As the people nearest to Harry started to form a queue - meaning she wouldn't have to push him out after all - Hermione saw the two Beaters head for the door, only to turn back when their friend didn't join them. By that point Bill had started his story about how he was the first Hopeful and how Charlie almost didn't make it.
"C'mon, Cassius," one of the Beaters said, shooting McGonagall a distrusting look.
The boy named Cassius lingered uncertainly for a moment before he joined them too, leaving Pansy quite alone.
"It can't be," Pug-nose said, still at a loss to understand what's happened. "It was the Malfoys," she almost pleaded, "they were the ones-"
"Whatever made you think it was the Malfoys?" McGonagall asked, sending Pansy a curious look to say she really should consider the sources.
"There were… negotiations," Pansy said tearfully before her face crumpled completely and she fled from the room crying.
She didn't know what sort of 'negotiations' would've been worth crying over, but it wasn't like anyone would be signing international treaties to secure a child's schooling. Either way, Hermione hadn't expected that, and it actually made her feel a little sorry for the other girl. Was it possible she had actually cared for the ignorant little toerag?
Harry looked at her questioningly as Gryffindor Fourth Year, Kenneth Towler, made way for Oliver Rivers and his mother; Oliver being in their year but in Hufflepuff. Hermione wished she knew what to tell him. Either Draco had been behind it by lying to her somehow or Pansy had invented a fairy tale for herself and miscast the slimy Slytherin in the role of Prince Charming.
If the unfortunately-faced girl had ever been just the tiniest bit nicer then she might have run after her to make sure she was okay. As it was, it was much more pleasant to rub Harry's back again as a Third Year Ravenclaw, Marietta Edgecombe, and her mother came forward to shake his hand and thank him for what he's done for them while Percy and Penelope went off to find Professor McGonagall.
He may not think he deserves all the attention they're giving him, but perhaps they weren't doing it for his benefit, but for theirs. It occurred to her that maybe they simply needed someone outside their own desperate situation to thank when things go right, and pin all their hopes on when they're not, and the default for so many years now had been Harry. It certainly placed him in the same easily-abused position Dumbledore occupied to easily sway the minds of other people, but she also knew Harry wasn't like that - and not just because he had seen first hand what a person like that can cause if they want to. Her boyfriend was simply better than that, and that made her smile.
As the Edgecombes edged away to give Marietta's housemate, Eddie Carmichael, room at the front of the queue, Hermione's eyes chanced upon a brightly-colored yet somewhat despondent-looking father-daughter pair sitting on the other side of the room chatting to each other. As she wondered if this was one of the 'prospective' students which hadn't been funded, she debated going over there to see if there was anything she could do for them. What stopped her was Mr. Lichfield already moving that way.
As the bustle of the room grew and the buzz of conversation changed to how Harry Potter had chanced to change their lives yet again, Lester judged the time was right to get on with it. Slipping away from the others, he made his way through the crowd towards the outlandishly-dressed Lovegoods Minerva had mentioned earlier. Seeing her corralled off to one side by two young priggish sprigs made him smile; you really do reap what you sow.
"A very good idea, Mister Weasley," the Scottish prig said to her little prig sprites. "I've been having those same concerns myself, Miss Clearwater, but was at a loss on how to address them. I think it shows great promise. It means a great deal of responsibility, considering you're starting N.E.W.T.-level coursework this year, but can I rely upon you two to be our Student Leaders?"
"Certainly," the eager young witch said without a second thought.
"Absolutely, professor. You can count on us," the Third Weasley said pompously, as if the Head Boy badge already weighed down his lapel.
Following her suggestion, she and Percy made their way back to his brothers. Having already passed their N.E.W.T.s they could be a goldmine of useful information, and if they were going to do a thing then they were going to do their best.
Penelope was very excited at the new prospects before her. She'd been having her doubts about how they would last in the long-run; Percy was the very definition of 'all work and no play' and she had the slight fear he was only dating her because higher ups in the Ministry were all supposed to be decent, respectable, family man kind of men.
Perhaps this study group was just the thing though. Giving him something practical and rewarding to do, where he had to interact kindly with real people who were having difficulty, instead of fixating so hard on becoming Head Boy and using it as a launching pad towards Minister of Magic may be just what Percy needed. Though she cautioned herself not to expect miracles she couldn't help but smile, they did live in a world of magic after all.
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