Runes Master

Turning Tables

"Enough of this nonsense! Maybe my aura is thin, but it's more consistent than your predictions!"

After that particularly loud proclamation, Hermione Granger, third year Gryffindor at Hogwarts, got up, grabbed her schoolbag and moved toward the exit. Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter were speechless. Hermione, verbally flipping off a teacher, what was the world coming to? Harry sent a sideway look toward his divination teacher, Professor Trelawney, and saw a familiar glint in her eyes.

"Wait up, Hermione! I'm with you! I totally agree!"

And it was the Boy-Who-Lived's turn to flee the classroom after throwing his stuff into his own bag. Ron looked at them, open mouthed, only to imitate them without a word. Hermione, in her state of anger, had not yet registered that she had two followers now, until they caught up with her around a corner.

"Harry? Ron? What are you doing here?" she asked, looking a lot calmer that she should be.

"In case you don't remember,..." started Ron slowly, "...you just closed the door on Trelawney's nose."

"Oh yeah! That insufferable know-it-all wannabe..."

Her two friends could not help but snicker at her choice of words.

"What?" Asked Hermione, not realizing what she had just said.

"Nothing." Harry hid his smile. "And to answer your question, we quit divination too."

"What? No! You can't! Not because of me..." She now had a panic look in her eyes, worried that her rash move caused her two best friends to drop a class.

Harry looked straight at her.

"Last year, you stood by me, with Ron, against the whole school. Now, it's our turn to support you. You were right. She was insulting you. Malfoy does enough of that for everyone."

Hermione seemed a little lost in face of such support. She started to walk again, turning her back to them, trying to wipe her wet eyes discreetly.

"Admit it, Harry." said Ron with a smirk. "You just didn't feel like dying for a fortieth time today."

Later, the Gryffindor trio sat in the common room, weighing their options. McGonagall couldn't be partial, but her smile when they said they quit a divination class in the middle and were not going back told them otherwise. She simply gave them sheets with description of alternative course.

"I don't fancy Arithmancy much" said Ron, looking at the list. "I'd like to take a simple free study lesson but... Mom would go spare."

"She already has enough on her hand already..." said Hermione, looking at the twins who were wrecking havoc with indoors fireworks.

Harry looked at them a moment, shook his head and looked back at his own list.

"That's it!" declared Ron, loudly. "I'm taking Muggle Studies. At least, I'll understand what dad is always babbling about and even be able to show him some. Take it too, Harry! You're muggle raised! This is going to be so easy, we'll ace this!"

"Always the easy way out, isn't it, Ronald?" said Hermione coldly, without looking up from her book.

"What? For once, I won't be asking you for help!"

"Of course not! You'll be asking Harry's! What's the difference?"

"Well... for once we won't make things up to fill our homework!" replied Ron, sure of his argument.

Harry was getting tired of this.

"Anyway, we're not all-brain like you! We're not trying to shine to the teachers!"