The dead leaves rustled in a mass of orange, red, yellow, and brown through the school grounds marking my sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I’m in the house Gryffindor with my two best friends Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter. They can be bloody annoying at times, but as they say: “Boys will be boys.”
I’m not sure as to who ‘they’ are, but as for me, well, my name is Hermione Granger. I am fifteen years old, and will be turning sixteen later this September. I come from a muggle family-my mum and dad are both dentists-and that means that I have to deal with jerk-offs like Malfoy who come from wizarding families (purebloods) that don’t believe that muggle-borns should be accepted into the magical world. Of course, most ‘purebloods’ aren’t like that. Ron comes from a wizarding family and he is the exact opposite of Draco. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d be without Ron and Harry. People are convinced I fancy Ron though, which is a great laugh on my part. I’m not sure how to get that ridiculous idea out of their minds. As for whom I do fancy, that would be Seamus Finnigan, believe it or not. Once you get to know him, you can see how funny, sweet, and friendly he is. No one knows about this but me though, so I’m keeping it on the down-low in this little notebook. And hiding it well.
Right now I am sitting under an oak tree by the lake. It’s quite chilly outside; it’s those autumn breezes that are starting in. We’re about to leave for Hogsmeade and Harry and Ron are playing chess at the next tree, and as for myself, my ink bottle is running low. These are the exact spots we were in yesterday as well, only I was finishing my Charms essay so that I could turn it in early. Of course, I expect Ron and Harry to start the day before it’s due as usual. They were playing chess yesterday too:
“Hey, Hermione! Come over here!”
“Yes? What do you want Harry?”
“Which piece should I move? Looks like Ron’s got me trapped.”
“I dunno, Harry. I’m not a chess person.”
“Well, you’re clever enough.” He motioned me closer. “Just look and see if you can spot a move for me, okay?”
I pretended to squint and thoughtfully placed my hand on the side of my head. I glanced over at Harry whose face was less than two inches away from mine studying the board carefully.
I resisted the temptation to laugh out loud. It was hilarious how sometimes Ron and Harry take things so seriously. And they tell me to live a little. Spare me.
“Sorry Harry, but I don’t see anything.”
He then moved his bishop with a small attempt at blocking his king. Sadly this didn’t work out.
“Check mate!”
“Oh, shut up Ron.”
“What did I do? It’s not my bloody fault you’re such a sore loser.”
“I am not a sore loser, you’re a smug winner is what.”
“I am not smug.”
“Yes you are.”
“I only said two bloody words!”
Seamus walked up and said exactly what I was going to say.
“Shut up both of you.”
He turned to me and winked.
“Hullo Hermione.”
I blushed a little.
“Hi Seamus.”
Ron took his angry glare away from Harry.
“What d’you want!?”
“Geez Ron, Seamus isn’t Draco, so stop treating him that way.”
“Thanks Hermione.” He smiled at me. “Anyways, I wanted to ask if you caught what day our next Hogsmeade trip is.”
“Friday…yes, Friday’s tomorrow…Tomorrow then.” I said, practically babbling.
“Great, thanks!”
Seamus waved then went back to Dean.
Harry then eyed me curiously.
“What was that about?”
“What?”
“You know…you were acting funny…what’s wrong?”
“Oh, that was nothing…I just lost my train of thought.”
“Oh.”
“Well, see you at dinner…Or whenever you want to ask me for chess help.”
“Okay. I don’t think I’d fancy another chess game though.” He turned back to Ron.
I walked back to where I was sitting and then slumped back under the gnarled tree. I picked up my black raven feather quill and began to scratch away on my parchment, continuing my Charms essay. I had done a good foot and a half, when someone came up from behind me.
“Hey Hermione.” A male voice. I turned around to see Seamus leaning against the tree, propped up with one arm. Even under the shade of the tree, the sun somehow reflected his clear, ice blue eyes. God, those things are gorgeous...
My heart leaped to my throat.
“Oh, hey Seamus. Where’s Dean?”
“He’s with Lavender at the library. They’re together now, you know, Dean asked her to be his girlfriend on the train coming here.”
“Really? That’s great, I never really thought of them together that way, but…wow…I think they’ll be good for each other.”
“I think so too…Whatcha writing?”
“Oh, I’m writing the Charms essay that Professor Flitwick gave us yesterday.”
“Are you serious?” He laughed. “But that thing’s not due for another month!”
“I know that, but I’d really rather get it done now.”
“What is your motivation?”
I shrugged.
“Come to think of it…I don’t think I have any, except the fear of failing…But fear would be considered a motivator…so there you go: fear is my motivator.”
“Ah.”
He grabbed my quill and touched the tip of my nose with the feather.
“You know what, Miss Hermione Granger? I think I have just been motivated to do my homework tonight.”
I laughed.
“And why is that?”
“Because you are my new-found motivation.”
A smile crept onto my face.
“I’m flattered.”
“You should be.”
