- CHAPTER FIVE -
Keep calm and carry on
The next morning during breakfast, Harry found himself once more excitedly anticipating the delivery of the Daily Prophet. He and Hermione, who sat to his right, both perked up when the first post owls flew into the hall and watched out expectantly for the Prophet's delivery owls. Soon, Neville, who sat on Harry's other side, received his copy of the Prophet. Harry grinned when he spotted the headline.
TRUE ORIGINS OF YOU-KNOW-WHO REVEALED
He smirked with satisfaction, but then Harry's eyes grew wide as he read the sub-headline.
Son of Muggle lead respectable Pureblood citizens astray
With a sinking feeling, Harry continued to read. The article went on to decry how a pretentious Muggle-born had tried to usurp power by playing to the valid concerns of old, respectable Pureblood families and tricking them into fighting for his own ends, resulting in the loss of countless lives and the near or complete extinction of many respectable old families.
"I guess I can see now why Dumbledore kept this information to himself," Harry muttered dejectedly, and Hermione nodded with a concerned expression on her face.
"Look," Hermione said and pointed at another article. "Minister Fudge reluctantly agrees to compete... wants to see culprits punished... assures public that You-Know-Who is dead... Pettigrew, too, despite the names coming out of the Goblet..."
Harry sighed. "Well, that's pretty much what was to be expected."
He was still brooding over the Prophet's articles when classes began. Their first class of the day was Herbology, which the Gryffindors shared with the Hufflepuffs.
During the class, Harry and Hermione had to endure the hostile glares of the Hufflepuff students, and even Professor Sprout behaved much colder towards them than usual. However, it wasn't as if Harry or Hermione had been great friends with any of the Hufflepuffs before, so they weren't bothered much by the treatment.
Next was Care of Magical Creatures, shared with the Slytherins. Harry and Hermione went down towards Hagrid's hut expecting a confrontation with the Snakes, and they were surprised when the Slytherins ignored them just as usual. Crabbe and Goyle eyed Harry and Hermione resentfully, but since competing in the Triwizard tournament was considered a great honour, they could hardly complain about being entered. The two Slytherin boys had apparently not yet reconciled with Draco Malfoy, who stood clearly apart from them, still sulking. All by himself, Malfoy wasn't going to pick a fight, either.
Thus, the class would have been quite enjoyable, hadn't it been for Hagrid's planned lesson of the day. The students had to take Blast-ended Skrewts for a walk so that the horrid creatures could 'relieve some pent-up energy' in the hopes that they would then stop killing each other. Harry couldn't help but think that any Skrewt killing another was all good in his book, and judging by the facial expressions of his classmates, all of them agreed with him on that.
Over the next days, things continued as they were. Harry and Hermione were shunned by the Hufflepuffs and ignored by the Slytherins. The Ravenclaws remained neutral. Ron still refused to speak to the couple and continued sulking. Like Professor Sprout, Professor McGonagall also behaved noticeable colder towards Harry and Hermione. Harry wasn't much bothered by it, but his girlfriend was disheartened. Of course, Snape acted even more hostile towards Harry than usual. Harry would have been surprised by anything else.
Ignoring all the drama to the best of their ability, Harry and Hermione put all their effort into researching and training for the tournament. Keeping their distance from the general student populace, they spent all their free time holed up in the library or unused classrooms, and maybe the occasional broom cupboard.
#
On Saturday, Harry received an answer from Sirius. It was only a short note signed by Snuffles, telling him to be at the fireplace of the Gryffindor common room at one in the morning the same night.
That was how Harry and Hermione found themselves sitting on 'their' couch in front of the fireplace at close to one o'clock in the morning. They didn't know how Sirius was going to contact them, but they didn't let themselves be bothered by it. Sitting in front of the fireplace on the comfy couch, cuddled close to each other, was by no means a hardship, after all.
Harry was looking into the flames and frowned when he spotted a form that almost appeared to be a face. Could that be...
