Chapter 118

Back at his flat, Oliver put the owl cages in his closet after shrinking them, remembering that his father never had Red in his cage unless he was ill and needed to be carried to the Magical Menagerie for treatment. Oliver had liked that way, the cages seemed so confining for what was essentially a 'wild' animal. Birds, he thought, should be free to fly at their leisure, not be caged for long periods of time. The perches he took from his pocket and resized them, setting them near the window to the balcony, but out of sight from the outside.

He was sure though, when he shared the news with his teammates that he now had owls of his own to send messages with, that they'd be pleased that there shouldn't be any more mix-ups.

After he finished putting things away, he sighed and went to fix himself some dinner. He yawned and shook his head trying to wake up. It had been a long day with practice and then his jaunt to Diagon Alley. Twenty minutes later, he was sitting down with a meal, looking around his flat. It was kind of hard not to let loneliness set in. Taking a bite of his food, he looked around his flat again.

Sure, he'd been proud of it when he'd first moved into it, finally living on his own, starting his new career with Puddlemere United, but now it was kind of hard not to let the depression get to him. He didn't have many friends here; sure there was the team, but all they did was party and that wasn't really his style or interest.

He recalled the party that Greene and Benjy had taken him to over Christmas. He had been intrigued by the type of party it had been as well as its attendees, but after his talk with the girl he'd met there, agreed that right now, that wasn't his thing either. In truth, he'd left his friends behind at Hogwarts. All he really had here was playing Quidditch. He sighed. He really needed to find something else to do... something he could write to his friends about. Shaking his head, he put his dishes in the sink and washed them, and after laying them out to dry on the dish rack, turned the lights out and headed to bed.

"Colin!" Hermione called when she saw the blond boy in the hall and sighed, shaking her head when he squeaked and ran away. This was so irritating. Okay, so she'd been mad at him about the claims Rita Skeeter had made in her article, but now she was just annoyed. Mainly she was annoyed with the fact that he kept running away every time he saw her, and she just wanted to talk to him. She'd seen him at the Yule ball taking pictures of everyone and knew that he'd taken a picture of her and Viktor that night. She didn't mind, but she'd like to see it, maybe get a copy or two. She'd been trying to talk to him about it since the Yule ball, but he'd avoided her like the plague.

"What's up, Hermione?" Lee asked, walking up to her as Fred and George came up beside her on the other side.

Hermione raised her hand, pointing the blond boy hurrying away from them.

"Colin?" Lee asked arching a brow.

Hermione nodded.

"What's he done now?" Fred asked with a grin.

"Nothing," Hermione said. "He won't even talk to me though. He just runs away whenever I try to talk to him."

"What to do you want to talk to him for?" George asked.

"Well, he was at the Yule ball taking photos. I'd just like some copies of the ones he got of me and Viktor, but well..." Hermione raised her hand in exasperation before letting it fall to her side again, and shaking her head.

"Oh, hey, Hermione," Fred said, as they continued to walk beside her. "We've not received the pamphlets you wanted to send. Is something wrong?"

"No," Hermione replied and sighed. "I just... well, I talked with Oliver and his parents about it, and I guess talking to you just slipped my mind with everything going on with the tournament and all..."

"What do you mean?" George asked.

"Well, I'm–I'm not doing it any more, at least, not this year," Hermione answered.

"You're not?" Lee asked in surprise.

"No," Hermione said. "I mean, I wanted to get Harry and Ron involved and while they are talking now, with Harry in the tournament, it just wouldn't be fair to him. There's still one task left after all and we're not even sure when that is yet."

"That's true," Fred said.

"Yeah," George answered.

"You're not disappointed are you?" Hermione asked them looking around.

"'Course not," Lee said with a grin. "We were just concerned about you taking on so much again, like last year with the-"

Hermione looked at him sharply, and he held up his hands, falling silent.

"Want us to talk to Creevey for you?" George asked.

"Would you?" Hermione asked looking at them pleadingly. "I–I wanted to get copies of the pictures so that I could show my parents–and send some to Oliver. He must think I'm still mad at him about Rita Skeeter's article."

"We'll talk to him," Lee said, patting her on the shoulder. "See you at lunch?"

"Yeah, sure," Hermione said with a smile. "Thanks!"

"No problem," George said with a smile.

"See ya!" Fred called and waved as he, Lee and George headed off after Colin and Hermione continued on to class.

At lunch, Hermione headed down to the end of the table where Lee and the twins were waiting for her.

"Hi, Harry, Ron," as she passed them, giving them a nod, but moved on.

"What do you suppose?" Ron asked, sitting with Harry, but Harry shrugged.

"Hi, Hermione," Ginny greeted and waved as she sat down with her and her brothers and Lee.

"Hi," Hermione returned. "What are you -" she began, but Ginny smiled and cut her off.

"I heard about the pictures," Ginny said enthusiastically. "I want to see."

