Blitz

Chapter 3

I couldn't have written this without the talented infallible angel and her excellent alpha/beta skills.

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blitz - to attack or defeat, to destroy, demolish

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December 1938

Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry

Hogsmeade, Scotland

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Hermione felt a strange sort of excitement as she watched the rest of the students line up to go back to Hogsmeade to board the train. She and Tom weren't going back to the orphanage over the Christmas holidays, but every other student was. The castle felt like home, and she was excited to explore every nook and cranny she could find with Tom.

It was also a relief being away from her dorm mates. Being an orphan was difficult, being a Muggleborn orphan was more so. There were a few other Muggleborns in Gryffindor, but none of the other girls in her year were. She was less sure about the boys.

"Do you wish we were going with them?" Tom asked her quietly. Hermione shook her head.

"I'm rather excited to explore the castle with nobody else about," she replied, grinning at him.

"Do you think there are any hidden passages?" Tom asked.

Hermione nodded. "Hogwarts: A History discusses them obliquely. And it's a castle that's almost a thousand years old. There has to be passages and rooms that have been forgotten about over the years."

"Where should we start then?" Tom smirked.

"At the top, of course!" Hermione said. She looped her arm through Tom's and led him up toward the seventh-floor corridor.

They had fun exploring the castle for the rest of the day. When Dumbledore caught them in the third-floor corridor thirty minutes before dinner was set to begin, he gave them a wink.

"Technically, you are to remain in your common rooms for most of the break. But I won't tell anyone if you won't," he murmured as he passed them. Hermione broke out into giggles as she and Tom began making their way to the Great Hall for dinner.

Dinner that night was strange. Instead of four long house tables, the entire hall as empty, except for one large table at the center of the hall. Even the head table was missing. Most of the professors were there, already seated at the table. There weren't any other students staying over, except for Tom and Hermione. Dumbledore waved them over to him and they both sat gratefully just as the food appeared on the table.

Hermione was fascinated to listen the professors discuss articles and theories they were working on. It hadn't really occurred to her that her professors would be active contributors to their fields of study. She got into a fascinating conversation with Professor Slughorn regarding the use of porcupine quills in various potions.

It was much later that night after Hermione and Tom returned to the Gryffindor common room that Hermione found herself unable to sleep. She tossed and turned for an hour, trying and failing to fall asleep. It seemed she missed having her dorm mates. The sounds of the other girls sleeping, breathing, even snoring had become comforting over the last few months. She didn't even think before she slipped down the girls' stairs and up the boys'.

"Tom," she whispered, pushing the door open. The room was dark, but she could see only one bed had the curtains pulled.

He stuck his hand out of the curtain and waved her over. Hermione crept across the freezing stones and slipped through the curtain and into bed with him.