The only reason I got out of my room was the noise coming down from the common room. My shoes had been long discarded, so the cold wood floor caused goosebumps to rise up my arms. Throwing Cedric's Quidditch jacket over my shoulder, I walked down the spiral stairs to witness Ron and Hermione yelling at each other.
"I don't like that you had Krum as your date and then ignored me the entire night! I tried being nice and catch up with you, but you were too busy clinging to Krum to notice!" Ron threw his hands in the air.
"I wasn't clinging on Viktor," Hermione gasped.
"There you go again, calling him by his name–"
"It's his name!"
"And on top of it, you had to release Charlotte to chew me out, di'int you?"
At my name, I took another step down the steps, allowing me to see them better. Hermione was standing, scarlet in the face, and her hair was coming down from its elegant bun.
"I didn't have her do anything, she defended me against you! Your cruel words and horrible attitude," Hermione responded.
"I only had a 'horrible attitude' because you went to the ball with Krum!"
"Well, if you don't like it, you know what the solution is, don't you?" yelled Hermione.
"Oh yeah?" Ron yelled back. "What's that?"
"Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort!"
Ron mouthed soundlessly like a goldfish out of the water as Hermione turned on her heel and stormed up the girls' staircase right past me. Ron looked around the room and finally spotted me on the steps.
"Oh, now you've come to rip me a new one, yeah?" scoffed Ron.
Instead of engaging with Ron, I just walked back up the stairs only to hear Harry laugh at Ron, "you've managed to piss off the only two girls who'll talk to you. How'd you that?"
Throughout the day, Hermione and I stayed together because it was more likely that Ron wouldn't corner Hermione if she were with me. She claimed it was because Ron was afraid of me (I laughed). But as the day proceeded, it got harder. Especially when we had to comfort Hagrid.
The other day, Rita Skeeter had asked Hagrid to give an interview. Despite our pleads to deny it, Hagrid still met up with the viperous woman and she spun his words and exposed his secrets. Hagrid hid in his cabin ignoring our love and support for him. Eventually, Hagrid let us in and we comforted him.
Later that day, Harry invited me to eventually go with him to the prefect's bathroom to work out the secret of the golden egg. Cedric had given him a clue on how to figure out the secret by submerging the egg underwater in the prefects' bathroom.
On Thursday night, Harry met me in the common room where he threw the cloak over me and crept back downstairs towards the bathroom. Moving under the cloak was a little awkward because of the heavy egg Harry had me carry while he held the Marauder's Map. When we reached the statue of Boris the Bewildered, a lost-looking wizard with his gloves on the wrong hands, he located the right door, leaned close to it, and muttered the password, "Pinefresh," just as Cedric had told him.
The door creaked open. Quickly, we slipped inside, bolted the door behind us, and pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, looking around.
The bathroom was beautiful. It was softly lit by a splendid candle-filled chandelier, and everything was made of white marble, including what looked like an empty, rectangular swimming pool sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred golden taps stood all around the pool's edges, each with a differently coloured jewel set into its handle. There was also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner, and there was a single golden framed painting on the wall. It featured a blonde mermaid who was fast asleep on a rock, her long hair over her face. It fluttered every time she snored.
"What do we do now?" Harry asked me.
"Uh, I'm assuming we get into the pool and open it?" I shrugged.
"Ready?" Harry asked, shutting off all the taps he had played with.
"Yeah," I walked down the steps and into the pool.
It had taken Harry nearly an hour to figure out the egg's riddle while I itched to not tell him exactly what it meant. Harry's eyes seemed to dart all over the room while he thought about the task. Finally, he looked at the picture of the snoozing mermaid.
"Lottie, there aren't merpeople in there, are there?"
"Oh! Yes, there is. And they talk," I clapped happily.
"That's it, isn't it?" said Harry excitedly. "The second task's to go and find the merpeople in the lake and... and... but I'm not good at swimming."
"Huh?"
"My aunt and uncle never let me take swimming lessons or ever took me to a pool or lake to learn how to swim. I barely know how to," Harry admitted.
"Hm, maybe there's a Charm or Potion to help you swim or turn you into a fish or something, yeah?" I tried.
"Forget about swimming," Harry ignored me, "how will I breathe? A whole hour, at that!"
"Maybe we should get going to figure out how you can do this. Maybe Hermione can help," I proposed.
Once Harry and I dried off, we threw on the Invisibility Cloak and left the bathroom. Out in the dark corridor, Harry examined the Marauder's Map to check that the coast was still clear. Right as we were outside the Gryffindor Tower, something seemed to catch Harry's eye. He pointed to a spot on the map and mouthed, "look at this."
