Memoirs of a Muggle Born

by Resa13

As Hermione Granger gets older she thinks about what's really important in life, and decides to write her story so she will be remember. It's a story about danger, adventure, and passion, but most importantly it is a story about the love that defined her.

5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I spent most of the summer at home with my parents. My mother remarked on more than one occasion that there was something different about me but she wasn't quite sure what it was. I thought I might have an idea but I wasn't about to say it. Towards the middle of August Ron sent me a letter asking if I could come to the Burrow the next Wednesday. I would stay with his family until the end of break and go to the Quidditch World Cup with them, and then they would take me back to school. My parents had already agreed to this, but my father was slightly hesitant about me staying at a boy's house. I insisted that his whole family was going to be there, and besides that Ron and I were just friends so there was nothing to worry about. Ron wrote and gave me directions to his house. I was slightly surprised that we could just drive there, but then again it was just a house. My parents and I pulled up to Ron's house, which was called the Burrow, the next Wednesday. I remember the first time I saw it I knew I was going to like staying there. I got out of the car and Ron, and most of his family came out to greet me. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley said hello to my parents, and told them I would be in very good hands. My parents and I said our goodbyes, and then Ron helped me lug my school trunk into the house. I got set up in Ginny's room and then Ron gave me a tour of his house. It was very cozy and sweet, he told me Harry would be there on Sunday and then we went out into the garden to play a game of Quidditch with his brothers, I was very bad at it, but they put me on a team with the twins who were very good so it worked out. The first few days at Ron's house were very fun, his family was very nice to me, Ginny and I got along well. I often saw Ron's older brothers, especially the twins poking him in the ribs and making faces at him anytime Ron and I would do anything together but he usually just glared at them and then ignored them.

Harry arrived on Sunday. Ginny and I heard a commotion in the kitchen and went down to hear that the twins had given Harry's cousin one of their joke candies and swelled his tongue. Their mum was hopping mad and I quickly suggested to Ron that we show Harry where he was sleeping. Ron took the hint after a minute and we all went up to his room. Ron and Ginny told Harry all about the twins plan to start an underground joke line at Hogwarts, they all seemed to think it was hilarious, but I was not amused. We began to talk about our summers and what we had done, we talked about Ron's brother Percy and his new job working for Barty Crouch at the Ministry. Ron and Ginny were both annoyed at how pompous he was being and even I, who liked Percy most of the time, had to agree. When the subject changed and we came very close to talking about Sirius, I quickly suggested we go help Mrs. Weasley with dinner. Ginny was looking at us curiously and I knew we couldn't break that secret. We had an enjoyable dinner, the boys talked about the Quidditch World Cup. I didn't know much about Quidditch I was more joining in for the experience, then Percy started talking about some secret thing that was happening at Hogwarts that year, it was obvious that he wanted us to ask him about it but none of us bit, so he gave up in frustration looking rather pouty. Mrs. Weasley shooed us off to bed early so we could be up in time to catch our Portkey in the morning. Ginny and I went to bed that night full of excitement and giggling over what was to come the next day.

Early the next morning Mrs. Weasley woke us up, Ginny and stumbled downstairs to find the boys at the table already looking very sleepy. Mr. Weasley told us we had to go for a walk, we hiked about a mile up the road and Mr. Weasley explained to us all the security measures that had been put in place for the Cup. At the top of the hill we met up with a man who introduced himself as Amos Diggory and his son Cedric. I knew Cedric at once, he went to Hogwarts. He was in Hufflepuff and had a reputation because he was one of the best looking boys in the school. He politely said hello, and then Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory made small talk for a few minutes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ron's eyes go from me to Diggory and back, and I had to contain a smirk, because I knew he was gauging my reaction to him. Just then the nasty old boot that was lying on the ground beside us glowed blue and Mr. Weasley told us all to touch it. It felt like a hook pulled us from behind the navel, and we were swung quickly through the air and we landed hard on the outskirts of a field full of tents. We found our plot and the boys began setting up the tents I must admit it was quite funny to watch them try and do it without magic. After they had gotten them set up Ginny and I took our stuff into ours and I was floored. When I went inside the tent, it was the size of a small flat, there was a living room and a bed room, a kitchen and even a bathroom. We set up our things and then Ron and Harry showed up, we gave them the tour and then I left with them to collect water. We bumped into many of our school mates along the way. We saw that one area of the camp was plastered with green in support of the Irish. The other half seemed to be plastered with pictures of one person. It was a very gruff looking man, no… on second thought I didn't think he looked old enough to be called a man he was still a boy. But huge pictures of him were plastered all over the tents. Ron informed me that he was Viktor Krum, the best Seeker in the entire world. We got water and then went back to the tent, Mr. Weasley was having an awful time with the matches so I helped him and soon we got a fire going and started lunch. We had a pleasant afternoon and around dusk we all made our way towards the Stadium. It was very exciting, I had never seen such a big crowd, all the boys bought souvenirs, and we headed to our seats. I read the program and saw that team mascots would be doing a display before the match. I was interested to see what they were. Just then a whole crowd of creatures came out onto the field, they were like nothing I had ever seen before, their hair looked like molten silver, and in some ways they looked like tall beautiful women, but strangely distorted. I heard Mr. Weasley call them veela, I was about to ask them what they were when they started to dance. Suddenly both Harry and Ron made like they were about to jump out of the box, they both looked like they were about to start drooling. I was completely disgusted, but Mr. Weasley just laughed, he leaned over and told me that what veela did, they enchanted men. Both boys sat down in a daze and began destroying their Ireland souvenirs, Mr. Weasley stopped them and told them to wait till Ireland got there chance. I rolled my eyes at the two of them. A moment later hundreds of leprechauns filled the sky making a rainbow and showering us with gold. Harry and Ron were immediately routing for Ireland again. Then the players came out first was the Bulgarian team, the last of which was Viktor Krum. He was a very intimidating looking boy with bushy eyebrows and pale skin. Next came Ireland, they were mostly red haired and seemed to be very quick and spunky. The game was very exciting, Ireland was soundly beating Bulgaria and soon it became apparent that Bulgaria was not going to pull back. Suddenly out of nowhere Viktor Krum caught the Snitch and ended the game. Bulgaria unfortunately didn't have enough points to beat Ireland, and the green fans went wild. Ron was cheering as he asked why in the world Krum would catch the Snitch when he knew they were down, and Harry said Krum must have known they wouldn't catch up and wanted to end the game on his own terms. I thought that seemed was very classy of him.

