Harry, Skylar, Ron, and Hermione went up to the Owlery after breakfast on Sunday to send a letter to Percy, asking, as Sirius had suggested, whether he had seen Mr. Crouch lately. They used Hedwig, because it had been so long since she'd had a job. When they had watched her fly out of sight through the Owlery window, they proceeded down to the kitchen to give Dobby his new socks.
The house-elves gave them a very cheery welcome, bowing and curtsying and bustling around making tea again. Dobby was ecstatic about his present.
"Harry Potter is too good to Dobby!" he squeaked, wiping large tears out of his enormous eyes.
"You saved my life with that gillyweed, Dobby, you really did," said Harry.
"No chance of more of those eclairs, is there?" said Ron, who was looking around at the beaming and bowing house-elves.
"You've just had breakfast!" said Hermione irritably, but a great silver platter of eclairs was already zooming toward them, supported by four elves.
"Hermione, don't you know Ron by now? Never pass up the opportunity for good food." Skylar sighed.
"We should get some stuff to send up to Snuffles," Harry muttered.
"Good idea," said Ron. "Give Pig something to do. You couldn't give us a bit of extra food, could you?" he said to the surrounding elves, and they bowed delightedly and hurried off to get some more.
"Dobby, where's Winky?" said Hermione, who was looking around.
"Winky is over there by the fire, miss," said Dobby quietly, his ears drooping slightly.
"Oh dear," said Hermione as she spotted Winky.
Skylar had also followed Dobby's direction and frowned worriedly.
Winky was sitting on the same stool as last time, but she had allowed herself to become so filthy that she was not immediately distinguishable from the smoke-blackened brick behind her. Her clothes were ragged and unwashed. She was clutching a bottle of butterbeer and swaying slightly on her stool, staring into the fire. As they watched her, she gave an enormous hiccup.
"Winky is getting through six bottles a day now," Dobby whispered to Harry.
Skylar gapped. It might have been a simple drink for wizards but for house elves…
"Well, it's not strong, that stuff," Harry said.
But Dobby shook his head. " 'Tis strong for a house-elf, sir," he said.
Winky hiccuped again. The elves who had brought the eclairs gave her disapproving looks as they returned to work.
"Winky is pining, Harry Potter," Dobby whispered sadly.
"Winky wants to go home. Winky still thinks Mr. Crouch is her master, sir, and nothing Dobby says will persuade her that Professor Dumbledore is her master now."
"Hey, Winky," said Harry suddenly, walking over to her, and bending down, "you don't know what Mr. Crouch might be up to, do you? Because he's stopped turning up to judge the Triwizard Tournament."
"You sure you want to do that?" Skylar muttered as she followed him. After all, they all knew Winky was emotional and prone to many tears and outbursts.
Winky's eyes flickered. Her enormous pupils focused on Harry.
She swayed slightly again and then said, "M — Master is stopped — hic — coming?"
"Yeah," said Harry, "we haven't seen him since the first task. The Daily Prophet's saying he's ill."
Winky swayed some more, staring blurrily at Harry.
"Master — hic — ill?"
Her bottom lip began to tremble.
"But we're not sure if that's true," said Hermione quickly.
"Master is needing his — hic — Winky!" whimpered the elf. "Master cannot — hic — manage — hic — all by himself…"
"Other people manage to do their own housework, you know, Winky," Hermione said severely. Skylar sent her a look, she didn't believe this was helping the matter.
"Winky — hic — is not only — hic — doing housework for Mr. Crouch!" Winky squeaked indignantly, swaying worse than ever and slopping butterbeer down her already heavily stained blouse. "Master is — hic — trusting Winky with — hic — the most important — hic — the most secret —"
Skylar's eyes narrowed slightly. House elves, like most other kinds, were harder to read than wizards and humans. Sometimes it was impossible, their minds worked differently.
"What?" said Harry.
But Winky shook her head very hard, spilling more butterbeer down herself.
