The Secret Admirer by Shrimp51
This is my second story. It is about Daphne Greengrass who receives letters two days in a row by some mystery person. It is the day of the First Task at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
OOC people.
The story might not be very truthful towards the books.
I DO NOT OWN THE Harry Potter SERIES.
OXOXO
I awake to the sight of my wand. No badge, no roses, no letter. Was it all a dream? Did I just imagine the last two days? No! I couldn't have!
I quickly get up and rush to the bathroom to keep the girls from seeing my tears. I finish my morning rituals and head straight for the Great Hall to eat breakfast. Potter doesn't arrive for breakfast, and his absence causes some discomfort with the Headmaster. He speaks to Granger and Weasley just as the owl-post arrives. There seems to be more post today than there usually is. I notice the familiar snowy-white owl with hazel eyes while everyone else is trying to free their owls of their burdens.
Hedwig, as I remember her name, flies straight for me when she enters, and drops a small, black box with a red lid in front of me, as well as another letter. She turns sharply and exits just as quickly as she had entered. No-one seems to have noticed her presence, the Headmaster is still speaking to Granger and Weasley and the students in the Great Hall are still attempting to free their post. Out of the corner of my eye I see Malfoy smirking at me, but when I look towards him, he is speaking to Nott who is on his other side.
I turn my attention back to my post. There is nothing different about the letter, same envelope, the same hand-writing, even the same signet.
'So, it wasn't a dream and it is Potter,' I think to myself as I lift the letter and break the seal.
Dear Daphne Greengrass
By now, I suspect, you know who I am.
Everything I have written to you, these past two days, is true, in the first and the second letter.
Today I proclaim my love for you. Whether you have similar feelings or not, I care not for I will love you in this world and the next.
Please accept my token of peace and cherish the beauty you and this have inside.
To you, my love
Your Secret Admirer, Harry Potter.
I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyes; I pushed them down without a minute's notice. I lift the small box and pull the lid up. Inside, resting on white velvet, is my badge, the one my secret admirer, Harry, made for me. Underneath the lid is a short inscription that says, 'The Seveneth has been completed Two Fold.'
'I wonder what that is supposed to mean,' I think to myself.
The badge now has a white, red and black rose. On the banner, the inscription now says, 'Pure Love in Dark Times'.
I realised then what it all meant. He can't. Why would he, I felt the tears come back, and I let them show.
My table goes silent, followed shortly by the rest of the Great Hall. I distinctly hear Malfoy say that some guy got me.
'Wonder what he means by that.'
I quickly place the badge on my robes, the mutterings have just started, and I quickly get up to leave. Malfoy gets up and stops me.
"Daphne, what is wrong?"
I am taken aback by the concern in his voice.
"Malfoy?" I ask dumbfounded. "No, there's nothing wrong."
He eyes me a bit longer and then steps aside and lets me go by.
I leave quickly and make my way to my first class.
I make it to the first floor when I hear them.
"Use your wand, boy, to summon your broom," Professor Moody hissed. "Then you can retrieve whatever they will want you to get."
"I suppose I could do that, professor," a drawling voice replied.
It took me a second to realize who had spoken. My first thought was Malfoy, but he isn't in the tournament, so it has to be Harry! I rush around the corner, Gryffindorishly, and walk right into Harry.
"Sorry, I didn't realize you were…" I start and then abruptly stop and fake recognition when I look at him.
Harry shakes his head ever so slightly and turns to Professor Moody.
"Sir, I shall see you later."
Professor Moody mumbled a response before he moves away toward his classroom.
I turn to Harry but he is already moving in the opposite direction. I begin to discretely follow him.
'We're heading down the same corridor I lost him in yesterday,' I think to myself.
He turns the same corner I lost him at and I make a mad dash after him. He's gone. Again! I am just getting ready to run again when I hear it.
"See you later, Harry," someone says, almost shyly. "And, if you die down there, you can always share my toilet!"
I look towards the door the voice had come from. It has to be Moaning Myrtle as it is her bathroom.
'Why would he go into a girls' bathroom?' I wonder as I enter cautiously.
"Myrtle," I call out softly.
The bathroom is empty as far as I can see; the usual state of it.
"You won't find him here," Myrtle whispers in my ear. I jump in surprise and whirl around to see her, but she isn't there.
