Chapter 8
At the top of the staircase stood Hermione, in periwinkle-blue robes, looking nothing short of stunning.
Harry's jaw dropped, as did most of the other guys' and half of the girls'. As Hermione gracefully descended the marble staircase (that was nowhere near as grand as the girl descending it), she smiled shyly at Harry, making Harry's look of shock and awe turn into a shy smile of his own.
Ron turned to Harry to comment yet again about wondering who she was going with, when he took in Harry's lost to the world look and finally put two and two together, realizing the truth. Staring back and forth between the two of them for a long second, Ron suddenly exploded.
"She's going with YOU!?" he screamed, causing everyone around them to turn and stare at him. "How could you betray me like that?! When you know I asked her out!"
Fortunately at that moment the twins arrived out of thin air, and firmly grasping Ron by each arm, dragged him away before he could say anything more that would permanently destroy his friendship with everyone forever, and possibly get him punched or slapped by either Harry or Hermione.
But Harry and Hermione weren't paying any attention to Ron at the moment, too engrossed in each other to care what insults their former friend was hurling at them.
"You look beautiful," said Harry in quiet amazement as Hermione walked down the last couple steps and joined him where he stood.
"Thanks," she replied shyly, blushing slightly as she looped her arm around his. Then looking over towards where the twins had drug Ron off to the side, she added with a nod in his direction, "I guess Ron finally figured out who I was going with."
"And seems less than pleased by it," replied Harry with a sigh.
But before either of them could say anything more about it, they heard Professor McGonagall call out loudly across the entrance hall, "Champions over here, please!", so they left Ron and his petty bitching behind, and hurried over to where their Head of House was standing next to the door leading into the Great Hall.
The Deputy Headmistress looked over at Harry to make sure he'd obeyed her order and brought himself a date to open the dance with, before staring speechless at the image of perfection on his arm. Then she recognized the girl and stared even harder — the bookworm had turned into a queen.
But as the three champions walked over with their dates and joined them, she remembered that she had a ball to open, and told them all to wait to the side so everyone else could go in before them. She then quickly opened the doors and ushered all the plebes inside, many of whom turned to stare a little longer in disbelief at Hermione as they passed by.
Sally-Anne and Lavender both gave her bright smiles as they passed by, glad their doormmate finally dressed up to show herself off for once. Ginny scowled in unflattering disbelief as she sulked in next to Neville, giving Harry a scathing glare as well. The Slytherin duo of Pansy and Draco gaped and failed to throw any insults respectively, which was about the closest thing to compliments that could ever be expected from Snakes. But Ron refused to even look in their direction, though the distinct scowl on his face was impossible to miss.
Once everyone was inside and seated, Professor McGonagall finally allowed the three champions, Harry, and their dates to enter. A sizable portion of the Great Hall applauded as they walked in, but there were also plenty of boos from the Slytherin table that Harry assumed were for himself, and more than a few catcalls, though Harry wasn't sure if these were more for Fleur or Hermione — it was kind of hard to tell who anything was for with them all walking in together.
Grateful to Hermione for taking the time over the past week and a half to teach him how to dance, even just for how it had built up his confidence in general without having had to dance in front of everyone yet, Harry confidently walked in with Hermione proudly walking next to arm in arm.
They had intentionally taken the last spot in the procession so the actual three champions and their dates could go in first, and it gave Harry a good opportunity to look at the crowd as they walked in without having everyone staring back at him, since everyone was paying most of their attention to Fleur in the lead and then the other two champions between her and him. And as he looked, he saw that Ron had taken a seat at the table closest to the top table where the judges were already seated and the champions were headed for, though whether out of an attempt to not to let Hermione any further out of his sight than he had to, or to be as near to the center of attention as he possibly could be, Harry didn't know. And despite having refused to even look in their direction as he passed by them in the entrance hall on his way into the Great Hall a few minutes earlier, Ron was now sitting there glaring at both him and Hermione with a look of such pure loathing that it seemed better suited for a Malfoy than someone who'd up until two months earlier claimed to be their best friend.
Finally nearing the table they were to eat at, Harry realized that Mr Crouch wasn't there with the rest of the judges. Instead, Ron's pompous arse older brother Percy was, occupying the seat he assumed was supposed to be Mr Crouch's. As he and Hermione got close enough to choose their seats, the redhead pulled out the empty chair next to him and gave Harry a very pointed look. Harry took the hint, and sat down on the complete opposite side of the table, having absolutely no desire to be nearer to a Weasley that didn't have an identical twin than he had to be.
Once they were settled, Hermione leaned over and whispered into Harry's ear, "I wonder why Mr Crouch isn't here, and Percy's taken his place."
"Doesn't Percy work for Crouch or something?" whispered Harry back.
"Yes — he works directly for Mr Crouch in the Department of International Magical Cooperation," answered Hermione. "But that only explains why he's here instead of someone else, not why anyone besides Mr Crouch is here in the first place."
Harry nodded, not really having anything to add to the discussion, and not really caring anyway. He really didn't give a rat's powdered dried spleen why Mr Crouch wasn't there, and certainly wasn't about to ask Percy about it and get his ear talked off all meal about cauldron bottoms for his efforts.
Fortunately at that moment he heard Dumbledore tell his plate "Pork chops", and realized they were supposed to order their meals by telling their plates what they wanted. Soon across the entire hall everyone was saying whatever they wanted off the menus at their plates, and food was appearing at their commands. For a long time conversation was at a minimum as everyone ate, not having had a Christmas tea that year and it being after eight o'clock by then.
On the other side of Hermione from Harry was Viktor Krum and his Durmstrang date, and as the meal began to wind down, Hermione struck up a conversation with them about Durmstrang, asking about how it was similar and different from Hogwarts, ever curious to learn something new (or at least from a new perspective, as she'd read numerous books about Durmstrang since she'd heard they were coming to visit for the tournament). So as she talked to them, Harry turned to his other side, and asked Fleur how Christmas at Beauxbatons was compared to Christmas at Hogwarts. She animatedly told him all about the decorations they had each year back at home, making Harry feel like Beauxbatons would be a wonderful place to spend Christmas as well, before highly complimenting Hogwarts and their Christmas decorations. In fact, the only complaint she had about Hogwarts was Peeves, the resident poltergeist. And Harry had to agree with her there — in the three and a half years he'd been in the castle, he'd never once seen or heard of a single redeeming factor about the spirit. A fact of which he told her, leading to them swapping their worst Peeves encounter stories with each other as they vented about the irritating ghost.
