"And that's how you do it, little brother," Fred said a little smugly as he had just asked Angelina Johnson to the Goblet of Fire dance. There was giggling from her side of the table and claps on the back of the Weasley twins' side.
"Oh just bugger off will you," Ron said through gritted teeth, his eyes now darting across the Great Hall in panic, "Have you asked anyone?" he said to Harry a moment later before slumping back down in his chair.
Harry, who had been listening with his own panic rising now too, was pulled from the thoughts of an announcer in the same room shouting into a microphone "And for the only single Goblet of Fire entrant, Harry Potter!" to raucous laughter.
"Nope," he said dejectedly, poking at the parchment in front of him with his quill, "I mean why do they really have to like ... like be in ... groups? And the laughing?" he murmured quietly.
He hadn't asked anyone yet. Everyone was making it out to be a big deal and yet his mind wandered to how Fred just asked so easily and the person flying from a dragon is afraid of a simple question. He planted his face head first onto his potions essay in front of him. Ron crossed his arms, looking up and scanning the room every now and then.
"Hermione!" Harry suddenly exclaimed shooting up in his seat, a big black ink mark on his cheek, bringing Ron momentarily out of his own brooding thoughts.
"What, Harry?" Hermione said, sitting across from both of them and pulling books out of her bag and slamming them on the table.
"Oh! I, er ... " his mind started to race not expecting it to come to that conclusion, and for her to suddenly appear during it. Thankfully to his relief Ron spoke up.
"I thought you were in the library because it would 'be too loud to study and I need quiet!' here?" Ron asked and gave a little impression of her voice. Hermione sighed tossing open a book that had fancy squiggles and what looked to be runes on the table, paying no mind to Harry's sudden outburst or Ron's poking fun at her.
"I was in the library studying this and then Peeves decided to swoop in from the ceiling and started dropping full cauldrons of goodness knows what across all the desks!" Harry looked down and noticed her robes were a little slimy looking, "And then Madam Prince kicked everyone out so she could clean up, so I decided to try and study here" she finished in a fluster.
"Granger," the twins greeted her sliding back down the bench towards them, "We were just giving our dear brother here tips on how to ask out someone to the dance," and they both ruffled the top of Ron's hair, who gave a "Shove off," and moved closer to Harry, "And, for curiosity's sake of course, if you have a certain someone?"
Harry and Ron both looked at her immediately, and she gave a little sigh and muttered something under her breath before closing her book.
"If you must know," she said, a little tense, although everyone noticed a tinge of pink on her cheeks, "Nobody has yet. Well, a couple of first and second-years who I imagine were dared to. Why does it matter?"
"No reason, no reason," replied Fred, before turning to George and whispering "That's five galleons you owe me,"
"But," she continued a little loudly, "Apparently Viktor Krum wants to ask me. According to a Ravenclaw who's friends with Maxine O'Flaherty who still does Quidditch practice with Cedric Diggory."
"You're not getting those five Galleons yet, Freddo," George smirked back at his brother, and Hermione rolled her eyes and started packing her books back into her bag, realising maybe the Gryffindor common room was the better choice.
The lightbulb that appeared over Harry's head just moments before had turned to lead and dropped into his stomach. It was a stupid thought anyway he told himself. If Krum's going to ask her, not realising he said his name to himself with a little venom, then he'll just have to ask ... someone else, right? Alicia Spinnet, or - or Katie Bell? Nobody will have asked them right? He kept telling himself.
"Krum?" Said Ron, half shouting and half laughing, "You think Viktor Krum's going to ask you? To the dance? Hermione, listen," And Ron either did not notice or ignored a brief but murderous glare at him, "He's a world famous Quidditch player! He's going to have - well - anyone!"
There was a few seconds of silence that followed despite the entire Great Hall being a fluster of quill scratching, squabbling and laughing from the tables around them, and Fred and George scooted a little closer so they couldn't miss this. Ron, this time, didn't ignore the look Hermione gave.
"You're right Ronald," he flinched at her using his first name, "At least I've been asked already. Is anyone going to ask you?" she said harshly and turned to leave, and Ron's cheeks were now as red as his hair. The twins gave each other a look and now shuffled further back down the table, realising it's getting a little too tense.
Harry, who was still trying to process why he thought of Hermione, or why he didn't think of Hermione sooner, or why Krum suddenly had a hexable face, pulled himself from these thoughts and decided to try to be the voice of reason.
"Hermione, I don't think he-"
She turned around before he could finish.
"You've got ink on your face you know," She said matter of factly and although her own face was still pink and the scowl had returned, he noticed her eyes were a little watery. She reached across the table to rub his cheek, which just made the ink lighter and smeared, and then turned and left.
"The day Krum asks her is the day Fleur asks me," Ron snorted before settling back down to brood in his seat.
Harry wasn't listening though, and suddenly felt very confused about everything that just happened in the past five minutes, including why his cheek felt a little warmer than the rest of his body.