The Library: Between The Stacks

We needed one more Library thread.

The day after her encounter with Percy, Hermione returns to the Library and wanders between the stacks, not actually looking for anything in particular this time but rather enjoying the sense peace she gets from being among the books. She inhales deeply - there's something so comforting about the smell of old leather and parchment to her.

Luna walks through the library shelves, looking for a book on lesbian sex Sweden because she's already finished all her homework, and wants to do some reading on the mountains of Sweden. She turns the corner and spots Hermione, her usual dreamy, distant demeanor quickly replaced by the butterflies in her stomach. She walks up and smiles as she forgets about the book she was looking for. "Hello, Hermione! Can't say I'm surprised to see you here," she says teasingly.

Hermione jumps just a little at the sound of her own name, for a moment worried that Percy had found her again and wanted to engage in more awkward small talk regarding future frivolities. She smiles brightly when she focuses on her Ravenclaw friend. "Hi Luna," she says, her voice soft out of respect for their location, of course. "I can't say I'm surprised to see you here, either. Not that I'm sorry about that. How are you?"

"I'm great! Really great," she says happily now that she's made a bunch of new friends. "I met your friend Audrey the other day. She's really nice. We talked about muggle boardgames and electricity! How have you been?"

Hermione smiles, glad Luna is making friends. It's high time people saw how awesome the younger girl really is. "Audrey's brilliant - we've been friends for years. I've been ok," she says, shrugging slightly. "I've spent most of my energies on settling back into my routine and developing a study schedule for the new semester, amidst a couple of distractions," she explains, her nose wrinkling delicately because she doesn't know how else to explain all this silly boy stuff.

"Distractions?" she asks curiously as she reaches up to grab the book she'd been looking for, The Mountains of Sweden. "What kind of distractions? I didn't think Hermione Granger could be distracted by anything when it comes to schoolwork." She giggles lightly, though she really hopes Viktor Krum is not one of these distractions.

Hermione grimaces. "I'd much rather be dealing with schoolwork, believe me." She glances around to make sure they're not being overheard, and sighs. "It's just, all this focus on boys that the other girls get so caught up in does my head in, you know?" Poor Hermione has no clue that Luna really doesn't know anything about getting caught up with boys. "And then Percy Weasley asked me out, and now all of a sudden I've got a date with him to Hogsmeade this weekend!"

Luna dies a little inside..."A date?" she whispers quietly, glad that she was used to hiding her disappointment considering she had to do it every time a conversation with Hermione ended without Luna telling her about her feelings. Which happened. A lot. "That's...That's...Well, you don't sound too happy?" It comes out sounding much more like a question, though her voice is full of hope. Losing Hermione to Viktor, well that was expected. But Percy? Just...Really? Him? Not okay.

Hermione shoves a hand roughly through her bushy hair and gives Luna a helpless look. Then she smiles weakly, remembering who she is talking to. Luna, her friend, the most non-judgmental person in the world. She can tell Luna anything. "I'm not," she admits, her voice barely a whisper and a little frown on her face. "Audrey keeps telling me that I just need to get out there a little bit, and that once I've found myself a boy I'll understand what it's all about, but... I don't know, Luna. It just doesn't feel right. I wish I'd never said yes, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings."

Luna feels extremely relieved, and sighs before replying, though she can't help that think Hermione would 'feel right' if she was around girls instead. The poor girl is crushing hard, what do you expect? "Oh. I'm sorry, Hermione," she says, looking convincingly sad. "It's just one date though, right? One date and then you'll never have to do it again. Not with him at least. With someone else. Someone who you'd be excited about going on a date with. You know, someone that really cares about you and take you on an awesome date to make you happy," she says with a somewhat distant smile as she thinks about what she would do if she had a date with Hermione. It certainly wouldn't be an uncreative trip to Hogsmeade. It'd be something fun and outside. With books involved because Hermione likes books. The slight twinge in her chest reminding her that she's still talking to Hermione, the girl who has a date with some guy who's never going to care about her like Luna does. "But I'm sure this one date won't kill you," she says, trying to be supportive despite her jealousy. "Percy's a nice guy. I'm sure it'll be a nice day in Hogsmeade."

Hermione smiles a little at Luna's supportiveness. "You're right. I just have to get through one date, and that's that. Besides, I do like both the book store, and the Three Broomsticks, so I'm sure I can survive. And it's not as though I dislike Percy. Just one date," she repeats, hoping that Percy will feel the same by the end of it, and they can come to an amicable decision to remain friends only. Acting on impulse, she reaches out and pulls Luna into a hug. "Thanks, Luna. You're always there for me."

