Some things I want to say before you begin this chapter:

Notes: (1) I'm really sorry for how long it took me to publish this. I've been putting it off because I am a bit worried about the quality of this fic, school, family, my own mental health among other things.

(2) I've extended the whole length of this fic by about seven chapters so now it's 31

The world of Harry Potter and its characters belong to JKR. I do not support JKR. Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Trans people are people.

Chapter 17: Secret Friends

For the first time in a long time, Daphne felt a bit unconfident. As she walked down the halls to the stadium she couldn't help, but to rub her naked nape. For almost five months now had she worn Tom's locket, she had grown accustomed to the comfort of the cold gold chain that hugged her skin, and now only 15 minutes without it, she felt as if she was about to go crazy. She looked down at the box that she held in her hands, for some reason she felt unsure about this. Never before had she felt unsure, in fact having Tom around only made her far more and more confident about herself, but now it was as if his comforting praises and words were the true source of her confidence.

She knew this was ridiculous, before she met Tom she was already aware of her own skills and capabilities. Tom was only a voice reminding her of how special she was, of how capable she was, she didn't need him…

Daphne looked down at the box in her hands, feeling a heavy weight dropping on top of her.

That much…

Entering the stadium she saw Diggory, Lovegood and Weasley engaged in a conversation. Weasley said something that made Diggory laugh, and Lovegood something that resembled laughter in somebody's messed up book. Diggory clapped Weasley's back, and calmed down enough to say something in return, which made Weasley laugh. Lovegood then said something that made both Diggory and Weasley stop laughing, they looked at each other before bursting into more laughter, Lovegood joining them good heartedly. The three of them almost looked like friends, and a strange ache settled in Daphne's chest.

Clearing her throat, she announced herself to the room. The three looked up, Weasley's chipper mood faltering at her sight, Diggory's smile lowered, and Lovegood's small and simple smile remained as she walked over to them. In fact, it was Luna who had decided to greet her.

"Hello, Daphne Greengrass," she said. "How are you today?"

"I'm good," she said, simultaneously wincing at her quiet tone. Clearing her throat once more she spoke in a more loud voice. "How about you?"

"I'm very good," she said with a smile. "Thanks for asking. Although, I'm not sure how happy you'll be with us today, seeing as we stopped speaking as soon as you entered the room."

Diggory and Weasley gave Luna a sharp look, after which Diggory quickly recovered and approached her.

"Sorry about that," said Diggory. "We were just–"

"It doesn't matter," she cut him off, even though the words didn't feel that honest. "I understand why you wouldn't be so inclined to be on good terms with me–"

"Oh she understands now does she," Ron muttered in a sarcastic tone. Ignoring him she continued.

"I came with gifts," she said. "A token of my forgiveness, and my willingness for us to be…" As she saw the way they stared at her, Daphne's mind blanked. "To be…" Her throat felt dry and she swallowed to no avail, "To be…" Sweet Salazar, why was it so hot inside the stadium?

"Friends?" Ron finished for her in a questioning tone.

"YES!" Daphne shouted, making them flinch before she swallowed down her relief and repeating herself. "Yes," she said in a more calm manner now.

She turned the box in her hands, opening it and revealing to them three large, oval lockets of heavy gold. One with an almost feathery 'R' in blue sapphires, another with a simple 'H' in diamonds, and the last had a sharp 'G' in red rubies. As the three other Champions looked down at their gifts, they all, almost, simultaneously looked back up at Daphne, who could only offer what she hoped was a friendly smile.

"They're just like the one that I'm wearing," with one hand she pulled the locket from underneath her robes. "See? This was a very thoughtful gift, so I reckoned… I reckoned maybe you'd like it," she ended nervously.

Cedric took the one with an 'H' inspecting it closely, turning it in his hand, opening it and closing it before he unlatched the chain to put it on himself.

"Cool," he said looking down at it as it fell on his chest. "Thanks, Daphne." Making her smile.

Luna was next, examining it by putting the locket with an 'R' close to her ear, she smiled at it and then put it around her neck.

"Very elegant," Luna complimented, Daphne hoped. "I like it."

Ron looked down at what he assumed was his own locket. The bright red 'G' reflecting the light of the torches that illuminated the room. The gold seemingly dancing thanks to the flickering flames. He picked it up, feeling this sort of heavy weight and could feel Daphne Greengrass' eyes directly on him, following his every move. Weirded out by her behaviour, he gently put it back down inside the box that Greengrass still held.