Looking down at the paper, I noticed that Peeves wasn't the only thing that was moving around. A single dot was floating around a room in the bottom left-hand corner– Snape's office. But the dot wasn't labelled "Severus Snape," it was labelled Bartemius Crouch. My heart dropped.
"Harry, let's go," I whispered hastily not liking the idea I knew he had. But Harry shook his head and tugged my arm towards the corridor, away from the tower.
Harry pulled me down the stairs as quietly as possible, though the faces in some of the portraits still turned curiously at the squeak of a floorboard, the rustle of our pyjamas. We crept along the corridor below, pushed aside a tapestry about halfway along, and proceeded down a narrower staircase, a shortcut that would take us down two floors. But halfway down the staircase, I managed to step on the trick step Neville always forgot to jump and nearly fell. Grabbing onto Harry, I accidentally dropped the golden egg. Harry tried to catch it, but it was too late; the egg fell down the staircase with loud bangs on every step.
"Harry, I'm so sorry," I whispered aggressively.
The golden egg fell through the tapestry at the bottom of the staircase, burst open, and began wailing loudly in the corridor below. I slapped my hands over my ears as Harry pulled out his wand and struggled to touch the Marauder's Map, to wipe it blank, but it was too far away to reach without the cloak falling off us.
Pulling the cloak closed Harry straightened up and helped me out of the step. I listened hard for any noise, other than the egg. Harry screwed his eyes shut as if he were trying to pretend that none of this was happening.
This grabbed the attention of Filch and then Professor Snape. He stopped a few steps below us and turned. At the foot of the stairs stood the only person who could make our situation worse: Snape. He was wearing a long grey nightshirt and he looked livid.
"It's Peeves, Professor," Filch whispered malevolently. "He threw this egg down the stairs."
Snape climbed up the stairs quickly and stopped beside Filch.
"Peeves?" said Snape softly, staring at the egg in Filch's hands. "But Peeves couldn't get into my office..."
"This egg was in your office, Professor?"
"Of course not," Snape snapped. "I heard banging and wailing —"
"Yes, Professor, that was the egg —"
"— I was coming to investigate —"
"— Peeves threw it, Professor —"
"— and when I passed my office, I saw that the torches were lit and a cupboard door was ajar! Somebody has been searching it!"
"But Peeves couldn't —"
"I know he couldn't, Filch!" Snape snapped again. "I seal my office with a spell none but a wizard could break!" Snape looked up the stairs, straight through us, and then down into the corridor below. "I want you to come and help me search for the intruder, Filch."
"Pajama party, is it?" someone growled up the stairs, cutting their conversation short.
"Professor Snape and I heard noises, Professor," said Filch at once. "Peeves the Poltergeist, throwing things around as usual —and then Professor Snape discovered that someone had broken into his off —"
"Shut up!" Snape hissed to Filch.
Moody took a step closer to the foot of the stairs. I saw Moody's magical eye travel over Snape, and then, unmistakably, onto Harry and me.
Quickly I pulled Harry's hand off my mouth and shook my head, placing a finger over my mouth. He could see through Invisibility Cloaks. Professor Moody stared at us and then back at Snape and Filch.
"Did I hear that correctly, Snape?" he asked slowly. "Someone broke into your office?"
"It is unimportant," said Snape coldly.
"On the contrary," growled Moody, "it is very important. Who'd want to break into your office?"
"A student, I daresay," said Snape.
Moody flickered his sights to Harry and me. We both shook our heads and mouthed, "no." With a small nod, he turned his gaze back to Snape.
"Reckon they were after potion ingredients, eh?" said Moody. "Not hiding anything else in your office, are you?"
Snape's sallow face turns a nasty brick colour, the vein in his temple pulsing more rapidly as he shook his head.
"Well," Moody continued, "I look forward to meeting you in a dark corridor some time... You've dropped something, by the way..."
With a stab of horror, Moody point at the Marauder's Map, still lying on the staircase six steps below him. As Snape and Filch both turned to look at it, Harry and I waved our arms furiously at Moody to attract his attention; Harry mouthing "mine" while I pointed at him.
Snape had reached out for it, a horrible expression of dawning comprehension on his face—
"Accio Parchment!"
The map flew up into the air, slipped through Snape's outstretched fingers, and soared down the stairs into Moody's hand.
