authorsnote: hello everyone! so here it is, sorry it's a little bit late but I have been snowed under with assignments! I have however already started work no the next chapter so it should be up sooner! I do hope you enjoy this, and I hope you like the slow burn H/HR. I understand it may be a bit frustrating to see it go so slow, but I don't want to rush it, I want it to feel realistic and so, it has to be natural. Also I wanted to quickly address a few things that came up in reviews:
ron coming back to the trio - he will (as in the books) become apart of things again but things will be VERY different.
hermione's patronus - I know she didn't learn it until 5th year, but I'm suspending canon for this, it always seemed a bit funky to me that hermione, who is already studying NEWT magic in 5th year and OWL magic in 4th year, would know of the patronus, and would have tried it. so lets pretend she learned it on her own last year!
will harry be asking hermione to the dance? wait and see! I can say it will be a bit more complicated than that.
wanting me to bold/italicise the book content - a great suggestion but I make tiny additions even through each paragraph (sometimes I don't admittedly), so I think it would look very clunky.
so I hope that clears all of that up! thank you all for asking me these questions - I genuinely love getting them, any and all reviews are lovely (except for hate), and answering these questions actually helps me think about the story! so as always I do hope you enjoy, and please keep on reviewing, and fav/follow!
song recommendations: bloodstream - stateless.
I think I might have inhaled you,
i can feel you behind my eyes,
you've gotten into my bloodstream,
I can feel you flowing in me
...
The next few hours seemed to move in a blur, and soon it was nighttime. He remembered outside of the Three Broomsticks, Hagrid accosting him and asking to meet him, then the dragons then the discussion with Sirius and then finally the confrontation with Ron.
He had felt weirdly happy that finally he had said something to his old best friend. It had felt good to be mean to him, and though Harry knew that wasn't a good trait, he couldn't help it. Ron had not only interrupted him at a crucial moment, but for weeks had made him feel like a liar. It was one thing for the entire school to be against him, but Ron? That was what had truly hurt.
Harry wasn't sure he could ever forgive him.
He got up on Sunday morning and dressed so inattentively that it was a while before he realised he was trying to pull his hat onto his foot instead of his sock. When he'd finally got all his clothes on the right parts of his body, he hurried off to find Hermione, locating her in the common room. They had taken to meeting their every morning. Of course she had seen everything he had the night before (he had dragged her along to see the dragons, and Hagrid hadn't minded, she had said hello to Sirius, and joined the conversation), he only had to tell her about the confrontation with Ron, which had only happened after she had gone to bed and implored them to do the same, but admitted they needed to talk alone. No, he was glad she hadn't seen him chuck the badge at Ron's head and call him an 'up his own arse-idiot' and he left that part out of the retell.
They walked into the Great Hall, and as always everyone he walked past either murmured something under their breath or shot him a dirty look, however he found it didn't bother him as much anymore; he had gotten good at shrugging it off. And so they grabbed some toast to go, and a flask of pumpkin juice and headed out onto the grounds. They briefly passed Ron, and though Harry ignored him, Hermione seemed to shoot a glare his way; clearly she was taking Harry's side on the confrontation.
Again the worry that was ever present due to the First Task lifted slightly when Hermione turned to smile at him; he couldn't imagine what sort of state he'd be in without her presence. Luckily they had managed to shrug off the awkwardness the coffee shop had caused when they had ran back from Hogsmeade in the pouring down rain. They had laughed through the downpour, and Harry offering her jacket had seemed friendly, rather than odd.
As he finished his story about the recent going on's, she nodded, and though alarmed as she was by Sirius' warnings about Karkaroff, Hermione still thought that the dragons were the most pressing problem.
"Let's just try and keep you alive until Tuesday evening" she said desperately (for she had seen them too, Harry still had nail marks on his arm from where she'd clutched him), worry invading her eyes, "And then we can worry about Karkaroff"
They walked three times around the lake, trying all the way to think of a simple spell that would subdue a dragon. Nothing whatsoever occurred to them, so they retired to the library instead. Here, Harry pulled down every book he could find on dragons, and both of them set to work searching through the large pile.
"Talon-clipping charms...treating scale-rot... This is no good, this is for nutters like Hagrid who want to keep them healthy..."
"Dragons are extremely difficult to slay, owing to the ancient magic that imbues their thick hides, which none but the most powerful spells can penetrate... But Sirius said a simple one would do it..."