"No, thanks," he said. "I'm good, Greengrass."

It seemed as if his rejection had been the worst thing to have happened to her, as her previously almost cheerful mood was brought down, her face fell and she looked panicked as Ron's fingers let go of the locket's golden chain. She swallowed down, her eyes wide looking at the necklace, before looking back up.

"Honestly, Weasley," she said in a soft tone that Ron had never heard her use. "It really is just a gift. You can have it, there's no problem really–"

"It's not that," he said, her way of acting weirding him out more and more. "It's just not my style, Greengrass."

With that he turned his back, ready to start training. He looked over his shoulder, as he saw Greengrass with a look of defeat on her face. Had him rejecting her gift really affected her that much? Good. She had been an absolute cow for the whole time they had interacted with one another. She wanted to apologise? Good for her, he didn't have to accept her apology though. As the four of them began to train, Ron could feel a sort of awkward tension in the room, this time he felt it was most likely his fault. As he fired Fire Charms at some summoned candles that served as precision training, he felt a tap on his shoulder, making him accidentally melt the last candle, instead of simply lighting its wick.

He groaned, turning around to face Cedric, his forehead sweaty and covered in dust.

"Oi Weasley," he said, panting. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Ron nodded, and let himself be led as Cedric took him to a more secluded spot inside the stadium.

"What's going on?" Ron asked.

"Look, I know that Greengrass and you don't get along–"

"Wait," Ron cut him off. "What is this about?"

Cedric looked at Ron, his eyebrows raised, he looked at Daphne and then at the box that laid on the floor, away from possible jinxes, hexes and curses that could possibly harm it.

"The locket?!" Ron exclaimed in a whispered tone.

"Yes, the locket," Ron opened his mouth to protest, but Cedric cut him off. "Ron, I know that you two have your problems–"

"Problems?! The bloody woman nearly maimed me! Would you call that only problems?!"

"And she's trying to do better," Cedric defended her. "I'm not saying that she's innocent. I'm just saying it looks like she's trying to find a common ground for the both of you."

Ron scoffed, but didn't say anything else to Cedric. In fact he spent the rest of his training session not saying anything to anyone. As everyone else began to leave the room, Ron decided to swallow his pride and take Cedric's advice.

"Greengrass," the three of them, each going three different directions, looked at Ron, standing in the middle of the room. "I think I'll take that locket."

Greengrass looked as if an early Christmas gift had fallen right in front of her. Opening the small box she walked hurriedly towards Ron, who was still a bit weirded out by her new less intimidating behaviour, and held it out, the golden locket laying on the red velvet pillowy interior. Ron tried to give her a friendly smile, and took the locket. A small and almost insignificant voice inside Ron's head was telling him to let it down, but to be honest Ron did not care for that voice and simply put the locket on.

For some reason he expected to feel something, perhaps his nose hairs would grow out, his fingernails would fall off or his hair would turn pink. But nothing, there was no sneaky hex or curse and with that he simply gave out his hand towards Daphne, who looked at it strangely before shaking it amicably.

The four Champions inside the room, all smile. And unknown to them, Tom smiled too.

As he sat in front of the fireplace, Ron waited for Hermione to arrive for their Prefect patrol. As he waited he looked down at the chessboard, where Harry and him were playing a very usual game of chess: Ron beating his specky scrawny arse, while Harry was trying very hard not to lose too quickly.

"Come on, Ron," Hermione's voice said, he looked up and saw her waving over at him.

"Sure thing," Ron said, moving his knight one last time. "Checkmate."

"What?!" Harry exclaimed. "Oh for Merlin's sake."

"Sorry mate," said Ron, standing up and walking over to Hermione. "Let's go then."

The two set out into their patrol, a comfortable silence set between the two. As they walked, Ron felt the back of his nape begin to sweat, he wished he could blame it on his hair, but in reality his proximity to Hermione was more likely to blame. It wasn't his fault though, her hair looked specially soft that night, her face seemed to shine thanks to the flickering flames of the torches that lit up the halls, her eyes sparkled… They really did. He couldn't help the smile that overtook him. Even Hermione noticed it.

"What?" she asked, curiously. "Had a good day today?"

