A/N: Boy, this escalated quickly. I mean, this really got out of hand fast.

So I was watching GoF, complaining about how terribly they butcher the book, and then saw this scene, which is one of the few things I truly love about this movie, and decided to play around with it a little bit and write a short story about what could have happened. And then next thing I knew it was 10k words.

Disclaimer: Movie dialogue is from the movie, book dialogue is from the book, anything else is from its original source, characters and GoF plot obviously aren't mine, yada yada yada…. I just make sure our two favorite characters end up together like they're supposed to.

Harry paced nervously in the Champions tent. The other three champions were each nervously waiting for the first task to start as well, but Harry wasn't paying them any attention, and they weren't paying each other any attention, either. As he paced by one end of the tent, Harry noticed a slight shadow fall on the side of the tent, before the fabric rippled slightly. Moving over towards it, he heard a distinctly feminine "Psst."

Harry moved right next to the fabric separating the champions from the outside world.

"Psst," came the voice again, quiet enough that the other three champions hadn't seemed to have noticed. "Harry! Is that you?"

"Yeah," replied Harry in an equal whisper.

"How are you feeling? Okay?" came the voice of his best (and at the time, seeming only) friend. "The key is to concentrate. After that you just have to…"

"Battle a dragon," Harry finished for her.

There was a pregnant pause, and then Harry suddenly found himself being engulfed in a mighty hug, as Hermione burst through the opening in the tent walls and launched herself onto to him. Staggering a step backwards to keep his balance, Harry wrapped his arms around her tightly, returning her hug gratefully.

Hermione had been the only one to believe him when he said he hadn't put his name in the Goblet of Fire, for which he knew he would be forever grateful. And beyond simply believing him when no one else would, she'd also helped him perfect the accio charm once he'd told her about needing to summon his Firebolt for the first task against the dragon.

But suddenly, their little bubble was rudely burst by the flash of a camera lightbulb.

"Young love," cooed Rita, strutting into the tent. "Oh, how—" Here she pause for a second, clearly contemplating the best word to describe the situation.

"Stirring," she finished with great finality, before continuing, "If everything goes unfortunately today, you two may even make the front page."

Hermione had a nasty suspicion that "unfortunately" to Rita would mean that none of the champions had sustained a nasty injured in the upcoming task. But before Hermione could do anything more than glare at the "reporter", Krum spoke up for the first time since Harry had entered the tent.

"You have no business here. This tent is for champions. And friends."

Rita looked mildly offended that no one considered her a friend, but she covered it well, and simply answered, "Well. No matter. We've got what we wanted," before swaying back towards the far door of the tent.

But before she'd made it all the way to the door, the judges and Filch entered the tent from behind where Harry and Hermione were standing, so Rita slipped into a corner to observe.

"Good day, Champions. Gather round, please," boomed out Dumbledore's voice as he entered. The other three champions quickly hurried over to where the adults were, as Harry and Hermione shifted to the side slightly so Dumbledore could have center stage. Harry and Hermione's hands instinctively found their way into each other, and Hermione's other hand grasped his arm protectively.

"Now you've waited. You've wondered. At last the moment has arrived. The moment only four of you can fully appreciate."

Dumbledore looked around at the four students, and with a double take, realized that there were in fact actually five students standing around him, and not just four. With another look, Dumbledore recognized the extra student as none other than Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of their generation.

"What are you doing here, Ms. Granger?" Dumbledore asked puzzled, clearly confused at her presence, looking around to see if anyone else knew why she was there. As no one did, he looked back around at the young witch.

"Oh, sorry…" Hermione stuttered, before Harry squeezed her hand and said, "She's here with me, Professor. She wanted to wish me 'Good luck'."

"Oh," replied Dumbledore, still looking flummoxed. But he continued on anyway, turning to Mr Crouch. "Barty. The bag."

Holding out a bag that looked like it was smoking slightly, Mr Crouch gestured to all of the champions. "Champions, in a circle around me. Miss Delacour over here. Mr Krum. Potter and — you" — here he looked at Hermione, clearly not having paid any attention to what Dumbledore had just called her — "over here." Having shuffled everyone around to where he wanted them, he continued, "Right. Miss Delacour, if you will…"

Soon all four champions had selected their dragon, and Mr Crouch had explained the objective of the task. The adults left the tent to return to the stands, leaving the champions (and friend) alone once again.

As Cedric headed out of the tent first to face his dragon, Harry and Hermione drifted back into one corner of the tent; the other two champions returned to their own corners, going back to mentally preparing themselves for the monstrous task they would soon be faced with.

"Thanks for coming," said Harry quietly as soon as everyone but the other two champions were out of the tent.

"Of course, Harry," replied Hermione distraughtly, still grasping Harry's arm tightly. "This is completely mad, having students face dragons!"

One by one, the other two champions left the tent to face their dragons. The entire time, Hermione kept a tight grasp on Harry's hand and arm. Neither of them said anything, both lost in their own thoughts.

Finally, however, Dumbledore called for Harry to enter the enclosure to face the Hungarian Horntail, and Hermione had to let him go.

Turning towards her, Harry held out his other hand to her, with the dragon sitting in it, and said, "Here, hold onto this for me until I get back."

Hermione nodded silently, trying to fight back her tears, holding out her hand and letting the miniature dragon flutter from his hand to hers.

"See you soon," said Harry in what he hoped was a reassuring tone, before turning and heading towards the door of the tent that led into the enclosure.

