They started as soon as morning lessons finished. Hermione was glad that she'd had a big breakfast, as neither of them had the time to eat lunch. Harry had had barely anything to eat that morning, so he must've been famished. He didn't show it though. His face was screwed up in concentration as he tried to summon various items in the unused classroom to his hand. Just as they had every time, the book stopped half-heartedly half way to his hand and flopped onto the floor
"Concentrate, Harry, concentrate..." Hermione implored
"What d'you think I'm trying to do?" Harry snapped "A great big dragon keeps popping up in my head for some reason... Okay, try again..."
They spent the rest of their spare time that day practicing the Summoning Charm. At dinner, they wolfed down just enough to keep them going. After curfew, they used the Invisibility Cloak to sneak into the unused classroom. They practiced there until around midnight, when Peeves found them and they were forced to flee
A two o'clock in the morning, Harry was surrounded by various books, pencil cases and cushions. Only in the last hour had Harry finally, finally, got the hang of the Summoning Charm
"That's better, Harry, that's loads better" said Hermione. Her body was screaming at her to go to bed, but she wasn't going anywhere until she was sure Harry had got it
"Well, now we know what to do next time I can't manage a spell" said Harry, passing Hermione's rune dictionary back to her "threaten me with a dragon. Right..." he raised his wand again "Accio Dictionary!"
The book flew towards Harry and he caught it
"Harry, I really think you've got it!" said Hermione brightly
"Just as long as it works tomorrow" Harry said "The Firebolt's going to be much farther away than the stuff in here, it's going to be in the castle, and I'm going to be out there on the grounds..."
He'd told Hermione the plan that lunchtime (or was it yesterday lunchtime?) and she had to admit that she was impressed
"That doesn't matter" she said "Just as long as you're concentrating really, really hard on it, it'll come. Harry, we'd better get some sleep... you're going to need it"
Harry had looked a lot better the day before, as the determination to master the charm had driven out any panic he might've had. As he trudged into the Great Hall the next day though, it was clear that all the panic had come rushing back. He looked like he was about to be sick, and he seemed to be deaf to all the things people were yelling at him from across the room. Hermione noticed that Ron was watching the two of them very closely, but wasn't saying a word
Time passed a lot faster than usual for Hermione, but Harry seemed to be experiencing even worse zenosyne. He paid even less attention that usual in History of Magic and, as they headed for lunch, he seemed surprised to find himself in the Great Hall. Hermione froze as she saw Professor McGonagall walking over to them, a grim expression on her face
"Potter, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now..." she said in a falsely calm voice "You have to get ready for your first task"
"Okay" said Harry, standing up in an oddly robotic manner
"Good luck, Harry" Hermione said "You'll be fine!"
"Yeah" said Harry quietly, clearly not taking in a word she was saying. He followed Professor McGonagall without looking back once
Ron got up and sat down next to Hermione
"Hello" she said shortly. Ron stared at the ground and didn't reply
"He's not enjoying this, is he?" Ron said quietly after a while. Hermione rolled her eyes
"Of course he's not" she said "he has to get past a dragon. Would you enjoy that?"
"I've been awful to him, haven't I?" asked Ron. Hermione nodded, but didn't say anything "I'm going to apologise after the first task"
"Good" said Hermione, helping herself to chicken
There was another pause
"Listen" said Ron "I'm sorry to you as well"
"It's not me you have to apologise to" said Hermione
"No but still" Ron looked up and finally looked her in the eye "I've been acting horribly to you, and you've done nothing wrong. I'm sorry. Please can you forgive me?"
Hermione stared at him for a moment
"Yeah, alright" she said, and Ron's expression cleared "but I'm still not the one you need to apologise to"
"Yeah, I know" said Ron quietly "can I sit with you during the first task?"
"Okay" said Hermione "If you don't mind sitting with your sister"
YOU ARE READING
Hermione Granger and the Goblet Of Fire (Completed)
Fanfiction(Book 4) (completed) Hermione Granger never expected to have a normal year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. So far, she had set a teacher's robes on fire, been attacked by a giant snake and nearly had her soul sucked out by what are es...
