Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter. But, on the bright side, I own a new laptop. Well, technically. I ordered it for college and it just got shipped. So, soon enough I won't have to deal with this horrible laptop I have now. Seriously, it barely charges and it weighs a hundred thousand pounds. I can't wait for my new one. But, more importantly, I don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 55
"How are you feeling, Harry?" Dean wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders as they strolled out of the Great Hall after lunch, on their way to a double Potions class in the dungeons. They were surrounded by the rest of the Gryffindor Gang, who had taken to serving as Harry's vanguard to protect the bespectacled wizard from threats and hexes from their more vindictive schoolmates. It had been two weeks since Harry had been selected as the fourth Triwizard champion, and they had escorted him to and fro for every single class, without fail. Even Ancient Runes, which only he and Hermione had. "Ready to face big bad Snape?" Dean teased.
"Can't wait," Harry rolled his eyes, but he managed to crack a smile. "You guys know you don't have to walk me to every single class, right?"
"We're all going to the same place, aren't we?" Lavender smirked as she fished her Potions textbook out of her bag.
"Plus, we're the Gryffindor Gang," Seamus turned and ruffled Harry's hair. "You know how we operate. We will strike down with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to hex and destroy one of our own."
True enough, the Gryffindors had formed a crude circle around Harry. Seamus and Ron walked in front of him, throwing murderous glares at any Hufflepuff or Slytherin that looked ready to hurl some sort of insult at Harry. Dean was on his left, while Hermione was on his right, with Neville on her right. Lavender and Parvati brought up the rear, pretending to read their textbooks but keeping an eye out for any student vile enough to throw a jinx at Harry's back. The moment Harry's name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, it had quickly become a necessary precaution.
"At least learning how to brew a proper antidote will take your mind off things, right?" Hermione asked Harry as they all descended into the bottom floor of the castle.
"Right," He sighed, giving her an unconvincing smile as they passed a group of Hufflepuffs that sneered at him in a very Malfoy-like manor.
"This will all blow over, Harry. Anyone with half a brain is going to realize you didn't put your name in there soon enough," Hermione reminded him, slipping her hand into his and giving him a reassuring squeeze. He nodded gratefully. They finally reached the dungeons, just outside of Snape's classroom, where the Slytherins were waiting.
"Well, well, well," Malfoy drawled, leaning against the stone wall with his arms crossed. "Saint Potter brought his band of misfits along to protect him."
"Keep insulting Harry and he won't be the one who needs protecting," Seamus growled, his hand shooting to the pocket of his robes. "We'd all hate to see…sparks fly."
Malfoy's face turned paler than it already was – clearly remembering his experience with the Gryffindors and their fireworks in the Great Hall – and Harry felt his heart soar. His expression clearly reflected it because the Slytherin was right back to his slimy self in no time. "Hey, Potter! Like the badges?" He pointed to a badge on his robes that read POTTER STINKS. "What do you think?" The rest of the Slytherins, unsurprisingly, began howling with laughter and pointed to their own badges, all with the same message.
"Oh very funny," Hermione said sarcastically to Pansy Parkinson and her gang of Slytherin girls, who were laughing harder than anyone. "They're really witty. How much time did it take geniuses like yourselves to come up with something so clever?"
"Don't you dare insult me, Mudblood!" Malfoy snarled.
Heat rushed to Harry's face, and he felt his jaw clench so tightly he expected his molars to crack from the strain. The anger he had been feeling for days towards the entire house of Slytherin burst and he flicked his hand. Almost impossibly fast, Harry's holly wand floated from his holster into his hand and the boy wizard was yelling "Furnunculous!"
A jet of gold light shot out of Harry's wand and hit Malfoy between the eyes. The blonde had been fumbling for his own wand out of his robes, but Harry's wrist holster gave him a clear advantage, allowing him to get the spell off in the blink of an eye. Malfoy yelled out in pain, clutching his face as boil after boil materialized on his cheeks, chin, and forehead.
