The Night is Young | Hermione Granger

10. Max's Meddling Mouth

"Daph." I call and she hums from her bed. Her nose is buried in her accessory box. "Do you... do you have any barrettes."

"Barrettes?" She lifts her gaze at me.

"Hair clips." I confirm and her head dives back into the messy green case. I shake my hand quickly through my hair, hoping she doesn't notice. "My hair's bugging me."

She hums again, and I can hear the rattles as she moves things around. Her hand darts in and out, collecting pieces that I can't see, and all at once, she's up and walking towards me.

Daphne moves directly in front of me, my weight shifting slightly towards her as she sits on my bed. Letting loose her accessories, various hair clips tumble from her hands on to the silk sheets beside her. Her collection contains assorted colours, shapes, and sizes. I pick up one, but she tsks at me and I drop it.

Then, her hands come up to move around the hair that I messed up. Her body moves slightly forward, and I freeze up, wondering why she's moving so close to me.

"Your hair's pretty coily." She says like an after thought, looking through the clips she brought. "Thick, too."

"Does that matter." I ask and she nods, picking up a barrette that I don't see.

Turning back to me, my eyes are locked on her. Her hand cups my chin gently to keep my face still as the other pushes a clip through my hair, bringing it out of my face. My ears burn harshly, and my chin, too, where her skin meets mine and I don't like that I'm uncomfortable.

She reaches for another one, and clips it beside the one she already placed in. Then she leans back, studying me, before shaking her head with a disapproving look. I frown.

"No, not those." She mumbles, taking both her hands to remove a barrette each. The hair falls back into my face.

Daphne then reassesses her choices, picking up another pair before I can see. She places her thumb on my cheek to turn my head, and this time I don't feel the burn from her touch.

In the same place as last, I feel a small piece of metal slide through my hair and across my scalp before a small snap. Then it repeats, and Daph leans back again, this time a small smile on her lips.

"Green's your colour." She says.

"Well, I hope so." I reply, getting up pretty quickly to move to the mirror.

Oh.

She's moved my hair part, pushing it over to the side, and placing two emerald green barrettes beside each other to keep the hair.

It's pretty.

Not as nice as Granger's, but very pretty nonetheless.

"Wow." I say, and see Daphne's reflection grinning.

"Is it good?" She asks. "Hair out of your face?"

I nod my head, still looking at my reflection.

"Thank you."

~*~

Walking into the Great Hall, I can't help but think of all the eyes that might be looking my way. It's not a huge difference, just the clips, but any kind of difference is enough to make me want to rip them out. But I don't.

And I keep my head down until we take a seat across from our friends, where I can clearly see Max's attention on my hair.

"Cute." He says, the turns to Daphne. "Astoria said you didn't eat much over the holidays."

"Snitch." She growls, sending a glare down the table.

Max raises an eyebrow at her like a scold before sliding a prepared plate of breakfast with eggs, yogurt, fruit, and toast towards her.