Tasks at hand
Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at /works/59232145.
Rating: Mature Archive Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley Characters: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Ginny Weasley, a bunch of other minor harry potter characters I dont feel like mentioning Language: English Stats: Published: 2024-09-26 Updated: 2024-10-09 Words: 108,123 Chapters: 59/61 Tasks at hand
by ehshah25
Fourth year at Hogwarts pt. 1
She sped towards the entryway to the common room. Her hands trembled with exhaustion, the stack of books in her hands was heavier than usual and the seven-flight walk up to the Gryffindor common room had her out of breath. She held the stack of books before her as she shouted the password to the fat lady's portrait…
"Grindylow" she declared expecting the portrait to swing open.
"No" the woman replied snarkily
"It's Grindylow, I know I'm not mistaken" Hermione exclaimed
"It's not the password for girls who worm their way into the chosen ones pa-"
Ugh not this again, Hermione was getting sick and tired of the rumors about her and Harry, first Mrs. Weasley and now this. Even the professors were giving her and Harry looks during mealtimes in the great hall.
"EXCUSE ME" Hermione shouted in response to the fat lady's comment. "RITA SKEETER IS AN ABSOLUTE LIAR. IF YOU MUST KNOW, I WAS WISHING HARRY GOOD LUCK AND HUGGED HIM AS FRIENDS DO. I THINK OF HIM AS A BROTHER!."
"Well it's your word against skeeters isn't it," said the portrait.
Before Hermione could attempt to defend her honor against a figure of paint - a boy's voice echoed throughout the hall.
"Merlin what in god's name are you doing arguing with a bloody portrait" he shouted.
"Ugh Theodore it's absolutely none of your business"
"Fair enough, but why don't you humor me?"
"Well, Theodore if you must kno-"
"Ah granger absolutely not, you sound like my father"
"What? Whatever do you mean?"
"Nobody calls me Theodore - I mean I know we aren't friends or anything but Merlin, Granger you're the only one in this castle who ever calls me Theodore"
"Okay okay, Theo then. Well,Theoif you must know about the portrait, she won't let me in because she thinks I'm a slut" Hermione said, bowing her head so Theodore er Theo (that was going to take some time to get used to) couldn't see her face flush red.
"WHAT?" a harsh cackle broke through Theo's lips. "HA - granger the bloody swot is getting shamed for whoring herself out. Ah well now I've seen it all," he said wiping at the tears in the corner of his eyes.
"Supposedly whoring myself out," she corrected
"I thought you were with that Krum bloke?"
"I am, I- I mean we aren't together or anything, just went as dates to the ball" she stuttered
"does he know that? he's been making eyes at you for weeks"
"Well thank you for this Granger, I desperately needed a good laugh," Theo said as he walked away.
Strange - why was Theo on this floor? this floor was exclusively for Gryffindor students to reach the portrait hole. As well as this, Theo wasn't carrying his knapsack, he wasn't coming from class then.
As Hermione considered this, Ginny walked through and shouted the password letting her and Hermione in.
"Hermione, why were you just standing in front of the portrait?" the red-haired girl asked.
"It's a long story, Ginny," she replied, stepping into the lion's den.
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"Blimey Hermione, why'd you bring the whole library with you?" Ron asked.
"We need to get a sense of what this next task is for Harry. He just nearly got by on the dragons, and he was lucky that he got the hint from Cedric for the mermaids. He also was fortunate that the judges thought his saving Gabrielle was showing true bravery"
"Hermione I saved her because Fleur couldn't reach her, I didn't do it for a leg up in the challenges"
"Yes I know it was very kind of you too, but this is an opportunity you can take advantage of in the last challenge," she replied
"What do you mean by opportunity?" Harry inquired.
"I mean, I bet Fleur would help you on this task if you asked her. You saved her sister if anything you could use this favor to your advantage" Hermione said, her cheeks flushing pink with excitement.
"Mione' you sound like bloody Malfoy when you talk like that," Ron said admonished.
"Just hear me out on this, Harry if you approach Fleur and say that you think you have some information on the last task, she would be happy to form an alliance and tell you what she knows, you just have to bring something to the table"
"You could bring some pastries from dinner?" Ron offered
"No Ron I'm not talking about a dinner table" Hermione screeched out of annoyance. "I swear you're always hungry - I was talking about information"
Ron's face flushed red
"I'm sorry it's just that we haven't gotten dinner yet and it's hard to think on an empty stomach"
Hermione realized that her words may come off a bit too harsh. She was like Bertie Botts, she was sweet like a green apple at the top of the box but when you reach in to get to know her more, you might pick up a bogey-flavored one. She had immensely good qualities, but she knew that she was harsh, abrasive, sarcastic, loud, a bit of a swot, and the teensiest bit of a buzzkill. But she was also loyal, kind, and intelligent beyond her years, and she would like to think she was a good friend as well.
