"Krum?! Bleeden' bloody, Krum?!"

Hermione'd barely had one exhausted foot through the portrait hole before Ron had come barreling at her like a bull charging a red cape. His twisted, outraged face was about as red as a matador's cape too, and Hermione girded herself for the accusations and recriminations that she knew would come at the end of his head-long flight. He was so predictable.

But, if Ronald Weasley thought that his explosive, angry questioning would intimidate the likes of Hermione Granger, well… Ronald Weasley had another think coming. She didn't give a whit about what he thought or about his idiotic allegations. It was Harry's reaction to the news of her clandestine relationship with Viktor along with the aftermath of her tussle with Cho that had her concerned.

Although Hermione was one of his best friends there were still parts of Harry that remained an enigma even to those closest to him. She figured that would pretty much always be the case no matter how long or tight his relationships with others would be. She supposed it had to do with his atrocious upbringing and the fact that he'd been a target for Voldemort and his followers didn't help much. Trusting people was not second nature to Harry and revealing his fears and feelings tended to make him uncomfortable.

Wrapping the borrowed set of robes more firmly around her aching body, Hermione ignored the fuming red head standing in front of her silently demanding an explanation. She moved off to the side and set her sights on Harry who was sitting on the Common Room couch staring straight ahead. It did not look good, Hermione thought dismally as she passed by her other best friend and sat down beside the boy who had been her almost constant companion these last few months.

She longed to reach over and take his hand, but fought down the urge. Even though those small signs of affection had become second nature between them, Hermione got the impression that Harry wouldn't react too well to her gesture. She settled for placing her hand on the couch next to his thigh in case he would take it upon himself to reach for her.

"Well?! What have you got to say for yourself?" Without waiting for any sort of answer, Ron continued his tirade by demanding, "Have you seen the Gryffindor hourglass, huh… have you? One hundred House points taken… one hundred!"

Okay, she could deal with Ron when he was having a normal tantrum but he was in a right tizzy and Hermione had never been more grateful for the fact that the Common Room had been empty of all the other residents. Dimly, she wondered why that was. She'd fully expected an avid, buzzing audience and a barrage of querulous questions and comments to be flung in her direction. But, such was not the case.

Before she could think on such a curious thing, Ron rapped out, "Slytherin's bound to win the House Cup by default. It's the only way those bloody bastards could win it, and it's all your fault!"

Hermione'd had enough of Ron's asinine and selfish tirade and snapped in exasperation, "Shut it, Ronald."

Ron's eyes grew as wide as saucers before a wave of fresh red flooded his face and ears. Throwing his arms in the air, he exclaimed, "Tell her, Harry. Tell her what her arse-load of barminess has cost us! Not only was she screwing around with Krum behind our backs – fraternizing with the enemy – but we've lost the Cup for sure! She's betrayed us on both counts!"

"Shut it, Ron," Harry muttered to the astonishment of both Ron and Hermione. "You've got no call to go about spouting words like 'betrayal' at 'Mione." Pinning his shocked mate with a glare, Harry continued, "That's got the stink of hypocrisy, so don't even go there."

Ron did have the grace to look guilty at Harry's pronouncement, but it didn't last long. Crossing his freckled arms over his chest, he said in a huff, "That's neither here nor there. Besides, I'm sorry bout that, Harry. I made a mistake, but it wasn't near the mistake that she made. Come on, mate admit it. Hermione's really screwed the pooch on this one."

How in the world could Ron make such a lame-ass apology, Hermione wondered, aghast at his dunderheaded temerity? Harry must have thought so too because he didn't waste any time countering Ron's words.

"Wow, Ron… that was quite the apology."

There was no missing the sarcasm and even someone as clueless as Ron had caught it.

"Are you just expecting me to toss all that Hermione's done for me in the rubbish bin and side with you?" Shaking his dark head, Harry informed Ron fiercely, "No way, mate… no way in hell! She never doubted me and without her help I'd be lost and in no way prepared to participate in this blasted tournament."