"My mistake," Moody said calmly. "It's mine— must've dropped it earlier—"
But Snape's black eyes were darting from the egg in Filch's arms to the map in Moody's hand, putting two and two together, as only Snape could.
"Potter," he said quietly.
"What's that?" said Moody calmly, folding up the map and pocketing it.
"Potter!" Snape snarled, causing me to jump. He actually turned his head and stared right at the place where we stood, as though he could suddenly see us. "That egg is Potter's egg. That piece of parchment belongs to Potter. I have seen it before, I recognize it! Potter is here! Potter under his Invisibility Cloak!"
Harry pulled me closer to him and pushed us up against the wall, trying to avoid Snape's fingertips as he searched for us.
"There's nothing there, Snape, but I'll be happy to tell the headmaster how quickly your mind jumped to Harry Potter! Dumbledore's very interested to know who's got it in for that boy!" said Moody, limping nearer to the foot of the stairs.
"I merely thought," said Snape, in a voice of forced calm, "that if Potter was wandering around after hours again... it's an unfortunate habit of his... he should be stopped. For — for his own safety."
"Ah, I see," said Moody softly. "Got Potter's best interests at heart, have you?"
"Hmp, I think I will go back to bed," Snape said curtly and swept past Moody without another word.
"Hand over the egg, Filch, so I can return it back to its owner," Moody gestured towards the egg. A door slammed. We were left staring down at Moody, who placed his staff on the bottommost stair and started to climb laboriously toward him, a dull clunk on every other step.
"Close save, Potter," he muttered. "And Harring."
"We, uh—" I stuttered.
"I– er... thanks," Harry finished.
Keeping the cloak on, Harry answered all the questions about the map that Professor Moody asked. He was very keen on asking questions about who we saw in Snape's office and claiming Barty Crouch was obsessed with Dark wizards and such. I bit my lip trying to stop myself from making any faces.
"I'm guessing you weren't just taking that egg for a walk tonight?" Moody asked.
"Er — no," said Harry, grinning. "We've been working out the clue."
"A clue, huh?" Moody's eye winked at Harry, his magical eye staring straight at me. "Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas, Potter. Smart move bringing along Harring; smart girl. See you two in the morning." He went back into his office with the map in hand.
Harry and I walked slowly back to Gryffindor Tower, trying not to get caught again. Inside, we spoke about Snape, Crouch, and what it could have possibly meant.
With a million and one questions in mind, we went our separate ways and went to bed.
—:—
After lessons had finished, for the day, the four of them went to the library to figure out Harry's most urgent problem: How to survive underwater for an hour on the twenty-fourth of February.
Ron liked the idea of using a Summoning Charm again— Harry had explained Aqua-Lungs, and Ron couldn't see why Harry shouldn't Summon one from the nearest Muggletown. Charlotte crushed this plan by pointing out that, in the unlikely event that Harry managed to learn how to operate an Aqua-Lung within the set limit of an hour, he was sure to be disqualified for breaking the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy — it was too much to hope that no Muggles would spot Aqua-Lungs zooming across the countryside to Hogwarts.
Hermione entertained the idea of Harry transfiguring into a submarine but Charlotte quickly shut that down knowing that human Transfiguration is sixth-year level magic that Harry did not possess. Although Charlotte knew the actual solution to the problem would be Gillyweed, she knew she shouldn't interfere with the decisions of her friends. Charlotte ignored Hermione's pleads for help with every glance she gave.
After hours of trying to come up with a logical idea, Harry had given up. It was nightfall by the time the four of them left the library– missing dinner and all. For the next week, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Charlotte searched through their lunchtimes, evenings, and whole weekends; even the Restricted Section section of the library didn't have any answers.
By the evening before the second task, Harry felt as though he were trapped in a nightmare. He sat with Hermione, Ron, and Charlotte in the library as the sunset grew dim. Book after book, spell after spell, there was no answer to his question.
"I don't reckon it can be done," said Ron, completely giving up. "There's nothing. Nothing."
"There must be something," Hermione muttered.
"Where is the book?" Charlotte mumbled to herself, groaning at the sight of the large heap of books.
"Which book?" Harry asked with hope.
"No, I'm sorry. I meant where's the book with the answer," Charlotte frowned.
She didn't mean for Harry to hear her, she was just thinking aloud. Charlotte swore there was a book Harry found to help him figure out the Gillyweed. Wracking her brain, nothing appeared; the stress of the last few weeks had emptied her brain dry of any knowledge she had on the lives in front of her.
