Chapter 4
Harry was waiting in the tent as Cedric fought against his dragon. They could hear a roar which they assumed was the dragon's way of greeting Cedric into whatever area he was supposed to face the dragon in.
Krum stood perfectly still, close to the door, with his eyes closed, almost looking like he was asleep despite being upright. Harry had noticed that about Krum. He barely showed any emotion and was always calm, at least on the surface. He had only seen him smile when his name was removed from the cup and he was named champion. Weird.
Fleur was obviously very on edge, she was sitting and she couldn't help her nervous expression that adorned her perfect features. She was sitting, not standing, one of her feet tapping gently but at a rather quick tempo. She was going to be the next one up so it stood to reason she would be the most nervous out of all of them.
He wondered what plans they had come up with. What they were going to use against their dragons.
xXxXxXx
Cedric wondered into the area he was meant to face the dragon, spotting it on the other side of the area, its silvery blue scales shining in the light. It took several steps forward, picking up pace as it readied to attack. "Stupefy!" he called out as the red light sprung from the tip of his wand and hit the dragon.
As he had expected it had no effect and seemed to run off of its scales like water. "Oh crap" he cursed as flame was fired at him. Narrowly he dodged the flames and ducked behind a rock.
The smell of smoke alerted him to the small flames that were burning his clothes, he patted them fiercely to stop the flames. "Well that didn't work" he monologued as he waited for the fire to stop, using the opportunity to fling himself behind another rock, unnoticed by the dragon which had reeled back for a moment to prepare another blast of flame.
Seeing a perfectly sized rock he had an idea. He aimed his wand and chanted something. A white light shot from his wand, a small ball of energy that moved almost too quickly for the eye to see at struck the rock.
The rock twisted, breaking apart and changing in form to become the shape of a dog. A small dog with black fur that immediately began to move around, attracting the attention of the Swedish Short-Snout.
While the dragon made its move for the dog he ran to the egg, seconds before having it in his hand. "ARGH!" he let out a cry of pain as he was hit by a cloud of flame that had been shot at him when the dragon had heard his footsteps.
Still, with what remained of his strength he stretched out one hand and grabbed the golden object. Then before the dragon could hit him a barrier was formed around him that the dragon clawed at, cast by Dumbledore. Dragon tamers then made their way into the arena and began subduing the beast so that it could cause no further harm, followed by medics that cast pain dulling charms on him and began to treat the burns as he was moved from the arena, the egg still firmly in his grasp.
"What a fine performance by Mr Diggory!" Bagman announced.
Dumbledore then stood, his wand pressed to his neck his voice bellowed, everyone able to hear "Due to his injury however, we will be withholding points until such a time that the champions can all be present to hear their standing." He informed.
There was a sigh of both disappointment but also understanding.
"Next to face the deadly beast! A Common Welsh Green! The champion from Beauxbatons! Fleur Delacour!" Bagman announced, cheers erupted, mostly from the students that also came from Beauxbatons, not all of them looked happy about it though, doing it for their school as opposed to the champion herself.
Fleur was inside her tent when she heard the announcement, she took a deep breath and stood up, her nerves reaching their peak. Krum watched as she moved to the exit of the tent. Her eyes met the familiar emerald colour and she stood in place. She had no doubt that the look on her face showed how nervous she was. She internally berated herself for allowing herself to show weakness to her rival champion.
"Good luck" he said softly, barely audible, but she managed to catch the words and the meaningful look he gave her. It made her feel calmer. The simple gesture calming her racing pulse and heartbeat. Allowing her to move to the task ahead.
She looked around at the many students that were gathered to watch, varying from the three schools, although most of them were from Hogwarts. She could see several banners, with the varying names of the champions. She looked around the stone area she was to face her dragon.
Walking out slowly she wanted to be cautious. Her dragon obviously didn't as it launched into the air, she noted that a chain pulled it back to the ground. The beast writhing as it tried to escape the chain, pulling against the metal, but it was too strong, enchanted not to break.
She raised her wand and began chanting her spell, one recently taught to her so that she could send the dragon to sleep while she took the egg. It was a powerful spell but being cast on a dragon that was also powerful delayed the speed at which the creature fell into sleep.
The roars of the beast rung for a few seconds, its stomping the same, but as time drew on it began to slow, moving sluggishly. Fleur continued to chant her spell, the dragon continued to slow down until it came to a stop, falling into a slumber.
