Chapter 9- Confrontations

Fireworks exploded inside me. Butterflies pounded against my stomach walls. My heart melted and my brain froze.

The kiss was gentle, kind. We parted and he looked at me.

'Mel, I'm...I...sorry...I...didn't mean..to...um...' I put my finger to his lips. I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach.

'Don't apologise. I might think you didn't enjoy it.'

Suddenly he leaned in again and kissed me. This time is was more passionate, fierce. We stayed like that until we couldn't any longer.

'Never think that.' He said to me. My heart surged. 'I loved every second of it.'

I tried desperately to calm my heart that was pounding in my ears as we sat down at one of the benches in the garden, my head on his shoulder. We were content to just sit there, in each other's arms.

As the clock struck midnight we reluctantly walked back to the Gryffindor common room, only letting go of the others hands when we reached the staircase to our dorms. We kissed one last time before parting ways and going up to our rooms.

I change and hung up my dress before falling back on my four poster bed and staring into nothing. I fell asleep dreaming of a certain green eyed boy.

~o!o~

The next morning I washed and dressed in record time before flying down the stairs only to see Harry already up and waiting for me. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before sitting next to him in the sofa.

'Mel. We need to talk.' I swallowed deeply before looking him in the eyes.

'What about?'

'Sorry! That came out really serious! No I just wanted to know how you feel, you know, relationship wise.'

'I just want you to be happy. And if that happens with me as your, girlfriend then I'll be over the moon.' I said gently.

'Right then. Um...I probably should have asked you on a date first but..Mel. Will you be my girlfriend?' He asked.

I squealed internally. Okay, I never expected this. I just wanted to be his friend. This is so cool!

'Yes. I would love to be your girlfriend.'

We smiled before sharing a gentle kiss. We clasped hands before going down to breakfast.

We sat at the almost empty Gryffindor table eating breakfast and just chatting, never once letting go of the others hand. We were just about to leave when McGonagall walked in.

'Miss Williams. Just who I wanted to see.' I looked up at her. Uh oh.

'You're not in trouble. (Phew!) I just wanted to thank you for the gift. However...ironic they may be.' She was just about to walk to the head table when she turned back to the two of us.

'Congratulations to the two of you. Goodness knows you two are a good match.' She smiled before walking off to eat her breakfast. We shared a look before bursting out in laughter. Hand in hand we walked out if the great hall and down towards Hagrid's hut.

After a brief visit with Hagrid (using having too much breakfast as an excuse against the rock cakes) we went back up to the castle.

We met up with Ron and Hermione outside the Great Hall where they had just finished breakfast. We were on our way to the common room when Professor Dumbledore came round the corner.

'Ah! Mel! Just the person I wanted to see! I just wanted to thank you for the socks you gave me, they're absolutely wonderful! I'm wearing them now see!' He hoisted up his robes and stuck out his foot. I could feel the other three trying not to laugh.

'I'm glad you like them sir. I can imagine even someone as smart as you can get tired of books sometimes.'

He heartily agreed before walking off, humming in time to his steps. I shook my head before joining in with Ron and Harry's loud laughter.

~o!o~

Sometime later we were sitting in the common room when a large, black bird swooped in the open window. It flew over and landed directly in front of me, sticking its leg out to hand me the letter attached.

I unraveled the string before cautiously opening the letter. The parchment was old and slightly faded, as if not treated with proper care. The writing on the front displaying my name was in beautiful, curly writing with sharp edges to the letters. I could only guess who it was from.

The bird flew away. Obviously been told not to wait for a reply. My friends had gone back to what they were doing, expecting me to explain after I had read the letter. I read through the letter.

Miss Williams,

Though I hope this is obvious to you I expect this to remain a secret from your friends as not everyone will favour the girl in contact with the 'greasy dungeon bat' and goodness knows what the Dark Lord would do if he found out.

Enough rambling. I just wanted to thank you for your gift. I don't have quite the right words to express my emotions but I hope you know that it is much appreciated.

I will wait patiently for the day when you disclose the information you are withholding but until then, feel free to talk whether over mail or even, you may come to the dungeons. However I will tell everyone that you are there because if detention so I would think it through.

Thank you again for the gift,

S.S

I smiled and tucked the letter into my pocket before shooing away my friends curious looks. That man!

Christmas ended as abruptly as it started and we were soon thrown back into lessons. Whereas for the four of us, we were immediately thrown into the reality of the second task as it loomed in the distant future, no clue in sight.

I of course knew the answer but couldn't rightly go up to Harry and say 'you've got to save a person, stay underwater for an hour, here's some Gillyweed' He would think me crazy and send me off to St Mungos. Instead I worked on a way to get Harry to work out the task. Ugh.

Too confusing.

But fortunately the opportunity arose when Harry came down to the common room with his egg, obviously hoping that if he stared at it for long enough it would reveal its answers.

'Have you tried listening to it again?' Ron asked. Harry scoffed before dropping the egg in the table. I picked it up, amazed at how heavy it actually was. It was cold to the touch and the edges around the cracks where it opened were covered in swirling patterns that looked like water. They gave the champions a clue without them even realising.

'Yeah I have. Almost got hexed my Seamus though trying to listen to that screeching and wailing. It's hopeless!' He replied.

