Dark November Library

Potter, Granger, Weasley, and Longbottom had set up camp at one of the various tables in the empty library and they all appeared to be in the thick of a huge research project. It wasn’t odd to see Granger working in the library. She practically lived in it. But the three boys with her usually avoided the library like the plague. And thus, you were rather interested in finding out what could motivate the three Gryffindor slackers into braving the library - and at such an early hour.

“What’re you staring at, Gaunt?” Weasley barked when he looked up from the book he was reading and spotted you.

“You with a book, Weasley,” you replied. “It’s a rare sight indeed. To be honest, I’m still not completely convinced that you even can read. Is that a picture book?”

Weasley glared sourly and lifted the book to show there were actual words on the page. But he was too far away for you to make out anything. “I can read.”

“Ignore him, Ron,” Longbottom quietly advised.

Potter nodded and added, “He’s just trying to take the mickey out of you. I’d wager he’s still smarting from Slytherin’s loss yesterday.”

You flinched and attempted to come up with a quick retort. You thought about the last time Potter and Weasley were in the library, “A wager, huh, Potter? As best as I can recall, the last time you and Weasley were in here was back in September. And that was just so you could research jinxes to use on me and Malfoy.” You fished into your school bag and pulled out a silver coin. “A sickle says whatever you four are working on isn’t school related.”

“...” the silence from the four Gryffindors was all the confirmation you needed.

“Ha, knew it!” you chortled to yourself as you pocketed your sickle. Your attention went to Granger who mostly ignored you in favor of her reading. “You know, Granger, here I was thinking that maybe you’d be a good influence on these slackers. But it looks like it’s the other way around. You got them to the library but they’ve got you researching non-school related subjects. Pretty soon they’ll have you disrespecting professors and breaking school rules…” you paused for a long second then grinned, “...or has that already started?”

“...” Granger didn’t respond but her eyes went wide in alarm. Smart as she was, she didn’t have a very good poker face.

Potter glared at you but then his expression changed and he smiled… at something behind you.

“Gaunt!” You whirled around and found yourself faced with an angry librarian. “Those four have been mostly quiet until you showed up. You know the rules. If your presence here is going to cause a commotion then you’ll have to leave.”

“Right, sorry, Madam Pince,” you hastily apologized. You had three essays to finish. You couldn’t afford to be kicked out. “I’ll just be going to my table now.”

Madam Pince made a point of watching as you walked away from the four Gryffindors and sat down at your own table. She gave a curt nod then strode away.

You unpacked your books, quills, and parchment and thought about where to start. You had essays due in Herbology, Charms, and Transfiguration tomorrow. Thankfully, the Charms and Transfiguration essays were assigned back on Wednesday so you made some progress on those. But you hadn’t even started on the Herbology essay since it was assigned at the end of Friday afternoon’s class and you’d been caught up in the excitement of the big Slytherin vs Gryffindor Quidditch match for most of yesterday.

Since you at least started on the Charms and Transfiguration essays, you decided to finish those first. You figured it would take less time to finish partially completely essays than it would take to write a whole new essay. You would still have to write the Herbology essay eventually but you decided to finish the other two essays first.

You pulled out your Charms essay on the Repairing Charm and took a moment to read it over. Professor Flitwick assigned it in the hopes that it would aid your class in performing the charm when he taught it in class this upcoming week. Your essay was based on all the background information you could find on the charm in your Standard Book of Spells textbook but you felt like you could expand upon some of your points if you found a book that went into greater detail about the spell. What you were really looking for was something that went into the mechanics of the charm.

The four Gryffindors had gone back to their researching and were reading so they paid you no mind when you rose from your seat and made your way across the library to the Charms section. You began scanning the shelves in search of a book that referenced the Repairing Charm.

“What do you know, Gaunt?”

You were pleased that you managed to keep from jumping at the sudden voice. You looked back and saw that Granger snuck up on you at some point.