But eventually all the food across the Hall was consumed, and it was time for the opening dance. As the champions and their dates stood up, Harry stood up with them and held his hand out to Hermione.
Harry and Hermione had been dancing for over an hour when they decided to take a break and catch their breaths.
Grabbing a couple butterbeers, they walked outside into the rose garden to have a little peace and quiet from the crowded dance floor and Great Hall. The garden had been magically warmed to protect the overabundance of flowers and bushes that now decorated it from the harsh winter weather around them, and seemed to have been magically enlarged as well, as it was many times bigger than the courtyard they frequently hung out in during break between classes. And to set it all off, the twinkling of fairies made it look like they were surrounded by low-flying stars, setting a very romantic mood.
They wandered through the garden hand in hand, through the nice looking but not too expensive shrubbery, which had been placed at slightly different heights to get a two layer effect with a little path running down the middle. Pausing in front of the fountain when they eventually wandered upon it, they watched the moonlight sparkle off the errant droplets of water that cascaded through the air and landed on the surrounding foliage like liquid diamonds.
Looking over at Hermione, Harry reached out and brushed a stray hair out of her face, tucking it back behind her ear. As his finger brushed across her skin, Hermione felt herself shiver slightly, despite the warmth of the courtyard.
Without thinking, she leaned forwards and softly pressed her lips against his.
A second later, her brain caught up to what she was doing, and she pulled back. But only enough to look at him, waiting to gauge his reaction before she pulled back completely. When he appeared to just be more surprised than anything, and he didn't make any indication that he didn't want her kissing him, she brought her lips back to his with more purpose. This time she could feel his lips tentatively moving against hers, so she slid her hand up his back and eventually brought it to rest on his cheek.
"Sorry," she said softly when they finally broke apart to breathe again, her eyes dropping slightly, unable to look him in the eye. "I've wanted to do that for a while now."
Harry covered her hand with his pressing it up against his cheek, while his other hand gently lifted her chin up, forcing her to look at him again. But unable to think of any words to assure her that he didn't mind in the least, he settled for bringing his lips back down on hers and showing her.
"Don't be sorry," he said softly as they broke apart for the third time. "I take it this means you like me?"
"I wouldn't have accepted your invitation to the Yule Ball if I didn't," replied Hermione sincerely, leaning into his chest and nestling her head under his chin. Harry readily wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.
But after a while, Hermione asked quietly, "Why did you invite me? I mean, I know Professor McGonagall held you back after class that day to tell you about needing a date for the Ball, but then you just immediately asked me to go with you without seeing if anyone else was interested in going with you first. Why?"
Harry thought for a second of the best way to answer her question. He'd invited her because he'd seen her standing there in the hallway and it just clicked, but it was the reason why it'd clicked, and why he'd only become more convinced of the rightness of his in the moment decision as he thought over it later after asking her, that he knew she really wanted to know.
"Remember after the first task, when you warned me about Ron not being friends with me again? That made me begin thinking about who my true friends were — who would stand next to me no matter what happened. I began realizing, even if I didn't consciously realize it quite yet, that it didn't really matter what happened between me and Ron, because I already had someone. Someone who had never betrayed me in all the years I'd known her. And then when I saw you standing there in the corridor waiting on me to come out so you could walk down to the Great Hall with me for lunch, it all finally just clicked. And I saw that the one person who really mattered to me, who was always next to me even when I didn't want to admit it, was you."
"The Firebolt," Hermione said quietly to herself.
"Yes, the Firebolt," confirmed Harry, before continuing on. "So as soon as I realized that, I also realized that you were the one person I could actually enjoy going to this ball with. From the moment Professor McGonagall told me I had to have someone, I had been dreading it, having absolutely no interest in having a date. But seeing you, I realized maybe that wasn't quite so true, that maybe there was one person I would be privileged to have as my date to what otherwise was beginning to seem like quite the drudge. And so I immediately asked you, before anyone else could, knowing without a doubt that there was no one else in the castle I'd rather go with."
Hermione was silent for so long that Harry eventually took a step back and looked down at her worriedly, just to find tears trickling down her face.
"Sorry, I — that's just the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," she choked out, reclosing the gap and burying her head in his chest.
Harry held her tight, both of them silent for quite a while, until a nagging in the back of Harry's mind finally had to be addressed. "Earlier, when you said you like me and kissed me — does that mean you'll be my girlfriend?"
Hermione nodded, before smiling up at him.
"But only if you'll be my boyfriend."
Chapter 9
"Does that mean you'll be my girlfriend?"
"Only if you'll be my boyfriend."
Harry smiled at her, and said, "It would be my honor."
"Then why don't you show me just how much of an honor it would be by snogging me senseless," smirked Hermione in reply, looking at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"I don't know much about kissing, never having done it before, but I can try," answered Harry. "Just might take a while to get it down."
"I'm counting on it, and we've got plenty of time before the Ball ends," smirked Hermione. "Anyway, I don't either — that's what makes it fun. Two horny, inexperienced teenagers learning together — and trying not to get caught by the Bat," she finished in a rush, grabbing his hand and dragging him down the path.
Harry only just briefly caught a glimpse of the Slytherin Head of House stalking towards the fountain they'd just been standing at, before he was jerked around the corner of a particularly high set of shrubs, as Hermione tried to get them to safety.
"Sorry about that," she panted out when she finally brought them to a stop in a hidden clump of bushes on the far side of the garden. "He did not look like he was in the mood to let a little innocent snogging going unpunished — not that I'd exactly say he's everlooked in the mood for it, but he really didn't then."
"I'm just thankful you saw him," replied Harry gratefully.
He was silent for a second, before finally asking, "So about that learning…?"
"Get over here and snog me, you silly boy," laughed Hermione, before launching herself on top of him before he even had a chance to try to move towards her first.
~HP~
The spot Hermione had found them proved to be a good one, as they weren't bothered by professor or other student for as long as they stayed there.
Harry felt like he could have continued forever, exploring Hermione's mouth and the strange but pleasant new sensations doing so made him feel, but Hermione had eventually pulled back saying they really needed to get back inside before it became too late, and anyway she'd like another few dances before the night was over. So they headed back inside, dancing for another thirty minutes until the Weird Sisters finally twung their last twang.
They both noticed Ron sitting alone in a far corner of the Great Hall glaring at them, but neither of them mentioned it to the other, and they certainly didn't feel inclined to go find out what his problem was, other than the fact Hermione hadn't been available when Ron had finally realized he could ask her out and it had all been due to Harry having already invited her.