I sat there thinking how to get him to think of putting it underwater. It was so much easier in the books!

'Maybe you need to cover it with something, you know to muffle the sound.' Hermione said. I could've kissed her!

'Maybe.' Harry said before pulling the egg out of my grasp and pulling the pillow out from behind him. He placed the pillow around the egg before opening the clasps.

The entire common room almost fell to the floor, covering their ears and screaming for Harry to close it, some muggleborns yelling 'turn it off!'

Harry pushed the egg closed to many thankful remarks. He looked back at Hermione.

'It didn't work.'

'Harry.' I said, 'Maybe you need to try completely engulfing it. Maybe putting it in water?' I tried to sound innocent.

'Yeah maybe.' He put the egg down again. Phew. At least he wasn't suspicious. All is good. Although I think my ears might have taken a bit of a beating.

~o!o~

'I've got it! I've got it!' Harry yelled as he ran through the corridors of Hogwarts and into the library.

It was a Saturday afternoon and Harry had gone off (after being approached by Cedric who gave him the prefect's bathroom password) to see if water worked and if so what the egg actually said.

'Harry! Are you telling me that you, a fourth year and most definitely not a prefect, went to the prefect's bathroom, on a Saturday afternoon?!' Hermione asked.

At that point Madam Pince came over to see what all the commotion was.

After being whisper/shouted out by a very angry librarian we turned our mind back to the matter at hand.

'Don't worry. No one saw me.' He leaned in and whispered, 'I took my cloak.' He sat down next to Ron, Hermione and I and brandished a piece of parchment from his robes.

'This is what the clue says.' Hermione skim read it before looking up.

'Wait. Does that mean there are-'

'Merpeople.'

Hermione gasped. I focused on a solution to the second task. Better for Harry to have a plan early and then to feel confident than for him to realise his plan the day before the first task.

'Okay. So what do you have to do?' I took the clue in pretend interest. Already knowing what it said.

'Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took.

But past an hour- the prospect's black

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.'

'From what I can gather I think I've got to go into the Black Lake, find the merpeople and retrieve something of mine that has been taken.' Harry said. I pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. Having already come up with a plan involving how to get Harry, or at least not me, to come up with the solution.

'How about we write down all the subject that could help us and then each work through a book for things that let you breathe underwater okay?' I started writing in the parchment.

Subjects:

Transfiguration

Charms

DADA

Herbology

Potions

'Lets get going! Hermione, you take Tranfiguration. Ron, you can take Defence Against the Dark Arts. Harry, you take Herbology and I'll take Charms. We can tackle Potions after.' We all grabbed a corresponding book and sat down. All you could hear was the occasional turning of a page and sometimes a quill scratching. After we had skimmed through a large enough portion of the book, making sure to check the Contents and the Index/Glossary I updated the list.

Subjects:

Transfiguration - Changing body into that's of a water animal.

Charms - Bubble Head Charm

DADA - ?

Herbology - Gillyweed?

Potions - Respiration Potion

'Brilliant. Are there any we can cross of?' I asked.

'Well,' began Hermione. Here we go. 'The Respiration Potion is a NEWT Level Potion, human Transfiguration and the Bubble Head Charm are as well. Not surprising since the student who are actually authorised to enter are NEWT Level. However, if you know where to go, Gillyweed shouldn't be too hard to get hold of. Might be expensive but you know for certain that it will work.'

'Brilliant. There you go!' I said to Harry. He sat puzzled. 'Everything alright?'

'Sorry! Not that I'm not happy we found a solution, but how am I going to get Gillyweed?'

'I know of someone. Who do you know that is always enthusiastic and willing to help you?' I asked Harry.

'Um...Dumbledore?' Harry said.

'Try a bit younger...'

'Hagrid?'

'Bit shorter...'

'Flitwick?'

'Not human!'

'Dobby!'

POP!

'Yes master Harry Potter sir?' Dobby said, appearing out of thin air.

'Um...is there any way you could get me some Gillyweed?'

POP!

POP!

'Here you go master Harry Potter sir. Dobby be getting master Harry Potter Gillyweed sir!' The little elf squealed whilst holding out the slimy green plant.

'Hello Dobby.' I said, 'Is there any chance of you getting Harry a little container for the Gillyweed?'

POP!

POP!

'Heres you go missus Melly. Anything else?' I laughed before pulling a small package out of my pocket, only just remembering it.

'This is your Christmas present Dobby. Sorry! it's late.' I said, handing him the small squishy package. He quickly unwrapped the present to find a very bright pair of odd socks and a rather garish, luminous hate, complete with head bobble and tassels.

'Thank you missus Melly! Dobby be liking these so very very much! Melly is so kind! So is master Harry Potter! Such kind people! Socks be Dobby's favourite, Dobby has got about seven pairs now! But I still love more! Also hats, jumpers and even leg warmers!

Professor Dumbledore be giving Dobby his old ones. They had shrunk in the wash! Oh thank yous missus Melly! Anything else you need Dobby can get! Master Harry Potter, Harry Potter's Weezy and Harry Potter's Grangy too!'

POP!

'Um...that was interesting.' Ron said awkwardly. We all just laughed, ignoring Madam Pince, and walked down to dinner.