Embarrassing Secrets

Executing Revenge

The fourth-year Gryffindor girl entered the Great Hall and walked all the way across the large room to her table on the opposite side. She sat down next to Ginny, Ron, and Harry, and across from Dean, Seamus, and Neville (her usual seat).

Hermione, needless to say, was a bit distracted with her plan to execute her revenge on Ron. She pushed away second-thoughts once again that she was having about what effect her plan might have on her and Ron. She hadn't even looked up at her friends when she took her seat.

"Hermione?" Ginny said tentatively. She was not used to seeing Hermione all quiet and withdrawn. Every dinner was their chance for the two friends to tell each other about everything that happened to them that day. Quiet at the dinner table was one thing Hermione, usually, was not.

Hermione wrenched her head up sharply at the sound of her name, perhaps too sharply, because just then she felt an immediate jolt of pain shoot up her neck. More pain followed, this time flooding in all at once, not receding too quickly, either. Her hand instinctively reached up to the back of her head, and she sat, waiting for the pain to go away. All the while, Ginny watched, looking and feeling concerned.

Stupid, she thought to herself. This revenge is even taking its toll on me. I'm so nervous, I can't even hear my own name without bloody popping a nerve.

"What's the matter, Granger?" She heard from a few tables away. A smooth drawl was issuing from who she knew to be a certain Slytherin blonde.

"Has your brain finally managed to overload from all the stupid facts you soak up from your stupid books?"

Still, without looking up, she shot back, "Funny, but it seems to me your brain must have already managed to overload if that was the best insult you could come up with."

She must have shouted it louder than necessary, because some fellow Gryffindors and a few Hufflepuffs from the nest table looked up in surprise. She felt color rush to her face as she looked back up to Ginnny, who was chuckling appreciatively at her friend's shot at Malfoy.

"Are you laughing at me? What were they laughing at me, too?" she flashed a look at her friends sitting around them. But, she found they weren't even paying attention. The boys were once again engaged in a discussion about, (what else?), Quidditch.

"Yeah, Hermione, we would do that." Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "I was laughing at Malfoy, more like at your comeback. That was brilliant."

I should have known. I need to calm down. Okay, gotta do this soon, dinner's almost over, she thought.

"Boys," commented Ginny. "What is it about Quidditch that can produce hour-long discussions? Some games themselves don't even last that long! I like Quidditch myself, but Merlin...."

Hermione sniggered. My thoughts exactly. Then another thought occurred. I'll never be able to pull this off with Ginny watching.

Fortunately, she was saved to trouble of coming up with a distraction for Ginny when she saw Ginny waving to a dark boy at the table behind her. Seeing her, he stood and started walking toward her. She greeted him, and they left the Hall together, chatting animatedly. Got to do it now, she thought urgently.

And while Ron was immersed still in Chudley Cannon talk, her hand shot out across the table, and then back to her pocket. There was a tiny chink! of glass on glass, liquid changed containers, and once again, Ron's glass was back on the table. Hermione looked around furtively to make sure no one saw what she just accomplished, and was reassured that no one had.

She looked back at the glass and watched carefully. After a few seconds, the liquid that was pumpkin juice (and a little extra) in Ron's glass fizzed, and then returned to normal. Ron's hand reached out for his glass, and he raised it to his lips and took a sip....