Life is Strange: A Hermione Granger Story

Chapter Six

A/N Be warned. This chapter is very explicit.

Several hours later.

The fire crackled a deep crimson, but no heat was given off by the flames. It was September after all and even the northern lonely isolation of Hogwarts was weeks away from the bitter winds that necessitated scarves and mittens. The fireplace was lit for decoration and light, spreading a warm glow to a dark room.

Small wooden tables were filled with studying Gryffidors, heads bent over musty, leather bound books. Parchments becoming filled with scribbles from flying quills, annotating the correct spell components necessary for a powder to bring deep, dreamless sleep; the correct wand position to cast a charm against falling boulders; an essay three parchments long on the life cycle of wraith bats. A normal night of homework. The room was quiet, with only some whispered conversation and the crackle of the fire.

Hermione, Harry and Ron sat together on a small velvet couch against a far wall, the Gryffindor banner of scarlet and gold behind them, hanging heavy with age. The two boys sat on either side of their friend, their laps filled with two enormous essays that were homework for Flitwick's homework on charms for opening sealed entrances. Ever the overachiever, Hermione's own homework, twice the required length, lay curled and tied, completed days ago, on a nearby desk. As always, she was their editor in chief on the last night before the assignment was due. To all eyes in the room, it was a familiar sight.

The other students would be astounded to know what was going on beneath those parchments.

She licked her lips. Hermione was still flushed and confused by her encounter with Malfoy, her blood still unquiet. When the boys had pulled her onto the sofa and begged her for help with their homework she had agreed without hesitation, hoping the distraction of words, paper and pens would help her regain what sanity she hoped she still possessed. But, now, her racing hormones were creating more havoc than she would have dreamed.

It was all because of the stupid couch. Some first year had been practicing size transfiguration earlier and somehow had caused their usual spot to become solidly smaller. As they had sat down, Hermione in her usual spot in the middle to read through their barely legible work, she had been surprised to find her legs pressed in close to theirs. It didn't help that their shoulders also met, making her feel trapped in some kind of exciting snare. A few steady breaths had failed to help, because she couldn't help but notice that blue eyes and green, followed the rise and fall of her chest. Strange how lately every little thing with them had a new meaning. It worried her.

Trying to return to a semblance of normality, she used her best nagging voice to utter.

"Alright, Ron, let me see how long yours is first, then I'll compare it to Harry's which, no offense, is probably a little better than yours."

Both boys shifted uncomfortably at her words, grinning nervously, and Hermione turned as bright red as the fire, closing her eyes in resignation and frustration. It seemed her brain was not giving her an opportunity to redeem herself this evening. "You know what I mean," she murmured.

They had spread out the large parchments, and Hermione leaned over trying to ascertain if Ron had written in diagonals on purpose, and in an attempt to follow the trail of words, she placed her finger on the parchment following the spells detailing how to open locked treasure chest as she read. She leaned forward closer to the parchment, in order to see some of his oftentimes tiny print, but as she did so she didn't realize her skirt behind her had hiked up, giving Harry a nice view of her light blue underpants. He swallowed, unable to look away. He could see the contours of her bottom and the crease that ran down her backside.