Hermione Has a Plan

Chapter 1

The Gryffindor common room was full of fifth years. Hermione was sitting in a corner, buried in a book as usual. This time it was "Managing Change", an obscure little book on transfiguration. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown were giggling in a corner. Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas were doing their homework, with long sweeps of their wands as they tried to transfigure an inkpot. Neville Longbottom was quietly watering the plants in the corner window. Neville had become the de facto custodian of the Gryffindor flora, which had somehow, given him confidence and a place in the sun, so to speak.

Harry and Ron came in, discussing Quidditch animatedly. They went over automatically to Hermione's table and she moved up to make room for them, without lifting her head.

"Hermione," Ron started tentatively.

Hermione didn't lift her head. She just said, "Yeah, Ron?"

"Tell Harry he is stupid, will ya?"

"Harry, you are stupid," Hermione said amiably, looking up. "And what is it this time?"

Ron and Harry both broke into speech at the same time. Hermione could just make out the words "Chudley" and "Cannons" and "chaser".

She grinned at both of them affectionately, "No, no - the Chudley Cannons chaser is no match for the Whooping Violets beater, Ron."

"The Whooping Violets???" Ron was outraged. The Whooping Violets were an under-14 all-girls Quidditch team, while the Chudley Cannons were a professional adult team of mixed gender.

Harry burst out laughing at the look on Ron's face. Ron glared for a full minute as Hermione quirked an eyebrow at him questioningly. Then he began to laugh too, reluctantly.

"Hermione you are a terrible person," said Ron.

But Hermione had turned back to the book, "I know, but you love me anyway."

It was probably a lucky thing that Hermione was once again buried in the book, as she didn't see the bright red flush that had filled Ron's face and was now clashing horribly with his hair.

But Harry did and he looked at Ron curiously. Ron had developed this habit of blushing whenever he was around Hermione, and Harry had no idea what Hermione thought about it.

Ron recollected himself, blinked twice and said, "I still say we should go."

Hermione looked up at that, "Go where, Ron?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" said Ron. "The Chudley Cannons coach is coming to Hogsmeade next weekend to select future players for their team! If Harry makes it, they'll pay his entire expenses till he leaves Hogwarts, and even let him play for Chudley Cannons twice a year."

"I'm not going to try out without you, Ron," said Harry flatly. "And that's final."

Ron flushed again, but this time with obvious pleasure that Harry wouldn't go without him. Hermione looked at him with affection. The summer vacation had made quite a difference to them both, she thought.

They were physically different - puberty kicking in, she assumed. Both Ron and Harry had shot up to about five ten, and were still growing. Harry's voice had become a deep bass, while Ron's was a pleasant tenor. Ron's hair had deepened to burgundy, although it still blazed in the sunlight. Their faces were still the same, thankfully, and neither had begun to sprout more than the lightest peach fuzz.

But there were other changes too, subtler ones. Harry, usually a quiet boy, had started having bouts of chattiness, when he'd go on for hours about anything and everything, interspersed with bouts of complete silence when he'd go off on his own, leaving Ron and Hermione to amuse each other. A small smile touched Hermione's eyes. She usually ended up far more amused than Ron did.

Ron had changed, becoming a little shyer, especially around her. Hormones, she supposed. Ron had shown signs of hanging around her last year, especially after the Ball she attended with Krum, but she guessed he had got over his obvious crush, because he never said a thing about it afterward or tried to ask her out. He had also almost stopped needling her or yelling at her too, which was such a blessed relief.

"Both of you should go," said Hermione, looking at them each in turn. "And I'll come along, to cheer you guys on."

"But," Ron protested, "I don't have a broom! They won't let me take a school broom to Hogsmeade."

"Nonsense," Hermione said, "The Chudley Cannons bring their own brooms to the tryouts. They don't let rich brats get in on the merits of their brooms!"

Ron looked a little confused. "I'm not sure, Hermione. We are in fifth year and I've never been picked for the team... Do you think it's worth it?

Harry bent forward, "Ron, you haven't been picked because the team is full! In fact Madam Hooch was just saying the other day that you had improved a lot, and she wouldn't mind giving you a try next year."

Ron went red again. Hermione looked at him thoughtfully. This was getting to be a habit, she mused. Oh, well. She reopened her book and began to read.

Ron and Harry looked at each other. Harry smiled, "She's becoming more and more like a consultant these days, isn't she?"

Ron refused to second him. His days of baiting Hermione seemed to have ended, and it was left to Harry to try and tease Hermione out of her habit of hard work.

