A Weasley Twin

12.

'Hermione, get up!' Ginny said, shaking me.
'It's Saturday. Whyyyy?' I groaned.
'It's the first trial in the tournament today, we need to go see how Harry's doing,' she said, pulling me up into a sitting position.
'That's today?!' I suddenly felt wide awake. 'Oh god, okay, I'm going to go get dressed. I'll meet you in the common room.'
I threw on some clothes and grabbed a hat and gloves on the way out.
The common room was buzzing with excitement for the trial and Harry was stood in the midst of it all, obviously wanting to be anywhere but inside this crowded room.
'Harry, can you come help me with this thing?' I said, hoping it was good enough to be able to get him out from the swarm of people.
I began walking to the portrait hole, quickly grabbing Ginny on my way out. Once we were away from all of the noise, I stopped and turned to him.
'What did Hagrid say?' I asked.
'He didn't say anything, but he showed me, and apparently Madame Maxine, that today's trial is dragons,' he looked panicked.
'You saw them?!' Ginny gasped. 'Did they look scary? Do you think you'll be able to tame them somehow?' her face was pale.
'I don't know. But Hagrid told me which dragons I do and don't want to get involved with. As long as I get one of the friendlier ones, I should be okay,' he said, as if trying to convince himself that he'd be fine.
'Ah, Potter. Can you come with me to get ready please?' Professor McGonagall asked as she walked down the corridor towards us.
'Yes, Professor,' Harry said, nervously.
'Good luck, Harry!' Ginny grinned.
'Oh please do be careful, Harry,' I smiled, feeling slightly sick.
'Don't worry, Miss Granger, I will ensure Potter's safety, you can be sure of that,' she then turned and began briskly walking away, Harry following gloomily behind her.
'Let's go get some breakfast,' Ginny smiled, nudging me lightly.
We entered the great hall to loud and excited muttering amongst the students. The hall was more full than usual due to the students from the other schools who had joined us for the tournament.
I began eating my breakfast with Ginny, Neville coming over to join us. I was trying desperately to distract myself from the tournament and the the pair of eyes watching me definitely did just that.
I looked up to see Viktor Krum on another table smirking at me, making me blush and look away all too quickly.
'You know, Hermione, if I didn't know any better I'd say that Krum guy has a bit of a crush on you,' Neville said, oblivious to how awkward I felt about him bringing up the topic.
'What makes you say that?' I half-laughed.
'Probably the fact that he's been staring at you for about half an hour,' Ginny giggled.
'He seems very... odd, I think,' I shrugged. 'I mean, if you like someone you don't stare at them for all eternity, knowing that they are feeling extremely freaked out by it.'
'What, um, what would you do exactly?' Neville said, it seemed it was his turn to get awkward.
'Well, if it was me I'd want them to tell me,' I said.
Ginny nodded in agreement.
'Hey, Gin, would you maybe wanna go to the yule ball... with me? Because I do. Like you, I mean. I like you very much,' Neville said, beginning confident but mumbling at the end, before taking another bite of toast to shut himself up.
Ginny choked a bit on her breakfast at the out-of-nowhere question.
'I mean, well, yeah of course I will, Neville,' she grinned.
'Hey, I'm gonna go see Ron,' I said, hoping for them to have a chance alone.
I sat down next to Ron; Seamus and Dean sitting opposite us.
'Hey,' Dean smiled. 'You excited for the first trial?'
'Unfortunately not,' I replied.
'How come?' Seamus asked.
'Do you really need to ask that?' Ron chimed in.
'Right. Harry,' Seamus nodded.
'Have you spoken to him yet, Ron?' I asked.
'And why would I do that,' he shrugged.
'Because he's your best friend and who knows what's going to happen in this trial? This is serious, it's dangerous,' I tried to reason.
'Yeah well maybe if he hadn't put his name in the goblet or at least if he'd told me he was gonna do it then I might've had more sympathy for him,' he sighed, getting up and leaving.
'I'm gonna go then,' I smiled awkwardly at Seamus and Dean before getting up and walking hastily away.