We all went back to the tent and talked for over an hour about the match. Only after Ginny fell asleep in her hot cocoa did Mr. Weasley send us to bed. Ginny and I went to our tent but we were woken up just a few hours later by what sounded like screams coming from outside. We went out and saw the boys standing outside their tent. We ran to them and then we all turned to see the commotion, there was a group of masked figures and they were levitating a family in the air. I recognized them as the Muggles who ran the campsite and I knew immediately what was going on. Mr. Weasley told us to run and we did. Harry, Ron, and I got battered by the crowd and I heard Ron cry out. I couldn't find him so I lit my wand and found him sprawled on the ground. I was helping him up when Draco Malfoy showed up. He of course began mocking Ron right away and then he turned on me, he said I should watch myself because the people in the campsite were targeting Muggles, and Mudbloods were hardly better. Ron of course reacted as soon as he threatened me and I had to grab his arm to hold him back. After a few more moments I was straining to keep him and Harry off of Malfoy and I begged them to come with me to find Ron's family, finally they acquiesced and we kept walking. We ran into Winky, who was Barty Crouches house elf, she was walking though the woods like she was in water; her steps were slow and looked almost painful. Harry explained she probably didn't have permission to leave her tent. I was very angry, we had seen the same elf sitting terrified in our box at the Cup, because her master ordered her to save his seat, not caring that she was terrified of hights. I thought that house elves did not seem to be treated very well. Suddenly we stopped we heard someone behind us, Harry called out but no one answered. Suddenly the person sent a spell into the air, we looked up and saw a huge skull with a snake for a tongue, I knew what it was immediately and told the boys to run. Harry was confused and asked me what was going on, I quickly told him that was Voldemort's symbol, the Dark Mark. We turned to run but suddenly the woods around us were full of people. Harry screamed 'duck' and pulled us to the ground just in time as stunning spells flew over us. Mr. Weasley yelled at them to stop and came to our rescue, Barty Crouch seemed to think we had done it until someone pointed out that we were just children, and couldn't have possibly conjured the mark. They searched the woods and found Winky stunned and holding Harry's wand, which he had lost in the woods earlier. The wand was proven to have cast the spell, and even though Winky pleaded that she didn't do it, and we kept saying the voice was not hers, it was human, her master dismissed her and left her sobbing in the woods. I was furious, I thought it was disgusting that someone would treat a living creature that way. Mr. Weasley took us all back to the tent and told us that the Death Eaters had ran off when they saw the mark. They were the ones who had not stayed loyal after the fall so they were afraid that it might have been Voldemort himself. Whether the person who sent it up meant it for good or evil we couldn't know. Ginny and I went back to our tent but neither of us slept much that night.

The next day we returned to the Burrow and Mrs. Weasley was beside herself. When she was sure that all of us were completely ok, she let us enter the house and Harry quickly pulled Ron and I up to his room. He told us that his scar had been hurting him again when he was on Privet Drive last week, and he had simultaneously had a dream about Voldemort. He said he dreamed that Voldemort and Pettigrew were together but Voldemort wasn't quite human yet, and he was looking for Harry, apparently Harry was the last piece to his resurrection. Ron told him it was probably just a dream, but Harry was unconvinced, Professor Trelawny, had prophesied to Harry the year before that the Dark Lord would rise again even more powerful, and he was worried. I personally put no stock in her prophesies and told him so, he said that time was different, and I decided to leave it at that. We spent our last week of break rather peacefully, Mrs. Weasley had gotten all of our school thing s from Diagon Alley and I spent much of my time engrossed in my new books. I had dropped Muggle Studies, so I no longer needed my time turner, which I was grateful for. The next Saturday was September first and we all headed to King's Cross to get on the train. As we were getting on the train Charlie gave us a cryptic message about seeing us soon, but wouldn't tell us anything, and Mrs. Weasley also hinted about something exciting at Hogwarts. We were all very curious, but they wouldn't give us any more information, which annoyed Ron to no end. He got even grouchier when Draco Malfoy stopped by our compartment soon after the train left and began to gloat when he found out that he knew the secret and we didn't, by the time he left Ron was in a completely foul mood for the rest of the trip.

We got to Hogwarts and it was pouring rain. We made our way to the carriages and then up to the castle. We were soaked when we sat down for the feast but we were nothing compared to the poor first years, they looked like they had swum across the lake not ridden in boats. We watched the Sorting and then the food appeared on our plates. I was beginning to eat when I heard Nearly Headless Nick mention something about the house elves and I stopped dead. I asked him if house elves made our food and he said yes. I was livid, I had been eating food made by slaves! I pushed my plates away, and didn't eat another bight. Ron tried to tell me that I wasn't going to prove anything by starving myself but I didn't listen to him. I would not eat food made by enslaved creatures. When the feast was over Dumbledore stood to address us. He went through his usual speech, he then announced that there would be no Quidditch that year, something Harry and the Weasley twins, along with many others were very outraged about. Dumbledore went on to say it was because of a special event that was going to take place. He was about to tell us what the event was when the doors of the Great Hall flew open and a terrifying figure stood there. He was a man, but his face was so badly scarred it was hard to see, he had one small dark eye and one large bright blue one. He clunked his way towards the staff table on his wooden leg and Dumbledore went on to announce that he was our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Alastair Moody. Ron, George, and Fred leaned in to tell me and Harry that Alastair "Mad-eye" Moody was one of the most famous Aurors, and he had gotten so scarred from fighting and taking down hundreds of dark wizards, I was very excited, I knew we would learn a lot from him. Dumbledore then continued his speech, he announced that Hogwarts would be hosting the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Many of the people in the room including myself gasped, I had read about the Tri-Wizard Tournament, it used to be one of the biggest competitions in the magical world, but it had been banned because the death toll got too high. Dumbledore explained the competition had been redesigned, to be safer, and then he announced that for safety measures only students who were of age could put their names in. There was quite a cry of outrage at this, but Dumbledore did not seem bothered. He explained that the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and The Durmstrang School of Wizardy would be sending representatives in October, and that the selection of champions would take place on Halloween, with that he dismissed us to bed. It took me a few minutes to get Ron and his brothers out the door, and they were already trying to hatch schemes to get themselves entered when I left them at the entrance to the girls dormitory.

