Here it is! I got a lot of positive responses last chapter, so apparently people like it! Yay! This is another "eh" chapter, I don't like it very much. More Harry/Jez interaction for all of you, and some Draco/Jez too. Ah...more at bottom. Read on!


Chapter Nine

He felt a strange twinge as he watched Malfoy twirl her and hold her close. She was laughing. She is pretty when she laughs like that...

"Weasley," she said, letting go of Malfoy and smiling at him. "Would you like to dance?"

"They're just dancing," Harry said, slightly amused. "I told the same thing to Ron when he complained to me about you and Krum."

"You're on first name basis."

"Yeah, well..."

"Oh, you're impossible, Jez," he said, hugging me. He surprised me by kissing the top of my head.


(Jez POV)

I woke up feeling extremely groggy. I washed up in a daze. Deciding that today would be a relaxing day, I grabbed a book and headed for breakfast.

The Great Hall was back to its original state, all traces of the ice castle before had disappeared. Only a handful of students were eating breakfast, and everyone looked exhausted. I didn't see anyone I knew, so I made for the Ravenclaw table to eat alone and read.

"You know, you hate Hermione, but you sure are a lot like her."

I glanced up. Ron stood there, grinning. I smiled.

"Hey, Ron." I closed my book and gave him a mock-interested look. "And why am I like my favorite Mudblood?"

He made a face. "Don't call her that."

I shrugged. These people. "Right, sorry. Granger, I meant."

He snagged one of my bacon strips. "She's a book nerd, too."

"Hey, I am not a book nerd! I was lonely this morning, and decided reading would be better than eating alone."

Ron took my book too. "I didn't understand a word of what you said. But—come eat with us."

What? "Sorry?"

"Come eat with us. Maybe you and Hermione will find that you don't hate each other so much."

I snorted. "Sorry, Ron, but I think we're sure about that." I added in a whisper, "And they still think I want to kill Potter, don't they?"

Ron nodded sheepishly. "We'll convince them that you're not." He eyed me. "Because, you're not, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "I would have done it already if I were."

He didn't look completely reassured, but I took my plate and followed him over to the Gryffindor table. When we sat, Potter looked surprised and Granger glared at me.

"What do you want, Riddle?"

I smirked at her. "What? I can't eat breakfast with my favorite redhead and meet his friends?"

"Not when you're trying to kill one of us!"

With another eye roll—these are becoming pretty common—I said, "I am not trying to kill Potter!"

I looked at the guy himself. "Do you think I am?"

He shrugged, turning slightly pink. "Er..." He cast a nervous look at Granger. "Honestly, not really."

I grinned. "There you go, Granger. The victim doesn't think I'm going to kill him."

She glared at me. "You're Tom Riddle's daughter. You have to have some kind of vendetta against Harry, and it can't be a coincidence that you show up, and then Harry gets into the tournament."

Ron groaned. "Hermione, we've heard your theories a million times already! Give it a rest!"

I nodded. "And, I have no idea who entered Potter. It wasn't me, in an attempt to kill him. If I were trying to kill you, Potter," I turned to him, "I wouldn't waste time being crafty and creative, and putting you through the tournament. I'd just Avada you, honestly."

He paled slightly. "Right."

Granger huffed. "Well, I still—"

I spotted Draco walk in with Blaise Zabini and the thugs. "Got to go," I cut across her. I grabbed the last bacon off my plate and waved. "Bye, Ron, Potter." I glanced at Granger and smirked. "I hate you, Granger."

I ran away laughing, and heard Potter and Ron laugh with me. Granger just spluttered angrily.


(Third Person POV)

"Oh, she is such—such a complete cow!" Hermione hissed, crossing her arms.

Harry was still chuckling at the nerve of Jez Riddle. Then he asked Ron, "You two seem like friends...how did that happen?"

Hermione sat at attention and stared at Ron with intimidation. "Yes, Ronald, how did that happen?"

Ron turned red. "Er, well, we danced last night...and then we were talking...she's pretty cool, actually. Lots of stories."

