Alexei from that day on became a permanent fixture at the Gryffindor table. It was the only time we really had together, since we both had lessons all day and I had training in the evenings with Harry, or demanding odd timings with my Alchemy or Potions classes.
Thankfully, Harry already got the summoning charm down before the weekend, so I felt confident and comfortable telling him about the dragons. Charlie already wrote he was going to be here with them in two weeks anyway, so I'm only a little ahead of schedule. I made plans to see him once he got them all set up, since he invited all the Weasley's down to greet him.
"Good to see your skills haven't gotten rusty without my constant training." I say happily to Cedric after we spent about three hours training on Saturday morning. We did a combination of physical training and dueling, both of us landing spells against each other and either sending the other flying or in his case, making me collapse in a fit of giggles when he used a tickling charm on me.
"Had to be ready for our rematches, you know." Cedric grins at me, and I turn my expression serious.
"Cedric. I know what the first task will be." I inform him seriously as we are just sitting together against the stone wall of the room we are in. "You will have to get past a dragon. A nesting dragon, specifically, and you will have to steal something from amongst their eggs." I tell him plainly. No point in being vague, any bit of extra information helps.
"Dragons?" He blanches out, turning pale at the thought. "Like, full size, real dragons?"
"Yeah, fire breathing and all." I smirk at him. "You gonna be ok?"
"Yeah... maybe not after the dragon, but yeah." He chuckles out nervously. "Why tell me?" He turns a confused expression towards me. "What about Harry?"
I punch his arm fairly hard and he grabs in in pain. "You git." I say with a laugh. "You really think I would let either of you go out there blind? Nah, I'm telling him later today. You're one of my best friends, and are incredibly important to me, Ced. I want you to do well, but I also just want you to survive." I say genuinely to him.
"Thank you." He replies sincerely, then stands up and offers me a hand to join him. "You really are the best, Abby." He smiles and thanks me again before returning to his dorms, and I head off back to mine.
I shower before I find Harry doing homework in the common room. I drag him away to his dorm, which is thankfully empty right now. Ron and Hermione were both getting books from the library, so I'm sure he'll tell them once they get back.
"Ready to know what the first task is?" I ask him, and he snaps his head to me and nods. "Dragons. You'll need to steal something from them." I explain fully about the task from there while he asks me plenty of questions.
"How am I going to get past a bloody dragon?! I couldn't even get near Norbert, and he was only a baby!" He exclaims in defeat.
"You're going to fly past it, that's how." I smirk mischievously at him as he looks at me in confusion, then the lightbulb goes off in his brain.
"That's why you had me learn summoning! You wanted me to learn to summon my Nimbus!" He says in understanding. "Won't Krum do that though?"
"Possibly, but I doubt it. He seems more a fight-the-dragon-head-on kind of guy. I'm a prank pulling mischievous shit, so I'm going to make sure you win in the most flashy and safest way possible." I grin at him, and he grins in response. "So, we're going to work on long distance summoning's, and some evasive maneuvers. Also might have you work on bright distraction types of spells, like a flash bang or something that can disorient the dragon. You don't want her to accidentally crush her eggs though, so don't blind her, just do something that can draw her attention." I warn him.
His friends find him not long after, and they take over making the plans from there. Hermione goes into research mode immediately for distracting and bright spells, and Ron launches into explanations about what he knows about dragons. Ron then looks skeptically at me before I leave.
"How did you know about the dragons, Charlie didn't write me at all." Ron asks with suspicion.
"I have my ways, Ronniekins." I pinch his cheeks obnoxiously. "Besides, you forget, I'm Charlie's favorite." I grin at him, which is true, he really did tell me and not the rest of his brothers about the dragons.
Alexei and I spent the whole Sunday together, alternating between doing our homework and snogging each other. It was a delightful way to spend the day, and we looked forward to more weekends together like that. He eventually got greeted by the twins, who were polite enough, right up until they pranked him and tried to give him one of the prototype canary creams. I intercepted them, and force fed them a Ton-Tongue Toffee so they had to run back to the dorms to take the antidote. They didn't try to prank him again after that, and Alexei found them very amusing, even if he didn't know all of what they were saying.
