Their first class that morning was Transfiguration. A class in which, he was certain, Harry had never seen either girl. But, sure enough, the two girls made their way inside chatting animatedly with Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Harry was yet again dazzled by Mary Sue’s beauty, and, as time flew by, even by her unbelievable wit, who could easily rival Hermione’s.
“Who can tell me the correct incantation to change a feather into foam?” asked McGonagall, once the class had settled down.
Hermione’s hand flew up, as predictable, but Harry noticed that Mary Sue raised hers as well.
“Ms. Bloomwood?”
“ Plumam in schiumam ,” said the pretty lady, and Harry was amazed at the sound of her voice, which was so melodious it almost seemed like music.
McGonagall smiled at her (at this Harry seriously thought Mary Sue had to be a veela or something. Since when did McGonagall smile ?), and awarded Gryffindor a hundred house points.
After this, students were paired into groups and given a feather they were supposed to transform into white, soft foam. Poor Mary Sue, she was teamed up with Neville, who was as close to transforming the feather into foam as he was to get an O in Potions. Harry edged near them to hear.
“Don’t worry, Neville, I’ll help you with it. It’s really quite simple,” said Mary Sue soothingly, giving him a radiant smile. “Do as I do: Plumam in schiumam !”
Neville, however, was too transfixed to notice. He could not take his eyes off her. And neither could Harry.
“Oh, honestly, Harry, Mary Sue’s just a pushover. We’ve been getting along great without her, why are you making such a fuss?” huffed Hermione.
Ron grinned. “Are you jealous, Hermione?”
Hermione stared at him, clearly offended. “Ex-cuse me? And jealous of what, may I ask?”
“Well, she’s as smart as you are, for one, and she’s also gorgeous,” answered Ron.
Hermione shot daggers at him. “Implying that I’m ugly?”
“No! Of course not, Hermione!” said Ron, worried. “She’s just got, uh””
“Bigger boobs,” finished Hermione for him.
“Yes. I mean no! I mean””
“Whatever.”
Harry spoke up. “Well, I’m going to talk to her.”
Hermione looked like she wanted to say something, but thought better of it and shrugged instead, looking at Harry with a most disapproving expression.
Harry chose to ignore this and walked up to the blond bimbo (who also happened to be quite a genius, actually) and said, “Hey, Mary Sue.”
She rounded on him, glaring. “Oh sure. Now it’s ‘hey, Mary Sue’! For the past five years you’ve hardly even talked to me and now that I’m a bit more developed you suddenly notice me…”
Haha , thought Harry. So she had grown over the past summer. Well, at least that explained why he had never noticed her before. “Um, no, actually, I, uh, wanted to congratulate myself with you for that, uh, great performance back in class.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Ri-ight,” said Mary Sue sarcastically.
“And, well, um, I wanted to know whether it was you who, uh, turned our dormitory all pink…” finished Harry.
“No, it wasn’t me, and it definitely isn’t pink. It’s magenta. There’s a difference. It’s like saying purple is the same as violet. I mean, they’re totally different colours.” Mary Sue looked smugly at him.
“Oh,” said Harry. Well, if it wasn’t Mary Sue, it wasn’t Lord Voldemort, and it wasn’t the Weasley twins, who was the damn culprit?
At that moment Hermione spoke up. Apparently, she had not left after all. “Oh yeah? And if it wasn’t you, then how did you know the walls are magenta and not pink?” she asked.
Mary Sue looked uncomfortable for a moment, but then pasted back her sunny smile back on her lips. “Someone told me it was magenta… And, anyway, aren’t you a bit too nosy, silly?”
Harry looked concerned. Ron looked bemused. Mary Sue looked confident. And Hermione looked ready to kill. “I care if someone stirs up trouble, Missy,” answered Hermione scathingly.
Ron laughed. “‘Stirs up trouble’? Honestly, ‘Mione, and you call changing the color of a wallpaper ‘stirring up trouble’? A bit an exaggeration, don’t you agree?”
Hermione was fuming. “It is not an exaggeration! AND DON’T YOU CALL ME ‘MIONE! I HATE THAT STUPID NAME, AND IT’S NOT EVEN A NICKNAME! YOU JUST CALLED ME THAT ONCE BECAUSE YOU CAN’T EAT PROPERLY AND YOUR STUPID MOUTH WAS FULL AND THAT’S ALL THAT CAME OUT! BUT MY NAME IS HERMIONE ! GET IT? HER-MY-OH-NEE!!!” Hermione closed her mouth and began breathing heavily. “Oh goody, I’d been waiting to get that out of my system since second year…”
“Uh, sorry, ‘Mione… Um, no, I meant, Hermione… didn’t mean to upset you, honest…” said Ron, afraid she’d explode again.
Mary Sue smiled widely. “Oh? How long have you been ‘Mione, then? I think it’s such a pretty nickname,” she added, smiling sweetly.
Ron grinned. “Yeah, I know. But she just “”
Hermione got out her wand. “Don’t you dare say that again…” Then she rounded on Ron. “And you, you idiot, you listen to her, why don’t you, and we’ll see what happens…”
Harry looked from Hermione (who was still breathing heavily) to Ron (who was shrinking against the wall). “Um, how about we get to class?”
“Sure,” said Mary Sue, looking smugly at Hermione. “Let’s go Harry,” she added, grasping Harry’s arm and steering him towards the Charms classroom.
Hermione huffed, whereas Ron frowned. “Oh sure, he’s never noticed her his own life and now that he does she’s all over him just because he’s famous Harry Potter,” spat Ron. “That’s not fair.”
“C’mon, Ron, you can do so much better than her,” said Hermione.
“Oh yeah? And who would that be, huh?”
Hermione smiled. “Let’s just say you can call me ‘Mione again.”
“Okay,” said Ron, who was so dense he could not see what her nickname could have anything to do with a girl.
A/N: Gotcha curious, didn’t I? I bet you’re just dying to know who the culprit is! Hehehe… I’m kidding. I just hope you enjoy. Please review!