Crossing of Fates

Chapter 4

During their walk by the lake the next day, Harry told Hermione about his day.

"They weighed my wand for the tournament. It was nothing, but then Rita Skeeter wanted a review with me in the broom closet. And that quick-quotes quill of hers was writing all sorts of stuff I never even mentioned at all."

"Who is Rita Skeeter?"

"She's a journalist famed for writing all sorts of things about other people."

"Hmm... Sounds like a very gossipy woman."

"Yes, she is."

"Harry, it's tonight, isn't it?"

"Yeah, Sirius is coming today."

"I'm anxious to meet this famous escaped convict; is he nice?"

"Yes, he definitely is. It's especially useful to have a godfather who is an escaped convict."

"Why?"

"Because the Dursleys wouldn't dare to do anything to me."

"The Dursleys? Your aunt and uncle, is it? I'm sure I read about your moving to their place in some book."

"Yes, they're the most horrible people on earth."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Hermione. They locked me in a cupboard. They told me my parents died in a car crash. My cousin, Dudley, is a bully; he's really fat, but my uncle and aunt think that he's adorable. I was so glad to be rid of them. When the letter came, I was so overjoyed."

"I see. They sound really awful. Are they your only living relatives?"

"Yes. What about your family?"

"Not much to say about my family. I'm an only child, and my parents are dentists."

They were interrupted by Lavon and Renay, who had just exited the Beauxbatons carriages. Together, the four of them made their way to the Great Hall for dinner.

**********

The next day, after dinner, Hermione and Harry went into the Gryffindor common room. Hermione had become a frequent occupant of the common room in the past few days. She had stayed until midnight the previous day, talking in hushed whispers with Harry. The common room had emptied at about eleven, and Hermione hoped that nothing would go wrong.

Harry gave Hermione the password to the Gryffindor common room and at midnight, after making sure there was no one else, she went in. Harry came out, whispered thanks to her, and hurried down to meet Hagrid. Hermione sat in the common room, looking around her. There was no one awake.

She sat impatiently, waiting. After a long while, Harry came back. He threw off his cloak and covered her with it.

"Harry, what is this for?"

"Well, Sirius does not know about you yet. Also, I don't want anyone to come down and see you. They might report to one of the teachers."

Hermione nodded, and then sat closer to Harry, "Isn't he supposed to be here by now?"

"Yeah, wait for a while."

"How was your trip to Hagrid? What did he say?"

"Oh, he brought me with him on a date with your Headmistress." Harry waited while Hermione made a choked sound in her throat.

"So that's why she was so excited," she murmured. "Sorry, Harry. And then?"

"He led her to a clearing near the Forbidden Forest, you know, the forest by the lake." Hermione nodded. "And there were four dragons."

"Who's Charlie?"

"Oh, he's Ron's brother. Remember? The one I told you about. He works with dragons in Romania."

Hermione nodded, and said, "So they're for the tasks?

"It appears so. I think we have to get past them to get something."

Suddenly, the fire turned green, and Sirius's head appeared. Hermione gasped a little, which Harry muffled by talking to Sirius.

"Sirius, I'd like you to meet someone." He turned to where he supposed Hermione was. "Hermione, you can come out now."

"Sirius, this is Hermione Granger. She's from Beauxbatons."

Hermione appeared, saying, "Hello, Sirius. It's nice meeting you."

Harry let them speak for a few moments.

Then, he told Sirius about the dragons. Sirius was about to tell him something, when there were faint footsteps approaching. Harry turned to Sirius frantically.

"Go, quick, Sirius. Someone is coming, be careful."

Sirius said a hurried goodbye to Harry and Hermione and disappeared. Hermione hid under the invisibility cloak once more. Ron appeared into the common room. He stared at Harry.

"I thought I heard talking down here, what are you doing?"

"Nothing, sod off, Ron."

Ron didn't do anything. He stood firmly. "What do you think you're doing with that French girl? She's dangerous, I tell you. She'll betray you."

"Don't you dare insult Hermione; she stood by me at least. She believed I didn't put my name in. Such a great friend you are."

