"He - He sent me this," Hermione said, holding out the letter.
My hands were shaking. I had really thought that with Hermione helping him, there was no way that Hagrid could lose the case. But it seemed that he had. I had no doubt in my mind that Lucius Malfoy had had something to do with Hagrid's loss. Harry took the letter and I leaned over his shoulder to read it. The parchment was damp, and enormous teardrops had smudged the ink so badly in places that it was very difficult to read. My chest twisted. Hagrid had been crying when he had written this.
Dear Hermione,
We lost. I'm allowed to bring him back to Hogwarts.
Execution date to be fixed.
Beaky has enjoyed London.
I won't forget all the help you gave us.
Hagrid.
He had actually lost... Hagrid had actually lost the case and sweet Buckbeak was going to be killed... "No, no! That's not fair! Malfoy's father just bought the execution!" I shouted, angered beyond belief.
"They can't do this. They can't. Buckbeak isn't dangerous," Harry said.
"Harry's right. I've ridden Buckbeak before. He was fine with me. Malfoy was just being an ass, which you can't do with a Hippogriff," I snapped irritably.
Buckbeak hadn't done anything wrong. He had just reacted the way that Hippogriff's did when insulted. They were fine. Malfoy hadn't even had anything except a bad scratch that had been healed right up. This was exactly why the two of us would never really be friends. Or anything of the likes. I couldn't stand the way that he didn't take other lives - including animals' - into consideration.
"Malfoy's dad's frightened the Committee into it," Hermione said, wiping her eyes.
"Does Hagrid know about Lucius's bullying?" I asked.
"Of course. He was there. And you know what he's like," Hermione said. I did know. I had met Lucius Malfoy a few times and each time he was less pleasant than the time before. "They're a bunch of doddery old fools, and they were scared. There'll be an appeal, though, there always is."
"Maybe Hagrid can win the appeal. Bring Buckbeak, show them that he isn't dangerous," I offered unconvincingly.
Unfortunately, if Lucius Malfoy was already in their heads, nothing would change their minds. Buckbeak was going to be executed. "Hagrid's already tried that," Hermione sniffed.
"There has to be something else," Harry growled suddenly. "The appeal, we can work with that."
"At least there will be one last chance," I muttered.
We all knew that it was futile. Nothing would work. But we also weren't willing to give up. "Only I can't see any hope... Nothing will have changed," Hermione whined softly.
"Yeah, it will. You won't have to do all the work alone this time, Hermione. I'll help," Ron said fiercely.
I knew that the two of them would eventually manage to put their feud with Scabbers and Crookshanks out of their minds. With everything terrible that was happening with Buckbeak and Hagrid, at least the two of them were going to be friendly again. I supposed that was reassuring. It would also make me a little less stressed, considering that I wouldn't have to keep splitting my time between them - something that I had never been very good with before. I moved forward and pressed a hand against Hermione's shoulder. The fight was over.
"We'll all help," I said determinedly.
Even if we couldn't save Buckbeak, we would try our damnedest. "Oh, Ron!" Hermione howled.
Releasing her shoulder, I allowed her to move from me. I grinned towards the ground as Hermione flung her arms around Ron's neck and broke down completely. She was sobbing into his shoulder. Despite the tense and depressing moment, I glanced over at Harry and smiled. He was smiling back at me. Friendly again; eventually it would become a romance. I was sure of that. Ron, looking quite terrified, patted her very awkwardly on the top of the head. I laughed again. The emotional range of a spoon... Finally, Hermione drew away.
"The wedding is back on," I whispered into Harry's ear.
"You're really rooting for them?" Harry asked.
There was no one that I was rooting for - save Cedric and myself - more than Ron and Hermione. "Hell yeah, I am. Come on, you see it," I said, motioning between them.
Harry snorted. "Of course. I think everyone sees it."
"See? Trust me, just give it time. They'll get married. I'm telling you."
"If they don't kill each other first."
There was also no doubt in my mind that they would ever stop fighting. That was why I thought that they would work out. They already fought like a married couple. "Yes... I suppose that would be a problem," I muttered.
"Ron, I'm really, really sorry about Scabbers..." Hermione sobbed.
"Oh - well - he was old," Ron said dumbly, looking thoroughly relieved that she had let go of him.
Sensing the slightly awkward air, I walked between the two of them and smiled, holding them both by the shoulders. "See? Now was that so hard to say?" I asked teasingly.
"Shut up, Tara," Ron muttered, turning even redder than normal.
"No! I've been dealing with you all for weeks," I growled.
Ron rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored me. He then looked back at Hermione. "Anyways, he was a bit useless. You never know, Mum and Dad might get me an owl now," Ron tried to reason.
Harry and I smiled at each other as Hermione brightened slightly. "See? Look at that. It all works out," I said happily.
Finally we seemed to be back to our foursome. I was sure that we would be back at each other's throats within days, but for now we could be happy. Maybe I would finally be able to leave with Cedric for a while and not have to worry about them killing each other while I was gone. The four of us walked over towards the fireplace and instantly seated ourselves to start working on any last minute things that we could to save Buckbeak from his impending execution. One issue solved, now on to the next.
When the weekend ended and we were back in classes, I was confronted in the morning by Cedric. He wanted to know if I had been okay on the way back to the castle. Apparently Malfoy had said something about seeing Harry and I's floating heads. I had laughed and explained the entire thing - excluding the Marauder's Map - from the moment that we had left to the moment that we had gotten back to the castle. I had even mentioned running into Snape on the way back and how Professor Lupin had saved us from his wrath. Cedric seemed very happy that we hadn't gotten in trouble.
Although I did mention that I felt badly about disappointing Professor Lupin. Cedric insisted that he would be over it by the time that we got back to his class. Before I headed off towards my class, I even told him about how Buckbeak had lost and was now likely to be executed - unless we could stop it. I was planning on cancelling one of our upcoming dates out by the Black Lake for lunch just so that I could try and read up on anything that I could do to stop the execution and save Buckbeak.
Not only that, but I had also mentioned the simple fact that we wanted to spend a lot of time with Hagrid. In the event that we couldn't stop Buckbeak's execution, he should have at least had some time with friends. That was what he needed right now. Cedric had been quite regretful that Buckbeak was going to be executed. I knew that he loved magical creatures just as much as I did. He had even offered to try and do some work to see if he could find anything to save the Hippogriff. I had been more than a little grateful for that.
That was one of the only times that we had seen each other over the past few days. I had been too busy trying to solve the problem with Buckbeak and Hagrid. It seemed almost impossible for the two of us to meet up together while I was trying to work out what was happening in other places. It didn't really matter anyways. With two break-ins from Sirius Black, I was barely ever left alone in the hallways. Not even with my own boyfriend. Other Prefects or professors were always trying to keep me company.
The safety measures imposed on the students since Black's second break-in had also made it impossible for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I to go and visit Hagrid in the evenings. It had been hard enough for the four of us to get out there anyways, but this was making things even worse. It was almost impossible for me to do anything, actually, other than just go along with everyone and try to ignore the lingering teachers. Our only chance of talking to Hagrid these days was during Care of Magical Creatures lessons. He seemed numb with shock at the verdict.
"S'all my fault," Hagrid told us one afternoon.
Placing my hand on his giant arm, I shook my head. That was the last thing that we needed happening. "It is not your fault, Hagrid. It's Malfoy and his father's fault," I snapped irritably.
"Nah. I got all tongue-tied. They was all sittin' there in black robes an' I kep' droppin' me notes and forgettin' all them dates yeh looked up fer me, Hermione," Hagrid said.
That couldn't have been the reason that he had lost the trial. They were all just in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. "Well I'm sure that they knew that you would be nervous, Hagrid. You can't be the first person in the world who was nervous," I said, attempting to be reasonable.
"An' then Lucius Malfoy stood up an' said his bit, and the Committee jus' did exac'ly what he told 'em..."
"But we can defend you!" I said quickly.
Hagrid shook his head sadly. "Doesn't work tha' way, Tara. Thank yeh, though," Hagrid muttered.
"This isn't fair!" I barked.
"There's still the appeal! Don't give up yet, we're working on it!" Ron said fiercely.
All four of us nodded. There was no way that we were going to let Buckbeak die without doing anything to try and save him. I placed a hand on Hagrid's back and tried to push him towards the hut. "How about some tea, Hagrid?" I offered.
Everyone else was busy with classwork. I had a feeling that they really didn't care if we were inside making tea or outside and actually learning. Unable to speak from grief, Hagrid merely nodded at me. So I snuck into Hagrid's hut to help him out for a little while. It was quite the mess from Buckbeak living in there and having Hagrid unmotivated to clean anything. I made Hagrid some tea as the four of us sat around and chatted with him. The door was open in case someone needed us or people started to complain that Hagrid wasn't teaching. That was the last thing that we needed.
It was obvious enough to see that Hagrid wasn't really into anything that we were saying or doing. He just wanted to save Buckbeak and there was about no chance in hell that we could do that. But we would certainly try. For most of the class period, we were trying to be as sweet as possible and reassure Hagrid that everything would be alright. I made sure to tell Hagrid more than once that there was nothing to worry about, even though I knew that it wasn't the truth. It was going to be very tough to save Buckbeak.
Before we left to go back to class for the last few minutes, I walked over towards Buckbeak. The Hippogriff bowed before I even managed to do it myself. He must have known what was coming. It broke my heart to see the once spirited animal so demure. I walked onto his pillow and sat with him, gently brushing my fingers through his feathers. We had to save Buckbeak... He wasn't even slightly dangerous... Malfoy was just an ass... I spent the last few minutes of class letting Buckbeak nuzzle against my hand and rest his head in my lap.
By the time that class was finally over, it was almost impossible to leave Buckbeak. It was heartbreaking. But I peeled myself away from the Hippogriff and promised Hagrid that I would come back and spend some time him before they left again. Just in case... With Buckbeak locked in Hagrid's cabin, the rest of us were walking back up to the castle with the rest of the class. Ahead of us, I could see Malfoy, who was walking with Crabbe and Goyle. He kept looking back, laughing derisively. His eyes seemed firmly locked on Hagrid.
"S'no good, Ron. That Committee's in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. I'm jus' gonna make sure the rest o' Beaky's time is the happiest he's ever had. I owe him that..." Hagrid said sadly as we reached the castle steps.
"We'll help. We'll take care of him," I said as hopefully as possible.
But we all knew that it wasn't the truth. There was almost no way that we were going to be able to save Buckbeak. They were already in Lucius Malfoy's pocket and that meant that nothing that we could do would change things. As much as I was trying to comfort Hagrid, I knew that he also knew the truth. There was nothing to do to stop Buckbeak's execution. Hagrid suddenly turned around and hurried back toward his cabin, his face buried in his handkerchief. He didn't even stop for a moment to say anything more to us.
"Oh, Hagrid..." I muttered sadly, watching him stride back to his cabin. He must have been trying to spend as much time with Buckbeak as possible before it was too late. "Buckbeak really is sweet."
"Of course he is," Hermione put in.
"Look at him blubber!"
My head snapped back to see what was happening. I should have known who had said it, but I just wanted to be sure. Every time that it seemed like we might have been making some real progress towards being friends, he always did something else to undermine it. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had been standing just inside the castle doors, listening. The rest of the Slytherin's were standing close by, chuckling at Hagrid's misfortune. The rest of the Gryffindor's were trailing behind us, but they had clearly overheard their comment.
"Fuck off!" I shouted, before thinking better of it.
The words flew out of my mouth before I got the chance to stop them. I knew that I shouldn't have said it. I knew that my parents would have been appalled if they had heard me. In fact, I had never even heard anyone in Hogwarts say that before. My hand instantly slapped itself over my mouth. I had been known to be rather profane before, as I was usually losing House points for foul language, but I just couldn't hold it in that time. The entire class stopped dead in their tracks and went deathly silent. It was the first time that anyone had said anything like that.
