No Body No Crime □■ Hermione Granger

Chapter 27

Hermione walked like she was being led to her death, which seemed appropriate for a Muggle Born Gryffindor walking to the Slytherin table.

She looked at Draco and Pansy, as though she was waiting for them to ask what she thought she was doing, but Pansy had already fallen asleep and Draco was too preoccupied with whatever he was doing, which seemed to be trying to drown himself in his cereal bowl.

"What if I made coffee with caffeinated water but added more coffee instead of milk?" Theo questioned in a semiconscious haze.

Arlene frowned and pulled the coffee pot away from him "What if you didn't?"

Hermione chuckled but remained silent, choosing to write notes in her Charms book instead.

After a few minutes of nibbling on toast, Arlene discarded it on the plate and stood up to leave.

"Where are you going?" Hermione questioned.

Arlene adjusted the collar of her shirt under her blazer "Quidditch practice," she said simply, glancing at her friends who looked like the walking dead, she added "You wanna come with?"

Hermione looked so relieved when she asked "Yeah, let me just-" She put the book in her bag and stood up, dusting her skirt and following Arlene out of the great hall.

Hermione and Arlene discussed random topics on their way to the field, the parties that Seventh years throw that make Snape loose his head, whether Arthimancy was better than Ancient runes (it wasn't), the mermaids in the Slytherin common room and the birds outside the Gryffindor windows.

Finally, they arrived and Hermione went to sit on the sky high benches while Arlene changed into her Quidditch robes.

"What's Granger doing here? Jade questioned as she tied her leather gloves.

Peggy pulled her platinum hair up into a ponytail "Did you finally snog her and have an erotic grope fest?"

"Peggy!" Arlene chided, her cheeks starting to turn red.

"I'll take that as a no."

"Take that as 'none of your business'," she snapped, then she turned to Jade "She's here because Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley are being arses to her right now and I think she needs a friend."

"Because of the Broom thing," Jade nodded "I don't blame her, who would spend all that money and not write a note?"

"If we're lucky enough, maybe McGongall will keep it till after the Ravenlaw Gryffindor game, if the Ravens win then they're out."

Jade gave her a look "Brooms aren't skills, if we win, we win because we're better, not because we have better equipment."

"How inspiring," Peggy said dryly "what's next, a speech about the magic of Christmas?"

The blonde got her answer with a hairbrush thrown at her face.

The days dragged on and on, and with Marcus calling Quidditch practices whenever the field was free and helping Sage with the newspaper in her free time, she was falling behind on her lessons.

Hermione was having none of it, though, and since she was avoiding the common room like it had the plague, she would drag Arlene with her to the library with her to study.

That was what was happening right now, the two girls sate in a cozy corner near a window, Arlene getting distracted everyone in a while when a book floated by them on its way back or from its shelf, then Hermione would snap her out of it and they would continue.

She had to admit, it was nice being the shoulder that Hermione cried on, if she wanted about how stressful the extra subjects are, Arlene was the only one she would talk to as Arlene was the only one who knew about the time turner.