Redamancy (Harry Potter x Fem!Reader)

Of Quidditch and Questions

The next coming days were nothing short of strange. Students spoke of little else besides Mr. Filch's poor petrified cat. Often (Y/N) would overhear someone saying something or other about the event and how they thought it strange that, once again, Harry Potter and his friends were at the center of it all. She had to be especially careful of Mr. Filch, for one afternoon when she Dean, and Seamus were heading down to lunch, he tried to give her detention for breathing too loudly. Luckily Professor McGonagall was close enough to overhear and tell him he was being ridiculous. However, she was just as quick to scold the three students for dillydallying and urged them to get to where they were going quickly.

Even Hermione was not herself after the attack. It was not unheard of for her to spend hours reading, but it was all she did those days. When (Y/N) would try to ask her what she was up to, she would give little response. It wasn't until (Y/N) was in her dormitory getting ready for bed that she figured it out.

It was the same night Lavender Brown had convinced Parvati to let her braid her hair. She sat on her bed in her pajamas and Lavender quietly hummed a lively tune as she ran her fingers through her hair. (Y/N) and Padma sat on (Y/N)'s bed, trying to measure Padma's essay for History of Magic. Professor Binns required that they have a three-foot-long paper written the next day in class, which was just about as arduous of an assignment as his lectures.

"It's still an inch short!" Padma exclaimed.

"Well, that's not so bad." (Y/N) tried. "Ron's essay was missing eight whole inches when I spoke to him at dinner."

Parvati looked up from her book. "She's right, an inch isn't that much to write, Padma. You can look at ours and copy it."

"Better hurry before Hermione gets back," Lavender sang. "If we don't we'll be up all night listening to her scold us for cheating."

But the girls didn't even have a chance to grab their essays, for Hermione came storming in the second Lavander finished. She didn't seem to hear what they were saying, or if she had, she was too worked up to care. She plopped down on her bed with a heavy, dramatic sigh and turned to face (Y/N).

"All the copies of Hogwarts: A History have been taken out! And there's a two-week waiting list! I wish I hadn't left my copy at home, but I couldn't fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books!"

Padma began neatly rolling up her essay. "What does everyone want with that book, anyway?"

It came to (Y/N) at once. "Everyone must be trying to read about the Chamber of Secrets! And that's what you've been up to, as well, isn't it?"

At that, the three other girls perked up. "Chamber of Secrets?" Asked Lavender. "Have you found anything?"

"No," Said Hermione irritably. "All the books that are left have nothing on it. I'll try again tomorrow, but with Professor Binns' essay due..." She shook her head as if overwhelmed by how much work she still had left. However, Hermione had already written four feet seven inches. "I'll have to wake up early tomorrow to finish it. (Y/N)? How's yours coming?"

"Three feet exactly." She answered promptly. "And it'll stay that way."

Hermione managed a smile, though she looked like she wanted to tell (Y/N) it wouldn't hurt to put in extra effort every once in a while. Soon, the girls settled in for bed.

By the time (Y/N) woke, Hermione added an entire five inches to her essay, making it exactly five feet. She seemed content with her work, for when (Y/N) asked her to come down to breakfast, she rolled up her parchment and tucked it safely in her bag.

Classes that day dragged by all the way to Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall informed the students that they'd be transfiguring their pets into water goblets shortly after their arrival. It looked and sounded easy enough, but (Y/N) had no luck. Her owl was just as stubborn as she was. Every time she began to tap her wand three times, Alcestis would flutter her wings and knock it straight from her hand. She would be taking no part in the lesson.