Malfoy very slowly waltzed up to me, his eyes narrowed into a deathly glare. "What did you say?" Malfoy growled.
Take it back, Tara. He's an ass, but you shouldn't have said that. Instead, what came out was, "You heard me."
My voice was as threatening as his. "Filthy blood-traitor," Malfoy snarled.
In the back of my mind I knew that this was my chance to be the bigger person and put our constant bickering behind us. It was the time to bury the hatchet. But the big-headed part of me couldn't force myself to do that. So instead I stormed up to Malfoy and did what everyone should have seen coming by now. I reared back and punched Malfoy dead across the face, much harder than I had ever done before. Malfoy stumbled backwards as his friends tried to walk up and help him back to his feet. He shoved them away to straighten up and give me an almost poisonous look.
Everyone looked about ready to step in. Malfoy spit out a mouthful of blood. I was glad that I had caused that. He spit out another glob of blood before saying, "You know that I could -"
"What? Spill the secret?" I interrupted.
There were looks exchanged throughout the small entrance hall that we were standing around. The Slytherin's all raised their eyebrows. They were clearly interested with what was happening between us. The Gryffindor's looked like they were about to assist in the fight. I could see Ron, Harry, and Hermione moving forward to diffuse the fight. They were the only people here who knew the secret. They wouldn't want me to say it. But I was sick of Malfoy hanging something over my head. He was not holding this secret over me anymore. I would simply deal with the consequences.
"Go ahead," I dared.
"You're not serious," Malfoy said slowly.
"Wanna bet?" I tempted.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Go for it. Tell them."
"Tara -" Harry started.
"Stay out of it," I interrupted, not entirely unkindly.
This was my mess. I was the one who needed to fix it. Malfoy smirked, figuring that I would stop him, and said, "That you -"
"Kissed me?" I interrupted. "Yes."
Mostly it had been because I didn't think that he would say it. And, honestly, I wanted to be the one with the balls to say it. So I had been. It was my secret and I was finally ready for everyone to know. The entire class gasped. Both Slytherin's and Gryffindor's. I could see Hermione pinching the bridge of her nose. Harry and Ron looked about ready to attack Malfoy. The girls were whispering about the kiss and asking each other questions. Obviously no one had seen it, so no one had any answers. But I did hear Cedric's name being thrown back and forth.
That would manage to get back to him at some point. I was already well aware that he would want to know more about this, and I would tell him when the time came. The class was still reeling from my announcement. They clearly weren't expecting that. I smirked as the class erupted into whispers about what just happened. Malfoy looked shocked too. He was clearly expecting me to try and stop him. Crabbe, Goyle, and Blaise Zabini were all staring at me curiously. Malfoy, too, since he wasn't trying to stop me from actually spilling the beans.
"What?" Pansy finally howled.
Her face was bright pink as she stared at me. A wide smirk spread over my face. "That's right," I said, crossing my arms over my chest and striding up to her. "I was disguised as you and your boyfriend kissed me last year. By the way, he thinks your eyes are dull, he likes mine, and that strawberry Chapstick that you have... Look familiar?"
Dipping my hand down into my pocket, I pulled out my own case of Chapstick. Pansy's jaw was practically on the floor. "You -"
"Have nothing on me," I said, directing the comment towards Malfoy. He was still scowling at me as everyone else slowly moved towards us. "We're done with this secret. Spread it around. I don't care."
"What about when your boyfriend finds out?" Malfoy snarled.
He was trying to hang something over me. But it had happened long before we were together. "That you sprang a kiss on me when you thought that I was someone else? A kiss that I wasn't aware of? That happened before we got together? I don't care. He won't either. And, if nothing else, I'll be more than happy to let him know how much better of a kisser he is than you," I said brightly.
Despite everyone sounding not at all happy about the kiss, they did appreciate my little jab at Malfoy. Although they didn't really sound happy about the fact that Malfoy had initiated the kiss either. The entire Gryffindor side of the class started laughing. Even Harry and Ron, who never wanted to hear about my kisses with Cedric. Slytherin House looked furious. None more so than Malfoy. All of my friends were laughing and grabbing me, giggling madly. Clearly Malfoy knew that he wouldn't win this way. So he tried something else.
"Come on, Nox. You really want to say that you feel nothing for me?" Malfoy asked, walking towards me.
"Yeah, Malfoy. You're a terrible kisser, horrible Quidditch player, and, oh yeah, nowhere near as attractive as Cedric Diggory. Right?" I asked the other girls.
"You bitch!" Pansy howled.
"Leave, Pansy," Malfoy seethed.
"Draco -" Pansy started.
"We'll talk later," Malfoy said, cutting off whatever she was going to say.
No one in Slytherin looked happy with me. They were all glaring at me like I had said something to mortally offend them. Of course, maybe I had. They worshiped Malfoy. I grinned brightly as the rest of the Gryffindor girls started chirping their agreement. Cedric was definitely one of the best looking guys in Hogwarts. And it was just my luck to be with him. Malfoy's jaws set tightly. The kiss wasn't going to get to me. That was already out of my life. Malfoy, knowing that, went back to the way that he was torturing us before.
"Have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic? And he's supposed to be our teacher!" Malfoy laughed excitedly.
The Gryffindor's had started to disperse slightly now that the conversation about my kiss with Malfoy was over. I knew that they would all be trying to get that back to Cedric within the day. I could expect to see him before dinner was over tonight. In the meantime, I was steaming over the fact that Malfoy was now back to taunting Hagrid. Was there no low that he could hit? Harry, Ron, and I all made furious moves toward Malfoy, but to my surprise, Hermione got there first. Even more shocking was the fact that she's followed my lead.
There was a loud crack as I took a step backwards. Coming from me wasn't that surprising. I was known to be hot-headed and I had hit or thrown something at Malfoy at least a hundred times before. But Hermione had now slapped Malfoy across the face with all the strength she could muster. It looked to be almost as hard as I had hit him. And I had a Chaser arm... Damn, Hermione... Malfoy staggered backwards, clearly shocked. Harry, Ron, Crabbe, Goyle, and I stood flabbergasted as Hermione raised her hand again.
"Nice!" I chirped happily, thrilled with what she had just done. I turned back to Malfoy with a little grin. "See, Malfoy, it's not just me."
"Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic," Hermione started, "you foul - you evil -"
"Hermione!" Ron yelled weakly, and he tried to grab her hand as she swung it back.
"Get off, Ron!" Hermione yelled.
"Let her go!" I chimed in.
As much as I enjoyed hitting Malfoy - as it was always extremely gratifying - it was also thrilling to see Hermione finally grow a little bit of a backbone. I always knew that she could do something like that. Hermione clearly wasn't getting back to Malfoy without Ron letting her go. He must not have wanted her to get in trouble. She wasn't used to being in trouble. I was. So Hermione went the other route and pulled out her wand. Malfoy stepped backward. Crabbe and Goyle looked at him for instructions, thoroughly bewildered.
"Do it!" I chirped.
Malfoy sent me a little scowl. "C'mon. You'll regret saying that," Malfoy muttered, and in a moment, all three of them had disappeared into the passageway to the dungeons.
We were now the only people left. "Doubt it," I muttered after him.
The four of us stared at each other before Harry gave me a long look. "That'll get around the school," Harry finally commented.
Obviously he meant about our kiss. "I don't care," I said honestly.
"Cedric will hear," Hermione pointed out.
"I don't care. He deserved it. I'll explain it to Cedric if he asks," I said determinedly.
"Hermione!" Ron said again, sounding both stunned and impressed.
He was clearly hung up on how Hermione had just smacked Malfoy. Not as good as a punch, but it was a good start. "Nice one!" I cheered happily, grabbing her shoulder and shaking it. "I knew that someone else would eventually hit him."
"Harry, Tara, you'd better beat him in the Quidditch final! You just better had, because I can't stand it if Slytherin wins!" Hermione cried shrilly.
"Trust us, neither can we," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"We're due in Charms. We'd better go," Ron said, still goggling at Hermione.
In all of the hustle and bustle with Malfoy and what he had said about Hagrid - not to mention the multiple hits and revelations to the school that I had once kissed Malfoy - I had almost completely forgotten that there were other classes that we were supposed to be attending. All four of us turned and sprinted off. Hermione and I quickly used the Time-Turner to head to our overlapping classes - spending our respective hours in them - before meeting up and turning it back again, returning to what the boys believed was the only present, before running back to class.
About halfway there, Hermione handed me the Time-Turner and told me to hurry up. She apparently had some books that she had forgotten. I nodded at her and darted off. Back towards the boys. I could see Ron and Harry talking to Hermione and I's doppelgangers about heading to Charms. I ducked into the corner and waited for them to pass before shooting back out, replacing my original self. Together we hurried up the marble staircase toward Professor Flitwick's classroom, the boys none the wiser to what had just happened.
"You're late, kids!" Professor Flitwick said reprovingly as Harry opened the classroom door.
"Sorry, Professor," I called awkwardly.
Everyone was staring at us. I could hear whispers and see fingers being pointed at me. It seemed that the rumors had already spread about Malfoy's kiss. At least we didn't have Charms with the Slytherin's. That would have only made things a little worse. I blushed softly as we took a few steps into the classroom. There wouldn't be long before they all started asking me about what had really happened that day. In all honesty, I still wasn't completely sure what had happened that night. It had all been so sudden.
"Come along, quickly, wands out, we're experimenting with Cheering Charms today, we've already divided into pairs," Professor Flitwick said, motioning us to the few empty chairs.
Awkwardly, Harry, Ron, and I hurried to a desk at the back and opened our bags. I cleared my throat as I sat down in between the two of them. I didn't want to have to talk about Malfoy right now. I had just gotten most people to stop asking me about Cedric. Now it was going to start all over again - and this time with Malfoy - one of my least favorite people in the world. If everyone in class already knew - a class that we happened to have with the Hufflepuff's - it would only be so long before Cedric knew. Ron suddenly looked behind Harry.
"Where's Hermione gone?" Ron asked.
She had been with me when we were heading towards class. But she had turned back to try and get her books. Where the hell had she gone? I had been known to miss classes from time to time, but Hermione never did. She was the one person who never missed classes, even if she was direly sick. The only time that she had missed classes was when she had been Petrified, something that had terrified her. Harry then looked around too. Hermione hadn't entered the classroom, and unfortunately the boys knew that she had been right next to them when he they opened the door.
"That's weird. Maybe - Maybe she went to the bathroom or something?" Harry offered, staring at Ron and me.
"I think that she mentioned that her arm was bothering her. Doubt she's ever slapped anyone," I said carelessly, hoping that the boys would leave it alone.
"Did she say something to you?" Ron asked.
"No. I just saw her rubbing her hand," I said.
"Why didn't she say something?" Harry asked.
"Hush. I'm trying to listen," I hissed.
Mostly because I didn't want to have to admit to the boys what we were really doing. It was bad enough that Cedric knew. He was thankfully keeping it a secret. I knew that it would be even worse if somehow Harry and Ron managed to find out. We would probably tell them one day, but that wasn't today. Maybe after we graduated. Despite everyone feeling better as we performed the Cheering Charms, I knew that Ron and Harry were thinking about the glaringly obvious truth. Hermione didn't turn up all lesson. She was... I had no idea what she was doing, actually.
"She could've done with a Cheering Charm on her too," Ron said as the class left for lunch, all grinning broadly - the Cheering Charms had left us with a feeling of great contentment.
