A/N: Since there was some discussion about this in the comments after last chapter — Hermione calling Professor Grubbly-Plank just 'Grubby' was intentional. Same as Hermione (and Harry) only ever calling Severus Snape by 'Snape', and never 'Professor Snape', as she doesn't believe he deserves to be called 'professor' due to his abuse of at least Harry, Neville, and Gryffindor in general, but also presumably Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

In the middle of January, the first Hogsmeade weekend of the new year arrived.

"Our first real date!" Hermione squealed excitedly as she and Harry met up in the common room that morning.

"So what do you want to do?" asked Harry as they climbed through the portrait hole together to head down to the Great Hall for breakfast. "All we've ever done in the past is visit all the shops and get butterbeer and occasionally go by the Shrieking Shack. Not exactly normal 'date' stuff, at least from what I've heard about dates — the Dursleys never having actually told me anything about dating or dates, of course."

"That's all I want to do today, too," answered Hermione with smile. "You don't need to think you need to do anything special just because we're calling it a date. I just want to spend the day wandering around outside the castle with you, and maybe snogging when the opportunity arises — that's definitely something we've never done on a Hogsmeade visit before."

"That is very true," laughed Harry, before turning serious again. "But I just don't want you to be disappointed by our first date, that's all."

"I could never be disappointed spending the day with you," replied Hermione sincerely. "It's not what we do or where we visit that makes something a date — it's that we're spending it together, spending time specifically with each other.

"Anyway, the only 'date' place in Hogsmeade is Puddifoot's tea shop. Which while I like tea as much as any self-respecting British girl, from all the gossip I've ever heard about that place, it is the most girly place on the planet, which not only do I have my doubts you would enjoy, it's never sounded like a place I would want to go to, either. But you are more than welcome to buy me lunch at the Three Broomsticks if that would make you feel better, and make it feel more like a proper date to you."

"I'd be more than happy to buy you lunch, and anything else you want in Hogsmeade," replied Harry. "But it's not about that, it's just that I want to make sure you have a good date, as well as a good day in general, and even more so with it being our first date and not just spending time together in the library and sneaking in snogs throughout the castle when we have the chance."

"I'll have a plenty good date just because you're there, don't worry," smiled Hermione, bumping her shoulder against Harry's playfully.

By this point they'd reached the Great Hall, and found a spot to sit down to eat, so they'd be ready to leave for Hogsmeade when the front doors opened at ten.

At ten o'clock precisely, Harry and Hermione found themselves near the front of the crowd gathered in the entrance hall when Professor McGonagall opened the front doors. With a scowl, Filch checked their names off the list, and let them exit into the cold, wet grounds of Hogwarts. Following the road out through the Hogwarts gates and towards Hogsmeade, they discussed where they wanted to go first.

"All the shops will immediately be crowded with everyone, especially as cold and wet as it is," said Hermione. "So we should probably go visit Lupin's old haunt first, and let the crowds all settle down so everything isn't so crowded."

So when they got to the high street, they continued straight on through, past all the shops and the Three Broomsticks, and out the road to the hill that led up towards the Shrieking Shack. Once at the top of the hill, they climbed over the fence and walked the remaining distance to the building itself, knowing there was nothing actually scary about the most haunted dwelling in all of Britain. But after trying all the doors and windows with every spell they could think of short of blasting them down with the blasting charm Confringo, they finally gave up and admitted defeat, acknowledging that Dumbledore had made the house completely impenetrable from the outside.

But as they were walking around the back of the house again, Hermione backed Harry towards the wall with a predatory smirk. "There is one good thing about coming all the way out here, though…."

"Which is…?" asked Harry, slightly wary of the glint in her eyes.

"No prying eyes to watch us snog."

Harry needed told no more. He crashed his lips down on hers and pulled her flush against him, as she pushed him up against the rough wooden siding of the house.

They snogged for a long time, but eventually even the heat from kissing and each other couldn't keep them warm from the cold any longer, and they headed back into town. Seeing that the Three Broomsticks was crammed full with everyone there for lunchtime, the two of them decided to visit all the shops first, before going there for their own late lunch afterwards. They went though Zonko's Joke Shop, Dervish and Banges, and finally into Honeydukes sweetshop, their favorite shop in the quaint little town.

"Maybe we should open up a sweetshop when we get out of Hogwarts," commented Harry as they perused the aisles of sugar. "Though, your parents might not be too thrilled about that."

"Probably not," laughed Hermione. "They already don't like how much of a sweet tooth I do have, and it's still significantly less than yours or the Redhead-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named's."

"Doesn't it have to be a little annoying having dentists as parents?" asked Harry with a chuckle as he picked out an extra-large box of chocolate frogs so he'd have plenty to share with her.

"Oh, it definitely was as a kid," answered Hermione with another laugh as she looked over the selection of sugar quills. "Still can be over the summers, but they've generally acknowledged that I like sugar more than I should, so as long as I brush my teeth plenty properly, they don't say anything. Plus, I don't have access to the Great Hall or Hogsmeade there, so I don't eat as many sweets over the summer as I do here."

