Jupiter | Harry James Potter

xv ; dragons

"Hello," Hermione said, holding up a stack of toast, which she was carrying in a napkin as we stood in front of the portrait hole, where Harry had just come out of. "We brought you this. Want to go for a walk?"

"Good idea," Harry sighed gratefully. Even though I had a right to be absolutely pissed at Harry, that could wait till all of this was over. Harry didn't need another person in his life against him.

We descended the stairs and swiftly passed through the entrance hall without glancing into the Great Hall. We then briskly made our way across the lawn towards the lake, where the Durmstrang ship was anchored, its reflection darkly mirrored in the water.

"Have either of you seen Ron?" Harry asked suddenly as he munched on his toast.

"He was at breakfast. Didn't talk to either of us, though." I said, and Harry let out a deep sigh.

"Reckon he still thinks I put my name in?"

"Well . . . no, I don't think so . . . not really," Hermione muttered awkwardly.

"What's that supposed to mean, 'not really'?"

"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione groaned despairingly. "He's jealous!"

"Jealous?" Harry scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?"

"Cut him some slack, Harry." I said, and Harry furiously opened his mouth too, but I cut him off. "You know how his brothers are. He's always competing for attention, and you just kind of... get it handed to you."

"I don't want the a-"

"I know you don't want the attention." I interrupted again. "But I don't think Ron understands the idea of not wanting attention when it's all he's ever tried to get."

"Great," Harry snapped bitterly. "Really great. Tell him from me I'll swap any time he wants. Tell him from me he's welcome to it. People gawping at my forehead everywhere I go..."

"We're not telling him anything," Hermione said shortly. "Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this out."

"I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow up!" Harry said, so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. "Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying myself once I've got my neck broken or —"

"Harry..." I breathed, and Harry angrily ran his hands through his hair.

"I'm sorry." He grumbled. "This is all just too much."

"Harry, I've been thinking..." Hermione sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You know what we've got to do, don't you? Straight away, the moment we get back to the castle?"

"Yeah, give Ron a good kick up the ass."

"Write to Sirius." Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "You've got to tell him what's happened. He asked you to keep him posted on everything that's going on at Hogwarts... It's almost as if he expected something like this to happen. I brought some parchment and a quill out with me-"

"Come off it," Harry muttered, looking around to check that we couldn't be overheard, but the grounds were quite deserted. "He came back to the country just because my scar twinged. He'll probably come bursting right into the castle if I tell him someone's entered me in the Triwizard Tournament."

"It just means he cares about you." I reasoned, and Harry quickly looked out towards the black lake, uninterested in listening to me. "Look at me, Potter."

He turned his head to me, his lips pursed to keep them from trembling.

"Sirius wouldn't want to find out from the Daily Prophet, and not his own godson."