Hermione turned and ran towards the stands, wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand as she hurried to join the rest of the Gryffindors to watch Harry face his dragon.

"Where have you been?" asked Ron irritably, as Hermione appeared next to him just as Harry stepped into the enclosure.

"Being there for my friend," replied Hermione shortly as she stuffed the miniature dragon out of sight in her robes. Then she deliberately turned towards the enclosure, resolutely ignoring Ron.

~HP~

Several nerve-wracking minutes later, Harry stood outside the enclosure, golden egg raised in one hand, Firebolt in the other. As Professor McGonagall and some of the other professors hurried towards him from one side, a bushy mane of brown hair came flying at him from the other. Not seeing her coming, this time he was knocked down when she launched herself onto him, squealing acclamations in such a high-pitched voice that Harry couldn't make out what she was trying to say, although he thought he caught the words "Harry" and "remarkable".

"That was brilliant, Potter," he heard McGonagall say, and pushing the bushy hair obscuring his vision out of the way, he saw the Transfiguration teacher standing over him, looking down at the two of them. Surprisingly, she seemed more amused by the fact Hermione was laying on top of him hugging him, than disapproving.

"You'll need to get that scratch checked out by Madam Pomfrey right away," she added, pointing at the scrape on his shoulder that he'd sustained from the dragon's tail.

"Yes Professor," he replied to her, trying to push Hermione up off of him so that he could stand up.

As Hermione climbed off of him and noticed all the professors around, she ducked her head and blushed, quickly following Harry as he made his way to the first aid tent.

Exiting the tent a few minutes later to watch the judges give Harry his scores, Harry and Hermione saw Ron standing off to the side, looking disgruntled.

When Harry's scores were revealed, and he had tied with Krum, three-quarters of the Hogwarts stands erupted in jubilation; Slytherin, of course, did no such thing. But as he found out from Neville later, the only champion they had cheered for at all was the Durmstrang champion, Krum.

The stands soon emptied around Harry, everyone congratulating him, and trying to pat him on the back, and telling him that they'd always believed in him and he was going to win the tournament for sure. In the midst of the celebration, Cedric made his way up to Harry from the first aid tent, to offer him his congratulations.

"That was an impressive bit of flying, Harry," he said, shaking Harry's hand. "I got Madam Pomfrey to let me watch from the first aid tent. And, you know, thanks, about the dragons and all," he finished quietly, both of them knowing full well what he meant. As Cedric moved off towards the castle, a large portion of the crowd followed him, congratulating him on his success just as they had Harry.

Harry and Hermione waded their way through the crowds towards the castle, eager to be able to relax for a while. When they finally made their way up to the Gryffindor common room, and stepped their way through the portrait hole, Ron brushed by them brusquely on his way out, most likely headed towards the Great Hall for food.

"I'm glad I didn't enter the tournament," he said loudly as he knocked into Harry's shoulder as he passed. "I wouldn't want to be facing dragons, even if it was for eternal glory."

And with that he was out the portrait hole and gone.

"Does he really still think I would have entered myself to face dragons?" asked Harry in disbelief as he and Hermione collapsed into their favorite armchairs by the fire.

"But you didn't know there were dragons when entrance was open," explained Hermione patiently. "Both of you wanted to be in the tournament back when you didn't know what the first task was; so did half the school that was too young to enter. And just like all of them, both of you would have entered if you could have. Just because he's realized now that he wouldn't really want to be in the tournament isn't going to change his belief that you entered yourself. And as far as that goes, whatever he may say, if he had the chance to enter right now, I still think he would, just for the attention."

"But what about the rest of the school? They don't still think I entered myself! So why would he!?"

"I'm not so sure that's really true, though, Harry. The rest of the school just no longer cares whether you entered yourself or not after watching you defeat your dragon. I think most of them still do believe you entered your own name, but you did such a good job in the first task, that they're willing to support you now even though you did enter yourself." At Harry's glare she quickly added, "Which I know you didn't really."

Harry sank back into the cushions of his armchair, both physically and mentally exhausted from his flight with the dragon and the stress leading up to it. He made a mental note to never go flying with a dragon again.

Mistaking his sigh of exhaustion for one of anxiousness about his former best friend, Hermione said cautiously, "Give Ron time, but as long as he still believes that you entered your own name, and you keep getting all the attention — which I know you don't want — I don't know how you two are going to become friends again."

Harry nodded, knowing everything she said to be true, but he found himself less worried about it than he thought he would be. He realized that the only person he really needed was already right by his side, and always had been. Even during their minor squabble at Christmas a year earlier over the source of one of his gifts, she had been more by his side than even he had.

"Oh, I nearly forgot," said Hermione suddenly, breaking Harry out of his thoughts.

She rummaged through her robes for a second, before pulling out the miniature Hungarian Horntail he'd given her in the Champions Tent.

"I believe this is yours."

Harry walked gloomily out of the classroom. Professor McGonagall had just told him that he had to have a date for the Yule Ball. He was pretty sure he would rather face another dragon than try to find a date for a dance he was already bound to embarrass himself at. Not paying attention to where he was going, he ran into someone who was standing in the hallway just outside the Transfiguration classroom door.

Looking up, he realized it was Hermione, waiting for him. An idea suddenly dawned on him.

"Hermione, I assume from all your reading that you're aware that the champions have to bring a partner to the Yule Ball?" he asked carefully.

"I think I read something about the champions opening the dance, yeah. Why?" replied Hermione, as they walked towards the Great Hall for lunch.