"It's not a big deal, I think I'm just getting a bit tired, we can go get dinner now," She said, trying to look as apologetic as possible.
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She was sick and tired of Ron and Harry, they were ganging up on her after she said she couldn't go to Hogsmeade with them and that she needed to study for Ancient Runes. She wished they would take her seriously in all capacities of her studies, they only seemed to appreciate her when she was doing charms assignments or writing potions papers for the pair of them. She loved her friends so much, but sometimes she wondered if they simply kept her around because of her intelligence.
She rounded her way into the corridor with the library. She entered and made her way to Madam Prince's desk. While Madam Pince was a harsh woman, she seemed to have immense respect for Hermione and it was almost possible that the librarian was fond of Hermione (though there was no way she would admit her fondness for the girl)
"Hello Madam Pince, here to return two journals and pick up some books for runes"
"Ah, miss Granger, well then you know the place as well as me, you know where the ancient runes books are"
"Yes, I do, thank you, Madam!" Hermione murmured thinking about the books she needed to pick up.
"Excuse me miss Granger, you can go now"
"Oh yes of course I'm sorry, just lost in thought," Hermione said as she scurried away towards the shelves.
She peruses the shelves looking for the titles on her list;
"Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms"
"Spellman's Syllabary" by Spellman
"Advanced Rune Translation" by Yuri Blishen
"Vat are you looking for?" an accented voice asked from below.
It was Viktor Krum sitting at a desk, he seemed to be flipping through it thoroughly unentertained.
"Oh hello there - I am looking for some books for my ancient runes class," she replied
"You look very lovely Herm-own-ninny"
"Oh thank you, Viktor, this is just my uniform"
"Vell I think you look quite beautiful Herm-own-ninny even if it is simpler than the gown you vore to the ball "
"Yes that gown was certainly beautiful"
"Not as beautiful as the girl vearing it," replied Viktor immediately.
Hermione couldn't help but blush, she thought Viktor was very nice, but she couldn't see herself dating him at all. She knew she had to let him down eventually, but for the time being she didn't mind him flirting with her.
She waved goodbye to Viktor promising to go for a walk with him later that day. She turned the corner to begin her search for some literature again. She bumped into a body.
"Walk much Granger," the unmistakable voice of Draco Malfoy said
She looked up and saw his signature sneer,
"Nott told me you had a bit of a run-in with the portrait to Gryffindor common room. Did she think you were a troll attempting to break in?" he said, eyes sharp and focused as if calculating her reaction.
"You have a lot of nerve saying that to me, think of all of the things I could say to you - what would you like me to bring up the fact that everyone in this school knows you cheated on Pansy after the yule ball"
"I didn't know you cared that much about Pansy's feelings Granger" Draco replied
" i-i don't, it's just, wait? You're just going to admit that you cheated on your girlfriend?" she exclaimed
"I don't like Pansy like that, we were hardly together, not that it is any of your business" Draco shrugged her comment away.
"Malfoy, you astound me, even when I think you're awful you manage to prove that you're worse than I thought."
"Granger you don't even know me"
"I like to think I know you better than you think I do"
"And how would a filthy mudblood know anything about me"
Hermione tried to let his words roll off her back the way he let her comment go. It was just Malfoy being himself.
"Granger, Malfoy, pleasure seeing you two at this fine hour" Theo's voice echoed from across the library. Hermione watched Madam Pince give him a dirty look. Theo ignored it.
" What Granger? Were you filling him in on your run-in with the portrait? Wouldn't let you in because she thinks you're sleeping with Potter." Nott chuckled as he recounted the memory
"Theo!" Hermione hissed
"That's even better than I thought!" Malfoy announced "I thought she had mistaken you for one of the groundskeeping oaf's disgusting creatures-"
"MALFOY SHUT UP" she cried
"Make me granger" Draco replied with a smirk
She moved in closer to him, astonished by his words. As she inched closer to his body Malfoy said "I'm not Potter, I do not plan on sullying my blood with your filth just because I'm bored." Hermione didn't even realize it until she felt the impact on her hand. She had just smacked Draco Malfoy across the face for the second time in her life. She looked up and saw the astonishment on his face fade to a stone-cold expression. She decided it was time to leave before his comments started to get worse. She ran for it.
"Mate she totally decked you"
"Shut it Nott" Malfoy responded, reaching up to touch his cheek which was marked with a bright red handprint.