.⊹⁀➷ CHAPTER FOURTEEN !
↳❛ferret boy❜
"I DIDN'T PUT my name in the goblet." Was the first thing Harry said when he spotted his sister on the other end of the hallway. The exhaustion from the recent events, was written all over his face.
The boy had managed to dodge as many people as possible on the following day, skipping breakfast and always entering the classroom last. But he couldn't hide form his own sister for long.
Annabeth knew Harry, she knew that he would try to keep to himself, but she wouldn't let him.
The brunette girl siged deeply as she quickly dashed towards him, and swung her arms around his body. "I know, Harry."
The two remained that way for a moment. Their arms around each other, while they were completely silent.
His voice was only more than a small whisper, "Why always one of us?"
Annabeth pulled back and gave him a deep look, "I don't know why. But I know that the person who entered your name, wasn't your friend." She grabbed his shoulder and gave him a squeeze, "People die in this tournament, Harry."
The brunette boy nodded his head, seeming like he was deep in his own thoughts. His head then turned towards his sister, his eyes filled with worry. "Clearly, I don't have as much experience as the other champions. I'm only a fourth year!"
"Well you know the solution then. We're going to practice", Annabeth replied to him as they continued their way down the corridor.
The boy glanced down at his wrist watch. "I have a meeting with the champions and Dumbledore. Could you maybe get the letter from Sirius?", Harry questioned her, while he was already hurrying down the corridor. When he was nearly around the corner, Annabeth nodded her head at him.
She then also made her way down the corridor, directly towards the Owlery. Arriving in the tower, the brunette was shaking from the cold. The weather was very windy and freezing, typical for Scotland.
Sirius owl was just flying through the window when Annabeth entered the room. The brunette made her way over to the brid and immediately snatched the letter from it's beak.
Quietly whispering to herself, she sat down in front of the bird. Her eyes loved over the page, "I couldn't risk sending Hedwig. Since the World Cup, the Ministry's been intercepting more and more owls and she's just too easily recognized. We need to talk, face-to-face. Meet me in the Gryffindor common room, 1:00 a.m. this Saturday night. And make sure you two are alone. Snuffles. P.S. the bird bites."
Annabeth had just finished reading when the owl screeched loudly and bit into her finger. Annabeth pulled her hand back, shaking it in pain while she gave the owl a death stare. "Ow!"
"No treats for you", she then hissed at the owl before she stood up and stuffed the letter into her pocket. Sucking the blood off her finger, the brunette shot the brid one last death glare before she made her way back towards the castle.
The morning quickly changed into afternoon and after that into evening. And before Annabeth could really prepared herself it was already time for their little secret meeting with Sirius in the Gryffindor Common room.
When the two had entered the round, red painted room, Annabeth immediately approached the couch. Yawning loudly the brunette turned to face her brother, leaning against the back of the couch. But when she did, she saw that Harry was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hands.
The headline was written in gigantic, black letters, 'Teenage Tragedy.'
Annabeth approached the boy from behind, reading the paper over his shoulder. "Harry Potter, age 12 suspect entrant in the Triwizard Tournament. His eyes swimming with the ghost of his past-"
Before she could read anymore, Harry ripped the Daily Prophet into pieces and threw it into the still burning fire.
Annabeth rose her eyebrows at him, "His eyes swimming with the ghost of his past? Really?"
Harry shook his head to himself, while he started pacing up and down in front of the fireplace. "I hate that Skeeter woman. She's horrible."
"Oh yeah. I know her, Rita Skeeter. She's always writing very- overdramatic", Annabeth stated while she eyed her brother. "I wonder why the Daily Prophet keeps someone like her. She's terrible."
Suddenly the fire besides them started hissing loudly, catching both their attention. The two slowly got closer, but Annabeth stummbled backwards when she suddenly spotted a face in the fire.
"Sirius? How-"
The man interrupted them, his voice only above a whisper, "I don't have much time, so let me get straight to it. Did you or did you not put your name into the Goblet of fire?"
Harry immediately raised his voice in anger, "No!"