"Oh, this is no use," Hermione said, snapping shut Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"
"I wouldn't mind," said Fred Weasley's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Charlotte looked up. Fred and George had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.
"What're you two doing here?" Ron asked.
"Looking for you," said George. "McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you two, Lottie and Hermione."
"Why?" said Charlotte, looking surprised. Only Ron and Hermione were supposed to be called. She couldn't understand why Professor McGonagall wanted her as well.
"Dunno... she was looking a bit grim, though," said Fred.
"We're supposed to take you down to her office," said George.
The three of them stared at Harry in fear. Charlotte walked over and gave Harry a tight hug, more of consolation to herself than to him. He didn't know why she would want to speak to the three of them either. Harry thought of all the horrible reasons why Professor McGonagall would require the only people who would possibly help Harry with his task.
"We'll meet you back in the common room," Hermione told Harry as she left with Charlotte and Ron.
Once they left the library and walked down the corridor, Charlotte elbowed Hermione's rib, just enough to catch her attention. Hermione turned her attention towards Charlotte who looked quite upset and confused.
"You two won't be coming back to the common room," Charlotte whispered. "Not until tomorrow evening; after Harry and Viktor rescue you."
"What do you mean?" Hermione's eyes widened at the news Charlotte gave.
"You're part of the—"
Charlott stopped talking once Fred and George opened the door to McGonagall's office. There stood Professor Dumbledore and Mr Bagman. Along with them, a white-haired little girl stood near Madame Maxime. McGonagall wore no smile, and instead of her constant poker face, her brows furrowed together in a worried look. Unlike her, Dumbledore stood tall and with a soft smile.
"Welcome," he greeted. "Mr Bagman has some news to tell you."
At this, Mr Bagman gave all of them a weak smile and cleared his throat nervously. "The four of you will be participating in the Second Task tomorrow morning."
"T-the four of us?" Charlotte stuttered.
Never had she thought she would need to participate in a task. Looking around the room, she realized the absence of Cho Chang– Cedric Diggory's supposed important person he would miss. Charlotte then realized that her interaction, and growing friendship, with the people around her, has caused a slight change in the timeline. She meant a great deal to Cedric and due to that, she was to play a role in the assignment.
"Yes, Miss Harring. The four of you will be the reward of your champions finding you in time. Each of you will be at the bottom of Black Lake, awaiting the rescue of your designated champion," Bagman beamed.
"At the bottom of the lake?" blurted Hermione.
"No need to worry, you won't notice a thing. We will put you in a kind of dreamless sleep where you won't wake up until you have been brought back up to the surface with your champion," Bagman explained.
"What if ze 'our passes without them finding us? W-we will drown?" asked the little girl, who was Fleur's younger sister.
"Nonsense! There is no need to worry. The hour limit is a guideline, not an actual limit. We would never do anything to put you in harm's way. The champions will have all the time they need. If they exceed the hour limit, the judges will deduct a few points off from their score. And if they don't find you at all, we will have the merpeople of the underwater village bring you back up," Bagman explained as he walked back and forth in front of them.
"I am sure you understand that you three will not be able to return to your common room tonight," Dumbledore nods. "Tonight, you will sleep in the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey will watch over you and check you for full health."
"But—" Charlotte was about to ask about her role in the task, but Dumbledore quickly cut her off.
"Although you may be concerned about your friends, I promise you they will be fine; as will you," Dumbledore gave her a pointed look.
With that, Dumbeldore walked out of the office and Professor McGonagall led the way to the Hospital Wing.
Charlotte thought the view from the middle of the Black Lake was utterly beautiful. Three of the four directions were lined with thick forest and only one side held the view of the castle. The dark water glistened in the morning sun.
Over by the edge of the platform sat four merpeople. Although odd-looking, to Charlotte, she greatly appreciated their help and protection. They laid half on the platform and half in the water Professor Dumbledore spoke to the merpeople while pointing to Charlotte, Hermione, Ron, and Gabrielle.
"Are you ready?" Professor McGonagall asked. Charlotte pulled at her skin-tight black bodysuit and nodded nervously. Professor Snape, Moody, and Flitwick watched on as McGonagall drew out her wand, and said a charm. Gabrielle, Ron, and Hermione instantly relaxed their body and lay still at the platform edge. Charlotte was last to fall.
At the bottom of the lake, a whole crowd of merpeople floated in front of a village. A choir of merpeople sang in the middle of the village square, summoning the champions. In the centre of the village stood a large statue of a merperson.
