“Looks like you’ve made the front page again Potter” Barty said chucking an issue of the daily prophet at Eliza as she stepped into his office. He wasn’t polyjuiced as Moody today thank merlin. It was always strange to hear Barty’s voice coming from the old grizzled auror.
Eliza rolled her eyes and slumped into the comfy armchair she had claimed as her own as she looked through the Prophet. On the front page was a picture of Eliza and the kelpie (which she had privately taken to calling Nyctaeus) when they had just reached the docks. She had to admit it really did make for a cool story. Eliza wasn’t going to say no to being known as Hogwarts’ resident kelpie tamer.
“Well let’s hope Voldemort doesn’t keep up with the papers” Eliza commented before throwing the paper back to Barty who caught it with an indignant squawk.
“Why? Were you planning to set the kelpie on him?” Barty asked sardonically.
“No but you can see Tom in the back of that photo – we wouldn’t want Voldemort catching on too soon” she said as she began rooting through Barty’s cupboards for a celebratory butterbeer. Her court were all still back in the slytherin common rooms recovering from hangovers. She doubted they would even notice she’d gone. Besides she had really wanted a butterbeer and Barty was the only person she knew who kept them in stock.
Letting out a victorious ‘aha’ Eliza grabbed a butterbeer and popped the cap off turning back to Barty who had remained oddly silent, a guilty look on his face.
“You didn’t mention Tom to Voldemort did you?” Eliza asked.
“I don’t think so?” Barty squeaked. Eliza debated if it was worth hexing him for a few moments before she sighed taking a sip of her butterbeer.
“Good enough”
She was so tired of dark lords.
“You won’t tell my lord will you?” said Barty hesitantly.
“Scared of Riddle Barty?” Eliza drawled.
“Fucking terrified”
Eliza almost choked on her butterbeer.
The door slammed open but neither Eliza nor Barty went reaching for their wands – there was only one person who could disable the wards they had on the office door.
“Hello peasants” Tom drawled as he swept into the room and settled into the chair behind Barty’s desk.
“You’re in an awfully good mood” Eliza remarked raising an eyebrow at Tom’s cheerful and slightly manic smile.
“I’ve just found out what the third task is”
“And who did you end up torturing for that piece of information?” Eliza asked curiously before belatedly realising.
“Karkaroff” all three of them said in varying levels of exasperation.
“The cup is going to be placed in the centre of the maze which will be filled with all sorts of dangerous traps and creatures – make it all that bit more exciting. And Barty will rig the cup to deliver us straight to Voldemort where I will finally become whole” Tom explained with a wistful smile of his face.
“Which means Little Star you’re going to have to start duelling training” Tom said and there was no mistaking the sadistic glee in his voice.
“I already know how to duel” Eliza pointed out just to annoy him “I beat you in a duel”
“It was a tie”
“Wait you two duelled”
Tom and Barty spoke at the same time and Eliza took another sip of her butterbeer to hide her growing smirk.
“But I wouldn’t say no to some extra training” Eliza said and Tom nodded regally as if he wasn’t as excited to finally have a re-match as she was.
“I suggest we duel in the chamber of secrets. Bring your court along if you wish – Barty feel free to join us” Tom commanded airily.
Eliza nodded in agreement already mentally shuffling her time turner calendar around for their extra lessons.
“Wait” Barty yelped “the chamber of secrets?”
“Oh did we never tell you how we met Barty?” Eliza said standing to her feet planning on grabbing some lunch in the great hall “he tried to kill me-
“I didn’t try to kill you”
“You did!” Eliza exclaimed as she and Tom walked out of the office leaving a flabbergasted Barty behind.
~
March brought a new hectic schedule for Eliza – it also brought her new time travel birthday. When Eliza walked down to the hall that morning the house elves had once again left her a birthday cupcake with slytherin green icing. Her court gave her confused looks but otherwise refused to comment on her confectionary.
