𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐬 | 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝐞𝐫𝐚

Chapter 48. The Yule Ball ☾

A/N: I own nothing but the plot.

Harry walked down to breakfast exhausted. He was super tired from getting up before seven every morning. He now wanted the tournament to be over with just so that he could get a decent night's sleep. Why did I agree to be trained again? Harry wondered as he plopped down at the Gryffindor table. His pensive attitude was interrupted by Hermione plopping down her copy of The Daily Prophet.

"She did it again." Hermione stated as she plopped down next to Harry. Harry looked up at her.

"Who did what again?" Harry asked innocently. Hermione huffed.

"Skeeter, that horrid woman. She wrote her article on how you and I are dating and I'm cheating on you with Krum and all that nonsense." Hermione informed him. Harry shook his head.

"Why do you listen to that nonsense, Mione? You and I both know the truth. Whoever gave Skeeter that idea was just a worm looking for their five minutes of fame." Harry lectured. Draco, who was sitting across from them, hung his head in shame.

"Yeah, sorry about that last time." Draco muttered, just loud enough for the other two to hear it. Right then, Luna came over to the Gryffindor table.

"Hi Harry. I heard about your newest relationship. Should I be jealous?" Luna teased. Harry smiled and shook his head.

"It's not true, you know. Rita Skeeter made all of the article up. I don't think there's one truthful statement in that piece of garbage." Harry said, looking down at the offending article.

"No, there are some truthful statements. You did learn how to perform a patronus third year with the help of Remus Lupin. You also did defeat a Hungarian Horntail in five minutes flat. She didn't lie completely." Draco informed Harry, looking over the table at his friend. Harry shrugged.

"Yeah, but the rest is trash. I can't believe anyone believed it." Harry pointed out. At that point, the mail owls came flying in. Dozens of them flew to Hermione and dropped letters and packages on top of her food. One of them burst open oozing bubotuber pus all over her food and down onto her hands lying in her lap.

"Ah!" Hermione screeched as the pus began to form boils on her hands. Ron Weasley looked over at the offending letter.

"Hey! That's Mum's handwriting on the envelope." Ron announced to the whole Great Hall. Fred and George immediately jumped out of their seats and over to where the crowd of students gathered. Fred got out his dragon hide gloves he used in potions class and put them on. He picked up the envelope, turned it over, and took out the letter. He read it over and handed it to George. George sighed.

"Yep, that's dear old Mum for you." George murmured as Fred set aside the envelope and began wading through the other packages and letters, looking for traps, pranks, or other harmful substances. They found five with hexes on them and three with different forms of poison hidden inside.

When they reached the howlers, Fred took off his gloves. These he knew would not be hexed and he could trust them not to harm him or the young Gryffindor girl he was protecting. The howlers began going off one by one. One certainly got their attention.

"How could you? I thought you were my friend! I thought you were his friend! He deserves so much better than you! He deserves someone more like me...someone who won't turn their back on him for some good looking Quidditch star. You should be ashamed of yourself, Hermione Granger." The voice yelled throughout the hall. Fred and George both knew that voice. They glared at their little sister who began to turn red in embarrassment. George turned back to Hermione.