Blitz

Chapter 8

A/N: All of the thanks in the world to infallible angel and her excellent alpha/beta skills.

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blitz - an intensive or sudden military attack

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January 1943

Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry

Hogsmeade, Scotland

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Three weeks into the new year and already Hermione was already feeling the exhaustion creep over her. Her dormmates were as terrible as ever and Hermione had to ward her bed curtains in order to keep them from messing with her and her things in the middle of the night. Keeping the wards up constantly was exhausting her and she put aside her research into potions to see if she could find some more sustainable wards.

She shouldn't have retaliated with the hair fall-out potion on Marjory, but it was too late to do anything about it now. Marjory had taken to wearing turbans. Even now, almost six months later Professor Slughorn had yet to come up with an antidote. The thought made Hermione grin every time. He'd even offered an extra reward to his student assistants if they could brew an antidote. Hermione had bowed out of it. She hadn't bothered with one when reformulating the original and she wasn't going to waste time on it now. Especially knowing that it was continuing to cause Marjory social pain.

Since the last disastrous trip to Hogsmeade where Matilda Ross had saved her from Marjory and her gang, Hermione had avoided going to Hogsmeade. She was finally earning a Sickle every other week working for Slughorn, so she had some money, but she was saving it. Being an orphan had taught Hermione how to be frugal and she decided that she would save as much as possible. Since she had been avoiding Hogsmeade, it was a surprise to her when Fleamont had asked her to Hogsmeade.

"Are you going next weekend?" Fleamont asked on a bright Wednesday morning. It was the first time the sun had been shining in two weeks.

Hermione assumed he was talking to someone else and didn't respond.

"Uh, Hermione?" Fleamont touched her arm.

"Oh, me?" Hermione asked, looking around to see that the rest of the Gryffindors were eyeing them with interest.

"Yes, you," Fleamont laughed. "Are you going to Hogsmeade next Saturday?"

"I hadn't planned on it," Hermione replied and turned back to her eggs. It hadn't dawned on her that Fleamont had been attempting to ask her to Hogsmeade.

"Would you, uh, go with me?" Fleamont asked. His voice rose notably at the end and Hermione whipped her head around to stare at him in shock. He wanted her to go to Hogsmeade with him? He was easily one of the most popular boys in their year, if not the most popular one.

"Me?" Hermione squeaked. She could feel her face redden in embarrassment, and Fleamont just nodded.

"Uh, sure, I guess," Hermione mumbled. She shoved a bite of eggs into her mouth to try and end the conversation.

"Great!" Fleamont perked up at her reply. "I'll meet you in the entrance hall at eleven then."

Hermione nodded and finished swallowing before fleeing from the table. Nobody had ever asked her out before and she wasn't quite sure how she should feel about it. Thoughts of the kisses she had shared with Tom on his birthday flitted through her head. Perhaps she should have said no, but it was too late now. And besides, Tom hadn't made any other advances. She already knew he could get quite jealous, not that she also couldn't get jealous, but well, Tom was the boy wasn't he? She had made the move on him on New Year's Eve, and he certainly had seemed to like it. She'd even felt him harden beneath her, something that still made desire swoop low in her belly just thinking about it. And then, it had been nothing since.