Where I Found You

After her Arithmancy class, Hermione was walking along the corridor when she saw Ron waving at her. He appeared odd while glancing around in a hurry. She didn't know what was bothering him, but she knew how to make him feel better. "Hey, are you coming to dinner?"

"I've already eaten," he replied. "Come with me," he guided her to a corner. "Okay, no one's here."

"What's going on Ron?" she asked but he immediately shushed her. Once he was certain that no one was nearby, he looked at her for a second before spilling what was on his mind.

"Dragons!" 

She didn't understand what he meant by that. Her eyebrows rose and before she could ask, Ron replied. "The first task, Hermione, it's about the dragons. Hagrid just showed me, Charlie brought them here. I knew Charlie was coming, but I never thought of dragons! I'm so stupid!" he whispered, but was still loud enough to be heard if anyone was near them.

"Wait, if the first task is dragons, we have to tell Harry," she advised. Ron took a step back, looking down at his sneakers. "You can't be serious. We must tell him."

"You can, I won't," he said with a bitter voice. Hermione knew he regretted fighting with Harry after he was named a champion, but was too proud to admit his fault.

"I'll do it Ronald but this isn't right. You two are being children." She knew she was making him mad, but she had to do something.

"So I keep hearing," he scoffed and turned back leaving her alone. When she entered the Great Hall, the smell of food washed over her face. She looked for Harry as she walked to the Gryffindor table, he was sitting next to Neville.

"Hey," she sat and stuffed her plate with food, she felt like she hadn't eaten all day. The lessons had tired her out.

She didn't like to talk while eating; instead, preferred to look around and observe her friends. Neville was engrossed in a book about water plants and she had never seen him so focused in a book before. Harry was listening to Fred and George argue about who was the better looking twin. Although he chuckled at times, she could tell how stressed he was, and his closest friend's unwillingness to talk to him was affecting him more than he realized. As she watched him, she forgot everything about the dragons, she couldn't ruin this little moment. She bid goodnight to her friends after dinner and went to bed wondering if she had done the right thing.

—

"Ron, I really don't want to do this," said Hermione with an irritated voice. Ron had urged her to say something to Harry about the dragons because he didn't want to tell him directly.

"I don't want to talk to him Hermione just do it, he's right there!" he gestured to the tree beside the lake where Harry was leaning. Harry stood up when he heard them bickering and Ron immediately pushed Hermione towards him. She was rather uncomfortable doing this but she knew this could make them closer again. 

"Ronald would like me to tell you that Seamus told him that Dean was told by Parvati that Hagrid's looking for you." She visibly became relieved managing to remember exactly what Ron had asked her to say.

Harry was ready to quarrel. "Well, you can- what?" It was too much for him to follow. 

She had a hard time remembering the names the second time and  turned back to Ron and he repeated the words before sending her back to Harry. "Seamus told Ron that Dean- please don't ask for me to say it again," she asked. "Hagrid is looking for you." She turned back to Ron and Ginny.

"Well, you can tell Ron-"

"I'm not an owl!" Hermione shouted, holding Ginny's arm and walking off. Communication shouldn't have been this difficult!

Ron stood there for a second looking at Harry with visible disbelief and frustration. He was expecting him to be more thankful, well, he would be after talking to Hagrid. He would come up to Ron and thank him and Ron could say he was sorry too. Yes, he was sorry but he was too proud to just go up to him and say the words. He was taking the initiative by warning him. Ron caught up with the girls feeling less guilty, but Hermione was not feeling the same.

"Honestly Ron, whatever issues you two have in the future won't be concerning me, at all!"

"Yes, yes I know. We would be nothing without you, Hermione, you know that," He knew this would work.

"You two would be bloody dead in the first year without me," she sounded a lot less tense now.

"I think Harry is right," Ginny murmured. They both widened their eyes at her but only Hermione was amused by the comment.

"How can you side with him Ginny, I'm your brother!" Ron was offended, a line appeared between his eyebrows.

"Well, it doesn't mean I have to agree with your opinions, does it?" She almost reminded Hermione of Molly Weasley scolding her children and she loved how much Ginny resembled her mother.

Ron's eyebrows drew together and his mouth fell open. "Siblings support each other-"

"Like you supported your best friend?" he didn't say a word, just looked at his sister. "Exactly! I don't believe Harry put his name in that cup and I don't even have to be his friend, let alone his best friend to see that." 

Hermione couldn't believe what she just heard. Yes, Ginny and Harry wouldn't speak much but she just chose to protect Harry against her own brother and she did it with great delight. Her crush on Harry maybe had a little impact, but Hermione knew Ginny was being reasonable and she was thankful she wasn't the only one. They had 20 minutes left for their lunch break and because of Ron being too proud, their stomachs were completely empty.