Before Harry could even admire his handiwork, however, several other hexes were cast on Malfoy. Every other Gryffindor – minus Hermione and Neville – had cast their own spells on the Slytherin in retaliation for his slight against Hermione. Within a few seconds, Malfoy's two front teeth were growing at an alarming rate, his tongue had been turned into a rhinoceros horn, he'd sprouted a tail, his shoes were stuck to the ground, and he was sneezing uncontrollably.
Harry stared in awe at how horrific a transformation Malfoy had undergone, as well as in awe of his friends, who were all aiming their wands at the rest of the Slytherins menacingly. Each of Malfoy's housemates had their own wands drawn, but nobody was making a move besides Malfoy jerking his head up and down as he sneezed.
"And what is all this noise about?" Snape chose that particular moment to fling his classroom door open and stride into the corridor, sporting his trademark sneer.
"Potter attacked Malfoy!" Pansy Parkinson snarled, pointing her wand right at Harry's face.
"Is this true, Potter?" Snape drawled, his eyes twinkling with delight at the prospect of docking Gryffindor however many points he pleased, as well as bestowing Harry with a detention. Or several. "Did you do this to Mister Malfoy?"
Harry's eyes darted towards Malfoy, who was covered in boils, angrily flicking his yellow tail, sneezing, and trying in vain to lift his feet off the ground. He then turned back to Snape. He gave his Potions professor his most innocent smile and nonchalantly returned his wand to his wrist-holster.
"I see no difference," He shrugged.
Malfoy cried out in horror, which was quickly drowned out by a particularly furious string of sneezes as his teeth continued to grow past his chin and his new horn-tongue painfully clanged against his fangs. Snape's sardonic glee vanished, and was replaced with sheer rage towards Harry. Before the greasy-haired git could even open his mouth, however, Colin Creevey came sprinting in the corridor, sporting a gigantic smile.
"Hiya, Harry!" He waved as he always did when he saw the Boy-Who-Lived, coming to a stop right next to him. He caught sight of the rest of the students in the hallway, still brandishing their wands at one another. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, Professor."
"Yes, Creevey?" Snape sneered, looking particularly miffed that his punishment of Harry had been disrupted. "What is it?"
"I'm supposed to take Harry upstairs," Colin explained, his grin faltering under Snape's furious gaze. "It's for the Tournament."
"Great!" Harry jumped on the chance to escape his professor's wrath. "Uh, I'll catch up with you guys," He turned to his fellow Gryffindors, who nodded. He gave Hermione a quick smile, which she returned, before she suddenly grabbed his wrist.
"It's probably the Weighing of the Wands," She said, nervously eyeing Snape's glare and the equally angry Slytherins. "I've read about it," She whispered to Harry. "Give me your wand."
Harry did so, flicking his hand and watching his wand levitate out of its holster into his waiting fingers before he handed it to her. She whipped out her own wand and murmured an incantation. Instantly, every last smudge and fingerprint vanished into thin air. Harry grinned at her, taking his wand back and giving her hand a quick squeeze.
"You're brilliant, Hermione. Truly," He strongly considered kissing her right then and there, but he opted to dash off with Colin before Snape could come to his senses and berate him. The younger of the Gryffindors rattled on for the entire journey about how exciting it was that Harry was a champion, to which Harry just smiled and nodded. Eventually, Colin dropped him off in front of a classroom, where he found Fleur, Cedric, and Krum had all arrived. Ludo Bagman, who had been present on Halloween for the selection of the champions, was there as well, along with a witch that Harry had never seen before.
Fleur and Cedric were chatting away, and the latter waved Harry over. He strolled towards them, eyeing Bagman and the magenta-clothed witch uneasily. Cedric greeted Harry with a smile, but Fleur gazed at him uneasily, clearly still miffed that he was a champion.
"You know what this is about?" Harry whispered. "Hermione mentioned something about Weighing of the Wands?"
"Bagman kind of explained it," Cedric shrugged. "We're supposed to get our wands weighed, make sure they work and stuff."
