Keogh

~***~



“I thought they’d fixed it so this wouldn’t happen.”



“They did.” Hermione felt as though something was constricting her chest as she lay in her bed, staring up at the canopy above. “They did fix it.”



“I wonder how he got past it, then.”



“He didn’t. Didn’t you see his reaction? He was as shocked as everyone else. Oh God, this is awful! He can’t do this! He isn’t ready!” She ran a hand over her eyes, forcing herself to breathe. ”It has to be a prank of some kind. Someone must have been trying to prank him, but this is a horrible idea!”



“Probably one of Severus’ trogs. This is the kind of thing they’d think was funny; setting a kid up to be maimed or worse. How could they possibly hold him to that ‘contract’ of theirs? I would have thought only a parent or legal guardian would be able to do it for him and it stick. What kind of messed up world do you live in?”



“The magical kind. What are we going to do?” She meant ‘we’ as in she and the boys, of course. They were more of a unit than many realized, even if her relationship with them was under the strain of her absence and personal secrets.



“You’ll get him through this, is what you’ll do. If there was a way to switch and put you in Harry’s place we’d do that. I have no doubt that you could handle anything thrown at the champions, although it might blow your cover. Barring that, you can do what you can to help him prepare for these tasks, whatever they are.”



She rolled over onto her side, staring at the far wall. It was all she could do, unfortunately. She bloody well hated feeling like this. “I wish I knew who had put his name in that goblet. Sometimes it feels as though I need to be everywhere at once just so I know what’s going on. If I did, someone could have stopped this!”



“You do realize that you have a source of information that you repeatedly fail to tap into, right?”



She gave a derisive snort. “I don’t think the people out under the lawn can see what’s going on inside the school.”



“And what about the ghosts, Hermione? This school has a veritable army of mobile, deceased residents and you’ve all but ignored them. Don’t you realize that they can sense who and what you are? They’re only waiting for you to deign to give them the time of day.” It was a scolding, though a mild one. For some reason Hermione suddenly felt somewhat guilty. How could she have not considered the fact that the ghosts were, indeed, dead?



“I don’t mean to ignore them. It’s just…”



“You can’t ignore what you are, Hermione. They wouldn’t let you even if you tried. It’s past time you patched things with the ghosts before you bruise their feelings too greatly. They may be loyal to the school, but I think you’ll find that they want to be loyal to you even more.”



~***~



Cedric was glad to be done with the weighing and that Skeeter woman. She was downright scary! And the flash of that camera her lapdog used was going to leave him permanently blind if he didn’t escape.



“One moment, if you please, Mr. Diggory.”



He stopped and turned to the Headmaster with a look of polite inquiry. Dumbledore drew closer with Mr. Ollivander at his side. “Yes, Professor?”



“I’d like you to come with us. Mr. Ollivander has a final piece of business to see to and we require your assistance.”



Puzzled, Cedric nodded and walked with the two elder wizards. Ollivander and Dumbledore spoke together in low voices that wouldn’t carry past the three of them. “I’ve been observing her progress myself, and I believe you will be surprised with the results. However, I don’t think I need to explain myself when I stress that this should be kept quiet. I trust Mr. Diggory to be discreet, but I think it best if we avoid shedding too much light on her just yet.”



Mr. Ollivander nodded fervently. “Of course. I understand completely. I, myself, would like more testing to be done before I add them to my shop at any rate.”



Cedric got a sinking feeling he knew where they were going. Sure enough, they made it to the seventh floor. Professor Dumbledore had him call up the room Hermione used while he continued to talk with Mr. Ollivander, this time about the different champions. The door appeared and he held it open for the older man, following behind them.



Hermione was already there. She’d shed her school robes for a pair of muggle jeans and a t-shirt. Thank goodness she hadn’t worn one of those workout suits she liked to use. The sight of so much bare skin might have given the two wizards a heart attack! He watched as she gave a nervous smile and nod to the Headmaster and to Mr. Ollivander and returned the smile she gave him with just as much nervousness.



“Now, Miss Granger, as you know Mr. Ollivander wanted to see a demonstration to see how you’re use of the double wands is progressing. It comes to mind that the best way to do so would be to have a friendly duel. Since you’ve been training with multiple targets, I’ve asked Mr. Diggory to join us to assist.”



He couldn’t have heard that right. “You want me to hex Hermione?” Mr. Ollivander looked as though he were looking forward to the show. The Headmaster turned a gentle smile towards Diggory.



“Nothing permanent or vicious, of course. We just need to put her through her paces. When you’re ready, Miss Granger.”



Hermione moved to the center of the room as Mr. Ollivander claimed a comfortable looking chair off to one side. Cedric put his books down by the wall so they’d be out of the way and got his wand out. Dumbledore had moved around to stand on the opposite side, his own wand in his hand. “Now, Miss Granger, remember that this is just a friendly demonstration. Neither myself nor Mr. Diggory wish you any true harm.”



