— "OH GOOD, YOU'RE HERE."
Nicole turned around and saw Harry walking towards her. The two of them haven't talked that much since their names were reaped. Maybe it was because of the stress weighing both of their shoulders— but they never found time to talk to each other normally like they did in their third year.
"Look at this rubbish." Nicole shoved the newspaper in his hands, where the newly published article of Rita Skeeter stood at the front page. In it, was a picture of both Nicole and Harry grinning— as if she had forgotten about the other contestants.
Teenage Tragedies: Harry Potter and Nicole Hwang at the Triwizard Cup.
It was evident that Harry was growing more and more annoyed as he continued to read it, and he eventually sighed and threw the paper into the fire. Nicole sighed, about to fall asleep on the chair until she heard a hiss come from the fireplace.
"Sirus said to come and get you. Come on, Nic." Harry told her, dragging her along to the fireplace. They could see Sirus' flace settling into the fire, and both of them let out gasps at the sight.
"Sirius. How...?"
"I don't have much time, so let me get straight to it." Sirus interrupted Harry. "Did you two or did you not put your names into the Goblet of Fire?"
"We didn't!" Nicole exclaimed, and she could make out a look of relief on his face.
"Shhh." Sirus scolded them. "I had to ask. Now, tell me about this dream of yours. You mentioned Wormtail and Voldemort. But who was the third man in the room?"
"I don't know."
"You didn't hear a name?"
"No. Voldemort was giving him a job to do. Something important." Harry explained.
"And what was that?"
"He wanted..." Harry seemed a bit reluctant before he finished his sentence. "...me. I don't know why. But he was gonna use this man to get to me. But, I mean, it was only a dream, right?"
Nicole sighed. With Harry, it was obviously not only a dream.
"Yes. It's just a dream." Sirus tried to assure him. "Look, Harry, Nicole. The Death Eaters at the World Cup, both your name rising from that goblets... these are not just coincidences. Hogwarts isn't safe anymore."
"I don't understand why I'm in on this." Nicole cut him off. "It's usually just Harry— why me?"
"Thanks, Nic." Harry said dryly.
"That, I cannot explain. I need to talk to Atlas about this— maybe he knows something. And it's not just that, the devils are inside the walls. Igor Karkaroff? He was a Death Eater. And no one, no one stops being a Death Eater."
Nicole knew that there was something fishy about him— the way he kept on glaring at the two of them.
"Then there's Barty Crouch. Heart of stone. Sent his own son to Azkaban."
"You think one of them put our names in the goblet?" Nicole asked, peering over the fire.
"I haven't a clue who put your name in that goblet, but whoever did is no friend to you. People—"
"—die in this tournament. We know." Nicole repeated.
"I'm not ready for this, Sirius. Neither of us are." Harry said somberly. They were just kids, and being forced to join a competition where they could possibly die wasn't what he wanted. It wasn't what neither of them wanted.
"You don't have a choice."
Nicole turned around as she heard footsteps come from behind them. The person wasn't inside the room just yet, but their shadow was casted on the wall.
"Someone's coming." Nicole whispered.
"Keep your friends close, you two." he whispered, and with that, his face on the fire disappeared. Nicole and Harry quickly stood up to their feet and placed their shadows around the fireplace, trying to act as normally as they could.
"Who were you two talking to?" Ron questioned, looking at his two friends suspiciously.
"Each other. Obviously."
"I heard a third voice." Ron inquired, looking around the room suspiciously.
"Maybe you're imagining things. Wouldn't be the first time." Harry snapped, and Nicole raised an eyebrow in suspicion. They normally got along very well, but she hasn't been spending much time around the two of them lately and them actually being cold to each other was new to her.
"You two are probably just practicing for your next interview, I expect."
This set Nicole off, because the girl let out a dry laugh and started to walk towards Ron. "If this is about us getting picked, I would love it if you just took my place instead. Do you think this is good for me? Do you think we enjoy this? Do you think this is all just tea parties and interviews?"
The girl was red with anger. Ron stood firmly on his place, not saying a word.
"Stop acting like a kid as if the two of us have a say in this." she shoved him away, making him fall down on the sofa with an impact. "Grow up, Ronald."
Harry stood in shock as he watched Nicole stomp towards the other direction and walk up towards the girl's dormitories, leaving him and Ron alone.
—
"Ellis, hide me. Quick. Turn me invisible. There's a spell for that, right?"