"Let's go and eat something before the class. I don't want to be thinking of dinner during a lesson," said Hermione, both gingers nodded and they walked towards the Hall. Ron was walking a bit slower behind them.

Hermione glanced at him before leaning down towards Ginny. "I like what you did there,"

"He needed to hear from his own sibling," she shrugged. "He can be too dense sometimes" she chuckled.

Hermione joined her. "Oh, I know, believe me," they laughed even though he was right behind them. Hermione looked at the red-haired girl in thought for a second before whispering. "So, this had nothing to do with you liking Harry?"

Ginny's eyebrows shot up, her face becoming a dark shade of pink. "I feel so embarrassed now Hermione, he's your best friend," she paused for a second, "is it that obvious?"

"Well, your mom told me how you were constantly talking about him, it wasn't hard to guess, except for Ronald of course," she was pressing her lips together, trying not to laugh, she thought it was truly sweet, but Ginny could've misinterpreted that.

Ginny covered her face with her palms. "Why?  Why did she do that?" her cheeks flushed even more.

Hermione put her hand on her shoulder to make her feel better. "There's nothing wrong with that if you ask me," she said coolly. 

Ginny lifted her head up looking a bit surprised. "Do you think so?"

"Yeah, Ron can say nothing to that," Hermione reassured her.

Her eyes lit up for a second, but she immediately shook her head."Well, it doesn't matter, I don't like him that way anymore,"

"You don't? Why?" Hermione was not expecting to hear that. They entered the Great Hall and Ginny rushed the conversation.

"I realized it was just a childish crush," she gave a bitter laugh. "Besides, he likes Cho Chang, you must've seen the way he looks at her," she walked towards the table and sat next to her classmate before glancing at Hermione the last time. Of course, Hermione had seen how he looked at Cho, but she didn't believe Ginny about the childish crush matter. She still liked him and it just broke her heart to see him liking someone else. Hermione felt sorry at for her even though there was nothing she could do. She sent a sympathetic look towards Ginny and sat next to Ron.

After eating her lunch, Hermione said bye to her friends and left the Great Hall. She actually had a little time before the class, maybe she could do a quick review. With that in mind she paced towards the library.

"Hey, Granger!" She froze in her place but didn't want to turn around to the filthy owner of that hoarse voice. "You deaf now?" Few other voices joined him and they snickered. She took a full short breath and turned around. 

"What do you want, Goyle?" She wasn't going to be tempted or tempt the snakes.

"Nothing, really," he snickered and started walking towards her. "I just wanted to give something to you -your friend Potter actually," She narrowed her eyes at him. "Could you be so kind and give these to him, please?" 

The nauseous feeling in her stomach wasn't because of what she had eaten, but by the odd way of he talked to her. She knew there was no reason for him to be so polite with her all of a sudden, he had other intentions, yet she decided to play along anyway. She held out her hand without losing eye contact. He left a small, round object to her hand. Hermione peeked at it and started to feel anger building up in her: it was a badge with Harry's face on it that said 'Potter Stinks' then it transformed into a smiling Cedric Diggory. She threw it at his feet, glaring at him. Perhaps they did deserve to be tempted a little.

"Shouldn't you be doing Snape's assignment? You always have that same dumbstruck face when he speaks," His eyebrows knitted and he scrunched his nose. Hermione snickered. "A lot like that one actually," she pointed to his face.

His nostrils flared and he took out his wand. "You little mud-"

"Goyle, that's enough!" A voice shouted from behind, only then Hermione noticed the white-haired Slytherin and stared at him. This was the first time she looked straight at him since the World Cup, no, she had only glimpsed back then, this was the first time she took a good look at him since last year. He seemed a bit more, not attractive, but easier on the eye. Getting rid of that hair gel was the best thing he could do, but that was nothing new either. When he started walking towards them she noticed his height change as well.

Goyle became irritated and turned back to him, Malfoy stopped in his tracks and continued. "You don't want to waste your time with that one, let's find Potter," Goyle joined him and the others with a big grin on his face, they were happy to mess with Harry or his friends at every chance they could get.

Crabbe and Goyle couldn't contain their enthusiasm while plotting against her friend. Malfoy stood there narrowing his eyes at her and she didn't hesitate to stare at him as well. Then, he gave a smug little wink and turned back leaving her standing there. 

Did he just-? 

He would sneer, raise his eyebrows like he was challenging her, but not wink. The way he looked at her before the wink made her think more and Hermione's face went blank. He must've thought he saved her from Goyle! She was handling it pretty well, and in his twisted mind did he think Hermione now would feel she owed him. 

HIM? 

There was no world where she owed Draco Malfoy! She would show she was not grateful or anything less stupid than that the next time he messed with her. She absentmindedly heard the students going to their classes and ran to her History of Magic lesson.