She tentatively walked toward the egg, still being cautious, but as she past the beast she realised she was safe and relaxed, just then it snored and let out a quick breath of small flames that caught her skirt, lighting her skirt alight.
"Non" she gasped as she pulled her wand and aimed it at the flames. "Aquamenti!" she summoned flames to douse the flames. Giving a sigh when she looked at the burned fabric.
She then retrieved her egg.
"Congratulations!" Clarissa jumped at her friend when she left the arena, giving her a warm hug. They were in a secreted area, behind the stands so there wasn't anyone around, other than the medical staff that were on standby.
"Mademoiselle Delacour, please follow me" Madam Pomfrey stood not too far from them. Fleur and Clarissa both looked to her and she smiled. "I just want to check that you are alright." She then led them into the medical tent, where their eyes met the sight of the unconscious Cedric.
Half of his face were covered with bandages, one arms wrapped in them as well as a large area of his torso. "What 'appended to 'im?" Fleur asked. Pomfrey wasn't sure what she meant at first, but when she lifted her eyes to see what they were looking at her expression changed to one of sadness.
"He was burned when he tried to get the egg, he was doing well too. Turned a rock into a dog to distract the dragon, but it caught him unawares as he tried to grab the egg at the last moment." She informed the two French students.
Both of them looked at Cedric for a moment before Madam Pomfrey gave Fleur the once over to make sure that she was unharmed, although Fleur had told her that she was fine before she began the check.
"It seems you're alright, aside from the low amount of magic you have left after using the sleeping spell" Madam Pomfrey informed. "You can go and watch the rest of the trial. But I want you to come to me if you feel sudden spells of tiredness or anything that seems of concern."
Fleur gave her word and then left with her best friend, hoping to see the trial of Krum and Harry.
They went into the stands and took their seats as they watched Krum finish his trial, the dragon had been stomping around blindly, probably because it was blind, crushing its own eggs while Krum got the golden egg.
"That looked like it would've been interesting to watch" Clarissa commented as she let out a sigh.
"A fine showing from the champion of Durmstrang Viktor Krum! But last and certainly not least we have yet to see Harry Potter face his dragon, welcome the second champion of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Harry Potter!" Bagman was obviously more enthusiastic at the idea of Harry competing in the trial than when he introduced the others.
Not long after Harry walked through the entrance, his dragon there waiting for him. He looked so small to Fleur as he stood there, in contrast to the massive dragon that he was to fight. It had black scales and its yellow eyes were fixed Harry as it bared its teeth at him, prior to giving a deafening roar. It was covered in spikes that were a similar colour to its bronze horns, the longest of the spines protruding from its tail, a thing it would gladly deploy in combat should the books be believed.
Fleur was surprised that despite the roar, which even rose some fear from her, didn't move Harry at all.
The dragon jumped over a rock and blasted the ground near Harry with its flames, so close that he could feel the heat. He guessed that it was toying with him because of his size. "Expulso!" he pointed his wand and the spell hit the dragon's head, making it move only a little. "Huh, thought that would be stronger, guess I still need to work on it" he said before the dragon fired at him this time.
He was narrowly able to dodge the flames but once again felt their heat. He ran as fast as his legs could take him to the end of the rock face he was on and jumped to another. "Accio Firebolt" he cast, it was too quiet for the crowd to hear, to them it simply looked as though his spell had failed.
The Hungarian Horntail slammed its tail into his side as he was jumping from one rock to another again, it sent him flying across the rocky area and into a wall. It was a harsh landing and he felt the pain in his side and arm as he hit the solid surface. Letting out a groan of pain as he did so.
The beast he was against gave him no chance to recover, but Harry knew he had to move and was able to avoid the slash of its claws barely. Although his clothes were ripped by the tips of the claws.
As Fleur watched she couldn't slow the racing of her heart as she watched Harry being chased, it peaked when he was thrown through the air and when it slashed at him. She felt that her feelings were unreasonable for someone she had barely spoken to, but her thoughts on that never lingered long, she was too focused on wishing that he could escape or win somehow.
Clenching her hands to the seat beneath her she continued to watch.
As fire bathed a rock that Harry hid behind he caught the sight of his broom as it flew toward him, his face gaining a smile as he saw it. Fleur noticed the smile, causing a slight flutter within her.
He jumped as the broom sped past and shot into the air, the dragon roaring after him, flame spewing from its mouth, but not reaching high enough to touch the fourteen-year-old wizard.