"Sirius!" he shouted, startling his girlfriend.
"Hello, Harry," Sirius said brightly from the fire. "And the beautiful Miss Granger, it's a pleasure to see you again."
"Hi Sirius, and call me Hermione," the brunette answered with a smile.
They exchanged some pleasantries, until Harry asked, "So, Sirius, have you read in the Prophet what we've been up to?"
Sirius laughed. "I did. And let me tell you, Harry: I'm extremely proud of you! Your father would've been so proud of you! Lily would've been horrified, of course. She would've grounded you until you were thirty. But James would have loved it."
They all laughed, and Sirius continued, "I'll say, with what you two have pulled there, pranking the entire school, Dumbledore, the Ministry, and Moldyshorts in one go, you two are not just worthy heirs of the Marauders. I hereby proclaim you King and Queen of the Marauders! I'll have to arrange some sort of coronation ceremony for you with Moony when we all see each other again."
Harry smiled, and Hermione looked as if she couldn't decide whether she should be flattered or annoyed.
"Well, have you any advice for us, or rather for Hermione, for the tournament?" Harry then asked his godfather.
Sirius frowned. "I'm afraid not. I've never heard of the tournament before, to be honest. And since you don't know what the tasks will be- you don't right?"
Harry shook his head.
"Well, then I don't know what I could tell you. Help and be there for each other. Play to your strengths, Hermione, but you know those better than I do."
Sirius hesitated. "However, I will advise you to be careful around some of the judges. Karkaroff especially, he was a Death Eater, once."
"What?" Hermione exclaimed.
"Yes," Sirius said, "but he made a deal with the Ministry and sold out many of his fellow bastards, so they let him go."
He scowled and continued, "And be wary of Crouch, too. Try not to cross him."
Harry thought that it might be a bit late for that. "Why?" he asked.
Sirius grimaced. "He's a right bastard! He and then Minister Bagnold were the ones who put me in Azkaban and made sure that I didn't receive a trial. But at least he is a staunch enemy of the Death Eaters. Even put his own son in Azkaban for life."
"His son?" Harry blurted out, "How can he have a son?"
Sirius blinked and then got a mischievous smile. "Are you sure you want to have this conversation with your girlfriend present? You see, when a man loves a woman very much-"
"Stop it!" Harry yelled, flushed in embarrassment. "That's not what I meant. It's just that I thought that Crouch was... Well, I didn't want to spread it around; it's no one's business."
"What?" Hermione asked curiously.
Harry sighed. "The other day, I saw on the Marauder's Map that Crouch and Moody were spending the night together in Professor Moody's private quarters."
"Crouch and Moody?" Hermione and Sirius exclaimed simultaneously.
"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," Harry replied.
"I don't believe it, give me the map!" Hermione said forcefully.
"It saw that last week. Not today," Harry said defensively, but fished the map out of his bookbag and gave it to Hermione, nonetheless.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," the witch stated with her wand pressed against the parchment and revealed the map.
A few moments later, her eyes grew wide. In Professor Moody's chamber, the names Alastor Moody and Bartemius Crouch were displayed next to each other.
"Maybe... I don't know... maybe they just like having sleepovers?" she suggested a bit desperately.
Harry snorted. "That seems even more unlikely to me."
"I guess it's not impossible," Sirius said from the fireplace after a pause, "I've never seen Alastor with a woman. That would explain it. The wizarding world tends to be quite prejudiced in things like this, so naturally, they would try to hide things. Even to the point of Crouch getting married for appearances' sake..."
He paused. "After all, that was the sole reason why James and Lily got married, too."
Harry and Hermione's heads snapped towards Sirius, their jaws dropping.
"HA!" the Marauder exclaimed. "Gotcha! Oh, you should have seen your faces!" he wheezed in between bouts of loud laughter.
"That was not funny, Sirius!" Harry complained with indignation while Hermione shook her head disapprovingly.
"Oh, but it was!" Sirius disagreed, still laughing.
