"What is the Wolfsbane potion used for?" Hermione asks, holding a book and quizzing Ron. Harry and Ron were both sprawled onto the carpet as Hermione asked them questions from the armchair in front of them.
"It helps to dull the effects or the werewolf's transformation as well as help to give them a more humanly mind set during their time as a wolf." Ron answers easily.
Harry and Hermione stare at him. "You sounded so smart." Harry says, and then whacks him with a pillow. "Who are you and what have you done with Ron Weasley?"
"I've stuffed him in a closet far far away." Ron responds. "You'll never find him."
Hermione smiles and then turns back to her book. "That's nice Ron-"
"I'm not Ron! I'm Phillip!"
Harry laughs, and Hermione flips the page. "Phillip eh? That's nice. Harry- demonstrate a stunning spell."
Pointing his wand at a mouse skittering around in the corner, he mutters the spell, making the mouse freeze and fall over.
"Too bad Crookshanks isn't here to take care of mouse duty." Ron notes, and Hermione responds to that by throwing one of her scrolls of HIstory of Magic notes at his head. "Ouch! Harry, tell your girlfriend to lay off!"
"She makes her own decisions." Harry responds, and Hermione throws another scroll of notes at him. He catches it this time and sticks his tongue out at her.
"Just because I'm his girlfriend doesn't mean I'm not your best friend." She says. "You're fully able to ask me yourself."
Ron picks up the scrolls and inches towards the fire, waving them closer to the flames. "Don't make me do it, Hermione."
Though they both know he would never do it, Hermione's eyes flare. "Don't. You. Dare."
Ron taps his chin with the end of her paper. "Then you have to say that you're sorry for hitting me with your notes that you refused to let me cop off of."
"How about no?"
"How about yes?"
"How about I push you over?"
Ron inches back. "I vote no on that one."
"Then give me my notes back."
Harry watches in amusement. These days their fighting was more playful, which it is right now- and less bickering. Harry was glad too, because his best friends fighting had always given him a headache. He has a feeling that the war is what made their fighting turn playful.
"I say you let Harry and I copy them down, and then yes, I will give them back." Ron offers, and he looks over at Harry. "Harry what do you think?"
Harry shrugs. "I'd like to copy her notes down, sure."
But Ron doesn't turn his gaze back to Hermione fast enough, and when he does, she's pouncing on him.
Soon Ron is pinned on the floor. "Can I have my notes back?" Hermione asks politely, and Ron groans.
"You're heavy."
"Can I have my notes back?"
"Sure." And then he hands them up to her. As soon as her work is safe in her hands, she gets up and resumes her position in the armchair. Harry's laughing at Ron, who turns over after a sigh of relief.
Harry grins. "Ron was that a tough match for you?"
"She was heavy! What did you eat for dinner, a small goat?" He asks Hermione, who pats her stomach.
"Actually I had a chicken." She looks straight into his eyes. "Speaking of goats, however, which potions ingredient can be found in the stomach of a goat?"
"A bezoar?"
She smiles. "Correct. Maybe you two will graduate Hogwarts after all."
~~~~~
"Here is a checklist of all of the spells that you have learned in this class over the course of your seven years attending Hogwarts." Professor Flitwick says, passing out a long scroll filled with curly handwriting and boxes to check off. "Your assignment for the next few days is to make sure you have all of them mastered."
Then he turns and hops up onto his chair, where numerous books were stack for him to be able to see over the top. The classroom is filled with the sudden eruption of talking and spells being cast, and Harry, Ron and Hermione start theirs as well.
"So it goes from the first spell we learned to the last then?" Hermione asks, looking at the very first spell. "Wingardium Leviosa. Think you can handle that one Ron?"
"Need I remind you I knocked out a mountain troll with that spell for you." He says, rolling up his shirt sleeves.
"And I stuck my wand up it's nose for you. You'd better feel pretty special Hermione." Harry says, elbowing her.
Hermione rolls her eyes, smiling. "Yes, I do feel special. Wingardium Leviosa!"
The feather they had- they were given numerous objects to test their spells on- floats into the air and then under Ron's nose, which was scrunched in concentration. Hermione makes it tickle his nose, and Harry laughs as he sneezes loudly.
"Yuck." Hermione says, letting the feather drop. "I reckon you just got boogers all over it."
Ron shakes his head. "No, not boogers. Maybe spit though."
