I Learned Your Pulse

"For the sake of Merlin, get some sleep!"

There was a backup plan for every backup plan, and a plan to start it off. Hermione had only had a total of twelve hours' sleep for the past three weeks because she'd been so busy searching for information, ANY information. While she told every hypothesis and idea to Simis an Brant, she never told of her plans to anyone but David. He came up with his own, ocassionally, but regularly, she was the brainstormer and he was the correcter, which she thought perfect; he seemed to think so aswell. They were a great team. Now, if Hermione could make it past the first task sane, they'd have another task and another to plan for and more hours to spend talking and enjoying one anothers' company, though the planning would probably be limited during the time of the Yule Ball, which, this year, was also going to be accompanied by the Remembrance Ball, a new dance that was to be held every year on the anniversary of the end of the Battle of Hogwarts (so relatively, the end of the year) to remember all those who'd fallen.

Both balls had been pushed to the very back of Hermione's mind. As of the last three weeks, Viktor had accompanied her to breakfast and dinner (never lunch, as he was not a student and off doing famous-Quidditch-player-taking-a-vacation things around that time every day). Hermione found his attentions flatterig and his sweetness gratifying, but told nobody of their kiss. Though he did hold her hnd occassionally and earn her dirty looks from the girls and him dirty looks from the boys, they had not kissed again, and he did not press her. She was still as unsure as before, but she was, by now, accustomed to his presence and overly glad he was there to speak to at supper while she sat across from him, with Simis on one side and Brant on the other, sharing an occassional glance with David. Her fellow competitors were great people and wonderful new friends; Simis had a passionate love for reading, though mostly fiction, and was smart, but not thoroughly intelligent, and loved to act, as he told her one day; Brant loved Quidditch and idolized Viktor, with whom he'd struck up a cautious friendship, and sometimes (Hermione found this out by accident, helping him pick up papers) wrote poetry. They talked of the first task, possible second tasks (though none of them had the faintest clue) and the amount of schoolwork they had to do (Viktor usually just ate and listened during those parts). She was uncomfortably speaking with Harry and Ron, who she could tell were bothered by her group of male friends; but it wasn't as if she excluded girls or other guys at all. she sat with the other prefects every day. She'd introduced her new friends and Viktor to everyone who didn't already know him and everyone seemed to get along. She was immensely tired and sick of correcting almost every potion she came across, but her grades were perfect and she was pleased with herself.

David continued to pester her about fighting off a boggart, but she refused as normal. She didn't want him there to see what she feared most - though she didn't know herself what it would be. she thought of many things, disturbing things when she tried to fall asleep at night. Of terrible monsters killing those she loved, of those she loved turning into terrible monsters.

The latest distrubing image she'd thought of was Ron walking out of the tent again, but this was a memory and she argued strictly with her conscious about allowing her that particular one.

She guessed she should have been expectant of falling asleep in class, due to the lack of sleep she'd been having. But when David's soft, "Hermione, come on, wake up," reached her ears from the middle of a most pleasant dream of butterfies and France and rose petals, she jerked her head up forcefully, stiffling a yawn and red with embarassent.

"You're overworked," David said, his voice concerned, his eyes worried as they looked at her awake. "How much sleep did you get last night?"

"I... well, I..." Hermione was blatantly aware of everyone staring at her with the same concern David was showing, though a bit detatched, but still curious. "I actually... Well, I didn't sleep."