The three continued to talk until almost three in the morning. When they finally called it a night and went to bed, Harry was in an excellent mood.
"It's strange to have some family that cares. But very nice," he said contently as he snuggled closer to Hermione, who had sneaked into his bed again.
"You'll always have a family that cares from now on," she whispered back and gave him a light kiss on the lips. "Good night."
#
The attitude of the students and professors towards the couple remained the same over the next week. The only thing that changed was that Malfoy had apparently reconciled with Crabbe and Goyle. On Friday before Potions, when the Gryffindor and Slytherin students were waiting before the classroom in the dungeons, he sauntered towards Harry and Hermione, his two goons in tow.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Potty and his little know-it-all," he said with a sneer.
"Sod off, Malfoy," Harry replied with annoyance.
"I bet you're both shitting your pants right now, with the first task coming up," the blond Slytherin said and glared hatefully at Hermione. "You will soon see that the likes of you have no chance of competing against real wizards."
Harry palmed his wand in his pocket, and only his girlfriend's hand on his arm stopped him from drawing it.
"I would be a bit more worried about your minions, if I were you," Hermione said calmly, "You do realise that these two real wizards rank at the bottom of our entire year group? While a Muggle-born like me outclasses you in every class we have."
"Don't talk to your betters like that," Malfoy hissed and turned towards Harry. "I hope you're making good use of your Mudblood whore before she expires on the task in two weeks!"
"Wow," Hermione said flatly, "that was crass, even for you."
But Harry's temper got the better of him. He drew his wand and aimed it at the Death Eater wannabe in front of him, who also raised his wand.
For a brief second, the boys glared at each hatefully, before they cast at the same time.
"Furnunculus!" Harry shouted.
"Densaugeo!" screamed Malfoy.
Malfoy was hit right between his eyes, and he screamed in pain and let his wand drop as big ugly boils sprung up in his face.
Harry stepped aside from Malfoy's spell, but that caused the spell to hit Hermione, who had reached for Harry to hold him back from fighting.
"Mione!" Harry shouted with dismay, as his girlfriend clutched her mouth and started whimpering. Her front teeth were growing rapidly.
Quickly, Harry cast, "Finite!"
It was one of the spells they had learnt in the course of the tournament preparation. Hermione's teeth stopped growing immediately, but they didn't shrink back.
Due to his diversion, Harry noticed too late that Crabbe had also drawn his wand.
"Flipendo!" the Slytherin yelled, casting the knock-back jinx.
Unfortunately for him, he had drawn his wand in such a haste that he didn't notice that he was holding it at the wrong end. Crabbe screamed in pain when the beam of light from his own wand hit him in the chest and knocked him over.
With his wand at the ready, Harry surveyed the Slytherin boys before him. Malfoy was holding his face, tears in his eyes, Crabbe lay on the ground, groaning, and Goyle was still trying to fumble his wand out of the pocket of his robe. Apparently, it was stuck.
"What is going on here?" a cold voice asked only a moment later.
Harry groaned. Great. Snape had arrived on the scene.
"Potter attacked us, Sir," Malfoy whined.
"Crabbe attacked himself," Harry retorted angrily, "And Malfoy attacked Hermione, as you can see."
Snape looked at Hermione, whose front teeth almost extended past her chin. With an indifference voice, he then said, "I don't see a difference."
Hermione whimpered, while Harry's eyes widened with rage. "WHAT?" he shouted.
Snape sneered at him. "Detention for instigating a fight, Potter, Granger. And fifty points from Gryffindor. Oh, and twenty points from Gryffindor for your disrespect, I think."
Harry had gotten used to Snape's behaviour towards him, but this treatment of his girlfriend he could not tolerate. He felt like pummelling the greasy git's face with his bare fists, but he knew he wouldn't get away with it.
With a last hate-filled look towards Snape, Harry took Hermione's arm and started to walk her towards the infirmary, so that Madam Pomfrey could fix her teeth.