"But, apparently," Fleur gave Harry an unreadable expression, "Madame Skeeter would like an eenterview with you, 'Arry."
"Skeeter?"
"Rita Skeeter. That woman there," Cedric pointed to the witch in magenta robes, who was too busy conversing with Bagman to notice that Harry had walked in. "She works for the Daily Prophet. She writes some…sensationalized pieces. She said she wanted to interview Harry Potter before we got started. And, Fleur," he turned to the Beauxbatons champion with a wry smile, "she's not worth calling 'Madame', she deserves the same respect as a pile of Hippogriff dung."
Fleur let out a laugh, and Harry had to admit it was quite a beautiful sound. Cedric suddenly looked a bit slack-jawed, and Harry arched an eyebrow at him. Fleur looked at Harry quizzically before her expression shifted to one of appraisal, even fascination.
"You feel nothing?" She asked, smirking at him. Harry tilted his head in confusion, but before he could ask what on Earth she was talking about, he felt a hand with talon-like nails snare his shoulder.
"Harry Potter, I presume?" Rita Skeeter gave him a toothy grin, and Harry counted three gold teeth. "Follow me."
She motioned towards a broom cupboard just outside the classroom, and Harry audibly groaned before she dragged him off.
After an exhaustive interview in which Harry suspected Rita Skeeter's Quick-Quotes Quill had jotted down more falsehoods than facts, after the wand-weighing ceremony, after a series of awkward photographs of the champions, everybody was finally permitted to leave the classroom. Harry grumbled to himself as he departed, wishing he could bash both Skeeter's and Snape's brains in with a cricket bat. He made his way down to the Great Hall, hoping to drown his grievances in treacle tart.
He entered the hall and was pleased to see that Malfoy wasn't at his usual place at the Slytherin table, meaning he was still being treated in the Hospital Wing for his sudden makeover. Several of Malfoy's housemates were glaring daggers at Harry as he walked down towards his seat, so he decided to harness his inner Marauder and blow them a kiss. It had the desired effect as Crabbe and Goyle fumed, looking ready to vault the table and attack him with their bare hands.
That small little victory more than made up for the uncomfortable affair that had been the wand weighing ceremony. He smirked to himself as he plopped down next to Hermione, who had been busy reading her Arithmancy textbook and hadn't seen him coming.
"Harry!" She jumped in surprise before beaming at him. "Was it the Weighing of the Wands?"
"Oh, it was indeed the Weighing of the Wands," Harry sighed, pouring himself some pumpkin juice. Several of his fellow Gryffindors were seated around them and greeted him. They all seemed to be riding high from turning Draco Malfoy into target practice, and Seamus looked like he had been in the middle of impersonating the Slytherin sneezing uncontrollably.
"Where's Ron?" Harry asked as he loaded his plate with some treacle tart, forgoing actual dinner food altogether. "Did Snape give him detention or something?"
"He went back to the common room with us," Dean explained with a shrug. "I think he stayed behind because he got a letter. Didn't see who it was from, though." Harry just nodded and turned to Hermione.
"As I said, you were right. As always. It was the Weighing of the Wands."
"How was it?" She asked excitedly, scooting closer to him on the bench. Harry let out a bitter laugh before explaining to her and everyone around them how the ceremony had gone.
"Rita Skeeter was there?" Lavender paled as she interrupted Harry once he began describing the interview. "She's horrid. She writes all these scathing articles about whomever she wants. My parents loathe her. They almost cancelled our Daily Prophet subscription solely because of her."
"She writes in Witch Weekly sometimes," Parvati added, "but I always skip her articles. They're always utter rubbish, usually demonizing whichever handsome wizard is currently popular."
"Well, I don't blame your parents, Lavender," Harry admitted with a rather bleak smile. "She was horrid. She had this Quick-Quotes Quill but every time I looked to see what it wrote, it was just making stuff up."
"What did it say?" Dean asked.
