mágoa ( ✓ )

chapter four

IN THE GRYFFINDOR Common Room, Hermione Granger was hard at work studying for a Transfiguration exam. Studying in the girls' dormitory had grown too hectic over the last few days — Lavender Brown was now open about her crush on Ron and planned on wooing him soon, and Parvati Patil was trying her hardest to assure the blonde it was a bad idea. She felt a weight fall beside her and turned to see her black-haired best friend eyeing her cautiously.

"Hermione, can we talk?" Harry asked, and the brown-haired girl nodded slowly, placing a bookmark in her textbook.

She turned to face him, an emotionless look on her face. "What about?" Truthfully, she knew what this was about. It was just two days before the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. He drummed his fingers against his ratty jeans nervously, biting at his lips. Ron was nowhere to be seen.

"I hate that we're fighting. Well, technically you and Ron are fighting... I hate being caught in the middle of this. You're one of my best friends, and it's been two months since the Yule Ball and we've barely uttered ten words to each other. Please, can we end this?" He pleaded, green eyes sparkling with sincerity. "Ron's far too stubborn to ever apologize, but I know this has got to be killing you too. I'm surprised you've held out with Lavender and Parvati for as long as you have, honestly..."

"Harry, I don't want to fight either, but Ronald really hurt me. And you're right, he is far too stubborn, but I would've gone with him if he just asked-"

"Do you like him?" He asked, interrupting her tangent.

She sighed, moving her textbook from her lap and adjusting herself on the couch so she was fully facing her friend now, knee bent on the cushion. Harry moved to sit in the same position. "Ronald... he and I are a complicated duo, Harry. Honestly, I try not to waste my time on things involving romance, and I know you want to comment on Viktor, but that was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I don't feel anything for him, in fact I have barely spoken to him since the Ball. All he wants to do is watch me study, and it's annoying, to be honest. But with Ron, we're such good friends. You, me, and him. If anything were to happen between us, well, I'd hate to imagine how horribly it could go. But I also don't want to see him with anybody else..."

"You always put everyone else's feelings before your own. It's an honorable thing, and terrible at the same time." Harry noted, and the brown-eyed girl smiled.

"Regardless, I'll let this go, assuming you can get Ronald to stop being such a git." She extended her hand for Harry to shake, and he let out a laugh.

"Deal."

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In the library, the Golden trio were hard at work in attempting to crack the golden egg's riddle. Cedric Diggory had approached Harry earlier in the day and told him about the prefects' bathroom, where he later discovered what the horrible shrieking sound the egg made sounded like under water. The second task was in less than a day now. Hermione Granger ran her hands through her now bushy hair once more.

"Tell me again." She demanded.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour – the prospect's black
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

Harry replayed what he'd heard yet again. The Gryffindor girl sighed, relaying every connection she could make to the phrase. Obviously, the task was to take place at the Black Lake, but nobody understood what was 'taken.' Harry said his belongings were exactly the way he'd left them when he returned to his dormitory earlier.