"Come back here, Potter! You're not excused!" Snape screamed behind him. "DETENTION, POTTER, FOR THE WHOLE WEEK!"
Harry just walked on, tugging Hermione along.
#
Madame Pomfrey sighed when she saw Harry entering the infirmary. "Mr Potter, what happened to you this time?"
"Nothing, Madam Pomfrey, I'm just escorting Hermione here. She was hit with a spell; I didn't catch the incantation," Harry informed the school nurse, who relaxed at that.
"Oh, that's new," the woman said and turned towards Hermione.
"Ah, nothing to worry about, Miss Granger. We'll have that fixed in a jiffy," Madam Pomfrey said, pointing her wand at Hermione's enlarged teeth. "Mr Potter, please tell me when Miss Granger's teeth are back to their original size."
The nurse flicked her wand and Hermione's teeth started to shrink. Not missing this opportunity, Harry watched on carefully and let Pomfrey shrink Hermione's teeth a bit further than their original state. He knew how self-conscious Hermione had always been about her slightly larger front teeth.
"It's right now," he said when his girlfriend's teeth were at a perfectly even size.
"Thanks, Mr Potter," Madam Pomfrey answered and conjured a small mirror that she handed it to Hermione. "Is it all right?"
The girl looked in the mirror, and a surprised expression appeared on her face. She then looked at Harry conflicted for a moment, before shooting him a small grateful smile.
"It's perfect. Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said.
"Great. Now, shouldn't you be at the Wand Weighing ceremony, Miss Granger?"
"Pardon?"
"The Wand Weighing Ceremony for the Triwizard champions. It's not compulsory to attend, but you should have been invited," Madam Pomfrey elaborated.
Hermione replied that she hadn't been informed, and after giving the couple the directions, the healer shooed them out of the door.
"For the record," Harry said while they walked along, "I never thought that there was something wrong with your teeth. I've always thought that you had a beautiful smile. But I know that it bothered you, so why not let Madam Pomfrey fix it?"
"Thank you, Harry," Hermione answered with a smile, "My parents won't like it, but they'll have to accept it. In retrospect, I've been a bit stupid about it. I should have asked Madam Pomfrey to do this long ago, and then thought up some excuse to tell my parents."
#
A few minutes later, Harry and Hermione entered the small classroom where the Wand Weighing ceremony was about to take place.
Dumbledore, the other headmasters, and Garrick Ollivander were standing in one corner of the classroom, engaged in lively conversation. Cedric, Fleur, and the Weasley twins were conversing in another corner. Viktor Krum stood by himself, brooding as usual. Crabbe and Goyle were also present and looked rather lost.
In the middle of the classroom, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge was talking with Ludo Bagman, Barty Crouch, and a witch in magenta robes, that Harry didn't know. All four of them looked up when the couple entered the classroom.
"Miss Granger, finally! Where have you been?" Crouch asked with annoyance. "And what are you doing here, Mr Potter? This is only for Triwizard Champio-"
"Don't be like that, Barty," Bagman interrupted cheerfully. "Of course Mr Potter is welcome to support his girlfriend."
Fudge glared at the couple. "If you wanted to be here, boy, you should have entered your name into the Goblet, too. I know that you entered all the other names. Dumbledore might protect you, but I will see you-"
This time, it was Harry who interrupted, "Sorry, but we didn't do it. Innocent until proven guilty, remember? Oh, my mistake, obviously you don't. Just ask Hagrid or my innocent godfather Sirius Black, who you both carted off to Azkaban without a trial!"
Crouch and Fudge were both turning an angry shade of red.
"What's that supposed to mean, boy?" Fudge said with gritted teeth.
"Would you care to elaborate on that statement, Mr Potter?" the witch in magenta robes asked. "Rita Skeeter, by the way, Daily Prophet."
Harry was about to reply when he noticed Dumbledore looking at him with a grave expression. The Headmaster was slightly shaking his head.