“You best be planning to eat something that isn’t just pure sugar this morning Potter” Snape said as he strode past not having the same decency to ignore her cupcake.
“Why? Worried about me professor?” Eliza drawled before taking an obnoxious bite of her cupcake.
“Constantly” he said drily and swooped past them with a roll of his eyes.
She did end up nabbing a piece of toast to take with her to charms however.
It was that weekend that Tom finally decided to act on him impromptu defence course.
“Morning” Tom greeted slipping onto the bench beside her pouring himself a cup of coffee, voice somewhat gravelly from sleep.
“Morning” Eliza responded taking a long sip of her own coffee as her court slowly made their way into the hall to join them.
“Mother sends her regards Eliza” Draco said opening his morning mail “she also says that if you don’t remember to send letters to them all soon she’ll castrate Sirius”
“Why should I care if she castrates Sirius?”
Draco levelled her with a dead-pan glare.
“I’ll write back to them all tonight” Eliza acquiesced and Draco went back to plundering his never ending box of confectionaries.
“I was thinking we could begin our duelling practice today little star” Tom said drawing everyone’s attention towards him. Eliza immediately felt her wand thrum with energy – it had been so long since she had had any form of actual fight. Blaise always called her an adrenaline junkie and it really wasn’t that far from the truth. Sure she had the tournament but nothing could really beat a proper duel.
“And will my friends also be allowed to join us professor Gaunt?” Eliza teased. She really hated his alias, Gaunt truly didn’t suit him. But then again Tom would curse her if she suggested he used his real name. She could understand his reasoning, she just privately disagreed.
“If they can keep up” Tom responded with a smirk and instantly her court started chattering about the extra duelling practice.
They had no idea what they were in for.
~
“Master” Jormy hissed the second they all stepped into the chamber “I have missed you”
A soft smile spread across Tom’s face as he ran a hand across the snout of the basilisk. Her court were frozen behind her, still not used to the giant basilisk, but Eliza left them behind in favour of joining Tom in petting Jormy.
“And you have brought the little speaker with you. How did your foolish human game go? Did master win?” Jormy hissed, head lowering further and further to the floor underneath Tom’s persistent scratches.
“We drew actually Jormy” Eliza hissed at the basilisk. Tom shot her an angry glare but Eliza couldn’t tell if it was because he was a sore loser or if it was because she used Jormy’s nickname.
“Ah of course you did little speaker. This proves you will be a worthy-
“Jormugand” Tom hissed loudly, his usual calm control disappearing “we are going to practice duelling now – please be careful”
If a basilisk could roll its eyes Jormy definitely would have done. Instead he simply butted his large head against them and with a petulant hiss returned back to his nest in the chamber.
“Right” Tom declared loudly spinning on his heel “Let’s begin shall we?”
Eliza didn’t like the look of that smirk on Tom’s face – it promised nothing but misery.
“I agreed to these sessions to better train Eliza however the more people she faces against the more experience she will earn. To begin with we’re going to assess what level you are working at” Tom instructed and drew his wand from his holster.
“All of you against both me and Eliza. You win if you disarm both of us” Tom said issuing his challenge. Eliza sent him a look but he ignored it looking like the perfect picture of innocence. After seeing the determined looks settle on her courts faces Eliza drew her own wand with a sigh and came to stand next to Tom.
“What are the rules?”
Tom paused for a moment absently twirling his wand in an uncannily familiar gesture.
“No unforgivables – dark curses are allowed but only those that can be healed”
“I’m shit at healing spells” Eliza muttered.
“Then you best not get hit then darling”
That was the only warning Eliza received before the duel commenced.
Her court immediately spread out from the line they had been standing in she was pleased to notice. They clearly planned to take advantage of the space around them and try and surround Tom and herself on all fronts.
Unsurprisingly it was Theo who cast the first spell – a stupefy that Eliza deflected with ease but that was enough to start everyone casting. She and Tom ended up back to back as they took turns in defending and attacking. It was almost unnerving how well they worked together.
