November 1995

Over the following weeks, Hermione found herself with a bespectacled shadow more and more as the days grew closer to the first task. She wasn't annoyed with Harry per-se, but with most of her free time now occupied by another person, well, it made it hard for her to slip off to places she would rather be. At one point, she had even hidden away in her pouch for hours on end, just to escape it all.

Like today; she had wanted to spend her free period in the woods, amongst the trees and away from all this dramatic bullshit that clung to the angsty students like mosquitos in summer. Instead, she had to keep her word and stick to the Library. Which, y'know, usually wouldn't be a problem (somedays she practically lived there), if it weren't for the loud chittering girls who flittered between the towering bookshelves in flocks of giggles and crimson blushes, as they hunted their most treasured prize: Viktor Krum.

"C'me on, Crooks" Hermione rolled her eyes at a particularly loud squeal, that escaped from a fourth year Ravenclaw who quickly slapped a hand over her mouth when Madam Pince scolded her, and several heads snapped in her direction as if they were any stealthier.

Abandoning Harry at their table and leaving him to the mercies of his latest essay, Hermione trudged further into the library where she eventually found herself lost amongst the books, away from all the (recently arrived) chaos in the rarely used Muggle section. Madam Pince may have been a Pureblood, but she'd been quoted on many an occasion stating that she'd be "…damned if she didn't include all manner of books in her library!"

Compared to the rest of the library, the Muggle section barely took up two bookcases (front and back), and mostly consisted of cheesy romance novels. There were a couple of saucier novels (that Hermione would never admit to have read), a fair amount of fiction (though some had been incorrectly labelled as non-fiction) and only a couple of scientific texts.

In her opinion, these were really the only books that held any real merit, as the others shelved there, came from the Wizarding perspective and portrayed Muggles as wicked beings out to steal or eat yourselves and/or your children. All very medieval, really.

"Nice and cozy there, Crooks?" Hermione smiled, running her fingers through his long ginger belly fur receiving a rather loud purr that seemed to vibrate along the wooden shelves. Crookshanks— who usually took to the library to sleep— had curled up at the end of the fourth shelf where he acted as a make-shift bookend for the romance section.

Shaking her head fondly at her familiar, she wordlessly rose into the air with feet tucked beneath her as if she was seated comfortably on the ground. Normally, flying or anything related to it, wasn't something that Hermione was up for—at least not the Wizarding way. Put her on a plane or up a skyscraper, and she was happy as could be; but the moment you put her on a broom or floated her higher than the top bookshelf…well, everyone has their fears, don't they?

She'd gotten better at it though. Currently, she could go to the top of the library's bookcases without feeling like her heart was in her mouth, which—if you actually took into consideration, how tall they really were—wasn't too far off the height a broom would normally go to. But Hermione liked to be in control, and you'd never know with a broom. Harry's resulting Quidditch injuries haven't really helped things either.

Hermione ran her tongue along the bottom of her front teeth in thought, a little vindictive smirk making its way onto her lips as her thoughts turned to the incident as she replaced the books she had read with new ones.

Following Malfoy's "battle" in the hallway outside the potion's classroom, all those weeks ago, Hermione had hurried off to the hospital wing where she had met up with a boil-covered Goyle and a ferreted-Malfoy. Both Purebloods had insisted on being examined first, which had irritated her somewhat but she hadn't been able to protest much with the ever enlarging buck teeth now scraping her collarbones.

Instead she had been forced to sit and watch as Malfoy's ferret face had receded back into its usual holier-than-thou smirk and had to listen to Goyle whine and complain as every single boil popped and disappeared.

When Madam Pomfrey had finally got around to treating her, the poor witch had tears streaming down her cheeks from the pain and the embarrassment of it. Pomfrey had lightly scolded her for not saying anything sooner— which Hermione had mentally scoffed at—before the nurse went about resizing her two front teeth.

