The Black Sky: OC x Hermione

Chapter 5

From then on, there wasn't any tension between the four of them. Except for Ron and Edmund, mostly because Ron still didn't like the Hufflepuff for some apparent reason, Edmund suspects it is because he is friends with Draco. Even though things were a bit rocky with the Slytherin at the moment, Edmund always stood up for him.

He's just glad that the blonde had stopped with his constant teasing and just transitioned over to short snide remarks. That they could at least argue against without getting hurt. Edmund admired how Hermione constantly proved him wrong with every word he said.

Hermione had been sitting next to him for a few classes, having asked Neville to trade seats for a day, Edmund suspects. At the end of a class she had whispered to him, "Thank you." She was talking about the troll incident.

Edmund just gave her a small smile, "You wouldn't have needed my help if you knew if there was a troll roaming around." He whispered back to her. The girl was quiet for a minute before she leant over and kissed his cheek.

He felt red in the face when she whispered, "Theseus, the hero." Hermione had then blushed and quickly ran over to a giggling Padma, most likely laughing at his face. His jaw had dropped and his hand was raised over the spot where she had kissed his cheek, he ghosted his hand over the spot as he blinked a few times, turning even more red as he remembered the soft feeling of her lips on his cheek.

November came and the weather turned grey, the cold spread through the Hufflepuff Common Room and the fireplace seemed to be on constantly. The bed warmers we magically set between their blankets for them. The mountains became grey and the lake froze over, every morning Edmund saw that the ground was covered in frost.

They had fallen into their routine of just lazing around, but it was quickly disturbed with even more intensive training regimes as the Quidditch season began. Edmund and Harry were constantly talking about it, their first quidditch match.

The day before the first quidditch match, Edmund quickly walked over to the fire in a jam jar. "Hey." He greeted his friends, Hermione looked relaxed but cold, Ron was rubbing his hands constantly and Harry was holding a book in his hands.

Edmund looked around the courtyard, always expecting to see his Hufflepuff friends but he quickly remembered that they had gone off to the library to study, and mostly to stay inside of the warm castle.

In the corner of his eyes he saw his uncle cross the yard, a slight frown came onto his face when he realised that the man was limping. The four of them quickly huddled together and they probably looked guilty of something because his strict uncle limped over to them.

"What's that you've got there, Potter?" Harry held it up and revealed it to the potions master, 'Quidditch Through the Ages'. Edmund read. "Library books are not to be taken outside the school," said Snape. "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor." Edmund frowned.

"He's just made that rule up," Harry muttered angrily as Snape limped away.

"Did you get permission from the librarian?" Edmund asked and Harry cringed, "So that's a no."

"Wonder what's wrong with his leg?"

"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him," said Ron bitterly. Edmund pursed his lips and tried not to grimace, his uncle wasn't loved by most at Hogwarts, he learned. He was sure that if the others knew his uncle like he did that they'd be quite impressed and surprised that Severus Snape has a heart.

That evening they sat together at dinner, Hermione having dragged him over to the Gryffindor table. "It's weird sitting here." He muttered. She gave him a questioning look. "The hat nearly sorted me here." He admitted, "But I think that Hufflepuff outweighed Gryffindor."