Chapter 6: The Unexpected Tasks
The summer at Juliette's house was by far the most exciting yet. Hermione got to meet Juliette's partner Sturgis Podmore from the Ministry, and even the Minister for Magic himself when he came by to ask her a few interesting questions concerning the Headmaster. Soon though it was nearing September 1st and Hermione had to pack all of her belongings that had somehow managed to migrate into her aunt's house. Juliette helped Hermione put her trunk in the car and drove her to King's Cross Station, the last time she ever would.
Not long after they left the Leaky Cauldron they arrived at the station. But before Hermione could cross through the gateway to platform 9 ¾, Juliette pulled her over and gave her something she rarely received anymore, a hug from a family member. Hermione wiped a stray tear away before Juliette noticed; she then smiled at her before she continued her way to the platform. After Hermione entered Platform 9 ¾ she found Harry and Ron waiting for her. She rushed up to them and gave them both a hug before they boarded the train as the whistle started to blow.
They found a compartment in the middle of the train. Hermione listened as Harry told her and Ron about his summer; he spent the last four weeks of their summer visiting his godfather at Black Manor. "You should have seen it Hermione, Jasper has his own library that, I swear, is larger than the Great Hall." Harry said turning to Hermione with a smile. Hermione just smiled back.
"So how is Jasper anyway? He didn't seem all that happy that you were invited to his house…" Ron said with something that looked like concern on his face. "You're right, at first Jasper wasn't happy that I came, but after we hung out with Sirius he lightened up considerably. He's just had a hard life, what with Sirius being in Azkaban and no one believing his mother…" Harry said sticking up for his new friend.
Ron and Hermione nodded and soon the conversation turned to other things, mainly Quidditch. The train pulled into the station at Hogsmeade as rain poured down from the storm clouds over Hogwarts. The trio waited for the feast to begin, but they had to wait longer than the first year sorting, Headmaster Dumbledore had stood up and was waiting on the hall to get silent.
"As some of you are aware, Hogwarts will be playing host to the Triwizard Tournament this year. In addition, we will be providing housing to two other schools that are participating in the tournament." Dumbledore said, his arms rose toward the ceiling as if this was extremely important news. Dumbledore then went on to explain that since the tournament is extremely dangerous that only students aged 17 and up are allowed to enter. This announcement caused cried of outrage from the assembled students, especially from Ron's older brothers, Fred and George.
After Dumbledore finished his speech the feast began with much talk about the tournament. Later that night Hermione lay in her bed, her thoughts swirling around, surprisingly not concerning the tournament or the arrival of two Wizarding schools, but about her family and what they would say and do once the school year ended and she returned home.
Classes in September started and ended and it was soon nearing the end of October. On October 30th, the students from Beauxbatons Academy in France and Drumstrang Academy in Bulgaria arrived at Hogwarts. The next night at dinner the three Triwizard Champions, one from each school, was chosen by the Goblet of Fire. The Beauxbatons champion was a part-veela named Fleur Delcaour. The Drumstrang champion was a professional Quidditch player named Viktor Krum. And the Hogwarts champion was a sixth year Hufflepuff named Cedric Diggory.
Everyone clapped as the champions made their way to the room next to the Great Hall. But the clapping slowed to a stop as the Goblet of Fire changed colors again, and split out another slip of parchment, signaling another champion had been chosen. Dumbledore caught it and stared at the name in shock. "HARRY POTTER!" Albus yelled in anger and confusion. Upon hearing his name Harry sank lower in his seat at the Gryffindor table as the entire hall turned to look at him. Hermione nudged Harry as the Headmaster screamed out his name, until she finally had to push him from his seat to get him to stand up.
Slowly Harry made his way to the same door the other champions had gone through; not noticing the glare his best friend was giving him, or the shocked look upon his other's face. Once Harry had left the room Dumbledore dismissed the houses to their common rooms before he made his way towards the other room. Hermione and Ron walked in silence to the Gryffindor common room, neither knowing what they would say to Harry when he joined them.
Half an hour had passed and Ron and Hermione were about to go to bed when Harry opened the portrait to Gryffindor tower, and walked over to them. "Hey guys…" Harry said, running his hand through his hair. Hermione smiled weakly at Harry while Ron continued to stare into the fire, not saying a word.
"Is something wrong?" Harry asked once he was sure that Ron was ignoring him. Ron looked up at him before he stood up angrily. "Tell me something Harry, why'd you put your name in that cup?" Harry looked at Ron shocked, but before he could speak Ron continued. "Why didn't you put my name in it too? I thought we were best mates…" He asked with a mixture of anger and sadness in his voice.
