Don't Smile At Me

Chapter 4: Trelawney's

23 December

Hermione sighed in frustration, allowing her forehead to thump against her desk in her home office. She had been up for nearly twenty-four hours straight working on her petition; Harry and Ron knew better than to disturb her when she was working. She knew that convincing the city to preserve the forest and instead allot a part of it for use as a park would be challenging. What city would want to give up the revenue from a mall that would lure in more visitors from out of town, not to mention the property taxes it would gain from such a large-scale building. The economic benefits could not be ignored. Hermione's plan was to pull on their heartstrings. Hogsmeade, as great as it was, did not currently have a public park big enough to suit its number of residents. A park would promote a healthier lifestyle, encourage community events, provide a free place for families to spend the day with their children, and, well, help save the environment. Hermione's faith in humanity always took a hit whenever she thought about the way people would rather improve their own personal bank statements over their community.

"I need to take a break," Hermione muttered to herself. It was never a good sign when her thoughts started to turn into full scale tirades. She stood up quickly, realizing too late that she hadn't eaten or drunk anything since the previous day. "Woah there," she said, taking a moment for her vision to stop swimming and her sense of balance to return. "I really need to eat something." Hermione frowned. She stretched her arms above her head, feeling the satisfying pops and clicks as her joints relaxed. She also caught a whiff of something burning.

In a second, she had barged through her office door and ran down the hall to the kitchen to the air cloudy with smoke. Hermione raised the front of her shirt over her nose instinctively as she looked for the source.

"Ron! I told you to set the timer for fifteen minutes, not fifty!" Harry's voice called as he stumbled into the kitchen and opened the oven. A new cloud of smoke was released, and Harry had to step back, coughing into his elbow.

"You could have set it yourself, mate. I heard fifty!" Ron came dashing down the hallway, just managing not to crash into Harry.

"Why would you reheat a pizza for fifty minutes?!" Harry curled his fingers like he was mentally strangling his best friend. Ron noticed this and wisely backed away.

Hermione quickly crossed the room, grabbed the dish towel and grabbed the two plates with the burnt pizza remains out of the oven. She dumped them in the sink and hosed them down with water. Then she turned toward her two flatmates and placed one hand on her hip. The two stopped bickering immediately.

"Listen 'Mione-"

"We're really sorry-"

Hermione cut them off with a single hand. "I don't even want to hear it. I leave you two to yourselves for one day and this is what happens? How do you forget about something for nearly an hour? Not one of you stopped to think 'Gee, I'm kind of hungry. I should get something to eat, oh wait'? Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, causing both Harry and Ron to wince. "Not to mention it's" she checked her watch, "nine o'clock in the morning? You were planning on having pizza for breakfast?"

"We're sorry, Hermione," Harry said, "We just didn't want to disturb you since we know how hard you've been working on your case. We thought pizza would be safe." He half-smiled and shrugged in a what-can-you-do way.

"Foolproof," Hermione agreed dryly, looking through the smokey air at the oven gaping open and the water running over lumps that more closely resembled coal than pizza.

"Why don't Harry and I clean this all up while you go out and get some fresh air?" Ron quickly suggested. "You look like you could use it," he added before quickly recoiling in anticipation of Hermione's response.