When Dumbledore announces the Tri-Wizard Tournament, at first she is scared, because of course Harry will enter, and of course he will be chosen, and of course he will be hurt. But then Dumbledore, the beautiful, beautiful man, announces that only seventeen year olds will be able to enter, and Susan feels like kissing him.
"Bother," says Justin, who has always wanted to prove himself, but has never known how. "I'd be just as good a Champion as any of the seventeen-year-olds here."
"You would make a wonderful Champion," says Ernie diplomatically, "but it will be terribly exciting to watch, don't you think?"
Susan is happy again, because Terry has started casually seeing Mandy, though as he says, nothing is official, she caught Hannah and Ernie snogging in the common room and they are quite happy together, Cedric, a Hufflepuff, is chosen as Champion, and Harry will finally be safe.
But of course, Susan didn't forsee the effects of what Zacharias would call Harry's hero-complex. Susan remembers that trouble follows Harry like rats after a piper, and cannot breathe when his name comes out of the Goblet of Fire.
Zacharias is of course, furious, and Justin is rather angry too. Ernie is disgruntled, and Hannah says she understands.
"He didn't put his name in," Susan insists. "Why would he? He doesn't like being the center of attention..."
"Well... who else put it in, Susan?" Hannah asks sheepishly. "He does tend to get chosen for things, and he has a knack for being the center of everything..."
"I find it rather convenient that when the one person who has ever beaten him in Quidditch is chosen for something, he is also chosen," Zacharias says in his indifferent voice that means he's outraged.
Susan doesn't listen, and doesn't talk to Hannah or Zacharias anymore. She is furious at Hannah, who is wearing one of those ridiculous "Potter Stinks" badges that Malfoy made. Susan thought Hannah disliked Malfoy as much as Susan did, and is appalled that she would buy anything from him. She spends her time in the library with Terry, who is too passive to say anything about Harry Potter, Hogwarts Champion.
Susan watches the first task knowing that Harry will be okay, but she can't help but clutch Terry's arm anxiously anyway. She is smug, but accepts Hannah's apology, when Harry shows them all. Only Zacharias wears the badge anymore.
When the Yule Ball is announced, Susan knows that Harry won't think about inviting her, but waits hopefully for him to ask her anyway. She is under no delusion that he will - he has any girl in the school at his fingertips and she still isn't sure he knows her name.
Still, she cannot help picturing herself smiling coyly as he stutters out an invitation (because he would stutter, she knows, and the thought makes her smile), or seeing his jaw drop as she meets him in her dress, or laughing with him as they dance.
Terry asks her to go with him, but it is very casual, and Susan doesn't mind saying no. Terry actually smiles in relief. "I assumed you'd wait for Harry, but I thought I would extend the invitation. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm rather glad you said no. I think Mandy would be rather upset with me if I took another girl."
Susan smiles gratefully, and waits.
It's Zacharias who unknowingly gives her the bad news. She's sitting in the common room doing an essay for History of Magic when Zacharias sits next to her as if he wants her attention.
When she doesn't give it to him (he is still wearing that stupid badge), he finally says stoically, "Susan. Go to the Ball with me."
Susan is disgusted. "No," she says instantly. "You're a prat."
Zacharias thinks for a moment, and then shrugs as though he must agree, and Susan rolls her eyes.
"Besides," says Hannah from behind her own essay, "Wayne told me you'd be asking Parvati Patil."
"Well, of course she's said no," says Zacharias. "Naturally bloody Potter's already asked her."
Susan has prepared herself for this, but still does not expect the pain in her heart and the cramping in her throat. Hannah shoots Susan a worried look, which Susan ignores.
"Harry Potter's going with Parvati Patil?" she says carefully.
"Yes," Zacharias hisses. "He just ruins everything, doesn't he? Anyway, I've learned my lesson about trying to Inter-House date, and you're the last Hufflepuff girl in our year who doesn't have a date, so I thought I'd ask you."
Susan is outraged and heartbroken and Zacharias has no idea what he's gotten into.
"No, I will not go with you, Zacharias Smith, and I wouldn't go with you if you were the last idiot on earth, so you can just go ask a first year because they are the only girls you could possibly get!"
Susan almost feels guilty when Zacharias stalks away, scowl on his face.
Hannah tries to comfort her, but Susan ignores it. Hannah has Ernie, and no idea what she's talking about. For days, Hannah talks about remedies for heartache, Justin tries to cheer her up not knowing why, and Ernie discusses the benefits of going stag. Susan hates all of them officially now.
"You know, he doesn't even like Parvati," says Terry two nights before the Ball. "He asked Cho Chang originally, but Cedric had already asked her."
