The Hidden One

awkwardness

Rose and Hermione slept in on Boxing Day, as did most of the school. Both girls stayed up until about 2 am talking about the ball, everything from Harry and Rose's almost kiss to Hermione and Ron's fight.

Apparently, Ron had accused Hermione of fraternizing with the enemy and going against Harry and Rose, which was untrue. Hermione had also yelled at Ron the same way Rose had yelled at Harry, telling Ron to not wait until last minute to ask her next time. The two girls both agreed that boys were stupid.

The next morning started off slow. Both girls had accidentally slept in their hair and makeup. Neither girl had calm hair anymore, and instead had annoyingly frizzy an poofy hair. The most annoying part of the morning for Rose was that Hermione wouldn't stop apologizing for interrupting Rose and Harry the night. before.

"Rose, I really am sorry. I know that you guys have been flirting with each other for months and you finally almost act and I interrupt and-"

"Hermione, please, we haven't been flirting. And it's fine," Rose sighed, not wanting to hear Hermione apologize for what seemed like the 10th time that morning, and they had only been awake for about 30 minutes. "Plus...I mean, I just turned 14. I think I'm a little young to date."

"It's not young if you've found your soulmate," Hermione pointed out. Rose choked on her own spit.

"My soulmate?! That's crazy!" Rose coughed. Hermione sighed and handed her a cup of water.

"Have you ever heard the prophecy?" Hermione asked. Rose shook her head no.

"Dumbledore said I didn't need to know yet. Why?" Rose questioned. Hermione opened her mouth to respond when the door opened and Ginny stuck her head in.

"Sorry to bother you, but Harry and Ron want to talk to you guys," Ginny told them.

"Oh, thanks, Ginny," Hermione sighed as she stood up. Ginny nodded and waved goodbye before leaving, presumably back to the common room.

"Tell me later?" Rose asked Hermione, pulling on some shoes so she could go downstairs.

"Yeah," Hermione sighed, looking slightly troubled. Rose decided not to say anything and instead walked down the steps to the common room, Hermione right behind her.

"What do you two want?" Rose questioned when she reached where Harry and Ron were sitting. They had taken over a two-person couch that had two chairs across from it. Rose sat in one of the chairs and put her legs over the arm of the chair, sitting sideways to do so. Hermione sat in the other chair normally. Rose decided not to mention that Harry hadn't saved the seat next to him for her as he normally did.

"We have a lot to tell you," Harry replied. Rose noted that he barely looked in her direction, causing her to frown.

Harry and Ron immediately started explaining everything they had heard the night before. Apparently, Mr. Crouch wasn't feeling well and Percy had basically completely taken over for him. They also told the girls about a conversation they heard between Karkaroff and Snape, where Snape had told Karkaroff to flee if he wanted to. Rose and Hermione both agreed that the conversation was strange. The only revelation that didn't shock the girls is that Hagrid admitted to Madame Maxime that he was a half-giant.

"Well, I thought he must be," Hermione shrugged. "He's not tall enough to be a full giant but he's too tall to be a normal human."

"But it doesn't matter what he is," Rose continued. "Not all giants are bad, just like werewolves. The whole prejudice against them is unfair."

Ron looked like he was going to reply harshly, but decide against it. He and Hermione had been strangely kind to each other to the point where it was awkward. He didn't want to start another fight, and he knew that Rose was so overprotective of Hermione that if Ron were to say anything mean he would end up with antlers.