Riddles.

After a while, waiting gets boring. - Irrelevant quotes brought to you by Heckyehbaconpancakes. I'm very grateful to all of you who have waited this long. But writing is hard for a fourteen-year-old girl.

Author's Note:

Voila! This chapter's a little shorter so hopefully it won't take as long for the next one to come out, as it is sort of the other half of this one. Although, mind you, I (sadly once again) haven't written it yet. I assure you that it will be spewed out at some point in the near future. I know the waiting gets boring, even if you're not that invested in my tedious writing.

Disclaimer: Please just stop torturing me with this nonsense.

Chapter IV

Hermione waltzed into the Great Hall, spotting Luna immediately: even the vast stone walls couldn't hide her striking hair, shining in the fog-tinted light.

As she approached the Slytherin table, she felt a familiar pulling sensation towards the back of Professor Quirrell's head, but brushed it off - sleep deprivation's really starting to take a toll, she thought. She began to notice that almost all of the Slytherin table was sneaking glances at her every five seconds, trying (and failing) to be discrete.

Slowing down her pace to revel in this new development - realising that almost the entirety of the Slytherin population had been counting on her expulsion - Hermione sought out her blonde-haired fairy friend.

It was as if Luna had felt the gaze glued to the back of her head, turning to meet her silvery eyes with Hermione's chocolate ones. The fairy smirked, cocking her head in the direction of Draco and his suddenly ash-white face. Hermione's own smirk fell on her lips as her gaze flicked over his pasty complexion. Their eyes locked and he tried desperately to regain his rapidly deteriorating composure.

Now a huge grin spread itself over Hermione's face, her lips beginning to crack slightly: another sign that she needed to take more care of her body. The closer she got to the table, the more she could see the fear etched onto his usually stony features. Bending down slightly to whisper in his ear, her voice was at a volume only he could hear.

"Are you alright, Draco dear? You look like you've seen a ghost." His expression abruptly morphed into one of anger as he gritted his teeth, the smoke fuming out of his ears visible from a mile away. Hermione turned to walk to the other side of the table to sit across from a now giggling Luna. She called back over her shoulder to him as she did.

"Oh, and I think your father wants a word." Hermione flipped her hair as she turned, her smirk growing even wider as she watched the rage fall off his face in seconds. The terror that claimed his features not moments ago was reborn, his whole frame quivering at the thought of his father's wrath.

A giggle threatened to burst out of Hermione's lungs, all her years of experience schooling her emotions evading her as she struggled to stifle the snicker with a hand.

She joined Luna and both girls had to look away from each other to stop their grins widening so much that their faces split in two like little China dolls.

Finally gaining her composure once more, Luna motioned for Hermione to look behind her at the growing table of professors. Snape, who was, for once, not glaring daggers at the newly appointed Dark Arts professor, had turned his attention to the Slytherin table. The corner of his mouth lifted in a subtle one-sided smirk directed at Hermione.

Luna leaned into her and whispered, "Well ... it seems we know where at least one person's loyalties lie. It also seems as if you've collected a few fans, Hermione." The fairy pointed over to a group of third year Slytherins who were huddled together at the end of the table, faint smirks visible on their features as one of them winked in Hermione's direction.

Hermione; assuming the role of shy, self-respecting eleven year old, blushed and forced herself to look away. She looked up at Luna through her eyelashes, head still tilted downwards. Luna's grin was lopsided, her eyes twinkling lovingly. "You're ... What's the phrase - a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."

Hermione tilted her head in response, "And you wouldn't have me any other way." Their elated smiles spread wider. "Now, if you'd care to join me, sweet fairy, we have some lessons to prepare for." Her hand snaked across the table to take Luna's. The blonde witch stood and gracefully stepped up onto the long table.

Her pink trainers were visible from underneath the slightly-too-short robes. She carefully avoided the bacon, eggs and cereal littered around the table's surface. Luna's converse clattered against the cutlery and empty plates as she weaved her way through them. Stares followed her every step.

