Anne Marie's POV

Sunday morning, I woke up at around 11:00AM, and Cedric and I had come back at 4:00 the night before, only because my wristwatch had beeped and woke us up from a peaceful sleep. We had reluctantly parted in the Common Room, with a long hug because both of us felt like thank you wasn't enough.

Now I rolled over in bed and looked at the canopy of my four-poster above me. The task was November 25, Cedric had said, it felt so close, I was already shaking just thinking of it.

Then, everything before I'd talked to Cedric last night came back to me…Harry. Harry was a champion too! 'Oh, poor Ally!' I thought. I needed to find her, surely she needed someone to talk to. I jumped out of bed and ran for quick shower. I put on my comfiest jeans and flip-flops along with my pink lace-trimmed blouse and ran down the stairs for the Great Hall.

I slid to a halt in the doors and threw my brown curly hair around, scanning the Gryffindor table for my sister. I didn't see her. I turned and went back up the Marble staircase to head for the Library.

I went in, looking keenly for Ally somewhere among the mountains of books, I came around the corner, and there she was. Her hair was up in a messy bun and she had her head on her hands sleeping soundly with about ten open books on her table. Without waking her up, I turned a book around and closed it to read the cover.

"History of the Triwizard Tournament"

'Amazing eye witness accounts of the terrifying tasks the Ill-fated competitors had to endure.'

I winced slightly, hoping that they were making a bigger deal of this than need be. I put the book back down.

I picked up each of the books in turn, only to find they were all along the same lines of subject. I picked the first book back up and opened to the first page.

Ally stirred beside me, but I did not take my eyes from the page in front of me. My face and eyes were red from the headache reading had given me and the intense concentration my continuous reading had required.

"Anne Marie?"

I didn't answer, only continued to read. It was scaring me to death, but I could not put it down. Finally, Ally wrenched the book from my hands. I put my one hand to my mouth, shocked at what the Triwizard Tournament considered "simple tasks" to complete. This was what Cedric had to do?

"How much of this did you read?" I asked.

"About as much as you."

I put my knees to my chest, still wide-eyes. "How's Harry taking all of this?"

She looked at me with that 'that was a REALLY stupid question' look.

I let out a sigh. "I thought as much."

"What about Cedric? Have you talked to him?"

"We fell asleep out on the Astronomy tower."

"Ahh…wait…what?!"

I gave her a brief explanation of how we ended up on the tower.

"He's scared…" I said. "I'm scared…but as scared as we are, I know Harry must be ten times worse."

"He is…"

"And what about you?"

She hugged her knees to her chest and looked at me skeptically.

"How do you thank I am?"

"You tell me…how do you really feel about Harry?"

She looked at me, startled, I believe, but such a straightforward question.

"Come on, Ally. You cannot honestly look me in the eye and say you came here and read ten books on this tournament just for fun." I was getting a little angry at her hiding her feelings from me like I was someone she couldn't tell. "look at me and say you don't care about him, go ahead, but know that I'll never forgive you for lying if you do."

I fixed my blue yes on her purple ones with a piercing stare. I thought for a moment that she would stay stubborn, but she broke down when she realized I was serious.

"Alright. I…I really, really, really like him, I might even love him, but I don't right now. You have to understand that I move slower than you, Anne Marie. But I'm glad you know how you feel about Cedric."

There was a moment of silence in which both of us cast our eyes downward, thinking in private.

"I'm scared." Ally said out of nowhere. "This wasn't supposed to happen…"

"I know." I replied. "But there's nothing we can do for Harry."

"I know…that's what hurts."