Abomination

Hermione stared at Rose for a moment before something shook the cavern. She broke her attention away from Rose and looked towards the sound.

"What was that?" Hermione asked, despite knowing the answer.

Rose, who couldn't have been older than eight years old, ran behind Hermione.

"It's him," she whispered. "The Abomination."

Hermione froze. She'd been right; they were in the cave where Valignatiejir had attacked Rose. Where it had tortured and killed her. Hermione didn't know how Rose had manufactured this, but whatever it was, Hermione was in the middle of it.

She crouched down to put herself on eye level with Rose.

"Don't be afraid. I'm not going to let him hurt you anymore."

Despite Hermione's reassurances, there were still tears in Rose's eyes.

"Rose," a deep voice called from down the cavern. "Rose, where are you?"

"He's coming," Rose said.

Hermione looked over her shoulder towards the voice. They didn't stand a chance against him. When it had been the boggart, it'd nearly killed her. Hermione didn't know how real this all was, but without Moon to provide backup, she couldn't face him alone.

Instead, she turned around.

"Climb on my back. We're making a run for it."

Hermione was sure it wasn't going to last long. They'd have to turn and fight, if for no other reason than this wasn't going to fade until after she killed Valignatiejir.

Still, Rose climbed onto Hermione's back. Hermione hauled them both up, which was considerably harder with another fifty or so pounds on her back, and started running for it.

"Where are you?"

Valignatiejir's voice echoed down the cavern. Rose let out a whimper and held tighter to Hermione.

"We'll be alright," Hermione panted, hoping the corridor wasn't one big circle.

Valignatiejir made no effort to hide where he was. His footsteps loomed closer, shaking the cavern as he drew nearer. It gave Hermione a good idea where not to go, and it didn't sound like they were coming from ahead of them.

They reached a fork in the cavern, and Hermione chose left. Her legs ached, but she kept it up, hoisting Rose a little higher when she felt her slipping.

All the while, Hermione kept thinking about what she was going to do. She couldn't run forever, but she'd get them both killed if she tried fighting Valignatiejir.

There was always the black ooze, beckoning to her, tempting her to throw away her sanity and unleash it on Valignatiejir. If anyone deserved it, it was him. After what that monster had done to Rose, it deserved to burn in Hell for eternity. Hermione couldn't remember exactly how the afterlife worked in Rose's world, but she was hoping it was excruciating.

No, he's not real. He can't be real. The real Valignatiejir's soul was imprisoned so he'd never be able to be resurrected.

While Hermione knew Rose was dead set against imprisoning or destroying souls, her uncle and brother had been a little more lenient about it. Valignatiejir had been the scourge of their world for hundreds of years. Like the Bogeyman, he'd appear, destroy your world, and vanish. There were plenty of people mad enough to try bringing him back to life, so they'd deemed it necessary to imprison his soul.

This version of Valignatiejir was likely created by Rose's memory of him. Whatever the case, Hermione could feel Rose on her back, and everything was solid enough. She knew this was fake, but it was real enough to hurt her.

They rounded a corner and nearly ran into the stone wall in front of them.

"No," Hermione said. "No!"

"We're gonna die!"

"No, we're not."

Hermione looked around for something to support her, but found nothing. Instead, she got a flash of a memory. One of Malfoy and his goons, trapped in reverse gravity, of Rose ensuring Hermione could get around them.

She slapped her hand on the wall. It caved under her spell, giving them another several feet.

"This will do," she said.

She hoisted Rose up on her back again, then ran down the new path. She lit up a few of the stones, then turned around and cast another of Rose's favorites.

Sliding her hand across the tunnel, a wall formed between them and the echo of Valignatiejir's footsteps. For the moment, they were safe.

Hermione crouched down and felt Rose climb off her back.

"What do we do now?"

Hermione glanced at the wall. She could still hear Valignatiejir getting closer. That wouldn't stop him forever, but it would buy them time.

"We figure out our next move," Hermione said, wondering how many times Rose had made up her plans on the spot. Knowing Rose, the answer was probably "all the time".

"We can't stop him! He just keeps coming for you until he gets what he wants!"

Hermione turned around and faced Rose.

"I know you're scared. That first time in Hogwarts—"

"What's Hogwarts?"

