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Although there was nothing official between them, word that Al Dursley and George Weasley had gone to Hogsmeade together flew around the castle. For the first time in three and a half years, Gryffindors actually smiled at her, and sometimes even said hello, especially if they were in the duelling club with her.
Draco, Daphne and Theo enjoyed the spotlight too. They were 'Al Dursley's best friends', the unstoppable team that were clever and played quidditch and everyone knew their names. Dating one of Gryffindor's golden boys sure had its upside.
And this got Al thinking - this could be the first step to a third side. It could be Dumbledore and the Ministry vs Voldemort and the Death Eaters vs Al and Hogwarts. Then Al remembered - she hadn't written to Sirius! It had been six months and she hadn't heard from him and he hadn't heard from her.
He hadn't been captured - she knew that from reading the prophet. But was he any closer to catching Wormtail? Al had no idea. And was Lupin helping him or not? And had he found out about any of the horcruxes? She didn't think so. He would've definitely written then. All of this she put in a letter and sent off with Dill.
Despite the glory that came with beating a dragon, dating George Weasley, and being the Duelling Captain, Al still couldn't master the bubble head charm. "It's a very particular charm," George told her warmly one lunchtime when they were practising, "Don't worry too much. Just try and focus."
"Do you not think I've tried that?" she snapped, feeling her hands grow clammy.
"Let's take a break, Love," he told her, rubbing her back.
"No, no," she said, massaging her temples, before picking up her wand, ready to try again, "I don't have time for a break. I need to get this!"
"Al," he said gently, "You've got a whole month to learn one charm. You can do it. You're good at charms," Al smiled and her cheeks became warm, "You just need to focus - that's what the charm requires as much as wand movement and incantation. Complete concentration."
"Hold on," Al said, flopping down into a chair, "Do I need to hold my focus the whole time I'm doing it?"
George considered, then nodded, "Yeah, that's how it works. It's quite an unusual charm like that."
Al was so angry with herself. Now she only had a month left! "Well I can't do that the whole time! I'll be doing other things, like finding something I'll sorely miss!"
"OK, OK," George said, pulling up a chair too, "What else are you good at?"
"Arithmancy," she said, "Which is no use for breathing underwater."
"Well, you could calculate the best way to make a spell to breathe underwater?" George joked.
"I...I could do that, couldn't I?" she said with a grin, "I'm OK at Transfiguration - I could give us gills!"
"Al!" George said as she leaped to her feet, "I was joking!" He hurried out into the corridor, following her. Al was surprisingly fast when she had sufficient motivation, but she only had ten minutes to get to the library before she had to go to Ancient Runes.
Al arrived at the library and made a mental list of what she needed:
- Biology section: book on fish
- Arithmancy section: formulae books for spell theory
- Transfiguration section: book about laws of transfiguration
Al rushed around the library, being glared at by various students that she bumped into and Madame Pince, who seemed to think she was going to knock a shelf over. She found the book on fish, with gill diagrams and everything, and then picked out three graph and formulae books, and then tried to decide between two Transfiguration books.
"That one," George said, pointing to the one on the right and handing Al her bag, "It's got more laws and less theory."
The bell went as Al hauled her pile to Madame Pince's desk, who began jotting the books down next to her name. "I didn't know you read transfiguration books?" Al told George as she stuffed two into her bag and carried the other three that absolutely wouldn't fit.
"Well, I am a NEWT student," he said, "We have to do a lot of extra reading."
"Who'd have guessed it?" Al teased as they left the library, "George Weasley - the massive nerd."
*****
It was at breakfast two days later that Dill returned. That was quick, Al thought as she tore open the letter.
To Al,
Tracking Pettigrew has been put on hold for the time being. I'd got him all the way down in Albania, and then he just disappeared. I've come back up north since Harry told me about his scar and his dream. It's a little bit worrying, considering Voldemort isn't even back yet, and I'm getting the feeling something bad's about to happen.
Harry also told me you'd been entered into the Triwizard Tournament? I trust you're working on who put your names in, but I cannot stress the urgency of the situation enough. I'm sure it all links together. You must find out, and quickly.
If you need any help with the tasks do not hesitate to contact me. We need to keep each other updated on what's going on inside and outside of Hogwarts.
Padfoot.
Al closed the letter slowly and sighed into her cup of tea. Sirius was right; she'd let this whole tournament thing take up all her time. It was probably their plan all along - whoever had put their names in had known Al would try and figure them out and know that she'd dedicate all her time to it. And now look - she'd let them get away with it for months.
Al stuffed the letter into her bag and headed back to her dorm. She'd set up a work station in there and although it looked like a mess, it was organised chaos. Al peered round at the two dozen pieces of parchment which were littered with various calculations and graphs. Her book on Transfiguration was open on the Second Elemental Law and the fish book was bookmarked with an annotated diagram of the buccal cavity.
This was going to be a huge project. Al just knew it.