"For starters, I don't cry about my parents, and I didn't cry during the interview," Harry sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. "So if you read in the Prophet that I do cry, or that I did this afternoon, you have my blessing to take her arse to court for slander."
They all shared a laugh, and Harry continued his recapitulation.
"Oh, yeah, turns out that Fleur is part-Veela," He smiled as he began recounting the wand ceremony. "Her grandmother was a Veela so she's a quarter Veela I think? Yeah. Anyway, I think she caught on that I'm not affected by her powers."
"I always knew she was a Veela…" Seamus sighed, looking longingly at the Ravenclaw table, where Fleur was chatting away with her friends merrily. "They don't make girls like that at Hogwarts."
"You're right," Harry snaked an arm around Hermione and pulled her in so that their shoulders and thighs were pressed up against each other. "They make them even better."
Several girls shouted "Aww" and several boys either gagged or wolf-whistled, but Harry ignored them all in favor of giving Hermione a quick peck on the cheek. The smile that she gave him was so dazzling, so brilliant, so heart-melting, it put every Veela that had ever lived to shame. Their utterly adorable moment was interrupted as the rest of their friends began explaining their lesson on antidotes to Harry.
"Snape poisoned me. I reckon he would have preferred doing it to you, but you were off being a champion," Neville smirked as he leaned over and grabbed a platter of roast chicken. "But Hermione helped everyone else with their antidotes, so I'm good as new." He promptly knocked over his goblet of pumpkin juice and sighed. "Well…good as normal, anyway."
"Hermione was really cross you weren't there, Harry," Parvati teased, to which Hermione squeaked. "She didn't have anyone to hold hands and flirt with for a whole two hours. I don't know how she got through it."
"We don't flirt during class!" Hermione protested, her cheeks flushing.
"Speak for yourself," Harry mumbled, exaggerating a wink at Lavender and Parvati, who giggled. He turned to Hermione and mock-pouted, giving what he hoped look like puppy-dog eyes. "Hermione, I'm sorry I left you all alone in class today. Can you ever forgive me?"
She pursed her lips for a moment, tapping her chin in feigned pensiveness. "On one condition."
"Uh, alright…" Harry said a bit warily, raising his eyebrows.
"You have to help me with Arithmancy," Hermione's eyes suddenly twinkled familiarly, and Harry felt his face heat up a bit. "Ideally, right now, since I want to get it out of the way."
"Whatever you say," Harry said, his words tumbling out a bit faster than he usually spoke. He grabbed his bag from under the bench and Hermione did the same, slipping her book into her own bag before Harry offered to carry it for her.
"But for your information, Harry Potter, just because I want to get this assignment out of the way doesn't mean we shouldn't do it properly," Hermione chided, wagging her finger a bit before poking Harry in the chest. His heart rate quickened as she didn't remove her finger, and Harry found himself wondering if she could feel it beating like a drum. There was no way she couldn't, he concluded. "We're definitely going to take our time with this assignment," She added for good measure.
"Message received," He nodded dumbly. He was aware of his peers staring at the two of them, scrutinizing them to try and figure out what the hell was going on. Harry turned and gave them an innocent smile. "Arithmancy is her favorite subject. She's very passionate about it."
"Very," Hermione nodded in agreement. "Now come on, I can't exactly do this Arithmancy without you." She grabbed his hand and strolled out of the hall. Harry heard Neville confusedly mumble "Harry doesn't even take Arithmancy" as they walked away, but he ignored it as he matched Hermione's pace.
"So, I know that most of our friends can be pretty dense," Harry sighed as they exited the Great Hall, "but did you really think that nobody was going to pick up on the fact that I don't take Arithmancy? Not to mention the whole, 'we're taking our time with this assignment' and 'I can't do this without you'. Honestly, you were begging to get figured out by Lav or Parvati that you just want to snog. You need to up your double entendre game."