Glancing sideways at Hermione, Harry continued quietly, "I'm sure she has her reasons for keeping her relationship with Krum to herself, and if she wants to tell us, she will. Until she does, it's really none of our business."

Ron, not ready to let it go and absolutely furious at Harry's less than effusive reaction to his apology exploded. "What about Cho? Huh, Harry? What about her? You gonna sit there and tell me it doesn't bother you that Hermione attacked her. Attacked! Put her in the Hospital Wing, so it must have been bad!"

Hermione drew in a sharp breath. She felt shattered; completely shattered that Ron, who didn't even know the facts of that incident, was spewing such nastiness. Sure, they'd had their differences, but she thought they were friends despite them. It wasn't as if he'd known Cho for the last four years. It hadn't been Cho tangling with an ogre First year with Harry and Ron; it had been her, Hermione Granger. All those other adventures and misadventures? That had been her too… through it all, and right up until the end! So, where was this sudden allegiance to Cho coming from? And, blind allegiance at that! Hermione placed a trembling hand on her stomach. He couldn't have hurt her more than if he'd physically punched her there.

"You bastard," Harry growled, jumping to his feet and advancing on Ron in a threatening manner.

Alarmed at Harry's ferocious expression, Ron backpedaled and almost tripped over his own two feet in the process.

"It's bad enough that you let your idiotic jealousy of me being picked by the Goblet to poison you against me, but now you've gotta turn on 'Mione? What for, Ron? More jealousy?"

Thrusting his finger in Ron's suddenly pale face, Harry continued, "You, my friend, are in serious need of a wake up call. All we know is that there was a fight; that's all! Just because rumors are flying around the school faster than a Nimbus 2000 doesn't mean we, Hermione's friends, need to be a part of that! As her friends we should wait to hear her side of things."

All the anger seemed to leave Harry in a great wave and his shoulders sagged dramatically as if they were carrying a great weight, and he asked dispiritedly, "How could you do that, Ron? How could you do that to us after all we've seen and done together; how could you?"

Harry's sad entreaty must have reached Ron on a level that Harry's anger couldn't because in the next instant the second to youngest Weasley's face crumpled and his sorrowful blue eyes glazed over with a sheen of tears.

"Okay," he answered over a slight sob, "I get it. You don't want to be friends anymore, and I can't say as I blame you. I've been a right git to you, Harry because I was jealous; you're right on that."

Ron gulped and took in a deep breath before continuing, "I am sorry about that, I really am. It was wrong of me to treat you so poorly and I've regretted snubbing you every single day. I just didn't know how to go about making things right, is all." Rubbing his splotchy face, Ron repeated, "I'm sorry."

Hermione bit her lip to keep from commenting on the fact that Ron hadn't apologized to her, but changed her mind in lieu of Ron's first honest show of actual remorse. What was more important here; Ron and Harry mending fences or her wounded pride? There was no contest, not really because Ron and Harry were destined to travel through life as best mates and Hermione wasn't going to foul that up for the sake of her hurt feelings.

Harry, however, had other ideas. "And 'Mione; what about her? Don't you think you owe her an apology as well?"

Hermione could tell that Harry's request wasn't sitting too well with Ron. His ashen face began to take on more color and his eyes lost their pleading apologetic gleam. He shot her a rebellious look before saying, "I take back what I said about the fight and Cho, but not about Krum. You were right on everything else but that, Harry. I still say she shouldn't be fraternizing with the enemy and if she didn't think so herself she would've told us all about it."

Hermione almost jumped a mile when Harry placed his warm hand on her shoulder, she hadn't even noticed that he'd moved back to the couch. He gave the tense muscles a slight squeeze before saying in a low voice, "In a way Ron's right."

When he felt her stiffen further, Harry quickly assured her, "For the most part he's not, but it would have been nice if you'd told us about Krum. I don't think of him as an enemy or anything stupid like that." This was said with a snort and a meaningful glare at Ron. "Still, would have been nice if you had trusted us enough to tell us."