She nodded and Cedric saw her thumbs flex over the center pieces of her wands. “Yes, Sir.” Then she crossed her wands in front of her and gave a nod, a modified version of the opening salute for a duel, before she moved one foot back into a readied stance, one wand held before her and the other extended behind.



Cedric remained at the ready, waiting for a move. The first did not come from Hermione, but from the Headmaster. She blocked his jinx to the front and Cedric noticed that she mimicked the shield charm behind her with the second wand, effectively stopping any jinx he might have sent her way. Before he could think about how he needed to move more quickly she’d fired off a counter-jinx at the Headmaster.



Shaking himself out of his confusion, Cedric joined the duel. He and the headmaster hurled jinxes and hexes at Hermione and seemed to be deflecting just as many as they cast. She was an incredibly hard target to hit as she was incorporating many of the moves he’d seen her use in her physical training, her body twisting and turning this way and that. He saw the Headmaster abandon his standing position to start to move about and he followed suit, searching for an opening in her defenses.



She’d gotten very good at handling the wands. No sooner than she had cast a spell with one end she would give a flick of her wrist and bring up the other to cast again. Later, after the duel was over and he’d had time to think about it, it would dawn on Cedric that likely she was using two cores in each one, with one better suited to defensive spells and the other more comfortable with offense magic. For now, however, he was more concerned with keeping up with her and had barely realized that Mr. Ollivander had joined the battle.



Spinning, hexing and blocking, Hermione did her best to keep up with all three wizards. The practice dummies didn’t fight back and her current opponents were able to think and choose on their own, making this a true test of her abilities. Cedric barely missed dodging a hex from Ollivander when it missed Hermione because she had spun out of the way. Straightening back up he sent a hex towards the witch.



Hermione suddenly crossed her wands above her head. Bursts of light came out of each wand tip in such rapid succession that they looked as though they were cast at once. Four shield spells, converging and merging until she was in a bubble that glowed faintly with magic. It swelled out, knocking Cedric and Mr. Ollivander off their feet and pushing Dumbledore back firmly.



The headmaster gave a chuckle. “And that, I believe, is as much as Miss Granger is willing to tolerate today.” He gave her a bow as Mr. Ollivander got to his feet. The wandmaker laughed in delight, applauding loudly. The sound made Cedric remember he too was sprawled on the floor. Blushing, he got back to his feet.



“Well done, Miss Granger, so very well done!” Mr. Ollivander captured one of Hermione’s hands in both of his own and gripped it firmly. “Far better than I had anticipated.”



The girl fidgeted uncomfortably under the praise. “Thank you, Mr. Ollivander, but your wands…”



“Ah… our wands, Miss Granger. After all, you came up with the design. I merely turned your idea into physical form. And even with that, it is your skill that allows them to be used so well.”



Cedric gaped. Hermione had designed the wands? He hadn’t known that she had aspirations of being a wandmaker. Not that he doubted she had the brains, of course, because everyone knew that she was brilliant. The profession just seemed a bit behind-the-scenes for Hermione Granger.



“It is, I believe, a good start.” Dumbledore winked at the Gryffindor. “I think that Miss Granger feels that there is still room for improvement and is pushing herself quite diligently. We can only hope that she remembers to take some time for herself now and again.” He moved towards Mr. Ollivander. “Let’s leave the young people to catch their breath and tidy up a bit. Dueling with this pair has given me a bit of a thirst and I have an excellent brandy that I would like to open.”



The two men left, leaving Cedric with Hermione. They stood in awkward silence for a time, neither knowing where to begin. Screwing up his courage, he gave it a shot. “Impressive work, Hermione. You really gave us a challenge.”



She blushed. “I’m just glad that there were only three of you. I stopped it because I could feel myself getting tired. I’m still a bit slow.”



He blinked at her. “Slow? You’re using four wands at once! I don’t even know how you manage to keep your spells straight. And after we started circling you…” He dropped off, running a hand through his hair. “I… I’m sorry.”



She frowned. “For what?”



Cedric gave a shrug. “Being a prat, I suppose. I mean, I know you’re still the same girl from last year. I shouldn’t have let the wand thing get to me like I did.” It sounded even worse when said out loud, and he winced. “It’s true, what they say about you.”



Hermione tilted her head to one side. “What do they say?”



"That you’re brilliant, but a bit scary at times. You are a little intimidating.” He felt like he should apologize.



She scoffed at the idea. “I’m not the bogey man or anything. Besides, I’m just a fourth year.”



Now it was his turn to scoff. “A fourth year who could probably pass her OWLS with her eyes shut right now. Did you know that the Ravenclaw Prefects petitioned the Headmaster to have you resorted last year?”



She blinked. “They what?”



“They wanted you resorted. I don’t think it’s ever sat very well with them that you were put into Gryffindor. They feel that the Sorting Hat made a mistake.” He saw her fidget and blush slightly before she walked over to put her wands away inside a velvet lined box. “I wish I had your skill with those. Could come in handy with this tournament. Maybe you should have been in it.”



