Follow the Sand of the Hourglass

"Y-yes?" she asked, anxious and slightly intimidated.

"Us girls are having a meeting of sorts... confidentially. All of the girls from each house will need to be ready at 9:30 in their common rooms and we'll lead them out to our meeting spot." Margery beamed at her excitedly. "Wh- us?" she asked quietly.

"Of course. We need someone to lead Hufflepuff girls. You're the only one we believe will be able to convince all the girls to come." Hermione chimed in, and Ellie flushed at the compliment. 

"This isn't some kind of trick, right?" she questioned, glancing between the three of them.

"Come on Longbottom. As if we would waste our time to prank a bunch of cry baby- oof!" Sylvie was elbowed in her side mid-sentence and simply glared at Margery.

"We wouldn't do that, Ellie." Margery reassured with a smile.

The younger girls looked up to her, so it wasn't very difficult to convince them to sneak out to meet in an exiting, mysterious rendezvous with older girls. The other seventh years didn't put up much of a fight when they heard who was organizing the event. Those three probably had no idea how idolized they were. The difficulty came with a string of sixth years who didn't want to follow the norm. They compared everyone to centaurs traveling in a senseless pack. 

Ellie thought that would be the end of it, but when Sylvie Flint showed up and there were four girls missing, she stomped up to the girls dormitory. There was screeching, something thudded, and then silence for a moment before footsteps could be heard down the stairs before they were all on their way. 

They climbed to the seventh floor, and she noticed a tapestry of a man teaching trolls ballet. Sylvia walked around a couple times and a deep rumbling preceded the stone crumbling to reveal a door. They all whispered and giggled in awe and eagerness as the door opened and they were welcomed by Margery Smith. She ushered the into the room, filled with comfortable couches surrounding a platform at the back and girls from all the other houses who were twittering on feverishly. She saw why a moment later.

Hermione stood at the front on a small platform with Tom Riddle at her side. She wore strange clothing that resembled men's muggle trousers, but fit her shape very well. With a mere clearing of her throat the room was silenced. 

"I appreciate everyone spending their night to do this. It has come to my attention that many of you may not... know certain information. If a man touches you without your permission, that is not okay. If your betrothed, or your husband, even, touches you without your consent, that is not okay."

Many of the girls looked around confused for a moment.

"But he's your husband? That's what you're supposed to do." one of the girls chimed in, confused.

"That's not true. In many cases, if your husband does not want to do something, he is not obligated. A partnership is equal, and you deserve respect. However, husbands are not the ones touching young women without their consent at Hogwarts." she announced calmly, to many nods and agreements from other girls.

"So, tonight, I'm going to show you all a few maneuvers in a case where a boy is not taking your consent into account. Tom Riddle has graciously offered to be my assistant." she stated, waving before facing him, and motioned for him to come closer.

"This will be for if a boy tries to grab you. When someone grabs you they're going to expect you to pull away. Don't. They'll grab you by the arm in a frontal assault, so you push forward to use their weight against them, then simply-" Tom grabbed her forearm, "-grab their wrist and spin-" she twisted his wrist, causing him to release her and as she kept twisting she had him completely turned around. "Once they're turned kick their knee in so they're pushed to the ground. Hit it from the side and you can dislocate it."

She did so, and there was a mixed reaction of fear, trill, and anger that she would do such a thing to Tom. Hermione released him and he rubbed his arm for a moment before turning to her again. She could tell he was thoroughly displeased, and had to suppress a smile. Then she spun around.

"Let's say someone tries to grab you from behind." and as she said it, his firm arms wrapped around her and pulled her to him. A warm sensation thrummed through her, momentarily distracting her, before she pulled back, stomped on his foot, elbowed his diaphragm, before ending it with a head butt, and she listed them all off in perfect order.

"And finally, let's say someone is able to throw you to the ground." she said, pulling a still recovering Tom by the shoulders to topple over her. His hands slapped the ground, bracing their fall, and he was suddenly face to face with her, practically sprawled across her. His whole body was frozen in that moment; he could only stare, his mouth slightly agape. 

"The eyes" she drawled out, "the throat... the groin... the shin." she trailed off. "Any of these will help you get out of these situations." 

After a moment, Tom receded and assisted Hermione in getting up before all the girls grabbed a partner and tried a few of the maneuvers. Midnight rolled around quicker than anyone would have liked, surprisingly. After ensuring her housemates made it back to their dorms undisturbed, she returned to speak with Hermione. As she rounded the corner she immediately pulled back again with a quiet intake of air.

Peeking around the corner, she saw Tom standing over Hermione in what seemed a very predatory fashion. But Hermione didn't look like prey. She was smiling up at him deviously, almost as if questioning him, and Ellie strained to hear.

"-quite funny, don't you?"

"Indeed. You were the one who said you would do anything to obtain my forgiveness. I thought you would be quite happy. You're forgiven." she laughed.

"Only at the expense of letting you have a go at me in front of half the school populace." he grumbled, but then the mood changed.

His arm snaked around her waist, and he pulled her closer, his features softened. 

"I am; happy, that is, that you've forgiven me. You're the only shining light in this darkness. You should never be snuffed out, even to appease me. I've missed you." the pad of his thumb circled under her eyes and around her lips as he spoke with such sincerity, it made Ellie's knees weak from around the corner.

"Me too." a weight seemed to visually lift off of Hermione's features at the admission.