Sirius immediately warned him to be more quiet before he continued, "I had to ask. Now, tell me about this dream of yours. You mentioned Voldemort and Wormtail. But who was the third man in the room?"
"I don't know."
Sirius remained quietly, he raised his eyebrows. "You didn't hear any name?" Harry shook his head, "No. Voldemort was giving him a job to do. Something important."
"And what was that?"
Harry hesitated, a frown plastered on his face, "He wanted us. I don't know why. But he was gonna use this man to get to us. Well, I mean, it was only a dream, right?"
Sirius nodded his head in agreement, "Yes. It's just a dream.- Look Harry. The Death Eaters at the World Cup, your name rising from that goblet, these are not just coincidences. Hogwarts isn't safe anymore."
Annabeth frowned at him, her eyes showing her worry, "What are you saying?"
Sirius eyes darted towards her, "I'm saying the devil's are inside the walls. Igor Karkaroff? He was a Death Eater. And no one, no one, stops being a Death Eater. Then there's Barty Crouch, Heart of stone. Sent his own son to Azkaban!"
Annabeth and Harry spun around, thinking they heard something in the distance.
"Do you think one of them put Harry's name in the goblet?", the teenage girl questioned her godfather.
"I haven't a clue who put his name in that goblet, but whoever did is no friend to you, Harry. People die in this tournament", the man stated while he shook his head. Annabeth gluped, those were the words she had spoke today as well.
The fear started showing on Harry's face for the first time since his name was drawn. "I'm not ready for this, Sirius!"
His Godfather looked at him, "You don't have a choice." Annabeth let her gaze wander around when she spotted a shadow coming down the stairs. "Someone's coming."
The two Potter twins jumped onto their feet and the last thing they heard was, "Keep your friends close, Harry!"
Sirius quickly disappeared from the fire and as soon as he did, Ron appeared in the Common room.
"Who are you two talking to?", Ron immediately questioned them and Annabeth frowned at him. "To each other. Obviously."
"I heard a third voice", Ron stated flatly, making Harry formed fists with his hands. "Maybe you are imagining things. Wouldn't be the first time."
"You're probably just practicing for your next interview, I expect", Ron stated while he turned and walked back towards their Dormitory.
Harry immediately approached the fireplace once more and Annabeth turned to face her brother. "You don't need to be that harsh with him."
"He started it", Harry told her his eyes widening while he pointed at the spot Ron had just stood at.
"Being your friend isn't always easy for him. I mean you're Harry Potter, always getting all the attention, and he's not. That obviously annoys him", Annabeth stated while she sat down on the couch.
"But I can tell that you miss him", she looked up at her brother, who immediately frowned at her defensive. "I don't miss him."
"And he misses you too", the brunette answered the boy, ignoring his stupid stubbornness. "He just needs some time. And soon, he'll realize what an Idiot he is being."
The Gryffindor girl then got onto her feet and pushed past her brother, "I'm going to bed now. You should too."
IN THE MORNING, Annabeth and Harry were sitting by the black lake, watching how Neville stood knee deep in the cold water.
Neville was completely fascinated by plants, that wasn't a secret. And he was about the only friend Harry got at the moment.
"Amazing!"
"That's amazing!"
"Neville, your doing it again", Harry told the brunette Gryffindor boy off, looking up from the book Neville had given to him.
Neville gave him an apologetic look, "Oh, right. Sorry." Annabeth smiled at her housemate, her brown eyes watching his ever move.
"Magical water plants of the Highland Lochs?", Harry questioned the boy with raised eyebrows, his eyes fixed on the title of the book.
"Moody gave it to me. The day we had tea", Neville explained to them, the water plant still in his hands.
He suddenly raised one of his hands and waved at someone in the distance. Harry and Annabeth immediately spun around and spotted Ron, Ginny and Hermione approaching them through the trees.
Hermione seemed rather annoyed by the redheaded boy besides her. She always seemed, but today it was different. The girl shook her head and rolled her eyes before they came to a stand in front of them.
Harry and Annabeth had gotten onto their feet, watching Hermione as she approached them.
"Ronald would like me to tell you that Seamus told him- that Dean was told by Parvati that Hagrid's looking for you", Hermione told the brunette boy, her face expression concentrated.