"Amazing Harry has summoned his broom to his side! And from what I hear Harry is quite the flier, serving as the seeker for Gryffindor since his first year." Bagman informed.
The dragon tried to pull the chain from the ground to try and follow, its wings flapping as it tried to fly into the air, but it was only able to hover thanks to the enchanted tether that prevented full flight. Harry smiled when he saw the tort chain hold firm.
With swift and fluid movement he changed direction, plummeting back toward the dragon, which had been thrown to the ground by the chain. It recovered and fired at him, fire jetting toward him.
"Non!" Fleur couldn't contain her yell as she watched Harry disappear into the flames, Clarissa caught her reaction but held back her questions as she too was fixed on the fight. Harry had seemingly been killed and in that moment, Fleur felt her heart stop, her hand clutching her chest as it did so.
Then a moment later her heart began again, fluttering as he emerged from under the dragon, having manoeuvred to avoid the flame by a hair.
Swooping over he grabbed the Golden egg and finished his trial, faster than she had. And with his victory a feeling of relief washed over her, as a sigh with the same sentiment escaped her perfect lips.
xXxXxXx
When Harry had made is way to the Gryffindor common room he was faced with a party, there almost every member of Gryffindor was, apart from his brother. Nathan had left when he had seen the broom come to Harry's side, spiteful that he hadn't used his plan he didn't have any interest in seeing how it ended.
Instead he had gone to the library and found a curious book in the library's Restricted Section. One which he took to his room and began reading, after finding it hidden by a notice-me-not charm and placed at the back of a shelf hidden by other books.
It was a book filled with curses or varying types, some involving dark magic, but to him that meant nothing, they were all magic in the end. That was when he decided he would learn all that was hidden within its pages, then he would seek to fulfil whatever he desired.
Placing the book on his bedside table, spine along the wood, he let the pages fall open, watching as he let luck or fate decide what he was going to learn first.
"Hmmm?" he peered at the page that had been revealed, the page was clearly old, he could see that a multitude of notes had been added to it. A spell called Fiendfyre. A spell which was a spell of dark magic, advanced and difficult to master if the notes were to be believed.
A knock came from the door. "It's Ron" the voice of his friend came, he gave an agreeing grunt and the red head entered the room. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Escaping the boredom of the party" he lied.
"Well I'm doing to same" he walked over to his bed which was beside Nathan's. "Anything I can help with?"
"Not unless you have knowledge of water-based magic. I'm trying to learn this" he gestured to the book, Ron leaned over to look at the old looking book. He was surprised to see what his friend was looking at but didn't object to it. "First I'll learn this and then every other spell contained within this book. Should be fun, the only problem is that this spell happens to be difficult to control and this will go against what that pathetic old man believes this school to be… I will need somewhere secret to train."
"But the only one is the Chamber, Harry would be able to discover you there" Ron argued.
"Maybe, but I don't see why my idiot of a brother would go there. It would be illogical for him to go there without reason." Nathan replied. He then looked as though he went into deep thought. "Do you think Dean and Seamus can be trusted with this?" he asked.
Ron considered his answer carefully. This was serious. If they were going to start learning dark magic, like he thought they were then if they were found out they would be expelled as a result. He needed to be sure. "We could make them swear an oath to make sure."
Nathan's eyes began to glow at the answer. "You're right, they'll be committed if they swear by their magic." A cruel smile stretched across his face. He would continue to read the book for a while longer at least, making a list of the spells he wanted to learn first, after the Fiendfyre spell of course.
xXxXxXx
Harry slipped from his own party, wanting to be alone for a while. He wondered through the halls and ended up leaving the school grounds, it was night, but he had learned how to avoid being caught during his many nightly escapades.
He eventually found himself drawing near to the lake. But he wasn't there alone. His eyes fell on the silvery blonde hair of a beauty sitting under a tree in the spot that he usual sat in. She didn't realise he was there, he waited for a moment to see if she would, also curious as to what she was doing, but from what he could tell she was just sitting there. He gave a cough to alert her that he was there and a smile, she was surprised when he coughed and almost sprang to her feet. "Arry?" she exclaimed as she did so.
"What are you doing out here? It's past curfew, shouldn't you be in your carriage?" he asked as he approached her and sat beside her, although keeping a distance between them enough that they weren't touching and it wasn't weird, although she did feel slightly disappointed by the distance between them.
"I didn't realise that it 'ad become zo late" she admitted. Then she raised an eyebrow. "Why are you 'ere?" she asked, he gave a slightly nervous laugh as he scratched the back of his head.