The ornate hand-held mirror that Pomfrey had handed to Hermione was silver in colour and slightly oval-shaped. The entire frame consisted of Celtic engravings that wrapped around the border of the mirror and ended in a small handle at the base of it. Hermione had thought it pretty, and she probably would have said so, if it weren't for the wand halfway down her throat and receding teeth in her mouth.

"Just tell me when they're back to normal" Madam Pomfrey had reminded Hermione for the nth time as the Gryffindor watched her two front teeth shrink. Now, normally, Hermione was a stickler for the rules—until they needed to be broken, of course—but she also dreaded how her parents had mentioned she would be getting braces for those two specific teeth. So when the opportunity arose, Hermione chose to take it by the horns, so to speak.

"Ngh!" Hermione had garbled just as her two front teeth shrunk down to the perfect size—a couple sizes shorter than what they had been originally.

Another particularly loud squeal from down below brought Hermione out of her thoughts, and scaring Crookshanks from his nap where he climbed her like a tree. Mindless of the claws digging into her shoulder, Hermione hoisted herself up onto the top of the bookcase where she made herself comfortable.

Setting her things aside, Hermione pulled out her Dad's old walkman & pulled on a set of foam headphones as she flipped through the songs on this side of the cassette tape labelled, "Bob's Totally Tubular Tunes!" in her Dad's messy handwriting.

Eventually picking one, Hermione sat back as The Who's "Baba O'Riley" washed through her ears and she flipped through the large marine life textbook in her lap. Like she'd told Victoria, she thought that her Animagus might be some kind of piscivore; during her daily prayers and meditations that morning, she could've sworn she saw the outline of the creature. If not that, then the sudden change in her diet had indicated what kind of animal she might be.

As it was, Hermione had taken to the library to see if she could find something—anything—that matched what she had seen. Flicking through the vinyl pages, Hermione absentmindedly stroked Crookshanks' fur as he stretched out in the sun patch and fluffing up her schoolbag. The pages of the textbook were filled colourful diagrams and long Latin scientific names of every creature, plant and mineral you could ever associate with the sea. From tiny plankton to twisting kelp to great big blue whales and back again.

Humming along to "Rasputin" she nodded her head and bopped her feet back and forth over the side of the bookcase, in time to the beat as she read through the section on semi-aquatic animals. Just as she had begun to read the page on the otters, Hermione was interrupted once more by the rise in high-pitched chattering down below.

Glancing down over the sides, Hermione noticed that Krum had come to (unsuccessfully) hide amongst the Muggle section just as she had done. "For Hecate's sake!" Hermione scoffed, rolling her eyes and swinging her legs back on top of the bookcase as his fans tried to hone on him once more.

It would not do well to get involved in that crap. Hermione shook her head as she turned up the volume on the walkman and focused again on the book in her lap. The article that Rita Skeeter had released not long after the choosing of the champions had painted Harry as a cry-baby and wanna-be star in a sordid love affair with herself.

All poppycock of course, but the Daily Prophet was a well-read gossip rag that many witches and wizards subscribed to—herself included. Although, that didn't mean you could always count on them to print the truth. Then again, the truth didn't always make for a good story, so there's that. Hermione often compared them to the Daily Mail in that way.

Just as the walkman ticked over to "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" the clearing of a throat brought her out of her thoughts again. "What?!" Hermione snapped, annoyed at being interrupted for the umpteenth time that day. But she stopped at the sudden appearance of the Durmstrang golden boy before her.

Krum was a surly fellow—no matter what Ron said otherwise—his skin was sallow in colour and the dark buzzed hair cut he wore made his little beady eyes appear more sunken in and darker than they already were. Krum looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't know quite how to say it. Eventually he spat out "…Vy are you up 'ere?"

"For peace and quiet" Hermione sighed in barely contained irritation, "Or so I thought"

"Sorry?"

"It's fine" Though her tone clearly said otherwise, "It's not like there's any other places to study anyway"

"…You vere vith Potter on the first night…" Krum tried.

"Mm" Hermione kept her eyes on the book in her lap, resolutely reading through the same paragraph over and over again despite her best efforts, "He's a good friend"

"…And you know Bulgarian?" He tried again, his thick accent making the words hard to hear.