In truth, Ron actually believed that Hermione really had still been inviteless when he'd asked, which was why she'd refused to tell him who she was going with. And it was only sometime after that that she'd agreed to go with Harry since he also didn't have a date yet, and he had either tricked her or used his champion fame to get her to go with him, instead of agreeing to go with Ron who'd asked first. But as Ron's thought process was such that, if they didn't already know he wasn't going to tell them, he never approached them and just sat there trying to glare holes through them every time he saw them.
At midnight, the Weird Sisters finally wrapped up, and the Professors began shunting everyone off to their commons rooms, despite pleas and beggings by many of the students to keep the party roaring for another few hours. But the professors were having nothing of it, and as the crowds began wending their ways through the castle to their respective common rooms, Harry and Hermione followed at the tail end of the Gryffindor crowd, up to Gryffindor Tower and their awaiting beds.
They did however duck into an unused classroom at the beginning of the seventh floor corridor leading to the portrait of the fat lady, to get in a last minute snogging before going to bed. They would have simply done it in the common room before they headed up their separate staircases, but they didn't particularly feel like having everyone watch them, and make a big ado about it when they were trying to just go to bed. So they simply stopped off in the abandoned classroom for a few minutes to get it in before continuing on down the hall to their common room.
But when they did finally step through the portrait hole, Hermione was immediately verbally assaulted by Ron, the only person left in the otherwise completely empty common room.
"I can't believe you went with this liar instead of me!" he bellowed at her, pointing accusingly at Harry.
Hermione pulled up short, staring in disbelief at the redhead's audacity. After several seconds, she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, more than fed up with the redhead and his attitude about girls and dates surrounding the Yule Ball.
"Well, if you don't like the girl you want to go with going with someone else instead, you know what the solution is, don't you?" she finally growled.
"Oh yeah?" Ron yelled back. "What's that?"
"Next time there's a ball, ask the girl you want to go with before someone else does, and not as a last resort because you're waiting for the hottest girl in the castle to come to you!"
Harry noticed that she specifically never said that he should ask her, as Ron was clearly talking about, merely that he should ask the girl he wanted to go with, but her point still stood. It wouldn't have been her he would have asked, as Ron had had no actual interest in going with her even when he did finally ask, only that she was a girl and he didn't have one, but the redhead could have asked a girl he really would have wanted to go out with. And if he'd asked her soon after they'd all been told about the Ball, she could have still been available, and he could have had a good time at the Yule Ball. But instead, he'd waited on someone hot to come to him, before scrambling at the last minute to try to find anyone who would be willing to go with him and failing, and thus spending the entire Ball being jealous of someone who had asked the person they wanted to go with right after being told of the Ball's existence.
Ron merely gaped at her in reply, until Hermione finally turned to Harry and said crisply, "Night, Harry — see you in the morning," before disappearing up the girls' staircase to her dorm.
Once she was gone, Ron sputtered in the direction she'd disappeared in, "Well — well — that just proves — completely missed the point — !"
Harry didn't bother replying, knowing nothing was going to be getting through anyway. And he just wanted to get to bed too much at the moment to speak his mind right then, and more likely than not get rewarded his own row with the redhead for his efforts — but he personally thought that Hermione had the point much better than Ron had.
Chapter 10
Boxing Day morning, Harry and Hermione wandered down from their dorms much later than they normally did.
Everyone else had apparently had the same idea of sleeping in, as there were only a few other people milling about in the common room when Harry walked in, quickly spotting Hermione standing by the window holding and petting Crookshanks as she looked out over the frosty grounds. It was a sure sign that she'd only been there for a few minutes, as on the mornings she didn't go watch the sunrise, she always spent five or ten minutes just looking out the window, enjoying the beauty that Hogwarts provided and the grumpiness her kneazle provided, before starting reading or researching or doing any homework. As he approached her, Harry saw her smile despite not having turned around at all to see that he was coming — she simply knew, like always.
"Morning, boyfriend," she said quietly once he was near enough for him to hear her.
"Morning, girlfriend," replied Harry as he joined her looking out the window and absentmindedly reached over to scratch Crookshanks behind the ears. They stood there like that for several minutes, before Harry finally said, "Hungry?"
"I could eat," answered Hermione.
She set down Crookshanks down on the couch, and they started to head out. When they were almost to the portrait hole, they heard the twins call them over from where the redheaded pair was huddled conspiratorially in the corner. They should have known something was up when the twins were already awake before them, as the twins weren't renowned for being particularly early risers without reason, but as Harry and Hermione were still slightly sleepy from staying up so late the night before, they didn't question it. And so they made their way over, completely forgetting to pay attention to where they were going,
And walked straight under an innocent looking clump of mistletoe that had been stuck to the ceiling of the common room with a sticking charm a week before.
However, nothing was ever as innocent as it looked at Hogwarts — staircases had trap steps, doors weren't really doors, tapestries often led to secret passages, and the greenery could have secret powers. This unobtrusive little plant was no different — it was magical mistletoe, a far more sinister plant than its muggle counterpart.
You see, magical mistletoe had a symbiotic relationship with Nargles. Unlike muggle mistletoe, under which muggles voluntarily kissed, magical mistletoe, when in full bloom, trapped its unsuspecting victims beneath it until they kissed. Which while not a problem for any happy couple that happened to wander under its spell, those less inclined to lock lips were in trouble. And whilst the unhappy victims were stuck beneath the plant, the Nargles that lived inside the mistletoe would infest the bickering pair.
When the mistletoe had first been affixed to the ceiling a week before Christmas, word had quickly spread to avoid that section of the common room if you didn't want to go tongue tangoing. However, in their post-Christmas sleepiness, neither Harry nor Hermione were paying attention to where they were walking as they went over to see what the twins wanted. So a second later, they found themselves stuck underneath the offending greenery, with only one way out.
The twins walked over, not-so-innocent smirks playing across their faces.
"Would you look at that," said Fred.
"How very unfortunate," replied George, sounding anything but displeased, as they both came to a stop right in front of the trapped pair.
So as not to have to admit that she'd fallen for the twins' trick, Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled Harry to her, snogging him senseless.
As the twins were whistling and catcalling the amorous pair, Ron chose that moment to come down from the boys dorm, unnoticed by any of them. Seeing the lip-locked lovers (but missing the fancy, free-flowing, flowering flora above their heads — not that it would have made any difference to him), he froze in shock. Unfortunately for everyone, however, his temporary paralysis lasted less time than their kiss, and he screamed, "Oi!"
