Chapter Text
Hermione was struggling. There was no other way to put it. She had a lot on her plate and while she would quite simply die than admit it, it was true: third year was getting a bit much for her. The most embarrassing fact was that this was only the fourth day of school.
It wasn’t the school work that was problematic. Had Hermione been a lesser student and not read through her textbooks in their entirety at least twice over the summer, she would have found the curriculum difficult (this was definitely not an observation she had made from Ron and Harry). She had already earned 15 points for Gryffindor and was pleased to see that there were significantly more rubies compared to the other gems.
The real problem was the Time-Turner. It was a struggle to find somewhere she could disappear and reappear without anyone being spooked to death. Hermione had used the toilet up until Lavender Brown had nearly walked in on her materialising out of thin air. Time and time again she wished there was something that could tell her exactly when someone was going to walk in. Hermione had wondered on many occasions how Merlin had been managing, given Malfoy was pretty observant. Harry and Ron probably couldn’t tell the difference between her and a dressed up troll. Well, even an ordinary troll would have posed a challenge.
Nevertheless, she ran into Divination slightly breathless and tried to inconspicuously tuck the Time-Turner away. Unfortunately, this was the one time Ron had decided to pay attention and he narrowed his eyes at her harried appearance. Hermione held her head up high and waited as Professor Trelawney directed them to stained cushions, leading Hermione away from the boys and towards Merlin, who was trying to engage a dark-haired Slytherin in conversation.
“Hermione!” greeted Merlin brightly. “Meet Theo.” She nodded stiffly at who was apparently Theodore Nott and watched as also acknowledged her (which was a surprise in itself given that most of Slytherin, with the exception of Malfoy and Merlin, only glared at her — a sentiment she repeated).
Trelawney began her lesson and Hermione flicked half-heartedly through the textbook — for the first time, reading a textbook had left her with more questions than answers. She couldn’t tell if the book was badly written or if Divination was just as confusing. Regardless, she was determined to try and soon, they were asked to collect tea cups from the shelves, with Trelawney already ‘predicting’ Neville’s accident with the pink tea cups. Hermione would have been impressed except given the crowd at the shelves, it didn’t take a genius to figure that some cups would end up breaking. Moreover, as much as she liked Neville, the boy was known for his clumsiness.
She waited for the crowd to die down and unfortunately, Ron and Harry seemed to have the same idea. That, or the more likely explanation was that they were waiting to pounce on her. “Where did you go?” hissed Ron the second she reached the cups. Definitely the latter, then. “You were right behind us after Charms!”
She was indeed right behind them, except she had to empty out her bag to make space for the Divination textbook. She made a mental note to research space-maximising charms as she glared at Ron, “I didn’t go anywhere, my bag broke.” He looked warily at her admittedly brand new bag and Hermione rolled her eyes. “I fixed it, honestly, Ronald!”
“Leave it,” muttered Harry and they hurried back to their seats just as Trelawney ushered everyone to fill their tea cups. Due to the odd numbers in the class (something Trelawney saw fit to say, “Come March, our numbers will be even!”), Hermione was stuck with Merlin and his new friend. Apparently Nott had gone first and she swilled her tea cup as she tried to subtly listen to their conversation.
“Hmm, I see…” Merlin drew out his syllables as he spun the saucer around. Hermione had tried to peer over his shoulder and truly, the dregs were in a mess. Internally, she scoffed — this was a lesson? Honestly the class was a joke and she had no shame saying it.
Nott took back his saucer and cocked his head. “That looks like a knife,” he said, drawing Merlin’s (and Hermione’s) attention to a misshapen lump. Somehow Merlin had seen something because he began nodding, albeit hesitantly. “What does it say in the book? Look, will you Granger?”
Hermione jumped and her tea cup clattered on the desk, thankfully landing upright. Clearly she hadn’t been very subtle at all and covered up her momentary surprise by coughing… quite unconvincingly, even in her opinion. “There’s no knife, but it says a dagger means the drinker will either get help from friends or provide help to ‘one they do not see as an enemy’,” she read, trying not to scoff.
“Enlightening.”
