Flowers That are Looked At

Hermione woke with a jolt the next morning to what sounded like a dozen radios playing "Surfin' U.S.A." by the Beach Boys at top volume. She was so startled that she fell out of bed and hit the floor with a crash that almost drowned out the sound of the music. "What's doing that?" she yelled to no one in particular.

"Sorry!" Lizzie was now wide awake and out of bed, wand in hand. She waved it and the music stopped. "I charmed my dashboard hula dancers to sing that as a kind of alarm clock," she admitted sheepishly. "At home, we all have them in our rooms, but I didn't even think to turn them off when I set them up last night. I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright," Hermione groaned, rubbing her sore rear end. "What time is it, anyway?"

"It is..." Lizzie reached for a watch on her bedside table. "Ten in the evening...now that can't be right."

Hermione sighed and reached for her own watch. "Eight o'clock. We have registration today," she stated colorlessly. "It starts at ten."

"Lovely," Lizzie responded and flopped back down on her bed. "Wake me up at nine-thirty." Moments later, she was snoring.

Hermione had half a mind to shake Lizzie awake, to encourage her to be a bit more responsible, but it didn't seem like the best way to begin the new semester. She stood, rubbing her rear end gingerly, and took a look at her roommate's side of the small bedroom. Until that point, Hermione had been under the impression that nothing would surprise her anymore--after having Draco Malfoy as a roommate and having a roommate with purple hair--but she was wrong. Lizzie had decorated her side of the room to look like a small luau. There were at least a dozen dashboard hula dancers sitting on top of her dresser, surrounded by colorful leis and photographs (both moving and still) of different locales in Hawaii. Lizzie's bedspread was a work of art, with moving butterflies and hummingbirds traveling around a landscape of green trees and bright flowers. And unless she was mistaken, Hermione thought she recognized a palm tree at the foot of Lizzie's bed.

It was giving her a headache.

Quietly, so as not to disturb Lizzie, Hermione collected her things and went to shower in their bathroom. When she emerged, half an hour later, Lizzie was still sleeping heavily. Hermione sighed and quietly filled her backpack with things she would need for that day: notebooks, pens, folders and a bag of pretzels for a snack. With one last glance at the snoring Lizzie, she left the bedroom.

For a moment, she was surprised and alarmed to see Draco sitting on the couch in the living room, reading the Daily Prophet. He raised his eyes from the paper briefly, nodded at her, then returned to his reading. Oh yes. He's my roommate, she remembered and passed by him into the kitchen.

"You're up early," he commented from behind the paper.

"So are you," she threw back, searching the cupboards for some oatmeal.

"I like seeing the sunrise," he answered, turning a page in the paper. "It makes me feel like I'm really a part of the day."

"Huh." Hermione realized that she was doing it again--exchanging small talk with Draco Malfoy. She hurriedly made her oatmeal, drizzled it with honey and brown sugar, and sat down to eat. Before she could truly enjoy her breakfast, however, Draco had come to join her, dropping the newspaper on the kitchen table with a loud clunk. He leaned back in his chair and observed Hermione.

"So I assume Potter was accepted to the Elite Corps then?" he asked casually. Hermione gave him a sharp look, but nodded. "There's no surprise there. He was always a shoo-in. What about Weasley?"

Hermione sighed. "He's in the Elite Corps, too. I guess Harry made a deal with them so that they could both be there together."

"It figures," Draco answered, not unkindly. "Why didn't you go with them?"

Hermione shrugged uncomfortably. "It's just not my thing," she stated. She'd been giving the same answer to the same question since the middle of the summer, and she'd never really believed it.

Draco didn't either. "That and you didn't want to be so close to Weasley after you'd broken up?"

Hermione dropped her gaze; the question didn't need answering. For a long moment, she and Draco sat there, letting the question hang in the air between them, until a cheerful "Good morning!" let them know that Angelos was awake.

Breakfast continued very formally from that point. Angelos did most of the talking, while Hermione and Draco listened vaguely, eating their breakfasts and commenting every now and then when a question was directed at them. So things stayed until, at around nine forty-five, Hermione heard another door bang open and heard an excited American voice saying, "Good morning, roomies!"

