"You are a pretty difficult person to get a hold of, Mr. Potter," Anastasia said, her voice naturally a little rough.
"Get a hold of?" I asked curiously, turning a little to face Durmstrang's second champion, grateful for the conversation as it allowed a distraction from the French girl sitting beside me. "What does that mean, Miss Petrova?"
"Anastasia is fine." She spoke with a small smile, and then explained—" All of the champions were thinking about hanging out at Hogsmeade…"
"The weekend before the first task," Cedric supplied from a few seats away.
"Oui, Cedric and Gemma have both tried…" Fleur started, and my breath almost hitched as she spoke. Thankfully, my reaction was too minute and went unnoticed. "But you are quite elusive."
"Ahh— just… trying to stay away from everyone…" I explained and gave a small smile, "Can't have people figuring my strategies…"
Pierre Leroy, the second Beauxbaton champion gave a derisive snort, "Of course… You need all the luck after all…"
I fixed a fake smile on my face and said, with a tint of sarcasm, "Of course, I am a fourth year, ain't I?"
I noticed Cedric, and surprisingly also Gemma, glare at the French boy. Fleur gave a light giggle, seemingly trying to calm the situation, "Well, zere 'as to be somezing about you if ze Goblet chooses you ahead of Gemma. Wicked wiz wand, she is."
"Perhaps…" I mumbled, my eyes focusing on Dumbledore and Ollivander who had just entered the room.
I looked at the center of the room, at the velvet-covered table, where now four of the five judges were sitting — Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Mr. Crouch, and Ludo Bagman.
"May I introduce Mr. Ollivander?" said Dumbledore, taking his place at the judges' table and talking to the champions. "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."
"Mr. Krum, if you please." said Mr. Ollivander, stepping into the empty space in the middle of the room.
I looked at the proceedings intently, wondering if everything would be the same.
Viktor Krum got up and slouched, round-shouldered and duck footed, toward Mr. Ollivander. He thrust out his wand and stood scowling, with his hands in the pockets of his robes. "Hmm," said Mr. Ollivander, "this is a Gregorovitch creation, unless I'm much mistaken? A fine wand-maker, though the styling is never quite what I . . . however . . ."
After my Hogwarts year, following the end of the war, I had learned many skills. Wandmaking and wandlore was one of them.
The only real reason I did so was to get a greater understanding about everything that happened because of different wands' interactions after Voldemort's resurrection. Many times I had only survived because of some esoteric wandlore.
Looking at the wand that Krum gave Olivander, I instinctively murmured, "Hornbeam and dragon heartstring, rigid… and very controlled…"
Anastasia looked at me weirdly, being the only one beside Fleur to hear me. Fleur didn't say anything, intently looking at Olivander's wand inspection,
"Yes . . . hornbeam and dragon heartstring?" he shot at Krum, who nodded. "Rather thicker than one usually sees . . . quite rigid . . . ten and a quarter inch . . . Avis!"
The hornbeam wand let off a blast like a gun, and a number of small, twittering birds flew out of the end and through the open window into the watery sunlight.
Both Anastasia and Fleur's face turned in unison, staring at me, surprised by my eerily accurate words. A few other champions shot confused glances at our direction.
";'ow did you—" Fleur was cut off from her whispered question as the voice of Olivander called.
"Mademoiselle Delacour, could we have you next, please?" said Mr. Ollivander.
"Any predictions about this one too?" Anastasia murmured, as Fleur swept over to Olivander and handed him her wand.
"Let's see… Rosewood… and" My eyes squinted… and then I remembered what her wand had, "Veela hair?" I mumbled in astonishment and blinked.
"What?" Anastasia's eyes widened, and she looked towards Olivander to see what he would say.
He twirled the wand between his long fingers like a baton and it emitted a number of pink and gold sparks. Then he held it close to his eyes and examined it carefully. "Yes," he said quietly, "nine and a half inches . . . inflexible . . . rosewood . . . and containing . . . dear me . . ."
"An 'air from ze 'ead of a veela," said Fleur. "One of my grandmuzzer's."
Anastasia gave me an impressed look, "Well, well… Color me impressed Mr. Potter…"
"Harry is fine."