Hermione paused for a moment, allowing the fact that Rose didn't know her to sink in.

���When… when you're older, you and I go to school together, at a place called Hogwarts. One of the teachers tried to steal something and let in a troll as a diversion. Me and my friend Sally-Anne — we call her 'Princess' — we ran into the troll. I couldn't move my legs, so I thought I was going to die." Hermione smiled at the next bit. "Then you showed up and saved me." Hermione pulled her hair back and showed her hair clip. "You gave me my hair clip, and that's saved my life tons of times since. Then you saved us from an evil wizard that same year by turning him into stone. I can't begin to count the times you've saved my life, Rose."

Their cavern shook as Valignatiejir rammed into the wall.

"He's gonna get in!" Rose exclaimed, holding tightly to Hermione.

Hermione put her arms around Rose.

"Yeah, he will. But that doesn't mean he's going to kill us."

Hermione looked around, trying to come up with a new plan. While she did, hundreds of memories of Rose flooded her head. The troll, the Philosopher's Stone chambers. Rose's refusal to leave her side for more than a few minutes their second year, determined not to let the Basilisk harm her. Clearing up the large confusion with Sirius just before Pettigrew caused the earthquake.

A crack formed in the wall as Valignatiejir slammed into it again. It wouldn't be long before he got in.

"Someone hurt me once. He tortured me, like Valignatiejir tortured you. I wasn't myself for a long time after that… I never really got better. But you were there for me. When I thought everything was lost, you were there. You helped me every day from then on. That's why I know you're not evil, Rose. That's why I know you didn't want to kill anyone."

Rose looked at her, not understanding what Hermione meant.

Hermione smiled back at her, not caring that Rose didn't understand. She stood up and faced the wall as chunks started to fall out. She couldn't run; she couldn't leave it to Moon, Toad, or Rose. No one else could help Rose.

There was no way out of this.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to stand and fight him."

"You can't! He'll kill you, just like everyone else!"

Hermione stood tall, indignation taking a hold of her as she recalled the Boggart Incident from her third year at Hogwarts.

"Stay behind me."

Valignatiejir smashed into the cavern. Rose screamed as rock was flung about.

"What do we have here? Is this a new friend, Rose? Be a good girl and tell me."

"My name is Hermione Granger!"

Hermione was glad her fear wasn't present in her voice.

Rose cowered behind her.

"Well, Hermione Granger, you're in my way."

Valignatiejir reared up, and Hermione knew exactly what was about to happen. She dropped to the ground, grabbed Rose, and tumbled out of the way before the bolt of acid could strike them. It hit the wall, melting part of it away.

Hermione held Rose, not wanting to let go, not wanting to be the reason her friend died again. She didn't have a plan. She didn't know what to do. There were no options left. For all her talk, she had nothing.

No. She had something.

Hermione looked down at Rose. For a moment, she was looking at herself, terrified of a troll. It'd been her worst nightmare for years, never mind the dragon that Slytherin had sent after them. That troll had loomed over her, and Hermione had realized then that she was going to die.

Valignatiejir loomed over them and raised a claw.

Hermione envisioned the door in her head, the one she'd seen when she'd fought Rose. This time, she didn't kick it down; she willed it to disappear.

Valignatiejir swung his claw down on them.

Hermione spun around and stood up, bringing her arm up as she did.

On her command, the black ooze appeared. It leapt up, forming a large gloved hand, and grabbed Valignatiejir's arm.

Rose gasped.

"You… saved me."

"I'm returning the favor."

Valignatiejir reared up and swung his other claw at the pair. The ooze shot at him, solidifying into points and stabbing through his arm.

The ooze spread from her around the cavern. As it touched the walls and ceiling, mouths open up and spat fire at Valignatiejir.

The dragon took the hits, then spat acid back at Hermione.

"Not this time."

A stone head sprang out of the ground in front of her and ate the acid bolt. After swishing it around in its mouth, the head spat a bolt of lightning back at Valignatiejir.

The lightning struck him and he stumbled back, released from the grip of the ooze.

Hermione clenched her fist and drove it forward. The ooze created a black fist with twice as many fingers and mirrored her actions. The fist connected with Valignatiejir and drove him back out of the corridor.

She walked forward, the ooze following her. Every step she took, ooze spread out and created some new nightmare out of the cavern.