"Nice trick, hey?" she asks from behind me.
I turn and face her. She is sitting on her toilet looking at me with a devilish grin on her silverfish face.
"What do you mean by that?" I ask her.
"Well, it's a trick that I picked up from Peeves, where you move your voice to speak somewhere else. It's quite difficult though."
"No! I meant, what did you mean by, 'I won't find him here'?" I ask trying to feign innocence.
Evidently I failed, because Myrtle narrows her eyes and says, "Don't play dumb with me; I can see straight through you just like you can see straight through me. You won't find Harry Potter in my bathroom!"
"Then where would I find him?" I ask, exasperated, with my eye starting to twitch.
"In the Chamber of course, it's over there, by the sinks. Good luck getting in though," she laughs diving into her toilet, water splashing everywhere.
I gaze at her toilet suspiciously as I apply a dry charm onto my robes. Once I'm finished, I turn to gaze at the sinks and begin to analyse each one carefully. It is when I am examining the tap of the sink across from Myrtle's cubicle that I see it. There, just below the handle, is a snake. But it is more than just a snake, it is Slytherin's signet. A sudden realisation hits me then. This was where it happened.
"This is where the Chamber of Secrets lies?" I ask out loud, not daring to believe it.
"Oh yes, and both times too!"
I glance back at Myrtle's toilet where her head is resting on its seat.
"Both times?" I ask dumbfound.
"Mhmm… two years ago and fifty before that," Myrtle replies quietly. I can hear, even feel, the sorrow in her voice.
"What happened?"
Myrtle fades out of sight before her voice whispers slowly in my ear, "I don't have to tell you, all I have to tell you is this, when I left my cubicle almost fifty two years ago, the last thing I saw was two great big yellow eyes by this very sink that you are standing in front of."
My heart is beating fast and it doesn't help when at that moment the bell, which signals the start of the school day, rings. I am out of there before the bell has the time to finish and I race, as fast as I can, to my first class and I hope that I never have to use that bathroom ever again.
I don't see hide or hair of Harry for the rest of the day, I don't even bother going to lunch. I'm not hungry anyway; I'm so worried about him.
I start heading to the arena where the task will take place and I see him, only a fleeting glance of him though, but I know it's him; no one else has hair like that.
With my conscience reassured that he hasn't done it, I head for one of the grandstands and find a seat.
Soon everyone is there and Bagman rises to the podium to address the spectators.
"Witches and wizards of all ages, welcome to the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. In this task, each of the champions will have to face a dragon." There are gasps all around the stands at the mention of what the task held. A shiver ran up my spine but I shrug it off.
"They will have to retrieve the Golden Egg that will be guarded by the dragon they will face," he pauses to let the news sink in.
"The four dragons that the champions will face are, in this order: a Common Welsh-Green, a Swedish Short-Snout, a Chinese Fireball and a Hungarian Horntail," Bagman listed as the crowd mutters, tut-tutters, goggles and gasps.
My chill returns with a vengeance although I still manage to shrug it off.
"Now, it gives me great pleasure to introduce our first champion. The Champion of Hogwarts!"
I look up in hope.
"Cedric Diggory!"
The audience applauds. I lose a bit of hope.
Cedric enters the arena. He manoeuvres around his dragon but makes a mistake by destroying three of the dragon's eggs. Finally, he retrieves his prize.
The crowd is ecstatic. Bagman returns to the podium.
"A brilliant performance; although he should have tried preventing his mistake. Ah well, next is the champion of Bueabaxtons!"
My hope dwindles further
"Fleur Delacour!"
'He better not try anything stupid,' I frantically think to myself.
Fleur acts quickly when she enters, as if she has rehearsed the entire act. She transfigures various rocks opposite her into animals to distract the dragon. While the dragon begins to tear the animals apart, Fleur sneaks around it and collects her prize. But, before she can exit the arena, her dragon realises the trick and makes a run for her. It doesn't get far though; Fleur only suffers slightly singed hair.
Bagman is at the podium again, did he even leave it?
"Stunning, simply stunning and I mean her body – err – I mean, her performance folks!"
There is some sniggering in the stands at Bagman's mistake but I ignore it.
Bagman clears his throat and regains the audience's attention once again. He hadn't lost mine.
"And now, our third champion, world renowned Quidditch seeker!"