Eliza knew Tom could take them all out in under a minute, knew that she could probably do the same but the point of this exercise wasn’t about flaunting their strength – it was about assessing her courts weakness.
A few more minutes passed of her court volleying them with spells and although impressive for fourth years, with a few rare dark magic spells tossed in the mix by Theo and Draco, Eliza knew they could be better if they so desired.
She didn’t expect them to match her and Tom, didn’t want them too. She and Tom were products of their upbringing more than anything else at times. She didn’t want them to suffer just for a boost in power. But she did know that they were capable of more.
“Do you want to end this or shall I darling?” Tom asked casting a protego to block a melifors jinx from Daphne.
Eliza didn’t bother verbally responding. Instead she cast an overpowered aguamenti and froze the ground beneath them. A favourite trick of hers. Her court had no time to register what had happened before they were all hitting the floor and she and Tom took care of their wands with a quick expelliarmus.
Eliza cancelled the spell as her court all clambered to their feet groaning quietly but none of them complained over the rough treatment.
“And that is your first lesson” said Tom tossing the wands back to them as they lined up in front of them “in a duel you always need to be aware of your surroundings and use them to your advantage. Everything is malleable in the face of your magic. You did well splitting up initially but you need to remember to always be in motion. If you stay static for so long you’ll find Eliza can play more tricks on you than this” Tom lectured and Eliza watched as he taught her court, clearly in his element.
She had known before now of course that Tom had wanted to be a defence teacher. Eliza herself had been taught by him a few times but seeing him now really drove home the point. He had her court hanging on to his every word, effortlessly helping and adjusting their wand grips so they could cast quicker. She had no doubt his temper would have probably gotten the better of him when dealing with younger students but Eliza could see in the quick quirk of his lips, hear it in his lilting voice – how happy he was when he was teaching. It made her think on what might have happened if Albus Dumbledore had made a few different choices and given Tom the defence position.
But then she probably would never have met him.
“Little star” Tom called after twenty minutes of teaching her court “how about we show them how it’s done?”
“Do the same rules apply?” Eliza asked as she and Tom took their positions in the centre of the chamber.
“No unforgivables, fight until the other ‘yields’” Tom said already well aware that being disarmed wouldn’t stop both of them for long.
Tom cast the first spell which Eliza side-stepped out of the way of and then the duel commenced. They began harmlessly at first, knock-back jinxes and stupefy’s as Eliza alternated between verbal and non-verbal casting. She could manage the first to fourth year spells non-verbally but anything beyond that she struggled with. Tom managed to sneak a sticking charm past her shield and Eliza barely cast the counter before he shot a bombarda maxima at her. Rolling to the floor Eliza cursed viciously as the floor blew up where she had just been stood and then they began to duel viciously.
Eliza advanced on Tom as he cast the counter to the blood boiling curse and didn’t deflect the nasty cutting curse he sent towards her in time. Transferring her wand to her left hand Eliza resumed casting again at a ferocious speed.
“Fulgur” Eliza shouted and immediately the air started to crackle around them ominously and her hair began standing on end as she conjured a hot white bolt of lightning. She darted back a few steps as she finally cast the spell. She watched Tom in horror as he simply conjured a large ball of water and trapped her crackling lightning within it. Eliza didn’t even have time to curse before he flung it back at her with a wide exhilarated smile.
Eliza quickly cast an alarte ascender and jumped high into the air as the wave of water passed by harmlessly underneath her. Casting a cushioning charm to soften her fall Eliza hit the ground and immediately rolled out of the way of another one of Tom’s spells.
“Engorgio Skullius” Eliza cast which was deflected by Tom’s unwavering shield. They went back to trading nasty curses until
“Incacerous” Eliza hissed in parseltongue and watched Tom balk at the use of parselmagic. Any other magic user wouldn’t have been able to cast the counter but as it were-
Tom went back to attacking with a vengeance and eventually managed to land a spell that took away her vision. Eliza didn’t stay still – she immediately ducked to the side and heard a loud bang from beside her. She couldn’t see a thing and all she could hear was her heavy breathing and the soft shuffle of shoes that must have been Tom.
