The Potter Twins and the Goblet of Fire {4}

23. The Big Reveal

"You've got these little things that you've been running from, you either love it or guess you don't" ~ Ready to go, Panic! At the Disco

Everyone woke up late on Boxing Day, and the Gryffindor common room is far quieter than it's been in a long time. Hermione and Ron seem to have come to an unspoken argument not to talk about their argument, and they're being quite polite to each other, though oddly formal. Tay has spent every waking minute with either Tessa and Riley or Fred. On several occasions I've found them snogging in the corridors, latched onto each other like they're attached at the hip.

Breakfast proves to be a particularly entertaining event, as Harry and Ron are busy filling us in on everything they discovered last night - whilst they were being incredibly angsty and ignoring their dates. They overheard a conversation between Hagrid and Madam Maxime, and it turns out that Hagrid is half-giant. Ron and Harry are well and truly shocked by this discovery, but Hermione and I are slightly more logical.

"Well, I thought he must be," Hermione says, shrugging. "I knew he couldn't be a pure giant because they're about twenty feet tall. But honestly, all this hysteria about giants. They can't all be horrible...it's just the same sort of prejudice that people have towards werewolves...it's just bigotry, isn't it?"

Ron looks as if he'd like to reply with a scathing comment, but he restrains himself, clearly not wanting to get into another row with Hermione. So he simply shakes his head in disbelief when she looks away.

As the holidays draw to an end, all of us begin to worry about our neglected homework; and worst of all, the Second Task looks so much closer now that Christmas has passed. I haven't even bothered telling Harry about what Cedric told me because he's far too sulky about Cedric and Cho; whenever someone even mentions Cedric in passing Harry goes red.

But possibly the biggest thing on my mind is the last conversation Harry and I had with dad before Christmas. He told us we could tell our friends about him if we were ready, and that's been playing on my mind for the past few days. But how can I tell our friends if even I'm struggling to deal with it? The last few days everything's really hit me, and I'm only just realising just how insane this situation is.

Harry whistles absent-mindedly to himself as we walk through the corridors to visit dad; his hands are shoved inside his pockets, and he looks particularly sulky.

"So, any developments in the Cho Chang situation?" I ask cheerfully, sending him a sideways stare.

"No," he says begrudgingly. "She's dating Diggory now."

"Hmm, she'll come around soon," I tell him, slapping his back confidently. "Just wait it out. And when something happens between her and Cedric, you'll be waiting. Her knight in shining armour, with slightly questionable hair."

He scoffs. "Shut up, Haylee. Hey, this is odd," he says in an afterthought, "I'm having relationship issues instead of you!"

"Shut up, Harry," I mimick.

"Oh, come on. You have to admit, you're so problematic," he laughs. "Last year you were a mess, Haylee! Boy troubles, friendship troubles...it's exasperating. So much drama. So many emotions."

I roll my eyes. "I apologise for being an emotional teenager who was menstruating for the first time ever."

"Oh, okay! I didn't need to know that!" He exclaims, going bright red.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, Harry," I say pointedly, grinning. "But hey, in all honesty, I'm sorry about last year."

"Don't worry about last year," he says dismissively. "Worry about this year; there's someone in the castle that wants us dead, after all."