Harry just stared at Ron, how could his best mate actually believe that he put his name in that stupid cup? When Harry didn't answer Ron, he frowned before turning away from Harry and Hermione. "There's no need to say anything…" Ron said in response as he began to climb the stairs to the boy's dormitory. "Ron wait" Ron turned back to Harry waiting for him to continue. "I didn't put my name in that cup. I don't want eternal glory…. You know that."
"Then how did your name get in it Harry?!" Ron yelled out, gripping onto the stone stairwell in his anger. "I don't know Ron, that's what I've been telling you! It's the same thing I told the Headmaster, and it hasn't changed! I didn't put my name in that cup and I wouldn't have even if I was 17!" Harry said, his voice now rising to match Ron's.
Ron looked at Harry doubtfully before he continued his way up to his room. After Ron was upstairs Harry turned to Hermione. "Why didn't you say anything?" He asked her, his voice still angry. Hermione tilted her head to the side before she answered. "I know you didn't put your name in that cup Harry." Harry's eyes widened as Hermione continued. "And I'm sure that deep down, Ron knows it too. But because you're the Boy-who-lived, Ron's always felt inferior to you… nobody knows him for who he is; only that he's the Boy-who-lived's best friend…he's always felt like he's living in your shadow."
Harry looked at Hermione with a look of shock and understanding on his face. "He honestly feels like that?" Hermione nodded her head sadly. Not long after that, the two of them headed off to bed. Soon it was nearing the first task of the Triwizard Tournament and Ron and Harry had yet to come to an understanding. A few days before the first task was about to begin, Hagrid took Harry out into the Forbidden forest and showed him what the first task consisted of. There in the forest, surrounded by wizards stood four dragons in huge crates.
Harry then went to Hermione and the two of them searched through the library trying to find some books on how to get past dragons. They were unsuccessful though and Harry was getting more and more worried as the days went past. On Monday the day before the first task, Harry ran into Ashwin Snape. "Hiya Harry." Ashwin said after he helped Harry up off the floor. "Are you worried about the task tomorrow?" He asked him after noticing the look on his face.
"A little" Harry said looking around the corridor before he asked Ashwin something. "Ash, you know all about dragons. Can you tell me anything that might help me get past one?" Ashwin looked at Harry for a minute before he leaned down to whisper "Play to your strengths, think of it as a game of Quidditch." And with that Ashwin turned and left Harry alone in the corridor.
After the talk with Ashwin Harry ran all over the castle trying to find Hermione, and yet she was nowhere to be found. Harry was thinking about giving up when a door appeared out of nowhere, as he walked past a wall on the seventh floor. Harry looked at the door with suspicion before he walked towards it. As he got closer he could make out two different voices, one he had never heard before and the other belonged to Hermione.
"I don't know how much more pain I can take…" Hermione said to the unknown person. Curiosity got the better of Harry and he opened the door quietly and looked into the room to see… Hermione sitting on a plush royal blue couch talking to…no one. Without turning her head, Hermione stopped talking to the apparently invisible person and spoke to Harry. "It's rude to eavesdrop Harry." Harry ducked his head out of the room and blushed deeply. Hermione turned to the door and wasn't surprised when she saw Harry's bowed head. "Well come on in and shut the door behind you."
Harry did as was told and walked over to the couch Hermione was sitting on. "What is this place? Who were you just talking to?" He asked. "This is the Room of Requirement, not many people know about it because it appears differently for different people…"Hermione said, obviously not about to answer his last question.
"Hermione, what are you hiding from me?" Harry asked looking into his friend's big brown eyes. Hermione looked at Harry for a few minutes before she asked him a serious question. "Will you always be my friend? No matter what happens, no matter what people say about me, will you always be there for me?"
Harry nodded his head, a little scared at where this was going. "If I tell you something, do you promise me that you won't tell anyone? Not even Ron when you two start talking again?" Hermione asked, knowing that she was taking a big chance trusting Harry. Harry looked at his friend and noticed the serious expression that had come over her face. He nodded again. "Do you promise on your friendship with Ron and me, on your desire to live with Sirius, and on the fact that you still love Skylar, that you won't tell a soul until I let you know its okay?" Hermione asked, trying every way possible to make sure that Harry wouldn't tell a soul her secret.
Harry looked straight into Hermione eyes before he said, "I, Harry James Potter, promise not to tell a soul, living or dead, your secret until you tell me to." Hermione nodded as she looked at Harry. "I can't tell you everything. Truthfully I'm not even suppose to be telling you anything, but… since you heard me talking earlier I suppose it will be alright." Hermione said looking away.