"Yes," he said, looking into her eyes. "I guess you could say that."

"Why what happened?"

"Now, Hermione. You must know that in the life of a Hogwarts Champion many secrets must be kept."

"Oh really?" she asked, playing along. "Like what secrets?"

"Ah, but if I told you they wouldn't be secrets, now would they?"

"You know just how to keep your audience waiting, Ron," she said, in an obviously fake dreaming tone. "Or should I say, Your Highness?"

"Oh shut up," he said, laughing. "Who told you? Fred or George?"

"It was Harry actually."

"Oh the betrayal," he said, acting as if an arrow had pierced through his heart. "I'll have to teach that tosser a lesson."

"Do they really call you that during Quidditch practice?"

"Yes," he said, sighing, feeling his ears go pink. "But in my defence we call everyone by something other than their actual name."

"Oh really?" Ron nodded. "The twins?"

"Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Angelina said that Oliver got it from some muggle book apparently."

"I'm familiar," she said, smiling. "Harry?"

"Flea," Hermione let out an incredulous laugh. "Well he's small and have you looked at his hair? Just like a flea."

"I think Padfoot would be quite offended by that."

"Yeah. And then Alicia is Twister, because of her last name sounding like spinner, Katie is Ring because you can ring a Bell, Angelina's nickname is Leens, I know real creative from Wood. Ginny's Tweedlethree and Oliver was Knobber."

"Knobber?"

"You know," he said, his cheeks reddening a bit. "Oliver Wood ."

"Real mature," she said. "I bet that was from the twins."

"Who else?" he asked sarcastically. "Anyways, it's not as if you're completely innocent, oh great Brightest Witch of Our Age."

"Oh stop it," she said, blushing.

"Don't try to deny it," he teased. "You love it."

Oh how right he was. Hermione felt sure that she was blushing, her heart thumping against her chest, her hands clammy and her brain turned to mush. In truth, Hermione felt as if she was dealing with the most dangerous of beasts, alluring and frightening all at once. Able to brighten the cloudiest of days like the powerful bright sun, while also being capable of crushing her most secret desires. She wished she could curse him, perhaps that would serve him right, but her heart would not be in it.

Every time he looked in her direction it seemed as if all her plans and strategies had been thrown out the window, only he could make her so mad and happy at the same time. As they continued talking, she took every chance to see him as he was. Taller, or at least that's how it felt, as if he had somehow towered over her once more. His hair was longer, and now curlier than when he wore it short, some of his curlier locks even framed his handsome face. Dimples, making his smile look ten times brighter. It all made her feel like such a girl, as well as hopeless. How could Ron, who was simply the most gorgeous boy she knew, ever look at her that way?

Unconsciously, her smile fell off her face. It had been after hearing the girls talk in the bathroom, that she came to a very terrifying conclusion. One that she had decided to ignore for far too long. She knew she liked Ron since… Well, since a very long time ago. He had captivated her since the very beginning. A small fascination with the boy that had dirt on his nose, had transformed to something else entirely. As she had cried silently on her bed, yearning for a world where Ron would perhaps be more attracted to nerdy brunettes than beautiful blondes, she couldn't help, but feel a stabbing pain in her heart. Her mind could no longer deny what her heart had decided, so long ago.

She was in love with Ron.

She did not in fact fancy her best friend. She was positively in love with him. She was a proud Gryffindor, loved the fact that of all her attributes the Sorting Hat had decided to focus on her bravery, but she was completely and utterly terrified. Fancying Ron she could handle, pretending that their relationship was purely platonic was not a challenge for her. This was not part of the plan, she knew what to do because she knew how she felt, but now? She was in love! So how in Merlin's name was she supposed to behave normally when he was being so… so… Ron!

"Hermione," the sound of her name broke her train of thought. "You alright?"

"Yes," she said hurriedly. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, it's just," he seemed to struggle to look her in the eye. "You seemed a bit out of it."

"What?" Hermione exclaimed in a fake outrage. "Of course not."

"You sure?" Ron asked. "Because–"

"I'm fine, Ron," she said, giving him a forced smile. "Really. I am."

He looked as if he desperately wanted to say something and then Ron fell silent. He looked away from her, and put his hands inside the pockets of his robes.

'Good job, Hermione,' she thought to herself. 'The boy you love acts considerate and sweet, and you go and bite his head off.'