"Wouldyouliketogowithme?" Harry said in rush.

"Pardon?" asked Hermione, stopping and turning to face Harry. "Could you repeat that a tad bit slower?"

"Would you like to go with me? To the Yule Ball," repeated Harry slightly slower this time, though still faster and quieter than his normal voice. "I understand if you don't want to go with me," he rushed on, embarrassedly.

"What? No, I'll go with you. Of course I'll go with you. I just can't believe you'd ask me," replied Hermione, clearly taken aback that he'd asked her.

"You sure?" asked Harry, surprised himself that she'd agreed. "I mean, I'd understand if you wanted to go with someone else."

"No, I want to go with you," replied Hermione hurriedly. "I just didn't expect you to want to go with me. I mean, you have pick of any girl in the castle."

There was an awkward pause for a few seconds as they just stood there looking at each other.

"So, uh, I guess we'll talk about when and where to meet up when it gets closer to time," said Harry awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

"Yeah. Yeah," responded Hermione just as awkwardly.

"So, lunch?" asked Harry, trying to break the awkwardness of the situation.

"Yes, lunch" replied Hermione gratefully, and they resumed walking towards the Great Hall.

As soon as they sat down at the Gryffindor Table, Ron, who had been trying to talk to Harry like they were best of buds ever since Harry's popularity had soared after the first task, launched into a monologue about how impossible it was to ask a girl to the Ball, followed not so subtly by a long list of requirements any girl he would ask would have to meet.

Glancing over at Hermione with a smirk, Harry was quickly beginning to see why it was going to be so impossible for Ron to ask a girl to the Ball.

Ron's ongoing difficulties in asking someone to the Yule Ball continued, and it was quickly the week before Christmas.

In the Gryffindor common room, the twins plopped down on opposite sides of Harry and Hermione where they were sitting on the couch.

"Got a date for the Ball yet?" asked George, looking over at Ron, where he sat at the table trying to build a card castle with a pack of Exploding Snaps.

The castle blew up in his face, so he turned towards his brothers and replied, "Nope."

"You better hurry, or all the good ones will be gone," said Fred.

"And I suppose you have a date already?" retorted Ron.

"Of course," replied Fred. "Angelina."

"Seriously? And she said yes?" said Ron in shock.

"Good point," replied Fred. Then leaning his head backwards over the back of the couch to where he could see (an upside down, from his vantage point) Angelina talking to Alicia in the far corner of the common room, he shouted, "Oi! Angelina!"

The Gryffindor chaser looked up at him. "What?"

"Want to come to the ball with me?"

Contemplating the redhead for a second or two, she finally shrugged and said, "Sure, why not?", before returning to her conversation with Alicia.

Looking back at Ron, Fred said, "There you go, piece of cake."

~HP~

After the twins had left a few minutes later, Ron and Hermione got into a nasty row when Ron said that he didn't want to end up going to the Ball with a troll. At the end of their scathing argument, Hermione finally jumped up and stormed off to her dorm when Ron confirmed that he'd rather go with a girl who was pretty and completely horrible, than with a girl who was anything less than stunning but actually had a personality. After Hermione had stormed off, Harry quietly slipped away to find the twins to confirm his suspicion that Fred had already asked Angelina to go to the Ball with him before pulling his trick on Ron. As Harry suspected, Fred had.

That had all taken place the night before, and now Harry and Hermione were sitting in the common room near the fireplace, reading their Potions books, when Ron came stumbling in and collapsed into the armchair across from them.

"What happened to you?" asked Harry.

"He just tried to ask Fleur out," replied Ginny, walking over towards them.

"A troll starting to look pretty good?" said Hermione loftily, looking up at their former friend.

After glaring at her for several seconds, his expression suddenly changed.

"Hermione, you're a girl," said Ron, the fact obviously having just dawned on him.

"Only took you four years to notice," muttered Hermione, causing Harry to hide behind his book and cover his mouth with his hand, so Ron couldn't see or hear him snickering.

"You can go to the ball with me."

"No, I can't."

"Why not? It's bad enough for a guy to show up to the Ball alone, but it'd just be pathetic for a girl to show up by herself," insulted Ron.

"I can't go with you, because someone has already asked me!" she exclaimed angrily, grabbing up her books and storming off to her dorm for the second time in as many nights. A new record for Ron, Harry thought to himself.

"She's lying," said Ron dismissively. "There's no way she's got anyone."

Harry kept his mouth shut and merely shrugged; there was no way he was going to tell Ron the truth after that.

Christmas evening, Harry walked down the Grand Staircase into the Entrance Hall, where everyone was milling about. It was about ten minutes till eight, so his date still had a few minutes to arrive. As he looked around to see who was going with whom, Ron hurried up to him.

"Find a partner, mate?" he asked cheerfully.

"Yeah. She should be here in a minute or two," replied Harry.

"Who'd you get? Is she pretty?" asked Ron.

"I think she is," answered Harry. "And you'll see her in a minute, so don't bother asking."

"Well I doubt she's as pretty as my date," replied Ron in a whisper quiet enough for everyone around them to hear, nodding over his shoulder.

Harry looked around the redhead to where Padma Patil was standing alone, looking highly bored and disgruntled. Harry wondered what Ron had done to manage to get her to come with him. But before either of them could say anything else, there were several low whistles and most of the crowd turned towards the Grand Staircase. Harry turned as well.