"Winky keeps — hic — her master's secrets," she said mutinously, swaying very heavily now, frowning up at Harry with her eyes crossed. "You is — hic — nosing, you is."
"Winky must not talk like that to Harry Potter!" said Dobby angrily. "Harry Potter is brave and noble and Harry Potter is not nosy!
"He is nosing — hic — into my master's — hic — private and secret — hic — Winky is a good house-elf — hic — Winky keeps her silence — hic — people trying to — hic — pry and poke —
hic —"
Winky's eyelids drooped and suddenly, without warning, she slid off her stool into the hearth, snoring loudly. The empty bottle of butterbeer rolled away across the stone-flagged floor. Half a dozen house-elves came hurrying forward, looking disgusted. One of them picked up the bottle; the others covered Winky with a large checked tablecloth and tucked the ends in neatly, hiding her from view.
"We is sorry you had to see that, sirs and misses!" squeaked a nearby elf, shaking his head and looking very ashamed. "We is hoping you will not judge us all by Winky, sirs and miss!"
"She's unhappy!" said Hermione, exasperated. "Why don't you try and cheer her up instead of covering her up?"
"Begging your pardon, miss," said the house-elf, bowing deeply again, "but house-elves has no right to be unhappy when there is work to be done and masters to be served."
"Oh for heaven's sake!" Hermione cried. "Listen to me, all of you! You've got just as much right as wizards to be unhappy! You've got the right to wages and holidays and proper clothes, you don't have to do everything you're told — look at Dobby!"
They did not seem happy by this declaration and Dobby knew it as well.
"Miss will please keep Dobby out of this," Dobby mumbled, looking scared. The cheery smiles had vanished from the faces of the house-elves around the kitchen. They were suddenly looking at Hermione as though she were mad and dangerous.
"We has your extra food!" squeaked an elf at Harry's elbow, and he shoved a large ham, a dozen cakes, and some fruit into Harry's arms. "Good-bye!"
The house-elves crowded around Harry, Skylar, Ron, and Hermione and began shunting them out of the kitchen, many little hands pushing in the smalls of their backs.
"Thank you for the socks, Harry Potter!" Dobby called miserably from the hearth, where he was standing next to the lumpy tablecloth that was Winky.
"You couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you, Hermione?" said Ron angrily as the kitchen door slammed shut behind them. "They won't want us visiting them now! We could've tried to get more stuff out of Winky about Crouch!"
"Oh as if you care about that!" scoffed Hermione. "You only like coming down here for the food!"
Their bickering continued for most of the day, sniping as they did their homework in the common room. Skylar caught Harry's eye at one point and nodded her head to the side, indicating they should make a break of it. They used the excuse of Sirius' food needing to be delivered and made their way to the Owlery.
"You know, anyone who watched them would think they hated each other." Skylar mumbled, thinking about their two friends always fighting.
"Sometimes I think that."
"If they don't end up married at least once I'll be surprised." Skylar chuckled, more to herself. But Harry looked at her with surprise and uncertainty.
"Married?"
"Bickering people always bicker due to attraction. Or at least it seems that way to me." Skylar confessed.
"But they irritate each other."
"Due to stubbornness and having their own opinions, not because of hate or irritation." Skylar watched Harry for a moment as he frowned. He didn't like the idea of their two friends getting together, of him sitting there beside them as they held hands, or had their arms around each other while he watched them.
"You don't like the idea." Skylar frowned. "Why not?"
"What if it didn't work out? What if they broke up and it became awkward, or worse they were no longer friends again?"
Skylar hummed for a moment in thought. "Well, I think you do have a point," Harry looked relieved for a moment before she continued. "However, circumstances are very important." She thought carefully about what he had said as she didn't want to turn him off the idea of friends being able to make it work, after all, the idea had come up in her head for them a few times now. She gave him a long look as she thought, looking at his usual messy black hair and the eyes that were apparently the same as his mothers, brilliant green.