I had been curious what Alexei does for classes while he's here, and was surprised that Karkaroff teaches them most of their stuff, but also that Snape teaches both of the visiting schools Potions lessons and Sprout teaches them all Herbology. They learn all the rest from their headmasters though.
Alchemy has been an interesting subject. The work was challenging and very precise in its timing. I wasn't quite as interested in it as I was in Runes, but it was fascinating to learn. I'll give Dumbledore all the props in the world for being very intelligent, and he is a good teacher, I hold nothing against him for that. I just don't like him when it's in regard to Harry.
"Good afternoon, Tom." I greet the boy after I haven't seen him in a few weeks.
"Good afternoon. You seem in good spirits today." Tom observes. I just came from an afternoon with Alexei, so I'm in a fairly good mood.
"To be fair, I've only been in a bad mood in here once." I point out to him, and he tilts his head in acceptance.
"True, so what brings you here today? Or I suppose more accurately, what brings me in here?" He asks me delicately.
"How would you fight a dragon?" I ask him curiously.
"I think I would need a little more context." He starts to say after looking at me in surprise. "Why am I fighting a dragon? Is the reward worth the effort?" He probes for further information.
"Alright, you're trying to get a prize that you will need for a future task, and the prize is located in the nest of eggs that the dragon is guarding. You are alone, with only your wand to help you, and you cannot kill the dragon or harm her eggs. How will you get that prize?" I restate the question, putting in extra rules so he can't just kill the dragon. He pauses and thinks about his answer for a moment.
"I would get the mother away from her eggs, for starters." He answers after a moment of thought. "And I would use ice and water to counter the fire. Freezing the dragon would be effective for both of these. Not internal freezing, but externally freezing her, so as to not kill it. A dragon is still a reptile, so they don't do well in cold temperatures. A strong enough blizzard or ice attack should be sufficient." He says, and I hum in surprise and agreement.
"That's a good plan." I admit to him. "Probably not one a standard wizard could pull off, not everyone is as powerful as you. An ice attacked strong enough to immobilize a fire breathing dragon would generally require magic beyond the capabilities of the average witch or wizard. But it's an interesting approach."
"I could teach you a powerful enough spell, if you have a need to fight a dragon. I believe you are more than strong enough for it." He offers up slowly, and I do a double take at him.
"You would teach me a spell?" I ask in genuine surprise.
"It is not as is if have much better to do with my time, now do I, Ms. Abigail?" He smirks at me, gesturing around to the realm I have him trapped in.
"True enough, I suppose." I admit with a smirk. "However, it is not me who needs to fight a dragon, though I would be interested in learning that spell."
"Ah, this is a task, isn't it? For the tournament." He pieces together. "Dangerous, but not likely to be fatal. I assume there will be dragon tamers on standby?"
"Yeah, including one of my dear friends. He became a dragon tamer two years ago, and he's coming down tomorrow with them. I get to see them before the champions do." I smile, excited to see Charlie and the dragons.
"A talented friend to have indeed." He whispers out softly. "When last we spoke, you mentioned a conflict to happen. Who is the conflict with?" He asks me, looking right at me with a knowing look.
I debate for a moment, looking right in his eyes and calculating why he is asking me this question. I even reach out with the realm and read his emotions, and while he is masking them, I can tell there is mostly curiosity, but still the small underlying level of anger. He usually has that layer, but it's less and less each time I talk with him, which I find odd, I didn't think a Horcrux could evolve or develop at all.
"Voldemort." I answer him plainly, ready for his rage again. The only thing is, it didn't come. I looked at him curiously, wondering why this doesn't anger him. "It will be a good opportunity to kill a few of his followers, and one of the horcruxes." I continue on, and he looks out the window of the treehouse.
"Will he be complete then? Or living as a parasite again?" He asks casually.
