Treacherous | Hermione Granger Book II

|42| Chapter Forty-Two

F O R T Y  T W O

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With the decision made that only two of them would interrogate Draco by transforming into Crabbe and Goyle, Saffron, Hermione, Harry and Ron all couldn't wait for the term to end so they could get started. But they managed to have a lot of fun in the meantime. Very few students had decided to stay in school during the holidays, meaning it was left to be mainly full of people Saffron really liked. All of Ron's siblings had decided to stay at school rather than visit their eldest brother Bill in Egypt. Similarly, all of her siblings were at school too. They frequently visited Gryffindor tower to spend time with her, the Weasleys, Hermione and Harry.

Saffron hadn't had the same kind of fun in what felt like an eternity. They didn't have to be conscious about disturbing anyone meaning they could be as obnoxiously loud as they wanted to. They played an inordinate amount of games of wizards chess, exploding snap and the likes. They practised duelling together and simply enjoyed each others company most of all.

On Christmas morning, Hermione woke Saffron up bright and early. When Saffron blinked her eyes open, she vaguely recalled promising the girl that she would get up with her to check on the polyjuice potion. Saffron never let Hermione go anywhere by herself anymore. It wasn't that she felt like her presence would scare the monster away or anything, she just felt more comfortable knowing where Hermione was at all times because she had a newly found everpresent feeling that Hermione could be the next victim. She carried it with her every day.

"Can we head up to Ravenclaw afterwards?" Saffron asked Hermione, who was already fully dressed, arranging a pile of presents on her bed. Most of them didn't seem to be for herself from others, but things she had gotten for people. 

"Of course," Hermione nodded at her as though it was obvious. She never expected Saffron to spend the whole day with her. "I'll head back up here once we've finished checking on it, I feel like it should be ready today, by the way,"

Saffron grinned. "That's good to hear, and no, you're coming with me, wouldn't it be nice to see the inside of the Ravenclaw common room?"

That opportunity was too good for Hermione to miss and the girl immediately put to bed the thoughts of intruding on the family meetup. 

Saffron and Hermione both exchanged gifts as they made their way down to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. They had made an agreement to get each other something practical and not too big as neither of them had a real opportunity to shop for it seeing as they were in school. So, Saffron had gotten Maya to get Hermione an abundance of sugar quills alongside a quill with the ink inside of it. It was practical for someone like Hermione since she spent most of her time writing. Hermione got Saffron a mixture of sweets that she had ordered from the nearby sweetshop and a new satchel for her books as her current one had been repaired so many times by magic that it looked like the magic would eventually consume it and break it.

Both girls were appreciative but kept their eyes firmly on what was ahead of them: the potion.

"Once I get these lacewing flies in, it'll be ready for use," a satisfied Hermione told Saffron, who was merely staring at Hermione doing the work.

"For sure?" 

Hermione nodded firmly. "I'm almost positive, then we've just got to handle Crabbe and Goyle--"

"Which should be a piece of cake compared to this," commented Saffron with a smirk.

"Exactly," responded Hermione in agreement. "Once we do that, we're good to go," She paused. "I say we do it tonight,"