YOU DIDN'T MEAN TO • PANSMIONE

( FOUR ! )

HERMIONE HAD DECIDED THAT she really liked burnt toast. She had always been a cereals person before the war, but eating cornflakes brought back too many memories of those cold mornings in the tent, damp mist curling around her ankles, when Ron was gone, and Harry curled up on his bed, lost and angry and scared all at once. So now she took full advantage of the heavy baskets of toast - especially the charred pieces that had been left under the grill for too long - and slathered them with butter.

Ginny was watching her carefully.

"What?" she said, her mouth full, spraying crumbs. Flushing, she swallowed. "Sorry."

"Did you get enough sleep last night, 'Mione? I was waiting up but I fell asleep before you came in."

"Oh? Sorry I kept you up. Must have just missed you." Hermione laughed nervously. "I got plenty of sleep though." Yes, she had slept. Never mind the fact that she had waited until midnight so that no one else would be awake, so that she could cast the wards on the door.

"Hmm," Ginny said, but at that moment, Luna joined them at the table, and her whole body shifted in tone. Hermione could clearly see that the conversation was already forgotten, and she inwardly sighed with relief.

"Morning, Luna." Luna smiled at her, and slid onto the bench beside Ginny.

"Morning," she replied dreamily. Her grey-blonde hair was tangled, but it still shone in the light, and for the first time, Hermione noticed how pretty Luna was. She was as slender as a sapling, and her hair ran like a river down her back. Usually, Hermione struggled to notice whether a person was attractive, or pretty. Of course, she could point out beauty, but she never quite understood attraction. Back before Hogwarts, before everything, the girls in her primary school used to adorn their walls with gleaming posters of celebrities. "Look how hot they are!" they would exclaim, sighing, and wishing they had been born a decade earlier. But for Hermione, she could never look at a person, and understand who was "hot" and who was not. Bodies seemed....almost extra, she supposed. It was the person beneath that made them beautiful.

"Did you sleep well?" Ginny asked. Then she blushed. "Only, I mean, Hermione has been struggling to sleep, you know...I thought I would just enquire after you as well. Sleep is so interesting, isn't it?," she added suddenly, turning back to Hermione, her face imploring.

"Oh - oh yes," Hermione stuttered. "Everyone has very different, erm, sleep patterns, don't they? I mean...oh - and isn't it weird how some people sleep deeper than others!"

"So weird," Ginny agreed.

Luna blinked, bemused. "Of course some people sleep deeper than others," she said, filling a creamy white bowl with coco pops. "It all depends on the nargle activity in the room. They can really keep you awake, you know."

Hermione looked at Ginny, expecting to catch her eye and giggle, but Ginny looked almost...upset.

Strange.

"Are you all right? Are you sure you've been sleeping well?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Me? Of course. I sleep like a log, all that quidditch practice..."

"Granger!"

Hermione flinched. The voice was familiar, but her name in its timbre was not. She kept her head down, and took a large bite of bread.

"Granger! For merlin's sake, I know you can hear me." Pansy Parkinson swung herself onto the bench beside the three of them, jogging the table so that Luna's milk sloshed wildly. "Oh, sorry," she said. Hermione almost gaped. It was the very first time that an apology had even graced Pansy's lips, at least in her presence, and she wasn't quite sure if what she was hearing was real. It might have been flippant, but still... "Now listen to me, about this potions assignment -"

"Don't worry about it," Hermione said quickly. "I've sorted it out. I can fit it into my homework schedule just fine, so you don't have to help me."

"Do you really think that little of me?" Pansy stared at her accusingly. Hermione wanted to protest; of course she thought little of her! Pansy had been a cruel, petty bully throughout their school years, and Hermione couldn't forget all those hours spent staring at her front teeth in the middle, wishing that they were smaller, and more delicate.

"I-"

"I'm going to help you," Pansy said, and her tone suggested that there was to be no arguing with her. Hermione cringed a little inside, imagining the shambles her potions project was slowly becoming. "I started coming up with a few ideas last night, but I think you're going to have to do the writing. Mine...well, anyway. Please say you'll write."

Flustered, Hermione looked at Ginny and Luna. "I- yes, okay."

"Good." She sighed, and smoothed her robes. "I might hate school, but I'm a Slytherin, and we are going to fucking excel at this assignment, even if its the last thing that I ever do." She stood up, and waved at someone across the room, smiling. She had a nice smile. Even if it was a little sharp. "I guess I'll see you around, Granger," she said. And with that, she stalked away.

Dazed, Hermione stared at her plate, filled with cold toast. "What was that?"

Ginny grinned wickedly. "I think Pansy wants to spend some time with you, Hermione."

"Oh, shut up!" Hermione laughed.

Luna smiled. "I think she likes you."