"Complete, if I can't stop the potion that brings him back." I respond, and notice his change of term. "You called him 'he', not 'I'." I point out to him. This is the first time he's ever referred to Voldemort as a separate person from himself.
"Did I?" He asks me softly, a look of confusion on his face. "I suppose I did." He says to himself. "The ice attack, would you still like to learn it?" He stands up then, changing the topic away from his other self. I observe him carefully, curious what is going on with him, but stand and join him anyway. I lead him out of the house and into the woods, and face him curiously.
"You can't do magic here." I point out to him, and he hums in acknowledgment.
"No, but as I said last time, I learn magic through theory, and that knowledge is sealed in my mind. I can teach you theory, and you can implement it. Can you do magic in here?" He asks me curiously.
"No. That's not how the realm works. I can visualize things though, and make them real." I tell him truthfully.
"That should be proficient. Come, I will tell you all about powerful ice magic, and perhaps we can make our own spell together." He says, and my interest is piqued. We spend an hour talking over theory and uses, and take the basis of two different spells and combine them.
When I exit the realm and am back in the Room of Requirement, I test out the spell. Both spells were ones I knew, so I knew that neither was a dark spell. It was similar to how in my first year when the twins and I created the Princess Soap Blizzard. When I practiced the new spell, I managed to cover over half the training room in solid, impenetrable ice. I sent a fire spell at it to melt it, just to test if I could, and it didn't melt it at all. The same with trying to blow up the ice, it remained impervious to several attempts to destroy it. Tom and I had created a counter spell for it, and I tried that and it worked to make the ice leave.
I was shocked, I just developed and learned a new spell together with Tom Riddle. He does continue to surprise me.
"Charlie!" I cheer out happily the next day when the Weasley's and I all headed down to greet him in the forest. He scoops me up in a hug once I get to him, and then goes to hug Ginny next who was right on my heels to see her brother.
I walk away from him slightly with Ron and we both stare in awe at the giant dragons set up in their paddocks. They're still asleep from the travel, but they are huge, and absolutely gorgeous.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" Charlie says, coming up to join us once he was done greeting the twins.
"They really are." I breathe out in shock. Real dragons, just 30 feet away from me. I still get shocked that this can be real in this world.
"How are you?" Charlie asks me quietly while the twins take Ginny a little closer, and Ron backs away a little further, not a fan of dragons after his bite from Norberta.
"I'm doing really well. I've been a little busy, but I make time for everything as best I can." I answer honestly. Between classes, Alchemy and Potions both needing attention at random time, Alexei, training Harry, and all my friends, I've been a little tired.
"You look a little pale." He says softly, putting a large calloused and warm hand to my forehead, and I subconsciously lean into it. "Don't get sick, make sure you're eating and sleeping. See Pomphrey if you catch a cold, she'll fix you right up."
I pull him into another hug, he's so sweet and caring. He really is just the most loveable member of their whole family. "I will Charlie, thanks for being the best." I whisper to him happily.
"Awww." We turn and see Fred and George holding each other's hands dramatically and looking at us with cooing faces. "You're both so adorable!" They squeal in false high pitched voices, and Charlie and I smirk at each other, and we part and chase after the twins. I caught George as Charlie caught Fred, and we wrestled them down the ground and sat on them, just like we've been doing since we were all kids.
"Awww." Charlie and I coo out sarcastically. "You're both so adorable." We then shove their faces in the mud, grinning at each other for our perfectly synchronized attacks as Ron and Ginny were exploding with laughter. I love how perfectly Charlie and I work together to torment the twins, we always have. The laughter was almost enough to wake the closest dragon though, as it roared loudly in its sleep and Ron nearly passed out in fear, which caused all the rest of us to laugh all over again.
I hung out with Charlie for several hours, even after the others went back to the castle. I listened with rapt attention as he told me excitedly about his life in Romania helping dragons. I've missed him a lot, and while we do write occasionally, it's not the same and I feel like he and I have grown apart, which makes me both sad and guilty. Once I graduate, I want to visit him for a while, and I make plans with him to do so.
