Lending Granger A Hand

~~~(POV: Alexander Aevum)~~~

~~~(Location: Gryffindor's Common Room)~~~

~~~(Date: September 2nd, 1991)~~~

~~~(Time: 6:10 PM)~~~

Granger and I sit at a table as conversations occur around the room. We're of no interest to the upperclassmen, so nothing will bother us.

"Now, dealing with a pureblood like Malfoy will be tough. On his own, he isn't dangerous. However, he'll never be alone."

Purebloods are never alone.

"Slytherins love to move in packs. Even more so with Purebloods. If you want to deal with Malfoy, getting through his cronies is the first goal."

Granger looks a little depressed, explaining how hard it'll be to deal with Malfoy.

The sooner she does this for herself, the safer and better she'll be. Malfoy messes with her so much because she lets it happen. She needs to draw the line.

"Here's what you're going to do."

I pull out my bookbag and toss her a book of spells that aren't taught to first years.

"I want you to learn and memorize as many spells from this book as possible."

She nods her head as she looks excited.

"To help you even more, I'll keep Malfoy and his goons off your back."

She looks at me in confusion.

She'll need time and space to learn these spells. She won't be able to do that if Slytherins are constantly harassing her. I'll take the heat off her and distract them for a while.

"Let me know when you can use the spells. I'll stop distracting Malfoy, and he'll turn his attention back to you. Once he does, that's when you'll teach him a lesson."

Now that a game plan has been set, all she needs to do is study. I must think of a way to keep Malfoy's attention off Granger.

I know one way to do it. I can insult his family. If there is one thing all kids hate, it's when you insult their parents and family.

"Hermione."

She pulls me out of my thoughts as she says her name randomly.

"I want you to call me Hermione. I'll call you Alex."

While it's respectful to call people by their last names in the wizarding world, using first names means you're friends and are familiar with each other.

How about that?

I'm a friend of Granger.

"Can I talk to you again tomorrow? I don't have many people willing to speak with me..."

I must be her only friend after that little comment.

I see no reason not to be her friend. She seems to need one, and while I don't need one. Having one could prove pleasant.

"You can talk to me whenever you want, Hermione. I strongly suggest you make friends other than me, though. I'm not always easy to find. Would you like some advice and where to find some friends?"

She looks at me with some hope and nods her head. There aren't many Gryffindore like Granger; many don't like books or sophisticated conversations.

She'll find plenty of people like her in Ravenclaw, true intellectuals.

"I suggest you find some friends in Ravenclaw. You'll get along with them much better than anyone in Gryffindor."

She looks like she wants to talk about something, but we're interrupted by shouts from the entranceway. We look and see some upperclassmen enter the common room covered in a sort of disgusting green slime.

One of them looks at me and charges toward me. He grips my collar and stares into my eyes, winding up his fist. I pull out my wand from my holster.

"Flipendo."

He goes flying across the room, and I point my wand at his friends, who're also covered in green slime with a terrible smell.

"What's your guys' problem?"

I ask the group, trying to figure out why the sudden hostility toward me is even here. I don't know these guys. The one I flung toward the other side of the room gets up, holding his head, and once he sees me. He draws his wand.

"Expelliarmus."

I wave my wand as I shoot another spell at the boy. His wand flies out of his hand and lands near the couches. Time to get to the bottom of this.