New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|60| Chapter Sixty

S I X T Y 

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Whilst Saffron spent her time getting attacked with Olly in a woods off of Hogsmeade, Maya and Harry both discussed their strategies with Sirius and Sage. The pair of them appeared to be a little bit more assured as they were able to work on their strategies for dealing with something as immense as a dragon. As it stood, Maya was weighing up her options between trying to place the dragon under an enchanted sleep or using the draconifors spell to turn other objects into dragons which would be a distraction to the real dragon she was facing. Meanwhile, Harry was trying to master the conjunctivitis spell, unsuccessfully.

His fate changed though after Defence Against the Dark Arts the day before the First Task. One look into Professor Moody's eyes gave Saffron the answer to Harry's problem. As the man wanted her to tell him to play to his ultimate strength and to fly.

"But how am I going to get the broom from down in the grounds?" Harry questioned Saffron in frustration as they made their way down to the Great Hall for lunch.

Hermione let out a small gasp. "You can summon it!"

"I can what?" said Harry blankly.

"Use a summoning charm!" Hermione exclaimed, looking at Saffron with wide eyes as though she was a genius.

Saffron was no genius in this instance. Saffron wasn't even herself but for whatever reason Moody wanted Harry to know how to succeed in this task and he had two students in the form of Saffron and Olly who would be able to make that happen. Notably, Saffron was one of Harry's best friends and the key to everything. As unbeknownst to anyone else, he had used holding the girl back after class a few days previous as an excuse to find out everything there was to know about Harry.

The Invisibility Cloak. The Marauder's Map. His scar hurting over the Summer. All of it.

Hermione helped Harry learn the summoning charm throughout the rest of the day, whilst Saffron went to check in on her older sister. She didn't notice that as she went over to her sister she was released from the tight grip on her mind, turning it into a delicate hold as the fifth girl in the picture or Moody were able to control her whenever they wanted. She was unaware of all of it and carried on as normal as walked to Divination with Maya, who had a free period

"Do you feel okay about your plan to get past the dragon?" Saffron asked Maya as they made their way down the corridor that led to the ladder up to Professor Trelawney's attic-like classroom.

Maya shook her head. "I don't think I ever will, but I signed up for it so..."

"So at least you knew what you'd gotten yourself in for," nodded Saffron understandingly.

"Exactly, I don't have a reason to complain when Harry's been forced into this," Maya told Saffron solemnly. As she did so, Saffron caught Olly and Brynn Weber climbing up the ladder to Divination, out of the corner of her eye. "But none of it is anything you have to worry about, me I mean. The past three years the most insane of things have happened to you right under my nose and I didn't worry because I didn't know. What I'm saying is that I'll be fine,"

"I know," Saffron offered her elder sister a small smile. "I'm going to worry anyway, though. I'll see you later,"

Setting off through the trapdoor to Divination, Saffron was eager to get to talk to Olly. In her mind, their trip to Hogsmeade on Saturday had gone smoothly. There were a few grey areas in her mind, notably towards the end of their day out (understandably so, given the circumstances) and she wanted to see where his head was at after it all. As she was hopeful that they would do it again some time.

"Hey," said Saffron brightly, taking her seat at the table next to Olly and Brynn. There was a spare seat next to her that had once belonged to Hermione, however, Harry had moved into it due to how Ron was acting and would likely arrive shortly. Although, if he had it his way Saffron was sure he would still be practising summoning charms. With Hermione by his side though, it was probable she had forced him to go to class as there was no way she was going to ditch one of hers.

Both Olly and Brynn responded with quiet greetings. Had Saffron not been under the influence of two adults, she certainly would have noticed in Olly's demeanour around her. Once they had broken down the wall that she had formed between her and him over the Summer as a result of her feelings blossoming, things had gone back to normal. Normal but with a chance for it to develop into something special.

"Excited for tomorrow?" Brynn asked Saffron curiously, as the trapdoor opened and Dean Thomas lifted himself in.

"No," Saffron shook her head with a frown. "I'm still dreading it, I don't think I'll ever be excited for any of these tasks, to be honest,"

"I am,"

Saffron blinked. It was Olly who spoke. Hadn't he spoken about how he understood that Saffron couldn't be excited about such a frightening prospect and how he shared similar feelings? Why was he backtracking in front of Brynn?

"Really?" Saffron crinkled her nose in surprise.

"Yeah, really,"

"That's good," said Saffron, very taken-aback and lying through her teeth as it most certainly was not good. It was one thing feeling excited about the tournament, that was understandable. However, he was voicing that excitement to a girl who had a strong connection to not one, but two champions. Additionally, he had gone back on what he had said previously.

Saffron didn't know why he would do such a thing and didn't say anything further. She just glanced over to Olly and Brynn several times in the next few minutes to see that they were looking at each other more often than not. Her heart was jolting out of her chest when she made her way towards the conclusion that there was something going on between the two of them. She hadn't even considered it before. She was naive in the sense that she unknowingly assumed that Olly lived in a vacuum, in her own vacuum and that he didn't have anything else going on in his life other than what she knew.

Upon hearing him say even a small contradiction as he had done, it brought the realisation that maybe she didn't know him nearly as well as she thought she did. As horrible as that felt, it was true and for all, she knew there was something going on between the two people at the table next to her. For all she knew, he had offered to go to Hogsmeade with her just to make her feel better about the tournament or to give her a break from thinking about it. In fact, that probably was the case now that she saw the looks that he and Brynn were giving each other.

She felt on the verge of tears as stupid as that felt but thankfully couldn't muster the energy to let any out. She didn't even laugh when Harry, who arrived seconds before the class started, sarcastically snapped at Professor Trelawney who insisted that those born in July were in imminent danger of sudden death.

When the bell rung out signalling the end of Divination, Saffron put those thoughts of Olly and Brynn behind her and focussed on Harry. He needed all the support he could get and she was told by the voices in her head that she had to help him in any way she possibly could, even if the normal Saffron would have locked herself in her dormitory and avoided contact with others, only thinking about the heartache she was experiencing.

All she knew for certain when she got back to the Gryffindor common room was that Harry not only had to survive the three tasks of the Triwizard Tournament, he had to win the whole thing. Even over her sister. No matter what it took.