"Oh, alright," Hermione said, stunned, and looked to Lee and the twins. "You mean–you were able to get them?"

"Yep," Lee said with a grin, pushing and envelope toward her.

"You didn't hurt him, did you?" Hermione asked looking at them suspiciously.

"Naw," George said and laughed.

"At least not much," Fred replied joining in the laugh.

Hermione looked at them warily.

"We didn't hurt him, really," Lee said laughing. "Just told him that you'd wanted to ask for a copy of the pictures he took. He was actually pretty relieved. He might talk with you now."

"Yeah," Fred agreed.

"He ran up to his dorm and got them straight away," George added.

Hermione opened the envelope, pulling out the pictures Colin had taken. She was glad to see that they were just pictures of her and Viktor and that there weren't any of her sitting with Harry and a grumpy Ronald, or even after their fight when she'd stopped on the stairs.

She smiled as saw herself waving and smiling and moving about the picture with Viktor and one of them dancing. She was even happy so see that not all of them were Wizarding photos, but that there were some still frame pictures as well. These were curious to the Weasleys as they glanced through the photos with her as well.

"Thanks, you guys," Hermione said when they were done, sticking them photos back in the envelope and putting it in her bag. She enjoyed lunch with her friends, catching up with what they were doing. It felt like a weight lifted at least for a while, to be among friends again and not worry about anything. The tournament made things so stressful this year, it was ridiculous.

"What's that?" Hermione asked looking to Fred and George when a great horned owl flew into the Great Hall and dropped a letter for them. She watched as it circled and landed nearby, waiting.

"Huh," George said as he opened the letter and passed it to Fred after skimming it.

"Hermione," Fred said, ignoring her question. "Why didn't you tell us mum didn't give you an equal size toffee egg this year?"

Ginny blinked, not having hear any of this either, and looked to Hermione.

"What?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Now," Fred said.

"Don't get mad at Ollie," George added.

"But he told us..." Fred continued.

"Why didn't you tell us?" George asked.

Hermione shifted uneasily. "I–I just didn't want to make a big deal out of it," she said at last. "I didn't want all the drama, and it seems so petty. If it was about the article and done on purpose, I–I didn't want to make things worse."

"So its better that mum believe all that rubbish in the Prophet?" Fred asked.

Again, Hermione shifted uneasily. "No," she answered. "No, I guess not, but I don't want her to feel bad about it either. I like your mum."

"And she likes you, too," George said. "We all do."

"Except maybe Ron when he's in a mood," Fred added.

Hermione laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, Ron," she said, remembering what a pain he had been after the Quidditch World Cup when she'd made plans to stay with the Woods for the rest of summer break.

"Ollie wants us to write mum and let her know that the article was a bunch of rubbish," Fred told her.

"She may feel bad for a bit," George added.

"But she should," Ginny interjected. "That wasn't nice of her."

Hermione looked around to see her friends nodding in agreement.

She sighed after a moment, wondering if it was really worth it and if it would even make a difference.

"Alright, fine," she said, relenting. "But I get to see it before you send it off."

"Okay," Ginny replied while Fred, George and Lee grumbled but acquiesced. Ginny pulled a sheet of parchment from her bag and Fred and George supplied the quill and ink, handing it to her, and she started her letter.

"Here you go," Ginny said after a few moments and slid the parchment to Hermione who read it over and then nodded. She shared it with her brothers who smiled and nodded after reading it, and then she tucked it into her bag to send to her mum at the Burrow.

Fred and George took out their own parchment and began a letter to Oliver.

Heya Ollie,

Fred here, and George. Had lunch with Ginny, Lee, and Hermione today. Asked Hermione why she didn't talk to Gin or us about her candy, she said she thought it would sound petty and make things worse.

Gin talked her into allowing us to write home and straighten things out. Hermione didn't want to make mum feel bad, but we all agreed it wasn't right to let her believe a lie.

Gin wrote the letter. She told mum that she's the one that got Viktor to wait and go to the Yule ball with Hermione. She told mum that Viktor had asked Hermione to the ball, but also about the mix-up in letters from you, and about how mad Hermione had been.

She then told mum that Rita Skeeter got wind of it and blew things out of proportion. She told mum that Harry and Hermione have always been only friends, and that she is friends with Viktor as well. It was Rita Skeeter who made things up for her articles.

She explained to mum that everything has been sorted out between you and Hermione and Viktor now, and there's nothing going on to worry about. Or be angry over. That it wasn't fair to blame Hermione for something out of her control. We had to tell Hermione that you wanted us to write mum, she insisted on reading it before we sent it to mum. Don't think you have anything to worry about, Ollie.

Fred and George

Fred and George finished the letter and showed Hermione who nodded, giving her approval, they folded the letter and held it out. The mysterious waiting owl flapped its wings and hooted before taking to the air and circling before grasping the letter in its talons and flew off carrying their reply.