On the steps of the Owlery.

Several weeks had passed since the troll incident and Hermione was miserable. Nothing had really changed; she still loved class, still loved the school, still had more friends than ever before. But she could not, for the absolute life of her, get Parvati out of her head. She'd made a disastrous number of mistakes in the past month, which should have made her **** and study harder but all she could do was go back to staring at her lovely friend as soon as the blush faded. It had gotten even worse now that they hadn't seen each other all that much recently, it almost seemed like Parvati was avoiding her. Hermione found herself silently arguing with her own thoughts when she should be paying attention in class. Was it me? Did I do something wrong? I couldn't possibly have done anything, I don't remember it! You wouldn't, you asocial bookworm.

To her intense embarrassment, she'd even gotten a boner when she'd seen Parvati topless one evening after class. Thankfully, she'd been able to duck out before she could be spotted and she spent the night in the common room with a book over her lap. A group of passing boys had almost given her a heart attack in the morning when she'd awoken to find the book had slipped to the floor and her morning wood was tenting her robes. She was fairly certain no-one had noticed but she listened intently to the group at breakfast. A little too intently in fact, Harry Potter noticed her leaning in and eyed her questioningly. She flashed him an innocent smile, which he cautiously returned. She turned back to her food, blushing. He was a sweetheart, kindhearted and modest considering his position. She looked back at him, eyebrow raised thoughtfully. Maybe he was just the thing to get her mind off of this Parvati business... Ugh, she just couldn't stand his best friend.

She had climbed the stairs to the owlery to send a letter off to her parents, saying she'd love to go skiing over the break and explaining once again how to send a response, when she almost ran into Parvati at the top.

"Oh! Hermione!"

"I... didn't see you there. Sorry!"

They laughed nervously, stepping back to keep their distance from one another.

Hermione lifted her gaze, eyes meeting with Parvati's.