Harry hesitated. It seemed like a good idea to him to make a public statement about his godfather's innocence. But the same had been true for his revelation about Riddle, and that hadn't turned out the way he had hoped. Maybe the Prophet would just portray him as delusional or as becoming dark, too? Harry decided to trust the Headmaster for now and to remain silent.
"No comment," he answered. "Let's just get on with things."
It took a while until things had calmed down enough for Ollivander to begin examining the Triwizard champions' wands. It was a rather dull and pointless affair, in Harry's opinion.
Afterwards, a photographer took pictures of the contestants. Bagman and Rita Skeeter insisted that Harry had to be included on the pictures, too, much to his dismay.
When they were done taking pictures, Skeeter grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him towards a corner of the classroom. Hermione followed them, holding Harry's other hand.
"Ah, so that's your little girlfriend, Harry?" the reporter asked. "Harmony, right? I've been planning to write an article about the two of you for some time..."
"Actually, it's Her-" Hermione began.
Harry interrupted. "Yes, that's Harmony Ranger."
Hermione gave Harry a questioning look but kept didn't contradict him.
Harry wasn't sure how this woman could have been present for the entire ceremony and still not have gotten Hermione's name right. But as long as it would protect Hermione from receiving any howlers and other hate mail, he had no intention to put the record straight.
Harry continued, "But unfortunately, we really don't want to talk to the press. If you'll excuse us, please."
The couple made a hasty retreat towards the other corner of the classroom, where they were approached by Dumbledore.
"Thank you, Harry, for not speaking to the press about Sirius," the Headmaster said. "It would really have made things much more difficult for all of us."
Harry nodded.
"And I have to thank you, Professor, for whatever you did to keep the Ministry off our backs," he said. And with a contrite look, he added, "And I'm sorry for not listening to you about keeping Riddle's heritage to myself. It certainly didn't work out in the way I expected."
"I don't blame you," Dumbledore replied. "I should have explained myself to you long ago. You saw an opportunity to humiliate the Pureblood supremacists like Lucius Malfoy and his allies. And you were right; this revelation did humiliate them. But in the broader picture, that matters little. They are just as powerful as before. Only now, they are angry, which makes them even more dangerous. Even worse, this gives them a convenient scapegoat and allows them to present Purebloods as the real victims of the war."
Harry nodded dejectedly, but Hermione frowned.
"That may be right, Headmaster," she said, "But I think it was still the right thing to do. The right thing strategically, too. We might not have damaged the political movement for Pureblood supremacy, but we have damaged Riddle himself. When he comes back, as you said you believe he will, he will be forced to fight on two fronts and will no longer be able to call upon some of his most dangerous allies."
Dumbledore looked pensively at her. "Perceptive as ever, Miss Granger. You may be right. Let us hope that you are right," he said slowly.
He then sighed and went on, "While we are on the matter of things I should have explained to you long ago... I have come to the conclusion that it is high time for me to share some other information with you. For example, the answer to your question in your first year, Harry, on why Tom was targeting you and your family."
Harry's eyes grew wide, and Dumbledore continued, "Unfortunately, I can only share this information if you can then keep it safe. As you have without doubt gathered by now, some wizards and witches are capable of picking information from your mind."
He handed a slip of parchment to Hermione. "This, Miss Granger, is a permission to access the restricted section of the library to study up on Occlumency, the art of secluding your mind. If you could somehow squeeze the study of the Mind Arts in your doubtlessly very busy schedule, I might be able to have a long talk with you by the end of the school year."
"Thank you, Headmaster, we will definitely include it in our studies," Hermione said enthusiastically.
There was a short pause before Harry spoke up, "However, one more thing, Sir: If you want to have a good working relationship with us, you'll have to allow Hermione and me to drop Potions with Snape and allow us to study the subject independently."
Hermione shot Harry a surprised look, and Dumbledore frowned at Harry, clearly taken aback. "What is this about, Harry? I have told you several times; I trust Professor Snape."