"So high and mighty now, are you? Do you think it is so wonderful to be a Hogwarts champion?" Ron asked, glaring at Harry angrily.

Harry picked up of the badges Malfoy made. Hermione knew two of the Gryffindor boys had gotten them to alter them to Harry's favour, but they were still unsuccessful. Harry picked one of them up, threw it, and hit Ron straight on his forehead.

"Maybe you'll get a scar in time for the tournament," he said bitterly.

Ron gaped at him before returning back to his dorm.

"Harry, you really shouldn't have done that."

"You're my friend. And it's my duty to help you."

"Thank you, Harry, though it was not necessary. Now, I need to get back, or Lav would be suspicious."

Together they exited the common room.

**********

The next morning, Hermione and Harry were by the lake as usual. The sun was nearing the horizon, inching slowly down. The landscape was bathed with gold and pink colours. Hermione was sitting on the grass, thinking.

"Did Lavon say anything yesterday about your returning so late?" Harry asked, as he flew down from the air after flying about in his Firebolt.

"Oh, no. Renay did though. She's stuck with the idea that you're my boyfriend."

Hermione smiled a little, thinking that it wouldn't be too bad if it were true. Truth be told, she was getting rather fond of Harry, and she wondered what she would do without him the next year.

Harry mistook her smile for mocking Renay and kept silent. They sat in an awkward silence. They were saved by Lavon, and both heaved a sigh of relief, and everything went back to normal. If Lavon suspected anything, she kept quiet and didn't say a word about it; instead, she struck up a conversation with them that made Hermione immensely grateful.

Just as they were about to enter the Great Hall, they heard snickers coming from behind them.

Draco Malfoy approached them with a smirk on his face. He thrust the Daily Prophet into their hands. Hermione looked at the article and gave a tiny gasp.

It was an article written by Rita Skeeter about the Triwizard Tournament. But it had turned out to be a highly coloured life story of Harry. A picture of Harry occupied much of the front page and the article was all about Harry. The other champions were only mentioned in the last line, and Cedric was not even mentioned at all.

Harry had to endure people, especially the Slytherins quoting parts of the article at him an making sneering comments.

Hermione, however, was taking all of this in an extremely dignified way, a perfect personification of Fleur, uncaring about the entire affair as some Hogwarts students taunted her.

Thankfully, she could spend most of her time in the carriage and so for quite a few days, she and Harry could almost always be found, bending over a book in her dorm, or laughing over some matter, occasionally with her friends.

**********

The next few days flew past in a haze, and Hermione could barely remember her first month in Hogwarts, though she would only remember it as enjoyable and warmer than Beauxbatons.

Monday afternoon, just a few days later, found Hermione sitting by the lake, her cheeks flushed lightly from her morning run, her eyes unusually bright and starry as she stared into the sky, where huge white clouds were heaped over in the distance and a cool breeze was lightly sweeping past.

"What are you thinking?"

"Nothing, Harry. Just thinking how wonderful it would be here in the spring."

"Yes, it's very pretty here. But autumn is nice too. The beginning of autumn at least. The leaves are all red and yellow. It's a beautiful picture."

She paused for a moment, looking dreamily into the distance. "Harry, are you nervous about your first task?"

"Yes, Hermione. I need to learn a good summoning charm from you by tomorrow. Professor Moody, my defence against the Dark Arts Professor, told me to think of my capabilities, and it struck me that he was hinting me to use a Summoning Charm to summon my Firebolt."

"Oh, what a wonderful idea! Sure, I'll help you. Do you want to go and practice now?"

"OK, let's go to the Charms classroom. It's empty."

They reached the Charms classroom, and Hermione cast a spell on the door so that no one could open it, in case the cushion they were trying the spells on flew and hit someone's head.

"All right, Harry, it's very easy. You just have to say "Accio Firebolt", and think about your Firebolt, and it'll come flying to you. However, I think we should first try this on cushions. You just have to say 'Accio cushion' get it?"

"All right," Harry said, rolling up his sleeves and taking out his wand. "Accio Cushions."

"No, Harry," Hermione said, laughing when all the cushions in the corner flew towards Harry, piling on him.