Terry doesn't know that what he's saying makes her stronger. Susan feels mutinous, and has nothing to mutiny against. If Harry can take someone he doesn't really like, why can't she? She might still have fun, and there is still time.
She searches out Zacharias, who is practicing on the Quidditch pitch with Cadwallader and Summerby. They catcall as Zacharias swoops down to her with a smug half smile. He leans against his broomstick as she approaches.
"What brings you out here on this fine evening?" Zacharias asks and Susan could just smack that smug look off his face.
She takes a breath and reminds herself that he's her only choice. "I was just wondering if you'd... found a... you know... a..."
"Set of dress robes?" says Zacharias with a smirk. "Yes, I have. Be ready at seven."
Susan thinks that perhaps he's just stopped her from having to ask him, and feels something like appreciation for him as he flies away. Summerby and Cadwallader resume their calls. Susan yells over her shoulder, "By the way, the girl's the one who wears the dress, in case you're confused."
She can feel Zacharias glaring at her back as Summerby and Cadwallader laugh.
Aunt Amelia sends her her old dress, a beautiful scarlet gown that flows from her waist to the floor and shows off what Aunt Amelia calls her "swan neck." She puts it on and leaves her auburn hair down, instead of its usual plait, and feels beautiful. She has never felt beautiful before.
Hannah wears black and smiles modestly and for once Ernie can only stammer as she takes his arm. Zacharias arrives ten minutes after seven in dress robes, looking flushed. Susan is cross with him until he hands her a daffodil.
"I was in the greenhouses," he says defensively. "Took me twenty minutes to convince Sprout to let me pick this."
Susan smiles in spite of herself and can't think of what to say. "It... uh... it doesn't match."
Zacharias gives her a half smile and with a flick of his wand, it is a red rose. "Well, if you must be particular," he says, and Susan is sure he knows she meant thank you.
They walk to the Ball with Hannah, Ernie, and Justin, who meets a younger Gryffindor girl as his date. Terry and Mandy wave from their table, and Susan waves back. On Zacharias's arm, Susan feels a bit guilty as Harry and Parvati walk in together. They dance, as Susan had hoped to, and Susan tries not to stare.
Zacharias asks her to dance and is relatively well coordinated. He gets her punch and pulls out her chair and asks her about herself. Susan might accidentally be having a good time. She only thinks about Harry when she sees Parvati dancing with a boy from Durmstrang.
Susan would not leave Harry even if he was a lousy date and stared at Cho Chang the whole night. But then, Susan is a Hufflepuff and Parvati is not - she is not supposed to be loyal.
The night is over. Zacharias walks Susan back to the dorm. Ernie and Hannah go the long way back, and Justin takes his date to Gryffindor Tower. Terry and Mandy say goodnight at the stairs. Zacharias and Susan are alone.
"I'm supposed to tell you you look beautiful," says Zacharias casually.
Susan raises an eyebrow. "You're supposed to? Says who?"
She think she sees Zacharias blush, and he scowls. "Terry, actually," he confesses. "He sort of demanded that I be a good date, and gave me a list of things I should do. He, er... didn't want you to know."
Susan can see why. She feels a bit cheated, but manages a smile. "Well, I should have known you couldn't be a gentleman on your own." Zacharias laughs a little bit, and Susan adds as an afterthought, "And... you don't have to tell me I look beautiful."
Zacharias stops walking and looks at her. She stops too, and stares back, directly in his eye. She realizes that she is unused to looking people in the eye, and it makes her uncomfortable, but she doesn't look away. She feels defiant. Zacharias always makes her feel that way.
"I wasn't saying it because Terry told me to," he informs her. "You do look beautiful."
Susan feels herself blushing. He comes closer, she backs up, slowly. She reaches a wall, and he is close to her. He grabs her waist in one hand and touches her face gently with the other. He is looking at her, and won't let her look away, and she feels her skin tingle. She feels powerful, even though she is the one against the wall.
He kisses her, and she lets him. He was a gentleman, after all, even if it was prompted. He is gentle. It surprises her. His kiss makes her whole body shiver with... with what? With strength. Zacharias has always made her feel strong.
And then, unbidden, a face pops into her closed eyes. A face with glasses, unkempt hair, and green eyes that have seen too much.
Susan turns her head away from him, her eyes still closed. He lurches a bit, surprised.
"What is it?" he wonders, brow furrowed in confusion.
"I... I can't, Zacharias," she tells him. "I'm sorry, but I can't."
"Can't what?" he demands. She should have known he wouldn't let it go.
"Can't kiss you," she says.
"Why? I thought you were doing pretty well."
Susan tries not to smile and cry at the same time. "I... just can't... I... I love someone else, Zacharias, and this... feels wrong."
Zacharias stares for a moment, and a grim smile is set on his face. "It's Potter, isn't it?"
