The Gryffindor Royal - Year Four

Chapter Nine

The next morning was the hardest ever for Harry, Ron and (Y/N). Ron woke up, having almost no memory of last night, and nearly went to Harry to have breakfast together. Harry had nearly done the same, although when he got downstairs he was extremely relieved to see (Y/N) wave at him from the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. "I see you don't think I put my own name in the Goblet," Harry said to (Y/N), while the chattering around him died down and was replaced by whispers when the other students caught sight of Harry.

"Matter of fact, Ron and I are fighting too. I said there was no way you put your name in, but he was insisting you did. So I slapped him." Harry didn't believe he heard right. "Uh, sorry, I don't think I heard you right. You slapped your twin brother?" (Y/N) smirked and turned to face Harry as they entered the Great Hall. Almost at once, the noise died down, and a couple Slytherins yelled something nasty. "Okay firstly, ignore them, I've always believed the Slytherin lot share one collective brain cell. Secondly, never underestimate what a girl can and will do when enraged. Not always true, but for the most part it's accurate."

Harry raised his brows and whistled lowly. "Well, thanks for your support, I think. I now know who to call on when I need help getting rid of hecklers." Harry said, and both of them felt butterflies in their stomachs when he said it. (Y/N) had long since come to terms and accepted her crush, but Harry, being the oblivious person he was, still had no idea what he felt for (Y/N) was a crush. He genuinely still thought he just viewed her as a really good friend, and that the pretty Ravenclaw Cho Chang was his only actual crush.

• • • • • • •

Much to Shelena's delight, Sirius was writing more and more letters to her, and Remus reported the two men had been in a fairly regular correspondence. On top of that, Harry and (Y/N) were getting closer, and Shelena had joined what Fred, George and Ginny called their 'Shipping Club'. The four of them constantly shared what they saw (Y/N) and Harry doing together, which deeply embarrassed the former and utterly confused the latter, who was so oblivious he still had no clue (Y/N) had a massive crush on him.

Even Ron, who wasn't on talking terms with either his sister or Harry, was beginning to suspect something, although he wasn't quite sure if he was imagining things or not. Ron was starting to wonder if Harry had been telling the truth, and (Y/N) was right in siding with him. But he didn't want to give in and say he was wrong; for one it was embarrassing, and (Y/N) would guarantee that Ron would be teased the rest of his life.

One day, a couple days into Harry and Ron's fight, Ron told Hermione he needed to tell Harry something, and asked if he'd accompany her. Which, in other words, meant he was asking Hermione to just convey his message to Harry without Ron actually having to talk to Harry himself. So that led to Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Shelena and (Y/N) all trooping down to the Black Lake where (Y/N) had left Harry with Neville a while earlier, with Hermione and Ron at the front, the other three at the back.

"You should just tell him yourself! This is your problem, Ron, not mine," Hermione nagged, as she asked Ron to repeat what he wanted her to say. He whispered the gist of it to her, and then Hermione rolled her eyes and went to Harry, who'd stood up at the sight of his friends. "Ronald would like me to tell you that Seamus told him that... Dean was told by Parvati that... Hagrid's looking for you."

Harry looked from Hermione, to (Y/N), to Shelena, Ginny, then Ron, all the while he had an unreadable expression on his face. "Is that right?" Harry said loudly, so that everyone could hear him. "Well... what?" he said with a confused expression, and (Y/N) struggled to stifle her laughter as she thought of how cute Harry looked when he was confused. Ginny and Shelena exchanged glances, and made a mental note to tell Fred and George about it later. "Uhh..." Hermione walked back up to Ronand he re-explained, and Hermione went back to Harry to tell him what Ron had said. Halfway through, she gave up and told him simply that Hagrid was looking for him. "Well, you can tell Ron-" "I'm not an owl!" Hermione cried, then walked up to Shelena, (Y/N) and Ginny and the three girls followed the bushy-haired genius into the castle, walking arm in arm, as she muttered furiously about Harry and Ron.