Hi all! I am soooooo so so sorry this has taken so long! I've been super busy at work and honestly just procrastinating! But here we are! THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT! Now, I was going to have the Yule Ball in this chapter, but it started to get too long and I wanted to get this out ASAP since it's been so long! Here's this and hopefully it won't take me too long to get the next chapter out! I'm soooo excited to write that one (winkwink)
Just a couple notes for this chapter:
If it looks familiar, it's because I followed along heavily with the Goblet of Fire movie! I needed an outline to base this on, so you'll find a lot of that in here! I definitely did NOT create that, and I'm just using it for my own creative purposes!
And also, just a reminder that because Tom never became Voldemort, Harry's parents are alive, and Barty Crouch Jr. never showed up as Mad Eye Moody so he won't be in this and no one submitted Harry for the tournament!
Thank you to everyone again who has read, reviewed, liked, followed, etc.! You guys are why I'm doing this!
September 1st, 2018
Hermione waves a final goodbye to her parents as she climbs the steps onto the Hogwarts Express for her 5th year. She moves Crookshank's carrier in front of her to make room for others as she walks down the aisle, looking in each compartment in search of her friends.
"Hermione!"
She whips her head up and beams as she spots Pansy sticking her head out of a compartment down the row. Pansy waves her over and she apologizes as she moves passed people to make her way down the cramped aisle.
As she finally steps into the compartment, she spots Daphne and her younger sister Astoria seated on a bench. Daphne jumps up and her and Pansy crush Hermione into a hug.
"Hermione! I missed you so much!" Daphne exclaims.
"I missed you guys, too!"
"How was your summer?" Pansy asks. "Did you have fun traveling?"
"It was great! I'm glad to be headed back to school and to see all of you, though!"
As the girls pull away from her, they each grab ahold of one of her hands and hold her arms out.
"Damn, Hermione! Where did these boobs come from?" Pansy questions with a wink.
Face growing red, Hermione pulls at her arms to cross over her chest, but the girls refuse to let go.
"And those curves!" Daphne pulls her forward and leans over to look behind her. "And that butt! Summer did you very well, Hermione."
To her absolute horror, Draco, Zabini, and Theo chose that moment to walk into the compartment. The girls finally allow her to rip her arms away to wrap them around herself as she plops down on the bench next to a grinning Astoria. They giggle as the boys start to take their seats.
"They're not wrong, Granger," Theo says with a smirk as he looks her up and down.
"You're looking very womanly this year," Blaise throws in.
"Hey!" Draco whacks them both on the back of their heads. "You lot better watch the way you talk about her," he says as he throws a meaningful glare their way.
Hermione throws him a grateful smile and they all quickly switch to talking about their summers as the train sets off towards Hogwarts.
The rest of Hermione's time on the train was spent on more innocent topics that were not about her newfound curves. Halfway through the ride, Hermione, Draco, and Pansy had to leave their friends to head towards their first prefect meeting of the year. Hermione proudly showcasing her prefect badge the whole ride.
Now, the three of them are walking through the Entrance Hall doors into the school.
Well, hurrying may be more accurate in her case.
She spent the summer traveling Europe with her parents and wasn't able to make what has become her customary summer visit to Malfoy Manor.
Meaning: she hasn't seen Tom since school let out at the beginning of summer.
They've written of course, but even that was few and far between because of how busy she was. Neither of them is accustomed to such little contact with each other.
They've grown quite close over the last four years. Practically best friends. At least, Hermione thinks of him in that way. She knows it's strange for a professor to befriend a student, but—despite how old he actually is—physically, Tom is young and very close to Hermione's age. They have a lot of similarities and they spend so much time together, both in school and out at the Malfoy's, that a friendship was bound to happen.
While she had a spectacular time traveling with her parents and spending much needed time with them, she couldn't help but to agonize over her missed time with her best friend.