Thinking quickly Eliza cast a disillusionment charm. If she couldn’t see Tom then he wouldn’t see her. Casting an avis she listened closely to where the birds flew – heard Tom’s incendio and slowly, so slowly tried to circle around so she would hopefully end up behind him.
“Giving up yet Little Star?” Tom panted out now they had taken a brief break from their vigerous spell casting. Eliza refused to answer and instead wordlessly cast an aguamenti – transfiguring the water into sharp icicles and flung them towards where she thought Tom was standing. Of course that gave away her own position but it allowed her to cast a quick serpensortia without being noticed.
“Go towards the other speaker, prepare to bite him” Eliza hissed her orders and cast another disillusionment charm on the venomous viper.
Her vision was slowly coming back to her the more spells Tom cast and soon she could make out murky shapes around her. Focusing on the feeling of Tom’s magic and probably cheating using their horcrux connection Eliza got a vague sense of where he was standing and began casting spells furiously which Tom countered at every turn until-
“Expelliarmus” he cast and Eliza felt her wand yanked out of her grip.
“Do you yield Little Star?” Tom asked and Eliza didn’t need to see him to know he was smirking.
“Do you?” Eliza responded with a giant grin and dropped the charm she had on the snake. The small viper was poised right next to Tom’s leg, ready to strike and bite into one of the largest arteries of the leg. He would have bled out in minutes.
“I suppose it’s a draw” Tom said with a resigned sigh and Eliza blinked heavily as her vision fully returned. Shaking her head as everything came back into focus she absently vanished the viper by Tom and walked over to him.
“One day Riddle, one day I’ll beat you”
“We’ll see about that darling” Tom replied and gently reached for her still bleeding hand. Eliza shuffled nervously beneath his attentions as he tenderly turned her hand over to reveal the long gash along her palm. Murmuring a healing incantation Eliza watched as the wound slowly knitted back together until only pale tender skin remained.
“Are you okay?” Eliza asked as Tom finally released her hand.
“I reset my shoulder whilst you were stumbling around blind” he said with a teasing grin. Their conversation was broken by a choking gasp coming from her court.
“You two aren’t human” Draco said – all of her court were looking far too pale. Tom smiled because no doubt Draco had just furthered his god complex along and Eliza rolled her eyes.
“So are you going to help us analyse that duel or?” Eliza questioned and Tom let out a quiet laugh beside her.
“I think you should let them recover first darling – they’ve not seen you duel properly before remember?”
They had only ever seen the aftermath. Eliza walking towards them coated in blood that wasn’t hers, murder on her hands and violence in her eyes. And this had only been a mock duel.
“That would probably be for the best”
Over the next few weeks they spent a lot of time in the chamber. On the weekends her court were taught by Tom and gladly duelled against Eliza who limited her repertoire to the Hogwarts curriculum. The first thing Tom had taught them was that every spell was a weapon, as they had clearly demonstrated in their own duel. After that her court developed more and more.
Daphne seemed to prefer charms and defence work. Her magic was often flashy and she preferred to use her stamina to outlast her opponent. Blaise was similar although both she and Tom had noticed his fondness for illusion and misdirection. Eliza had even seen him use a few of her own tactics in the mock duels.
Theo and Draco were both far more vicious duellers. Draco tended to lean towards flashy attacks, a constant reign of spells that didn’t allow his opponent to go on the offensive. However eventually he would strain his magical core and would have to go on the defensive leaving him open to attacks. Theo approached duelling much like he approached anything, calm and methodical. He didn’t move a lot and mostly focused on defence and deflection however his attacks were down right vicious.
Although none of their progress could compare to Eliza’s.