"I was going to…" Ron grunted in disbelief before stalking off in the direction of his dorm room. Hermione sighed and then gave her attention to the boy next to her. "I was going to tell you, I really was, but like Ron, I wasn't sure how I should go about doing it."

Seating himself beside her once more, Harry replied, "It's okay. I guess you found yourself in a sticky situation, it happens. But, for the record, it wouldn't have bothered me."

Hermione gave him a grateful smile before saying, "Thanks Harry."

"Don't worry about Ron, he'll come around. He'll figure out what an arse he's being to you and make amends in his own awkward way."

"Yeah, I suppose so." Then she asked with a worried frown, "So, you are okay about Viktor?" Even though he had said that he wouldn't have had a problem with it, Hermione wanted to make sure he hadn't just been saying that out of friendship for her.

Nodding, Harry then asked, "Did he ask you to keep it quiet?" At her questioning look, Harry elaborated. "Krum. Did he ask you not to tell anyone about your relationship?"

"No," Hermione hastened to assure him. "Quite the contrary, in fact. He detested all the sneaking around and wanted to declare it outright from the start."

Sounding almost ashamed, Hermione admitted, "I convinced him that with the Tournament and all that it would be better not to advertise our relationship. But, I did promise him that we'd come clean and be out in the open about it at the Yule Ball."

Shaking his head, and sounding bemused Harry said, "You and Viktor Krum. Wow. I sure didn't see that one coming."

"Me either," Hermione added with a wicked grin.

"How'd it happen," Harry asked with open curiosity.

Hermione explained it all to her best friend, relieved that she could now confide in him.

When she was done, Harry turned to her with a wondering look, and said, "The library? One of the most celebrated Seeker's of our time hung out in the library until he worked up the nerve to ask you out?"

Hermione couldn't stop the pleased grin that spread across her face. "Yup."

Nudging her playfully with his shoulder he teased, "Hermione Granger, Hogwart's swotty femme-fatale, using her arsenal of knowledge and wisdom to lure and entice unsuspecting wizards."

Blushing wildly, Hermione nudged him back saying shyly to her feet, "He thinks I'm pretty too."

"Hermione," Harry called softly, urging her to meet his gaze. When she did, he informed her with firm conviction, "That's because you are pretty."

"Not like, Cho," was her equally soft rejoinder.

"No," Harry agreed taking in his best friend's openly vulnerable countenance. "Cho's good looks smack you in the face the minute you meet her." Hermione grimaced.

Shrugging, Harry went on stating matter-of-factly, "Most blokes are kind of dunderheads when it comes to girls. That being the case, they're gonna gravitate to the in-your-face sort of pretty."

Taking her hand, Harry added, "One can't help but notice your smarts right up front. So, yeah… it takes time for anything else to set in because remember… We're kind of dumb."

Then, he said with touching sincerity, "Your type of beauty, Hermione seeps in slowly. It trickles along steady, clear, and pure until one day a guy turns around, and then... BLAM… we're blasted with a torrent of beauty so spectacular we're in total awe of it while booting ourselves in the arse for not seeing it sooner."

"Harry," Hermione barely managed to get out through her strangled breathing, "Thank you." Throwing her arms around the surprised boy, she exclaimed fiercely, "I really love you."

Patting her back awkwardly, Harry laughingly replied through her mass of curls, "Same here."

Out of the blue, Hermione announced, "I'm sorry about Cho."

Pulling back, Harry said, "If what I've heard is true, I don't think you have much reason to be sorry."

Blinking in confusion, Hermione asked, "You know what happened?"

Nodding, Harry answered, "Professor McGonagall had everyone but me, and Ron either leave the tower or go to the dorms." Hermione now understood the absence of her other House-mates.

"She filled us in on what happened. About how Cho was the one who started the whole thing and that she called you some really nasty names. Basically, the Professor said you were defending yourself even though technically Cho didn't throw the first punch."

Bewildered, but gratified by their Head of House' championship, Hermione said, "I can't believe that Professor McGonagall actually condoned my actions. I wonder how she found out why this whole mess happened."

