Signum Vitalis (a dramione story)

In which there is a test

On Sunday Hermione awoke to the now typical sound of the telephone ringing. She rolled out of bed and tried to shake off the exhaustion of another bad night. Rubbing her hand across her face, she yawned and then staggered to the phone to pick it up.

"Hey, Harry. What's the news on Ginny?"

"On me?" A much higher voice asked than Hermione had been expecting.

"Oh, Merlin," Hermione muttered to herself. "Er, hi, Ginny. Where is Harry?"

"Still out with Ron on a mission."

"Mission? What mission?" Hermione gripped the telephone tightly. "Ginny, have there been any unusual sightings or activity recently?"

"You can't distract me, Hermione."

Hermione gave the phone a disbelieving stare. "What?"

"Why are you and Harry talking about me? He's not thinking about breaking up with me is he? He has been saying such weird things lately!" Ginny's voice had progressively gotten higher the longer she talked.

"Er, no nothing like that, Ginny. He's just being a guy." Hermione waved away the concerns with a hand that Ginny couldn't see. "But, really, do you know anything about Dementors sightings or Death Eaters or anything like that? Do you know what their mission was about?"

"They are Aurors, Hermione. Of course I don't," Ginny dismissed casually. "Now explain what you mean by 'being a guy.' He keeps saying things like: Are you more of a career woman than someone like your mom? So, you want to travel a lot? Do you actually like Godric's Hollow? I think he's looking for an excuse to break up!"

"No," Hermione stated flatly.

"No what?" Ginny asked, exasperated.

"He just cares about you and wants to know more about you."

"Why doesn't he just come out and say it?"

"Say what?" came a muffled voice on Ginny's side.

"Oh, hi, Harry," Ginny said. Hermione could hear the subtle smack of a kiss on the other end.

"You guys talking about some guy Hermione met?"

"Actually," Ginny replied. "We were talking about you."

"I accidentally told Ginny we've been talking about her," Hermione said quickly into the phone. "She thinks you want to break up. Just explain everything, already." She was tired of listening to Harry agonize over this.

"Right, we've got to talk, Harry," Ginny said.

"Erm... okay." Hermione could hear Harry's flustered voice and the following gulp.

"Wait, guys, what about-" Hermione heard the click of the receiver and the following dial tone, "-Dementors," she finished to herself. She was sorely tempted to call back but figured she would let the two lovebirds talk through whatever mess of misunderstandings they had. She sighed and returned the phone to the hook on the wall. "Dammit."

...

Hermione hadn't seen Luna on Saturday because she was holed up at the library the whole day. She didn't see Luna all of Sunday either. In fact, She had only seen Luna once that week and it was only because she had been unable to sleep last night and was wandering the house at an ungodly hour. Luna had come in with her hair full of tangles and branches and deep bags under her eyes. When Hermione had tried to question Luna, Luna had just shook her head and told Hermione she was very, very tired and couldn't they talk tomorrow. When Hermione got up the next morning she had overslept and was in too big of a hurry to even try to see if Luna was still home.