And what other choice do we have?"
Although still clearly hesitant, Ron nodded his agreement and the
two went in. The girl's lavatory looked quite similar to theirs, they
noted, though there were more stalls, one of which was closed.
"Hermione, please come out." Said Harry. The stall door flew open.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing in here? It's the girl's lavatory!"
She yelled."We know, but we're not leaving without you." Ron nodded his
agreement.
"What are you doing here?" She asked more subdued. Harry she
could kind of understand, they had formed a friendship, of sorts, but
Ron was the reason she was in here in the first place.
"I…well, I…" He stammered and Harry elbowed him in the gut.
"I'm sorry." He rushed out. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I just thought it
was our usual fighting. I didn't know that would hurt you." His tone
was sincere and Hermione looked a little shocked.
"Well…I uh…" It was Hermione's turn to be speechless, she clearly
hadn't expected an apology, especially one delivered inside the girl's
toilet. Her speechlessness didn't last long, however, for the door
banged open and she let out a terrified scream. Ron and Harry
whipped around before screaming themselves, for standing there
was a fully-grown troll. It took a moment for the green giant to realize
there were people before him, but when it did it raised its club. The
three screamed again and dived out of the way, Hermione moving
back into the stall while the boys scrambled backwards and
managed to sneak passed the troll towards the door. Their
movements luckily didn't draw the troll's attention, but unluckily
Hermione's did and the troll raised its club again, smashing through
the wooden stalls.
"Hermione!" Harry cried as she screamed again.
"Hermione move!" Shouted Ron when the troll raised its club a third
time. "What do we do?" He then asked Harry.
"I don't know!" Feeling helpless, the two watched as Hermione
crawled out from the rubble of the bathroom stalls and made her way
over to the sinks, unfortunately, still drawing the troll's attention.
"Help!" She cried, looking at them with terrified eyes. The boys
looked at each other and silently agreed that the best thing they could do was to throw bits of broken wood at the troll.
"Oi, peabrain!" Their plan, as minimal as it was, didn't work and the
troll was still fixated on Hermione, who had just jumped back away
from another swing of its club.
"Now what?" Asked Harry.
"Do something!" Hermione cried.
"But what?"
"Anything!" The two thought hard and as the troll raised its club
again Harry was ready to run at it, but Ron had a better idea and had
pulled out his wand.
"Swish and flick." Hermione reminded him and he nodded.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Having been unable to do the spell in class
earlier that day, Ron didn't hold out much hope that it would work,
and so watched in awe as the club was pulled from the troll's grasp
as it raised it above its head to strike, the levitating charm holding it
in place. The troll looked up confused and Ron cancelled the spell,
the three first years watching as it fell hard on the troll's head. It gave
a grunt before falling to the floor with a loud thump. No one moved
for several moments, seeming to be waiting for the troll to get back
up, but when it didn't Hermione made her way over to the boys.
"Is it…dead?" She asked.
"I don't think so, just knocked out." Replied Harry.
"That was…well done, Ronald." Ron smiled a bit sheepishly.
"Thanks, I-" He was cut off as footsteps were heard racing towards
them and not a moment later did McGonagall, Snape and several
other teachers burst in."My goodness!" McGonagall exclaimed, seeing the destruction and
the unconscious troll, before turning her sights on her students.
"Explain yourselves, all of you!" The three began stammering trying
to come up with an explanation, until one decided on the truth.
"It's my fault, Professor." Ron said clearly, holding himself straighter
and more serious than Harry had ever seen him. "I said some things
I shouldn't have to Hermione and she came here to get away from
me. When she didn't show up at the feast, Harry and I came looking
for her. We'd just convinced her to come back to the feast with us
when the troll found us." McGonagall looked between them,
searching for any sign of a lie.
"We had no idea there was a troll loose in the school, or we would
have gone to a professor." Harry corroborated, and Hermione merely
nodded.
"Well then," McGonagall said finally. "I just hope you realize how
fortunate you are. Not many first-year students could take on a fullygrown mountain troll and live to tell the tale. Five points will be
awarded to each of you." The three broke out into smiles, but
McGonagall didn't reciprocate. "For sheer dumb luck." They couldn't
deny that that is exactly what had happened and so took their victory
and went quite willingly back to the Gryffindor common room when
McGonagall ushered them out. The walk to the common room was
silent for the most part, none of them exactly sure what to say, but
Hermione was the first to figure it out.
"Did you really mean what you said back there, Ron? That you
hadn't meant to hurt me?" Ron blushed, his face turning as red as
his hair, and Harry held back a snigger.
"Y-yeah." He stuttered. "Arguing and teasing like we do is one thing,
saying something like I did is quite another." Hermione smiled and
said no more, spending the rest of the walk in silence.