New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|12| Chapter Twelve

T W E L V E

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It was a breath of fresh air for the four Gryffindor fourth years to get to hang out together outside of the confines of Hogwarts, first and foremost. But to also be free from having to worry about a mass murderer being after Harry or worrying about an oncoming trial that was going to determine the outcome of all of their futures was such a soothing release and Saffron particularly loved it.

Getting to experience such a joyous and hotly anticipated event was thrilling and to get to experience it with some of her best friends was even better. The occasion truly was marking a turning point in their lives, as they neared the halfway point in their school life and neared the end of, in Saffron's case, a life under the ever-present eye of Agnes Squire.

There were many campsites along the fields and there was a clear divide between the hardcore Irish supporters and their Bulgarian counterparts. The quartet tried to steer clear of those areas for the most part, as they were more likely to find people they knew in the less rowdy areas. Sure enough, on the edge of the primary Irish area, Seamus Finnigan, his mother and Dean Thomas were to be found.

"Have you seen anyone else from school yet?" Dean asked Saffron, as Seamus' mother grilled the other three as to whether or not they'd be supporting Ireland.

Saffron shook her head. "No, I'm not too sure Lavender or Parvati will be here. What about you?"

"No, not yet,"

The way Dean's eyes were flickering around the place in a search for something told Saffron that he was probably looking for someone, in particular, maybe Neville or one of his other friends.

"There's a group of Bulgarian tents over there, do you want to see what they've got hanging up? Ron suggested, craning his neck to get a look at a cluster of Bulgarians in the not too far distance. Evidently, either Seamus or Mrs Finnigan had said something to spark his interest.

Saffron just followed Ron, still chatting away excitedly with her friends. Hermione had had quite a busy Summer, going on holidays with her parents and Saffron had open ears to listen to what she got up to whilst gone. For the most part, though, they spoke about the future and were positive about it. This was a big contrast when compared to how they were in school, where they were full of dread most of the time.

"It's Krum," Ron stated almost inaudibly.

"What?" said Hermione blankly, not having heard him at all. Clearly, she just heard some mumbling.

"Who's Krum?" Saffron asked Ron in confusion. She understood that this 'Krum' was the person that these Bulgarian supporters had plastered all around their tents but as to who the man actually was within the Bulgarian team she did not know.

"Viktor Krum," said Ron in disbelief. "the Bulgarian Seeker!"

"He looks really grumpy," said Hermione, looking around at the many Krum's blinking and scowling at them.

"'Really grumpy?" Ron scoffed and to Saffron's surprise, he sounded genuinely disgusted. "Who cares what he looks like? He's unbelievable. He's really young too. Only just eighteen or something. He's a genius, you wait until tonight, you'll see."

"So he's in Durmstrang then?" Hermione asked him, though it was very likely that she was making a statement. Saffron couldn't quite tell but if she was a betting woman she'd bet on the latter. "I've been reading about international schools over the Summer, as a bit of additional reading for A History of Magic, and I'd imagine most Bulgarian youth would go there,"

Saffron was more focused on the fact that Hermione had done additional reading for A History of Magic, a subject she never did the required readings for, let alone additional one, evidenced in her scraping a pass in her last exam in the subject. But it did register with her that it probably would be fascinating to learn more about the international magical community. She wasn't ignorant to it all, of course, Squire had made sure of that. The one thing Squire had done very well for the Mitchell siblings was to educate them. That education was reflected in Maya's grades and Saffron not failing entirely.

"Probably, but that hardly matters, he plays for Bulgaria, who'd need school if you can do that?"

The four of them had a small pit stop in filling up a bucket of water, that had been requested by Mr Weasley. Once they did so, they set off back towards wherever the Weasleys had set up camp. On route, they saw a sizeable amount of Hogwarts students. First of all, they met Oliver Wood which made Saffron's heart flutter. It probably was going to be the last time she'd see him for a good while, seeing as he had now graduated Hogwarts and was playing with the Puddlemere United reserve team, something that Saffron made a mental note to tell Lavender the next time she saw her.

After this encounter, Saffron got a wave from Lisa Turpin who was accompanied by Anthony Goldstein, two Ravenclaws in her year and Ernie MacMillan was as loud and chatty as ever when they met him. Ron had only mentioned that they were almost at their tent when they spotted Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw girl in the year above them. She was the seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team last year and it was abundantly clear to someone even remotely perceptive that there was flirtatious energy surrounding the pair of them. This was evidenced furthermore in how Cho's smile caused Harry to trip and almost fall flat on his face.

Harry tried to distract the bemused Hermione and smirking Ron from what had gone on by pointing out a large group of teenagers nearby. Saffron probably would have been distracted too but something else had caught her eye from a tent quite a distance away. Despite there being quite a deep space between them, there was no way Saffron would ever be able to miss the person she spotted.

Moreover, she would never have been able to miss the bizarre circumstances in which she saw her. As the sight made her feel overcome with confusion and worry. It left her with a singular question but that was all that was necessary. That being:

What was her sister doing with Cygnus Malfoy?