Hogwarts heirs

Chapter 3

Two weeks after Hermione's discovery of the Prophecy of Merlin in the library, she sat with Harry and Ron in their usual corner of the Gryffindor Common Room, pouring over her homework. The world seemed to fade away as she diligently wrote an essay on Veritaserum for Potions. As much as she hated Snape, she quite enjoyed Potions, something Harry and Ron could never understand.

Half-way through the four sheet long essay, Hermione's concentration was broken by a burst of laughter from Ron, which was unconvincingly suppressed by a hasty round of coughs. Hermione looked up, her quill frozen in place and a very stern look in her eyes. Ron was sitting across from her, sniggering into his hand before noticing her gaze and smiling innocently at her. Harry sat in the chair next to him, biting his lip in amusement before waving cheerily at Hermione. Her eyes quickly found the sheet of parchment in Harry's other hand and she glared at him.

"What is so amusing?" she snapped in irritation.

Ron giggled some more and stuffed his fist in his mouth, tears coming to his eyes. Harry's eyes widened, however, and looked almost scared.

"Oh...umm...nothing Hermione," he muttered nervously, "just...just go back to your essay."

Hermione was unconvinced and glared harder at him, making Harry gulp in fear and Ron just to giggle harder. Before he could react, she leaned forward and snatched the parchment out of Harry's hands. It was clear to her that he had indeed started the same essay she was working on but had lost heart a few sentences in. She raised her eyebrows in shock when she saw the drawing Harry had on the parchment, which involved Snape, a rather interesting rendition of a cauldron being thrown on his head, and a bewildered Snape being turned into a very disgruntled looking horned toad. Harry had obviously bewitched it to move and repeat over and over again.

Harry just watched her, his green eyes very wide while Ron still seemed unable to control his fit of giggles. Hermione set the parchment down on the table before picking her quill up again and turning back to her own essay.

"Well, I must say it is interesting. Though I did imagine Snape as more likely to turn into an overgrown bat."

Ron fell off his chair with another fit of laughter and Harry's jaw dropped open before he smirked and shook his head. "Ahh...that was too easy. Besides, don't want him flying off, do we? He can't frighten as easily as a toad."

Hermione hid a smile and scratched a new sentence on her parchment before turning a page in Advanced Potions. Ron finally pulled himself back into his chair, breathing hard and running a hand through his red hair. "That...has got to be ...one of the funniest things... I've ever seen. You're a damn good drawer too, mate."

Harry blushed and quickly folded the parchment up and pocketing it in his robes. "Nah, just a moment of inspiration you could say."

"Well, have another 'moment of inspiration' and actually write the essay this time," Hermione said sternly, her eyes never leaving her book, "You two really need to get working on your homework. You both are falling behind, we need to prepare for N.E.W.T.S!"

"Hermione," Ron said in exasperation, "have you forgotten when N.E.W.T.S take place?! They're not until next year! We have practically two years until then, plenty of time to prepare. Let us have some fun."

"Yeah 'Mione, come on, it was just a bit of a break," Harry said before grinning brightly at her. Hermione, unfortunately for her, looked up at that moment and found herself blushing furiously and unable to string two words together, her quill almost dropping from her hand.

"Ah...well...um...just...you know...um...looking out for you two," she stuttered, feeling the need to run far, far away.

Harry looked at her in concern from her strange behavior but Ron raised his eyebrows, realization dawning on his face and a smirk on his lips. Aha! I should have seen it before. She  Harry! No wonder she's never dated before. Hmm...I think I need a talk with Lavender...time to play a little matchmaking game.