"So what's going on with you and Harry?"
I looked up from my vision journal, shutting it as I did. I'd wanted to mark a few points to show to Malfoy — hopefully he'd have some insight.
"What do you mean?" I asked Luke, who'd just returned from Triwizard Tournament planning. It looked like Luke had been given the go-ahead from both Chiron and the Wizard side to have demigods help the Champions during the third task. Luke and I would be two of them; Chiron would send two more from Camp Half-Blood.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"The whole thing in the courtyard, Ash. You two kissed, didn't you? Or you were about to, anyway."
"Kissed?" I replied. "Hades, no."
"Are you sure?"
I gave Luke a deadpan stare. "Hmm, lemme think. No, you're right, Luke, I'm totally not sure whether I kissed Harry or not. I was probably sleepwalking or something."
"Okay, okay." Luke put up his hands in surrender and came to sit down next to me. "But do you want to?"
"Luke."
"Okay, fine." Luke looked at my journal. "Whatcha writing?"
"Dream journal," I told him.
"For Trelawney? Another one?"
"Yeah, she thinks they've been great." I shrugged and set down the book. "Anyway... what about Triwizard stuff? Have you guys decided who's coming to help us?"
"Yeah," Luke said. "Sophia from Athena and Brion from Demeter."
"Oh, okay. Cool." I didn't know either of them very well, but they seemed like pretty nice people. There was an awkward silence.
"Ash —"
"I swear to the gods, if you're about to ask about Harry again, there is literally nothing romantic going on between the two of us, and neither of us want anything romantic to go on between us. That would be so weird. In fact, I don't think I'm at a good time to have anything romantic going on with anybody."
"Says the girl who keeps calling Hermione 'wifey.' "
"That is a joke, and you know it." I socked Luke in the arm. "But out of all of you guys, she'd be the one I'd most likely go out with."
Luke laughed. "I really wouldn't blame you. She's the only sensible person around here."
Harry then came in. He and Luke both seemed like they were hoping to forget about the whole scene in the courtyard earlier, which was kind of a relief.
"Just sent a letter to Sirius," Harry said, sitting down with us. "I made sure to tell him about Moody and Snape, including what you said about Moody."
"Oh, really?" I asked.
"Yeah," he replied. "I guess... I think Sirius will probably think along the same lines as you."
I smiled. "I think you're right, Harry. And now that you've updated Sirius, you should focus on the task."
Harry did. The next day we discussed how to help Harry survive underwater for an hour on the twenty-fourth of February.
Ron really liked the idea of using the Summoning Charm again — Harry had explained about Aqua-Lungs, and Ron couldn't see why Harry shouldn't Summon one from the nearest Muggle town. Hermione squashed 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'd most likely be disqualified for breaking the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy — it was too much to hope that no Muggles would spot an Aqua-Lung zooming across the countryside to Hogwarts.
I agreed. "I think the ideal solution would be for you to Transfigure yourself into a submarine or something."
"If only we'd done human Transfiguration already!" Hermione exclaimed. "But I don't think we start that until sixth year, and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing...."
"Yeah, I don't fancy walking around with a periscope sticking out of my head," said Harry. "I s'pose I could always attack someone in front of Moody; he might do it for me...."
"I don't think he'd let you choose what you wanted to be turned into, though," I said seriously. "He might turn you into the amazing bouncing ferret, part two, and I know from experience that ferrets cannot survive for an hour underwater."
"No, I think your best chance is some sort of charm," Hermione said.
So we all looked to the library for something to use. But even though we searched through our lunchtimes, evenings, and whole weekends — and even though Harry asked Professor McGonagall for a note of permission to use the Restricted Section, and even asked Madam Pince, for help — we found nothing whatsoever that would enable Harry to spend an hour underwater and live to tell the tale.
I could tell that Harry was starting to panic and he was finding it difficult to concentrate in class again. Whenever we passed the lake, Harry stared at it apprehensively. With two days left, Harry started to go off food again. The only good thing about breakfast on Monday was the reply we got from Sirius. Harry pulled the parchment off the owl's leg and unrolled it. I read over Harry's shoulder what had to be the shortest letter Sirius had ever written to him.
Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl.
Harry turned the parchment over and looked at the back, obviously hoping to see something else, but it was blank.
"Weekend after next," whispered Hermione, who'd read the note over Harry's shoulder. "Here — take my quill and send this owl back straight away."
Harry scribbled the dates down on the back of Sirius's letter, tied it onto the brown owl's leg, and as we watched it take flight again, I noted Harry's anxious expression.
"What's he want to know about the next Hogsmeade weekend for?" said Ron.
"You don't think he wants to actually come to see us, do you?" I asked nervously.
"Dunno," said Harry dully. "Come on... Care of Magical Creatures."
Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended Skrewts, or because there were now only two skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Professor Grubbly-Plank could, I didn't know, but Hagrid had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he'd returned to work. It turned out that Hagrid knew just as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was clear that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing.
Today he had managed to capture two unicorn foals. Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold. Parvati and Lavender went into transports of delight at the sight of them, and even Pansy Parkinson had to work hard to conceal how much she liked them.
"Easier ter spot than the adults," Hagrid told the class. "They turn silver when they're abou' two years old, an' they grow horns at aroun' four. Don' go pure white till they're full grown, 'round about seven. They're a bit more trustin' when they're babies .. . don mind boys so much.... C'mon, move in a bit, yeh can pat 'em if yeh want. . . give 'em a few o' these sugar lumps. . . . "
"You guys," I told Parvati, Lavender, and Hermione as we pet the unicorns and fed them sugar cubes, "If any of you gets me a baby unicorn for my next birthday, I promise to love you forever."
"As if we'd give any baby unicorn we somehow manage to get to you," Lavender said teasingly. "Besides, wouldn't Jab get jealous?"
"I bet he'd love the baby unicorn, too," I said.
"You've got a point," Hermione said.
"Of course she's got a point," Parvati said. "Even Pansy Parkinson loves them. Look at her!"
We turned to see Pansy Parkinson trying to hide her excitement about feeding the other unicorn around her fellow Slytherins.
The unicorn foal headbutted Parvati in search of more sugar cubes, and I think she just about died. With a small squeal, she gently hugged the unicorn around its neck.
After a wholesome class we headed back to the castle. I was in fairly good spirits until I saw Harry looking even more anxious than ever.
"You okay?" I asked him quietly as Ron and Hermione chatted about the unicorns behind us (Ron, much like Pansy Parkinson, was trying to pretend that the unicorns didn't delight him.).
Harry shook his head. "Second task is tomorrow, and I still haven't found anything useful."
"Did you ask Hagrid? Maybe he knows something."
"I didn't want to ruin his good mood and disappoint him."
"Harry, I doubt there's any way you could disappoint Hagrid. He's very understanding. If we don't find anything by this evening, I would talk to him."
"Okay," Harry said.
"You should eat, too," I added.
"Okay, mum."
I nudged him in the shoulder. "Joke all you want, but you still need energy."
By the evening before the second task. Harry seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack. We sat in the library as the sun set outside, tearing feverishly through page after page of spells, hidden from one another by the massive piles of books on the desk in front of each of us.
"I don't reckon it can be done," said Ron's voice flatly from the other side of the table. "There's nothing. Nothing. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake."
"There's got to be something," I insisted, moving a candle closer to me. My eyes were so tired that, even with my glasses on, I was poring over the tiny print of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes with my nose about an inch from the page. "There's no way that they would've set a task that was undoable."
"They have," said Ron. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate."
"There's a way of doing it!" Hermione said crossly. "There just has to be!" She seemed to be taking the library's lack of useful information on the subject as a personal insult — it had never failed her before.
"I know what I should have done," said Harry, resting, face-down, on Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts. "I should've learned to be an Animagus like Sirius."
"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish any time you wanted!" said Ron.
"Or a frog," yawned Harry, exhausted.
"It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything," said Hermione vaguely, now squinting down the index of Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions. I was worried she'd have eye strain by the end of the evening. "Professor McGonagall told us, remember... you've got to register yourself with the Improper Use of Magic Office ...what animal you become, and your markings, so you can't abuse it..."