“I know many things, Granger,” you replied. “But then again, I’m merely a first year student so I’m sure there's an even greater number of things that I don’t know.” You smiled coyly then smirked knowingly and went on the offense, “Why do you ask, I wonder? Guilty conscience?”

“You’re just making things up,” Granger said with a dismissive nod and turned to leave.

“Hell of a game yesterday,” you called after her. “Quidditch is usually very exciting. But surprisingly, I’d say that the most interesting thing that happened during the match took place in the stands.”

Granger stopped in her tracks and looked back at you with wide eyes and a pale face.

“SSSSHHHH!” Madam Pince hissed as she came swooping over to investigate the noise. The woman had ears like a bat. “Gaunt, what did I say about causing a commotion?”

“I’m innocent this time,” you defended yourself. “I was minding my own business trying to find a book on the Repairing Charm when Granger came over and started interrogating me.”

“Miss Granger, you should know better,” the librarian scolded the Muggle-born girl. “This is your only warning. If you cause any more trouble, you and your friends will have to leave. I won’t have disruptions in my library.”

“I’m sorry,” Granger hastily apologised as she looked down at her feet in shame. She shook her head and glared back at you then turned to face the shelf of Charms books that you were looking through. She scanned the titles for a moment before she pulled out a book with a dark cover and shoved it into your hands. “Here. The Repairing Charm is also known as the Mending Charm. You should have been searching for that.” The bushy-haired girl sent you one last nervous glance before she turned and hurried back to her table.

You looked down at the book she gave you - The Mending Charm and Its Variants. This was just what you were looking for. It appeared as though Professor Flitwick assigned the same essay to the Gryffindors and that Granger already finished it. You tucked the book under your arm and made your way back to your table. You got the feeling that somebody was watching you so you chanced a glance behind you as you spun back into your seat. It was Granger. The muggleborn girl was watching you with a wary expression. You decided it was more important to focus on school work so you cracked open the book that Granger had given you and started reading about the Mending/Repairing Charm.

Half an hour later, you had found the information you needed to finish your essay. A number of older students had trickled in while you had been reading. The majority of them seemed to be Ravenclaws. But there were a handful of Hufflepuffs too. You occasionally got the feeling that someone was watching you over the course of your reading and suspected that it was Granger but you didn’t bother looking in her direction to confirm it.

You pulled out your wand and an instant later a shadow fell over your table. You nervously smiled up at Madam Pince. Ears like a bat... and eyes like a hawk. And one thing that set her off more than anything was students casting magic in the library. There were, however, a couple select spells that were permitted. You whispered the incantation to the Ink-Moving Charm and rearranged the paragraphs of your essay then you calmly set your wand down and picked up your quill. Madam Pince nodded and walked off.

The key to the Mending Charm was visualising the broken object that you were casting it on in a state of repair. Keeping an image of the fixed object in your mind made it easier for your magic to piece the object back together. It was a mental-based visual process that bordered on Transfiguration. But what set it apart from Transfiguration was that it was still possible to use the Mending Charm to repair something when you didn’t know what it initially looked like but you had to essentially **** it which took a lot more power. The alternative to forcing the magic when mending something that you didn’t have a proper mental image of was to use one of the numerous variants of the Mending Charm that had been invented since its creation back in 1754. The variants were spells like as the Glasses Mending Charm, the Clothing Mending Charm, and the Furniture Mending Charm.

You grinned as you read over your completed essay once more. The extra information you found had given you enough material to stretch your essay beyond the required two-foot length. You rolled up your parchment and set it aside. One down and two to go. You decided to finish your Transfiguration essay next and fished the roll of parchment out from your school bag.

Professor McGonagall informed your class that this upcoming week would be dedicated to transfiguring rodents into matchboxes. This was your class’s first foray into animate to inanimate transfiguration. Transfiguration, as a whole, required a great deal of visualization and concentration. With that in mind, Professor McGonagall assigned an essay where you were to describe the process of transfiguring a rodent into a matchbox in as much detail as possible. The assigned length was one foot but you were encouraged to write more. The Transfiguration professor’s logic seemed to be that if you took the time to write out the detailed process then it would be easier to picture the transformation in your mind while you were casting the spell. It wasn’t a difficult assignment and you didn’t need any new books beyond your textbook but going into the desired level of detail was incredibly time-consuming.

