1 : IMPERIO

CHAPTER 15: FASTER DAYS

"Sorry" said Harry with a sigh as he closed his eyes. "Just wondering why is Char best friends with Malfoy."

"Yeah, what is it with him?" asked Ron. Opening his eyes he saw Ron looking at Malfoy but Hermione staring at him with a small smile "He's a bloody git. But Charlotte said he's not as bad as we think. You know she's right, he's not that bad –" said Ron and Harry looked at him curiously. This wasn't happening. Ron Weasley wasn't saying that Malfoy wasn't bad. "– he's worse" Ah, there it is. Harry chuckled and so did Hermione.

"But it's confusing" Harry confessed. "I mean Char. She's quite confusing and unpredictable"

"Why?" asked Ron. Both of them seemed curious now. Harry sat in silence for a minute, trying to gather his thoughts and put them in words. Then he spoke up again.

"Their fight since start of the year. Char and Malfoy, I mean. He said that thing to 'mione and Char told him to shove off. What I'm saying is that they were best friends, and it's confusing they haven't talked to each other since the first week"

"If you two failed to notice –" said Hermione and he turned to look at her along with Ron "Charlotte is quite predictable with her unpredictability."

"How? The whole last year she told both Ron and I that she won't be picking sides. And now you're telling me she's not talking to Malfoy because he said a bad thing?" He had to lower down his voice a little as they saw Malfoy walking out the tower.

"It's not bad mate" said Ron "It's disgusting"

"YES, disgusting –" said Hermione urgently as if trying to say something before she forgot what it was. "– but that's not the point I was trying to make" she said shaking her head. "If you two would have observed her enough last year, you'd understand that she avoids conflicts."

"Not this time" Hermione ignored that and continued.

"That includes teachers" said the bushy haired girl, and looked at them as if hoping they were keeping up with her pace. Harry gave her a nod and she spoke up again. "She has a hold over the teachers around"

"She's teacher's favourite" said Ron nodding.

"And gets top grades –" Harry added "– but I'm sure that's not because she's teacher's favourite"

"YES, she's brilliant," Hermione agreed "But the point is she's their favourite, all but the defence so she's known them before the school started last year, and that's how she's on their good side"

"Including Snape" said Ron, his voice giving a hint that he was impressed that Charlotte had achieved something like that. "That was quite surprising"

"Yes, and that's how she has stayed away from conflicts, even with the teachers."

"You mean to say," said Harry, hoping that he had caught up with Hermione's idea. "She's not talking to Malfoy because they had a conflict? A disagreement?"

"That's a possibility. Yes" said Hermione with a nod. "It's not just Malfoy. There was an incident last year with Quirrell, and she stopped attending his lectures"

"And this year Lockhart" added Ron. "Are you telling me that she'll stop talking to us if we had a disagreement with her or something?" Hermione looked pensive at the idea. There was a minute of silence when both Harry and Ron stared at Hermione as if she was about to reveal some super important secret.

"It depends on the topic of disagreement, I think" Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes and feel a little disappointed.

"That's real helpful" he commented sarcastically. "Thanks a lot."