"Hermione, I think he was joking," I said gently.
"I was," agreed Harry wearily. "I know I haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning...."
"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 Luke's voice. "It would be a pretty cool talking point, don't you think?"
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I looked up. Luke had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.
"What're you doing here?" Ron asked.
"Looking for you," said Luke, looking a bit grim. "McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you, Hermione."
"Why?" said Hermione, looking surprised.
Luke sighed, looking even more grim. "You'll see. I'm supposed to take you down to her office."
I frowned. Was Professor McGonagall about to tell Ron and Hermione off? Perhaps she'd noticed how much we were helping Harry, when he was supposed to be working out how to do the task alone? But that wouldn't explain why I wasn't coming, too...
"She didn't want me or Harry?" I asked Luke.
He shook his head. "Just these two."
"We'll meet you back in the common room," Hermione told Harry and I as she got up to go with Ron — both of them looked very anxious. "Bring as many of these books as you can, okay?"
"Right," said Harry uneasily.
"Got it," I agreed.
By eight o'clock. Madam Pince had extinguished all the lamps and came to kick Harry and I out of the library. Staggering under the weight of as many books as we could carry, we returned to the Gryffindor common room, pulled a table into a corner, and continued to search. There was nothing in the dozen books we must've taken from the library.
Crookshanks crawled into Harry's lap and curled up, purring deeply. He'd probably noticed the boy's increasing anxiety and wanted to cheer him up in his own cat way.
The common room emptied slowly around Harry. People kept wishing him luck for the next morning in cheery, confident voices, which I felt could've helped Harry, but with each comment, he just looked more and more like he was approaching his death.
By ten to midnight, we were alone in the room with Crookshanks. We'd searched all the remaining books, and Ron and Hermione hadn't come back. I was exhausted, and Harry was practically falling asleep.
"We could try sneaking back into the library," I suggested. "If Moody sees us on the map, he'll probably know that's what we're up to."
Harry said nothing. I couldn't tell if he was falling asleep or if he was lost in thought.
"Harry?" I asked.
"Huh?"
"I asked if you wanted to go back to the library with the Invisibility Cloak."
Harry blinked. "Er, yeah. Yeah. We'll go."
Probably forgetting that Crookshanks was on his lap, Harry stood up very suddenly. Crookshanks hissed angrily as he landed on the floor, gave Harry a disgusted look, and stalked over to me before jumping into my lap instead, but Harry was already hurrying up the spiral staircase to his dormitory.
I sighed and stroked Crookshanks' fuzzy head; the cat emitted a loud purr. I put my head down on the table Harry and I had been working at. Maybe I could just rest my eyes for a bit while Harry grabbed his cloak... I doubted he'd mind...
I woke up to someone poking my forehead.
"Harry, could you not?" I mumbled, waving him off.
"Miss must wake up!" replied a squeaky voice. "Miss must not sleep anymore!"
"I'm not asleep, my mind is alive," I muttered, wondering why Harry was speaking in a high-pitched voice. Then I opened my eyes and realized that the person who'd been poking me to get me to wake up had been Dobby.
I rubbed my eyes, sure that they were deceiving me. My glasses had fallen off. "Hi, Dobby, what're you doing here?"
"Dobby is looking for Harry Potter, Miss!" the elf squeaked.
"Oh, he went up to get his..." I frowned and saw the light streaming into the room through the windows. I'd fallen asleep and Harry hadn't woken me up. I whipped around to stare at the clock and saw that it was ten past nine. I realized that Harry's task would start in about twenty minutes, and if Dobby had some here in search of Harry instead of going to the lake where the task was, that meant Harry was still in the library.
"He left without me!" I exclaimed indignantly, standing up suddenly (luckily Crookshanks had left sometime in the night, or he would've been flung to the floor for the second time.) "Come on, Dobby, he'll be in the library."
We rushed to the library, where Harry had fallen asleep. The Invisibility Cloak had slipped off his head as he slept, and the side of his face was stuck to the pages of Where There's a Wand, There's a Way.
Dobby had apparently decided that poking people was the best way to wake people up, because as soon as we reached Harry's table, he started jabbing Harry in the side.
