Harry loved the bushy-haired bookworm like a sister, but she was crazy when it came to schoolwork. It was like a switch was flipped in her brain when the words 'test' or 'exam' were uttered by a teacher, and she went mental trying to prepare and impress the professors.
Thankfully, Neville – and to a lesser extent Susan and Hannah – were able to talk Hermione out of going completely bonkers, and reduced their pile of studying to a simple one subject a day for two hours after classes were done.
It calmed the Gryffindor girl somewhat, but had made her double-down on following a strict schedule for what they needed to go over in order to score well on their tests.
Harry had invited the other First Years (yes, even the Slytherins, because it was polite, and not because he expected anyone to take him up on his offer) to a couple sessions, but Hermione's fervor had spooked most of them, so they only showed up every once in a while, to get help with a subject they were struggling in.
'I'll just ask them again when it's closer to exam time,' he decided. 'Maybe then Hermione will have become less manic.'
Harry shot a glance at his friend from across the library table the group was sitting at, and grimaced as Hermione muttered to herself as she wrote out a very detailed schedule that calculated everyone's bathroom breaks down to the minute. 'Or maybe she won't.'
"I wonder when the thief will strike?" Harry wondered aloud, successfully distracting Hermione from her imminent meltdown.
"What do you mean?" Susan inquired, and the rest of the study group all turned their head his way at the non-sequitur.
"Well, we're reasonably certain it's one of the professors who is going to try and steal the Philosopher's Stone," Harry said, which had the others at the table nodding in agreement. "So, when would be the perfect time to strike?"
"It'll have to be before finals, or after," Ron said.
"Why?" Hannah asked, curious for his reasoning.
"It's simple. The two weeks of finals will be busy. The busiest week of the year for the teachers. If the thief really is a teacher, they'll be unable to sneak away thanks to all the testing going on. It'd be too obvious. OWL and NEWT tests are done in the week before the rest of the years take theirs, and that means the thief will have to act during the first week of June, before the tests, or the last week of June, after said tests are done."
"That's… very smart," Hermione said, as if she couldn't believe she was saying those words about Ron Weasley of all people.
"Brilliant tactical thinking, Ron," Harry praised. He knew the red-head was smart when he cared to apply himself, just look at his winning streak in Wizard Chess. But it seemed he had a real knack for critical strategic thinking that went beyond merely chess strategies.
"The teachers including the thief will be exhausted, and so will the students. And this will ensure nobody is going to be going near Fluffy's room. Not unless they absolutely have to," Neville said, nodding in understanding.
"But what about Dumbledore?" Hermione asked. "Won't he notice something is wrong?"
"Maybe. If he has a way to know if people get too close to the third-floor corridor, then he'd surely know we'd been there," Harry pointed out. "And yet he's never scolded us for it. Nor have we lost points for it. At least, I think we haven't."
"Perhaps he does know, but he doesn't care?" Susan guessed.
"Or more likely, he doesn't think the little we saw is worth punishing," Harry added.
"Then our thief will strike while Dumbledore is gone," Ron said decisively. "Dumbledore is the strongest wizard alive. He could easily catch the thief in the act if there are other traps besides Fluffy. But that's only if Dumbledore is in the castle at the same time."
"So, sometime in June is when the thief is gonna do his dirty deeds," Hannah mused. "Then we better make sure somebody is watching the hallway during that time."
"How?" Susan asked.
"Why not ask the House Elves?" Harry suggested.
"Oh, right, I almost forgot about them," Hermione admitted with a frown. "And after everything they did for us on Halloween."
"We can thank them when we go ask them for help with this stone problem," Neville said. "But I think Harry's idea works. I was going to suggest we ask one of the ghosts or portraits, but thinking on it, the House Elves would be more reliable."
"Well, now that we've figured this out… Hannah, I see you're making doodles instead of taking notes for history," Hermione said, turning back to what really mattered to her – studying.
"But Binns is so boring!" the blonde Hufflepuff whined. "And his lessons are literally word for word taken from the textbooks! Heck, I think whoever wrote the books just copied his notes from Binns' lectures and published them!"
"That… actually, that makes a lot of sense," Hermione mused thoughtfully. "It would explain some things…"
"See? I can be smart, too!" Hannah said, puffing her chest out proudly.
"Of course, of course! But if that's the case, what's with all these misspellings?" the bushy-haired Gryffindor demanded, jabbing a finger at a word on the page. "You don't spell 'Xavgor' with a 'Z'!"
"Gobbledygook is a hard language, okay?!" Hannah cried out, throwing her hands into the air, but Hermione was merciless and relentless.
"And Ron! Don't think I didn't see you sneaking peeks at Neville's Herbology homework!"
'I wonder what Edward is doing right now?' Harry wondered as he dove back into the study materials Hermione had given him in order to avoid suffering her wrath like Ron and Hannah currently were.
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