We were all so happy that no one even asked about what was happening to Malfoy. I grinned broadly. It would have been wonderful if we would be able to put off that conversation for a few days. Maybe for a few weeks. Or months. Or even years. I would have loved that. Or if no one ever brought it up again. That was what would have been preferable. As we all made our ways to the tables to get lunch, I sat in between Ron and Harry, happily chatting away. It was the happiest I had been in a long time. But there was one thing that I noticed. Hermione wasn't at lunch either.
Where the hell had she gone? I wanted to say something to the boys about trying to find her, but I was stopped before I could. "Tara?"
Turning back in my seat, I saw that Cedric was standing behind me. "Hi," I said brightly.
"Can we walk for a second?" Cedric asked, motioning towards the entrance hall.
"Sure," I said, jumping off of the bench with my smile still plastered on my face.
Cedric's hand wound around my lower back and I smiled lightly. It was nice to be with him after such a long and annoying day. Although the Cheering Charm kept the damned smile on my face. It was almost impossible to pretend that I wasn't the slightest bit upset about what had happened with Malfoy in Care of Magical Creatures. Honestly, I was more upset about what he had said rather than the fact that people now knew about what had happened that night in the Slytherin Common Room. As we walked out into the entrance hall, Cedric gave me a scrutinizing stare.
"You look oddly happy," he said.
"Am I not normally happy?" I asked curiously.
Although there were a number of times that I was spotted scowling about something or the other. Likely more often than not. "No. You're normally happy. You just don't normally look as happy as you do right now," Cedric pointed out.
"Cheering Charm with Professor Flitwick," I explained.
Cedric smiled somewhat awkwardly. "Ah. That makes sense."
His hands went back through his hair, ruffling it slightly. "Are you okay?"
He had heard the rumor. That was the only explanation for his mildly awkward behavior. "Yeah." The two of us stood in silence for a moment. "I - I just heard a strange rumor," Cedric finally admitted.
"The one time that you actually listen to gossip," I teased.
We both smiled at each other. It was the truth. He never listened to the gossip. Not before the two of us had been officially dating. But maybe that was the reason that he was actually listening to it right now. As much as I really did like Cedric, and as happy as I was from the effects of the Cheering Charm, I was a little annoyed that the rumor with Malfoy was the one that he had actually heard. Of course, it was rather shocking, considering that the two of us had been known to hate each other. Plus there was the issue that I was the one to spill the beans, not him.
Cedric gave me a guilty smile. "Well I normally hear the rumors. I just ignore them," he pointed out.
"It's not a rumor. It's the truth," I said, realizing that this wasn't a truth that I could keep hidden. Cedric needed to know what had happened that night, especially now that it was out. "The one that you heard."
Cedric's face dropped. "What?"
Almost immediately I realized my mistake. "There's a longer story behind it," I said quickly.
"Please," Cedric said, motioning around us. "I'm all ears."
There was a slightly bitter sound in his voice. He didn't like the fact that Malfoy and I had once shared a kiss - despite the fact that I had been disguised as Parkinson and Malfoy hadn't had a clue that I was myself. I wasn't sure whether or not Cedric knew exactly what had happened. That meant that I really needed to tell him. I couldn't just blow this one off. And I really didn't want to let Cedric think that I had gotten with Malfoy just shortly after the two of us had gotten together.
So I awkwardly let out a breath and started to tell him everything about that night down in the Slytherin Common Room and what had happened that night. From the moment that we had realized that Slytherin's Heir was the person who had been opening the Chamber of Secrets. I told him about Ron, Harry, and Hermione's suspicions that it might have been Malfoy who had been his Heir and how we had decided to make the Polyjuice Potion to find out the truth. I finally explained that it was my job to get the extra ingredients - exactly what Cedric had helped me with that day.
There was a small smile on his face. He seemed to think that it was rather funny that he had actually helped us do something very against the school rules. The two of us had laughed about the truth behind that day before I had moved forward with the rest of my story. I told him about the way that Harry and Ron had taken out Crabbe and Goyle while I had knocked out Parkinson. Cedric had gotten a good laugh out of that one. I had then proceeded with the story of how we made our way into the Slytherin Common Room.
In the process of telling him about the transformation with the Polyjuice Potion, I had finally explained the truth of why Hermione was out of classes for so long. Cedric seemed to have felt quite bad for her. At least it was just a distant memory now. Then I told Cedric all about our conversation with Malfoy in their Common Room. I finished with telling Cedric about Malfoy having stopped me from leaving when he thought that I was Parkinson and planting a small kiss on her. I even - begrudgingly - admitted that it had been my first kiss.
But I was very quick to tell him that he had been my real first kiss. The only one that I counted, anyways. I went back to the original topic at hand by explaining how Malfoy had known that it was me. The fact that my eyes had been turning back to their original color and he had tasted the strawberry Chapstick that I wore, which had been easy enough for him to piece together. I explained to Cedric that Malfoy had been holding it over my head since then and proceeded to tell him about what had happened in Care of Magical Creatures and how I had finally gotten it over with and let the truth go.
Cedric was silent for a long time. I couldn't get a read on him. "Are you angry?" I finally asked.
Cedric gave me a long stare. "I don't think that I really can be angry," Cedric said, laughing as he ran his hands through his hair. "I'm not upset with you. It was an accident. You couldn't be caught and didn't even know that it would happen. We weren't dating anyways. I was just surprised. But it makes perfect sense now."
"Incredible how that can make sense," I teased.
"When it comes to you, I never expect anything less than strange."
We both laughed. "Sorry it came out like that. I was just upset."
Cedric shook his head and grabbed my hand, walking us a little deeper into the hallways. "No, it's fine. I would have said something too." We were silent for a few moments. "I see why he liked the strawberry Chapstick," Cedric finally said, making me snort loudly.
"You like it?" I teased.
"Yes, I do," Cedric said.
His arms wrapped around my waist to stop me from walking as they tugged me right up against his chest. I laughed and fluttered my eyelashes playfully. "And my eyes?" I asked.
"Oh, they're lovely."
"Trust me when I say that you're much cuter than Malfoy, too."
We both grinned as I flicked him on the nose. Cedric grinned and nudged me, still not releasing his grip around my waist. "And you are much cuter than Pansy Parkinson."
My gaze narrowed slightly. "We would have had a big issue if you had told me that I wasn't."
"There's no competition."
A small smile fell over my face. "Thanks," I giggled.
The Cheering Charm had done the trick. I was definitely happy having him with me. I was happy in general, despite what had happened with Malfoy not that long ago. Despite what I was sure would be a rumor that would run rampant soon enough. Cedric's fingers wound into the material of my robes as I leaned upwards on my toes to press a kiss against his mouth. There was a small group of giggles behind us and I broke apart to glare at a few First Years. There was nothing to see here. Cedric shooed them off with his eyes. They giggled again before darting off.
Cedric didn't release me, but he did lean back slightly. "How's Hagrid?" Cedric asked.
Sighing softly, I shook my head. "Not good," I admitted. Cedric frowned. "We have one last chance to save Buckbeak, but I don't think that we can. And I can't tell Hagrid that. It would break his heart."
"I'm so sorry about Buckbeak."
"Me too." The two of us stood in silence for a moment as Cedric wrapped his arms around me. I rested my head on his chest, trying to blink back images of what was going to happen to Buckbeak if we couldn't help Hagrid. Eventually I lifted my head to look at Cedric again. "Rest assured that I will never like Malfoy. More than you or at all. Mostly because of things like that," I said.
"I didn't think that I had competition," Cedric teased.
There wasn't even the slightest bit of a competition, but I wasn't going to let him know that. "Don't get cocky," I shot back, shoving into him. We smiled at each other as I placed a hand on his chest, pushing against him. "Come on, admit it. You were jealous."
Cedric laughed softly and shook his head. Was I overreacting? Had he not been jealous? That honestly would have bothered me slightly. I wanted to know that he did care at least a little bit for me. Enough to have been slightly jealous when he had thought that there was something between Malfoy and I. Bristling at the thought that Cedric didn't care about me having kissed Malfoy, I was very grateful when Cedric wrapped an arm tighter around my waist and crushed me up against himself.
"Surprised. Not jealous," Cedric finally admitted. I arched an eyebrow, unsure if he was telling me the entire truth. He still seemed a little mistrustful. "Alright. Fine. I was maybe just a tiny bit jealous."
Smiling up at him, I pressed a hand against his chest. "You've got nothing to be jealous of," I promised.
And he really didn't. If I was being completely honest, Malfoy wasn't half-bad looking. I remembered being briefly attracted to him the first time that we had met at Twilfitt and Tatting's. Mostly because he was rather good-looking. Unfortunately a trait that had come from both his mother and father. Of course, that did nothing for his horrid personality. That was why the two of us would never have had a chance together. Plus there was the fact that my feelings for Cedric would have always completely negated my feelings for anyone else that I could have had.
It would always be the truth. I smiled up at Cedric and took the closest step into him as I could. My arms wrapped up around his shoulders so that I could come a little closer to his height level. At the same time, Cedric's arms wrapped tightly around my hips to close in on them. I really was so happy to be with him. He was such a sweetheart about everything. Even about this. Malfoy was far too much of an ass, ninety-nine percent of the time, for me to ever like. Cedric moved down to press a kiss against my lips as I giggled, grateful that no one else was around.
We lingered together for a little while, not quite ready to go back to lunch yet. A few minutes had passed when Cedric finally broke away from me. I quirked an eyebrow. "So... Malfoy was really your first kiss?" Cedric asked.
My jaw dropped. Cedric snorted as I shoved him away from me. "Go ahead and laugh," I snapped.
"Could have been worse. When I had my first kiss, her father saw us. Of course, we were in the middle of a public park, so it was kind of my fault."
"You had your first kiss in public?"
"Ah... yes... She stole my lollipop and I chased her onto the playground for it. When I caught her, she decided to make up for it by giving me a kiss that I was completely unprepared for. Her father saw us and thought that I had initiated the kiss. He confronted my parents over it and they called the School Board. That was about the time that I was pulled out of Muggle school."
My laughter echoed off of the stone walls. "How old were you?" I asked.
"Eight, I think," Cedric said.
"You don't even know how old you were?"
"It wasn't that memorable. What happened afterwards was much more so."
We both grinned again. "Well, you don't have to count that one if you don't want to. First kisses usually aren't that great. I mean, I don't count the one with Malfoy as mine. As far as I'm concerned, you were my first kiss," I said.
"Oh, I'm honored," Cedric teased. I laughed as he leaned in and pressed another kiss against my lips. "I'm better, right?"
Tilting my head off to the side, I faked a moment to think about it. "Hmm... I'm not quite sure."
"We'll have to try again."
The two of us stared at each other as I smiled. Both of our voices were very teasing. After all, I hadn't even really gotten a chance to actually think about the kiss with Malfoy. It had happened and in an instant, it had been over. The ones with Cedric lingered for a little while longer. They were more serious. I actually felt something with the ones with him. Just as I did when he leaned down and pressed another kiss against my mouth. I smiled into the kiss as one of my hands came up to rest in his hair, my fingers curled around his golden locks.
No sooner had I done that, when a shout came from the other end of the Entrance Hall. "Get a room!" I glanced back and saw that it was Ted. He was walking with a few other friends of Cedric's from Hufflepuff.
"Or a broom closet," another Hufflepuff boy snorted.
My face lit up a brilliant red as the boys laughed. I stepped back from Cedric as they all patted him on the back before stalking off towards their next classes. Once they were gone, I looked back at Cedric. "Sorry about those rumors," I muttered.
Cedric chuckled and shook his head. "That's probably my fault. I think that I could have picked a little less of an obvious spot," he said, motioning around us.
"You're right. This is your fault," I teased.
We both laughed again as I rolled my eyes. "You never answered me," Cedric said, drawing my attention back to him. "Am I better?"
"Yes. Much better."
