It Could Have Gone That Way; A Harmione Fanfiction

Chapter 43: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Ron let out a snort of laughter,"Hermione? You made me wait a whole week for Hermione? I'm sorry, mate, but this is too much..."

Harry opened his mouth to protest.

"Don't." Hermione said softly,"It's all right-"

"No, Hermione, it is not all right!" He turned to Ron,"You, know, you are just about the biggest-"

"Harry, stop!" Hermione said warningly,"You'll regret it, you know you will."

Still scowling at Ron, Harry strode off to the champions' table, Hermione hurrying after him.

"You did the right thing, you know, Harry." She said,"Letting it go, I mean."

"I didn't want to." Harry grumbled.

"I know."

The pair sat at the table for a little while. Teachers and champions came and went, giving Hermione the chance to finally interrogate Professor Dumbledore on why he had picked the champions so early.

"Sometimes," he had said distantly,"impatience is a virtue."

Once that matter had been more-or-less settled, Harry and Hermione got up to dance. A few Wizarding bands played that a lot of people got rather excited about. Harry and Hermione - who had never heard any of their songs before - jumped around and had fun whilst everyone else was busy shouting out the song lyrics.

At precisely nine-thirty, the champions and their partners were called up to waltz. As they made their way up to the dance floor, the pair could hear murmurings of,"Is that Harry Potter with Hermione Granger?" and,"You'd think, wouldn't you, that out of everyone in the school, he'd pick someone half decent." Ignoring them, Harry and Hermione stood still, waiting for the music. Gently, Harry moved his hands to what he hoped were the correct places and smiled at Hermione encouragingly.

Harry was terrified, but had been finding solace in the fact that Hermione was just as bad as he was. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for Harry, it seemed Hermione had been practicing. She was brilliant. Moving to all the right places at all the right times, she led Harry around the floor as though she'd been doing it for years. Warming up to it, Harry let her lead and focused on not treading on her toes.

The pair danced and danced for the whole night. They danced until they had blisters and hardly anyone was left in the Great Hall. The band onstage had run out of songs to play, so had started taking requests. Harry, who had been suddenly struck with an ingenious idea, asked Hermione if she wanted a drink. She told him she did so he hurried off towards the drinks table. Watching her closely, Harry waited for her to move to the side of the room and sit down before he hurried across the room to where the stage was. Glancing back at Hermione to make sure she hadn't seen him, Harry whispered into one of the band members' ears as he finished the song. Harry hurried back to the drinks table and walked towards Hermione, making it completely clear that he had come from that direction.

"Harry," she frowned,"you don't have any drinks."

Oh, Harry thought. "Er...yeah," he said quickly,"they didn't have anything...let's just keep dancing."

"All right."

As the pair moved back to the dance floor, Harry made eye contact with the lead singer of the band. The singer nodded in reply and a slow song started playing.