Faith .|. H. J. POTTER ✔

Chapter twenty-two

March was coming up. That meant warmer weather but more rainstorms. Luckily, when they went to Hogsmeade the weather was nice and sunny. Faith, Harry and Hermione had a tough day behind them. 

Before their double Potions class on the Friday afternoon, Pansy Parkinson and her giggling friends showed them an article from a magazine. Of course, Rita Skeeter was behind it. The article stated that now both Faith and Hermione betrayed Harry for Durmstrang enemies.

"If that's the best Rita can do, she's losing her touch," Hermione told them after the four of them finished reading it during Potions. "What a pile of old rubbish,"

"Well, I'll be expecting another letter from my parents and a few people asking who I'm actually dating," Faith mumbled as they started to unpack the ingredients they needed for their Wit-Sharpening Potion.

"So, who are you dating?" Ron asked with a grin but she ignored him, rolling her eyes.

"She snogged Alex," Hermione told them, obviously in a very rare, giggly mood.

"Hermione!" Faith whisper-shouted, careful not to draw Snape's attention to them. "You said you wouldn't tell!"

"What? When? At the Yule Ball?" Ron asked very surprisedly. Faith nodded.

"Near the end," 

Harry didn't say anything. It was silent for about ten minutes. They all were preparing the Potion. Until Hermione spoke up again.

"There's something funny, though," She said suspiciously. "How could Rita Skeeter have known ...?"

"Known what?" Ron quickly asked. "You haven't been mixing up Love Potion, have you?" Ron was referring to the article.

"Don't be stupid," Hermione said. "No, it's just ... How did she know Viktor asked me to visit him over summer?" She blushed when she said that.

"See, I knew that but I didn't expose you. What did I do to get called out like that?" Faith grinned as she pounded up her beetles for the potion. 

"What?" Ron dropped his knife.

"He asked me right after he'd pulled me out of the lake," Hermione said, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. "After he got rid of his shark's head. Madam Pomfrey gave us both blankets and then he sort of pulled me away from the judges so they wouldn't hear, and he said, if I wasn't doing anything over the summer, would I like to -"

"And what did you say?" Faith saw that Ron had picked up his blade but was now cutting up the air next to the beetle because he was looking at Hermione.

"And he did say he'd never felt the same about anyone else," Her face was getting so red, Faith was afraid it might explode. "But how could Rita Skeeter have heard him? She wasn't there ... or was she? Maybe she has got an Invisibility Cloak, maybe she sneaked into the grounds to watch the second task ..."

"I think Ron really wants to know what you said," Faith mumbled. 

"Well, I was too busy seeing whether Faith and Harry were OK to -"

"Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is, Miss Granger," A cold voice said from next to their table. "I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor," 

That was when Snape noticed the magazine and started to read it to the class, pausing after every second to let the Slytherin students laugh at them. After that, Snape had Harry sit in front of his desk, Hermione with Pansy Parkinson, and she left Ron and Faith at their original table in the back. 

The next day, they went to Hogsmeade. Faith noticed the three were avoiding her that day so she thought it was best to go with Ginny again and have some fun with her. They went through the entire village, all the way to the end, where they patted a big, black dog, and then went back. Back at Hogwarts, they played some games and overall had a lot of fun. Faith was supposed to be in Ginny's year but somehow there had been a mistake in the system and Faith received her letter a day early. Her parents suspect it was because she was born just seconds after midnight.