"Have you found anything yet?" she asked, closing Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century.
"Nothing," replied Harry, who was still midway through Notable Magical Names of Our Time. "Whoever this Nicolas Flamel is, he must have gone through a lot of trouble to make himself unnoticed."
"Are you sure that your mother knew nothing about him?"
"That's what she wrote to me when I asked her the question." Harry shrugged. "Perhaps he's not a famous wizard like Dumbledore."
"I find it very hard to believe," Hermione stated, seizing Forgotten Wizards of the Twentieth Century. "Whatever this three-headed dog is keeping, it must be important."
"Yes, I agree. Especially if Snape wants it. Do you have any idea about what it could be?"
"I don't know. I've read about so many magical objects that granted special powers or legendary relics worth millions of Galleons in my readings. It could be anything. But if Dumbledore is ready to bring that dog inside the walls of Hogwarts to protect it, I don't believe this is only a matter of gold. There would be Gringotts for that."
Harry nodded in approval. He was back to reading, and Hermione would rather not bother him. She herself didn't like it when she was interrupted while reading.
They were in the library, going over some of the massive books it contained in the hope of finding any information about Nicolas Flamel. Their search had already lasted for almost a month, and they found nothing related to that man. Harry even wondered at some point if they didn't mishear Hagrid when he mentioned that name, or if Hagrid didn't say it correctly. However, Harry also had the vivid impression that the name was familiar. Hermione was of the opinion this was the right name. They just didn't find it yet.
Doing research with Harry was pleasant enough. Hermione was used to working alone, and Harry respected that. They both read in silence, looking for clues about Flamel. It was way less stressful than to watch a game of Quidditch where your friend almost got killed. Hermione was standing next to Ron during the match, and they both were afraid when they saw Harry's broomstick go rogue. Hermione had snatched Hagrid's binoculars at this moment. Harry had presented her to the gamekeeper after Halloween, so he let her do. She had looked through the crowd until she came upon Snape, moving his lips while staring at Harry. She had pushed the binoculars into Ron's hands, not caring for his questions about what was going on and what she saw. She climbed to the tower where Snape was sitting and started a fire on his cloak. Not long after, Harry's broomstick stopped behaving erratically.
After the game, Harry said it was becoming a habit for them to save each other's life. Hermione had not found it as amusing as he did, but she refrained herself from berating him. After all, he was the one who found himself in danger on this day, not her. She warned him though against ever laughing about her life being endangered.
Still, they now had a real reason to find out what Snape wanted. There must have been a reason why he tried to kill Harry during his first game of Quidditch, and that had surely something to do with that thing Fluffy was guarding. She couldn't believe Hagrid called such an animal Fluffy.
Harry grumbled, let himself drop against the back of his chair, and rubbed his eyes. "I think I'll go back to our common room. I doubt I'll find anything about Flamel today. You want to come?" he asked her.
"No. I'll stay here and continue searching for another hour or two."
"Okay. We'll see each other tomorrow morning then."
Hermione nodded, deep into her reading once again. She heard Harry gathering his stuff, until a thunderous voice broke the sacred silence of the library.
"AH, THERE ARE YOU ARE? I've been looking for you everywhere."
"Shhh! Drop your voice, or Madam Pince will hear you," Hermione loudly whispered to Ronald Weasley who just walked in.
"You're with her. Again." He was talking to Harry. "People are going to believe seriously that you two..."
"Ron!" Both Harry and Hermione said his name at the same time, not wanting to hear about this once more.
"I was leaving, anyway," Harry grumbled. "Bye, Hermione."
"Bye, Harry."
She didn't say goodbye to Ron, and he didn't say it to her either. They were both friends with Harry, but Ronald wasn't her friend, and she wasn't his friend either. She heard their footsteps going away. After a moment, it seemed that by a miracle of some sort, Madam Pince didn't hear Ron's outburst. There were times Hermione didn't understand how Harry could be a friend of Ron Weasley. Ron had been mean to her before, but it had escalated after the accident with the troll. Perhaps he was jealous that he was no longer Harry Potter's only friend. That wouldn't surprise her.
Hermione pushed aside a lock of hair that had gotten over her eyes at the same time she pushed aside her thoughts about Ron Weasley and went back to her research. She continued until very late, at the latest hour first-years could remain outside their common room, then went back there. Percy saluted her when she walked close to him, but no one else did really seem to notice her presence. She hated to admit it, but Ron's words that no one wanted her as a friend still stung.
She climbed into the girls' dormitory and found Lavender and Parvati already there. Whatever they were talking about, they stopped the moment Hermione walked in.
"Hi, Hermione," Parvati told her.
