DEVOTED , h. granger

⁰¹⁰ the second task

"we pretend to date." harry whispered.

"harry, i love you, but you're seriously no ravenclaw—"

"—think about it! i mean, obviously hermione'll get jealous."

"there's no way in a million years that hermione jean granger will believe that you and i are a couple." maeve shook her head. "i appreciate the effort, but it's just not gonna happen. i mean, when have any of our plans every actually worked?" she moved forward to push open the library door, opting to leave the boy behind so she could have some time by herself to think.

"—i saw viktor and hermione kiss earlier." the boy spoke to so she could hear him, making the blonde stop dead in her tracks.

"fine, i'm in."

harry smiled at this, stepping forward while maeve linked their arms, suddenly interested in his plan.

"so what do we do?"

"i thought i'd leave that up to you, actually." the potter boy shrugged. "you're good at planning things. more than me."

"too right." she nodded, thinking for a moment as they pulled out two chairs from one of the library's table. "they should be meeting us here soon anyways. to help you with the egg."

"what do we say?"

"nothing. just act normal. don't lay it on too thick, okay? they'll read us like a book. and i'm not too into the plan so we wont lay it on too thick. just keep it up in front of those three."

harry nodded hastily, scribbling onto a sheet of parchment. 'come seek us where our voices sound—'

"—hi." levi bounded up to them, pulling out a chair beside the two gryffindors, yawning groggily as he sank himself into it.

"what's wrong with you?" maeve asked her twin brother, frowning.

"tired." he answered half-heatedly, shutting his eyes immediately after with a soft sigh.

"you're great help, thanks, levi." she smiled sarcastically, turning back around.

"your welcome." he mumbled, just before hermione and ron followed up, hermione clutching a stack of books, and ron trying to unwrap a chocolate frog.

"alright?" the latter greeted, flopping down beside levi.

"not really. . ." harry spoke unenthusiastically, dropping his head onto the table with a frustrated groan. "i don't get this at all!"

"it's simple, really." hermione spoke up, briefly glancing at maeve, who was avoiding her gaze. "seek us where our voices sound," she shrugged. "the black lake. that's obvious. 'an hour long you'll have to look?' again, obvious. though, admittedly, potentially problematic."

"potentially problematic?" harry scoffed incredulously. "when's the last time you held your breath underwater for an hour, hermione?"

"harry, we can do this, the five of us will figure it out." maeve assured, offering him a small smile and kissing his cheek.

hermione and ron's eyebrows furrowed at this, turning to eachother as if to non-verbally communicate: 'did she just—?'

maeve noticed the looks she was getting and she turned to her two friends, shrugging.

"are you two—?" ron asked, not being able to finish his sentence.

hermione's stomach twisted, looking up to watch the blonde's reaction to ron's question.

"—i hate to break up this session, but professor mcgonnagall would like to see you in her office." professor moody approached them. harry sighed, leaning to get up from his chair, but the man shook his head. "not you potter, just miss foster and miss granger."