Tears begin to trail down my cheeks and clouds begin to roll in from the west.
"Viktor Krum!"
The crowd goes wild; I only hear it as if it were a mosquito. I withdraw into myself, I can't handle it. He's fighting a bloody Hungarian Horntail! I can't think; I can't do anything. All I can do is see his face, his angelic face and entrancing emerald green eyes with their spark of lightning in them. I hear it, his name from afar and I return to reality. The sky has darkened considerably since I last look at it. Clouds now fill it as far as the eye can see.
"…Harry Potter, who will be facing the fiercest of all dragons."
I see him enter the arena, wand at his side, hanging loosely. He glances around the arena and then points his wand towards his throat, muttering a spell.
"Ladies and gentlemen… and, of cause, my beloved," Harry begins.
There are a few 'ahs' in the crowd, mostly from girls… I think.
He glances at the dragon that seems to be satisfied with the distance he is from its eggs.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle," he says as he draws the name in the sky.
Out of the corner of my eye I see Dumbledore become agitated.
"He was a prefect here at Hogwarts fifty two years ago and later became Head-boy. He was much like Hermione Granger, a straight O student although he was a half-blood, as you pureblood-supremacists would say, and was sorted into Slytherin. He has a service award in the trophy-room up at the castle.
"After Hogwarts, he went and began work at Borgin and Burke's Buy and Sell in Knockturn Ally. Later he vanished off the magical grid and later reappeared although none recognized him, not even his closest friends. He became and still is the most feared Dark Lord of modern history, he is Lord Voldemort."
Harry flicked his wand and the name in the sky began to rearrange itself. 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' now read as 'I am Lord Voldemort'.
The crowd is gasping, muttering and fainting all over the stands. Dumbledore, I see, is glaring at Harry.
I hear thunder close by.
Harry raises his wand so that it points towards the sky and says with power running rampant in his voice:
"I, Lord Harry James Potter-Black-Peverell-Gryffindor-Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff-Slytherin, do hereby swear on my name, body, soul, magic and honour of houses, which include Potter, Black, Peverell, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin, that everything I have claimed for truth since two days ago, whether verbally or hand-written, is the truth; so I say, so mote it be!"
His wand begins to shine a fierce white that blinds those that look directly into it.
I gasp, as do most of my house mates and a few from the other houses.
'I can't believe him! A bloody majestic-vow! He would be nothing if he lied!' I scream in my head and he just stands there looking bored.
He flicks his wand in the dragon's direction and a display of emerald sparks flies from his wand and hits the dragon in the face. The Horn-Tail becomes so aggravated that it begins to pull on its chain which snaps after three tugs.
The crowd begins to scream hysterically as the dragon rages towards Harry.
Lightning begins to strike over head as my hopelessness is replaced by fear and anger. Fear of the dragon and anger at him for his trick.
Harry turns to the dragon and seems to jump at it, turning into a midnight black owl and flies right into the maw of the dragon as it breaths its deathly fumes. He is swallowed whole by the dragon, quick and silently.
The lightning begins to worsen and the sky turns red.
The crowd begin to retreat from the arena towards the castle to save their lives as the dragon tries to take flight. Cowards; all of them.
The ground suddenly tears itself open and the sky rains showers of burning rock and the dragon manages to take flight before it falls to hell. Seven blood-red columns of Hell-fire rise out of the torn ground, instantly destroying anything it touches. They circle around the dragon preventing it from leaving the arena, preventing it from landing.
I watch feeling deadened inside as the flames begin to close around the dragon. It releases unearthly cries as it is burned from the very essence it was made from.
I hear someone calling to me, but I can't make out the words nor do I care what the words are.
The flames turn a sapphire blue and the dragon disintegrates, leaving a small scorched body to fall to hell.
The tears begin to fall and as they hit the ground the sky quietens and rain begins to fall. Hell retreats with its prize and I turn into arms that I didn't notice were there. It is Draco. He holds me lovingly, whispering words of comfort.
I feel him look up at the ground where he fell and whispers, "I'll protect her, Harry, I promised you. And a promise is promise brother in all but blood."
The End
...
And so there you have it, if you have any questions, please ask them in your reviews and I might post answers in another chapter, depending on how many I receive.
A sad ending.
Shrimp out.