New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|55| Chapter Fifty-Five

F I F T Y  F I V E

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Saffron followed Lavender's advice all the way through the next few weeks, as unlike Hermione, Lavender and Parvati had anticipated, the hype around the story didn't disappear as they drew closer to the First Task, it was elevated. The Triwizard Tournament definitely had a sense of fanfare behind it and the castle was alive with speculation and betting on which champion would win the First Task and who would finish last. The common theory was Viktor Krum winning with Harry placing last but a group of older Ravenclaws were backing Harry and Maya to finish first and second, citing that they weren't entirely convinced the tournament wasn't going to be rigged for Hogwarts to win.

None of that bothered Saffron too much, as selfish as that felt, she was far too concerned on getting asked how her relationship with Harry was going and who she was supporting in the tournament. Harry too was very sick of it. It was getting exhausting, especially on the day that they had Astronomy as the pair of them knew they would have to conserve their energy to stay awake during the night, rather than listening to the vultures of Hogwarts. It had gotten to the point that Harry snapped at anyone unfamiliar spoke to him, as evidenced after Transfiguration that day.

"Hey - Harry!" Cho Chang had said to him, unbeknownst to Harry that it was her.

"Yeah, that's right!" Harry yelled loudly making Saffron hit him in the side but it was too late. "I've just been crying my eyes out over my dead mum, and I'm just off to do a bit more..."

"No - it was just - you dropped your quill."

Harry looked up and blushed bright red. "Oh- right- sorry,"

"Er...good luck on Tuesday," Cho told him with a small smile. "I really hope you do well."

Saffron gave him a consoling pat on the back and felt her hatred for Rita grow as it had probably messed up both her and Harry's desired love life.

Or, so she thought.

As it turned out that not all hope was lost for her later that night in Astronomy.

"Goodnight, my fellow Astronomers," Saffron tried her best to sound as lively as possible when she greeted Olly and Padma, who were already sat down with their utensils out around their beanbags- the Gryffindors were usually only just on time for the class, never early, in large part due to Lavender dragging her feet the entire way which was funny to Saffron considering the girl was well able to stay up gossiping with Parvati or with their whole dorm all night when she wanted to. "Excuse my sweatiness, I practically had to drag Lavender all the way here, she's on the verge of collapse,"

Saffron watched Olly and Padma look over to the other side of the room to where Lavender was slouched down deep in her beanbag, as Professor Sinistra started the class by going through all their homework one by one.

"You don't look or smell sweaty at all," Padma insisted with a pleasant smile. "You look lovely, doesn't she Olly?"

"Wha— yes, of course,"

Saffron arched an eyebrow at him with a slight smile that she thought could turn into a grimace at any second. He didn't sound very sure about that. Her chances with him were only getting slimmer and slimmer by the day it seemed.

"I sense hesitation,"

"No hesitation, just truth," Olly muttered to her slowly.

"Well, I appreciate your truth," Saffron laughed before wiping a gland of sweat off of her left eyebrow. "I just wish it was the reality,"

"How's Harry doing Saffron?" Padma interjected before Olly had any time to respond.

"Not so good, honestly," Saffron confided in them."It's been awful for him really, it seems to never end, another thing after another thing after another thing. And now there's only a week to go and he still has no idea what's coming his way," She paused. Was Padma asking how he was doing in relation to the tournament or about how he was doing because she and him were in a 'relationship'? Saffron wasn't sure but she was going to clear it up either way. "And then that article Rita wrote came out, which was a complete lie,"

"Oh, we know," Padma assured her, and Olly nodded at her profusely.

"Yeah," Saffron's heart fluttering was so poignant she felt at a loss for words. She quickly tried to string a sentence together to not look strange... "That's good to know... because sometimes I feel like almost everyone thinks that it's real. Harry, he-- he's like my brother, nothing more,"

"Sort of like us," Olly said to Padma brightly making her chuckle.

"Yes, definitely like us," agreed Padma whole-heartedly. She turned to Saffron again. "Are he and Ron still at odds?"

Just like the story that Saffron and Harry were in a relationship was known by all in the school, so was the story that Harry's best friend had abandoned him.

"They are," sighed Saffron. "They're not talking to each other at all and pretend like they don't care that they're not. But I know it's killing them both, neither of them seem to know how much they really need each other. Hermione's trying to get us all to go to Hogsmeade together, but I don't think she'll get her way. I don't want to force them to talk, I guess they'll come round in their own time. I'm not even sure I'm going to go at this point,"

"The trip this Saturday?" enquired Padma and Saffron wasn't quite sure she truly was the one she was asking the question to.

"Yeah," remarked Saffron sadly, lowering her voice because Professor Sinistra was approaching. "I'm finally allowed to actually go this year, but I won't this time if its the four of us,"

"Well, if you're not going with them, then maybe, if you're not busy you'd want to go with --- with me?" Olly asked her speaking so quickly Saffron barely grasped onto his words.

"Really?"

Her eyes widened. Saffron couldn't believe what she saw hearing. After everything, she didn't think that first of all he even viewed her as anything other than his friend from Gryffindor, akin to how she had viewed him the three years previous. But what confused her most of all was that it was happening now. Especially after what Rita had written and how the school took those twisted words and twisted them even further. Yet here he was, making it far easier for her than she ever had anticipated. In essence, he was doing it for her and Saffron was in shock by his actions.

"Only if you want to, I don't want you to pressure you into feeling like you have to go,"

"No, I mean yes! Yes, I'm saying yes, obviously, of course, I do," Saffron had to blink so as to not roll her eyes at how she was sounding. The last thing she wanted to do was ruin it now.

"I think it would be cool," Olly said to her brightly, staring fixedly out up the stars. "We barely ever see each other outside of class, so I guess now is the best chance since you're not going with your friends,"

Saffron had opened her mouth to tell him to not feel bad for her not wanting to go due to her messy friend situation and that he could go with his friends but she stopped herself just in time. She didn't need to give him any reason to change his mind.

"Sounds good to me," Saffron nodded profusely. "Like you said, I think it'd be nice to---"

"Miss Mitchell, I see that Miss Brown has truly become a bad influence on you," Professor Sinistra cut her off, causing all those around them to laugh, excluding Lavender that was.

"Hey!" Lavender exclaimed loudly.

"We have vital stars to chart tonight, so please, everyone, back to work we go,"

Saffron and Olly went 'back to work'. But their definition of work differed from their teacher, they merely avoided each others glance and looked up at the stars. Their encounters seemed to mostly be under them, but, they both relished in the prospect, borderline fact, that there would be a time where that wasn't the case.