A New Snake

Chapter 16

         

The morning of the final Tri-wizard task came and Harry couldn't eat. He sat at the Slytherin table with a pale face and a panicked expression. His friends sat around him, desperately trying to get him to eat, Hermione and Lily especially. Eventually, he simply dropped his head on the table. Draco Malfoy took this time to give Harry some advice, "Snakes don't show when they're afraid, Potter." He immediately turned around and minded his own business when Harry looked at him and he saw his face. He probably looked like death.

The evening before, Vernon and Dudley had left the school as soon as it was clear that they were no longer needed. They didn't want anything to do with Harry from then on. But his Aunt Petunia stayed. He was her only sister's son, after all. She didn't want to completely throw that away and now that Harry was moving in with his mother's old friend, chances to fix things between them would be few to none. So she would join the Weasleys—and now the Snapes—in sending him off for the last task.

On the topic of the last task, Professor Snape was walking towards him now. "Mr. Potter. They want every champion to meet with the tournament officials and family members after breakfast. You will have the rest of the day free to practice anything you deem necessary, and I must recommend you do." Once he was finished, the man quickly returned to his tea and toast. The entire time, Harry's head never left the table and those around him grew more and more worried every second.

He'd walked into the Great Hall late with a pale face, robes in disarray, and eye-bags like you've never seen. He'd dragged his feet towards the Slytherin table and all but fell into his usual seat. For some time, no one dared look at him or speak to him, but soon enough Lily and Hermione couldn't let it alone. Hermione hurried over with her plate and Lily began piling food on a plate for Harry and tried to get him to eat something. When Hermione arrived and sat beside him she joined in.

Now, he finally picked up his head, but instead of eating, like they had all hoped, he stood, announced he was going to the library, and left the same way he had entered. When the others had finished their food they snuck out some fruit in their robes for Harry, and made their way to the library. They found Harry surrounded by piles upon piles of books, reading and skimming one after another, almost obsessively. The twins reached the table first.

"Alright, Harry. Give us some of those."

"We're going to help you." They gave a pointed look at Ron, "All of us."

They all sat down, taking several books at a time, sifting through, marking information that may be important with small slips of parchment. Not 20 minutes into their search, a Hufflepuff prefect came and summoned Cedric, and Harry to meet with the tournament official and their families.

"Don't worry," Hermione assured him, still looking through a large, dusty tome.

"We'll keep doing what we're doing and you guys can continue when you get back." Lily finished and the twins simply waved them off, quickly flipping through books. Ron had fallen asleep and Hermione removed the book under his cheek so he wouldn't drool on it. The two Hogwarts champions nodded and left with the prefect.

They passed dozens of students in the corridors, some sporting green and silver, and others sporting yellow and black, in support of their preferred Champion. They were led to a large room that was fairly dark and lit by a roaring fireplace. First, the Champions had to talk to the tournament officials. It was really just to remind them of the rules and things like that. It took very little time and soon they were meeting with their families. Severus and Petunia sat by the fire discussing something amoung themselves. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stood talking with one of their older sons who Harry could only assume—by the fact that he wasn't a student, but wasn't Charlie—was Bill Weasley.

Rather than interrupt what looked like an important discussion between his teacher and his aunt, he moved towards the Weasleys. First, he hugged Mrs. Weasley—or, more accurately, was hugged—and shook hands with Mr. Weasley who, then, introduced him to—as he had guessed correctly—Bill Weasley. He talked with them and could hear the conversations of the Diggorys, the Krums, the Delacours and the other two in the room. When Mrs. Weasley expressed a desire to visit her children, he suggested the library first as the current location of three of her children. Ginny was spending the day with Luna in Ravenclaw. He bid them goodbye and they promised to be with him before the third task started. He decided to sit next to his aunt on a small couch before the fire and waited for the two to finish by staring into the flames.

The two finished and Harry and Petunia hugged, Severus looked mildly uncomfortable and Harry had a feeling he was a great deal more uncomfortable than he showed. He spoke with then for a while, but excused himself to continue his research. They, too, promised to see him before the third task and he left.

When he got to the library, Hermione and Lily were splitting the sorted through books in sections: one for books with useful information and one for books without. He thanked them for helping him and continued where he had left off. Ron had apparently been woken by his mother because he was once more sifting through pages, but he was going through much slower than the others and was beginning to nod off again. Harry only laughed a little. His mood had been alleviated enough by his visit with the Weasleys and having his friends help him, that he was able to eat an apple than Hermione had brought in one of her robe pockets—though they were all allowed to wear everyday clothes, she still chose to wear her school robes.

They searched until lunch when even Harry admitted how ravenous he was feeling. He was able to eat a cheese toasty and some chips. His friends were very happy with his progress, but his mood began deteriorating once more when they began to search through the library books again. The task began at dusk and they were rapidly running out of time with little to show for it. Eventually, they all decided to take the books they thought would be useful and start practicing for the task in one of their common rooms. The Gryffindor room was decided on because most of the Gryffindors were outside enjoying the weather.

They practiced for hours, taking small breaks until they had no choice but to head to the Quidditch Pitch. Harry was not looking forward to this...