Charlotte, Hermione, Ron, and Gabrielle were tied to four large posts in front of the statue. Charlotte was tied in between Hermione and Gabrielle, while Fleur's sister was to Ron's right. All four of them appeared to be in a very deep sleep. Their heads were lolling onto their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths.
Harry was the first champion to get to the village square. Speeding toward the hostages, half expecting the merpeople to lower their spears and charge at him, but they did nothing. The ropes of weed tying the hostages to the statue were thick, slimy, and very strong.
Looking at his three friends, he tried to think of who he needed to rescue. Harry wanted to save all of his friends but knew he could only take Ron– as Dobby had told him. He began to hack at the ropes binding Ron, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. Ron floated, unconscious, a few inches above the lake bottom, drifting a little in the ebb of the water.
As Harry looked around, he saw there was no sign of any of the other champions. He turned back to Charlotte, raised the jagged rock, and began to hack at her bindings.
At once, several pairs of strong grey hands seized him. Half a dozen mermen were pulling him away from Charlotte, shaking their green-haired heads, and laughing.
"You take your own hostage," one of them said to him. "Leave the others..."
"No way!" said Harry furiously — but only two large bubbles came out.
"Your task is to retrieve your own friend... leave the others..."
"They're my friends, too!" Harry yelled, gesturing toward Charlotte and Hermione. "And I don't want them to die either!"
Charlotte's head was on Hermione's shoulder; the small silver-haired girl was ghostly green and pale. Harry struggled to fight off the mermen, but they laughed harder than ever, holding him back. The merpeople around him pointed excitedly over his head. Harry looked up and saw Cedric swimming toward them. There was an enormous bubble around his head, which made his features look oddly wide and stretched.
"Got lost!" he mouthed, looking panic-stricken. "Fleur and Krum're coming now!"
Feeling enormously relieved, Harry watched Cedric pull a knife out of his pocket and cut Charlotte free. He pulled her upward and out of sight.
Halfway towards the surface, Charlotte started to move in Cedric's arms. Panic ran through his body as he realized that she was waking up.
Charlotte's eyes burned with the contact of water. Her head felt weird and her throat was dry. As soon as she opened her mouth to say something, she began to choke on water. Memories flooded Charlotte's mind as she remembered the time at the platform.
Cedric covered Charlotte's mouth and nose with his hand, trying to stop her from breathing, but it was too late. Water began to fill her lungs. Cedric tried his hardest to kick towards the surface of the water, but without arms, it was hard. Before he could reach the surface, Charlotte lay limp in his arms again.
Breaking the surface, Cedric was the first champion to make it back. The crowd cheered and congratulated him, but Cedric couldn't care less.
"She woke up underwater," Cedric screamed, pushing Charlotte onto the platform, his voice resonating around the arena.
Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Moody all ran up to Cedric and Charlotte. Quickly, Moody grabbed Charlotte and ran to the first aid tent underneath the commentator booth. As soon as Hermione entered the tent, she ran over to Charlotte, who was still unconscious.
"What happened?" cried Hermione.
"She woke up underwater!" Cedric exclaimed.
Although Madame Pomfrey used multiple charms and potions, Charlotte didn't wake up. Harry felt his head break the surface of the lake; wonderful, cold, clear air was making his wet face sting; he gulped it down, feeling as though he had never breathed properly before, and, panting, pulled Ron and the little girl up with him. All around him wild, green-haired heads were emerging out of the water with him, but they were smiling at him.
Instead of people congratulating him on the platform, Professor McGonagall told Harry and Ron to not worry about the information she was going to tell him. Of course, at the sound of that, they instantly began to worry. Looking around, Harry didn't see Charlotte or Hermione. Running past McGonagall, he ran straight into the room to see a teary-eyed Hermione sitting beside Charlotte, who was lying still on the bunk.
"What happened?" shouted Harry. Ron soon followed him with his own inquiry.
"That's what I'd like to know," Professor Dumbledore spoke placing his own charm over Charlotte.
Looking around the room, I had no idea who anyone was at first glance. My eyes felt heavy and didn't want to focus on anything. A heavy, dry feeling sat in my chest while my throat and mouth burned. My long hair was stuck to my face and neck, almost dry.
"Charlotte!" Hermione jumped and hugged me quickly. My bones and muscles disagreed with her action and I groaned in disapproval.
"H-hi," I croaked. My throat was raw and dry. Finally, when I was able to correctly focus my eyes around the room, I noticed that everyone was staring at me in awe. Something happened. "W-what happened?"
"You woke up when we were still underwater," Cedric responded, rubbing his face.