She would've loved it if patrols would end just about now.

"It's just," he said, a bit unsurely. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

He had stopped walking altogether, looking at her right in the eye. She turned towards him fully, unsure and afraid of what she would see in his gaze.

"Just because I'm a bit busy," he scoffed. "Well, very bloody busy – It doesn't mean that you have to keep everything to yourself. We're best friends. You can tell me anything."

She began to walk once more, and Ron followed beside her. Hermione swallowed down a lump that had formed itself in her throat, if what he said was true then she could tell him. She could tell him, and… Perhaps he'd also say that he fancied her. She didn't need to outright tell him she was in love with him, but perhaps a small part of her feelings could go a long way. Or perhaps, her feelings would be left unrequited, and Ron being Ron would let her down gently.

"Ron–"

CLASH!

Ron drew his wand, a Lumos charm leaving his lips as he turned around the corner. Hermione followed his example. As she turned the corner, she saw a first year Slytherin student, he was clutching a letter tightly in his grip. He had a grimace on his face as he looked at Ron and Hermione.

"What are you doing out of your common room?" Hermione asked in a stern tone, lowering her wand so as to not blind the first year.

The first year didn't answer, instead he remained quiet and unmoving. He opened his mouth and closed it like a fish, before making a run for it. Ron suddenly waved his wand and his clothes picked him off, hanging him a foot in the air while his legs kept moving and thrashing. When the two of them caught up with him, arms crossed, and questioning eyebrows, he let out a curse that made Ron burst out in laughter, while Hermione only gasped in outrage.

"That will be 5 points from Slytherin!" Hermione shrieked.

"Calm down, Hermione," said Ron lookin at the first year with an amused expression. "That was kind of funny."

Hermione sent him a very annoyed glare at that, but she decided to settle her mind on the first year in front of her.

"I'll ask again," she said in a stern voice. "And you better not use that language with me again. What were you doing out of your common room?"

The first year stayed quiet in front of her, not saying a single word. He looked rebellious and there was a glint of anger in his eye, towards what Hermione did not know. She noticed the clutched letter he had in his hand, and made a grab for it, but he was quicker.

"None ya' business," he said, sneering at her.

"Now you listen," she said, pointing a finger at him.

"Hermione," Ron interrupted. "Why don't you try and let me handle this?"

Hermione was about to protest, but Ron was looking at her in a way that indicated he wanted her to trust him. He damned his eyes in silence and let out a huff as she stepped aside.

"Look mate," he said, waving his wand and letting the first year back onto the ground. Hermione expected him to run, but he did no such thing, instead he clutched the letters close to his chest. "I don't want to take them from you, alright? I just want to know what they are."

"I already said it's none ya'–"

"None of my business I get it," he said, before kneeling to his height. "But the thing is I really don't want to punish you."

Hermione and the first year looked at him strangely.

"I'm serious," he continued. "Look, I'm not really into the whole: "Mr. Prefect business" alright? I'd rather you just told me what was in those letters and I sent you to your Head of House."

At that the boy looked nervous.

"I mean, he's the one that has to deal with you if we don't, right?" Ron asked, and a playful almost evil smile settled on his face. And Hermione had to try very hard not to laugh. "I wonder what he'll make you do. Did you know he once made me brush all the cauldrons and vials with a toothbrush? And that was just for dropping my spoon in class. Imagine what he'll do to you after he finds out that you were out after curfew."

"IT'S YOUR BROTHERS, ALRIGHT!" The first-year suddenly shouted, and both Hermione and Ron became stunned with how quick he broke. Ron turned around and winked at Hermione, who had to try not to blush.

"What about my brothers?"

"T-They paid me to send this letter through the Owlery," he said, showing them Fred and George's handwriting in an orange and purple letter. "They didn't want any teachers knowing about this."

"What about the other one?" At this the first-year clutched the white letter tighter against him looking even more nervous than before.

"That one's the galleons they paid me," he said, nervously. "They're for my Mum. She's– She's uh… Well, sick."

Neither Ron or Hermione said anything, in fact they were all silent. Then, Ron stood up and extended his empty hand towards the boy, the two of them stared down at each other, neither backing down until Ron gripped his wand tightly in his hand. The boy sighed and gave both letters to Ron.

"Hermione," he said and gave her the orange letter. "Hold that for me will you?" She nodded and then he tapped the first year's shoulder. "Come on now."