It was one of the most fun Charms lessons that they had had that year, though all of them were enjoyable. Naturally, by the end of class, Hermione was already halfway through the spells from second year and Ron and Harry were still doing the last three from first year.
"I can't believe how slow you two are going! At this rate you won't be done with fifth year before the exams come up!" Hermione exclaims as they make their way down to Transfiguration. "I mean honestly- they were first year spells! The easiest spells there are!"
Harry throws his hands up in the air. "Exactly! That means that we haven't used them in ages."
Hermione raises an eyebrow, and Harry thinks about how good she looks. "Do you mean to tell me that you did not use the disarming spell, a first year spell I might add, on Voldemort a mere 7 or 8 months ago?"
"Well- I- er- um- Ron you tell her why it took us so long!" Harry says, stammering for a moment and shoving Ron forward.
Ron glares at him. "Fine. It took us so long because we were having a proper discussion on the spells before performing them, and we were also performing them more than once to make sure our abilities were solid." He fake glares at Hermione. "Something you didn't do."
She laughs, wiping her eyes. "Thoroughly discuss... that's a good one. The only thing you two thoroughly discuss is-"
"How about we don't go there?" Harry interrupts.
She grins, and they enter McGonagall's class, taking their seats. Harry can tell by the stern look on her face that she isn't in the mood for messing around today. All three of them take a seat next to her, and Harry leans over to Hermione.
"What are you doing after classes today?"
"Studying, same as you."
"Wanna study on the roof?"
The corner of Hermione's mouth tilts up, and she nods, still not looking at him. Her eyes are trained on McGonagall, waiting for her to call the start of class. "I suppose I could end up at the roof."
He grins. "I knew you could."
"Alright class, listen up!"
They all focus on McGonagall, who walks around the edge of her desk, her nails tapping the books stacked on top of it. She waves her wand, and the torches light brighter, illuminating the room. "Christmas holiday starts on Friday, and your half year exams start on Wednesday."
"WEDNESDAY?" Ron blurts, and McGonagall turns to look at him as the class giggles.
"Yes Weasley, Wednesday." She says. "Is that a problem?"
"How am I going to finish all of my Charms work?" He asks, putting his face in his hands, and Harry does as well, for they were both at the same place in their work.
Hermione shrugs. "Maybe if the two of you would work at my speed..."
"Anyways," McGonagall says. "I've had you all practicing transfiguring things for a while now, and you have yet to change things into animals completely. So, for these next two days, you will be taking a practice exam and you will be allowed to use it for notes. However, this exam is not exactly like the real one you will be taking, so make sure you are doing more than just memorizing the order the answers are in."
She looks down to the middle of the classroom at Seamus, who throws his hands in the air. "I did that one time, Professor! One time!"
"Whatever you say, Finnegan. Miss Granger, would you please come pass out the practice exam?" She responds, handing out a stack of papers. When Harry gets his, he notices that it's intimidatingly thick.
"Professor, are you sure this isn't the Document of Everything That Ever Happened in History or something? It's huge!" Ron asks.
McGonagall smiles. "That's only half of it, Weasley, and the practice exam doesn't even cover everything."
Hermione regains her seat, and as soon as she does her quill is dipped in ink and already scratching an answer on the paper. Harry sighs, wondering how in the name of Merlin she could have already read the question. He turns to his own blank sheet and reads the first one.
What are three possible uses for Transfiguration?
McGonagall was one of those teachers that walked around and read your answers over your shoulder, and Harry smirks when she reads Ron's answer for number one. "Weasley! That answer is not acceptable!"
"Sure it is!" Ron says. "Think about it Professor- Moody turned Malfoy into a ferret, so- you can use Transfiguration to turn someone annoying into something less annoying."
"And your other two responses?" She asks sourly, making Harry look up to see Ron, red ears and confident face, under the gaze of McGonagall.
"You can turn a pillow into a bigger pillow."
She puts a hand to her forehead in exasperation. "And how would that help anything?"
Ron shrugs. "Say you have a really fat head. Or you don't want to use multiple pillows in your bed. Or you want to sleep on a giant pillow-"
"Weasley!"
He falters to a stop, scratching out his answers and scrawling something different. She nods in approval and moves on, Ron rolling his eyes and continuing on.
Harry looks back at his paper.
What are three possible uses for Transfiguration?