"Yes," said Mr. Ollivander, "yes, I've never used veela hair myself, of course. I find it makes for rather temperamental wands . . . however, to each his own, and if this suits you . . ."
Mr. Ollivander ran his fingers along the wand, apparently checking for scratches or bumps; then he muttered, "Orchideous!" and a bunch of flowers burst from the wand tip.
"Very well, very well, it's in fine working order," said Mr. Ollivander, scooping up the flowers and handing them to Fleur with her wand. "Mr. Potter, you next."
Fleur glided back to her seat, smiling at me as I passed her.
"Ah, now, this is one of mine, isn't it?" said Mr. Ollivander, with much more enthusiasm, as I handed over my wand. "How well I remember… A pretty fine specimen of my own creation… holly, eleven inches long, and… single feather from the tail of a particularly familiar phoenix." He casted a subtle glance at Dumbledore.
"Yes, yes…" I said and then a thought came in my mind, "Mr. Ollivander, I was wondering about the effects of runes on wands and its properties…"
His eyes brightened, twinkling lightly, as if it was the first time someone had given him a christmas present, "Ah— yes… Runes… Wand making requires a proficient knowledge of runes. Even most wands in this room are runes-engraved ones…" A faraway, almost nostalgic expression gleamed on his old face.
"Of course, doing it as a novice can ruin a wand," He warned and then nudged, "Mr. Potter, if you want any additions, you can always just visit…" He said before finishing the inspection of my wand.
Eventually he made a fountain of wine to shoot out of it, and handed it back to me, announcing that it was still in perfect condition.
I made my way back to my chair, casting Anastasia a smile as she walked towards Ollivander.
"Zo, you guessed my wand too?" Fleur said, her beautiful face holding a small smile, amusement dancing in her sapphire eyes.
I shrugged, "Just some stuff I learned here and there…" I said illusively.
"Oh~ Really? Well what is her wand?" She asked, pointing towards Anastasia who had just passed her wand to Ollivander.
"Cypress and wow… that's new…" My eyes almost bulged out of my sockets, "Ashwinder ashes…"
My words were a second later confirmed by a just as surprised Ollivander. Damn… Ashwinder's ashes… That's unbelievable. That wand must be the damnedest, best conduit of dark arts…
"I 'ave never 'eard of zat core?" Fleur said, a little perturbed by both mine and Ollivander's expression.
Soon, Anastasia returned and smiling coyly, she asked, "So any luck with my guess?"
"Yes…" I said, still processing the information. Some cores can tell a lot about a person. Ashwinder's ash was one of those cores. It was very picky and very hard to tame… But it was strong, very strong.
"Yeah," Fleur said, looking at her and then said, "boz 'Arry and Monsieur. Ollivanzer were very shocked by your core…"
Anastasia smirked, and I realized just how strong this girl actually is. Not as much as me, since I have more experience and knowledge… But for her age…
"Ashwinder ash is the best conduit for darker shades of magic. After all, Ashwinder are born from Dark fires…" Anastasia spoke with a smirk and Fleur's eyes widened.
"And it's a very picky core, very temperamental too," I added.
The rest of the wands that were inspected were pretty normal—The standard Phoenix feather, Unicorn hair, and Dragon's heartstring. I spent the rest of the time making small talks with Fleur and Anastasia.
As the last wand was weighed, the man with the black camera jumped up and cleared his throat before everyone could start leaving.
"Photos, Dumbledore, photos!" cried Bagman excitedly. "All the judges and champions, what do you think, Rita?"
"Er — yes, let's do those first," said Rita Skeeter, whose eyes were upon me again. I gave her a small nod. "And then perhaps some individual shots."
The photographs took a long time. Madame Maxime cast everyone else into shadow wherever she stood, and the photographer couldn't stand far enough back to get her into the frame; eventually she had to sit while everyone else stood around her. At last, we were free to go.
"So… 18 November?" Gemma asked the group of Champions.
Fleur shrugged, while Krum gave a stiff nod. Pierre was one of the only two who looked any excited for the hang out.
"Everyone would come, right?" Marie Bernard, the third French Champion and the other person who was excited, asked.