"I might have skipped out on a party, it was getting exhausting, so I figure I'd go for a walk and I ended up here." He admitted, she gave a small and almost unnoticeable smile.
"I didn't get a chance to congratulate you on your victory" she congratulated him. "I admit that I was surprised." She admitted again.
"You passed the trial too" he said. "You don't need to congratulate me, after all we are supposed to be competing" she eyed him strangely, he caught her gaze. "What?" he asked, curious as to why she was looking at him in such a way.
"You wished me luck before ze trial began, why would you 'elp me? You are zupposed to be my opponent." She asked. It had been tugging at her since he had done so, at the time she was thankful for it because it made her feel better, but she had been wondering two things about that particular encounter. The first, why it had made her feel that way when he had said it, and the second was why he had done it.
"Well…" he ran his fingers through his hair nervously. "I did it because you looked like you were scared… nervous." He corrected the phrasing he used, but she didn't seem to care what word he used.
"Zat shouldn't 'ave mattered. We are zupposed to be trying to beat one another, zat was the whole reason we entered, why would-"
"Did you forget. I never entered" she believed him. She hadn't before, but now, him saying in front of her she couldn't deny that she felt as if he was telling the truth. It was strange, but he felt as though she was a different person around him. It was frustrating, but also freeing in a way as well.
They continued to talk for a while before Harry escorted her back to the carriage. "Zank you for a wonderful night" she thanked him by leaning forward and kissing his check, her own cheeks flushed slightly. She earned a blush that spread across his cheeks quickly in return.
"W-Welcome" he could barely say before she went into the carriage. She stayed on the other side of the door for a moment, her back against it as she recovered. Despite having been the one to kiss him, she was just if not more embarrassed than she was.
xXxXxXx
Nathan woke up very slowly, it was like he still needed to sleep for several hours before he would be ready for the school day. That was exactly what he needed considering he had been compiling a list of magic to learn well in to the night and into the early hours of the morning as well.
Slowly he got ready and left, but rather than going to breakfast he went to the chamber. Once inside he used some of the rocks that were left over from the Tom Riddle Diary incident and transmuted them into a desk and chair. He placed the book on the desk and then started practicing the spell on his own.
He checked a watched several times and when it was the appointed time he reopened the chamber and his three stooges entered. "Whoa" Seamus remarked as they entered the Chamber of Secrets, seeing the carefully created snakes' heads that lined either side of the hall and the massive sculpture of Salazar Slytherin that was at the other end, that and the body of the giant Basilisk.
"I need you to swear" he told them.
Seamus and Dean lifted their wands and from them a light went around them. "I, Dean Thomas, do swear on my magic that I will keep this special training a secret from all people until such a time that Nathan Potter gives me permission to reveal it." He stated, the light faded, the magical contract formed.
"I, Seamus Finnigan, do swear on my magic that I will keep this special training a secret from all people until such a time that Nathan Potter gives me permission to reveal it." He copied the oath that Dean had taken, the same process occurred for him.
Nathan gave a satisfied smile and gestured for them to look at the book.
Seamus chose from the book to learn the Expulso curse, while Dean chose to learn more about transfiguration and wasn't as comfortable as the others in diving into the dark arts, to which Nathan raised an eyebrow.
Ron had brought Nathan some food from breakfast, which he gave to him before joining Seamus.
xXxXxXx
By the end of training Nathan had some control over the spell. He was able to manipulate the fire freely as long as he didn't summon forth too much fire, but he would continue to train, although not for as long. When he emerged from the chamber with the others in tow he was surprisingly caught off guard by Professor Flitwick. "Crap" he moaned.
"Ah, Mister Potter. I finally found you" as opposed to the usually bright attitude of the professor he was then wearing a serious expression. "I missed you in my lesson. As punishment for skipping my class I think it befitting to deduct twenty points from Gryffindor for each of you and you will serve a week of detentions." He then gave a sigh of frustration. "Now come with me, we must discuss this with your head of house."
Nathan cursed as the teacher led him to the office of his head of house.
Meanwhile, Harry was in a DADA lesson. Moody had the mad idea to test their practical skills, putting their duelling skills to a test, and was making his way through the students to see how good they were. He was holding back, of course, but it was enough to beat most of the students, including Neville, who was thrown across the room from a well-placed spell.
"Better Mr Longbottom, unfortunately your shield needs work" Moody informed before looking to his next opponent, Hermione. "Now onto your little girlfriend."