Hermione put her nose in the air and glared across the Hall at Jez Riddle and Malfoy, who were sitting next to each other. "Yes, she is just perfect, isn't she. It's probably all an act, to trick us into liking her, then she's going to stab us in the back. She's like a female version of Malfoy."

"I don't think so," Harry said, rolling scrambled eggs around his plate.

Ron nodded. "Yeah, she told me this great story of how Malfoy dyed his hair orange one time, on accident."

Harry grinned. "Ah, so he does use hair dye!"

The boys laughed while Hermione continued to steam. She huffed and got up from the table. "I'm going to the library. You two can work on solving that egg, instead of trading stories about Riddle!"

She stormed off. Ron and Harry gave each other looks. Then Ron brightened.

"Want to hear how Malfoy fell off his broom and hit his mother's flowers?"


Harry rubbed his forehead, feeling exhaustion after the past few weeks. First, he'd had to work in a frenzy to finish his holiday work, and then the article about Hagrid had come out, and Hermione was always pestering him about solving the egg clue, and Ron seems to not be around as often, because he was "talking to Jez" or something, which made Hermione even madder. Harry was also in a state of confusion by the slight—was it jealousy?—when Ron would return from his conversations with Jez. He shook it off. It was probably just wariness, since he didn't fully trust her yet.

He finally decided one evening that that he'd just have to follow Cedric's advice and take the egg to the prefects' bathroom. The day of the second task was drawing closer and closer.

He waited by the portrait hole, egg in his arms, Marauders' Map in hand, and invisibility cloak on, for Ron to open it from outside. Just as Ron said "banana fritters" and Harry stepped out, he heard a girl shout.

"Oi! Ron! Don't go in yet!"

Harry froze, and he heard Ron swear quietly.

Jez Riddle was running down the corridor, grinning. Ron stepped outside the portrait hole and smiled. "Jez! So you managed to find Gryffindor tower."

Harry was wondering how she had when she replied, "Yeah, you gave pretty great directions, though I almost slipped on the staircases."

Ron cast a nervous look towards where he thought Harry would be (in truth, Harry had been inching down the corridor, trying to escape, but this was not easy with a heavy golden egg and the Marauders' Map in his hands). However, he stopped when he heard that Ron had shared the location of the tower. That information was supposed to be for Gryffindors alone.

Ron laughed, a little shakily. "Yeah, those staircases can be tricky...changing all the time..."

Harry was now about eight feet away from them, when he heard—

"I came to tell you that Draco and I are officially dating now."

Ron let out an incredulous sound. Harry almost dropped the egg, but he caught himself. In the process of catching his balance, though, the cloak had slipped, and he had been revealed.

Jez Riddle whipped around. She blinked furiously a couple of times, before saying, "Potter, hi...why are you partially invisible?"

Harry shrugged, trying (and failing) to appear casual. "I, er..."

Ron grabbed Riddle's wrist. "Officially? Malfoy? But you told me you didn't want to go out with him, it'd be too weird since you guys are such good friends."

Jez Riddle smiled happily. "I know, but I could sort of tell that he wanted to be more than just good friends, and he was so sweet when he asked, so I thought, what the heck? Why not?"

Ron gave her a disapproving look. "Because it's Malfoy."

She rolled her eyes. "It's Draco."

"It's Ferret-boy!"

"And?"

Ron struggled. Then he said, "Does he know we talk?"

Riddle looked slightly guilty. "Er, not exactly. He thinks I'm with Daphne when I'm talking to you."

Ron groaned. "He's going to murder me."

"Nah, he's actually really sweet—"

The two boys gagged, Ron wiping his eyes for effect.

Harry said, "I'll just go now..."

Riddle turned to him, curious. "It's past curfew, Potter, where are you going?"

Harry floundered for words. "Er...the, uh..."

Her eyes found the egg he had awkwardly hidden behind his back. The Map was still in his hands, and still functioning.

"Are you working on the clue?" she asked, eyes lighting up with interest.

Harry decided not to lie. "Yeah."

"Ooh. Cool. Does yours scream, too, when it opens?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. Any idea yet on what it means?"

