The Granger Twins

Chapter 28

When Selena woke up on Sunday morning, it took her a moment to remember why she felt so miserable and worried. Then the memory of the previous night rolled over her. She sat up and ripped back the curtains of her own four-poster, intending to talk to Hermione - only to find that Hermione's bed was empty; she had obviously gone down to breakfast.

Selena dressed and went down the spiral staircase into the common room. The moment she appeared, the people who had already finished breakfast broke into applause again. The prospect of going down into the Great Hall and facing the rest of the Gryffindors, all treating her and Harry like some sort of heroes, was not inviting; it was that, however, or stay here and allow herself to be cornered by the Creevey brothers, who were both beckoning frantically to her to join them. Harry appeared behind her, to another round of applause. The two made eye contact, walked resolutely over to the portrait hole, pushed it open, climbed out of it, and found themselves face-to-face with Hermione.

"Hello," she said, holding up a stack of toast, which she was carrying in a napkin. "I brought you this....Want to go for a walk?"

"Good idea," said Selena gratefully.

They went downstairs, crossed the entrance hall quickly without looking in at the Great Hall, and were soon striding across the lawn toward the lake, where the Durmstrang ship was moored, reflected blackly in the water. It was a chilly morning, and they kept moving, munching their toast, as Selena and Harry told Hermione exactly what had happened after they had left the Gryffindor table the night before. To their immense relief, Hermione accepted their story without question.

"Well, of course, I knew you hadn't entered yourselves," she said when they'd finished telling her about the scene in the chamber off the Hall. "The looks on your faces when Dumbledore read out your names! That and the fact that you opposed it from the start, Selena. But the question is, who did put them in? Because Moody's right, Selena, Harry...I don't think any student could have done it...they'd never be able to fool the Goblet, or get over Dumbledore's -"

"Have you seen Ron?" Harry interrupted.

Hermione hesitated.

"Erm...yes...he was at breakfast," she said.

"Does he still think we entered ourselves?" Selena asked this time.

"Well...no, I don't think so...not really," said Hermione awkwardly.

"What's that supposed to mean, 'not really'?" Harry said irritably.

"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said despairingly. "He's jealous!"

"Jealous?" Harry said incredulously. "Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?"

"Look," said Hermione patiently, "it's always you two who get all the attention, you know it is. I know it's not either of your faults," she added quickly, seeing Harry open his mouth furiously. "I know you don't ask for it...but - well - you know, Ron's got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you're his best friends, and you're really famous - he's always shunted to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many..."

"Great," said Harry bitterly. "Really great. Tell him from us we'll swap any time he wants. Tell him from us he's welcome to it....People gawping at our scars everywhere we go..."

"I'm not teiling him anything," Hermione said shortly. "Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this out."

"I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow up!" Harry said, so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. "Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying myself once I've got my neck broken or -"