Harry seemed angry at first, but then he scrunched up his face, "Is that right?- well, what?"
Hermione seemed very confused herself, "Emhhm." She furrowed her eyebrows and went from Ronald to Harry one more time, "Dean was told by Parvati that- please don't ask me to say it again. Hagrid's looking for you."
Hermione had already made her way halfway back towards Ron, when Harry called after her. "Well, you can tell Ronald-"
The brunette Gryffindor girl immediately spun around to face him, "I'm not an owl!"
She then grabbed Ginny by the arm and the two disappeared behind the trees, followed closely by Ron.
After that, it didn't took them very long to find Hagrid. The wizard had waited for them inside the entrance of the castle, advising them to bring the invisibility cloak that evening.
The night came quickly and the two Potter's made their way into the woods. Meeting Hagrid by the edge they continued their way into the forbidden forest.
"Did you bring your father's cloak like I asked you to?", Hagrid questioned them, raising one of his dark bushy eyebrows.
"Yeah, we brought the cloak. Hagrid where are we going?", Harry questioned the gigantic man besides them.
Annabeth eyed Hagrid with narrowed eyes, he was very clean. His face was washed, his hair brushed and his clothes were very fancy.
"You'll see soon enough. Now pay attention, this is important." Hagrid warned them but Annabeth frowned at him. "What's with the flower, Hagrid?" Harry frowned as well and nodded, "Yeah, and what's with your hair?"
"As a matter of fact, I have brushed it. You might like to try the same thing now and then again", Hagrid commented while he gave Harry a side look.
The three immediately stopped in their tracks when they heard a snarling in the distance. Annabeth's heart beat quickened immediately.
Then a female voice could be heard, "Hagrid?" It was a french accent.
"The cloak! Put the cloak on!", Hagrid commanded before he started walking once more. The two Potter's immediately slipped under the cloak and followed after him through the dark forest.
"Bonsoir, Olympe", Hagrid then greeted no other than the Beauxbaton headmistress. The tall woman came to a stand in front of him, "Oh, Hagrid. I thought perhaps you weren't coming. I thought perhaps- you had forgotten me."
"Oh, couldn't forget you, Olympe", Hagrid gazed up into the woman eyes, a smile on his face.
Annabeth had to contain her chuckle when she saw Harry gagging besides her.
The headmistress seemed quite interested, "What is it you wanted to show me? When we spoke earlier, you sounded so- exhilarated."
"You'll be glad you came. Trust me", Hagrid assured her before he lead the way for the french woman.
Annabeth and Harry followed after the two wand their eyes widened in shock, when they saw what was hidden behind the trees.
Annabeth's voice was only above a whisper, "Dragons."
The headmistress immediately approached the cages, "Can we get closer?" She was out of their sighed when Harry yanked the cloak from his head, "Dragons?! That's the first task? You're joking!"
"Come on, Harry! These are seriously misunderstood creatures", Hagrid told him with raised eyebrows before a dragon spit fire at them.
The three immediately dived behind a bush, only surfacing when the Dragon stopped blasting his fire at them.
"Although, I have to admit that Horntail is a right nasty piece of work", Hagrid stated while he watched the creature. "Poor Ron, nearly fainted just seeing him, you know."
Harry frowned at the giant, "Ron was here?" Hagrid nodded his head, "Oh, sure. His brother Charlie helped to bring the Dragons over from Romania. Didn't Ron tell you that?"
Harry shook his head, "No, he didn't. He didn't tell me a thing." Annabeth on the other hands smiled a little to herself, yes he had. Harry was just too stubborn to notice.
The thought of the dragons preoccupied Annabeth's mind the rest of the night, morning and noon. The brunette was currently sitting in the court yard of the castle, reading a book that was about the topic Dragons.
The brunette was sitting on one of the benches, skipping through the pages when she heard a couple of voices coming from the other side of the yard.
"You stink, Potter!"
The brunette immediately looked up from her book and her eyes fell onto Harry, who stood with a couple of Hufflepuff's before Cedric and him took a couple of steps away from them.
