Hermione Granger and the Chamber of Secrets (Completed)

Chapter 6 - Mudbloods

Needless to say, Professor Lockhart's lessons became a bit toned down after the pixie incident. Normally Professor Lockhart would read extracts from his book, which Hermione found a bit dull as she knew them all off by heart. Everyone else seemed to find this very boring as well, and life at Hogwarts became very dull. Hermione was very glad when the weekend arrived

Her, Ron and Harry were planning to visit Hagrid on Saturday, but Harry didn't appear from the boys tower. Instead, Ron came down and said that Harry was called to Quidditch practice. Harry seemed to enjoy being seeker, the most important player on a Quidditch field, but it did mean that he got barely any free time, especially considering that it was seven o' clock, and Harry was nowhere to be seen

As Harry was outside, Hermione and Ron found themselves alone at breakfast. They received some wolf whistles on the way downstairs, but apart from that Hermione was quite happy with the arrangement. Generally, when Harry was around the conversation was Quidditch orientated, but as he wasn't Hermione had the chance to have a normal conversation like a normal person

Ron sat down opposite her and Hermione suddenly realised how little she knew about him. They had been friends for almost a year! Ron seemed to have realised the same thing
"Hermione" he asked after eating his cereal "when's your birthday?"
"19th of September" she said without expression. She never really celebrated her birthday, as she had never had any friends to celebrate with. Ron's face fell
"What, in two weeks?" he exclaimed. Hermione nodded "Hermione, I'm so sorry! If I'd known I would've bought something!"
Hermione shook her head. She knew Ron didn't have much money and she didn't want him wasting it on her
"It doesn't matter" she said "why do you ask?"
"I just realised that I barely know you"
Hermione knew that in normal conversation, it was her turn to ask a question. She asked something that she had been wondering for a while
"What does your dad do? For a job, I mean" she asked "and your brothers?"
She wanted to know what a witch or wizard did after they left school. She would've called Ron's two eldest brothers by name, but she had no idea what they were called. Ron counted on his fingers
"Dad works at the ministry, in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office" Ron said "don't ask me what that means, I haven't got a clue. He loves everything to do with muggles-"
"So he'd love me, then" said Hermione quietly. Ron laughed
"Yeah"
He slowed down, thinking harder
"Bill works as a curse breaker for Gringotts. He's in Egypt now, I think, it's hard to keep track. Charlie is in Romania, studying dragons, but you already knew that"
Hermione winced as images of Norbert, Hagrid's evil pet dragon filled her mind. Thankfully, some of Charlie's friends had taken Norbert away, or Hagrid might now have a pile of ashes instead of a house

"What do your parents do, in the muggle world?" Ron asked
"I thought I said last year" she said "they're dentists"
"Oh, yeah" said Ron. There was a pause "so, what is a 'dentists'?"
Hermione started laughing, before realising that he was serious
"You really don't know what a dentist is?" she asked incredulously. Ron shook his head. He looked genuinely interested

Needless to say, the next fifteen minutes were highly entertaining on Hermione's part

Soon afterwards they finished breakfast and set off to the Quidditch pitch, Hermione more knowledgeable about one of her best friends and Ron more knowledgeable about dental hygiene. They sat in the stands near the front and found, to their surprise, that Harry wasn't there. Hermione had made some marmalade toast for when Harry finished, but she realised too late that it wasn't a good idea to give it to Ron, who never seemed to be full

Soon the Gryffindor team stumbled across the field, yawning and complaining
"Aren't you finished yet?" Ron called
"Haven't even started" Harry shouted back "Wood's been teaching us new moves."
Oliver Wood seemed to be the only one who was fully awake, and was striding across the field with a large smile on his face. That smile, however, was quickly wiped off his face when he saw Colin Creevey frantically taking photos with his huge Camera
"Look this way, Harry!" he said, a wide grin on his face "This way!"
Oliver Wood zoomed towards where Harry and the Weasley twins were and seemed to have a quick, Colin orientated, conversation. Then, for some reason, Fred pointed down. Hermione and Ron followed his hand and saw, to their annoyance, the Slytherin Quidditch team walking out of the changing rooms
"I don't believe it!" Wood shouted indignantly "I booked the field for today! We'll see about this!"
He shot towards the ground, and the rest of the team followed. Hermione and Ron exchanged glances before running down the steps to join them