Chapter 11 - Bad Times

Hermione watched Harry walk almost mechanically up to the staff table, stopping for a second as Dumbledore said something to him, and then Harry finally turning and disappearing into the room. She sat there with Ron in awe until they were dismissed to go back to their dorms for bed.

"I can't believe it," Ron said in a daze.

"Neither can I," Hermione agreed as they made their way to the Gryffindor Tower.

"I mean, he held out on me."

"What! You can't be serious," Hermione gasped with surprise. "Are you even thinking about what you're saying?"

"Think about it, Hermione. He even said that if he was going to enter, he would have done it last night while no one was watching," Ron said pointedly.

"Yes, Ron, but that doesn't mean that he did," Hermione said in the same tone as Ron.

"Why doesn't it? His name was in there... his name got pulled out... he's in that room now as we speak!"

"Ronald! Calm down. Harry wouldn't do that to us. He was just as surprised as we were to find that out. Besides, not even Fred and George got past that Age Line, how could Harry have done it?"

"He used the Invisibility cloak," Ron accused as though he had just had an epiphany and hadn't even heard Hermione's reasoning.

"Oh, honestly! The Invisibility cloak only makes you unseen to others, not older."

"He took some of the twin's Aging Potion... enough to make him at least four years older and the Goblet didn't know," Ron continued to think aloud.

"Listen to me," Hermione ordered as she stopped dead in the corridor. "Listen to yourself, in fact! You're accusing our best friend of lying to us – Harry wouldn't do that!"

"How do you know? He's always one for fame," Ron said in a pointed way as he too stopped and turned toward Hermione.

"This is ridiculous. I can't believe I'm even having this argument with you! Do you really think that Harry would want this kind of fame? He's fed up with what he gets for the tragic scenario of surviving when his parents didn't!"

"Yeah, but he loves all that fame he gets for defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named again and again," Ron hissed.

"In case, Ronald, you haven't noticed, we've been with Harry most every bloody time that he's beat Voldemort!" Ron flinched and then glared at Hermione as though she had called him a freckle-faced retard.

"Well, Miss Know-It-All, why don't you tell me, then, how Harry's name got in that Goblet?"

"I know as much as you on the matter, Mr. Accusation!" Hermione folded her arms heatedly over her chest and huffed angrily as Ron stood there shaking with fury.

"They aren't accusations – they're the truth. Think about it, Hermione – who would have put his name in there?"

"Apparently someone that's got it out for Harry-"

"Malfoy couldn't get across that line," Ron snapped before she could finish.

"I wasn't talking about Malfoy! Why must you always insinuate that it's him? Yes, he's a git, and yes, he's annoying, and yes, I hate him just as much as you do, but that doesn't make him old enough to cross that Age Line."

"He had someone else do it for him, then."

"Oh!" Hermione was fed up now, she couldn't stand this as she began screaming at him. "Grow up! Quit blaming other people to make it easy for yourself-"

"Are you saying that I did it!" Ron sounded outraged as well, but this totally shocked him.

"No, I'm not, if you would let me finish, you would know that I was about to say that I think it was someone older, someone like-"

"Snape!"

"Goodness, Ronald, shut up and listen! I don't know who, but I have a feeling that it wasn't Snape because – as we already know – he's saved Harry, or at least tried, once before in our first year, why would Snape put his name in that Goblet when he knows full well that those tasks for the Tournament could very well harm Harry?" Ron just couldn't stand the fact that Hermione was right about this, so he resorted to the only thing that he could.

"FINE! Whatever! I'm sick of you and your arguing, and I'm sick of Harry and his fame!"

"Oh yeah, that's real mature," Hermione yelled after him as he turned and stalked off down the hall. She couldn't stand it any longer, she needed some fresh air. She walked off in the other direction and took a different staircase toward the Astronomy Tower, all the while, a nagging question pulling at her mind as she walked along. Who did put Harry's name in that Goblet?

