Chapter 11

The Herbology lesson on Puffapods Atlas had studied for in very early advance came to pass, with Ron preoccupied glaring at Hermione most of the class – which ended up with the greenhouse floor covered in freshly-bloomed Puffapods – and now they were heading for Transfiguration. Atlas was stood between Harry and Hermione, her head in a book and eyebrows furrowed in concentration. 

The lesson hadn’t been hard per se, but the next lesson would be slightly more difficult and as Atlas was generally hopeless at the subject, she’d been neglecting most of her other well-known subjects in favour of the class. It hadn’t been doing any harm really, not even putting a dampener on any of her grades, in honesty she could drop all of her out-of-class work and still get good marks by the end of the year. She didn’t though, she quite enjoyed sitting in silence with Hermione, Harry and Ron doing their work together.

“What’s the matter, Lavender?” The concern in Hermione’s voice made Atlas look up, her Herbology book immediately discarded into her bag. There was a girl, Lavender Brown, crying into Parvati Patil’s arms in front of Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. It all looked very serious.

“She got a letter from home this morning,” Parvati whispered. “It’s her rabbit, Binky. He’s been killed by a fox.”

“Oh,” Hermione frowned, “I’m sorry, Lavender.”

“I should have known!” Lavender cried out. “You know what day it is?”

“Er — no?” Hermione winced.

“It’s October 16th,” Atlas supplied, pulling a tissue out of her bag and offering it to the absolutely distraught girl, “the day something Lavender’s dreading to happen will happen. Professor Trelawney said that in our first lesson right?”

“Right!” Lavender sobbed, blowing her nose loudly into her tissue. “She was right! She was right!”

Hermione hesitated – Atlas could see – then she said, “You…you were dreading Binky being killed by a fox?”

“Well…” Lavender blinked, wiping at her nose a few more times and when Atlas noticed the girl’s tissue looked particularly spent she pulled out another, “not necessarily by a fox,” she admitted looking up at Hermione who flinched back in surprise, bumping into Atlas who held her steady instantly, “but I was obviously dreading him dying, wasn’t I?”

“Oh,” Hermione said and then furrowed her brows, “Was Binky an old rabbit?”

“N-no!” Lavender cried again with renewed tears, “H-he was only a baby!”

“But then, why would you dread him dying?” Hermione asked, earning herself a deadly glare from Parvati, “Well…look at it logically,” she sighed, “I mean, Binky didn’t even die today, did he? Lavender just got the news today–” Lavender wept loudly, “–and she can’t have been dreading it, because it’s come as a real shock –“

“Don’t mind Hermione, Lavender,” Ron interrupted, “she doesn’t think other people’s pets matter very much.”

“I’m just saying we shouldn’t take all of Professor Trelawney’s so-called ‘predictions’ seriously!” Hermione puffed up, her entire being suddenly alight with energy, Atlas grimaced and tried to calm her down at the side as Ron went at her with just as much vigour. “I’m obviously sorry for Binky’s death–!” Lavender cried again, “I’m not heartless, Ronald!”

“Could have fooled me!”

“Come on guys,” Harry tried, pulling at Ron’s arm.

“Yeah,” Atlas agreed with a nod, handing Lavender her entire packet of tissues before turning to Hermione and latching onto her shoulders, “Come on Mione, calm down.”

“Honestly!” Hermione fumed, cheeks red, “heartless! The nerve!”

At that moment Professor McGonagall walked into the class, halting the drama for a heated second before whisking the students to their seats. The four were the last to sit down.

“I know, I know,” Atlas nodded, smiling as she guided Hermione over to her seat. She and Harry placed themselves between the two feuding friends, exchanging nervous looks as the class began. The entire lesson was held in an intensity Atlas had never witnessed, even though the two weren’t speaking, Hermione and Ron were radiating such negative energy, Atlas couldn’t hope to concentrate.

It was a good thing Transfiguration was one of her top subjects. When the bell rang at the end of the lesson she let out a deep sigh, grabbing up her things tiredly. 