"Er, no."

She gave him an amused look. "Man of few words, huh, Potter?"

Harry turned red. Ron laughed. "Ah, I'm going to bed," he said, saying the password to the Fat Lady. He turned back to them. "You're crazy for dating Malfoy, Jez! G'night, g'night, Harry."

Jez laughed and shook her head. Harry chuckled slightly. Jez looked at him.

"Where are you headed?"

Harry froze, realizing his situation. Alone, after curfew, with the seemingly harmless daughter of Voldemort, who was, apparently, dating his sworn enemy.

"Potter?"

"Er, prefects' bathroom, fifth floor. Someone tipped me off, said that might help."

She made a dubious face. "You're going after hours to take a bath?"

Harry shrugged, and began walking down the corridor. She followed.

"Interesting tactic. Don't know how it'll help, but whatever works, I guess. What's the parchment for?"

Harry froze. "Erm...it's a, uh-"

She took a closer look at it. "Oh, it's a map. Boring, Potter, why?"

"I, uh, get lost easily." Sigh of relief.

"Huh."

They walked in an extremely awkward silence until they reached a tapestry. Harry had planned on taking the secret passageway that was behind it down to the fifth floor, but was hesitant, with Riddle there.

He made a decision. "Er, there's a secret passageway, through this tapestry, it'll take us right to the fifth floor." He brushed it aside, revealing the passage.

Riddle grinned. "Nice, Beauxbatons has nothing like this."

Harry was surprised. "Really? It's a magic school with no magic tunnels?"

She made a face. "It's so uptight and proper. Beautiful, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't have the homey feel that I get from Hogwarts." Harry nodded as they proceeded in the dark down the passage. "Instead of one big castle, we have a stretch of land by the sea, and a huge mansion they converted into a schoolhouse. All classes and meals are there, along with teachers' housing and such. The students live in villas spread out across the stretch, sorted by year and gender. The girls in my year have our own villa. And the villas are gorgeous."

By the time Riddle finished talking they reached the end of the passage, an empty portrait frame from the outside. Harry was intrigued by the description of another magic school.

"So, no houses? Or any way to divide you besides year?" Harry asked.

Riddle shook her head. "Nope."

"So how can you play Quidditch? Make your own teams?"

Riddle frowned. "We don't have a pitch. No Quidditch at Beauxbatons." Harry made his incredulous noises and she laughed. "Right? It sounds like so much fun; I play occasionally with Draco, when he has his friends over for his parents' social gatherings."

"Oh? What position?"

She grinned and flexed in a mocking way. "I'm make a fairly frightening Beater."

Harry was surprised, he would have pegged her as a Chaser, that's it. The mention of Malfoy had brought back that strange feeling again. He asked, slightly stiffly, "So, you and Malfoy?"

He watched her blush. "Is it weird? I know you guys kind of hate each other, some first year rivalry..."

Harry nodded. "He was a git to Ron."

"He's a git to everyone, you just have to see around it."

"Oh? You seem to know him pretty well."

They were nearing the bathroom—Harry could see the statue of Boris the Bewildered.

Jez Riddle scoffed and answered, "Next to Elle, he's known me the longest. My mother took me around to the Manor all the time. So, it's sort of weird, the idea of dating him, since he's almost, like, my brother. Almost."

Harry stopped walking at the statue. She stopped and gave him a confused look. "Why'd you stop?"

Harry gestured to the statue. "Er, this is the bathroom..."

She blinked. "It's a statue."

"Yeah, entrances are different here..."

She snorted. "No kidding. It's pretty cool."

Harry nodded, feeling awkward. "Well...good night."

She tilted her head, looking at Harry with an interesting expression. She smiled. "Good night...Harry?"

He flushed lightly. "Jez."

He watched her skip down the corridor, then shook his head and muttered "pine fresh" to the statue.


The next day in Charms Harry had plenty to share with Ron and Hermione.

"Forget the egg for a moment, Hermione, listen to this, to what Moody told me..."

The other two were intrigued by what he said, and Hermione suggested letting Sirius know. Harry agreed to write to Sirius after classes were over.

