Undistinguished (H.P.)

Chapter 8: Late Night Conversations

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The week after the Yule Ball passed uneventfully and before she knew it the holidays were over and Veronica was back to attending classes every day. 

One morning she was sitting at breakfast, and as she'd accidentally slept in it was a little later than she usually did, and overheard Hannah and Ernie talking about a new substitute teacher that took the Care of Magical Creatures class. Veronica doesn't take that class, purely because she was only allowed to pick two elective courses and chose Arithmancy and Divination. 

Hannah was expressing her admiration for Professor Grubbly-Plank's teaching methods while Ernie sat and listened to the girl. Apparently, Hagrid had always taught in a dangerous way, teaching his students about creatures that could easily harm or kill you instead of following the required syllabus and the new teacher was much safer. 

If Veronica hadn't read the Daily Prophet a couple of days ago then she would have asked Hannah why there was a substitute teacher replacing the usual Professor, because it was rare and seen as odd for that to occur at Hogwarts. However, she, along with everyone else and their parents, have read Rita Skeeter's latest article about the usual Care of Magical Creatures professor and was informed of his true genetic pool, that he was an official half-giant. 

Many parents didn't take this very well and had apparently written letters to Dumbledore demanding their children not be taught by some out of control monster who may end up injuring them or worse. 

Veronica didn't see what the big deal was as she believed anyone who has ever met Hagrid or even just seen him from afar would probably have guessed that he had some sort of giant gene in him. He was massive, far larger than a regular man and once she read the article she can proudly say she wasn't surprised, nor did she care as even though she's never spoken to him, she knew he only had the best intentions in mind. Not to mention Dumbledore trusts him and so that's all that mattered to her - and her parents agreed. 

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A few weeks come and go, and Veronica has noticed a change in her usual everyday habits. She's been getting up later and later as the days drift by because she's been having terrible trouble sleeping due to confusing, blurry nightmares waking her up in the middle of the night. 

This meant she was extremely tired during the day and often found herself drifting to sleep if she was sat still for too long, which would be problematic for the usual student at Hogwarts but for Veronica it was even worse as she was almost always found in the Library during her spare time. 

One particular evening near the end of January, Veronica jerks herself awake after a loud slam from the corridor echoes through the Library. She glanced around confused why it was so empty and dark but then it dawned on her after looking out the window at the moon that she must've fallen asleep that evening and Madame Pince had not seen her small figure hunched over the table. 

Panic flooded her body at the idea of being caught outside after curfew and she hastily packed her things away before scurrying out of the room. 

She was quick and nimble as she jogged down the corridor and, as she was not expecting anyone else to be awake at this time of night, she let out a loud shriek as another figure rounded the corner. 

The person halted in their pursuit and turned to look at her, the moonlight giving her an advantage as she tried to make out their facial features. Not to her surprise, it was Harry Potter, who seemed to always be out wandering the corridors more at night than during the day. 

However what did shock her was the fact that he was dripping wet and clutching the golden egg that he got during the previous task. 

Harry stared at the Hufflepuff in front of him, her brown eyes widened in what looked like confusion as she scanned his soaked clothes hanging from his torso. She had strange faded indents in the side of her pale face, which made it seem as though she'd been resting her head on something for a while and her light brown hair piled into a messy bun on top of her head. 

Her questioning gaze met his eyes again and Harry felt the need to defend his position. "The egg had to be opened underwater!" he exclaimed and felt relief to get it off of his chest, even though he was planning on letting others know first her silence implied an invitation to keep talking.

"I think the next task is mermaids, they are also underwater you see" He kept talking, and found it difficult to stop so basically told her all the information he had just received. Harry found Veronica easy to talk to and ended up spilling his concerns about the upcoming task to her as well. 

Once he stopped to take a breath she sent him a soft smile and before he could carry on she walked up to him, her intrigued eyes kept looking between his face and the egg in his hands. "I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough, you should get some of your friends to help you as well," she said to him, and he found himself enchanted by the mysterious brunette. 

And with a final "Good Luck," she walked away, continuing on her journey to her dormitory. Only after she left had Harry remembered that he still didn't know her name, nor anything about her and promised himself that if the opportunity arose again he would ask her. 

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Veronica kept the information Harry told her a secret, knowing that had it been anyone else she knew they would've told all their friends as soon as possible. Of course, she was lacking in the friendship department and so even if she wanted to tell someone she wouldn't know who to go to. 

One of the other reasons she didn't tell anyone was that she had a hard time believing that it had actually happened, part of her was sure it was merely a dream that Harry had properly spoken to her. Each time she thought about it her heart fluttered and a grin appeared on her face as she relived her conversation with the Boy Who Lived. 

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