A Different Beginning

Chapter XVI - The Goblet of Fire

"Let me get this straight!" Ron exclaimed as he sat down next to Harry on the couch in the common room. "You just asked her to go to Hogsmeade with you, out of the blue? Since when did you even like Hannah Abbott?"

Harry shrugged. "What's not to like? She's pretty and she's sweet and I've always been on friendly terms with her minus the whole heir of Slytherin fiasco in second year, but that was all of Hufflepuff House so I really can't blame her for going along with the crowd, you know? I like her and she obviously likes me so why not give it a go?"

Hermione smiled warmly at Harry as Ron continued to look at him with a shell shocked expression on his face. "I think its sweet, Harry. Just ignore Ron, since he is obviously too immature to realize that dating is a normal part of life."

Ron's mouth dropped open. "What's that supposed to mean, Hermione? I'm just surprised is all! I mean it was out of the blue for Harry to ask her out! So how the bloody hell does that make me immature?"

"It makes you immature because you can't seem to wrap your peanut sized brain around the fact that Harry has a date and you don't!"

"Well ... I ... that has nothing to do with it!"

Harry sighed and stood up, heading over to the other side of the common room where he could pull out his books. He took a seat next to Ginny and Colin. "Hey guys."

Colin grinned. "Hey, Harry, those two at it again?"

Harry laughed. "I think that their arguments are going to be legendary."

Ginny smiled. "So you asked out Hannah Abbott? I thought that you liked Cho?"

Harry shrugged. "I do, but I don't know. She doesn't seem interested in me. Besides, I like Hannah and she seems to like me as well. We're only going to Hogsmeade."

"I think it's great. You'll have fun, don't worry."

He nodded. "I have no idea what we'll do, but I think it will be fun. But now the only thing I need to worry about is this potions essay."

Ginny nodded. "Well, have fun with that one. Can I ask you a question about this DADA thing though?"

Harry turned to glance over at her homework. "Sure, what's up?"

She pointed to the part that she was having trouble with on the page about grindelows; something about the paragraph in the textbook just wasn't making sense to her. Harry quickly explained it, using some of the examples that Remus had given last year and she grinned in understanding. "Okay, that makes sense now. I'm kind of afraid to approach Moody, he gives me the creeps. Thanks."

They both got back to work quickly after that. Harry only looked up briefly when Demelza Robbins, a first year who had become fast friends with Ginny and Colin took a seat at their table. Harry was half-way done his potions essay when Ron took a seat next to him. "Hey."

Harry looked up and smirked. "Done with your argument?"

Ron grinned. "I think so."

Harry laughed. "I don't even know why you bother to argue with her. It's almost impossible to win and it really just takes a lot of time and energy, if you ask me."

Ron shrugged. "Because it's too hard not to argue with her. She always has to be right, about everything. It drives me crazy! Especially when I know she's wrong and she won't admit it. Now she's going on about spew and something to do with elf rights. That entire thing with Winky at the Cup really upset her."

Harry nodded. He knew all about S.P.E.W. or the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Hermione just didn't seem to understand that house elves liked to be enslaved. He thought that she had the right idea though as Dobby had been treated terribly. But Maddy and Mickey were part of the family at his house. He had tried to explain that to her but she didn't believe him. She had gone into a tangent about how they still cooked their food, cleaned their home, did their laundry and what did they get? Harry had just ignored her. Neither Maddy or Mickey wanted any wages. James gave them two days off a month, which was more than they could even bear, and one week off every year for them to go on a trip and spend some time with each other. Harry knew that even though they were used to that week off a year, they still protested when James mentioned it. House elves liked to work.