"Yeah," I shrugged. Lightly I muttered "Would be pretty weird for me though"
Anastasia, who apparently heard it, chuckled, "Of course, A fourth year among Seventh years." She teased, "You don't need an escort right?"
I sent a light glare her way, though it didn't have much heat. Fleur giggled and pointed, "Maybe Cedric can escort you."
I rolled my eyes, "Sure, if he can find me," and Cedric laughed at that while Gemma and Pierre rolled their eyes.
"So, it's done!" Marie clapped her hands excitedly, "November 18, right?" She said looking at everyone, though a little longer at a certain Durmstrang Champion–Aleksandr Novak–who had been sitting beside her.
"Yes!"
"Da"
"Oui"
"Hmm"
…
It was the class after lunch on Wednesday and I was lightly scribbling on a runes book I had borrowed from the library. I felt Hermione nudge me, but I didn't notice. All my attention was on the power matrix that was being explained in the book.
"Mr. Potter, I understand that you must be doing something extremely important to you," Professor Babbling called sarcastically, "But please focus."
"Uhh…" My head instantly snapped up and Hermione shot me an amused but also irritated expression. "Yes Professor."
"Well, why don't you tell the class what Ley Lines are?"
"Ley lines are… magically oversaturated lines running across the earth in random intervals, sometimes parallel sometimes intersecting… It's a theory that they get their magic from Earth's Thermal Energy… They are often used to power large scale wards, ward stones and runic arrays. I think Hogwarts is also built on the intersection of three leylines?" I laid all the general, basic information about leylines.
"Huh… Good answer…." She said slowly, a little surprised that I could answer, "5 points to Gryffindor."
The class dragged on—professor Babbling explained about the interaction of ley lines with the surroundings, other ley lines and magical creatures and plants. She also explained about ley lines properties and so on.
It was a purely theoretical class with no practical application for now. Honestly there really wasn't much practical application till 5th year in Runes. A shame really considering how interesting the actual application of runes is. After a while, I zoned out, practicing my Occlumency instead of focusing much in the class.
"Mr. Potter please stay behind," Professor Babbling said as everyone started leaving. I sighed and gave a silent nod to Hermione. She gave a reassuring smile before picking her stuff and leaving.
After everyone had left, I went to Professor Babbling's table.
"Ah— Harry!" Babbling exclaimed and brought a small black box and opened it, "I have inspected your ring, and it's 100% in perfect working condition. Amazing work all throughout."
I picked the ring up carefully, "Thank you professor." I gave her a small smile.
"If you were a fifth year, I would have given you an O+ in internals for this," She said and I slipped the ring in my index finger. She gave me an amused smile, "You know, I get it that you don't want to attend the class."
My eyes slightly widened, and I feigned innocence, "What do you mean Professor?"
"Oh, spare the jest for Vector," She waved her hand dismissively, "You want to prepare for the tournament. And this Ring is proof enough that you are competent enough. I will allow you next year in my class anyways. So as much as I shouldn't say this as a professor… I still would… You can skip my classes, okay?"
'Best Teacher Ever!' I thought. I slightly lowered my head, a small grin forming on my face, "Thank you Professor."
She chuckled, "Yes, yes. Now get going—shoo." As I started walking away, she called back, "Also Harry, I checked the discreet blood bond at the side. Only add three drops to bind the ring." She gave me a teasing wink and returned to checking some assignments on her table.
I left the classroom perplexed. Babbling was competent alright… I hadn't expected her to find those… I hadn't even finished them… I checked the ring again and realized that the blood binders were fully carved. Damn… She is good…
I looked at my schedule and groaned—Next class was Arithmancy.
It was Friday and I had been practicing my Occlumency. I took a quick peek out of my bed curtains and noticed that all my roommates were asleep. I took a look at the clock and realized that it was 1 a.m.
I twirled my ring summoning my invisibility cloak and left the room. I had to check if the champions would be facing Dragon this time too. Or would it be different? So many questions swirled in my mind.
