Chapter Text
The world was on the edge of summer, and the sun beamed in through the large windows, eager to completely tip over into June.
The room was already almost too warm; bare legs stuck to plastic seats, notepads became makeshift fans, and there was a lazy but displeased murmured echoing through the room. The chairs were all ranged in rows and split into two groups, separated by one thin line down the middle for people to walk through, and most had retreated to the back rows to avoid the sun.
Two lone people, however, stayed stubbornly at the front, left side row.
They were a woman and a man separated by one chair, currently occupied by a bag. The man was slouched in his seat, occasionally tugging on the collar of his rugby jersey, and the woman sat straight and rigid, a displeased curl to her lips.
“Can we please move back? I feel like I’m going to get heatstroke before the lecturer even gets here,” the man mumbled.
The woman rolled her eyes, tucking a stray black curl behind her ear.
“You can, but I’m not moving. The projection unit never works right, I won’t be able to see anything if I move back.”
“Hermione.”
“Harry,” the woman – Hermione - countered, “This isn’t even your class. If ye dinnae want to be here, leave.”
He scowled and shuffled about in his seat for a few seconds, but ultimately didn’t move.
“Got nowhere else to be. Dean and Seamus want the house to themselves to celebrate their anniversary, Neville and Ron are at work, and-”
“I get the picture. Why dinnae ye just go around town or something?”
Harry shrugged.
“Sounded boring. Besides, you owe me a Big Mac and if I’m here than I can make sure you buy it for me.”
Hermione aggressively typed in the date on her laptop. That, she thought, is the last fucking time I get drunk with this idiot. As she thought this though, it was abundantly clear to even her that this was untrue. Ron’s birthday was coming up in a few days, and like hell was a Welshman not going to bring beer to the party.
“You’re rich Harry, you dinnae need me to buy you food.”
“Yeah, but it’s the principle of it.”
Hermione sighed and shook her head.
The doors opened, there was a quiet beep as someone tapped in, and the right first row had its first occupant.
A tall woman walked in, humming quietly as her yellow sundress swayed around her heels. She sat down elegantly, right in the middle of the row, and when she looked over, gave a wave to the other two.
Harry waved, Hermione crossed her arms and scowled.
“Hermione,” Harry hissed, “Don’t be a dick, wave back.”
She stubbornly stared ahead, and after a few moments, the other woman looked away. Her small smile was still in place as she began to get out her books.
“What the hell, why didn’t you wave?”
“Why should I have to wave? We’re not friends or anything.”
Harry pursed his lips and frowned.
“Why are you acting weird?”
“I’m being weird? What’s weird is that they let a girl who thinks aliens are real into an astronomy course.”
“Why do you care? It’s not like you’re in her class.”
“I dinnae, I just dinnae understand it, that’s all.”
“You share one optional class, if it bugs you that much, you can just switch you know.”
“Naw, I’m staying.”
“You’re just going to complain the whole time, right,” Harry murmured.
She elbowed him sharply in the side, still stubbornly staring ahead. He yelped and knocked her arms away.
“Shut it, you’re making a scene,” she complained.
“I’m making a scene?! You’re the who tried to knock my ribs out of place!”
“Dinnae be such a drama king, Harry, I barely- what are you doing?”
Harry paused, a plastic fork halfway to his mouth and cup noodles in hand. His glasses were steadily slipping down his nose and he awkwardly pushed them up with his thumb.
“What do you mean?”
Hermione blinked, mouth opening and closing as she searched desperately for any words that might help her comprehend what she was seeing.
“Are you eating that uncooked?” She asked.
“Nah, it was cooked, it’s just cold now.”
“…Why?”
“Well, you said I couldn’t eat it on the bus.”
“Well, you cannae eat it in class either!”
“I wouldn’t worry, I doubt Mr Lupin will mind. He’s always eating in class.”
Hermione jumped, heading turning sharply to the right, a strange sensation bubbling in her chest. She knocked her fist against it and scowled.
The other woman was stood close by, crouching down, staring with wide unblinking eyes. It was bordering on unsettling, but it was hard to look particularly creepy in a bright yellow dress and pink high-heeled flip flops.
“Wait, Uncle Remus is teaching this class? Why didn’t you tell me, Hermione?” Harry asked.
“Because you dinnae ask and you’re not supposed to be here anyway,” she hissed.
“I doubt he’ll mind t’at,” the other woman hummed, “Do you mind if I sat ‘ere? It’s too bright over t’ere for me to see.”
“Yes-”
“No, go ahead Luna,” Harry cut in.
He grinned brightly, a stark difference to Hermione’s grim scowl, and patting the chair next to him. Luna blinked one, looked between them, then nodded and sat down beside him.
“I hate you,” Hermione muttered.
“Shut it,” he said quietly. Then, in a louder voice, he addressed Luna. “You alright?”
“Quite fine Harry. Oh, I was going to ask t’ough, am I supposed to bring anyt’ing to Ron’s party?”
“You are going to Ron’s?” Hermione asked, the words tumbling out before she could help herself.
She was fairly certainly Ron liked Luna even less than her. Apparently, the first they’d met someone had tripped Luna up and so Ron found himself with a Tango flavoured top, and he’d never quite gotten over that.
Luna nodded her head, twirling around a pale curly between her fingertips. Even though she was mostly out of the sun now, she still caught by one stripe, and it lit up the curl like gold.
Behind her, the clock ticked on, a reminder to all that Mr Lupin was, once again, late. Hermione focused on that.
“Ginny and Percy invited me; it was very exciting. I’ve never been invited to a party by two people before.”
“You know Percy?”
“I told Ginny I wasn’t sure if university was a particularly autistic friendly place, and she suggested I talk to Percy about it and we’ve been friends ever since.”
Her resting smile briefly grew a full one where lips parted to reveal a gap between her teeth, and a freckle at the corner of her mouth was hidden in the dip of her dimple.
Hermione cleared her throat and gave her chest another thump.
“I don’t think you need to bring anything Luna, just yourself… and maybe a box of chocolate or Ron might take it personally.”
As if summoned by the talk of chocolate, the doors opened and Mr Lupin finally walked in. Well, he less so walked in as he did sprint in, hair a mess as he muttered curses beneath his breath. He reached his desk in record time and began riffling through his bag.
“Shit, shit, shit- ah, sorry class,” he called out, “I, uh- duw dammit- traffic was terrible.”
He turned away from his table to give a fanatic smile before going back to his fussing.
Hermione sighed and rubbed a hand down her face.
Perhaps, she thought, I should move class.