He handed me my quill back, then ruffled his brown-blonde hair with his hand.
“Actually, Hermione, I came over here to ask you a question.”
“Okay, shoot.”
He slumped down beside me.
“I was wondering if you were planning on going to Hogsmeade tomorrow.”
I nodded.
“Yeah, I am.”
“I was also wondering if, well, if you wanted to go with me.”
Of course I’d go with him! …but I pretended to think about it for ‘dramatic effect,’ then shrugged with a smile.
“Sure, why not.”
He beamed at me, and I could see his straight pearly white teeth gleam. Wow, those teeth are beautiful. Honestly, it’s not that I fancy teeth or anything, you just tend to notice these things when both your parents are dentists.
“Great! I’ll meet you outside tomorrow morning.”
He stood up from beside me then started off to the castle. Halfway there, he turned around and waved.
“Bye!” I called.
Wow. Just wow. After he had gone into the castle, I gathered my stuff together and got up as well.
“Harry, Ron! I’m gonna be going inside, so I’ll catch up with you two later, okay?”
“All right,” Harry said waving me off. Despite what he said, him and Ron were locked in another ‘intense’ chess match.
I practically skipped to the castle. I had to find Ginny. She just had to hear this. I found her in the Gryffindor Common Room talking with a few other fifth year girls. I pried her away because this couldn’t wait.
“Geez, Hermione. No need to attack me, I’m only your friend.” She rolled her eyes and laughed. “So what’s up? You look pretty anxious.”
“Yeah, but it’s anxious in a good way. Guess what?”
“….What...-no, I think I’ll guess first.” She was doing this on purpose. Sometimes she makes me want to strangle her. “Snape died? No…that can’t be it, or the whole school would be celebrating… You got a good grade? No…you always get good grades… You found money? …Wait, I don’t think money would make you this excited… Okay I give up… What?”
“Seamus asked me to go with him to Hogsmeade tomorrow!”
Ginny clapped her hands together.
“Hermione! That’s great! No wonder you look so flustered! Now, tell me exactly what happened!”
Like all teenage girls do, I told her every detail of our small conversation. With her adding her own comments and asking many questions, this lasted about an hour.
“Are you sure you’re not going as just friends?”
My heart fell a hundred stories. I forgot about that possibility.
“I-I dunno…How am I supposed to know what his intentions are?”
Ginny laughed it off.
“I doubt he’d go through that much trouble to ask you to go as friends.”
That was a little relief.
Just then, Harry and Ron entered the common room.
“Hey Hermione, hey Ginny,” he said happily.
I looked at him suspiciously.
“Lemme guess, you won the game?” I glanced over at Ron who was looking pretty glum.
“Yep.” He was beaming.
“Who’s the smug winner now?” Ron said nastily. He could become pretty emotional when it came to chess. He turned to look at me. “What did Seamus want from you Hermione?”
“First, it’s really none of your business, and second, it was about…nothing.”
“It didn’t look like nothing.”
“Bugger off Ron, or I’m telling Mom that you shouldn’t deserve that Chudley Cannon chess set you convinced her to get you for Christmas.” Ginny threatened
Ron sulked away.
“He’s never lost a chess match,” Ginny added, explaining Ron’s current attitude.
“Well it’s about high time he did. Glad I beat him. He’ll get over it by dinner.”
“Well, I’ll see you later then,” Ginny said going back to the group of friends I pried her away from.
“So Hermione, what did Seamus really talk to you about?”
I knew I could tell Harry. Harry was different from Ron, Harry was understandable and can understand what you go through, because he’s always been through worse.
“Seamus asked me to go with him to Hogsmeade tomorrow,” I grinned.
“Oh, erm, really? That’s great,” He didn’t sound too happy for me, but you win some you lose some.
“What’s the matter?”
“Oh-nothing,” he muttered.
“Really Harry…you know you can tell me anything, and that I can tell you anything.”
“Well, I thought you’d be going with us. It’ll be just me and Ron, and that’s not fun. Who’s going to tell us that we shouldn’t blow all our money at Zonko’s?”
I laughed.
“Okay, I’ll meet up with you two later then. Save a trip to the Three Broomsticks for me.”
“Anytime.”
“Let’s go down to dinner now.”
“Yeah, let’s…I’m starving.”
After dinner, I went up to bed early. Everyone else was in the common room playing Exploding Snap. As I crawled under the covers, I could hear small explosions coming from below. I tried to fall asleep, but I couldn’t. There were too many thoughts racing around my head for me to fall asleep. It’s just like how if you have too many people around you talking, it’s quite hard to concentrate. What if he doesn’t like me? What if he thinks I’m a know-it-all like many people do? Will he think I’m too bossy? Maybe I should just cut it off with him and stay with Harry and Ron. But if I do that, Seamus definitely won't like me. Should I stay or go? Go, probably…
I’m feeling anxious all right, but I’m not too sure if it’s really anxious in a good way.