𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
THE INSTINCTUAL TUG PULLING AT Gaia could not be ignored, it turned out. She passed through crowds of excited students, many of whom were passing their gambling money to Fred and George, who happily collected. The rest were scattered among various tents selling candy, popcorn, buttons, flags, and more. Gaia felt slightly sick at the rampant commercialization of a task she and her friends had been fearing for weeks. She wasn't ready to find a seat in the stands yet - she had her mind set solely on finding Harry.
After minutes of searching, in which time a majority of the crowd had taken to the high-rise seats of the Quidditch stands and thus left her with a wider view of the surrounding pop-up vendors, she located one among the masses of vendors. Far and rather secluded was a pitched tent of cream curtains with a sign outside labeled 'Champions Only.'
Smiling slightly, she bundled her coat tighter around her body and jogged off in the direction of the tent. As she approached it, panels of the draped fabric would move with the wind, and momentarily reveal slivers of the inside. She slowly walked the perimeter, afraid she might get in trouble for simply barging in. But to her luck, one gap in the lightly billowing curtains revealed the back of a long-haired brunette boy, the back of whom's shirt read 'Potter' in Gryffindor colors.
Gaia breathed a sigh of relief and closed the distance between her and the nearest panel.
"Psst!" she hissed, hoping to catch the boys attention. After a moment, she repeated, "Psst!"
Finally, a hesitant, "Gaia?" was heard from inside the tent, just on the other side of the fabric. The girl couldn't contain the breath of relief that released as her shoulders lost their tension.
"Harry," she breathed joyfully. She could have sworn she heard the smile spread across his face. "How... How are you feeling?"
He sighed. "Been better." Gaia could only nod, even as she was aware he couldn't see it.
"What do you need?" she asked gently. She couldn't shake the feeling that the whole conversation was like speaking to someone's who fate was already reserved, and dim.
"Wouldn't mind a shot of fire whiskey," he replied shakily. Gaia could only let out a breathy laugh before her body overrode her mind. She threw the curtain aside and flung her arms around Harry's neck. She didn't care that it was the merely the second time they had ever embraced, nor that there were three other older students in the tent. She needed to feel him, and he needed it too. He surprised himself with how quickly he got over the initial stun of her action, and instead melted into the embrace and wrapped his own arms around her waist, tight. He breathed in her familiar scent, the soft vanilla wafting over him.
As quickly as she had tackled him, a quick flash was heard and a stunning bright light shot at the two students. Pulling apart quickly, they both turned to find the dreadful reporter and her photographer.
"Young love," Rita Skeeter cooed, smiling ear to ear and clapping her hands quickly, the obnoxiously long feather of her Quick Quotes Quill bobbing up and down. She let go of the quill and notebook, which both floated up next to her, awaiting instruction. "How... stirring." The quill scratched the thought onto the page of the book, and Gaia felt the sickness in her stomach turn over at the thought of the article to come out of this interaction. As if feeding off of her anxiety, Rita said joyfully, "If everything goes well today, or even better, drastically, you two may make the front page!" She laid her eyes on the girl, "Your name, miss?"
"Get out of here!" Harry demanded, anger taking him over.
Jumping to their aid as well, Viktor Krum walked towards the eccentric reporter. "You have no business here. This tent is for champions... and friends."
With Rita's attention focused on Krum, Harry turned to the girl who still stood close to him, even if they had taken their hands off each other as soon as the woman revealed herself. "Gaia," he said quickly and quietly, "thank you, truly. But go find a seat, it's going to start any minute and we shouldn't give her anything more."
As the young Gryffindor girl was about to agree, Rita turned sharply towards the pair. "Gaia!" she exclaimed. "Not... Gaia Lestrange?"
Gaia wanted to deny. She wanted to take a false identity rather than give the dreadful woman more ammunition. But she knew that Skeeter had already drawn familiarity from the black curls, the high cheekbones. Gaia often wondered if just her presence was reminiscent of her mother.
"Harry Potter in young love with the daughter of his worst enemy's most loyal follower," she beamed at the headline as her quill began dutifully scratching away on that pad.
"Hey, get the hell out of here!" Harry snarled, daring a step in her direction, though it was clear to anyone he did not have a plan of what to do when directly in front of her. His fury matched Gaia's, who felt blood rushing to her head as she curled her fingers into tight fists as her side.
Before Harry could close the distance between himself and the reporter, the Quick Quotes Quill was suddenly snapped in half mid-sentence. Skeeter's face flashed with an eddy of awe and offense as she surveyed the students for which one had cast the spell.
But no student had their wand out.
Before she could demand answers or compensation, the latter of which Gaia would certainly not have put past her, the Hogwarts Headmaster stepped calmly into the tent, followed by Barty Crouch, Madame Maxine, and Karkaroff.