“One moment, please!” Professor McGonagall called as the class went to leave, “As you’re all in my House, you should hand Hogsmeade permission forms to me before Halloween. No form, no visiting the village, so don’t forget!”

Neville put up his hand.

“Please, Professor, I…I think I’ve lost–“

“Your grandmother sent yours to me directly, Longbottom,” Minerva interrupted, “She seemed to think it was safer. Well, that’s all, you may leave.”

“Ask her now,” Ron hissed at Harry.

“Oh, but–” Hermione began.

“Go for it, Harry,” Ron said stubbornly.

“Go for what?” Atlas asked cluelessly and watched as Harry nervously approached her Godmother’s desk, the woman giving Harry a once over and then promptly turning her gaze to Atlas who shrugged.

“Yes, Potter?” Harry took a deep breath.

“Professor, my aunt and uncle…forgot to sign my form,” he said and Atlas sighed, shaking her head at the boy’s inability to barter. Professor McGonagall looked at him but didn’t say anything. “So uh, d’you think it would be all right, I mean, will It be okay if I — if I go to Hogsmeade?”

Professor McGonagall looked down and began shuffling papers on her desk. “I’m afraid not, Potter,” she said. “You heard what I said. No form, no visiting the village. That’s the rule.”

“But, Professor, my aunt and uncle…you know, they’re Muggles, they don’t really understand about – about Hogwarts forms and stuff,” Harry said, while Ron egged him on with vigorous nods and Hermione shook her head exasperatedly. Atlas just grinned amusedly, her brow cocked in slight disbelief – though it was Potter, what was she really expecting? “If you said I could go –“

“But I don’t say so,” Minerva said, standing up and piling her papers neatly into a drawer. “The form clearly states that the parent or guardian must give permission. Since I am neither it would be inappropriate,” she sighed, turning to him with a sorry expression, “I’m sorry, Potter, but that’s my final word. You had better hurry, or you’ll be late for your next lesson.”

“Come on Harry,” Hermione urged, taking the boy by his arm and pulling him out of the class. Atlas smiled at him sympathetically and patted his shoulder, “It’s all for the best really.”

“You’re not missing out on much,” Atlas tried, “Zonko’s is pretty limited these days and Honeydukes is overrated,” she mused, stuffing her hands back in her pockets. Hermione smiled at her in thanks.

“Not at all…” Harry grumbled.

“There’s always the feast,” Ron offered in a last-ditch effort to cheer the boy up, “You know, the Halloween feast, in the evening.”

“Yeah,” Harry said gloomily, “great.”

“Ask around at dinner for any other suggestions if you really want to go,” Atlas shrugged as they all made their ways to the Great Hall. 

“Oh, Atty! Take a look at this Herbology book I charmed for you!” Hermione suddenly beamed, rummaging through her bag as Atlas hung over the smaller girl and watched her amusedly, Harry and Ron looking at each other in confusion.

“Atty?” Harry grinned, he suddenly looked a lot better than before. 

“What’s that all about?” Ron asked this time, a similar look on his face.

“It’s a nickname,” Atlas shrugged and then looked back to the book Hermione had gotten for her. She skimmed through the first few pages, finding the writing didn’t shuffle around and turn into a mess of words when she read it over. “Wow…thanks, Mione.”

“Mione?” Harry echoed again and the girls looked at him, one thoroughly unimpressed and the other quizzical. “You two are awfully close…”

“Hmm, I guess…” Atlas smiled and then looked to Hermione, “I mean, Cedric and Bella call me stuff like that all the time.”

“What like?” Hermione asked this time with a genuinely curious smile as they began walking again.

“Well…sometimes it’s Half-Giant, Las, Pup, Hot-Stuff, it can get really specific sometimes too, so specific I can’t remember most of them,” Atlas muttered, rubbing at the back of her neck, “I guess Mione’s the only one who calls me Atty though.”