"I wouldn't say condoned," Harry refuted, "But she did make it clear that you were more or less baited into losing your temper." Frowning, he continued sounding truly disappointed. "Cho's not the person I thought she was."

Hermione surprised herself by saying and honestly meaning it, "I am sorry that you had to find out that the girl you're sweet on isn't who you thought she was."

Taking a closer look at his friend for the first time since Hermione returned to the Common Room, Harry noticed the small tell-tale signs of a physical confrontation.

"I can see Cho got a few good whacks in, but honestly, I thought you'd look worse."

Grimacing wryly, Hermione admitted, "It was worse, A whole lot worse." Spreading her arms wide, she continued, "The Hermione Granger you see before you now, is unrecognizable to the one of an hour or so ago. I mean honestly, the word: wreck- emotionally and physically-just doesn't even come close to describing the reality of it all."

"Dumbledore," Harry ventured to ask.

"Yeah," Hermione verified softly. "Between him and Madame Pomfrey, they fixed me up pretty good. She gave me a Calming draught followed by a Pepper-Up potion after Diggory left the office." Sounding embarrassed, she continued, "I was a right mess. My hair was rat's nest and believe me, a lot has gone into covering up some serious damage to my face; Cho got some good whollops in. Madame Pomfrey wouldn't fix the majority of lesser wounds on any of us, saying we deserved to have our horrid actions on display for all to see in the hopes of deterring any other such actions in the future."

Harry winced.

Noticing, Hermione added, "We're all going to be sporting some serious scratches and bruises for quite some time. Although, Madame Pomfrey must have a soft spot for Diggory because she practically begged the Headmaster to have her fix his nose right away. She was worried if she didn't, that it might stay crooked."

"Ummmm..." Harry broke off, not sure if he should ask or not.

"I broke it," Hermione admitted with a sheepish grin.

Harry's jaw was moving but nothing was coming out. Then, he finally whispered, "You did not!"

Hermione's smile got wider.

"Was it, was it like with Malfoy last year?"

"No, but it was no less deserved," Hermione countered, even if she was feeling a twinge of guilt. Not much, mind you, just a twinge.

"I stopped at the loo on my way back here to tidy up as best I could. I never thought I'd have any cause to put to good use all of those make-up and hair charms Ginny's been pushing on me, but I've never been so glad to have paid attention to such inane chatter, than I was today. Came in right handy."

"So, they healed you all, took 100 House Points, and what else," Harry asked.

"I'm assuming they healed Cho, but she was unconscious when they took her away to the Hospital Wing." At Harry's startled expression, Hermione quickly added, "Listen, the chit deserved it for sure, but I'm not proud of hexing her. When they Envenerated her, she told them some bollocks on how everything was my fault when she was the one who instigated the mess! It was more of a reflex on my part and I'm not playing it down here, it's..."

"Will you just, stop!" Harry gently admonished the contrite girl. "There's no doubt in my mind that you had just cause for your actions. I don't give a whit about Cho Chang, especially after being told the truth of the matter."

Raising her troubled face, Hermione replied, "Really? You don't care at all? There was this look on your face when I told you Cho was unconscious. So, I thought you might have changed your mind about being mad at me?"

Chuckling, Harry explained, "Wow, you got the wrong end of the stick there. It wasn't the extent of now knowing what you did to Cho that had me gobsmacked, it was that Hermione Granger: Defender of House-Elves Rights, Bookworm and Queen Swot of Hogwarts, Smartest Witch of Our Generation and the absolute best mate of the Boy-Who-Lived – managed to thoroughly knock the stuffing out of that nasty witch when I know for a fact that you abhor violence and prefer to solve issues with your mind and not your fists."

Hermione declared in wonder, "You're forever surprising me, Harry. I honestly thought that you would be mad at me about both Cho and Viktor and that it'd be sometime before you would be able to see my reasoning for both situations."

Harry took a moment before slowly saying, "If we're being totally honest here, then I have to tell you that if this had all happened months ago, I'd have probably reacted the same as Ron."

