MAGIANIMA // Hermione Granger

To Be A Burden

If Hermione knew about Atlas meeting up with Daphne she didn't let it on. In fact, Atlas found herself doubting whether she had seen the exchange properly, whether Hermione glancing in the direction of the Slytherins those days ago was merely an unfortunate coincidence, merely Hermione despising those giggling girls as she normally did. She had no clue. She didn't want to bring it up either because that would implicate her more so she kept quiet and avoided Daphne when at Hermione's side. It wasn't hard, not at all, instead, it was all too easy, Slytherins and Gryffindors typically stayed away from each other outside of the usually bickering anyway.

So Atlas didn't worry, or rather, she tried not to. If Daphne followed her somewhere again Atlas wasn't so sure Hermione would remain clueless, the girl had, after all, taken to remaining by her side any chance she got. This led to the other predicament, the less detrimental one but predicament nonetheless, Atlas might have been able to stay away from Daphne but Astoria was a different question.

Why Astoria had suddenly started seeking her out, Atlas didn't know. She explicitly remembered Astoria being against the two of them being seen by the school because it would arouse suspicion but now, it seemed she didn't care. And now, Astoria was walking beside Atlas and Atlas was walking beside Hermione. The three of them in some tense silence. One Atlas felt she desperately needed to break.

"So..." she began and looked at Astoria, mouth pulled into a strained smile, "what did you want to say, Astoria?"

"Hmm, nothing in particular," Astoria mused, arms crossed and face the picture of unperturbed, "just wanted to say hello."

"Yes, well...hello," Atlas nodded, glancing to Hermione who was staring upon the pages of her book, blank-faced and unbothered but Atlas had noticed how the page had not once been turned since the beginning of their walk. And Hermione read fast, incredibly so. This was bothering her and now Atlas knew Hermione was aware the owner of that cherry perfume was Daphne Greengrass. It was now an indisputable fact, Atlas just didn't know why she hadn't mentioned it. Did she really not care?

For some reason, that thought made her uneasy. 

"What?" Atlas had been caught staring. Hermione peered up at her, carefully placing a bookmark between her most recent pages and closing the tome slowly. 

"You...lipstick?" Atlas answered dumbly because yes, she had just noticed Hermione was wearing lipstick, "it's smudged..."

"It's chapstick," Hermione said and glanced at the hand Atlas had raised to her face, "I...get dry lips and lipstick would only make --" a thumb brushed across the smudge of colour at the corner of her mouth, the pad of Atlas's finger fleetingly connecting with her bottom lip, " -- them drier..."

"Right..." Atlas pulled her hand away, rubbing her thumb against the side of her forefinger, she coughed, clearing her throat and momentarily glimpsed at Astoria. The girl was grinning, staring up at her knowingly. Merlin, Atlas had forgotten she was there. "But you wore lipstick last year because your lips were chapped, that's what Harry said anyway."

"Well, Harry doesn't know what he's talking about...besides, he was just trying to make fun of me," Hermione said and Atlas frowned.

"How?"

"Well, people seem to think kissing helps with chapped lips and Harry was insinuating I should find someone to kiss," Hermione told and Atlas went a little wide-eyed.

"Does it?"

"No," Hermione said, shaking her head, "it actually makes them worse."

"Well, if you have really chapped lips, Hermione, does that mean you kiss a lot?" Both Gryffindors froze and turned to the girl beside them, looking at Astoria, red-faced for vastly different reasons but looking the same regardless. "What?"