"Hello," Hermione said, holding up a stack of toast, which she was carrying in a napkin as we stood in front of the portrait hole, where Harry had just come out of. "We brought you this. Want to go for a walk?"
"Good idea," Harry sighed gratefully. Even though I had a right to be absolutely pissed at Harry, that could wait till all of this was over. Harry didn't need another person in his life against him.
We descended the stairs and swiftly passed through the entrance hall without glancing into the Great Hall. We then briskly made our way across the lawn towards the lake, where the Durmstrang ship was anchored, its reflection darkly mirrored in the water.
"Have either of you seen Ron?" Harry asked suddenly as he munched on his toast.
"He was at breakfast. Didn't talk to either of us, though." I said, and Harry let out a deep sigh.
"Reckon he still thinks I put my name in?"
"Well . . . no, I don't think so . . . not really," Hermione muttered awkwardly.
"What's that supposed to mean, 'not really'?"
"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione groaned despairingly. "He's jealous!"
"Jealous?" Harry scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?"
"Cut him some slack, Harry." I said, and Harry furiously opened his mouth too, but I cut him off. "You know how his brothers are. He's always competing for attention, and you just kind of... get it handed to you."
"I don't want the a-"
"I know you don't want the attention." I interrupted again. "But I don't think Ron understands the idea of not wanting attention when it's all he's ever tried to get."
"Great," Harry snapped bitterly. "Really great. Tell him from me I'll swap any time he wants. Tell him from me he's welcome to it. People gawping at my forehead everywhere I go..."
"We're not telling him anything," Hermione said shortly. "Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this out."
"I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow up!" Harry said, so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. "Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying myself once I've got my neck broken or —"
"Harry..." I breathed, and Harry angrily ran his hands through his hair.
"I'm sorry." He grumbled. "This is all just too much."
"Harry, I've been thinking..." Hermione sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You know what we've got to do, don't you? Straight away, the moment we get back to the castle?"
"Yeah, give Ron a good kick up the ass."
"Write to Sirius." Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "You've got to tell him what's happened. He asked you to keep him posted on everything that's going on at Hogwarts... It's almost as if he expected something like this to happen. I brought some parchment and a quill out with me-"
"Come off it," Harry muttered, looking around to check that we couldn't be overheard, but the grounds were quite deserted. "He came back to the country just because my scar twinged. He'll probably come bursting right into the castle if I tell him someone's entered me in the Triwizard Tournament."
"It just means he cares about you." I reasoned, and Harry quickly looked out towards the black lake, uninterested in listening to me. "Look at me, Potter."
He turned his head to me, his lips pursed to keep them from trembling.
"Sirius wouldn't want to find out from the Daily Prophet, and not his own godson."
Harry let out a large sigh. "Yeah, yeah, I'll write to him." He threw his last piece of toast into the lake, and a large, purple tentacle came sloshing out of the water, grabbed the bread, then it disappeared back underneath the darkness.
"Whose owl am I going to use?" Harry asked as we climbed the stairs back up to the castle. "He told me not to use Hedwig again."
"Ask Ron if you can borrow-" Hermione started to suggest instinctively, but Harry stopped her.
"I'm not asking Ron for anything," Harry muttered flatly.
"Just use one of the school owls. I use them for Sirius whenever Hedwig's out." I shrugged as we went up to the owlery.
I looked around at the tower, the feeling from the last time I was here rushing underneath my skin. It was the day after Harry and I stood in the hall. I wondered how I didn't believe Harry had any sort of fancy for me after that night. It was so obvious now.
Hermione gave Harry a piece of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink, then strolled around the long lines of perches, looking at all the different owls, as Harry and I sat down against a wall while wrote his letter.
While there was something forming with Cedric, a feeling that was so similar, yet somehow completely different to what I felt with Harry, it was still nothing compared to my long-lasting feelings for the boy sitting next to me.
I watched as Harry scribbled on the paper furiously. I wondered what he wrote about me to Sirius after that night in the hall. Although we both were now well aware of our feelings for each other, there was no time for it. There was no reason to make things even more complicated for him than they already were.