"First thing, I want you to know that I never wanted to lie to anyone…especially you and Ron…but I've had to and I'm sorry." Hermione said a lone tear escaping her eye. "Hermione, you don't …" Harry started to say, but was cut short by a raised hand. "I'm not who you think I am Harry…" Hermione said a few more tears falling from her eyes. "I'm a pureblood." She whispered before covering her face as tears racked her body.
Harry sat in shock as his best friend just confessed she was a pureblood, a fully magical witch from a fully magical family. As he saw the tears and the pain his best friend was in, Harry moved toward her and wrapped his arms around her, showing her that everything he promised was true. Once Hermione was calmed down, Harry asked her if she would be willing to help him with summoning charms for the task tomorrow. Hermione smiled and started to teach her friend how to properly cast the charm. As they were leaving the Room of Requirement Harry asked Hermione one more question. "Hermione, why does the Room of Requirement look like this for you?"
Hermione looked at Harry before turning her head away, "It takes the form of a room I haven't seen since I was eleven… my bedroom…" Harry awoke the next day, fairly confident that he would survive the upcoming task. After lunch Harry and Hermione walked down to the champion's tent together where they talked until it was time for Hermione to leave.
After Hermione left the four champions had to pick out a model dragon from a velvet bag, and whichever dragon they pulled out it was the one they would be facing. Harry, as it happened, pulled out the largest and meanest dragon, the Hungarian Horntail that had a large number four around its neck. From inside the tent Harry heard cheering as each champion managed to get past their dragons, until it was his turn. After summoning his firebolt, Harry managed to get his golden eyes faster than any of the other champions, which gave him the highest score out of the four Champions.
After the task was over there was a party in the Gryffindor common room. And, thankfully, Ron apologized to Harry once it had died down some. So with the Golden Trio happy once more, the school waited for the next big task, the Yule Ball, which was to take place on Christmas for years four and up. Unfortunately for Harry, all the champions had to find dates for the lead out dance, which meant he had less than two months to find a date.
So for the next few weeks leading up to the ball Harry and Ron tried desperately to avoid finding a date, until they had no other choice but to start looking, per their head of house's orders. But since they had waited for so long, almost everyone already had a date, including Hermione and Skylar. Soon it was three days away from the ball and they still didn't have a date; that is until Harry saw a pretty Gryffindor girl staring at him from across the common room.
So, he walked over to her and asked her if she wanted to go to the ball with him. She smiled and nodded happily, and at the last minute Harry asked her if she had a friend that needed a date for the ball. She thought for a moment before she nodded again with a smile. Three days later, students were dismissed from classes early to get ready for the ball. On their way back to the common room, Harry and Ron tried to find out who Hermione was going to the ball with. Hermione, however, did not even budge on that subject; instead she told them that she had heard that Skylar was going with the Hufflepuff champions, Cedric Diggory.
At seven that night, Harry and his date Parvati Patil met up with Ron and his date Lavender Brown outside the doors to the Great Hall. Soon though Professor McGonagall told the Champions and their dates to stand to the side until it was time to enter the Hall. While Harry and Parvati were standing next to Fleur and Cedric, Harry took time to take in the beautiful blue-green halter dress that Skylar was wearing. Finally, the last champion arrived with a beautiful girl on his arm dressed in a lovely blue dress.
After taking a closer look at the girl on Krum's arm, Harry almost jumped out of his skin in shock. The beautiful girl with shiny straight brown hair was Hermione. But before Harry could say anything to her, it was time for the Champions to line up and enter the Great Hall for the first dance of the night.
For Harry the ball lasted too long for his liking. He really hated seeing Skylar dancing with someone else, and his date Parvati, he found out, only agreed to being his date so she could rub the fact that she was a champion's date in her friend's faces. The dance was half and half for Ron. He enjoyed the time spent with his date Lavender, and yet he couldn't stop thinking about Hermione and how she was with Krum. But for Hermione the night couldn't have been better, she was actually have fun for the first time in years. Once the ball ended at midnight the golden trio and their dates made their way back to Gryffindor Tower, where Krum departed leaving Hermione with a kiss upon her cheeks.
That night while Hermione lay in her bed she dreamed about running through the forbidden forest with the rest of her pack, Rune and Emery. She felt so free running through the forest looking up at the midnight sky without a care in the world. Soon they came upon the lake and looked into the dark, shiny waters. There reflected back at her was a pure white wolf with amber eyes and a smile upon her face as a black wolf and a grayish brown wolf stood next to her. The dream continued on in a general sense of happiness and contentment, so when Hermione awoke in the morning she burst into tears; knowing that her dreams would never become reality unless she accepted her fate and fulfilled her prophecy.