A/N: Hello there! I'm new to the HP fanfiction community, and I've been inspired by some stories on this site to actually start writing some HP fanfic of my own! I'm not the most knowledgeable HP fan in the world, as I haven't read any of the books (but I have watched all of the movies), so please bear with me if I manage to overlook details that were clarified in the books. Also, I've always thought that Harry and Hermione would be paired off together since the first movie, but as we all know that's not what happens in canon (sadly). Nonetheless it's already 2019 and I'm glad to say that I still ship the two of them hehe.
Regarding stories in general on this site, I've noticed that a lot of Harry/Hermione fics include a LOT of bashing (that might even be an understatement). Whether it be the Weasleys, Dumbledore, or someone else, someone always gets either completely shredded apart or is suddenly painted as an evil/mean person. While this is understandable and there are a lot of excellent works that do that, that won't be the case here. For this story, I'll try as much as possible to focus on how Harry and Hermione will develop a relationship without 'bringing someone else down' so to speak. That means there'll be minimal bashing (if any) to characters such as Dumbledore and the Weasleys, because I really think they're not bad people. Dumbledore is questionable on several occasions, but I don't think he's evil.
Regarding this particular story, we will begin year 4 (Goblet of Fire). For me personally, year 4 is the easiest year to write about in general. So many things happen like the Quidditch World Cup, the Tri-Wizard Tournament, the Yule Ball, and others that an author may use to construct a diverging plot from canon. Since this is a Harmony fic, I was thinking if I should use year 4, year 6 or year 7, since years 6 and 7 have a lot of opportunities for Harmony as well. But in the end, I used year 4 because I feel like it's really the year that forced Harry to mature a bit more given his experiences and how people hated him that year (at least at first).
Lastly, while this is a Harry/Hermione fic, I just want to note that I'm particularly fond of writing slowburn romances. I like building up things first before going to the climax when it comes to relationships, because I just feel like it's easier for people to buy into those kinds of relationships that build over time. Also, this will be a sort of dark fic, and this will be my first time ever writing one, so if it's not great, please bear with me.
Without further ado, on to the story!
"Sirius? But how…" Harry trailed as he stared at the common room fireplace in disbelief. The blazing pieces of wood were arranged to form a vague, but recognizable visage of his godfather.
"I'm afraid I don't have much time, Harry. Did you or did you not put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" Sirius asked in a hushed tone.
"No!" Harry answered defensively, earning an abrupt 'shush' from his godfather. The young Potter quickly looked around to see if anyone heard him as he mumbled an apology.
"I'm sorry, I had to ask" Sirius clarified "Now, tell me about this dream of yours. You mentioned Wormtail and Voldemort, but who was the third man in the room?"
Harry settled into a more comfortable kneel before answering "I dunno, I didn't recognize him" the boy answered worriedly.
"You didn't hear a name, or anything or sorts?"
"No, not really. At least, I don't recall. I only heard that Voldemort wanted…" Harry gulped, worrying his godfather even more "…me. I don't know how, or why, but he was going to use this man to get to me"
A pregnant pause passed before Harry continued "I mean, it's only a dream, right?"
"It's certainly possible. But I can't help but worry; you said in your letter that you dreamt of this exact scenario several times, correct?" his godson nodded "That more than alarms me, Harry. As much as I hope this 'dream' of yours is simply a dream, I doubt that's all there is to it. With all that's been happening lately, I'd be surprised if things were that simple"
Harry wore a puzzled expression on his face "What do you mean?"
Sirius made a sound that resembled a sigh "I mean, given all the events that have transpired so far—the World Cup, your vivid dream, your name appearing in the Goblet—I'm more and more inclined to think that Hogwarts is no longer a safe place for you"
Anxiety began to brew in the pit of Harry's stomach as his godfather continued "The enemy may already be within the castle walls. Igor Karkaroff—he was a death eater during the First Wizarding War. No one stops being a death eater. No one. Then there's Barty Crouch, who sent his own son to Azkaban"
Harry began to tremble in fear, worry, anxiety, and everything in between. "Do you think one of them put my name in the Goblet?" the boy stammered.
