Dean
"Come on," Ron said to the other boys once Mr. Weasley had helped them all get settled in. "Let's go get the girls and walk around the campground, I want to check out the vendors!" Harry and the twins filed out of the tent behind Ron and stepped over to the next tent. Ron popped his head inside. "Hey! Do you guys want to go explore the rest of the campgrounds until Bill, Charlie, and Percy get here?" he shouted.
Ginny poked her head out of one of the rooms inside the tent. "Yeah give me a second to get Vi and Mione!" she called back. Soon the group was wandering around the campground taking in all of the extravagant decorations on the tents that showed which team the wizards would be rooting for. The group walked from vendor to vendor looking at all the merchandise that was for sale. Harry stopped at one point to buy some expensive devices called omnioculars for himself, Ron, and Hermione. The twins and Ginny's eyes went wide when they saw the cost of the omnioculars and they drifted away to a vendor that was yelling about supporting Ireland.
Harry glanced over at Violet who was hovering between the two groups while taking in the crowd. "Hey Vi," he called over his shoulder, "Want one?" Harry held up the omniocular he had just purchased for Hermione. Violet smiled at him but shook her head. Harry shrugged and passed it to Hermione. Both groups finally walked back towards Violet with their arms full of their purchases.
"You're not going to get anything?" Ginny asked Violet while wrapping an Ireland scarf around her neck.
"Nothing caught my eye I guess," Violet said smiling and shrugged. She knew none of her friends would judge her but she didn't want to admit to them that her father had refused to give Violet any money because he had been so against her going to the match. Her mother had finally convinced him to allow Violet to stay with the Weasleys and attend the match but he had barely spoken to her in the week before she left. When Violet had asked her mother why her father had been so adamant that she not go, her mother had just shaken her head and told her that he was just worried about the family's safety lately. Violet decided to drop the subject because she didn't want to upset her mother or be the reason that her parents continued to argue. She was looking forward to getting some alone time with Hermione because things had been tense around her house lately and she had no idea why. Hermione always had a way of helping Violet sort out her thoughts and calm down but she didn't want to put any of this into a letter.
George brought her out of her head by tossing a green scarf at her. Violet caught it and looked at him questioningly. He shrugged and gave her a small smile, "I bought other things to show my support." He and Fred were sporting matching Ireland hats and badges.
"You really don't have to do that George," Violet said a little embarrassed that she had caused him to give up something that he had bought.
"No, don't worry about it really," George insisted. "I won't miss it."
"Yeah," Fred said smirking a little, "Georgie hates wearing scarves anyway."
"Why'd you buy it then," Hermione asked looking at George confused.
George's cheeks turned pink and he cleared his throat. "Well, I got it for Vi," he said looking anywhere else than Violet. Her eyebrows raised in surprise and she looked from George who was still avoiding meeting her eye to Fred who was grinning broadly at them. George glanced at Fred's smirk, "What? I heard it gets cold in the top seats we have, okay?" he said defensively. George wheeled around and started stalking off deeper into the maze of tents. Violet stood with the scarf in her hands as she looked at Fred follow after his twin.
Hermione leaned in to whisper in Violet's ear, "I told you."
Violet quickly shook her head and looked at Hermione, "That didn't mean anything." She looked down at the scarf and lifted it to wrap it around her neck. "I mean he would have done that for Ginny too, right? Like I said before he just sees me as another little sister," she whispered hurriedly.
Hermione looked back in disbelief, "You can't be serious. Gin went over there with him and he still didn't buy her one."
"You're making it something it's not," Violet said firmly.
"Clueless," Hermione muttered under her breath.
The rest of the group followed after the twins winding into the area in the tents where a majority of the Ireland supporters were staying. After walking for awhile longer, they ran into Dean and Seamus who were standing outside Seamus' family tent. Dean looked up and waved them over when he spotted the group. As the rest of the group approached the two boys, George seemed to slowly fall towards the back of the group.
"Hey guys!" Seamus said once they reached the tent, "Good summer so far?"
"Yeah," Ron said enthusiastically, "Even better now with the seats we have for the match! How has yours been?"
"Not bad," Seamus responded, "Dean just came to stay with me for the match and remainder of the summer."
Violet's eyes traveled over to Dean who was already looking at her. He smiled at her when she met his eye and she gave a small smile back. "Good summer, Vi?" Dean asked her.
"Oh yeah," Violet responded vaguely. "You?" she asked back at a loss for what to say.
"Yeah," Dean nodded. "Looking forward to this year at school, though. Seamus and I heard about some secret event that is supposedly going to happen this year at Hogwarts."
"Really?" Harry said looking between Seamus and Dean. "Like what?"
"Dunno," Seamus responded, "Only overheard some ministry wizards a tent down from us whispering about it but we couldn't hear any specifics. You should ask your dad or brother Ron and let us know what he says."
"Oh, yeah we will," Ron said, "I can't believe they wouldn't have told us if they knew something!"
The group talked for awhile longer before they said their goodbyes to Seamus and Dean and headed back towards their own tent. As they were walking away, though, Dean called after Violet. "Hey," he said catching up with them, "Could I talk to you for a moment?"