As I entered the staircase, I slipped the cloak from me and unsummoned it, sending it back in the ring. I walked for a while, crossing all the floors, navigating the moving staircase and passing the various sleepy and grumpy portraits. Finally, I reached the ground floor.
I quickly made my way to the exit and walked towards the general direction of Hagrid's hut, near the Forbidden Forest.
"Now… just follow the instincts I suppose…" I sighed and lightly murmured, "And try to remember where the dragons were kept the last time"
I looked at the eerie dark boundary of the forest and walked towards it. I entered the forest, crossing trees, shrubs and who knows what. I felt like I was walking in the correct direction—I could see some footsteps, ones that could only belong to a giant man—Hagrid.
So far, my instinct, my memory and Hagrid's footsteps were in synchrony, giving me a good confidence boost.
I had walked quite far by now—neither the castle nor the lake was visible anymore. Finally, I heard it, roars and flashes of fire. I twirled my ring and summoned my cloak and covered myself. With soft steps I walked closer and closer towards the roars… Finally, I reached a clearing.
Finally, as I reached the edge of the clearing, I saw a spectacle of pure chaos. Hundreds of men shouting at each other, running here and there, some casting spells, some mounting crates. There was a sense of pure panic and confusion in the clearing and as I turned to look at the creatures that the champions would be facing, I understood why.
Dragons… and more… worse…
There are ten known species of Dragons… Antipodean Opaleye, Chinese Fireball, Common Welsh Green, Hebridean Black, Hungarian Horntail, Norwegian Ridgeback, Peruvian Vipertooth, Romanian Longhorn, Swedish Short-Snout and Ukrainian Ironbelly.
As I looked around the clearing, one by one at each Magical cage, my breath hitched… All ten dragons… and a Nundu and a Chimera…
"Nine… out of twelve would be chosen," I murmured.
I shivered a little as my eyes fell on the large beast sleeping peacefully in his cage despite the confusion and uproar in the surrounding… The Nundu… The apex predator. Knowing my luck, there is a good chance that I will get it.
The beasts shifted a little in his sleep, and even the small movement was enough to cause many workers to flinch and cast dozens of shields.
And then there was the Chimera… Dragons are one thing… but Chimera is a different beast. A bound dragon is way easier to evade since they are the beasts of the sky… But Nundu and Chimera are Land monsters… Even bound they would be vicious.
Taking a last glance at the clearing, I left for the castle.
In the following days, I intensified my training, spending more and more time in seclusion away from everyone. Both Hermione and Ron were confused by this sudden change, but I decided to ignore them. I needed to get better and better fast. I know I have enough knowledge and skill. But I still needed to learn. My magical reservoir in this young body was small and therefore I needed as many alternative spells as possible.
Slytherin's Journal had taught me a lot, hundreds of Parsel Magic spells. And I was not stopping anytime soon. The Journal was a treasure. Originally I had thought that it was small, but the journal had a charm that made it look as big as a normal notebook. It was nearly 5,000 pages long for God sake!
On the weekend Hagrid had asked me to meet him at midnight… I had to reveal that I had seen the Challenge that was hidden in the forest for the first task already.
Among all the champions, I had only gotten glimpses of Krum, Gemma and Anastasia since the wand weighing ceremony. The only reason I had seen them was because they spent a lot of time in the library. Others like Cedric, I may have seen a couple of times in the corridor. But that's it.
"Hey guys," I said, right now sitting on a carriage on its way to Hogsmeade. As tentatively as I could, I said "I won't be able to hang out in Hogsmeade…"
"Wait what?— WHY!" Ron Exclaimed.
"I know." Hermione said normally and both me and Ron looked at her.
"How do you know?" I asked and she shrugged nonchalantly, though her cheeks did get slightly pink. That made me realize how, but i didn't say anything
"All the other champions wanted to kind of… hang out. Like… since the first task is coming soon right?" I explained to Ron.
"So you will be gone the entire time?" Hermione asked.
"Don't know," I shrugged. "Probably not though."
For the rest of the ride, Ron grumbled. He would have to go out with Neville, Dean and Seamus today since I was going with the other champions and Hermione said that she would be going to hang out with some girls from other houses.
As the Horseless carriages reached the village and stopped, we got out. Both Ron and Hermione left while I started searching for other champions.