Hearing the minor explosion, Harry and Hermione languidly broke apart, before stepping out from under the mistletoe to avoid being infected by any Nargles.
"Yes...?" said Hermione coolly, giving Ron a look that clearly said 'think twice about what you're about to say'.
Ron, however, thought at most once, and likely not even that.
"What the bloody hell were you doing!?"
"Kissing," replied Hermione, her tone unchanged from before.
"Why were you kissing him!?" yelled Ron. "You're supposed to end up with me!"
"I'm supposed to end up with you!?" exclaimed Hermione in complete flabbergastation, her voice rising. "You didn't even realize I was a girl until a week ago!"
"That completely misses the point!" bellowed Ron. "You end up with me, and Harry ends up with Ginny! Mum's always told us so!"
Suddenly Mrs Weasley's behavior the past three summers he'd spent at the Burrow made a lot more sense to Harry, as did her continued Christmas present this year despite him no longer being friends with her son.
"Wait!" exclaimed Harry loudly, as yelling seemed to be the only acceptable way to be part of this conversation. "How could Mrs Weasley have always been telling you that you'd end up with Hermione, when she'd never even heard of Hermione before three years ago, didn't meet her at all until Diagon Alley two and a half years ago, and didn't spend any extended time with her until six months ago?"
"So she added Hermione three years ago, what difference does that make?" snarled Ron savagely, turning on Harry. "It doesn't change the fact that her and me are supposed to end up together!"
"I am not supposed to end up with anyone," growled Hermione threateningly.
"That still doesn't give you any reason to be kissing him!" shouted Ron in reply, turning back on Hermione. "He's probably been using his fame to snog every girl in the castle!"
"Just because that's what you would do if you were champion, doesn't mean Harry's been kissing any other girls!"
"Fine! So maybe he hasn't kissed any other girls, but that doesn't give him the right to kiss you!" shouted Ron, changing tack at the speed of light.
"Ronald Bilius Weasley! Harry is my boyfriend, he can damn well kiss me as much as he bloody well likes!" shouted Hermione, fury radiating off her in waves as she pulled out her wand and took a threatening step towards the redhead.
"Okay, full name and wand, I think we need to separate you two," interrupted Fred, stepping in between Ron and Hermione before Hermione jinxed Ron into tomorrow, or at the very least the hospital wing.
"Why don't you two go get breakfast," added George, grabbing Harry and Hermione's arms and pulling them towards the portrait hole.
As soon as they were through the portrait, before it'd even fully closed behind them, Hermione stormed off towards the Great Hall, muttering under her breath what sounded like a list of curses she'd like to use on Ron.
Harry ran to catch up with her.
"Hey," he said softly when he had, gently putting a hand on her shoulder as he caught up with her. "Ignore him. It doesn't matter what he thinks. He's just jealous I got the prettiest girl in the castle."
Stopping when she felt Harry's hand land on her shoulder, Hermione turned and rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "Ignoring the fact we both know I'm not the prettiest girl in the castle even when there isn't a Veela around, he's not jealous that I'm with you instead of him. He's jealous that, in his mind, you've taken something else away from him that he thinks should be his, and something that would bring him fame and attention, which is all he really cares about. It's only the idea of me being with him, and everyone knowing I'm with him, that would matter to him — not me myself. If he could have a robot that looked just like me that he could show off on his arm, he'd be just as happy with that — and if it couldn't bug him about not doing his homework, he'd be even happier than with the real me."
"So you really think Mrs Weasley told him that you would be his one day?"
"And that Ginny would get you, and that everyone would end up as one big happy Weasley family," answered Hermione with a nod. "And based on what Ron said, she had you picked out for Ginny long before either of you ever started Hogwarts, and definitely before ever meeting you. And while I'm sure every wizarding mother has probably dreamed of having their daughter marry the great and famous Boy-Who-Lived one day, Mrs Weasley took it to the extreme of instilling the idea as a guaranteed fact into her children. And then when I became the 'brightest witch of the age', it only made sense to put me with Ron to collect me into the family as well."
Harry didn't even know what to say to all of that, so he didn't say anything. It seemed so impossible that anyone could be like that, and yet it did explain an awful lot.
But eventually Hermione said, "It's a lot to think about, I know. And I may not be entirely correct about all of it, but what I am correct about is the fact that I really am hungry now, so let's go eat and we can think more about certain Weasleys sometime later — perhaps on the same day Snape hosts a birthday party for you and Neville."
Harry chuckled, and they resumed their walk down to the Great Hall and morning sustenance.
~HP~
They had only been eating for a few minutes when everyone's favorite ferret swaggered in, followed closely by his posse.
"Oh look, the Boy-Who-Lived and the Insufferable Know-It-All, madly in love," he drawled quietly enough for the entire hall to hear.
So in order to quickly stifle any rumors that they were romantically involved, Harry and Hermione leaned towards each other and languidly kissed, making sure anyone who looked in their direction would have plenty of time to see them.
Once they'd finally broken apart, Harry looked across the table at the Snakelet and asked innocently, "Whatever would give you that idea?"
Their blatant disregard for what he had been so sure would be a highly embarrassing rumor, left the ferret literally speechless. So after staring thunderstruck at the Golden Couple for several seconds, he finally walked away and sat down at the Slytherin table without uttering a single word.
"Bravo," came two voices at Harry and Hermione's outside ears.
The next moment, the twins had sat down on either side of them.
"That's how you stun a snake into silence," said Fred, grabbing a plate of sausages.
"We overheard him last night talking to his peeps about the fact you two went to the Ball together; we wondered how long it would take before he twisted it into you two dating to try and embarrass you," added George, grabbing some toast of the nearby plate.
"You don't think he knew we actually are dating when he said that?" asked Hermione, surprised.
"Definitely not," answered Fred, shaking his head. "No one knew you two were dating until you decided to show the entire Hall."
"Wait a minute," said Harry slowly. "Then how did you know we were dating, in order to trick us under the mistletoe earlier? Because even you guys wouldn't force two people to kiss if you didn't know they were okay with it."
"We were getting pretty darn close, just to make you two finally realize your feelings for each other, but no — we saw you kissing by the fountain last night," answered George.
"Yeah, we'd followed you out there to convince some fairies to set a romantic mood around you guys, but it seemed you'd found your own perfect setting before we could help," added Fred.
"Then how do you know no one else saw us and knows as well?" asked Hermione curiously.