Even Hermione's glare didn't fend them off, but she wasn't overly bothered: her eyes were too busy gazing at the fairy too (although her stare was much more thoughtful). The grace radiating from Luna's every fibre drew her in like a moth to a flame.

Their hands were still firmly locked together when Luna jumped down from her position atop the table and snatched a piece of toast from behind her.

Suddenly she was being dragged towards the doors, toast in hand, by a chuckling Hermione. Luna was glad to notice the look of fear Draco had as McGonnagall came to a stop beside the table, beckoning him towards her with a finger and a scowl upon her face.

Their laughter echoed through the castle walls as the pair raced down the corridors, tearing through halls with utter joy. They didn't care about the stares that seemed to follow them wherever they ran, not even slowing to give some of their own.

Panting for breath, Luna and Hermione made it back to the dungeons in record time. Hermione stood back for a moment, leaning against a stone-cold wall, whilst the fairy braced her hands on weakening knees.

She had managed to lose the toast at some point along the way - either that or the torn up breadcrumbs had been left behind them like a trail. Hermione supposed it could have been Luna's way of committing the maze-like halls to memory.

She made a mental note to give Luna one of the more interesting maps of Hogwarts she had stored up in her brain. The thought of that didn't make her flinch quite as much as usual.

Hermione let out the ghost of a chuckle with what breath she had left and continued to drag Luna along behind her, arriving in the dorm moments later only to land face forward with a thump on her soft mattress.

Luna's landing was rather graceful, despite tripping over not only Hermione's feet but also her own. Her arms were sprawled across Hermione's stomach, one of Hermione's thighs in between her own.

Both witch and fairy had the decency to blush slightly (despite breaking out in a renewed set of giggles) after a moment or two of an awkward separation of limbs.

The pair strolled, arm-in-arm, into the potions classroom. Their day had dragged on, through Malfoy and Co. burning holes into the back of their skulls every spare minute, Hermione's patience wearing thinner at an increasingly alarming rate. If looks could kill, Hermione and Luna would have made very good fertilisers before the start of second lesson.

It came to a point where Hermione had to suppress a growl and grind her nails into her palms every time she felt the familiar sensation of hairs standing upright on the base of her neck.

Her only occasional comfort was Luna's soothing humming (to no particular tune) or the way their knees brushed against each other under the cover of a desk.

Soon all lessons on turning matchsticks into needles and floating feathers without so much as a thought blended into one long and tedious day.

That was why when their first potions lesson rolled around just after lunch, Hermione's attention was piqued instantly at the sudden change in atmosphere.

A few questioning gazes made their way to the pair, but with a piercing glare or two from Hermione, they ceased abruptly. Luna led her to the back of the room to sit on adjacent stools, directly behind a boy muttering something about 'dirty Slytherins' in an Irish accent and Neville (the former of which shooting them a brief scowl before turning back around).

The unoccupied desk at the forefront of the room remained so for not much longer.

Professor Snape - head of Slytherin house and, apparently, their new potions teacher - strided in with a swoosh of his cloak as if he had just traded their souls for a raise and possibly more holiday time. Although he looked not like a man who enjoyed a good book on a beach in southern France, swinging lazily from a hammock.

With raven hair pulled back tight by ounces of grease and a condescending posture that was slightly too stiff, Snape looked more like a man well suited to brewing whatever concoction he'd thought up that morning into something vile to spike his least favourite students' teas with.

Hermione and Luna smirked at each other, knowing silently that they both liked him more already.

Author's Note
Sorry for another note, but I just needed to make a few things clear that I may not have mentioned in previous versions of these.

Number one: Luna is in Hermione's year in this AU (if it wasn't quite obvious already).

Number two: Luna isn't actually a fairy - it's a sort of pet name I have for her, she just reminds me so much of one.

Number three: I probably won't tell you about this at the time, so I will now - future technology is in this AU. Not in our future, but in theirs - Harry Potter was written in the nineties, I believe, so doesn't mention any modern-day muggle technology there or in the films. This story will sometime in the future. Just an explanation as to why.

Sidenote: Constructive criticism is very welcome, I'm just starting to get better at writing, but I would appreciate some feedback so I know which particular areas to improve upon.