'Dear Sirius,
You told me to keep you posted on what's happening at Hogwarts, so here goes... I don't know if you've heard, but the Triwizard Tournament's happening this year and on Saturday night I got picked as a fourth champion. I don't know who put my name in the Goblet of Fire, because I didn't. The other Hogwarts champion is from Hufflepuff.
"Hope you're okay, and Buckbeak."
Harry.'
"He has a name, you know." I sighed as we stood up from the floor and handed Hermione her writing equipment back. "It's not just the 'other Hogwarts champion."
"Oh, I know." Harry shrugged blankly as he sealed the letter. Hedwig came fluttering down onto his shoulder and held out her leg.
"I can't use you," Harry told her, looking around for the school owls. "I've got to use one of these."
Hedwig gave a very loud hoot and took off so suddenly that her talons cut into his shoulder. She kept her back to Harry all the time he was tying his letter to the leg of a large barn owl. When the barn owl had flown off, Harry reached out to stroke Hedwig, but she clicked her beak furiously and soared up into the rafters out of reach.
"First Ron, then you," Harry muttered to himself angrily. "This isn't my fault."
"You know what, you guys go on." I said abruptly as Harry and Hermione started to walk down the stairs. They both turned to me with confused looks on their faces. "I'm going to write to Sirius as well. It might be a bit. Can I borrow some parchment, Hermione?"
Hermione nodded, and pulled a piece of parchment out, as well as her quill and ink again.
"You sure? I don't mind waiting." Harry offered, his hands stuffed in his pockets.
"No, it's alright." I said, quickly shaking my head. "It's gonna be... er... private."
"Alright. We'll see you at lessons." Hermione smiled softly, thankfully taking the hint as she grabbed Harry by the wrist and pulled him down the stairs.
I sat in the same spot as before, the parchment laid out on the floor before me as I dipped my quill in the dark ink.
'Sirius,
Don't let Harry make you think he's okay. He doesn't want to worry you, but he's terrified. He's only fourteen, but nobody believes him when he says he didn't do it. Not even Dumbledore trusts him entirely. Ron's ignoring him, and everyone thinks he's a cheater. He's not okay, and I'm worried he thinks that he'll never be.
Please help him, Dad.
Jupiter.'
-
"Harry, you need to start thinking about what you're going to do for the first task." I said to him as we sat by the Black lake, under a tree.
"It's hard to do that when I don't even know what it is." Harry scoffed, picking up a small rock and throwing it into the lake.
"Well, obviously." I said, rolling my eyes. "What I mean is, this competition is all about playing to your strengths. No matter what the task is, you have to stick to the thing you're best at."
"And what would that be?" He asked, throwing a slightly bigger rock.
"Er... let's see... not potions, not herbology... definitely not transfiguration." I muttered. "I guess we'll have to go with Charms, there's not many more options is there?"
"Hey! Rude!" Harry yelled, pushing me by the shoulder jokingly.
"I'm not exactly wrong, am I?" I laughed, pushing him back.
"No, but you didn't need to say it out loud!"
"Ron, this is your problem, not mine!" Hermione's voice hissed from behind us as there were footsteps in the dirt down the hill to the lake. Harry's smile faded as he heard them, and he quickly stood up defensively. "What do you want me to say again?"
Ron whispered something to Hermione as he stood behind her with Ginny, who obviously didn't want to be there either. Hermione rolled her eyes and trudged forward on the crunching leaves beneath her.
"Ron wanted me to tell you that Seamus told him that Dean was told by Parvati that Hagrid's looking for you." Hermione said in one breath. I'd never seen Hermione have to think about something as much as she just had.
"Is that right?" Harry scoffed, crossing his arms. Harry was smart, but I didn't believe there was a way he understood Hermione's words. "Well... what?"
There it is.
"Uh..." Hermione muttered as she walked back to Ron, who whispered furiously to her, his eyes never leaving Harry.
"Dean was told by Parvati that... please don't ask me to say it again. Hagrid's looking for you. Only you." Hermione huffed to Harry. She turned to walk back to Ron, and Harry opened his big mouth again.
"Well, you can tell Ronald-"
"I'm not an owl!" She yelled, and took Ginny by the arm and lead her back up the hill.
Ron followed after them, but not without giving one final look to Harry.
"I'm coming with you, you know." I said, lugging myself up from the tree.
