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.
Author's Note #2: I
just wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed this series! This is my first fanfic so it has been
especially wonderful to get feedback. I
hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it.
Hermione's 4th
Year
Part 7: Late Night Study Sessions
By Elanor Gamgee
Hermione woke the next morning earlier
than she had expected to, considering how little sleep she had gotten. She was feeling restless, so she got dressed
and went down to breakfast. Seeing no
signs of Ron or Harry, she sat down at the Gryffindor table across from Ginny.
"Morning,"
she said cheerfully. Despite her
restlessness and the anxiety of the past few weeks, Hermione found that she was
in unusually good spirits this morning.
Ginny looked
up at her with a look halfway between suspicion and confusion. "Good morning," she replied. "What are you in such a good mood about?"
"I'm not
sure, really," said Hermione, pouring herself a glass of milk. "Tired of being worried, I suppose. Time to try something new."
Ginny's eyes
clouded over. "The First Task is the
day after tomorrow," she said, looking down, as though sharing this information
with her bacon. "Is Harry ready?"
Hermione felt her good humor starting to slip as she began eating her porridge. She tried to smile as though a surprise test of daring was something her best friend faced every day. Actually, she thought to herself, that's not so far off the mark. "He'll be fine, Ginny. Don't you worry about him."
Ginny was
looking at her closely now, as if trying to read her thoughts, so Hermione
continued in the hopes of distracting her. "I think he's more worried about this stupid fight with Ron than
about the Tournament." She paused. "Has Ron said anything to you about it?"
Ginny grinned. "Of course not. Boys don't talk about things like that."
Hermione
tilted her head to one side. "He's
talked to me about it."
Ginny shook
her head, still smiling slightly. "That's different," she said in an odd voice.
Hermione was
about to ask what she meant by this when Harry turned up. He seemed very distracted as he sat down
next to her. "Hi, Hermione. Hi, Ginny."
Ginny smiled
nervously at him, but Harry barely seemed to register her presence. Hermione looked over at him. "Have something to eat," she said.
Harry looked
at the plate of toast she held out as if he was going to be sick. "No thanks," he said.
Hermione gave him a puzzled look. She felt her good mood fading away more quickly now. What had happened now?
Ginny was looking back and forth
between Harry and Hermione with a curious look on her face as Hermione quickly
finished her porridge and gulped down some milk.
"Want to go
for a walk?" Harry said, jumping up as Hermione set down her goblet.
"Yes,"
Hermione replied quickly. "See you
later, Ginny," she called as she and Harry left the table. She felt Ginny's eyes following them all the
way to the Entrance Hall, and wondered privately if burning gazes were a
Weasley family trait.
Harry kept
walking, head down and hands thrust into the pockets of his robes. Hermione wanted to ask him if he knew why
Ron had been sleeping in the Common Room last night, but she wasn't sure how to
bring it up. Once they reached the
lake, Harry looked around to make sure no one was listening, then launched into
the story of seeing the dragons and his conversation with Sirius.
All thought
of asking about Ron evaporated along with Hermione's good mood as she listened
to Harry. It was preposterous to think
of students being expected to face dragons! And when Harry told her that Karkaroff had been a Death Eater, Hemione
felt her eyes grow wide with astonishment.
"Still,
though, Harry," she said, "what about the dragons? You said you told Sirius about them. What did he say?"
Harry
sighed. "He started to tell me how to
do it—he said a simple spell is all I need. But then we got interrupted…" Harry trailed off for a moment, then added, in a strange voice. "Someone was coming, I guess. He had to go."
She looked at
him quickly, a slight suspicion forming in her mind, but decided to set it
aside for the moment. "A simple
spell…there has to be something…" Hermione felt a panic rising in her chest, and was beginning to wish she
hadn't eaten the last of her porridge so quickly, as it seemed to have hardened
in her stomach.
Harry glanced
at her anxiously. "What about
Karkaroff?"