At the top of the staircase stood Hermione, in periwinkle-blue robes, looking nothing short of stunning. Harry's jaw dropped, as had most of the other guys' in the Hall. As Hermione gracefully descended the stairs, smiling shyly at him, Harry's look of shock turned into a shy smile of his own.

Staring between Hermione and Harry, Ron finally put two and two together, and made the connection.

"She's going with YOU!?" exploded Ron, causing everyone around them to turn and stare at him.

Fortunately, the twins showed up at that moment, and grasping Ron by each arm, dragged him back over to his own date before he could say anything that would permanently destroy his friendship with Harry and Hermione.

"You look beautiful," said Harry, as Hermione walked down the last couple steps to where Harry stood.

"Thanks," she replied shyly, blushing slightly.

"So I guess Ron finally figured out who I was going with," she added after a second, nodding towards where the twins had dragged Ron over to Padma.

But before Harry could reply, they heard Professor McGonagall call out, "Champions over here, please!", so they hurried over to where the other champions were already gathered around the Transfiguration teacher.

Harry and Hermione had been dancing for over an hour, when they decided to take a break and catch their breath. They walked outside into the rose garden, which had been magically warmed to protect the overabundance of flowers and bushes that now decorated the courtyard, from the harsh winter weather around them.

They wandered 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, 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 over 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 towards him and softly pressed her lips to his. A second later, her brain caught up to what she was doing, so she pulled back slightly. But since he appeared to be more surprised than anything else, and he didn't make any indication that he didn't want her to, she brought her lips back to his again, more purposefully. This time, Harry tentatively kissed back, and Hermione's hand drifted up and came to rest on his cheek.

"Sorry," she said softly when they finally broke apart, her eyes dropping to somewhere below Harry's chin. "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 lifted her chin up, forcing her to look at him. But unable to think of anything to say to reassure her that he didn't mind in the least, Harry simply settled for bringing his lips back down onto hers.

"Don't be sorry," said Harry softly as they broke apart for the third time a while later. "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 quietly. "Speaking of which, why did you invite me? I assume Professor McGonagall held you back after class to tell you about needing a date for the Ball, and then you immediately asked me to go with you without seeing if anyone else was interested in going with you. Why?"

"Remember after the first task, when you warned me about Ron not being friends with me again? I realized it didn't really matter what happened between me and Ron. Because the one person that really mattered was already with me. And always had been, even when I didn't want to admit it."

"The Firebolt," Hermione said quietly to herself.

"Yes, the Firebolt," said Harry, nodding. "So does this mean you'll be my girlfriend?"

Hermione nodded, before smiling. "If you'll be my boyfriend."

Harry and Hermione wandered down from their dorms late on Boxing Day. Everyone else had apparently had the same idea, as there were only a few people milling around in the common room.

They were about to head out the portrait hole to get some breakfast in the Great Hall, when they heard the twins beckoning to them from the corner of the room. Making their way over to them, Harry and Hermione completely forgot to pay attention to where they were going, and accidentally stepped under an innocent looking clump of mistletoe that had been stuck to the ceiling of the common room with a sticking charm.

However, nothing was ever as innocent as it looked in Hogwarts. The staircases had trap steps, doors weren't really doors, and tapestries often led to secret passages. This unobtrusive little plant was no different. It was magical mistletoe, a far more sinister plant than its muggle counterpart.

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 underneath it until they kissed. 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 trapped, the Nargles that lived in 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. However, in the post-Christmas haze, Harry and Hermione weren't 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.

The twins walked over, not-so-innocent smirks playing across their faces.

"Would you look at that," said Fred.

"How very unfortunate," replied George, both of them coming to a stop right in front of the trapped pair.

So as not to admit she'd fallen for the twins trick, Hermione rolled her eyes, and pulled Harry to her, snogging him senseless.

As the twins whistled and catcalled the pair, Ron came down from the boys' dorm, unseen by any of them. Seeing the lip-locked couple (but missing the flowing flora above their heads), he froze in shock. Unfortunately for everyone, however, his temporary paralysis lasted shorter than their kiss, and he screamed, "Oi!"

Hearing the minor explosion, Harry and Hermione broke apart, quickly moving 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. "What the bloody hell were you doing!?"

"Kissing," replied Hermione, tone unchanged.

"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, Harry ends up with Ginny! Mother's always told us so!"

Suddenly Mrs Weasley's behavior the three summers he'd spent at the Burrow made a lot more sense to Harry.

"Wait!" exclaimed Harry loudly, as that seemed to be the only acceptable way to be part of the 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?"

"So she added that one three years ago, what difference does that make?" replied Ron, turning savagely on Harry. "It doesn't change the fact that we're supposed to end up together!"

"I am not supposed to end up with anyone!" shouted Hermione, pulling out her wand.

"Even if that were so, that doesn't give you any reason to be kissing him! He's probably been using his fame to go around kissing every girl in the castle!" shouted Ron.

"Just because you would be doing that if you were a 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!"

"Ronald Bilius Weasley! Harry is my boyfriend, he can kiss me as much as he bloody likes!" shouted Hermione, fury radiating off her in waves, as she raised her wand and took a threatening step towards the redhead.

"Okay, full name, 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.

Once outside, 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, forcing Harry to have to run to catch up with her.

"Hey," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder as he caught up to her. "Ignore him. It doesn't matter what he thinks. He's just jealous I got the prettiest girl in the castle."

