Room 308, Wednesday evening

[smartestone]

Finals week means Hermione is pretty much unheard and unseen. Well, unheard except for the sound of pages turning and unseen except for the top of her head over a book. Also, 'finals week' kind of means the whole month of December for her. She's a little serious about this sort of thing.

She hears Crookshanks scratching at the door, but tries to ignore it just long enough to get through her first notebook from World History class. Finally she gets up, watching him wander down the hall, and leaves the door open so he can come back without interrupting her studying.

[For time_agent]

Comments

[smartestone]

If the twins could manage it in their what, third year? she could certainly do this for one person. Eventually she's pretty sure she's gotten it right... but nothing shows up. So she spends some time trying to put herself on the map instead, in case she did do something wrong.

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Close to exactly two hours later, Jack walked quietly back into Hermione's room and set a mug of tea next to her hand. "Any luck?"

[smartestone]

She's wincing a little when she says, "It doesn't look like he's here," and shows him the map. If he looks closely, he'll be able to see her name on the paper in relation to where she's standing, but Cedric's name is nowhere on it.

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Jack leaned over the map, tracing the outline with one finger, stopping when he got to Hermione's name. "Least we know it works," he offered. "And I guess we can stop looking for him here." He dropped his head, closing his eyes briefly, then opened them and tried to smile at her. "Thanks for trying."

[smartestone]

"I'll still get the letter out," she promises. She really does feel bad about having to say all of this. "And I'll keep looking. Maybe there's something that can be done that I just don't know about yet."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

"Again, thank you. Everything helps." Jack studied her for a minute, then crouched next to the desk, leaning his shoulder against it. "You know, I didn't like you, because of what you told Cedric," he told her. "About what happened to him in your timeline. And I'm sorry for that." He flashed her a quick smile. "You didn't have to help me. If there's ever anything I can do for you, ask, okay?"

[smartestone]

Hermione's actually kind of used to not being liked. It doesn't even really bother her anymore. "I'll remember that," she says with a little smile back. "And I hope he comes back soon."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

"Good. And so do I." He stretched to his feet, then glanced at the map. "Think I could take that with me? Just in case he reappears as mysteriously as he vanished?"

[smartestone]

She looks a little wary, because... map, and she still has arguments about Harry's, but nods. There are only two names on there anyway. "Return it when you're finished?" she asks, offering it to him.

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

"You have my word." He accepted it, rolling it carefully, and held it between his hands. "You'll let me know if you figure out anything else?"

[smartestone]

"I promise," she answers immediately, nodding.

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Jack couldn't help but believe her. All he could find to say was thank you, which was getting old, and his more tangible methods of showing appreciation weren't going to work here. So he settled for touching the map to his forehead in a kind of salute. "If he turns up, I'll let you know."

[smartestone]

"Oh, you'd better," she says, because she's not planning on worrying only to hear it on the radio a week from now. "I'm very good at using a phone, if nothing else."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

"Count on it." Jack nodded once and headed for the door. "See you, Hermione."