Our first day of classes went by as usual. Hagrid had some horrible new animals that I thought he might have created himself by cross breeding. Professor Vector told us in Arthimancy that we would finally be able to start getting into the more technical aspects of the subject. Defense Against the Dark Arts was wonderful, Moody really knew what he was talking about and he was fascinating to listen to, if not a little frightening. When I wasn't in class I was spending all my free time in the library, I had come up with an idea. I knew I couldn't keep not eating, so I had though of a different way to do something about the injustices of house elves, but it was going to take some research. A few days later we had a very enlightening Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Moody showed us the Unforgivable Curses, they were three curses that earned you a spot in Azkaban for any us on a human being. The minute he said he was going to show them to us I was nervous, two of the three were horribly nasty things. He asked us to name them, Ron gave him the Imperius Curse which he showed us, it made the cursed person do whatever was asked of them. Then he asked for another, Neville gave him the Cruciatus Curse. It was a torture curse, he used it on a spider which instinctively curled up in agony. I wasn't watching the spider though, I was watching Neville his face held almost as much agony as the spider and it was growing. Finally I shouted at Moody to stop and he seemed to realize what he had done, quickly moved on and asked for the last curse. I slowly raised my hand and whispered it, Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse. He brought the spider to my desk and killed it right in front of me. After the lesson was over I walked quickly out of the room to find Neville, he still seemed very shaken up but before I could try and comfort him Professor Moody showed up, he took Neville to his office for a cup of tea and I went to dinner with Ron and Harry. I ate quickly and ran back to the library, I was almost done with my project for house elves. When I had finished I ran to tell Ron and Harry, I'd started an organization to help house elves, it was called the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, SPEW. I was bursting with excitement when I told the boys. They didn't seem all that enthusiastic, but they also didn't say no to joining so I was satisfied. Just then Hedwig, Harry's owl, showed up with a letter form Sirius. Harry read it and was very upset because he found out that Sirius was now coming back up North because of how Harry's scar was hurting. He sent him a letter to try to dissuade him, but I wasn't sure it was such a good idea, Harry's scar hurting could mean something significant and as worried as I was about Sirius, I knew he wouldn't came back unless he though he needed to.

A few weeks later the delegates from the other schools arrived. It was the day before Halloween, and we all went out to the steps to greet them. We waited on the steps and soon a huge powder blue carriage came out of the sky. It was pulled by giant horses, and as soon as it landed we saw why. The Headmistress of Beauxbatons, seemed to be a very large woman. Almost as tall as Hagrid, she greeted Dumbledore kindly, and then her students stepped out. They were obviously dressed for the warmer French whether, but they had wrapped up in scarves and shawls. Dumbledore led them into the castle and we waited for Durmstrang, everyone seemed to think they would arrive in a carriage as well, but a few moments later we watched as a proud ship rose slowly out of the lake. The Durmstrang boys came hiking up the hill and it was obvious they had come from somewhere much colder, they were dressed in warm furs. The boys passed us and when the last boy, who was with their headmaster, passed Ron almost fainted. He began gasping that it was Viktor Krum. I told him to get a grip on himself, he was only a Quidditch player after all. We went into the Great Hall and found that the girls from Beauxbatons had joined the Ravenclaw table, and the Durmstrang boys had joined the Slytherin table, a fact that Ron of course complained loudly about. Dumbledore gave his welcoming speech and I was annoyed when on of the Beauxbatons girls snorted derisively when he said he hoped they were comfortable. I whispered in her direction that no one was making her stay, but she ignored me. We then went on to eat the feast, there was a lot of foreign food, that was obviously for our guests. After a few minutes the rude girl came to our table and asked us if we were going to eat our bouillabaisse. Even I had to admit she was very beautiful. Ron on the other hand sat there with his mouth hanging open, Harry had to answer the question for him. When she took the bowl Ron managed to pathetically gasp that he had loved the soup even though he hadn't even tried it. When the girl left he starting saying she was a veela, and I pointed out no one else had made an idiot of themselves. He simply said she wasn't a normal girl, and that they didn't make them like that at Hogwarts. Harry retorted that they made them pretty good at Hogwarts and I saw his eyes flash towards the Ravenclaw table as well, but I knew he was looking at their Seeker Cho Chang, who he had fancied since the previous year. I was thoroughly annoyed and slightly hurt by Ron's comment. If they didn't make them like that at Hogwarts, that meant I was nothing special, and Ron had certainly never had that reaction when he saw me. Dumbledore was now speaking again, and he showed us how the Champions would be decided, The Goblet of Fire. It was a Chalice full of Blue flames. He assured us that it could not be fooled by age spells or any other kind of magic we might try. He informed us that all students wishing to participate would have to put their name in by the next day. Then he sent us all to bed. We headed for the door, but when we got there we had an encounter with the Headmaster of Durmstrang, Igor Karkaroff, he looked at Harry and his eyes widened with recognition. Just then Moody showed up and told Karkaroff to move along and it couldn't have been plainer that they knew each other and they were not friends. As this exchange was taking place Viktor Krum, who was standing next to Karkaroff, looked at me and we held eye contact for a moment. He gave me a shy little smile and waved his hand slightly in greeting. I was caught off guard, but I waved and smiled back, I guess I had been so used to thinking of him as a world famous Quidditch player, that I hadn't stopped to realize that he was just a normal boy as well.

The next day we went down to the Great Hall early to see what was going on. People of course were trying to break the age rule, but none as grandly as Fred and George, who made quite a scene of their adding their names and then were immediately struck with big long white flowing beards. We sat around and talked about who might be Hogwarts Champion, Ron didn't want it to be Cedric he said he was a twat. I defended him saying Ron just didn't like him because he was a prefect, and Ron retorted that the only reason I did like him was because he was handsome. I asked him if he really thought I was that shallow and he coughed something that sounded suspiciously like, Lockhart. I turned red and changed the subject, I told them we should go visit Hagrid, so we did. We spent a pleasant afternoon with Hagrid. I tried to convince him to join SPEW but he just told me that freeing House elves would be unkind to them because they like being slaves. This was the answer I was getting from everyone, and I was starting to think my cause might simply be lost. Around dinner time we all went back up to the castle, for the feast. We saw the Durmstrang group on their way up and Ron pathetically tried to get Viktor Krum's attention, but it didn't work. We all ate the Halloween feast and then we sat in anticipation as Dumbledore stood. He gave a speech about the eternal glory that awaited the winner of the Tri-Wizard Cup, and then he turned to the cup. It turned red and spit out a small piece of parchment, Dumbledore read that the Durmstrang Champion would be Viktor Krum. We all clapped and cheered as he shuffled up and took his parchment, he turned and walked through the door to the right that was for Champions. I noticed that he almost seemed uncomfortable with all the attention. It looked like he didn't really like being famous, just like Harry. I thought to myself that he seemed like he was much more complicated than I first would have guessed. The Beauxbatons champion was the silvery haired girl that Ron had been fawning over. Her name was Fleur Delacour. I was slightly annoyed with how vigorously Ron cheered for her, and how happy he looked, but I let it go. Next was the Hogwarts Champion it ended up being Cedric, and I cheered for him, even though Ron groaned in disappointment. After Cedric had entered the room, Dumbledore told us that concluded the ceremony and was about to send us all back to our Dormitories, when something else happened. The Goblet glowed red again and another piece of Parchment shot out of it. I knew this was wrong, there were only supposed to be three champions. Dumbledore looked at the paper and then read the name, Harry Potter.