Slowing down to a normal pace, Hermione turned and rolled her eyes at Harry. "Ignoring the fact we both know I'm not the prettiest girl in the castle even if there wasn't a Veela around, he's not jealous that I'm with you instead of him; he's jealous that you've taken something else away from him that he thinks should be his, something that would bring him fame and attention."

"So you really think Mrs Weasley told him that you would be his one day?"

"And that Ginny would get you, and everyone would end up as one big happy Weasley family," replied Hermione with a nod. "And from what Ron said, she had you picked out for Ginny long before you ever started Hogwarts. And I'm sure every wizarding mother's probably dreamed of having their daughter marry the great and famous Boy Who Lived one day, but Mrs Weasley's taken it to the extreme of instilling the idea as a guaranteed fact in her children. And then when I became the "brightest witch of our age", it only made sense to put me with Ron to collect me into the family as well."

By this point they'd made it to the Great Hall, and sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. They hadn't been eating for more than a few minutes when their favorite ferret swaggered in, followed by his posse.

"Oh look, the Boy Who Lived and the Insufferable Know-It-All, madly in love," he drawled quietly enough to make sure the entire hall heard.

So in order to quickly stifle any rumors that they were romantically together, Harry and Hermione leaned towards each other and languidly kissed, making sure anyone who looked towards them would have plenty of time to see.

"Whatever would give you that idea?" asked Harry innocently once they'd finally broken apart.

Their blatant disregard for what Draco had been sure would be a highly embarrassing rumor left the ferret speechless, so after staring at the Golden Couple in shock for a few seconds, he sat down at the Slytherin table without another 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," said George, reaching across Hermione's plate to grab some toast.

"You don't think he knew we actually are dating when he said that?" asked Hermione, surprised.

"Definitely not," replied Fred. "No one knew you were dating until you two decided to show the whole Hall."

"Wait a minute," said Harry slowly. "How did you two 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 close to it, 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 you found your own perfect romantic setting before we could do anything," added Fred.

Now that Christmas was over, the Second Task loomed much nearer than it had before Christmas break had begun.

Harry and Hermione had started spending most of their free time in the library to avoid Ron, who still hadn't come to terms with Harry and Hermione's new relationship. While limiting the amount of affection they could express, it did have the advantage that Harry had quickly caught up on all 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 as well, 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 her work, the redhead's ire was piling up at nearly the same rate as his homework.

One day while studying in the library, Cedric Diggory, the other Hogwarts champion, walked up to them.

"Figured out your egg yet?" he whispered, looking around to make sure no one else was listening.

Harry and Hermione had been trying to figure out the clue, but so far had had no luck. For one, it was hard to study a screaming egg in the library, and for another, it was a screaming egg.

"Not yet, no," replied Harry, shaking his head.

"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. Champions weren't supposed to be helping each other, even if they were from the same school.

"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 whisked away, leaving Harry and Hermione to think over what he had told them.

The following night, Harry and Hermione donned Harry's invisibility cloak, and snuck out of the Gryffindor common room.

Entering the Prefects' Bathroom, they looked around at the 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 they couldn't help but whisper.

They walked over to the sunken swimming pool, grabbing a couple fluffy towels off a pile, and started testing the hundreds of golden taps. They soon had the pool filled, and turned off all the taps. Setting the egg down on his towel, Harry pulled off his robes, stripping down to his bathing suit.

Next to him, Hermione did the same. When Harry looked up a second later, his jaw dropped. While he should have expected it, he hadn't. Hermione stood there in a pale turquoise bikini, looking out over the pool. When she caught him staring at her, she blushed slightly, before turning and diving into the water. Harry jumped in after her, and they swam a few laps before returning to the egg.

Treading water, as their feet could barely touch the bottom of the pool, Harry opened the egg. While the cacophony of screams echoing around the bathroom was quite spectacular, it did nothing to help them solve the problem, unless the clue was that the second task was going to be a complete headache.

After a second of awful din, Harry slammed the egg shut, rubbing his temples. "Get anything from that other than a headache?" he asked Hermione.

Hermione shook her head, staring thoughtfully at the offending ovoid of gold. "Cedric did say to take a bath with it, so I'm guessing the water has to have something to do with it. Maybe trying opening it under the water?"

Harry stuck the egg under the water, and opened it again. This time, at least, there was no wailing; however, there was no discernible answer, 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.

And with a splash, she disappeared under the water. Coming up a few seconds later, she excitedly waved at Harry to go under the water, spluttering out, "Underwater, Harry! Underwater!"

Taking a deep breath, Harry plunged his head underneath the water. To his great surprise, he could hear a chorus of eerie voices singing to him from the egg in his hand. After several more trips up and down, they had finally memorized the song. Harry set the egg back on the edge of the pool, and he and Hermione floated 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," repeated Harry, floating on his back staring up at the ceiling.

"Since you had to open the egg underwater, that obviously 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 that I'll dearly miss. But who's 'we'? Who am I 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, staring at the painting of the mermaid. "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 on, "Start to—must have missed that chapter."

Hermione merely rolled her eyes, 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."

"Yes, because surviving underwater for an hour is quite simple."

"I just meant we know what you have to do," replied Hermione, splashing him with water.

"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," replied Hermione solemnly.

Harry and Hermione spent the next two months trying to find some way for Harry to survive underwater for an hour, to no avail. Harry was pretty sure they'd searched through every book in library, along with Hermione's own personal collection; but even Hogwarts: A History couldn't provide them with an answer this time.

On Monday before the second task, they were sitting once again in the library, desperate for anything useful.

