The Grey | Hermione Granger

|13| Chapter Thirteen

T H I R T E E N
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The last person Saffron expected to confide in about her ordeal the night before was Lavender Brown.

Waking up with a loud yawn, Saffron rubbed her eyes and blinked a she scanned the room, only to find two of the three other beds empty, and only one occupied. Lavender sat with her legs crossed, arms folded and lips pursed amusedly, staring over at Saffron as though she had been waiting for a long time.

"Good morning, beautiful,"

Saffron furrowed her brow as she sat up and stretched her arms out awkwardly. "Lavender, what time is it?"

"Lunch time," replied Lavender, smirking as Saffron let out a yelp and jumped out of her bed, scrambling to find her uniform and utensils. She had missed all of the mornings lessons and was undoubtedly going to receive a scolding from Professor McGonagall, and perhaps a letter home too. Her heart ached and she let out a despairing sigh. She wasn't surprised that she hadn't woke, in spite of this she was still furious that her body and mind had let her down like that.

"Why're you not at lunch?" Saffron asked Lavender confusedly, as she snatched her Gryffindors tie off her desk.

"I've been waiting for you, silly,"

"What?" questioned Saffron, dumbfounded. "All morning?"

Lavender nodded, eyeing Saffron with confusion rather than amusement now. "Of course I did, one of us had to and I happened to be the one that cares about classes the least so I volunteered,"

"But you're going to get in trouble for skipping!" Saffron felt unbelievably guilty. She appreciated how thoughtful Lavender had been to wait up on her. She supposed Hermione had told them she felt sick after last night or something along those lines, but she didn't expect her to take the fall with her.

"I'm not," Lavender told her sincerely, with a grin. "And neither are you, Parv and Hermione are going to cover for us. Honestly, don't worry about that or me. It's you I'm worried about, Hermione told us you felt really sick last night, is it any better? Or was that just a cover story?"

"Oh, well. . ." replied Saffron timidly. Her mind went blank, uncertain of how much she ought to tell Lavender. She was not sure which part of the story would make her sound less crazy. The three-headed dog part was unbelievable enough as it was. Let alone being transported into some world called the Grey where the child version of her dead mother spoke to her. Either way, she was not sure Lavender would believe her and Saffron herself was quite sure she did not feel comfortable sharing what happened with the girl. "I—"

"It was a cover story!" said Lavender, her eyes lighting up. She moved hastily to sit next to Saffron on her bed. "So, who was it?"

Saffron blinked. "Who was what?"

"The boy,"

"The—the boy?" spluttered Saffron.

"You know, the name for the group of people who have . . . wands rather than—"

"I get it, I get it," winced Saffron, not wanting that image engraved in her mind.

Lavender giggled. "It's alright you can tell me,"

"There's nothing to tell," said Saffron with confidence, after what Lavender had implied stopped having an overwhelming effect on her. She couldn't believe that that was what Lavender thought she was doing to get her in such a state. She was a child and way too young to be thinking about that. "I just was stupid and followed Harry Potter to that duel he was supposed to have with Draco Malfoy,"