"What?" The first year asked what Hermione thought.

"I'll bring you to the Owlery, take you back to your Common Room and won't tell Snape," he finished and gave the first year the white letter back. "How does that sound?"

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. "You can't do that! That's–"

"Technically not against the rules," he interrupted. "It would be against the rules to leave him be without taking points away, not skipping him meeting his Head of House," Ron arched his eyebrow and smirked, challenging Hermione, but just like in chess he had her cornered. "That's what I thought. That'll be 10 points from Slytherin, and I'll be taking you back to your Common Room with a small detour to the Owlery."

"But, Ron–"

"I'll catch up with you," he said and then he, and the small first year walked away from her. She huffed and put her nose in the air before resuming her patrol.

Ron's arms were heavy, burning and slow. They felt as if someone was trying to rip them apart. He looked around, there was Luna, Cedric and Daphne Greengrass all waving their wands. Effortlessly, they used spells as they walked the halls of Hogwarts finishing the Tournament's hard challenges as if they were nothing. Ron found it that he could simply not move his arms, moving felt too hard, breathing felt too hard.

"Look at him," a voice said, and with difficulty Ron turned and saw his father. "I really tricked myself into thinking he could do it."

"Nobody blames you, Arthur," his mother said, looking down in embarrassment at Ron. "We all made ourselves believe he could do it."

"It's so bloody embarrassing," Ginny said, coming closer to him. "Can't you just quit?! Can't you do anything right?! You're embarrassing us!"

"I–I'm sorry, I–"

"Sorry this. Sorry that," Hermione said, looking over her shoulder at him. Her arms crossed, and with a figure close to her who had their arm around her shoulder. "Excuses, stupid jokes and dumb chess plays. Do you perhaps not know the definition of improvement?"

"Of course I do it's–"

But Ron found his mouth tight shut, it felt as if someone had stitched, no words, no sounds only the uncomfortable silence of not knowing the answer to a question asked in class remained. No matter how hard he tried he could not speak, he could see Hermione waiting for a proper response, but he couldn't give it to her. Hermione's expression grew from expectance to disappointment.

"Of course you don't," she said, sighing. "For your information, Ron. Improve means to become better. But I guess if you've never done it, you could never understand it."

And then without Ron realising it, a knife flew from Hermione's direction and hit Ron's heart.

"Such a disappointment," said his father's voice. And from his direction came another sharp knife that hit him in the same place.

"A true disgrace," his mother. And another knife.

"An embarrassment," Ginny. Knife.

"Pathetic," Fred. Knife.

"Useless," George. Knife.

"Stupid," Percy. Knife.

"A waste," he recognised Bill.

"A hindrance," that was Charlie.

Ron realised he was on the ground, now completely unable to move, to speak, to do anything but hear insult after insult, that pierced his heart with a painful sharp knife. He was bleeding, his chest looked like the back of a porcupine, and his blood was staining his robes. Merlin, his Mum, would have to buy new ones. Couldn't he do anything right? From his mouth no sounds or groans of pain came out, only blood that seemed to spew endlessly like water from a fountain.

Hermione came close to him, walking over Ron's hurt body alongside the darkened stranger. She disentangled his arm from her shoulder and kneeled down. For a small second, Ron thought that perhaps she was there to save him, to free him from his pain with one of her amazing ideas, that only a brilliant mind of hers could get him out of.

Instead, Hermione only pressed down on the knife she had thrown. Slowly, making it sink deeper into his chest. With only his eyes Ron begged for mercy, for Hermione to reconsider. Sure, he was not the best of friends, and he could be pretty thick and sometimes downright useless, but that did not mean he was just good for target practice for Death Eaters.

"Poor Ron," she said, her face of indifference, as if she was talking to a mere ant. "You really thought I would ever be interested in you."

Ron's face screwed up in pain, the knife was nearly reaching his heart, or what was left of it.

"Let me tell you this," she continued. "I would never," she sanked it deeper. "Ever," and deeper. "Ever! Choose you!"

And Hermione suddenly raised her fist and hit the hilt of the knife.

And then Ron woke up, with a start he stayed still, only breathing and feeling the cold sweat that ran down his brow and nape. He looked to his bedside table, his clock told him it was 5 in the morning. About an hour before could go down to the Great Hall and eat breakfast. Having the sleep knocked out of him, Ron sneaked out of his dorm room, walking the halls of the castle and going inside his private room. He sat down and played some chess against himself, the pieces moved on their own, arguing with each other about what their next move would be.