Lizzie came bounding into the kitchen, looking similar to the way she had the night before. Her black hair was pulled back in a short ponytail, all except for the purple streaks which framed her face sweetly. Her forearms were practically completely covered in bracelets and wristbands, her fingers in all manner of gaudy rings. She was wearing a white tank top with purple piping around the edges and a pair of very baggy stovepipe jeans over combat boots. Swinging from her elbow were two leis. And she was smiling like someone had just handed her ten thousand Galleons.

"Everyone sleep well?" she asked as she fluttered around the table like a small bird. Draco and Angelos seemed at a loss. Hermione took a deep breath.

"Draco and Angelos, this is my roommate, Lizzie Nalani. Lizzie, this is Draco and Angelos," she introduced everyone. Draco nodded apathetically in Lizzie's direction and bristled when she presented him with the silvery lei. Angelos, on the other hand, returned her embrace warmly, though the fiery red lei clashed with his orange shirt.

"So, how is everyone this morning?" Lizzie chirped, dancing to the refrigerator and pulling out a bowl of diced pineapple (where she'd gotten diced pineapple, Hermione would never find out). "All ready to register?"

Angelos responded by nodding enthusiastically. Draco gave Lizzie an icy stare, and Hermione simply sat in her chair, wondering how Lizzie had gone from the practically comatose state of less than an hour before to this cheerfully wide-awake person. Thankfully, when she looked at the clock, it read nine-fifty. It was time to go to registration.

"I'll see you all there at some point," Hermione commented as she began walking out the door. She wiggled her fingers in a little wave at her roommates, and then hurried out the door before any of them could stop her.

It would be a long semester.

***

The lines at the registration building were long, even though they had been divided many times, first by the year a student was, next by what the student was studying, and finally by what country they were from. Unfortunately for Hermione, the line for undeclared freshman students from England was the longest line there. It took her a long time to find the end of the line (which was around the block from the registration building) and when she finally did, she noticed that the last person in the line had flaming red hair. She drew in her breath sharply.

The person turned around. It wasn't Ron.

Of course it wasn't Ron, Hermione thought at herself. How could it have been? Ron and Harry are near London, training for the Elite Corps, while you're just north of Oxford at the International Wizarding University. Get a grip!

"Hermione? Hermione Granger?" someone behind her asked. Hermione turned around to see a familiar face.

"Padma Patil!" she exclaimed, receiving the hug from her fellow Hogwarts graduate. "I didn't know you were studying here!"

Padma laughed, her smile like sunshine in her dark face. "Neither did I, until last week. What about you? I thought you were going to join the Elite Corps with Harry and Ron!"

Hermione dropped her gaze and shook her head. "No. I decided to come here about halfway through the summer," she answered quietly. Padma seemed confused for a moment, but slowly nodded.

"Something happened between you and Ron, huh?" she observed, and Hermione didn't deny it. "That's too bad. I always thought you two were perfect for each other, even when I liked him."

"What about you?" Hermione responded, trying to steer the conversation away from Ron. "I thought you and Parvati were both planning to go to the same school."

Now it was Padma who dropped her gaze. "We were. International Wizarding University, Mumbai--it's in India. Mum and Dad had the idea that we could get our degrees while learning about our heritage. Parvati was fine with it--she still is, or else she wouldn't be there now. I, on the other hand, was more interested in academic pursuits than in my heritage, as awful as that sounds." Padma looked Hermione in the eye again. "My parents weren't very happy about it, but they let me come here anyway. Parvati...well, Lavender Brown had already been planning to go to Mumbai with her, so she was fine with it. But it's the first time we've really been separated since we were born."

"Oh." Hermione wasn't entirely sure what else to say. "I...I'm sorry, Padma."

"It's alright," Padma answered quickly. "I'm sure I'll be fine." She seemed eager to change the subject and suddenly leaned toward Hermione confidentially. "Did you know that Draco Malfoy is going to school here, too?"

Hermione started laughing. She just couldn't help it. "Oh, I'm sorry, Padma," she gasped when she saw the confused look on Padma's face. "It's just that..." She had to catch her breath before she could speak again. "It's just that Draco is one of my roommates."

Padma's black eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth. "You're not serious!" she exclaimed in a muffled voice. Hermione nodded. "Oh no!" And now Padma was laughing as well. "Is there anyone else in the flat?"

"Yes. The girl who shares my room is from Hawaii and then Draco's roommate is from Greece. But..." Hermione laughed again. "The whole thing is very ironic!"