This brings her to the present, where she's finally about to make her way through the doors of the Great Hall. She can feel his magic and she knows that he's already in there and she needs to see him.
She accidentally bumps into Draco as she tries to push her way through the crowd to get into the hall faster.
"Oi, watch out, Hermione!" Draco rubs against his side that's surely stinging from the sharp point of her elbow.
A guilty look crosses her face. "Sorry, Draco."
"He's not going anywhere, you know," he says with a smirk. "He'll still be there whenever you walk in. No need to get physical."
Her guilt is quickly replaced with a glare that she throws over her shoulder at him. He just laughs as they walk through the doors and separate to go to their respective House tables.
As she slowly pushes her way through the crowd and to a seat at the Gryffindor table closest to the head table, she finally spots him.
Tom is sitting in his usual seat next to Professor Snape and he already has his eyes on her. She smiles wide and lifts her hand high above the other students, waving it frantically at him. His standard blank expression relaxes into a smile and he sends her a smaller, more graceful wave back. Her brow furrows as she takes in how exhausted he looks. Even from far away, she can spot the dark circles under his eyes and the sag of his shoulders.
She lets out a startled yelp as she's tugged sharply to the side by a hand on her elbow.
She whips around, mouth open and ready to snap, but she closes it when she notices Neville sitting behind her.
"Sorry, Hermione! You weren't paying attention, and someone was about to run into you."
"Thank you, Neville! I was distracted," she says as she turns back Tom's way. He's facing Snape, looking deep in conversation, so she turns back around and settles onto the bench beside Neville.
The last of the students file into the Great Hall and take their seats. The room buzzes with the sound of excited chatter for few minutes until it filters off as Professor McGonagall ushers the first years in to be sorted. The sorting goes by quickly, Hermione and Neville cheering along when someone is sorted into Gryffindor and politely clapping for the other houses.
After the last student is sorted and sits with their new housemates, Dumbledore stands to give his welcoming speech.
"Welcome, everyone. I have some special news for all of you this year. This castle will not only be your home this year, but it will also be home to some very special gets." He pauses as murmurs of speculation vibrate through the room. "You see, Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event: the Triwizard Tournament."
Gasps and cheers erupt from students throughout the hall. Hermione looks across the table to Fred and George Weasley as they high five and animatedly start throwing words back and forth.
"What's the Triwizard Tournament?" she asks aloud to the table, confused.
Dumbledore continues before anyone can answer. "For those of you who do not know, the Triwizard Tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school, a single student is chosen to compete." Hermione looks down the table and sees Ron thumping his chest at this. Clearly thinking he'll be chosen. She rolls her eyes. "Let me be clear: if chosen, you stand alone. Trust me when I say, these contests are not for the faint of heart." A somber silence hangs over the room. Brightly, he continues, "But more of that later! For now, please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and their Headmistress, Madame Maxime."
Hermione's attention turns to the entrance doors as they burst open and the most elegant and graceful girls she's ever seen float into the room. She rolls her eyes as she sees the boys around her mooning at the sight of them. Her eyes widen and she gapes as she notices the giant woman trailing along after them. She's easily the tallest woman she's ever seen.
"That's one big woman," she hears Seamus say to Ron. She nods her head to herself in agreement.
Students stand to applaud and whistle as they stop at the head table. The boys the loudest of the lot. Hermione slowly claps as she looks around in bewilderment.
Dumbledore greets Madame Maxime and kisses her outstretched hand before making his way back to the podium. "Now our friends from the north," he says. "Please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang, and their Highmaster, Igor Karkaroff."
They all turn back to the doors as a group of rugged and burly boys march in, thumping staffs on the ground and chanting. They all sit up and gasp as the Durmstrang boys rush forward and some start to do cartwheels and flips down the aisle.
Hermione vaguely hears Ron exclaim, "Blimey, it's him! Viktor Krum!" She watches as a boy a couple of years older than them storms towards the front of the room, a man who she assumes is Igor Karkaroff close at his heels. They make their way to the front of the room and Dumbledore greets Karkaroff with a hug.
