𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
"DRAGONS?" HERMIONE REPEATED IN UTTER shock the next morning at breakfast. The three were sitting at their usual spots at the Gryffindor table. Gaia nodded slowly as she sluggishly lifted her spoon from her cereal to her mouth. Both she and Harry were visibly exhausted after the events of the previous night. The two hadn't even made it back to the common room until past one in the morning, at which point it took nearly an hour more of talking to each other to calm their nerves enough to go to bed. Now, the only things keeping the pair going were the very limited hours of sleep off of which they were functioning and the pure terror of what could occur in the first task the next day if they didn't figure out a plan as soon as possible.
The rest of breakfast passed quietly as all three students were deep in their own heads formulating strategy for how a fourteen-year-old could stand a chance against a dragon with one day's worth of preparation. Gaia was beginning to realize why they shut down this tournament for centuries. After the friends had each finished their meal, they began to quietly follow the motions of the few students around the great hall who were already drifting from their tables and heading towards their first lessons of the day.
Gaia dreaded the upcoming defense against the dark arts lesson for many reasons. To start, she was as creeped out by Moody as ever. The man had started approaching her slightly less often, but even so, she would still catch him staring at her from his desk while the class had independent work, or across the sea of students in the great hall during meal times. And even aside from her aversion to the professor, she simply couldn't see herself staying awake through any lesson right now. All she wanted to do was skive off, just this once, and take a glorious nap.
And the more she thought about it, the harder it became to keep herself from giving in to it.
So she explained her decision to Harry as the pair walked towards Moody's classroom. Gaia felt lucky that Hermione had already gone her separate way for her Arithmancy exam, seeing as she was sure the older girl would object to this behavior. But Harry didn't seem to judge her at all, and actually thought for a moment about joining her, before deciding it would be worth it to spend Moody's class researching ways to beat the upcoming task. So Gaia said her goodbye and turned back the way they had come to head in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.
She made it quickly through the corridors of ambling students, repeatedly needing to rub her eyes with her robe sleeve with stifling a long yawn. The walk to Gryffinor tower had never felt longer than it did when she was desperately in need of a nap.
She arrived at the Fat Lady's portrait, lazily mumbled the password and made her way to her dormitory. She thought briefly about taking off her boots, but exhaustion took over and her head hit the pillow before she could formulate a clear decision.
However, it seemed as if the second that it did, her eyes were shot open again and rapidly blinking to try and clear up the foggy face in front of her.
"Gaia!" the bushy-haired silhouette repeated, this time shoving the tired girl's shoulders repeatedly in attempt to wake her up.
"Hermione, please, I just want one nap!" Gaia begged as she rolled on to her other side to turn her back on her dorm mate.
"You have been napping. For two hours."
Gaia turned her head but did not bother mustering up the energy to move the rest of her body, resulting in her neck turned sharply over her right shoulder to glare at Hermione with narrow eyes.
"Besides, Harry needs you," she finished, unfazed by the murderous look in Gaia's stare. "He sent me up here to get you after he came running into the common room from Moody's class. Something about the task tomorrow. Come on!"
Gaia made no attempt to hide her anguished groan as she tossed the covers off of her body and sat up on the edge of her bed. The bright side was that she was already fully clothed, so the pair wasted no time in making it downstairs to the common room, where Harry was pacing in thought. Hearing their footsteps, he stopped and let out a quick sigh he appeared to have been holding in.
"Guys!" he exclaimed, coming closer to the two girls who had just stepped off the stairs. "I figured out how to fight the dragon tomorrow!"
Hermione's face lit up, and while Gaia did feel quite relieved, she could only do her best to smile and nod as she daydreamed about how wonderful a cup of warm, extra-caffeinated coffee would feel between her hands.
"Moody got me thinking," the boy continued, "we're only allowed to go into the ring with our wands, right?"
"Right. And that's a problem since your wand is stuck on the 'Disarm Only' setting," Gaia quipped nonchalantly. Harry flashed her a quick, disapproving look before continuing.
"But there are spells I could use with my wand that would take advantage of my better skills." He held his hands out with his mouth agape in a smile and eyes wide, as if waiting for a reaction from the girls that they understood where he was going, but he was met with two blank stares. He finally conceded. "I need to learn the summoning charm by tomorrow afternoon!"
And so, Harry and Gaia officially called off their lessons for the rest of the day. They figured any punishment for skiving off would be minor compared to the punishment of not being prepared to fight a dragon. Even Hermione skipped one class, Herbology, in which she had gotten a perfect score on every assignment of the term thus far. The three of them spent hours combing the shelves of the library for any and every book that might be useful in learning the summoning spell, then they lugged them all back to the Gryffindor common room and settled in for a long night of cramming. Hermione left when the rest of her lessons were starting, and Harry and Gaia tried to manage the basics without her. She returned hours later with snacks from the Great Hall to serve as their dinner and helped them loads. They took domain over the sitting area for the rest of the day, frustrating many of their peers, though none could muster up a care.
