...Would I Lie To You?
Harry sat in the Gryffindor common room staring at his potions textbook. He wasn't absorbing a single word as his thoughts right now were all focused on Ron. 'How could he possibly think that I had entered his own name into the Tri-Wizard cup when he had made it quite clear several times since they found out about the competition that he was happy that the younger students could not enter.' He thought to himself ' We even watched together as his own brothers Fred and George tried and failed to enter their own names, he should know that I don't have the magical knowledge to confound a cup protected by Dumbledore himself.'
Harry's thoughts were interrupted as Ron and Hermione entered the room, Ron avoiding his gaze at all costs and Hermione looking between them sympathetically. She had been juggling a relationship between the two ever since they began fighting as they refused to be anywhere near one another; Today was a Ron day. Unfortunately for Harry when Hermione was having a Ron day he was forced to partner with Neville in every one of his classes. This wouldn't be tragic had Neville been even halfway decent at any class either than Herbology. He had nearly blown them both to smithereens while making a simple forgetfulness potion in the potions lab and he had given Harry a particularly awful looking black eye while attempting a disarming charm in Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Ron walked straight up to the boys dormitories while Hermione sat down across from Harry.
"What happened to your eye Harry?" Hermione asked with worry written all over her face.
"Neville did." Harry replied still looking at his potions book
"Look at me so I can heal it." She continued pulling out her wand and aiming at his face. He complied wanting the bruise off his face more than anything at the moment. It was quite awkward roaming the halls and having everyone whisper while pointing at your face wondering what happened and making up the most outrageous stories.
"So… I heard that you know what the first task is." She continued, tucking her wand into her robes.
"Not really… I just know it involves dragons." He replied in monotone. Hermione furrowed her brow at him in thought.
"What do you expect you'll have to do?" She asked trying to start a proper conversation.
"How am I supposed to know…? I only barely got a glimpse of the dragons themselves."He replied letting out a dejected sigh.
"Well I suppose it will involve escaping the dragon… probably trying to beat the time of the other champions." She said all knowingly.
"And you assume all that on only a glimpse of the bloody dragons?" He asked amused.
"Well I also researched examples of past tournament tasks and there were only three involved dragons and two of them involved avoiding the dragon until you know some sort of clue for the next task."She said acquiring her boring teaching voice.
"Well what about the third one." He asked curious to hear what kind of tasks he might encounter.
"Well, in the other one the champions were made to ride the dragons for a pre-determined amount of time." She replied quickly. All colour drained from Harry's face at that and he swallowed the large lump that had formed in his throat.
"Ride Dragons?" He asked for clarification.
"Yes but nearly all the champions died then, so I doubt they'll use it this time around."She answered clearly missing the fact that this was the last thing he needed to hear right now. "Well I'm off to bed, early potions tomorrow." And with that she stalked off to the girl's dormitories leaving Harry in a panic behind her.
The next day came quickly as Harry wasn't able to fall asleep easy with visions of himself being eaten alive by a large spiky dragon flowing in and out of his dreams. He dressed quickly and made his way towards breakfast early hoping to avoid as many people as possible. Unfortunately he ran into the last person he ever wanted to see.
"Wow Potter, you look dreadful... even for you." Malfoy greeted
"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry asked in a hushed tone that screamed 'sod off'
"Calm down Potter, I just wanted to talk to you." He drawled
"Talk then." He replied actually calmed by his curiosity about what Malfoy could possibly have to say to him.
"Not here." He said latching on to Harry's arm and dragging him down a corridor that led away from the great hall. "You won't tell me the truth in such a public setting."
"What makes you think I'm going to tell you the truth anywhere Draco?"
Malfoy stopped right away and whipped his head around to look at Harry squinting as he did.
"What?" Harry asked as Malfoys scrutinizing gaze lasted much too long for his comfort.
"Why did you call me that?" He asked, squinting even harder if it were possible.
"Call you what?" Harry asked, completely put off by Malfoys apparent shock.
"Draco… why did you call me Draco."He asked again
"I dunno." He shrugged "I didn't even realize I had." Malfoys gaze lingered a little longer before turning around once more and continuing into a short abandoned corridor.
"How did you enter your name Potter?"He asked suddenly, whipping around once more.
"That's what you wanted to ask me?"He replied "I didn't put my name in the cup."
"Don't bloody lie to me, Potter." He snarled. "I know you did it, I just want to know how."
"Why the bloody hell would I put my name in that sodden cup?"Harry asked.
"For the publicity, no doubt." Draco huffed sticking his pointy nose in the air. Harry gave a humourless snort and began to turn away and continue on his way to breakfast before Malfoy grabbed his arm once more. "Look me in the eye and tell me that you didn't do it." He asked, his entire snarky attitude now gone.
"Why do you even care?"Harry asked with a furrowed brow.
"Are you turning this around so you don't have to try to lie?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. Harry put his hands on Malfoys shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. Green melded together with silver as they stared into each others eyes for a silent moment. Both with a fierceness that dare the other to break the gaze first before Harry spoke.
"Draco, I didn't put my name in that sodden cup."He said with calm precision, allowing his eyes to show that he was telling the truth. They stared at each other for another moment in silence just staring into each others gaze both trying to decipher what the other was thinking before Draco nodded. "Okay Potter... I believe you." He mumbled so quietly that if the hallway hadn't been completely deserted Harry was sure he wouldn't have heard it.
"Good..." He answered triumphantly and oddly glad. "So you should."
"Yes, I shall never doubt the golden boy again." Malfoy replied sarcastically, sending Harry a joking smirk.
"See that you don't Malfoy." Harry laughed, though as he was doing it he thought of how odd it was for him to be actually joking around with a Malfoy. "Anyways..." He said, breaking himself from his own thoughts. "If that was all you had to ask me, I would like to get down to breakfast before the morning crowd gets in." And with a wave he was gone leaving Draco in his wake.