As Karkaroff steps to the side, Dumbledore rushes forward. "Hogwarts! Let's entertain our friends in the best way we can." He raises his arms. "All stand!"
Hermione turns to Neville and they roll their eyes at each other as they all start in on their school song. They smile as they see the bewildered looks on the visiting students' faces. She looks towards Draco and laughs as she sees him barely moving his lips along to the words. Then there's Tom and Professor Snape, reluctantly standing but mouths as tight as if they were sewn together. She smiles fondly as they finally finish with the song and sit to eat.
Midway through the meal, Filch and a couple other men lift in a large golden statue decorated with extravagant jewels and patterns. Dumbledore gets up from his seat and walks over to stand beside it.
"Attention, please," he says. "I'd like to say a few words. Eternal glory. That's what awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament. But to do this, that student must survive three tasks. Three extremely dangerous tasks."
"Wicked," Fred and George say. Hermione breathes out an exasperated sigh.
"For this reason, the Ministry has seen fit to impose a new rule. To explain all of this, we have the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Mr. Bartemius Crouch." A man in Ministry robes makes his way up to the platform to join Dumbledore by the statue. The man clears his throat, quieting the students.
"After due consideration, the Ministry has concluded that for their own safety, no student under the age of 17 should be allowed to put forth their name for the Triwizard Tournament," he says along with growing jeers of outrage from all of the underage students. "This decision is final!"
"That's rubbish! That's rubbish! You don't know what you're doing!" Fred and George yell out across the hall. Many students joining in their exclamations. The twins are in their 7th year, but they're still 16 for another couple of months.
"I think that's perfectly reasonable," she whispers in Neville's ear amid the shouts and complaints. "If it's as dangerous as they're saying, then it makes sense that only a student of age should be allowed to enter."
Neville nods in agreement and opens his mouth to reply, but snaps it shut as Dumbledore yells for silence.
They all turn their attention forward to see Dumbledore lift his wand to the top of the statue. Slowly, the outside of it dissolves to reveal a goblet. They all stare, speechless, as a bright blue flame appears above it.
"The Goblet of Fire!" Dumbledore announces. "Anyone wishing to submit themselves to the tournament need only write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour on Thursday night. Do not do so lightly. If chosen, there's no turning back. As from this moment, the Triwizard Tournament has begun."
Announcements done for the evening, they all return to their meal. Hermione chats with Neville about their classes tomorrow, ignoring the chatter about the tournament.
"Absolute bloody rubbish that there's an age limit. If the Goblet chooses whoever is worthy, then why should it matter how old they are?" she hears Ron complain.
Unable to help herself, she angles herself towards him. "You heard Professor Dumbledore, Ronald. These games are dangerous. They're smart to not let anyone underage participate. Imagine a student who only has an introductory level of teaching being chosen. That's highly dangerous and it would be reckless of them to let something like that happen."
He rolls his eyes. "I highly doubt someone that young would even be chosen, Hermione. How could they be worthy if they barely know any spells?"
"Maybe they're worthy in personality and bravery, but not in their level of magic. Anything can happen, Ron."
He opens his mouth to retort again, but before he can she continues. "Regardless, I think it's stupid either way. It's completely mad to expect children, even those of age, to participate in such a dangerous tournament for strictly the sake of others' entertainment," she huffs.
Ron's eyes light and his face grows red with anger. "You don't know anything, Hermione! Why don't stick to your books and leave the real stuff to us? You're always stuffed up in the library or in Riddle's office. You couldn't possibly understand something as important as this. Why don't you go kiss Riddle's arse like you always do and get out of our hair?"
The twins gasp in indignation on her behalf.
"Oi!"
"Hey now!"
Even Harry jumps in. "Ron, that was uncalled for."
