Arrangements

When one lived earnestly, time always passed quickly.

Under Hermione's arrangements, the study group's initial formation had already reached a fairly good state.

Harry himself, however, was not particularly concerned about it.

That weekend of their first meeting, he discovered some budding feelings.

Because of those feelings, he spent the following days very happily—although he spent much of Sunday rushing through his homework, the last brilliant sunshine of autumn still shone down, putting them in a fine mood.

Hermione had no homework to do. She had finished it all long ago, so she brought out some wool and had enchanted needles knit hats and scarves by themselves.

In that space, Hermione got a good read on Harry's state of mind.

Just as Jon had said, people in love always overlooked certain things around them. That made things much easier for Hermione. Once Harry turned more of his attention toward girls, Hermione no longer needed to spend so much effort concealing what he was doing.

Come to think of it, Hermione deserved some credit for Harry noticing this in the first place. If she had not secretly nudged him along, Harry probably would not have realized his feelings for Cho so quickly.

Still, at least it had turned out well.

Harry had been excited lately. Even on Monday morning, when he had to attend all the classes he hated most, he was still excited.

That excitement did not last long. When they came down the dormitory stairs and reached the middle of the brightly sunlit Common Room, they discovered that something new had appeared there.

A large notice had been posted on the Gryffindor notice board, so large that it covered everything else on it.

—The notices auctioning off secondhand spellbooks, the school rules reminders from Argus Filch, the Quidditch team's