"Oh hi Harry," A sweet voice said.
"Oh— Cho, Hii, How have you been?" I asked the fifth year Ravenclaw girl.
Her countenance turned a little shy and a light pink grazed her cheeks. She said, "I am good… How are you? I never congratulated you for becoming a Hogwarts champion…"
"It's fine," I waved dismissively, "I have been staying away from people in general anyways."
"Yes… I have noticed. Cedric also said something similar… that you were very hard to find…" said Cho
"Speaking of Cedric; you got any idea where he might be?" I asked, wondering where all the Champions would be.
"He was headed for the Three Broomsticks," She said, her voice a bit more confident.
"Oh… of course… thanks," I checked my clock… "Oh shit," I muttered under my breath. "I will see you around, gotta go."
"Bye Harry."
"Bye."
Damn… no wonder I had such a hard time with her in my fifth year… she is nice… but not… She is not my cup of tea, let's just end there.
I started making my way to the Three Broomsticks, passing a very excited bunch of Fred, George and Ginny who were going to Jonko's, on the way.
I finally reached the pub and inn, and entered. Immediately I spotted Cedric, sitting at a table. No one else had arrived yet. I walked to the table and sat down across from him.
"And everyone thought I would be late," I deadpanned moodily.
Cedric, amused by my words, chuckled, "Half of them, I am not sure, if they are in the village!"
"Hypocrites!"
"'O are you calling 'yppocritez 'Arry?" Fleur Delacour, taking a seat beside me, gestured questioningly.
"Nothing, Nothing…" Cedric sent an amused expression my way and my lips lightly twitched slightly to a half smile.
"Where are the others Fleur?" Cedric asked.
"No izea 'bout Krum and Pierre, Anastasia and Gemma I zaw 'anging out near zat 'aunted 'ouse…" Fleur said and then an expression of concentration fell on her face… "Anz I zing I saw Aleksandr and Marie going to Madam Puddifoot's tea shop."
I choked on the water I was drinking and coughed hearing that. I questioned—"Already?" My expression mirrored Cedric's surprise
"Oui"
A small silence fell on the table. We ordered some Butterbeer while waiting for others to arrive.
"So Harry… How have you been preparing?" Cedric asked curiously and Fleur looked intently.
"Practicing and well… learning new spells and stuff… and all that…" I said a little illusively.
"Practized anyzing from sevenz year syllabus?" Fleur asked.
"Of course, yeah," I said nonchalantly, shrugging lightly.
"Oh… Like?" Cedric asked.
"Can't reveal all my cards now can I?"
"Killjoy" Fleur muttered and then turned to Cedric, "Anz what 'ave you been practicing Cedric?"
"What have you been practicing Fleur?" I asked Fleur with an amused smile, finding her attempts to find any information hilarious.
She looked at me and coyly, fluttering her eyebrows, "You know, zis and zat~"
"Uh-huh…" I said and Cedric snorted. "excellente…"
"Oh—Looks like Krum's here," Cedric said and I turned my head, noticing the usually grumpy Krum entering the pub and inn with a rare small smile.
Krum looked around and eventually noticed us and made his way here. His arrival was marked by a small wave of chatter, as people started muttering about the famous 'Seeker'.
Krum came and then stopped for a second, as if calculating which is the best seat to sit on. Finally after what seemed like a few seconds, he decided to take a seat beside Cedric, two seats from my left.
"Having a good day, Krum?" I asked the quidditch superstar with an amused smile, having some idea why the usually moody man seemed smiley, at least more than usual.
"Da, it has been decent," Krum said in his thick Bulgarian accent. Suddenly as if some sudden thoughts went through his mind, he sat up straight, his eyes slightly widening as he looked at me.
I almost laughed, but controlled it. Fleur and Cedric looked at our exchange with confusion. "Studying at the Library in the morning?" I asked, my tone neutral and the quidditch superstar spluttered.
"Wh-Well… Yes, Studying… Impressive Library—" He managed.
"Indeed—" I nodded sagely.
Fleur and Cedric looked at the exchange with confusion, but still found it hilarious.