"I don't know who put your name in that Goblet, but whoever did is no friend to you. People die in this tournament!" Sirius grimly answered.
His godson shook his head frantically. Harry's fear was palpable, making Sirius wish that he were by his side at the moment. "I'm not ready for this, Sirius" Harry croaked out.
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice" Sirius sadly answered.
A few moments of silence passed. Harry tried to calm himself, while Sirius carefully thought about what he was going to say next.
"Harry, listen to me," Sirius started, recapturing the attention of his godson "We don't know what exactly Voldemort is up to, but what we do know is that he and his followers are not being idle. With every day that passes, their schemes move closer to completion. If I may, have you told anyone else about your dream?"
Harry shook his head "Not in detail, no"
"Very well. Keep it that way for now. Knowing Dumbledore, it's most likely that he has decided to let all these events unfold on their own to further discover the true meaning behind them. While he means well, this puts you at risk, Harry. Make no mistake; Dumbledore will protect you when the need arises, but even he is not omniscient. There are things that he does not know of. And I'm certain that he wants you to compete in the tournament because of this, because he wants to learn of the truth"
"I understand that, Sirius, but the person who put my name in the Goblet wants me to compete too, and for an entirely different reason" Harry responded shakily.
"I know, Harry. But we have no choice at the moment, you must push forward. We need to know what lies ahead of us before we can plan accordingly" Sirius said with a hint of guilt. He hated the situation, as he only wanted to see his godson safe. But he knew there was nothing he could do for now. "How have you been with your friends this year?" Sirius decided to try and change the conversation. He didn't want to end his conversation with Harry on such a negative note.
Harry laughed humorlessly "Well, everyone hates me. Since my name appeared on the Goblet, everyone thinks that 'the Boy-Who-Lived' is just trying hard to accumulate more fame and attention. Even people from Gryffindor glare at me and say things behind my back nowadays"
Sirius was stunned. "I…I'm sorry to hear that" The animagus paused for a brief moment "Then it seems we're in a more precarious situation than I originally thought. This benefits whoever put your name in the Goblet. With you isolated, you're an even more vulnerable target than you already are. Which is why I implore you, Harry, be vigilant. Be very careful of who you trust, now more than ever. We may never know what those around us are truly planning. Even the 'kindest' of people may be evil. Take Wormtail for example" Harry's blood boiled at the mention of the traitor who got his parents killed, but nonetheless nodded.
"I'll be alright" the Gryffindor Champion replied, willing himself to believe his own words.
"I will be on the look out for any sort of information I may find. I'll send Hedwig back as soon as possible" Sirius continued.
"Thanks, Sirius"
"No need to thank me. My time's almost up however, so I must take my leave. Be strong, Harry. Let's talk again soon" The pieces of wood that were arranged to form a rough outline of Sirius' face began to lose their glow, and eventually the flames of the fireplace became considerably weaker.
Harry took several deep breaths to calm himself from the rush of mostly negative emotions he experienced during his talk with his godfather. The boy eventually steeled himself enough to walk back upstairs to his dormitory.
When he laid back down on his bed, he felt the emotional exhaustion of his talk with Sirius hit him full force. In a way, he was glad. He might be able to actually sleep tonight.
Unfortunately, his nightmares had other plans.
Days later, Harry found himself sitting on the root of a tree near one of the lakes around the castle. It was a rather nice afternoon; the skies were gray and the breeze was cool. It looked like it was about to rain but it didn't. The weather was actually one of Harry's personal favorites.
It was a shame he couldn't bring himself to enjoy it.
