Hermione was struggling to get her Magical Beings Club off the ground. Her friends were the only members so far, though this was a rather moot point, given the lack of club activities. Following Dumbledore's suggestion, she'd planned to center meetings around talks given by invited guests from the various magical races. Finding willing speakers was proving to be a challenge.

The Goblins had ignored her letters. Hagrid had agreed to talk to the centaurs on her behalf, but from what he'd relayed back to her, their response had not been favorable. She'd begun trying to learn Mermish so she could make her request to the merpeople herself, but was finding the language more challenging to pick up than the smattering of French she knew. At least French was intended for human speech organs.

Even the house-elves had politely declined to take time away from doing work for something as unproductive as standing around talking about work.

Hermione's friends attempted to console her by telling her at least she tried, but she refused to give up. She insisted her setbacks showed just how bad relations were between humans and the other magical races, and proved the importance of continuing to reach out.

~*~

In Charms class, Professor Flitwick introduced the Summoning Charm. When he finished his lecture and told the students to try it for themselves, Hermione considered hiding the wandless mastery she'd developed during the summer. But with how dispirited she'd been feeling over the lack of progress with her club and house-elf awareness in general, she decided she could use the ego boost.

As Flitwick was passing her desk, she laid down her wand with a soft click. With a wave of her hand and a quiet "Accio," she summoned her faithful companion of vine wood and dragon heartstring back to her palm.

Flitwick stared in amazement, then burst into delighted clapping. He had her repeat the demonstration several times, first summoning her wand again, then other small objects. He rewarded her efforts with a generous amount of house points.

Harry caught her eye and gave her a smirk, but she had worked too hard on mastering the spell to feel embarrassed about showing off.

In Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall started them on Switching spells. Hermione wound up working near Neville, and saw him struggling. When he noticed her attention on him, she pointedly glanced down at the wand he was using, then raised her eyebrows at him. He shrugged and looked away, but she made a mental note to research the subject of wands, and the importance of a properly-matched one.

~*~

On Friday, the delegations of students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived in dramatic fashion, each school in their own massive conveyance–the former in a flying carriage pulled by winged horses, the latter in a ship which emerged from beneath the waves of the Black Lake.

Harry and his friends soon realized they'd seen one of the foreign students before, as among the Durmstrang contingent was none other than Viktor Krum, Quidditch star and recent winner of the Quidditch World Cup.

Ron was thrilled by this, but disappointed when the Durmstrang students decided to join the Slytherin table, just as the entire Beauxbatons contingent made their way over to join the Ravenclaws. It seemed odd for the two groups of students to be so monolithic in their choices, but Hermione remarked that as new arrivals in a foreign land, perhaps they felt the need for safety in numbers.

After dinner, Dumbledore introduced Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch as judges for the upcoming competition, and explained the procedure by which the Goblet of Fire would select a champion to represent each school. He finished by warning them that no one should enter their name lightly, as the tasks would be dangerous, and the Goblet had the power to create a binding magical contract.

"Well, fuck," Ginny muttered.

Hermione tsked at her language, but Harry asked, "What's wrong?"

Ginny gave him a worried look. "The contract. I'm sorry, but I think this is how it starts this year."

"How what starts?"

"Whatever mess you're going to get dragged into this year."

Hermione said, "Harry's not old enough to agree to a contract, even if he could get past Dumbledore's age line, which he can't."

Ron said, "You don't have to be of age to agree to a magical contract. Fred and George tried to get me to make an Unbreakable Vow when I was five. Luckily, my dad caught us in time. Maddest I've ever seen him. He said it would have worked, if we'd gone through with it."

"Harry would have to agree though."

Ginny said, "From the way Dumbledore described it, having his name entered might be enough."

"That can't be. It wouldn't be fair. Anyway, even if it's true, you're forgetting the age line."

"The age line is to stop people, not parchment. It won't stop anyone old enough to cross it from putting in someone else's name."

"He must have set up other defenses then. He's just keeping them secret," Hermione insisted.

"Like the defenses protecting the Philosopher's Stone? How'd that work out?"

Ron asked, "Would getting picked as champion be so bad? You heard the part about honor and glory and a thousand Galleons, right?"

"You heard the part about the deaths in previous years, right?" Hermione shot back.

"Easy for you to say."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're an only child."

"So?"

"So I bet you've never had to wear hand-me-down clothes in your life. My dress robes look like they've been handed down from our great-grandparents."

"Don't be an idiot," Ginny told him. "This isn't about you."

"Fine. Say someone does enter Harry. The joke will be on them when he winds up winning. Younger students used to be able to enter, so it can't be that dangerous."

"You think if someone goes to the trouble to enter him, they won't take steps to make it more dangerous for him than anyone else?"