Hermione stepped out with her wand in her hand, she helped Neville from the ground and gave him a light kiss on the cheek before taking up a position. "Begin!" he declared and started firing several attacks at her. He cast no incantations and the spells were not too fierce, but they came in quick succession to test the strength of her shield.
Seeing a brief window, she dropped her shield to return fire, a spell colliding with Moody's own protective barrier, but to little effect, he returned to his original rhythm, quickly catching her off guard.
She was pushed back but still managed to raise the barrier in time, but not too long after her barrier was broken a spell hit her as it did Neville. However, unlike her boyfriend she didn't hit the ground, thanks to Harry catching her.
"Thanks" she thanked him as he helped her to her feet. "Maybe you'll have better luck than me." She said as they stood looking at Moody.
"I doubt it. Sirius told me about this guy, he's supposed to be one of the world's best. I might be able to last a little longer than you, but there's no way we've even begun to see what he's capable of." Harry replied.
"Mr Potter! You next!" Moody ordered.
Harry took up his wand. "Good luck" Hermione wished him before she went to stand with Neville, who also indicated the same with a nod.
Moody and he both moved at the same time, Moody used his to cast a bolt, that Harry matched with his own and they clashed between them. It was obvious that Moody was surprised by the quick casting of Harry, but that didn't remain for long as they started to duel.
"Very good" Moody complimented before increasing the speed of his casting to exceed that of the boys.
"Depulso!" Harry sent a desk flying at Moody, a move which shocked the ex-auror. With it as a distraction he then lit a small fire at his feet with a simple spell while Moody cast a barrier to protect himself from the flying desk.
"Engorgio!" he cast, the flame increased to the point it blocked vision. When Moody dispelled the flames, Harry was gone. He took a step forward and kept his wand up.
"Hiding… clever" he noted. The class was watching with fixed gazes. Hermione couldn't help but smile.
Harry had known that he wasn't as good with magic, but he was cable of moving faster than Moody thanks to his leg, and it was clear Moody would expect him to be as confident in a combat situation, which gave him the chance to blind him for a time.
Harry came out from under a desk behind Moody, but Moody apparently had known where he was and hit him with a much more powerful spell that cracked his defence. "Not clever enough!" he followed through with another which disarmed Harry.
His wand flew from his wand and landed several feet behind. His hand stung a little, but it was his fault, so he ignored the pain.
xXxXxXx
"That was very impressive Harry" Hermione congratulated as they made their way down to have lunch. Harry gave a look of doubt. "Everyone else, including myself, lost a lot quicker than you did." She explained further.
"Maybe, still felt like he was holding back a lot. At the end he used more power, but it was obvious that he had more to give." He turned down the praise. They opened the door to the Great Hall and went inside. He couldn't help but steal a quick glance at Fleur who was already there with her classmates.
"Maybe Harry, but considering we are in our fourth year the fact that you could fight him at all says a lot." Neville added.
"That's only because Sirius has been training me and my brother for years." Harry argued as they sat down. They began eating while Hermione gave a rant about the methods of Mad-Eye. "Say what you want but it does mean we get to try out magic in actual combat, Remus is the only other teacher we've had who let us do that… it was different with him of course, he didn't have us fight one another."
"I know that you like practical work Harry, but what if he takes it a step further, what if he has us fight on another?" she asked.
"Hermione, I seriously doubt things will go that far, he might be a bit… made, but he isn't a Death Eater in disguise." Harry added. Neville gave a grunt that agreed with him as he was eating his food. "If it bothers you that much talk to Professor McGonagall, she can either stop it if she agrees and if not, she can at least get you out of it."
"Fine." She sighed a little, knowing that Harry wasn't going to budge.
After they had done with their lunch they resumed their normal day, at the end of it they went to the library, where they did some reading to find out if they could discover anything on the egg before they returned to their dorms. Harry spent some time looking at the egg, he wondered whether to try opening it again, but he decided against it when he realised that the others in the room were already asleep.
Then he too went to sleep. However, he didn't sleep very well. In the night he received a horrifying dream that saw the death of an old man at the hands of what sound like Voldemort, the familiar green light that he had seen in his dreams many times before, the green light that had been accompanied by the scream of his mother, sent chills through him and woke him.
He toned figure covered in sweat, his breath heavy he looked over to his brother, who looked as though he had suffered through the same, but they only shared a breath glance before pretending as though nothing had happened and going to sleep.
