Chapter Fourteen
The Next Day
It was the next morning after the announcing of the Champions. Harry woke up in his bed, wondering how his day would turn out now that the whole school practically hates him. He looked over and saw that Ron was probably awake for his bed with unmade and empty. Sighing, Harry stood from his bed, changed out of his pajamas, and changed into his new clothes for today.
Then, Harry made his bed and left the bed chambers. He ignored the glares from his housemates, and entered the Common Room. "Harry!" came Hermione's yell. Harry looked up and saw Edward, Bella and Hermione waiting there for him. Harry released a sigh of relief, and rushed over to his friends.
Hermione stood and gave a reassuring hug to him. "Will you be alright today, Harry?" Hermione asked him, and he nodded. "Are you feeling okay, Harry? It seems like you're about to be sick." Edward pointed out to him in concern. "I-I feel fine." Harry stuttered, gulping. "You sure, Harry? You look like you're about to faint." Bella said worriedly. "I'm bloody well fine, thank you! What is with all of the questions?" Harry yelled, causing Hermione and Bella to jump in fright. The Gryffindor Common Room became silent and everyone stared at Harry like he was mental.
Edward stood and walked over to Harry, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We're only asking because we want to know that you can handle the hatred of everyone, Harry. We don't want this to be a problem for you." Edward said to him softly. Harry sighed, nodding his head; Harry knew that they were only worried for him and cared about him. "You're right. I'm sorry I yelled." Harry apologized to his friends.
"We understand, Harry." Hermione murmured to him. She walked forward and gave him another hug, one that was friendly, comforting and assuring.
"Hermione!" came Ron's roar. Harry, Bella, Edward and Hermione looked over and saw Ron at the stairs leading to the boys' bed chambers, wearing the school uniform. Ron scowled at how Hermione hugged Harry. "How can you still be friends with that lying bloke?" Ron asked Hermione angrily. "Because Harry is my best friend, Ron." Hermione told him, frowning at him.
"And what does that make me? Am I no longer your friend?" Ron asked her. "Of course you are! You can be Harry's friend again too if you would stop being so stupid!" Hermione yelled. "Oh, so now I'm stupid? I'm stupid because I'm no longer that liar's friend?" Ron growled, pointing an accusing finger at Harry. "What did I do to make you hate me?" Harry asked him, speaking up for himself.
"You know what you did. You went behind my back and bloody well entered in the Tournament without telling me!" Ron snarled at Harry. "I never entered the Tournament, Ron! Someone put my name in the Goblet!" Harry growled. "Oh sure! Like I'm going to believe you now!" Ron shouted. "I couldn't have put my name in the Goblet without being spat right back out, Ron! You damn well know that!" Harry shouted.
"Both of you, stop it!" Bella shrieked out; Hermione, Edward, Ron and Harry looked over at her. Bella had tears streaming down from her big brown eyes, before she turned and stumbled out of the Common Room. Edward called out her name worriedly, before he ran out after her. Hermione glared at Ron, before she and Harry walked out after Edward.
Hermione and Harry searched for Edward and Bella, before they found them in the Great Hall at the Gryffindor table. Bella was sobbing in Edward's arms while Edward tried to comfort her as best as he could. "Bella, are you alright?" Harry asked her once they were by the couple. "She's only upset that you and Ron are fighting. She wishes for you two to be friends again." Edward said to them while he lowered one of his hands and stroked Bella's cheek, brushing off her tears.
A shrill snickering noise was heard behind Edward and Bella; Harry, Hermione, Edward and Bella turned and saw Fleur walking behind them with some of her friends from her school. "Vhat a babey." Fleur teased, laughing a melodious laugh that sounded cruel and annoying to Hermione's and Bella's ears. Edward growled lowly at Fleur, and Fleur jumped, startled.
"Leave us alone, you shrew!" Hermione hissed at her, defending Bella. Fleur looked between Hermione and Edward, then turned and stomped off, her friends following behind her. "Thanks for sticking up for me." Bella mumbled out heavily to Edward and Hermione, lifting her head from Edward's chest. Her small nose was bright red and her eyes were puffy from her tears.
"You know that I will always protect you, my Bella; even from nasty Veelas like Fleur Delacour." Edward said to his love, smiling at her while he stroked back some of her hair. "And I will always protect my friends." Hermione said to her, reaching across the table and patting Bella's shoulder. Bella smiled at them both and nodded her head.