"That's a lot of ifs and a lot of worry over nothing that's even happened yet, but how about this? I'm sure Fred and George will try to enter. I'll find out what they're planning, and maybe that will give us ideas on how to keep anyone from entering Harry. Just in case."

"I'm working on one idea already, but it wouldn't hurt to hear what they're thinking."

Ron nodded and headed for his brothers, who were already conferring in low voices.

Harry stood up. "I think I'm heading back to the Tower."

Ginny rose as well, putting her hand on his arm. "Harry…"

"It'll be okay," he said, stepping forward to give her a hug.

She could feel the tension in him, and looked up at his face to find him a thousand miles away. Even lost in his brooding over what new dangers he might have to face, he had stopped to comfort her.

He started to pull away, but she tightened her arms around him, holding him until she felt him relax into her, at least a little.

"Don't worry. I have an idea," she told him.

"Oh?" he asked, with more polite interest than hope.

"Yes. You go on back to the common room and find something to take your mind off it, and let me take care of everything."

"You're not going to set anything on fire, are you? Or anyone?"

"Hermione will help. She'll keep me in line."

"Right. Not like she's ever tried to handle a problem by setting someone on fire before."

"Ha. It still kills me I didn't get to see that."

Hermione asked, "Do you really think Harry could get pulled into this?"

"He's three for three so far."

"Three for three?"

"Years at school where his life was in danger at various times."

Hermione turned to look at the staff table, now empty, since all the teachers had filed out after Dumbledore finished his speech.

"It's not right," she insisted. "Why can't they keep him safe? This is a school, not a… war zone."

Ginny was relieved to see Hermione taking the threat seriously. Another little nudge or two, and she should be ready to set aside any concerns over whether it was their place to interfere, if that's what it took to protect Harry.

Harry inadvertently provided the last push. "Whatever's coming is going to come, and we'll just have to deal with it." His voice was dull with resignation.

Hermione looked at him, then at the empty staff table again. The worry on her face shifted to outrage, then to determination which was somehow just as fierce.

Hermione's shifting expressions had gone by so fast, Ginny doubted anyone else noticed. But Ginny noticed, and shivered as a thrill ran up her back. Yeah. There's my girl.

Hermione turned to Harry. "No," she declared. "No more. Not this year." She stepped up to him, grabbed the front of his robes, and met his eyes with her face inches from his.

Ginny felt a twinge of… something at the way Hermione stepped so far into Harry's personal space without a second thought, or maybe at the way he seemed unfazed by it. With most other people, Harry had a way of slipping away to be suddenly elsewhere if they got too close.

Ginny pushed the feeling aside, to focus on the matter at hand.

Hermione was telling Harry, "I won't see you dragged into this foolishness. I won't. I don't care how many people have decided you're their Chosen One. You're my friend, and they can't have you."

"Thanks," he replied, though he still sounded resigned.

"I mean it. Before I let that happen, I'll–I'll tear this castle to the ground!"

Harry blinked in surprise, and for a moment Hermione looked like she'd surprised herself. Then she gave a decisive nod and stepped away from him to begin pacing back and forth, mumbling to herself as she cast assessing looks at the walls of the Great Hall.

Harry turned back to Ginny. "What is she talking about? How would that even help?"

"She's panicking and not thinking clearly right now."

"But she loves this place."

"Yes, she does. But some things matter more."

Hermione passed them in her pacing, muttering, "… have to evacuate the house-elves from the kitchens first, and the pets from the dormitories, and the books from the library. Oh! And all the people, of course."

Harry looked to Ginny for reassurance. "She can't actually…"

"Of course not. Hogwarts has stood for centuries. People say it has defenses left behind by the Founders no one has ever even used yet. Not to mention the defenses headmasters and professors have added over the years, to deal with new spells and new Muggle weapons."

"Good to know, though I was pretty sure she couldn't do any real damage, even if she didn't snap out of this first."

"No, no chance. Although… No, never mind."

"What?"

"Strictly speaking, I think most of the castle's defenses protect against attacks from outside."

They both turned to regard Hermione. Harry asked, "And she's supposed to keep you in line?"

"Don't worry. I just want to add extra safeguards to the Goblet. No fire required. Do you have your mirror on you?"

"Yeah. I'm supposed to let Sirius know right away if anything comes up that could turn into a problem. I think this qualifies."

"I want to ask him and Remus about some magic they came up with back in school."

"But I'm not supposed to worry about you getting into trouble–despite all the stories I've heard about the things they got up to with my dad back then."

She batted her eyelashes and held out her hand. "Please? For me?"

He sighed and took out the mirror and handed it to her.

She patted his cheek. "Thanks. Like I said, you just relax and let me take care of everything."

