Just to tell you all, in this chapter it's going to be switching PoV A LOT, like every two sentences (when the challenge starts). And I'm sooooo sorry for the length, but I swear it'll be worth it. I hope you'll still enjoy with all the pages. Sorry!
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*HERMIONE*
I spot another one of those tents outside of the arena. This time there's no sight barrier - we can see what lies before us. I walk inside the tent and go to the Gryffindor side (the tent has been cut off down the middle, Gryffindor and Slytherin). I change into my black spandex leggings and Draco puts on some black sweatpants, but we keep our cooresponding house color shirts on.
"I'm so nervous, Draco," I say, and lean into him.
He strokes my hair. "I know, Hermione. But whatever happens, think of tactics. Think of a plan to get us out, you're the smart one here."
I laugh into his chest. "Hey, you are smart, too."
"I'm cunning and ambitious," he retorts.
"Actually, I don't think you could've gotten through the entire tournament - well, getting this far - without having every trait."
"And what about you?"
"I've been too loyal. And I've been too dependent for help when I'm not supposed to get it."
"Well today, try to be everything."
We sit there for a few minutes in silence and then McGonagall comes in.
"The tournament is not going to start yet, I just wanted to come in here and fetch you," she says.
"Why?" Draco asks.
"We're going to let you sit with your house until it begins," she replies. We nod. I grab a couple snacks from the pantry and follow Draco and McGonagall out.
The stands are chaotic. Each house got their own bleachers, but it was still crazy and it gave me a headache. I walk up to the Gryffindor bleachers and Draco walks to the Slytherins bleachers. I find the row that Harry, Ron, and Ginny are sitting on and sit down beside them.
"Hey!" Ginny says. "I thought you couldn't come up here."
I shake my head. "McGonagall is letting us because it's the last challenge."
"I wonder if you'll play Quidditch," Ron jokes.
"Shut up, Ron," I snap. Suddenly, I feel something run into the sde of my head and I snatch it out of the air. Flying parchment? I open it and read the message.
No matter what happens, I'll save you.
I'll go through the pain I have to to find you and be your savior.
I love you, H.
-D
I hug the parchment to my chest and I feel my eyes get watery. I turn to Ginny.
"Do you have any parchment and ink?" I ask. She nods, going through her bag, then hands me some. I turn around and on the part of the bench that's unoccupied, I set down the parchment and write with my index finger, and since I don't have a quill, my writing looks huge and sloppy:
I love you too, D.
I want you to be safe and if that means that I die then so be it.
I'm still thinking of a plan.
-H ❤
I let the ink set for a moment, then fold it when it's dry and cast an enchantment on it so it will find its way to Draco.
I can do this, I tell myself. I watch my hands shake and feel beads of sweat form on my neck and forehead.
"Your attention, please," McGonagall announces into her wand, which has magnified her voice again. "Today, if you haven't heard already, is the third and final challenge of the first annual Battle of the Highest. Would my remaining competitors stand?"
I rise slowly run my seat, knowing that Draco was doing the same. I watch as people around me look up at me from their seats. I swallow.
"Please take this time," McGonagall continues, "to acknowledge them. Pay them respect, wish them luck. This task has been proven to be extremely difficult, as it is to separate our lovers."
My jaw drops in shock. No, this can't be! We have to figure out a way! Me and Draco...we can't part!
"No!" I scream, and everyone turns their attention to me as I descend the stairs of the Gryffindor bleachers. "Listen to me now Draco while we still have a chance of living." At this the attention moves to the Slytherin bleachers where Draco is still standing nervously.
"I'm not letting this happen. I've listened to you, and I'm thinking of tactics, even though I have no knowledge of what this challenge is. I just - I just want you to know that I love you, Draco." I watch as Draco starts to descend the stairs of the Slytherin bleachers, making his way across the arena to me. Just as he's several meters away I feel hands grab hold of my biceps and I start to be dragged backward.
"No!" I cry. "Let me go! Let me say good-bye!" But they don't listen. I struggle with all the energy I've got trying to break from their grasp but it's no use. I watch as Draco runs forward to help me but McGonagall steps in front of him, and I'm dragged out of the arena.
*DRACO----------------------------------------------
"Professor, let me pass," I say as McGonagall blocks my path. She shakes her head.
"I must obey what the Ministry is going to do, Mr. Malfoy."
"But I have - I have to say good-bye."
"I'm sorry." She walks away just as the doors of the arena close.
*HERMIONE---------------------------------------------
"Is this your idea of a challenge?" I ask harshly through tears. "This is how you're breaking us apart?"
"The tournament hasn't even started yet," says the man, and I recognize him as the one that Draco sat beside at lunch.
I stand there helplessly. I'm doomed. We're doomed...
I feel something wash over me - it feels as if someone threw a bucket of cold wind in my face. I look to see the man with his wand out.
*DRACO--------------------------------------
The woman that had sat beside Hermione at lunch walks up to me.
"Mr. Malfoy," she says. "I need to explain some things to you about this challenge.