"Oh this is no use," Hermione exclaimed suddenly, snapping shut Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"

At that moment, Neville walked over.

"I overheard you saying you were looking for a way to breathe underwater," he said, tossing an open book down on the table in front of them. "Its called gillyweed.

"You have to eat that," he said, pointing at a picture. "Right before you go into the lake; it'll let you be able to breathe underwater. As long as you eat enough, it will last you the hour you need."

"How did you—?" began Harry.

"I was working on our Herbology homework, and flipping through this Herbology book Professor Moody gave me at the beginning of the semester, and I saw it. I'd heard you guys talking in the common room about what Harry has to do in the second task, so I came over to see if you'd found anything yet, and show you this if you hadn't."

"Wow, thanks Neville!" said Harry. "We were completely clueless."

"You don't happen to know where we can get any of this, do you…?" asked Hermione slowly.

"Sorry," replied Neville, "I don't. Never seen or heard of it before this book. I know it's not much help, but I figured I'd tell you anyway."

"No, thank you!" said Harry. "Now at least we have a possibility, which is a lot more than we had before."

Harry and Hermione spent the next two days searching high and low for any sign of gillyweed. Hermione scoured the library for any books that might suggest where the water-plant could be found, while Harry used his invisibility cloak Wednesday night to search the greenhouses. But the elusive plant persisted in its absence. They had also continued searching for any other magic that could help Harry breathe underwater, but they were no more successful at that than they were at finding gillyweed.

The morning of the day before the second task, Harry was startled awake by someone poking him.

"Ouch — stop that!" he exclaimed, reaching blindly for his glasses.

"Harry Potter must wake up, sir!"

"Stop poking me —"

"Dobby must poke Harry Potter, sir, he must wake up!"

Harry finally found his glasses, and put them on.

"Dobby has come to give Harry Potter what he needs for the second task!" squeaked the elf.

"What?" said Harry. "But you don't know what I need for the second task—"

"Dobby knows, sir! Harry Potter needs gillyweed to go into the lake!"

"How did you—?"

"Dobby heard the Neville boy saying Harry Potter needed gillyweed for the second task. So Dobby has been watching Harry Potter, and he has seen he hasn't been able to get any gillyweed, so Dobby got gillyweed for him, sir!"

He put his hand in the pocket of his shorts and drew out a ball of slimy, grayish-green rat tails.

"And you're positive this really is gillyweed?"

"Of course, sir, Dobby is one hundred percent positive."

Harry took the gillyweed from the house-elf. "Thanks, Dobby. You're a life saver."

"Anything for Harry Potter, sir. Anything! But Dobby is supposed to be in the kitchens, sir. Dobby will be missed if he doesn't return immediately — good luck, Harry Potter, sir, good luck!"

Harry just got out "See you later, Dobby!" before the house-elf had disappeared with a loud crack.

As it was too late to go back to sleep, Harry stuffed the gillyweed in his trunk and headed down to the common room to wait for Hermione to wake up. But when he got down there, he found Hermione already awake, going through three spellbooks at once.

"If that's for the second task, you can quit."

Hermione looked up quickly, startled by the unexpected break in the early morning silence of the common room. "What do you—"

"Dobby just woke me up and gave me some gillyweed. I don't know where he got it from, but it looks exactly like the book, and he said he's a hundred percent positive it really is gillyweed."

That evening, Harry and Hermione were sitting together on the couch in the common room, in front of the fire, discussing what might have been taken from Harry for the next day's task, when the twins walked up.

"McGonagall wants to see you, Hermione," said Fred, plopping down next to the brunette.

"Why?"

"Dunno…She didn't look too happy, though," replied George, who'd sat down next to Harry.

With a worried look, Hermione left to go find Professor McGonagall. Harry and the twins spent the next few hours playing with Crookshanks, enchanting small objects to fly around for the kneazle to chase.

By ten o'clock, Hermione still hadn't returned, and Harry decided to go ahead and go to bed; he'd see her in the morning, before the task.

But when Harry walked down to breakfast the next morning, he didn't see Hermione anywhere. He hung around in the Great Hall after he'd finished eating, waiting for her, as people began making their way outside towards the lake, but she never showed up. Thirty minutes before the task was to start, he left the Great Hall and slowly began the walk down to the lake, wondering where she was.

Arriving at the Champions Tent on the edge of the lake, Harry saw that Cedric, Fleur and Krum were already there, waiting. As soon as Harry stepped into the tent, he was accosted by the bossy voice of none other than Percy Weasley, demanding, "Where have you been? You were supposed to be here an hour before the task starts!"

"Now, now, Percy!" interrupted Ludo Bagman, "he's arrived no more than five minutes after Cedric, and there's still ten minutes before the task starts," before adding under his breath, "And the only person here more than thirty minutes before the task was you."

At the sound of the canon, Harry waded into the icy cold lake, eating the gillyweed. As soon as its effects were complete, he dived into the water, off to find whatever had been taken from him.

Forty minutes later, he'd finally found the mer-colony, and what had been taken from each of the champions. Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw girl Cedric had gone to the Yule Ball with; the Durmstrang girl Krum had gone to the Yule Ball with; a young girl with silvery-hair that could only be Fleur's sister; and finally, Hermione. Grabbing a jagged rock off of the lake bottom, Harry hacked through the seaweed holding Hermione in place. Looking around, he couldn't see any of the other champions. Time was getting short.