"That's great for you, but I don't. Snape is a childish bully who has been targeting me since my very first class. He's a biased, cruel, cold-hearted bastard that should have no business teaching children."
"Harry," Dumbledore replied disapprovingly, "I know you don't get along with Professor Snape, but-"
"Look in my mind!" Harry interrupted.
"What?"
"You don't have to take my word for it, Sir. See it for yourself. You even have my permission this time, as long as you stay focused on the event in question and don't go rummaging around," Harry said, looking the Headmaster in the eyes and trying to concentrate on the earlier altercation and on other instances of Snape targeting him.
Dumbledore frowned but met Harry's eyes. Harry felt a slight pressure in his head while he looked in Dumbledore's twinkling eyes.
A moment later, the Headmaster blinked and closed his eyes for a moment.
"Once more, I have to ask for your forgiveness," he said tiredly. "I shall have a long, honest discussion with Severus."
"I'm sorry, but that's not good enough, Sir," Harry insisted.
Dumbledore sighed. "Maybe not. I can see that your grievances are justified. However, Potions is a dangerous subject, so I cannot allow you to brew in self-study."
"But-" Harry protested.
"But," Dumbledore said, raising his hands in a placating gesture, "you will no longer have classes with Professor Snape. Maybe Madam Pomfrey could teach you. Otherwise, another tutor will be arranged. Until then, try to keep up with the theoretical part of the class."
Harry and Hermione nodded enthusiastically.
"Thank you, Professor," Harry said sincerely.
The couple then quickly left the classroom to avoid any more confrontations with Crouch or Minister Fudge.
#
Things continued as they were for the couple, only now without the weekly harassment by Snape in the Potions class. During meals in the Great Hall, the Potion Master glared at Harry even more hatefully than usual, but apart from that, there hadn't been any interaction between them.
A few days after their meeting with Dumbledore, Harry and Hermione were informed by a note from the Headmaster that they would start their tutoring in Potions with Madam Pomfrey after the first task. Their fellow Gryffindors were a bit miffed at them for not getting all of them out of Snape's class, too. But apart from Ron, they accepted that the extent of the animosity between Harry and Snape warranted the special treatment. Most Gryffs were just grateful that Snape was behaving at least slightly more professionally in his classes since his talk with the headmaster.
The next weekend was scheduled as a Hogsmeade weekend. During breakfast on Saturday, Harry tried to convince his girlfriend to take half a day off from the tournament preparations and relax a little, as she was getting more and more anxious. But Hermione wouldn't hear any of it.
"No, Harry. We don't have the time. I'm not nearly prepared enough," she insisted. "There are just way too many contingencies we have to plan and train for."
"If we could only find out what the task will be," Harry said, pondering the question. "The teachers probably know..."
Hermione sighed. "Well, yes, but they aren't allowed to tell us anything. We'll have to make do without that information."
Harry nodded resignedly, but then he perked up and grinned.
"Or... or we just go and talk to a teacher who can't keep a secret for his life!"
#
A few minutes later, the couple was knocking on the door of Hagrid's hut.
"Ah, Harry, Hermione!" the half-giant said happily as he opened the door. "Come in! How are yeh? Tea?"
Soon, the couple was sitting at the table in Hagrid's hut, drinking tea, with Harry carefully nibbling on one of Hagrid's rock cakes. After they had made some small talk, Harry decided to cut to the chase.
"I am of course a bit worried about Hermione, with her being in the Triwizard Tournament and all," he began.
"Ah, don' worry too much," Hagrid said, and turned towards Hermione. "Is not as if yeh'll have ter go against those dragons, just get past them, innit?
"Dragons?" Harry and Hermione exclaimed aghast.
Hagrid paled under his beard.
"Ah, I shouldn't have said that," he said with dismay.
"Dragons, Hagrid?" Hermione asked timidly.
"I'm not s'posed ter tell yeh. But don' worry, poor misunderstood creatures, they are. Though, I s'pose they tend ter get a bit antsy when they're nestin'."