The school bell tolled out. "We better get to Divination, Bella." Harry said, standing from the table. They all stood and left the Great Hall, parting ways. Bella and Harry headed up to the North Tower together, while they talked amongst themselves. "I'm not going to like this class at all today." Harry mumbled to Bella as they entered the tower. "Why?" Bella asked him. "Because, Ron is my partner in this class, and I'm sure he's going to give me the Grim." Harry told him, shaking his head.
"Oh, I can be your partner, Harry." Bella said. "Really? But what about Angela?" Harry asked her as they climbed the steps. Though Harry didn't really know Bella's human friends well, he knew their names and from what Bella has told him, Angela was a nice Muggle-turned-Witch. "I don't think Angela is here today. I'm sure Ron would like being partners with someone else for today." Bella said to him.
"We should probably ask Trelawney though." Harry said just as they reached the last step to the classroom. They entered the room, and went towards Professor Trelawney. "Professor, is it alright if I work with Harry for a while?" Bella asked Professor Trelawney. "Why yes of course! Ronald Weasley had asked me if he could switch partners as well, and seeing as Miss Weber is in the Hospital Wing with the flu, you and Mister Potter can be partners for now." Professor Trelawney babbled.
"Err, yes. Thank you." Harry mumbled, and he and Bella walked towards one of the tables together, ignoring the burning glares from everyone in the classroom. The class period went on, with Bella and Harry chatting with each other as comfortably as possible whilst ignoring the glares from everyone. When the class period ended, Harry, Bella and now Alice and Jasper walked down the stairs together, heading towards Transfiguration.
The day went on like so, with everyone glaring at Harry and whoever was with him. When it was lunch, everyone had acquired some new "accessories". They wore buttons proudly on their robes, that said, "Support Cedric Diggory!" and had a picture of Cedric's face on it. Then, the image was twisted and it said, "Potter Stinks!" on it, along with a picture of Harry's face melting.
"I have a feeling of who made those." Harry growled lowly to himself, stomping his way to a central courtyard with Bella, Edward and Hermione. Cedric was in this courtyard, along with Malfoy and his two bodyguards, and Ron and Seamus. Cedric ran up to him when he saw him, and Jacob followed after him. "I swear, Harry, I did not make those silly buttons." Cedric muttered to Harry, pleading with him with his grey eyes that he was telling the truth. "I know you didn't make them, Cedric." Harry muttered to him.
"But, who did make them is over there with his little posse." Jacob grumbled, glaring across the courtyard at Malfoy who was laughing loudly. Harry breathed in deeply before he stomped towards Draco. "Oh look, here comes Hogwarts' Number One enemy!" Malfoy yelled, sneering. "Shut it you little pest! I know you sent out those buttons of yours." Harry roared, while Hermione, Bella, Edward, Jacob and Cedric ran up to where Harry stood.
"What are you going to do about it, Potter? Send your bodyguard vampy and werewolf on me?" Malfoy yelled. "You git; you better keep quiet about that or I swear -!" Jacob snarled, charging at Malfoy while he visibly shook. Edward raced forward and held Jacob back while the Slytherin group jumped back from him.
"Calm down, Jacob. You know we can't expose ourselves!" Edward hissed at him. "See! He bloody well can't control his anger! Why is he even here in the first place?" Malfoy asked out, snickering. "Shut it, or I will tear you apart like you're a chew toy!" Jacob snarled, shaking once more. Malfoy stopped talking, and soon, he and his friends turned and began walking away. "Come on, we should go." Hermione said to Edward, looking at all of the stares from the students.
Edward had to drag Jacob away with Cedric beside him, and Bella and Hermione walked in the back with Harry. Bella turned her head and saw that Malfoy was raising his wand, pointing it at Harry. "No!" Bella yelled, pushing Harry away. Harry fell down to the ground, bringing Hermione with him, and then, Bella was hit with whatever spell Malfoy used.
Bella began twitching wildly, convulsing every which way and looked like she was having a seizure. "BELLA!" both Hermione and Harry yelled, causing Jacob, Cedric and Edward to turn around. "NO!" Edward yelled, and dropping Jacob, he flashed to Bella's side, not caring if someone saw him using his vampire speeds. Bella dropped to the floor with her body still convulsing madly. "Bella!" Alice's shriek came from the left. Alice, Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett, the Weasley twins and Ginny came running over, and worriedly hovered over her.
Harry looked sharply over at Malfoy who seemed frozen on the spot, his wand still in mid air. "What in bloody hell did you do to her?" Harry yelled at him hysterically. Edward and his siblings looked up and saw where Harry was looking, and each of them snarled. "I'm going to wring your little neck, you ruddy git!" Rosalie snarled, running towards Malfoy. Emmett, Jasper and Alice were right after her, while Edward and the Weasley siblings stayed with Bella's body. "We've got to get her to a teacher now and find the counter-hex. Bella's been hit with some kind of curse like the Cruciatus curse." Hermione said.