Valignatiejir flew at her, freed from the fist, but a head rose up and launched a wave of sonic energy. The dragon crashed to the ground in front of the head.

Hermione glared at the dragon one more time before willing the ooze to go for the kill. On her command, the mouth unhinged and clamped down on Valignatiejir's head, crushing it.

After taking a moment to catch her breath, she took stock of her situation. Rose was still cowering in the corner, but Valignatiejir was dead. Yet, she was still there with them.

Hermione looked around, waiting for another attack. It'd taken everything Rose had to kill the real Valignatiejir, so why had this one gone down so easily?

She got her answer six seconds later when Valignatiejir's body stood up. The holes from the ooze reformed. A black lump grew on his neck, then formed into a head.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Really?"

Valignatiejir flew at them, his gaze fixed on Rose.

Hermione stood her ground and whipped out her arms.

Tentacles lashed out and impaled Valignatiejir again, but this time, they spread out. Spikes erupted from all over the dragon as two more tentacles grabbed him and halted his flight towards Rose.

"Stay away from her!" Hermione screamed.

Obeying her commands, the ooze dragged Valignatiejir back out of the tunnel. Hands reached out from the cavern and started grabbing chunks of flesh off the dragon. He struggled and writhed against the ooze, but it held him fast. He was powerless to stop it.

The ooze slammed him against the far wall. More hands reached out and dug into him. No matter what he did, he couldn't stop it. He let out a final cry, then slumped over, once again dead.

"Alright," Hermione said. "I think I got him this time."

The ooze released what was left of Valignatiejir's body. It fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Hermione turned back to Rose to check on her. She was still cowering in the corner.

"Rose, it's alright. He's dead this time."

Rose didn't look convinced. She squeezed her eyes shut and drew back towards the dead end.

"He's always there, even after we killed him. He's always trying to hurt me, always! He hurts everyone!"

Hermione walked over to Rose as the ooze faded away. She crouched down and hugged Rose.

"It's alright, Rose. He's never going to hurt you again. I—"

She heard a series of sickening crunches from behind her and turned back towards Valignatiejir's body. Sure enough, he was reforming once again.

Hermione got up and ran at him, hoping to keep him away from Rose. Once again, he charged down the corridor, his gaze still fixed on Rose.

"Don't you touch her!"

Spider legs sprouted from the wall and a chunk of it barreled into the charging dragon. Tentacles sprouted from another chunk, and it launched itself at the pair. The whole mass of dragon and rock was pushed back again.

Valignatiejir fought against the stone, but whenever he smashed one, more legs would sprout from the wall and another chunk of rock would charge him. They bashed him back, farther and farther, until he was pinned against the wall again. This time, eyes opened up on the wall and looked at Valignatiejir. It licked its new lips and ate the dragon whole.

Roars of rage came from the wall, along with crunching sounds that signaled to her that Valignatiejir was being eaten alive. Finally, the dragon's corpse fell out of the mouth, which returned to regular stone.

Hermione held her ground, waiting for Valignatiejir to reform. She knew it wasn't over; she didn't know how to end it, if she was looking for an exit of some kind, or if she needed to keep killing him until he stopped getting up. Despite her creeping exhaustion, she really wanted it to be the latter.

"Go ahead," she said to the motionless corpse. "Get back up again. I dare you."

When he didn't move, she turned back to Rose.

"Rose, get over here. He's not moving, and we need to look for a way out of here."

Small footsteps echoed behind her, accompanied by whimpers. Rose crept up behind her, not taking her eyes off Valignatiejir's body.

"Is he… he can't be dead. He doesn't die!"

"Don't think about it. Run to the left, that's the way we haven't been yet. That might be the way out."

"There isn't a way out!"

"We can't know that, we haven't checked. Now move before he gets up again!"

Despite her protests, Rose did as she was told and ran past Valignatiejir. Not a few seconds after she did, the body started to move again.

Hermione ran and positioned herself between Valignatiejir and Rose, then looked around for more inventive ways to kill him. She spotted the condensation lining the walls, then got an idea.

Valignatiejir rose up again, but along with him was Hermione's newest nightmare. A chill fell over the cavern and frost lined the walls. A large, stone, stick-like hand reached out and grabbed Valignatiejir. A second stick arm flew out and joined the first. Attached to the body, a large snowman formed out of the wall. Its head had no eyes, but the buttons down its front opened up and looked at Valignatiejir.