He played two games before looking at the clock and seeing that it was finally time for his exercise to start, he took down one of the dull training swords from the room and began swinging. After a couple of minutes of that, he ran outside still in his pyjama bottoms and ran two laps around the lake, as he ran he found his team joining him. He ran five more laps with them before they all headed to breakfast.

When he finally finished his classes that day he was exhausted, he thought about skipping training that day, but then he saw Luna skipping around the halls, jumping in the middle of the air as she skipped a small puddle of a green potion someone must have dropped as they went to Potions. And he ignored his fatigue.

Training finished and Ron was the most exhausted he had ever been. He was laid down on the ground, gazing at the high roof of the stadium as he panted tiredly. The others were no better, but it seemed as if Ron had run two entire marathons. As he closed his eyes he felt the sweat of his brow dripped onto his ear, making an uncomfortable feeling rise and turn to unpleasant goosebumps that ran down his spine. The stone floor was uncomfortable, but Ron could simply not move, so much in fact he would've been crushed when Cedric went over him, almost tripping over his long lanky body.

"You alright mate?" Cedric asked.

Ron had a bit of trouble answering the question.

"Yes," he said almost immediately. "Just a bit tired."

"I have a question," the Head Boy continued.

"Go for it."

"What's up with your sword swinging?"

The question made his exhausted mind stop.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," said Cedric, sitting down beside Ron. "You sort of swing it like a bat sometimes."

At Cedric's observation, Ron stilled. Then, after a few seconds of silence, he laughed, his chuckle seemed to infect Cedric as he looked at him strangely.

"I guess it does look like I'm swinging a bat, doesn't it," he said after chuckling. "Well… My technique is mainly defence, so it's not about cutting most of the time, but deflecting… So I swing it…"

"You look a lot like your brothers," he said. "Fred and George," he seemed to need to clarify.

The comparison irked him more than usual, he was used to people comparing him to his siblings, but today it felt more personal.

"Thanks," he said either way. "Now I have a question."

Cedric nodded his head as if to tell him to go ahead.

"How come your hammer does all that?"

"I could ask the same thing about your sword."

"Yeah, but you didn't."

"The hammer is made of this old metal," he explained. "It sort of works like a magnet."

Ron looked at him strangely.

"A magnet?" Cedric repeated. "No? Those things that muggles use to attract metal?"

"I didn't take Muggle Studies," he reasoned.

"Aren't you friends with muggleborns, though?"

Ron seemed quiet at that, it was true that he was friends with muggleborns. Hermione and Dean were perhaps the two muggleborns closest to him, but they were never really interested in talking about the muggle world. Why would they? The Wizarding World was so interesting on its own, ever since Dean had found out about Quidditch his feetball posters had been accompanied by Quidditch posters of the Montrose Magpies and their star Seeker.

"I guess we've never talked about it," Ron said, although he sounded a bit unsure of himself. If Cedric noticed this, he made no sign of it.

"Well, anyway," he continued. "Basically, the head of my hammer is still considered a part of the ground, so the rocks and dirt that it comes in contact with follow it like they're trying to be pieced back together."

"That seems lovely," said a voice behind the two. Luna was staring at the both of them, a small smile on her face. "It's almost like a family trying to reunite once more."

"I mean," said Cedric, his cheeks going red. "I guess it's nice."

"What about you, Luna?" Ron asked. "What's up with your bow?"

"Well," she said, taking it off her back. "Although my normal wand allows me a lot more mobility, Madame Rowena's bow allows me to have more range. It also allows me to shoot a spell three times instead of just one. My eyesight has also improved considerably ever since I have started using it."

"How so?" Cedric asked.

Luna took off both of her earrings, her copy of the Quibbler she was carrying and threw them at the ceiling as hard as she could, with her wand she left them levitating. With an impressive ease she pulled the string of the bow, letting the light of the spell brighten a lot before she let it go.

"Finite Incantatem," all three spells hit seemingly nothing as Ron could barely see the top of the high ceiling. He was sure his own spell would've fizzled out had he used his wand. And then, her earrings and her magazine fell on her hands.

"Cool," both Ron and Cedric said at the same time, Luna looked pleased with herself.

