ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅʀᴀᴛᴛᴇᴅ ʟɪʟᴀ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇꜱ || ᴅʀᴀᴄᴏ ᴍᴀʟꜰᴏʏ x ᴏᴄ || ʏᴇᴀʀꜱ 1-3

whirlwind of surprises

I burst into the common room twenty minutes later, only to find a party raging inside. Shoot, the match! I'd missed it all! We must have won.

I couldn't find Hermione in her corner, so I went up to our dorms and found her fast asleep, her rune book still open on her chest.

"Hermione," I whispered, gently shaking her by her arm. Suddenly, she bolted upright, her book falling to the floor with a loud thud.

"How long was I asleep?" She asked vigilantly. "I have so much work I still have to do!"

"Never mind that." I eased her back down. "You needed a nap — I haven't seen you sleep since I returned from the holidays."

"I have, just in three to five hour increments," Hermione rubbed her eyes. "How'd the match go?"

"Excellent apparently," I told her, grinning. "There's a party in the common room to celebrate."

"Oh, I couldn't," protested Hermione. "Especially since I didn't come to the match because of my work, and then just took a nap when I was supposed to be working."

"You need a break, Hermione," I told her sternly, "you know it's a problem when I'm the one telling you to relax." When she still didn't seem convinced, I rolled my eyes. "Even Percy's downstairs partying. You don't want to be more boring than Percy, do you?"

"Definitely not," Hermione laughed, then yawned, "oh, alright then."

We were greeted by most everyone with cheers and offering of food and drink. Harry was the first — he must have thought we both were swamped with work, or that I'd stayed back to be with Hermione, because he didn't ask about my absence. He hardly seemed upset either, more so grateful that she'd come down at all.

She did run off after half an hour, though. Ron still wasn't taking too kindly to her. Harry pulled him over to talk while I ran back up the stairs after her, two plates in hand.

I found Hermione sitting on her bed, wiping the tears from her face with her sheets. I felt my heart sink a little in my chest.

"I'm sorry for making you go down," I told her. Reconsidering, I shook my head. "Actually, I'm not. I'm sorry that Ron's still angry with you about Scabbers, but I'm glad that you came down, even for a little. Harry was happy to talk to you again, and Fred and George were just telling me how pleased they were to see you."

Hermione sniffled, but she smiled. "Were they really? Thank you Lila, that makes me feel much better."

"Of course," I nodded. "I brought you food, too."

"Thank you," Hermione took the plate from me happily. "You're a lot better at cheering people up than you think you are."

"Really? You think so?" I asked, smiling as I took a bite of my cookie.

Hermione nodded. "You're an amazing friend. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Oh, don't say that," I smiled, slightly abashed at the flattery. "You give me too much credit. It is such an honor to be able to call you my best friend."

Hermione set her plate down on the comforter and pulled me into a hug. While the party raged well into the night we were perfectly happy spending time with each other in the comfort of our dormitory. Only when Parvati and Lavender returned, looking exhausted, did we realize that we should probably go to bed. I'd forgotten entirely about Sirius.

It seemed only an hour or so after I'd dozed off that I was awoken by a strangled yell from the boy's dormitories. Rubbing the sleepiness out of my eyes, I sat up and looked around at the others in the darkness of the room. Parvati was shaking Lavender awake, while Hermione was sitting up as well.