Too furious to argue any further, she jumps up from the table and storms out of the Great Hall. As she leaves, she hears Ron reply back to Harry, "What? She's a right know-it-all and I'm sick of her haughty attitude."
She steams as she stomps up the stairs and through the halls. Ever since Tom scolded Ron for making fun of her in first year, he's been fine to her. Not nice, and she's heard plenty of jabs towards her from him, but he's never been outright cruel. She knows that she riled him up with her remarks about the tournament, but he needs to grow up and not be so hotheaded. What an absolute child. He has no reason to even be mad; he would never be deemed worthy to compete in the games.
Belatedly, she realizes she's unconsciously made her way to Tom's office. Knowing he's still in the Great Hall, but that he won't care, she makes her way inside and sits at her normal seat while she stews in anger.
She jumps as the door slams open and Tom comes barreling into the room. His eyes lock onto her and he intently moves her way.
"To—"
"What did he say to you?" he demands as he finally stops in front of her.
"I—he—who—what?" she stammers.
He leans in close, hands on the armrests on either side of her. "That bumbling idiot, Weasley. What did he say that upset you?"
She blushes at his proximity. "Nothing. It's not important."
"What. Did. He. Say." If possible, he leans in closer.
Hesitantly, she answers, "It's stupid. We were arguing about the tournament and he made some rude comments. They just made me angry. It's really not a big deal."
"What kind of comments?"
She sighs. "Just that I'm a know-it-all and I should stick to my books and I couldn't possibly understand this situation. That I'm always in the library and here and that I should—" she cuts herself off before she can repeat the end of what Ron had said. Her face grows red in embarrassment at the thought.
"That you should what, Hermione?" His eyes dart between hers, demanding that she answer.
Her face heats even more and she stares at the wall over his shoulder. "That I should go kiss your arse like I always do and get out of their hair."
He inhales sharply through his nose and pushes himself up, his body tense. She misses the way his eyes flash silver as he turns away from her. She counts a full minute before he turns back around, eyes back to normal and his body more relaxed.
"Weasley is an imbecile. Don't take anything he says to heart."
"I don't," she huffs and crosses her arms. He looks down at the movement and his eyes narrow. She glances down and sees that the pressure has pushed up her breasts and emphasizes how much they've grown over the summer. She jerks her arms back to her sides and avoids his eyes. "He just made me mad. I don't seriously care what he thinks."
"Good," he says. "You're better than him."
She opens her mouth to protest, knowing no one is better than anyone else, but he interrupts.
"That's enough of that." He walks around her to sit at his desk. "Tell me about your summer."
She smiles as she starts to tell him about her time with her parents, Ron and his annoying comments forgotten.
On Monday, during a break in their classes, some of the students make their way to the Great Hall to watch as students throw their name into the Goblet of Fire. Hermione couldn't care less, but Draco, Blaise, and Theo dragged her along with them to watch.
She soon realized they only wanted to make fun of everyone that they thought was unworthy of the chance. She's sure her eyes are one more roll away from just falling out. She opens a book and tries to ignore them.
She looks up at one point to see a Hufflepuff, Cedric Diggory, walk in and throw his name in the Goblet amid loud cheers from the crowd. She vaguely knows of him, but she thinks she has heard that he's pretty crafty with a wand.
"I really wish I could support that one, but anyone from Hufflepuff is already out in my book," Theo says from behind her.
"Mhmm," Draco and Blaise reply. She rolls her eyes yet again.
Fred and George come running into the room, shouting and jumping around to the cheers of the students surrounding them. They each throw a hand holding a potion vial up into the air with a shout.
"We did it!" exclaims George.
"An aging potion!" Fred explains.
"It's not going to worrrkk," she says, her voice lilting up on the last word.
The twins jump onto the bench behind her, the Slytherin boys moving out of the way with disgusted grunts. Fred and George crowd around either side of her.
"And why is that?"
