mahogany ; d.m

3 - invitations

Athena awoke the next morning to see it had been raining all night, and that gloomy, grey clouds remained in the sky. This was a very dramatic turn from yesterday's warm September sun. It was Friday, meaning their first week back at Hogwarts was coming to an end.

She opened the drapes of her bed, reluctant to step onto the cold floor of her dormitory. When she stretched up and out, she saw Hermione sitting cross legged on her bed, studying. She looked up from her intense reading with bright eyes when she saw Athena stand up.

"Oh, good morning,"Hermione beamed. "I didn't wake you, did I? I tried not to make any noise."

"Barely. Why are you up here anyway?" Athena asked whilst beginning to make her bed. They normally always met downstairs in the common room before breakfast.

"Oh um—its nothing,"she shrugged hesitantly, starting to pile together her books. "Hungry?"

"Er yeah,"Athena replied, sceptical of Hermione's resistance to answer.

Athena finished making her bed until it looked neat enough to her standards. She got ready for the day, changing out of her pyjamas and into her robes, brushing through her tangled hair and brushing her teeth.

They went down to the common room shortly after they had got ready, to meet Harry and Ron as they did every morning. They were already downstairs, accompanied by Neville and Lavender Brown who was leaning excitedly on Ron's arm like a poodle with their owner.

Athena noticed Hermione's comfort shift immediately when they met with the others but drew no attention to it.

"Alright?" Harry greeted them, raising his eyebrows, looking slightly irritated. He walked towards Athena and Hermione immediately as if relieved of their presence.

Athena linked arms with Harry as they did often only in a way of close friendship. It wasn't uncommon for Athena to be affectionate towards her friends, so simply linking arms was not thought anything of.

"Horrible weather isn't it,"Hermione said in a loud voice from behind them, as she walked beside Neville. It sounded like she was trying to overthrow the voices of Ron and Lavender which were coming from the back.

"Yes, yeah," Harry replied nonchalantly.

"So what's going on with Ron and Lavender?"Athena whispered to Harry as they walked down the corridor.

"I don't really have a clue. She came up to him this morning in the common room and said she needed to talk to him. They've been inseparable since,"he explained.

"Oh really. I had no idea she liked him. I've never heard her speak about him before,"she said, trying hard to keep her volume low. "Any idea why Hermione didn't go down to the common room this morning?"

"She did come down. But after a while of the lovebirds cooing at each other, went back up. I can't blame her really. I wanted to do the same."

There was no denying something between Hermione and Ron. It wasn't obvious but it was there. The way Hermione would sometimes get shy around Ron in certain situations, and not forgetting the row they had less than two years ago at the Yule Ball.

They took their seats on the Gryffindor table, where Fred and George were sat. They were going over plans for different products to sell in their joke shop, gathering together something called 'puking pastilles'. Ron was very amused by his brothers' many ideas.

"I'm going to sit with Parvati. I'll see you later Won-Won,"she kissed him on the cheek, which made Hermione squirm slightly, and left the table to move to where Parvati was sat.