"Let's try some simple spellbooks, then," said Harry, throwing aside Men Who Love Dragons Too Much, and glancing across at Hermione. Her hair was a mess of curls around her face, and her eyes were full of determination. He smiled at her then, and she met his eyes, her own smile tense.
He returned to the table with a pile of spellbooks, set them down, and began to flick through each in turn, Hermione whispering nonstop at his elbow.
"Well, there are Switching Spells...but what's the point of switching it? Unless you swapped its fangs for wine-gums or something that would make it less dangerous...The trouble is, like that book said, not much is going to get through a dragon's hide. I'd say Transfigure it, but something that big, you really haven't got a hope, I doubt even Professor McGonagall...unless you're supposed to put the spell on yourself? Maybe to give yourself extra powers? But they're not simple spells, I mean, we haven't done any of those in class, I only know about them because I've been doing O.W.L. practice papers..."
'Well if whatever I have to do is on those awful practice papers you made me look over, you may as well feed me to the dragons now' Harry spoke, rolling his eyes as he did. He felt a smack to his arm, and Hermione glared at him; she hated it when he talked about his possible demise.
He stared hopelessly down the index of Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed. Instant scalping...but dragons had no hair...pepper breath...that would probably increase a dragon's firepower...horn tongue...just what he needed, to give it an extra weapon...
"Oh no, he's back again, why can't he read on his stupid ship?" said Hermione irritably as Viktor Krum slouched in, cast a surly look over at the pair of them, and settled himself in a distant corner with a pile of books. "Come on, Harry, we'll go back to the common room...his fan club'll be here in a moment, twittering away..."
And sure enough, as they left the library, a gang of girls tiptoed past them, one of them wearing a Bulgaria scarf tied around her waist.
They returned to the common room and seemed to work for hours. Harry felt as though his insides were writhing; the situation seemed truly hopeless. It was 1am and he and Hermione were sat next to one another, looking over one giant spell book. Everything seemed either too complex, or useless against a dragon. And Harry could feel panic setting in; what use was it knowing about the dragon if he had no idea how to fight it?
Minutes seemed to tick by, and the page didn't turn, Harry felt his eyes dropping, and as he glanced at Hermione he saw her in the same position. She was the last thing he saw before he fell asleep.
She felt blissfully comfy, and not her usual kind of comfy. She felt warm, and whatever she was lying on was hard, not in a bad way, whatever she was lying on was also warm. She snuggled in closer, her eyes opening reluctantly.
The first thing she noticed was that she was not in her bedroom, the light outside was still dark, and she was not alone.
Looking out the corner of her eye, she noticed what, (or rather who) she had been lying on, and a flush hit her cheeks as soon as she realised. It didn't help either that as soon as her eyes found his, she noticed he was awake.
Somehow, they had both fallen asleep over their spell books, and had ended up in a .. somewhat awkward position. Hermione was curled up on her side, her head on Harry's chest. Harry had his arm around her back, and his head had clearly been on top of hers. His fingers were curled around her waist, and her hand was on his chest, her other arm wrapped around his stomach. She felt warm and comfortable but as soon as they locked eyes she moved. Her blush somehow deepening.
"Ermm..it's warm" she said, her lame excuse coming out in a squeak. Her eyes didn't leave his, and she felt it again, the tension they had succumbed too a few times before. Her eyes were locked with his, and she felt her palms sweat. For a moment they both seemed to lean in before the fire spat, and Hermione jumped backwards, and they detangled themselves from one another.
She honestly didn't know what to make of these moments, they seemed to be piling up and she knew they meant something. It was nothing that she had ever experienced. A tension seemed to settle over them, and whenever she felt that tension .. she felt drawn to him, towards her best friend! It was atrocious, shocking and almost welcoming. It wasn't a bad feeling, it made her feel warm, and made her want to lean in those few extra inches, just to see what would happen.
Still she didn't. Instead she picked up her wand and extinguished the fire as Harry cleared his throat, and muttered something about how they should go to bed. Hermione nodded immediately in agreement and hurried up the stairs, barely glancing over her shoulder. She quietly tiptoed into her shared room with the other 4th year girls and crawled into bed, pulling the curtains shut around her. It was still early, but thankfully they were all asleep, she'd had enough of them whispering about how much time she was spending with Harry.
As soon as her back hit the bed she let out a deep breath, the tension leaving her body immediately. It was such a strange thing, such a strange feeling, and she wished she knew what it meant. It had never been between them before, and yet now it seemed to be appearing constantly, escalating each time.