"That hurts — get off — ouch —"
"Harry Potter must wake up, sir!"
"Stop poking me —"
"Dobby must poke Harry Potter, sir, he must wake up!"
Harry opened his eyes. He sat up, straightening his glasses, blinking in the bright daylight. "Harry Potter needs to hurry!" squeaked Dobby.
"Harry, the second task starts in ten minutes," I said urgently.
"Ten minutes?" Harry croaked. "Ten — ten minutes?"
"Did you find anything useful?" I asked him.
Judging by the grim expression on his face, he had not.
"Hurry, Harry Potter!" squeaked Dobby, plucking at Harry's sleeve. "You is supposed to be down by the lake with the other champions, sir!"
"It's too late, Dobby," Harry said hopelessly. "I'm not doing the task, I don't know how —"
"Harry Potter will do the task!" squeaked the elf. "Dobby knew Harry had not found the right book, so Dobby did it for him!"
"What?" said Harry. "But you don't know what the second task is —"
"Dobby knows, sir! Harry Potter has to go into the lake and find his Wheezy —"
"Find my what?"
" — and take his Wheezy back from the merpeople!"
Wheezy... Weasley. My heart sank. So that was what they'd needed Ron and Hermione for. They'd taken them to the merpeople for Harry to find.
"What's a Wheezy?" Harry asked, not having caught on.
"He means Weasley, Harry!" I exclaimed. "The merpeople took Ron!"
"What?" Harry gasped. "They've got. . . they've got Ron?"
"The thing Harry Potter will miss most, sir!" squeaked Dobby. " 'But past an hour —' "
" — 'the prospect's black,' " Harry and I recited in horrified unison.
Harry finished the verse. " 'Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.' Dobby — what've I got to do?"
"You has to eat this, sir!" squeaked the elf, and he put his hand in the pocket of his shorts and drew out a ball of what looked like slimy, grayish-green rat tails. "Right before you go into the lake, sir — gillyweed!"
"Oh, Morrigan, gillyweed!" I exclaimed, facepalming. "How could I have forgotten about it? Neville was talking to me and Hermione about it just last week!"
"What's it do?" said Harry, staring at the gillyweed.
"It will make Harry Potter breathe underwater, sir!"
"Dobby," said Harry frantically, "listen — are you sure about this?"
"Dobby is quite sure, sir!" said the elf earnestly. "Dobby hears things, sir, he is a house-elf, he goes all over the castle as he lights the fires and mops the floors. Dobby heard Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody in the staffroom, talking about the next task. . . . Dobby cannot let Harry Potter lose his Wheezy!"
"He's right, Harry. Neville told me about it, too," I said, not even having a second thought about Moody. "I'm sorry I didn't remember —"
"No, no, it's not your fault," Harry said, his mind probably moving on already. "We need to get to the lake."
Jumping to his feet he pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, stuffed it into his bag, grabbed the gillyweed, and put it into his pocket, then tore out of the library with Dobby and I at his heels.
"Dobby is supposed to be in the kitchens, sir!" Dobby squealed as they burst into the corridor. "Dobby will be missed — good luck, Harry Potter, sir, good luck!"
"Thank you Dobby!" I called.
"See you later, Dobby!" Harry shouted, and we sprinted along the corridor and down the stairs, three at a time. I probably would've run faster than him, but I was so exhausted.
The entrance hall contained a few last-minute stragglers, all leaving the Great Hall after breakfast and heading through the double oak doors to watch the second task. They stared as Harry and I flashed past, sending Colin and Dennis Creevey flying as we leapt down the stone steps and out onto the bright, chilly grounds.
As we pounded down the lawn I saw that the seats that had encircled the dragons' enclosure in November were now ranged along the opposite bank, rising in stands that were packed to the bursting point and reflected in the lake below. The excited babble of the crowd echoed strangely across the water.
"I'm going to find the girls!" I told Harry. "Good luck!"
"Bye," was all Harry could manage as he ran flat-out around the other side of the lake toward the judges, who were sitting at another gold-draped table at the water's edge.