"Ouch," Harry's voice came muffled. When he remained submerged under the cushions for a long time, Hermione worriedly took the cushions off him.

"Harry? Are you all right?"

"Ha! Got you!"

He grabbed her by her arms and pushed her to the floor.

"Harry Potter!" Hermione screamed, laughing at the same time. "I'll get you for this."

Harry stood up from the piles of cushion and stretched out his hand to help her up. Hermione stood up, smoothing her robes and glaring playfully at Harry.

"Come on, let's try it again. Say 'Accio cushion' without a s."

After a whole afternoon of practice, Harry was still not very good at the Summoning Charm.

As Harry re-stacked the cushions in a corner, Hermione looked out of the window, and saw Draco Malfoy under a tree, with his friends. He was talking to his hand, it appeared.

"Harry, look. What do you think he is doing?"

Harry moved towards the window and looked down. "I don't know. Maybe he's talking to some recorder or something."

"You can't use electricity in Hogwarts, Harry. Don't you know?"

"Sorry. I never heard about it before."

"Oh look, Harry. It's late. You have to go for your lessons."

"It's only Divination, I can skip it."

"Absolutely not. Go for your lesson, Harry. I'll meet you in the Great Hall during dinner, OK?"

"Alright." He replied grudgingly and trudged out of the classroom.

**********

Harry returned to the empty classroom with Hermione after a very brief dinner to practice, using the Invisibility Cloak to avoid the teachers. They practiced until midnight, but Peeves turned up.

To avoid Filch catching them, they hurried to the Gryffindor common room, which was thankfully empty.

It was almost two in the morning,. Harry stood near the fireplace, surrounded by various objects, only in the last hour, had Harry gotten the hand of the charm.

"That's better, Harry. That's loads better," Hermione exclaimed, looking a little exhausted, but extremely pleased.

Harry raised his wand once more. 'Accio Dictionary!'

The heavy book soared out from Hermione's hand and flew across the room, and Harry caught it in mid-air, perfectly.

"Harry, you've really got it."

"Just as long as it works tomorrow. The distance is much further tomorrow. I'm not sure if I can summon my Firebolt from so far a distance."

"It's alright, Harry. Just concentrate, and you'll be able to do it. Now, go get some sleep, Harry. You'll need it."

"Wait a minute. Does this charm work on people?"

"I'm not exactly sure." Hermione admitted, " I think short distances only, or else Voldemort could very easily summon you to him whenever he likes."

'Accio Hermione!' Harry said softly, as she zoomed across the room, stopping directly in front of him.

"Now we know it works," Harry said.

Hermione leant over and kissed him softly on the cheek. " Good luck for tomorrow, Harry."

Then, smiling, she left the common room. If she turned back, she would have seen Harry touching his cheek, with a ridiculous grin on his face.

She slipped into the carriage, stealthily and into her room. She had just sat on her bed when someone grabbed her arm and stifled her mouth with a hand.

Hermione was going to scream, but she turned around and saw Lavon and Renay grinning at her.

"Honestly, what's wrong with you two?" She asked, a bit snappishly.

"Where did you go, Mione?"

" I was helping Harry with mastering a Summoning charm."

"Hermione, how could you! You're supposed to help with Fleur. This is ... fraternizing with the enemy, that's what you're doing!" Lavon said.

Hermione's mouth fell open.

"Don't be stupid. You were the one who was so excited when you saw him the day we arrived!"

Lavon chose to ignore this, and glared at Hermione.

Renay looked from one friend to another, and finally spoke. "Stop arguing. It's very late now. Go to bed."

"Good-night, Renay." Lavon said huffily and went to bed. Hermione stared down at the floor.

"Renay, what have I done wrong?"

"Nothing, dear. I don't really mind you helping Harry out, but Lavon minds. She thinks we should stick together, since we're from the same school. She wants us to win very much."

"Well, I'm not sure. Actually, I want Harry to win, but I want our school to win too," Hermione said, looking at Renay. "Is that wrong?"

"No, Mione. It's not wrong."

"I think it's OK to feel this way for your friends. It's very easy to be torn between whom to support. Lavon is probably jealous Harry likes you," Renay said, with a wink at Hermione.