Its top hat opened up to reveal rows of teeth, which chomped down on Valignatiejir's wing.

It spat acid at Hermione's Snowman from Hell, but the hole it created reformed. The eyes glared at the dragon, then it took a bite out of his tail.

Valignatiejir freed himself from the snowman's grasp, then barreled into it. The snowman splattered over the wall, but stick hands lashed out and slammed Valignatiejir against the other wall.

Fangs of ice formed on the wall into which Valignatiejir had been forced and took another chunk out of the dragon. He moved back and fired another bolt of acid, but the snowman reformed behind him and leapt onto his back. The pair came crashing down, then spikes protruded from the snowman's button eyes. They ripped into Valignatiejir, killing him once again.

As her snowman melted, Hermione turned and ran back to Rose.

"Did you find anything?"

She got her answer when she found Rose cowering next to yet another dead end.

"Brilliant," Hermione said. "We're trapped here. No way out, no clear objective."

A roar echoed from down the cavern.

"And Valignatiejir's come back to life again."

Eyes sprouted along the walls and turned to watch Valignatiejir approaching. Lightning arced between them, but Valignatiejir shrugged the attack off.

Hermione glared at the dragon, taking note that he was still focusing on Rose.

"After all the damage I've done to you, I'd think you'd start paying more attention to me."

She focused on that anomaly. With nothing else to work with, she had to assume it was significant. Why did Valignatiejir only ever go after Rose?

A black tree with red leaves sprouted in the middle of the cavern, right in Valignatiejir's path. The leaves whipped at him, slicing into his hide as he slammed into the tree. The tree spun around, slashing him with its branches. Roots erupted from the ground and cut into him, then the entire tree fell through the ceiling and landed on top of him. The tree faded away, leaving Valignatiejir once again a ruined mess.

"He keeps going after you," Hermione said, turning to Rose. "Why does he keep going after you? Why doesn't he care about me? Even when I thought he was attacking me, he was going for you." She thought back to the other challenges. "Ana did the same thing, and so did the bronze serpent. They defended themselves against Moon, but they only went after me. I'm sure the horrors would've gone after me if I'd been there. But for once, the thing trying to kill us isn't paying me any attention. Why isn't he paying me any attention?"

While she was deep in thought, Valignatiejir reformed again and launched another attack on her. Caught off guard, Hermione dove to the side to avoid it, landing roughly.

"This is madness!" she said, rubbing fresh bruises.

"I'm sorry," Rose said.

Hermione turned to Rose and grabbed her shoulders.

"Rose, you know what to do, don't you? How am I supposed to end this?"

Tears filled Rose's eyes again.

"I don't know."

"You made this, you must know how to end it!"

"I don't!" she pleaded. "I really don't. I don't know what I'm doing, I'm just trying not to die!"

Hermione stared at her, then withdrew her arms. Something about this wasn't adding up.

"Is that it?" she asked. "You're trying to teach me a lesson? Is that all this has been about? Were you ever going to give me answers?"

Rose trembled, stammering an answer, but none came out.

Valignatiejir lumbered down the corridor. Hermione waved her hands and encased him in rock. She clenched her fist and crushed him, grinding him into paste.

"I can kill him over and over again, which is a little satisfying, given what he put you through, but that's not the puzzle here, is it? It's not a simple fight this time. You had to be clever again, didn't you?"

Rose kept trembling.

"No, don't tell me, I'll work it out. Every time I've fought something, it was one of your creations. Ana, the Nimblewrights, the bronze serpent, the clockwork horrors, now we're in here. I'm not supposed to kill Valignatiejir, am I? He's your nightmare, not something you made. And why are you here? Why not just create a construct that looks like him? There must be some way to construct a clockwork dragon, or some sort of dragon golem. Why all of this? What's the point of it all?"

Not far away, a shape formed from the paste that used to be Valignatiejir.

"He goes after you… it's not one on one anymore… we're trapped here, there's no way out… it's always a fight with you… but… what if it's not this time?"

When it hit her, Hermione turned her head to glare at Rose. Anger built inside her.

"You bloody psychopath."

Rose backed away into the wall.