The next morning, Hermione sat silently at breakfast, not talking to Ron as she sat five seats down the table with Ginny while Ron sat alone, brooding.

"So, what's up between you and my brother?"

"He's being a-"

"Prat? Git? Jerk? Pig-headed Red-cap!"

"Okay, okay, Ginny. It's just him and this whole thing with Harry."

"Oh yeah, I do feel sorry for Harry, t-"

"No, it's not that he feels sorry for Harry – he's angry with him," Hermione corrected.

"Really? How stupid," Ginny sighed as she looked down the table to her sour faced brother. "You'll have to ignore him, then. He's just had it rough with being the youngest brother."

"Well, you're the youngest child," Hermione pointed out.

"Yes, but I'm a girl, I've never had to compete with Fred, George, Percy, Bill, or Charlie... I was always babied and stuff." Ginny and Hermione paused for a moment to look down the table at Ron. "Annoying the way I'm treated really," Ginny added in an afterthought.

"Let's just hope Harry and Ron make-up before much longer – Harry's going to need Ron's support for this tournament," Hermione sighed as she pushed her plate away. They were then joined by Neville who sat down next to Ginny with pink ears.

"H-Hello Hermione – Ginny," Neville greeted bashfully. Hermione and Ginny exchanged quick giggling glances and then Hermione began to speak to cover up the awkward moment.

"Have you seen Harry, Neville?"

"He's still up in the dorm. I heard him and Ron had a bit of a row last night after Harry's party in Gryffindor common room," Neville answered.

"I don't suspect he'll come down to breakfast, then," Hermione said thoughtfully as she stole yet another glance at Ron. "I think I'll take him some breakfast," she added as she grabbed a napkin and unfolded it. She began placing toast inside as Ginny and Neville sat silently watching her while they picked over their own breakfasts. "I'll see you guys later today," Hermione said as she got up and left. As she passed Ron, she swore that she heard him give a distinct 'hmph' of disapproval which only made her shake her head and continue on her way without a word to him. She walked silently to the common room, all the while wondering what to say to Harry. She was about to give the Fat Lady the password when her portrait came swinging open. "Hello. I brought you this..." She held out the napkin of toast to Harry as he took it with a weak smile. "Want to go for a walk?"

"Good idea," he sighed as he took the toast and they began their walk. They walked in quick silence all the way down to the lake where they munched on their toast as Harry explained about what happened after he left the table last night and went into that room with the other champions. "I swear I didn't enter myself, though, Hermione."

"Well, of course I knew you hadn't entered yourself. The look on your face when Dumbledore read out your name! But the question is, who did put it in? Because Moody's right, Harry... I don't think any students could have done it... they'd never be able to fool the Goblet, or get over Dumbledore's-"

"Have you seen Ron?" Hermione was afraid of this question. She was fearful about telling Harry that Ron was showing no remorse and about what she and Ron had fought about the night before. Harry raised his eyebrows at her in a pressing way as though to tell her to continue, so with a sigh, she spoke.

"Erm... yes... he was at breakfast."

"Does he still think I entered myself?" Hermione didn't exactly know if his opinion from the night before had changed, but she doubted it had.

"Well... no, I don't think so... not really." She stumbled over her words like they were tree roots and rocks on a dark forest path she had never been on before.

"What's that supposed to mean, 'not really'?" Hermione bit her bottom lip for a second as she secretly panicked, or as secretly as possible. 'Please don't get angry, I believe you. I just don't want in the middle of you and Ron's fight!' She finally decided that she had to tell him just exactly what was wrong, she could only hope that he would understand without getting mad at her or even worse, more mad at Ron.

"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious? He's jealous!" Hermione saw the shocked anger break out across his face as he opened his mouth to speak, she knew that what he was about to say wasn't going to be any good.

"Jealous?" Harry was a little more furious than she had expected him to be and it scared her a bit. "Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?"

"Look," Hermione pleaded in an attempt to calm him down. "It's always you who gets all the attention, you know it is. I know it's not your fault. I know you don't ask for it... but – well – you know Ron's got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you're his best friend, and you're really famous – he's always shunted to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose it's just one time too many..."

"Great, really great," Harry snapped. "Tell him from me I'll swap him any time he wants. Tell him from me he's welcome to it... People gawking at my forehead everywhere I go..." This was exactly where Hermione didn't want to be, in the middle as the message sender.

"I'm not telling him anything. Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this out."

"I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow up! Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying myself once I've got my neck broken or-"

"That's not funny. That's not funny at all," Hermione said a little more than a whisper. "Harry, I've been thinking. You know what we've got to do, don't you? Straight away, the moment we get back to the castle?"

"Yeah, give Ron a good kick up the-"

"Write to Sirius. You've got to tell him what's happened. He asked you to keep him posted on everything that's going on at Hogwarts... It's almost as if he expected something like this to happen. I brought some parchment and a quill out with me-"

"Come off it," Harry hissed as he looked around the deserted grounds. "He came back to the country because my scar twinged. He'll probably come bursting right into the castle if I tell him someone's entered my in the Triwizard Tournament-" Why was he being so stubborn, he knew she knew better, she always did, didn't she?

"He's want you to tell him. He's going to find out anyway-"

"How?" Harry's voice was almost like he was suspecting her, or at least daring her to say that she would tell and that scared her a bit more.

"Harry, this isn't going to be kept quiet. This tournament's famous, and you're famous. I'll be really surprised if there isn't anything in the Daily Prophet about you competing... You're already in half the books about You-Know-Who, you know... and Sirius would rather hear it from you, I know he would."

"Okay, okay, I'll write to him," Harry relented which made Hermione smile triumphantly as she felt relief settle in. She soaked up her triumph over him in the silence that followed as they made their way back up to the castle. Harry, maybe out of annoyance at her smiling way, spoke up. "Who's owl am I going to use? He told me not to use Hedwig again."

"Ask Ron if you can borrow-"

"I'm not asking Ron for anything," Harry stated in a stubborn manner. Hermione rolled her eyes, she could tell that this was going to be a real war between them and she was going to hate it the whole way through, if she even made it through.

"Well, borrow one of the school's owls, then, anyone can use them." They finally stopped inside the Owlery and Hermione gave Harry her parchment and quill and watched him write his letter, all the while walking among the many owls on perches.

"Finished!" Hermione watched Harry tie his letter to an owl's leg while Hedwig looked completely cross and unforgiving. Hermione left as Harry began yelling at Hedwig about being so angry with him, she had to leave out of fear at laughing at her friend and his crazy, snowy white bird.

Hermione was seriously starting to feel more and more sorry for Harry after that, though. Everyone was treating him as though he was some disgusting form of a giant boil walking through the halls. People were being so unsympathetic to Harry's situation and they weren't thinking at all, Harry couldn't have entered himself. Hermione was getting totally angry with everyone, and even more so at Ron because he wasn't helping Harry at all by still being mad at him.

"You two have to talk at some point," Hermione argued in a whispering way one night in the library.

"I refuse to talk to him... If I don't talk to him, he can't keep secrets from me," Ron hissed.

"You're being really childish right now," Hermione scolded in a murmur.

"Yeah well, if I'm being childish then he's being a hogging git who's just as childish, if not more," Ron snapped.

"You are impossible, Ronald Weasley," Hermione said in a voice that very much resembled his mother's before standing up, stuffing her books angrily into her bag, and leaving him gawking in an awestruck manner after her as she disappeared around the corner into the corridor. She was more than frustrated with him, how could he be so selfish and ignorant when Harry really needed him to be there for him? She didn't have time to come up with an answer to this though as she rounded yet another corner and ran sharply into someone.

"I do apologize," Cedric Diggory said breathlessly as he rubbed his chest where Hermione crossed arms had been embedded.

"No, no, it's all my fault," Hermione said hurriedly.

"My, we do seem to have a knack for running into each other, don't we?"

"Yes, I guess so," Hermione giggled as she looked up at him. She caught his eyes, those gorgeous blue eyes and she began to fall into their depths. The only thing she could guess was that she had a dreamy dumbfounded look on her face, but she didn't care at that point, she was there, with him, totally alone. 'My, he is handsome' Hermione thought happily as she continued to stare at him, her eyes staring into his own. She let her vision travel down to his lips, goodness those lips which were so kissable to her. She could almost see them forming her name, until she realized that they were.

"Hermione? Hello, Hermione?"

"Huh? Oh...! What?"

"You were staring at me all funny like... Is there something on my face?" Cedric ran a hand from one cheek to the other and then through his golden hair.

"Oh, no... no, of course not," Hermione stuttered in embarrassment.

"You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Hermione mumbled as she shifted uneasily and stared at her feet.

"All right, then," Cedric sighed. "Well, uh- I guess I'll see you later, then."

"Yeah... later," Hermione repeated in a distant way.

"'Bye," Cedric bid as he side-stepped her and continued down the corridor, leaving Hermione to stand there feeling like a total fool for what she had done.

Things didn't seem to be getting any easier for Harry which put a bit of stress on Hermione. She didn't want to play the part of the only friend anymore, and if that wasn't bad enough, she was trying to be polite to Cedric and support him and Harry at the same time. Though that wasn't as bad as it seemed because she and Cedric had strangely grown distant since that day in the hall. He would simply nod while passing and then go on to his class and she would smile meekly and bow her head. But the worst part of things was their Double Potions class that day. Hermione had sensed that things wouldn't be good when she walked down the corridor and saw Draco and the rest of the Slytherins waiting.

"Like them, Potter?" Hermione's attention was caught by Draco's voice as he called out to Harry and pointed to a pin on his chest. "And this isn't all they do – look!" Hermione watched him press the pin and saw green words flash POTTER STINKS. Hermione was less than impressed when all the Slytherins started laughing, Pansy's snorting rising above all and annoying Hermione immensely.

"Oh, very funny," Hermione barked with sarcasm. "Really witty."

"Want one, Granger?" Draco held out a badge to Hermione who only sneered at him. "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see; don't want a Mudblood sliming it up." Hermione had barely enough time to tell him to bugger off when Harry whipped out his wand.

"Harry!"

"Go on, then, Potter," Malfoy dared as he pulled out his wand. "Moody's not here to look after you now – do it, if you've got the guts-" Hermione was going to grab Harry's wrist and lower the wand for him, but she wasn't fast enough as they both cried out a spell.

"Furnunculus!"

"Densaugeo!" Hermione was shocked at what happened next. Harry's spell hit Goyle and did no improvements as boils popped up on his nose. Malfoy's, however, hit her and she clutched her hands to her mouth as her teeth began to enlarge.

"Hermione!" Ron came rushing toward her. He gave a great effort to pull her hand away, revealing her elongated teeth to all around them. She wanted to smack him, but held back on that thought as Snape appeared.

"And what is all the noise about?" He looked around at the students and then turning to Malfoy, he said, "Explain."

"Potter attacked me, sir-"

"We attacked each other at the same time!"

"-and he hit Goyle – look-" Snape took only a seconds look at Goyle before sending him off to the hospital wing.

"Hospital wing, Goyle." Hermione saw anger on Ron's face at the neglect of the fact that Hermione was also hurt.

"Malfoy got Hermione! Look!" Snape did in fact look, but it only got worse when he did because when he looked at the teeth which were now down past Hermione's collar, he replied with a hurtful remark.

"I see no difference." Hermione couldn't take it. She began to cry, how could he be so cruel? She turned and ran off for the hospital wing, tears streaming down her face.