"It has been designed specifically to you and Miss Granger, and has never been performed during our tests. If you just want to get it over with right now then we will start, but it will be extremely difficult. I can tell you what you're supposed to do, but it's the opposite of Miss Granger's task. Are you willing to hear?"
I nod quickly.
"Miss Granger is going to be under the impression that you are one of her most feared enemies, but it's just a spell. Your objective: Convince her that it's you."
"How do I do that?" I ask helplessly.
"That's for you to figure out, and I'm sure you already know the answer."
"You've done it before, Mr. Malfoy," MacGonagall says. I furrow my brows.
Done it before? No I haven't...
"It's very simple, but it will take some convincing," the woman continues. "When you say something that you would normally say to her, to Miss Granger it will sound more like a death threat."
I turn my head quickly as the doors start to open. I look back at the woman.
"Use common knowledge, Mr. Malfoy," she says, and she rushes to the sidelines where they are casting a protection shield to block spells from hitting the students in the stands. I stand center stage and wait.
*HERMIONE--------------------------------------------
"What'd you do to me?" I ask cautiously. He ignores me and puts his wand away.
"WHAT'D YOU DO TO ME?" I yell.
"Settle down, Miss Granger," he says impatiently. "It's just a minor spell for the challenge." I hear the creak of the doors and I turn to see them opening slowly. The man pushes me forward.
"It's showtime, dearie." He pushes me into the arena and the cheering dies immediately.
I walk in slowly and see one person in the middle.
"YOU!" I shriek. I immediately pull out my wand.
*DRACO--------------------------------------------
I must be someone horrible.
"Hi," I say sheepishly.
*HERMIONE----------------------------------------------------
"Why, the Mudblood decided to show," she says with her high-pitched voice, and an evil smile washes across her pale face. I walk toward her immediately and point my wand at her throat.
"Don't you dare call me a Mudblood, you bitch."
*DRACO-----------------------------------------------------
It feels like third year all over again with Hermione and her wand at my throat..
"Don't - don't kill me, Hermione," I say. What else am I supposed to do! Think, Draco, think... And I never called her a Mudblood!
*HERMIONE--------------------------------------------------
"You gonna kill me, dearie?" she sniggers.
"Tell me where Draco is," I snap.
*DRACO---------------------------------------------------
"Hermione, I'm right here." I shift on my feet. "I haven't gone anywhere."
*HERMIONE-------------------------------------------------------
"Oh, that pathetic boy? Guess he's gone..." she says.
"HE WAS JUST HERE! WHAT'D YOU DO, DROP IN AND TAKE HIM AWAY, THEN COME BACK?"
*DRACO-----------------------------------------------------
"Listen, I'm not sure who you think I am, but I'm gonna help you," I say. "I'll...help you find him," I say after she screams in my ear.
*HERMIONE---------------------------------------------------------
"He's probably dead, dear. He's never lasted long."
I feel my face heating up from anger. "Tell - me - now - where - he - is - or - I'll - kill - you," I say heavily.
*DRACO----------------------------------------------------
"Just listen for a moment," I say. I watch her relax slightly.
"What?" she says cautiously.
"When I say something, I want you to repeat it so I know you heard me correctly."
*HERMIONE----------------------------------------------------
What is this, a joke? She wants me to repeat what she says after she just said it.
"Is this your idea of a joke?" I sneer.
"Just do it!"
"Fine!"
"And if I ask you a question, you answer it."
*DRACO-----------------------------------------------
"All right. Say something, then," she says, not moving her wand.
"First off - who do I look like to you?" I ask.
"Why, did you forget your own name?" she asks. "You're Bellatrix of course. I still have your markings on my arm, by the way." She pulls up her sleeve and shows me the faint scar of where Bellatrix had wrote "Mudblood" with her knife, still a light pink and clearly visible.
"You still have that?" I ask, them feel stupid after. "Sorry about that..."
The fire in her eyes grows.
*HERMIONE------------------------------------------
"You still have that? Pity..."
I move in on her. "You want to go back to that, or are we going to continue playing your little game?"
*DRACO--------------------------------------------
I swallow. "All right. I know where Draco is."
*HERMIONE------------------------------------------
"I don't know where Draco is."
I furrow my brows. "You don't know where Draco is? I thought you just said he was gone."
*DRACO------------------------------------------
The opposite of what I said? Let's see...
"Actually..." I say, thinking of my choice of words. "Actually, he's not here."
*HERMIONE-----------------------------------------
"Actually, he's here."
"He's here?" I say loudly. I hear the little voice in my mind saying, "Don't trust her! She's one of your major enemies! She's probably lying!" I ignore it.
"Where is he, then?" I ask cautiously.
*DRACO-----------------------------------------------
"He's...not right in front of you," I say slowly. Each time I say the opposite I get really nervous that it won't turn out the way I'm wanting it to.
*HERMIONE----------------------------------------------
"He's right in front of you."
I roll my eyes. "He can't be right in front of me if you're right in front of me."
*DRACO--------------------------------------------------------
"No, no, listen, Hermione. They didn't put a spell on you. This is the real Bellatrix," I say.
