"You told me you'd figured the egg out weeks ago!" I said in disbelief. "The task is two days from now!"
"Really? I had no idea," Potter replied sarcastically. Then he turned to Hermione. "I suppose Viktor's already figured it out."
"Wouldn't know," Hermione said. "We don't talk about the tournament. Actually, we don't really talk at all. Viktor's more of a physical being."
I thought a minute about why that didn't sound right. She realized what she had said and laughed. "I just mean... he's not particularly loquacious," she corrected herself.
"Mm-hm," Potter hummed, smiling.
"Mostly, he just watches me study," Hermione sighed. "It's a bit annoying, actually." Then she hesitated. "You are trying to figure out that egg, aren't you?" She asked.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.
"It just means these tasks are designed to test you," I answered for her. "In the most brutal way, they're almost cruel. I'm scared for you. We all are."
"You got by the dragon mostly on nerve," Hermione continued. "I'm not sure it's going to be enough this time."
From off to the side a voice said, "Hey, Potter!" The Potter in question sighed and walked over to Diggory. Hermione and I threw one last look to him over our shoulders before we headed back to the Great Hall for lunch.
"Two days," I muttered.
"Two days," she repeated tiredly.
Sometimes, when I was stressed out and didn't know what to do with myself, I would go to the Prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor. It had a bathtub the size of a swimming pool, and was the perfect place to just think, as no one ever came in.
So, with officially one day and two nights until the second task, and Potter still having no idea what it consisted of, I left for the fifth floor. My stomach was in a tangle of knots when I opened the door, but it dropped when I saw someone already in the tub, his head covered with familiar, messy black hair.
Potter spun around at the sound of the door opening, and I slapped my hand over my eyes, turning to face the opposite direction.
"Fancy seeing you here," I said conversationally, like this was a completely normal reoccurrence.
"Sorry..." he replied awkwardly.
"So, why the sudden impulse to take a bath in the Prefect's bathroom?" I asked.
"Hang on, I'm getting dressed," he said, and I heard him lift himself out of the tub.
"That would be convenient," I agreed.
"Okay, you can turn around," he said after a moment. I did so hesitantly, and saw him wearing a shirt with the tag sticking out in the front and lopsided, hastily put on jeans.
"You're shirt's on backwards," I smiled.
"Oh..." he looked down at his chest. "It appears you're right."
"I'm always right," I said.
"I was in here because... Cedric told me to," Potter began. I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion. "Well, he- he told me to "mull things over in hot water," to solve the egg's clue," he explained.
"You could have started with that instead of just "Cedric told me to,"" I advised.
Potter rolled his eyes. "Why are you in here, then?"
"I come in here when I'm stressed," I answered. "And you in particular have been stressing me out a lot lately."
"Yeah, sorry about that," he said. We stood in loud silence for a second.
"So I'll just let you mull things over in hot water, then," I finally broke the thick air.
"Yes, that would be helpful."
"Okay... bye." I opened the door.
"Bye..." he replied, just as it closed behind me. When I was back out in the corridor I shook my head, trying to get the image of Potter's bare chest un-imprinted from my mind.
The next night, the night before the second task, the four of us were sitting around the library, half-asleep. Actually, Weasley was really asleep, snoring in his chair.
"Harry, tell me again," Hermione insisted, handing the egg to Weasley to wake him up.
"He's said it fifty times," I complained.
"Come seek us where our voices sound," Potter began, hitting his chin on the thick book under him after every word.
"The Black Lake, that's obvious," Hermione thought aloud.
"An hour long you'll have to look..." he continued.
"Again, obvious," Hermione leaned against the table next to me. "Though, admittedly, potentially problematic."
"Potentially problematic?" Potter said disbelievingly, looking up at her with tired eyes. "When's the last time you held your breath underwater for an hour, Hermione?"
"Look, Potter," I began, trying to be the helpful one in this group. "The four of us can figure this out, we have to."
"Hate to break up the study session," Moody's voice suddenly came, making me jump. He walked from in between the bookshelves, looking horrifying in the dim light. "Professor McGonagall would like to see you."
When we all started to stand up, he added, "Just Malfoy and Granger." I shared a concerned glance with her.