Another quick kiss was exchanged as his hand looped behind my neck; Cedric was clearly quite proud of himself with my admission that he was a better kisser. It almost made me laugh. He might have looked like a fully-grown man, but he was still just a young adult. When we finally pulled apart, I glanced back at the doors to the Great Hall. The lunch hour was quickly ticking away. We would both have to be getting back to class soon enough.
"I should probably head back," I said regretfully.
"Yeah. Me too. Those damned classes," Cedric teased.
"I know. They're so inconvenient, aren't they? Always interrupting our conversation."
"You would think that the professors might be a little more accommodating. After all, there's socializing to be doing," Cedric said, being playfully haughty. I giggled softly. "I'll see you later."
Before he could walk away, I called him back. "Wanna study over the weekend?"
Cedric's eyebrow quirked. I didn't usually make offers for studying. "Sure. I'll meet you in the library at noon?"
"Absolutely."
Before we headed back into the Great Hall, Cedric pulled me into him to share another kiss. The two of us stayed together for a few moments before he pulled away. We walked back in together, hand-in-hand, as I so desperately tried to avoid the gazes of everyone in the Great Hall. I could see their eyes darting back and forth between Cedric and I to Malfoy. It would be a long time before that whole thing went away. I probably should have given some context to the kiss between us. After all, everyone already knew all of the rules that we had broken.
As we got back to the Gryffindor table, I released Cedric and took a seat back in front of my plate. Not even two seconds had passed before I was descended on by Fred and George. The other Third Years knew what had happened, but they didn't. So I spent an unfortunate few minutes explaining to the two of them what had happened with Malfoy that day. They were both very quick to threaten to kill him for daring to kiss me. I laughed and promised that I would beat them to it. If anyone was going to kill Malfoy, it was going to be me.
"So..." Fred started, twirling a strand of my hair that had fallen out of its hold around his fingers. "Since you're giving kisses out, when do I get one?"
Snorting into my water goblet, I shoved Fred off to the side. "Shut up," I laughed.
Fred scoffed and flipped his hair back over his shoulders. "Oh, come on! Diggory gets one," Fred said, mocking what he called my 'dreamy eyes' towards Cedric. I rolled my eyes. "Even Malfoy's gotten one."
Well it wasn't like I wanted the one from Malfoy. I would have rather it been you. But for some reason, I didn't want to say that out loud. So I went with teasing. "I promise that if I give out another kiss, you will be above Malfoy on my list," I joked.
But it wasn't really a joke. It was the truth. "That doesn't impress me that much," Fred scoffed.
"Freddie?" Fred raised his eyebrows. "Go away," I deadpanned.
"What about me?" George asked, leaning over his twin.
"Oh, you're definitely above Fred on my list," I said.
"Hey!" Fred shouted, affronted.
"We already knew that," George teased.
The two of us would always mess with Fred. It was just so easy to harass him. Especially when I could get his twin to gang up on him. I giggled softly as Fred and George squeezed me in between themselves. I was being crushed and groaning loudly as I glanced over and saw that Cedric was rolling his eyes at our antics. I winked over at him and smacked Fred over the back of the head as he started making gagging noises. A moment later, George started doing the same. They would never leave me alone about my relationship with Cedric.
Finally I managed to get the twins to leave me alone, promising them that I would help out with their store a little later. They eventually shifted back over to Lee and I was left in relative peace. Relative, though, seeing as I could still hear the whispers about Malfoy and Cedric with me constantly in the middle. Apparently the students were now questioning who I belonged with. I rolled my eyes at the thought. The only person that I wanted to be with right now was Cedric. Never Malfoy.
But that wouldn't stop the rumors. It never did. It helped that the Cheering Charm was keeping me from being too upset about anything. Unfortunately there was a time limit on the spell. By the time that we had finished our apple pie - with me having stolen all of the whipped cream off of the top of Fred's piece - the after-effects of the Cheering Charms were wearing off, Harry and Ron had started to get slightly worried about Hermione. I knew that she had gone up to Gryffindor Tower, but I wasn't sure where she had gone afterwards.
"You don't think Malfoy did something to her?" Ron asked anxiously as we hurried upstairs toward Gryffindor Tower.
"He's a coward. He wouldn't dare hurt her," I said confidently.
We all smiled at each other. I was smart enough to know that Malfoy hadn't done a damn thing to her. She had likely had something happen to her while she was going back to Gryffindor Tower. Maybe she had fallen asleep. Hermione barely slept as it was. I was honestly shocked that she hadn't already slept through a class or two. Together we passed the security trolls, gave the Fat Lady the password ('Flibbertigibbet'), and scrambled through the portrait hole into the Common Room. I was glad that the boys were with me. I kept forgetting the password.
Since Black had broken into Gryffindor Tower for the second time, the Fat Lady had been changing the password every few days and kept making them more and more complicated. It was mostly so that - if Black somehow overheard it - there was a good chance that he would get it wrong. As we scrambled into the middle of the Common Room. Just as I had been thinking before, Hermione was sitting at a table, fast asleep, her head resting on an open Arithmancy book. I sighed softly. The constant use of the Time-Turner and keeping up with her classes was finally getting to her.
"Is she okay?" Ron asked softly.
"Exhausted, it seems like. Come on. Let's check on her," I said.
The three of us went to sit down on either side of her. Harry prodded her awake. "Wh - What?" Hermione asked, waking with a start and staring wildly around. "Is it time to go? W - Which lesson have we got now?"
Placing a hand on her arm, I gently pushed her back in the chair. "Hermione, its fine. Calm down," I said.
But she still looked like she was about to dart off towards the classes. She would flip when she realized that she had missed a class. "Divination, but it's not for another twenty minutes. Hermione, why didn't you come to Charms?" Harry asked.
"What? Oh no! I forgot to go to Charms!" Hermione squeaked.
"But how could you forget? You were with us till we were right outside the classroom!" Harry said.
"She went to the bathroom. Right, Hermione?" I interrupted, still working to keep up the Time-Turner secret.
"Y - Yes. I wasn't feeling well," Hermione stuttered.
"It's fine. We'll explain to Professor Flitwick. He'll understand," I said.
"I don't believe it! Was Professor Flitwick angry? Oh, it was Malfoy, I was thinking about him and I lost track of things!" Hermione wailed.
It looked like she was about to pass out from exhaustion. "You know what, Hermione?" Ron said, looking down at the enormous Arithmancy book Hermione had been using as a pillow. "I reckon you're cracking up. You're trying to do too much."
There was no way that she would be able to do this next year. It wasn't humanly possible. Not even for Hermione. "No, I'm not!" Hermione gasped, brushing her hair out of her eyes and staring hopelessly around for her bag, which was likely upstairs. "I just made a mistake, that's all! I'd better go and see Professor Flitwick and say sorry… I'll see you in Divination!"
With that, she dashed out of the Common Room to sprint towards Professor Flitwick's office. At least she would be able to explain to him what was happening right now. All of the teachers in the school knew that Hermione and I had the Time-Turner so that we were able to make it to all of our lessons. Exchanging a little shrug between the three of us - as the boys still didn't know about our secret - we headed out behind her. Hermione joined us at the foot of the ladder to Professor Trelawney's classroom twenty minutes later, looking extremely harassed.
"What happened?" I asked.
The words had barely come out of my mouth when Hermione began to jabber. "I can't believe I missed Cheering Charms! And I bet they come up in our exams; Professor Flitwick hinted they might!" she exclaimed.
"We'll help you, Hermione," I offered.
"Oh, I can't believe myself!" Hermione gasped.
It looked like she was about to pass out. I placed a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down. "Mione, you're going to give yourself a heart attack. Calm down," I said softly, trying to reassure her.
"I can't! I've missed Charms!"
"So? I've missed classes before."
It was the truth. I'd slept through a number of classes and had deliberately skipped a couple other ones. "But I haven't!" Hermione shouted.
"First time for everything, right?" I joked.
"Tara!" Hermione yelped.
Everyone around us was giggling. Hermione had never missed a class before and she was clearly horrified that she finally had. "I'm kidding, Hermione. Just calm down. You can't change having missed class. It was just one class. Professor Flitwick will understand," I explained.
She looked no less upset about what had happened, but she did manage to nod slowly. She would be fine. Hermione was one of the fastest learners that I had ever met. It would be like she was there right along with us, showing up almost everyone else in the class. Together the four of us climbed the ladder into the dim, stifling tower room. Glowing on every little table was a crystal ball full of pearly white mist. I raised a brow. I didn't really want to know what kind of horrible thing was in my future. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I sat down together at the same rickety table.
"I thought we weren't starting crystal balls until next term," Ron muttered, casting a wary eye around for Professor Trelawney, in case she was lurking nearby.
"Don't complain, this means we've finished palmistry. I was getting sick of her flinching every time she looked at my hands," Harry muttered back.
"You know that she'll start flinching each time she looks into the crystal balls," I said.
"She makes a point," Ron said.
The crystal balls were destined to be even worse than anything else that we had done so far. "Good day to you!" said the familiar, misty voice.
For whatever reason, she could never make a normal entrance. It was one of the many things that bothered me about this class. Many things. Mostly all of the times that Professor Trelawney thought that I was going to die; each prophecy getting worse and more violent. Professor Trelawney made her usual dramatic entrance out of the shadows. I rolled my eyes again, a very common occurrence in Divination. Parvati and Lavender quivered with excitement, their faces lit by the milky glow of their crystal ball. This was their favorite class.
"How do they love this class so much?" I muttered.
Hermione hated this class just about as much as I did. But that was only because she didn't understand it and couldn't learn the material from out of a book. She wasn't a natural Seer. None of us were. "They're just as crazy as she is," Hermione whispered back.
"I have decided to introduce the crystal ball a little earlier than I had planned," Professor Trelawney said, sitting with her back to the fire and gazing around. As usual, her eyes lingered on Harry and I a little longer than anyone else. She seemed a bit teary-eyed. She was likely seeing some horrible death of ours. "The fates have informed me that your examination in June will concern the Orb, and I am anxious to give you sufficient practice."
Hermione snorted. My gaze shot over to her. It always shocked me how bold she was in this class. She said things to Professor Trelawney that she wouldn't dare say to any other teacher. "Well, honestly... 'the fates have informed her'... who sets the exam? She does! What an amazing prediction!" Hermione said, not troubling to keep her voice low. Harry, Ron, and I choked back laughs.
"Look at you, finally turning into me," I teased.
"Now where was this with Lockhart?" Ron asked Hermione. Her face flushed.
"That was all me," I put in.
No one had ever treated a teacher quite as terribly and disrespectfully as I had treated Gilderoy Lockhart. After all, I had ended up punching him in the face at the end of the year. We all laughed again as we dropped our heads back to the table. The last thing that I needed was to get more work in Divination. I was bad enough at it as is. Everything that I did was made up. It didn't really matter. It was hard to tell whether Professor Trelawney had actually heard us, as her face was hidden in shadow. She continued, however, as though she had not.
"Crystal gazing is a particularly refined art. I do not expect any of you to See when first you peer into the Orb's infinite depths. We shall start by practicing relaxing the conscious mind and external eyes," Ron began to snigger uncontrollably and had to stuff his fist in his mouth to stifle the noise, "so as to clear the Inner Eye and the super-conscious. Perhaps, if we are lucky, some of you will See before the end of the class," she said dreamily.
My head was spinning already. What the hell had she just said to us? I stared at Ron and Harry, but it didn't seem that they understood what she had said either. Even Hermione looked a little lost - a complete rarity. Despite not knowing what I was supposed to be doing, I began. I had a feeling that Harry, at least, felt extremely foolish, just like I did, staring blankly at the crystal ball, trying to keep my mind empty when thoughts such as 'this is stupid' kept drifting across it. It didn't help that Ron kept breaking into silent giggles and Hermione kept tutting.