We all stared at Harry in shock. He quickly whispered to Ron and I that he didn't put his name in. I believed him, I knew he didn't know powerful enough magic to trick that Goblet. Dumbledore called his name again and I urged him towards the front of the room. He went up and they ushered him through the door with the other champions. I had no clue what was going on, but I was very worried. As we stood up to leave I noticed that Ron was very quiet. I asked him if he was ok, and he said he was fine, but I knew he was lying. Half way to Gryffindor he told me that he wished Harry had told him how to put his name in the Goblet, and not just taken all the glory for himself. I told him gently that I really didn't think Harry did it, but he didn't seem to believe me, he shrugged me off and went to the boys' dormitory. I decided to go to bed to, but it was hard to sleep with all the yelling and celebrating I heard going on in the Common Room. The next morning I went down to breakfast and found Ron sitting by himself looking glum. I asked him what was wrong and he told me he and Harry had gotten into a fight the night before and now they weren't speaking. I asked him if he really thought that Harry put his name in the goblet. He sighed and turned to look at me, he said he wasn't sure if he did or he didn't, but that wasn't the point. The point was he was sick of always being 'just Harry Potter's friend' he got enough of being overlooked as the youngest boy, and now he had a famous best friend, so no one ever noticed him. I really wanted to say that I noticed him, but I wasn't sure how he would take it, so I simply patted him on the arm and told him I was sorry. Later that day I tried to talk with Harry about this but he just got angry and said Ron was being stupid and that Harry would trade places with him anytime he liked. It was maddening not having my best friends talking but I tried to make the best of it. I convinced Harry that he should tell Sirius about the Tri-Wizard Tournament because Sirius had asked him to tell him anything suspicious. I felt very bad for Harry over the next few days, everyone was either praising him more than he ever wanted or treating him like garbage. Then a few days later right before Potions class, Malfoy and his cronies started picking on him and flashing horrible badges that read Potter Stinks. Then when Malfoy called me a Mudblood once again, things got out of control they began sending hexes at each other but unfortunately they both missed and Harry's hit Goyle and Draco's hit me! I felt pain in my mouth and was horrified to feel my front teeth growing down over my bottom lip. Ron who was standing against the far wall with Seamus and Dean ran to me as soon as I was hit he pulled my hand away from my mouth to see what had happened. When Snape came out and asked what had happened Draco quickly told him his side of things, and Snape sent Goyle to the hospital wing. Ron immediately said I got hurt too and made me show him my teeth, he gave me a horrible look and sneered that I looked the same. I turned and ran towards the hospital wing feeling humiliated, but as I ran up the stairs I heard Ron and Harry both shouting some of the rudest names I'd ever heard someone call a teacher at Snape. I hoped that maybe it would make them finally make up. Unfortunately nothing had changed when I got out of the hospital wing the next day. Harry had apparently been pulled out of Potions class to have an interview for the press which made Ron even angrier. A few days later the interview came out and apparently Rita Skeeter had somehow decided that Harry and I were romantically involved. The day it came out Ron was being very grouchy with me, which was strange because we had been getting along fine. Finally in the evening when we were doing homework together in the library I confronted him on it and asked him what in the world was his problem? He pulled out the out the paper and slapped it down in front of me, he asked me if it was true. I rolled my eyes at him and pointed out that he spent more time with Harry and I then anyone else, if we were dating I think he might have noticed. I went on to tell him that I had absolutely no feelings for Harry like that, and it was just the newspapers trying to get a story. I asked him why he cared so much, and he turned slightly pink. He answered that he just didn't like thinking his best friends were going around behind his back and not telling him things, and then he went back to work on his Potions homework. Somehow I thought there might be more to it than that but maybe it was just wishful thinking. The other thing that was beginning to annoy me was that Viktor Krum always kept turning up in the library, and no matter where I worked he seemed to find a place near by to sit an read, this was frustrating because he was always followed by a gaggle of silly simpering girls, and their giggling made it very hard for me to get my work done.

Harry and I went to Hogsmeade together about a week later. It wasn't the most fun trip because he stayed under the Cloak the whole time, but we got some interesting news when Hagrid joined us in the Three Broomsticks and asked Harry to come visit him under the Cloak that night. I was upset that Hagrid was asking him to break rules again, but I knew he would go anyway. I spent the evening in the Common Room with Ron and Ginny, Ron seemed quieter than usual, I asked him what was wrong and he simply said he didn't want to talk about it so I let it go. Ginny and I played a few games of Exploding Snap before we all went to bed. The next morning I was eating breakfast with Ginny when Harry showed up beside me after I had finished eating he pulled me out onto the grounds to talk. He told me that Hagrid had shown him the first task and it was dragons. Then he said that he had talked to Sirius the night before and Sirius had told him that whoever put his name in the goblet probably was trying to get him killed, and he told him to watch out for Igor Karkaroff who used to be a Death Eater. Both of these pieces of news scared me, but I thought the dragon was the more pressing issue so we went to the Library to look up everything we could on them. Unfortunately I couldn't find many helpful spells that I thought Harry would be able to master in time for the first task. Then Viktor Krum showed up again and I told Harry we should go before his fan club showed up, as we got up to leave I thought I saw Krum watching me out of the corner of my eye. The next day Harry and I were walking towards Herbology when suddenly he said he catch up with me and he ran off, he was almost half an hour late when he finally came running in. He told me breathlessly that I had to help him learn a Summoning Charm. After class he explained he had run to tell Cedric about the dragons and Moody overheard him. He had called him into his Office and helped him come up with a plan. He was going to learn a Summoning Charm and then summon his Firebolt. The whole point of the challenge was to get a golden egg from the dragon and with his broom Harry would have no trouble at all. We practiced long into the night, and finally Harry got it, I felt much better about his chances now.

