Beyond Friendship - Harry Potter

5. The First Task

Dragons. The first task of the triwizard tournament, and it was happening today. It had been the only thing on Harry's mind the whole week since he found out about it, not from his best friend, but from Hagrid. If he was being honest it hadn't been the only thing on his mind that week, but it was surely the one that bothered him the most. After all, he could die. The other thing was Hermione. They hadn't talked since that day at the lake, rather she hadn't talked to him. He imagined she was also mad at him now and believed what everyone was saying about him, that he did enter the tournament and that he's a cheat.

"Hermione come on! We gotta get there in time to get good seats." Ginny yelled from the common room up to the girls dorm where Hermione was getting ready.

"Coming!" She yelled back, but just as she was abou to leave something caught her eye. A framed picture on her nightstand, it was a picture of her and Harry together from last year. She couldn't help but smile to herself. The time went fast and it wasn't until Ginny came in the room that she realized.

"What are you doing? You said you were coming like 5 minutes ago." Ginny said, then saw what Hermione was staring at. "You could just talk to him, you know?" She looked at her sympathetically. 

"I know, but I think he's mad at me for what happened at the lake. Besides, what would I even say?"

"I don't know, but if you're gonna talk to him you should probably do it soon. Like before the first task first."

"Why? It can wait till after, I mean it's not like he's gonna-" Then it came to her. "Right..."

"I'm sorry, Mione." 

"Let's just go. Like you said, we need to get good seats." Hermione said as she plastered on a smile.

They walked out and left the castle on their way to the arena. Luckily, they found seats beside Dean and Seamus on one side and the Weasley twins on the other.

"Hey sis, Hermione." They said in unison to the girls. "You guys wanna bet?"

"Bet? Bet on what exactly?" Ginny asked her brothers.

"On Harry, of course." Fred said.

"Yeah. Who will make it out alive, Harry or the Dragon?" George explained.

Dean and Seamus looked over to see if they had just heard right. Ginny and Hermione looked at the twins in disbelief. Before anyone could say anything, Hermione stood up,

"Excuse me." She said as she cleared her throat and left the group.

Ginny looked after her then turned around to her brothers and smacked them both on their arms. "Are you lot dumb? Why on earth would you say something like that."

Hermione made her way through the people sitting then walked down from the bleachers. She saw a sign saying 'Champions lounge' and an arrow pointing to an opening in a tent. She walked towards it but stopped right next to it when she heard someone pacing around in there. Harry.

She leaned toward the tent and tried to get his attention,

"Psst, Harry." She tried.

"Hermione? Is that you?"

She felt so relived when she heard his voice that she pushed through the tent and fell right into his arms. Her head fit perfectly into the crook of his neck and she could physically feel herself relax. Harry leaned closer and whispered in her ear,

"I've missed you, Mione." His voice and warm breath sent shivers down her spine. She looked up at him and saw him already looking at her, right then a flash blinded both of them for a moment. Who else could it be than Rita Skeeter?