Three Broomsticks - August 9th (Later Evening)

[booky_knowitall]

Hermione walked into the Three Broomsticks, Ron right behind her. She looked around until she saw a table to suit them-one towards the center of the room-and walked over to take a seat. She thought briefly about waiting to sit and see if Ron would pull her chair out...he hadn't really gotten himself in trouble lately, so that seemed nearly

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[naught_common]

For two people who were not in a relationship, they certainly bickered like an old married couple. Theo gestured them both into the room, spoke the spell to light the tourches and closed the door behind them. They were still gauging each other's reaction as Theo put up warding spells and found himself a seat. He had in fact transfigured one of the desks into a chaise and was sitting comfortably before either of them seemed to notice that no one was talking anymore.

[booky_knowitall]

A chill swept through Hermione's body and tingled beneath her skin. She hated chills; it was impossible to tell if they were a good omen or a bad omen. Perhaps Divination would have taught her how to distinguish the two feelings. Somehow she doubted it very much. She ignored Theo's question and fixed her gaze on Ron instead, hoping that his facial expression would melt. She hadn't meant to insult him, but she also didn't want him to hurt himself on her account. She could be stupid, that didn't mean he had to follow her. "We can find something to practice on," Hermione said, but her gaze was still transfixed on Ron's face.

[path_ron]

"And most people have an innate teacher. Harry hates teaching as a general rule, and doesn't want a job at Hogwarts or anything, but he's pretty good at it." He slumped his shoulder back to a normal level, then released a sigh. It was so incredibly hard to break eye contact with Hermione. After some serious effort he was able to look at Nott. "Look, Hermione said something about you agreeing to help her. You can teach her whatever you bloody well please, but I'm not letting her learn this spell by herself, and she won't be using it on herself...ever."

Ron's thoughts jumped briefly to the previous fall, all those months ago, the lecture he got from Ginny from being too protective of an older brother. But he wasn't Hermione's older brother, this was allowed, wasn't it?

[naught_common]

"Actually, I agree with you." Theo thought for a moment. "So tell me what you want. Do you want me to give you a lesson in diction, or a demonstration or did you have something else in mind. They book I found the spell in would not make it past the detectors in this school. I certainly have no intention of risking it even if it were possible."

[booky_knowitall]

Hermione chewed on her lip and stood up and leaned into Ron so they would stop staring at each other. Every time they met in a gaze, it just felt awkward. "Well, Theo, what would be easiest to learn? We're both capable of wordless spells, and if that's more effective, maybe that's what we should learn? And then Mr. Swollen Tongue here doesn't have to learn something else he has a hard time pronouncing." To take the bite out of her words, she reached back and rubbed Ron's knee.

[path_ron]

Ron laughed. "My Latin is pretty bad most of the time, admittedly." He leaned forward to rub Hermione's shoulders-they looked pretty tense, and were just as tense as they appeared-and rested his chin on the top of her head, making sure he still had another room to rub her shoulders. "So I guess we're asking you for a demonstration."

Ron smiled and squeezed Hermione's shoulder. She hadn't objected to his concerns. Granted, Nott had agreed with him, but for her to just accept it without an argument was nice.

[naught_common]

"A demonstration? Did you wish to procure a test subject, or would one of you like to wound the other so that I can 'fix' it?" Theo wondered just how long it was going to be before one or the other of them ran screaming from the room. He was not willing to wound himself - it wouldn't show them anything anyway. He briefly contemplated suggesting they use a house elf - just to get Hermione's reaction - but he refrained.

[path_ron]

Ron smirked a little. "If I still had Scabbers that would be great fun. Oh, wait!" Ron pulled out his wand and flicked it hard in the air off to their side, immediately bringing Pig into the room. He buzzed around the room like I fluffy overgrown bumble bee, then proceeded to circle them. "I found a subject."

[booky_knowitall]

"RON!" Hermione squealed, jumping up to catch the owl in her hands. Pig was impossible to hold, but she forced him to just cuddle lightly in her hands. "We are not using your owl! You'd miss him and you know it, just like you can pretend that you don't miss Scabbers but we know you do." She rolled her eyes and touched Pig lightly with her own wand and sent him back to the Owlery. With a fast swish, she conjured a gnome and held him up by his foot. "Any wise cracks about how close they are to House-Elves, you're both going to be mourning the loss of your eyebrows."

[naught_common]

Theo looked at the little creature for only a moment before stunning it. "I don't believe I've ever seen a garden gnome before. They would not dare to grace by father's grounds." Theo levitated the unconscious body to a desk. "Okay, so first you need the words. It's not Latin, actually it's Thessalonian." Theo explained softly, teaching them the intricacies of the spell.

[path_ron]

"They wouldn't dare?" Ron asked, his eyes wide. "Tell me, how do you instill that kind of fear in these little buggers? Swinging them over your head until they're completely dizzy then hexing them while they're flying through the air just doesn't do the trick." Ron frowned and scrunched his face. "What? I've never heard of Tessalion what-its."

[booky_knowitall]

Mione rolled her eyes. "Thessalonians, from Thessalonica, ancient capital of Macedonia, named for...urgh, why do I bother?" She looked over at the gnome briefly, then looked back at Theo. "We're ready. It's going to take a while for him to get it down, so the sooner we start the better."

[naught_common]

"We have elves to take care of the garden, but even gnomes can be taught..." Theo paused, "caution." He walked to the gnome. "There is no reason to make it suffer, unless you'd find that amusing." He drew his wand and whispered a spell that opened a small cut on its leg. "Do you want to try to heal it, or would you like to try and take the little necessary to do so from someone else, or would you like a demonstration?"

[booky_knowitall]

"Well, I already know what it's supposed to feel like...maybe we don't need a demonstration." She looked down at the little gnome and frowned. "What are the words?"

[path_ron]

Ron came up behind her and touched his hand to hers. "Me first," he whispered. He leaned down and whispered into her ear. "I know you want to be tough, but I know you're still not quite perfectly healthy. I am, let me try the draining first." Ron looked up at Nott, squinted his eyes and looked back at the gnome. "Maybe Thessalonian comes to me easier than Latin. What's the incantation?"