The Dangers Of A Curious Mind | Onhold

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Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table with a stack of books in front of her. It was breakfast and Hermione had begrudgingly gone at Ginny's insistence. But she wasn't about to slack off on her study for Harry. She was terrified that if she didn't help him enough, he would end up burnt to a crisp in front of her very eyes.

To her intense frustration, it seemed like all the books on dragons had been removed from the library prior to the Task. Hermione was kicking herself for not noticing their absence earlier. How could she not notice all the books on one subject disappearing from the shelves? She practically lived at the library!

She was currently making her way through a thick book on magical reptilians and another one on flammable magic. So far she hadn't found much that was useful. She hadn't even got to trying to find things on their claws and impenetrable hide yet.

She sighed, blowing a curly lock of hair off her face.

“He'll be fine.” Ginny said to her reassuringly, “Where is Harry, anyway?”

“He couldn't stomach breakfast.” Hermione replied with a frown.

The First Task was only a couple of days away and Harry's anxiety over it all was getting even worse. At least Hermione was still getting him to meet her for their practice sessions.

“Guess he would be finding it a bit easier if he had support from all his mates.” Ginny commented, pointedly glaring down the table at Ron.

“Yeah, well, we both know you can't force Ron to stop being a prat.” Hermione said distractedly. “He just has to get over it on his own.”

Her brown eyes roamed the Great Hall, settling on the Ravenclaw table. She found herself smiling slightly as she saw Gabrielle was at the table. She was sitting beside Fleur and they were talking together rapidly, sharing some fruit.

The smile fell off Hermione's face again as she noticed Julie on Fleur's other side, sitting extremely close to her. She wondered if they had kissed that day. Just what kind of friendship did they have exactly? Hermione would never in a million years kiss Ron or Harry, let alone 'play around' with them.

“Merlin, what did Frenchie do to you?” Ginny exclaimed, bringing Hermione back to her senses.

“Huh? What was that?” Hermione asked, trying to regain her composure.

“You were glaring at that girl beside Delacour like you wanted to tear her limb from limb.” Ginny replied, “What'd she do to you?”

“Oh...” Hermione was surprised,“Was I really looking at her like that? She hasn't done anything to me. She's just one of Fleur's friends.”

“You really were.” Ginny replied, unconvinced, “Anyway, when did you get on a first name basis with Delacour?”

“The couple times she sat at the Gryffindor table for meals.” Hermione shrugged, hoping Ginny wouldn't pry further.

She wasn't sure why, but she didn't feel like telling Ginny about rescuing Fleur the day her thrall was bad, or about studying in the library with her. She wanted to keep her budding friendship with Fleur to herself. It just felt special somehow. Hermione couldn't quite put her finger on it.

“Weird.” Ginny commented simply, thankfully seeming to drop the subject.

Hermione got up to leave. She was due to meet Harry in an empty classroom on the second floor. Hopefully she could get in a decent amount of time with Harry before the first classes of the day kicked off.