"Nesting dragons?" Hermione gasped.
"Ah, I shouldn't have said that either," Hagrid muttered, but then tried to calm down the upset girl before him. "But don' worry, quite smart they are, those dragons. They won' fight yeh when they see the egg yer stealin' isn't one of their own."
"So, to sum up," Harry said, rather shaken, "Hermione has to steal a fake egg from a nesting dragon?"
"Ah, I guess yeh've got me outsmarted, there," Hagrid said, visibly upset with himself. "Please don' tell anyone that I slipped up."
"Of course not, Hagrid," Harry said soothingly while he helped his very pale girlfriend up from her chair.
"Thanks for the tea, Hagrid, but I think we have to get back to the castle and start planning."
"'Course," Hagrid answered as the couple hurriedly left the hut. "Good luck!"
#
After they had taken a few shaking steps away from Hagrid's hut, Harry and Hermione halted and turned towards each other. Hermione's eyes were wide, and Harry noticed that she was hyperventilating. He hugged her tightly in an attempt to calm her down.
"Okay, no need to panic!" he said loudly, his own panic clear in his voice. It didn't exactly help to alleviate his girlfriend's distress.
Harry took a few deep breaths to calm himself down first and then instructed Hermione to do likewise.
"Okay, breathe, Mione! Breathe, just like me... breathe, in and out... in... and out... good!"
After a while, the girl was breathing normally again, and she started to disentangle herself from her boyfriend.
Harry was rather taken aback when he observed her panicky expression slowly giving way to an angry look.
Then, suddenly, Hermione started hitting Harry's chest. "What's the worst that could happen, you said!" she shouted as she weakly slammed her fists against him. "It's not as if you'll have to fight a dragon, you said! Great job, Potter, getting your girlfriend killed within less than a month of being together!"
She broke down crying, and Harry hugged her again.
"Mione, I can't say how sorry I am!" he said sincerely, "I really thought this would just be a fun, friendly competition."
Hermione buried her head in his chest and continued to cry.
Harry whispered soothing words to her, but the girl wouldn't calm down.
"I might die! The dragon might kill me!" she sobbed. "I don't want to get killed."
"Well, at least you won't get expelled."
Harry's eyes grew wide, and he gulped audibly. He had no idea what had possessed him to make that quip referencing her memorable line from back in their first year.
It did work in a way, as Hermione stopped sobbing almost immediately. However, now she took a step back from him and glared at him with an irate look that was much more frightening than her previous angry expression.
"Ah, I shouldn't have said that," Harry muttered under his breath. The irony of this statement was not lost to him, but given his situation, he found himself unable to appreciate it.
Hermione just continued to glare at him. Harry gulped again and gave her an apologetic look.
Then, suddenly, the witch's expression changed and she burst into loud laughter. She was laughing so hard that she had difficulties breathing once more. She leaned back towards Harry and hugged the boy again. Harry returned the hug happily, even though he was completely bewildered by his girlfriend's change of attitude. He shook his head with amusement. Girls! He would never understand them!
After a while, Hermione was calming down slowly.
"Are you all right?" Harry asked.
"Yes," Hermione replied, letting loose of Harry. "Sorry for getting your robes wet."
Harry shrugged. "It's all right. And I'm sorry, too, for, well, you know..."
"Well, yes, it was rather insensitive..." Hermione said with a stern look, but then she smiled. "But I guess I really didn't have my priorities straight back then, so you're forgiven."
"So... Let's head to the library?" Harry suggested.
"I think we should inform the others, first," Hermione replied, and Harry nodded in agreement.
Together, they went back up to the castle to search for the Weasley twins.
#
Harry was surprised when he spotted the twins running towards him and Hermione just as they crossed the entrance hall.
"We have to talk!" George said with a worried expression on his face.
"But not here," Fred continued, looking equally troubled.
"Yes, let's find an empty classroom. We have news to share, too," Harry answered.