Over the next ten minutes, all the other Champions came too.
"Are we the last ones?" Gemma asked, as she and Anastasia came towards the table.
"Yes, Yes, You guys are the last ones," Marie, who was sitting beside Aleksandr, who sat on the other side of Cedric, said.
"Well, I guess we lost track of time," Anastasia shrugged and sat down beside Fleur, one of the only two chairs left. Gemma sat beside her, between Anastasia and Marie.
"So, How is everyone's preparation going?" Marie asked excitedly.
"Decent, Nothing too special…" Pierre mutters.
"Yeah… Kind of hard to prepare for something when you don't know what it is…" Anastasia said darkly.
"True," Gemma agreed, leaning her head against her.
"'As no one figured out ze task yet?" Fleur asked, a little hopefully.
"Wait a second…" I looked at her surprised, "None of you have figured what the task is?"
Everyone instantly stared at me and I blinked in surprise. Damn. This was different. Has no teacher done any cheating yet? Was that done last time because of the fourth champion and unfairness thing… Damn… was I the whole reason for all the cheating in that tournament?
"Wait, what's the task?" Aleksandr asked.
"And How do you know the task? Who told you!" Pierre exclaimed.
"Don't scream in my ears… Jeez, you are sitting beside me…" I winced and then said, "Dragons, and well a Nundu and Chimera."
A small silence fell on the table and was only broken a few minutes later by Krum, "What?"
"I was kind of… strolling in the Forbidden Forest—"
"You were w–at?" Fleur exclaimed and immediately became flustered by her outburst. "Sorry, continue…"
"Yeah.. okay," I said, jumping a little at her sudden-outburst, since she was sitting beside me. "Yeah— so… there were like ten dragons and a Nundu and Chimera caged with about a couple hundred people maintaining them."
"So… First task… has something to do with—" Cedric said, a tense air over the table, "Dragon? Nundu? Chimera?"
"So… like the tasks of old…" Anastasia muttered.
"Yeah… Like those… Probably retrieving some clue for second task," I said and a few of them nodded.
"Merde," Fleur cursed under her breath.
Gemma leaned a little against the table and asked, "How long have you known this?"
"Like eight days," I shrugged. "Honestly I expected that most would have figured it. Dragons aren't exactly the most subtle creatures…"
"Well some of us don't roam a forest which we are explicitly told not to for fun," Pierre huffed and Anastasia and Alexandr looked at him in amusement. Krum also gave him a judging stare. Cedric meanwhile tried to not smile.
"Ah… yes… I guess," I said, trying to not seem amused and prevent a snobbish outburst from him. "Must be in my genes…"
Fleur meanwhile looked a little surprised by everyone's reaction, shocked that breaking rules was taken so lightly by Hogwarts and Durmstrang students.
"So princess, how often do you break rules?" Anastasia murmured against Gemma's ear, her voice slipping like an arrow from the quiver, precise and deliberate. Everyone in the table cringed at the suggestive tone, Pierre even going a little red.
Gemma to her credit didn't back down or blush against Anastasia, instead slithering some of her own words in Anastasia's ear. Gemma's words were inaudible, unlike Anastasia's, though they were still heard by a very heavily blushing Marie.
A silence fell upon the table.
Finally, after a while Pierre broke the silence, trying to make some talk, "So… What's everyone's favorite spell?"
After a moment of silence, Krum spoke, "Definitely Arresto Momentum."
"To soften your falls?" Cedric asked, smirking at the spell's choice.
"Daa, helped me plenty of times," Krum answered, "What's your favorite?"
"That's a hard question…" Cedric said, his hands on his chin, "Well, if I have to choose… I guess, Expelliarmus?"
"Interesting choice," Pierre mutters and then said, "My favorite is the Lunar light spell"
I blinked, surprised by the weird choice. Seriously? Who likes the Lunar light spell? That's the most out of pocket thing ever.
"Anz what spell is your préféré," Fleur asked and I internally shivered at her close proximity.
"Ladies first…" I murmured with a smirk.
She huffed, but a small smile appeared on her beautiful face, her ruby lips lightly lifting up, "Disillusionment Charm."
