Hermione felt so light after spending the afternoon with Fleur; it took her some time to realize something was off. She was about to step into the castle when she froze and looked around.

The people surrounding her seem to look away, as if they had just been staring at her. She frowned as she kept on walking in. Nope it wasn't her imagination, people were gawking, pointing, whispering…

She wondered for a second if that Skeeter woman had published another piece of rubbish, before blushing hard. This wasn't about some crazy story about her and Harry, this was about her and Fleur. She groaned as she realized what the next article was going to be about.

Everywhere she turned it seemed that people were talking about her. She didn't want to know what was being said. One of her best friends already knew the truth, as for the other, it was Ron, it was bound to be complicated.

She convinced herself she wasn't running away from it all but going to do what she had set her mind on for a while, visiting the kitchen.

She breathed out as soon as she was alone in the corridors, she was doing her best to think about house elves and not what was going to happen once she'd return to her common room. There it was, the painting, she hesitantly tickled the pear, it wiggled and giggled, suddenly it turned into a door handle. Hermione seized it and slowly pulled the door opened. She was amazed by what she saw, the dimension of the room, the high ceiling. The kitchen was just under the great hall and seemed to be the same size. On the stone walls were hanging all sorts of pots and pans, shinning and glittering, giving to the room an unusual lights and atmosphere, finalized by a huge brick fireplace at the other end of the room.

Something laying in front of the fire, covered by a blanket, it was shacking and making strange noises. Sobbing? Wheezing?

The kitchen was noisy most of the time, the elves were working and talking to each other most of the time. They all felt the rush and excitement of visitor coming to see them, someone to please…it all crumbled as they saw who it was, the one who wanted to set them free, the mean one. They weren't sure how they were supposed to act. The dilemma was resolved when the crazy one moved forward.

"Hello Miss. This is Dobby. How can we help you?"

Hermione blinked a few times, at what the house elf was wearing and at the familiar name. "Dobby?"

"Yes Miss"

"As in you used to work for the Malfoy's? Harry's Dobby?"

The house elf eyes grew wider than Hermione thought possible. "This Miss knows Harry Potter?!"

She took a step back at his enthusiasm, she got over the surprise. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself. I'm Hermione Granger" She pulled out her hand to greet the tiny creature and Dobby's eyes started to shine as he used both his hands around hers. "This is an honor to meet one of Harry Potter's best friends"

"Likewise" She gave him a sweet smile. Dobby was shaking as he wiped a tear, still not used to humans treating him with respect. "Is there anything I can help Miss?"

"I…" She stopped when the lump in front of the fire moved, mumbled something. "What is that?"

"Don't worry yourself with Winky. What did you need?"

Hermione's brain was working fast as she was remembering that elf the night after the quidditch world cup's final. "What is she doing here?"

"She was freed by her master Crouch and now she is working with me for Hogwarts"

"Didn't you want to be a free elf?"

"I am! Dobby is free, but Dobby wants to work. Dobby looked and finally Professor Dumbledore hired him, pays him"

"That's great" Commented the brunette.

"It is! But Winky doesn't think so. She just cries and drinks when she should be happy, she should be working" He glared towards the elf in question.

It was so much. She had to find the guys and bring them here. They had to see this, and Harry would probably like to see Dobby again. "Dobby? I'm sorry I have to go. I'll be back shortly with some friends. Harry will be glad to know you are okay" She saw him nodded as she walked out and started to run. She ran all the way up to the Gryffindor tower.

After a few breaks she finally reached her common room, out of breath she didn't pay attention to the fat Lady's attitude an stepped in. As soon as she did she remembered one of the reasons why she disappeared into the kitchen, when she walked in the usual buzz that was there, people talking, stopped. The Gryffindors were staring at her, a few whispered to each other while doing so.

The high she felt from the news she wanted to share with her friends came crashing down. Her heart was still beating really fast, after the run it was her nerves as she made her way across the room towards Harry and Ron.

