August | Hermione Granger x OFC

Chapter Eleven

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It was lunchtime now and Robyn was walking with Olivia to the Great Hall. They were discussing their morning so far, which had consisted of Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Charms. Herbology had been...fine. Professor Sprout had started them off with Devil's Snare (theory only, of course), which was all right, but she simply had no interest in the subject and so didn't exactly have any intention to go above and beyond with it. She would get good enough marks to satisfy her parents (meaning: Outstandings), but she did not want to do extra reading of any sort.

But extra reading would definitely be required for Defence Against the Dark Arts. She had been correct in her assumption (presumption?) that the assigned books and the Lockhart bloke himself would be pretty much useless. The man, though handsome he was, did not give her a good first impression. He had given them a test filled with questions about himself ('What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?' How would she know?!), and better yet he had a Gryffindor boy, Colin something, pretend to be a troll from his book 'Travels with Trolls'! As amusing as that was, she wouldn't be laughing when it was her turn. In fact, she might just have to go to her father about it to make sure that wouldn't happen. Well, then she remembered he had told her not to return home for Yule and...never mind.

Charms had been her favourite class so far. Professor Flitwick was clearly a master of the subject; he knew what he was doing. And it seemed she knew what she was doing, too. She had excelled at the Levitation Charm and Flitwick had given her five more points for being the first in the class to manage it. Her...dormmates (not friends) had congratulated her happily, though she thought she saw Willow turn quickly back to her own feather to try even harder. She wouldn't be surprised if the girl were competitive. If anything she'd welcome some friendly (not that they're friends or anything) competition, or she'd get bored at the top all by her lonesome.

"What do you think of Lockhart?" She asked Olivia as they rounded a corner.

"He's not bad to look at, I'll give him that," the girl giggled, "but I reckon I'll need to do some independent studying if I actually want to learn anything, other than how to impersonate a troll!"

"That's exactly what I thought! Study partners?" Robyn asked. Even though Olivia was a half-blood, she couldn't help but like her. She was funny and smart and—

"Study buddies! Yes, of course!"

And she quite reminded Robyn of Astoria: bubbly, light, optimistic, and so on.

Not that she could replace Astoria, never.

"Study buddies, right," Robyn repeated, unused to the colloquial term.

"Right, sorted. When would you like to—"

Olivia was cut off as Draco Malfoy appeared in front of the two seemingly out of nowhere, flanked by his henchmen Crabbe and Goyle. The girls immediately stopped and Robyn thought she heard Olivia's breath hitch. Weird.

"Draco, boys," she raised her eyebrows, "can I help you?"

"You can always help me, Rosier," he responded cheekily. "Just wanted to catch up, though. Make sure you're all right and not mixing with..." he glanced at Olivia with squinted eyes, "...the wrong sort," he looked back to Robyn.

Robyn hesitated. Though she liked Olivia, Draco was right, wasn't he? She was, in reality, the 'wrong sort.' Her parents wouldn't encourage a friendship with the girl. If she had been in Slytherin, she would've been spending all her time with Astoria and the twins and...whoever the other pure-blood Slytherins in her year were, she couldn't think off the top of her head. But then she was reminded of Tracey something. Pansy, Daphne, and Millie were friends with her...Well, Millie was friends with her. Daphne was civil, while Pansy didn't actively discriminate against the girl. So, could she be friends with Olivia? Not that she wants to...but if she did want to be friends with her, could she? Draco was looking at the girl like she was a mouldy flobberworm, which didn't inspire much hope in Robyn. If she wanted to be friends with her, that is. Which she doesn't.