I weaved my way through the crowd, looking around for Parvati and Lavender. I found the two of them, along with Ginny, Padma, Parvati's twin sister, and Luna Lovegood, who was a friend of Ginny's.
"You made it!" Parvati enthused. "We snuck some toast from breakfast in case you came."
"Thanks," I said, gratefully taking a slice and sitting down between Lavender and some Ravenclaw who started grumbling until I snapped, "Hey. I'm extremely exhausted from looking up spells in useless books all night long. At least you got some decent sleep."
Lavender tried to hide a smirk as I took another slice of toast (I'd devoured the first in seconds). "We saw you sleeping at a table in the corner," she said. "You and Harry were really up all night?"
"Yes," I said through a mouthful of toast. "And then he snuck off to the library after I fell asleep, where he proceeded to fall asleep himself, and — wait, why didn't you wake me up if you saw me?"
"A sleepy Ash is a miserable Ash," Ginny said, and Lavender and Parvati made noises of agreement.
I shook my head, but smiled nonetheless. "Have you girls seen Luke?"
"Oh, he said he wasn't coming to the task," Ginny said. "He told us to tell you that he was meeting some bloke named... Merlin, what was it again? Coren?"
I frowned. "Wait, was it Chiron?"
"Oh, right, Chiron!" Ginny nodded. "Yes, he said he was going to meet Chiron about the third task."
"Okay," I said, nodding. I wished that Luke had told me that Chiron was coming, but I decided it was probably because he didn't want me to have to choose between supporting Harry and greeting someone I'd see before the third task anyway.
"Have you seen Hermione, by the way?" Parvati asked. "I thought she was going to sit with us."
Being reminded of Hermione made my heart sink again. "She's in the lake."
"In the lake?" Lavender repeated, looking shocked. "What —
"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task," Announced Ludo Bagman's magically loud voice, "Which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One . . . two . . . three!"
The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause. I watched as Harry pulled off his shoes and socks, pulled the handful of gillyweed out of his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, and waded out into the lake. Before he disappeared into the water, I thought I saw fins growing on his legs.
Clearly, the people who'd planned this task hadn't accounted for the fact that the spectators wouldn't be able to see what was going on in the water. After the last ripples from the contestants' swimming movements had faded, we were left staring at the lake. Close to the hour limit, Fleur was pulled out of the water, having been attacked by Grindylows. She kept trying to get back to the water, shouting the name Gabrielle.
Then, finally, one minute after the hour was up, Cedric Diggory surfaced with Cho Chang, followed shortly by Krum with Hermione. I sighed in relief that my friend was okay.
"I think I'll head down there to see if Madame Pomfrey needs help," I told the girls, heading down the stands to where Madame Pomfrey had set up shop. The matron welcomed my assistance, and I started helping her wrap up people in towels and blankets as they came out of the water.
Harry was the last one to come out of the water, and he'd brought not only Ron, but also a young girl who couldn't have been older than Annabeth and looked like a younger version of Fleur. When Fleur saw the girl, she started trying to get to the water again, and Madame Maxime had to restrain her.
Percy, however, ran past Dumbledore and Bagman, who were standing on the bank, and hurried to get to Harry and his brother. As Fleur shouted for her sister, Percy seized Ron and tried to drag him back to the bank, much to Ron's annoyance. Finally, Fleur broke free of Madame Maxime and sprinted to hug her sister as Dumbledore and Bagman pulled Harry out of the water.
I led Harry over to Hermione and the others, and while Madame Pomfrey prepared him a dose of Pepper-Up Potion, I wrapped him tightly in a blanket.
"Please tell me you've learned your lesson about procrastinating," I said.
"Definitely," Harry replied hoarsely, just before Madame Pomfrey forced the Pepper-Up Potion down his throat and steam gushed from his ears.
"Harry, well done!" Hermione cried. "You did it, you found out how all by yourself!"
"Well —" said Harry. He looked over at the judges' table, then at Fleur and her sister, and then back at me and Hermione. "Yeah, that's right."
"You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny," said Krum.
I had the impression that Krum was drawing her attention back onto himself, maybe to remind her that he had just rescued her from the lake, but Hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, "You're well outside the time limit, though, Harry. . . Did it take you ages to find us?"
