Chapter 2- Day One and Two

Hermione

"Up, up, up!" Chaff's voice rang through my ears as he opened the blinds. "You say your goodbyes then we teleport or whatever to the training center in the Capitol!"

"It's called Apparating!" I told him irritably.

He sighed and looking at me. "Yes, APPARATING, that's what I meant. Now get up, everyone else already is!" And with that he slammed my door, leaving me to get ready. I got dressed in the black uniforms they gave us and went down to breakfast with the other tributes.

"Morning Hermione." The Hogwarts tributes said. I smiled slightly and sat next to Claire Dubois from Beauxbatons and Kim.

We all at in silence for a bit before Claire spoke. "This is cruel. Mudblood Battles? Hunger Games are bad enough…" She trailed off.

"But just think!" Brutus from Durmstrang glared at Claire. "We will live better lives if we win! Poor become rich, our family will be rewarded as well as us!"

"All but one of us will be dead though." Joy suddenly spoke from two seats away from me. "Even that's not worth getting thrown in that arena."

I was impressed, Brutus was so large and strong, and he looked like he could snap a tree in two. Joy was half his size and very thin, but she sure had courage.

After we finished eating we were sent back to our separate rooms so our friends and family could come say goodbye. My first visitors were my parents. "We love you dear." My father said sadly as my mother wept.

"I love you guys." I said quietly as we began to all cry together.

"Time up." A Ministry Official grunted and my parents were dragged out.

I wiped away my remaining tears as my friends came in next. Harry, Luna, Neville, and the Weasleys. "Dean's with Seamus." Neville was the first to speak. I nodded in understanding, the two had always been like brothers, and I'm sure Dean would have taken his place except for the fact that he's half-blood.

"'Mione…" Ron began to speak as he sat next to me. "I'm sorry, I wish I could have taken your place, I really did."

I looked sadly at the boy I had a crush on six years ago that developed into a man I was in love with. "I know you did, I just want you to know that I love you… all of you." I kissed him and hugged all my other friends before they were pulled away.

After my goodbyes we all Apperated to a huge city, the Capitol. It had huge buildings and in the center of the city a huge dome could be seen over even the highest rooftops… the arena. We walked into one of the tall buildings and each was assigned new rooms, then lead into a room filled with different stations. "Welcome to the training room." The three victors greeted us.

"You each get a chat with your mentor and then the group training begins." Blight told us.

We all gathered around Chaff and he began to speak. "Listen up. Today, I want half of you to focus on actually training and the other focus on your competition. Tomorrow we'll switch, but Hermione, Justin, and Seamus, look around and see what you're up against. The third day is interviews; the fourth is more group training and the fifth and sixth are private training. Then the last interviews and then the arena." He told us. "Now get going."

I went to one of the survival stations, tying knots. Seamus joined me and Justin went to an edible plants station. Seamus and I were constantly talking, looking around at the competition.

The Durmstrang boys were all at the weapons stations, completely destroying the straw filled dummies. The Beauxbatons girls were spread out at all the stations. They may fool you at first glance with their girly motions, but they're about as sweet as rattlesnakes. Erin was looking at the bows and arrows, shifting it from hand to hand, testing the strings and occasionally shooting a few and the dummies, hitting the vital parts. Kim was curiously looking at axes and swords, hefting them in her hands to see if she could wield them.

It looked like Justin was right; the Durmstrang boys were an alliance and most of the Beauxbatons girls as well. "Look, I think Ernie's making some friends." Seamus muttered, glaring at the blond Hufflepuff. Looking over I saw he was right, Ernie was talking with the Durmstrang boys, and even getting help on how to handle the weapons.

"Count him out of our alliance." I muttered back.

Suddenly, Claire came right over to our station and pretended to busy herself with making a fire. "You seem like good people." She said in her accent. "Better than those Durmstrang boys… savages." She growled, never letting her eyes wander from her fire.

"Are you asking for an alliance?" I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Exactly." She said.

Seamus and I exchanged a glance before saying something. "Sit with us at lunch, we'll talk then."

Later at lunch the Durmstrang tributes and Ernie were sitting together, the blond Michelle with the the two brown haired and tanned girls, Natalie and Emily, and Kim, Seamus, Claire, and I. The people seeming to have not formed alliances were Joy and Justin.

"So you want to be in alliance with us." Kim stated to the small Beauxbatons girl.

She nodded, pushing her hair behind her ears. "Yes, it's only so predictable if the three schools form alliances with only one another." She stated wisely.

That gave me an idea. "What if we pretend to be unpredictable?" I asked.

They all gave me curious glances and Seamus spoke. "What do you have in mind?"

"We pretend to hate each other." I explained. "We get in fights in training, argue over how to tie knots or throw weapons. Make the other tributes think we're all standing alone. Then in the arena we won't have to pretend, and the others will be surprised."

My allies seemed to consider the idea before agreeing. "Tomorrow."

That night Seamus, Kim, and I got Chaff alone to talk to him about our plan. "So you think it'll work?" We asked after elaborating.

"Clever…" He mused, his brow furrowing in thought. "Just remember to act the same in the training center as you do in the interviews. Think of an approach, tough guy, innocent, clever, laid back, charming, and so on. You won't fool the others if you act one-way in one place and different in another. So what's your approach?" He asked Seamus.

"Uhhh…" Seamus said. "Laid back?" He asked.

"If you can pull off not caring than go for it." Chaff told him. "And you?" He went to Kim next.

"I don't know…" She said after a while.

"What about innocent little girl? You're young enough if you think you can do it." He told her. It was true, she was just thirteen.

After a moment's thought she nodded her head. "Yes, I think I can do that."

"All right now you." He pointed at me.

I thought, what could I pull off? Tough? No. Laid back? No. I didn't answer him until he suggested something for me.

"How about charming? Just be cute, lovable, and easy to talk to, yet still be brave and strong." He told me. "Sponsors love that."

We all agreed and six hours later was the second day.

That morning as we got into the training room Seamus acted laid back but constantly corrected Kim at everything she did. It really was good acting; I think Kim was actually getting annoyed. Claire and I got into a fight at the knife station over the better knife, and shot each other dirty glares the rest of the training day.

I ended up doing pretty good work with the knifes, with some help from my allies and even shot a bow and arrow decently.

"Good work." Chaff praised me in my ear as we walked out of the training room.

That night my thoughts were filled of tomorrow. Interviews with Caesar, the one who's done it most of the Hunger Games.

Charming… I can do that.

Author's Note- Love, hate, have tips? Please tell me!

Thanks I'm loving writing this story along with my others :)