"Seen anything yet?" Harry asked us after a quarter of an hour's quiet crystal gazing.
"Yeah, there's a burn on this table. Someone's spilled their candle," Ron said, pointing.
"No, I think I'm going cross-eyed from staring at this," I said blankly.
All I saw was the reflection of my slightly tanned complexion. "This is such a waste of time," Hermione hissed.
"We already knew that," I said.
"I could be practicing something useful. I could be catching up on Cheering Charms," Hermione said.
Even though I was siding with Hermione about how useless crystal gazing was - as real Seers normally had visions without warning - I still rolled my eyes. She would be caught up and ahead of everyone else on Cheering Charms by the end of the night. As I stared back at the crystal ball, I tilted my head to the side. There was nothing in the damned thing. It was like when I had tried to watch clouds. I just saw a bunch of mush. In the meantime, Professor Trelawney rustled past our table.
"Would anyone like me to help them interpret the shadowy portents within their Orb?" she murmured over the clinking of her bangles.
"I don't need help. It's obvious what this means. There's going to be loads of fog tonight," Ron whispered.
It was obvious that no one could help it. Not when we kept making little comments like that. Harry, Hermione, and I burst out laughing. I tried to put my hands over my mouth to stifle my giggles, but it wasn't helping. My laughter was only getting louder. I was sure that I had just managed to earn myself a loss of points and maybe even a detention.
"Now, really!" Professor Trelawney cried as everyone's heads turned in our direction. Parvati and Lavender were looking scandalized. "You are disturbing the clairvoyant vibrations!"
My eyes rolled so far back in my head that I was sure that they would get stuck back there. But it was ridiculous. This whole thing reminded me of those terrible 'gypsies' that would come to the local fairs to rip off all of the stupid tourists. To my surprise, Professor Trelawney approached our table and peered into our crystal ball. For a moment I merely stared at her. Then I felt my heart sinking. With a look exchanged with Harry, I realized that he was thinking the same thing that I was. I was sure that I knew what was coming.
"We - We don't need help," I insisted.
"There is something here!" Professor Trelawney whispered, lowering her face to the ball, so that it was reflected twice in her huge glasses. "Something moving… but what is it?"
My hands gently pressed against my temples. I was no fool. I knew exactly what was coming. The same thing that came every other time we were in this class. Some type of prediction about the terrible way that we were going to die. At the moment I was prepared to bet everything I owned, including my Firebolt, that it wasn't good news, whatever it was. And sure enough.
"My dears..." Professor Trelawney breathed, gazing up at Harry and I. "It is here, plainer than ever before... my dears, stalking toward you, growing ever closer... the Gr -"
My irritation getting the better of me, I spit out, "We don't have the Grim!"
"Oh, for goodness' sake! Not that ridiculous Grim again!" Hermione said loudly.
"She's right. We've been in more than one life-or-death situation and we always seem to manage to find a way out of it," I insisted.
Professor Trelawney raised her enormous eyes to Hermione's face. I was a little surprised at what we had just said to her. It was definitely rude on both of our parts. But it wasn't me that it seemed that Professor Trelawney was upset about. She was still looking at Hermione - which made perfect sense. I was known to speak out against teachers. Hermione wasn't. Parvati whispered something to Lavender, and they both glared at Hermione and me, too. Professor Trelawney stood up, surveying Hermione with unmistakable anger.
"I am sorry to say that from the moment you have arrived in this class, my dear, it has been apparent that you do not have what the noble art of Divination requires. Indeed, I don't remember ever meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly mundane," Professor Trelawney told Hermione.
My jaw dropped. I had never heard a teacher speak that way to Hermione. She was the one student who was constantly under the praise of teachers. Or, if nothing else, being called a know-it-all by Snape. Even he never told her that she wasn't good at Potions. But this was Divination, and unfortunately, it was something that Hermione wasn't good at. I stared at her carefully, waiting to see how the words of discouragement would sit with her. Everyone else was staring too. There was a moment's silence. Then...
"Fine!" Hermione gasped suddenly, getting up and cramming Unfogging the Future back into her bag.
"Hermione..." I whispered, trying to grab her.
"Fine!" Hermione repeated, swinging the bag over her shoulder and almost knocking Ron off his chair. "I give up! I'm leaving!"
She was not going to do that. Hermione was not really going to leave a class. She wouldn't do that. She would never have done that. There was no way that Hermione was going to leave. We were past the drop period anyways. Leaving right now would work, but I somehow doubted that she would actually do it. Hermione never broke the rules - at least, for her own gain. But then, to the whole class's amazement, Hermione strode over to the trapdoor, kicked it open, and climbed down the ladder out of sight.
For a moment I was sure that I was going to pass out. I looked over at Harry and Ron to check if that had really just happened. They were staring right back at me. For a moment I reached for the Time-Turner to go back and stop Hermione from leaving, but she had it. There was no taking this back. It took a few minutes for the class to settle down again. Professor Trelawney seemed to have forgotten all about the Grim. She turned abruptly from Harry, Ron, and I's table, breathing rather heavily as she tugged her gauzy shawl more closely to her.
"Ooooo!" Lavender said suddenly, making everyone start. "Oooooo, Professor Trelawney, I've just remembered! You saw her leaving, didn't you? Didn't you, Professor? 'Around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever!' You said it ages ago, Professor!"
Professor Trelawney gave her a dewy smile. "Yes, my dear, I did indeed know that Miss Granger would be leaving us. One hopes, however, that one might have mistaken the Signs... The Inner Eye can be a burden, you know..."
Once again, my eyes rolled backwards into the back of my head. She couldn't have known that Hermione was going to leave. Otherwise, wouldn't she have said that no one was going to die? Wouldn't she have said that the person was going to leave the class? She couldn't have known. I was sure about that. She didn't have an Inner Eye or whatever the hell she was constantly going on about. Lavender and Parvati looked deeply impressed, and moved over so that Professor Trelawney could join their table instead.
"Some day Hermione's having, eh?" Ron muttered to Harry and I, looking awed.
"Yeah..." Harry muttered.
"Poor girl. We all knew that she wouldn't be here next term anyways," I pointed out.
It was just a little more of an abrupt stop than I had been expecting. As everyone went back to work, I was staring blankly at the wall. I was still thinking about everything that had happened with Hermione. Eventually I managed to force myself to get back to what was happening before. So Harry, Ron, and I glanced back into the crystal ball, but I still saw nothing but swirling white mist. Had Professor Trelawney really seen the Grim again? Would we? The last thing that we needed was another near-fatal accident, with the Quidditch final drawing ever nearer.
Aside from classes, the entire school couldn't wait for the match. It would be played against Slytherin - who were leading just by a few points, mostly because of our early loss to Hufflepuff. But we would be able to beat them. I wasn't really able to think about the match that much anyways. Because there was something else to keep me busy. There was a ton of homework for us to focus on as exams started to draw nearer. So much so that I knew seeing Cedric wouldn't be easy. He had preparations for O.W.L.'s kicking his ass these days.
The Easter holidays were not exactly relaxing. People rarely actually went home for the Easter holidays, but we normally were able to play around in the castle for the week that we got off. Not this year, despite the fact that the weather was perfect for a friendly game of Quidditch or some time spent kicking the soccer ball around. Instead, the Third Years had never had so much homework. Neville Longbottom seemed close to a nervous collapse, and he wasn't the only one. Even I was getting overwhelmed at this point with my heavier-than-normal workload.
"Call this a holiday!" Seamus Finnigan roared at the Common Room one afternoon. "The exams are ages away, what're they playing at?"
They really actually weren't that far away. Only a few more months. "You should have known!" I shouted back.
"I didn't think we'd have this much to do this early on!" Seamus argued.
"Come on, Seamus. Just wait until we have O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams," I pointed out.
He had never looked so disheartened. I knew that our workload was nothing compared to Cedric's - and even Fred and George's - but that didn't mean that we weren't overwhelmed. Although nobody had as much to do as Hermione. Even without Divination, she was taking more subjects than anybody else. She had three more than I did. She was usually last to leave the Common Room at night, first to arrive at the library the next morning; she had shadows like Professor Lupin's under her eyes, and seemed constantly close to tears.
The other night I had warned her against using the Time-Turner next year. She seemed to agree. It was too much for us to handle, but it had been interesting to have for a year. Ron had taken over responsibility for Buckbeak's appeal - as he was the least busy. Harry and I still had Quidditch outside of studying. When Ron wasn't doing his own work, he was poring over enormously thick volumes with names like The Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology and Fowl or Foul? A Study of Hippogriff Brutality. He was so absorbed, he even forgot to be horrible to Crookshanks.
Over the week that we had off of classes - or so they said - I only managed to get a few chances to actually speak with Cedric. Most of the time we just chatted for a second before having to move on. He was paranoid about his O.W.L. exams, just as I would likely be in two years. Even without his O.W.L.'s, I was busy studying for my own exams. But we had gotten together for a few library dates. There hadn't even been any rumors about it, since everyone was too busy studying to start up rumors about us. Although one night we had managed to sneak up to the Astronomy Tower for a few hours.
We had gone with the intention of only sitting up there for about an hour just so that we could have some time to enjoy each other's company. But that hadn't been what had happened. We had ended up sitting upstairs together all night. We had mostly chatted about our exams, what had been happening between us and our constant studying, and about the upcoming Quidditch game. There was also the simple fact that we had spent a lot of time actually kissing each other - finally able to do it without the broom closet rumors starting again.
Unfortunately the rumors hadn't completely stopped, they had simply slowed down a little bit. But they were still floating around. Harry and Ron were sure to tell me each time they heard one. Every time that Cedric and I kissed, rumors sparked about what was happening between the two of us. I always blushed stupidly. I didn't want anything like that. Not yet, at least. Probably not for a long time. But I did notice that I was having a slightly harder time pulling away from him. Stupid teenage hormones...
Harry and I, meanwhile, had to fit in our homework around Quidditch practice every day, not to mention endless discussions of tactics with Oliver. The Gryffindor and Slytherin match would take place on the first Saturday after the Easter holidays. Slytherin was leading the tournament by exactly two hundred points. This meant (as Oliver constantly reminded our team) that we needed to win the match by more than that amount to win the Cup. It also meant that the burden of winning fell largely on Harry, because capturing the Snitch was worth one hundred and fifty points.
"So you must catch it only if we're more than fifty points up," Oliver told Harry constantly. "Only if we're more than fifty points up, Harry, or we win the match but lose the Cup. You've got that, haven't you? You must catch the Snitch only if we're -"
"I know, Oliver!" Harry yelled.
Knowing that a fight was coming, I laid my hand on Oliver's shoulder. "We aren't going to lose, Oliver. Relax," I promised.
Obviously he was terrified that we were actually going to lose the match. This was his last year. We all knew that we had to win it. Not just because we wanted it for the first time, but also because Oliver would probably really die if we didn't win it for him. The whole of Gryffindor House was slowly becoming obsessed with the coming match. It made me a little nervous. We had to win. There wasn't an option. Gryffindor hadn't won the Quidditch Cup since the legendary Charlie Weasley (Ron's second oldest brother) had been Seeker.
But Harry and I both doubted whether any of them, even Oliver, wanted to win as much as we did. The enmity between Harry, Malfoy, and I was at its highest point ever. Malfoy was still smarting about the mud-throwing incident in Hogsmeade and was even more furious that Harry and I had somehow wormed his way out of punishment. Harry and I hadn't forgotten Malfoy's attempt to sabotage us in the match against Ravenclaw, but it was the matter of Buckbeak that made us most determined to beat Malfoy in front of the entire school.