"First of all," Hermione suddenly changed directions and dragged Harry towards the nearest door, an empty classroom with a clutter of books in one corner, "hearing you use double entendre properly in a sentence is just about the most attractive thing you've ever done."
Harry blushed profusely and let their bags fall from his shoulders to the floor as Hermione slammed the door behind them. She promptly pushed him up against the stone wall and let out a quiet purr that made his nervous system go haywire. "What else?" He smirked as Hermione gripped his shoulders, gazing at him with an expression that could only be described as hungry. "You said first of all, is there something else you wanted to say?"
"I honestly don't remember," she smiled impishly, "now be quiet and let me kiss you."
Harry obeyed, meeting Hermione halfway as they crashed their lips against one another's. Hermione was kissing so intensely that his knees actually buckled, and he had to pull her flush up against him to stay upright. She didn't seem to mind in the slightest, moaning a bit at their closeness and lifting her hands from his shoulders to his hair, gripping his notoriously messy locks so tight he expected her to yank them out of his scalp any second.
The pain, however, paled in comparison to the pleasure. Hermione was quick to dart her tongue out, slowly dragging it along Harry's lower lip in such a way that made him feel as if that lip had caught fire. They deepened the kiss, losing themselves in each other entirely. Any thoughts of the Triwizard Tournament, of hexing Malfoy, of Rita Skeeter, of any troubles he had, all vanished from Harry's brain as his mind went completely, utterly, blissfully blank.
Feeling particularly bold, he decided to try something he'd been too afraid to do since they'd been exposed on the train ride back to Hogwarts. Reluctantly pulling away from Hermione's lips, he gave her a coquettish smile as she whimpered in protest before he began trailing kisses across her cheek until he was hovering his lips above her neck.
"Oh, Harry…" She whispered, turning to give him a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth before revealing her neck once again. He capitalized on his unexpected surge of Gryffindor courage and planted a series of lingering, steamy kisses up and down her neck, his pulse rising more and more with each moan Hermione let out.
Suddenly, she wrenched her hands out of his hair and cupped his cheeks, forcing his head back. He hit the wall behind him a little harder than he wanted and had to blink a couple stars out of his eyes, but any traces of pain were annihilated as Hermione resumed her fervent kissing. Just as he recovered enough to start kissing her back she was pulling away, and he felt his lips jut out in a pout until he realized she was drifting towards his neck.
Within seconds, Harry realized why Hermione reacted the way she did when he kissed her on the neck, even if it meant a world of teasing would ensue from their friends. The moment her lips brushed against his pulse point, he gasped and involuntarily tilted his head to the side, exposing more of his neck to her. He didn't want to do anything to disturb what she was doing and the sheer pleasure that was subsequently flooding his body, but that desire was quickly overruled by a primal urge to pull her closer. He tightened his arms around her waist and tugged her even closer, and was relieved when she let out a quiet purr but didn't stop.
After a heavenly eternity of more and more passionate kissing, Harry and Hermione broke apart, panting heavily and grinning from ear to ear. Hermione stumbled backwards a bit and landed in a nearby chair while Harry slid down the wall until he was sitting on the dusty floor. His glasses were barely hanging on, as was his tie, and he adjusted them accordingly with trembling hands.
He watched Hermione try to adjust her hair and her school outfit, occasionally brushing her fingers against her neck or lips and sighing contentedly. He couldn't help but stare at her for a bit – once he got his glasses in the proper position. Her cheeks were still flushed and her eyes looked slightly glazed over. She looked a bit like a victim of the Imperius Curse looked, but when she caught his eye and gave him one of those radiant smiles, any thoughts of Unforgivable Curses vanished as he returned the smile.
"Your neck is already looking a bit…you know…" Harry pointed awkwardly to a red spot that was slowly but surely darkening into a bruise. Hermione let out a quiet laugh before extracting her wand.
"I meant to tell you, I talked to Madam Pomfrey near the beginning of the year," She explained as she aimed her wand at her neck. "I asked if she could teach me any simple bruise-removing spells because my best friend has this nasty habit of getting himself hurt, and she was more than happy to show me."