Looking pained at this admission, Harry continued, "I never realized how much of Ron's opinions influenced my own, until he wasn't constantly there anymore. I'm not blaming Ron for my past lousy attitude, I'm just saying that I need to stand firmer to my own convictions without worrying if Ron thinks I'm 'betraying' him for not taking his side in everything. He can be a real wanker, but aside from you, he's the best mate I have and eventually we'll all mend fences. When that happens, Ron will have to understand that it's not all gonna go his way like it used to and he can either like it or lump it."

Hermione couldn't have been more touched by Harry's words. In some ways, she still felt a bit like an outsider in the Harry and Ron fan club. Sure, she'd contributed plenty, more than plenty actually, but she wasn't one to quibble. Still, for all of that, Hermione had still felt out on the fringes of their friendship. Harry habitually sided with Ron, or totally ignored – the mostly – good advice Hermione had to offer. Truthfully, Hermione had resigned herself to the fact that this is how it would stay and she was the one who could either like it or lump it.

Shrugging one shoulder, Harry said, "I mean, without you, I'd be dead in the water with this Tournament. I've mastered the Summoning spell because you pushed and pushed til I got it right. You're the one who came up with the idea to use my broom in the first task, even though Moody mentioned something similar after the fact; you still got there first over one of the greatest Auror's of all time. I'm looking at a different perspective out these spectacle which you're so in the habit of fixing and I now see you for all your worth."

"Oh, Harry," Hermione wailed. "Haven't I cried enough for one day? I can't even express how much what you just said means to me, there are no words."

Desperate to change the subject – emotions were generally hard for him to process – Harry asked, "So what else happened? I can't believe that Dumbledore just took house points away."

"I don't know what else happened to Cho, but Cedric got really blind-sided. He's permitted to stay in the Tournament; I don't think Dumbledore had much choice in that matter because of the contract and rules being absolute since putting his name in the Goblet."

Soberly, Hermione continued, "Harry, he lost the title of Head Boy for his seventh year." Her friends' eyebrows disappeared into his untamed black bangs. "And, while it didn't seem like a big deal to me, I'm compassionate enough to see how losing the captaincy of the Quidditch team would be devastating. You should have seen his face, it was awful."

Hermione didn't think it was necessary to tell her friend of Cedric's tears, and she hoped somewhere along the way Cedric would do her the same courtesy by not passing along what a slobbering mess she had been. She was not a crier by nature, but she was sensitive. Her first year had been tough, especially when Ron had made it clear he hadn't liked her with Harry following suit and those tears had sent her straight into the path of a troll.

Often, she had wondered if they hadn't saved her from that troll, if they'd have ended up being friends at all. Never-the-less, Harry was turning out to be the best friend she could have ever hoped for, while Ron remained his same doltish self. The Boy Who Lived was growing into his own without Ron's constant, negative influence and she firmly believed that Harry would no longer allow himself to be unduly swayed from his own convictions after they all inevitably made up their differences. Ron was in for a surprise.

"I can't even imagine," Harry whispered in horror. "I mean, I'm no fan of Diggory's but to lose the Quidditch team?! Wow!" Rubbing his forehead, Harry added contemplatively, "Now I wish I had told him about the dragons."

Biting her lip in consternation, at war with herself, Hermione finally said, "It's not too late."

"What?!" Harry screeched. "After the way he treated you?! No way. Not going to happen."

"I get it, Harry," Hermione admitted, "I'm not a thrilled with how he behaved either. I don't know what you've heard, but he wasn't even close to being the outrageous ugly that Cho was." At Harry's incredulous expression, Hermione went on to explain, "The least that he did was out my relationship with Viktor to Cho." No need to go into Cedric's snarkiness while he went about doing it. "At worst, he abused his Head Boy status." Hermione frowned. That had really rubbed her the wrong way.

"In all honesty, in the aftermath, he'd been strangely supportive." She was not going to inform her friend at how while barely clothed, she had sobbed on Cedric's shoulder, and he had consoled her in a way that had made her feel safe. "When Cho lied about how they were both blameless in the fight, and I had provoked the whole thing, Cedric immediately informed the Headmaster that she was lying."

