Summary: After six years have passed and Hermione and Ron still haven't realized that they like each other, Harry figures that, with the help of a joke shop and a few drink glasses, he can give them a little push.
Rating: PG (may change to PG-13)
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter characters and previous plot belong to J.K. Rowling. I only own the plot.
Love Plus Four
Chapter Three : News of a Return
Hermione stormed down the corridor. Who does he think he is, telling me I can't talk to Viktor? He talks to Luna, and – She put her hand over her mouth as if she had said the last part aloud. Resuming her walk, she bickered with herself. I'm not jealous of Luna . . and so that would mean Ron isn't jealous of Viktor. It's settled. Putting on a false cheery smile as if to convince herself that the matter was over and done with (and she would not continue it again – ha! The only reasonable time that Hermione would drop an argument was when Voldemort decided to hand out flowers.) and discovered that she was at the door to the room for the sixth years' prefect meeting. With a sigh, she stared at the door, seeing that there was a figure on the other side, who most likely had detected her arrival. Sure enough, Draco Malfoy was at the door. It was only then that she realized by looking through the window that everyone else was there, and (she checked her watch) she was five minutes tardy.
This fact was confirmed when Malfoy stared at her, drawling, "You're late," and a voice everyone here, but then muttered, "Not so perfect after all, Mudblood?"
Hermione stared at him icily before replying in a whisper, "But at least I've never been turned into a ferret – you really would think you could be in control of your species by now, Malfoy." Turning to the room, she said civilly, "Yes – but now that you're not moving aside, I assume I am becoming even tardier?"
Smirking rather uncharacteristically, she stepped by him and took a seat on the bright-red Gryffindor couch. Settling in, she saw that everyone was still staring at her. Suddenly, she realized that all the prefects were the same as last year; which meant that Ron was one as well. About five seconds later, right as she was about to ask what was the matter; Ron came bursting into the room.
"Sorry I'm late," he said breathlessly, going to sit down on the sofa next to Hermione (but not looking in her eyes at all).
Setting Pig's cage on the floor, he, too, took to staring at the windows (front) of the room in a wait for the Head Boy and Girl to arrive.
"Hello, I'm Cho Chang, Head Girl. This," she motioned haphazardly to the disinterested boy next to her, "is Roger Davies, Head Boy."
Hermione rolled her eyes. How did she get to be Head Girl? She's not near- perfect. And I thought Davies was older – oh, maybe he got held back. He wasn't looking too bright at the Yule Ball back in fourth year, either.
Seeing as she was losing interest with her audience, Cho said shyly, "Er – now, you are to begin patrolling the corridors of the train. If you find anything – " she made a flustered motion with her hands, "– then come get Davies or me, okay?" But as the occupants began to gather their belongings, Cho added, "Oh – and all restrictions that were placed under Umbridge's headship are now invalid." She checked her piece of paper. "Divination may be taught by two teachers – Firenze, and Professor Trelawney – it is undecided as of yet. Professor McGonagall will continue teaching Transfiguration, as will Hagrid with Care of Magical Creatures."
Hermione and Ron grinned triumphantly. I knew Hagrid would come back. However, Hermione had lost interest in Cho's speech and was not opening the letter from Viktor.
"However, I am pleased to announce that we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Cho paused, beaming. "And he –"
Hermione finished reading the letter at this moment, and as she rescanned it (as if she was in shock), her jaw dropped. "Merlin.."
It was then when Cho announced that Viktor Krum was the new D.A.D.A. teacher that several things happened.
Krum walked into the room, slightly tanner, more muscular, and, well, manlier than he was remembered.
Merle took off at full speed, jetting towards his owner as if it was a matter of life or death, causing Pigwidgeon to flutter about madly in his cage.
Hannah Abbott and Padma Patil rushed up to Krum, attempting to compliment him in the most absurd ways, despite his repeated attempts to get across the room.
Pansy stared ruefully at Krum, apparently trying to imagine what Malfoy would look like if he was more like that.