"And what about…" He lifted his chin towards Hermione.

"You've gotta love her enthusiasm. She just needs help focusing it in the right direction."

"Alright. Whatever happens, thank you for trying."

She frowned. He trusted her enough to leave her to her schemes, but plainly didn't believe anyone could save him from whatever trouble was heading his way.

"You'll see," she said.

He nodded and gave her another quick hug, then headed towards the door.

When Ron saw him leaving, he hurried back over. As he passed Ginny, he let her know the twins didn't have a plan yet, but had agreed to fill them in when they did, once he told them he needed to know for Harry's sake.

Ron caught up with Harry and fell in beside him, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

Ginny hoped he'd be able to talk Harry into a game of chess to distract him from brooding. She turned back to Hermione, who was still pacing and muttering. "Hey. I know how to fix this, but I need your help."

Hermione came to a halt and looked at her expectantly.

"So," Ginny began, "people enter by putting their names in the Goblet. The obvious first step for someone to interfere is to put in Harry's name instead. But what magic do we know that can check someone's true identity and write–"

"The Map!" Hermione said. "Ginny, that's brilliant. We need Harry's mirror to ask–"

Ginny held up the mirror with a grin. "Your idea of tearing down the castle is another way to go, but let's try a more subtle approach first."

"If the Map can do it, shouldn't the Goblet be able to do the same thing?"

"If the Goblet could guarantee only the right people enter, Dumbledore wouldn't need to add his own age line. And that's assuming no one tampers with the Goblet."

"We should go to Dumbledore with our concerns."

"You know what I think about depending on teachers. Even Dumbledore."

"Remus listened to us and helped us last year."

"Exactly. He's the only one who ever believed us before things actually started going to hell. That's why he's the one we should turn to for help now. Besides, I'm not letting the Goblet out of my sight long enough to go find Dumbledore and take the time to convince him–if we even could."

Hermione looked at the empty staff table again, frowning. After a few pensive moments, she nodded. "Alright. We'll try it your way."

The two witches found a quiet corner where they could use the mirror to talk to Sirius and Remus without others overhearing, while still keeping track of anyone who approached the Goblet.

The two wizards struggled to remember spellwork they'd done way back in their school days, until Remus found some notes he'd held onto with their designs for the Map. Sirius found this amusing, but Hermione declared it only sensible to keep proper records of your work.

Along with making sure each slip of parchment bore the proper name when it went into the Goblet, Hermione wanted to add a jinx to make the word 'Sneak' appear in pimples across the forehead of anyone trying to enter the wrong name.

Sirius liked the idea, but Remus reminded him of the lesson they'd learned the hard way back in school, from various schemes they'd attempted–the more complex an enchantment was, the more ways it could fail. In the end, everyone agreed that keeping Harry's name out of the Goblet was the part which had to succeed, and to limit themselves to that.

By the time the two witches had gotten the full instructions on how to add their own enchantment to the Goblet, they were the last ones left in the Great Hall. Fortunately, the actual casting took little time.

When they finished, they cracked open the door of the Great Hall and peeked through before going out. They were out past curfew, and would need to take care to avoid Filch and Mrs Norris.

As they made their way to Gryffindor Tower, Hermione recited to herself the steps they'd followed for the enchantment, checking for errors, over and over. This would have concerned Ginny more if she hadn't seen the same behavior from Hermione after every exam she'd ever taken, which she always wound up acing. Ginny took her arm to make sure she didn't make a wrong turn while lost in distraction.

Along the way, Ginny reflected on the pang of jealousy she'd felt while watching Hermione with Harry earlier. She wasn't worried about Hermione trying to take Harry away from her–not that he was hers to begin with, or ever could be. It was more the reminder of what it had been like seeing Harry, Hermione, and Ron together, her first year at Hogwarts.

Ron–the last brother left at home with her, until he too had gone away, leaving her with a year of endless waiting for her own turn to board the Hogwarts Express. Harry–the Boy Who Lived, and all the unapproachable weight of that title. And Hermione–the one she'd overheard the other two talking about while Harry stayed at the Burrow the summer before, in tones that alternated between awe and fond exasperation.

Ginny remembered arriving at Hogwarts and seeing the way the three of them already had a bond that was solid and complete and wrapped tight around them and their whispered secrets, with no room for anyone else.

After everything the four of them had been through since, she should be able to let go of her doubts about belonging. But sometimes, when the other three were off spending the day together in their shared classes, she still felt like she was passing in and out of their lives.

As the two witches reached the entrance to the common room, Hermione returned to awareness of her surroundings. She smiled at Ginny. "I feel so much better, being proactive about things. That really was a brilliant idea you had. Harry's so lucky to have you in his life, looking out for him like this."

"He's lucky to have you too."