Hermione burst into laughter, "Maybe that's why. Although I doubt it, Lavon is not this kind of person."

Renay grinned back at her, "Well, we'd better get some sleep. There's lots of excitement tomorrow."

**********

The next morning, Hermione woke up extremely early again. She went for a jog, and halfway, Harry joined her, which made her extremely distracted. So, she stopped and went to the Great Hall with Harry.

After lessons, lunch came. Harry was nervous, extremely nervous, and could not seem to stuff down even one bite. Hermione forced some food down him, but he ate little.

"Harry, you must eat. Come on, you'll be fine," she coaxed.

Renay, who was beside them, nodded. "Harry, eat something."

He gave in and took a few bites of food, chewing slowly, while the other two forgot their lunch and waited for him to finish eating the small amount of food in his plate.

And finally, Harry was called to go to the competitor's area. As the two stood outside the Great Hall, Harry gave her an uncertain smile.

"So, this is it," he said.

"Don't worry, Harry. You'd do great. Good luck! She gave him a kiss on the cheek and hugged him, "Now, go."

She watched him leave the castle, going out with Professor McGonagall to one brightly coloured tent. He looked back at her one time and gave a weak smile. She waved back, tears in her eyes.

She was afraid. She was scared for his life. Harry was good, and had been lucky for quite a while, so why wouldn't he survive this? She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. Then, she watched as he disappeared into the tent.

Renay came over and the two left to go to the spectator's stand. It was a scene of chaos. Hermione sat in one of the last rows, which was elevated so that she could see clearly.

It was time.

People were chatting excitedly, but Hermione felt extremely worried. She barely concentrated as Fleur, Viktor and Cedric took their turns with the dragon. She didn't even care. She could only think about Harry.

She prayed, hoping he would be unhurt, and that he would win. But was it possible? She mused. She knew he was capable. And she believed in him, she wanted him to win.

Finally, it was Harry's turn. As Cedric left to go into a tent set up to treats the champions' injuries, Hermione felt her heart thumping wildly.

Harry, I believe in you, you have to win. Show them you are the best, Hermione closed her eyes tightly, and waited for Harry to come out.

It seemed that Harry was taking his time. Finally, his small figure stepped out. It seemed that the place had suddenly grown quiet, and there was no one else. Only Harry and Hermione. Their eyes met and even at such a far distance, Harry could see Hermione's trust and confidence, and Hermione could see his fear reflected.

Finally, he gave a nod, and walked steadily to the cage. Just before stepping in, he took up his wand.

"Accio Firebolt," he said, not too loud, but Hermione could hear his words. And she could feel his fear and anxiety.

It seemed like ages. People were stirring, impatiently. Hermione was starting to worry when it came. It was here.

Hermione let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding. Harry mounted his broom, as people beside her gave gasps of surprise. It was going to be interesting. Would Harry succeed?

Hermione brushed aside all the comments people were making and concentrated on Harry again. He was flying in the cage, just directly in front of the huge Hungarian Horntail.

He was flying up, and the dragon was rising up with him. He hesitated a moment, and the dragon's fire hit him slightly. He was flying around, dodging the dragon's flame.

And then, he disappeared from view as a blaze of fire shot out of the dragon. When Hermione saw him, he was speeding towards the golden egg, and Hermione felt that she had never seen anyone move or fly as fast before. He was wonderful.

Hermione screamed and applauded as Harry came out of the cage. He did it, faster than anyone else, and had equal marks with Krum. She ran down to meet him in the cage, and flung herself into his arms.

He winced slightly, but enveloped her in a hug. "Thanks Hermione," he said, as she smiled up at him.

"Anytime, Harry," she replied with a grin and their eyes locked, brown meeting green.

They were cut off by the footsteps of someone approaching.

"I'm sorry," the voice said.

It was Ron.

**********

Callie, do you think you could help me add in the part of the newspaper? You know where it is. Help me add in the part about the Slytherin's comments as well. Or was there just a part of what the papers said. Just try and help me do what you can about this part. Thanks. I really don't have the book.