A minute later, the four students entered an unused classroom near the library. Just as the door fell shut behind them, Harry and George began to speak at the same time.
"You have to get past a dragon!"
"The first task is dragons!"
The four Gryffindors looked at each other with confusion.
"Yes," Harry said after a pause, "Hagrid inadvertently told us. How did you know?"
"Ah, Charlie told us when we met him in Hogsmeade," George answered. "But he didn't know what they would be used for. You said we have to get past them?"
Hermione answered, "Yes, we have to get past a nesting dragon to steal a fake egg from its nest."
The twins gulped.
"Well, at least we know now," George muttered. "Do you already know the kinds of dragons they have lined up for us?"
Harry and Hermione shook their heads.
"Charlie gave us a list. Let me give you a copy," Fred said. He pulled a parchment out of his robes and cast the duplication spell on it.
"Thank you," Hermione said sincerely when he handed her the list. Harry noticed that there were only nine dragons on the list – unsurprisingly, as the Ministry insisted that Pettigrew and Voldemort were both dead.
"So, what now? Any ideas? And are we even supposed to help each other prepare?" Fred asked after another pause.
"Since when do you care about what you're supposed to do?" Harry replied.
"Righto," Fred said with a smirk. "So... ideas?"
Hermione raised her hand.
The twins looked at her with amusement, and Harry arched his left eyebrow at her. "Mione, it's only the four of us brainstorming. You don't have to raise your hand."
"Sorry, force of habit," the girl said with an embarrassed look. "With us being in a classroom and all. Well, anyway, I thought about what we were told by Mr Crouch about the task. We are only allowed to bring our wands, but that doesn't mean that we can't summon other items during the task to help us."
"Brilliant, Hermione!" Harry exclaimed.
The four students were silently pondering for a while.
After a few minutes, Harry began hesitantly, "That's not for Hermione, but you guys could maybe summon your brooms and out-fly your dragons."
"Out-fly a dragon?" Fred asked sceptically.
"Well, it's what I might have done," Harry said defensively.
Hermione huffed. "Honestly, that's completely asinine."
"So, yeah, it's totally what Harry would have done," Fred said. "Though, I guess he might even have pulled it off."
"But I think we'll pass," George continued. "However, I think there are some nice inventions of ours that we could summon."
Fred smirked and nodded excitedly.
Harry noticed that the twins seemed eager to leave the classroom to begin testing whatever prank items they thought they might use.
"It's all right, you may leave if you want. We'll let you know if we need your input," he told them.
When Fred and George were gone, he turned towards Hermione.
"Okay, I have another idea, why don't you..."
#
Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the day deriving plans and backup plans for the task. They spent several hours in the library where they looked up the characteristics of the different kinds of dragons, and how to best subdue them. Then, they returned to the unused classroom, where Hermione practised the spells she might use. When they left the classroom for dinner in the Great Hall in the evening, Harry was confident that they had a solid plan that was likely to put his girlfriend in the first place.
"Don't you think we should inform the other champions of the dragons, too?" Hermione asked Harry during dinner.
"Maybe not the champions of the other schools. But yes, we should tell Cedric," Harry answered.
His girlfriend nodded. "Okay, yes. And should... should we tell Crabbe and Goyle?"
Harry frowned. "Huh... nah... Besides, haven't you noticed how Moody has asked Crabbe to stay back after the last class? I'm pretty sure he's helping them already. Why else would he have done that? And as I know Snape, he's probably helping them, too."
Hermione glanced over to the Slytherin table with a disapproving look.
"Of course," she said, "I would complain that they are cheating, but I guess those two goons-"
She gestured towards where Goyle was sitting at the Slytherin table; Harry didn't spot Crabbe.
"-They really need all the help they can get," Hermione continued, "I would complain that no professor is offering me any help, but I think we have a really good plan already."
Harry chuckled and nodded. They really did have a good plan. Or rather, several of them. He was really looking forward to the first task on Tuesday.