"But sir," Hermione said, "the second task is only hours away, and-"
"Exactly," Moody interrupted. "Presumably Potter is well-prepared by now, and could do with a good night's sleep. Go. Now!"
Hermione put the egg down and we left for Professor McGonagall's office, just as Moody called Longbottom over to assist Potter and Weasley with putting the books away. On the way there, we met Cho Chang in the corridor.
"Were you called down to McGonagall's too?" She asked us.
Hermione responded with a yes, and they began to talk, but I stayed out of the conversation. I didn't really like Chang, noticing how much she was constantly staring at Potter. But I reminded myself, she wasn't the one he had asked to the Yule Ball.
We finally reached the office, and I carefully pushed open the door. A younger girl with long, straight blonde hair and pale, pretty skin sat waiting as well, looking extremely nervous and a little nauseous.
"Good, good," McGonagall said as we walked in. I noticed Dumbledore and Snape there too. Snape was looking at me strangely, like he knew something I didn't. I hated that look. Dumbledore looked content and calm, as always. McGonagall seemed jittery, but she had looked like that since the tournament started.
"You're probably all wondering why you're here," Dumbledore said, and we nodded. "You four girls have been chosen to assist with the second Triwizard task."
We all exchanged scared looks. What did "assist" mean? That was a very vague statement. Maybe we were being sacrificed to the mermaids in exchange for keeping the champions alive while they performed their tasks.
"You will all be put under a painless, infallible spell," McGonagall continued for Dumbledore. "You will be unconscious as you are positioned at the bottom of the Black Lake. No harm will come to you, and you will gain conciseness again when you surface, after the champions have retrieved you."
"But why are we the ones that have to be sent to the bottom of the Black Lake?" I asked. "Why not anyone else?"
"I was hoping someone would ask that question," Dumbledore grinned. "All four of you each mean the most to one of the champions. That is why they have to retrieve you. And trust me, they will know what they have to do when they see you."
I looked at Hermione, and we both understood at the same moment. Cho had to be Diggory's. Hermione must be Krum's person. Which left the small girl to Fleur, who was probably her sister, and me to... Potter.
I was the person who meant the most to Potter.
I let that sink in for a minute. That's why Snape was looking at me strangely. How mortifying. I sent him a look that I hope portrayed the question, Will father be contacted about this? I suppose his eyes softening slightly in sympathy meant Yes. Just swell.
"Oh, to be young and in love," Dumbledore clapped his hands and stepped forward. "Now, I would like to stress what Professor McGonagall said earlier, that no harm can come to you whilst under this spell. Do not worry. Get ready now." And he pulled out his wand.
I braced myself, but as he swept his wand from left to right, sending flurries of light around us, I felt nothing except extreme exhaustion. It could have possibly been because I was already so over worked, but I swear my head felt heavier than it did seconds ago.
There was the surreal feeling of falling through nothingness, and then there really was nothing. My mind was completely blank, but not white, or black, or any color. It was clear, and through this clear haze a vision appeared. I couldn't tell if it was real or not, but the people looked murky, like I was watching through the contents of a swamp.
And I could see myself, floating low on my back, just above the ground. Hermione was in the same position next to me, as were the two other girls in the office. Snape stepped towards me.
"I am worried for Alexandra," he announced. "She is so young."
"Hermione is the same age, Severus," Dumbledore said. "And Gabrielle is even younger. Do you not worry for them as well?"
"Potter is so young," Snape muttered, looking into my peaceful face. "Is she really the most important person in the world to him? I personally find it hard to believe."
"Are you concerned about the reaction from Lucius?" McGonagall asked quietly. I had never heard her speak quietly before. "We can infer that it will not be pleasant, for Potter and the girl both."
"Lucius cannot do anything to Potter," Dumbledore assured. "He is a fourteen year old student who has simply taken a liking to his daughter. There is nothing he can do to change that. And we know Lucius is intelligent enough to realize he can't harm Harry Potter, unless he wants old suspicions about his loyalties to rise once more."
Snape hummed in agreement and stepped away from me. "I will keep an eye on him. On the two of them together. On Lucius."
