It was 9pm and Hermione and Harry were shivering as they made their way to Hagrid's hut. They saw two familiar identical redheads as they approached along with Hagrid and another redhead that Hermione recognised as Charlie Weasley once they were closer.
"Alright ladies?" Fred called as they got close enough to greet them.
"I shouldn't be doing this!" Hagrid was muttering from behind them.
"What is the big exciting thing then?" Hermione asked pointedly after a few moments.
"I thought you'd never ask Granger!" George laughed.
"If you would follow our dear dragon handler brother, we'll begin the amazing adventure!" Fred grinned and winked at Hermione, before taking her by the hand and leading her after Hagrid and his older brother into the forest.
They walked for a good half hour before they began to hear a sort of roaring noise in the distance.
"Fred!" she hissed. "What is it?"
"That, Granger, is the sound of four very angsty and very real dragons."
She gripped his hand a little bit tighter as they saw light up ahead and Charlie stopped them.
"I'm not even supposed to be doing this, if you weren't my little brother's friends then you wouldn't even be here. You can't get too close, the other handlers don't strictly know that you'll be here. I told them I was going to see my younger siblings in the castle because I don't see you all that often. I'll lead you over to a safe spot about three hundred metres back and then you've got about ten minutes whilst I take Hagrid in with me so we can talk to him about the dragons time at Hogwarts. After that you have to leave because the other handlers won't be too far behind you. Got it?" he finished.
"Sir, yes sir!" Fred and George replied together, saluting him as they did so.
"Let's go then." Charlie led them to the safe spot, about three hundred metres away as promised, and then led Hagrid in with him.
They all watched in awe as they were almost face to face with four enormous, and very agitated dragons.
"It's so beautiful!" Hermione gushed as she took in their gorgeous colours and the amazement of the four beasts.
"It is, isn't it." Fred said, looking a totally different direction.
She looked up at him and caught her staring back down at her as he said it.
"Oh shut up! That was far too predictable!" she laughed and punched him playfully on the shoulder.
Before she knew it they had retreated behind Harry and George and were almost play fighting in the near darkness, the only light coming from the area of the dragons in front of them. She lost sight of Fred in the darkness and instantly found herself having flashbacks of the darkness on the night of her attack.
"Fred can you come back? I'm really scared. It isn't funny anymore!" she said a little louder, tears welling in her eyes as she did so.
Fred appeared a moment later in the darkness and wrapped his arms around her to pull her close.
"I'm sorry Mione," he murmured into her hair.
"It's ok," she told him, her breathing returning to normal now, "It just brought back memories…the world cup…it was stupid really." She hung her head, a little too embarrassed to look at Fred.
"Don't be daft, it wasn't stupid at all." He lifted her head to look at him before he leaned in and pressed a small kiss to her lips.
It took her completely by surprise but she didn't complain. If anything she had wanted it more than she had first realised.
"Merlin, I've wanted to do that for ages!" Fred laughed.
There was a cough behind them as they saw George and Harry standing with knowing looks on their faces. Hermione felt her cheeks redden whilst Fred took it in full swing.
"Can't even get one bloody second of privacy around here!" he laughed again before George swooped in to grill his twin on what they had just witnessed.
Harry on the other hand walked silently with Hermione until she mentioned it first.
"Don't tell Ron whatever you do. Not yet anyway. I need to figure this one out."
"My lips are sealed," he promised before continuing to wind her up all the way back onto the castle grounds. She groaned as he took every opportunity to pass a comment but knew he was taking the chance before he had to stay true to his word of keeping quiet in front of Ron.
They finally reached the castle and snuck back upstairs. As they reached the common room Harry sat down in their usual chairs and turned to face Hermione.
"Mione, how do I face a dragon?" he asked.
"I haven't figured that one out yet. We have three days. Surely in that time we can figure something out."
"I really hope that you're right." He replied and bid her goodnight, saying that he was far too worried to be good company.
She sat herself down in the comfiest of the armchairs near the fire and thought about the last few weeks. She and Fred had gotten so much closer whilst she had received treatment and he had essentially ben her rock through her entire ordeal. Not to mention the fact that she had possibly been harbouring a small crush for him the entire time anyway…
She scolded herself for abandoning her rational thinking and decided that bed really was the only sensible option for her at that moment.
Harry had gone down early to the newly set up arena to prepare with the other champions. Hermione was sat at breakfast with Ron, Ginny and the Twins, trying to get Ron excited about more than the prospect of Harry getting a good bashing by a dragon.
"Just because you're mad at him Ronald does not mean that you want him to get seriously injured!" she scolded him.
"Not seriously injured, maybe just shaken up a bit so he sees what a prat he's been."
"Oh yeah-"
"-good idea Ronniekins."
"Maybe losing an arm-"
"-or a leg-"
"-will make him see that he wronged you!" the Twins laughed and grabbed the last few slices of toast on the table, before Fred winked at her and they set about trying to collect bets from the other students.
"They've already made a fortune doing that you know." Ginny said once Ron had left in a huff.
"I'm not surprised." Hermione sighed. "Ginny. Can I ask for your advice on something?" She asked her best friend, a little nervous on how to approach the subject of Fred with her.
"If it's about Fred then I already know," she giggled.
"I-wha?" Hermione was taken aback.
"Well, for one thing, Fred's been asking me and George about it for the last week, and two I know that you've been spending an enormous amount of time together." She shrugged, "Don't worry, I'm alright with you smooching my big brother," she was laughing again.
Hermione was now a little embarrassed.
