When Hermione Fights

Harry, the Twins and the Wait

Harry, the Twins and the Wait

The next morning was relatively cheerful, as Sirius surprised me quite a bit, when he was waiting for me in his dog animagus form at the house entrance. I was astonished about the big black dog with his expressive, human-looking eyes.

"Do you want to accompany me? Since when do you know that I'm awake this early? Oh, don't say anything, I know, you've been watching me. Bad dog!" I felt as if I were talking to myself, while I stroked the shaggy fur of the dog. I must say, it cheered me up immensely, because the thought of someone spying on me was too funny.

"Well then, come. Let's go," I lured him cheerfully and got a low growl that made me giggle.

I wanted to see how good his stamina was and whether he could compete with me during my rounds in the park. Let me say, it was funny to see the long, big, pink tongue sticking out of his mouth, and he was panting, trying not to give up. One had to grant him that, he'd been a prisoner in this house for almost a year, without being able to get out, which had to have a lasting effect. Not to mention the twelve years in Azkaban, in a cell that offered even less movement than his current imprisonment. Eventually, he laid deathlike in the grass, which made me laugh out loud.

I managed to wear him out and not just through last night with our bed sport. Did he enjoy that? I guess not, I'm sure I'll be hearing something when we're back. Likewise for the conversation I avoided yesterday. I assumed that his morning appearance meant the conversation would still be held. Well, we would see.

"Come on, you lame doggy..." I scoffed, which got me an astonishingly distempered look from the dog's brown eyes. As we walked up the stairwell of Black House, I said goodbye in front of my room.

"Tomorrow again, dear Sirius. A little practice and you'll be better than me with your four paws," I teased the dog with a giggle, who flattened his ears in response, and vanished in the room to prepare for the day. The rest of the day went as usual, except that Harry involved me in a conversation. He came bravely to the library, which was shunned by Ginny and Ron as a great danger.

"Harry, nice to see you. Do you want to join me? This is extremely exciting," I offered kindly, and I meant it seriously, but his face told me that he saw it a bit differently than me. Yet he came to me with a smile on his face.

"I'm here to talk to you. What's going on? Since last night I've been here and I've only seen you like in fast-forward... What are you doing all the time? You weren't even at lunch, and when I ask the others, they tell me it's like this all the time... why, Hermione?" He looked at me with big innocent eyes and sat down on the chair.

"Oh Harry, don't exaggerate. Yeah, I know I haven't lived up to Ron's and Ginny's expectations since I've been in Black House, but I don't mean to be rude. See... I don't care about tidying up the artifacts and cleaning up. Look around you," My eyes gleamed as I glanced around the room and underlined it with an all-embracing gesture. "This is really special for me. Honestly, why should I kneel on all fours and clean, just because those two have to? Not really, Harry!" The words came out as slightly astringent from me. Don't even get me started about it.

"Calm down, Hermione, please!" Harry laid his hand on my shoulder. "It wasn't meant like that. They just don't understand that you isolate yourself so much from them. They also said that you have only spent an evening with them so far. Is it true that you're dancing? I mean, for real. They said you leave the house every afternoon."

Oh man, didn't I always say that with friends like this, you don't need enemies anymore! I mean, hello, did they want an exact schedule of when, how and where I went to the toilet? I took a deep breath so that I wouldn't burst.