"You must keep an eye on Alexandra especially, Severus. The wrath of her father will not be contained for long. We will have to make arrangements for after term," Dumbledore said seriously, all remaining traces of his cool demeanor gone.
McGonagall wrung her hands as she came forward now and waved her wand. The four of us all disappeared. "It is done," I heard her say faintly, before I could feel only cool air and see only dark shades of worry.
I can't recall what happened during those hours that I was at the bottom of the Black Lake, suspended in mid-water. All I know was that when my head emerged from the surface of the water, I was accompanied by the tiny girl, Fleur's sister, who apparently could not swim.
Still only just processing what was happening, I helped the girl doggy paddle all the way to the stands suspended in the middle of the lake. Fleur leaned over the ladder and reached out as far as she could, speaking in French so rapidly I couldn't make out a single word.
Her sister, Gabrielle, I realized, but I wasn't sure how I knew that name, allowed herself to be lifted up by her older sister and wrapped in towels. I had no idea what happened to Fleur in the lake, but obviously she didn't complete the task.
As Hermione half helped, half pulled my shaking frame up the ladder, I realized that Potter was no where to be seen. Through my coughing I tried to ask Hermione where he was, or anyone that would listen, really, but she wrapped me in layers of towels and quieted me.
"Where's Potter?" I finally choked out.
"He- he hasn't come up yet," she answered anxiously. My gut twisted. Everything was so loud. Everyone was screaming, and the professors were running up and down the metal stairs to the top decks of the stands, passing information back and forth. I could imagine what they were saying.
"Potter's person came back up, but he didn't."
"Fleur's sister came back up, but he didn't."
"Everyone came back up, but he didn't."
Then Draco burst through the crowd of people surrounding me, his face whiter then I'd ever seen it. Draco, who was just trying to protect me. Draco, who loved me and was seriously worried for me. Draco, who had probably stormed up to the teachers the minute he learned I was at the bottom of the lake and demanded that I be brought back up.
He knelt next to me and shakily put his arms around me. Shakily, but without any hesitation at all. He nearly knocked us both back into the water with the force of the embrace. I held him tight to me, not being as close to him as this since the night of the World Cup, when he let me sleep in bed with him. I never told him how much I appreciated that.
"I thought you'd... I didn't know where..." his whispered into my ear, voice cracking. I could have sworn I felt his tears against my skin.
"I'm okay," I replied, thankful for his warm body shielding mine from the bite in the air.
"You are not okay," he suddenly said forcefully. "You're lips are blue, Alexandra. We need more blankets." He turned back to the crowd and yelled, "Excuse me, some real blankets would be nice. Not these thin, bloody towels."
"Draco," I put my hand on his arm and smiled. "It's okay." He looked at me and sighed.
"I am flaying Potter within an inch of his life if he's not dead already," Draco mumbled.
"No, that's impossible. Don't say that," I looked out to the Black Lake, refusing to believe that Potter, the person that I was the most important to out of everyone in the world, was drowning at the bottom of a lake because of a stupid tournament that he didn't even enter himself in in the first place.
"I'm sorry," Draco said quietly, so no one else around us could hear. Not that they would anyways, with the surrounding chaos. "I know that he... that you're..."
"Not together. Quite honestly, I don't know," I answered, sparing him from trying to form that sentence any longer. He didn't answer, only kept his arms around me as we looked out at the tree line together.
Only seconds passed before there was a sudden noise, produced by something shooting out of the water and landing on the edge of the deck. Dumbledore ran forward, as did Hermione and Weasley and so many other people, all carrying blankets and towels and sudden weightless ease in their arms.
It was Potter.
Potter wasn't dead, and Potter hadn't drowned, and Potter was hilariously being kissed by Fleur Delacour on the cheeks because he had saved Gabrielle, even though she wasn't his to save. We watched from the side as Hermione came up to him next, throwing most of her own towels around him.
"Are you alright? You must be freezing!" She exclaimed. "Personally, I think you did admirably."
"I finished last, Hermione," he said.
"Next to last," she corrected him, and then nodded over to Draco and I. When Potter looked, I tried to imagine what he was seeing. It must have been strange. Draco with his arms still wrapped around my shoulders protectively, both of our identical faces wearing identical expressions of anxious, furious relief.