Finding everything they could carry in Honeydukes, Harry and Hermione paid for their purchases and headed back out onto the main street. Looking over at Hermione, Harry asked, "Think the Three Broomsticks has quieted down enough for us to eat? Because if not, I'm going to have to break out some of these sweets I bought — I'm starving."

"Me too," answered Hermione. "And it should be, or at least enough that we can get a booth."

So they walked down the street to the Three Broomsticks, which they pleasantly found only about half full, the crowds finally having dissipated as everyone had drunk their fill of butterbeer and headed back out for more shopping or back to Hogwarts. Harry and Hermione quickly found a table, and sat down. Once Madam Rosmerta had come over and took their order, they started looking around to see who else was in the tavern with them to pass the time. To their surprise, they saw Ludo Bagman off in a corner talking with a multitude of goblins.

"Odd he's here," commented Harry quietly. "It not being a TriWizard weekend."

"I'm more interested in why he's talking with a bunch of goblins who seem rather angry with him," replied Hermione. "It's completely reasonable, if maybe slightly unusual, for him to be visiting the only entirely magical town in all of Britain on the weekend, but there is something off about that scene over there."

They continued to watch surreptitiously for quite a while, beginning to eat as well when Madam Rosmerta brought them their lunch, until Bagman looked up himself and spotted Harry. Quickly excusing himself from the goblins, he hurried over to where Harry and Hermione were eating.

"Harry! How are you? Been hoping to run into you! Everything going all right?" he said with his boyish grin as soon as he walked up.

"I'm doing fine, thank you," replied Harry, wondering why the tournament judge had been hoping to run into him. Everything he'd needed to be told about the tournament so far had either been told to everyone together, or else it had been his Head of House, Professor McGonagall to tell him about the Yule Ball, not one of the judges.

"Wonderful, wonderful!" replied Bagman a little too cheerfully and eagerly. "I was wondering if I could have a quick, private word with you, Harry?" Turning to Hermione, he added, "You couldn't give us a moment, could you?"

"My girlfriend can hear anything you have to say to me — I'll just tell her as soon as you leave, anyway," said Harry firmly before Hermione had a chance to say anything, as he reached across the table and took her hand in his.

Hermione just looked up at Bagman and shrugged. "Looks like Harry wants me to stay."

Bagman seemed to hesitate for a moment, before coming to the conclusion that he wasn't about to get rid of the girl, and that it wasn't really that important anyway to only tell Harry. So he turned and grabbed an empty seat from the nearest table, and sat down at the end of their booth.

"Well, I just thought I'd congratulate you again on your splendid performance against that Horntail, Harry. Really superb."

"Thanks..." said Harry slowly, knowing that couldn't be the real reason Bagman wanted to talk to him, or he wouldn't have tried to do it alone.

But Bagman seemed to have no interest in actually getting to the point of his visit, instead glancing back over at the goblins he'd been talking with before spotting Harry, who were still watching him intensely with dark, slanted eyes.

"Absolute nightmare," grumbled Bagman in an undertone when he saw Harry and Hermione glance over at the goblins as well. "Their English is terrible — almost like being back with all the Bulgarians at the Quidditch World Cup, except they at least used sign language a human could recognize. This lot keep gabbling in Gobbledegook, and I only know one word of Gobbledegook — bladvak. It means 'pickax', so I don't like to use it in case they think I'm threatening them."

He gave a short, booming laugh that didn't match up with anything he had just said, making Hermione think he was much more nervous about his meeting with the goblins than he was trying to let on.

So already thinking that his meeting with the goblins was odd, Hermione pressed, asking conversationally, "What is it they want?"

"Er...well…they…er...they're looking for Barty Crouch," mumbled Bagman shiftily, making Hermione question how much that was really the truth.

But before she could press any further, Harry said, "Why are they looking for him here? He's at the Ministry in London, isn't he? At least during the week — maybe not on the weekend."

"Also, wouldn't they normally be dealing with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, instead of Mr Crouch?" added Hermione.

"Er...as a matter of fact, I've no idea where he is," replied Bagman, completely ignoring Hermione's question. "He's sort of...stopped coming to work. Been absent for a couple of weeks now. Young Percy, his assistant, says he's ill. Apparently he's just been sending instructions in by owl. But would you mind not mentioning that to anyone? Because Rita Skeeter's still poking around everywhere she can, and I'm willing to bet she'd work up Barty's illness into something sinister. Probably say he's gone missing like Bertha Jorkins."

"Speaking of Ms Jorkins — have you found her yet?" asked Hermione directly, refusing to be ignored on this question — after all, a woman's life was potentially at stake.

Once again, Bagman looked highly strained. "Well…no, not yet. I've got people looking, of course, but really it's all very strange. She definitely arrived in Albania, because she met her second cousin there. And then she left the cousin's house to go south and see an aunt...and she seems to have vanished without trace en route. Blowed if I can see where she's got to...she doesn't seem the type to elope, for instance...but still…."