*HERMIONE----------------------------------------
"No, no, listen, Mudblood." (I cringe at the name.) "They put a spell on you. The is not the real Bellatrix." I think back to when that man put the spell on me. I shake my head. She's just playing with me. I think back for a moment - how is this supposed to break me and Draco apart when Draco isn't even here?
*DRACO-----------------------------------------------------
Before she says something else I say, "This is not the real Draco. The spell isn't preventing you from seeing me!"
*HERMIONE----------------------------------------
"This is the real Draco. The spell is preventing you from seeing me!"
I look at her suspiciously. "Prove it," I say quickly. "Prove that you're the real Draco."
*DRACO------------------------------------------------
I think. "Well I'll start at the beginning. The beginning of this year."
*HERMIONE-----------------------------------
"Well I'll start at the beginning. The beginning of this year."
"All right...?"
*DRACO----------------------------------------------
"Remember when I didn't come with Goyle to your compartment on the train and we were making faces at you? And when I didn't tell you that McGonagall needed to see you to tell you that you made prefect?"
*HERMIONE---------------------------------------------
"Remember when I came with Goyle to your compartment on the train and we were making faces at you? And when I told you that McGonagall needed to see you to tell you that you made prefect?"
"Anyone could know that," I say. "Tell me something that Draco would only tell me, and no one else would know."
*DRACO-------------------------------------
Yikes.
"Umm...when I didn't tell you that I had changed. I hadn't told you that I was changing and that I didn't want anyone else to know so I had to keep my 'bad boy' image up."
*HERMIONE-------------------------------------------
"When I told you that I had changed. I had told you that I was changing and that I didn't want anyone else to know so I had to keep my 'bad boy' image up."
"I'm asking for something more personal. Like...something Draco's never told me. His feelings for me."
*DRACO-------------------------------------
Now there's something I know brilliantly.
"You do see me, but right now, I want to tell you I love you. Before, I didn't tell you I was changing, and I was really changing for you. You see...it's not funny...I didn't start liking until you punched me in the face back in third year when you, Potter, and Weasley were heading down to Hagrid's. I told people that I had started liking you, and everyday since then I have felt bad about treating you wrong and...I've haven't always wanted to make it up to you."
*HERMIONE----------------------------------------
"You don't see me, but right now, I want to tell you I love you. Before I did tell you I was changing, and I was really changing for you. You see...it's funny...I started liking you when you punched me in the face back in third year when you, Potter, and Weasley were heading down to Hagrid's. I hadn't told people that I had started liking you, and everyday since then I have felt bad about treating you wrong and...I've always wanted to make it up to you."
I feel my face heat up a little.
*DRACO---------------------------------------
Hermione doesn't say anything so I continue.
"You remember when I didn't make a move on you in the prefect's house when Cho and Zacharias were making their rounds? Do you remember when you didn't walk in on me while I was in the bathroom?"
*HERMIONE-------------------------------------
"You remember when I made a move on you in the prefect's house when Cho and Zacharias were making their rounds? Do you remember when you walked in on me while I was in the bathroom?"
I hear the students in the stands laugh lightly and I blush. No one knows that except me and Draco.
*DRACO------------------------------------------
"I remember when I didn't hold your hand for the first time, and we walked around the grounds, after you said that we're too different to be with each other. When I didn't tell you that I didn't care what people thought!
"When I didn't stay with you when you were trapped in that box in the maze. I didn't keep trying to break it, even when you never responded to me. When I didn't sit by you every moment I could in the hospital wing, and when I didn't kiss you right in front of Weasley and Potter, and I admit, I strutted away!"
*HERMIONE-------------------------------------------
"I remember when I held you hand for the first time, and we walked around the grounds, after you said that we're too different to be with each other. When I told you that I didn't care what people thought!
"When I stayed with you when you were trapped in that box in the maze. I kept trying to break it, even when you never responded to me. When I sat by you every moment I could in the hospital wing, and when I kissed you right in front of Weasley and Potter, and I admit, I strutted away!"
I laugh lightly.
*DRACO----------------------------------------
My volume starts to rise.
"When I didn't save you from falling to your death in that obstacle course. Heck, after that, I didn't slam into a wall for you to prove that I'm not Draco the Ghost."
*HERMIONE--------------------------------------------
"When I saved you from falling to your death in that obstacle course. Heck, after that, I slammed into a wall for you to prove that I'm not Draco the Ghost."
I smile at the memory.
*DRACO-----------------------------------
I drop my volume down and take Hermione's hands; she had put away her wand.
"Just know, Hermione Granger, that if you aren't thinking about killing me, you should probably rethink that. You would want your dearly beloved to die, would you?"
*HERMIONE------------------------------------------
"Just know, Hermione Granger, that if you are thinking about killing me, you should probably rethink that. You wouldn't want you dearly beloved to die, would you?"
I watch her, as her crazy black hair melts away, replaced by smooth short blonde hair, and her ugly black dress replaced with a Slytherin green t-shirt and black sweatpants. I pull "her" into a tight hug.
"Draco," I breathe. I hear the students erupt with cheers.
*DRACO------------------------------------
I've done it.