The next morning was the morning of the challenge, Ron and I walked towards the Stadium together in silence. Suddenly as I looked at Ron's grave face something registered. I asked him if he knew what Harry was up against and he looked back at me, he said of course he did, Charlie had shown him last week. He asked why else he would have been so bloody worried all week. I put my hand on his arm, I was going to ask him yet again why he and Harry didn't just make up. He looked down at me with an understanding and kind gaze and he softly said 'I know', as if to answer my question before I asked it. We took seats in the stands and after a few minutes Dumbledore made the announcement that the task was to begin. The dragon handlers pulled a bluish grey dragon into the arena and chained it to a peg by a nest of eggs, they were all real except one golden one. Even though we were sitting high enough up, that the dragon couldn't hurt us I felt a surge of fear. Cedric came into the arena and everyone cheered. The dragon saw him and advanced but he quickly turned a rock a little way away into a dog and it began barking furiously at the dragon, as soon as it had turned it's attention to the dog Cedric started careful sneaking around the edge towards the nest. We held our breathe for five whole painstaking minutes. He grabbed the golden egg and began to run for the entrance but the dragon saw him and sent a jet of flame in his direction. I screamed and put my face on Ron's shoulder. A second later he leaned over and told me it was fine, I looked up and Cedric was now standing with the egg just outside the dragon's reach. He had a nasty burn on the right side of his face but he was grinning ear to ear. The judges gave him his points and he left the arena. They took the dragon out and brought in a smaller bright green dragon that looked a lot like the dragons in story books. A moment later Fleur entered the arena, I glanced at Ron and sure enough he was watching her with rapt attention. She put a spell on the dragon that seemed to make it sleepy, it swayed dangerously and we thought she had successfully put it to sleep but at the last second in gave a tired snort of fire that caught her skirt, she put it out quickly with water, and then began to slowly inch around the drowsy dragon until she could get to the eggs and retrieve the Golden one. She went back to the entrance and the judges gave her, her points. Then it was Krum's turn. His dragon was a huge red and gold one, with a intricate crest around it's neck. He walked into the arena determinedly, he shot a very well aimed spell that hit the dragon in the eye and it began to roar in pain and stumble around blindly. He ran to the nest and scooped up the golden egg, and then ran back to his spot. I thought he made it look very easy, and the only thing he got points off for was the fact that the dragon had crushed her own eggs while stomping around blindly. Next they brought out a vicious looking steely grey dragon with horrible spikes on it's tail. I knew it was Harry's turn and I grabbed Ron's arm and squeezed it. He reached over with his other hand and patted my shoulder in a comforting sort of way. Harry walked into the ring, I heard him do the Summoning Charm and I closed my eyes, thinking over and over again, please let it come…please let it come… a few seconds later I heard the sound of his broom come whizzing into the stadium. He mounted it and with an impressive show of skill he swooped around the Horntail and grabbed the Golden egg, I thought he had gotten out of it scot free when her tail came up and caught him in the arm. I screamed but he seemed to be all right. When he landed they quickly took him inside to be looked at before they gave his scores, Ron and I ran to the tent where they took him. When we got there he seemed ok. He and Ron looked at each other and Ron finally said that he knew Harry didn't put his name in the goblet. The boys smiled at each other and I broke down, I was so happy they were finally talking again and so mad they had put me through all that. I hugged them both and then we all went out to hear Harry's score, Ron was giving Harry a blow by blow of the other contestant all the while. We found out that Harry had gotten the best score and we were ecstatic, we went back to Gryffindor to join the party, and I was overjoyed to have my two best friends back together.

As the weather grew colder things at the castle finally seemed to go back to normal. Then in late November McGonagall made a surprise announcement. She told us that the Yule Ball would be happening on Christmas Day, and that people were expected to have a date for the dance. My heart leapt but I didn't show it. A date? Was this finally that opportunity I'd been waiting for, and the even bigger question. Would Ron actually ask me? After a few weeks went by though, it became readily apparent to me that Ron was not thinking about asking me. I was very disappointed, but I tried to put it out of my mind. As much as it hurt I felt I needed to accept the fact that Ron simply didn't feel that way about me and get on with my life, there were plenty of others boys in the world. This was the exact thing I was telling myself one night as I sat in the library working on my homework. Suddenly someone sat down at my table across from me. I looked up thinking that it would probably be Ron or Harry but to my surprise it was Viktor Krum! He gave me his shy smile and said hello. I said hello back, I was completely at a loss as to why he was talking to me. He asked me what my name was and I told him. He tried to pronounce it and gave me an apologetic look after butchering it. I smiled and told him it was alright. There was something very sweet about him, not at all pretentious or haughty as I had imagined. He told me he'd seen me in the library a lot and asked me what kinds of books I liked. We had an enjoyable talk abut our favorite authors and subjects, and then as the conversation died down he looked at me nervously. He quickly asked me if I would like to go to the Yule Ball with him. I was completely floored, he was one of the most famous people in the world. He could have had any girl in the entire school, but he wanted to go with me. I smiled and before I even had time to think about what I was doing I said yes. He grinned at me and then got up to leave, I asked him if he'd like to stay and talk some more about books. He said yes, and sat back down. When I finally got back to the Gryffindor Common Room that night there was a little bubble of happiness inside me that refused to pop, and I couldn't stop smiling. The next few weeks went by in a haze, I felt like I was leading a double life, because I would spend my days with Ron and Harry, but I'd go to the library at night under the pretense of studying and spend time with Viktor, my studies were suffering but I didn't mind. I was very happy but at the same time very confused, on the one hand I knew that I didn't feel for Viktor what I did for Ron. Yet on the other hand Viktor was enchanting, and he seemed to genuinely find me fascinating. I also felt slightly bad for Ron and Harry who were having a horrible time trying to get dates. I walked into the Common Room a few days before the Christmas holidays and saw both Harry and Ron looking glum. I asked them what was wrong and Ginny told me they'd both been turned down for the ball. Ron looked up at me and stated that I was technically a girl, I should go with one of them. I felt like slapping him right across the face. I glared at him and told him I was already going with someone. He said he knew I wasn't because I turned Neville down. That was actually true, I had turned Neville down but that was only because Viktor asked me first. I spat at Ron that just because he had taken so long to notice I was a girl didn't mean everyone had. His expression softened and he said he knew I was a girl, and he asked me to go with him again, in a much nicer way. I reiterated that I'd already been asked and stormed off. I was furious with him, here I had been waiting for him to ask me for almost a month and he has the nerve to do it like that!! I was very happy that I was going with a boy who though I was beautiful, and appreciated me. Ron and Harry ended up asking the Patil twins in the end. Actually Harry asked them for both Ron and himself, since Ron was too chicken. Ron began to ask me incessantly who I was going with but I wouldn't tell him, I knew he and Harry would tease me mercilessly. I was still meeting Viktor in the library every evening, I was beginning to grow very fond of him. Now that I knew Ron didn't have feelings for me, it was easier.