"Because do you two see everyone staring at you and whispering? Well, before you just snogged in front of the entire hall, that is — there are a lot of people looking this direction and whispering now," answered George.
"And when we saw you, there wasn't anyone else nearby, and certainly not close enough to see you," finished Fred.
"Well, they know now, that's for sure, and everyone who isn't currently here will probably know within the hour, given how gossip about me spreads," replied Harry.
"We can guarantee it, if you like," offered Fred.
"And completely free of charge, including any extra rumors you'd like spread with it," added George.
"Thanks for the offer, but I think the news will make it around on its own just fine," said Hermione. "Harry and I hadn't really discussed it, but as neither of us like the spotlight I think we were trying to keep it low for a while — not that that's going to happen now."
"Oh, you're long past zat," came a recognizable voice floating across the table.
The four of them looked up to see Fleur sitting there, smiling brightly at Harry and Hermione.
"As soon as I walked in I started 'earing whispers zat ze Boy 'O Lived, Fourth TriWizard Champion, ze one and only 'Arry Potter 'imself, 'ad a girlfriend — and it was ze same girl ze Prophet rumored a month and a 'alf ago, and was reinforced last night," continued Fleur. "I just wanted to come over and see if it was true, and congratulate you two."
"Well thanks, and yes, it is true," replied Hermione. "We've been getting closer ever since Harry's name came out of the goblet and everyone started hating him and calling him a liar, and then last night we kissed and admitted our feelings for one another, and started dating — or officially started dating, as we've kind of been doing it without realizing it for the last couple months."
"Well best of luck to you, and just wanted to say congratulations," said Fleur, before standing up and starting to return to the Ravenclaw table where the rest of the Beauxbatons were sitting.
"Fleur — you could stay with us and eat, if you'd like," Harry said quickly before she'd taken more than a step. "Hermione and I joined you at the Ravenclaw table once, even if it was by accident — you could stay here. You haven't met the twins yet, anyway, and that's always worth the time."
Fleur turned back around, clearly surprised at having been invited to stay.
"If you're sure I won't be a bother," she said hesitantly.
"Of course not!" said Hermione. "We'd be happy to have you here. And the twins really are a riot."
"Zen I will," answered Fleur, sitting back down. "So who are zese twins you both mentioned?"
"Fred. George," said Harry, pointing at each in turn. "They're the resident jokesters and pranksters of the castle, always good for lightening up the mood and throwing a fantastic party."
"Pleasure to meet you," replied Fleur, holding out her hand to each of them in turn to shake.
Harry, Hermione, the twins, and Fleur spent the rest of the morning getting to know each other better and recounting the twins' greatest hits, eventually being joined by Luna Lovegood as well when she wandered in, and saw that Fleur was sitting with Harry and Hermione that morning instead of at the Ravenclaw table like normal.
Chapter 11
Now that Christmas was over, the Second Task loomed much nearer than it had before Christmas break began.
Harry and Hermione had been trying to figure out the clue — or really what the clue even was supposed to be — ever since Bagman had told them about there being a clue following the first task, but so far they'd had no luck. They had opened the egg up several times in the weeks between the First Task and Christmas, in the Gryffindor common room or in Harry's dorm room, but they had been limited to times when no one else was around to have to hear the incessant screeching, so as not to annoy all their fellow Gryffindors into murdering them in the middle of the night. And since Christmas, Harry and Hermione had started spending almost all of their free time in the library to avoid Ron, who still hadn't come to terms with Harry and Hermione's newfound relationship.
While limiting the amount of affection they could express, it did have the advantage that Harry had quickly caught up on all of his homework, and was no longer dragged down by mountains of parchments. And as his amount of work needing finished had gone down, his enjoyment of his classes had gone up, and along with it his speed of learning. While certainly not up to the level of Hermione, he had become one of the top students in their year, much to the delight of their teachers, and much to the ire of Ron, who preferred spending classes joking around, and then copying the answers off Hermione at the last minute. And now that Hermione was no longer letting him copy off of her, the redhead's ire was piling up at nearly the same rate as his homework.
But the library wasn't an ideal place for figuring out the clue, as studying a screaming egg in her tranquil, silent palace was greatly frowned upon by Madam Pince.
And it was a screaming egg.
But it was during one of the evenings of studying in the library that Cedric Diggory, the Hogwarts champion, walked up to them.
"Figured out your egg yet?" he asked quietly, looking around to make sure no one was listening.
"Not yet, no," replied Harry shaking his head, wondering why a fellow competitor was asking him if he'd figured out the clue yet. To the best of his knowledge, they weren't supposed to be sharing or helping each other.
"Try taking a bath with it...in fact, use the Prefects' Bathroom; fourth door to the left of the statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. Password's 'pine fresh'."
"Thanks, but why are you telling me this?" asked Harry, a look of confusion on his face. Why would Cedric be wanting to help him when they were competing against each other?
"I owe you one for telling me about the dragon," replied Cedric, before saying, "I gotta go, but just — remember what I said."
And with that he hurried away, leaving them alone again.
Harry and Hermione just looked at each other for several seconds, before Harry commented, "That was weird."
"He kind of has a point though," answered Hermione. "You did tell him about the dragon, which if he hadn't known about he certainly wouldn't have the thirty-eight points he currently does, so if he's figured out his clue and thinks it's something you really should know about beforehand, it makes since he would want to reciprocate."
"I guess. Do you really think it's something as bad as a dragon again, though?" asked Harry.
"I certainly hope not," replied Hermione. "I really don't want to lose you right after we just started dating." She paused for a second, before smirking, "Or anytime, I guess, but especially not now that I have someone to snog any time I like."
"Except when Madam Pince is hovering around like a vulture," said Harry with a slight smirk of his own.
"Yes, well, that is an unfortunate side effect of the fact Ron still refuses to accept us, and we're too nice to shove it in his face in the common room. It definitely limits our affectionate time — but fortunately broom cupboards exist."
"Three cheers for broom cupboards," replied Harry, before asking, "But what about about this clue Cedric's given us?"
"Since we'll have to do it after hours so as not to run into any actual prefects, we need to plan it very carefully, as Snape won't take being a champion as an excuse for being out of bounds. But I think we should definitely try it out, as we have nothing better to go on at the moment, and I don't think he was trying to trick you or anything," answered Hermione. "And I think we need to do it soon, so if we don't figure out the clue there, we'll still have time to try to figure it out some other way."