But with the OWLs coming up that year, studying had somehow become more popular with most of the students. Not all the students took Fred and George for a role model. OWLs and NEWTs were not only crucial in getting good posts anywhere in the wizarding world, they were also important throughout one's life, for promotions, for keeping one's job amid layoffs, even sometimes for more mundane things like getting Ministry permission to buy land in Muggle territory. The Ministry insisted on documents to prove magical competence, and one of these was the school-leaving certificate.

Harry at first had trouble understanding the logic of it, but then he realised that the OWLs and the NEWTs were probably the only universal tests of a wizard's (or witch's) proficiency in magic, so they had more importance than school-leaving tests had in the Muggle world.

Seamus and Dean were still unsuccessfully trying to transfigure the inkpot. Suddenly Seamus threw his wand down on the table and a few stray yellow sparks sputtered out of its end. "Hermione! I can't seem to get this right - can you help?" he yelled. Hermione looked up at that. Hermione had never been able to turn down a plea for help, especially in studies, and that was unlikely to ever change. She put her book down on the table, bookmarking it with a quiet spell, and made her way to the table next to Seamus.

The inkpot sat on the table, looking a little strange, because it had a few daisies growing out of it. Seamus had been trying to transfigure it into a bouquet of yellow roses.

Hermione took Seamus' wand and inspected it carefully, turning it around in her hands. She said slowly and seriously, "Magic is power, Seamus. It needs to flow without impediment. Always keep your wand clean." Seamus' wand was a handsome affair, 13 inches of hickory with a Porlock's hair, but Seamus never did bother with maintaining it.

Hermione reached into the pocket of her robes and pulled out a soft cloth. She ran it slowly up and down the wand, muttering a charm as she did so. It said a lot for the trust Seamus placed in the brightest student of his class that he did not even flinch. A wand is the most important possession of wizards, and they rarely let another wizard or witch handle it, let alone say a charm over it.

Suddenly Hermione jerked her hand backward. "Here it is!" she said triumphantly and opened the cloth to show Seamus a rusty nail. Seamus' jaw hung open, "How did that get there?"

Hermione considered the question carefully. "Well, it wasn't hammered in, just embedded deeply, so I think you placed it somewhere near a nail and then sat on it."

Seamus grinned. "Oh! I do sit on my poor wand a lot. Thanks, Hermione. I'll try that again now."

He took the wand and closed his eyes briefly for focus. Then he opened them and waved the wand over the inkpot. There was a yellow flash and where the inkpot stood now lay a bouquet of pretty yellow roses.

Hermione returned to her seat, and Seamus returned to his practice, a broad grin on his face as the bouquet turned back to an inkpot.

Harry and Ron had been watching this exchange. When Hermione returned to her chair, Ron grinned, "Good work!"

Harry laughed, "Definitely a consultant."

Hermione smiled rather smugly. "Oh that was easy. Seamus is actually pretty magical; he's just careless. Do you know how hard it is to get into Hogwarts? The students here have so much more magical power than they think. Especially you, Harry."

"Me? I'm not the one with full marks in every subject," Harry pointed out.

"Maybe, but the difference is, I use all the magical power I have. You and Ron just use a fraction of your power."

Ron looked at Hermione earnestly, "You think I have power?"

Hermione leaned forward to place her hand on Ron's arm, "Oh Ron. Why do you doubt it? Haven't your marks become much better after you got your new wand? Especially in Charms?"

Ron blushed, but hesitantly placed his hand over Hermione's. "Thanks, Herms. You're the greatest."

Harry felt a twinge of annoyance. "Yes, but your marks won't stay that way unless you finish your transfiguration homework."

Ron grinned smugly, "Done."

"Hey, when did you finish it? I thought we were supposed to finish it together?" Harry asked a little angrily.

"Sorry, Harry. You vanished after dinner, and Herms and I had nothing to do, so we finished our homework."

Harry sounded annoyed with himself, "Sorry, guys. I felt like going for a walk, and I didn't see you around, so I went by myself."

Harry was bending the truth a little here. He had left out the fact that he hadn't planned to ask Hermione or Ron to go with him anyway. Sometimes his need for solitude was so powerful it even overrode his need to be near his two closest friends. And sometimes he just wanted to get away from the sight of Ron making puppy eyes at Hermione. It was so embarrassing!

Hermione suddenly looked down at her watch, "Gotta go, guys. You too stay out of trouble while I'm gone."

"Yes, mum," Ron laughed, a laugh that ended in a small sigh. Harry gave him an exasperated look.

As Hermione left the room, Harry leaned closer to Ron, "You can close your mouth now. She's gone."

Ron looked at Harry with surprise, "What do you mean?"

"It's written all over your bloody face! You have a crush on her, don't you?"