Catching Her Heart Pt. 2

Chapter 87

"Come on, Hermione!" Harry called up from the landing at the foot of the stairs leading up to the girl's dormitory, impatience lacing his voice.

"Yeah, what's taking you so long?" Ron called up from the common room below. "We're going to be late!"

"Just a moment!" Hermione called back in annoyance. She really wanted to write to Oliver about what had happened with Professor Moody and Neville in her first DADA class, but with the way the boys were carrying on, she had barely had the time to put her books away.

Everyone was excited for tonight, so she really shouldn't fault them for their impatience. Tonight, after dinner, the announcement about the three champions for the Tri Wizard Tournament would be made. She felt like she was an outsider though, being the only one not looking forward to the reveal of identities of the three school champions.

Regardless of being able to study in the library before the first day of classes, Madam Pince hadn't allowed any books to be checked out of the library until the first day since she was still cleaning and cataloging the collection to make sure that all the books were accounted for. So, it hadn't been until Tuesday morning after breakfast that she had been able to check out the single copy of Triwizard Tragedies.

She had hoped to learn more details about the tournament to get an idea of what to expect, and was horrified to find just how gruesome and detailed the book edited by the Ministry of Magic Archives actually was. It focused on the gruesome details of injuries and deaths that had taken place over the seven century history of the tournament. It was no wonder they had finally discontinued the tournament in 1792 when a cockatrice the champions were trying to catch went on a rampage and all three school heads had been injured, and as the death toll climbed, it was decided that it was simply too dangerous.

After reading about the details, Hermione, for the life of her, couldn't figure out why they had decided to bring it back. While it was true that she found the book disturbing in its detailed descriptions of a yeti the champions had to subdue tearing one limb from limb, or a feral werewolf gorging on two other champions in a different year, she felt like it was better to know all the possibilities of what could happen in the tournament, to prepare herself for the year ahead.

It had been decided by the heads of the schools, High Master Igor Karkaroff, Professor Dumbledore, and Madame Maxime that the few days from the announcement of the tournament leading up to the this evening right before dinner, would give those old enough to participate enough time to decide and that the last class of the day would be called an hour early so that they could submit their name in the goblet. It was for this reason Harry and Ron were impatiently waiting for her down stairs, unable to enter the girls dorms without triggering them to transform into the slide as a precaution against those with an inkling to transgress against a girl's chastity.

She dug around in her trunk and grabbed TriWizard Tragedies that she was already half way through, and took it with her. She had practically no interest in finding out who the champions would be, and hoped that the goblet would malfunction and no one would be chosen, but figured if Harry and Ron were going to make her go, she might as well go with something to occupy her time.

"Hermione!" Harry called again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she called as she dropped a snack for Crookshanks in his bowl before book in hand, she headed out of the dorm.

They weren't the first ones to enter the Great Hall though it was clear not everyone was there yet, since it wasn't too crowded. Upon entering, Hermione noticed that the long tables had been banished and the benches were set up in tiers like the stands at the Quidditch Pitch. Hermione separated from Harry and Ron since she didn't really care who the champions might be and would rather not speculate after some of the things she'd read about. She moved over to the benches, taking a seat before opening her book and trying to ignore the chattering.