“What about us, can we–?” Hermione stamped on Ron’s foot.

“Sorry, there was a spider,” she offered sheepishly as Atlas cocked a brow and went back to her readable Herbology book. Ron went as pale as a sheet of parchment and latched onto Harry.

“There was!?”

***

The day of the Hogsmeade trip arrived and Atlas stood in the entrance hall, waiting for Ron and Hermione to catch up to her. She’d decided she wanted to pop back home for a few things but would leave it at that, she didn’t want to wander for too long, just wanted to relax a little, say hello to Lyra and then go back to Hogwarts. It wasn’t a lie when she said Hogsmeade wasn’t all that great to Harry the day prior. Sure, she could have been biased considering she grew up in the village, or maybe because the looks she would get from the people who lived there had long since dampened the excitement she felt when wandering the streets. Either way, it was apparent everyone was way more excited compared to her.

There had never really been a time Atlas was excited to go anywhere, the places outside of the Hogsmeade-Hogwarts area she’d been being few and far between. Now was no different, Bella wouldn’t even be there and she couldn’t see Cedric in the crowd. Not like she would bother him, maybe this year he could hang out with his friends instead of her and Isabella.

“Hey, you!” Hermione cheered excitedly, jumping and gripping Atlas’s shoulders. The Black smiled faintly and braced herself, tilting her head to the side slightly to look at Hermione who had her arms wrapped around her neck from behind, “Are you excited?”

“Not at all,” Atlas said, shaking her head. “This is just a trip home for me.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Hermione said, letting go whilst still smiling, “But it’s the first time you’ll be going with school friends.”

“…I suppose it is,” Atlas nodded, smiling as well.

“Oi, you two!” Ron ran up to them, sending a wave at Harry over his shoulder – Hermione and Atlas did the same – before turning back to them with a wide smile, “we’ve got a lot to explore…Atlas, fancy being a tour guide?”

“Alright,” Atlas agreed after a moment of deliberation. Her house would have to wait, “where do you want to go first?” she asked, leading the two out of Hogwarts grounds and down the paths she knew to lead to Hogsmeade. 

At that, Ron broke out into a monologue of all the places he wished to see, often giving his own little speech on each place. Unsurprisingly, a lot of his shops were not school-related whilst Hermione – when she had gotten a chance to speak – spoke of supplies and the post office. Apparently, she quite liked the idea of seeing how it all worked.

Even when they got into the heart of the village, Ron still continued his list of desired destinations, Hermione rolling her eyes while Atlas just nodded dutifully to each one. Not-so-subtle glances were shot their way – more at Atlas -and to each, Ron would ignore, Atlas would return and Hermione would flush but it didn’t dampen their moods. By the time they’d visited Honeydukes, stocked up on sweets for Harry and tried out the new fudge samples; scoured around Dervis and Banges when Atlas mentioned she needed to buy a few tools, and had briefly wandered into the Wizarding Equipment shop, Ron was practically itching to get to Zonko’s Joke Shop.

“Did I tell you I really want to go to Zonko’s?” Ron repeated for about the nth time that conversation, Atlas only smiled, chewing on a chocolate frog and sorting through the wood-carving tools she had bought. She had something she wanted to make and hadn’t had the tools to do so.

“Yes Ron, you have,” Hermione replied, glancing over at Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop. Atlas noticed how she held her tongue and huffed in amusement, tucking her tools in her bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

“Hey Ron,” Atlas called and the boy turned around, buzzing in excitement – Atlas could see why Hermione didn’t want to deprive the boy any longer. “How about you go ahead? I need a new quill cause you keep on stealing mine.”

“Oh!” He went red but nodded vigorously, “Yeah alright.”

“You want to come with me, Mione? You did say you wanted to go,” Atlas asked, Hermione seemed to let out a sigh as she smiled and nodded, casting Ron a sorry look.

“Are you ok to go to Zonko’s on your own Ron?”

