Brews and Braids

Chapter 10

Hermione had been four years old for a month. To break up the routine the pair had gotten into — class (where Hermione was as studious as ever), visits to Hagrid and the greenhouses, meals either in the Great Hall or the kitchens, and get togethers with some amalgamation of Pansy, Hermione, Draco, Harry, Neville, and Blaise in the girls' room — Pansy had gotten permission from McGonagall for the whole group to have a sleepover in the Room of Requirement.

The ceiling of the Room reflected the stars of the night sky. Pansy originally asked the room for four posters, but Hermione wanted sleeping bags. It was like camping, she said. Pansy, for one, had never been camping in her life, but she couldn't say no to her favorite little girl.

Right now, the six friends were sitting around a campfire — the Room really was magic — making what Harry and Hermione called s'mores. Conveniently, the Room also provided them with the right ingredients, along with perfect stick for toasting marshmallows.

"No, not like that," Hermione giggled, "It's not gooey yet."

"But it's burning!" Draco insisted.

"It's not really burning . Trust me. My mum and dad take me camping every summer and I'm the best at making s'mores."

"You heard her," Harry said with a shrug when Draco looked at him for confirmation, "She's the boss."

"Merlin!" Neville cried as his marshmallow was caught on fire. "What do I do?"

"Blow it out," Hermione said pertly, rolling her eyes. "Then put it on your s'more." Glancing at Harry, she said, "They're really bad at this."

Harry laughed, nodding.

Hermione's attention was drawn to Blaise, who was smushing a gooey marshmallow and a squirming chocolate frog in between his graham crackers.

"Oh, gross!" she shrieked covering her eyes.

With a laugh, Pansy told her, "Relax, Mini. It's not a real frog. It's just chocolate that was magicked to move like a frog for a little while. Hey, Blaise, was there a good card with that?"

"A card?" Hermione questioned, curious.

Harry got her attention. "'Mione, do you know about baseball cards?"

"Yeah, of course. My dad has a few."

"Well, chocolate card frogs are like that, except the people on them are important people in the wizarding world."

"Oh, can I see your card?" Hermione asked excitedly.

Mouth full of a chocolate frog s'more, Blaise looked at Pansy hesitantly. "It's... well, it's her card," he whispered.

Whispering back, Pansy replied, "Do you have another frog?" Blaise nodded. "Give her that."

"Here, Hermione. Why don't you open this new chocolate frog? That way you can have the whole experience and the very first card in your collection."

Hermione opened the package eagerly, jumping back in surprise when the frog hopped out. "Catch it, catch it!" she shrieked. When the frog was caught, she turned her attention to the card. "Oh, it's you, Harry! Pansy, can you read it to me?"

"Sure, Mini." She took the card from the girl. "Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived (Twice), vanquished Lord Voldemort and ended the second Wizarding War. He was aided by-" Pansy stopped.

"By who?"

Pansy put the card down, looking up at the stars. "He was aided by his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger."

"By me?"

Pansy wrapped an arm over Hermione's shoulders, pulling the girl into her side. "That's a story for another day, yeah? You've been so busy showing us how to make s'mores that you haven't made one for yourself."

"But-"

"No buts, Mini. Now, why don't you show Draco the right way to toast a marshmallow for s'mores?"

Reluctantly, Hermione agreed and started toasting her own marshmallow.

--

Later that night, the older friends were chatting around the fire while Hermione slept in her sleeping bag when her night terrors started.

"Shite," Pansy whispered, "I'm so used to these that I didn't even think about warning you guys or setting up wards." She moved over to Hermione and wrapped her up as she always did, quickly widening the sleeping bag to comfortably fit them both.

"Pans, don't worry about it," Draco said quietly, "We all have experiences with nightmares. I'm pretty sure none of us thought about our own nighttime screaming when we planned this night."

As if in direct response to their conversation, an odd quiet descended on the Room.

"Can you hear me?" Harry asked, curiously.

Pansy nodded. "Yeah, I think the Room is just quieting the screams." After a moment, she wryly added, "Whatever we require, I guess."

The boys split to their own sleep bags, though Harry's and Draco's were pulled right against each other, as were Blaise's and Neville's.

Pansy smoothed her hand over Hermione's hair. "I'm so sorry, Mini," she murmured. "I wish we'd been able to find a solution, to stop these terrible things."

Still caught in her nightmare, Hermione burrowed her face into Pansy's neck.

--

Unsurprisingly, Hermione was the first on up, brimming with energy. She gently shook Pansy awake, pointing at the cuddling pairs of boys. "They're so cute," she whispered. 

Pansy grinned at her, tugging gently on one of Hermione's braids. "Yes, they are. We should let them sleep a little longer. What would you say about s'mores for breakfast, as a special treat?"

Hermione's face glowed. "Really?"

Already regretting her decision — the kid didn't need pure sugar for breakfast to have more energy than the other five of them combined — Pansy gave a firm nod. "Really."

It was supposed to be a special weekend, after all. And Pansy had found that she quite liked the strange sweets sandwich.

When the boys woke up a few hours later, moving away from each other in embarrassment, the girls had secreted away every sign of their breakfast treat and were now playing an intense game of exploding snap.

"Finally!" Hermione exclaimed. "I thought you guys were never going to wake up! Pansy said there's a quidditch game today. Can we go? I don't know how it works, but it sounds fun to watch."

"Of course we're going," Harry told her, "It's Slytherin versus Gryffindor, so we're rooting for different teams."

"Yeah, Pansy told me. She said we're supporting Slytherin."

"Pansy!" Harry groaned, "Why did you tell her that? Everyone is going to have a fit if she shows in Slytherin colors. Hermione, you're a Gryffindor."

"I don't know why anyone would be surprised if she's cheering for Slytherin, since a Slytherin has been taking care of her for the past month. It's not like she can remember being a Gryffindor at the moment, Harry," Pansy said.

"Yeah, Harry," Draco chuckled, elbowing him in the side. 

Harry turned to Neville pleadingly. Neville shrugged as if to say What do you want me to do about it?

"Aren't the eighth years supposed to be a symbol of inter-house unity, anyway?" Blaise commented, trying to be a mediating voice of reason. "I mean, maybe you and Draco should switch house colors for the match.

Harry and Draco cried out in alarm. "I notice that you didn't suggest that for yourself," Draco said accusingly.

"You know, boys," Pansy said thoughtfully, "That's actually not a bad idea."

--

There was an overwhelming response of shock when the six friends appeared at the quidditch match, each wearing the colors of the opposing house. The Headmistress looked on in satisfaction.