Susan blinks in surprise. "What?"
"I've seen the way you stare at him, in class, at meals, whenever he's near you. And you talk about him a lot whenever he achieves something. And, well... Potter tends to ruin things for me, even when he doesn't know he's doing it." He smiles grimmly, but it is a smile. She thinks she didn't break his heart like she might have broken Terry's. She remembers that he only asked her because she was his only choice.
"I'm sorry, Zacharias," she says, and she means it too, though she never thought she'd be able to apologize to him.
He shrugs and smirks. "S'all right. Just... lemme know if you're ever over him. Deal?"
She smiles, and says, "I will," and knows Zacharias doesn't understand either. She wonders how he got into Hufflepuff when he doesn't know what it means to give yourself away completely.
He walks Susan to the dorm and kisses her cheek goodnight before she goes up the stairs. Hannah isn't there yet, and Susan is a mixture between relieved and saddened. This is the sort of thing that should be told to a best friend. A first kiss. Shouldn't it?
Susan flops onto her bed without even taking off her shoes. Over and over, she thinks, It should have been with Harry...
She spends the night apologizing in her sleep.
The second task, Susan holds her breath, and awaits the girl that Harry will save. She thinks it will be Cho, but then Cedric's girl is Cho. It must be Hermione, but Krum's is Hermione. She wonders who else there is, and is relieved to see him struggling with Ron. They bring a little blonde girl with them, but it is Fleur's sister, and she is sure Harry doesn't even know her name.
He is tied with Cedric in the lead, and it is the third task that makes Susan fidget in class and in the library and at meals. She is worried and proud and a whole mixture of strong emotions that one shouldn't feel for someone they've never spoken to.
She sits in the stands and cheers as Harry runs into the maze. She waits. She isn't good at waiting.
"Who d'you think'll win?" asks Justin, chewing on the leg of a Chocolate Frog.
"Harry," says Susan immediately, and blushes. "... or Cedric, of course. Either way, Hogwarts will win."
The Hufflepuffs spend their time debating between Cedric and Harry, and Susan's leg jiggles impatiently as they wait for the Champions to return.
Red sparks shoot into the sky, and Susan feels like she's having a heart attack, until Fleur is retrieved. Terry, who came to visit her when they were spotted, tells her not to worry, but from his voice, she knows he doesn't think it will work.
It is a long time before Harry returns, and to Susan's surprise, he and Cedric arrive at the same time, clutching each other and the Goblet. Susan begins to cheer before she sees that Harry is sobbing.
"What's happening?" she whispers, clutching Hannah's arm. "Hannah, what is it?"
"It's... it's Cedric," Hannah says slowly. "Something's happened to Cedric."
Susan instantly feels guilty, because she is relieved that it's not Harry. But Cedric... oh, God, Cedric... Susan turns to Cho to see her crying but unable to look away.
"He's dead," Susan barely hears Zacharias say. "Cedric's been killed."
At the end of term feast, Dumbledore announces the return of You-Know-Who, and that he was the one who killed Cedric. Susan remembers when Harry was sobbing over Cedric's body, and watches him as Dumbledore makes the announcement, and his stony face and strong eyes make Susan trust him more than she's ever trusted anybody.
On the train ride home, the Hufflepuff fourth years sit alone in a compartment. Ernie, Justin, Hannah, and Susan, but also Zacharias, Megan, and Sally-Anne. They are all nervous and terrified, and only Zacharias hides it well.
"We must decide what we're to do," announces Ernie.
"Nothing," replies Zacharias. "It's all a stupid story. There's no way Harry could have survived You-Know-Who when Cedric didn't. I don't believe a word of it."
Susan grits her teeth, but says nothing. She can think of nothing to say.
It is Justin who speaks next, slow and quiet, but powerful. "We've doubted Harry before," he says, "and every time it turned out he was right. Me... I believe him. He needs us to believe him."
"I believe him, too," says Susan, and she meets Zacharias's stare without wavering. "I always have."
The others agree, and finally Zacharias does too, though he isn't helpful when it comes to making plans. They are to tell their parents what happened, to owl each other every day, in a chain; Susan to Hannah, Hannah to Ernie, Ernie to Justin, and so on. They will protect each other from anything they can, and like all Hufflepuffs, they are devoted to each other. They have to be.
By the end of her fourth year, Susan Bones must be all grown up. Or else, she must try to fake it.
A/N: Hey, I hope you guys are liking the story! If you do, I'd like to suggest a read of one of my other stories, Send Me All Your Vampires, which is just a one-shot. I'm rather proud of it, but it hasn't gotten any reviews yet! Please read it if you have the time. Thanks a bunch, hope you liked this chapter! More soon, I promise.