"I'll say," Padma agreed. They continued to talk about Hermione's ironic roommate situation as the line moved forward, and before either girl realized it, they were standing right outside of the registration building. It was a large building, made of red bricks with a gray stone façade and a sign that read "REGISTRATION: THE INTERNATIONAL WIZARDING UNIVERSITY, ATTLEWICKLE" above the door. Hermione was very taken with the building, but Padma was more interested in what was happening around them. She kept tugging on Hermione's arm.

"Look at that!" she exclaimed, pointing to three young wizards doing amazing tricks on fancy broomsticks. Below them, a young witch was holding a sign that said "BROOM DESIGN--THE MOST DARING MAJOR!" To their left, a pair of witches was rapidly transfiguring a number of objects with sparkling letters above them advertising "TRANSFIGURATION WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!" All over the place, people were passing out fliers and the noise was incredible. Hermione had to shout to be heard over the commotion.

"They all look very appealing!" she hollered to Padma, who was nodding.

"Parvati's going for Divination--Mum and Dad aren't too pleased about that, but it makes her happy. I don't know what I want to do," Padma yelled back. "Hopefully I can figure it out before we have to apply for our degrees during our junior year!"

As if waiting for that cue, a group of pamphlet-givers hurried over to Padma and Hermione and started shoving pamphlets and fliers at them. The fliers were bright and colorful, advertising everything, from off-campus lodging to pubs in the area. The pictures moved and waved; apparently proud of themselves for being affiliated with whatever the flier was for. One struck Hermione because it was so much simpler than the others. "WISH-GIVER!" the hot pink flier advertised in bold letters. "See the fulfillment of your deepest desires and wishes, Tuesday nights at eight in the basement of the Divination building."

"What do you suppose that is?" Padma asked as they moved inside of the building. Hermione shrugged and stuffed the fliers into her backpack.

"I don't know. I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later, if it's anything good." And suddenly, it was Hermione's turn to go into registration. She waved to Padma, though she expected they'd see each other again when registration was through, and pushed open the door.

Whatever Hermione had been expecting, it wasn't what she saw. The office itself wasn't anything largely abnormal or out of the ordinary. A small, professional-looking witch sat behind a large oak desk that was covered with parchment and quills. There were filing cabinets all around the room, posters on the walls, and a huge leather chair in front of the desk. If anything, it was the normalcy of the office that struck Hermione; she was so used to things being completely out of the ordinary. The witch behind the desk indicated that she should sit down.

"Hermione Granger, yes?" the witch asked. Hermione nodded and the witch looked excited. "We've been looking forward to your arrival since you applied this summer, Hermione."

The witch was rifling through the parchment on her desk. "Your scholarly record is excellent, Hermione. Whatever you decide to major in, you'll be all set." She finally found what she was looking for. "I have a preliminary schedule set up for this semester," she commented, handing Hermione a sheet of parchment. "You're in Advanced Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Arithmancy. I've also put you in Beginners' Concealment, since you had mentioned in your application that you might want to become an Auror eventually, but didn't want to begin training immediately. Does this sound like a good semester to you, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded. "It looks fantastic. And I'll be getting a good taste of everything so that when I do have to decide..."

The witch smiled. "That's the idea. Just sign this form here," she handed Hermione another slip of parchment, "and you're free to go buy your texts or do whatever you like with the rest of your day."

"Wonderful," Hermione answered, scribbling her name on the parchment. "Thank you very much, Ms. ..."

"Bancroft. Tabitha Bancroft. It's a pleasure to be working with you, Hermione." Ms. Bancroft smiled and Hermione slipped out the door. She spotted Padma on the way out and ran to catch up with her.

"Oh good!" Padma exclaimed after they'd compared schedules. "It looks like we have just about the same schedule. Only I'm not in concealment."

"No Aurorship for you, huh?" Hermione laughed. "Oh well. We can help each other through the rest of the classes. Potions has always been my hardest one."

"And Charms has always been mine, but I know you're very good at Charms," Padma smiled at Hermione. "Here..." She scribbled something on a scrap of parchment. "This is where my apartment is. Stop by any time you feel like doing Potions or Charms...or any time Draco and that Hawaiian girl drive you mad!"

Hermione grinned and waved to Padma as she hurried across campus. The year was suddenly looking much brighter.