Christmas day dawned bright. I opened my presents from the boys and then went down to breakfast with them. We had a pleasant day we hung out in the Common Room all morning and the Weasley's and Harry had a snowball fight in the afternoon which I watch with enjoyment. Ginny and I left the boys at five to go get ready, Ron yelled after me and asked who I was going with but I ignored him. I was very nervous as I got ready for the Ball, I used a smoothing serum on my hair and made it nice and straight and then Ginny helped me pin it up in an intricate bun. I helped her do her hair and then we put on our robes, after we put the last touches on our make up, we smiled at each other and went down to meet our dates. Viktor met me outside the portrait hole and he smiled ear to ear when he saw me. He leaned over and kissed my hand, then he told me I looked beautiful. I felt myself blush as we walked towards the entrance hall, my arm linked through his. When we arrived McGonagall called all the champions together and Harry was staring at me in disbelief, just then I saw Ron push past us roughly and he purposefully looked in the other direction. I wondered why he was behaving so strangely, I thought with all the pestering he'd done about finding out who I was going with he'd be the first one to start teasing me. We made our way to the head table and sat down. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Ron was watching me and glaring, but I tried to ignore him, I was here with Viktor and I wanted to enjoy his company. We had a wonderful dinner Viktor told me all about Bulgaria, and his home and also Durmstrang which sounded fascinating. Then it came time to dance, I was a little nervous but Viktor was a confident partner and he steered me easily around the dance floor. We were having wonderful time together, he made me feel so at ease. After awhile we began to get worn out from dancing so he said he would go get us drinks. I noticed that Ron and Harry were sitting on the side of the room and they looked very sulky so I went to talk to them. I asked them if they were having a good time, and told them Viktor had gone to get us drinks. Ron snapped something about why I wasn't calling him Vicky yet. I asked him what his problem was but he gruffly said if I didn't know he wasn't telling me. Yet he went on to accuse me of fraternizing with the enemy. I was furious, he was being so immature. I snapped at him that he didn't think Viktor was the enemy back when he was trying to get his autograph and he retorted that he thought the only reason Viktor was spending time with me was so to get information on Harry for Karkaroff. I stood up and looked at him, I felt like he'd slapped me across the face, he was saying no boy would want to be with me because of me. I coldly told him that Viktor had never asked me about Harry and then I stormed off. I went outside the Great Hall and cried, I couldn't believe Ron would say those things to me, why was he being to horrible? I collected myself and went back in to meet Viktor; he asked if I was alright and I said yes, then we went back to dancing. About an hour later the party came to a close, I walked with Viktor to the entrance hall and he gave me a hug goodnight, he was just kissing my hand and heading to the door when Ron and Harry walked in, I glared as coldly as a could at Ron, and then walked past him and up the stairs. I made my way back to the dormitory and was about to head up the stairs to my room, when I heard Ron call my name. I turned and saw him standing by the portrait hole looking sheepish. I waspishly asked him what he wanted and his face immediately went hard. He snapped that he was going to apologize for being rude to me, but if I was going to be a brat maybe he wouldn't. I yelled back that I didn't care if he apologized or not. He yelled at me that I was being stupid, that Krum was going to use me and I wasn't going to know better. At that moment Harry walked in. I barely noticed him I was so angry. Before I could even think about what I was saying I turned to Ron and screamed at him that the solution was next time there was a ball he should ask me before someone else did! Then I stormed up the stairs and crashed into my dormitory crying. Ginny came in and sat down next to me. I asked her why in the world her brother was being so horrible. She put a hand on my shoulder and sighed. She told asked me how in the world I couldn't see it. I looked at her and asked her what she was talking about. She explained that Ron had thought I was lying about having someone to go to the banquet with, when he saw me with Viktor it had made him insanely jealous, and this was his was of showing it. I looked up at her and said that made no sense, if Ron wanted me to go with him why didn't he just ask me. Ginny rolled her eyes and sarcastically asked if I had actually met her brother. She said he was about as adept as dealing with his emotions, as birds were with deep sea diving, and I was going to have to give him some time to sort them out. I went to bed that night feeling completely confused, I now had to decide what to do, I had Viktor in my life and he was wonderful and cared deeply for me, but now Ginny was telling me that Ron had feelings for me too. I decided that I would have to wait and see how it all played out, I wasn't making any decisions just yet.

The next day Ron seemed to have put our fight behind him and was being perfectly friendly. He told me about a conversation he and Harry had overheard in which Hagrid told Madam Maxine he was a half giant. I told him I'd assumed as much and for awhile the topic was dropped. Then a few weeks later a story came out in the news paper written by the awful Rita Skeeter, she told everyone about Hagrid being a half giant, and we felt horrible for him. Giants are not very well liked in the Wizarding world, and we kept trying to visit him, but he refused to see us. It took us almost another week until we finally got him to answer his door. We finally got him to talk to us and assured him that his giant blood didn't matter to us, that we still wanted to be his friends. He had tried to resign as a teacher but Dumbledore wouldn't let him, I was very grateful to him for it. I was also rather worried about Harry, the second task was coming up quickly. They had been told that the Golden egg they had collected at the first task had a clue but I knew Harry hadn't figured it out yet. I was worried he might not do it in time. A few days later in Charms class Harry told us he'd worked out the clue. It said something the champions treasured would be taken, by the merpeople of the lake and each champion would have an hour to recover it. We spent the better part of the next week pouring through the library with Harry trying to find something to help him breathe underwater, but we found nothing by the night before the task Harry was frantic. Fred and George showed up around midnight and told Ron and I we had to go to McGonagall's office, we were confused but we walked down together. We walked in silence but we kept catching each others eye. I didn't want to read too much into this but I felt like it had been happening more and more since the Yule Ball. When we arrived at McGonagall's office there were two other people in the room, Cho Chang and a small blond haired girl who was accompanied by her mother. McGonagall explained to us that we were the things that the champions would have to pull out of the lake, the people they treasured most in the world. I felt the color rise in my face, as I looked around the room I realized the blond haired girl must be Fleur Delacour's sister, Cho Chang was now Cedric's girlfriend so that made sense, Ron was here for Harry, which meant…. I was Viktor's most treasured person. I looked at Ron's face and he had a hard look in his eyes and he did not look back at me. I sighed inwardly, this was far to complicated. McGonagall asked us to sit down and told us that she was going to put us to sleep. She promised us that no harm would come to us, and we would wake up after we were rescued the next day. She waved her wand over us, and we immediately fell asleep. The next thing I remember was my head breaking the surface of the freezing cold lake, and gasping for breathe. I was in Viktor's arms and he was pulling me towards the shore. I saw Fleur already there she was sobbing and beside herself, apparently she had not been able to get to her little sister. Cedric and Cho were also there huddled together for warmth. We all waited for Harry, Viktor put his arm around my shoulders to keep me warm. I accepted his hug but I was worried about Ron and Harry. It was well over the hour time limit when they finally surfaced, Harry had both Ron and the little blond haired girl. As he pulled them to shore Fleur flew to her sister, she kissed Harry and thanked him for saving her. Then she kissed Ron as well thanking him for helping, he turned beet red and I glared at him. Both Ron and I were completely exasperated with Harry for thinking that if he didn't save the little girl she would have died. He was such a hero, we pointed out that they wouldn't have let her die, and his face fell. We were worried that he wouldn't get any points, but the judges decided to award him second place, I was so thrilled for him.