"I— what?" I whispered. The look that people around me have had me realize that he was not joking.
"It seems as if the sleeping charm had worn off before you even surfaced," Dumbledore added.
"H-how is that possible? I- I thought it was only broken when I breathed air. I thought I was safe," I tried to raise my voice, but my throat didn't allow me.
Harry and Ron spoke in hushed tones by the entrance of the tent. Professor Moody watched me from the door, his magical eye whizzing around at everyone. My eyes narrowed at him before I turned my attention to Professor Dumbledore as he spoke.
"Nothing should have broken the charm," Dumbledore stated. "It is highly impossible that it broke– someone must have purposefully broken the charm with the intentions to hurt you."
"T-to hurt me? But I— No, I'm a— It makes no sense," I muttered.
"I will investigate this with my peers, but for now, the champions need to stand at the platform and wait for their scores. Hermione, Ron, and Gabrielle stay with Charlotte for the time being in this tent. Madam Pomfrey will attend to you," Dumbledore concluded and escorted Harry, Cedric, and Viktor to the platform where Fleur was already waiting.
"Do you remember anything?" Hermione asked me once we were back in our dormitory.
Ron and Harry both came into our room. Hermione laid next to me while Ron and Harry say cross-legged on Hermione's bed. The two very determined boys managed to levitate each other over the tricky stairs in order to see me in my room.
Once the scoring was finished, Madam Pomfrey cleared me to go back to my room with the help of Ron and Harry. She recommended I take a healing potion to help me heal faster and sleep well. Harry informed us of the adventure he endured after we left to go to Professor McGonagall's office yesterday evening. Along with that, he confirmed that he and Cedric were tied for first with eighty-four points. The last task wouldn't be until the twenty-fourth of June, six days before the last day of the year.
"The last thing I remember was watching you and Ron pass out from the charm McGonagall put on us," I answered Hermione. "Besides that, I woke up in the tent where you hugged me."
"Nothing underwater?" Ron prodded.
"No, not even when Cedric tried to cover my mouth," I remembered what Cedric had told me. He was really shaken up and was worried about me, but students from other houses aren't allowed in other house's dormitories or common rooms. I promised to hang out with him soon.
"That's absolutely mad," Harry shook his head.
After a few hours of catching up, Lavender and Pavarti came back and forced Ron and Harry to leave. Once the two girls fell asleep, Hermione and I stayed up talking.
"So what changed?" whispered Hermione.
"What do you mean?" I hoped she wasn't talking about—
"The story about us versus what you experienced earlier today."
"Oh," I nodded. "Uh, me, actually. I am Cedric's thing he would miss the most whereas in the book it was—"
"Cho!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Shut up, Her'minnie," Lavender Brown mumbled in her sleep.
I placed a finger to my mouth and slowly stood up. Hermione realized what I was doing and quickly helped me up and down the stairs. The common room was empty, thankfully.
"Anyways, as I was saying," I laughed. "Yes, it was supposed to be Cho."
"Huh, that's so weird. I can't imagine him with Cho. He follows you around, he barely gives a second glance at her nowadays," Hermione shrugged.
I frowned slightly, "I didn't mean for that to happen. He's just so nice to me, I can't help it."
"I'm not blaming you, just stating what I see." Hermione looked off into the fire and sighed longingly, "I wouldn't be surprised if you two ended up dating by next term."
Not only did Hermione's words make my heart flutter, but they also made it break. From the moment I met Cedric, the first thing I realized was his death during the last task. But since then, I have completely forgotten between helping Harry with the tasks and trying to pass assignments, classes, and exams that will mean nothing to me in the future. I could only hope that my influence here has somehow changed the future— especially Cedric's death. Maybe I will be able to save him, one way or another.
"D-did I say something wrong?" Hermione broke me out of my train of thought.
"I'm sorry, what?" I sat up straighter and felt wetness fall from my face. Touching my cheeks, I just realized I had been crying.
"You're crying," Hermione frowned.
"Uh, yeah. I– I'm sorry, I guess— uh, drowning does take a toll on someone," I forced a laugh.
"Are you sure you're all right?" asked Hermione as she stood up to help me to our room.
"Yeah, uh— I- I think I'm going to take that Sleeping Draught that Madam Pomfrey gave me," I nodded.
In the room, I uncorked the small vial filled with dreamless sleep. Throwing my head back, I took the entire vial and turned my night lamp off. After a few moments, my eyes began to get heavy and my breaths slowed down. Images of Cedric's death left my mind and peace fell over me quietly.