Because oh, was I furious with him. He teared his eyes, those gorgeous, heart halting eyes, away from mine only when Dumbledore put his wand to his throat to make his voice deafeningly louder, shouting "Attention," across the entire lake.
"The winner is..." he began, "Cedric Diggory!"
Diggory cheered in victory, as did his group of friends around him. They held up t-shirts the color of Hufflepuff with his name on them, and a photographer, most likely Rita Skeeter's, took a photo for the Prophet.
"He showed innate command of the Bubble-Headed Charm," Dumbledore added. "However, seeing as Mr. Potter would have finished first, had it not been for his determination to rescue not only Miss. Malfoy," a wave of heat washed over me at this, "but the others as well, we've agreed to award him... second place! For outstanding moral fiber!"
All the Gryffindors standing, along with more people from other houses than I expected, stamped their feet and applauded. I leaned into Draco and laughed. Outstanding moral fiber? That sounded like Potter, all right.
Krum ended up getting third, and Fleur got last, of course. She still hadn't let go of her sister's hand as she said in her moody French accent, "I shouldn't even get last place. I should get nothing. Disqualified."
Eventually, the stands began to clear out. The people who were underwater went first, and Weasley, Draco, Ginny and the twins followed along with us. No one stopped them. I got into a boat with Potter and Hermione. Draco came in as well. He hadn't left my side since I came up from the lake, and I didn't think he was going to for a long time.
"You know you're going to get the longest telling-off ever when we get back to the castle, right?" I asked Potter, the moment the boat began to move.
"I figured as much." He looked to Draco, and I laughed.
"From Draco?" I asked. "No, from me, you tosser."
Potter grimaced. Draco looked down at the smooth, black surface of the lake to hide his snicker. Even Hermione tried to suppress and smile and failed.
When we reached the dock, the boat of Weasley's got out at the same time as us.
"Right on. All that moral fiber, eh?" Fred said as we walked towards them.
"It's great, isn't it, moral fiber?" George added.
"Blimey, Harry, even when you do something wrong it turns out right," Weasley commented.
"Yeah, well done, moral fiber," I said quietly, nudging him in the side before going ahead and following Hermione. Even the forever stern Crouch wore a faint smile as he congratulated Potter.
We all sat around the Gryffindor common room for the rest of the day, playing cards and eating sweets for dinner that Fred and George stole from the kitchens. Even Draco was allowed in, only because he refused to let go of my arm, and we made sure that he didn't hear the password to the portrait.
He seemed slightly uncomfortable, sitting next to me stiffly and only talking when directly spoken to. But I could also tell that there was nowhere else on earth he would rather be right now, and that maybe the Gryffindors were slowly growing on him. I'm sure we were much more fun than sitting around with the Slytherins all evening.
Although he pulled me closer whenever Potter drifted towards us, and his grip on my hand was possibly beginning to cut off the circulation in my fingers, I felt safe with him next to me. Whole. And I hadn't felt this type of whole for a long, long time.
At the end of the night, when most of the Gryffindors had gone up to bed, leaving only Potter, Hermione, Weasley and us in the common room, Draco and I walked back to the portrait hole.
"I promise I'll survive the night," I said.
"Don't joke about this," he grumbled.
"It's kind of funny."
"It's not funny at all, and you're making me feel stupid."
"I'm sorry. I agree, it's not funny at all." I smiled. He rolled his eyes.
He was about to leave when he turned around again. "Are you sure you don't need-"
"No," I said.
"Or-"
"Nope."
"What about-"
"I don't need that either. What I do need is to go to bed," I said firmly. "Goodnight, Draco."
"Make sure to tell Potter while you're screaming at him that if he-" he started, but I finished for him.
"Don't worry, I'll be sure to give him the full package deal. Disheartenment, disarmament, disembowelment..." I looked over my shoulder and smiled at the look on Potter's face.
"I really don't appreciate that," Potter called over to us.
Draco hugged me one last time, which surprised me so much that it took me a second to return the gesture. "Thank you," he whispered in my ear.
"For what?" I asked softly.