They each practiced the Banishing charm one time again before Ron turned to Harry.

"Harry, mate, did you walk with Jez last night?"

"What?" screeched Hermione. Her pillow went off course, and sailed into Neville's face.

Harry cursed Ron in his head. "Er, well...yeah, we walked..."

"What do you mean you walked?" Hermione asked dangerously.

"She just walked with me down to the bathroom, and walked away! We talked about her and Malfoy, and her school. She seems cool." Harry flinched, wishing he could have taken that last comment back, because Hermione looked ready to breathe fire.

"Cool? She's evil!"

"She's fun," Ron defended.

Professor Flitwick called over, "Focus, please, and keep practic—OH!" The tiny Charms teacher went flying again as a misfired spell hit him.

"She is not fun, Ronald, just because you both have silly, stupid little crushes on her—"

Both boys protested, but Flitwick announced that class was dismissed, and Hermione hissed to them, "We'll meet in the library after classes to discuss the egg. And don't make any detours to talk to Jez Riddle."

Harry and Ron stared, open-mouthed, as she stormed out of the classroom.

"I do not have a crush on her," Ron said indignantly.

Harry gathered his things.


(Jez POV)

February twenty-fourth—the day of the second task. Everyone in the Beauxbatons carriage was buzzing around Fleur, wishing her luck and giving her advice. She had shared with us the song the egg sang, about getting back what the mermaids took.

"Here," Elle said, tossing a sweatshirt to me. I pulled it over my long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans. February is a cold month, and we would be out on the water today.

"I wonder how this is going to work," I commented as we exited the carriage. Down in the center of the massive Black Lake was the viewing towers, and trails of boats leading to it. "I mean, if they'll be underwater, how will we see what's going on?"

I got my answer when we arrived at the tower, given to me bluntly by Ludo Bagman's explanation of the task—we wouldn't. All we could do was watch the water, waiting for the champions to come back up with their hostage, the person they'd miss most. I stood with Draco and his crowd, shivering in the cold. Draco saw me shake and linked our arms, kissing my cheek. It felt nice.

It was nine fifty-one—nine minutes until the task started. The champions were all supposed to be there at nine thirty, and three of them were. Krum, looking extremely buff but almost revoltingly pale in red swimming trunks and a grey tank; Fleur, graceful and slightly shivering in her light blue swimsuit; and that gorgeous Diggory, black trunks and a bright yellow tank. Potter—Harry—wasn't here yet.

Nine fifty-eight.

"There!" cried a little Gryffindor, pointing to a figure sprinting to a boat. We kindly waited patiently while Harry's boat rowed itself to the towers.

He shrugged off his robe, revealing the same getup as Diggory, just a red tank instead of yellow. He took a wet-looking, writhing clump out of his pocket and stuffed it into his mouth.

Bagman announced, "The champions have one hour to complete the task! Champions, bring back what you have lost, the possession you miss most! On the count of three—"

The entire crowd chanted, "Three, two, one!"

As one the four champions dove into the glossy black water. We all cheered.

The cheering died out after a bit, and everyone realized that we would be stuck here until someone came up. I turned to Draco and his Slytherin friends.

"Anyone up for bets?"


Bagman entertained us for about thirty seconds by telling us what the champions would be fetching—or, rather, who. Fleur had to get her sister Gabrielle (how they had gotten a hold of her was beyond me); Diggory had to get Cho Chang, his girlfriend (who I realized was that sensitive Asian girl in Ravenclaw); Harry had to get Ron (I'll admit I freaked out a bit here, that Ron was at the bottom of that lake); Krum had to get Hermione Granger (I choked and laughed into Draco's shoulder for a good five minutes after hearing this).

Half an hour into the task, Fleur's shiny blonde head broke the surface of the water. We all cheered, then trailed off as we realized she was sobbing, and there was no Gabrielle with her.

"Ze grindylows, zey attacked me, I could not get away—"

Everyone from Beauxbatons groaned when Bagman announced that Fleur would receive minimum points, as she failed to receive Gabrielle. When concerns were raised about Gabrielle's safety he reassured us that she would be retrieved after the all the champions were back.