A book store. Well, that's just fantastic. Hermione is going to love that and have an awesome time, and everything with Percy will just be awesome. Her jealous thoughts are suddenly replaced with shock and complete happiness as she hugs Hermione back with a big smile. "Of course, Hermione. I'll always be there for you," she says softly. Even if it's not in the way I want it to be.

Hermione smiles again, unconsciously tightening her hold on the smaller girl for a moment. "Thanks," she repeats, her cheek resting just above the slightly shorter girl's ear. "You know I'm always here for you, too, right? If you ever need anything..."

Luna sighs and stays wrapped in the hug, wishing they could stay like this forever and that Hermione could just not go on that date with Percy. "I know that," she whispered softly, letting herself stay close to Hermione before she forced herself to pull away from the hug, knowing it was for the best. She couldn't help but think of what Rad had said about telling Hermione about her feelings, but how could she when the girl was worried about this date with Percy? "You've always been there for me. Even when most people weren't," she says with a small smile.

Hermione is a little disoriented when Luna pulls away - it's not often she hugs people and she had been enjoying the feeling of human contact. She smiles down at Luna, pushing back a stray strand of hair from her face in an almost protective way. "Why wouldn't I be? We're friends!"

Luna smiles as she feels Hermione's hand touching her hair, and finds her cheeks turning pink. She looks down at her book and pretends to examine the cover to hide her blushing, sighing because she's gotten quite good at keeping that from happening recently. "Oh, well, you know how some people can be." She looks back up and smiles again at Hermione. "But I'm glad we're friends. I'm lucky to be able to have someone like you around. You're always so nice...and clever, of course. I've always been surprised that you're not in Ravenclaw-- Not that you're not brave," she adds quickly. "You're just really smart, is all."

Hermione frowns a little, picking up on the underlying hint in Luna's words. "Luna, if anyone is cruel to you, I want you to let me know. I am a prefect after all, it's my job to take care of things like that. I could have points taken..." But she knows it's not exactly a pleasant subject, so she allows the conversation to move on. "Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider placing me in Ravenclaw," she admits with a little smile.

"I know, I know. People have been a lot nicer to me this year though," she says with a small, happier smile which quickly turns to shock. "It did!? You never told me that!" she exclaims quietly- They are in a library after all. Though she's smiling, she really wants to hit her head with the book now that she knows that she could have shared a house with Hermione all these years if that Sorting Hat hadn't gone and changed its mind.

"I'm glad people have been nicer." Hermione nods. "Yes, it was very seriously considering it, but then it said Gryffindor would suit me better and that was that. Did the Hat ever consider anywhere besides Ravenclaw for you?" she asks, curious.

"You would have been great in Ravenclaw too-- But you make a great Gryffindor," she adds, not wanting to come off as rude or anything. Luna just shakes her head at the question. "Nope. It seemed to know right away that I should be in Ravenclaw. I don't know if I'd really fit into any of the other houses, really."

"Lucky Ravenclaw," Hermione says with a little smile. Then she checks her watch and sighs. It's time for her Transfiguration study hour, and she's left her books in her dorm. "I've got to go, Luna. Thanks for listening, though - it means a lot to me. I'll see you soon," she promises, and trails a hand down the other girl's arm before she turns and walks silently away.

"See you around, Hermione," she says quietly, still feeling Hermione' soft touch on her arm as he other girl walks away. She sighs and walks out of the library with her book to go distract herself with thoughts of Sweden and Snorkacks.

Whenever Remus was in the library, and it wasn't for studying purposes it was cause he had free time, he was usually trying to do one of three things. One: he had a lot on his mind and he wanted a quiet place to think things through, two: he had a lot on his mind and he wanted to get lost in dozens of books because he didn't want to think about it, or three: he just wanted to be here because it was the library and he loved it here. Today he was in here because of reason number two. Remus skimmed through the books, randomly pulling one or two out of random, looking at them, then putting them back. He was entirely focused on the books, all other thoughts shoved to the back of his mind.

Caradoc wandered in, of course, in the early morning, before other people are awake. Except Remus, apparently. Caradoc quietly walks over and sits down opposite Remus. "Hey there, sunshine! How's it hangin' bro?" he asked with a smile, because his friend looks a little down.