"Ginny, it wasn't like that, honestly!"
"I know that, I'm just winding you up. He really does care about you though. He's been worried sick about you ever since he found you at the World Cup, he thought we were going to lose you, in some way or another."
"I care about him too, I just haven't figured this out and then Harry's about to face a dragon and it's just all a little too much right now. I was planning to talk to him after the task tonight."
"That sounds like a good idea, I think the two of you should figure this out."
"This isn't too weird for you?"
"Not really, just don't give me any gross details!" Ginny laughed and the girls made their way down to the stadium to watch Harry compete in the first Triwizard Task.
They found the Twins already settled in the back row of one of the stands and they slipped between them, with Fred on Hermione's left and Ginny on her right. They waited for the stadium to fill and the champions to arrive but Hermione was far too nervous. Instead she slipped out of the stands and found the champions tent. She hissed from the other side of the fabric and was delighted to discover that it was Harry who had heard her.
"How are you feeling?" she whispered.
"I don't know, nervous?" Harry replied. He wasn't nearly as well prepared as he could have been.
Hermione slipped through the flaps of the tent and hugged Harry tightly.
"Remember what we discussed. Do exactly what you practiced and it should be fine. I know that you can do this," she smiled.
She was going to continue but Professor Dumbledore arrived in the tent and scolded her for being there. Hermione made her way back to the stands and found Fred and George hyping everyone up and Ginny laughing at them.
"Harry's really nervous by the way," she told Ron who had joined them.
"Probably normal. Bloke's about to face a bloody dragon." He said, trying his best not to seem too concerned.
She sighed and squeezed back in between Fred and Ginny.
"How is he?" Ginny asked.
"He's alright. He says he's just nervous but I think he's quite scared too. I know I would be if I were him."
Ginny nodded but didn't reply, Hermione could tell that she was concerned for Harry. After all, Ginny had fancied him for years now. She was going to say something comforting to Ginny but the first cannon sounded and the task had begun.
They watched in anticipation as the first three champions successfully retrieved their golden eggs from the dragon nests and were on edge as Harry appeared into the arena, the Hungarian Horntail already looking furious.
Before long the dragon had noticed Harry and began trying to attack. Hermione could see that Harry was panicking, his mind racing for what he was supposed to do and as he ran from the dragon's hefty tail crashing down next to him Hermione couldn't watch him any longer.
"YOUR WAND HARRY! USE YOUR WAND!" she screamed at him as the first of the dragon's flames narrowly missed him.
She felt relieved as she heard Harry shout for his broom and it appeared a few minutes afterwards. She knew that harry had a real chance of getting his egg now, rather than blindly stumbling around the arena.
Suddenly Harry was in the air and the dragon was too. She had come free from her chains and Harry had no option but to fly out of the arena. The entire crowd turned to watch Harry flying back towards the castle, dragon in tow, and all that they could do was hope that he would make it back before the dragon could catch him.
"Is he going to be alright?" Ginny asked, extremely worried.
"I hope so." Hermione added quietly, finding Fred's hand and giving it a small squeeze and was relieved when he squeezed back.
"He'll be alright." George said.
"Yeah!" Fred carried on, "If You-Know-Who can't get him than neither can a dragon!" he shouted, much to the crowd's delight.
After ten minutes, the crowd was beginning to lose faith, it was looking more and more likely that Harry had been knocked off of his broom or that the dragon had gotten him. Ron was even getting anxious, pacing in the small space that they were in and looking out over the stadium every few seconds.
Suddenly Harry appeared in the distance at high speed and heading back towards the arena. Everyone burst into applause and screams of joy as he zipped over their heads and scooped up his golden egg, the dragon nowhere in sight. The crowd roared as he landed, rather gracefully, at the entrance he had come out of at the beginning of the task and caught the eye of his friends at the back, giving them a cheeky grin of disbelief before disappearing in the same way that the other champions had at the end of their turn.
It wasn't until several hours later, in the evening that Harry returned to the newly decorated Gryffindor Tower common room to an enormous roar of congratulations and too many people stopping him for Hermione to get anywhere near him. The Twins hoisted him onto their shoulders and told everyone he was going to open his egg to get his clue, much to their delight. The Twins promptly dropped him when it turned out to be ear splitting screeches but everyone was still excited at his prize.
"That was bloody horrible!" Ron's voice came from the back of the crowd and Harry grinned at him before the two boys reunited with a hug.
Hermione rolled her eyes at them and found Fred sneaking up behind her.
"A little birdy, or rather sister, told me that you wanted a word?" he asked.
"Over here," she said, gesturing to an area behind the entire crowd of Gryffindors.
"Can I start?" he asked her.
Hermione nodded and waited to hear what he had to say.
"About what happened in the Forbidden Forest the other day, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just gone ahead and done it and it wasn't the right time or anything! But I really don't want either of us to walk away from whatever it is that we have because we've gotten so close and I don't want to lose this. Or you for that matter." He finished and looked down at his feet, his ears turning red and giving away his embarrassment.
"I don't intend to let that happen. Let's see how this goes shall we?" she asked and watched Fred grin and nod at her before he pulled her into a massive bear hug.
"I do believe we have a party to be celebrating in, shall we?"
"I need to go and find Harry and Ron, I'll find you later on," Hermione smiled at him and began pushing through the crowds to find her best friends.
Please let me know what you think of this, things are starting to develop between Hermione and Fred and if anyone has any feedback at all it would be much appreciated! Thanks to all who are still here reading too!
L x