So the remainder of that evening Harry and Hermione schemed and planned, working out all the details and minutia for a late night excursion to take a bath, putting the finishing touches on their stratagem just before Madam Pince walked over to kick them out of the library. Happy with their plan, Harry and Hermione walked hand in hand back to the Gryffindor common room, sharing a brief kiss outside the fat lady's portrait before they entered.
~HP~
The following night, once the common room had emptied, Harry and Hermione donned Harry's invisibility cloak, and snuck out of the portrait hole.
Thanks to Hermione's careful planning, and their use of the Marauder's map to make sure no one was taking a midnight stroll down the hallways they needed, Harry and Hermione arrived at the statue of Boris the Bewildered safe and sound. Entering the Prefects' Bathroom, they looked around and marveled at its extravagance.
"This is definitely worth becoming a prefect for, but how is this supposed to help us figure out the clue?" whispered Harry.
"Well, Cedric did say to take a bath with it, so I suppose we should start there," whispered Hermione back. There was no one else in there, but it was just the kind of place they couldn't help but whisper in.
Harry nodded his agreement, so they walked over to the sunken swimming pool, grabbing a couple fluffy towels off a pile on their way. After Harry set his golden egg down on top of the towels so it wouldn't roll away, they spent several minutes testing and comparing the hundreds of golden taps, until they soon had the pool filled to the brim.
With nothing left to do, Harry walked back over to where they'd set the towels down by the edge of the pool, and pulled off his robes and shirt, leaving him standing there in just his bathing suit. Hermione, who'd followed him over, did the exact same thing.
Harry had seen her next to him out of the corner of his eye, and just felt her presence next to him in general, so when he finished, he looked over at her. And thinking back on it later after his brain turned back on, he knew he should have expected what he saw, or at least something similar, but he hadn't. And his jaw dropped for it.
For Hermione stood there in a pale turquoise bikini, looking serenely out over the pool. And Harry thought he'd never seen such a picture of grace and beauty and perfection in his life.
When she turned to see if he was ready yet and caught him staring at her, she blushed slightly and smiled shyly at him, before turning and diving into the warm water. After a second to return his jaw to its normal position, Harry dove in after her. She was already halfway across the pool when he resurfaced, so he hurriedly swam after her to catch up.
She paused at the far end to let him finish catching up, and asked, "Care to swim a few laps before we start working on the egg? It's been since vacation last summer that I've been able to swim."
"Of course," replied Harry, and they proceeded to swim several laps of the long pool, before eventually returning to the egg, and the reason they were there in the first place.
But as they leaned up against the edge of the pool, before Harry could pick the egg up off of the towel he'd laid it down on, Hermione asked, "I have to ask, Harry — is this the first time you've ever seen a girl in a bikini?"
Harry nodded. "I mean, I've seen them on tv or in movies or something, so I know what they are, but no — I've never seen one in person. The Dursleys never took me on vacation to the beach, or even to a pool or anything, where I might have seen one. And sorry for staring, I just couldn't help it — you're so beautiful."
Hermione blushed again, and she knew she couldn't blame it on the warmth of the water they were in — but thankfully Harry didn't mention it.
"Thanks, Harry," she said shyly, before continuing on more confidently, "And I wore it because I knew you would stare. I have a couple one-piece suits I could have worn instead if I'd chosen to, but I didn't. You're my boyfriend — you're allowed to stare at your girlfriend when she's showing off for you."
She paused for a second to give him time to absorb what she'd told him, knowing his upbringing had left him without certain norms she took for granted, before saying, "Now what about that egg?"
Since their feet could barely touch the bottom of the pool, the two of them tread water as Harry opened the egg. While the cacophony of screams echoing around the marble bathroom was quite spectacular, it unfortunately did nothing to help them solve the mystery, unless the clue was that the second task was going to be a complete headache. After several seconds of the awful din, Harry slammed the egg back shut, rubbing his temples as the echoes finally stopped bouncing around the marble walls.
"Get anything from that other than a headache?" he asked his girlfriend.
Hermione shook her head, staring thoughtfully at the offending ovoid of gold. "But Cedric did say to take a bath with it, not simply to open it in the Prefects' bathroom, so I'm guessing the water has to have something to do with it. Maybe trying opening it underwater?"
Harry stuck the egg beneath the surface of the water, and opened it again. This time, at least, there was no wailing; however, there was no discernible clue, either. To Harry it just sounded like a mixture of garble and bubbles.
"It's a song, Harry! But I can't understand it," exclaimed Hermione excitedly, living up to her reputation as era-defining genius.
And with a splash, she disappeared under the water. Resurfacing a few seconds later, she excitedly motioned to Harry to go underwater as well, spluttering out, "Underwater, Harry! Underwater!"
Taking a deep breath, Harry plunged his head beneath the surface. To his great surprise, instead of the bubbles he could hear above the water, underneath he could hear a chorus of eerie voices singing to him from the egg in his hand. And they were singing some kind of song that he assumed must be the clue for the second task.
When they both resurfaced a few seconds later, Harry said, "Looks like we found the clue."
"Indeed — but even I can't remember the whole thing from a single listen, or even two," replied Hermione. "We're going to have to go back down."
After several more trips up and down, they had finally memorized the song — or at least Hermione had, as Harry had been rather distracted staring at Hermione's bikini-covered breasts. But since Hermione had memorized it, Harry set the egg back down on the top towel, and he and Hermione started floating around in the water, trying to figure out what it all meant.
"Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground," began Harry, floating on his back staring up at the ceiling.
"Since you had to open the egg underwater, that presumably means you have to go underwater," said Hermione. "I'm assuming the Black Lake, since they do like grandeur for this tournament."
"So I have to go into the Black Lake, to find something they've taken from me that I'll dearly miss. But who are they that can't sing above the water and will be taking something from me? Who is it I'm searching for? I mean, surely not the giant squid."
"The squid's only one thing, Harry, and last time I asked him he wasn't too big on singing," chided Hermione, as she stared at the painting of the mermaid on the far wall. "But they are."
Harry flipped over in the water to see what she was looking at. "Mermaids?"
"There's a whole colony of them at the bottom of the Black Lake. Which you'd know if you ever read Hogwarts: A History."
"I did!" exclaimed Harry indignantly, before mumbling, "Start to—must have missed that chapter."
Hermione merely rolled her eyes at him, before reciting the next verse of the song. " 'An hour long you'll have to look, and to recover what we took'. Simple enough — you have an hour to complete the second task."
"Ah yes, because surviving underwater for an hour is quite simple."
