A/N: This is during "The Fourth Champion," which is the seventeenth chapter in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Also, sorry that this is such a short chapter. The next one will be longer, I promise!

Chapter Ten: Number Four

A sense of dread filled Draco as he watched Potter walk slowly up to the room where the other Champions were waiting and realized that this was their absolute last chance to make sure that he did not end up as one of the Champions. If Snape couldn't convince the judges, they were going to have to up their game more than a few notches.

If this didn't play out well, he knew what that meant. He would have to be twice as cruel, twice as calculated, and twice as cold as before; he had to ensure that Potter kept going, kept searching, and, above all, he had to make sure that Potter walked out of Hogwarts this year alive.

But that also meant that Diggory's death was more than likely. Yes, as Snape had said, he had not seen the only possible futures, but he had seen the most probable ones, which meant that he was sentencing Diggory to death while setting up Potter for the life of a champion.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

On one hand, one of them was going to die no matter what.

On the other, he was saying by doing this that he had the right to decide which one of them kicked the bucket.

On the first hand, he was setting things up so that the wizarding world would survive and that Voldemort would not have absolute power.

But on the second, how could he be sure that they wouldn't survive without Potter? There was always the chance that they didn't have to have Potter to win the war.

He took a silent breath, trying to calm himself down. It was true that he didn't know the final outcome for sure. It was also true that he knew the most likely ones. He couldn't back out of this because he felt it was wrong—if he did that, he was sentencing the wizarding world to almost certain death.

He crossed his fingers, silently praying for Snape to get through to the judges, to make this turn out right because, to be honest, he did not want to participate in any of this, even though he knew that he had to. Somehow, it seemed more okay to watch from the sidelines than actively be involved.

But he would have to, and he knew that. It didn't often happen, but sometimes he got a vague sense of how the future would play out without actually seeing anything. It only happened when it was vitally important to many other events following it, and this was one of those times.

This was not going to go the way he wanted it to.

This was Severus's last chance to save make sure that Potter did not participate in the Tournament and secure a future in which the wizarding world made it through, and he knew it. He would have to do his absolute best, try his absolute hardest, because if he fell short, Potter would have to go through hell to survive.

Unfortunately, his best was not enough.

Draco exited the Great Hall, still uncertain of the finalized results, but having a pretty good idea of what the future held.

"No luck," he heard from behind him. It was Snape. "I am sorry, Draco." His voice was soft, and he did—for once—sound like he was actually sorry, rather than the sarcasm he usually gave. "I could not convince them to exempt Potter from the Tournament. He will have to participate, and it may result in his death."

Draco nodded, knowing what this meant. "I figured. I could feel it."

"Get some rest. We will discuss a new course of action in the morning."

"Yeah… okay," Draco murmured, feeling himself sink further down.

He turned on his heal.

He didn't want to do this. He couldn't. He just couldn't. Diggory was a good kid; he didn't deserve to die, even if his death meant the end of the wizarding world. Why couldn't there be a way that both Potter and Diggory could live? And since there wasn't, why did it have to be Draco that had to make sure that this turned out fine? Why was life so unfair?

He took a deep breath. He needed to stop being such a stuck-up prat. He was the one who was going to have to get down in the dirt since no one else was, and he had to accept that.

As he walked back to the Slytherin Common Room, he stared at his feet, deeply frustrated with the night's events.

He willed himself to not start crying right then. He wasn't strong enough to go through this on his own.

He was so engrossed with his anger and annoyance and frustration and sadness and disappointment that he did not see who was approaching until they almost ran straight into each other for the second time in two nights.

"Ah, good ev'ning, Draco," Adrianne said.

"Oh. Hi," Draco said, trying to compose himself. He took a breath, steadying himself. How could he make it through the year if he couldn't make it through a single conversation? He was being silly. He just needed to buck up and make the best of his situation—that was all he could do, after all.

"Interesting change of events, yes?"

"Yeah," Draco said, yelling at himself mentally for allowing his depressed feelings to bleed into his words.

"Do you know 'ow 'e did it? Eenter 'imself into zhe competition?"

"No, not at all. I doubt he would have the brains to enter himself at all, let alone get the Goblet of Fire to allow him into the Tournament as a fourth Champion," Draco said harshly, and he sort of meant it. If the twin Weasleys hadn't been able to get across that line, there was no way that Potter could have.

"Oh, well, zat eez all right—zat you do not know," Adrianne said, seeming surprised at the hostility in Draco's voice. The two of them fell into step beside one another. "On a differeent topic, why do you zeem so concerned of zat Gryffindor watching us? And why do you zeem so hezitant to be around me?"

"Because of the consequences it could have," Draco responded honestly.

"And what conzequenzes may zhose be?" Adrianne asked.

"I don't know," Draco said looking down, not wanting to admit the truth—that he just couldn't seem to regulate his usual snotty, stuck up self around the Beauxbatons student and the fact that if his parents caught wind of it, he would be dead.

"Doez eet 'ave anyzing to do weeth you liking boys?" Adrianne prodded. "I apologize eef I took zat too far," he added, looking like he wasn't at all sorry and more like he already knew the answer.

"No, no, I guess it does," Draco said, deciding that it would probably be better to just admit it than deny it. That way, he could clearly ask Adrianne… "Don't mention that to anyone though, please? I don't want that getting out. I mean, if my parents knew…"

"I understand," Adrianne responded quickly. "I compleet'ly understand."

"Thank you," Draco whispered.

"I 'ave dealt with a difficult 'coming out,' as is of'n said in Eenglish," Adrianne told Draco. "I would not dream ov revealing such a secret."

"Thank you," Draco said, surprised.

"No probleem," Adrianne smiled. "Eef you ev'r wish to talk wizh someone, I will be 'ere." He gave Draco a meaningful look, who gave a quick nod back. "I know 'ow hard eet can be to live wizh a secret such as zat. But per'aps you should be heading to bed now? Eet is getting late. Unless you wanted to come back wizh me…"

"No! I mean, no thanks. Er… goodnight," Draco said, suddenly flustered.

Adrianne gave him a quick wink and a roguish smile and wandered off.

Chapter Release Date: May 5, 2018