With a deep sigh, Hermione curled up, placing her wand under her pillow and biting down on her lip. It took far too long for her to fall asleep, and when she did, green eyes were all she dreamed about.
Harry barely slept that night. When he awoke on Monday morning, he seriously considered for the first time ever just running away from Hogwarts. But as he looked around the Great Hall at breakfast time, and thought about what leaving the castle would mean, he knew he couldn't do it. It was the only place he had ever been happy...well, he supposed he must have been happy with his parents too, but he couldn't remember that.
There was another reason he wanted to stay as well. Hermione. Things didn't seem to be in 'friend' territory anymore, and he wasn't sure what to make of it. Of course they were best friends, he had come to rely on her completely, but there were those moments.. the moments that drove him crazy with wonder. What was going on? Last night they had woken up in each others arms for Christs sake! What did it mean?
It was far too confusing to think about, and so when they met one another in the common room Harry didn't approach the subject and neither did Hermione. Instead they fell into easy conversation, and the tension seemed to disappear. That was another confusing thing, how did they flip flop so easily? One minute it felt as though the air was ripe with tension and anything could happen, and then they were back to being Harry and Hermione, best friends but nothing more.
Gods it was confusing.
Harry had so much to worry about at the moment, he still had no idea how to get past his dragon, and no idea how he would survive the first task. It was too much, and so reluctantly (Harry despised leaving the subject), he didn't bring it up and instead they chatted more and more about the first task, again coming up with nothing.
As they made there way out of the Great Hall, he saw Cedric Diggory leaving the Hufflepuff table.
Cedric still didn't know about the dragons...the only champion who didn't, if Harry was right in thinking that Maxime and Karkaroff would have told Fleur and Krum...
"Hermione, I'll see you in the greenhouses" Harry said, coming to his decision as he watched Cedric leaving the Hall. "Go on, I'll catch you up."
"Harry, you'll be late, the bell's about to ring -"
"I'll catch you up, okay?"
By the time Harry reached the bottom of the marble staircase, Cedric was at the top. He was with a load of sixth-year friends. Harry didn't want to talk to Cedric in front of them; they were among those who had been quoting Rita Skeeter's article at him every time he went near them. He followed Cedric at a distance and saw that he was heading toward the Charms corridor. This gave Harry an idea. Pausing at a distance from them, he pulled out his wand, and took careful aim.
"Diffindo!"
Cedric's bag split. Parchment, quills, and books spilled out of it onto the floor. Several bottles of ink smashed.
"Don't bother," said Cedric in an exasperated voice as his friends bent down to help him. "Tell Flitwick I'm coming, go on..."
This was exactly what Harry had been hoping for. He slipped his wand back into his robes, waited until Cedric's friends had disappeared into their classroom, and hurried up the corridor, which was now empty of everyone but himself and Cedric.
"Hi," said Cedric, picking up a copy of A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration that was now splattered with ink. "My bag just split...brand-new and all..."
"Cedric," said Harry, "The first task is dragons."
"What?" said Cedric, looking up.
"Dragons," said Harry, speaking quickly, in case Professor Flitwick came out to see where Cedric had got to. "They've got four, one for each of us, and we've got to get past them."
Cedric stared at him. Harry saw some of the panic he'd been feeling since Saturday night flickering in Cedric's gray eyes.
"Are you sure?" Cedric said in a hushed voice.
"Dead sure," said Harry. "I've seen them."
"But how did you find out? We're not supposed to know..."
"Never mind," said Harry quickly - he knew Hagrid would be in trouble if he told the truth. "But I'm not the only one who knows. Fleur and Krum will know by now - Maxime and Karkaroff both saw the dragons too."
Cedric straightened up, his arms full of inky quills, parchment, and books, his ripped bag dangling off one shoulder. He stared at Harry, and there was a puzzled, almost suspicious look in his eyes.
"Why are you telling me?" he asked.
Harry looked at him in disbelief. He was sure Cedric wouldn't have asked that if he had seen the dragons himself. Harry wouldn't have let his worst enemy face those monsters unprepared - well, perhaps Malfoy or Snape...
"It's just...fair, isn't it?" he said to Cedric. "We all know now...we're on an even footing, aren't we?"
