𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐑

the one with the unexpected task

"The only ones who see
the whole picture are
those who step
out of it."

•

WE WENT UP TO the Owlery that evening to find Nym, so that Harry could send Sirius a letter telling him that we had managed to get past our dragons unscathed. On the way, Harry filled Ron in on everything Sirius had told him about Karkaroff. Though shocked at first to hear that Karkaroff had been a Death Eater, by the time we entered the Owlery Ron was saying that we ought to have suspected it all along.

"Fits, doesn't it?" he said. "Remember what Malfoy said on the train, about his dad being friends with Karkaroff? Now we know where they knew each other. Sorry, Skylar- it's just a theory that fits. They were probably running around in masks together at the World Cup. . . I'll tell you one thing, though, Harry, if it was Karkaroff who put your name in the goblet, he's going to be feeling really stupid now, isn't he? Didn't work, did it? You only got a scratch! But why Skylar? Who'd want to kill her? And why? Come here - I'll do it -"

Nym looked very excited at the prospect of delivering a letter. I barely wrote any because,well, I didn't have any idea what to write and who to write to. Sirius was an option but it'd draw too much attention. Nym was a very flashy owl and she tended to fit right in with Sirius's exotic birds. But nonetheless, she was very excited at having some work to do.

Ron talked incessantly, probably to make up for the fact that he had been a shitty friend the past couple of days. All the while, I revised the letter Harry wrote to Sirius. He exaggerated my dealing with the dragon so much that I felt like Daenerys Targeryen or something. I don't even know how to spell her name.

Harry threw Nym out of the window. She plummeted twelve feet before managing to pull herself back up again; the letter attached to her leg was much longer and heavier than usual - Harry hadn't been able to resist giving Sirius a blow-by-blow account of exactly how he had swerved, circled, and dodged the Horntail either. He made himself look just as flashy as me. We watched Nym disappear into the darkness, and then Ron said, "Well, we'd better get downstairs for your surprise party, Harry, Skylar - Fred and George should have nicked enough food from the kitchens by now. They got your favourite tarts too, Skylar!"

Sure enough, when we entered the Gryffindor common room it exploded with cheers and yells again. There were mountains of cakes and flagons of pumpkin juice and butterbeer on every surface; Lee Jordan had let off some Filibuster's Fireworks, so that the air was thick with stars and sparks; and Dean Thomas, who was very good at drawing, had put up some impressive new banners, most of which depicted Harry zooming around the Horntail's head on his Firebolt, though a couple showed Cedric with his head on fire. I scowled at that before my eye went to the sketch of me with the egg in my hand and the other hand stretched out towards Bessie, who was looking at me like a confused puppy. I laughed. If that's what I looked like, no wonder Karkaroff gave me a five. It was nothing as impressive as Harry zooming about.

I helped myself to some cake and Butterbeer and fit right inside an alcove of the window hoping to dissolve in the wall. I loved Gryffindor House parties. They were way too extravagant and matched my chaotic energy perfectly. Lee was now holding Harry's egg (that sounded wrong) and asked him to open it. Just because it'd sound suspcious if I told him that it's screech if we opened it, I let him open it.

Lee passed Harry the egg, and Harry dug his fingernails into the groove that ran all the way around it and prised it open. It was hollow and completely empty - but the moment Harry opened it, the most horrible noise, a loud and screechy wailing, filled the room. The nearest thing to it I had ever heard was the ghost orchestra at Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party, who had all been playing the musical saw.