An hour later, it was nearing lunchtime. Your Transfiguration essay was over the one-foot requirement and you were still going strong. The library had filled up. Millicent, Blaise, and Theodore showed up at some point and claimed seats at your table. You quietly greeted them and you all turned your attention back to your work. The three newcomers had the same essays to complete that you did but unlike you, they didn’t have an impending Quidditch practice to keep them from completing their assignments in the evening. You offered them The Mending Charm and Its Variants for their own essays and they seemed to appreciate it.

Weasley’s complaining cut through the quiet library and reached your ears. “I’m starving. You rushed me through breakfast so we could get here as soon as the library opened and we still haven’t found anything. Can’t we take a break for lunch?”

“I’ve still got homework to finish...” Longbottom admitted.

“You can go to lunch - I’ll put the books back and meet you there,” Granger offered.

“Thanks, Hermione,” Potter replied. “We can come back later and pick up where we left off.”

You still weren’t sure what they were researching but when Potter, Weasley, and Longbottom left Granger returned most of the books they were reading to the History section. You finished your Transfiguration essay and put it away in your school bag.

“Two down and one to go,” you informed your three housemates. “Would you mind holding the table while I step away for a quick lunch? I’ll be back in less than an hour. I have to write Professor Sprout’s Herbology essay before I go to Quidditch practice tonight.” You weren’t actually that hungry since you stopped to have breakfast before coming to the library. But this seemed like the best time to take a break.

“Sure, Marvolo,” Millicent quickly agreed, “We’ll hold down the fort for you.”

“Thanks,” you replied then grabbed The Mending Charm and Its Variants. “And I’ll put this back too.”

You crossed the library and returned the reference book to the shelf in the Charms section. But then you turned and saw Granger standing behind you. You glanced around and saw that everyone was mostly caught up in their own reading and that Madam Pince was busy shushing a table of chatting Hufflepuffs..

“Thanks, Granger, that book was just what I needed,” you said.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Granger insisted. Obviously, your earlier conversation about her illegal activities was still playing on her mind.

“Oh, really?” you replied. You cast another glance around you and lowered your voice. “Aren’t you the one who yelled at me for lighting Weasley on fire? That was only for a few seconds before I put him out. You set a teacher on fire for a good thirty seconds. If Professor Snape were to ever find out about that… he’d have the grounds to expel you.”

Granger’s brown eyes went wide and clearly showed how much getting expelled terrified her. She rushed to defend herself, “Those were Bluebell Flames - also known as Cold Fire. It’s fire that you can touch. It feels warm but it can’t burn anyone!”

“Ah, I see,” you said with a cheeky grin, “In that case, I’m sure Professor Snape will be perfectly understanding and will immediately forgive you when you tell him that.”

You turned to leave but Granger grabbed your arm and squeezed it. “You can’t tell him! He was trying to kill Harry!”

You extracted your arm from her grip and looked back at her, “No. He wasn’t. And I’ve got proof.” You smiled at her confused expression. “But I doubt you want to have this conversation in public. There’s an abandoned classroom down the hall from the main entrance. Meet me there and we can discuss your criminal activities in private.”

Granger frowned and you shouldered your school bag and walked off. You nodded briefly at Millicent, Blaise, and Theodore as you left the library and went to the classroom you’d mentioned to Granger. It was the same room where Quirrell taught you the Stinging Jinx… and it’s much more painful Hex variation.

While you waited your mind kept going back to the conversation with Granger. Why had you been so loose about what you saw at the Quidditch match? You were adamant about keeping what happened to yourself during your discussions with Daphne and Tracey. But they both found a way to convince you. Even still, you hadn’t said anything to Professor Snape when you saw him earlier. But you’d been all too happy to taunt Granger with the information.