"No ... I found you okay...."
"I think we took the wording of the mermaid's song too seriously," I said. "I thought they would be gone if they weren't found within the hour."
And I know I definitely had. When Dumbledore had seen the students getting Petrified two years ago, he hadn't shut down the school, evacuated the students, or even tried to look for the basilisk that had been causing the attacks. I remembered reading about it in the newspaper while attending Ilvermorny and wondering if Dumbledore really had any regard for student safety. Why would he bother protecting anyone now, especially for a tournament that was meant to be dangerous?
"Yeah," Harry muttered.
"Look, you did great," I said, putting a hand on his bundled-up shoulder. "You survived, you saved Ron and Gabrielle, and you made it back. So just relax, okay? You're exhausted and freezing, and you need rest. Are you warm enough?"
"Yes. Thanks, Ash."
I smiled at him. "You can thank me by promising not to procrastinate, especially on deadly Tournaments like this."
"Okay, I promise."
"Well, Madame Pomfrey is finishing up with Ron, so she won't need my help anymore and I can just stay here with you."
"Sounds good."
"Glad you think so. Now share the blanket before I steal it from you."
Harry snorted and wrapped a large portion of the blanket around my shoulders while we waited for the judges to announce the scores.
Fleur came by to thank Harry and Ron for saving her sister.
"You saved 'er," she said to breathlessly. "Even though she was not your 'ostage."
"Yeah," said Harry.
Fleur bent down and kissed Harry twice on each cheek (He looked extremely flustered, which was hilarious), then said to Ron, "And you too-you 'elped —"
"Yeah," said Ron, looking extremely hopeful, "yeah, a bit —"
Fleur swooped down on him too and kissed him. Hermione looked simply furious, but just then, Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice boomed out beside them, making them all jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go very quiet.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows. . . .
"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."
Applause from the stands.
"I deserved zero," said Fleur throatily, shaking her head.
"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour." Enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd; I saw Cho give Cedric a glowing look. "We therefore award him forty-seven points.
"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."
Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very proud. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him.
"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own."
Ron, Hermione, and I all gave Harry half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks.
"Most of the judges," and here, Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However . . . Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."
I gasped. He was now tying for first place with Cedric. Ron and Hermione, caught by surprise, stared at Harry, then laughed and started applauding hard with the rest of the crowd. I hugged Harry fiercely and practically shouted in his ear, "See?! I told you!"
"There you go. Harry!" Ron shouted over the noise. "You weren't being thick after all — you were showing moral fiber!"
Fleur was clapping very hard too, but Krum didn't look happy at all. He attempted to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering Harry to listen.
"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," continued Bagman. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."
"It's over," Harry murmured as Madam Pomfrey began herding the champions and hostages back towards the castle so change into warm, dry, clothes. "I won't have to worry about anything for another few months."
"You'd better get Dobby some really nice socks the next time we go to Hogsmeade," I told him, clinging to the part of the blanket that I still had wrapped around me.
"Of course," Harry said. "I'm going to get him a pair of socks for every day of the year."
It's been a while since the last update, but I made this chapter extra long to make up for it. 15 pages, y'all!
Also WHO HAS LISTENED TO MIDNIGHTS CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT MIDNIGHTS LIKE HOLY HECK ANTI-HERO??!!!?!??! YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN, KID?!!?!?!!?! K A R M A ?!?!?!!?!? MARK MY WORDS IF I EVER GET A CONVERTIBLE CAR, KARMA WILL BE THE SONG BLASTING FROM THE SPEAKERS AS I DRIVE ON AN OCEANSIDE HIGHWAY WITH THE TOP DOWN AND THE WIND BLOWING IN MY VERY POOFY HAIR AND I WILL BE WEARING GUCCI SUNGLASSES OR SOMETHING BOUGIE AS I SCREAM KARMA IS MY BOYFRIENDDDDD
Btw did you guys see the Taylor reference I made in this chapter I am cackling >:)
Anyway I am exhausted so I'm going to leave it here.
Enjoy and comment for more!
~~~~ Kingfisher ~~~~