“Okay, my turn.” Merlin grimaced at the taste and flipped it onto the saucer. This time, Hermione looked unabashedly at the saucer but it was no use. There was nothing useful visible and it reminded her yet again of how much time she was wasting.
“Broken sword, right there. There’s something wiggly — snakes or worms? Plenty of mountains behind it. That looks like a crown and that’s either an Abraxan or a unicorn,” finished Nott, his trademark smirk back in place. “Anything to add, Granger?”
“You couldn’t have possibly seen all that!” said Hermione, unable to contain her disdain any longer. Next to her, Merlin was still tracing around the blobs and muttering to himself.
“What is it, Granger? Can’t handle not being top of the class anymore?” he mocked and Hermione took a deep breath to control her anger. She decided to interpret the patterns instead and nodded sharply at Merlin to take notes.
“Sword says there are lovers quarrels, which is stupid given that Merlin doesn’t have a lover,” she began, rolling her eyes nearly missing the way he stiffened beside her. “Nothing about a broken sword, but the footnote adds that pieces around the sword can be blood, referring to the victory of an enemy. Next, worms, right?”
“Or snakes,” interjected Nott.
“Well worms are secret enemies, apparently, and a snake is a general bad omen.” It took all of Hermione’s effort not to roll her eyes again — how was interpreting these woolly predictions even a class? Once she was Head Girl, removing Divination would be one of her many suggestions to Professor Dumbledore. “Mountains mean enemies, again, but this time they’re powerful. Abraxan means being led astray by evil forces but once again there’s no further explanation.”
“Theo said it could also be a unicorn,” added Merlin, dutifully writing everything down.
“A unicorn signifies scandals so knowing Merlin, it could be either,” said Hermione wryly, earning a reproachful look from him and an involuntary snort from Nott.
“The crown,” said Nott, gesturing to another shapeless mess. She opened the book again but Merlin shook his head.
“No, I, uh, I don’t think it’s got anything to do with this,” he trailed off vaguely.
“I agree. A crown signifies success and honour.” Merlin glared at her openly now.
“I see why Draco insists on parading you around with the Gryffindors,” said Nott, smirking yet again. “You wouldn’t last a second with a Slytherin.”
“And how could you know that, Theo?” asked Merlin without looking up from his parchment. He finished the last looping letter with a flourish and finally gave it to Hermione, who began copying the observations immediately, adding in her own thoughts for each one. “Thanks to Draco, you’re the only other Slytherin I have spoken to properly.”
“Well, think of Granger as introductory course to Slytherins. That’s a compliment,” Nott clarified as she glared at him. Ron would be beyond livid to hear that she was an ‘introductory course to Slytherin’. “Do you like Emrys, Granger?” he asked suddenly.
Hermione hesitated for a second but it was enough for Nott to nod sagely. Merlin turned to her with an expression of mock-outrage. She quickly spoke before he could begin his dramatics. “Merlin, I do like you! It’s just, sometimes, you’re a bit interesting and confusing.”
Merlin snorted instantly. “Never in my life has anyone used ‘interesting’ to describe me. Confusing, I get.”
“It’s your behaviour, it’s how you—”
“How you don’t ever seem to have a wand yet you never need one, how you have fool around constantly yet somehow actually excel at lessons, how you’ve never read the assigned chapters but stay up late to read for your own interest,” finished Nott quietly. Hermione cleared her throat, if only to avoid looking like a gaping toad. Had other people realised that Merlin was simply as juxtaposition? She assumed her interest in the strange boy had only developed as a result of the fact that he always seemed to outdo her in class without any effort but clearly, Merlin’s talents weren’t going unnoticed in his own house.
“Wow, fan behaviour,” stated Merlin with an easy laugh. She narrowed her eyes and caught a flicker of his exterior crack, replaced by an incredulous expression. Had Merlin not realised he was a juxtaposition? With a quick smile, he began packing up his books and Hermione belatedly realised she had spent the entire lesson focused more on Merlin than on the subject (granted, the ‘subject’ didn’t even deserve a second glance) and hurried to Ron and Harry but not before she felt a slip of parchment being pressed into her hands.
Owlery, after dinner.