A few minutes later, Cedric had finally appeared, quickly followed by Krum, but there was no sign of Fleur. With just a few minutes before the hour was to be up, Harry grabbed the rock again and cut Fleur's sister free, keeping the mermen at bay with his wand. Storing his wand away, he struggled to swim them both up to the surface. He could feel the effects of the gillyweed growing weaker with every passing kick of his legs, but just before it gave out completely, he broke through the barrier between water and air, and could breath freely at last.

Upon breaking the surface of the lake, both girls woke up from whatever spell they had been under. Hermione helped Harry pull the younger girl towards the bank, where Fleur stood looking quite hysterical, restrained by Madam Maxime. As soon as the three in the water had gotten close enough that they could stand up, Fleur broke free and rushed into the shallows, throwing her arms around her sister as soon as she reached her.

When the four of them finally reached the bank and climbed out onto dry land, Fleur finally let go of her sister for Madam Pomfrey to take care of, before turning to Harry, who stood with his arms around Hermione, in a noble, if not slightly useless, gesture of trying to warm her up from the cold water.

"You saved 'er, even though she was not your 'ostage." said Fleur breathlessly, before bending down and kissing Harry twice on each cheek, and then once on Hermione's cheek just for good measure.

At the end of Transfiguration class one day near the end of May, Professor McGonagall held Harry back to let him know that the champions were expected at the Quidditch pitch that evening at nine. So at a quarter till, Harry and Hermione left the Gryffindor common room.

Making their way down to the pitch, they discovered that the normally smooth grass was covered in hedges crossing every which direction. They made their way to the center, hopping over the hedges, to where the other champions and Ludo Bagman stood. As Harry and Hermione climbed over the last hedge, Fleur gave him a quick hug, still thankful for Harry having saved her sister in the previous task. Letting Harry go, she gave Hermione a quick wave as well before turning back to Bagman.

"Oh, hi Hermione, didn't expect to see you here," said Bagman in surprise, as he looked up. But before Hermione could say anything, Bagman continued on. "Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?" he asked, looking around at four champions (and Hermione) assembled around him.

When the champions merely stared at each other and the hedges for several seconds, clueless, Hermione finally exclaimed, "It's a maze, you idiots!"

"Oh, yeah, so it is," mumbled the four champions, looking around at what was now very obviously a maze.

Continuing on, as if the champions had immediately recognized what was so very obviously a maze, Bagman said, "By the time of the third task, on June 24th, these hedges will be twenty feet tall. So for the third task, you will have to make your way through the maze, which will contain an assortment of obstacles, to the TriWizard Cup, placed in the center of the maze. The champion who reaches the cup first will win!"

Everyone nodded their understanding, each wondering what challenges would be facing them inside the maze. The boys were also giving the hedges malicious looks, affronted by the unruly state of the Quidditch pitch.

Seeing their looks, Bagman quickly added, "Don't worry boys, your Quidditch pitch will be back to perfection as soon as the tournament is over."

With nothing left to say, everyone started wending their way out of the maze, moving back towards their respective living quarters. Walking hand in hand, Harry and Hermione discussed which spells he would need to practice.

Over the next four weeks, Harry and Hermione spent all their free time practicing spells Harry might need to get through the maze. By the time the day of the final task arrived, Harry felt as confident as he felt he ever could going into a still mostly unknown task.

At supper that evening, when Dumbledore called for the four champions to follow Bagman down to the stadium, Hermione joined Harry for the walk down, running over all the spells they'd been practicing with him, trying to reassure him and help him be less nervous. Arriving at the stadium entrance, Hermione gave him a quick kiss before they parted ways, Harry onto the field, and Hermione into the front row of the stands.

Ten minutes later, Hermione watched Harry disappear into the maze, and out of sight. All she could do now was pray.

The following hours were the longest of her life, having no clue what was going on in the maze. Fifteen minutes in, despite no red sparks being sent up, she saw Mad-Eye apparate out of the maze, carrying Fleur to the medical tent. Just a few minutes after that, she did see red sparks coming up from out in the maze, and Professor Flitwick quickly appeared levitating Krum, who looked like he'd been stupefied. After that, there was nothing.

Finally, what felt like hours later, there came a blue light at the edge of the maze, close to where Hermione was sitting, and two figures slammed into the ground, one of them desperately clutching both the TriWizard Cup and the other figure.

Quickly recognizing Harry, and then recognizing the other figure as Cedric Diggory, Hermione was unaware of the gasp and then deafening noise of the crowd as she vaulted over the railing down onto the field. But as she ran towards them, she could quickly sense that something wasn't right. Harry wasn't acting at all like he'd just won, or even lost; Diggory simply looked wrong; and why was Dumbledore and the other professors running towards Harry as fast as she was?

Collapsing to her knees next to Harry, she got there at the exact same moment as Dumbledore, who also crouched over him.

~HP~

The world came crashing back around him, and he struggled to hold on. Everything around him seemed like a nightmare, though the quiet, logical part of his brain, that sounded most similar to a certain bushy-haired girl he knew, reassured him that he was safe now.

One pair of hands turned him over as another clutched to him, and he opened his eyes to find Dumbledore and Hermione staring down at him. He clutched to Hermione's arm, hoping to steady his scattered thoughts, as he tried to tell Dumbledore what had happened.

~HP~

Clutching Harry was all she could do, as she felt a wave of terror pass over her as the reality of Diggory's dead body hit her. As her boyfriend tried to explain to Dumbledore, and Fudge, and everyone else who had gathered around what had happened, she simply clung to him, taking in little of what he was saying, but needing to reassure herself that he was still alive, still there; and hopefully doing the same for him.

