When Boxing Day came, Hermione had gotten up much later than she usually did.
She frowned when other side of the bed was empty.
Hermione quickly decided to freshen up, she had let her hair become long and bushy again, because truth be told, she had used a liberal amount of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, just to get it to stay where it was.
There was no way she was going to use it every day, because that was too much of a bother, and would get too expensive.
She previously had no plans to keep the dress, as she knew she'd outgrow it if not next year, then by Seventh Year she would definitely outgrow it.
She had decided to return it back to Madam Malkin, whether she got a fraction of the price or not.
But Lucifer didn't like her choice of doing so, he wanted to keep dress as a souvenir....even forcibly reimbursed her amount of Galleons she spend.
After he got serious, Hermione reluctantly decided to accept just half a portion... because she wanted to do it for him.
Hermione quickly left the room and marched down the stairs into Gryffindor Common Room, she saw Harry and Ron there.
Hermione looked at the red-haired boy with a cold glare and wanted to punch him but then decided to not let it get in the way of her good mood.
"Happy Boxing Day," she said, plainly.
"Happy Boxing Day, Hermione," Harry said, and he suddenly looked anxious towards Ron.
"Er- I'm sorry for saying what I sa----"
"No, forget it, it's yesterday's problem now. Have... have either of you seen...?" She asked without actually asking.
"No, his curtains were open on his bed, but he wasn't there, or here, so we figured he's probably down in the Great Hall," Ron said.
It also seemed as though he wanted to let the argument from yesterday stay in yesterday.
"Okay..." Hermione was having a bad feeling again.
Harry and Ron suddenly launched into an explanation of something they'd overheard from Hagrid and Maxime, but Hermione wasn't surprised.
"Well, Lucifer already told me in the first year that Hagrid was different from most people, we even made a stupid bet on having a date seeing Hagrid for the first time walking towards the Great Hall....."
"I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it? Hagrid is incredibly tall, but there was no way he was Pure Giant, because they are Twenty to Twenty-Five Feet tall. I can kind of understand some of the hysteria about them, given that they are Tribal Magical Creatures and are not afraid of killing each other for the fun of it, though Lucifer was the one who told me that gruesome bit."
"Really, Hermione. In 1st year you both made this bet?"
The three of them walked down to the Great Hall where Lunch was now being served, and Hermione saw Lucifer sitting with Eve.
She clenched her fists tightly and sat down in seat near the middle of the table as no one had taken it yet.
Getting ready if need arise.
Harry and Ron both noticed this,
"Everything okay?"
"I am just looking out for him. That's all," Hermione said grabbing a bit of food for herself.
"Well, your face doesn't loo---" Harry started to say.
"Nothing is wrong, Harry. I told you I am just watching him carefully," Hermione said sternly.
Harry picked up on the tone of her voice telling him to drop it.
She was glad when Ron picked up on the same thing.
Hermione's mind started wandering, 'I dare you to try anything on him...'
Hermione's knuckles were white of how much strength she was holding onto her knife looking ready to kill her poor toast with it.
Harry and Ron didn't bother her, which she was glad for, because she wouldn't have answered them anyway.
Lucifer glanced in Hermione's direction when he heard her voice be raised a bit, before looking back at his food, "Did you have your dance with Hermione?"
"Hmm? Oh yeah we did," Lucifer gave her a quick smile before his face turned neutral again.
"What happened? Was it not a good dance?" Eve asked him.
"No... it was wonderful... the best dance I had the entire night was with her," Lucifer said, missing the look on Eve's face.
"....How did she take on everything with you being the Devil and all?" Eve's voice was insistent that he tell her.
"It was a lot to process, but she took it better than I expected. I thought she was going to freak out or jump from the window...."
"Just a normal human girl stole your heart.....But I too think she really cares about you Luce. I mean she is so protective over you...."
"Eve....."
"No, I had to forcibly come between you two for even having a moment to dance....I think she is good for you, she is exactly what you need," her voice cracked, causing him to look at her.
Tears were leaking from her eyes, and Eve did her best to stem the flow, but she was failing.
"Is there something I can do..."
"Yeah, yeah...take me down to hell...I had enough of visiting this realm."
"...you want to go down?"
"I want a change of scenery, if that makes sense. Will you come to pick me up from this address? Since, Delacour's Mansion is concealed from everything around...."
xxxxxx
Classes started back all too quickly, and many students barely got their homework done on time, others didn't.
And the respective professor made sure they were punished for their inability to get it done on time.
Snow was still thick upon the Grounds, and the greenhouse windows were covered in condensation so thick that they couldn't see out of them in Herbology.
No one was really looking to Care of Magical Creatures in this kind of weather, though as Ron said, the Skrewts might warm them up nicely.
When the Gryffindors arrived at Hagrid's Cabin, there was no Hagrid in sight; instead they found an elderly looking Witch with closely cropped gray hair and a prominent chin standing before his front door.
"Hurry up now, the bell rang five minutes ago!" She barked at them as most of them struggled through the snow.
Lucifer traversed it easily and was the first one there.
"Who're you?" Ron asked as he came to a stop, "Where's Hagrid?"
"My name is Professor Grubbly-Plank," she said briskly, "I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures Professor."
"Where's Hagrid?" Harry repeated loudly.
"He is currently indisposed," Grubbly-Plank said shortly.
A sudden low grumble of laughter was heard behind them, and the Slytherins were seen approaching them.
They all looked gleeful, and were not surprised to see Grubbly-Plank.
After Lucifer turned and glared at them, they all shut up.
"This way, please," Grubbly-Plank said and strode off around the paddock where the Beauxbatons Horses were shivering, obviously not used to the cold.
The four of them followed Grubbly-Plank, but only Harry, Ron, and Hermione glanced over their shoulders, looking at Hagrid's Cabin.
Lucifer was too distracted with his thoughts to care; he was going over in his head what they could possibly be doing if not caring for the damned Skrewts.
He missed Harry hurrying ahead of them to talk to Grubbly-Plank, who led them toward a specific tree on the edge of the forest.
"A Unicorn? Are you fucking kidding me?" Lucifer asked aloud.
"What's wrong with Unicorns?" Parvati asked him.
"Nothing is wrong with them, I'm just starting to wonder why guys are here at all," he commented, leaning against a tree, and didn't move from the spot.
Unicorns weren't going to be cute with him either.
"Boys, he's right, stay back, Unicorns prefer a woman's touch," Grubbly-Plank paused for a moment, "Five Points to Gryffindor for exceptional knowledge on Magical Creatures."
Hermione understood his frustration, because half the class was being left out of the lesson.
She almost stayed back, but he looked at her, really looked at her, and the look on his face told her to go on and enjoy the lesson.
xxxxxx
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