This time he was able to sleep, but it was not as deeply as before, then when he woke he the next day he felt as though he had barely rested at all.
Again, he had a relatively normal school day, but at the end he and the three of his friends met by the lake to test and see if they could find a way to open the egg. "What have you found out so far?" Hermione asked.
"Absolutely nothing, besides the fact it screams whenever I open it." Harry told her. They positioned themselves so that they formed a triangle around it. "Who wants to go first?" he asked.
"Your egg" Neville answered. Harry shrugged and cast a fire spell at it, which was followed by an explosive spell from Hermione, then a simple charm tested by Neville. They tried numerous spells over and over until they were low on magic, they collapsed to their knees wherever they stood and sat for a while. "What is this thing made of?" Neville asked as he threw his head back, lying on the ground to rest further.
"I feel like I need to find a cleverer way to open this… it would make sense that it is more like a puzzle than something we need to break open." Harry argued.
"I'm impressed you noticed. I think it requires something specific and then when you open it instead of the screeching you could be given a clue." Hermione theorised.
"Do you have any ideas?" Harry asked.
"Not yet, but I'll do some reading, if I find anything I'll let you know." Hermione offered, Harry smiled but she couldn't see it because they were also now lying down.
"And I'll see if there is a plant that can help, you might need them in the trial to, so I'll look for things that are interesting and take note of them" Neville added.
"Thanks" Harry replied.
xXxXxXx
The following weekend they were allowed to visit Hogsmeade, Hermione and Harry went down first and were to be joined by Neville when he had finished with an assignment that he had almost completed. "So, what do you want to do first?" Harry asked as they drew close to the town.
Hermione took a moment to consider her answer, figuring out what she wanted to do. "I want to buy some sweets from Honeydukes, we could do that first and then go or a drink in The Three Broomsticks where we promised to meet Neville."
"Sounds good to me, I've run out of snacks to eat anyway, at least I've run out of the good ones." He added.
So that is what they did. They went to the sweet shop and bought everything they wanted, then went to get a drink, finding that Neville was already there. "How did your assignment go?" Hermione asked as he put his arm over her shoulder and walking to a table.
"Professor Sprout thought that it was good. Hopefully I didn't miss anything, I don't think I have with all the extra reading though." Neville explained as they took their seats.
"Good. I know that it's your favourite subject" Hermione said.
"Ah!" Harry covered his eyes as if he was being blinded by something.
"What is it?" Hermione asked with concern. Neville looked the same as she did.
"Turn down the love, its hurting my eyes" he complained with a smile, removing his hands after his joked was completed. Hermione scowled and playfully punched his arm.
"Shut up!" she yelled while Neville blushed. Harry gave a Potter grin and slid to the other side of the bench that he was on so that Hermione couldn't reach him to hit him again. "You're just saying that because you feel like you're being a third wheel."
"Yeah, see that's why I hate that brain of yours" he complained.
"You know Harry, you could always get a girlfriend" Neville suggested.
"Yeah, because it's that easy. I'll just walk into the common room and ask if anyone wants to date me that's sure to get me one" Harry joked.
"You'd have at least one hand go up that I know of for sure." Hermione said, which confused Harry, she noticed and gave a light giggle. "It's slightly adorable and very irritating that you still haven't noticed."
"Okay, who are you talking about?" Harry asked.
"Seriously? Harry, I'm talking about Ginny. She's had a crush on you since she saw you on the train platform, before she even came to the school." Hermione argued.
"She has a school girl's crush, like one you would get in primary school… not that I ever have, but still." He replied. Hermione let out another sigh. "What?"
"I think the fact she has held the crush for years means that it's a little more than a school girl crush as you put it. I even tried to convince her to let it go a few times, she couldn't." Hermione informed.
"But… Ginny's like a little sister to me, thinking of her in that way is just weird." Harry argued. Hermione did understand where he was coming from, after all Ginny held a similar meaning to her. Even though they hated Ron, they were very close with her.
"Alright, if not her who else?" Neville asked. "What kind of girl would you like to date?"
"Alright, this is just getting weird, let's talk about something else." Harry brushed the subject aside.
"Alright, then let's talk about the bad dream you had a few days ago" Neville suggested, Harry glared at him with confusion, not on the subject, but how Neville knew about it. Hermione raised an eyebrow as she looked at Neville then noting his serious tone and expression turned a worried gaze to Harry.
"Crap… I should've stuck with the girlfriend talk." Harry complained.