"I'm not here to kill Valignatiejir at all! He's my backup!"

Rose continued to tremble against Hermione's renewed rage.

"We're here to kill you!"

Valignatiejir lumbered around the corner again.

Hermione didn't pay attention to him.

"He's never attacked me, he's only ever gone after you. Even though I keep killing him, he only ever attacks you. That's the reason, isn't it? It is a fight, but I've been fighting the wrong thing! Of course he wouldn't go after me, because if he did, I'd never realize we were on the same side! The only way you could be sure I'd work it out was by having him attack you!"

Everything fit. Hermione looked down at the frightened child in front of her. It was Rose; a girl who had no idea what she was doing, but struggled to do the right thing.

Valignatiejir prepared to attack them again, but Hermione wasn't going to stop him this time. She felt sick, and her eyes burned with suppressed tears, but if this was what she had to do, then she had to do it.

I loved you, Rose. I loved you so much. It didn't have to be this way.

She knew how it'd make her feel; she'd been through it already. She'd hate herself for it. Part of her was glad no one knew the truth. No one knew then, and no one would know now.

"You planned everything. You planned for me to kill you the first time, and you knew I'd take the form of Lux to get in here with Ref. You must've worked out that it'd only be me here, knowing I wouldn't want to risk teleport going wrong with other people. Which means this is designed for me. This is designed for me to kill you again."

You don't need a little kid right now. You just need a friend.

Another idea came to her, and she stopped.

"Hold on," Hermione said, holding up a finger to Valignatiejir.

The ooze mimicked her with a withered finger pressing itself to his maw.

"You've always tried to impress me. Even all of these tasks are trying to be clever, and this one was specifically made with me in mind. You wouldn't remind me of the worst moment of my life, you'd try to impress me again."

Rose stared in horror as Valignatiejir smashed through the finger.

Hermione waved her hand, but the ooze was beginning to lose its strength. She wiped sweat from her brow as it haphazardly tossed Valignatiejir into the wall again. She tried to push him back, but he pushed against the hands and drove them back instead.

It was then that the answer dawned on her.

"He's the perfect nightmare. We're trapped in here with him, brought here by the puzzle box. If you hadn't seen the puzzle boxes, Ozerl wouldn't have seen your talent and brought you to Arcrel, you never would've become an Artificer, and Valignatiejir wouldn't have gone after you."

More hands tried to stop him, but Valignatiejir pushed through them with ease.

"Running out of strength, Hermione Granger?"

Hermione glared at him for a moment, but turned back to Rose. She had it.

"He keeps going after you because it's your nightmare. We're trapped in here because you can't escape him. Like you said earlier, he keeps hurting people. That's why he won't die, isn't it? Nightmares can't die, because they're not real. That's why I'm here; it is your creation. The real Valignatiejir is long gone, but your fear keeps the nightmare alive."

Valignatiejir whipped his tail around, throwing them into the wall.

Hermione struggled to stand back up, but everything hurt. She looked at Rose, laying on the floor. Hermione crawled over to her, then put her arms around her.

"It's going to be alright, Rose. You don't have to be afraid anymore."

Valignatiejir reared up and fired a bolt of acid at them. Hermione braced herself, hoping that she was right.

The bolt never struck. Hermione waited, but there was no sensation of pain, no nothing. She opened her eyes and saw a somewhat familiar scene.

Rose had her hand up, and a shield stood between them and Valignatiejir.

"I'm not afraid of you anymore," Rose said, shrugging off Hermione's protective hold.

As though on fast-forward, Rose began to grow. She stood up and walked towards Valignatiejir, her body growing as she did. While it did, the wounds on Hermione's body began to heal.

"You keep hurting people, even after I killed you. No matter what I did, you kept on hurting them, as though you were immortal."

Hermione stood up and walked at Rose's side. She knew this was part of the plan, but she refused to let Rose take him on alone.

"Then you followed me to Hogwarts. Moon had to live through what you did to me. Toad looked at me with pity when he found out what you did."

In spite of everything else happening, Hermione spared a thought about how odd it was for Rose to have told Toad at all. She'd loved being adored by Toad. Why would she have told him? When did she tell him?

"Worst of all," Rose said, taking Hermione's hand, "was hurting Brain when I was too scared to help her. I hated feeling helpless to save her."