Crookshanks hissed and dashed out of the room.
Hermione stared blankly at Viktor before sprinting out of the room empty- handed.
Ron gaped at Krum for what seemed like an eternity before getting up and following Hermione's path outside the large compartment. He saw bushy hair going into another room as he returned to the one they had shared before – but this time, he had Krum's letter; he was determined to ask Harry if all this had anything to do with him.
But as Hermione stepped into Ginny's compartment and watched as she ushered her friends out, she wasn't thinking about the letter, but about Viktor himself. How could he just show up here? Her thoughts rambled. Why couldn't he have told me before? As she clutched her head, another Weasley wondered what was wrong.
"Hermione –" she said quietly.
Hermione pulled her head out of her hands, not to reveal a tear stricken teenager but a furious Gryffindor. "He's here," she said simply.
"Come again?" asked a puzzled Ginny; her friend had entered nearly in sobs, but now she seemed enraged.
Hermione remembered then that it was a violation of the rules to reveal prefect business to other students. Figuring that even to reveal the identity of a new teacher before everyone else was informed would probably not be a good idea. As if searching for words, she said, "Umbridge will not be returning – and you'll find out the rest in the Great Hall." Excusing herself rather abruptly she left to go to the girl's bathroom to change into her robes.
While in the lavatory, Hermione heard three other girls enter. After they began talking, she realized that they were her fellow prefects, discussing the physical aspects of 'Professor Krum'. Hermione stood silent while listening.
"Did you see him?"
"And he plays Quidditch too!"
"He looks really nice – if only he had Draco's face and money."
There was a disgusted silence as the effects of Pansy's statement reverberated throughout the room.
"Whatever, Parkinson."
"You deserve him."
Suddenly, the mood became hushed as they came to a new (yet still Viktor- related) topic.
"Hermione Granger went to the ball with him, back in fourth year," said Parkinson.
"Oh, I know. Don't remind me."
"A little jealous now, aren't we?" stated Hannah. "Your sister went with a Champion, too."
"And I went with Ron Weasley," said Padma sulkily. "He was staring at her the whole time."
Assorted gasps came from the other two.
"I wouldn't have minded taking Hermione's place – I mean, it's sort-of obvious they like each other, isn't it?"
There were muttered agreements, before they found a new way to claim the Bulgarian. After a swish of robes, Hermione assumed they had exited the bathroom. But at this point, she was not fixated on Viktor's "Quidditch- sculpted body" – in fact, she was concerned about Ron and the 'state of affairs' between them, so to speak. Is it really that obvious? How could I be the last to know? She gave herself a mental slap. Stop being such a gossip hound. Plus, we don't even like each other – why can't they see that? We're always fighting! Pulling herself out of her own mental argument, she unlocked the stall and returned to the corridor. She glared in the general direction of the other prefects before returning to Harry and Ron's compartment. Remembering that she had forgotten to patrol the corridors, she vowed to make up for it when she was observing the dungeons. As she slid open the door, she was relieved to see that Ron had also 'forgotten' his duties. But she was curious as their conversation ended as she entered the room.
"Hey," waved Harry, inviting her to sit next to him.
"Hullo," said Ron weakly, avoiding her gaze.
Trying to refrain from asking (or answering) any questions, she said, "I suppose we'll be arriving soon.." Filled with both anticipation and dread, Hermione watched as the scenery outside the window came to a halt.
"I guess so," said Harry, grinning.
Hermione discovered Crookshanks on the overhead rack. Harry quieted her qualms as he assured her that had to have gotten himself up there somehow – at which Ron mentioned that her cat was getting weirder by the year. Still suspicious, Hermione motioned for the first two to follow her off of the train. She flagged down a 'horseless' carriage (those things still made them uneasy) for the three of them, and then hopped in. Yet the ride up to the castle was unusually silent as the rain began pitter-pattering on the roof of the carriage. But the trio was put back into their normal routine as Hermione cast a water-repelling charm on the three of them. So it was as they made their way up to the front hall completely dry (as opposed to sopping wet like the rest) that they had high spirits. Unfortunately, these were dampened as Hermione scanned the staff table and immediately stiffened.