"Take me and Stephen for example. He came and became my friend first right? But he came to me with the hope for more than friendship. We only knew each other for a year and didn't spend a lot of time together, so we didn't really know a lot about each other and the other's habits. We didn't learn things that formed further attraction. Due to that, the way I was and how I didn't give all my time to him, we didn't work out. Hermione and Ron are totally different. They've known each other for three and a half years, they've gotten mad at one another, they've hated one another, they've bullied each other, they've seen each other's worst qualities and best qualities. If they started to date, they would know exactly what they were getting into and what they were getting." Skylar paused to think for a moment. "If they were going to progress to a different type of relationship and start going out it would be for two reasons, one, experimental, or two, a deep feeling that's likely been there for a long time…"
Harry had stopped walking and so had she, turning to him as he watched her. "So you really think they'd get together?"
"I don't know for certain, nothing could happen too. But you saw how Ron reacted to Hermione going to the Yule Ball with Krum, why do you think he was like that?" she asked, an eyebrow raised. After all, he couldn't have not noticed it? He couldn't have really pushed Ron's feelings aside as a care for the Triwizard Tournament.
He watched her and it seemed it had not occurred to him at all. She waited as he recalled the Yule Ball and the way Ron and Hermione had acted. She remembered Ron and his words and his quickness to say them, making sure Krum was the victim of his words.
"You didn't think Ron's anger was a bit completely out of place?"
Again Harry didn't respond.
"He got mad because he was jealous. Krum is important and popular and Ron admires him, but Krum got to Hermione, and got a yes from Hermione first. He was mad it was Krum and he was mad it wasn't him." Skylar shrugged. "Ron likes Hermione, though I think a part of him even doesn't quite want to admit it."
"But Hermione doesn't feel that way?" Harry frowned.
"No, not yet, but she was still very sad last year when she upset him, so she at least cares for him for now. But then the reason Ron's feelings are so obvious is because of his jealousy, we haven't seen Hermione in a similar situation."
"You think she will feel like that?" Harry even sounded worried now as they began to climb the steps of the Owlery.
"Possibly, I mean she cares for him and Ron's not so bad."
"Could you like him?" he sounded almost more worried again.
"Too much like a brother." Skylar shook her head and waved a hand, pulling a face. She watched Harry for a moment. He was thinking it over and he couldn't see it as a good thing. Skylar frowned, was it just because they were friends, or was it the two of them specifically he doubted? "You really seem worried about this?"
"You wouldn't find it weird?"
"Well I don't think they'd be any different. Being in a relationship shouldn't change who a person is. If Ron and Hermione got together they might just compliment each other a little more."
"And if it didn't work?"
"Again, I don't think that would be the case, if they were experimenting they'd be amicable afterwards, and if they had deep seated feelings for a long time and there were no surprises, then why wouldn't it?"
"I don't know, it's like seeing your parents." Harry muttered.
Skylar laughed. "I don't think so, but for someone without parents this may be the next best thing I suppose." she smiled with a tinge of sadness at the statement. And then she decided to throw a little bit of caution out there. "I think I'd be alright dating a friend, if I knew they were positively the one and it wasn't just a fling feeling. In the end, I'd want them to be my friend as well anyway."
She smiled at him as they reached the top of the Owlery with all its nests, roosts, bones and droppings. "Shall we find Pigwigeon?" she changed the subject before Harry could dwell too much on her comment.
Pigwidgeon was much too small to carry an entire ham up to the mountain by himself, so Harry enlisted the help of two school screech owls as well. When they had set off into the dusk, looking extremely odd carrying the large package between them, they simply leaned on the windowsill, content with the silence. They looked out at the grounds, at the dark, rustling treetops of the Forbidden Forest, and the rippling sails of the Durmstrang ship. An eagle owl flew through the coil of smoke rising from Hagrid's chimney; it soared toward the castle, around the Owlery, and out of sight. Looking down, Harry saw Hagrid digging energetically in front of his cabin.
