"I think I know what's going on," Wesley said, approaching me in the library, where I was researching hexes for the challenge.

"With what?" I asked, snapping my notebook shut.

He stared at me for a second, golden eyes wide.

"What do you want, Wesley?" I demanded. His face softened.

"I was just noticing how pretty you look," he said. I began to blush, before I caught myself. Little Slytherins don't blush. Especially not so-called evil ones.

"Well, you said you knew something, so go ahead, if you aren't too distracted by my blinding beauty," I said, flipping my purple mane.

He shook his head, and concentrated. "I found something in the Forbidden Forest, or well, some of my friends did."

Now I was interested. "What friends do you have that lurk around in the Forbidden Forest?" I demanded, scooting back, resting my chin in my hand.

He flushed bright red. "Fairies."

I snorted. "Fairies? Really? Good one, Diggory, you almost had me there." I turned to read on more curses that might prove to be useful in the challenge.

"No, really, fairies," Wesley said nervously. "I'm a Friend of the Fairies; it's in the Goodfellow line, my mom's family." He turned around, and pulled down his collar.

"Really? I don't need male strippers," I said, but then I looked closer. On the back of his neck was a birthmark in the shape of a butterfly's wings. Or a fairy's. He pulled his collar back up, and turned around.

"I can talk to them, and they'll obey me if I give them a command, but that's where I have to be responsible." Wesley said nervously, talking fast. "I know it's really girly, and I-"

I put my hand up. "Look, I believe you. Now tell me, what did your little pixies discover?"

He really looked nervous here. "Dragons." He whispered, barely audible in my ear. He looked left, then right. "Your brother saw them, as well as Karkoff and Madame Maxime, so everyone knows. Your twin even told Cedric."

"Harry saw them?" I demanded, raising both eyebrows. "That doxy-moron." I muttered. "Why wouldn't he even tell his own sister? He had to have his Invisibility Cloak and- HAGRID WAS IN ON IT!"

"Shh, shh!" Wesley hissed, pushing his hands into a placating gesture. "Do you want them to get in trouble?"

I kicked my boots up on the table, and crossed my arms over my chest. "I forgot, I'm supposed to be the devil. Harry's an angel that can do no wrong. Silly me."

"Sorry, sorry," Wesley hissed. He then straightened up. "I'm sorry. I forgot about that, I honestly did, please don't hurt me."

I raised my eyebrows again. "What makes you think I'd hurt you?"

"That red glint?" He said.

I saw my reflection on the spine of The Book of Beauty, which had a cover and spine made entirely of mirror. In the pupils, where there would be white light of reflection, it was red. Glaringly obvious against my green eyes was the crimson light. I sighed, and rubbed my eyes. "I have got to get that checked out, one of these days."

"It's happened before?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah, in my mum's office, but it was worse there- I almost released some sort of shadow curse on her- and I didn't even know that I was doing it," I said quietly. "I sometimes wonder if she and the others were right all along... That I'm going evil..."

He took my hands. "I don't think you're going evil."

I scowled. "Just five seconds ago, you believed that I was going to attack you. Forgive me, but I'm not buying what you're selling, your sparkliness." With that, I re-shelved the book of curses, and took my own into my Sleeping Beauty bag, and stormed out of the library.

Inside, though, my mind was racing. Dragons! Dragons? Dragons. I figured I'd have to swallow my pride and go ask Ginny Weasley, who was a little sister of a dragon-tamer, who probably knew something useful about dragons.

"Hey, Weasley!" I called, as I went into the courtyard. The four redheads and Harry all turned their head at me, the boys all in dislike, except for Harry. I got along alright with Ginny. Just not all the time.

"What do you want?" Puck #1 demanded as I closed in the distance.

"I was wondering if I could borrow Ginny for ten to twenty minutes?" I asked in my most polite voice.

"Most certainly not!" Weasel King snarled up at me.

"What does a snake like you want with our sister?" Puck #2 asked.

"I just wanted to chat, about girl things," I said, in a falsely cheerful voice. Ginny eyed me curiously.

"Don't go with her, Gin, she's just as evil as the rest of them," Puck #1 said, glaring up at me. I whipped out my wand at that.

"Call me evil again, and I'll show you evil," I said. I inwardly frowned, noticing how much lower and more menacing my voice sounded.

"Are you alright, Alice?" Harry asked, sounding quite afraid.

"Ignore the red eyes!" I said, rolling said eyes in exasperation. "Ginny, do you mind talking with me for a few minutes?"

