janus ~ hermione granger

xlii

but hermione didn't answer. she was too busy focusing on what the weasley twins and lee jordan were doing, which was handing the first-years something that came from a paper bag.

"no, i'm sorry, they've gone too far-c'mon ron," she stood up, seeming furious.

"i-what? no-come on, hermione-we can't tell them off for handing out sweets. maddy, help me here."

"all you, bud," maddy held her hands up, not wanting to interfere with another one of ron's and mione's arguments.

"you know perfectly well that those are bits of nosebleed nougat or-or puking pastilles or-"

"fainting fancies?" harry suggested quietly.

one by one, the first years began passing out, and although the other gryffindors were laughing, hermione marched over to the red-headed twins.

"she's got it under control," ron inspected, sinking back into his chair.

maddy however, rolled her eyes and ran over to her girlfriend, attempting to bring her either to their dormitory or back to where they were seated just moments ago.

"no," the bushy-haired girl shrugged maddy off. "that's enough!"

"yeah, you're right. this dosage looks strong enough, doesn't it?" george nodded.

"i told you this morning, you can't test your rubbish on students!"

"we're paying them," fred said indignantly.

"if there's g-"

"madison! i don't care, it could be dangerous!"

"rubbish."

"mione, take a breather. i'm sure fred and george have this under control."

"yeah, they're fine!" lee sent maddy a grateful smile as he inserted purple sweets to other first years' mouths.

"yeah, look, they're coming around now," george informed. "feel alright?" he directed to a younger witch lying at his feet.

"i-i think so," the dark-haired girl spoke shakily.

"excellent."

"it is not excellent!" hermione snatched their clipboard and bag of fainting fancies from them, slightly scaring maddy.

"course it is, they're alive, aren't they?" fred began getting angry.

"can we just-"

"-guys-"

"you can't do this, what if you made them really ill?"

"ignored," the brunette twins mumbled, slightly grinning at each other for the very twin-like moment that had just occurred.

"we're not going to make them ill, we've already tested them all on ourselves, this is just to see if everyone reacts the same-"

"if you don't stop doing it, i'm going to-"

"put us in detention?"

"make us write lines?" george smirked.

"no, but i would write to your mother," hermione narrowed her eyes, drawing herself to her full height as she ignored the laughter of onlookers.

"you wouldn't," george took a step back, seeming quite horrified.

"oh, yes, i would. i can't stop you eating the stupid things yourselves, but you're not giving them to first years."

without one final word, hermione shoved the clipboard and fainting fancies back into their arms and dragged maddy with her back to the chair by the fire.

"thank you for your support, ron."

"you handled it fine by yourself," ron muttered in response.

hermione stared at her parchment for a couple moments before sighing and collecting her items.

"oh, it's no good, i can't concentrate now. i'm going to bed."

everyone thought she was going to put her books away, but instead, she pulled out two misshapen woolly objects, placing them on the table by the fire and covering it with some parchment.

"what in the name of merlin are you doing?" ron questioned.

"are these the hats for the house-elves? the ones you wrote me about?" maddy raised an eyebrow, leaning forward to get a better look.

"yes," hermione smiled, feeling butterflies at the thought of maddy remembering something so simple and unimportant. "i'm a really slow knitter without magic, but now i'm back at school i should be able to make lots more."

"you're leaving out hats for the house elves? and you're covering up with rubbish first?"

"yes," she replied as her girlfriend stood up from the seat with her bag packed, too.

"that's not on. you're trying to trick them into picking up the hats. you're setting them free when they might not want to be free," ron spoke with some anger hidden behind his words.

"of course they want to be free! and don't you dare touch those hats, ron!"

"i could help you with some hats, if you'd like," maddy whispered as the duo headed up to the girl's dormitory.

"really?" hermione's face lit up, immediately looking forward to spending one on one time with the girl in front of her.

"you are too precious," maddy chuckled, planting a kiss on the bright witch's lips.

"i love you."

"i love you, too."

word count- 1340
date written- october 24, 2020