"I just meant we know what you have to do," replied Hermione, flicking water at him.
"But past an hour — the prospect's black; too late, it's gone, it won't come back," finished Harry. "So as if finding whatever they've taken in under an hour isn't enough, if we don't find it in time, we'll lose it forever."
"Sounds like it," answered Hermione gravely.
Chapter 12
After swimming around for a while longer, just enjoying the pool they both hoped they'd be able to use whenever they pleased starting the following year, Harry and Hermione finally left the Prefects Bathroom and headed back towards Gryffindor Tower and their awaiting beds.
With the invisibility cloak covering them both, and Hermione watching the Marauders' Map as Harry carried the egg, they quickly made it back to the Gryffindor common room without incident. Filch and Mrs Norris were safely in their office, Peeves was on the other side of the castle, and none of the teachers' dots were prowling the hallways that night in search of out of bounds students. It was a calm, quiet, normal one o'clock in the morning in the castle.
Once safely through the portrait hole, Harry and Hermione took off the invisibility cloak and wiped the Marauders' map clear, not needing either any more. Then they shared a quick kiss where the stairs split to the boys and girls dorms, pleased with the success of their evening, and bid each other goodnight and headed off to their respective beds.
The good feelings from their successful mission were only destined to last for so long, however, as the first day of classes brought with it several unpleasant surprises — the first of which occurred at breakfast that morning as soon as the owls swooped in delivering the mail.
The entire front page of Hermione's Daily Prophet was covered in an article about Hagrid, complete with the shiftiest photo of the gamekeeper the photographer could have possibly taken.
"Rita's claimed her next victim," Hermione said quietly to Harry after she'd read the title, laying the article out between them on the table so Harry could read the lies and misinformation along with her.
As she read the line about Mad-Eye's hiring being 'a decision that caused many raised eyebrows at the Ministry of Magic', Hermione grumbled to herself, "Well then, looks like it's a good thing the Ministry doesn't have any authority at Hogwarts, doesn't it?", but the first section she directly pointed out to Harry was the sentence, 'Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, has enjoyed the position of gamekeeper at the school ever since, a job secured for him by Dumbledore'.
"You know, it is really odd when you think about it that he got the gamekeeper position when he was only thirteen or fourteen years old," she said as she pointed to the line. "He would have been younger than us, and already in charge of the extensive and dangerous grounds here at Hogwarts? I mean, I know you said he was physically big and already raising acromantula in a cupboard by the time Tom Riddle got him expelled to save his own sorry arse, but that still seems far too young to hold any position at a school. Also, I'm not really sure it can be called 'admitted' when everyone knows he was expelled. Or if it was supposed to be some kind of secret, it's the worst kept secret in the world."
"I don't know," replied Harry. "Now that you mention it, I certainly wouldn't have been ready to hold a position like gamekeeper at the end of last year — hell, I don't think I could now. But he's never said anything about it to me."
In truth, Hagrid actually hadn't been the gamekeeper since he was expelled. Through at least the years the Weasley parents had attended Hogwarts, the gamekeeper had been one Apollyon 'Ogg' Pringle. Hagrid had only been the assistant from his time of expulsion until sometime after Mrs and Mr Weasley had graduated — but Hermione and Harry were unaware of this, and the article failed to mention it.
On the very next paragraph of the article, Hermione had to comment again, reading out the offending sentence.
" 'Last year, however, Hagrid used his mysterious influence over the headmaster to secure the additional post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher, over the heads of many better-qualified candidates.' That probably isn't wrong — Hagrid never graduated school, and he has zero teaching experience or post-Hogwarts learning other than what he's gotten himself into over the years as the Hogwarts groundkeeper, most of which have leant more towards a cell in Azkaban than a teaching position at the only school in the country," she said, before quickly continuing, "And don't be mad at me for saying that, I know you love him, in large part because he was the first respectable adult figure you ever had in your life, but you know I'm right about the teaching part. Just seriously think about our year and half of classes with him, and taking the fact he's your friend out of the equation, honestly tell me he doesn't leave a lot to be desired as a teacher."
Harry half-heartedly glared at his girlfriend for a few seconds, before finally sighing. "Okay, fine — so maybe he doesn't exactly match up to the level of some of the other professors here. But he's better than Snape!"
"Well that's hardly a challenge," retorted Hermione with a roll of her eyes. "The lacewings we stewed in class last week would be better teachers than Snape."
At this Harry couldn't help but chuckle, before they both continued reading on, to see what other propaganda Rita was spreading unchecked to her readers — which of course turned out to be in the very next sentence.
" 'Hagrid has been using his newfound authority to terrify the students in his care'?" scoffed Hermione. "I mean, sure, I agree that depending on your bigotry against Hagrid maybe he has brought 'a succession of horrific creatures' to the class, but while several people have been scared at first sight, this is magical creatures class, and most magical creatures definitely do deserve your respect or they might kill you. Everyone with half an open mind at least does respect the creatures Hagrid has brought in by the end even if they still don't like said creatures, so 'terrify' is a rather presumptuous claim — and it also assigns intent, which is always very hard to prove."
"And 'Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to being "very frightening" ' is just a bold-faced lie," added Harry, reading the next sentence. "Hagrid hasn't harmed a single hair on a single student's head, as long as he's been alive as far as I'm aware, and certainly not in any of our classes. Yes, there was Buckbeak who scratched Malfoy because the snake insulted the hippogriff, blatantly ignoring what Hagrid told us, but that's not Hagrid maiming a student. The very least she could have done was say that one of the creatures Hagrid brought to class maimed one student, which would at least be half a truth. And sure, I suppose 'very frightening' would be a suitable description for cowards and muggles who'd never met a magical creature before, but like you said, what would there be to study if you didn't study animals that could maim or kill you? There's just not much in the magical world that doesn't threaten your life or safety if you don't treat it with respect and obey the teacher's warnings."
" 'Don't ever insult one, because it might be the last thing you do' were Hagrid's exact words when he was telling us about hippogriffs," added Hermione. "No teacher can be held responsible for a student flagrantly disregarding their instructions. If you use the transfiguration spell to turn a beetle into a button on your head, at the very least bad things are going to happen and depending on how successful you are, you could very well kill yourself — it's not Professor McGonagall's fault if you do that, nor would she be considered responsible. It's the exact same thing with Hagrid, Draco, and Buckbeak. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
"And what is this nonsense about Crabbe getting 'a bad bite off a flobberworm'?" she continued, reading the next line of the article. "Flobberworms have no teeth, and anyone who ever took Care of Magical Creatures or honestly knows anything about magical creatures at all will know that, if they just use their brains for two seconds — which admittedly does seem to be asking a lot of witches and wizards most of the time.
