Signum Vitalis (a dramione story)

In which Hermione is surprised

After such an eventful weekend, Hermione welcomed school and it's more simplistic demands. Her new friends from her group greeted her and asked after her health, and she in turn artfully dodged their questions; answering only that she had found a new sleeping aid that wouldn't land her in the hospital again. She settled into the rhythm of classes and school work as well as helping John with his school work, although not to the degree she had helped Ron and Harry in the past.

Thursday came quickly, which didn't register with Hermione until she walked out into the living room that morning. Bright pink streamers were strung across the ceiling, as well as several butterbeer bottles. On the kitchen table sat a pitcher of pumpkin juice and a steaming plate of pancakes. Luna was humming tunelessly as she flipped another pancake on the stove. When she heard Hermione, Luna turned and greeted her cheerfully.

"Happy Birthday, Hermione!"

"Thank you!" Hermione answered, her mood brightening.

"I've made bacon banana pancakes, come sit down and we can eat them."

"You did mention that you liked those," Hermione said to hide her misgivings. She sat down at the table and was distracted by a high pitched buzzing from what she had assumed was another empty butterbeer bottle in the middle of the table. It was part of an arrangement that also included a maneki-neko (or lucky cat) and a mixture of orchids, miniature roses and dittany blooms.

Luna joined her at the table with the most recently made pancake and noticed Hermione's gaze. "Pretty aren't they? I wanted to make sure your birthday attracted friendship, health and good fortune. Rolf let me borrow some of the faeries from the office to help."

That was when Hermione noticed the flickering light in the butterbeer bottles. "Are they okay?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"Oh, yes. I made sure to leave them all enough space and enough nectar to keep them entertained for several days. I also put the ones that got along best together, knowing you would think of their welfare."

"That's really sweet of you, Luna." Hermione decided to leave the topic of magical creatures alone and instead poured the syrup liberally over her pancakes. She cut a bite of pancake and ate it thoughtfully. Used to the odd tastes of wizards, Hermione found she could enjoy the strange mixture of flavors. "Where did you find the recipe?"

"I was sharing recipes with a muggle I met at the ice cream shop. She said she thought my custom ice cream was a good combination and so we started talking about food we liked."

There was a unique breed, Hermione thought. "That was a fortuitous meeting," she said instead.

Luna agreed and they turned their attention to eating. Once she was finished, Hermione again thanked Luna for her thoughtfulness for her birthday and then got ready to leave for school.

"Hermione, do you plan on spending the whole of your birthday on schoolwork?" Luna asked as Hermione moved to the fireplace.

"It's a weekday," Hermione replied. "I need to stay on top of my homework. We're celebrating on the weekend, anyways."

Luna smiled and nodded. Hermione nodded back, surprised by the lack of argument, and floo-ed away

At school they had just started studying some of the basic healing spells. In one particular class period, they focused on how to use the spells in a more emergent situation, considering that these spells would be some of the first they needed to use.

Throughout the class, John would glance at her and give her a small smile, like they were sharing a secret. She was at a loss as to why, though; she didn't think they had talked about any of these spells before. One of the spells, 'episkey', was pretty common, and most witches and wizards had learned and performed it. Hermione wondered if she had ever demonstrated it for him and that's what triggered his glances.