AMOR VINCIT OMNIA; GRANGER

XXIII.

( unexpected conversations )

This year was too peaceful, up until now. And it was almost Christmas now.

Since his second year at Hogwarts, which was already 4 years ago, he hadn't had such a peaceful time at Hogwarts, between schoolwork, trolls in the dungeon, a Basilisk freezing innocent students, Sirius Black having fled Azkaban and a deathly tournament taking place at school, there wasn't much place for a peaceful time.

Another thing that made this peacefulness so strange, was the fact that Milo knew that the Dark Lord had returned and nothing seemed to have changed. Except for Umbridge's strange understanding of the word teaching, but that was something Milo could ignore for the most part.

To the black haired boy, it seemed like no one, even after Harry Potter had loudly declared the return of the Dark Lord, seemed to care about it. Everyone just went on with their lives as usual.

Though, not everyone. Milo had to give Potter and his little club some credit, they made up the few people of Hogwarts' population who actually were aware and afraid of the Dark Lord's grand return.

Then there were also people like Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, who didn't really care but in some way or another, made it obvious that their parents did, in fact, care. Draco and Pansy were part of the small group of Slytherins that now seemed to always hover around Milo, wherever he went and no matter what he did.

Milo, being the smart guy he was, figured this new treatment he got to experience was caused by their parents, who are in some way or another aware that the Dark Lord was hiding at his house until he was powerful enough to return. Maybe, their parents forced them to stay by his side, so he would mention something good about them in front of the Dark Lord and reduce his anger at their family for having abandoned him during his disappearance.

This little theory was something Milo had come up with because there was no way he could have become so charismatic over the last year that everyone wanted to be his acquaintance. That was impossible.

"Milo, what do you think of all this?" Draco asked as he was explaining the new master plan he had come up with to catch Potter in the act of resisting Professor Umbridge.

Milo, who hadn't listened to a word the younger male had said, just nodded his head in agreement. "We can try."

Delighted by the positive, although short, response, Draco gathered his things and went off to show Umbridge his newest master plan and to let her approve it.

Milo, who didn't care much about the inquisitorial, just laid back on the couch he had been sitting on and tried to not let his thoughts wander. Whenever the Bähr boy did allow his thoughts to wander they always turned back to the one person, he rather did not think about.

He had avoided her as much as he could over the past few weeks, meanwhile, it seemed like the whole castle was against this, seeing as he encountered her at almost every corner he took. One time it even happened that while Milo was walking to the library and taking one of the moving staircases, he hadn't been watching his surroundings and was stuck on it with Hermione just a few steps above him as the staircase seemed to turn as slowly as it possibly could.

To say that this was one uncomfortable and painful encounter would be an understatement. Milo felt his chest tighten as he looked up at the girl he missed so dearly and had loved, still loved. And Hermione? She was her usual self, her face hidden by a book and her curls messily tied up.

The girl hadn't even noticed Milo as far as he could tell.