Chapter 12: Letting Loose
The first thing Harry became aware of when conscious thought came back to him, was a familiar softness along his backside that felt familiar. He quickly realized that he was lying in a bed in the hospital wing and that he had been here for a while, if the stiffness in his muscles were any indication.
Wracking his brain to try and remember how he ended up in the infirmary for the fourth time in six months, he dreaded the telling off he would receive from Hermione when she realized he was awake.
Resigning himself to his fate, he slowly began to open his eyes, when his vision was further obscured by a mass of bushy hair.
"Harry, thank goodness you're alright!"
"Easy Hermione," he forced out, her sudden movement and collision with him, causing a sharp pain to shoot through his nerves. She gasped, realizing her mistake.
"I'm sorry Harry. It's just that… you've been out for a while"
"How long?"
She seemed to not want to look at him, but the determination in his eyes withered her apprehension away. "A little over a day." His eyes widened at the realization. He closed them once again to try and remember what happened. He remember entering the enclosure summoning his broom, and dodging the dragon but all afterwards was a blank.
"What happened yesterday Hermione?" The look in her eyes made it look like she was about to lose what little composure she had about this whole ordeal.
"I'm sorry Harry. You were knocked off your broom by the dragon," her gaze moved to the floor, her mouth continuing on at light speed. "It's all my fault. I should've helped you more. If I would've found better spells, or spent more time training with you this never would've…" Harry immediately shot forward and wrapped his arms around his flustered best friend.
"It's okay Hermione. I would've have done even nearly as good as if it wasn't for you." As he continued to hold on to her, he couldn't help but notice the warm feeling he got from holding her. Deciding it was time to pull back, it seemed that she had felt the same thing if the reddening of her cheeks were any indication. Setting that aside, in a casual a tone as possible, he continued on. "So how badly did I lose?"
Those words triggered another anxious look from Hermione, one that had a mixture of apprehension and possibly even fear. "That's just it Harry, you didn't lose. In fact, you scored the highest out of all the other champions."
"How's that even possible?" To say he was surprised was a massive understatement. If the sounds of the crowd and Bagman's commentary, he assumed that all the champions had claimed their eggs, yet he had failed to do so. He urged Hermione forward with a look, but could tell that she was nervous about what she was about to reveal.
"After you fell…I assumed that you were hurt so I couldn't watch anymore. It wasn't until Ro-some else saw you get back up that I looked again too," Still puzzled, Harry saw her prepare herself for what he assumed was what was troubling her. "Harry…you partially transformed."
He gasped. Had he transformed in front of the huge crowd. What if his secret was out and would now be forced to leave Hogwarts just like Lupin. Seeing him start to fold into himself, she continued with her story.
"Don't worry, I don't think anyone noticed, as the crowd was cheering the second you were back up. You then charged the dragon and managed to dodge everything the dragon threw at you and got your egg."
He sighed in relief as the news that his condition was still a secret made him feel slightly more at ease. The fact that he had accidently transformed without his knowledge did disturb him a little and he resolved to contact Moony later to try and figure out the reason for it.
"Harry?"
Harry was surprised by the new voice in the conversation and shifted his gaze passed Hermione to see Ron, standing there, looking a bit uncomfortable. Harry peered at Hermione skeptically for a moment, a nod from her being all the reassurance he needed. "Ron."
The sharpness of his tone caused the red head to recoil slightly but he remained where he was.
"I reckon you'd have to be barking mad to put your name in."
"Took you long enough." Harry was still very frustrated by the treatment of his first friend. He wanted to stay mad at Ron but he knew that all he wanted was his best friend back, and even though he knew that all would be forgiven, he wouldn't make it easy.
"Yeah I hoped we would patch things up after I told you about the dragons."
"No Hagrid told me about the dragons."
"Wait don't you remember? I said that Seamus told me that Pavarti told Dean, that Hagrid was looking for you. Well Seamus never told me anything. I hoped that when you figured out it was me we could patch things up."
Harry couldn't hold in his laugh any longer and smiled at his friend. "How could anyone figure that out? It's completely mental."
Ron made his way over to give Harry and one armed hug, the only sound in the room coming from their other friend.
"Boys."
-HP-
The days following the First Task weren't as relaxing as Harry would've hoped. In fact, it seemed that the days were more stressful than ever.
First and foremost was the mystery of the golden egg. He knew that the egg contained a clue that was essential for completing the Second Task. He couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was. All the thing did was screech loudly when he would open it up which caused him a lot of pain because of his enhanced senses. He tried to avoid opening it as much as possible, yet it seemed that opening it was the only way to solve it.
Second was the ever changing treatment he received from the Beauxbaton champion. If she was an enigma before the First Task, her behavior was even more bizarre since. Not that their interactions changed too much, as she still seemed unsure of what to think about him. What really caught his attention was the looks she gave him during random times that they happened upon the same area. Harry would catch her looking at him when someone would accost him in the halls, with something that resembled…sympathy. He couldn't place the look and it only perplexed him further.