"Hi, Parvati."
No welcome came from Lavender, and Hermione offered none. "So, you worked late today?" Parvati continued.
"Yes. I'm taking some advance for after the holidays." Hermione dropped her bag next to her bed and began to change herself. Her two roommates had already changed for the night. They were already in their respective beds.
"You spend a lot of time at the library, don't you?" Lavender asked.
"I do."
"It must be boring to spend so much time alone in the library," Lavender commented.
"I don't find it boring, for myself." Hermione was done changing. She took a book out of her personal things and began to read, like she did every night before she fell asleep. "Now, speak in whispers. I'm trying to read."
Lavender and Parvati did so. Hermione did not hate her roommates, but she wasn't very fond of them either. Parvati and Lavender spent most of their evenings gossiping, giggling, and doing small talk, something Hermione did not enjoy very much. Their gossiping was mostly annoying, and after some time, following several complains from Hermione at the beginning of the term, they gossiped in hushed voices to bother her less when she was reading or sleeping. That didn't prevent Hermione from hearing what they said, but it bothered her less.
Later in the night, like it happened from time to time, the two girls kept gossiping while Hermione tried to get some sleep. They allowed their voices to get higher when they thought Hermione was asleep, which they seemed to think this night as well.
"You think this is true? What Hannah said?" Lavender was asking.
"I don't know. Sometimes, I think she believes anything she hears," Parvati replied, uncertain.
"Still, imagine she's right." Lavender seemed quite excited, like whenever she heard something she thought to be interesting about someone else.
"Look, it seems a little stretched to me."
"But they spend so much time together. You really think that's impossible."
"No, it's not," conceded Parvati, but Hermione didn't know what she was conceding. Her back was turned to her roommates and her curtains were drawn. "I mean, Harry is very kind. I'm not sure how I imagined Harry Potter would be if I ever met him. I didn't even know he would in the same year as us. But he's very kind. Perhaps he's pitying her, in some way. I mean, he seems to be the only friend she got."
"Not just a friend, according to Hannah."
"She heard it from someone who claims he saw them together. I mean, unless that someone comes to use..."
"Still, just imagine a moment what they truly are doing in the library."
Hermione was fuming. Enduring those jokes from Malfoy was already unsufferable.
"I am awake, in case you haven't noticed!"
Her outburst sent both other girls in deep silence. The last thing Hermione remembered before falling asleep was Parvati warning Lavender in a whisper to speak lower the next time.
Hermione woke up earlier the day after. The two other girls were still asleep, and she made sure to not awaken them. She went to the library to continue her research on Flamel before breakfast. She arrived just at the moment Madam Pince was opening the place. Unfortunately, her efforts proved fruitless once again.
She went to the Great Hall to take her breakfast. Harry and Ron were already there. Huge Christmas trees decorated the place, along with garlands at every corner and even some hanging from the ceiling, giving the impression they were floating in the air.
"Hi, Harry."
"Hi, Hermione. We've got Charms this morning. That's going to be fun."
"Yes. It's easy to talk during Flitwick's course," Ron added.
"We're not supposed to talk. We're supposed to train in the spell Professor Flitwick is teaching us," Hermione reminded them.
"Well, a few words exchanged there and there cannot do any harm."
"Not when it takes half an hour to exchange them."
"Are you going to ruin the class before it's even started."
"Ron, Hermione, please. Could we just enjoy our breakfast in peace?" Harry interfered.
He was sitting between them two. Hermione accepted to not push the matter further, and Ron said nothing more either.
"Where were you by the way, Hermione?" Harry asked her.
"I went to the library early this morning," she replied.
"Any luck finding something about Flamel?"
"Not yet. But I'm not abandoning."
"Me neither. Too bad we won't be able to keep searching during the holidays."
"You must have gone a hundred times to this library," Ron said, annoyed. "When are you going to give up on this Flamel?"
"He has something to do with what is hidden on the third floor, Ron," Harry explained.
"Okay, but if Dumbledore told us to not go on that floor, he must have good reasons. Like a three-headed dog, for example. Usually, that's her who's warning us about not getting involved," Ron added while pointing her. "Why don't you support me for once?"
"Because Snape tried to kill Harry. You know it. You were there when that happened," she pointed out.
"Yes, and like always, you saved the day. Anyway, it may not even be related. Perhaps he just tried to kill Harry because he hates him. That's obvious he does."
"Not so obvious anymore. Haven't you noticed? Snape is not after him as often as he once did. After the game, he started removing points from all the students, including you, Ronald."
"Yes, I noticed. I almost regret the day when he was only after Harry. Now he's after all of us."