"Oh," Violet said taken aback, "Yeah what's up?"
Dean glanced behind Violet and said, "Could I talk to you alone?" Violet looked over her shoulder to see that while the rest of the group had stepped away, George was standing directly behind her.
George narrowed his eyes, "My brothers have probably arrived by now and we need to get back to meet my dad before the match actually."
Dean looked confused and glanced at Violet. "It will really only take a second," he said.
Violet bit her lip then looked back at George again. "I'll be right there George. Just wait for me okay?" George opened his mouth like he wanted to protest again but Dean had taken Violet's hand and was already leading her away. When they were out of earshot of George, he turned and smiled at Violet. She gave an awkward smile in return and pulled her hand out of his grasp. "So what did you want to talk to me about," she asked.
Dean looked disappointed when she pulled her hand back but he said, "I just wanted to see if you would want to sit with me on the train to Hogwarts."
"You want to sit with me on the train?" Violet asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Dean said blushing slightly. "And maybe if you wanted we could go on the first Hogsmeade trip together, too."
"Oh," Violet said realizing Dean was actually asking her on a date. Looking back at George who was staring intently at the two of them, she felt torn. "Moving on," she reminded herself firmly. She turned back to Dean and smiled, "Yeah sure."
Violet walked back over to George who had his arms crossed. "What did he want," he asked when Violet reached him.
"He wanted to know if I would sit with him on the train to Hogwarts," she said matter-of-factly. "And asked if I would go with him to Hogsmeade for the first weekend trip."
"What," George said dropping his arms. "What did you tell him?"
"Well, I said yes," she responded.
George stared at her for a second and Violet couldn't read the expression that crossed his face. "I thought you didn't know if you were into him," he said quietly.
"I guess I will find out then," Violet stated. "Besides it's not like anyone else is asking me," she said bitterly.
"So you'll just go out with anyone who asks you," he said and Violet was stunned by the harshness in his voice.
Violet felt the heat rise in her face and she whispered angrily, "I say yes to the only guy that has ever actually shown interest in me and suddenly I'm what, some harlot that will say yes to anyone."
"No!" George said quickly. "No, that's not what I meant Vi! I just don't want you to settle for him that's all."
"What do you mean settle," Violet said narrowing her eyes. "You've never said you had a problem with Dean before now."
"I don't really know him," George said sheepishly. "I just care about you and you deserve the best."
"Well I can decide that for myself," Violet snapped before marching off towards the Weasley's tents. When she reached the rest of the group back at the tent, everyone was gathered around talking to Bill and Charlie. George didn't follow Violet right away and showed back up at the edge of the group a couple minutes after a couple of minutes. Fred whispered something in his ear and George nodded and they walked off together. Hermione glanced from the twins to the angry look on Violet's face and shot her a questioningly look. Violet tried to wave her off but she dragged Violet off to the side anyway.
"What happened?" Hermione whispered.
"Nothing," Violet said flatly glaring at the ground. She glanced up at Hermione's disbelieving face and sighed. "Okay Dean might have asked me to sit with him on the train and go to Hogsmeade with him and George was a git about it when I told him."
Hermione looked at Violet intently. "Do you finally believe me now?" she asked sounding exasperated.
"Don't start Hermione," Violet sighed.
"Come on Violet, he's jealous!" Hermione insisted. "It's like you don't even want him to be interested in you."
"I do," Violet said quietly. "I really do Hermione. But I'm tired of torturing myself with this hope. I keep trying to convince myself that every interaction we have means something more and maybe he does flirt with me sometimes but what does it matter? He will never do anything more than that and you know it."
"Vi," Hermione said gently, "I really think he's just scared to put himself out there. He just needs to know how you feel."
Violet shook her head. "I'm not going to humiliate myself by confessing my feelings," she said. "I'm going to give Dean a chance. We have been talking for months now and he actually seems interested. I can't ruin my friendship with George." Violet started walking back towards the rest of the group.
"You guys are going to ruin your friendship by both pushing your feelings down!" Hermione whispered furiously walked after her.
"Just drop it," Violet hissed back. Violet joined the group that was gathered around a fire outside of the tent. Percy was talking Mr. Weasley's ear off about Mr. Crouch and the ministry so Violet turned to talk to Bill and Charlie. Violet's eyes darted up as the twins also rejoined the group. George caught her eye then quickly stared at the ground.
"Dad," Ron's voice suddenly rang out, "What's happening at Hogwarts this year?"
Mr. Weasley grinned, "Just wait until you get there it'll be a great surprise."
"Ah come on dad, you can tell us!" Fred insisted.
Percy pursed his lips, "It's official ministry business Fred. Neither dad nor I are allowed to disclose-"
"Oh shove it Percy," Fred cut him off, rolling his eyes.
"I wish I was going to be at Hogwarts this year," Charlie said.
"Yeah, same. I'd kill to be back for this," Bill said grinning.
"You all know!" Ron said incredulously.
Mr. Weasley was laughing at his sons but tried to change the subject. "Come on everyone we need to start walking to stadium we still have a ways to walk," he called to the group. Ron groaned but they all gathered their things before heading into the forest that separated the campgrounds from the stadium.