"There you are! I was wondering what was keeping you!" Rita spoke the moment Hermione stepped into the courtyard. The cameraman rushed past Hermione as Rita walked over to her, trying to mess Hermione's hair up a bit.
"Sorry, I had to deal with a very unpleasant person for a bit." Hermione stated, though she wasn't entirely sorry about it. She turned to look over at Barty, only for her eyes widened. Barty had his hair gelled back and his stubby beard shaven off so he had a smoother chin. He was wearing his old beaten-up leather trench coat and dusty leather laced up boots with ripped black jeans and an old t-shirt. Barty tilted his head to the side where he could see her. They stared at each other for a minute till Rita clapped her hands together.
"Okay, places. Barty if you could sit right here," Rita began instructing them for the photo. Barty was seated to lean against one of the statues of the fountain as then Hermione was to lean against him, her head placed against Barty's chest. Then Barty wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist, causing her to blush a bit.
"Now, look at each other in a romantic way," Rita Skeeter ordered them. Hermione and Barty glance at each other the way Rita had wanted them as best as they could until they couldn't help but burst out laughing at how silly they looked. While they were laughing, Hermione was taking back at the suddenly flashes of the camera light.
"That was perfect! Better than I could have gotten it!" Rita told them, "I am quite sure even the readers would believe as I did for a moment that you two were a cute couple having a good laugh."
Hermione felt herself suddenly stop laughing as she pushed herself off Barty and stood up. She mumbled something about having to get to their next class before rushing out of the courtyard. She was halfway down the hall when she heard a voice called to her.
"Hermione! Hermione, wait?" She turned to see Barty was running after her, looking at her with a gaze of concern, "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She lied.
"You know if you want this to end, just say the word, Hermione, and we'll go back out there get rid of the camera and just dare Rita to do her worst on us. I mean what else is there that she could really say about us?" Barty suggested to her. Hermione shook her head.
"I don't want her writing hateful things about my friends. I don't want them to experience the same pain I dealt with during my fourth year at Hogwarts. I can handle the heat better than Ron and Harry," Hermione assured him.
"One can only handle the heat for so long, Hermione... then one day right out of the blue when you'll least expect it... you'll find yourself go mental and do something you'll regret." Barty warned her. Hermione shook her head.
"Come on, you have to get to class before the bell rings or else you'll be written up for lateness," Hermione told him, trying to change the subject. Barty gazed her up and down for a minute before walking up and past her like he was on the way to the gallows. He paused when he reached the stairs then turned back to Hermione.
"If ever you just want to stop pretending about all of this, all you have to do is just say the word--and I'll be there for you." Barty stated to her before heading back up to class, leaving Hermione alone with her confused and stressful thoughts.