"German" She sharply corrected, "And I don't speak it much"

Despite her clipped answers, Krum didn't seem to be getting the hint and clearly looked liked he wanted to say more, that was until a particularly loud squeal sounded from the bottom right, "Up there! Krum!" where Krum's fans had gathered to squeal and point at the Seeker. And from the bottom right, stood Harry, " 'Mione! I'm all done, let's go!"

Heaving a sigh and rolling her eyes as she went, Hermione stuffed her things into her pouch (including Crookshanks who mrrowed in protest) before she tipped over the edge of the bookcase and free-fell to the floor. A wordless Arresto Momentum! caught her fall mere meters above the ground and caused Harry to breathe a "Merlin!" in surprise at her sudden appearance.


On the Saturday before the final task, everyone in third year and above had been given permission to visit Hogsmeade Village. Hermione didn't need to persuade Harry that much to get out of bed, though something seemed to be lost in communication between the two. Hermione had—fruitlessly—hoped that Harry would take the time to make up with Ron. Instead, Harry had insisted that if he was going to Hogsmeade, then it would be underneath his Invisibility Cloak.

"Oh Harry, this is so stupid—!" Hermione complained to the open air for the umpteenth time that morning as she tugged on the long sleeves of her striped sweater.

"No, I told you, I'll only come if under the Cloak and I'm not meeting Ron" Harry reiterated irritably from next to her.

"Oh alright!—" Hermione snapped, "—But I hate talking to you in that cloak, I never know if I'm looking at you or not"

"That's not my problem"

"Fine, but don't blame me for what you see in here" Hermione retorted as she led Harry down the stairwell towards the little hole-in-the-wall café shop called 'Loch & Keye'

"What are we even doing here, 'Mione?" Harry quickly followed after the witch as she descended the twisting iron stairs.

"I told you, I'm meeting some friends here"

Loch & Keye was a quaint little café that sat in the crack between Wizarding Wireless Network and The Magic Neep. The café consisted of the main floor which held the cozy little booths and tables amongst the ivy-covered walls. The twisting staircase that descended into the café was also broken up by three large bird cages that held more dining areas.

All around the room, multicoloured Puffskeins were gobbling up the leftovers scattered about on dirty plates and a Kneazle or two stalked the floors looking more than happy with themselves. And the sound of the brass gramophone in the corner quietly crackled throughout the small shop, playing a mixture of Muggle and Magical songs. All in all, the wooden-encrusted shop gave off a rather homey—if not indy—feel when you entered.

"What? Like…Anderson?" Harry vaguely recalled the ginger from the Cup at the beginning of the year.

"Among others" Hermione replied padding over to the birdcage booth on the other side of the room where her friends already sat. Emilia, Lila and Charlotte had seated themselves along the back wall where they sipped at a shared kettle of steaming tea. While Victoria and Luna sat at either ends of the table, leaving Sophie on the other side of the table.

The little nook in which they had set themselves up in, was decorated with large squishy cushions and pillows that were tucked away in the back corner around the table. A single light floated above them, casting the nook into a warm and hazy glow, that bounced off of the wooden table.

"Mia! There you are! We were wondering where you had gotten to!" Emilia smiled, "Budge up, 'Medes, let 'er in!" The girls shuffled around, creating just enough space for Hermione to squeeze in next to Sophie and Luna.

"Mia, are you all right?" Luna asked dreamily, tilting her head to the side in question as she gazed at the spot where an invisible Harry stood. The young Ravenclaw cast a knowing glance towards him, and shifted over just enough to give him a place to sit.

"Yeah, why?" Hermione replied seating herself down at the table.

" 'Cause you've got a number of Wrackspurts clinging to you" She replied as if it were obvious; adjusting her Spectrespecs as she did so.

"Nah, it's just the one, I think. It's very stubborn" Hermione turned to lightheartedly glare at Harry, who sheepishly joined sat down next to her.

