New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|34| Chapter Thirty-Four

T H I R T Y  F O U R 

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"At least Hagrid isn't going to pull a Sprout and put me somewhere so I'll have to do more with than the bare minimum when it comes to touching things, because urgh, they're disgusting. I feel like they should be the food, not the things being fed,"

For the first time quite possible in forever, Lavender's complaint about a class held true for every single student that was partaking in it. As Hagrid has somehow chosen the most disgusting creatures called Blast-Ended Skrewts, that Hermione got ten points for Gryffindor by telling the class that it as a hybrid and then telling Saffron later on, as the pair of them fed a crate of the creatures that they were a hybrid gone wrong.

"These are going to grow inordinately," Hermione said to Saffron irritably. "They'll be attacking us before we know it,"

Saffron was far too busy being attacked internally by her heartbeat. It had never felt faster as she watched Olly and Dean chatting away animatedly as they tended to the creatures. Having not spoken to him at all this school year, Saffron's mind was racing about what she ought to say. Should she go up to him after class to engage in conversation? Or should he allow him to do it? She then crinkled her eyebrows and remembered that just because she was experiencing such intense and recently found feelings didn't mean that he felt them too. In fact, it was quite naive of her to think along those lines and was far too idealistic of a scenario to actually happen. Not far-fetched, but certainly idealistic.

She couldn't focus on them for too long, however, as the skrewts hunger was making them restless and not wanting anything crazy to happen, (as happened when one exploded in Dean and Olly's crate a few minutes later, burning Dean's hand), Saffron focussed on the task at hand. As boring and mind-numbing as that task might have been.

What was almost as mind-numbing was Divination that took place right after lunch. Saffron had never quite taken to Professor Trelawney, a mysterious woman who had an obsession with predicting when, where and how Harry was going to die. For the longest of times, Saffron was subscribed to Hermione's opinion that Trelawney was a fraud but after Harry heard a prediction last year that thus far had ended up being true, with Peter ending up being freed but encaptured again and Sirius being freed, Saffron couldn't deny that the woman had some level of ability, where she herself actually knew it or not.

Seeing as Hermione had left the class last year, Saffron knew she was going to be left at a table by herself and she wasn't going to be allowed to move as Professor Trelawney never wanted any disruptions to the clairvoyant auras in the room. Little did the woman know, Saffron was an actual clairvoyant, hence contributing enormously to those supposed auras in the room. That position in the classroom was going to leave her between Harry and Ron at a table, then Olly and fellow Ravenclaw Brynn Weber at another. Therefore, Saffron knew she was going to have no choice but to talk to Olly at some point that day. The prospect excited her but made her sick to the stomach at the same time. Maybe speaking to him would change how she felt, she couldn't know for sure.

The Gryffindors had left for the class together and Saffron, being the second last one to walk up the ladder into the attic-like classroom, was left to pull Neville through the trapdoor entrance. She felt resentful of the boys for not doing it for her as she could feel her underarms becoming sweaty, partially due to exerting herself by helping Neville and partially due to how hot it was in the area.

Walking over to her usual table, Saffron smiled at the table that Olly and Brynn were sat at before looking determinedly away from them. She couldn't even bring herself to look at Olly at the eye and directed her initial smile at Brynn due to her nervousness. She caught glimpses of him out of the corner of her eye. The strange thing was anytime she did she saw his eyes divert in an opposing direction. That made her insides cartwheel and left her thinking that perhaps that was a sign of something he was feeling, though she didn't make any assumptions. There wasn't really any way to know.

The class was a bore until Professor Trelawney made them work in their pairs to work out the precise position of the planets when they were born. Saffron knew she could either move her chair to the table with the Gryffindor boys or Ravenclaw pair. Bracing herself, she opted for the latter.

"I'm sort of hoping one of you were paying attention because I wasn't" Saffron let the words out before even considering them, trying to stay as normal as she always did when in the company of Brynn and Olly. "I knew Harry and Ron weren't either so going over to them would have been a waste of time," 

Saffron laughed nervously and continued.  "It's nice seeing you both. I feel like it hasn't even been that long, Summer went by way too quickly," Saffron felt the urge to start sliding out of her seat when she turned in Olly's direction but she did and asked him a question. "Did Locklan get to you alright?"

The second that Olly opened his mouth Saffron knew her feelings hadn't changed. Nothing about him was putting her off of him. That realisation was scary but more exciting than anything.

"Eh, yeah he did," Olly said quietly and then he coughed into his sleeve. Saffron noticed that he looked quite annoyed at himself to have done that.

 "He-- he was really happy to end up in Gryffindor actually because he'll have you as a familiar face," 

Yet again, Olly looked to be regretting his words which was strange for him as that seldom happened. Every experience Saffron had with him, he was by far the more confident one yet now for some reason unbeknownst to her, there had been a role-reversal. That reversal only elevated how Saffron felt.

 "But don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't annoy you or anything," Olly then assured her.

"Oh, no, it's fine," Saffron told him sincerely, begrudgingly starting to work on the planets she was going to have to link up to her birth date. "He wouldn't annoy me at all. Any time I've spoken to him he's been so sweet to me, he reminds me of you a lot, which I'm sure you hear all the time,"

" I do, but it makes sense because he really does look like me when I was his age, he just has more hair," Olly smiled at her and Saffron's heart fluttered again. She wished he could have kept it on his face. "When's your birthday, I can look for Pluto for you while I'm at it,"

"April twenty-sixth," Saffron answered. "I can get Saturn for the pair of you, I know you're Valentine's day, Olly, but what about you Brynn,"

"December eleventh," said Brynn who appeared to be finding something quite funny. "So I suppose Saturn was right over me when I was born like Trelawney said when she thought Harry was born around that time,"

Saffron's eyes widened when she heard squealing coming from none other than Lavender:

"Oh Professor, look! I think I've got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one's that, Professor?"

"It is Uranus, my dear," said Professor Trelawney plainly.

"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" Ron said loudly and the whole class erupted in laughter. Lavender and Parvati both looked sour. Seeing that made Saffron put her fingers in her mouth to stop herself from laughing, as she didn't want either of them to see her finding Ron's remark funny. The loud and abrupt disruption prompted Professor Trelawney to pile a large amount of homework onto them, much to Saffron's dismay.

When the bell rung out, Lavender and Parvati practically stormed out of the classroom. As much as Saffron would have liked to have stayed to talk to Olly some more and to try and get more indications of whether or not he was thinking along similar lines to her, she knew she had to see what was up with her roommates as Lavender could be very dramatic. Not being there to see if she was okay could end up having consequences for Saffron later down the line.

"I'll see you both around," Saffron said to Olly and Brynn, though mostly Olly, hurriedly. Saffron swung her bag over her shoulder and rushed after her friends, not before catching one last glimpse of Olly.

Talking to him, no matter how brief their talk was, confirmed everything that Saffron needed confirming.  Seeing him in Diagon Alley made her realise that she saw him as potentially being more than a friend. Seeing him in the Great Hall made her realise that it wasn't just the insanity of the Summer playing tricks on her mind and showed her the feelings had followed through over several weeks.

Now, talking to him in Divination confirmed that she saw him in a new light and that light wasn't going to be turned off. There was no way on earth things could go back to how they were between them and as scary as that was, Saffron wanted it.