The last thing that was getting to him was the familiar feeling of being too small in his skin. He hadn't felt like this since before his first transformation and the feeling was getting to him. Why this feeling had returned along with the impulsiveness eluded him.
What was worse was the decision to keep this from Hermione. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, he would trust her with his life, and had already done that many times this year alone. He simply didn't want her to worry about him further, until he figured out what he could do about this.
His thoughts resolved around possible reasons and solutions for these new developments as he made his way with Ron and Hermione to McGonagall's classroom. A Gryffindor House meeting was called and such a occurrence usually was a sign of bad news.
Taking their seats around the outskirts of the room, they waited for their Head of House to begin with the meeting.
"As you're all aware, you were asked to purchase dress robes for your wardrobe this year." At the confirming nods from her house she continued. "It is tradition during the Triwizard tournament for the hosting school to host the Yule Ball, a dance."
Harry's face paled at this revelation. He had no clue how to dance and the thought of having to do it with the entire school present terrified him. But as fate would have it, the worst news was yet to come.
"It is also customary for the three champions, in this case four," she added moving her eyes to Harry briefly before continuing, "to begin the festivities by dancing with their partners."
If McGonagall had said anything else, Harry didn't hear it. His mind was trying to wrap around the potential embarrassment of being in the spotlight in front of all three schools. It took several minutes before the professor's voice penetrated his thoughts once more.
"I will be offering dancing lessons for any student who wishes to better themselves before the ball on Christmas Eve." His eyes lit up at that, now gaining some hope that the night could potentially turn out okay. All that was left was for him to determine who he would end up asking to the ball. The more he wracked his brain and sorted through every girl he knew, only one name kept coming up.
Hermione.
-HP-
The night of the Yule Ball was approaching fast, only two weeks last before the night that was anticipated with equal amounts of excitement as dread. Many people already had dates, while others hadn't gotten up the courage to ask anyone yet.
One of the individuals without a date to the ball yet, was one Hermione Granger. It wasn't for a lack of anyone asking her. In fact she had been asked by two individuals thus far, Neville Longbottom and Viktor Krum.
She had been asked first by Krum which had come as a shock to her. She had seen him in the library many times and was caught off guard when he approached her the day before asking her if she wanted to go to the ball with him. She wasn't the usual kind of girl that was usually around Krum and was confused at his asking her. All she could say was that she would think about it and give him a definitive answer soon.
Next had been Neville earlier that day, after she had helped him during Potions class that day. She could tell he was a nervous wreck and thought that the notion was sweet but also politely declined his invitation.
If she was honest with herself, she was hoping Harry would ask her. Her reasoning was partly because if she went with Harry, then there wouldn't be any preconceived notion that the outing would be anymore that two friends attending a dance together. She despised how many of the girls around the castle were fretting terribly about whether or not they'd have a date in time for the ball.
The other reason was her confusion towards her friend Harry. When he work up in the hospital wing after his encounter with the dragon and hugged her, she couldn't help the warm feeling that spread through her body. She initially dismissed it to her being worried about her best friend and her happiness that he was okay but now she felt she couldn't be sure.
She had been sitting in her favorite chair in the common room, contemplating how to broach the subject to Harry, when he and a number of other Gryffindors climbed through the porthole, a dumbfounded Ron being supported by them.
"Oh my god, what happened?"
"He just asked Fleur Delacour to the ball."
She gasped and looked at her befuddled friend. "And she turned him down?"
The shaking of Ron's head had caught her off guard.
"She said yes." It was half a question and half a statement. To say that she couldn't believe if that was true was an understatement. Not that she didn't think highly of Ron. Though her friend was far from perfect, she knew that he would eventually be a great man one day. It was more of the fact that the high profile Fleur Delacour said yes.
"No. I saw her walking and I just up and asked her…"
"Shouted it actually," quipped a slightly amused Ginny.
"So I did the only thing I could do, I ran."
Hermione felt bad for Ron. She knew that his self-esteem was low, if his behavior towards Harry weeks before was any indication. In any other situation, she would've thought that he would've done something irrational because of his frustration.
"Say Hermione, you're a girl."
There it was. Despite herself she found herself slowly getting heated by the direction that the conversation going.
"Nice of you to notice Ronald."
"I'm just saying that you don't have a date, so you could go with mme."
"And what akes you think I cn't get a date."
"Oh come off it. We both know you just turned down Neville to be nice- No offense mate- so why can't you just go with me?"
Hermione was livid now, her mouth going off without much thought behind her words.
"I'll have you know that someone did ask me to the ball." At that she made a very quick decision, rejecting the voice in her head that told her to cool off she continued. "And I've said yes."
With that, she stormed off out of the common room, to go find Krum in the library and tell him that she had made her decision. In her haste to leave she failed to hear the voice of Harry as he attempted to follow after her, and she didn't see Fleur Delacour heading the opposite direction, a determined look on her face.
Author's Note:
I know that not that much exciting stuff happened in this chapter but I wanted the story to move forward. The Yule Ball will be next and we'll get hints as to what is wrong with Harry and we'll see relationships begin to flourish more.