The next few weeks got even more complicated for me, I was now starting to see what Ginny meant about Ron. While he didn't give me the adoring attention that Viktor did the way he got instantly grumpy whenever he saw us together made me believe that he really was terribly jealous. I remember the first time that Viktor held my hand, we were sitting in the library reading like we often did, and I felt him slide his hand under mine and intertwine our fingers, butterflies erupted in my stomach as I responded and rubbed his hand with my thumb. He smiled at me and then went back to reading his book. From that point on everytime we were in the library we held hands. My heart was completely torn, for I couldn't no longer tell myself that what I had with Viktor was just a friendship, but at the same time I felt like I was being unfair to him, because as much as I loved spending time with him, everytime he held my hand or kissed my forehead a little part of the back of my mind, wondered what it would be like if it were Ron, not him. There was another problem, Viktor was leaving. In just a few short months he would be gone and I might never see him again, I wasn't sure I wanted to be emotionally invested when I knew I would have to say goodbye. One day we went for a walk by the lake, it was early spring and the trees were just starting to blossom. Suddenly he stopped walking he turned to me with a determined expression, he put his hand on my cheek and looked deeply into my eyes, he told me that he had never felt about anyone the way he felt about me. He stood there and waited for me to answer, I didn't know what to say. He was moving closer his face was inches from mine, he tilted my face up so he could bring his lips to mine but at the last moment I pulled away. He looked at me with a wounded expression. I felt tears coming to my eyes, I couldn't do this, it wasn't right, he wasn't the person I wanted to be kissing. I told him that I was sorry, but I couldn't kiss him, I told him that I only wanted to kiss someone if I loved them, and I couldn't love him. He was leaving, and it just wasn't right. That was only a very small part of the reason; I couldn't tell him the rest, but as I looked into his eyes I suspected that he might already know. He quietly said that he understood and I gave him a hug , then we walked back up to the school together. From that point on things changed. I had made my choice, and I knew that I had to stick with it.

Over the next week things were rather interesting Rita Skeeter wrote another horrible article. I had screamed at her for what she said about Hagrid, and Ron and Harry had warned me she would get back at me. Well she did. The article said that I had broken Harry Potter's heart by cheating on him and then leaving him for Viktor. I personally thought it was a rather lame retaliation but it did earn me many glares and whispered angry words throughout the school. The next weekend was a trip to Hogsmeade, and to our alarm Sirius told us that he was meeting us there! We walked to the edge of the town and met him in his dog form. He took us up to a cave on the side of the hill where he had apparently been living. We brought him a bunch of food because apparently he had been living off of rats. We told him everything that had happened and he was very interested about what happened with Barty Crouch at the World Cup, and the fact that he was one of the judges for the Tri-Wizard Cup. He explained that Barty Crouch had been the man who sentenced him to Azkaban, and then also told us that alarmingly Barty Crouch had sent his own son to Azkaban where he died. He warned us to keep our eyes on Barty Crouch, he also reiterated what he had said about Karkaroff being a Death Eater. It seemed like there was danger all around us! We left Sirius that day feeling even more anxious. Things got worse not better when I started receiving hate mail about Rita Skeeter's article, I thought I was all a bit ridiculous until the day someone sent me Undiluted Bubotuber puss which swelled my hands and was extremely painful. It was all so unfair, here I was worried to death about my best friend, having to deal with school work and now everyone hated me for breaking a boys heart, and they didn't even have the right boy! The fact of the matter was that I knew I had broken a boys heart, Viktor still spent time with me but it was much more subdued, we'd gone back to mostly being friends, he still held my hand once and awhile but I could tell that I had wounded him deeply. I decided to focus my attention on figuring out how Rita Skeeter was listening in on people's personal conversations, because even though her article's were mostly bogus she always had small snippets of truth that she should not know. Like the fact that Viktor told me he'd never felt about anyone the way he felt about me. I asked Moody if he'd seen her under and Invisibility Cloak, because we found out he could see through them. I then began to research every possible way someone could magically eavesdrop, Harry asked me how in the world I had time to do extra research on top of our growing school work, but I was determined.

As the summer semester began things seemed to settle down somewhat. One night Harry was called to the Quidditch pitch with the rest of the champions, apparently Barty Crouch was going to show them the third task. Ron and I sat in a corner of the Common Room and worked on our homework. I noticed he kept glancing out the window and then back at me but I didn't say anything. Finally he asked me if I was curious what was going on down there, and I told him I supposed so. He asked me if Viktor and I had talked about the last challenge. I took a deep breathe, I knew that I was going to have to accept the choice I made, and this was as good a place to start as any. I looked at Ron and I told him that we hadn't talked about the task because we hadn't really been spending as much time together lately. He looked up at me questioningly and I held his gaze and didn't look away. There was something that was questioning in his expression, it looked like he was about to ask me something but just then Harry came bursting into the room and came quickly over to where we were. He explained that he had just left Dumbledore. He explained that after Crouch had shown them the maze he and Krum had gone for a walk suddenly Crouch had stumbled out of the woods disoriented and began babbling at them. He apparently said something about his son, and also about Voldemort getting stronger. Harry had left Viktor with him and run to get Dumbledore but when they got back Viktor had gotten stunned and Crouch was gone. I quickly asked if Viktor was alright and Harry said he was fine. We were all disturbed by the incident, especially what he had said about Voldemort, but Ron pointed out that he was out of his mind so we tried to put it behind us, but not before sneaking up to the owlry to send a letter to Sirius. We spent the next few weeks helping Harry prepare for the third task. Then one day at dinner Ron showed up looking worried. He told me Harry had fallen asleep in Divination and woke up screaming and clutching his scar, he ran off saying he needed to go to the hospital wing. I was worried but we didn't see Harry at dinner. A few hours later he showed up in the Common Room and he told us all about his dream. He had dreamed about Voldemort again, and he had gone to Dumbledore. In Dumbledore's Pensive he had seen the moment that Barty Crouch had sentenced his son to Azkaban, the thing that was disturbing was he had found out Snape had also previously been a Death Eater. My head was reeling, I put my head on my knees. Was EVERYONE a Death Eater? Ron was incredulous that Dumbledore would trust him, but I thought I must mean that Snape had done something very brave and dangerous to prove he had left the dark side. I felt like the dark forces were building all around us as the last task grew nearer.