"Harry…" Her voice wavered as she got close, Ron was looking at her in a strange manner but she looked back at the boy who lived. "Harry, you've got to come – you've got to come, the most amazing thing's happened – please –"

She seized his arm and started to try and pull him up from the couch. She let go and jumped back when Ron suddenly stood up. "The most amazing thing! How dare you?!"

"What?" Was all Hermione could mutter before the read head was yelling again.

"Don't act like you don't know! It's the only thing people have been talking about all day!" She opened and closed her mouth without a sound as Ron kept on going. "How could you…how could you betray…us… like that?!"

Hermione could feel her muscles tense one after the other. She took a step towards Ron who was already standing close to her. They were nose to nose. "Betray you? How am I doing anything that concerns you?"

"You've been parading yourself around school with… one of those French girls!"

"Don't you d…"

"She is competing against Harry! Against Hogwarts! You…you're gullible enough to think this is about something other than the cup! Can't you see you are humiliating yourself?! As if she could really be interested in you!" He took a deep breath in before breathing out "You are fraternizing with the enemy! That's what you are doing! And she is whoring herself out to…!"

In the blink of an eye Hermione had pulled out her want, people surged, but by the time she was pulled back by Harry, Seamus and Neville the young witch had already made Ron scream like a girl with just three words "Ingentem Aranea Erupto!"

A spider had sprung out from the tip of her want, the arachnid was bigger than a large dog and was running after Ron.

A few people screamed in the room, getting as close to the walls or climbing on some furniture as if it could protect them. Neville was squirming but didn't let go while Seamus was just laughing. Harry, who holding the hand in which Hermione was holding her wand, groaned. "Hermione"

Evidently Ron couldn't outrun a spider this size, it grabbed one of his foot pretty fast and was tearing his shoe to pieces but before it could really reach the flesh Harry blasted it away. "Arania Exumai" But instead of moving away the spider exploded, covering the surrounding area with a dark green gooey substance.

Ron was shaking on the floor, looking thankfully at the boy who lived before turning his withering look on the muggle born. He opened his mouth but this time she cut him off.

"You can be as ridiculously stupid as you want but don't ever think you can say anything like that about Fleur in my presence"

He opened his mouth again so she raised her wand. There was a collective gasp, no one dared to move for a minute until surprisingly it was Neville who asked "So are you really going out with Fleur Delacour? I mean…is she your girlfriend?"

Hermione wasn't sure what to expect as she answered with a simple "Yes" She looked warily at her fellow Gryffindor as he laughed awkwardly. She didn't see Seamus move, she staggered as he hit her not so lightly on the shoulder "Alright!"

She slowly lowered her wand without really thinking about it as the boy started to talk about girls. She glanced at Harry who was helping Ron. As if he could feel the look he turned before smirking. There was a silent exchange during that look, as if she was asking him what she was supposed to do and he just shrugged.

Hermione knew she had to let Harry take care of Ron and his ego, while other people were talking to her, this was one of the strangest moment of her life. She doesn't remember much other than she gave one word answers and felt awkward but strangely accepted like she never was before by the boys. She kept on glancing at her best friends regularly until she saw Ron run up the stairs.

She managed to get away from the others to reach Harry. "So?"

"He is mad, feels betrayed and is probably going to have some nightmare about giant spiders again" He gave her a look as he finished, clearing implying it was her fault he was most likely going to be awaken in the middle of the night.

"He went over the line and you know it" Stated Hermione.

"You set some kind of Acromantula on him"

"I know that why we are more or less even at the moment"

Harry felt like rolling his eyes but he knew Hermione could argue her way out of it. Ron wasn't really in danger since it all happened in the crowded common room. And he could understand Hermione's anger. "What he said about Fleur was wrong"

The older girl nodded "Thank you" She thought about the whole situation again, back to the beginning. "I nearly forgot why I came here in the first place. There is something you have to see"

"What's it?"

"I'll show you when we get there" She grabbed his robes and pulled. "Trust me"

Once again a long overdue update. I hope you guys liked it anyway. Feel free to let me know what you think about it.