"If that is the case, then I'm going to kill Malfoy with my bare hands." Edward growled, and picked Bella up in his arms gingerly. The whole courtyard was stunned into silence, their eyes on Bella's body. "This is strange though. Usually when someone is under the Cruciatus curse, they would be screaming out from the unbearable pain." Cedric said while they rushed out of the courtyard, hoping to find a teacher who can use a counter curse. "She doesn't like to worry me when she's in pain; her screams always make me think back to when I first met her." Edward told him quietly, watching Bella with sad eyes while she twitched.
"I don't know how she can still be in pain; Malfoy isn't pointing his wand at her anymore." Harry said, remembering Professor Mad-Eye Moody's demonstration of the Unforgivable Curses. Edward had tapped into Harry's thoughts that time, and realization dawned on him. "Mad-Eye Moody - of course Harry! We need to bring Bella to him! He'll know the counter-curse for this!" Edward said happily. They all raced towards the DADA classroom, and entered the room during one of his lessons.
"Professor Moody!" Cedric yelled as they barged in. The students in there turned and gasped at the sight of Bella's twitching body. "Sir, you have to help us!" Hermione pleaded with him as they ran to the front of the classroom. "How did this happen?" Moody asked them in a bark, looking at Bella's twitching body with his good eye while his mechanical eye moved back and forth between the classroom and her.
"Draco Malfoy did this to her, sir. Malfoy was going to curse me with this in the courtyard, but Bella had seen him about to do it and pushed me out of the way." Harry explained. "Rather strange that she's still under the curse after Draco's wand has been taken away though." Moody commented gruffly. "Please sir, can you use a counter-curse?" Edward asked him. "Yes, I can. Let's go into my office, Mr. Cullen, and only you. The rest of you can go wait outside." Moody said. "By the way; what happened to Draco?" Moody asked them as Edward carried Bella up to Moody's office.
"Edward's siblings chased after him." Jacob told him, smirking at the memory of the vampires bolting after Malfoy. Moody nodded, smirking though it was very gnarled and scary looking. "Continue reading on with the lesson, class, while I fix up Miss Swan." Moody said to his class while the others went outside.
"I hope Malfoy gets expelled for this." Jacob hissed while they waited outside Moody's classroom. "That's not possible, though; the least he's going to receive is a month's worth of detention." Cedric said. "Well, he deserves it after cursing Bella like that." Harry agreed with Jacob. Suddenly, a high pitched shriek was heard; that must've been Bella. "So much for being the silent suffering type." Jacob grumbled, looking at the door with a frown.
Then, a few minutes later, Moody, Edward and a now non-twitching Bella came out. "Miss Swan had been under the Cruciatus Curse, but it somehow had a long-lasting effect on her. Miss Swan, I want you to go down to Hospital Wing and get a note to excuse you for the rest of your classes today. I want you to rest up from the curse." Moody advised to Bella while she was being carried in Edward's arms.
"Yes sir." Bella murmured so quietly, Harry could barely hear her. "Thank you for helping us, Professor Moody." Edward said to him. "It's a good thing you took her to me first, Mister Cullen. Now, if you excuse me, I have a class to teach. And, don't worry, I'll make sure Mister Malfoy will get a severe punishment for cursing Miss Swan." Moody said. They all nodded and began walking away until Moody called Harry back.
"A Mister Rubeus Hagrid gave me this note, telling me to give it to you, Potter." Moody said, producing an envelope, and handing it to Harry before he disappeared, closing his door. "Harry, come on!" Hermione shouted to him. Harry tucked the note away for later, and hurried down the stairs after his friends.
Edward and Bella separated from the group, heading off in the direction of the Hospital Wing, while Hermione and Harry went to their next class, parting ways with Cedric and Jacob. When Hermione and Harry were in their next class, Harry took out his note from Hagrid, opened it and struggled to read Hagrid's sloppy handwriting and horrible spelling.
'Arry,
Meet meh at my hut toonite affter dinner. I've gott sumting to show yee.
Breeng yer invisi-ting cloak as well.
Hagrid
"What's that?" Hermione whispered to Harry when he saw the note. "Oh, um... just a note from Hagrid, reminding me to bring my book for his class tomorrow." Harry lied to her, knowing that if he told her the truth, she would give him a long lecture about sneaking out and how he'll get into serious trouble for it.
Hermione nodded, and went back to her work while Harry was left to his thoughts.
