Chapter 10: Teasing!

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The four of us walk to the Great Hall in an uncomfortable silence after that and begin eating.

"Hermione," I say, breaking the silence when I'm finished.

Her head jerks up from the book she carried with her and started reading several minutes earlier.

"Do you know where the R—" I stop, realizing that this is Fourth Year – they don't discover the Room of Requirement until Fifth Year. That means nobody knows about it except me.

'Yeah, that wouldn't look suspicious at all.' I clear my throat to stall for a moment.

"How do I...how many floors does the big staircase out there go up?" I ask, gesturing toward the staircase outside the Great Hall.

"That one goes all the way up to the seventh floor, which is the highest you'll get without entering one of the towers. If you follow the corridor around you'll find an entrance to the stairs in the Astronomy Tower on the other side of the quad. Why?"

Excellent. "I didn't catch much of the tour...too busy gawking and all," I say with a shrug. "It looked like it went up pretty high. Where's the nearest restroom?"

"The loo? There's a boy's one just off the same staircase on the second floor."

"Thanks," I say, smiling at her obvious enjoyment at being able to act like a mini-Prefect. She smiles back happily. "So what are you three up to today?"

"I figured we'd go have a chat with Hagrid," Harry suggests.

"I thought we'd go to the library," Hermione says, eliciting a groan from Ron which triggers an eye roll. "Honestly Ron, this is his first year here, so he might need to catch up on some things."

I smile at her inclusion of me. "I'd love to take you up on that, Hermione, in fact I know I will." Her eyes light up, but momentarily dim back down as I continue, "but I've got something to take care of today, and I need to see McGonagall about something we talked about last night. I wouldn't mind holding up in the library tomorrow and Sunday, though."

Her smile comes back. "That would be great!"

At the same time Ron makes a face like it would be anything but.

"We could just go flying instead, right Ron?" Harry offers.

This swaps the faces of disgust and happiness, and I jump in before Hermione has a chance to scold them.

"Not all day, I'm sure," I say, which places Hermione, then I shoot her an exaggerated sad face with my bottom lip sticking out. "My company isn't that bad, is it?" I think I even make my lip quiver a bit.

She flushed with embarrassment. "N-No, of course not, that's not what I—"

I can't stop my face from cracking into a smile.

"Oh, you..." she lifts her hand up as if to smack my shoulder but catches herself before she can.

"Violent, that one is," Ron mutters, which earns him the patented Hermione glare through her blush.

I laugh. "Well I have to use the restr—the loo. I'll catch you guys sometime later. Lunch, maybe?"

Pleased that I managed to escape without arousing too much suspicion, I immediately set out for the Room of Requirement, continuing right past the second floor.

Unfortunately for me, these floors are not my familiar ten-foot stories, so I'm pretty winded when I reach the top of the stairs.

Out of the corner of my eye I see somebody down the corridor walking toward me, but since I'm too tired to chat I just walk over to a window and lean against the sill to catch my breath.

I sweat a bit more than the climb would warrant, since now I'm worried about being discovered when I'm opening or leaving the Room.

Damn, I wish I had my own Marauder's Map.

"Hello again," a sing-song voice says.

I smile as I realize who it must have been. "Hello there," I say, glancing at Luna. "Sorry about the train, you took off before I could tell you it was a joke. My clothes were just too big."

She smiles at me. "That's okay, I couldn't find my notes anyway." Then she turns her face to the window, so I do the same.

"Nice view from up here, is it not?" A soft and peaceful face framed by long, dirty blonde hair appears quite close to my shoulder.

I glance at her again, and my eyes flicker down to her feet to verify that, as expected, she isn't wearing any shoes.

Thankfully it's a pleasantly warm morning, so the stone can't be too uncomfortable for her.

I turn back to the window to see the late summer morning sun reflecting on the lake, and my eyes follow the dense forests and farmland toward the horizon.

"It is beautiful," I agree in a whisper. It reminds me of home somehow, despite the fact that I'm on the seventh floor of a magical castle.

She stands next to me, gazing silently outward. Oddly, it's a companionable silence, and we maintain it for several minutes.

Then it strikes me that we've never actually introduced ourselves.

"I'm...you can call me Bud, by the way," I say awkwardly.

"I could," she says, remaining silent for a few moments. Just as I breathe in to say something else, she cuts in. "Is that short for something?"

I have no idea, actually. "William," I say instead.

"May I call you William?"

I smile at that; it sounds good when she says it. "Somehow I don't think I'll be able to stop you."

"You would be correct, William."

"William it is, then."

Our conversation takes place entirely as she gazes out the window, though I sneak a few peaks at her serene face. She doesn't seem to notice, returning to her silent sky-gazing.

After some time a faint clanging jerks me out of my daze and I realize I should get going. I sigh, because I'd rather not. "May I know your name?" I ask finally.

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