"You sure you don't mind this?"

"Toph, actually tutoring you, no, I do not mind," I reply from across the library table. "What I mind, is you asking me if I mind."

He stares at me. "Why are you in such a bad mood?"

I close the book in front of me and sigh. "Ron," I reply. "He's pissed at Harry because he was made a champion and Ron thinks that Harry did it as another way to be popular."

"But he didn't," Toph says confused. "Harry didn't even enter himself. He told me that walking back from the meeting."

"Well Ron doesn't believe Harry and he's jealous of him."

"Well then he's being dumb," Toph says. "Harry needs him."

"No kidding."

Toph flips through his book for a few moments before looking back up at me. "Do you think you could help me through the tournament?" he asks slowly. "You're way more adept at dueling and curses."

"Am I allowed to help you?"

He nods at me. "You just can't help me in any task."

"Sure then," I say with a shrug. "Whatever keeps you alive."

Toph frowns as I pull a piece of parchment out of my bag. "What did I tell you about that?"

I shrug at him and begin a letter to Sirius, not sure if Harry has written to him yet.

When I finish the note, I realize that Toph is still on the same page as when I had started. "You're worse than Harry and Ron, I think."

He smiles at me. "This is boring and we've been working for over two hours now, can we go outside or something?"

"Only if you want to run," I reply. "I need to do something since there's no Quidditch."

"Fine by me," he replies, packing up his bag. I pack my things up as well, tucking the note to my father into one of my books so I can remember to send it out. The castle is fairly empty as it's a Sunday and most people are doing homework or relaxing in their common room. We step outside into the crisp air and make our way down the stone steps to the Hogwarts grounds.

"Leave our stuff here then?" I ask, gesturing to a flat rock.

"Sounds good."

I nod at him and take my bag off my shoulder, laying it on the rock. Toph and I both decide to take our cloaks and over shirts off; Toph choosing to take his undershirt off as well. As I remove my button down Toph takes a moment to watch me and I roll my eyes at him.

"As I said over the summer. Each year; more and more a perve."

"What can I say?" he asks softly with a shrug, "as I said over the summer, I can see what Oli saw in you."

"Well," I say, beginning to stretch, "I have a boyfriend and I dated your brother, so forget it."

"And if I don't want to?"

"That's your issue."

He smiles at me. "Ready then?"

I nod at him and we begin jogging at a steady pace, following the worn path around the castle.

"So how are things with you and Weasley?" he asks as we round a corner.

"Pretty good," I reply. "No complaints."

"More of a relationship than you had with Oli?"

I can't help giving a small laugh. "You can say that. "How about you? Any girls in your life?"

He shakes his head at me. "Well one," he admits, "but she's not interested."

"And why not?" I ask, giving him a playful shove.

"Why don't you tell me?"

I stop running on the spot and look at him in surprise.

"What?" he asks me.

"I thought you were joking!" I exclaim.

His face turns slightly red and he shrugs.

"I-…" I'm not even sure what I want to say to him. Having dated Oliver, Toph and I have gotten incredibly close. I've never even considered him more than a friend. "I'm happy with George, Toph," I say slowly.

He nods at me. "I know."

"Does Oliver know?"

Shrugging at me again he sighs. "I don't think so. I think he just thinks I'm joking to get a rise out of him. Sorry…I don't want things awkward. I just assumed you already knew."

"Hey," I say, walking over to him. "You're one of my best friends. I care about you a lot and this doesn't change anything…let's just pretend this conversation never happened, and not let George know as I'm tutoring you…and things will be fine."

He gives me a smile and I pull him into a hug. "Now come on," I say, pulling away. "Let's see if you can keep up with me."

Toph scoffs at me as I take off, and quickly catches back up with me. We run nearly side by side on the path until we're cut off by a group of students from Durmstrang. Toph and I stop short and nearly collide with the boy in the front and in trying to avoid them, we crash into each other, falling to the ground.

"Do you need help?" A strongly German accented voice says from above me.

I look at Krum's outstretch hand before allowing him to pull me up. I then turn to Toph and allow him up.