Why does Hagrid want me to meet him at his hut tonight? And why do I need my Invisibility Cloak?
~*~*~*EWM*~*~*~
After Dinner...
It was after dinner. Harry went up to the Gryffindor Dormitories, and looked for his Invisibility Cloak. He wrapped it around himself, and snuck out of the Gryffindor House, moving out of the students' ways in order to not blow his cover. He hurried out of the castle, and rushed over to Hagrid's hut; Hagrid was waiting outside, his hair smoothed back some while he wore a polka-dotted tie and a nice looking fur coat.
"Hagrid, I'm here." Harry said, removing the cloak from his head. "Blimey!" Hagrid yelped, startled by Harry's sudden appearance. "Sorry. So, why did you want me to come here tonight?" Harry asked him. Hagrid looked one way, then another, before he said, "'Ollow close behin' meh, 'Arry. And, don't make a noise." Hagrid instructed him. Harry nodded and slipped the cloak back over his head, before he followed after Hagrid quickly and quietly into the Forbidden Forest.
Suddenly, leaves rustling were heard behind Harry, then the cloak was being lifted from behind. "What the -" Harry hissed quietly and looked behind him. "Edward?" Harry whispered. "What are you doing out here, Harry? This is a dangerous forest." Edward hissed. "I'm following Hagrid; he has something to show me I think." Harry whispered. "How did you find me?" Harry asked Edward quietly while they continued walking into the forest after Hagrid.
"I followed your scent and your thoughts." Edward answered, looking around under the cloak in wonder. "What is this thing anyway?" Edward asked him quietly. "It's a Invisibility Cloak. Let's me go about without anyone really knowing." Harry explained, smiling. "How's Bella?" Harry asked Edward quietly. "She's really tired, but doing much better now that's she's resting. I had Hermione watch over her before I left. And, I had to tell Hermione the truth, Harry." Edward whispered to him, grimacing.
"Great." Harry mumbled.
"Both of yee, be qu'yet!" Hagrid hissed to the two boys. "Sorry." Edward and Harry mumbled to him apologetically.
A few minutes later, through the cloak, Edward and Harry could see that Hagrid was greeting Maxime of the Beauxbatons. "Maxime." Hagrid greeted her, taking her hand and kissing the back of her hand. "'Agrid." Maxime greeted him back with a large smile. Then, the couple walked off together with Harry and Edward following behind them, only keeping a small distance between them.
"Where is he taking her?" Edward whispered to him as quietly as possible; Harry had to strain his hearing in order to hear him. "I don't know." Harry answered.
Then, suddenly, an ear-shattering roar was heard throughout the forest. "What in bloody hell was that?" Harry hissed. "I don't know, but whatever it is, it does not sound good." Edward muttered, looking a little wary to go forward.
Finally, Hagrid and Maxime stopped. "'Ere wee go." Hagrid said, pushing some underbrush away, just as a bright light appeared. "Oh, my!" Maxime gasped, looking at the bright light with wonderment. "May I get eh clozer look, 'Agrid?" Maxime asked Hagrid, fluttering her lashes at him. He smiled and nodded, letting Maxime walk off. And, when she did, Harry and Edward saw the source for the bright light.
There were Dragons in the clearing before them.
"Dragons?" Harry hissed, removing the cloak over him and Edward. "Hagrid, why did you want to show Harry this?" Edward asked out, staring at him with wide angry eyes.
"'Isten, I'm not see'pose to tell yeh t'is, but, thee 'irst task is 'Arry battling a 'Ragon for one of thee 'Olden Eggs that t'ese cre'tures have." Hagrid told them, looking nervously around him. "I'm supposed to battle one of those things?" Harry asked him madly, looking at the dark colored one with scared eyes as it blew a large column of fire.
"This is much too dangerous for Harry, Hagrid! I can't believe the Magic of Ministry has this for the Triwizard Tournament!" Edward hissed out, shaking his head. "'Ell, it's not like 'Arry can do any-ting 'bout it now, Ed." Hagrid told him gruffly.
"Yeah; Hagrid is right, Edward. I can't do anything about me being in the competition." Harry said to Edward, looking back at him.
"Well, my advice to you Harry is that you tell Hermione about this so we can get studying for some spells on how to defend yourself properly against one of these fire-breathers. I know that if one of my brothers had entered this, they would've tried their damn best to stay away from the fire they're blowing." Edward said to Harry, looking at the dragons with fear evident in his eyes.
"Good point." Harry concluded, shaking his head.
*If there's any mistakes, my apologies*
Reviews would be appreciated.
~*Lady Lily of Darkness*~