"You see this line?" She motions to the magical line surrounding the Goblet. "That's an age restriction line. Dumbledore himself drew it. I don't think a simple potion is going to able to trick it."
"Ye of little faith."
They straighten up and clink the vials together before downing them. They clasp hands and jump off the bench over the age line. For a second, everyone holds their breath. After nothing happens, the room begins to cheer. The twins rush forward and throw their names into the Goblet and almost instantly, their faces start to grow wrinkles and long gray beards as the Goblet rejects their submissions.
Hermione chuckles and shakes her head as everyone laughs and starts cheering on the now fighting redheads.
The room goes silent as the doors swing open and Karkaroff walks in with Viktor Krum. Everyone turns to stare at them as they make their way into the room. Viktor crosses over the age line with no problem and submits his name into the Goblet.
He turns to leave the room, but before he walks off, he locks eyes with Hermione and he sends her a smirk. She quickly turns back to her book, face flushing red.
As the doors close behind them, the room thunders with the sudden noise of people talking—the boys exclaiming their admiration for Krum and the girls fawning over his looks.
Hermione startles as someone grabs onto her shoulders and shakes her.
"Did you see the way he looked at you?!" Theo asks as he grips onto her.
"Krum gave you the eyes, Granger. Damn," Blaise waggles his eyebrows.
Draco stays quiet as the other two boys continue to harass her.
She slams her book closed and jumps up. "I'll see you all in class," she tells them as she grabs her bag and scurries out of the room and away from their laughs.
That Friday, the day after the cutoff for competing in the tournament, the whole school and all the visitors gather in the Great Hall for the choosing of the champions.
"Now the moment you've all been waiting for!" Dumbledore says as he reaches out to dim the fire lighting the room. He grabs onto the Goblet, then takes a step back as the fire changes color and spits out a piece of parchment. Dumbledore catches the paper and gently opens it. "The Durmstrang champion is," he gives a slight pause. "Viktor Krum!"
Everyone claps as Viktor's friends cheer and thump him on the back as he stands up to move towards Dumbledore, shaking his hand before he's ushered out of the room.
The Goblet spits out another name and Dumbledore announces, "The Beauxbatons champion is Fleur Delacour!" Applause rings out as a beautiful blonde shakes Dumbledore's hand and makes her way through to where Viktor exited.
Dumbledore grabs for the final piece of parchment and exclaims, "The Hogwarts champion: Cedric Diggory!" Thunderous applause shakes the room as all the Hogwarts students stand to cheer for their champion. Cedric follows Viktor and Fleur's lead and exits the room.
"Didn't see that one coming," Draco says from beside her.
Arms wide, Dumbledore yells out, "Excellent! We now have our three champions." Solemnly he adds, "But in the end, only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champions. This vessel of victory. The Triwizard Cup!" He spins around as Mr. Crouch whips the cloth cover off of a shining blue cup. Cheers ring through the room and students from each school begin to chant the name of their champion in support.
Hermione shakes her head at the extravagance of it all, but she's moved into chanting and clapping along by her friends.
They're all calmed down and instructed to head back to their dorms for the night. Hermione waves goodbye to her friends as they separate in the Entrance Hall—her going up and them going down.
By Thursday, the talk of the tournament has tremendously calmed down. Hermione is very grateful for that fact seeing as how it's her 16th birthday. She's pretty sure she would explode if the only thing people were talking about on her birthday was this reckless competition. Thankfully, with the first competition months away, it's moved to the back of everyone's minds for now.
As Hermione walks down the steps on her way to the Great Hall for breakfast, she's accosted by her large group of Slytherin friends.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" They all scream, running to pull her down the stairs and into a group hug. She laughs as they squeeze her as tight as they can.
"Stop! I can't breathe!" she manages to get out between her laughs.
They release her and proceed to pull her into the Great Hall and towards the Slytherin table to sit with them. They shove wrapped packages her way, urging her to open her gifts. Neville had given her a gift in the common room before he left for breakfast—a lovely book that she's been talking to him about the last couple of weeks.