Tom truly was an excellent teacher and with every duel she felt herself becoming faster, more evenly matched as Tom broke down every bad habit and made her even stronger. Eliza preferred to dart and weave around in a fight instead of holding her ground. It created an easy mix of defence and offence but often left her physically tired and drained her stamina faster than Tom’s. Tom preferred to stand mostly still in a duel, shifting and moving slightly with every attack so as to not waste precious energy. It was smart and Eliza was sure to remember it in the future.
If her court had tried to replicate his mannerisms Eliza had no doubt they would crash out of a duel within minutes but Tom’s confidence had been gained for a reason.
He really was brilliant.
It was easy to see how he could go toe to toe with Albus Dumbledore, easy to see how the Death Eater’s became so fearsome under his tutelage.
Barty had been one of those death eaters that spent time learning under the dark lord, the best and the brightest of the next generation. Eliza had great fun duelling against him and she could truly see why Barty had been placed in Ravenclaw. He was creative when it came to duelling. Much like how Sirius enjoyed to switch from marauder attacks and auror training Barty delicately balanced dark magic and creative casting.
It was actually a lot of fun.
She was positive Severus had noticed her happier mood these past few weeks but Eliza thought the man was actually too scared to ask why. She honestly hadn’t realised how much magic she had been containing until she and Tom had started duelling. Before she had always had an excess of magic that made her restless, now she finally felt somewhat calm.
Sadly they had had to cancel their duelling session tonight as Ludo Bagman had demanded all champions to convene on the quidditch pitch for more information on the third task. Eliza would have used the time turner but she had already used it to its limit today traversing back in time for her ancient runes and magical theory classes.
If she didn’t beat Tom’s OWL scores after all this she’d riot.
Diggory and Delacour were already standing on the quidditch pitch when she and Tom arrived. Diggory was looking out onto the maze that covered the grounds with a horrified expression. She was sure Draco would look much the same when he found out what they had done to the Hogwarts quidditch pitch.
“Hello there” Bagman greeted cheerfully when Eliza and Tom finally came to stand next to the others.
“The third task is really straight forward…” Bagman wittered on as Eliza focused on trying to silently vanish Tom’s shoelaces. He watched her efforts with a bemused sort of fondness.
“The champions who have the most points will enter the maze first which means Mr Gaunt and Miss Potter will enter at the sound of the first canon…”
Eliza didn’t manage to vanish his shoelaces but they did turn a rather obnoxious shade of pink. Tom cancelled the spell effortlessly.
“Any questions?” Bagman asked and when no one replied he clapped his hands together “Excellent, time to head back to the castle don’t you think?”
And with that he stumbled away back up to the castle, Diggory following close behind.
“Are you coming with me or going back to the Durmstrang ship?” Eliza asked as she and Tom slowly meandered away from the quidditch pitch.
“Are you suggesting I sneak into your dorm Little Star? How scandalous” Tom drawled and Eliza snickered as they trailed closer to the forbidden forest.
“I can just imagine Sev’s face when he sees you lounging in the common room”
“Now don’t go and kill my best spy darling” Tom chastised with a small smile. Eliza was just about to respond that Severus was more likely to kill her instead of her being the one to kill him when they both heard a rustle coming from the tree line of the forest.
Both she and Tom halted as they stared out into the darkness. Eliza slowly drew her wand and she saw Tom mirror her actions.
Then, a haggard man staggered out of the tree line.
“Is that…Mr Crouch?” Eliza asked brows furrowed.
“I believe so” Tom said as Crouch began holding a conversation with a nearby tree.
“The same Mr Crouch that is supposed to be home, sick”
“Indeed”
Crouch seemed to snap out of his strange reverie and turned to face Eliza and lunged trying to grasp her hands before Tom positioned himself in front of her.
“Dumbledore” the man gasped “I escaped – must warn Dumbledore”
“He grows stronger” the man garbled, eyes rolling into the back of his head as he fell to his knees.
