"I knew it! I knew it!"
Harry and Ron's heads snapped up to see Hermione slam down a stack of books three feet high and sit down with a thump on the chair behind the towering stack.
"What?" Harry asked, setting down his quill to push the stack of books to the side so he and Ron could see her face, red with fury glowering over a piece of paper.
"What?" Ron asked again staring at her. "What's up?"
Hermione shook her head, talking to herself. "You know, I knew this was going to happen, but I didn't think he'd be so keen on it…." She reread some of the parchment again.
Harry and Ron looked at each other; Harry wondering whether Ron understood a thing of what she was saying. Clearly, Ron didn't.
"What?" They both asked.
"….and of course to be quite frank I was never keen on the whole idea, however, I don't want him to hate me…."
"What?" Harry asked.
"….and I knew he was interested in all that and he told me before, but of course I was only trying to be nice…..
"Uh….Hermione?" Both Harry and Ron were baffled.
"….so I wrote him constantly and then he's going off to that great match and he needs to be ready so I really don't think that….."
Finally, Ron gave up and looked down at his Potions essay again. Harry followed suit. Hermione, looking up, saw that both of them were absorbed in their work again, not paying any attention to her news.
"Don't you want to know what's up?" she asked angrily.
Harry and Ron stared at her.
Harry stuttered. "Well, we've asked a total of three times already and you don't seem to be hearing a word that we've said so…."
Hermione let out a sigh and sat back in the chair. "Guess what."
Ron lost it. "WHAT?"
Hermione handed over the parchment to them; something Harry felt could have been done earlier instead of guessing.
Harry and Ron bent closer to read the parchment, apparently a letter.
Dear Hermione,
It makes me sad very to write this to you. It puts me in bad spirits and that is never good. I am doing fine and well, my Quidditch matches however are making I very busy and I can not, unfortunately see you this summer. Not at all do I think. My team wants me to focus on game and not on girl. I am very sorry. Go date Harry Potter…..I know you like him because of Skeeter Rita's essay in magazine. He likes you too. I talk to him in woods, he like you. I say good bye, never to say hello again….
Good bye never to say hello again.
Viktor Krum
Harry and Ron stared at the letter for a minute, not quite taking in the odd English and weird grammatical places. Finally Ron found his voice long enough to say incredulously, "It puts me in bad spirits and that is never good? What in bloody hell does that mean? Who's he trying to be? Shakespeare? What a git!"
Harry looked at Hermione who was sitting with her arms crossed, the anger falling form her face, now being replaced with an expression that showed just how miserable she really was.
"So…is he breaking up with you then?" Harry asked slowly.
Harry stared at the letter and then did a double take. "Hey…wait…this says that I…."
Hermione shrugged." Well, apparently something you said in the forest when you were with him there 2 years ago made him think that…."
Harry looked at her. "I didn't say I liked you…I mean…..I like you…..but…I never told him….I never said that… I….where did he get this?"
Hermione shrugged slowly and then burst into tears. Ron stopped laughing at the phrasing in the letter and looked at Hermione concerned. Both of them stood up and went over to her.
Harry instantly become worried that it was something he had just said. "Hey…hey Hermione…don't get me wrong….I do like you, you know……I mean….you're my best friend…."
Hermione shook her head. "No…it's not that…..It's just that I didn't think he'd, well, dump me like this!"
Then she shook her head. "No, I change that, we weren't really "going out" so he couldn't really have dumped me…..but I really liked him."
Ron shook the letter in front of her face. "Just forget about him Hermione, he's a git anyway, I mean to say, look at this letter! I say good bye never to say hello again….."
Hermione glared at Ron. "But I really liked Viktor, Ron! I mean, he didn't have to like, you know, date me or anything, as long as we could still be friends, but to blow me off completely like this, and then to suggest that I date Harry…..." She buried her face in her arms again.
Ron laughed softly. "That might not be a bad idea."
Hermione jumped up.
"No!" She shrieked. "I can't…I can't do that….."
Harry pushed his hair out of his eyes, feeling like a thrown away piece of trash.
"Ron….just drop it okay?"
Ron shut up and busied himself rereading the letter. Hermione glared at the pair of them.
"You two are so stupid."
She stood up abruptly and snapped sarcastically, "Thanks for the help."
Harry and Ron watched her storm up the stairs, leaving, Harry noticed, her letter in Ron's hands.
"Wow…" Ron whistled softly under his breath. "That went well."
Harry frowned at him. "Why'd you have to go and bring me into it?"
"What d'you mean? Viktor was the one who put you into the letter; obviously something you said or did must have triggered him to think that you liked Hermione."
"All I said was that….well, that we were friends. That's all"
Ron contemplated. "Then it must have been that Skeeter cow's article." He said finally. "He does mention it in his little sonnet of a letter here. Yup, that must be it."
Harry groaned. "Oh my Gosh that was two years ago and everyone knows she's bogus. Can't he get over it?"
They both sat there staring at each other and the letter.
"Well," Ron said with a sigh, "We're going to have to find some way to get Hermione back on good terms with us, because that Potions essay is due in a week and I have no clue how to do it…."
Harry nodded. "I'll think of something."
He thought about it for a minute then sat bolt up-right. "Ron! I've got it! I've got a brilliant idea."
Ron stared at him. "The only way this plan will work is if she and Krum get back together in the 7 days before that potions essay."
Harry cut him off impatiently. "If we do it right, it'll work great. We just can't make any mistakes. And Hermione can't have a clue what we're doing…."
To be Continued……