“Yeah, I — Seamus! Dean! Are you going to Zonko’s too!?” and at that Ron ran off, leaving the two girls to each others company, watching as he met up with the two other boys of their house. Atlas laughed slightly as Hermione rolled her eyes, turning to look at Atlas thankfully. They walked into the shop, cheeks a little rosy red from the cold outside.

Atlas went off toward the quill’s and ink, Hermione following after her, seemingly going after the same thing. It was a quiet shop, though there were a few other customers not much noise was exchanged between them, leaving the room in comfortable silence. 

A simple quill was all Atlas needed and a few ink pots as she was steadily running out, so she quickly grabbed those and went back over to Hermione who was looking through a few fancy quills, “You want one?”

“No, I just thought they were pretty,” Hermione smiled, grabbing a few ink pots and notepads of her own, Atlas cocked a brow and looked at her funnily as she went to the front desk. She followed, placing her own things next to hers and cupping her hand over Hermione’s money, “What are you–?”

“I’ll get it,” Atlas shrugged, handing Scrivenshaft the money she owed. Hermione gaped and went to say something, “Look at it as a Halloween treat. I heard muggles do a thing called trick or treating.”

“Mighty nice of you, Miss Black,” Scrivenshaft noted as he handed the girl her brown bag of things, “Haven’t seen you in here before.”

“I go to Hogwarts now Mr Scrivenshaft,” Atlas told, tucking the bag under her arm and grabbing Hermione’s hand, “Thanks for this, I’ll chop you up some wood later.”

“No need Miss Black, I’ve got enough to last me a while,” He assured and waved as she nodded and left the store, pulling a still slightly dazed Hermione along. The girl broke from it when Atlas let go of her hand and stuffed her brown bag in her school bag.

“You didn’t have to do that…”

“I know…I wanted to,” Atlas smiled and then looked off in the direction of the post office, a thought coming to her. “You want to go see the post office now? I’m sure Ron, Seamus and Dean are still occupied at Zonko’s…or did you want to go to Zonko’s too?”

“No, no!” Hermione rushed, cheeks redder than they had been before, Atlas noted this and took off her scarf, holding it out to the girl imploringly. “Oh, uh, thank you.”

“You looked cold,” Atlas reasoned and waited for Hermione to wrap the extra layer around her neck before holding out her gloved hand again. “Come on,” there was a moment of silence between them until Hermione smiled softly and accepted the gesture, moving into step with Atlas as she guided them toward the post office.

Idle chatter was made between the two as they walked, Hermione laughing occasionally and Atlas smiling down at her when she did. Hermione’s laugh was very pretty. They made it to the post office soon enough, Atlas pushing open the door and ignoring the bell that rang as they walked inside.

Hermione was immediately taken by the interior, hundreds of owls, lined and sitting on different coloured shelves around them, some sleeping, some eyeing them up, some hopping around happily. Truly a variety and treat to see, she’d always loved owls.

Suddenly, a huge black owl was upon them, talons out and ready to latch onto Atlas who held out an arm. Hermione watched as the girl smiled and chatted with the big bird, letting the thing nuzzle up against her cheek and playfully nip at her nose. “And who’s this?”

“Hermione, this is my owl, Kalo. Mr Gasper was holding onto him for me while he healed his broken leg,” Atlas introduced, moving the owl over to Hermione who grinned and brushed her finger down his front, earning a soft chitter from the bird. “Do you mind holding onto him for me? Just while I talk to Mr Gasper?”

“Not a problem,” Hermione smiled and let out a small ‘oh’ when the owl flapped once and landed at her shoulder, already bundling up in his feathers and rubbing up against the side of her head. “He’s very friendly.”

“…yeah,” Atlas nodded, an indiscernible look on her face, she cleared her throat and walked over to the postmaster, Hermione going with her all the while marvelling at the inside. The number of owls shouldn’t have surprised her but it did. “Postmaster Gasper?”