And I would love to rub it in his face that we had won the Quidditch Cup and Cedric was a much better kisser. He was attempting to spread rumors that I had initiated the kiss. Never, in anyone's memory, had a match approached in such a highly charged atmosphere. By the time the holidays were over, tension between the two teams and their Houses was at the breaking point. A number of small scuffles broke out in the corridors, culminating in a nasty incident in which a Gryffindor Fourth Year and a Slytherin Sixth Year ended up in the hospital wing with leeks sprouting out of their ears.
Getting to kiss Cedric in front of Malfoy right after we won the Quidditch Cup... That sounded like a perfect way to end the season. But it would be a problem even managing to get to the match. Harry and I were having a particularly bad time of it. The constant sabotage. The two of us now couldn't walk to class without Slytherin's sticking out their legs and trying to trip us up; Crabbe and Goyle kept popping up wherever we went, and slouching away looking disappointed when they saw us surrounded by people.
That was our new instruction. Oliver had given instructions that Harry and I should be accompanied everywhere we went, in case the Slytherin's tried to put us out of action. The whole of Gryffindor House took up the challenge enthusiastically, so that it was impossible for Harry and I to get to classes on time because we were surrounded by a vast, chattering crowd. Harry and I were more concerned for our Firebolts' safety than our own. When we weren't flying them, we locked them securely in our trunks and frequently dashed back up to Gryffindor Tower at break times to check that they were still there.
Until the day of the match, we would have to guard them with our lives. Everyone would have a heart attack if we lost them. And I couldn't borrow Cedric's Cleansweep. Not for the Quidditch Cup game. There was no way that I would be able to make the goals that I normally did on the Firebolt. All usual pursuits were abandoned in the Gryffindor Common Room the night before the match. I was practicing chucking a soccer ball back and forth with Seamus and Dean. Even Hermione had put down her books.
"I can't work, I can't concentrate," Hermione said nervously.
"How do you think we feel?" I pointed out.
There was a great deal of noise. Fred and George were dealing with the pressure by being louder and more exuberant than ever. Oliver was crouched over a model of a Quidditch field in the corner, prodding little figures across it with his wand and muttering to himself. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie were laughing at Fred's and George's jokes. Harry and I were sitting with Ron and Hermione, removed from the center of things, trying not to think about the next day, because every time I did, I had the horrible sensation that something very large was fighting to get out of my stomach.
"You two are going to be fine," Hermione told us, though she looked positively terrified.
"You've both got Firebolts!" Ron cried.
"Yeah..." Harry muttered.
"But Slytherin's going to play dirty. We all know it," I said, my stomach writhing.
"You two will be fine," Hermione repeated.
"Uh-huh," I groaned.
It came as a relief when Oliver suddenly stood up and yelled, "Team! Bed!"
"Night, everyone," I said weakly.
There was a loud chorus of voices telling me to get a good night's sleep. Unfortunately I slept badly. First I dreamed that I had overslept, and that Oliver was yelling, 'Where were you? We had to use Hermione instead!' She definitely wasn't a flyer. Then I dreamed that Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherin team arrived for the match riding dragons. I was flying at breakneck speed, trying to avoid a spurt of flames from Malfoy's steed's mouth, when I realized that I had forgotten my Firebolt. I had fallen through the air and woke with a start.
It was a few seconds before I remembered that the match hadn't taken place yet, that I was safe in bed, and that the Slytherin team definitely wouldn't be allowed to play on dragons. My heart was hammering in my chest as I tried to calm myself. I had to get some sleep if I wanted to actually be useful in the game tomorrow. But I was feeling very thirsty. Quietly as I could, I got out of my four-poster and went to pour myself some water from the silver jug beneath the window.
While I was pouring myself a glass, I glanced out of the window. It was hard to see - considering that the sun wouldn't be up for another few hours - but I could still see some shadows that were dancing off of the trees. The grounds were still and quiet tonight. No breath of wind disturbed the treetops in the Forbidden Forest; the Whomping Willow was motionless and innocent-looking. It looked as though the conditions for the match would be perfect. A small smile fell over my face. Much better weather than our past few games.
At least that was something for me to be able to dream about. We were good enough in the snow and rain and wind. We were practically unbeatable in the sun. There was no way that we were going to lose the game now. Feeling much better about things, I set down my goblet and was about to turn back to my bed when something caught my eye. An animal of some kind was prowling across the silvery lawn. I dashed up to the edge of the window and looked out. It couldn't be the Grim - not now - not right before the match.
Heart hammering to the point that I was sure that I was going to have a heart attack, I peered out at the grounds again and, after a minute's frantic searching, spotted it. The Grim... Was it actually the Grim? Was there a chance that Professor Trelawney wasn't quite as insane as I thought that she was? The figure was now skirting the edge of the forest... My gaze locked on it. That was when I realized... It wasn't the Grim at all... it was a cat... I clutched the window ledge in relief as I recognized the bottlebrush tail. It was only Crookshanks...
For a moment I debated on turning back and throwing something at Hermione. Her damned cat was going to end up killing me. I had really thought that it was the Grim. Crookshanks looked startlingly like one in the dark. I supposed that all animals would have, anyways. My mind was just playing tricks on me. I was already excitable and nervous with the game coming. Or was it only Crookshanks? I squinted, pressing my nose flat against the glass. Crookshanks seemed to have come to a halt. I was sure that I could see something else moving in the shadow of the trees too.
My gaze shot over towards the far end of the Forbidden Forest. I knew that I had seen something else. Something that was much darker than Crookshanks' orange fur. And just then, it emerged - a gigantic, shaggy black dog, moving stealthily across the lawn, Crookshanks trotting at its side. It was the Grim. Snuffles. Whatever the hell it was. My heart started to pound as I stared at the... whatever it was. What the hell did it mean? If Crookshanks could see the dog as well, just like Harry could, how could it be an omen of my death? It had to have been just a normal stray dog.
"Hermione! Hermione! Wake up!" I hissed.
"Huh?"
"I need you to tell me if you can see something!"
"It's the middle of the night, Tara. What're you on about?" Hermione muttered thickly.
"Down here."
Someone had to tell me that they saw the dog too. Not just Harry, since apparently he had the Grim in all of his Divination stuff. I looked quickly back out of the window. Crookshanks and the dog had vanished. Damn it! Where the hell had they gone? I needed Hermione to see it. So I climbed onto the windowsill to look right down into the shadows of the castle, but they weren't there. Where were they now? A loud snore told me that Hermione had fallen asleep again. Damn her and her workload. She was always either studying or asleep.
It didn't take me long to try and brush off what had happened overnight with Crookshanks and the mystery dog. The next morning when I woke up - still surprisingly well rested - I found myself nervous but excited for the game. I knew that we would be able to beat Slytherin. There wasn't a doubt in my mind. They would play dirty but we would win. We had been training just for the game against Slytherin for months. Plus no one wanted to let Oliver down, as it was his last chance for the Quidditch Cup before he graduated.
Once I was ready for the day, I headed out into the Common Room and met up with the rest of the team, all of whom seemed to have been waiting for me. I smiled at them and nodded my consent to leave. So Harry, myself, and the rest of the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall a few minutes later to enormous applause. I couldn't help grinning broadly as I saw that both the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were applauding us too. Particularly Cedric's friends. The Slytherin table hissed loudly as we passed. I noticed that Malfoy looked even paler than usual.
The moment that we sat down at the table, a figure appeared at my side. "Tara?"
My gaze turned up to see Cedric standing above me. "Hey," I greeted.
Cedric placed a hand on my shoulder as Harry briefly scooted far enough so that Cedric could momentarily sit down. "Good luck. The whole school is counting on you to beat them. So... please win," Cedric said.
"There's no chance in hell that we won't. Right, Oliver?" I asked, leaning back to my captain.
"Absolutely," Oliver said, still not sounding overly-confident.
"You can do it," Cedric said.
Whether he was talking to me, Oliver, or the entire time, I wasn't quite sure. Instead I leaned back in the seat and smiled up at Cedric, starting to eat a small breakfast. Just enough to keep me somewhat energized before the game. I would need it for a match against Slytherin. After popping in a few pieces of bacon into my mouth, Cedric leaned forward and kissed me. It was a reasonably brief kiss, but it didn't matter. The rest of the team started laughing and making kissy noises. I rolled my eyes before breaking away from Cedric and smiling at him.
"Sorry about them," I muttered.
"Oh, that's okay. Just look back there. Mine are doing the same thing," Cedric said.
Turning back, I saw that the guys at the Hufflepuff table were indeed making the same faces at Cedric that my friends were making at me. I rolled my eyes again and leaned back into the chair. "I got it," I said, referring to the Quidditch game.
"You'll do wonderfully. Everyone believes in you," Cedric said.
"Thanks," I said brightly.
"Good luck, everyone," Cedric called to the rest of the team.
"Thanks," they all said.
Cedric slowly stood up from the table. "I'll see you after. Let you have some time to prepare," Cedric said.
That was definitely something that I appreciated. I needed some time to think and work out all of my plays before we got out onto the Pitch. "See you after. When we win, hopefully," I said, only slightly doubtful.
"I don't have any doubt," Cedric said.
His faith was definitely going to be one of the driving factors for my attempt to win the game today. And the fact that Oliver simply had to win. Once Cedric had gone back to the Hufflepuff table, Oliver then spent the whole of breakfast urging his team to eat, while touching nothing himself. It didn't matter how hard we tried to get him to eat, he wouldn't. Then he hurried us off to the field before anyone of the rest of us had finished, so we could get an idea of the conditions. As we left the Great Hall, everyone applauded again.
"Good luck, Harry!" Cho Chang called.
Glancing over, I saw that his face was turning a slight red. "What the hell are you smiling at?" I barked.
Harry's head whipped towards me. "N - Nothing," he stuttered.
"Right," I growled.
"Why are you allowed to flirt with your boyfriend, but I can't even smile at Cho?" Harry asked sharply.
Because she likes my boyfriend, not you. But even I wasn't cruel enough to say that to Harry. Let the boy have some hope, I supposed. "He's my boyfriend. Why wouldn't I flirt with him?" I asked. Harry thought for a moment, but seemed to have no good answer. I smiled haughtily. "As for Chang... Because she's miserable. And you're extremely awkward."
"I'm not that awkward," Harry said.
"Yes, you are," I interrupted.
Oliver's voice distracted our argument. "Okay - no wind to speak of - sun's a bit bright, that could impair your vision, watch out for it - ground's fairly hard, good, that'll give us a fast kickoff -"
As he spoke, Oliver walked at least ten paces ahead of us. He looked very excited to get somewhere. The rest of us essentially had to run to keep up with him. He looked like he was about to keel over from some type of panic. Once we made our way outside, Oliver began pacing the field, staring around with the rest of our team behind him. It was very quiet for a long while. We all just stood in silence and waited. Finally, we saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance and the rest of the school spilling onto the lawn. It was almost time for the game.
"Locker rooms," Oliver said tersely.
No one dared to argue with him. We needed to get changed anyways. I laid a hand on Oliver's shoulder as I walked past the boys section of the locker room and into the girls section. None of us spoke as we changed into their scarlet robes. Neither Alicia, nor Angelina, nor Katie spoke to me as we changed. Everyone was nervous. We had to win this game. For Oliver and for ourselves. And to rub it in Malfoy's face... As I did up the laces on my boots, I wondered if they were feeling like I was: as though they'd eaten something extremely wriggly for breakfast.
In what seemed like no time at all, Oliver was saying, "Okay, it's time, let's go."
"Don't worry, Oliver. We're going to win," I said reassuringly.
Oliver nodded blankly. "Yes. Yeah."
Then I turned to Harry and asked, "You ready?"
"Yeah," Harry said, looking as though he wasn't. "You?"
"I think so," I said truthfully.