“It seems Voldemort has grown complacent” Tom commented, kicking Crouch off his robes.
“So do we go and fetch Dumbledore?” Eliza asked innocently. Tom snorted and shook his head.
“Why don’t you send a patronus message to Barty. Tell him we have a gift” Tom said a vicious smirk growing on his face.
“Gladly” Eliza responded and conjured her patronus. The hippogriff bounced around for a few moments and tried to brush up against Tom before taking Eliza’s message and darting off.
Eliza and Tom watched Crouch talk to various tree’s in idle amusement for a while before they heard ‘Moody’s’ approach. His wooden leg hitting the ground with a dull thunk.
“Hello Barty” Eliza chirped as the man came to stand with them just in the tree line of the forest “We’ve found a little present for you”
Barty stood in tense silent as he took in the sight of his father, hands trembling with barely contained rage.
“I’ll walk Little Star back to the castle” Tom said finally pocketing his wand and leading the pair of them away.
“Have fun” he called over his shoulder towards Barty in a lilting voice.
She hoped Barty knew how to dispose a body.
~
The months passed by quickly after that. There was a small incident in March when Carrow once again tried to challenge Eliza for her reign as Slytherin Queen but the girl didn’t even last two minutes. This was the second year in a row were she also didn’t have to help the fifth and seventh year out in defence. If it wasn’t for the triwizard tournament Eliza would go as far to say that her fourth year at Hogwarts had been quite peaceful.
Her court grew tense when the date of the final task drew nearer. They were well aware of what Eliza and Tom intended to do after all and that just worried them further. But at least they knew and wouldn’t panic when she was essentially kidnapped. They also knew that they could go to Barty and Severus in case of any emergencies which eased their worries.
However when the day of the final task arrived there was a stifling tension surrounding them all as they sat at the table in the great hall. Tom was sat beside her but he wisely didn’t comment on the undercurrent of tension and instead involved Theo in conversation about his grandfather, Alexander Nott, who went to school with Tom.
Eliza had just poured herself another coffee (thank merlin for house elves) when Professor Snape approached them.
“Potter” Snape greeted and paused before looking at Tom “Gaunt”
“The champions are congregating in the chamber off the hall after breakfast – for a chance to greet your families before the final task” said Snape sneering on the word ‘families’
If Sirius was here she could understand why he looked so irritated.
“Eliza” Severus said suddenly, dark eyes boring into her own.
“Stay safe”
He didn’t even wait for a reply before he stalked far away. It must be a Slytherin thing, being allergic to emotions.
“I suppose I can find another way to preoccupy myself before the task” Tom drawled when Severus left and Eliza whipped around to look at him.
“Why?”
“I don’t have a family darling” he said lightly. Eliza shook her head vehemently as her heart tightened.
“You still have to meet mine”
Tom blinked looking absolutely confounded. Eliza gave him no time to refute her and instead stood up from her place at the table fully intending to drag Tom behind her.
“Are you sure this is the wisest idea Little Star?” Tom asked dubiously as they made their way to the antechamber.
“What could go wrong?”
Eliza could feel Tom’s deadpan glare behind her but he didn’t have time to argue with her before Eliza was opening the door to the chamber.
Delacour was already there chatting in rapid French with her parents – Diggory was stood with his family as well which just left-
“Pup!” Sirius exclaimed pulling her into an overly tight hug as he pounced on her.
“Hello Sirius” Eliza replied already exasperated.
“Hello Remus” she said to the werewolf when Sirius finally deigned to release her.
“It’s good to see you Eliza” Remus greeted warmly and Eliza shot him a wide grin in return.
“Are you ready for the final task?” Sirius asked worriedly, storm grey eyes meeting hers.
“I’ll breeze through it – just you wait” Eliza quipped and smiled when Sirius let out a loud bark of laughter.
“And who’s this Eliza?” Remus asked turning his attention onto Tom beside her.
Eliza spun around and grabbed Tom’s hand, yanking him forward so he would stop looking so awkward.