Taking their seats at the Gryffindor table, Ron made sure to seat himself opposite Hermione, between Harry and Neville. As they listened to the Sorting, Hermione stared distantly into the bewitched ceiling overhead. As Ron stared at it, he realized that the tiny moving objects were not shooting stars, but miniature professional Quidditch players. Hermione seemed determined to pick out a certain one of them. It seemed doubtful that she would ever relent from this task, until Fred and George took seats next to Hermione and Ginny. Hermione's jaw dropped.
"What – you guys – I thought you started your business!" she exclaimed.
"We did," confirmed Fred.
"But because we didn't exactly graduate –" began George.
"-we thought it might be a good idea to stay for half of this year, to 'complete' our seventh year, so to speak."
"And market a few test products, if we can."
Hermione glared at the two sternly. "I'm prefect, you know," she aid, "So one wrong move and –"
Fred and George made cutting motions across their necks.
"We know," said Fred, "We won't misbehave."
"If we do," added George, "ickle Ronnikins will tell on us. And we wouldn't want that."
As Hermione sighed in defeat and began staring at her empty plate, Dumbledore clapped his hands, silencing the students. "It is my pleasure to announce that our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is none other than Bulgarian's own Seeker, Viktor Krum!"
At this, there were many hushed whispers and looks directed to Hermione before the hall erupted in clapping.
Hermione continued staring at her plate.
After a few moments of talking on Dumbledore's part, the tables were filled with food. Hermione did not take any, but simply resumed staring at the ceiling in disgust. The new topic among the Gryffindors was how and why they had a professional Quidditch player to help them learn to protect themselves from evil.
It was somewhere in the middle of this that Ron claimed he had Krum's signature.
Hermione looked up, turning to Ron darkly. "You –" she began menacingly, apparently remembering that she had forgotten her letter back at the prefect's meeting. "You have my letter – obviously, the signature –" Her face continued growing redder by the second.
Ron became flustered, lying through his teeth. "Er – signature is from the end of fourth year – don't you remember?"
Hermione stood up. "What is it with you and blaming things on other people?" she said accusingly. "It's my letter – and if you have a problem with him writing to me, don't just steal my messages!" Stepping out of the bench, she walked five feet, and as she opened her mouth to say something, she gained a shocked look on her face. After that, all she managed to say was, "Not everything is about you!" She then stormed out of the Great Hall.
Ron gaped after her, even as the rest of the Hall began to empty out. "She – she knows everything!" It was then that Ron turned around and saw Krum himself, staring after Hermione.
"Vell, I suppose this vouldn't be a good time to say hullo," he said gloomily, retreating back up to the staff table.
Harry and Ginny promptly pointed at the door, a sign, Ron realized, to follow Hermione. Pushing aside the other students, he found Hermione standing across from Malfoy.
"Upset that both your little boyfriends have dumped you?" he snarled. "Get your life in check, filthy Mudblood."
And with that, Ron watched as Hermione closed the distance between herself and Draco, and raised her arm. There was a large smack as Hermione's hand connected with Malfoy's cheek.
"Check that, Malfoy," she spat, leaving two stunned boys in her wake.
Ron began chasing after her, but it was only after he arrived at the portrait hole that he realized that he did not have the password.
Meanwhile, Hermione lugged her suitcase and bookbag up the stairs into the Girls' Dormitories and threw herself on her bed.
I was looking forward to coming back . . . but it's not like returning to the same place if everything has changed.
Author's Note: Yay! Reviews! eats the reviews =D Reviews make me keep writing, so . . the fourth chapter will be up when I can post it, but . . keep 'em coming!
[A note to:
katie - you really should write your own story! But don't worry, Fred and George play a great, huge, humongous part in this story. They're two of the four in "Love Plus Four". . . and I hope that the Hermione - Draco interaction in this chapter was good enough!]