Far too soon, however, someone had pulled him from her grasp, and she was left weeping silently on her own, as the crowds pushed and shoved and gasped and shouted around her, paying no attention to her.

~HP~

He felt someone dragging him off towards the castle, despite his attempts to tell them that Dumbledore had told him to stay. It wasn't until he heard the clunk of a wooden leg on the stone steps of the castle that he realized it was Mad-Eye Moody.

~HP~

Soon after Harry had been taken away from her, she realized that Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape were hurrying towards the castle at a much more urgent pace than would be expected to simply check on Harry in the hospital wing. Trying to pull herself together, she followed after them at a run, slowing to match their brisk walk when she'd gotten close behind them. She might have been Harry's boyfriend, but she doubted her presence would be much appreciated by their professors at the moment.

Much to her surprise, when they got into the castle, instead of heading towards the hospital, the professors made for the 3rd floor, where the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and teacher's office were located.

Mad-Eye had just finished explaining his manipulations to Harry when the door was blasted into smithereens by a deafening stupefy, and Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape burst in, with Hermione right behind them. Hermione rushed over to Harry, throwing her arms around him, as the three adults leveled their wands at Mad-Eye, who'd been thrown against the wall by the force of the spell.

Throughout Dumbledore's explanation of what had really been going on, and then Crouch Jr's own confession under the influence of the Veritaserum, Hermione clung to Harry, and Harry clung back, too numb to feel anything. Dumbledore finally led them up to his office, where they found Sirius waiting for them.

As Harry and Hermione sat next to each other in front of Dumbledore's desk holding hands, Fawkes flew across the room, and landed on Harry's knee. Using his free hand, Harry stroked the beautiful gold-and-scarlet plumage of the magnificent bird, as Dumbledore told Sirius everything Crouch Jr had confessed to.

Finally sitting down at his desk, Dumbledore leaned forward. Knowing Dumbledore was about to question him about everything that had taken place in the graveyard, Harry trie to summon up what little strength he had left. As Hermione squeezed his hand, the phoenix let out a soft, quavering note, which filled Harry with an unexpected resolve, and he began telling Dumbledore everything, from the moment he'd been yanked from the maze by the portkey. Sometime in the middle of his recollection, he realized Hermione had laid her head on his shoulder, silently reassuring him she was there, and everything he had experienced that night was over with for the time being. Harry finally finished his tale, feeling much lighter than he had before he'd begun, as if retelling everything had allowed all the pain and heartache to flow out of him.

Soon afterwards, the five of them walked down to the hospital wing. Entering the wing, they found the Weasleys huddled together, looking worried sick. Dumbledore headed off Mrs Weasley, allowing Harry time to get in bed, and Madam Pomfrey time to quickly check over him.

A short while later, as he finally drank the sleeping potion from Madam Pomfrey and began drifting off, Harry felt Hermione lean over from her chair next to his bed, wrapping her arms around him and laying her head on his chest. He briefly wondered what Ron and Mrs Weasley thought about it, before the blissfulness of sleep overtook him, and he thought no more.

When he woke up some time later, the only thing he noticed at first was that Hermione no longer had her head on his chest, but seemed to be propping up next to him on her elbow, listening to something outside the hospital wing. Then he heard the muffled shouts that she, and the Weasleys as well, had been listening to.

Throughout the ensuing shouting match between Fudge and the Hogwarts professors, Hermione shielded Harry from the Minister's view, allowing him to pretend he was still asleep, until Harry felt the need to tell his own side of the story.

After the adults had all dispersed on Dumbledore's commands, Hermione handed Harry the goblet with the remaining sleeping potion. He drank the remaining potion, and was out before his head hit the pillow.

When Harry awoke the next morning, he found that Hermione seemed to have shifted entirely from her chair up onto his bed, and was pressed up against his side, sound asleep. Looking around, trying not to disturb her, he saw that they were the only two in the hospital wing, with the exception of one bed that had the curtain pulled around it, which Harry assumed the real Mad-Eye was behind.

Relaxing back against his pillow, Harry played with Hermione's hair until he felt her stirring. Fully awakening, and realizing that Harry was already awake, Hermione leaned her head back slightly to look up at him, which put her lips too close to his for him to refrain from leaning down slightly and capturing them.

They broke apart quickly when they heard the door to Madam Pomfrey's office open, and watched her hurry over to them. Since relatively little physical damage had been inflicted upon Harry, Madam Pomfrey quickly released him from the hospital wing. Wanting to avoid crowds for a while, Harry and Hermione walked down to the kitchens to get some food.

The term finally ended a week later, and Harry and Hermione found themselves riding the Hogwarts Express back to London, a compartment all to themselves, which Harry was thankful for. He'd been avoiding crowds as much as he could, preferring to spend time alone with Hermione, who helped keep his mind off everything that had occurred in the graveyard, and had helped him begin to process some of what had taken place.

Deboarding the train at Kings Cross and walking through the platform barrier, they found Mr Dursley waiting for Harry, along with Hermione's parents waiting on her a little further along the platform.

As Harry stopped in front of Mr Dursley, Hermione drew him in for a final kiss before parting ways for the summer. Letting him go, she walked off towards her parents, waving over her shoulder as she said, "See you, Harry."

A/N: As a side note, I personally think that if the tournament had been open to everyone, and Hermione had entered, the Goblet of Fire would have picked her as the Hogwarts champion.