Part of you felt that Potter should know who was trying to kill him. But the more prominent part of you that fueled your sense of self-preservation told you that Potter’s gang were the last people you should share this information with if you wanted to avoid Quirrell’s wrath. And then there was Granger herself, maybe part of it was the Slytherin-Gryffindor rivalry but you felt that a greater part of it was that you enjoyed getting a rise out of the brainy Gryffindor girl.

Granger’s panicked expression told you that she’d do anything to keep from getting expelled. That made sense since muggleborns that got expelled from Hogwarts were sent back to the muggle world with their memories wiped of all traces of magic. Purebloods had the edge there in that if they were expelled they could use their family resources to attend a different magic school in a different country or at the very least live a life as a squib - you’d be aware of magic but unable to use it. Despite her muggle upbringing, Granger already had the makings of being an extremely talented witch. It would be a shame to see someone with her talent expelled. Truthfully, you had no intention of ratting her out but a dark part of you wondered what you could get from Granger if you exploited the information. You thought of the white knickers in your school bag and the mint green knickers that were stashed in your trunk back in your room. Perhaps you could add to your little collection?

You smirked when Granger slipped into the empty classroom and locked the door behind her. “Hello, Granger, thanks for coming.”

“What do you mean you have proof?” she immediately demanded.

“Straight to the point then?” you asked. “Alright.” You fished into your school bag and pushed aside Tracey’s knickers as you pulled out your Omnioculars. “Do you know what these are?”

“They look like binoculars,” Granger answered.

“They’re Omni-oculars,” you explained. “A regular pair of binoculars just give you a closer view of things that are far away. These do that too but they also slow things down, replay scenes and sometimes even show a play-by-play. And for a small additional fee, you can even get them to record specific scenes.”

“Re-record?” Granger stammered as her face paled.

“Yes,” you confirmed. “One such scene that I have recorded on here is your little act of arson. Let’s take a look, shall we?” You briefly held up the Omnioculars and played the first few seconds of the scene where Granger knocked over Professor Quirrell then paused. You beckoned Granger over, “Come on, you wanted to see my proof. Here it is.”

Granger bit her lip and slowly walked over. You held up the Omnioculars in front of you so that you were looking through the left side with your right eye and she was looking through the right with her left eye.

You played the scene and began to narrate. “So there’s Potter climbing back onto his broom. You’ll notice that his Nimbus Two Thousand has already stopped bucking. That’s because you already knocked over the person who was actually jinxing it.”

“Wait, then who was jinxing it?” Granger asked.

“Ah-ah,” you chided her. “I’m not here to cast blame - except on you. No, I’m here to prove that you were wrong and that my Head of House was innocent. So there you are lightning an innocent man on fire… He didn’t notice you because he’s still caught up casting his counter-curse to combat a jinx that’s no longer in effect.”

The blue flames danced on Professor Snape’s black robes and then the scene went back up to the air where Potter was sitting on his broom which was still perfectly fine.

“And there’s Potter just sitting on his broom which, again, has already stopped bucking,” you continued. “Potter may have the fastest broom on the market but he’s kind of slow. He just sits there for another thirty seconds until Professor Snape finally notices that he’s on fire.”

“That proves that the fire was harmless,” Granger defended herself. “The fire couldn’t actually burn him. That’s why it took him so long to realize he was on fire. He finally noticed because of the heat.”

The view went back up to Potter as he went into his dive for the Golden Snitch. Granger continued to argue her innocence, “And right there, if you had kept the view on Snape for another two seconds you would have seen me scooping the fire off his robes with my bare hands.”

You lowered the Omnioculars and stepped away from her. “Sounds like a solid defense to me. Let’s go see what Professor Snape thinks of it, shall we? I’m sure he’ll be as fair and reasonable as he usually is. The fact remains that he was actually trying to save Potter by casting a counter-curse - that means he was innocent and you still set him on fire. You know what? If I was you, I’d start packing now.”