“Is that Miss Black, I hear?” A man, wearing a postman’s outfit clearly worn from age, small pince-nez glasses looking like they had come straight out of a history book and a smile, accompanied by rows of laugh lines met them, rolling out of his office on a wheeled chair. “It is! It is! What brings you to my office? Picking up Kalo I see?” he waved at Hermione who waved back brightly. “Who’s your lady friend?”

“This is Hermione Granger, she’s a friend of mine at Hogwarts,” Atlas grinned, giving Hermione’s hand a small squeeze, “I came to see if Bella sent anything? She hasn’t sent anything to the school recently.”

“Ah! Of course, yes, coincidentally I was going to have Kalo bring it to you tonight,” he nodded, rolling back into his office only to return a second later with a thick envelope in hand, “Sent this in a few days ago.”

“Thank you,” Atlas nodded, taking the letter from the man and tossing him a Galleon, “for looking after Kalo.”

“Not a problem Miss,” he smiled genuinely and tipped his cap. “Is that all?”

“For now,” Atlas said and then left, Hermione waved goodbye to the postmaster as they made their way through the rest of the post office, eyeing the coloured shelves with interest. Atlas noticed from the corner of her eye as she opened her letter, “colour coded for delivery speed.”

“Fascinating…”

“I suppose it is, the slowest – blue – are cheaper while the costliest – gold – are of course the fastest,” she explained and then pulled the moving photos out to view, she grinned at the picture of Bella feeding a baby dragon in her arms, a larger full-grown dragon behind her and watching her fondly. “Kalo is classified as gold by the way. Hey, look at this,” she held the photo to Hermione who took it, Kalo looking down at it as well.

“Wow…it’s a wonder that dragon isn’t attacking her,” Hermione mused and Atlas grinned.

“Bella is amazing with animals, the maternal instincts of a dragon end up expanding to her too,” she said and Hermione let out another small ‘wow’.

“So…the dragon thinks she’s one of her young?”

“Exactly.”

“That’s amazing.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Atlas smiled fondly at the picture. “Anyway…if you’re done here…”

“Oh! Yes,” Hermione nodded, “Truthfully I just wanted to see the owls…”

“Yes they are very cute,” Atlas nodded and then looked up at a scops owl, motioning it over. It obeyed, landing softly and clumsily on her arm. “Especially these little guys…” Kalo squawked at her and Atlas rolled her eyes exasperatedly, a small smile toying at her lips, “shut it Kalo, you daft bird.”

“Scops owls are very cute,” Hermione smiled softly, scratching lightly at the little owls head as Kalo seemed to puff up in jealously. “Oh stop it Kalo, you’re a handsome fellow as well, you know?”

“You’ll bloat his pride,” Atlas said amusedly, letting the little owl fly off back to its perch as they left the post office, “Hey Kalo, just cause a pretty young lady said your handsome doesn’t mean it’s true you know?”

That earned a nip to her finger. Atlas grimaced and rubbed at the area, muttering a curse under her breath, “Well…Atlas?”

“Yeah?” Atlas grumbled.

“I think you’re a very handsome fellow too.”

“Wait, what?”

“I said it didn’t I?” Hermione grinned. “Ah, but don’t forget, just because a pretty young lady says your handsome doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Kalo hooted loudly at that, ruffling his feathers as Atlas went red to the tips of her ears, narrowing her eyes and spinning on her heel in the direction of the forest. She cursed and grumbled nonsense under her breath as Hermione chuckled after her. Kalo, now in the sky, circled above them.

“I’m teasing!” Hermione called out as Atlas got to the tree line and turned on her, looking at her unamusedly. “Did I hurt your feelings?”

“You wish…” Atlas mumbled as Hermione continued to laugh. A twig snapped behind her and she turned, looking into the thick of green, an eyebrow cocked.

“What is it?” Hermione called, a few laughs between her words, when she didn’t get a response she furrowed her brows and grew serious. “Atty?”

A figure pounced from the trees and knocked Atlas to the floor.

“Atlas!”