Hermione blushed a little, understanding why Rose ranked that above Moon. She never stood by and watched Moon get hurt, but she'd done exactly that when Hermione had been hurt. Hermione knew it didn't matter much anymore, but she squeezed Rose's hand, hoping her friend knew that Hermione had forgiven her.

Valignatiejir shot acid at them again, but Hermione called upon the ooze to block it, her strength restored. A wall made of interlocking hands sprang out of the ooze at her feet and absorbed the hit, vanishing the moment the acid touched it.

"After everything you did," Rose said, "I've got one thing left to say to you."

She looked at Hermione and smiled. Hermione smiled back, then they turned back to face Valignatiejir.

"Grahk d'ka!"

Rose fired a disintegrate spell, and Hermione had tentacles spring out from the ooze. They hit the dragon together, turning him into dust.

"Thank you, Brain. I'm sorry for putting you through that, but I wanted to know that you'd forgiven me."

In spite of herself, Hermione started laughing.

"You bloody psychopath."

"I'm sorry for making you kill me once. I hated doing it, but… I had to."

Hermione looked down at Rose.

"You could've talked to me. You didn't have to kill Professor Dumbledore, or Professor Vector."

Tears welled up in Rose's eyes.

"I killed Professor Dumbledore?"

Hermione remembered that she was in a memory, that the Rose in here hadn't started the invasion.

"Yeah, you did. Rose, why didn't you talk to me?"

Rose looked away, but didn't say anything.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"So this isn't the last one, is it? You're not going to give me the answers?"

Rose shook her head.

"My notebook," she said. "That's your final goal. I hid it so Slytherin wouldn't find it. I couldn't be too careful, so I protected each clue."

"Why not tell me now?"

"There's too much to tell now."

Hermione sighed.

"Why the smoke and mirrors with this one?"

"If… if someone who didn't care about me came here, I didn't want them to succeed."

"Someone being Slytherin?"

Rose nodded.

Once again, Hermione laughed.

"You bloody psychopath."

"Brain, I never meant to hurt you. Or Lavender, or Taltria, or Alavel. I hated every second of it. After what I'd done, I couldn't even go home."

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Where'd you hide your notebook?"

"You're not gonna like it."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I've walked all over the U.K. Wherever it is, I'll deal with getting there. So long as I don't have to actually kill you next time, I think I'll be fine."

Rose shook her head.

"I hid it where it would be guarded simply by being there."

Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Don't say Hogwarts."

"I want to hide it from Slytherin, not hand it over to her."

"Then where is it?"

"Azkaban."

Hermione sighed again.

"Of course it's in Azkaban. Why not? I suppose I'll just get myself arrested then."

"That's the spirit! Positive attitude!"

"I've been traveling with your sister, a positive attitude hasn't been a problem."

Rose beamed, and Hermione nearly burst into tears.

"I can't begin to tell you how much I've missed that face."

The image began to fade away. The cave faded away, bit by bit, until they were standing in an empty void.

"Goodbye, Brain. I'm really sorry."

"Rose, you can stop—"

Rose leaned in and kissed Hermione's cheek.

"For that," Rose said.

Hermione stood still as Rose herself faded away. Her cheek tingled where Rose had kissed her. It was a strange sensation. She couldn't tell if she loved it or hated it.

When the image finished fading, she was back in Gringotts, the puzzle box on the floor. She had no idea how long it'd been.

<She hid her notebook in Azkaban.>

She looked down and saw the puzzle box vanish, just like the maze before it.

<That's not going to be easy.>

The vault door shuddered.

<No, I get the feeling this isn't going to be a problem at all. I'll stay in touch.>

Hermione smiled as the vault door opened again, but it wasn't just the goblin that was there. A familiar face stood beside him, backed up by five Aurors.

"My, my," Umbridge said. "Hermione Granger."

"Dolores Umbridge. What a pleasant surprise."

The Aurors held their wands on her as they moved around her. She held up her hands in surrender.

"I guess you've outsmarted me," Hermione said, trying not to sound too pleased. "I should've known you'd catch up with me eventually."

Umbridge smirked as she walked up to Hermione.

"You should've, Ms. Granger, but fret not. There's a cell in Azkaban where you can sit and think about what you've done."

It took everything in Hermione not to smirk back at her.