Hagrid still ended up bringing Harry down to see the dragons a week later, which was just like in the stories. Harry had to act and pretend like he didn't know, but it was also the first time he got to see them up close, and he was rather terrified of the Hungarian Horntail, and complained and hoped he wouldn't get that one. I didn't say anything, there's no point in worrying him so much.
I did end up getting a nasty cold, like Charlie had said I would. I passed out during Transfiguration, waking up in the hospital with a very worried looking George by my bedside. He had been the one to bring me in since we were in class together at the time. Pomphrey gave me a Pepperup potion though, ordering me to a day of rest in my bed in the dorms. I was back to full health the next day after that. I really do love magic, it makes everything so much easier.
Rita Skeeter had written the article about the tournament champions, and in it she did call Harry 12, but thankfully there wasn't too much else singling him out. Harry managed to not do a private interview with her, taking my advice and being firm in denying it. She had interviewed several students around the school though, and little Colin Creevey told her that Harry and Hermione were dating, which caused a little mess for them both. It also created the odd encounter I would have with Viktor Krum for the first time.
"Orlov." Alexei and I heard someone say as they walked up to us. We were eating dinner together the day before the first task, and Viktor came over and joined us for a moment. They spoke in either Russian or Bulgarian for a bit, I couldn't tell which, before Alexei turned to me.
"He is wanting to ask you question." Alexei informs me, and I turn expectantly and curiously to Viktor.
"Um.. you are being friends with Potter and his friend, yes?" Viktor asks me, his English just as bad as Alexei's, if not worse.
"Yes, is there something you need?" I ask him curiously.
"Potter is... with his friend? Like you and Alexei, they are, together?" He asks nervously, and it takes me a moment before I catch on to what he's saying.
"Oh, Hermione?" I ask for clarification, and he nods a few times quickly. "They are friends, but not together, no. They aren't dating." I inform him, and Alexei says something more to him, and Viktor nods in relief. "She is single." I add with a smirk.
"Thank you, Ms. Black." Viktor says to me as he stands to leave, and he says something more to Alexei, who smirks at him and replies, causing Viktor to chuckle heartily before he left.
"What else did he say?" I ask my boyfriend curiously.
"He said he was envious." He smirks at me. "For me having most beautiful woman here." He kisses me firmly after that, and I grin at him.
"Liar." I whisper out against his lips.
"Alright, you caught me. He say that weeks ago." He chuckles out. "No, he wanted to offer autograph, but I said you were more famous than him, and no need it." He grins at me confidently, and I laugh loudly at his cockiness.
The first task went the same as in the stories. Harry came out on top with his use of summoning the broom, and everyone was amazed at his flying skills. It was very cool to get to see the others get past their dragons, especially since I couldn't remember how they got past them from the stories.
Cedric had the funniest method, he transfigured a rock and turned into Cosmey, his dog, and used that to distract the dragon. It only worked about halfway though before the dragon spun and shot fire at him, burning half his face. He still got his egg, but had to be rushed to the medical bay right away. I rushed out to meet him there, and Pomphrey let me in after she had dealt with most the damage. He was shaken from the attack but otherwise doing ok and would make a full recovery. I congratulated him quickly and reassured him he was still perfectly handsome before going back to watch the other matches.
I made it back in time to see Fleur put her dragon into a trance and sleep, but then she got caught on fire by one of its snores. Viktor tried blinding it, which was a bad idea since it caused his dragon to destroy half its eggs. He still got tied for first with Harry though, mostly thanks to Karkaroff giving him a bunch of points and Harry very few.
I said my goodbyes to Charlie after, who kissed my cheek lightly again in parting. We were surrounded by his whole family, so the twins proceeded to tease us and Ron was sputtering, but Ginny was smirking at me. She proceeded to tease me the whole way back about having all the guys after me, and I just told her to wait a couple years, and this would be her. She's becoming very beautiful herself, and is really coming into her sassy personality that I love. I helped also make her a very strong woman, and she can stand up to anyone without batting an eye with the confidence she has.