It was another half hour before Diggory's head popped the surface, a grinning and slightly blushing Cho Chang hanging onto his arm. Everyone cheered and pounded their feet.

Next to return was Krum. Well, first it was a shark, with Granger's rope in its teeth, and then it transformed into Krum, who gave Granger a hug. I laughed, she looked shocked and embarrassed.

We waited for Harry.

"Maybe Potter drowned," Draco said, leaning on the rail. I smacked him. "Ow! What, woman?"

"Don't say that," I said, studying the water intently.

At last another two figures rose to the surface—a redhead and a blonde.

"Ron and Gabby," I muttered. "Where's Harry?"

"Harry?" Draco sneered. "When did first-name basis happen, Jez?"

I didn't listen. I stared at the water, searching for any ripple.

Finally he broke the surface, and, gasping, swam to the tower. He collapsed, panting, on his back. He was surrounded by people with towels instantly.

We waited for everyone to settle down, and for the judges to decide on the points.

Bagman's voice boomed out across the water. "We have reached our decision!

"Fleur Delacour demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm. However, she failed to return with her hostage, and therefore did not complete the task. We award her twenty-five points.

"Cedric Diggory also used the Bubble-Head Charm, and returned with his hostage one minute outside the time limit. We award him forty-seven points.

"Viktor Krum performed an incomplete human Transfiguration, very effective. He was second to return with his tribute. We award him forty points.

"Harry Potter demonstrated the use of gillyweed. He was last to return with his hostage, well outside the time limit, though he rescued both his hostage and Miss Delacour's. The Merchieftainess has confirmed that Harry Potter was first to reach the hostages, and his delay in return was due to his determination to return all four hostages to safety, not just his own."

We all groaned. "Saint Potter, always playing the hero," Draco spat.

I shrugged.

"Most of the judges think that this shows moral fiber and deserved full marks. However, we award Mr. Potter forty-five points."

In the frenzy of everyone cheering, and stampeding off the towers, Draco grabbed me, whirled me around, and kissed me right on the lips. After a few moments of shock I pulled away and blinked. He went pink and continued to walk. I laughed. I hugged him from behind and kissed his cheek.

"You're so strange and random, sometimes," I laughed.


Ta-da!...? again, I personally didn't think this is too great.

The next few chapters will probably be bonding time between the trio and Jez, and then the Third task :) lots of twists there.

What did you think?

For anyone who is here reading HP fanfiction but hasn't read the HP books:

a) YOU ARE CRAZY

b) IN the prefect bathroom Harry discovers the clue, which is basically the egg singing a cryptic song to him, and then while he's going back to the tower he sees "Mr Crouch" in SNape's office, and snape isnt there.

Ah forget it, i was going to be nice and type a little synposis there, but i couldnt find a quick way to do it. SO just go read it, or look it up. In the end Harry loans the Map to Moody. All you need to know(But read what happens there).

UM! sorry bout that.

PLEASE send me what you think is going to happen! So far people's only predictions have been on whether Jez will end up with Harry or Draco. COME ONE PEOPLE GET CREATIVE. :)

Ah...ha!

THANKS TO NEVERLAND AND BACK TO:

princesspay10

lolsmileyface6

FreezinWinter

BunnyMooMooMonster

shadowkat678(you finally updated Eva Winters! and put Draco in it! :)

WindsweptWillows

He4artBreaker101

QueneldaTheDragonWhisperer

shadowebb

for reviewing/favoriting/following/suggesting last chapter! Makes me happy!

Can i just say you people have the best pen names ever? so creative and fun, mine just means "to the end" in latin...(so poetic, which makes no sense if you know my personality...no poetry)

AAAND you guys leave the best reviews. even if it's just UPDATEUPDATEUPDATE or a long, heartfelt, meaningful letter, i love them. :)

That's it for now, next chapter sometime next week, hopefully!

OH if anyone has a reaaally good Marauder story for me let me know, i'm in that phase right now:) thanks!