"Oh same, I love that charm too—" Marie exclaimed and a small smile appeared on Aleksandr's face.
"Mine is the Patronus," I said simply.
"The Patronus?" Pierre asked, surprised by the odd choice—Ironic. He said, "What's your favorite spell that you can cast?"
I looked at him and blinked and then felt stupid as I suddenly remembered that Patronus is actually really tough. I twirled my ring, summoned my wand and casted, "Expecto Patronum."
The words have barely left my mouth and white wisp of magic rushed out of my wand water from an open dam. The white wisps materialized in the form of a large regal stag, almost cool to the touch.
A cute gasp escaped from Fleur. Most of the champions' eyes widened. But this wasn't the bad part. This reaction from the champions' was okay with me… The worst part was the immediate muttering that began almost instantly when the stag materialized.
I winced seeing the muttering from the people in the pub and inn. "Shouldn't have done that…"
I twisted my wand and the stag disappeared. I unsummoned my wand and sighed. No problem, I decided. I am an adult and won't care if everyone will talk about me. I am Harry Potter.
Yeah, let's not get ahead of ourselves, I was still at heart the little boy that once entered the Diagon alley for the first time. I was still a very shy person, even though I was good at faking confidence.
"Oh look—" I said pointing at the empty table, "I will go and order some more Butterbeer," I said and stood up to walk towards the counter.
I placed my order, and as I was about to start returning I was met with a Reluctant and almost shy Krum. He said that he wanted to talk about something and we walked to a corner.
"Harry, you know when I entered the Three Broomsticks," He started and I got a small idea what this was going to be about.
I sighed, slightly leaning against the wall, "Yes, Hermione?" I asked bluntly.
"Uh… Yes. You see, Her-my-onene, she…" Krum started trying his best to form a coherent sentence.
"Uh-huh," I said, very entertained.
"Are you and she…" Krum asked slowly… "You two spend a lot of time together."
"Nope, she is like a sister…" I said and then my eyes slightly narrowed, "And you should keep that in mind."
"Of course," Krum's eyes widened at the not so subtle warning and he spoke immediately. "So… you are not with her…"
"Hmm," I said and then suggested, "Maybe try the Yule ball after the first task, aye?"
His eyes lit up and he was about to say something but I immediately cut him off.
"But remember Krum, I am putting great trust by suggesting this. If I find that you hurt her… I won't care that you are a seventh year, an international quidditch star or a Triwizard Champion…" My eyes lightly glowed emerald, "Also, if you follow up on my suggestion—Don't let her know of my involvement."
Krum shivered hearing my words and immediately complied.
"You… Have a strong aura," Krum said after a while. "You hide it well."
My face relaxes and a smile graces my lips, "This conversation never happened. Let's go."
We returned to the table.
Different conversations continued for a while. They ranged from talking about different experiences, hobbies and stuff to what we wanted to be, our ambition and so on. All the Champions were ambitious people, who with correct motivation and guidance would surely become successful.
After about an hour, slowly, we started dispersing. Marie and Aleksandr were the first to leave, followed by Pierre. Krum was the next, followed by Cedric. And then at last Gemma and Anastasia left.
Finally Fleur stood up. She looked at me and then suddenly asked, "Wanna 'ang out?"
'Hell Yeah!' were the words that first came to my mind, but i decided to bury them, instead choosing a way tamer, "Sure," followed with a sweet smile.
"You are a very interesting person, 'Arry," Fleur said, with her normal sweet tone and my stomach almost did a somersault when she took my hand, "Let's go."
Is this a dream?
Author's Note: Hey guys, so I am still here. The reason why I had stopped my daily upload was a very minor but consistent freight train that loves to hit me in the face—School. Anyways, I have decided that I would be uploading at least 1 chapter a week. That is the minimum amount. Other than that, I may or may not upload more
This is the longest chapter I have written so far, being over 5,000 words long. It is kind of dialogue driven. And I suck at that… This was kind of a practice and experiment. Give me your suggestions please, Thank you. Honestly I found this chapter boring. Also yeah by the way, this chapter took me about 8 hours to write.
Also, I am sleep deprived while writing this...