Routine

Sitting at her desk had become routine, and a bit monotonous, but that came with the territory. Hermione was happy to have a little monotony in her life. After ten years of insanity, a little dullness was welcome.

The doors of the library flew open, startling her slightly. Then a selection of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes levitated into the room and proceeded to explode, sending fireworks all over the room. She reacted quickly, casting a Protego to shield the books from the explosions, and then proceeded to sit back and watch the show, reminiscing on her fifth year and the Weasley twins' grand shebang. The dragon head came roaring towards her, covering her desk in sparks and lights. She released the giggle she had been holding at the memory of Umbridge fleeing the giant head with her pink dress pulled up, revealing her hideous pink tights encasing even scarier legs. When the fireworks were finished, she stood up and moved around her desk, picking up the trash left over from the explosions.

A giggle danced down the halls outside the library, and a smirk spread across her face. She had been wondering when the students would pull a prank on her. She glanced out the doors just in time to see the back of someone turning the corner, a green tie fluttering over their shoulder.

When she turned back to her desk, sitting in its place of honor was another vase, this one filled with black-eyed Susans. The yellow petals shone like the sun, and the tiny black center balanced them perfectly with just enough darkness to equalize the brightness, creating a startlingly beautiful and powerful image. She hadn't seen black-eyed Susans since she'd been a little girl.

Her mother had bought her a bouquet after her first and only dance recital. She had told her that they symbolized encouragement and that Hermione was to be encouraged by them. Although she had only been five, being Hermione, she'd known what encouragement meant, but just because she'd understood the word didn't mean she was encouraged to dance more. So she had stopped dancing, but she always remembered her mother giving her that bouquet of beautiful flowers that starkly contrasted with each other.

After her trip down memory lane, she took a trip down her childhood. She pulled one of the flowers from the vase. Certain flowers were good for the "He loves me, he loves me not" game, and black-eyed Susans were one of them. Their petals were perfectly separate and yet together, and when plucking one off, the others didn't fall off. She lifted the flower to her nose, taking a sniff of it. She then proceeded to pluck one petal after another, murmuring the ever popular, "He loves me, he loves me not."

While she plucked the petals, she wondered who it was that was sending her these things. Was he as kind and thoughtful as he appeared through his gifts? Or was everything merely a show to get into her knickers like Severus had said? Did she really care if he loved her or not? She didn't really; after all, she had no idea who he was. But some part of her did because she continued to pluck those petals, repeating the ever-present mantra, over and over again.

She sat down next to a worried Headmistress at dinner.

"Are you alright, dear?" Minerva asked, placing her hand on Hermione's shoulder in what would have been a comforting gesture, if Hermione needed comforting.

"I'm wonderful, Minerva. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I heard about the fireworks in the library, and I was worried that something had happened to you or any of the books."

"I'm fine as you can see, as are the books. I was able to get a shield up in time to protect them."

"You created a shield large enough to protect all those books?" Severus interrupted the conversation, startled by her revelation.

"Yes, I did. Why are you so shocked?" she asked, a little annoyance coming out at his ability to underestimate her.

"A shield of that size would take a great deal of power. Although it is you, so I guess it isn't that surprising," he said, a teasing bite of sarcasm hinting in his voice.

"Yes, well. I was ready for the prank. I knew they would try something soon. It was getting on in the term, so something was bound to happen."

"Yes, those Slytherins certainly do love their tricks," Minerva added with a maternal smile.

Severus gave a smirk on the other side, and Hermione picked up her fork to begin eating her meal. As she took the first bite of her roast, her appetite disappeared with a casual thought. If by some bizarre chance, her secret admirer was Severus, was it all a trick? Could it be him exacting revenge on her for all those years of annoying questions and thrusting her hand in his face? And if it wasn't him, could it still be a trick? Could someone be that mean?

Her happy heart was slowly sinking into a quagmire of darkness; she was leaving her typical petal world and submerging herself in the eye of the black-eyed Susan. A familiar sadness settled over her head, and she put her fork down, leaving the room quietly so as not to draw attention to herself. She needed to see her friends. They would know how to cheer her up. They always did.