The boy turned around and was met with the sight of Nicole Hwang running towards him with all her might. From the corner of his eye, he could see one of the potions teacher, Professor Snape— running towards their direction.
"I don't know any invisibility spells, but the Disillusionment Charm might help. Go lean on that tree." he said quickly, saying the incantation and casting the spell on Nicole.
Nicole looked down at her body, or rather, what had been her body, for it didn't look anything like hers anymore. It was not invisible; it had simply taken on the exact colour and texture of the tree behind her. She seemed to have become a human chameleon.
When Professor Snape lost sight of her, he quickly heaved out a sigh and walked the other way, deciding to not waste his energy on running after a student. Ellis and Nicole were on the tree near the black lake— a spot that the two of them have been visiting together lately.
"I think he's gone." Ellis said, looking twice to make sure. He quickly recited the counter spell, and Nicole was back to normal.
"Thanks." she breathed out, taking a seat on one of the rocks. "I owe you one." she said, taking her knees and tucking them to her face. The girl looked at Ellis and patted the space on the rock beside her, as if telling him to sit down.
"Your friend is here too. Over there, you see. I think he is looking at us." Ellis said once he sat beside Nicole, pointing towards the left side of the lake.
And Harry was looking at them. Neville was with him too, which was a bit unusual, but the moment that the two turned their gazes to him Harry turned around and focused on the book once again.
"Do you want to go there?" Ellis suggested.
"No, I'd rather stay here with you." Nicole said, taking a smaller rock and throwing it into the water. "I never asked, not like it's important anyway, but what are you?"
"I'm Ellis."
Nicole laughed, taking another rock and attempting to throw it further. "No, I mean... are you pureblood, muggle born, half blood? It's not like it's important, I just have some questions about muggle stuff if you know anything."
"I'm a half-blood." Ellis explained. "But I grew up with my father, and he's a pureblood. I never got to know muggle things."
"Cool." Nicole smiled, taking another rock and throwing it into the lake once again.
"You know Fleur, right?" Ellis changed the subject. Hearing this, Nicole nodded.
"She's really fond of you, you know. Fleur keeps on telling our schoolmates how much she wants to pinch your cheeks."
For some reason, this made Nicole smile widely. "I have cute cheeks, don't I?" she joked.
"Yeah." Ellis smiled, throwing his hand over her shoulder. "Cute cheeks."
Nicole could hear Hermoine screaming from the left side— but it didn't really matter to her when she felt Ellis kiss her cheek quickly.
It threw Nicole off, since she wasn't used to other people reacting this way to her. Nevertheless, she chuckles and smiles at him fondly. She leans over and gives him a slightly stubbly kiss on the cheek in return, ignoring the fact that her face was turning red once again.
After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Ellis talked again.
"I never asked about this, but why were you running away from that scary man?"
"I punched Draco Malfoy, his nose bled by the way, and kicked Crabble and Goyle's balls. They were testing me." Nicole mumbled, the event still clear in her head. Draco Malfoy was patronizing him, and even brought up Ellis, which made her snap and go violent. Crabble and Goyle were about to attack her but her quidditch reflexes made her quick, so she kicked the two of them and ran away. Blaise Zabini was almost involved with the accident too, but instead he shot Nicole a thumbs up, which she gladly returned.
"That's my girl."
—
"Dragons? Are you serious?" Nicole asks Harry once he came back to the common room at night.
Harry nodded, his eyes darting over to what looked like a big lump of cloth at the end of the sofa. He looked at Nicole suspiciously, then back at the lump, then back at her.
Then it moved.
"Nic, what's that?"
The girl let out a sigh of defeat, snatching the cloth away to reveal Ellis curled up into a ball so no one would suspect him being in there. His eyes darted to Harry's, and he shot a wide grin at him. "Oh 'ello. It's only you."
"Don't let me interrupt you two." Harry said friskily, placing his invisibility cloak back on as he walked up the stairs to his dormitories. Nicole was slightly confused at how Harry was acting, but nevertheless looked at Ellis.
"Do you know a thing or two about dragons, Ellis?"
—
The badges that Draco Malfoy made were now remodeled. He decided to just stick to POTTER STINKS instead of POTTER AND HWANG STINKS because Nicole Hwang gave him a nosebleed once he showed her the model, and Aurora Hwang pulled his hair forcefully and threw him into Crabble's chest. The older twin also added that there were two Hwangs, and people might get the wrong idea.
Nevertheless, he still handed out the POTTER STINKS badges around enthusiastically, which also merged into SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY, THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION.
