I am a Slytherin

Chapter 7: Jealousy Issues

Chapter warnings: Angst

A new year came around and everyone at Hogwarts welcomed the year 1993 with cheers and good food. Well... not everyone. Apparently, Granger had landed herself in the Hospital Wing after drinking a strange potion that turned her partially into a cat. Charlie made sure to pay her a visit once a day and would bring her a new book whenever Hermione was done with the previous one she brought. She also brought her some candy and, towards the end of January, Charlie gifted the bookworm with a magical notebook she had bought.

"What does it do?" Hermione inquired curiously as she opened the red and gold notebook.

"This is an enchanted book. If your friends also have one, you can talk to them whenever you want and also take notes! All you have to do is write down the name of the person you'd like to talk to," Charlie pointed at the corner of the page. "You write whatever it is you'd like to. Then, your friend's book will glow dimly to alert them that there's a message waiting for them."

"It's kind of like phones!" Hermione beamed as she looked at the notebook.

"A what?"

"Oh, it's a device Muggles created to communicate with each other, they work similarly," the bookworm explained with a smile. "What else does it do?"

"Well," Charlie grabbed her own green and silver book out of her school bag. "I personally divided mine into two sections. One is to write to my friends, the other is for doodles."

Charlie further explained that if she didn't want to message anyone, she didn't have to write the person's name and the book would retain all the information. She also told her to be careful in case she wrote down the person's name on the page and then doesn't write a message: if she forgets to either scribble over the name or erase it (depending on what material she used to write), next time she writes on that page, that person would still receive the message. She could also have pages with permanent names on them for easier communication!

It was nice being able to spend time with the bookworm again. Charlie absolutely cherished all of her friends and she's tried to get closer to Hermione ever since they first met each other. She must have succeeded, seeing as Fred and George still teased her about the possibility of Hermione having a crush on her. That was cute.

"Have you ever forgotten to erase someone's name and had the message be sent to them anyway?" Hermione asked, curiosity evident in her voice and smirk.

"Merlin, that was so embarrassing," Charlie coughed shyly and ran a hand through her dark hair. "There was this one time earlier this year... I was going to write to Spencer, but I got distracted and ended up writing on Fred's page and well..."

Hermione noticed just how red Charlie's cheeks had gotten. "Merlin, what did you send him?"

"I basically asked him if he could bring me a pad because I was on my period and forgot to put more inside my bag before classes... and he replied saying 'As you wish, your bleeding highness - Fred' like... it was so embarrassing."

Hermione blinked, then burst into sweet laughter. Despite feeling embarrassed by it still, seeing Hermione laugh made Charlie smile in return.

Once Hermione was released from the Hospital Wing, the two girls continued their study dates like before. Both were happy to be able to spend time with each other again and Hermione didn't seem as bothered or as distant as before. She also didn't seem to roll her eyes anymore whenever Spencer was mentioned during her conversations with the other Gryffindors, so she fully believed that she was not jealous of the two Slytherins' relationship.

Though... that thought didn't last very long.

February came around and with it came Valentine's Day. Staff members and professors were decorating the Great Hall for the big, lovey-dovey day. Though, as they did so, they talked about how Dolores Umbridge (quite possibly the most annoying person Charlie has ever met) passed a legislation against werewolves, which made it impossible for anyone who suffers from lycanthropy to get a job. This legislation came at a horrible time, seeing as Dumbledore was planning to have Gilderoy Lockhart replaced by Remus Lupin, an old student of Hogwarts and a werewolf.