"Ms. Skeeter," Dumbledore addressed the woman, and though Gaia had never seen the man act even slightly unkind, she detected a hint of distaste accompanying his words. "I presume you and your colleague could read the sign outside of this tent, which allowed for champions only?"
"Well, Headmaster, I was not the first non-champion to enter. Miss Lestrange came in first!"
A child on the playground, Gaia thought. But Dumbledore was unfazed.
"We are not enforcing such a rule to keep dear friends from comforting an anxious champions minutes before his task. The rules are such to allow privacy, which you have violated. It was made very clear upon your arrival where you are allowed jurisdiction during your time in our school, and I personally suggest you keep to it if you hope to continue finding stories."
With no more than a huff and quick slam of her notebook, Rita Skeeter and her photographer exited the tent. The woman was offended but still appeared incredibly content as she left with a chin held high, no doubt fantasizing her next article, which Gaia mentally added to her growing list of problems to sort out.
"Thank you, professor," Harry said before Gaia could gather her wits and thank the headmaster for herself. To her surprise, she felt a creep of blush creeping to her cheeks at Harry's words, and their layered meaning. Thank you for letting her stay.
"Of course, Harry," the old man said kindly, a twinkle in his eyes, as if he understood the undertone of the boy's message, and maybe something more. "Although, I am afraid the task is to begin shortly, and I must now ask Miss Lestrange to find her seat."
"Right, of course, I - I just..." Gaia awkwardly stumbled over her thoughts. She wanted to find something to say to Harry, some final wish of luck. But not with everyone staring at her, awaiting her departure. Stupidly, bluntly, she blurted out the only words of encouragement she could think of that weren't too personal. "Slay the dragon."
She regretted the words as soon as the fell from her lips, but to her immense relief, Harry chuckled, eyes falling to the ground momentarily. He looked up, and only nodded.
Gaia took her cue and found her way out of the tent as Barty Crouch gathered the students to explain the format of the task.
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
Intertwined with the sheer terror in her system, Gaia felt cold anger bubbling up in her chest as they cleared the ring of the Chinese Fireball, which Krum had just partially blinded in his fight, and began coaxing in the the most dangerous of them all. Harry's dragon.
It took six trained dragon-tamers, all with wands and protection to settle the beast into position among the rocks. Harry would be forced to battle the thing with no armor, alone, as a fourteen-year-old. How was any of this fair?
"Three of our champions have now faced their dragons," Dumbledore's voice rang out among the crowd. "And so each one of them will proceed to the next task. And now, our fourth and final contestant..."
Dumbledore didn't need to provide a name. The entire stadium was already chanting it. "Harry! Harry! Harry!" Gaia felt that sick twist of fury pull at her insides once again. This was sport to them. Entertainment. It wasn't fair.
The girl hitched a breath when she saw her friend emerge from the rocks, where a tunnel from the champions' tent lead. She could've sworn, as far across and down as he was, they locked eyes.
And she felt like pissing herself.
The cheering faded. There was a moment of pregnant silence. Harry only swiveled his head, on the search for the beast. Gaia had lost it. Along with being the most violent and physically dangerous, the Hungarian Horntail also just so happened to be the dragon who's coat most seamlessly camouflaged into the grey jagged rocks.
Oppositionally, the radiant golden egg was in plain exposure, perched upon a flat clearing of stone in the center of the pit. Harry's hesitation was reflected by the audience, as if both were asking the other for advice, as he gingerly took one step forward, then another. Seeing no dragon strike him down at the movement, he dared a bolder move - a bee-line straight for the egg.
Three fast steps, that was all it took, and the Horntail revealed its position with an angry strike of its tail into the ground Harry had stood on not three seconds previously. Gaia gripped Hermione's hand tighter as both girls gasped in sync with the crowd. Harry shook from the impact against the ground and found himself with his back to a nearby rock, facing the beast in full.
For a moment, Gaia thought maybe, just maybe, it would be humane, and back down as the dragon and the boy stared at each other. But the monster opened its jaws and released a ferocious flame straight at the young Gryffindor.
"Harry!" Gaia called out in panic as the boy dodged to the left and tumbled down a slope of rock. Bruised, certainly, but not burnt.
The dragon did not allow him a moment of rest, beating its massive wings, so strong that Gaia could feel their wind from where she sat, and rose to the sky. Not a moment later, it was plummeting down again, perched to land directly on top of Harry, who had no choice but to dive into another roll away from its gargantuan claws.
It seemed as if it might work for a moment. Until he lost control of his momentum and began slipping down a sloped stone. The dragon picked up on this, and, as if only for fun, swung its tail directly into Harry's path. The boy's body flew like a rag doll through the air before slamming into a tall boulder and falling limp to the rough ground.
