Causam Magicae

4: Learning

She should have known better than to give in to her moment of weakness because for the last week before the start of term, those pesky marauders would not leave her alone. But on the bright side, she made drastic improvement in her body's capability of functioning and had read over a book a day in hopes of figuring out the answers to everything that was going on.

She spent most of her days walking around the castle, traveling from the library on the ground floor all the way to the room of requirement on the seventh. It took her three days to conquer those stairs, leaving her a puddle of pure pain too many times she cared to admit. Healer Dagworth had tried asking her just how she got to be so exhausted but each time he received just a noncommittal shrug paired with a groan of "getting better."

After a while of these answers, he finally gave up in trying to pull the answers out of her and simply set to work in making sure she was not harming herself in her need for progress. The healer-patient relationship had come to grow into an odd sort of friendship for the pair over the month.

Hermione's time in the hospital wing had turned into a tentative dance of push and pull between it's inhabitants. The marauders would try to pull her into light conversation, only for Hermione to respond with surface level pleasantries and steer the conversation away from anything of substance. She made a point to never ignore them when spoken to directly, but also never made interesting enough conversation for them to want to continue on, only to later slip out of the room when she thought they weren't paying attention. Then return once her body failed her or the sun had laid to rest for the day.

But today, the last night before the welcome feast, the boys had agreed that they would not let her off so easy. After all, starting tomorrow, the entire school would be vying for her attention. They wanted to ensure that she ended up with the right people.

All four heads turned as the great wooden door opened allowing Hermione to slip through. "Hello Jane!" Peter exclaimed popping up to attention, bouncing slightly on his toes as if his body was so full of unused energy that it needed to seep out in any way necessary.

Hermione gingerly laid down in her bed and raised a singular eyebrow, "I was unaware we were on first name basis now." Her tone was biting as she looked at the boy. She rationally knew that this Pettigrew was not the same one she knows. In her head she knew that he had yet to betray Harry's parents, but her heart was filled with a disgust and hatred too great to push away easily.

Peter's cheeks flushed a brilliant shade of crimson and ceased his happy bouncing came to an abrupt halt, "Sorry, I just-"

"Pete here went to the kitchens and got us all a grand feast to celebrate the return of school and our escape from Dagworth. Come and join us!" James cut off Peter quickly and moved in front of him with a dramatic slide, gesturing to the various confections that laid upon Remus' bed. The entire area covered in plates holding treacle tarts, black forest cake, strawberry pie, cupcakes piled high with shiny white frosting, and a teetering mountain of Honeydukes candy.

Hermione eyed the sweets with a calculating gaze and grabbed the pain potion from her side table, taking a small sip to ease the aching soreness of her overworked muscles. "No thank you, but I appreciate the offer."

"Aw come on Granger! How can you turn down sweets?!" Sirius exclaimed with a look of playful concern.

"Quite easily actually."

Remus let out a heavy sigh and shook his head low, "Sorry Wormy, I know you went through a lot of trouble to get this for all of us and wanted to share it with her. But, I guess she doesn't enjoy our company as much as we wished." He pat the mousy haired boy softly on the back in a play of comfort.