Brews and Braids

Chapter 8

"-and Neville showed me the giggling gallillies-"

"Galalillies," Neville gently interjected.

"Yeah, ga-la-lillies. And then there were these flowers that glowed, and some other flowers that made me sneeze a lot. A tree threw some gooey liquid in my hair."

"I see that," Pansy said with a frown. She fingered the sap that had solidified in the girl's hair. "That is going to be a pain to get out." She leveled a disapproving look at Neville.

The pair fell a few steps behind Draco and Harry, who were intently listening to the girl walking in between them.

"Sorry," the boy whispered, shrugging his shoulders in defeat, "You try to telling a four-year-old Hermione not to get close the Burping Mystid Tree."

Pansy wasn't a plant girl. She'd made the executive decision to stay by the door while Neville took Hermione on a tour of the Greenhouse. The Gryffindoor knew Herbology well, after all, and how much trouble could the two really get into in the Greenhouse that stored the harmless magical plants? She learned that lesson.

"Merlin, Neville. Mystid Sap is impervious to magic. I'm talking hours washing that out by hand. You don't get to watch her alone again for a while."

"Honestly, Pansy, I'm okay with that. I don't know how you do it. She is a force of nature, that's for sure. And hasn't learned how to think things through yet."

"Don't I know it," Pansy muttered in reply as they made it to their table at the Great Hall and sat down, "I don't think I've had more than 10 total hours of sleep since this whole thing happened."

Apparently, Hermione was finished telling Harry and Draco about everything she'd seen in the Greenhouse because Harry joined the conversation.

"Hey, Pansy, have you heard of coffee?"

"Coffee? No. What are you talking about, Harry?"

"Coffee is a muggle drink that can help wake you up," Harry explained. "Hermione prefers tea, so she never drinks it." He picked up Pansy's empty cup. "May I?"

Pansy shrugged.

After Harry requested coffee into the cup, he handed it back to Pansy. "You'll probably want to put cream, milk, or sugar or something in it."

She followed his instructions then took a long sip, "Thank you, Harry. You're a life saver."

"All in a day's work," Harry winked.

Draco shoved him playfully, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, we get it," he teased, "You're the savior of the wizarding world and what not."

"Oh, shut up," Harry pushed him back, a grin on his face. 

"Make me," Draco challenged with a smirk.

Pansy groaned, interrupting their short banter. "God, just kiss already. I'm too tired to listen to this." She turned to face Neville, "Please get them to-" She realized that Neville was deep in conversation with Blaise, their bodies tilted toward each other. "You two aren't any better."

--

The coffee helped Pansy make it through two hours of meticulously cleaning the sap out of Hermione's hair, but she was getting sleepy by the time Hermione was dressed in pajamas with her hair braided and teeth brushed.

"Pansy, what are these animals on my PJs?" Hermione asked, as inquisitive as ever.

"Those are hippogriffs, Mini. If you want to know more about them, we can go get Harry. I understand that he knows a hippogriff pretty well."