She opens all her gifts and thanks every one of her friends individually with a hug. She's always so joyful on her birthday. She never imagined she would have such a large group of friends that cared so much about her and that would make her day so special.
Chatting amongst themselves, they start to eat breakfast. Hermione looks up at one point to find Tom sitting at the head table, looking her way. He sends her a smile and she beams back at him, holding up her new stack of books proudly for him to see. He chuckles and shakes his head at her excitement. Her attention is pulled away from him and over to Pansy when she asks her a question about their Charms homework due tomorrow.
That day after classes, Hermione makes her way to Tom's office. She reaches the door to the room and pulls it open, familiar enough to not feel obligated to knock. Tom glances up as she walks in and drops his quill to reach into a drawer of his desk.
As she sits in the chair in front of him, he pulls a box out of the drawer and lays it on the desk in front of her.
"Happy birthday, Hermione," he says.
"Thank you, Tom." She reaches for the box, knowing that a new charm for her bracelet will be inside. She opens the box to reveal a delicate silver snake charm. Her brow furrows as she carefully grabs it and holds it up. She turns her questioning eyes up to him.
Before she can ask, he explains, "It's a reminder of your friends. Since they're in Slytherin." His mouth turns up in a smirk and he continues. "And I was in Slytherin, too."
Her face flushes as she focuses her attention onto the charm. "I love it," she tells him. She holds up her left arm to give herself access to the bracelet that she's worn for the last three years. She clasps the new snake charm onto it beside the H charm from last year and the cat charm from the year before.
As she holds her arm up to admire her growing collection, he goes on, "I also like to believe that you were missorted and that you really belong in Slytherin, too." He grins as she narrows her eyes.
"Very funny," she deadpans.
He sends her a wink and picks up his quill to go back to grading. She follows his lead and pulls her Potions essay out of her bag to start working on it.
As she writes about the properties of a bezoar, she sneaks glances up at Tom. She can't help but notice how much better he looks compared to her first night back. The circles under his eyes are nonexistent and he he's holding himself up straighter like he normally does.
Her eyes scan down his body, taking in his broad shoulders and his defined arms. The veins in his forearms, on display from his rolled-up sleeves, pop out as he writes. She feels a tightening in her stomach as she continues to take him in. Her quill resting against her lips as her mouth opens to take in deep breaths. Her heart starts beating faster and she can feel her palms beginning to sweat.
She knows he's attractive, of course. Even if she didn't know, she had every girl in this school that could tell her so. She never paid much attention to his looks, however. But now, she can't help but notice how much taller and broader than her he is. How easily she could just wrap her arms around him and fit into his chest. How she could just move her hand across the desk and grasp onto his, pulling him closer and—
The sound of Tom clearing his throat rips her out of her thoughts. A heat flushes from her chest, up her neck, and over her face as she looks up to see him watching her.
He opens his mouth, but before he can speak, she jumps out of her chair, picks up her homework and her bag, and rushes towards the door.
"I have to go!" she squeaks. "I have to meet—uh—um—Pansy. Yeah, Pansy. To do—um—hair st-stuff. Yeah. Um, thank you for the gift! Bye!" She rushes out of the room and only slows her pace as she makes it to the stairs leading up to the Gryffindor common room. She leans up against the wall, head tilted back as she tries to catch her breath.
As she stops, her mind instantly brings up images of Tom pulling her close again. She squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head, trying to rid herself of those thoughts.
"Shut up, Hermione. What are you thinking? He's your professor. Your friend! Calm down!" she continues to berate herself until her mind slows down enough for her to make her way up the stairs and up to her dorm. As she gets ready for bed, she occupies her mind with thoughts floating from books to homework to her parents, trying to keep away from thoughts of him.
She finally lays down for bed, and despite her best efforts, she quickly drowns into dreams filled with stormy eyes, dark hair, and soft lips.