This made Aurora confused. Draco didn't even like him.
Draco reasoned out that his hate for Harry was much worse than his dislike for Cedric, which was the reason he made the badges.
The next day, almost everyone except for the Gryffindors were wearing the badges. This caught Harry's attention immediately, since he was about to warn Cedric about the task and people kept on taunting him with the badges.
"You cheat, Potter."
"You stink, Potter."
It made him want to rip his head off.
He walked over to the pavilion, where Cedric and his friends, and Aurora were hanging about. Some of the Hufflepuffs tried to bother Aurora, and it seemed like she didn't really mind. What was even weirder, was that she had a smile on her face.
She barely smiled in their third year.
"Hey! Read the badge, Potter!" one of his friends exclaimed once Harry neared them. Cedric's head was on Aurora's lap, and he quickly stood up when Harry excused him.
"I'm going to class." Aurora quickly said, taking her things away and walked over to her next class.
Once they were alone, Harry went straight to the point. "Dragons. That's the first task. They've got one for each of us."
"Are you serious?"
Harry nodded.
"Nic and Fleur and Krum, do they...?"
"I told Nic first." Harry said quickly. "They probably know too."
"Come on, Ced, leave him. Right. He's not worth it!"
"Hey, listen. About the badges." Cedric stopped Harry from waking away any further. "I've asked them not to wear them, but..."
"Don't worry about it."
—
Nicole rolled up her sleeves, feeling a bit drowsy. She spent half of the day asleep in her room, not bothering to attend any of her classes, until Hermoine got up and dragged her from her bed and forced her to dress once again.
Now she was walking through the halls, not really knowing where she was going. Probably to the kitchens to go grab some toast or something, but the voices of people— familiar people, rather, were talking.
"Listen to me, Potter.... your pall Hwang? Professor Flitwik tells me she has one of the best charms skill he's even seen in this school. Tells me she beats the 7th years. As for Krum, his head may be filled with sawdust.. but Karkaroff's is not. They'll have a strategy. And you can bet that it will play to Krum's strengths."
Nicole furrowed her eyebrows together, placing her ear against the door.
"Come on, Potter. What are your strengths?"
Nicole listened to them in shock, before she ultimately decided to walk away in anger. Oh, this definitely pissed her off. Why was Professor Moody helping Harry, but not her? Why was it that the only person who tried to help her was Ellis and Hermoine? Was it because Harry was the chosen one, and she was just— well, her?
For a few minutes, she tried to find Hermoine around the castle. It was really empty and Nicole could only assume that she was in one of her classes, so she tried to find Ellis next. It was a giant relief for her when she found him in the great hall, eating some toast.
"You look angry." he commented.
"I am angry." Nicole said, taking a toast and shoving it into her mouth. "Professor Moody is helping Harry but he left me all alone to tend to myself. As if my own life isn't in risk." she complained.
"You said you needed help with dragons, right?" Ellis asked, then proceeded to get a bunch of books from the bottom of the table. "I'll try to help you with the best I can, although I'm sorry if I'm not a great wiza—"
"It's fine Ellis!" Nicole shook her head. "It's really fine. Atleast you're trying to help me— that's better than no one."
"Okay." Ellis smiled, placing his toast down a plate as he looked at Nicole. "First, you need to owl your parents— they might give some ideas how to help you. Then, what are you best at?"
"Flying. But I can't fly. I only have a wand for this task."
Ellis thought for a moment, before a lightbulb struck in his head. "What about... Accio Broom?"
"Oh Ellis, you're a genius!" Nicole smiled widely, jumping up to Ellis to give him a hug. The girl was too overjoyed that she might have found a solution for her problem, and Ellis reluctantly hugged her back.
The next few days were hell for her. Her parents told her that the Dragon's weakest point were it's eyes, but Nicole had already had a plan in mind. She's been swaying away from Harry, afraid that she might snap on him if she talked to him. It wasn't even his fault, but for some reason her anger was redirected at him.
Now the only person Nicole talked to in their friend group was Hermoine, who was also trying her best to help her friend. Hermoine completely understood why Nicole was pissed off at Harry, and was actually the one who suggested that she stay away from him for a while.
Aurora was in on it too, trying to help Nicole come up with other plans incase their initial plan had backfired. Nicole told her sister that there was no need to, and that her, Ellis, and a few Gryffindor students, and surprisingly, Moody at one point, had already helped her master the charm.
All she needed to do was battle a dragon. Everything would be fine.