As Harry and Hermione entered the Great Hall a few hours later for lunch, they found the twins' mother already sitting at the Gryffindor table, staring straight at the door.

"Looks like no way around this, she's already seen us," muttered Hermione under her breath to Harry as they continued on towards the table. "Might as well pick seats nearby enough for her to talk to us, or she'll just move to wherever we sit."

Harry nodded, so Hermione led them to seats several down from Mrs Weasley and Bill to force some space and people between them, but not so far Mrs Weasley could justify moving right next to them.

As soon as they sat down, Mrs Weasley said overly brightly, "Surprise! Thought we'd come and watch you, Harry!" Then turning towards Hermione, she added stiffly, with a cold expression suddenly on her face, "Hello, Hermione."

"Oh, for God's sake, woman!" exclaimed Hermione irritatedly. "After lashing out at Percy about how Rita is wretched, and not to blame Mr Weasley for what she wrote back at the end of summer after the Quidditch World Cup, now you're suddenly going to start believing her?!"

"So you're not dating Harry?" replied the Matriarch cooly, as if she didn't believe the muggleborn.

"No…I'm not using any love potions," answered Hermione. "I'm a muggle — I know what rape is, and what date rape drugs are. I would never make a love potion even if my life depended on it, unlike certain people at this table." Here she glared hard at the Matriarch. "As for whether I'm dating Harry or not, first off it's absolutely none of your business as you are neither of our families, but yes — I am absolutely dating Harry Potter, and have been ever since the Yule Ball he invited me to go with him to. And neither of us care about your opinion of it, so you can just shove it."

Mrs Weasley looked taken aback at being addressed so forcefully, before assuming a highly affronted look.

So before a full on cat fight could break out (not that he had any doubt Hermione would win so long as none of the professors interfered, he just didn't trust them not to interfere and they would indubitably side with Mrs Weasley without hearing any of the argument first), Harry looked at Bill and said more loudly than normal, "Hi, Bill. How are you?"

"I'm great," answered Bill, sensing Harry's objective and following along. "Charlie said you were incredible against the Horntail. Wish I could have seen it myself."

"Just glad I survived," answered Harry, before turning to Hermione and asking, "So how did the exam go?"

Hermione immediately launched into a thorough tale of everything on the test, easily taking up the rest of the lunch period so Mrs Weasley couldn't try to mollycoddle Harry like normal, and he didn't have to suffer through trying to politely talk with her.

But when Hermione stood up to head to her afternoon exam, and Harry stood up with her, trouble started again.

"Harry, dear, since you're exempt from exams, we thought you could show us over the grounds," said Mrs Weasley brightly, not even bothering to try to frame it as a question, asking if he'd like to show them around.

"I've been using the exams to study for tonight's task," replied Harry politely, but firmly. "I'm exempt from exams expressly so I can prepare for this task — I'm not going to waste that time I've been given. So if you'll excuse us, we have an exam to be attending."

And with that he turned and led the way out of the Great Hall, leaving a gaping Mrs Weasley staring after him and Hermione, unable to comprehend how Harry might prefer preparing himself for the highly dangerous task that lay before him that night, instead of purposelessly walking around the grounds he walked every day.

Once outside the Great Hall and down a secret corridor that was a shortcut to the last exam of the year, Hermione spun Harry back against the wall and kissed him soundly.

When they broke apart, Harry looked at her in surprise and confusion, asking, "What was that for? Not that I'm complaining, of course."

"For handling Mrs Weasley so well back there, and putting her in her place about wasting the day instead of getting ready for what should theoretically be the hardest of the three tasks since it's the last and certainly the most important. You were so very articulate, I almost thought I was listening to myself for a second there," answered Hermione with a smile, before adding with a smirk, "And just because I can."

"Never a bad reason in my opinion," replied Harry with a smirk of his own, before saying, "But perhaps you should wait until later for the next round so we're not late for the exam."

~HP~

Hermione had hoped to entirely avoid Mrs Weasley at supper that night, but when the evening feast came and she noticed that not only was Mr Crouch absent yet again, but that it was Cornelius Fudge himself who was replacing him instead of Percy like at the Yule Ball and second task, she was too curious not to try to find out what was going on.

So she compromised and asked Bill, "Where's Mr Crouch, and why is the Minister replacing him instead of Percy like the last two times?"

But it was still Mrs Weasley who answered. "Mr Crouch hasn't been seen since before Christmas, so Percy's been called in to discuss the instructions Mr. Crouch has been sending in to him for the past seven or eight months. And apparently someone thinks there's a chance the instructions weren't genuinely written by Mr Crouch, so they're not letting Percy fill in as the fifth judge tonight like normal. Cornelius Fudge is doing it instead."

"What is it with the Ministry taking forever to care that people are missing?" muttered Hermione mostly to herself, shaking her head. "It took months before anyone started looking for Bertha Jorkins, and now over half a year before anyone thinks it's strange enough that the Head of a Department hasn't been into the office a single time to bother looking into it."

But it did give her something to think about. Mr Crouch had been missing since before Christmas, which when combined with Bertha Jorkins and the muggle Harry had told her Dumbledore had mentioned when he went to the headmaster with his dream, made three missing people in a year already containing the Dark Mark for the first time in thirteen years. Plus there were the two highly detailed dreams Harry'd had showing that Voldemort was alive and kicking and growing in power. But all that was for another time, as her only concern at the moment was for Harry, and his survival through the final task.

It was the last chance for whoever had entered his name to do whatever they'd entered his name for, and it looked to be the perfect opportunity, as the inside of the maze was going to be completely hidden from the view of everyone except Mad-Eye and his magical eye. But she kept these worries to herself, knowing Harry would already be on his utmost guard simply to survive the spells and creatures inside the maze, so there was no point in scaring him or worrying him further by telling him her own fears.

However, when Dumbledore called for the four champions to follow Bagman down to the stadium at the end of supper, Hermione did stand up with him and join him on the walk down to the Quidditch pitch, running over all the spells they'd been practicing for the last four weeks with him, trying to reassure him and help him be less nervous, and do the same for herself.

Arriving at the stadium entrance, Hermione pulled him slightly off to the side and gave him a passionate kiss, trying not to think that there was the very real possibility that this could be the last time she ever saw him if the worst were to occur.

When they broke apart, Harry took her hand and squeezed it tightly, saying as reassuringly as he could, "See you on the other side, Hermione."

Then they parted ways, Harry onto the field and Hermione into the front row of the stands, trying to blink back the tears threatening to escape the corners of her eyes.