"Is that what you did in the demonstration match?" asked Daphne Greengrass out of nowhere. She had acted quite civil that day, not having insulted Ron in any way, she had not even looked at him in a mean way, as such Ron had no reason to tell her to bugger off, and it irked him just like Cedric.

"Oh no," she clarified. "The Future Sight Charm is far more complicated. It allows small glimpses five seconds into the future, but it also takes a lot of strain on my eyes, so I tried not to use it, Madame Rowena told me it was a last resort… But it seems I was not good enough." Luna deflated, remembering the fact that she had ended last in the Demonstration Match, losing against Daphne and Cedric.

"It's fine," Cedric said. "You worked hard, and that's what counts."

"Yeah," Ron continued. "You'd have to be real brave not to cower against a Teeboo."

"Tebo," all of them corrected.

"Yeah, whatever."

"What about you, Daphne Greengrass?" Luna asked.

"What about me?" She asked back in a monotone voice.

"How do your bands work?"

"They're quite simple actually," she said, rolling the sleeves of her robes and revealing her own weapons. "Lord Slytherin used goblin metal. It's quite malleable and easy to charm, I just need to transfigure them into other weapons through spells that he taught me. It's simple, yet effective."

"Did he also teach you how to duel with them?" Ron asked, trying his best to not antagonise her.

"No," she said. "I decided to teach myself. I am quite proud to say I am almost an expert in the art of knives and the use of spears."

"I can confirm that," Ron said.

Cedric, and Luna laughed. Daphne Greengrass looked unsure for a second, before her face broke into a small grin.

"What about a sword?" Ron suddenly asked once the laughter died down. "Do you know how to use it?"

Cedric, and Luna were once more on the edge, but they calmed down just a tiny bit, when they saw a small cocky smirk on Greengrass's lips.

"Yes," she said. "I certainly have practised enough to say I… know how to use it."

"Want to spar?" He asked. She seemed to consider for a moment, before she said.

"Sure." Using her wand Greengrass transfigured the two rings that swung on her wrists and turned them into a large sword. It was equal to his own, Ron knew it just by seeing it.

"Alright," said Cedric, going into Head Boy mode. "Let's settle down."

"Oh come on, Diggory," said Ron, bunching up the sleeves of his robes and tightening the wrappings of his arms. "You can even be the referee, how about that?"

"I don't know," he said, unsure of himself.

"Take it as a… let's say bonding exercise," Greengrass was putting herself in a very aristocratic pose, arching her back so it was straight, putting her nose in the air and puffing up her chest as she laid the sword by her side, prepared for sparring.

"Alright, fine," he relented, lifting his hands in surrender. "But I won't be reattaching any limbs alright?"

"Fine by me."

"Good."

Merlin. Ron Weasley, was not an easy person to fight. After he had eventually defeated her, quite embarrassingly quick, in their sword duelling he had suggested they duelled with their wands instead. It seemed that she could beat him in that area by just a tiny bit, every time she would disarm him or jinx him it seemed that he was a step closer to beating her. They had just finished their sixth match and she was absolutely exhausted, her mouth was dry and her stomach rumbled with hunger. Weasley, however, looked positively ready for the next one.

"Come on," he said, taking the last of the slimy tentacles she had conjured to trap him off. "I've almost got it."

"How are you still not tired?" She asked exasperated.

"I train myself physically," he said, stretching his limbs. "The cloth that wraps my hands and feet is charmed to be heavier than usual. It helps me by making my wand movement more precise. I also run… Like… a lot. Endurance training improves my stamina so I don't tire so quickly. That way I'm not panting and messing up the words to a spell, like you were in the last duel."

"Oh shut your mouth," she said, walking away and aiming her wand towards her mouth. "Aguamenti," she casted and the jet of water hit her mouth, quenching her thirst and cooling her down. As she satisfied herself she stopped the charm and looked around. Cedric and Luna were both doing their homework. Luna looked up seeing that they were finished and waved her wand around the parchment paper. She dried the ink, rolled the paper and put it in her bag.

"Come now," she said and Cedric looked up too, and began packing up as well. "It's almost time for supper."

Weasley looked like he was about to protest when Daphne heard his stomach actually grumble. He pocketed his wand and too began packing up. The four of them went to the Great Hall, not rivals that day, simply students.