I Learned Your Pulse

"Wow."

On a table were seven potion bottles, from tallest to shortest, filled with different colored liquids. There seemed to be a piece of parchment beside it, and Hermione was reminded forcibly of first year again, getting past the potions, though this time there was no fire. There seemed to be nothing in the way after this, but she saw the ramp go downward now. The whole structure was something to marvel at, and she did - she took no joy from it, however. The whole thing rather unsettled her.

"Hagrid," she said, "why is Fluffy out here?"

Hagrid smiled. " 'Member 'im, do yeh?"

Hermione tried not to smirk as she replied, "I find it likely I'll forget him."

Hagrid's smiled widened, and then shrunk. "He's here ter stop yeh from gettin' ter them potions."

"What's so important about the potions?" asked Hermione.

Hagrid gave her a look. "Cain' very well get pas' the wall, now can yer, wiffou' 'em."

"What wall?"

Hagrid pointed a large, beefy finger to the space behind the potions' table. Hermione looked for a moment, and then saw a shiver in the air - an invisisble wall.

"Wow," said Simis.

"Yes," agreed Brant. "Wow."

Hermione couldn't tear her eyes from the course. It had seemed simple, in a well-designed way at first, but now she felt it was growing and size and danger and that it towered over her, taunting her.

" 'ermione?" asked Hagrid, managing to catch her as her knees gave out. She huffed out a large breath of air as her stomach hit his tree trunk of an arm, but he was gentle in helping her back to her feet and letting her use his arm once more.

"I'm fine," she said softly, not meeting the eyes of anyone.

"You don't have to do this, Hermione," said Simis shortly, his eyes still glued to his feet, not looking anywhere but the ground of the tent.

"I do," she disagreed, though somewhat pleased he wasn't still mad at her for slapping him.

"You don't," said Brant, also staring downward as if the earth beneath his shoes was the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen.

Somewhat bemused, she repeated, "I do."

Though on the outside she acted nervous but confident, on the inside, she felt as if she'd already passed the task. She could get past Fluffy easily, and she knew she'd be able to get past the potions. The main problem arose with the tank full of Craff-Mugrim Kabbels, or probably only two, really, but she tried not to dwell on that though she knew she should. she had no plan; she'd had no time to devise one. She heard the crowd outside chattering animatedly.

"Pssst," she heard someone on the outside of the tent say, "Hermione."

Hermione, curious, stood and walked towards the sound, trying to recognize the voice, and realizing it was Harry's. "Harry?" she asked, pressing her ear against the thin flap and was reminded forcefully of fourth year, when their roles had been reversed.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked.

She smirked. "Fine," she answered. "Confident, really. I cn do this."

"The key is to concentrate," he said. she bit her lip to keep from laughing, nd it sounded like he was doing the same thing. "After that you just have to -"

"- get past a tank with Craff-Mugrim Kabbels, Fluffy and a semi-invisible wall by way of a potions riddle."

"Yeah."