Sveta and the Spell of Might

Hermione went to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop with Ginny, Luna and Parvarti. Madam Puddifoot's was a quaint little place on the edge of Hogsmeade Village. The place was cozy and warm, with all the little teacups and saucers adorning a shelf over the counter, where the shopkeep served them their drinks.

“You know,” said Luna. “I don't think I've ever been here before.” She took a sip of her tea. “It's nice. It's always nice when you find somewhere new, isn't it?”

“Yeah...” said Hermione, setting her cup down. She didn't really feel like drinking anything at the moment.

Ginny looked at Hermione, then back at Luna. “Is something wrong?” she asked. “You're awfully quiet today. You seemed fine earlier this morning...”

“Oh, that's me all right!” exclaimed Parvarti suddenly from across the table. “I'm always just myself! Always happy! Always cheerful! Always positive! Always-!”

Hermione sighed heavily and gave Parvarti a look which silenced her immediately. “I'm just tired is all,” she said. “The lab work is starting to get to me... Maybe I'll go home early today and take a nap or something...”

Parvarti gave Hermione a sympathetic smile as she sat in silence again, staring into her teacup and stirring it around with her spoon absentmindedly. Ginny and Luna continued to talk quietly between themselves while Parvarti tried to break the awkward silence by asking how Hermione was liking her tea. Eventually, after about ten minutes of sitting there in awkward silence, Parvarti stood up from her seat and stretched out across the table and rested her chin in her hands on top of Hermione's head so that she could see what was going on above the table better without standing up herself.

She stared for a few seconds at Hermione, who was still playing with her teacup even though she'd finished with it long ago when they had first sat down and ordered their drinks from Madam Puddifoot's son who was behind the counter serving people today since his mother had called in sick unexpectedly earlier that morning. "It might be your hair," suggested Parvarti finally after another minute of watching Hermione stir her teacup endlessly while staring blankly ahead into space while everyone else talked quietly among themselves noiselessly in front of them at the table next to theirs where an elderly couple sat holding hands quietly together eating their sandwiches in almost total silence as they enjoyed each others company listening to nothing but the sound of each others' breathing as they sipped their drinks together sitting silently side by side enjoying each other's company for a weekend lunch date that afternoon just like any other couple might do if they could somehow have found themselves magically transported away from real life and deposited directly into one of JK Rowling's Harry Potter books set in some alternate universe not unlike our own only with magic instead of technology and witches instead of scientists and wizards instead of doctors and dragons instead of dinosaurs... And so on... And so forth...

After another minute or so had passed by, during which time Parvarti continued to watch Hermione absentmindedly play with her teacup while staring at nothing in particular with a blank expression on her face occasionally punctuated by moments where she would sigh heavily every few seconds or so only to open her mouth slightly wider than usual several seconds later before closing it again just as quickly only to repeat the process again about two minutes later after having taken another sip from her empty teacup - which caused yet another heavy sigh to escape from out of her mouth followed by another opening and closing of her mouth - as if she were trying very hard to swallow something only for it not quite making it down into her stomach for whatever reason... After about another five minutes had passed by in this same way - during which time neither Parvarti nor anyone else sitting at their table made any further attempt whatsoever to break through Hermione's unusually stiff mood - Ginny finally noticed what was going on across the room where they were sitting at their table next to theirs where everyone else sat chatting quietly among themselves while trying unsuccessfully to get Hermione out of whatever funk that she was experiencing today due to stress over work... She nudged Luna gently in the ribs with her elbow until Luna looked over at where everyone else sat at their table next to theirs where she could see everything that Parvarti did sitting opposite Ginny on their side of the room facing directly towards them while everyone else sat facing away from them across the room talking quietly noiselessly among themselves except for one person now who had noticed what was going on over on their side of the room where everyone else sat chatting quietly noiselessly among themselves not making any audible noise whatsoever as they enjoyed each others' company relaxing peacefully like tourists anywhere might do if they somehow had found themselves magically transported away from real life and deposited directly into one of Stephen King's The Dark Tower books set in some alternate universe not unlike our own only with storms instead of sunshine and radiation storms instead of sunlight and monsters instead of people... And so on... And so forth...