Okay so I know this chapter isn't the best thing I've ever written but I kind of feel like I have spent long enough agonising over it and decided to just upload it and see what you all think. And I know that this chapter isn't very long, after the last one I really did try to make it longer but it kinda didn't work out too well...

Disclaimer: I still dont own anything except Grace :)

Chapter 21 – Stuck on Repeat

Running. Running again. Always running. It was the same dream every night. The only difference was that now Harry's voice called to her, terrified through the darkness. She knew why Harry had started making a sudden appearance in her dreams, of course. With every day, the second task grew closer and Grace knew that although he had finally figured out the clue, he was no closer to figuring out what to do with it and now he had all but run out of time.

Fred had tried to make her feel better ("Do you honestly think that Dumbledore'd let anything happen to him?") but somehow it didn't work. She couldn't help but think that whoever was behind Harry being in the tournament had already taken Dumbledore into account and it certainly hadn't stopped them from putting Harry's name in the goblet in the first place.

She wished she could help him, but she had no idea what he was supposed to do. He was no where near advanced enough to transfigure himself into something and try as she might, she couldn't think of a better option. Her usual advice would be to ask Hermione but it looked as if Hermione knew about as much as she did on the subject and as neither if them had never had to survive for an hour under water, that wasn't a lot.

With this and the news that Hagrid was some monstrous half-giant getting around, Grace found herself getting very distracted and once again, her school work began to suffer.

...

"Ah, Miss Blackseyer," said Dumbledore as she entered his office and took her usual seat in front of him. "And so we find ourselves here yet again."

It was always a strange experience being sent to Dumbledore's office. She knew she was in trouble; she hadn't handed in a piece of homework for the last four weeks or shown up for Potions for the last three. However, he didn't seem angry or upset with her, in fact he almost seemed…..amused.

"Do you know how many complaints I have had about you over the past few weeks?"

He sat there calmly studying her and she stared right back, arms folded and resolute. She was getting impatient, she wished that he would just yell at her or give her a detention or something. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Grace realised that he was actually waiting for her to answer.

"I'd imagine a lot, sir, considering I'm here."

He surveyed her slowly before he spoke again. "Is there anything you would like to talk about, Grace?"

"Yes," she replied with an eyebrow raised; she hadn't missed the sudden change from 'Miss Blackseyer' to 'Grace'. "But I seriously doubt that you're going to like it."

Once again he stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. It didn't take long.

"Why are you letting Harry compete in the tournament?"

Grace couldn't help but notice Dumbledore's expression didn't change, like this was exactly what he had expected. How fair was it that he knew everything?

"You must know that he's in danger! Why didn't you just say no?"

"Grace, I understand that you are concerned for your friend-"

"You're not answering the question," she said and to her surprise, Dumbledore smiled.

"You know if you paid this much attention to your studies, we would not be sitting here now," he said. "The ministry feel that Harry's safety is not at risk and they consider the judgement of the goblet to be binding."

"Oh, come on! You don't believe that."

Just as Dumbledore opened his mouth to answer, there was a loud knock on the door and Bagman came bounding in.

"Dumbledore, can we-"

He stopped short when his eyes fell on Grace. "Oh," he said. "Am I interrupting something?"

Grace opened her mouth to tell him that he was but before she could speak, Dumbledore answered him.

"No, not at all. Miss Blackseyer, it looks like we will have to continue this conversation another time. Until then, I trust you will do your best to keep up with your lessons."

It was a dismissal and, after a quick glance between the two men, Grace left without another word.

By the time, she had set off to go back to the Gryffindor Tower, the sun had set and it was getting dark fast. She had just got past the library when she heard a noise. Grace stopped and the noise happened again. Slowly, she edged around the corner. There was a classroom door ajar and the noise was coming from inside. Grace opened the door.

"Cedric?"

Cedric Diggory looked up. He was slouching at one of the desks and he looked very confused as if he had no idea how he had gotten there. His hair was stuck up on one side and in one hand he had an empty firewhiskey bottle.

"Cedric? Are you okay?"

It took him a while to answer and when he did his eyes were still unfocused. "Bottle was a Christmas present," he said thickly.

"Okay," she said, her eyebrows raised. "Don't you think it's time to go to bed now?"

"Can't move," he giggled. "I tried."

Grace sighed and took the empty bottle away before he dropped it. She set it on the side and turned back to study him. There was no way she would be able to carry him and now that she thought about it, she had no idea where the Hufflepuff common room was. In the end, she pulled up a chair and sat next to him; deciding that she couldn't leave him there alone and if she couldn't move him she would have to stay until he sobered up.

"So, is there a reason you downed a whole bottle of firewhiskey?"

Cedric shrugged clumsily. "I didn't….."

"Hate to break this to you, but you kinda did."

Cedric mumbled something incoherent and slumped a little further in his chair. Grace edged her own chair as close to him as possible and prepared herself to catch him if he fell. They were quiet for a while and Grace could feel herself getting tired; she had slept badly again last night.

Grace didn't remember falling asleep but suddenly the sound of footsteps and voices were coming through the door and daylight was streaming in through the windows.

"Cedric?" she said, shaking him awake.

He was up like a shot and looked like he instantly regretted it.

"Feeling better?" she asked brightly.

Cedric looked at her with horrified eyes. "Grace, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't do anything did I?"

Grace laughed. "Don't worry, you were already mostly unconscious by the time I got here. What were you doing here by the way?" she gestured around the room.

Cedric shook his head. "I honestly don't remember," he grimaced. "Is your head supposed to feel like it's about to explode?"

"It'll pass," she promised. "Just avoid doing anything that involves moving too much. Come on, let's go."

They reached the Great Hall quickly. "Hey, Grace?" said Cedric.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for…well…erm…everything," he said, embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it," she smiled and winked at him before spotting Fred and going over to sit with him.

"Where've you been?" he asked as she sat down and helped herself to some of his toast.

She swallowed her mouthful to answer but before she had gotten any words out, someone came over to them.

"Oi! Ace!"

They turned to see Draco walking toward them with a huge smirk on his face.

"I hear you spent the night with Diggory," he said.

"What's it to you, Malfoy?" she replied.

"I have to say I'm impressed," he continued. "You're really making your way through the Quidditch players."

It was only then that she realised how bad it looked. She was still wearing the clothes that she had worn yesterday and she had walked in with a very dishevelled-looking Cedric. However, it was about to get a lot worse….

"Oh," he said, looking very pleased with himself by now. "And you left this." From behind his back, Draco pulled the empty bottle of alcohol and put it on the table in front of her.

Grace looked over at Fred and immediately wished that she hadn't. She had never seen him look so angry before; the smile that usually lit up his face was gone. He wasn't looking at her and Grace saw behind that him, even George was glaring at her.

"Fred-" she started but she didn't know what to say to him. She knew that if it was the other way around, she wouldn't believe her.

Fred didn't say anything. Instead he got up, still not looking at her, and walked out of the Great Hall. Draco and his friends had started laughing. Grace lost her temper.

"You will pay for this Malfoy," she swore as she stood up and shoved him roughly out of her way so that she could go after Fred.