Granger stared at you with wide eyes and a pale face. “You… you can’t! You can’t show him!”

“Why not?” you countered. “You were there before the Welcome Feast. Professor McGonagall said that our house would be like our family. I don’t actually have any family of my own so I feel like I’m obligated to inform my cranky stand-in uncle that you set him on fire.”

“Why do you hate me so much!?” Granger cried. And sure enough, there were tears in her eyes. “I haven’t done anything to you! It’s not my fault my parents are muggles! And you don’t even know them! They’re wonderful people.”

You felt a twinge of guilt from seeing the muggleborn girl’s tears so you decided to press on. “Well, a better question is… what are you going to do to convince me not to show it to him?”

Granger blinked and her eyes showed a glimmer of hope. “What do you want? Money? I have a few galleons left over from my school shopping and my parents gave me some muggle pounds just in case. Or I could do your homework. I’ve helped Harry, Ron, and Neville with theirs.”

“Don’t waste my time, Granger,” you retorted. “If you can offer up money and help with homework so easily then it clearly doesn’t mean much to you. I want something meaningful that will serve as a reminder for you to be more aware of who’s watching you. Otherwise, you won’t learn your lesson and it won’t count as a proper punishment.”

“Then what do you want?” she asked with clear nervousness in her voice.

You made a show of cupping your chin in contemplation. “Hmm… oh, I know! Remember our duel from back in September?” Granger nervously nodded as her cheeks turned pink at the embarrassing memory. “Yeah. That’ll be plenty embarrassing. I want your knickers.”

Granger’s face went from pink to bright red. “Wah-what? You can’t be serious!”

You grinned, “Oh, I am. Just seeing how flustered you are tells me that your knickers will serve as a perfect payment. Way more valuable than a measly handful of galleons.”

“You’re disgusting!” the red-face Muggle-born protested. “I won’t do it.”

“Okay,” you replied with a casual shrug. “Then if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and see if I can find Professor Snape. Maybe he’s at lunch?”

Granger’s eyes practically bugged out, “No! Don’t… just… hold on…” She bit her lip again. “If I do it… you’ll swear not to show that scene to Professor Snape?”

“I’ll do one better,” you offered, “I’ll record you taking off your knickers with the Omnioculars.”

“How is that better?” Granger demanded with her face still flaming in embarrassment.

“My Omnioculars can only store three scenes at a time,” you explained. “The new scene will replace the incriminating one and then no one else will ever see it.”

The bushy-haired girl let out a long sigh, “And you promise not to bother me about it again?”

“How will I?” you asked. “I’ll have no evidence. It’ll be my word against yours. Granted, my word is a fair bit more valuable than yours. But I’ll still have no proof which means the professors could likely write it off as a baseless accusation.”

“Fine. Fine!” Granger conceded with an irritated scowl. “Let’s get this over with. Start recording.”

At this point, you were grinning like a loon. She’d bought your bluff about showing the recording to Professor Snape and had actually agreed to give you her knickers. You raised your Omnioculars and pointed them at Granger.

“Is it recording?” she asked.

“It doesn’t work that way,” you replied. ”It saves a one-minute scene and stores it for later.”

“Okay… fine…” Granger said. She took a deep breath and reached up under her skirt then she did a wiggle as she pulled a tangle of pink fabric down her legs. The knickers pooled around her ankles and she stepped out of them then was careful to hold her skirt down as she bent to pick them up. She flung the bundle of pink fabric at you and with your Keeper reflexes you managed to catch it with one hand and keep the Omnioculars up with the other.

Pink knickers… you shook out the bundle and dangled the triangle of fabric in front of you so you could see them through the Omnioculars. “No way… are these the same ones from September, Granger?”

“No!” Granger quickly blurted out. Her face somehow went even redder which was all the confirmation you needed.

“You’re a terrible liar, Granger,” you said. “This is fantastic.”

Granger glared at you. “You’re the worst. The absolute worst.”