The day of the third task the Weasley's came to the school to cheer on Harry. I was hurt when Mrs. Weasley was cold towards me, but then Harry confronted her and told her that there was nothing between he and I and that it was all made up by the papers, and she immediately went back to being herself. We all walked with Harry down to the Quidditch field and saw the huge maze; we hugged Harry and wished him good luck. We then took our places in the stands. Viktor waved to me from the field, but when he saw me next to Ron I saw a slight frown cross his face, I waved back at him, and Ron glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes. I inwardly rolled my eyes I wanted to just knock their heads together… stupid boys. Harry got to go into the maze first, then Cedric, then Viktor and lastly Fleur. This task ended up being rather boring, we couldn't see what was going on inside the maze so there wasn't much to do, after about twenty minutes I started having a conversation with Ginny who was sitting on my right. A few minutes later we saw red sparks go up in the maze which meant that someone was out of the running. We watched with interest to see who it was. It took them twenty minutes to bring the person out, and it turned out to be Fleur. The Beauxbatons students were all very disappointed because it meant that they had lost. I looked at Ron when they brought Fleur out and was pleased to see that he wasn't ogling her as much as usual. It was another almost half an hour before anything else happened. Then a second flare of red sparks went up, it was much farther away we almost couldn't see it. The judges went into the maze again we sat there in silence. It took them over a half an hour before they brought out Viktor. He looked stunned but Madam Pomfrey was waiting on the field where she revived him and then Karkaroff lead him off the field. Ron leaned over and asked me slightly grumpily why I wasn't going down to make sure my most treasured person was alright. I closed my eyes and took a deep breathe. I knew that this was the moment; I was not beating around the bush anymore. I turned to face Ron and looked him square in the eyes. I said the fact Viktor had pulled me out of the lake meant I was his most treasured possession, but if I had been pulling someone out of the lake, it would have been very different. He stared at me, not knowing what to say but I wasn't finished. I went on and said that if I had been here for Viktor I would have come down to the stands with him, and I would have been waiting for him when he came of the field. But I wasn't here with Viktor was I? And maybe that should tell him something about what choice I had made. He stared at me he opened and closed his mouth a few times as if he were trying to get his words to come out. I saw Ginny smirking on my other side, but she said nothing. Just then there was a commotion on the field. We looked down and saw Harry and Cedric lying on the field. Something was wrong, Harry was shaking from head to toe and he was covered in blood, and Cedric didn't move. Harry gasped that Voldemort had returned, there was a huge amount of commotion on the field, I saw Moody drag Harry off the field. Everyone rushed around Cedric and a moment later they carried him off the field as well, but he still hadn't moved and I had a horrible feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. I looked at Ron and he had a dark look on his face, he said we should go back up to the school, and we joined the crowd headed back up the hill. We ran to the hospital wing, and demanded Madam Pomfrey tell us what had happened. She told us she didn't know where Harry was, moments later Dumbledore walked in with him. He said that Harry was going through a terrible ordeal, and we were not to talk to him that night, but we could stay with him if we wished. We were terrified for him, but he assured us that he was fine, he just needed sleep. Madam Pomfrey gave him a sleeping Draught and he fell sleep immediately. I asked Madam Pomfrey the question I had been fearing to ask since Harry and Cedric had appeared. She confirmed my fears, Cedric Diggory had been murdered. I put my head in my hands and began to sob, I couldn't believe that this was happening. I moment later I felt someone put their hands on both my shoulders and squeeze them in comfort. I didn't have to look to know who it was, I reached my hand up and put my hand on Ron's to let him know that I appreciated his comfort. His brother Charlie gave us a questioning look, but this time Ron didn't take his hands away. We all sat there quietly for hours watching Harry sleep. McGonagall came in and explained what had happened. She said that the man we thought was Moody had actually been Barty Crouch Jr. using Polyjuice Potion, through his confession and also Harry's account they had put together that he had turned the Tri-Wizard Cup into a Portkey which took Harry straight to Wormtail. Wormtail had killed Cedric and then used Harry to resurrect Voldemort, now Voldemort was back and Harry had barely escaped him. I felt terror rising inside me, I knew that Voldemort being back was the worst thing that could have happened, and everything was going to change. Things got worse when Fudge came in to argue with Dumbledore about what had happened, he seemed to think Harry was making everything up. Suddenly Harry commented that Fudge had been reading Rita Skeeter. We all jumped because we hadn't known he had woken. He explained about Rita Skeeter's article which made him out to be crazy. I was outraged that Fudge would believe it, but it seemed that he was refusing to see logic, he simply didn't want Voldemort to be back. By the time he left we were all furious. The adults began talking as soon as he left, they seemed to be organizing, so that they were ready, I wasn't sure what they would do, but I could tell it was important.

The next few weeks were a haze, The morning after the incident Dumbledore spoke to the school and told them to leave Harry alone and not talk to him about what had happened. We spent the next few weeks with Harry, we mostly tried not to talk with him about the incident, we knew that it he didn't want to dwell on it. What had happened at the task between Ron and I had been temporarily put on hold, but I could tell that it was still there if only by the way Ron would often catch my eye when we were all together and hold it for a moment, the same questioning look was there. Cedric's funeral was a few days before the end of the semester. Dumbledore spoke about what a good person Cedric was, and then he told the school how he died. There was a ripple of fear that went through the crowd as he said Lord Voldemort had returned, I felt a tremble of fear go through me as well. I knew that this meant very bad things were coming. On the last day of school Ron and I were waiting for Harry by the front door. He came and joined as and just as we were getting ready to head to the carriages Viktor showed up, he asked me if we could talk. He pulled me around the side of the building and I heard Ron yell at me to hurry up so we didn't miss the train, and I smirked. Viktor turned me to look at him and he smiled, he put his hand on my face again, and I smiled sadly, I knew that I would miss him terribly. Then he said something that I would have never expected. He asked me if I loved Ron. I looked at him in shock and it took a moment for me to process what he had just said, finally I slowly said that I didn't know, but I thought that maybe I did. He smiled at me, and pulled me into his arms. As he hugged me he whispered into my ear that he wanted me to be happy. I pulled away and looked at him with all the care in the world I kissed his cheek and said thank you. We walked back to Harry and Ron, and when we came in sight Ron quickly tried to make it look like he hadn't been watching for us to come back. Viktor said goodbye to Harry and as he was leaving I saw Ron seemed to be having some kind of internal struggle. Finally he asked Viktor for his autograph, which Viktor gave him and I couldn't help but smile. The ride back to Kings Cross was very quiet, Harry asked me a question about Rita Skeeter and I suddenly remembered something. I pulled a small cup out of my bag with a little beetle in it. I had caught her as an illegal Animagus red handed about two weeks earlier, I was going to let her go when we got back to King's Cross but only on the promise should would write no more fictional stories, or I would tell her secret and she would be arrested. When we arrived at King's Cross Harry's uncle was standing there waiting for him, I had never wanted to not let those horrible people take him more than in that moment, I wanted to protect him. Ron had asked Dumbledore if he could take Harry straight home to the Burrow but Dumbledore said he needed to go home with his Aunt and Uncle for awhile. Ron assured Harry that he would be able to come stay with them later in the summer and then Harry left. I was standing on the sidewalk waiting for my parents when the Weasley's showed up. As we were standing there Ron turned to me. He looked at me with concern as he spoke. He said he knew that I would need to spend some time with my parents, but it was honestly not going to be safe for me to stay in Muggle London as a witch for long, now that Voldemort was back Muggle borns were going to be huge targets. I looked at him in fear and asked him what I should do, he told me to spend a few weeks with my parents and then he would help me come up with an excuse and I would come stay with his family, he said I would be safe there. Just then my family pulled up in our car, Ron said goodbye to me but as I began to walk towards the car Ron called my name, as I turned he was walking towards me determinedly. He got to me and he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly, he let me go after a minute and said he'd write me soon. I said goodbye and got in the car with my parents. I watched out the back window as we pulled into traffic and the figure of Ron Weasley standing on the curb grew tiny in the distance.