Disclaimer: JKR owns all
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Hermione wasn't usually one for girl talk, though it was nice to be so readily accepted as a girl. And Katie, Angelina, and Alicia were older, more sophisticated, and not nearly as giggly as Parvati and Lavender. She smiled broadly as the girls bent their heads closer to hers and whispered about the boys they fancied or had ever had crushes on, house by house, finally arriving at Slytherin.
"I used to think Charlie Mill was quite a looker," Angelina supplied easily.
"Who didn't?" Alicia replied. "For a Slytherin he wasn't so bad."
"Not so bad?" Katie questioned incredulously.
"He was divine!" Angelina exclaimed.
"The best thing to ever come out of Slytherin house," Katie rejoined.
"He wasn't a poor looser at quidditch," Alicia put in.
Katie nodded vigorously. "Not that they lost much when he was their keeper."
"And as a prefect, he never took points unfairly," Angelina added.
"He once held the door for me at Honeydukes," Katie bragged.
Angelina did her one better. "He once helped me carry the practice brooms down to Madam Hooch and told me I had 'great form.'"
Hermione smiled excitedly. Even though Charlie Mill had graduated years ago, being 6 years ahead of her, she could still outdo them both in one go. "He helped me out of the trick step my first year. He just put his arms around my waist and pulled me like a weed. My shoe got stuck and he pulled it out and slipped it back on my foot, and exclaimed, "The shoe fits! You must be my princess." I must have blushed ten shades of red before I finally said my thanks. He called me 'princess' the rest of the year."
They gaped at her.
"Well," she blushed again. "He was just being nice, obviously. I was only 11."
"He still put his arms around you!" Angelina exclaimed.
"And gave you a pet name!" Katie added.
They took a moment to sigh collectively.
"And look what we've got for Slytherin's, now," Alicia added a bit bitterly. "I mean, Warrington's not bad to look at, but bigoted and arrogant as the day is long."
"Pucey's not a bad looking either, but not too bright," Katie replied.
"And Bletchy?" Angelina put forth questioningly.
"Bletch!" the three exclaimed, and then laughed quietly so as not to disturb Madam Pince.
"How 'bout the 5th years, Hermione?" Alicia asked.
"Yeah," Katie questioned. "Any good snakes in the pit your age?"
Hermione needed no time to consider this question and answered easily. "There's only one 5th year Slytherin worth even a first look, let alone a second."
"Who?" Angelina asked. "Not Malfoy?" she asked hopefully, her face crumpling in distaste.
Hermione gave her own look of disgust. "Don't put me off my dinner, it's meatball night."
"Who then?" Katie asked. "Not that ponce Zabinni and certainly not those trolls, Grabbe and Coyle."
"You mean Crabbe and Goyle," Hermione corrected.
"Whatever," Katie replied with an airy wave.
"It's Nott," Hermione replied, matter of fact like.
"We know it's not," Alicia rolled her eyes. "That leaves who?"
"No," Hermione corrected again. "Nott. Theodore Nott."
"Who?" Katie and Alicia replied in unison.
"Oh, I know!" Angelina exclaimed and elbowed her dorm mates gently. "You remember that skinny little one with the messy dark hair always in his face? What is it Warrington and Pucey called him?" She paused for a moment in thought and cried out, "Rabbit!"
"His hair isn't messy, its curly," Hermione put in empathetically, "and its not so much in his face as his head is generally down reading and minding his own business."
The three looked at her and each other thoughtfully for about a half a second before Katie announced, "She likes him! Hermione has a Slytherin crush!"
"Is it mutual?" Angelina asked slyly. "I bet it is, the two of you, always in the library. It's bookworm love!"
"Awwww," Alicia cooed, "it's adorkable!"
"Please limit your imaginations to your divination essays," Hermione added dryly, though she knew her face had passed pink three shades ago.
"You said you liked the look of him …." Angelina supplied.
"No," Hermione argued, "I said he was the only one worth a look."
"Which means you've been looking," Alicia supplied.
"And liking what you see!" Katie added.
Oh bugger, what had she gotten herself into now? Isn't this always where "girl talk" leads? No wonder she had avoided it like the plague for the past 5 years.
"Listen," she tried to rationalize with the girls, "he's the only one of them who's never called me mudblood or been unkind to me in anyway. He's not late for prefect meeting, doesn't shirk his duties, and, I'm quite sure he's the only one of them who is actually earning his marks. Therefore, he is the only one of the snakes not utterly repugnant to me. That. Is. All."
She looked at them expectantly and found their knowing smiles infuriating.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" she huffed rather a bit too loudly. "I do NOT fancy Theodore Nott!"
The girls broke into a fit of giggles that Hermione thought was honestly too silly to be becoming of girls their age, and was about to tell them as much when she noticed that their attention wasn't focused on her, but somewhere behind her.
She turned and came eye to eye with the Slytherin in question. He raised his eye brows speculatively and her blush deepened further than even Charlie Mill had seen it.
Bugger, bugger, bugger!
Even though she was quite sure she didn't fancy him, it certainly looked like she did. He smirked, though not meanly, and continued on his way out of the library.
And, though she knew for certain she would curse herself for it later, she couldn't help but turn around to watch him go.
"Definitely worth the first look," Alicia grinned.
"And the second," Katie quipped.
Hermione buried her head in her hands and prayed she wouldn't see the boy in question for at least a week so she would have time to get over this humiliation, and vowed to never again be lured by the temptations of girl talk.
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A/N: thanks for reading : )