“Tom, this is my godfather Sirius and my honorary uncle Remus” Eliza introduced them and ignored the not so subtle glare Sirius was giving them “Sirius, Remus this is Thomas Gaunt. We’ve been friends for many years now, it’s been nice to finally see him again”
“Funny how you’ve never mentioned him befo-
“Lovely to meet you Tom” Remus exclaimed over Sirius’ grumblings and held his hand out for Tom to shake.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well sir – Eliza speaks of both of you so fondly” Tom replied charmingly.
“Didn’t you take Eliza to the Yule Ball?” Sirius asked with narrowed eyes and Eliza groaned at his over-protectiveness.
“Indeed, sir”
“How did you even know that?” Eliza asked despairingly.
“Narcissa told him, and Draco told her” Remus said. Sirius looked like he was going to go on and say more but Eliza decided to interrupt before he could threaten the surprisingly well behaved dark lord next to her.
“Sirius, Remus” Eliza began “Tom doesn’t have any family so I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if he spent the day with us”
Even Sirius shuffled guiltily at that.
“Of course – we would be happy for you to join us Tom”
Tom bowed his head politely in thanks. Eliza knew that Tom was a good actor but it truly was another thing to see it first-hand. He never usually bothered with pretence around her. She was beginning to understand why Draco always looked so disconcerted when Eliza had first decided to play house with the Malfoy’s.
“We can even give you a tour of the castle” Eliza chirped heading out of the antechamber.
“Pup you do realise we were both here less than a year ago. That we actually attended this school.”
“I guarantee Tom and I have found places the marauders never did” Eliza challenged.
“You’re not showing him the chamber are you?” Tom hissed in parseltongue.
“Merlin no – he’d have a heart attack”
“Speak English” Sirius yelped and both she and Remus dissolved into laughter.
Eliza commenced with her special tour of Hogwarts and ignored the twisting feeling in her gut over how she was lying to the closest thing she had ever had to a family.
~
Eliza left the necklace Tom had given her in her dorm as she changed into her battle robes. She didn’t want to risk breaking it. Severus had confiscated her time-turner that morning but she did however keep her heir rings and placed her Malfoy bracelet underneath a disillusionment charm to avoid it being detected. Finally she laced up her dragon hide boots and places her wand in its holster.
“Are you ready Eliza?” Daphne asked, worried blue eyes meeting her own.
“More than” Eliza replied with a teasing grin and seemingly against her better judgement Daphne let out a laugh.
The rest of her court were waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs and they walk out of the castle in a solemn silence.
“I’m not going to die you know” Eliza said idly breaking the suffocating silence.
“You better not” Blaise warned.
“If you do I’ll learn necromancy, resurrect you, and then kill you again” Draco said sternly.
“Like Narcissa would let you dabble in necromancy” Eliza scoffed.
“Ah but there’s no-one stopping me” Theo finally interjected and they all stop to consider that for a moment.
“Not dying. Got it”
“I bloody hope you do pup” Sirius yelled from the pitch in front of them.
“We just came to wish you good luck Eliza” said Remus warmly as they neared them.
“Thanks Remus, Sirius, but don’t worry. I’ll be fine” she reassured and didn’t even complain when Sirius drew her into another lung crushing hug.
Eventually her ‘uncles’ and her court peeled away leaving Eliza to walk to the entrance of the maze where Tom and the other champions were already waiting.
When she settled into her spot beside Tom, Bagman instantly started his opening speech.
“Remember the plan Little Star?” Tom asked and Eliza shot him a dirty look.
“Obviously”
Tom looked like he was about to say something else but instead turned away studiously looking at the maze in front of them.
“Are we ready ladies and gentlemen?” Bagman crowed and the crowd in the stands let out a massive roar.
The canon sounded.
She and Tom both broke into a flat out sprint – the hedges of the maze closed behind them, submerging them in darkness.
The Final Task had begun.