To Me, From Me // DHr ✔️

t w e n t y - o n e

The next morning, it was her friends' turn to come knocking on her door. Because she was still nursing a minor hangover from only getting a couple of hours of sleep thanks to her new friendship with Theo, and the fact that it was nine-thirty on a Sunday morning, meant that she all but ignored the getting-louder-by-the-minute threats of hexing her door to smithereens. It was only when they suggested hexing Seamus as a peace offering that her ears perked up.

Dean was holding Seamus by the crook of his arm and pushed him forward to Hermione once she graciously let them into her space. By 'them' she meant the entire cavalry which consisted of Dean, Seamus, Ginny and Neville. Luna, she noticed, was nowhere to be seen again.

"Say it like you mean it. Just like we practiced, go on." Dean urged his partner with a hard gaze that meant he wasn't fooling around. Ginny laughed outright and made herself comfortable on Hermione's couch, putting up her pyjama-clad feet on the coffee table adjacent it.

"Sea getting bitched around is so worth getting up this early for on a Sunday." She mused, and to her right, Neville nodded enthusiastically.

Laughing along with them, Hermione patted Seamus' shoulder. "It's okay, I'm not angry at you."

Seamus whipped around so fast that she had to blink a few times to readjust her eyesight. "I told you! I told you she understood me!" He beamed, most likely due to the fact that he doesn't have to apologize anymore. It was common knowledge for everyone how much Seamus hated to say sorry.

"But," Her voice cut in. "That doesn't mean I'm not disappointed." She added. Seamus started to sputter again. "You're a prefect, Sea. You're meant to lead by example. This anger you have towards Death Eaters is perfectly understandable, I hate them too, but don't you see? There are no Death Eaters here – only those who have been ruined by them."

Everyone seemed to sober up with her words that lingered awkwardly around them.

Ginny cleared her throat. "Well, now that that's sorted and out of the way," She ceremoniously got up from the couch and brought forth Neville who looked as though he was going to puke and piss himself at the same time. "Are we going to help Nev ask out that Abbott chick to the ball or not?"

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"Are you sure this is right, 'Mione? The translation I got is way off. There is no way 'testicle tug of war' makes sense in a wedding scene." Dean asked as he scratched the back of his head in confusion. On a second thought, he added, "Right?"

They have been working on their Ancient Runes assignment in the library since the end of lunch and the sun has just set, meaning they've been holed up and hunched down for six hours straight. Their Runes teacher, Professor Babbling, has given them a task on translating an entire passage of a Norse legend from Elder Futhark to English.

Hermione sighed and slumped further into her seat as she massaged her sore temples – the headache she had before nowhere near the headache she has now. "You think you're confused? I have here, 'he threw her eyes upwards which then turned to hot blazing balls'." She deadpanned, ignoring the cracked chuckling that came from Dean. "There are just too many variables and the text is too blurry – we don't know if that's a line or a dot, or simply just a smudge mark."

"Why don't you call in Nott? Isn't he in our class?" He suggested, not bearing the exhaustion anymore.

"I didn't really pay attention to those in our class till recently." She admitted. "Come to think of it, why aren't you more like Sea when it comes to the Slytherins? Weren't you here when the Carrows were livening up the place?"

"Because I've caught Zabini brewing Healing Potions after hours and administering them to our little ones last year more than once, and if he's friends with Nott then I think I can handle him."

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A/N:

The Norse legend that they're translating (yes, the one with the testicle tug of war and eyes that turn to balls) is actually the 'Marriage of Njord and Skadi' and you can read all about it because I've attached the article page in the external link below.

Dedicated to @ booksnooksandcoffe for her sweet message of appreciation xx