-
"Did you bring your father's cloak, 'Harry?" Hagrid asked as he lead the way into the Forbidden forest at dusk. Hermione had specifically said 'only Harry', so naturally, I went anyways, just under the cloak.
"Er, yeah. I brought it." Harry said, his eyes widening as he looked to the side of him where I was standing. I could trip him right now, and Hagrid would just think he fell, I thought. "Where are we going?"
"You'll see soon enough." Hagrid grumbled. "Now pay attention, this is importan'." He lit the lantern he was carrying, illuminating the forest around us just enough to see his oddly straight hair. There was an orange, slightly-rotting flower on his chest, pinned to a hairy brown dress jacket.
"What's with the flower? Hagrid, have you combed your hair?" Harry smirked, looking up at Hagrid incredulously.
"As a matter o' fact, I 'ave." Hagrid said, puffing out his chest proudly. "You might like to try the same thin' now an' again."
A small snicker escaped my lips, but Hagrid didn't seem to hear it. Harry, however, turned to me slightly, his eyes deadly. I stuck a hand out, keeping the cloak over it, and ruffled his hair. He swatted at my hand like mad, catching Hagrid's attention.
"You alrigh', Harry?" Hagrid asked, his bushy eyebrows furrowed suspiciously.
"Yeah." Harry muttered. "There was a bug."
"Mhm..." Hagrid hummed, not taking his eyes off of Harry. But then, when we had walked so far around the perimeter of the forest that the castle and the lake were out of sight, we heard something. Men were shouting up ahead... then came a deafening, earsplitting roar.
"'Agrid?" A woman's voice called from further in the forest.
"The cloak. Put the cloak on." Hagrid ordered, then began to walk towards the voice. I threw the cloak over Harry's head, and we were suddenly face to face underneath the fabric.
"I'm gonna kill you." Harry hissed as we began to follow Hagrid.
"Try me, Potter." I smirked quietly, but before he could return another threat, Hagrid spoke again.
"Bonsoir, Olympe!"
Madame Maxime had come into view.
"Oh, 'agrid... I thought perhaps 'oo 'ad forgotten me." She said, reaching a hand out to run it through Hagrid's straight hair.
"I couldn' forget you, Olympe." Hagrid said. I had to stop myself from bursting out laughing, while Harry gagged at the sight.
"'Vat is it 'oo 'vanted to show me?" She asked him. "'Ven 've spoke earlier, 'oo sounded so... exhilarated."
"You'll be glad you came. Trus' me." Hagrid grinned as he began to lead her down the grassy hill. The same loud roar boomed throughout the forest, and a gust of fire light up the trees.
"La c'est magnifique!"
Four massive, fully grown dragons stood upright on their hind legs within a fenced enclosure made of sturdy wooden planks. They roared and snorted menacingly, spewing torrents of fire into the night sky from their gaping, fanged mouths, which extended fifty feet above the ground on their stretched-out necks.
One dragon was silvery-blue with elongated, pointed horns, snapping and snarling menacingly at the wizards below; another was smooth-scaled and green, writhing and stamping with great force; a red one sported a peculiar fringe of delicate gold spikes around its face, emitting mushroom-shaped fire clouds into the air; and finally, a colossal black dragon, more lizard-like in appearance than its counterparts, stood closest to us.
"Can we get closer?" Madame Maxine asked in awe as she stumbled away from us and closer to the beasts.
Harry's eyes widened, and I heard his breathing quickly stop once he realized the importance of the dragons. I nearly gasped as well, my heart skipping a beat. Harry, a fourteen-year-old boy, was going to have to fight a dragon.
"Dragons?" Harry snapped quietly, pulling the cloak off of his head. "That's the first task? You're joking!"
"Come on, Harry. These are seriously misunderstood creatures." Hagrid scoffed, and right on cue, the giant black one breathed a large cloud of fire in our direction. "That Horntail is a righ' nasty piece o' work. Poor Ron nearly fainted jus' seeing him, you know."
"Ron was here?"
"Well sure! His brother Charlie helped to brin' 'em over from Romania. Didn' Ron tell ye' that?"
"No." Harry mumbled angrily. "No, he didn't. He didn't tell me a thing."