"And I suppose 'We all hate Hagrid' is true if Draco was talking about the Slytherins, as I'm sure they do all hate Hagrid since that's what their lord and savior Snape has told them to do — but 'we're just too scared to say anything'? Seems to me like telling the most prolific reporter in the most widely read newspaper in all of wizarding Britain, using your real name and not the cover of anonymity, is literally the exact opposite of 'too scared to say anything'. And seriously Draco, do you expect anyone who knows you to believe you haven't bitched to Snape about Hagrid every chance you've had, especially when you semi had a case after being scratched by a creature he brought in to class? But I guess he only needs to convince an ignorant public that won't spend any amount of time verifying what their holy and can do no wrong Daily Prophet tells them to believe, and isn't concerned with convincing any of his fellow students who actually know his lying, manipulative arse."
"The next bit about breeding those screwt things is interesting, though," said Harry. "If breeding really is controlled, and they really were bred by him from manti-cores and fire-crabs, he really could be violating wizarding law. I mean, no more than raising a dragon in his hut, but definitely still illegal."
"And if he really did tell her 'I was just having some fun', it sounds like he did breed them himself," continued Hermione. "But at that point, doesn't some of this have to fall back on Dumbledore as well? I mean, you can't seriously expect me to believe that Dumbledore doesn't know what Hagrid is teaching in his lessons, and know that he has what seems to us to be an illegal creature not only in his possession, but in his classes as well. Which means that Dumbledore either approves or at the very least doesn't disapprove, which makes him complicit. And also of course means he'll protect Hagrid from the Ministry if it ever comes down to it, just as he's been doing since Hagrid was illegitimately expelled all those years ago."
They continued reading on, until Harry said, "So he's half giant — who cares? And maybe most giants were bad and supported Voldemort — so did most Slytherins. Yet no one is 'warning about the dangers of associating' with them. Or, I guess they kind of are, Slytherin does have the worst reputation, but it's not how Rita makes it sound with giants in this article."
"This one I actually can answer," replied Hermione sadly. "The wizarding world is as bigoted against giants and anything possibly giant-related as they are against werewolves like Lupin. If you don't believe me, go tell Ron 'So what?' when he finds out Hagrid is half giant. Now, I can't know for sure, and maybe I'm being overly pessimistic here and he and his family doesn't deserve my doubts, but I would be willing to bet it's more likely that he was taught by his family to hate giants, than it is that he was taught to judge them and their descendants individually based on their actions. But even if the Weasleys really are as free from prejudice as they like to pretend they are — blood status issues not included, which they are actually above average on — you can go say 'So what? Who cares?' to most wizards who grew up in the wizarding world, and they'll stare at you like you're out of your magical mind.
"But point being, it's no surprise Hagrid as hidden that all his life. Iobviously knew soon after I saw him for the first time — it's obvious if you open your eyes and actually know anything about giants and charms and potions and anything else that could potentially make someone that big — but I had honestly thought that most students and adults who were raised in the wizarding world were smart enough to figure that out on their own. But from the sounds of this article and how much of an impact Rita thinks it's going to make, I clearly yet again overestimated my fellow witches and wizards' intelligence and common sense."
"You have the most subtle, nice sounding, inoffensive insults I think I've ever heard," chuckled Harry wryly. "I'm not sure whether to be proud or concerned."
"It's not my fault none of them engage their brains or have any common sense," grumbled Hermione. "It's not that I don't think many of them are highly intelligent, it's just that they don't know how to apply it. The trouble with our wizarding friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so."
Returning to the article at hand, she said, "Hagrid 'appears to have inherited her brutal nature' is definitely skirting the line between personal opinion and libel. I'm pretty sure the only people who claim that Hagrid has a giant's brutal nature are people like the Slytherins, who are lying their arses off."
"She did get it right that 'Harry Potter is unaware of the truth about his large friend', though," said Harry. "I wouldn't consider it an unpleasant truth like she said, more a completely indifferent one like the fact the twins are purebloods, you're a muggleborn, and I'm a halfblood, but I definitely didn't know that he was a half-giant before this."
"Yeah, well, even a broken clock is right once or twice a day depending on if it's a twelve or twenty-four hour clock," replied Hermione with a roll of her eyes. "Don't give her more credit than she deserves for happening to get one thing right. It could have been completely possible that you knew all along, and that would have been just as much a completely made up lie as the rest of this garbage. Would have been if I'd ever mentioned it to you, I just knew Ron's head would probably literally explode if I told you when we first became friends, and then it's just been so long since then that I never thought to tell you after we departed ways with the redhead."
"Good point, good point," said Harry. "And I wasn't giving her credit as a 'journalist', I was just pointing out one thing she said did happen to line up with reality."
Looking back down at the article, Hermione reread the last few paragraphs to see if there was anything important she missed, after a few seconds pointing at the final line.
"Speaking of journalist — 'But Albus Dumbledore surely has a duty to ensure that Harry Potter, along with his fellow students, is warned about the dangers of associating with part-giants' — Don't you have a duty to tell the truth, and not make up bold-faced lies with just enough semblance of truth in them to make your lie stronger?" she sneered rhetorically. "It's like the hypocrisy's just wizzed right over her head."
"My question is," said Harry as Hermione pulled the paper back in front of her to quickly read through the rest of it to see if there was anything else important, "did Hagrid just tell her he was a half-giant during their interview? Because he's hidden it from everyone for however long he's been alive, so it seems odd that he would have told her. I mean, I know he can be extremely loose-lipped and has let way more slip to us than he ever should have, but that's one thing he never has in all the years we've known and talked to him."
"And she said 'the Daily Prophet has now unearthed evidence' that he's half-giant," replied Hermione thoughtfully as she set the paper down for a second to look at Harry. "That doesn't sound like Hagrid told her himself, though she does have a way with mincing words, so you can never be sure. But if he didn't, how did she find out? And when? And why was it never unearthed in all the years Hagrid has been gamekeeper? Especially last year with Buckbeak, as that would have made the Malfoys' case even stronger against him. You're right — none of that makes sense. It's like something new happened recently to bring this to light, but this time, I have no clue what it could be."
But as neither of them had any ideas when or where or how she could have found out this information about Hagrid, Hermione went back to reading the rest of the paper and Harry back to eating, ready to get started on their first day back at school.