The Light

Chapter 32- The Slytherins

"How-? I mean, how did you learn to do that? How did you do that? That was brilliant. Bloody brilliant! You beat an Auror, Mione! An Auror!"

"Are you quite finished?" Hermione asked dryly. Ever since Defence had ended, James had bombarded her with questions and exclamations. His disbelief and awe at what had just happened was amusing at first, but now, with no end in sight, the novelty had begun to wear off on her.

James smiled bashfully. "Sorry."

He was walking down the corridor with Hermione and Peter. Sirius and Remus had gone to their own class, which they shared on the opposite side of the castle. They had regretfully parted ways, Remus with his face still pleasantly surprised and Sirius had been laughing, and had given her a goodbye hug; a big bear hug that ended with her being spun around. Hermione still felt flustered and euphoric.

Peter grinned at her, shoving his hands deep in his pockets, "It was good though! Wandless and nonverbal magic! You shoulda seen Moody's face!"

James laughed at Hermione's exasperated (and slightly flattered) expression, before he clapped Pete on the back.

He said, "As much as I would love to stay and boast about how amazing our Hermione is, I gotta tinkle. I'll see you?"

"Yeah, okay."

With that, he shot them a smile and started walking in the other direction. James made sure to turn around and wave at them for good measure, even though he'd probably only be gone for five minutes or so. He was so focused in his dramatic rendition of farewell that he completely missed the pillar in front of him when he spun back around, and the collision saw his nose smashing into the stone.

Hermione burst out laughing. Peter's jaw dropped. James hastily collected himself, flicking his robes out and continued strutting as though nothing had happened.

Hermione just shook her head, letting herself smile as she and Peter walked on.

"It was really cool, Mione," Pete said and his voice was quiet. He was blushing.

"Thanks," she replied, beaming at him and she hooked her arm through his. The pinkness in his cheeks darkened. "I'll teach you some day, if you want?"

Peter looked at her with wide eyes. "For real?"

With a smile, she said, "For real."

"Oh, Granger, that is cruel," a voice drawled to the side of them. Hermione twisted around, and a glare immediately pulled her eyebrows and mouth down. Lucius Malfoy wasn't unattractive, but there was a certain pointiness to his face which had her cringing nevertheless. Whilst she could clearly see Draco echoed in the aristocracy, the younger Malfoy had had something softer to his face, something warmer to his eyes. Lucius was just cold. He strolled towards them, followed by two other Slytherin boys. "Don't lead him on. We all know he stands no chance with you."

Peter looked down, and his blush had spread like wildfire to his neck and ears. Hermione glared at Malfoy and snapped, "Please, I'd much rather date Peter than the likes of you."

He snarled, starting forwards so he was mere inches away from her. She didn't flinch away, but continued to stare unwaveringly at him. His breath was hot as he spat, "You should consider yourself lucky if I ever so much as glanced in your direction, Mudblood."

Peter inhaled sharply, and his face was tense. He didn't look up as he murmured, "Don't call her that."

Malfoy shot to him. "What? I couldn't hear you."

Peter slowly raised his head and he repeated, "Don't call her that."

Hermione felt cautious and she turned to him and said, "It's fine, Peter, really."