1.You could transfigure something ordinary into a bandage or first aid item if someone is hurt.
2. Changing something into a tissue box if you get stuffy.
3.Changing a terrible looking wrapping paper into a good looking wrapping paper?
What is the correct wand movement for changing a rat into a teacup?
Move the wand in a circular movement once, and then flick the wand lightly at the end.
And that's how Transfiguration went on- Harry attempting to answer questions, Ron getting scolded for answering stupidly, and Hermione getting praised for being done early.
"Hermione you're going to have to tutor us, because honestly, now we have Charms and Transfiguration homework, and it's not even lunch yet!" Ron exclaims and Harry nods.
"Well, is the problem the memorization or performing the spells?" She asks, grabbing a turkey and cheese sandwich and taking a bite from it.
"Memorization with Transfiguration-"
"-and performing with Charms." Harry finishes. "Some of the spells we haven't seen in a while, so they are harder to remember."
Hermione nods. "For the memorization, I can quiz you and make you some flash cards- on second thought, you'll make flash cards. A key to memorization is reading it, writing it, and speaking it. And for the Charms- I bought a few things in Hogsmeade during our last trip, and they were all things that you would practice spells on."
" 'ank oo 'ermione oo are da bes'." Ron says through a mouthful of a pulled pork sandwich. Harry grins.
"He's right, you are the best." Harry says, smiling, and she grins back at him. He can't help but think how excited he is to spend some time alone with her on the roof. When the trio was hanging out together, he, Ron and Hermione acted the same as usual even though now they were dating. Just as he thinks about all of this, Hermione slaps her head.
"Harry, we can't go to the roof tonight." She whispers as Ron waves hi to Luna and starts chatting with her. "We have Astronomy, and the class after us will see us on the roof!"
Harry groans, and looks down. "We'll never get time to ourselves."
"Sure we will. Especially over break." She says, giving him a slight peck on the cheek. He grins at her.
"You're right. I'll make sure we have time alone then."
~~~~~
Ron was lying on his four-poster and Harry on his own, fiddling with the sheets and staring at the ceiling. Dean, and Seamus were asleep, and Neville was out with his girlfriend, Lavender.
"I really, really like Luna mate." Ron says from his bed.
"I'm sure you do, but honestly, I never thought you would feel about her the way that you do. I thought you were always thinking she was too crazy." Harry pipes up, and he hears Ron chuckle.
"She is crazy, but I am too- crazy for her."
Harry smirks. "Nice one. You should tell her that one."
"I think I will- and how's it going with Hermione? You still got the hots for her?"
"How could I not? She's beautiful, smart, funny... she's everything I've ever really wanted, it just took me a long time to notice it." Harry says, sighing just like he always does when he talks about Hermione.
"They say that best friends end up making the strongest relationships." Ron says. "I honestly hope mine with Luna lasts. She's awesome. I mean, she doesn't ever say those things like 'let's talk about deep stuff' and all that. She's just so... light. Easy going."
"So is Hermione." Harry says somewhat defensively. "She just has a lot of stupid stuff to deal with."
"I know she does. And I feel bad for her." He sighs. "I love Hermione, honestly."
"Hermione is my girlfriend, Ron."
"I meant as a best friend. As a sister. I would do anything for her- the same way you used to feel about her." Ron says, fixing what he said immediately.
"I would still do anything for her, but yeah, I get what you mean." He closes his eyes. "I can't wait to spend time with her over Christmas holiday."
Ron frowns. "She won't be with us the first few day though- you know that right?"
Harry nods. "Yeah. But the rest of the time, I'm going to soak up as much time with her as I can."
"At least you get to see your girlfriend." Ron says bitterly. "Luna's going to be down in Bulgaria- she says that there are a lot of some sort of Crumple- Headed Snorkacks down there."
"That sucks. Maybe you can visit her down there- apparate, ya know?"
"That's actually brilliant."
Harry smiles. "Thanks. I guess we'd better go to sleep- we have a lot of work tomorrow."
He stand up and pulls on his pajamas, and takes a box from his jeans pocket, placing it on the table.
"What's that?" Ron asks, climbing into the sheets and pulling the blankets up.
Harry grins. "One of Hermione's Christmas presents."
Ron grins. "You're such a ladies man. Like your dad."
Harry laughs. "Night Ron."
"Night Harry."
And they both pull their four-posters shut.