"Hey, Hedwig." Harry's snowy owl just arrived and perched on his left shoulder, showing its paw with a letter attached to it. "That must be my mother's answer," he said excitedly.
"You'll have to wait to read it," Hermione said while finishing her toast. "Our Charms lesson starts very soon. We must go right away."
She stood up, and Harry imitated her not long after, his owl flying away. "You're coming, Ron?"
But Ron's mouth was full of porridge, and he was clearly not done with it considering the content of his bowl.
"Come on, you'll be late if you finish it," Hermione said.
Ron gulped. "Go. I'll follow you." And he defiantly took another large mouthful of it. Hermione raised her eyes in the air and headed towards the Great Hall's exit. Harry was not far behind. He hesitated before following her, but his common sense must have come over his friendship with Ron. It wasn't worth arriving late in class. He opened his letter while they were on their way to Charms and read it while walking.
"Hey, Hermione. I know you're spending Christmas with your parents, but my mother says you're welcome in case you want to spend Christmas with us."
Hermione smiled at Harry, touched. "Thank you very much, Harry, but I cannot let my parents down. Thank her for offering, though."
"I'll do it. She was just trying to be kind, not to snatch you away from your parents."
"I know. Really, thank her."
"I also invited Ron, since his parents are in Romania this year."
Hermione sighed. "Then in this case, it is far better that I don't come."
"You could try to be a little nicer to him," Harry timidly said.
"Nicer to him? Every time our paths cross, he only has bad things to say about me. He's unlivable. And he's about to spread rumors even more than..."
The person Hermione wanted to compare Ron to walked by them at this moment, flanked by his acolytes Crabbe and Goyle.
"Look at that! Potter and his Muggle girlfriend! Going to the library again to kiss behind books?" The two idiots who accompanied him everywhere laughed, like always.
Raging, Hermione accelerated her pace, clenching her fists as she did so. Luckily, they were inside Flitwick's classroom very quickly.
"I'm going to kill Malfoy," she stated.
"Take a ticket. I'll kill him first," Harry said as they sat next to each other.
"I'll give you a hand... if you let me kill Ron the next time he refers..."
"Alright, Hermione. No need to talk about that ourselves. We already hear it more than enough from the others."
"Yes, you're right."
She placed her books of Charms on the desk in front of her. She didn't know who started this rumor. It had started after the story with the troll, when Hermione began to spend time with Harry. Were people so stupid that they couldn't conceive a boy and girl just being friends?
Ron entered the classroom as Flitwick had already begun for a whole minute.
"Mr Weasley, you're late," he pointed out as Ron took place next to Neville, who was the only one without a partner today, as it sadly often happened. Hermione found people unfair to him. Neville might be clumsy, but he was always trying his best, unlike Ron who was lazy and got fed up when things didn't go the way he wanted.
"Sorry, Professor."
"I have to remove five points from Gryffindor." Hermione raised her eyes in exasperation once more. "Now, let's go back to our lesson."
The Charms class was an excellent opportunity to discuss once the theory was explained and the time came to practice the spell, and many people in the classroom mainly discussed and barely practiced. Hermione was about all the opposite. However, since she became friend with Harry, she took some more freedom.
"The arc you're making is too wide, Harry," she noticed. Harry tried to reduce it. Hermione had already succeeded fifteen minutes ago. "By the way, what are you doing for Christmas in your family?" They were in the last week of school before the holidays.
"Well, my mother and I we receive every year. It's mostly two of my father's old friends. We have a large dinner for Christmas Eve, then another one for Christmas itself. We always watch a good movie, we play board games. Sometimes we go skating in the park in front of our apartment. What about you?"
"Well, we visit my extended family. Uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents. It's a fury, really. We move from one place to another every day. You're not pronouncing the incantation correctly. You have to slow down the pronunciation."
"I'm trying, but I don't seem to get it."
"Look, I'm going to show you."
She performed the spell a few times to show Harry how it was performed, and after a few attempts, he finally succeeded. When the course was over, Harry apologized, but he needed to go see Ron to tell him about Christmas. Hermione let him go. Again, she wondered how Harry managed to be a friend of Ronald Weasley, but he somewhat succeeded.
"Hey, Ron," Harry said as he approached him. "I read my mother's letter. You can come home for Christmas."
"Ah, finally some good news today. Do you imagine what a nightmare it is to have Neville as a partner for Charms?" Ronald complained.
"Well, perhaps you should have listened to Hermione when she said you would be late."
"Oh, no! Not you too!"
Hermione had a satisfied smile as she left Flitwick's classroom. At least, Harry acknowledged it when she was right, instead of complaining