At the time that everyone was filtering out to make their ways to the Great Hall for dinner, the trio stayed hard at work. The sun sank lower and lower through the window and soon the other students had returned and retired to their dorms for the night. Harry, however, was getting close to mastering the technique, and Gaia and Hermione were still opening new books in hopes of tips or tricks that might be helpful.
Finally, just past two in the morning, Harry had successfully cast the summoning charm multiple times in a row.
"That's better Harry," Hermione praised, stifling a yawn. "Loads better."
"Loads," Gaia concurred, lifting her head from the arm of the couch and hoping they couldn't tell how close she was to passing out, (they could). Gaia had never been able to stay up late, so Harry appreciated this level of commitment from her.
"Well, now we know what to do next time I can't manage a spell, threaten me with a dragon," Harry stated, though he was so tired his tone sounded more serious than comical. "Accio dictionary!"
The hearty book sprang from its place on the coffee table toward Harry, who barely acted quickly enough to catch it.
"That was a strong one," Gaia stated, only slightly more lively. "I think you've got a solid shot tomorrow."
"Assuming it works then," Harry responded glumly, slumping into an armchair with the dictionary in his lap. "I'm just worried. My broom's going to be way farther away than any of the stuff we've practiced on when I'm out there on the grounds and it's still in the castle-"
"I have every ounce of confidence you'll smoke that dragon," Gaia replied, mustering up some cheerfulness. "But only if you get a good night of sleep. We all need it."
The other two Gryffindors agreed and soon they had cleaned up the items strewn randomly across the sitting area from the earlier attempts that had not been as successful and were heading up the stairs, Hermione leading the way and climbing to their dorm while yawning through a, "Goodnight, Harry," as she disappeared behind the corner at the top. Gaia made to follow the bushy-haired girl, ready to bid her own farewell to the boy. But with her foot on the first step and her hand resting on the banister, she froze. She couldn't describe it, but some instinctual, tugging feeling was pulling at her through her chest — a sense of unfinished business — of words unsaid.
"Everything's gonna be okay tomorrow," she stated, turning her frame quickly to face the boy behind her. She watched his eyes widen slightly, then slowly relax to their natural position again, reflecting on the words, processing his thoughts.
"You're sure?" he asked wearily. Harry wanted the truth. He didn't want the feigned assurance and confidence that everyone else in his life had given him in the weeks approaching tomorrow's task. Something inside of him knew that only Gaia could give that truth to him. He understood, even after only their few months of friendship, that if anyone would know that he needed honesty more than false hope, it was Gaia.
And Gaia did. She knew that exactly what he needed from her was truth. But she couldn't identify it, try as she might. She didn't know what tomorrow would hold. She knew he was well prepared, and that she would be cheering him on in the stands. She knew it was only the first of three tasks, and that if it didn't go well then the chances for the other two were likely very bleak.
But then again weren't the odds bleak anyway? Harry was the only underage competitor, the only one who did not submit willingly, and the only one whose whole participation in the tournament was potentially a plot against him.
"Things may not be great," she resolved, after several long moments of reflection. Harry could see her thought process through her eyes and appreciated the effort that she took in giving him an answer that she believed in. "But everything will be okay. At least."
The boy cracked the slightest of smiles and dropped his head towards the floor.
"I know that's not as reassuring as we're hoping for," Gaia conceded, bowing her head as well to avoid the moment when he would inevitably look up and she would need to face those green eyes. The eyes she couldn't help but feel herself buckle under, when it was only the two of them, as it was in that moment.
"But you're right," he agreed, lifting his head with a newfound energy. "You always are."
Gaia couldn't find a reason to keep her head down anymore and met his eyes. Emerald green met shallow blue and there was a feeling that could be felt but not named, and dare not disturbed. There was unity and understanding. There was a connection in its most primal form.
"Goodnight, Harry," Gaia said sweetly, a smile resting on her lips. She turned back around and made her way to bed.
"Goodnight, Gaia," the boy said more to himself than to her.
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
The next morning, Gaia woke up with a pit in her stomach. She tossed the sheets off of her body and made her way to the bathroom, splashing her face with cold water. She was already well awake, as she had slept quite poorly the night before. When she did manage to fall asleep for short periods of time, she had strange dreams of a dragon teaching the Defence Against the Dark Arts class and giving Harry detention.
She patted her face with a dry cloth and let her hands come down slowly, revealing only her eyes staring back in the mirror and the lower half of her face engulfed by the towel.
Just 12 hours, she thought to herself, forcing some sort of half-arsed positivity. Then it's over for months until the next task.
In a weird way, it did make her feel slightly better to think about the long break of stress-free studies that they would get when today's task was finished. Maybe then she would finally have the time to knock some sense into Ron, which she had been wanting to do for some time now but couldn't with all that was going on.