*

Hermione chose to walk off the school grounds before Apparating. She needed the time to think, to clear her mind. Walking allowed her some time do so.

Pushing open the front door of one of her favorite places, she was immediately enveloped in the infamous, and crushing, Molly Weasley hug. Hermione knew that this was the smart decision; the Weasleys always managed to make everything better, even in cases whereon of them had caused the problem in the first place.

"Hermione, dear, what are you doing here?" Molly questioned, holding Hermione by the shoulders and inspecting her as if expecting to find a gaping hole in her body at some point.

"I just needed to get away, and I haven't seen any of you in a long time, so I decided to visit."

"Well, we have missed you, and you know you are always welcome here," Molly said, wrapping her arm around Hermione's shoulder and pulling her into the house towards the kitchen.

They walked through the door to the kitchen, and Hermione saw the family sitting around the table for dinner.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt your dinner. I can leave," she offered kindly.

"Don't be silly, Mione," Harry chastised as he stood up to give his best friend a hug.

"Yeah, don't be silly and sit down," Ron said around a mouth of food.

Everyone laughed at his typical Ron behavior, and Hermione sat down as Ginny whacked her brother over the head.

"How come only Ron and I get hit? Charlie, Bill, Ginny and Percy never get hit," George whined.

"That's because they never do anything stupid or deserving of a whack," Hermione muttered as she took a sip of the glass of pumpkin juice that Molly had handed her.

"So what brings you here?" Bill asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Everything," she laughed awkwardly. They all gave her funny looks, and she released a sigh, knowing she'd have to tell them.

"I've been getting gifts every Friday since school started. At first it was simple little notes; now it's flowers. It's nothing creepy or stalker-like," she said, soothing her Auror best friend, who had sat up straight at the mention of the gifts. "It's sweet, and more of a friend thing that could become more, if I or he allows it. The thing is that I don't know who it is. I have wracked my brain, and the only logical conclusion is an illogical conclusion. So today the Slytherins pulled a prank with WWW fireworks in the library, and I was discussing it with Minerva and she said it was typical of Slytherins to play tricks, and then my brain went into overdrive, wondering if my secret admirer was playing a trick or prank on me. When I thought of that, I just had to get away, so I came here knowing I would be able to clear my head." She took a deep breath after giving her long explanation for her surprise visit.

"Who do you think it is?" Harry asked.

"Nevussap," she mumbled.

"I'm sorry. You want to repeat that louder and clearer so that we can actually understand you?" George chuckled.

"Severus Snape," she stated, blushing at the gawking looks everyone was giving her. "I know, I know. Like I said it is completely illogical, but he's the only one who fits, unless you prefer it to be Filch or, worse, a student?" she stated with sarcasm dripping from each word.

"So, let me get this straight. The Slytherins bought WWW products and set them off in the library?" Molly questioned, ignoring the secret admirer part of the story and zoning in on the mischief her son had once again caused.

"Yes, that is correct." The only response was the loud thump of Molly whacking George up the backside of his red head.

"But it's okay, nothing was damaged, and it was a rather good for a laugh for me. I'm just glad it wasn't a mean prank, but Slytherin house has gotten much better since we went to Hogwarts."

"Okay, back to Snape as your admirer," Ron said, waving a roll around.

"Ron, don't play with your food."

Everyone got a laugh out of the pouty face Ron displayed. Hermione looked around at her family and was thankful that they had gotten through those past few years. Fred's death had been difficult for them, one of the hardest blows they had ever been dealt, but they had survived. Now they were laughing, living, and loving. Hermione thanked whoever it was that had glued them back together. Every once in a while, a cloud of sadness would descend over their heads, but then they would remember with happiness and fondness and would go on living, just like Fred would want them to.

Sometimes when they were really sad, they would go out back of the house and launch WWW fireworks in memory of him; it was slowly becoming a family tradition.

She left the Weasleys with lots of hugs and love and a relatively relieved heart. She still didn't know who her secret admirer was, but she knew she was going to be careful no matter what. That way if it was a trick, she would be okay. But somehow, she didn't think it was a trick because the person with the most to lose in the twisted sort of relationship was him.