Harry did his best to remain calm. "So what have you actually got against me? Any evidence at all?"
"You're taking books from the restricted section! You're probably learning all about the dark spells you can use against Cedric!"
Harry's mind boggled at the huge leap of logic that Ernie just made. Well, logic isn't one of the main traits of Hufflepuff, is it? he thought. He spoke his next sentence slowly and clearly. "You know that all the champions are allowed access to the restricted section, right?"
"He wouldn't abuse his position, though! He'd never look up illegal spells! You trying to accuse Cedric of cheating like you? You want to bring him down with you?" snarled the sixth year.
Harry rubbed his temples. He had never had such a frustrating argument before. Then again, Hermione had told him in first year that wizards rarely had an ounce of logic. "It's not cheating if it's allowed by the rules," he tried to explain. "I've seen Cedric down here a few times as well."
"Hah! We knew you'd try to rat on him like that!"
"I just said it wasn't against the rules... you know what? This is pointless." Turning to Hermione, he asked her, "Want to study somewhere more private? This is just a waste of time."
They both grabbed a few of the more important books and headed to the front desk to sign them out. The trio of Hufflepuffs followed them. "Running away, Potter? We're not done with you!"
"But I'm done with you. Stop bothering me, you're not going to find anything." Harry said firmly as he walked out of the library.
There were more Hufflepuffs waiting outside the library. Well, they certainly had loyalty- to their own house, at least. Harry had already been on his guard since the three Hufflepuffs approached him in the library. With a quick legilimency scan, he determined none of them were prepared to cast spells at him- but they all felt hostile. "What do all of you want?"
"We want you to quit the tournament. You shouldn't even be in it!" shouted one of them.
"You guys do realize it's a binding magical contract, right? I had to compete once my name popped out," Harry answered through gritted teeth.
"That's just your excuse, isn't it? You just want to steal the grand prize out from under Cedric's nose!"
"In case you didn't notice, your Cedric didn't need Harry in the tournament to lose. Fleur and Krum are beating him, too," Hermione piped up.
"Who asked you, bookworm?" snarled one of the girls.
Hermione was perfectly capable of defending herself, Harry reminded himself. Since she wasn't bothered at all by the insult, Harry did another quick Legilimency scan. A lot of them were more riled up... an actual fight could break out at any moment now. They needed to get away. Hermione seemed to have done the same, and they both agreed they should leave now. Turning around without another word, they briskly strode away from the pack of 'puffs.
"Let me handle them," Harry whispered to his girlfriend. "At least one of them's about to blow their top about now."
"Why don't you want me to help?" asked Hermione. "I'm a perfectly capable witch, I'll have you know."
"I do know, but I need practice," Harry answered. "If I can't handle these Hufflepuffs, then I certainly won't be able to handle Krum. Oh, and shield your eyes."
"You think you can just walk away from us, Potter? We haven't finished!" came an angry shout. "Impedimentia!"
Harry cast the shield charm behind him as he turned around. The basic jinx bounced off the shield, back towards the group of Hufflepuffs. There were too many there, and too little space to move, and one of the younger girls ended up getting hit by the ricochet.
"Casting spells at me behind my back? I never thought you'd act like the Slytherins," Harry said mockingly, without letting his shield down. "None of you are brave enough to challenge me to a face-to-face, one-on-one fight, are you?" he continued. "And if you were all smarter, you wouldn't have gotten yourselves stuck in this situation."
Harry didn't quite know why he was feeling so spiteful, but he had a suspicion that he'd experienced the hostility of the Hufflepuffs three times over before, but never this strongly. He could take the time to figure out what could be different this time around, but for now... "Lumos Fulmeo!" The spell he used against the harpies was just as effective inside a crowded hall. The bright flash of light blinded the Hufflepuffs temporarily. Harry immediately brought his shield back up in case any were dumb enough to fire off spells blindly, while he and Hermione both ran up the stairs to get away.
Once they were in a safe, quiet place to study, namely the Room of Requirement, Hermione opened up one of the textbooks on illusions and said, "Harry, take off your shirt."
Harry was surprised by the sudden request, but did what he was told gleefully. "Err... what do you want me to do?" he asked.
"Lie down. On your stomach."
Harry didn't know what to expect, but he didn't expect nothing. After five minutes of quiet muttering from Hermione and not sensing anything at all, he asked, "Err... Hermione? What are you doing?"
"I'm practicing the glamour charm on your back. I can't seem to get it totally right... the colour and the texture of the image always seems to be a little off. Hold still for a while."
"Oh," said Harry, with quite a bit of disappointment.
"Don't worry, Harry, I'll give you a massage for being a good sport later." 'Later' was another half-hour when she finally hid all of Harry's runes under the glamour. She then straddled Harry and began pushing her palms down into his lower back. "You know, you're going to have a lot to prepare for with the upcoming duels."
"Hmmmm? Oh yeah, Krum..." Harry answered lazily. My god, Hermione's good at this. Her hands are like a goddess! Harry thought. "Hermione, where did you learn to massage like this?"
"Read about some techniques," she answered while she raked his back with her fingertips. "What did you expect?"
"Should have guessed," he muttered in response.
"Now, about the upcoming duels... I think you might have to watch out for Cedric more than Krum," said Hermione.
"What? What makes you say that, Hermione?"
"I've heard about Krum's duels. He's a powerhouse, for sure. He throws difficult, damaging spells repeatedly, with quite a bit of force behind each one. He likes to attack head-on, and few opponents can even withstand his attacks before their shields break. But with the training we've been getting with Moody, I think you'll have a better time of dodging his spells than the others. Don't bother shielding, he'll probably just overwhelm you."
Harry was reminded of the fight with the Zuu- Krum had immediately gone for bone-breakers to injure the bird instead of trying distractions or easier hexes and jinxes to wear it down like Cedric or Fleur. "But what makes you think Cedric is dangerous, instead of Fleur? She did take first place, you know."
"Fleur won because she gambled and made the right bet. Unless she knew about the course beforehand, she was hoping that there would be more long stretches of straight flying than obstacles. You nearly caught up to her at every obstacle, you know. She had to grab the egg last because even Cedric, with his Nimbus 2000, could dodge the Zuu's talons more easily. She had to wear it down some more by herself before she could risk taking it."
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