Together we walked out onto the field to a tidal wave of noise. Three-quarters of the crowd was wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion upon them, or brandishing banners with slogans like 'Go Gryffindor!' and 'Lions for the Cup!' I smiled when I saw that Cedric and his friends were all wearing Gryffindor colors. Behind the Slytherin goal posts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; the silver serpent of Slytherin glittered on their flags, and Professor Snape sat in the very front row, wearing green like everyone else, and a very grim smile.
"And here are the Gryffindor's!" Lee Jordan yelled, who was acting as commentator as usual. "Potter, Nox, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years -"
Lee's comments were drowned by a tide of 'boos' from the Slytherin end. I rolled my eyes at them as we strode onto the field. I glanced up and saw Ron and Hermione holding a banner with Seamus, Dean, and Neville. They seemed to be going hoarse from screaming. In the Hufflepuff section, I could see Cedric and the rest of his friends cheering for Gryffindor, sporting our colors, with a banner that read 'Nox Rocks!' A small blush flooded my cheeks as I placed my hand on Harry's shoulder. We would be just fine.
"And here come the Slytherin team, led by Captain Flint. He's made some changes in the lineup and seems to be going for size rather than skill -"
There were more boos from the Slytherin crowd. They never liked when anyone said anything less than glowing about Slytherin. Which was quite frequently. But I, however, thought that Lee had a point. Malfoy was easily the smallest person on the Slytherin team; the rest of them were enormous. It was the one thing that we would have a problem with. Our players were a little smaller and had a much harder time trying to brush by the larger players. But we were stronger and had much better skills.
"Captains, shake hands!" Madam Hooch yelled.
As the rest of the team stepped back slightly, I watched as Flint and Oliver walked towards each other. Neither one of them looked very happy with the other. In fact, it looked like they would rather do just about anything than touch each other. Flint and Oliver approached each other and grasped each other's hand very tightly; it looked as though each was trying to break the other's fingers.
"Good luck, everyone!" I called.
"Mount your brooms! Three… two… one…" Madam Hooch shouted.
It was almost impossible to hear her over the roar of the crowd. But it was easy enough to see the start of the game. I took a seat on the bench and glanced up to the sky. The sound of Madam Hooch's whistle was lost in the roar from the crowd as fourteen brooms rose into the air. Myself and the Slytherin alternate - both glaring at each other - stared after the team. The moment that the game started, I felt my nerves leave me. We would win. I was confident in that. Malfoy was automatically on Harry's tail, and Harry sped off in search of the Snitch.
"And it's Gryffindor in possession, Alicia Spinnet of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, heading straight for the Slytherin goal posts, looking good, Alicia! Ugh, no - Quaffle intercepted by Warrington, Warrington of Slytherin tearing up the field - Wham! - nice Bludger work there by George Weasley, Warrington drops the Quaffle, it's caught by - Johnson, Gryffindor back in possession, come on, Angelina - nice swerve around Montague - duck, Angelina, that's a Bludger! - She scores! Ten - zero to Gryffindor!"
Ignoring the hisses of discontent from the Slytherin alternate sitting next to me, I jumped up from the bench and started cheering madly. Just forty more points and Harry would be able to catch the Snitch without issue. We were already well on our way to winning the game. But Slytherin was also well known for playing dirty when they started to lose. Angelina punched the air as she soared around the end of the field; the sea of scarlet below was screaming its delight.
"Ouch!" she suddenly yelled.
"Angelina!" I screamed.
Just as I had expected, Slytherin hadn't taken the loss of points well. They were already resorting to violent and dangerous tactics. I assumed that it was something that Marcus Flint had told his teammates to do the second that Gryffindor got the lead. Angelina was nearly thrown from her broom as Marcus Flint went smashing into her. She was almost unseated, but just managed to hang on. It kept me from having to step in for her so early in the game. But I was sure that I would have to come in at some point.
"Sorry! Sorry, didn't see her!" Flint said as the crowd below booed.
His Slytherin alternate was cheering down on the bench with me. I scowled at him before glancing back up to the game and booing along with the rest of the stadium. A moment later, Fred Weasley chucked his Beater's club at the back of Flint's head. Flint's nose smashed into the handle of his broom and began to bleed. I laughed heartily as the Slytherin alternate shifted nervously.
"Yeah, Fred!" I yelled.
"That will do!" Madam Hooch shrieked, zooming between them. "Penalty shot to Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their Chaser! Penalty shot to Slytherin for deliberate damage to their Chaser!"
"Come off it, Miss!" Fred shouted, but Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Alicia flew forward to take the penalty.
"Come on, Alicia!" Lee yelled into the silence that had descended on the crowd. I went quiet to watch. "Yes! She's beaten the Keeper! Twenty - zero to Gryffindor!"
Everyone in the stadium was cheering madly again - with the exception of the Slytherin's, who were booing and scowling at the turn of events for them. In the meantime, as the game got back underway, I turned back to see what was happening with Harry, Malfoy, and the Snitch. Harry turned the Firebolt sharply to watch Flint, still bleeding freely, fly forward to take the Slytherin penalty. Oliver was hovering in front of the Gryffindor goal posts, his jaw clenched. I hooted for him as Flint advanced furiously.
"'Course, Wood's a superb Keeper!" Lee Jordan told the crowd as Flint waited for Madam Hooch's whistle. "Superb! Very difficult to pass - very difficult indeed - YES! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HE'S SAVED IT!"
Now there was just thirty points to get before we were able to actually win the game. Come on, Harry. Keep Malfoy away from the Snitch and don't catch it yourself. Obviously relieved, Harry zoomed away, gazing around for the Snitch, but clearly still making sure he caught every word of Lee's commentary. It was essential that he hold Malfoy off the Snitch until Gryffindor was more than fifty points up. Otherwise we would win the game but come in second place for the Quidditch Cup. Second place wasn't good enough.
"Gryffindor in possession, no, Slytherin in possession - no! - Gryffindor back in possession and it's Katie Bell, Katie Bell for Gryffindor with the Quaffle, she's streaking up the field - THAT WAS DELIBERATE!"
My jaw dropped open. They were even more violent than I had ever seen them before. Montague, a Slytherin Chaser whose nose I had broken in our game last year, had swerved in front of Katie, and instead of seizing the Quaffle had grabbed her head. I screamed loudly, a mix of curses for what Montague was doing and for Madam Hooch to do something. Katie cartwheeled in the air, managed to stay on her broom, but dropped the Quaffle. At least she had managed not to fall. It still kept me from having to come into the game.
Madam Hooch's whistle rang out again as she soared over to Montague and began shouting at him. She sounded just about as angry as the rest of the students and faculty down in the stands. The only person who seemed even mildly amused on the teacher's side was Snape. Not surprising at all. A minute later, Katie had put another penalty past the Slytherin Seeker. I jumped excitedly to my feet, well-aware that we only had to make another two goals before we would finally be able to start really searching for the Snitch.
"THIRTY - ZERO! TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY, CHEATING -"
"Jordan, if you can't commentate in an unbiased way -!"
"I'm telling it like it is, Professor!"
Snickering slightly at their exchange - as Lee Jordan and Professor McGonagall normally got into it at least three times during a game - I turned back to try and follow Harry's gaze again. Was the Snitch anywhere in sight? That was when I realized that he was staring right at it, simply avoiding the temptation to go and catch it. Trying not to tip off the Slytherin alternate to what I'd seen, I felt a huge jolt of excitement. We had both seen the Snitch - it was shimmering at the foot of one of the Gryffindor goal posts - but he mustn't catch it yet - and if Malfoy saw it...
Very obviously faking a look of sudden concentration, Harry pulled his Firebolt around and sped off toward the Slytherin end - it worked. Malfoy went haring after him, clearly thinking Harry had seen the Snitch there. All of a sudden a loud whoosh echoed through the stadium. One of the Bludgers came streaking past Harry's right ear, hit by the gigantic Slytherin Beater, Derrick. Then again. He would have to really watch out for himself up there. If they could put Harry out of the game, we would stand almost no chance at winning.
"Be careful, Harry!" I yelled.
If he stopped paying attention for even a brief moment, I knew that the Slytherin's would take the opportunity to try and knock Harry out of the game - ending it for us. The second Bludger had just managed to graze Harry's elbow. The other Beater, Bole, was closing in on him. I saw Harry's head whip around, giving him a fleeting glimpse of Bole and Derrick zooming toward him, clubs raised. My heart was beating erratically as I watched. He turned the Firebolt upward at the last second, and Bole and Derrick collided with a sickening crunch.
"Ha haaa!" Lee Jordan yelled as the Slytherin Beaters lurched away from each other, clutching their heads. "Too bad, boys! You'll need to get up earlier than that to beat a Firebolt! And it's Gryffindor in possession again, as Johnson takes the Quaffle - Flint alongside her - poke him in the eye, Angelina! - it was a joke, Professor, it was a joke - oh no - Flint in possession, Flint flying toward the Gryffindor goal posts, come on now, Wood, save -!"
But it was too late. Flint had scored. Instantly I began howling so many curses that Madam Hooch had to warn me to either watch my mouth or she would remove me from the match - causing a big problem for Gryffindor. So I sat back down and begrudgingly silenced myself. The Slytherin alternate was chuckling at my misfortune. In the meantime, there was an eruption of cheers from the Slytherin end, and Lee swore so badly that Professor McGonagall tried to tug the magical megaphone away from him.
"Sorry, Professor, sorry! Won't happen again! So, Gryffindor in the lead, thirty points to ten, and Gryffindor in possession -"
It was turning into the dirtiest game I had ever seen played - both in the professional leagues and at school. Enraged that Gryffindor had taken such an early lead, the Slytherin's were rapidly resorting to any means to take the Quaffle. Bole hit Alicia with his club and tried to say he'd thought she was a Bludger. George Weasley elbowed Bole in the face in retaliation. I had laughed quite loudly at that one. Madam Hooch awarded both teams penalties, and Oliver pulled off another spectacular save, making the score forty-ten to Gryffindor.
My lungs were practically bursting with all of the screaming that I had been doing. I was sure that everyone else in the stadium felt the same way. It was the longest that I had gone without stepping into a game and I was finding myself getting antsy all over again. I wanted to play. But it wasn't my turn just yet. As I turned back to the game, I started looking around. The Snitch had disappeared again. Malfoy was still keeping close to Harry as he soared over the match, looking around for it - once Gryffindor was fifty points ahead.
A few minutes passed before Katie scored. Fifty-ten. I was up on my feet, jumping up and down and screaming for any of the girls to make another score. We would finally be within the range to catch the Snitch. Fred and George Weasley were swooping around Katie, clubs raised, in case any of the Slytherin's were thinking of revenge. Bole and Derrick took advantage of Fred's and George's absence to aim both Bludgers at Oliver; they caught him in the stomach, one after the other, and he rolled over in the air, clutching his broom, completely winded. Madam Hooch was beside herself.
"YOU DO NOT ATTACK THE KEEPER UNLESS THE QUAFFLE IS WITHIN THE SCORING AREA!" she shrieked at Bole and Derrick. "Gryffindor penalty!"
The entire stadium erupted into laughter. That was what they got for trying to even the score. They would manage to put us another goal up and back into the range for Harry to be able to catch the Snitch. The game was about to be over. As I started to dance around in my seat, Angelina scored. Sixty-ten. Moments later, Fred Weasley pelted a Bludger at Warrington, knocking the Quaffle out of his hands; Alicia seized it and put it through the Slytherin goal - seventy-ten. We were now over our safety net.
It wasn't just us that knew. The entire school knew what was happening. They had done the math themselves and knew that Harry was now safely able to catch the Snitch. Once he saw it, that is. The Gryffindor crowd below was screaming itself hoarse - Gryffindor was sixty points in the lead, and if Harry caught the Snitch now, the Cup was ours. I was shouting loudly as I - and everyone else - watched him. Hundreds of eyes were following him as he soared around the field, high above the rest of the game, with Malfoy speeding along behind him.
