𝐢. 𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐂 ; harry j. potter ( UNEDITED )

003. "if I listen closely I can hear it even now"

"Oh, trust us," grinned Harry, leaning forward slightly toward her. "It was even better."

"Minus what happened after," mumbled Hermione pessimistically.

Then an eager smile made its way up to her plump, red tinted lips. "Tell me, were there really veelas — and leprechauns?" she added.

Harry couldn't help but find the sight before him quite amusing in a very fond way. "Well..." Harry tried to remember the Quidditch World Cup and the veela, a dreamy smile painted his face. "Yeah..."

"What were they like?"

"Beautiful," grinned Ron. "Really... really... really..."

"I think she gets the point, Ronald," said Hermione in boredom.

"Now I wished I was there," huffed Lucia, propping back against the seat, sulking. She had read so many books about veela and magical creatures during her free time in the enormous library in Hogwarts. The topic of magical creatures had always been her favourite topic and, they were one of the few only book genres she read.

Veela, she read that they're nearly human magical beings that appeared as extremely beautiful women with white-gold hair and moon-bright skin. Their looks and especially their dance was hypnotically seductive to almost all people attracted to women, which caused them to perform foolhardy and impulsive actions to get closer to, and to receive admiration from the veela. She wanted to experience that...

For experimental reasons of course. Not for her own benefits...

"What about the leprechauns?" she asked, quickly snapping out of her daze. Though in her head was saying: They're not that important...

"Well —"

"Shh!" Hermione whispered suddenly, pressing her finger to her lips, and pointing toward the compartment next to theirs. They heard a familiar drawling voice drifting in through the open door.

"...Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore — the man's such a Mudblood-lover — and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defense rubbish we do..."

Hermione got up, tiptoed to the compartment door, and slid it shut, blocking out Malfoy's voice. "So, he thinks Durmstrang would have suited him, does he?" she said angrily. "I wish he had gone, then we wouldn't have to put up with him."

"Durmstrang's another Wizarding school?" said Harry.

"Yes," said Hermione sniffily, "and it's got a horrible reputation. According to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe, it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts."

"I think I've heard of it," said Ron vaguely. "Where is it? What country?"

"Um... Rumour has it that it's located in Bulgaria, but no one actually know where it is," said Lucia abruptly.

They looked at her, surprised. Lucia smiled bashfully, proud that she knew of this fact. She remembered listening to Professor Binns a few years ago when they were learning some magical history around Europe. She may not be academically bright, but that didn't mean she didn't like some story time.

"What? I know some things too," she said in a quiet manner.

"Yeah, but we didn't expect you to know something like where other schools are," said Ron, which quickly earned him a stomp on his foot again. He hissed in pain and glared at Harry, who merely looked away.