"Let's try
and keep you alive until Tuesday evening, and then we can worry about
Karkaroff," she said in a slightly hysterical voice. "A simple spell…you could use a levitation spell, but I don't see
how that would help…"
They spent
the next two hours walking around the lake trying to think of a spell that
would work against a dragon. Finally,
Hermione suggested they go to the library. They went through every book on dragons the library had, then tried some
simple spellbooks.
Hermione was on edge; she
whispered to herself as she read.
Harry was even more on edge. "Hermione, will you shut up for a bit?" he
snapped at one point, "I'm trying to concentrate."
Hermione took one look at the
tense expression on his face and lapsed into silence. She continued working her way through the index of Charmed,
I'm Sure, but it didn't seem to contain anything but hair and appearance
spells. As she stood to get another
book, she saw Viktor Krum entering the library. He gave her one of his dark looks and went to sit at a table in
the far corner of the room.
Wonderful, thought Hermione, now
we won't even be able to concentrate.
"Oh, no, he's back again,
why can't he read on his stupid ship?" she said to Harry. She
looked over at Krum again, and was unsettled to find that he was staring at her
grumpily. She stood up uneasily. "Come on, Harry, we'll go back to the common
room…his fan club'll be here in a moment, twittering away…"
As they left the library, Hermione
saw the group of Hufflepuff girls entering. She rolled her eyes when she saw the Bulgaria scarf tied around the
waist of the girl with the curly blonde hair.
Hermione and Harry spent the rest
of the day working their way through the pile of books they had brought from
the library. Hermione had carried down
her collection of spellbooks from her dormitory, but they were of no help
either.
Finally, at eleven o'clock, Harry
closed the book he had been flipping through and dropped it on the enormous
"finished" pile. "It's no use," he said
bleakly. "There's nothing."
"Don't be silly," said Hermione
irritably. "There has to be a spell
that will work. We just haven't found
it yet."
Harry stood up and yawned. "I'm going to bed."
"Good idea," said Hermione,
nodding. "Get some sleep. We can look again tomorrow, when we're both
rested."
As she watched Harry walk toward
the boys' stairs, it suddenly occurred to Hermione that she hadn't seen Ron all
day. He hadn't been in the common room,
he hadn't been in the Great Hall, and he hadn't been in the library. She wondered briefly about this, but was too
tired to worry about it as she headed up to bed.
The next morning at breakfast,
Hermione could see that Harry had hardly gotten any sleep. His eyes were bloodshot, and his hair was,
if possible, more untidy than usual. He
seemed to have difficulty concentrating. Hermione told him about some other books she thought they could check,
but she didn't think he heard a word she said.
As they got up to go to Herbology,
Harry hesitated. "Hermione," he said,
as if making a decision, "I'll see you in the greenhouses. Go on, I'll catch you up."
Hermione looked at him in
puzzlement. "Harry, you'll be late, the
bell's about to ring—"
"I'll catch you up, OK?" he
repeated.
She shook her head reprovingly and
muttered, "All right," but she didn't think he heard her. He was heading quickly up the marble
staircase as she left the castle.
It was cold outside, and Hermione
was glad to reach the warmth of the greenhouse. As she slipped inside, she saw Ron setting his bag down at a
table with Dean and Seamus. She felt a
twinge of uncertainty at seeing him, though she wasn't sure why. The bell hadn't rung yet for class to start,
so she walked over to him.
"Hi, Ron," she said, a bit
nervously, "where were you yesterday?"
Ron looked startled, and Hermione
noticed with detached interest that his ears were turning pink. "Oh, here and there. I was around," he said vaguely.
"Oh," said Hermione brilliantly. She wanted to tell him about the dragons and
Sirius' warnings, but she knew she couldn't tell him here. She wasn't entirely sure he would listen,
anyway. She also wanted to ask why he
had been in the common room Saturday night, but she didn't know how to bring it
up. Instead, she burst out, "The First
Task is tomorrow. Are you at least
going to come and watch?"