Suddenly he seemed to remember that he had a reason he had come over to speak with Harry besides avoiding the goblins, and quickly said, "What are we doing, talking about goblins and Bertha Jorkins? I really wanted to ask you" — here he lowered his voice, not that they'd been talking particularly loudly before, or that anyone was paying them any attention, and they had just been talking about a missing Ministry worker that he hadn't wanted them to say anything about to anyone, but he lowered his voice even more anyway — "How are you getting on with your golden egg?"

"Figured out the clue just fine," answered Harry honestly. "Mostly due to Hermione here's genius, but still — we have it all figured out."

"Oh. Uh, well, that's good," stuttered Bagman, clearly taken aback that Harry had already figured it all out all on his own. After a long pause in which he didn't seem to know what to say, having obviously expected Harry not to have a clue about his egg, he finally said still very quietly, "Listen, Harry — I feel very bad about all this...you were thrown into this tournament, you didn't volunteer for it...and if…." Here his voice dropped so quiet that Harry and Hermione had to lean closer to hear him, "If there's any help at all I can give you...a prod in the right direction on actually completing the task now that you've figured out what it is…. It's just that I've really taken a liking to you — the way you got past that dragon! Well, just say the word and I'll give you a hint."

Harry's eyebrows rose slightly as he listened to Bagman's offer to cheat. Carefully wording his reply so as not to stir up any trouble in case he was misunderstanding Bagman's offer, and because he knew he was already violating the rule with all of Hermione's help in both tasks, he said as casually as he could, "Aren't we supposed to work out how to complete the tasks by ourselves?"

"Well...well, yes," answered Bagman in an impatient tone, like Harry wasn't seeing the gift he was trying to hand him. "But come on, Harry — we all want a Hogwarts victory, don't we?"

"So have you offered Cedric the same help you're offering me?" countered Harry, wondering for a brief second if he actually had and that's how Cedric had known to open it underwater in order to then tell Harry. "He is after all the real Hogwarts champion, not me."

A tiny frown briefly flickered across Bagman's face, before he smoothed it out and said, "Well, no, I haven't. But — well, like I say, I've taken a liking to you. Just thought I'd offer…."

"Well, like I said, Hermione and I have already figured out what the clue is," said Harry firmly, all hope that Bagman wasn't actively trying to cheat, or that he'd been the one to tell Cedric in the first place, gone.

Bagman looked almost affronted at Harry's blunt refusal to accept a leg up in trying to win the tournament, but fortunately Fred and George turned up at that point to save Harry and Hermione's date.

"Hello, Mr. Bagman," Fred said brightly as he lay a friendly hand on the judge's shoulder. "Can we buy you a drink?"

"Er…no, no thank you, boys…" avoided Bagman as he quickly stood up, for some reason giving Harry a disappointed look for refusing to accept his help as he did so, as if Harry had let him down badly. Then he hurriedly said, "Well, I must dash. Nice seeing you all. Good luck, Harry," before scampering out of the pub, the goblins he'd been talking to when they'd first entered quickly following after him, obviously not so done with their conversation as Bagman had been.

Fred and George watched Bagman leave looking as disappointed as the judge himself at being so quickly brushed off, before turning back to Harry and Hermione and saying cheerfully, "Well, we won't bother you, but have a good date."

Once they were alone again, Harry asked, "Why do you think Bagman's trying to persuade me to cheat?"

"Well...technically he's actually not, right?" answered Hermione. "From what you told me the day after your name came out, the only rule they told you guys was that you couldn't ask for or accept help of any kind from your teachers — not other students or judges. But I get what you mean, I really do — it's definitely weird. And probably not what any of the headmasters or Mr Crouch wanted, they just like normal never thought to actually say you can't accept help from judges who oddly offer you help. And obviously students will always go to each other since there's no way of getting caught as long as you're even halfway smart about it, so it's stupid to even bother trying to make that a rule. So I guess really, accepting Bagman's help would just not as blatantly be against the intended, unwritten rules as Mad-Eye doing everything he could besides coming right out and telling you how to get past the dragon was, given that Mad-Eye actually is one of your teachers, and is expressly forbidden from helping you — not that any of it actually matters, as everyone who knows anything about this tournament knows cheating is more common than actually successfully completing all the tasks is, even with all the cheating help that goes on."

"Oh. Never thought of it like that," replied Harry thoughtfully. "They didn't actually tell us we couldn't accept judges' or other students' help. I guess I just assumed that, because it made sense."

"You assumed that because you're a muggleborn — you actually have common sense, unlike most wizards," said Hermione. "Remember, they flinch at a nickname because they completely forgot the dude's real name — though they'd probably flinch at that, too, if they could only remember it. And then of course fearing all werewolves and giant descendants despite having known or gone to school with ones they'd call friends, all while fearing and discriminating against their kind behind their backs."

"Then I guess being a mudblood, or half a mudblood in my case, really is a good thing," smiled Harry.

But his smile faded the next moment, as he saw Rita entering the pub with her fat, sycophantic photographer at her heels.