Catching Her Heart Pt. 2

Chapter 91

"May I have your attention," Professor Dumbledore said the morning of September 11th. Hermione looked up at the head table and saw a blonde witch sitting and smiling indulgently, wondering who she was. She reminded Hermione of a glittering insect with her sparkling glasses and fitted green suit.

"Today, is the weighing of the wands," Professor Dumbledore continued.

"What's the weighing of the wands?" Hermione heard many students around the tables whispering.

"The weighing of the wands will be done by Mr. Olivander who has kindly taken time off away from his shop in Diagon Alley to come preform the needed tests to see that our champions' wands are in working order for the upcoming tournament, as they are the only item our champions are allowed to use during the tasks. Also joining us for the weighing of the wands, and throughout the tournament, from the Daily Prophet, Ms. Rita Skeeter."

At her introduction, Hermione saw the witch in green stand and wave as though she were a contestant on one of the beauty contests on Muggle TV, and she wanted to vomit. The witch wasn't as attractive as she pretended to be.

"Hello," the witch said with a sickly smile. "I'm Rita Skeeter, I write for the Daily Prophet. I'm am so happy to be here. I'll be spending my time here with all of you interviewing the champions of the TriWizard Tournament, which as you know is the juicy news considering that this is the very first time the tournament's been held since it was banned in 1792. So I'm here to bring all of this excitement to the Wizarding World."

Herimone rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Great," Harry muttered next to her - she'd chosen to sit with him today because she couldn't take Ron's grousing, and figured Harry needed someone on his side, considering she had seen the pins that had been appearing over the weekend, making a jab at him. The pins she noticed changed from one slogan to another. One said Support Cedric Diggory - the REAL Hogwarts champion, the other said Potter Stinks. Many of the pins flashed around the great Hall surrounding them. "Exactly what I need... More publicity."

Hermione gave him a sympathetic smile, putting a comforting hand hand on his arm. He met her gaze and gave her a grim smiled.

Hermione awoke the next morning feeling bittersweet. It was her birthday but with Harry and Ron still fighting she doubted that she could get either to come together peacefully to join her. She fed Crookshanks and then headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. She looked around upon entering, and sighed as she saw Ron sitting with Dean and Seamus and found that Harry was no where to be found, and figured that he was down in the kitchens once more.

She made her way past Ron and sat down with Fred, George and Lee.

"Happy birthday, Hermione," they greeted her.

"Thanks," Hermione replied with a smile before she sighed and it dropped.

"What's wrong?" Lee asked.

"Nothing," Hermione said. "Well," she said after a moment. "That's not true... I just wish Harry and Ron would stop fighting. I hate seeing them fight."

"Yeah," Fred said.

"We know," George added.

"Its weird seeing him hanging out with Dean and Seamus when he never really did before."

Three owls arrive then, coming in with the rest of the owls delivering mail to the students, one that she recognized as belonging to the Wood family, the other two she didn't. The owls circled before each dropping small parcels.

"Oh, um," Fred said.

"Sorry," George added sadly.

"We didn't get you anything," Lee finished.