"Thanks," I tell Krum. "Taylor Black."

He nods at me. "Viktor Krum." He turns to Toph. "You are a Hogwarts Champion, yes?"

Toph nods and extends his hand. "Christopher Wood."

I watch as Krum shakes his hand and then turns back to me. "Your father is Sirius Black?"

Germany isn't even far enough to get away from my name and story, apparently.

"Yeah," I reply coldly.

He frowns and gives a small shrug. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No," I reply with a sigh. "Don't worry about it."

He nods and looks between the two of us. "It was nice to meet you. I will be seeing you around."

Toph and I both say goodbye before we begin jogging again.

"He seems…personable," Toph says with a laugh, turning around to jog backwards and look to Krum. "What do you think?"

"I don't like judging people on first meetings," I reply as he turns around to run normally. "But he doesn't seem too egotistical. He did stop to help us up."

He nods in agreement and we continue the rest of our run in silence, meeting back up with the flat stone where we had placed our belongings. Pushing my bag and clothing aside, I stretch across the rock, watching the clouds pass by.

"It's getting cold," Toph says, sitting down on the rock beside me.

"It's also nearly Winter," I reply, rolling my eyes, and leaning myself up on my elbows.

"Weasleys," Toph says, nodding to the left. I follow his eyesight and see Fred, George, and to my surprise Ron, heading towards us. I can see George taking in what both Toph and I are wearing before he gets close to us.

"Hey," I say with a small smile.

"What are you two up to?" Fred asks, glancing over to the Durmstrang ship.

"Went for a bit of a run after me tutoring," Toph replies. "What better to do on a lovely Sunday morning?"

I laugh and stand up, grabbing my shirt off the stone and putting it on. "Well I, as usual, have left all my work to the last minute, and have McGonagall's paper to write still."

George raises an eyebrow at me. "I thought you only did every third assignment for her?"

I shrug, draping my cloak over my shoulder and placing the strap of my bag over it. "I told McGonagall over the summer what I typically do with assignments and she wasn't pleased. Instead of giving me detentions, she just took to lecturing me, so I decided to just write them over having to listen to her go on and on about my wasted education."

"See you guys," I say to Fred, Ron and Toph, who decided to remain outside. George follows me back into the castle until the Great Hall.

"I'll see you at dinner," he tells me. "Mishap in Charms on Friday got me a detention."

I give him a smile before he leans down to kiss me. I watch him as he walks away and turn towards Gryffindor tower.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Just ignore him," I tell Harry, rolling my eyes at Draco. Draco smiles at me and walks further away from Hagrid's hut as Hagrid joins us for class telling us that we'll be walking the Blast-Ended Skrewts.

"Take this thing for a walk?" Draco asks in disgust. "And where exactly are we supposed to fix the leash? Around the sting, the blasting end, or the sucker?"

"The middle, you prat," I tell him, walking over to the Skrewt closest to him and taking the leash from Draco's hand. "Honestly."

He smirks at me and bends down to help. "I'm not that dumb," he says, helping me feed the leash under the creature. "I just like giving him a hard time."

"No kidding," I reply, looking over to where Hagrid currently has Harry in conversation. "He's not a bad person," I tell him, shaking my head. "Just a bit…slow."

Draco shrugs as we hook the leash around the Skrewt and I hand him the end to it. As soon as I hand him the leash the Skrewt's end explodes and Draco is dragged several feet forward. He glares at me when I am unable to stop laughing.

"Funny," he says sarcastically. "Real funny."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"You okay?"

Harry shrugs, taking a sip from his orange juice, hardly haven taking a bite of his breakfast. I follow his eyesight and give a small smile. "Toph knows that you didn't put your name in the goblet."

"Sure," he replies. "But the rest of the school thinks I did. I mean- I understand why Ravenclaw would be mad at me, even if it wasn't my fault- I took some of their glory away being a second champion. But I have no choice to do this."

"You'll be fine," I tell him, not sure that I completely believe it. "I'm helping Toph with some basic dueling skills and I could help you as well."

He nods and then sighs before looking away from Toph. "He looks like a champion, you know?"

