Pride and Polyjuice Potion

Chapter 19

06:45 in the Gryffindor common room.

Days had passed and no one was able to locate Parvati and Viktor, although Dumbledore said it was clear that they had not indeed gone to Bulgaria. But where they could be was completely unknown.

Hermione looked all over the castle and everywhere in its grounds. She knew it was unlikely they'd be there but she had to be sure. She even tried sending out letters via owl, eventually resorting to her patronus, but nothing seemed to work.

She pulled out the ring that she had kept in her robe pocket ever since Fred and George gave it to her. Would it work? Would it get Parvati back and Viktor Krum finally vindicated? She didn't know, but she kept it as an option.

You put the ring on and it gives you what you most need in that moment. But use it wisely because it only has one use.

George's words replayed inside her head. 'What you most need in that moment.' What if putting the ring on gave her a psychiatrist and not Parvati's location? Or a self help book. She could not waste it, as George had warned her.

There was only one other thing she had prevented herself from doing, and that was speaking to someone who knew a lot more about Viktor Krum than herself. She most certainly could not speak to Malfoy about it, not after the catastrophe that was their last interaction. She concluded that she would have to ask Theo when Draco wasn't around.

So she sat down and thought. What did Draco do with his spare time other than use derogatory slurs against other people? He was intelligent, but in a strange way that meant you would hardly ever find him studying or in a library. If he did any of that, he kept it entirely to himself.

In that moment, Harry and Oliver walked past Hermione's spot on one of the red couches, dressed in their Quidditch gear.

"Hiya there Hermione," beamed Harry.

"Hello Harry, hello Oliver," she smiled back. "Off to Quidditch practice?"

"You guessed it," replied Oliver.

That's it - quidditch! Malfoy was the Slytherin seeker. There you go, not all his time was spent making other people's lives miserable!

"Oh, if you don't mind me asking, Oliver," began Hermione. "Do you know what time the Slytherins have their practice today?"

"Sure I do!" he replied with glee, "It's at eight o'clock, straight after our session."

"Brilliant, thank you so much Oliver. And good luck you two!"

They both gave her an appreciative nod as they walked out of the common room. Hermione knew exactly where she would be going at eight o'clock that morning.

~

At ten to eight, Hermione put down the essay she had been working on and made her way out of the common room.

The only students awake at that time would've been keen beans like her and Quidditch players who had practice. Everyone else tended to be fast asleep until around 8:30 am on a Saturday morning.

She crept down the stairs, wound her way through long corridors, crossed little passages until she arrived at the dungeons. If her calculations were correct, it should be around 8:01 am. She had to make sure to arrive a little late, just in case he had been late that day.

Theodore Nott probably wouldn't be awake, but that didn't bother her. She would wake him up and he'd have to deal with it.

A strange feeling of apprehension suddenly hit her as she made her way towards where she knew the entrance to the Slytherin common room was from the last and only time she had been. She remembered how she made a mental note never to return and thought it rather ironic.