"For letting me stay with you all day. I needed that," he replied, and then he pulled away and climbed out the portrait hole. I stood staring at the spot where he was for a moment before facing the three of them again.
"That was the oddest thing I've ever experienced," I announced, flopping back down on an armchair.
"I second that," Hermione said. "But I also don't think I'll be able to walk for much longer, so I'll see you upstairs, Alexandra." And she walked up to the girls dormitory. Weasley did the same, except he went up to the boys dormitory, rubbing his face and yawning so widely it stretched out his entire face.
And then Potter and I were left, half asleep and completely alone. Except we had each other, so really we were the exact opposite of alone.
"You know, I'm flattered," I started the conversation quietly.
"Hmm?" Potter invited me to continue.
"That out of all the people in this school, and all the people in the world, I'm the person that means the most to you." He looked me dead in the eye, and it knocked the breath right out of my lungs. I had the strange mixture of wanting to be sick and wanting to move closer to him.
"Well, I- I guess I... you just..." he tripped over his words as his face steadily flushed deeper.
"Can I come sit next to you?" I whispered, so soft that I thought maybe he didn't hear it. But he did. He swallowed and nodded. I carefully rose from my chair and curled up next to him. Both of our heads were leaning against the back of the couch, and they were very close. So very close.
"Aren't you supposed to be yelling at me?" Potter asked. I could feel his breath on my cheek, and it made me shiver despite the warmth coming from the dying fire.
"I was supposed to, wasn't I?" I murmured.
"But you don't have to if you don't want to," he assured me.
"Really?" I asked, my voice less than a whisper. His throat worked furiously as he nodded again. My face leaned into his like a magnet being drawn to steel. I couldn't stop the movement, nor the way my stomach was holding a stampede of butterflies. If butterflies could stampede in the first place.
I didn't know. My thoughts were jumbled and my chest hurt. Our noses were a centimeter from touching when a door banged open from above. Well, maybe it just opened normally and it sounded loud because everything had been so quiet a moment before.
Either way, we sprang apart so fast, I was surprised if whoever had thundered down the stairs saw our former position. But of course, it was Weasley who had come back into the common room, and Weasley who was now standing rigid, stuttering out an apology.
I was certain both of our faces were bright red. Neon red. Blaring, glaring, so obviously red that Weasley must have read the room by now.
"Goodnight, Potter," I said, standing up suddenly. Every last butterfly disintegrated. Turned to smoke. I walked up the stairs and left Potter to explain to Weasley. Mostly because I wasn't sure if I could explain what just happened myself.
That night, I had a dream of Potter kissing me.
I was in my Yule Ball dress. He was in dress paints and a simple shirt with the tag sticking out in the front. We were underwater, presumably in the Black Lake, and my hair flowed freely around me.
"You look so pretty," Potter was saying, but his voice was distorted by the water. "So beautiful." He leaning in and kissed me. It was the faintest brush of the lips. So faint that I could scarcely feel it.
Then two mermen came, each grabbing him by the arm and pulling him away from me. They both had faces that I had never seen before, but had singular features that made them eerily familiar.
The one on the left said, in Snape's voice, "I told you I would keep an eye on them together."
The one on the right said, in the voice of my father, "Good, Severus. Take him to the dungeons."
A hole opened in the sea floor, and the two mermen disappeared down it, still holding Potter. I tried to scream, but only bubbles came out. I tried it again and again, getting more frustrated each time with my loss of vocal cords.
I had begun to dig at the now closed part of the earth that the hole had opened up in when I woke with a start, taking such a deep gulp of air as I did that it made me dizzy for a moment. When I came to my surroundings, Hermione was standing over me. My sheets were tangled in a heap at me feet. I was drenched in a cold sweat.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, sounding extremely concerned.
"Did I- did I scream?" I gasped breathlessly.
"Yeah... we heard it from all the way down in the common room," she replied. I winced. "All three of us tried to run up to you, but I forgot that the staircase turns into a slide every time a boy tries to go up. Harry and Ron have a couple bruises, but they're fine."
"I- I can't... I just-" I tried to explain what happened, but I couldn't form the words. There wasn't a way for me to explain the sheer terror I felt when I saw my father take Potter away. And I knew that today was not going to be a good day.