She closed the lid and turned around to face him. “Cedric, you know Harry didn’t put his name in that cup, right?” Her expression was earnest and he found himself looking away under her gaze. “He didn’t, Cedric. He wouldn’t. Harry doesn’t want ‘eternal glory’ and he certainly doesn’t want any more attention than he already has. He just wants to be normal! Well, as normal as a wizard can be, I suppose.”



He looked back at her to see that she was still staring at him intently. She believed what she was saying; he could see that she did. And, if he thought about it for a moment, so did he. He’d seen Harry in the halls since the night his name came out of the goblet and he didn’t look at all enthusiastic about being in the tournament. If anything, he looked a bit green about the gills.



Cedric looked back down at the floor. “I’ll… talk to them about the badges. See if I can’t make them stop wearing them.”



“Harry doesn’t care about the badges, Cedric.”



“I do. I know my house wears them out of loyalty to me, but… well… it’s beneath us. We should behave better.”



“Oh. Well, it is more of a Slytherin thing to do.”



He nodded. “Exactly.” Or for Merlin’s sake! She was just another girl! Two years his junior, even! He made himself look up. “I miss you, Granger.” She gave him a confused look and he wanted to kick himself. “That is, I miss having a study partner who actually lets me study and isn’t yammering on about one thing or another.”



She gave him a lopsided smile. “I know what you mean. Harry and Ron are hopeless when it comes to studying. I can’t do it in the Common Room because they always end up playing exploding snap or chess and when I take them to the library they just whine and complain the whole time. Not that anyone can study in the library of late. Not with all the Krummies.”



He frowned. “The Krummies?”



She rolled her eyes. “Viktor Krum’s fan club. They follow him everywhere.”



~***~



Harry had slipped out to meet with Hagrid, leaving Hermione with only Crookshanks and Ron, who was behaving like an even bigger prat than he had been since the night Harry’s name had been spat out by that damn goblet. She hated it when there was a rift between two of them. Having Harry and Ron against one another was every bit as painful as when one or both of them were sore with her.



She made her way up to the fourth-year girls’ dormitory, leaving Lavender and Parvati down in the Common Room and stealing a bit of peace and quiet. It didn’t last for very long, however, before she was interrupted by an irate screech only heard by her.



“Get out here! Get the fuck over here right now!"



She gave a startled jump, blinking as her eyes adjusted from the words on the page of the book on her bed before her to the relative openness of the room. “Sorry?”



“Get out here! Come outside to where I am!” She glanced to the door to make certain no one was coming in before scrambling off the bed to slip on her shoes.



The equations were almost second nature to her now. Opening the ‘doors’ to get into the Continuum was the same each time. The changes came in getting back out, and even those were usually subtle, dictated by how far of a distance she was traveling. She also had learned to pay attention to the seemingly countless number of ‘threads’ that represented people and creatures, past and present. By minding them she was able to tell when someone was going to be too close for her to ‘pop out’ and she avoided several before she exited the Continuum into the forest.



“What’s gone and yanked your…” A great plume of fire shot up from a space off to her left. Hermione ducked behind a thick tree for cover and peered around it to get a look, eyes wide.



“Tell me those are not what they look like!”



Hermione swallowed, hardly daring to believe her eyes. “D… dragons.” She shook her head to clear it and checked around to make certain she wasn’t visible to anyone. “They’ve brought in dragons?”



Four of the massive beasts were there, one for each champion. Hermione recognized Charlie Weasley as he stood by a massive form that could only be Hagrid, likely discussing the creatures. “They can’t be serious!”



“That’s it! I’ve had enough! You’re dropping out and going to a real school! One that doesn’t think it’s all right to pit teenagers against things like that.”



Harry was out here somewhere, Hermione knew it. “This is why Hagrid wanted Harry to come out under the cloak. He wanted to show him the dragons. It’s cheating of course…”



“He’s in good company, then. That Karkaroff git it out here, too, and Hagrid brought Maxime. Krum and that French Fairy will both know what’s coming. Someone will need to put a bug in Cedric’s ear to even the playing field. Then we’ll grab Harry and drag him out of here. A nice boarding school in Switzerland should do it. I’d suggest snagging Ron, too, but his mother would kill you.”



Hermione rolled her eyes, the initial shock of the moment wearing off. “I’m not dropping out of Hogwarts. It’s not like I have to face the dragons. We’ll just have to help Harry figure out how to get past them is all.”



“Dragons and trolls and God only knows what else. I’m beginning to understand why we ignored wizards for the most part. You people are completely psychotic!”



Hermione fought back a snort. “Look who’s talking. You’d better watch yourself, Kathryn. Keep screeching like an enraged mum and you’re likely to loose your reputation of being a first class bitch.”



“While I’m delighted that you’re finally learning to swear properly, you can bloody well bugger off!”



~***~