A normal Thursday breakfast in the Great Hall went as always, oatmeal, rolls, a bit of meat and vegetables. My classmates' mood was not great, because the first class was Potions, and thanks in no small part to Snape, nobody liked it.
"You don't look so good," Justin noted grimly, poking at his oatmeal without much enthusiasm.
"Yeah, I guess I overdid it..." I scratched the back of my head with a guilty look. "What's with the suspicious fuss around here?"
"Hm." Justin hesitated with his answer. "You're usually more attentive to details and rumors."
"All right," Hannah leaned forward, clearly already informed. "They say Sirius Black was on Hogwarts grounds last night."
"Hm. Let's say he was," I nodded, finishing my porridge and, under a confused look, taking cinnamon rolls and smoked sausages. "What? It's good."
Hannah just shook her head.
"Anyway, they say he destroyed a dozen Dementors and vanished. And at night..." She paused dramatically. "There was an Auror raid in the castle, searching for Black. They caught a few couples who decided to get handsy at night."
"Inside the castle?"
"What do you mean?" Hannah tilted her head slightly.
"Well..."
"You should have read the more complete version of Hogwarts: A History," Susan complained, blushing. "In the castle, since its founding, it's impossible to do anything more than kissing... well..."
The sudden topic made everyone flush and get embarrassed, and in that mood we left breakfast and went down to the dungeons for Potions. Professor Snape was as always not particularly delicate with students, but in some way I even understood him. In my past life it was extremely hard for me to explain something to someone, to teach. I remember how, without showing it, I could flare up in an instant because someone could not understand, with their little brain, the most obvious things.
While brewing, as usual, preparing ingredients, I could not help noticing how slightly detached Daphne was from our shared work.
"Did something happen?"
"What makes you think that, Granger?" she asked neutrally, measuring drops of plant juice I had just prepared.
"You've been acting as neutral as possible lately."
"You're imagining it."
"Did you not like the pastries? They looked good."
"They were."
"Maybe you didn't like the book?"
Daphne measured the last drop of juice, and the moment it fell into the cauldron, the potion changed from a semi-transparent blue to an opaque blue, just as it should. Now the temperature needed to go up and a strict cycle of stirring had to begin, but that was Daphne's part, and I still had to crush beetle shells...
"The reference guide was very timely," Daphne nodded. "Thank you."
"And the copies of those books," I nodded as well. "Pretty interesting reading, with a lot of useful information, and most importantly, laid out without extra fluff."
"I'm glad."
The dialogue was not going well, so I decided not to distract Daphne from the potion, and it would not hurt me to focus more on the process either.
At the end of class, Snape asked us to stay behind.
"Miss Greengrass, Mr. Granger. In the new term I expect you, as before, on Saturday evening to continue your practical brewing work. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir," we nodded at the same time.
"Excellent. You may go."
As soon as we left the classroom, Daphne was immediately surrounded by Slytherin girls, and there was no point in trying to talk.
"Funny, isn't it?" Justin asked when he caught up to me.
"What is?"
"The moment you want to talk to a girl, they immediately flock into packs."
We merged pretty quickly into the flow of students climbing the stairs of the main tower, trying to reach the Transfiguration classroom.
"You can't even approach them when they bunch up like that," Justin finished.
"That is if you're a little shy."
"And how are you not shy?" Justin asked, surprised. "You go up to ask something, and they all stare at you as a pack, like they're waiting for you to mess up, and the moment you step away they giggle, picking you apart... brrr..."
Justin actually shuddered while he talked about it, which amused me a lot.
Right before Transfiguration began, Potter and Weasley burst into the classroom, late as always.
"Professor McGonagall," Harry started almost at once, "what about..."
"Your broom is not ready, Mr. Potter. Kindly take your seats, you and Mr. Weasley. Class is beginning."
While the professor wrote formulas on the board with a wave of her hand, I nudged Justin with my elbow.
"What broom?"
"No idea. You know Potter's broom is broken."
"Sure."
"So maybe a replacement."
"Talking," the professor looked at us sternly. "Your understanding of Transfiguration, Mr. Granger, certainly pleases me, but it does not remove your duty to keep discipline in class."
"My apologies, Professor..."
Nothing interesting happened at all until dinner, and the lessons went completely normally. Dinner itself was unremarkable too. After it, I went to the library alone, the others wanted to hang out in the common room.
There were not many people in the hall of knowledge, and the overwhelming majority were Ravenclaws. By the way, I'm sure Madam Pince herself was Ravenclaw too. In any case, after greeting the librarian, I disappeared into the rows of shelves, aiming to find something special. But I decided not to waste time hunting for something interesting and instead took the "next" Charms book. The next one on the shelf for the topic, left to right. With a heavy tome in my hands, I was about to drop into the first empty table, but at the other end of the aisle I noticed Hermione, surrounded by all kinds of books. She sat there like behind a barricade, shielding herself from the world's possible troubles. I headed straight to her, and when I sat down at the table, I did not draw even a crumb of interest, my little sister was too absorbed in whatever she was doing.
"Hi," I distracted Hermione, and she jerked her head up sharply, looking my way.
"Oh, hi, Hector," she gave a faint smile. "I didn't notice you."
"That into reading? Is it at least interesting?"
"Not really. I'm just preparing material for... for Runes, for Arithmancy, for Charms, and... a chart for Muggle Studies."
"I get everything, but why the last one?"
Hermione looked at me like I was missing something.
"I want to take my O.W.L.s in fifth year in absolutely every subject."
"Why?"
My sister adjusted a strand of hair, checked whether the rest, tied back in a low ponytail, sat neatly, and set aside her pen and notebook.
"In the last one hundred fifty years only one Hogwarts student took exams in every subject, and got Outstanding in all of them. Barty Crouch. Only I feel like that wasn't the Barty Crouch who is the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation right now."
"All right. I won't even ask how you reached that conclusion about Crouch. Why are you wasting time on Muggle Studies? I don't think you couldn't pass it just by skimming the textbooks."
"It's simple. Only people who officially studied a subject for at least a year are allowed to take the exam. Since this year the schedule is linear, I decided to attend every subject."