The two were deep in conversation before Harry continued his way over towards the other end of the court.
Annabeth's eyes remained on the Hufflepuff group, the anger bubbling up in her stomach.
"Why so tense, Potter?", Malfoy's voice suddenly cut through the air. "My father and I have a bet, you see. I don't think you're gonna last 10 minutes in this tournament." Malfoy jumped down from the tree he had just been sitting in.
He then approached Harry, this signiniture arrogant smirk on his lips, "He disagrees. He thinks you won't last five." His smirk only grew when his fellow Slytherins' started laughing behind him.
Harry immediately dashed towards the blond boy, "I don't give a damn what your father thinks, Malfoy!" He pushed the Slytherin backwards, "He's vile and cruel. And you're just pathetic!"
Harry then spun around and walked away from the group of students when Malfoy suddenly pulled out his wand, "Pathetic?"
The blond boy flicked his wand and wanted to say something, but suddenly Professor Moody stepped out of the shadows. Hitting Draco with a spell, the blond boy immediately transformed into a ferret.
Moody seemed furious with Malfoy, "I'll teach you to curse someone when their back is turned!"
The professor quickly limped towards the white haired ferret and pointed his wand at it. "You stinky, cowardly, scummy-" He whipped his wand and Malfoy was flying through the air.
Professor McGonagall hurried towards them as quickly as she could, as did Annabeth, who was eager to see what was about to happen.
The grey haired woman came to a stand beside Moody, a shocked expression on her face, "Professor Moody! What are you doing?"
"Teaching!"
Her face expression fell immediately, "Is that a-? Is that a student?"
"Technically, it's a ferret", the Professor answered her before he stuffed the ferret into Crabbes trousers.
The boy immediately started screaming loudly and Goyle didn't hesitate before he stuck his hand into the boy's pants, but he was bitten and jumped backwards in surprise.
The crowd that had gathered around them was laughing so loud, it was attracting the attention from students inside the castle.
The ferret was now crawling out of Crabbes pants and McGonagall immediately whipped her wand at it. In the blink of an eye, Malfoy appeared on the ground, quickly jumping into his feet.
The boys hair was a complete mess, and his gaze flew over the crowd until it had stopped by Moody, "My father will hear about this!"
Moody's eyes immediately widened before he started chasing the boy around the tree, "Is that a threat?"
The boy then feed the scene, followed by his friends, but Professor Moody called after him, "I could tell you stories about your father that would curl even your greasy hair, boy!"
Suddenly Professor McGonagall stepped infornt of the Professor, "Alastor!"
The man was still screaming after the blond boy, seeming quiet outraged. "It doesn't end here!"
McGonagall's gaze was strictly on the man, "Alastor! We never use transfiguration as a punishment! Surely Dumbledore told you that."
"Might've mentioned it", the man mumbled quietly. "Well, you will do well to remember it", the Head of the Gryffindor house warned the man. With that the woman waved the students off and dashed away.
Annabeth had a small smile playing on her lips before she spotted Cedric and his friends standing besides her. The boy immediately turned towards her, the smile still on his face, while her smile fell immediately.
The brunette chose to ignore Cedric, instead her gaze fell onto the boy besides him, the boy, who had called after her brother earlier.
She took a couple of steps towards the boy, past Cedric, who seemed rather confused by her actions.
The Gryffindor girl then grabbed ahold of the boys black and yellow tie before she quickly yanked him down to her level.
The stupid badge on his shoulder changed to 'Potter stinks' and Annabeth glanced up at the Hufflepuff boy, a cruel smile playing on her lips.
"You know, I may be a fourth year, - but trust me if I say that I know spells that will make you wish you had never met me", the brunette let go of his tie quickly and then began playing with the badge on his chest.
Her eyes met his again before she continued, "And trust me, that I will find you when I hear that you are making fun of my brother. And know that I will gladly take detention for what I'm going to do to you, when I find out."
She then quickly yanked the badge from his Hufflepuff roaps and flipped it at Cedric head, before spinning on her hells. Grabbing her book from the bench, she left the yard without looking back at the group of boys.