"He does a good job pretending, Harry," I say softly and Hermione looks at him with sympathy from across the table. Ron was at the other end of the table with Dean and Seamus. "I assure you, on the inside he's a wreck… when he's not signing autographs for his fan girls."

Harry gives a small laugh at this statement and I ruffle his hair. "We're here for you," I tell him, looking towards Hermione. "And Ron will be once he comes back around…besides," I say with a smile. "It's time for double potions."

He groans as he stands from the table. "Couldn't you just kill me now?" Harry asks as Toph walks by, giving us a wave, his usual gang of girls trailing behind him.

"Where's the fun in that?" I ask as we walk out of the Hall.

When we get to the dungeons, each member of Slytherin is sporting a large badge on their robes. I look to Draco for an explanation and he gives a small smirk, raising an eyebrow at me. Each badge had the same message, glowing in red letters "Support Christopher Wood- the real Hogwarts champion!"

"Like them Potter?" Draco asks loudly as we got closer. "And this isn't all they do- look!"

He presses the badge against his chest and the writing is replaced by a new green message reading "Potter stinks."

The Slytherins all howl with laughter, changing their messages to read the same as well.

"Really witty," Hermione says sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Very funny."

"Want one Granger?" Draco says, holding a badge out to her. "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see; don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."

Instantly, Harry draws his wand on Draco, and Draco gives a small smirk, slowly drawing his own wand. "Go on, then, Potter. Moody's not here to look after you now- do it, if you've got the guts-"

"Guys," I say fiercely, and they both look at me for a split second before acting at the same time.

Harry's Furnunculus spell hits Goyle in the face, and Draco's Densaugeo hits Hermione. Goyle's face is instantly covered in boils and Hermione's teeth start growing at an alarming rate.

"And what is all this noise about?" Snape asks, walking into view.

"Potter attacked me and hit Goyle," Draco says pointing to Goyle. Snape takes a look at his face and sends him to the hospital wing.

"Malfoy hit Hermione," Ron yells, bringing Snape's attention to her. Snape looks coldly at Hermione before stating "I see no difference."

As Hermione runs away crying me, Harry and Ron all yell at Snape at the same time, masking out mostly what each of us were saying to him. I don't care how he acts with me with Hermione being a friend of mine, he has no way to treat a student the way he does sometime.

"Let's see," he says softly. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and a detention each for Weasley, Potter and Black. Now get inside or it will be a week's worth of detentions."

I must have not moved quickly enough inside because Snape smirks at me. "A week's worth it is, Black."

Glaring at him still, I walk inside, taking a seat next to Neville who looks grateful to have me at his cauldron as we'll be making antidotes.

Through class, I can feel Snape looking at me, and I ignore him completely, concentrating on the antidote that Neville and I were brewing. Neville doesn't seem as bad a potion's student when I'm working with him, probably because he knows that Snape likes me. He's actually not too bad when we're paired together as long as I keep an eye on what he does.

Colin Creevey enters the room about a half hour into class asking to take Harry upstairs for pictures, which just makes Snape more upset as there is still an hour left to class.

"Potter- take your bag and get out of my sight!" Snape finally yells and is quiet for the remainder of class.

Snape calls Ron and I to the front of class and waits until the room empties before talking to us. "You three are to report here at 7:00 tomorrow night. Black, we'll discuss the rest of your detentions then."

"Can't wait," I reply sarcastically before walking out of the room, Ron behind me. Once we get several feet away from Snape's door I round on Ron. "Harry needs you," I tell him and he rolls his eyes, walking past me.

I glare at him before catching up to him and grabbing the front of his robes, pushing him against the stone wall. "You're being stupid. If you know anything about Harry you should know by now that he hates his fame. He didn't enter his name, someone else did, and the only reason someone else would enter his name is if they wanted something to happen to him. Get over it."

As I let go of Ron, Fred, George and Lee walk down the hall, on their way to class, each of them giving both me and Ron calculating looks.

"What's up?" George asks, looking between the two of us.

I shake my head at him. "Nothing," I reply, walking out of the hall.