The past few days have been the same; he's had to endure (aside from his almost nightly nightmares) glares, catcalls, insults, and harsh jokes wherever he went. It didn't matter if he was in the Great Hall, the Owlery, or even the Gryffindor Common Room. People were either whispering about him or openly ridiculing him wherever he passed. To step things up a notch, people even started wearing a certain patch to mock him. The said patch contained two faces—the first had an image of Cedric's face on it, along with the words 'Cedric Diggory—TRUE Hogwarts Champion', while the second had an image of his face with the words 'POTTER STINKS' all over it.
Frankly, the insults and taunts didn't bother Harry at all. He was quite used to being verbally abused by the Dursleys, so he was fine. What he was bothered about was the distrust of his friends towards him, particularly of one Ronald Weasley.
His best friend (was he still?) still refuses to even look at him, even when they were in the boys' dormitory. As much as Harry hated to admit it, Ron borderline hating him for something he would never do hurt him. A lot. He thought his 'best friend' knew him better than that. Perhaps he was just being an overemotional, angsty teenager, but he felt betrayed. Ron, of all people, should know that he would NEVER want fame or attention from the public.
There were only really two people that weren't hostile towards him these days. One was his other best friend, Hermione Granger. Hermione was really the only person who outright believed him when he said he didn't put his name in the Goblet. She was also the only one kind enough to check on him every now and then to make sure he was okay. The second person was the boy standing on a shallow part of the lake in front of him—Neville Longbottom. Harry wasn't as close with Neville as he was with Ron and Hermione, but he'd been around Neville enough to know that the timid Gryffindor was a good person.
Neville was talking to him about herbology related matters but he was barely paying attention. Since his talk with Sirius, Harry had been on edge. He'd been more reflective about everything going on around him than he's ever been. So much so that he was certain it was absurdly unhealthy for him to keep doing so, but he couldn't help it. It felt like the whole Wizarding world was against him.
Sadly, things were about to get a tad bit worse for the boy.
Harry snapped back to attention when he saw Neville wave an arm. A murmur of voices then followed. Harry turned to see who the newcomers were and grimaced. There was Hermione, whom he was glad to see, but she was accompanied by Ron and Ginny. While Ginny wore a neutral expression on her face, Ron was already glaring at him as if he wanted to gouge his eyeballs out.
Harry stood to greet his 'friends'. He raised an eyebrow when Ron and Ginny stopped a considerable distance away from him so that it was only Hermione approaching him.
Hermione was obviously exasperated. She looked like she had just gotten out of a verbal spat with Ron (as usual) and desperately wanted to be elsewhere. Harry realized that she must've been dragged along against her will by Ron for some reason.
His female best friend exhaled in an attempt to quell her irritation before she spoke "Ron would like me to tell you that Seamus told him…" Hermione grimaced, trying to remember what she was supposed to say "…that Dean was told by Parvati that Hagrid's looking for you"
Harry wore a confused expression "Well…what?"
"Err," Hermione squirmed in discomfort. She was clearly having a hard time relaying her message. She shook her head and tried again "Parvati was…wait, no. Ron told me that Seamus…told him that…" Hermione closed her eyes and sighed "Please don't ask me to say it again. Hagrid's looking for you" she pleaded reticently before turning her back to him and walking away.
"Well you tell Ron—" Harry began.
"I'm not an owl!" Hermione spat out as she turned around and glared at him.
Harry felt his heart sink. He closed his mouth and watched silently as his two best friends and Ginny walk away from him. He knew she was probably just irritated from something, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt.
In fact, the pain was almost unbearable.
A/N: Thanks for reading guys! I apologize if there isn't enough Harry/Hermione off the bat. I wanted to set the stage first and sort of expound on what Harry's current state of well-being is. You guys may expect more of Sirius, as I always felt like he was underused in the movies. He will play a pivotal role in this story and will serve as Harry's sort of adviser. I personally don't think it's too far from reality that Sirius would advice Harry to not be so trusting of people at this point in the story because of all the weird things that have been happening. Let me know what you guys think so far! All comments, even flames, are very much appreciated! Until the next chapter!