" 'Mione, what are Wrackspurts?" Harry whispered into Hermione's ear.

"Apparently, they're invisible creatures that float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy" Hermione replied out of the corner of her mouth.

"Wait! Are you saying she can see me?!"

"S'posedly, those specs are meant to see Wrackspurts; though it's more than likely just the Seelie blood in her"

"Wha—?"

"Well, anyway—" Emilia cut in, "—You're just in time! We've already ordered—we got you a Crazy Crup—and the high teas are on their way!"

"Crazy Crup?" Hermione questioned, "And what does that entail?"

"Ha!" Lila snorted at the untended pun, "Entail!"

"You know what I mean" Hermione stuck her tongue out at the girl, before turning back to Emilia.

"Hmm…" Luna double-checked the menu in front of her, "It says here, that a Crazy Crup is '…a chocolate thickshake drizzled with raspberry and caramel sauces, topped with whipped cream and served in a deliciously tall chocolate goblet. Topped with two slices of Wakey-Up! Brew brownies and a garnish of Honeyduke's chocolate; this dessert is a must for chocolate lovers!"

"I do love chocolate" Hermione agreed.

"Oh we know!" Charlotte shared a conspiratorial grin.

"Oh like you're any better?" Hermione sassed.

"I wasn't the one who hid a three foot chocolate dragon in her room!"

"That was one time!"

"Oh really? Then how about the time you lied to a certain DADA teacher, just so you could raid his chocolate stash?" Lila grinned, jumping in on the fun. Hermione could practically hear Harry's jaw drop to the floor, as the conversation continued on.

"HEY!—" Hermione pointed a finger at the two of them, "—You promised not to bring that up again!"

"But it's just so—"

"—Alright, that's enough!" Emilia laughed bemusedly as Hermione's cheeks tinted red in her lighthearted frustration, "Besides our food is here!"

"Ooh! I wanna take a photo!" Victoria jumped to her feet and pulled out a disposable Kodak camera from her pocket, "Everyone say 'cheese!"


The rest of the afternoon had been splattered with copious amounts of food, laughter and the stiff form of Harry, still hidden beneath the Invisibility cloak as he tried his best not to make any noise or give the girls a reason to think that he was there. Although, Luna often sent him amused or knowing looks from behind her rose-tinted Spectrespecs throughout the entire afternoon. It was almost as if she had known he was there, especially when she had slipped him a couple of sandwiches and cakes. Eventually, when dusk began to break on the horizon, the group disembarked from the small café and set off in different directions, promising to meet up again sometime later.

"Oh!" Hermione let out a small gasp when she very nearly bumped into Hagrid and Moody as the two professors trudged down the path. Harry—who upon stopping just shy of bumping into Hermione herself—went to wave at Hagrid when he remembered that Hagrid couldn't see him.

Moody, however, paused as his magical eye zoomed in on the area where Harry was standing. A quick tap to Hagrid's arm and a quick mutter to the half-giant had the pair of them, turn to face the two Gryffindors.

"All right there, Hermione?" Hagrid spoke loudly, as if that would seem more natural or pierce through the layers of enchantment upon the cloak.

"Hello" Hermione smiled. Moody limped over and bent down as if to tie his shoelaces, until he muttered.

"Nice cloak, Potter" Harry stared at the DADA professor in amazement. The large chunk missing from Moody's nose was particularly obvious when it was shoved into Harry's face.

"Can your eye—I mean, can you—?" Harry stammered.

"Yeah, it can see through Invisibility cloaks" Moody grinned, "And it's come in useful at times, I can tell you"

Hagrid was beaming down at Harry too, though that was because Moody had told him that he was there, not because he could see him. Next, Hagrid bent down and busied his hands with the items in his cauldron, as he whispered to Harry. "Harry, meet me at midnight at me cabin. Wear the cloak" Straightening up, Hagrid spoke loudly again, "Nice tea see yeh, 'Ermione" He winked at the pair and then departed with Moody trailing after him.

"Why does Hagrid want to meet me at midnight?" Harry turned to Hermione, very surprised.

