Harmione - The Truth

Chapter Five

The trio sat in the common room, completely silent, each deeply focused on something. Harry was consumed in reading his Potions book, which made Hermione wonder why he couldn't seem to set it down. She eyed him oddly, before turning her gaze to Ron, only to find him tossing walnuts into the roaring fireplace.

"Have to admit, I honestly thought Cormac was going to catch the snitch. Hope he's not taking the loss too hard." Harry chuckled, breaking the comfortable silence. If only he knew...The brunette thought, rolling her eyes.

"Has a bit of a thing for you, Hermione. Cormac." He muttered, frowning when he noticed how jealous he sounded.

"He's vile..." Hermione scoffed, watching Harry become enthralled in his potions book once more.

"Ever heard of this spell?" He questioned, turning towards Hermione, who was sitting in the armchair beside him. He pointed to a notation in the margin underlined three times. Sectumsempra; for enemies.

"No I have not, and if you had a shred of self-respect you would turn that book in." She grumbled, frowning at her best friend.

"Not bloody likely..." Ron murmured, gulping as he noticed the withering glance Hermione sent him. "He's top of the class! Even better than you, Hermione. Slughorn thinks he's a genius."

"I'd like to know just whose book that was. Let's take a look, shall we?" Hermione smirked, quickly reaching out to grab the book from Harry's grip. However, he was already ahead of her and swiftly lifted the book out of her reach.

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's... old. The binding is fragile." Harry awkwardly mumbled, walking away from Hermione, who was intently following him.

"The binding is fragile?" She mocked, pulling a glare onto her features. Hermione made another grab for it, but Harry held it behind his back. Smirking, he thought that he had outwitted his best friend. However, his face fell when he felt someone pluck the book out of his hand.

"Who's the Half-Blood Prince?" Ginny questioned, tossing the book to the brunette, who surprisingly caught it.

"The who?"

"That's what it says. Right here: 'This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince.'" She mumbled, pointing to the inside cover, where the inscription was. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"For weeks you carry around this book, practically sleep with it... and you have no desire to find out who The Half-Blood Prince is?" Hermione furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, as she tracked through the snow, walking slightly ahead of the two boys.

"I didn't say I wasn't curious...And, by the way, I don't sleep with it." Harry pouted, jogging to catch up with Hermione.

"Yeah, right..." Ron sarcastically mumbled, snickering when he saw the glare that Harry sent him. "Well, it's true. I like a nice chat before I go to bed. Now you're always reading that bloody book. It's like being with Hermione."

This time it's Hermione's turn to glare. "Well, I was curious. So I went to-"

"The library," Harry interrupted. "And?"

"And... nothing. There's no reference to the Half-Blood Prince anywhere!" She exclaimed, shoving her hands in her coat pocket in annoyance. Her cheeks were lightly glazed with a pink colouring from the snow, which made her look dainty, despite her vexing behaviour.

"Good, that settles it then."

Hermione started to object before Hagrid approached the trio, smiling broadly at them. "Hey, you three!"