She eyed the end of the wand, and then me, and grinned. "Sure." She grabbed her bag, and followed me to an emptier courtyard.

"What's up, Alice?" She asked, sitting on a parapet.

"Ginny, what do you know about dragons?" I asked.

"Why?" Ginny asked. I leaned in, and looked left, and then right and mouthed, first task. Ginny nodded. "They're nearly invincible; it takes several wizards just it stun one. There's magic in their blood."

"I'm dead," I said. "Ginny, I'm entrusting you with all my stuff, I don't trust Harry with it, got it?"

"Calm down, I think I know somebody who can help you," she said. She took my hand, and led me out to the lake, where the only person out there was a girl who was attempting communication with the Giant Squid.

She turned around, a girl in a magenta sweater, jeans, and black combat boots. She had short dark blue-black hair, and bright cobalt eyes trained on me. "Hey, Ginny," she said in an amazingly Sorprano voice. It didn't really fit the badass look she had going on. I snorted, and she glared at me.

"Not a word about the voice. Not one word." She said. I nodded, recovering my dignity and my wits.

"Hey, Hayden," said Ginny quickly. "Alice here was wondering about dragons."

Hayden looked at me, and offered her bracelet-loaded hand. "I'm Hayden Fanning, magical creatures expert of Ravenclaw." She said as an introduction.

"Alice Potter," I said.

"Why, hello, Allie- don't mind if I call you that, do you?" She asked.

I shook my head. Allie worked for me.

"I'm a bit gutsier than some other 'Claws, almost got sorted into Gryffindor because I'm daring, but I guess my burning curiosity won out," Hayden chuckled. "My area of expertise, as said, is magical creatures. I'd like to work with dragons when I come of age."

"Tell me, do dragons have any vulnerabilities?" I asked quickly.

Hayden smiled. "Very few. The eyes are a great place to start. As soon as you hit those, the other, much more vulnerable parts, like the belly, under the claws, those'll open up, as long as you don't get trampled when it goes rampaging."

"What's the difference between drakons and dragons?" I asked. I'd come across the terms in Remus's class, but it had never exactly been clarified, so I figured I'd ask.

"Drakons are older, and more snakelike," Hayden said, as she folded her arms over her chest. "And, I mean, we all know what dragons look like, so..." She glanced down. Then back up, cobalt eyes were trained on me, full of suspicion. "This is the second time I've heard that question about dragons today," she said. "The other one was Viktor Krum. Another Triwizard competition."

"What's your point?" I asked, folding my own arms over my chest. I didn't once break her gaze.

"You both know what the first task is, don't you? Even though you aren't supposed to know." Her eyes widened. "I just helped you with the task tomorrow, and I'm not supposed to!"

"Shh! Shh!" I looked over at Ginny. "Everyone in the competition knows. Karkoff and Maxime were somehow present when they brought in the dragons, as was my brother. Harry went and told Harry, whose little brother found out from Cedric and told me. Trust me, we're on even playing grounds, Hayden."

She looked thoughtful. "Maxime and Karkoff were cheating?"

"So was my brother." I frowned at the look she was giving me. "Yes, my brother is an angel who can do no wrong. Get over it."

"No, not what I meant. It's a bit more understandable for Harry to cheat, since he's the youngest champion, but Maxime and Karkoff are adults who should know better, whose champions are on even playing ground with the rest of the champions-"

"Since when did Ravenclaws care about even playing ground? You guys climb all over each other."

Hayden looked at me with disbelief and anger. "You ought to know better than to stereotype, Allie. Not all Slytherins are evil, not all Ravenclaws are competitive. I know better than that- I don't want a life with no loyalties. I'm sure you understand the feeling."

I looked down at my feet. I sure did. I had very few loyalties to me. If anyone was allied with me, it was because of my brother. One way or another. I never pretended that I never saw Draco Malfoy's attempts to befriend Harry before me. That all of the Slytherins in my first year made such casual mentions of him before the incident in my second year that changed my life forever. I've wanted loyalties to me for me, but no, anyone who was loyal to me was because they were loyal to my brother.

Hayden nodded slowly. "I know you understand, Allie, that's why we need to stick together. Two who are a bit different from the stereotype." She laughed. "I think we'll be great friends."

I smiled, and nodded. "I think we will, too." Ginny had to return to her brothers, but Hayden and I kept talking for the rest of the afternoon.