"I dunno" Hermione shrugged, her gaze following the pair as they disappeared down the path "I wonder what he's up to? I don't know if you should go Harry—" Hermione glanced suspiciously over her shoulder before continuing, "—It might make you late for Sirius. I s'pose you could always send Hedwig down to Hagrid with a letter saying you can't go…"

"No, it'll just be easier to get Hagrid's thing over with as quickly as possible" Harry rebutted.

"Well, if you say so…"


At half past eleven that night, Hermione watched as Harry quietly slipped from the common room with the Cloak tucked under his arm. Not half an hour later, when she was tucked away in bed, her thoughts still continued to swirl around her brain making it hard for her to fall asleep.

Ugh! Hermione tossed and turned, at first shoving her pillow over her head to block out Lavender's chainsaw snores and then curling up into a ball as if to keep the pounding thoughts at bay, as if she pretended to fall asleep, then she actually would. Of course, it didn't work.

Much like when she craved chocolate when she was menstruating, Hermione craved swimming beneath the dark waters of the Great Lake—or just swimming in general. To feel the cold waves lap at her bare skin as she dove in and out of the currents beneath the surface of the Lake. To dance freely beneath the waves like she was an acrobat in the circus. To just be herself, wild and free.

In the end, Hermione threw back her covers and slipped her black robes on cover her Star Trek pyjamas. Quietly trekking down the moving staircases, Hermione made sure to stick to the shadows as she went, easily outmanoeuvring the Prefects and Professors on patrol. It was almost to easy to make her way down to the Forest, and then onto the Lakeside.

Shedding her robe and pyjamas and leaving them folded up on the shore, Hermione waded into the cold waters until she was up to her waist. Ignoring the goosebumps that decorated her skin, Hermione cast a quick Bubblehead charm before she dove down into the watery depths.

Circe's tits! This is just what I needed! Hermione grinned as she swam about, twisting and twirling under the water. She almost felt euphoric as she dared to pass by the large aquarium windows that opened into the Slytherin common room. Mindless of her current dress—or lack there of—Hermione twisted closer and cheekily waved at a red-cheeked Malfoy who lounged in a nearby chair, before swimming off back into the dark waters. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione watched as the blonde blinked rapidly as if he was trying to wake himself up from some kind of dream.

That reaction'll be fun to see tomorrow! She thought as she broke the surface of the water and lazily floated about on her back. Up above her, the stars glittered like diamonds in the sky, shining ever so bright and twinkling as the light bounced off of them.

The waxing moonlight bounced off of everything it touched; from the curved slopes of her bare breasts to the sturdy stone bricks of Hogwarts castle, to the shiny surface of the vast Lake and to the wooden slats of the Durmstrang ship where it was moored next to the docks. Oh yes! Hermione closed her eyes and smiled blissfully, This is exactly what I needed.

Her peace was soon shattered however, when a loud splash off to the side caught her attention. "Ah!" She let out a small yelp as she dropped her body back beneath the surface of the water, at the appearance of another head in such close range.

"Don't vorry, I have you" Came the familiarly thick accent of the infamous Bulgarian Seeker.

"…What?" Hermione turned confusedly to the teen in front of her.

"I am helping you out of trouble" Krum replied. And he did seem to be trying his best to help her, although his red-tinted cheeks and hesitant hands showed how he was really feeling.

"Do I look in trouble to you?" Still high on the endorphins flowing through her system, Hermione was less than reserved when she pressed in close to the Seeker until only a few centimetres separated the two.

"No…you look…" Krum's Adam's apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed harshly and his dark eyes blew wide.

"Yes…?" Hermione smirked, moonlight bouncing off of her wet figure.

"По дяволите, как да кажа…I am not good vith vords"

"Then show me" Hermione purred. That was the boy needed, as the two became entangled together, pressing so close that they were practically one person. The normally quiet and reserved Bulgarian Seeker, was devilish in his actions as he all but devoured the Gryffindor bookworm amongst the cold waves of the Great Lake.