Chapter Sixty-Five: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

"Hermione, can I come in?" Luna questioned her quietly while she knocked on the stall door softly just when April Anderson entered the restroom.

"Is everything alright?" She questioned anxiously out of concern.

"Didn't you see what happened?" Hermione asked her with a sniff, but April simply just shook her head.

"No, I must have already been on my way down here." She replied. "Why?" She wondered.

"Ronald Weasley just embarrassed me in front of the whole entire school by pointing out that I like somebody." Hermione explained with another sniff while glancing down at the ground.

"So? Who cares if you like somebody? I like somebody too, but he probably doesn't even know I'm alive since he's in Ravenclaw and I'm in Hufflepuff." April told her before Luna looked up at her.

"Really? Who is he? I might be able to tell you since he's in my house. I'm sort of in the same boat as you though because I like a Gryffindor and he's one year older than me and we rarely ever speak to each other anyways." Luna told her.

"His name is Jade Creedence." She replied.

"Oh, then sorry I wouldn't be able to tell you as I've only seen him about once or twice." Luna told her before she looked back over at Hermione. "Anyways, April's right you know. Nobody really cares who you like, the ones that matter anyways. For when my mother was still alive, she had this saying that those who mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind." She told her while smiling rather warmly at her.

"Thanks guys." Hermione replied as she smiled back.

"Don't mention it." April began with a grin. "Now speaking of not minding, if you both don't mind, I did come in here to do something." She pointed out before she entered the bathroom stall next to hers and then locked the door behind her.

.

That night when Harry did his detention inside his father's office, his mind kept wandering back to what had happened the night before and how he couldn't figure out if he had been more frightened of his transformation into a werewolf or his friends. He also continued thinking about the first Triwizard task and what he would have to do to accomplish it.

He could learn how to do the summoning spell and summon his Firebolt, but his broomstick wouldn't allow him to be able to fight back and he kept thinking about Spike. The next day after classes were over, he wandered back down to Hagrid's grounds and spotted Spike cleaning his one wing. This time he was in a pasture like the one Buckbeak used to be in with a gated fence around him.

Harry cleared as his throat as soon as he saw him. "Hullo." He began and Spike quickly flinched and turned his head over to look at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but I was wondering if you could do me a favor." He began as the dragon cocked his head to one side and then sat down and looked straight at him. "That is, if you can even understand me. I'm sorry about the other night by the way but I'm not normally like that and I couldn't help it. The first task is on Halloween and not that far away and I could really use your help training for it.

If you help me out, then I promise I'll find a way to set you free when I'm finished." He told him and Spike's ears perked up at this before he raced towards Harry and started licking his face repeatedly and wagging his tail from side to side making him chuckle. Okay, okay I'll take that as a yes." He told him before gently stroking his nose and Spike purred softly while looking at him lovingly. "I guess we better get to work then. I just need to sneak into Hogsmeade to buy a few things first, so I'll have to get out my cloak and have a word with Draco Malfoy." He added.

..

"You're bloody joking!" Draco began later on in The Great Hall. "You have to be barking mad if you're going to try and ride Spike in the Triwizard tournament." He told him.

"Alright, that's it. You've been spending way too much time around Ron." Harry began. "Besides, you need to be quiet!" He snapped in a whisper. "I don't want anybody else finding out about this and trying to stop me and besides that I need your Marauder's Map." He finished before holding out his hand and Draco slowly looked around.

"Oh alright, but only because Hermione will never let me hear the end of it if I don't." He replied before getting his map out of his pocket and handing it over to Harry. "Hey, speaking of Hermione how is she? I haven't seen her since the incident in the Great Hall." He told him.

"She's fine. Luna and April talked to her about it and Ginny made sure that she was fine afterwards." He began. "Draco, you like Hermione, don't you? I mean you really like her." Harry said.

"Yes, I do." He confessed. "But we're only fourteen for starters and for two, my family would never allow it if they found out and I wouldn't be allowed to see her anymore." He told him with a shake of his head. "So I don't really want to tell her about it. At least she knows that she has me as a friend." He explained as Harry nodded back at him.

"Well, anyways thanks. I know that we didn't really start off on the right foot our first year here but considering the fact that I rarely ever change my mind about people I'm glad that you're an exception to that." He told him as Draco grinned back at him.

"Yeah well just be careful Snape. I never actually said that I liked you." He told him as Harry grinned back at him.

"Me neither, but it didn't really need saying did it?" He questioned him before he started heading back towards the Gryffindor common room. "See ya Malfoy." He told him before running off into the distance.