You saved the scene and lowered your Omnioculars. Your incriminating scene of Granger lighting Professor Snape on fire was now gone. But it had served its purpose since you’d gotten knickers from three different girls with it. You could legitimately call it a collection now.

“The worst?” you repeated. “Since I was watching you, that means I wasn’t the person trying to kill your friend. I’d say there’s a least one person here that’s worse than me.”

“You just blackmailed me into giving you my knickers!” Granger argued. “And the fact that you won’t say who was trying to kill Harry puts you on their level! For all I know, you’re their accomplice!”

“Hey now,” you protested, “That person just tried to publicly **** Harry Potter. I’m not telling you their name because, whether you believe me or not, I’m not working with them and I definitely don’t want them coming after me.”

“I can’t trust a word that comes out of your vile mouth,” Granger insisted. “You know what? Show me that you replaced that other scene. I want to be sure that you’re not lying about replacing it.”

“Be my guest,” you said as you held out the Omnioculars to her. “The triangle knob at the top is for the recorded scenes. Turn it to cycle through and press the knob in to play them.”

Granger took the Omnioculars and you tucked her pink knickers in your school bag with Tracey’s white ones while she reviewed your three recorded scenes.

“Why do you have Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet recorded?” Granger asked when she was done. “Are they your next targets? Are you going to **** them too?”

“No, I’m Slytherin’s Reserve Keeper,” you answered. “I was scouting. That’s the whole reason I was watching the match with Omnioculars in the first place. Rest assured, Granger, your scene and the other two will be replaced soon because I’m going to be doing the same thing for the match between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw at the end of the month.”

“I don’t believe you,” Granger dead-panned.

“Suit yourself,” you said with a shrug as you reached out and plucked your Omnioculars from her hand. You placed them in your school bag then drew your wand as you headed to the door. “Later, Granger.” You cast the Unlocking Charm and opened the door then left Granger behind in the classroom as you headed down to the Great Hall for lunch.

After this, you and Granger would never be friends. But you were a Slytherin pureblood with a lofty family legacy on your shoulders and she was a muggleborn Gryffindor. The chances of that happening were practically nonexistent anyway. You reassured yourself by telling yourself that a more depraved person would have done a lot worse with the information you had. You hadn’t tried to kill anyone, you hadn’t ratted on her, you hadn’t gotten her expelled. You’d asked for her knickers. Highly embarrassing at the time but innocuous in the grand scheme of things. You could have done a lot worse.

You made it to the Great Hall and spotted Malfoy sitting at the Slytherin table with Crabbe and Goyle and made your way over to join them.

“Good afternoon,” you called out in a greeting as sat down beside Draco and across from the other two. Coincidentally, this gave you a view of the Gryffindor table where Potter, Weasley, and Longbottom were sitting. Perhaps that’s why Malfoy had chosen this particular seat?

“It’s not actually past noon yet… is it?” Vincent asked.

Gregory looked around in search of a clock then remembered that he had a wand. “Tempus.” Green numbers depicted the time. 11:28 “Half past eleven.”

“Mother and father sent me another care package,” Draco was quick to boast. He reached to his side and showed off a pair of Omnioculars with a smug grin. “I wrote father and he bought me Omnioculars like yours so that I can scout the other Seekers for next year. But father spared no expense with mine. These can save five scenes while yours can only store three.”

“Mine have proven to be very useful,” you replied neutrally. Five scenes seemed excessive.

“I also got some Chocolate Frogs from mother,” Malfoy added as he set three five-sided boxes in front of you. “Work your magic on these.”

This had become something of a tradition of the last few months. Whenever Draco got Chocolate Frogs in one of his numerous care packages from home, he’d have you open them. And it never failed that when you opened the boxes one of the contained Chocolate Frog Cards was one that someone within earshot needed for their collection. You still didn’t have much of a collection yourself and had only kept a few more interesting ones.

“Let’s see what we’ve got here…” you said as you opened the Chocolate Frog boxes one at a time. “Nicholas Flamel... Circe... and Herpo the Foul.”