Out of the corner of her eye,
Hermione saw Dean and Seamus exchange a look. Ron's ears went pinker, and he glanced at them before leaning slightly
in her direction. When he spoke, it
was out of the corner of his mouth, as if he didn't want the other boys to
hear. "Of course I will, Hermione, you
don't know—"
"Because Harry could really use
the support of all his friends right now, Ron." Hermione felt her voice growing shrill, but
couldn't seem to help it.
"Hermione," said Ron through
gritted teeth, "I tried to talk to him Saturday night but he just yelled
at me. Why do you think I was avoiding
the two of you yesterday?"
Hermione felt a twinge of
disappointment she couldn't explain. She tried to process what he had said. "Well, try again, Ron—"
"No, Hermione, I'm not listening
to you again. I tried already." Ron thumped down into his seat with
finality.
Hermione gave him a long
look. "Ron…just please keep trying,
OK?"
She waited a moment, but he didn't
answer her or even look at her, so Hermione went and found a seat at another
table. All through the lesson,
Hermione's thoughts were a jumbled mass of spells. There had to be one that would work. Incendio? No, that would probably just help the dragon create more
firepower. Reparo? No, that required something to be broken
first, and hopefully Harry wouldn't be breaking anything. If only there was a spell that could repair
friendships, Hermione thought as she looked sadly over at Ron. He was sitting in silence, trimming his
Flutterby Bush, as Dean and Seamus laughed and joked next to him.
Just then, the greenhouse door
flew open and Harry raced in. "Sorry,
Professor Sprout," he said as he made his way quickly over to Hermione's
table. Hermione saw Ron look over
curiously.
"Hermione," Harry whispered,
slipping into the chair next to her. "Hermione—I need you to help me."
Hermione looked at him, eyes round
in disbelief. "What d'you think I've
been trying to do, Harry?" she
whispered back, slightly annoyed.
"Hermione, I need to learn how to
do a Summoning Charm properly by tomorrow afternoon."
She stared at him. "What? Why?"
Harry spent the rest of the lesson
whispering the story of his meeting with Professor Moody as he halfheartedly
trimmed his Flutterby Bush. He was so
distracted that, by the end of the class, his plant looked like it had been
attacked rather than pruned.
Instead of heading into the Great
Hall for lunch, Harry and Hermione headed for an empty classroom on the second
floor. Hermione had felt Ron's gaze
following them as they had ascended the stairs, but he hadn't said a word.
"Alright," began Hermione, taking
a deep breath. "The Summoning Charm is
easy enough if you just concentrate, Harry."
Harry looked at her as if she were
mad. "Oh, is that all?"
It was still difficult for
him. They practiced all through lunch,
and Hermione told him every tip she could think of, but nothing seemed to help.
They had been at it for some time
when Hermione looked at her watch. "Time for class," she said.
Harry wrinkled his nose. "Oh, let's keep on," he said. "I don't mind missing Divination."
Hermione glared at him. "Well, I do mind missing Arithmancy,
so you can stay by yourself if you like." She was a little irritated that he not only expected her to spend so
much time teaching him a charm he hadn't bothered to learn in class, but that
he expected her to skip her favorite class to do it.
After dinner, which they ate so
quickly that they both received curious looks from the other Gryffindors, they
returned to the classroom for more practice. When Peeves turned up and started bothering them, they headed back to
the deserted common room and practiced until 2 AM, when Harry finally seemed to
get it.
"Harry, we'd better get some
sleep…you're going to need it."
"Yeah," said Harry, dropping the
heavy dictionary he had been practicing with on a table. "Well, good night, Hermione." He disappeared up the stairs to his
dormitory.
"Good night," she called as she
gathered up her books. She knew that he
was anxious and worried about tomorrow. But still, said a dissatisfied little part of her mind as she
headed up to her dormitory, would it kill him to say thank you?
However, Hermione didn't have the
energy to feel resentful, or anxious, or anything else as she fell into a much
deserved sleep.