"He did that for you," Harry breathed in wonder.

"Yes," she admitted. Cocking her head to the side, Hermione continued quietly, "Before leaving the Headmaster's office, he even tried to take full blame for my part in the incident. At the time, I was still so angry with him, that the full impact of what he attempted to do didn't even register. Ignoring Harry's mouth agape in astounded astonishment, she added, "He didn't have to do that. I think he was truly remorseful."

"I'm gonna tell him about the first task," Harry proclaimed, having made up his mind.

"That's great, Harry," Hermione said with a small smile. Sighing, she continued by saying, "This is probably going to be a bit awkward, but Dumbledore told me that I still have to tutor Cedric. I'm also not going to make Prefect and possibly not Head Girl although the Headmaster did say that, depending on how the rest of my tenure here progresses, that he might relent on banning me from Head Girl status if I were fortunate enough to earn it."

"I'm sorry, Hermione." Harry pulled her close, before saying in a conciliatory manner, "I know how much both of those titles mean to you."

Snuggling her head more firmly into the juncture between her friends' neck and shoulder, she muttered, "My behavior has been less than exemplary and certainly not how a Prefect or Head Girl should act; it doesn't set a good example for the younger years either. I admit to being devastated at first hearing the news, but realistically speaking, it was deserved. I'm also going to be spending what little free time I have doing research for Madame Sprout on rare plants, where to find them, and how to cultivate and transplant them into hostile environments. Apparently, she's been writing a book on the subject and she needs a research assistant."

Rubbing a hand up and down her arm, Harry ventured to say, "That doesn't sound so bad, you like doing research."

"I do like research," she admitted, "But in the subjects I want to research. Herbology and all that plant stuff doesn't engage my mind as much as Dark Arts, Ancient Runes, Transfiguration, Arithmancy or even Potions. I mean, I do recognize that certain plants and such are important in many aspects of magic, but I don't find Herbology challenging enough."

Harry was quiet for a moment then ventured to say, "Maybe that's why he picked it. He knows it's not a subject you're keen on, and this is supposed to be a discipline, so giving you something you'd like kinda defeats the purpose. I say, consider your self lucky."

"I suppose," she grumbled. "It's just going to take so much of my time away from my own studies on top of tutoring Cedric and I have a curfew for the library too!"

Harry grinned. Poor Hermione. Losing out on Prefect was bad enough but to also have a library curfew? Tragic! That place was like her second home, so Harry knew she would really feel the loss of not being able to be there whenever it suited her.

"I'm also worried that I won't have sufficient time to continue helping you with the Tournament."

"We'll manage," Harry assured her with more conviction than he actually felt.

Hermione turned her head and planted a kiss on Harry's cheek before rising rather tiredly and saying, "I'm going to skip dinner and take a long, hot bath. There isn't a molecule in me that doesn't hurt."

While walking her to the stairs leading to her dorm room, Harry grabbed her hand and said, "Listen, there's all ready tons of rumors running round the school about what happened and Krum coming here is just going to add fuel to the fire."

Hermione's slender shoulders slumped and it saddened Harry to see her looking as of she'd been repeatedly bashed with a rogue bludger.

Squeezing her cold fingers in sympathy, Harry advised, "Just ignore it, okay. We've both been on the receiving end of some serious rubbish from schoolmates and the papers. There's nothing for it except to wait it out. Those who believe in you, will stick by you. I'll stick by you."

As a fresh wave of tears stung Hermione's sorrowful eyes, she gently cupped her friends' cheek and whispered, "I really appreciate that, Harry. I know my dorm-mates will try pumping me for all the gory details, and I might tell them a bit of what happened basically because there's no real way around it, but I'm not going to feed into their gossip-mongering. I'll try not to let it get to me."

Harry gave her a feeble smile which she returned before continuing up the stairs, stopping momentarily to chuckle when she heard Harry ask, sounding confused, "Hey, ummm… Mione... are you wearing Professor McGonagall's robes?!"