Bab 206: The playful and the blunt
Walking through the masses of people, the only thought running circles in my head was about the historical content that we would be going over this year. I couldn't help but constantly frown as I mulled it over repeatedly.
Reaching the luggage section, I picked up my trunk and smoothly placed it at the top of the pile.
"Damn Hermione!" a squeaky voice hollered from behind me.
Turning around, two sets of wide eyes stared at me.
"What?" I asked, confused about their reactions. Their gazes darted from behind me to my face for several seconds. Then, they quickly approached and began to touch my arms with surprise.
"What?" I repeated louder, uncomfortable with the sensation of others touching my body so suddenly.
Probably feeling my arms tighten and my tone rise, they retreated and stood side by side again.
"Sorry about that; we couldn't believe that you could launch such a heavy trunk so high with such little effort. You're much stronger than you look, Hermione." So said the twin on the right.
"Although… looking at you now, you look great. Have you been doing some sort of routine?" asked the other twin with an expectant shade on her face.
"… what are you talking about?" I didn't know what they were talking about and turned around, my finger pointing to the luggage pile to prove them wrong, only to choke back my words. My eyes had to move upwards, taking in the mountain before me.
I could spot my trunk, sitting there without any intention of moving. I looked down at my hands with shock, 'when did I get this strong?' I vividly remembered this scene last year, but the result was vastly different. Then, I couldn't even lift the trunk off the ground, let alone throw it.
'Right, I took the potion twice, but to have this effect? It goes beyond the stipulated effects. Did we do something wrong?' I wondered, but I wasn't overly muscular, I had a very toned body, but I wasn't 'big'.
"Uhhh, it seems you're right," I responded, turning back to the Patil twins.
Padma's brow arched up, "seems?" she repeated, "you make it sound like you weren't aware."
Snap!
I clicked my fingers in realisation, 'all those accidents I had been attributing to things being fragile or accidents were actually me! The cracked sink, the broken door handle, my poor-poor torn Oliver twist book.' More and more instances of such events continued to appear. It seems that my strength had increased without me knowing it, leading to the cause of all these events.
"That… seems to be the case," I said awkwardly.
"Again with the 'seems', huh? It SEEMS that you are in La-La land Hermione." Padma giggled.
"La-La land?" I echoed, the thoughts about the history textbooks surfacing again, "maybe..."
Padma sighed, "there you go again, dreaming of someth- now that I think about it, where's that Tom boy? is that why you're so distracted? Oh, I bet it is!" she puffed a laugh before covering her hand as if discovering a secret.
My thoughts disappeared, and I felt my face blaze, my gaze locking onto Padma, "that is not the case! I was… never mind, he's in America. Besides, why would I be thinking about him anyway?" I said, waving my hand dismissively.
"Wow, America?!" Parvati announced loudly.
I nodded, turning towards the twin, who had been mostly silent. "That's right, the bastar- Tom is going to Ilvermorny, a magic school like Hogwarts." I amended, but I couldn't help it; he was always doing this spontaneous stuff.
"I didn't know there was a school over there! Did he move there permanently? Or is he only there for a year?" Parvati asked, clearly unable to subdue her inquisitiveness.
"No, he's only there for half a year. He went to Hawaii for vacation and decided to explore America for a while. He spoke to Dumbledore about giving him a recommendation letter and everything." I explained.
Parvati nodded like a little chicken. Padma cupped her chin pensively before grinning, "seems like he's having all the fun and left you here all alone." I felt a vein suddenly burst on my forehead at her words, I wanted to go! But my parents decided on France. And it seems she saw it too, her grin widening at my reaction.
"All alone?" I asked between gritted teeth, "I have friends…." I looked away. Who was I kidding? No one apart from Tom could hold a conversation beyond fundamental understanding on any topic. And let's not even begin to talk about their basic knowledge. It was like talking to a three-year-old.
"Yeah, all you did was spend time with him, every day, all year. You're at the top of the class; the only thing I see you do is study, read or disappear together with him for hours. So, all alone would be the best way to describe your situation." She responded.
"Right-right, you have no friends!" Parvati chimed in cheerfully, her words like arrows right into my back.
"You didn't need to keep going Parvati, I understood the first time," I said with twitching lips. She only shrugged, her innocent face unchanging, before tugging at Padma's sleeve and nodding in a specific direction.
[DING! 5 minutes until we leave, everyone who hasn't boarded must do so immediately]
"We should be getting on Hermione. Why don't you join us?" Padma turned to me again and asked.
"…" Me and Tom had many things in common, one of which was the pleasure we derived from silence, where we could freely hear our thoughts and revel in the silence surrounding us. To suddenly give that up… didn't seem fitting.
'yeah… I'll just say no. They seem to have friends, and I would be the only one who doesn't know anyone. Right! Their all noisy, so it goes against my wishes anyway-'
"What are you hesitating for? You have no friends. You aren't planning on spending the first half of the year alone, are you? Studies have found that humans need social interaction as a vital component to flourishing mental health." Parvati said, waving her finger in my face, her chin raised high.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone