Chapter 28 – Learning to Cope

Hermione had cried herself to sleep the night before, and now her eyes were red and puffy as she stood at the front doors of Hogwarts with Harry and Ron waiting on the carriages that would take them into Hogsmeade to catch the train. She sighed as she imagined being at home in the calm and quite where no one would look at her in a questioning way before walking off whispering about Cedric Diggory.

"'Arry!"

Hermione rolled her eyes as she look out the front doors to see a stunningly pretty girl with a long silken sheet of blond hair come toward her, Ron, and Harry. It was Fleur Delacour and she began to speak in her annoying accent as she held out her hand to Harry. Hermione felt her insides twitch as she heard that Fleur was going to get a job here, or at least try to.

Hermione's horrible feeling furthered itself as Ron began sucking up to her. Hermione couldn't have been more happy to see Fleur leave as she sighed and watched Ron angrily as he stared in a dumbfounded way.

"Wonder how the Durmstrang students are getting back," Ron said finally, catching Hermione's eye. "D'you reckon they can steer that ship without Karkaroff?"

"Karkaroff did not steer," came a deeply accented Bulgarian voice from behind them. "He stayed in his cabin and let us do the work."

Hermione turned around almost fearfully. She hadn't properly faced Viktor since Cedric had died and she wondered how that would make things between them feel any less awkward. She sighed and looked to Harry and Ron, Ron looking a bit bothered by his presence, though Hermione thought that he looked a bit strange rather than completely angry.

"Could I have a vord?"

"Oh... yes... all right," Hermione replied as she took Viktor's hand and let him lead her through the crowd.

She felt many people staring at her and it bothered her slightly, but still, she tried to keep her head held high. He stopped just on the other side of the marble staircase, pulling her back into the corner away from a lot of the other people. She found the solitaire feeling of it to be disturbing, but she made an effort not to shift around too uncomfortably.

"Her-my-ninny," Viktor began, his new found way of saying her name catching her attention and making her look up at him from her hands which were playing mindlessly with the hem of her sleeve. "I just vanted you to know that I am sorry about Diggory and I vant you to know also that you can come to me for anything."

It took Hermione a few moments to register these words before tears rushed to her eyes. She tried to tell herself that she mustn't cry in front of him, but there was no stopping it as the tears rolled freely out onto her cheeks.

Viktor frowned and held out his arms which Hermione unintentionally ignored as she wiped her face quickly before anyone else could see her crying. The last thing she needed was people saying she was crying over Viktor. People always seemed to get the wrong idea, but how could they not at the moment as Viktor wrapped his arms around her shoulders and back and pulled her into his chest.

"This might be a bad time to ask, but I vanted to know if you still like me?"

"I-," Hermione was trying to choke out an answer, but she didn't know what to say. She did in a way, but then again, she was repulsed by him. She didn't have the heart at the moment to tell him, so she let the next wave of tears overcome her and render her unable to speak.

"I really like you, Her-my-ninny, I haff told you before that I haff never felt like this about any other girl," Viktor continued as he raised her gaze to his and wiped her tears away. "You must not mourn forever... Please remember that I am here for you and do not forget my offer about this summer."

"I- I won't," Hermione hiccuped as she sighed and took a soothing breath.

She looked back up at him and forced a smile as she prepared to say thank you, but she merely got her lips parted when she felt his eyes burning down into hers with a searching sort of gaze. She didn't know what to do. She froze just like before, she couldn't even get her eyes to dart about for help as he began to move forward. She held her breath and closed her eyes as his lips came to rest on hers gently.

She had never felt something so unexplainable in all her life. It was a kiss that contradicted itself over and over. It was sweet yet disturbing, gentle but passionate, warming yet fear inspiring. She rolled it over in her mind as he pulled back, it had been a good kiss, but it felt bad to her. She finally decided that the timing was just overall bad.

"I had better go now," Viktor sighed as he ran his fingers through her hair and wiped a tear from her cheek. "Keep in touch vith me... I vill try to alvays send you letters."

"Thank you," Hermione mumbled as Viktor took her hand once more and led her back over to Harry and Ron who were still waiting on the carriages.

"I liked Diggory," Viktor said as he stopped in front of Harry. This surprised Hermione more than anything. Why hadn't he said that back there when they were alone? "He vos alvays polite to me. Alvays," Viktor stressed as he looked at Hermione out of the corner of his eye. She felt herself tearing up again, but pushed back these tears and clenched her fists in determination not to cry as she continued to listen to him. "Even though I vos from Durmstrang – with Karkaroff."

"Have you got a new headmaster yet?"

Viktor simply shrugged in response to Harry's question as he shook hands with him and then shook Ron's hand. Ron seemed to be fighting within himself as he bit down on his lip and screwed up his face as though he had a stomachache.

"Can I have your autograph?"

Ron's outburst made Hermione want to giggle, but she couldn't laugh at him. She turned away, smiling as she watched the carriages stop in front of the castle. She was happy to get onto the train and into a compartment with just Harry and Ron where she could feel at ease because she knew they wouldn't bother her about things. They were calmly and contently silent for a good bit of the first part of the ride until the began discussing what Dumbledore could be doing to take action against Voldemort.

"I think that I'm going to go find the trolley, do you want anything?"

Hermione had started to feel uncomfortable with the thought of an approaching war to prepare for on her mind. She was still mourning heavily, she wasn't ready for this kind of thing. And the more she thought about Voldemort's return, she thought about the price it had come at, trauma to Harry and the loss of someone she truly loved.

Harry dumped a bit of gold into her hand and let her go by herself, pulling on Ron's sleeve to keep him in his seat as he tried to get up to accompany Hermione. She was grateful that Harry would do such a thing, he knew more than anyone that she needed time alone.

She wondered the train corridor aimlessly for a few minutes before spotting the trolley. She was heading toward it when someone bumped into her. It was Cho Chang, and she seemed just as speechless to see Hermione. At first, they stared at each other, for how long, Hermione wasn't sure. Then, slowly, Cho backed up into her compartment and let Hermione pass, but as she did, Hermione felt Cho glaring at her.

Hermione sighed, things would just never be the same and she had accepted that. She reminded herself that had she been Cho, she probably would feel some animosity toward herself as well. For Cho had lost Cedric twice and most of that would seem like Hermione's fault, but it wasn't just Hermione's decision to have Cedric leave Cho, it had been partly his as well. She guessed that it was easier for Cho to blame Hermione rather than the beloved Cedric who it seemed wrong to blame.

"Three Cauldron Cakes, six Fizzing Whizzbees, one Pumpkin Pastry, and eight Chocolate Frogs," Hermione said to the lady as she opened her change purse.

"That will be two Galleons and nine sickles, m'dear," the lady smiled politely as she put Hermione's sweets in a bag and held it out to her while holding out her other hand for the money.

Hermione handed her the exact change and went on her way feeling slightly better. She entered the compartment where Harry and Ron were, gave them their food, and sat down to start reading the Daily Prophet. She caught Harry giving her a sort of anxious sideways glance that made her smile a bit.

"There's nothing in there. You can look for yourself," Hermione said to him, "but there's nothing at all. I've been checking every day. Justa small piece about the day after the third task saying you won the tournament. They didn't even mention Cedric Nothing about any of it. If you ask me, Fudge is forcing them to keep quiet."

Hermione felt a flare of hatred for the Minister. How could he do such an injustice to Cedric and his memory by keeping that quiet? How could he refuse to let the world of magic know that there was a crazed man back on a rampage and his first victim was a sweet and innocent young man who did nothing wrong? It was angering her as Harry spoke up, but when he said made her smile again momentarily.

"He'll never keep Rita quiet," Harry said. "Not on a story like this."

"Oh, Rita hasn't written anything at all since the third task," Hermione informed him as she felt a strange and sort of twisted glee rise in her stomach, the kind of feeling she used to get while riding roller coasters at amusement parks on family vacations. "As a matter of fact," Hermione continued, "Rita Skeeter isn't going to be writing anything at all for a while. Not unless she wants me to spill the beans on her."

"What are you talking about?"

Hermione smiled over at Ron as she felt the urge to jump up and down and squeal with excitement. Harry and Ron still didn't know that she had caught Rita Skeeter that night in the hospital wing.

"I found out how she was listening in on private conversations when she wasn't supposed to be coming onto the grounds," Hermione spat happily.

"How was she doing it?"

"How did you find out?" It was always like Ron to underestimate her brain power unless he wanted to copy her homework.

"Well, it was you, really, who gave me the idea, Harry," Hermione credited.

"Did I? How?"

"Bugging!"

"But you said they didn't work-"

"Oh not electronic bugs," Hermione corrected. "No, you see... Rita Skeeter is an unregistered Animagus. She can turn-," at this, Hermione pulled the jar with Rita inside out of her trunk, "-into a beetle.

"You're kidding," Ron said in disbelief. "You haven't... she's not..."

"Oh yes she is," Hermione squealed triumphantly. It felt slightly wrong to be this happy, but she had beat Rita once and for all, and it felt good to able to say she had.

"That's never – you're kidding-," Ron muttered as he looked into the jar.

"No, I'm not," Hermione sighed contently. "I caught her on the windowsill in the hospital wing. Look very closely, and you'll notice the markings around her antennae are exactly like those foul glasses she wears."

"There was a beetle on the statue the night we heard Hagrid telling Madame Maxime about his mum!"

Hermione nodded fervently to Harry's outburst as Ron passed the jar to him. Hermione sighed yet again and wished that Cedric could have been there to share in her triumph.

"Exactly," Hermione said. "And Viktor pulled a beetle out of my hair after we'd had our conversation by the lake. And unless I'm very much mistaken, Rita was perched on the windowsill of the Divination class the say your scar hurt. She's been buzzing around for stories all year."

"When we saw Malfoy under that tree...," Ron said slowly. Hermione smiled, he seemed to always be the last to catch on, but the more she thought about it, the more she sort of liked that about him because it showed innocent, at least innocent ignorance.

"He was talking to her, in his hand," Hermione finished for him. "He knew, of course. That's how she's been getting all those nice little interviews with the Slytherins. They wouldn't care that she was doing something illegal, as long as they were giving her horrible stuff about us and Hagrid."

Harry handed the jar back to Ron who gave it back to Hermione. She held the jar up to her face and smiled evilly as she watched the fat little beetle buzz against the glass.

"I've told her I'll let her out when we get back to London," Hermione pronounced. "I've put an Unbreakable Charm on the jar, you see, so she can't transform. And I've told her she's to keep her quill to herself for a whole year. See if she can't break the habit of writing horrible lies about people."

Hermione felt great pride in herself as she stored the jar in her bag as the compartment door opened.

"Very clever, Granger," Draco Malfoy drawled in a snotty way. "So. You caught some pathetic reporter, and Potter's Dumbledore's favorite boy again. Big deal." He came into the compartment a bit further and glared around. "Trying not to think about it, are we?" Draco's eyes darted from Hermione to Harry and back again as a malicious smile broke out on his face. "Trying to pretend it hasn't happened?"

"Get out," Harry demanded.

"You've picked the losing side, Potter! I warned you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hand around with riffraff like this! Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well – second – Diggory was the f-"

Hermione knew what had been coming out of her mouth and tears were already flowing freely. She didn't want to hear those words from him and she had jumped up and hexed Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, but she wasn't the only one. Harry and Ron were on their feet too, wands out, and Fred and George were making their way into the compartment, stepping on the three Slytherins as they tucked their wands away. Hermione wiped away the tears on her cheeks before the boys could see and she sniffled as she turned to them.

"Thought we'd see what those three were up to," Fred voiced as he looked down at the three Slytherins.

"Interesting effect," George spoke up. "Who used the Furnunculus Curse?"

"Me," Harry replied.

"Odd," George continued. "I used Jelly-Legs. Looks as though those two shouldn't be mixed. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face. Well, let's not leave them here, they don't add much to the decor."

Hermione watched the boys kick Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle out into the corridor before shutting the door and taking up on a few games of Exploding Snap. She sat there quietly watching as she scratched Crookshanks ears and listened to them talk. Suddenly, Harry asked a question that even she had once wondered about, but had forgotten.

"You going to tell us, then? Who you were blackmailing?"

"Oh," George grumbled. "That."

"It doesn't matter," Fred muttered, but the presence of bother by the subject was still evident. "It wasn't anything important. Not now, anyway."

"We're given up," George sighed. This didn't convince the Golden Trio and after a few minutes of bugging the twins, they gave in and continued their story, which Hermione knew they wanted to tell anyways.

"All right, all right," Fred said, "if you really want to know... it was Ludo Bagman."

"Bagman? Are you saying he was involved in-," Harry began before George cut him off.

"Nah. Nothing like that. Stupid git. He wouldn't have the brains."

"Well, what, then?"

"You remember that bet we had with him at the Quidditch World Cup? About how Ireland would win," Fred said to Ron, "but Krum would get the Snitch?"

Hermione cringed a bit at the name and shook the thought of Viktor kissing her from her mind. She really didn't want to think about that, though it did feel weird to hear Fred and them talk about him like he was a celebrity and know that she had kissed him. A celebrity. That wasn't the kind for her. Cedric was her type, though she doubted she would find another like him.

"Yeah," Harry and Ron said in unison.

"Well, the git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."

"So?"

"So," Fred hissed, "it vanished, didn't it? By the next morning, it had gone!"

"But – it must've been an accident, mustn't it?" Hermione hated to think that a man like Ludo Bagman would pull such a nasty trick. That she Rita had once said something about that and she didn't want Rita to be right.

"Yeah, that's what we thought," George laughed bitterly, "at first. We thought if we just wrote to him, and told him he'd made a mistake, he'd cough up. But nothing doing. Ignored our letter. We kept trying to talk to him about it at Hogwarts, but he was always making some excuse to get away from us."

"In the end," Fred continued, "he turned pretty nasty. Told us we were too young to gamble, and he wasn't giving us anything."

"So we asked for our money back," George glowered.

"He didn't refuse!" Hermione couldn't deny it now, but she wished desperately that Fred and George would say he did.

"Right in one," Fred sighed.

"But that was all your savings!"

"Tell me about it," George said to Ron. "'Course, we found out what was going on in the end. Lee Jordan's dad had had a bit of trouble getting money off Bagman as well. Turns out he's in big trouble with the goblins. Borrowed loads of gold off them. A gang of them cornered him in the woods after the World Cup and took all the gold he had, and it still wasn't enough to cover his debts. They followed him all the way to Hogwarts to keep an eye on him. He's lost everything gambling. Hasn't got two Galleons to rub together. And you know how the idiot tried to pay the goblins back?"

"How?"

"He put a bet on you, mate," Fred said to Harry. "Put a big bet on you to win the tournament. Bet against the goblins."

"So that's why he kept trying to help me win! Well – I did win, didn't I? So he can pay you your gold!"

"Nope," George corrected. "The goblins play as dirty as him. They say you drew with Diggory, and Bagman was betting you'd win outright. So Bagman had to run for it. He did run for it right after the third task."

Hermione shook her head and sighed. It was awful to think of that, but she guessed there was bad in everyone, some greater than others. Others like Voldemort who would kill the one person there seemed to be no bad in, Cedric. She swallowed back the lump in her throat and turned to the window for the rest of the journey. She was happy to feel the train jerk to a stop. She grabbed her trunk, stepped over the three Slytherins which were still in the hall outside their compartment, and made her way onto the platform.

She quickly found a trolley, loaded her trunk onto it, and pushed it through the barrier where her parents were waiting. Her mother scooped her up into a warm hug as her father kissed her forehead. She was happy to be home and in the warmth, safety, and comfort of her parents company.

She looked back over her shoulder as she made her way to her father's car. She saw Ron running toward her from the pack of Weasley's. He stopped in front of her, and as no one was paying attention, he placed a kiss on her cheek and told her he would be there for her. She smiled as he blushed and ran back to his family. It was then that she realized it would take time to get over Cedric and what had happened, but she would be all right because she had Harry, the Weasley's, her family, and Ron to lean on.