"I assume you only asked because I tend to get hurt, and your intentions had nothing to do with how you're currently using the spell?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Hermione stuck her tongue out at him before returning her attention to her wand. "Episkey!"
Instantly, Hermione's faint hickey faded until it was barely visible, then into nothing at all. The only trace that she'd been thoroughly snogged was her slightly disheveled hair and swollen lips. Wordlessly, she stood from her chair and held her hand out. Harry took it and allowed her to help him to his feet. She aimed her wand at his own neck and repeated the spell, and part of Harry's neck suddenly felt very cold, then very hot, and then perfectly normal a second later.
"All better!" Hermione beamed, brushing her lips against his once again before bending down and picking up her bag. "Shall we go back to the common room? I actually do have Arithmancy homework that doesn't entail kissing you."
"Let me know if you ever need any Arithmancy help in the future," Harry smirked as he picked up his own bag and walked out with Hermione, making sure nobody was in the corridor before they slipped through the door. "So, if I were to randomly mention in passing conversation that I know what a metaphor is, would you have a sudden urge to drag me into the nearest empty room and start kissing me?"
"There's a lot of things that you do that make me want to snog you senseless, Harry Potter."
"Oh…" Harry blushed and kept staring straight ahead. "The feeling is mutual, to be honest."
Hermione just giggled, and they enjoyed the rest of their walk to Gryffindor Tower in a content silence. They reached the Fat Lady, who commented waggishly on the two teenagers' messier-than-usual hair and allowed them to enter. The pair strolled into their common room and were halfway to their usual couch when they were intercepted by a lanky figure leaping to his feet and standing in front of them.
"Hey, Ron!" Harry greeted, still feeling a bit giddy. "How come we missed you at dinner? You never miss meals."
The redhead didn't answer, and Harry's smile faltered as he got a good look at his friend. He looked a bit shell-shocked, like he wasn't entirely processing anything happening around him. His eyes were a bit distant and his lips were curved into an odd smile that didn't reflect any sort of joy or amusement.
"Crazy creatures, dragons are…" Ron mused. "Really, utterly crazy. There's not much a human can do against one."
"What?" Harry could only tilt his head in confusion. "Ron, are you alright?"
"Charlie's told me loads about bad experiences with dragons," Ron continued, his voice quavering a bit. "How even the best trainers can still get burned. How people who have never seen one before can get charred to a crisp in the blink of an eye. How they're strong enough to flatten buildings, how some of them can fly higher than the clouds."
"Ron, what's going on?" Hermione asked, scrunching her eyebrows together.
"Dragons…" Ron shook his head in one looked like sheer disbelief. "Dragons are just crazy, crazy creatures."
Hermione crossed her arms. "Ron, why are we talking about dragons?"
"No, let me rephrase that, why the fuck are we talking about dragons?" Harry added for emphasis, ignoring the elbow Hermione threw him for his language. Ron didn't say a word at first, instead handing Harry a letter that he clutched in a trembling hand.
"Charlie sent me this," He stammered. "It's dragons. The first task is dragons."
A/N: Hi guys! So, some references to note: "We will strike down with great vengeance…" is another Pulp Fiction reference, it was inspired by a review left by PastaShark000. Also, you replace dragons with noodles, the whole "Why are we talking about dragons?" "No, let me rephrase, why the…" is a carbon copy of one of my favorite lines from the TV show Veep.
I really enjoyed writing this chapter. My revisionist history of the duel outside Snape's classroom was cathartic to write. I've been sitting on "I see no difference" since I first came up with it about a month ago, and finally getting to type it out was like when you get to that really good bite of your food that you've been saving for last because you know it's going to be the most delicious. So, anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter, because I liked writing it. A lot.
To the wonderful people of the world that review this story, that follow this story, that favorite this story, thank you all. I really can't verbalize my gratitude for you all but I am trying my best because I love you guys. So much. So, thank you all for everything, and stay safe!