Gaia took a quick shower and spell-dried her hair before changing into a comforting ensemble, maroon sweatpants with gold stripes at the ankles and a matching yellow tank top. All lessons had been called off for the day due to the task, leaving Gaia feeling relieved with not having to change into her uniform. The thought of having to endure all the stress of watching Harry compete with the added discomfort of stiff robes was not appealing.
Since the start of her friendship with Harry, Hermione, and previously Ron, she had decided to embrace her appearance with more fondness. Her first three years at Hogwarts consisted of keeping her head down and doing everything to avoid drawing attention to herself. But after her connection with Harry had been formed, she started to realize that people were already looking at her - noticing her. At times, she allowed herself to revel in the pride that accompanied that realization for only a moment.
Thus, she brushed the wand of her mascara against her eyelashes and painted her cheeks with baby pink blush. The one cosmetic she had allowed herself in the early years of school was a cherry flavored lip balm, which she carried in a pocket at all times. She massaged the soft ruby stick against her puckered lips and smacked them together as the placed the cap onto the tube. She finished getting ready with the addition of some light accessories, a dainty golden necklace and small hoop earrings.
The necklace had always been a favorite of hers. A necklace gifted to her in one of the earlier Christmases of Malfoy Manor, when she was likely no more than 7 years old. The golden pendant was not simple - but elegant and detailed. So much so that Gaia often thought merely clasping the jewelry around her neck made her look older - more mature. The door of the locket was of solid gold, engravings added that formed the outlines of continents.
A globe - Narcissa had explained when the young girl beamed at the contents of the exquisitely wrapped gift. The charms on the pendant also added a special magic to the necklace that allowed it to rotate just as the real planet.
"Gaia," Narcissa had said with a smile on her face as she gently lifted the chain and walked around to behind her niece, "was your mother's way of breaking tradition." She lowered the locket in front of the young girls face and dropped it to sit lightly on her chest, positioned two inches below her jugular notch. "It is a long standing Black family tradition that a child be named after something celestial. A star, a constellation... But Bellatrix said that she saw something different in you the day that you were born. Something that couldn't be contained to our universe. Something more powerful. Godly, even.
"And she picked the name Gaia. After the Goddess of the Earth, so that you represented both your power that could not be contained, but also your ties to home and family. To your bloodline."
The necklace had been given to her with a picture of her mother holding an infantile Gaia, only a few weeks old, Narcissa had told her. The young girl cherished the necklace and its contents for years.
Until her first day at Hogwarts, when she tore the picture out and set it aside in the same box that contained the shattered remains of that enchanted mirror. Weeks later, after a particular charms lesson in which she finally learned a fire-starting spell, she removed the photo and burned it in her hand, before allowing the ashes to sift through her fingers back into the box which she magically resealed and still remains under her four-poster.
The locket remained beautiful, but empty.
She pulled herself from her trance and checked the clock. 12:37. She needed to make her way to the Quidditch Pitch soon if she wanted to get a good seat to cheer on Harry. Or, more importantly, if she decided to pluck up the courage to seek him out before the start of the task. For what, she wasn't sure. But a nagging feeling tugged at her to go see him, wish him luck, assure him.
Hope. Now all she could do was hope beyond reason that someone out there was watching after them and would help this pitiful boy who was in too far over his head. Because without some kind of divine intervention, Gaia could shamefully admit to herself that she did not have an incredible amount of faith in Harry not getting himself killed.
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
a/n: do you guys hate me yet cause i wouldn't blame you. its been literally almost 2 months since i updated holy crap i am so sorry. but i will always try to come back when i can.
one of the reasons this chapter took so long was because i was struggling with figuring out how to write the first task and then once i saw how much i had already crammed into what would happen in the events leading up to the task, i realized that the chapter would be like double my normal length. i debated whether to drop one half of all that i had planned to write earlier or to wait for the whole thing and drop it all later, but i figured that y'all might want to see something sooner rather than larger so i wrapped it up here and i hope the conclusion isn't too abrupt.
sorry the end gets a bit filler but the necklace portion was important to me to write into both narcissa and gaias characters. as well as the bella info with her naming thoughts, which were very intentional on my part going into the planning of this book.
anyway, kind of a boring a/n so sorry about that, but hopefully it's not terribly boring to see a snippet into how my thought processes towards writing this are.
i have seen this book starting to grow a bit in the last two months and it makes me so happy so thank you - each and every one of you. please don't forget to vote, comment, share, add to library, whatever works for you, but if you like this book don't keep it a secret!! i love seeing feedback of all kind and appreciate anyone who takes the time to leave it.
there are likely a few typos in this chapter, but i'm exhausted, i have a massive headache, and i have an opening shift in the morning so i'm going to conclude this too-long a/n now and revise tomorrow if needed, but thank you guys for everything!! next chapter already in the works!
dms always open <3