Chapter 3- Always Remember

Hermione

"Interviews!" Chaff was bellowing at the top of his lungs. I opened my door in irritation to see the sleepy heads of my fellow Hogwarts tributes.

"What Chaff?" Seamus asked angrily squinting at the man.

"Interviews! Inter- inter- interviews!" He continued to sing.

I frowned in confusion. Was Chaff… drunk? "Chaff are you drunk?" I asked.

"Ummm… Maybe." He slurred as another man who looked equally as drunk bounded out of the elevator and down the hall. "Haymitch!" Chaff bellowed.

The man, Haymitch, seemed even worse than Chaff and went up to Justin and drunkenly wrapped an arm around Justin as if he had known him like an old friend. I saw his back arch suddenly as if he was about to puke and decided to save Justin the fate.

"I suppose we'd better get ready then." I sighed.

The others nodded and rolled their eyes at the two drunken men. Justin quickly threw off Haymitch's arm, his nose wrinkled in disgust and slammed him door shut.

When we arrived down at breakfast Chaff and Haymitch were still loopy but eventually fell asleep in their chairs. "Out of all three we get him…" Kim muttered.

"Don't mind them, they're really quite clever when they're not drunk… which, isn't often." Blight told us, smiling slightly at us.

"Sometimes it's hard to believe they're both victors." Enobaria muttered.

"Haymitch is too?" Alpin from Durmstrang asked.

Blight and Enobaria nodded knowingly. Wow, who would've thought two extreme drunks was once in the same place as us, fighting for their lives in an arena… and they won. Figures.

We were only allowed to wear our black training uniforms and headed out to a stadium jam packed with people. There were cameras all around the stage and audience, circling the fifteen chairs on the sides and two in the middle of the stage.

Caesar Flickerman was over on the side, talking to a group of men and women… must be gamemakers. He then walked over to take a seat in the one of the two chairs on the stage. I don't understand the fashions here, colored skin (really who wants green skin?), constantly changing colored hair to match ridiculous hairstyles, even implants. Not the normal either, they implant whiskers to make you look like a cat or fangs like Enobaria's. In all honesty it made me shudder. This year Caesar's trend was a deep purple, even his eyelids and lips are colored with it. Freakish… actually, here… normal. Looking around at the audience I see common trends, people painted all over in different colors, ridiculously skinny hips, skin pulled tight to accentuate features, high hairdos that almost made me think of the 60's.

"Take your seats." A lady with a clipboard rushed over to us, interrupting my thoughts. "All the Durmstrang tributes on the left side, Hogwarts right, and Beauxbatons in the middle." She finally got us seated and looked over us once. "Now they're going to call you all in the order you're sitting in, starting on the right so be ready." She gave us a stern look with her jaw set, much like McGonagall would give students disrupting class.

Then the show begins. First called up is Lucas Phan.

Tough approach, no shocker there. Really, I assumed all of them would go with that; they all look intimidating already anyways. I ended up being surprised anyways, Chico Paus didn't go for tough approach, it was kind. I have no idea if that's really how he is, but the audience was sure falling for it. He really seemed like a nice guy.

"You have any special girl back home?" Caesar asked.

He turned up a corner of his mouth, running his hand through his hair. "No, I'm actually looking for just the right one." The girls of the audience began screaming their heads off, booing and hissing when his time is up.

Then it's the Beauxbatons tributes. First up was our friend Claire. She appeared to be going for innocent. She was playing it well, it was similar to Kim's approach but Kim would be more of a little girl while Claire was like a person blind to the horrors in the world. The others are all over the place, varying from tough, to mysterious, to a comedian.

Then began Hogwarts. Ernie played tough like most of the Durmstrang tributes. Justin played sly and cunning, yet quiet. Kim was up next.

"So what do you think would be your greatest strength in the arena?" Caesar asked her.

"Well…" She picked at a strand on her uniform and looked up with her large brown eyes that made her look almost puppy like. Looking up at one of the large screens around the stadium, they had focused on her face so she looked at least two years younger than she already was. I was praying that she didn't say something to intimidate the other tributes into trying to kill her off first, the ones that just thirsted for blood. "I'm fast, I think that's an advantage." She said timidly. I unconsciously let out a little huff of breath.

The interview continued for the next couple minutes until it was Seamus' turn. "So, Seamus, how does it feel to be part of your own games now?" Caesar leaned forward in his chair, causing the audience to as well in anticipation.

All they got was a shrug. "I suppose… okay. I've seen it on television every year, now I guess it's cool to be in my own version." He kept his eyelids heavy to show his disinterest. It was impressive really; Seamus was usually always a ball of energy, never able to actually sit still in a chair.

"Any ladies back home?" Caesar wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Seamus shrugged again. "Naw, I'm free, I dunno if any of these ladies here tonight are interested though." He looked out at the audience as the girls began screaming at him just like they did at Chico.

"Looks like you have some takers." Caesar told him. "Am I right?" He turned to the cameras and audience, causing the screams and shouts to turn deafening. DING. "Sorry, time up." Caesar told him.

This is it. This is my turn. I walked up to the stage, allowing a smile to play on my lips as I sat in the squishy armchair.

Ron

"Ron, it's Hermione's turn!" Harry shouted over to me from where I was looking out the window at the cloudy and rainy day.

I sighed and walked over to see Hermione with her hair in a ponytail in a black uniform that all the tributes are being forced to wear. "So Hermione… That's a lovely name by the way." He smiled kindly at her.

"Thanks so much Caesar!" She bounced happily. "I love your purple trend, it's my favorite color. I might have to steal it from you." They both laughed along with the audience.

"Lord I hope not, that's ghastly." Ginny muttered beside me.

"So Hermione, do you miss home? Any friends, family, boyfriends?" He wiggled his eyebrows at the last part.

She blushed and nodded. "Ronald Weasley." Then she turned to the camera. "Ron, I love you, and I don't know if I'll get out of here alive, but just keep me in your heart. Always remember." The audience gave little 'awwws'. I felt as if she was looking straight at me, I loved and missed her so much; it felt like my heart was already ripping in two. I just hoped that whoever killed her, if they weren't killed by some other tribute, I'd be waiting here to kill them myself.

Then the bell dinged. Her time was up and I just had time to see a tear run down her face and the show ended. "She'll be okay mate." Harry clapped me on the back. I hadn't even realized I'd moved closer and closer to the screen as she spoke to me.

She may be all right… but why was I having such doubts?

Author's Note- Thanks to JustJenna for advice and those with story alerts! I hope I did a bit better and please review!