Trust Me, He's a "Keeper."

Weird Day

 I kept my eyes closed as I rubbed my temples. The four of us sat in silence in front of the fireplace in the common room. Even after several other classes, defense against the dark arts today played back in our minds.
  “I can’t believe he performed those curses in the classroom,” Hermione scoffed, “Did you see Neville’s face?”
  We nodded, staring at the floor. I could still hear the screeching of the poor thing echoing against the stone walls of the classroom. The thought made me shudder as a chill crawled up my spine. I looked up at the large clock then back at the others.
  “Hey, guys. It’s a quarter to six. Want to go watch people put their names in the goblet of fire?”
  Harry’s eyes lit up, “That sounds like a good idea. It would be a cool thing to distract us.”
  Hermione and Ron nodded in agreement, so we got off our butts and left the common room. I started feeling better as we headed downstairs to the great hall. The setting seemed eerie as we stepped in. The lights were off and the there was only the bright glow from cobalt flames from the goblet of fire. The downpour from the storm pelted the glass windows. Students stood or sat circling the goblet, cheering and applauding every time someone came to put their name in. A decent sized group of seventh years busted through the great hall doors, shoving Cedric to the Goblet. The room went silent for a brief moment as Cedric placed a small piece of parchment in the icy flames. Without a millisecond to spare, Cedric’s friends broke into a roar of cheers, patting him on the back and dragging him away from the goblet. I watched Cedric high five his guy friends as he pulled his arm out of the grip of a couple girls in the group. I thought back to the day we went to the Quidditch World Cup when Cedric and his father showed up. Hermione and Ginny’s approving smiles to me as continued on. About three times before we reached the portkey, Ginny had tried to subtly knock me into him. When I confronted her, she blamed her clumsiness and that she didn’t mean to. I was so deep in thought, I hadn’t noticed the much louder cheering as Fred and George barged in, carrying two vials of a mysterious liquid.
  “It’s not going to work,” Hermione chanted in a sing-song voice.
  The twins surrounded her, “Oh, yeah? Why’s that, Granger?”
  Hermione smirked and pointed to the thin and white ring of smoke surrounding the goblet of fire, “You see this? This is an age line. Dumbledore drew it himself and there’s no way he’d be fooled by something as pathetically dimwitted as an aging potion.”
  “That’s exactly why it will work,” Fred grinned.
  “Because he’s pathetically dimwitted,” George finished.
  The entire room watched curiously as the twins shook the vials, removing the corks and wrapped their arms together.
  “Ready, Fred?”
  “Ready, George.”
  They grinned at each other, “Bottoms up.”
  The two drank the potion and jumped into the ring. The room broke into applause as Fred and George high-fived and threw their names in the flames. The celebration was cut short when the cobalt flames began to grow and blast out. Two streams icy blue fire ejected from the goblet, striking Fred and George, nearly knocking them halfway across the room. As they sat up, their hair turned grey and long beards sprouted on their faces.
  “You said-!”
  “You said!”
   George tackled Fred to the floor and everyone began to chant, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
 Suspenseful silence began to sweep through the crowd. Everyone turned to the entrance as Viktor Krum marched into the room with his headmaster and two other Durmstrangs. Hermione elbowed me in the side as they approached.
  “Ouch. What was that for?”
  She smiled, “It’s your new friend.”
  I looked closely at the two Durmstrang guys. Sure enough one of them was the one from the other night. I tried to ignore Hermione’s watchful eye and mischievous grin. I glanced toward the goblet and watched Viktor place his name in. A huge smile spread across my face when he faced away from the goblet. His eyes settled onto Hermione and a small smile curved his lips. I flicked a glance to my right at Hermione to see if she noticed, but she had her nose buried inside her book.
  “Hermione!” I whispered loudly.
  “What?”
  I peered back up to see if he was still looking over at us, but his headmaster had guided him away.
  “Viktor Krum was smiling at you.” I smirked.
  Her cheeks started to be brushed with pink and she refused to look me in the eye, “He was not.”
  “Yes, he was, Hermione.”
  She slammed her book shut and stood up, “Come on. Let’s head back up to the common room.”
  I didn’t argue. We gathered up the guys and headed back upstairs to the common room. I knew Hermione was a bit embarrassed about the whole Viktor thing. Especially since she went straight upstairs without saying a word. I don’t get what’s so embarrassing about having a famous quidditch player checking you out, but I don’t know how she thinks. Harry, Ron and I sat in awkward silence around the fire. Harry broke the ice.
  “Crystal, do you know what’s going on with Hermione?”
  I shook my head. I figured it was because of Viktor, but I shouldn’t assume. Maybe I just caught her at an off moment.
  Harry sighed and climbed out of the chair, “Well, I’m heading up to bed. You coming, Ron?”
  Ron pressed his lips together and stood up, “Yeah.”
  “Goodnight, Crystal,” Harry said.
  “Night, guys.”
  I watched them head upstairs and I yawned. I turned back to the fire, watching the flames dance and the wood shatter under the heat. It was so silent, so peaceful. The clock struck nine, but I didn’t move. Today was just so overwhelming. I thought about this morning and I realized something. I haven’t seen Oliver since lessons started. I started to feel a bit lonely, half expecting him to come up behind me like he usually does, but nothing. I sat there in wait for hours. When the clock struck eleven, I gave up and climbed off the couch. As I headed upstairs, I sighed in disappointment. Where did he go?