“I’ll keep Herpo,” Draco decided. They were his cards so he always got first choice. “I’ve already got one of him but he’s a Gold-level card so I could always trade it for one I need.”

“Uhhh… I think I need Flamel,” Goyle spoke up.

“Mind if I keep Circe then?” you requested as you studied the card for the witch from ancient Greece who turned muggle sailors into pigs.

Draco nodded, “She’s only Silver and I’ve got two of her already.”

“I’ll take the chocolate,” Crabbe said as he pulled the three open boxes towards him, extracted one of the candy frogs inside and bit its head off.

“Where have you been all day?” Draco eventually asked as you loaded up your plate.

“Library,” you answered. “We’ve got three essays due tomorrow. I’m headed back there to write my Herbology essay once I’m done. Millicent, Blaise, and Theodore are there holding a table.”

“I’ll still have time to finish mine tonight,” your roommate resolved.

“You sure?” you asked. “Flint called a Quidditch practice tonight. And after the loss to Gryffindor, there’s no telling how long he’ll keep us.”

“That wasn’t our fault!” Malfoy protested.

“I doubt that’ll stop him from yelling at us,” you countered. “We’re still part of the team.“

Draco glanced down at his plate, “Maybe I’ll start on mine after lunch. What’s it on again?”

“Two feet on the uses of Dittany,” you answered.

Your attention briefly shifted from your meal when Granger walked into the Great Hall. She didn’t spare a glance in the direction of your table as she made her way to the Gryffindor table. Based on the short amount of time between your confrontation in the abandoned classroom, you suspected that the muggleborn girl hadn’t stopped off at Gryffindor tower to put on a new pair of knickers. This theory was confirmed when she reached her table. She hesitated and awkwardly pinned her skirt down as she raised her leg over the bench before quickly sitting down next to Longbottom. The Gryffindors quartet huddled together and had a quick conversation and then as one the three boys turned and glared in your direction. You weren’t sure what exactly Granger told them but you weren’t intimidated. Weasley glared at the Slytherin table at least once every meal so it wasn’t like this was anything new.

You couldn’t help smiling to yourself at the thought of the usually straight-laced and rule-abiding Hermione Granger walking around without knickers on. Yesterday was her first foray into rule-breaking and you nailed her for it. Granger’s pink knickers would always represent the day where you got one over on her. Your good mood carried you through the rest of the day. You finished lunch and returned to the library where you powered through your Herbology essay and finished well before dinner.

Even Flint yelling and screaming at the team couldn’t ruin your good mood. The Slytherin Captain was as furious as you expected. He threatened to kick everyone off the team - even you and Draco who hadn’t been playing and thus weren’t to blame for the loss to Gryffindor. But he was especially furious at Higgs, Pucey, Warrington, Bole, Derrick, and Bletchley who were all distracted by Potter’s jinxed broom and forgot about the game. Flint scored five times in the confusion but he seemed to think if the others had been paying attention they would’ve not only scored twice as many goals but Higgs likely would’ve spotted the Snitch before Potter and secured the Slytherin win.

For three hours the practice went on with Flint repeatedly shouting “No mercy!” The Slytherin Captain made all of you re-earn your spots on the team by targeting you with multi-person assaults and then screamed at anyone who got distracted for even a brief second. You regularly served as target practice during training so you were used to this sort of thing but you didn’t want to give Flint more of a reason to be mad at you so you pushed yourself as hard as you could and blocked anything that came anywhere close to the hoops. Perhaps as a direct result, you had a splitting headache when he finally released you well after ten at night. But your headache was quickly dealt with thanks to the headache cure potion that you had brewed earlier that morning.

When you returned to your room, you contented yourself with studying Johnson and Spinnet on your Omnioculars before rewatching the scene of Granger giving you her knickers. You fell asleep with a wide smile on your face while Draco stayed up who knows how late struggling to finish his Herbology essay. All in all, it had been a fairly good day for you.