MAGIANIMA // Hermione Granger

Tragic-Special Day

Sat ready and waiting, Atlas flipped through her Herbology book on Puffapods, a plant they would be studying in future Herbology lessons. It wasn't a subject Atlas was innately good at so she often had to study much more in the subject than any other. It was frustrating, to say the least, not being instantly good at something, usually, Atlas would have given up on it, gone onto something else but it was part of her curriculum and she really wanted to achieve high marks in her OWLs.

So that's why she was sat in the library, at 5 PM, waiting for Hermione to show up, it was out of character for her to be late, even if it was only by 5 minutes but Atlas didn't mind. It was slightly concerning but she didn't venture down that paranoia path, opting to wait a few more minutes until she went on a search of her own. She was glad she did because soon, Hermione came stumbling into the library, hair messy and bag hanging loosely from her arm.

A smile wormed its way onto Atlas's face and she stood up eagerly, going over to the girl and taking her bag from her. "Hey, you..." Hermione smiled, "Sorry...Professor Sinatra stopped me in the halls."

"It's fine," Atlas grinned, setting the bag underneath the table as she took her seat again, Hermione made herself comfortable across from her, surveying over the books Atlas had chosen. "Your hair looks...more untamable than usual."

"Oh!" Hermione flushed and tried to flatten down her hair, Atlas watching her amusedly for a second before going back to her book, absentmindedly flipping through it, "better?"

"You look good either way," Atlas voiced slyly - she didn't look up - stopping now on a page about Valerian, an ingredient Atlas knew well considering it was used to make Sleeping Draughts. "I know the curriculum for this term so we could do some reading in advance?"

"That sounds good to me," Hermione smiled and Atlas looked up, eyes going to her friend's hair to see she really hadn't done a good job of flattening it down. That brought a small smile to her face as she shook her head.

They settled into a comfortable silence, Hermione getting up a few times to grab her own books to read. Atlas would sometimes ask for a few clarifications on certain passages, eyeing the copious amounts of homework Hermione somehow had as she did. It did make Atlas wonder just how many classes the girl was taking but she didn't press the subject, going back to her reading every time Hermione had finished explaining something.

Occasionally, Atlas herself would help Hermione on a few things, Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts in particular, always getting a curt nod or a quiet 'thank you' in return. Each would earn a twitch of a smile at Atlas's lips, only for it to disappear when she went back to her notes.

"What do your parents do?" Atlas suddenly asked after her wrist started to hurt a good few hours into the session. They hadn't spoken much and had just been content in each others company and the rare words they shared.

Hermione slowly looked up from her book, mouth formed into a curious but amused smile as she set down her quill, "Strange..." she muttered and Atlas rolled her eyes, "not in a bad way, just...no one's ever taken an interest. They're dentists."

"Oh..." Atlas had no idea what that was. "Uh..."

"They work with teeth," Hermione smiled and Atlas nodded, she was now slightly less confused, "Though I suspect you don't know what a dentist really is?"

"No...not really," Atlas admitted.

"I'm surprised. You have very nice teeth."

"Ah...thank you," Atlas smiled, cocking her head to the side in odd endearment. What a peculiar compliment. "I suppose it's a...respected job?"

"I guess...they're doctors in their own regard," Hermione nodded with a slight shrug, "Like healers but specifically for teeth."

"Now I get it," Atlas grinned. She was seemingly proud of her understanding which was understandable considering Atlas had never really come into contact with anything muggle. So dentists were teeth healers, that was cool to know. "Is it...fun?"