Author's Note: None of this belongs to me

Author's Note: None of this belongs to me. This story is based on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling and will feature "offstage scenes" as well as scenes from the book reinterpreted from Hermione's point of view.

Hermione's 4th Year

Part 5: Fallout

By Elanor Gamgee

Things didn't get much better in the next few days. As the Daily Prophet article spread around the school, Hermione heard more and more people whispering behind her back. Other students exchanged knowing looks when they passed Hermione and Harry in the corridors, and Parvati Patil had even cornered Hermione in their dormitory one night to ask if she was really Harry's girlfriend.

"Parvati, he's my friend," Hermione had said in irritation. "You know that. Just because some reporter decides to make up a story…"

"Oh, I always thought Ron Weasley liked her anyway," Lavendar Brown had piped up. Parvati had nodded in agreement.

"Well…he's my friend too," Hermione had said, turning pink.

Of this last statement, however, Hermione was no longer quite so sure. Ever since the article had appeared, Ron had been steadily avoiding her along with Harry, although she doubted Harry had even noticed. He was too busy doing his own brooding. Harry had told her about his disastrous detention with Ron the night after the article appeared; he hadn't been sure which was the worse punishment, spending two hours pickling rats' brains, or spending two hours with Ron silently glowering at him.

Hermione thought she knew where Ron's newest anger had come from; despite the current state of his friendship with Harry, she was sure that Ron was hurt at the thought of his two best friends keeping something from him. It had occurred to her that his anger might have something to do with what Lavendar and Parvati had said, but she wasn't sure what to think about that, so she tried not to think about it at all.

Several days after the article had appeared, Hermione found herself paired with Ron in Charms. They were practicing Summoning Spells again, and Harry had been paired with Neville so that Professor Flitwick could give them extra help. As Hermione took her place next to Ron, he cast a wary look at her.

"Oh, don't tell me you're angry at me now too," she said in annoyance. This was not the placating opening she had planned, but the constant pressure of the past few days was starting to get to her.

Ron seemed surprised at her directness. "Well…you…"

"Yes, Ron?" Hermione stared at him, her arms folded across her chest. "Did you want to ask about that article, if Harry and I have been hiding something from you? Because you know the answer to that. You know that article was a piece of rubbish, whether you want to admit it or not!"

Ron looked relieved, but slightly frightened, as if she were a bomb that might go off any minute. "I…I know," he finally said, very quietly.

"Well, I should think so," Hermione continued, sending a chalk duster racing toward their table, narrowly missing Dean Thomas' hat, "just the way you know that Harry did not put his name in that goblet."

Dean and Seamus Finnegan looked over at Hermione uneasily. They, too, seemed to be slightly afraid of her.

"Hermione, don't make a scene," Ron muttered, his face reddening.

"Well, I'm sick of this!" Hermione hissed at him. "You and Harry are both acting like children. You know Harry hates all this attention, and I do too for that matter!"

"Didn't stop him talking to that reporter, though," Ron mumbled, as though he hoped she wouldn't hear him. He halfheartedly aimed his wand at one of the books Professor Flitwick had lined up on the windowsill. The book merely wobbled slightly and turned over on its side.

"Ron!" Hermione nearly shouted, causing Dean and Seamus to jump in their seats. She lowered her voice again. "You can't blame Harry if some reporter twists his words around."

"Bet I can," Ron said, looking up at her with a grin. His change of mood was so sudden that Hermione had grinned back at him before she realized what he had said.

She resumed her stern expression. "Ron, that's not funny." She hated that he could make her smile when she was trying to lecture him. "You two have got to work things out, if for no other reason than I can't stand this much longer. I miss the three of us being friends." Hermione had said these last words very quietly, looking down at her hands.

She looked up to see Ron staring at her, his wand frozen in midair, and again looking slightly terrified. He's probably afraid I'm going to start crying, she thought.

"Are you going to Hogsmeade on Saturday?"

Ron's question caught her off guard. "Er…yes, I guess so," she said. "I had forgotten about that, actually, with everything else that's been going on. Why?"

"Well, I'm going with Fred and George, and I thought maybe we could meet up at the Three Broomsticks…"

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione could see Harry raise his head and look over to where she and Ron were sitting.

"But I'll probably be with Harry…"

"I know," said Ron quietly, suddenly becoming very interested in a speck of dust on his wand.

Hermione smiled in surprise. "Ron—"

Ron looked as though he wasn't sure about this at all. "I'm not promising anything, mind, but…well, we'll see."

Hermione could have hugged him. She refrained, however, as she was certain this would send him running in terror. Now she just had to convince Harry that going to Hogsmeade was a good idea.

As they left Charms, Harry asked in what he clearly thought was a casual, offhand sort of voice, "What were you and Ron talking about?"

Hermione wasn't quite sure how to bring up the topic of Hogsmeade. She knew Harry was still quite angry, and Ron's behaviour during detention had done nothing to mollify him. She decided to test the waters a bit. "Oh, you know," she began, a little uncertainly, "I was telling him that you and he need to start talking again—"

"How many times do I have to tell you, Hermione?" Harry said angrily. "I'm not talking to him until he apologizes for calling me a liar!"

"Harry, please," Hermione pleaded, "you contributed to this too!"

Harry just shook his head stubbornly. "I didn't start this. It's his problem."

Hermione felt her temper rising again. "You miss him! And I know he misses you—" She was half tempted to tell him exactly what Ron had said, but he interrupted her vehemently.

"Miss him? I don't miss him…"

"Right, Harry," she muttered under her breath as they entered the Great Hall for lunch.

They ate quickly, then headed to the library. This had become their habit in the days since Rita Skeeter's article had appeared; it allowed them to escape the whispering crowds in the Great Hall, and it gave Hermione a chance to help Harry with Summoning Charms. He still hadn't been able to do more than make an object wobble and fall off a table, and Hermione had suggested that he read up on the theory behind the charm. She had proposed this idea partially because it was what she would have done in his situation, and partially because she thought spending hours poring over spellbooks might help take Harry's mind off Ron.

As they entered the library, Hermione rolled her eyes at the sight of Viktor Krum, the Durmstrang Champion, seated at a table near the tall windows. Any moment now, his entourage would arrive to giggle and peer at him from behind bookcases.

"He's here again," Hermione whispered to Harry in irritation. "Let's sit over there, on the other side." She led him to a table as far away as possible from Krum.

Hermione had just started to leaf through Charms You Need to Know, and Even Some You Don't, when she heard a hushed giggle from the row of bookshelves behind her. She rolled her eyes. Quite apart from the fact that they were interrupting her studying time, there were other reasons those girls bothered her. She eyed the one who had made the noise, a curly-haired blonde she recognized as a Hufflepuff second-year. Bet her hair is never bushy, Hermione thought. Mainly, though, it was their silly behavior that annoyed her; didn't these girls have any dignity at all?

It didn't help that she found Viktor Krum slightly creepy in the first place. He seemed to spend all his time in the library, which she ordinarily wouldn't think was a bad thing. However, not only did his groups of silly admirers distract Hermione, but he himself would occasionally throw dark looks her way, as if he knew something she didn't. All in all, she found it very unsettling.

The blonde Hufflepuff whispered something to her friends, and then the whole group of them began tittering madly.

Hermione glared over at the subject of their admiration. "He's not even good-looking!" she muttered to Harry, "They only like him because he's famous! They wouldn't look twice at him if he couldn't do that Wonky Faint thing—"

Harry grimaced at her and said something through gritted teeth. Hermione didn't hear what it was, as she was too busy glowering in Viktor Krum's direction.