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GRYFFINDORS were generally supportive that harry had entered the competition. though many rumors around the school had wondered how both harry and evelyn had gotten their names into the cup, including ron.
"I'm telling you, I didn't put my name in the cup!", harry argued.
"sure you didn't! after a little fame, you're dying to just get more like lockhart aren't ya?!", ron shouted back.
"guys guys, please stop shouting", evelyn begged. "and ron, we really didn't put our names into the cup. there's an age restriction circle that dumbledore had set, don't you remember??"
"as if that stopped you two from getting picked", ron spat as he left.
harry huffed in annoyance as he went a separate way, with evelyn following.
the two walked across the school yard, minding their own business until malfoy had spoken.
"well if it isn't potter. you know, my father and I had a bet. I bet that you wouldn't last longer than 10 minutes in the game", malfoy sneered as he then slid off the tree and landed on the ground.
"but he bet you won't last even 5", malfoy grinned, making the other slytherins laugh.
"listen malfoy—"
"harry", evelyn softly said, shaking her head.
harry calmed down as he started walking away. malfoy quickly took out his wand, and right before he could cast a spell, professor moody came limping over.
"oh no you don't!"
with a swish of his wand, evelyn watched malfoy turn into a snow-white ferret. hopping up and down due to moody's imperious curse, moody was about to drop the ferret into crabbe's pants until evelyn caught it.
"p-professor moody, I think draco understands his faults now. please turn him back", evelyn pouted as she held onto the white ferret that was trembling in her arms.
it snuggled closer as moody approached evelyn, making the girl slightly stumble back.
"professor moody?? what is all this commotion?! and ms. gardener, why is it that you have a ferret in your arms??", professor mcgonagall questioned.
"professor mcgonagall, please turn draco back! he's received enough of his punishment already", evelyn pleaded.
mcgonagall glared at moody, who was just whistling.
"put him down".
evelyn did as told, setting the little white ferret on the ground. and with a swish of her wand, draco had indeed turned back to what he originally was, human.
"that ought to teach you!", moody smirked, making malfoy quickly stand behind evelyn.
"go on now! there's nothing to see", professor mcgonagall waved.
"dray, are you okay?", evelyn worried, combing through the boy's tousled hair.
"okay?! OKAY?! that man literally turned me into an animal! just wait til my father hears about this!", malfoy spat as he huffed.
evelyn gave out a small smile as she took out a cinnamon apple cookie.
"here you go. I'm sorry I haven't had time to bake much. it's been a bit stressful with all the...".
evelyn momentarily stopped herself.
she then thought back to professor trelawney's prophecy. indeed 5 people were chosen this year. she did not know who the savior was, nor did she have a clue who the boy was. but she was determined to help save that person, whether it be harry, krum, or cedric.
"it's fine", malfoy quickly said as he snatched the cookie out of evelyn's hand and started eating it.
"and evelyn", malfoy started, making the girl look up.
"you ought to practice your spells", malfoy advised.
evelyn perked up. she was so occupied with obsessing over trelawney's (real) prophecy that she had totally forgotten that she too was going to compete.
"could you perhaps help me then?", evelyn asked, to which malfoy scowled.
"you want my help? why? poor little hufflepuff can't figure things out on her own?", malfoy mocked.
"okay, then I suppose I could just ask cedric to—"
"shut it. I'm helping you. meet me on the field after dinner", malfoy interrupted as he soon walked away.
evelyn scratched her head at how fast malfoy did a 180, but didn't mind as now she had someone that could help her hopefully not die.
—✼—
harry and evelyn hid behind a bush while hagrid led madame olympe maxime to the field that was slightly ahead of where they were hidden.
both fourth-years were under harry's invisibility cloak. they listened in as hagrid showed the half-giant woman how charlie and his friends had tamed a mother dragon by putting her to sleep.
apparently igor karkaroff—the headmaster of durmstrang institute—also was spying on them, as the man's black fuzzy hat stuck out a bit from the bushes.
"do you think that the first trial has to deal with dragons?", evelyn whispered.
"I assume so. though I'm not sure what we'll be doing with a dragon", harry whispered back.
"haha, imagine fighting a dragon", evelyn lightly chuckled.
"don't jinx it evelyn. we might actually have to", harry joked.
"anyways, let's go back. it's getting late", evelyn said.
harry nodded as the two stood up and tried to quietly walk back. evelyn slipped away from the invisibility cloak as harry went towards the gryffindor room.
slowly tip-toeing to the hufflepuff common room, she found cedric reading on one of the couches, near the fire.
"cedric!! why's it that you're still up?", evelyn asked, taking a seat beside the boy.
"I could ask you the same", cedric smiled, flipping to the next page of his book.
"anyways cedric, harry and I found out that the first trial will be dealing with dragons. I saw headmaster karkaroff and madame maxime there too. I'm sure that they'll tell their students so I thought I'd let you know too!!", evelyn smiled.
cedric closed his book. though he knew that everyone was to compete for their own, he couldn't help but worry about evelyn's performance.
the triwizard tournament was no joke. and if you weren't careful enough, you could potentially die from carelessness.
"thank you", cedric said.
he had great trust in the younger hufflepuff. he believed that she would not make up a lie to hopefully catch him off guard.
"say cedric, what do you think the second and third trials will be?", evelyn casually asked, laying back onto the couch.
"I'm honestly not sure what to expect. but whatever it is, I hope to bring glory to hogwarts, and specifically hufflepuff", cedric smiled, admiring the dancing flames that seemed to clap in response.
"I just want to live through it", evelyn mumbled.
cedric turned to the girl and gave her a low chuckle.
"don't worry now. I know we're not supposed to be helping each other. but I'll protect you if anything goes wrong", cedric said, patting the girl's head.
evelyn felt her heart grow warm and fuzzy. she knew she had ron, harry, hermione, malfoy, and many other friends. but at that very moment, cedric felt like a big brother to her.
"okay. and I'll protect you too", evelyn grinned as she gave the confused male a hug.
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