Cedric was still looking at him in a slightly suspicious way when Harry heard a familiar clunking noise behind him. He turned around and saw Mad-Eye Moody emerging from a nearby classroom.
"Come with me Potter," he growled. "Diggory, off you go"
Harry stared apprehensively at Moody. Had he overheard them?
"Er - Professor, I'm supposed to be in Herbology -"
"Never mind that, Potter. In my office, please..."
The next minutes with Moody seemed to blur, but he left the Professors room feeling a lot more confident. His hands had stopped shaking, and he had a plan.. well at least some semblance of a plan. That was a big step up from the day before, and it was something he was holding onto. He would need Hermione's help though, he would need it desperately.
"Hermione" Harry whispered, when he had sped into greenhouse three minutes later, uttering a hurried apology to Professor Sprout as he passed her (thankfully she just nodded, evidently too happy with his increased work effort to scold him) "Hermione, I've got a plan, and I need your help"
"What d'you think I've been trying to do, Harry?" she whispered back, her eyes round with anxiety over the top of the quivering Flutterby Bush she was pruning. "Tell me, what do we need to do?"
"We need to learn how to do a Summoning Charm properly by tomorrow afternoon"
And so they practiced for what seemed like hours. They didn't have lunch but headed to a free classroom. It was hard and Harry just couldn't seem to do it. Every time he tried the charm it seemed to falter halfway through, and fail. If anything this was making him feel worse, yes it gave him a goal to work towards but the fact he was failing.. it made him feel awful.
"Harry, Harry!" Hermione snapped him out of his thoughts, and glared at him as the book he had been summoning dropped halfway too him. It was clear he wasn't concentrating and he gave her a sheepish grin. He tried again, and again, and again and it just didn't happen, he couldn't do it.
On what must have been the 500th attempt (Hermione had skipped Arithmancy and Harry had a free period), Harry was still struggling and he was again snapped out of his concentration by Hermione, but this time in a very different way. Her hands had gripped his shoulders, and he almost dropped his wand in shock as her hands moved to his face, her eyes blazing.
"Harry, you have to concentrate. This is some mental blockage that we don't have time for" she spoke fiercely, and Harry nodded; she was right. He was letting his fear get in the way and it was stopping him. He didn't have time to worry, he could worry tomorrow, when he was actually facing the dragon. He nodded at her, gritting his teeth, and she stepped aside, her arms crossed as he lifted his wand.
They broke for some dinner at about 6, wolfing it down before returning to an empty classroom, this time under the invisibility cloak. Harry tried to ignore that Hermione was as close to him as she had been the other night, and instead he avoided her eye; he needed to concentrate, he couldn't deal with more tension tonight, as much as he wanted to explore it, tonight was not the night.
They kept practicing until past midnight. They would have stayed longer, but Peeves turned up and, pretending to think that Harry wanted things thrown at him, started chucking chairs across the room. Harry valiantly shielded Hermione from the worst of the onslaught, and they then left in a hurry before the noise attracted Filch, and went back to the Gryffindor common room, which was now mercifully empty.
At two o'clock in the morning, Harry stood near the fireplace, surrounded by heaps of objects: books, quills, several upturned chairs, an old set of Gobstones, and Neville's toad, Trevor. Only in the last hour had Harry really got the hang of the Summoning Charm.
"That's better, Harry, that's loads better" Hermione said, looking exhausted but very please, her eyes shining with pride.
"Well, now we know what to do next time I can't manage a spell," Harry said, throwing a rune dictionary back to Hermione, so he could try again, "Threaten me with a dragon. Right..." He raised his wand once more. "Accio Dictionary!"
The heavy book soared out of Hermione's hand, flew across the room, and Harry caught it.
"Harry, I really think you've got it!" said Hermione delightedly.
"Just as long as it works tomorrow" Harry said "The Firebolt's going to be much farther away than the stuff in here, it's going to be in the castle, and I'm going to be out there on the grounds..."
"That doesn't matter," said Hermione firmly." Just as long as you're concentrating really, really hard on it, it'll come. Harry, we'd better get some sleep...you're going to need it."
so thoughts? I am so sorry this is a bit filler-y! Its necessary for the story. and I apologise the first task hasn't happened yet - it will be the next chapter! that and the ron reunion will be coming, and we will be diverging from canon quite a bit more in the next chapter so buckle up!
also please follow/fav and review - they truly keep me writing.
EDITED: 21/01/2018, syntax/grammar/phrasing fixed, minor changes.