"HARRY!" Gaia cried out, nails now digging into Hermione's hand, who bit her cheek in pain but said nothing to her friend. Too far, this was too far! Who did they think he was to be forced into this fight?
The beast paused for only one, merciful moment, during which time Harry managed to miraculously get to his feet, before releasing yet another deadly burst of fire from its throat. From some blessing above, Harry was directly next to a thick wall of stone and had to waste little energy in sidestepping the flames and shielding himself with the rock.
"HARRY!" Gaia screamed with all her energy, hoping endlessly that he would hear her and remember what the entire plan going into this challenge had been. "NOW!"
Either the boy miraculously heard her over the roaring dragon and crowd, or he simultaneously had the same recollection, as he took the dragon's brief moment of drained energy after that surge of flames to fumble for his wand. He grabbed it from his pocket, where it had been shoved in during one of his earlier dives, and whipped it out to point it in the direction of the castle. "ACCIO FIREBOLT!"
Both he and Gaia placed all of their faith in that one flick of his wand that he had spent all night mastering, as he had no time to cast a second. The monster had regained its energy, as well as its drive to get the intruder the hell out of its pit, and was now soaring into the sky above where Harry sat slumped on the other side of that wall-like boulder. There was silence other than the beating of those massive wings, and thick tension in the air among the champion, the beast, and the crowd.
Slowly, the howling whistle of pierced wind was growing stronger, approaching the stands. Gaia and Hermione dared to turn their heads to the sky behind them, the former finally dropping the latter's hand. Sure enough, by the grace of some god that Gaia swore to pray to as soon as this task was over, there was Harry's Firebolt zipping through the sky. It split through the air above the heads of the onlookers, who's necks all quickly snapped to follow its trajectory.
And in a more daring display than Gaia had ever seen, Harry took four running steps and launched himself onto the broom speeding by, just as the dragon unleashed its angriest fit of fire yet. The crowd went ballistic with cheers of relief and entertainment. Harry looped around as he took the time to map out his path to the egg. It was right there, perfectly unguarded as the beast still appeared just as shocked as the students had been to see the boy soaring through the air.
The thing reacted too quickly, though, and just as Harry was approaching the egg overhead, reaching his arm out with grit on his face, fire singed through his sleeve and the dragon took to the air after him. Harry recalculated, deciding to take the long way. Gaia understood why; the dragon would only go so far with the chain around its neck tying it to the center of the ring.
And just as the thought hit her mind, the dragon gave one harsh pull and the chain broke like it was no sturdier than straw.
Gaia didn't give a shit about the magical binding contract any longer. There was no possible way this was legal. Defending himself from a dragon in the pit was one thing. Flying by himself, chased by that thing to God knows where, was so far past that.
How long had it been? Where was he? What were the causes of his screams? And why the fuck were none of the professors doing anything? There was no way of enchanting a dragon to keep it from killing. No way to supervise it when it was gone, when Harry was gone.
Fury drowned Gaia's insides like she hadn't felt before, but she was still terrified, too frozen in fear to march to the professors' box in the stands and demand action. Not when she didn't even know for a fact that Harry was alive.
Minutes must have passed, though it felt like weeks, where nothing happened. Where no one, not even Dumbledore dared to speak, or to chase after the boy and the beast.
But finally, answering every prayer, Gaia saw a small figure growing rapidly larger in the distant sky. Harry made a bee-line for the egg. With his right arm outstretched and his torso leaning nearly horizontal off his broom, he scooped the golden orb right into his chest, holding it tight as if it was all he had to prove he was still alive.
The crowd exploded into cheers and screams and it took every shred of her willpower for Gaia to keep from bursting into tears as she stood up and applauded her friend's victory. The moment the egg was safely in Harry's clutches, the dragon-tamers all stepped out to soothe the beast, giving it an identical orb to calm it's drive to retrieve the one in the boy's arms. Once he felt sure enough that the dragon was under control, Harry slowly brought his broom to the ground and touched his feet to the rock.
McGonogall had rushed down to meet him, just as she had for all the competitors. Gaia couldn't hear their conversation, but saw her point him to the medical tent where each previous champion had gone when their own challenge was finished.
Gaia couldn't tell who was pulling the other along, herself or Hermione, as they ran through the crowd that was slowly starting to stand and retreat from the stadium. Hand in hand, they sprinted around converging students towards the medical tent. Gaia had looked forward to this moment for weeks, when the first challenge was done and out of the way. But now, she knew that shaky, heavy feeling in her gut would not settle until she laid eyes on Harry for herself. Not until she could wrap her arms around him again, just to make sure that his chest did in fact rise and fall - that there was in fact still breath inside of him.
When she saw that dragon's chain snap, she did not have confidence that there would be for much longer.