"What do you think he's doing?" Harry muttered and Skylar glanced at him before following his gaze downwards. It looked as though he were making a new vegetable patch, Harry thought the same. As they watched, Madame Maxime emerged from the Beauxatons carriage and walked over to Hagrid. She appeared to be trying to engage him in conversation. Hagrid leaned upon his spade, but did not seem keen to prolong their talk, because Madame Maxime returned to the carriage shortly afterward.
"I was never one to think Hagrid could be so cold…" Skylar muttered. "He must be really unhappy with her over the giant thing."
"See they didn't work out."
"And they'd only known one another for half a year." Skylar said grinning. "Didn't know enough about one another."
Harry was quiet but he was thinking about Cho, Skylar waited, wondering if he'd broach the subject with her or just be content with his inward thoughts.
"Do you think Cho and I would work?" his voice was low.
Skylar pursed her lips. Obviously he wanted a hopeful answer, but she also felt the answer she would give would be biassed, and therefore it didn't seem fair to answer. Of course he didn't know that, and she couldn't tell him why she didn't want to answer.
"How honest do you want me to be?"
"Sounds like an answer already." he grumbled.
"I do have an explanation though, and it isn't a concrete thing." she admitted. "If you'd like to hear it."
"Do I?"
"Asking the question says no." Skylar said and she kept her lips together from answering. Harry however wasn't content.
"Why not?"
Skylar looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Well," he began in explanation for why he demanded her answer. "You know me well. You read people's thoughts, and I suppose that helps to make you perceptive to these things. Your advice is probably a good one to listen to."
The corner of Skylar's mouth quirked upwards. "Wise reasons to ask me." She took a breath, trying to make sure what she said was factual, or at least unbiased. "One of the biggest reasons I think it wont work is your infatuation." she confessed. "You like her as an idolisation, she's popular, she's pretty, she's nice, she's older, all these things are facts about her that make her great and make it seem that you should crush on her, it's one of those obvious things. But apart from her quidditch playing you actually don't know anything about her, and therefore you like the idea of her. You don't like her for her. You don't like that she cares for people because you don't know, you don't like her because she likes to paint, because you don't know, you don't like her for her ambition cause you don't know it. It's like Ron idolising Krum because he's famous, or Fleur because she's beautiful, it doesn't go deep enough to cause a proper relationship." she paused for a moment. "Now, I'm no expert here, I haven't done it, but that doesn't seem basis for a relationship, however, all relationships have to start somewhere, you could end up growing to like the other things you don't yet know. But that does bring me to the next point of you're intimidated by her. You can't talk to her, you do weird things around her, you cannot be yourself around her – which is important – because of how great you think she is compared to you. Which doesn't promote being able to go further, it's not a good basis and likely won't change. On a more positive note, she might find all that cute and endearing. I don't know her well enough really to know whether all the things I think won't work out, might actually be charming to her. Maybe I think she's shallower than she is," Skylar shrugged. "Unfortunately, you won't know unless you try."
"Like Ron and Hermione?"
"Yes." Skylar nodded, then chuckled slightly. "At the end of the day if you want to be around someone, that's important so make sure you feel that and start there. Right now you want to be around Cho so that's a good enough reason to try, I think." she gazed out the window as she said it, unable to make eye contact. Because regardless how she felt, he was still her friend, and what he wanted was still as important as her feelings. She wouldn't sabotage him for herself.
"What would you do?" Harry asked.
"What do you mean?" she frowned, confused.
"Well, if I had just said all that to you about an infatuation you had, what would you do with it?"
"Ignore it." she shrugged and Harry looked confused. "No matter about any of that you can't turn off the fact that you like her like a light switch." she turned her gaze away. "You can't help that you like her, it's not a choice thing. Either you'll get to know her and it'll strengthen, fizzle out or you'll be turned off her. None can happen without trying. The above just makes me hope it'll fizzle out." she shrugged. She turned back to him with a smile on her face. "Gonna have to take the risk I'm afraid."
"Was it a risk with Stephen?"
"No." She didn't even need to consider the answer before it passed from her mouth.