But he was okay. He was okay, she kept repeating to herself as they finally laid eyes on the med tent, the curtains billowing in the soft breeze that so starkly contrasted the monstrous winds from that beast's wings. The girls didn't waste a moment before they stumbled through the fabric, dropping the other's hands and searching the square room quickly.
Their eyes met immediately. The green of his pupils lit up despite the blood caked around them, and Gaia felt her own heart flip at the sensation of the way he was looking at her. Her chest bubbled with something she had never felt before - never. She didn't know how to describe the feeling. The closest thing was a feeling of safety - assurance, but eddied with something a little less calm, like elation.
But whatever it was, Gaia did not have the care to dissect it at the moment. Not when Harry had apparently forgotten entirely that Madame Pomfrey was tending to the burn on his arm, and attempted to stand up and walk to Gaia. The matron scoffed and gently, but with authority, pushed him back onto the cot, at which moment he appeared to step out of the trance that both teens had seemed to slip into when they saw each other. Gaia only giggled at his antics and led Hermione to his cot, where she sat down in front of him and Hermione stood behind her, next to Madame Pomfrey, who was still buzzing around.
"Harry that was incredible, really!" Hermione beamed. Both girls desperately wanted to engulf the boy in a hug, but with the matron doing her work, found it easier to keep to themselves until she finished her healing matters.
"Thanks Hermione," he replied tiredly but earnestly. They could see the exhaustion weighing him down, but he was still in high spirits coming off the tail of his narrow victory. Gaia couldn't find it within her to know what to say. When Harry dragged his eyes from Hermione to the girl sat in front of him however, she didn't feel the awkward pressure to think of something. Through just a shared look, they understood that no words needed to be exchanged. They took enough comfort in each other's presence.
Just when Gaia was preparing to crack some half-witted joke about the horrible lack of responsibility on the designers of the task, she heard a shuffling behind her and watched as Harry's eyes glided smoothly from her, where they had been full of such comfort and relief, to the red-haired boy who had followed the two girls and now stood a respectable distance away from the group. Harry's face shifted from the joy that had resided there to something unfamiliar, something more guarded.
Gaia turned cautiously and laid her eyes on Ron, as did Hermione beside her. As the ginger boy realized he could no longer hide from these people he once called friends, who he so desperately wanted to call friends again, he took in a short breath and locked eyes with the boy on the cot.
"You-" he started, pausing momentarily and plucking up the last of his courage. "You were bloody brilliant out there."
None of the three Gryffindors facing him knew exactly how to respond. The girls turned their heads slowly toward Harry, waiting with suspended breath for his reaction, however Ron spoke once more before the brunette boy could reply.
"Reckon someone's really trying to do you in," he joked halfheartedly, but the concern was still evident and genuine.
"Caught on, have you?" Harry finally replied. There wasn't a sense of anger in his tone, in fact he sounded as polite as anyone who had just nearly lost a fight to a dragon would have been. Gaia and Hermione shared an apprehensive look.
"Look mate, I just..." Ron started, trailing off as his eyes fell downward.
"It's fine, Ron," Harry conceded. The two girls' eyes widened, before they glanced each others' ways to confirm they had heard the same thing.
"No!" Ron insisted. "No, really it's not! Don't let me get off that easy, mate! I was a total arse to you. But I don't want to be anymore. I want to help you win this thing and I... I want be friends again."
Harry's pause was not unnoticed. Gaia silently prayed that he had not changed his mind from moments ago. But when the boy cracked a smile through cracked lips and stated, "Done," she knew better than to doubt him. Ron's own mouth grew into an even wider grin just before he walked over and pulled Harry into a back-slapping hug (one which was probably a bit too enthusiastic given Harry's physical state, Gaia thought briefly.) But the brunette boy just laughed and embraced the redhead like a brother.
Gaia felt her heart flutter with equal ecstasy as Harry's green eyes met her over his best friends shoulder, and for a moment everything felt alright.
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
a/n my god it has been a hot minute hasn't it. im sorry this chapter took so long, in all honesty i cracked out the first like 3500 words in maybe 90 minutes and then for like 5 weeks i sat around trying to figure out how tf to end it. in the end im still not very proud of the end of the chapter but at some point i figured i should just settle with it being somewhat nonchalant and post it.
i really hope that you guys are enjoying what im playing with for harry and gaia's relationship. its kind of like a soulmate trope but also not idk yet all i know is they're likely literally meant for each other but the feelings are so strong and overpowering that as little teenage babies they have no idea what they mean or what to do with them yaknow.
anyway because i missed so much happy holidays and HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE WOOT WOOT so glad i got one more chapter post in before the end of the year and i squeezed it into the last 5 hours so go me! unless youre reading from somewhere were its already next year in which case happy new years day (taylor reference <3 )
i feel like my a/n's get progressively longer with each chapter but anyway thats it for now see you next year!!