My eyes caught it at the same time that his did. Actually, I saw Harry spot it and followed his line of vision. It was right there. He had it. The Snitch was sparkling twenty feet above him. Harry put on a huge burst of speed; he stretched out his hand, but suddenly, the Firebolt was slowing down. My mouth dropped open into a foul-mouthed scream over what was happening. Clearly horrified, Harry looked around. Malfoy had thrown himself forward, grabbed hold of the Firebolt's tail, and was pulling it back.
"You -"
But he got out no more of a thought than that. I had never seen someone do something like that in a game of Quidditch before. That had to be against at least five regulation rules. Harry was obviously angry enough to hit Malfoy, and I was cheering him on to do such a thing, but he couldn't reach - Malfoy was panting with the effort of holding onto the Firebolt, but his eyes were sparkling maliciously. He had achieved what he'd wanted to do - the Snitch had disappeared again.
"Penalty! Penalty to Gryffindor! I've never seen such tactics!" Madam Hooch screeched, shooting up to where Malfoy was sliding back onto his Nimbus Two Thousand and One.
"YOU CHEATING SCUM!" Lee Jordan was howling into the megaphone, dancing out of Professor McGonagall's reach. "YOU FILTHY, CHEATING B -"
To my complete surprise, Professor McGonagall didn't even bother to tell him off. Normally she would try and stop Lee whenever he started cursing about what was happening in the game - as profanity was technically against the rules at Hogwarts - but no one bothered to stop me. Malfoy had succeeded in keeping Gryffindor from winning the game. At least, for now. In the meantime, Professor McGonagall was actually shaking her finger in Malfoy's direction, her hat had fallen off, and she too was shouting furiously.
Even by the time that Alicia had taken Gryffindor's penalty shot, the crowd still hadn't calmed down. Everyone was incredibly angry about what had just happened. We had been so close... We would still win, but it had almost been over. I watched as Alicia moved up to take the shot, but she was so angry she missed by several feet. The Gryffindor team was losing concentration and the Slytherin's, delighted by Malfoy's foul on Harry, were being spurred on to greater heights than before - making for even nastier fouls being played.
It didn't take long for the Slytherin's to resort to trying to knock out the other Chasers. They knew that Harry was useless. The Firebolt was simply too fast to outstrip. But it would end up being a mistake on their part. Not long after Alicia's missed shot, Katie was knocked off of her broom and straight into one of the stand towers. She was out like a light, blood pouring down her forehead. She was placed down on the ground with Madam Hooch attempting to revive her as I was sent back into the game.
It looked like Katie just had a very painful concussion. I grabbed her shoulder as I walked into the game and promised her that I would get them back for it. I was nervous to be in the game - well aware that Slytherin would be gunning for me - but I so desperately wanted to win. So I walked into the center of the Pitch as Lee announced my entry into the game, mounted my Firebolt, and instantly shot up into the air. I could hear the cheers surrounding me as I felt the extremely familiar sense of an adrenaline rush.
Just as they normally did, my nerves left me the moment that I was back in the air. I was ready to fly, ready to play, ready to win the game, and ready to pound Malfoy into the sand. Partially for what he was doing in the game, for Buckbeak, for the new rumors that I was cheating on Cedric with him, and just for being annoying in general. I couldn't dare let him win the game. I knew that I would never hear the end of it if Slytherin somehow managed to win. And what would happen to poor Oliver if we lost?
It didn't matter, because we wouldn't lose. As I launched myself into the game - having a difficult time constantly swerving to avoid the barrage of Slytherin players aiming for me - I searched far and wide for the Quaffle. I lost it during my entry into the game. I had seen that it was with Katie before, but she had lost it after her concussion. Where had it gone? After a minute or two I managed to spot the bulk of the players on the other end of the Quidditch Pitch. I shot over towards them, desperate to try and make at least one goal. Or, if nothing else, keep Slytherin from scoring.
Even with the Firebolt, I wasn't able to make it quite in time. They were already near the Gryffindor goalposts and I had known long before that we might not have been able to save that goal. I was literally inches away from the rest of the players when one of the Slytherin Chasers managed to toss the Quaffle just outside of Oliver's reach. I groaned, knowing that we couldn't start falling behind in the game. We could only afford to lose one more point before we would get ourselves back inside the danger zone.
"Slytherin in possession, Slytherin heading for goal - Montague scores -" Lee groaned. "Seventy-twenty to Gryffindor..."
We had to get the Snitch before risking letting Slytherin score again. Now I didn't really care whether or not we actually managed to make another score. The only thing that I cared about right now was that we managed to win the game. Harry was now marking Malfoy so closely their knees kept hitting each other. I could see them streaking in the other direction. I wasn't quite sure where they were going or where the Snitch was, but I knew that Harry wasn't going to let Malfoy anywhere near the Snitch.
"Get out of it, Potter!" Malfoy yelled in frustration as he tried to turn and found Harry blocking him.
Just as they got out of range for me to see them, I pulled myself back into the game. I swerved in front of Montague and another one of Slytherin's Chasers to put myself at Angelina's side. The two of us nodded and went back to our old routine that Oliver so frequently had us practice during practice. She had the Quaffle and the two of us flew side-by-side, tossing it back and forth in between ourselves as we rocketed back towards our goals. I kept myself just a tiny pace ahead of Angelina, having very little problem weaving through the rest of the players.
"Angelina Johnson and Tara Nox have the Quaffle for Gryffindor, playing a grab-and-toss game with each other. Tara with the Quaffle now. Come on, Angelina, come on, Tara. Come on!"
As much as I loved having Lee commenting on the game - especially when it was hard to see what was happening - it also caused some problems on the field. It make it almost impossible to keep secret who had the Quaffle. Right now I could tell that it was becoming a problem. Harry and I looked around the field at the same moment. Every single Slytherin player apart from Malfoy was streaking up the pitch towards Angelina and me, including the Slytherin Keeper - they were all going to block us.
"Harry!" I shouted.
He would know what I wanted. It was my only idea. "Got it!" Harry shouted back.
"Ready?" I called to Angelina, who I knew would understand my silent request.
"Go for it! You've got the Quaffle after?" Angelina asked.
"You're good. Go!" I shouted.
Loosening my grip slightly, I tossed the Quaffle from myself, back towards Angelina. Instantly I ducked down out of the way so that Harry would have a clear shot towards her. That was what we needed. The Slytherin's hadn't seen our move. I knew that they would assume that I still had the Quaffle. So they went to tailing me - just as I knew that they would. I grinned to myself. We would be able to make two goals in a row and they would have no idea. It would be perfect for us to get ourselves way back into the safety zone.
The moment that I was sure that we were safe and the play would work out, I turned back and nodded at Harry to move. He would have to leave his hunt for the Snitch for a moment, but Malfoy would likely follow him and I had a feeling that he had lost the Snitch anyways. Following my silent order, Harry wheeled the Firebolt around, bent so low he was lying flat along the handle, and kicked it forward. Like a bullet, he shot toward the Slytherin's. I laughed softly and ducked out of the way.
"AAAAAAARRRGH!"
The Slytherin's were screaming at the top of their lungs as I dropped towards the ground and Harry was suddenly visible in their sight range. The rest of the audience began to laugh madly at the Slytherin's misfortune. They were all shouting now that Harry was about to ram right through them. They scattered all along the rest of the Pitch as the Firebolt zoomed toward them; Angelina's way was clear. I cheered her on as I spend up the Firebolt to get back to the goalposts - long before anyone else could get there.
"She scores! She scores! Gryffindor leads by eighty points to twenty!"
Harry, who had almost pelted headlong into the stands, skidded to a halt in midair, reversed, and zoomed back into the middle of the field. He was going back to his job of searching for the Snitch. The two of us high-fived each other as we flew past. The crowd was screaming in pleasure now that we were sixty points up. And about to be seventy... A manic grin spread over my face as I started to see the looks of panic in the faces of the Slytherin players. They knew how hopeless their game was becoming.
Speeding the Firebolt as fast as I imagined that it could go, I ducked down underneath the goalpost that Angelina had just put the Quaffle through and managed to catch it just by my fingertips. The crowd was erupting with pleasure as the rest of the Slytherin players tried to chase me down. But they were no match for the speed of the Firebolt. It made it very easy - as the rest of their team started looking only at me to try and stop me - for Fred and George to shoot Bludgers at the rest Slytherin's players. About every other Bludger was connecting.
For a moment I had to circle the Pitch - as the Slytherin players were having a wonderful time cutting me off each time that I tried to zoom back up to their goalposts. So I continued flying in and out of their players and duck by Harry and Malfoy in the meantime; they both looked like they were still trying to find the Snitch. I sped up as I rounded the field and headed back towards the goalposts. I faked out the Slytherin Keeper to a shoot at the furthest goalposts, instantly pushed the Firebolt back, and made a shot at the closest one, flying downwards before I even saw the shot.
The only way that I knew that I had made it was by the screaming of the crowd and the ding that came whenever a score was made on either side. My goal was enough to make the crowd go wild. They obviously didn't see that one coming. But fake-outs were my specialty. I was also going the opposite way to make the toss. But it had worked out. With the help of Fred and George in their beating abilities, I was able to shoot down and catch the Quaffle again as the boys were keeping the other players away from it. I instantly turned back and threw the Quaffle full-force at Alicia.
Giving me a wicked grin, Alicia caught the Quaffle easily and turned to shoot it at Angelina. My shot must have hit her slightly hard. I could see her chest heaving from here. Angelina easily caught the Quaffle. The two of them were winding in and out of the players for a moment as I shot over them and advanced slightly. We all flew for a moment before Alicia threw the Quaffle back to me. I caught it, turned backwards as I flew past the Slytherin goalposts, and threw it through the reverse side of them. A totally legal - albeit unorthodox - move that the Keeper never saw coming.
"Yes! Yes! Gryffindor leads one hundred points to twenty! Good teamwork from Tara Nox, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet!"
The entire crowd was up in arms over the shot. An excitable scream tore out of my throat. There was no way that we would lose. The only thing that we needed was for Harry to catch the damned Snitch. For a moment I risked a glance over at him to see what was happening on his end. I looked over just as it happened. He saw the same thing that was making my heart stand still. Malfoy was diving, a look of triumph on his face - there, a few feet above the grass below, was a tiny, golden glimmer. Harry urged the Firebolt downward, but Malfoy was miles ahead.
"Go! Go! Go!" Harry urged his broom.
My heart was lodged in my throat. If Malfoy caught the Snitch before Harry did, it wouldn't matter how many points ahead we were. It wasn't the two hundred that we would need. I turned back to the game in the meantime. I could see that Slytherin had taken over possession of the Quaffle again. It wouldn't matter. Even if they could make a few goals in the next few seconds, the game was over. Harry would get the Snitch. Angelina, Alicia, and I slowed down slightly. Just for fun, I soared down and kicked the Quaffle out of Montague's hands, watching as it fell down to Angelina.
As she moved off to the side of the game - effectively keeping Slytherin from regaining the Quaffle before the end of the game - I turned back to see what was now happening with Harry and Malfoy. Harry was gaining on Malfoy - Harry flattened himself to the broom handle as Bole sent a Bludger at him. He just barely managed to duck of the way. It must have brushed over his hair. Then Harry was at Malfoy's ankles - he was level. Harry threw himself forward, took both hands off his broom. He knocked Malfoy's arm out of the way and...
"Yes!" Harry shouted.
To my extreme excitement - but not surprise - Harry pulled out of his dive perfectly, his hand in the air, and the stadium exploded. Angelina, Alicia, and I instantly stopped flying, the three of us screaming at the tops of our lungs. It had happened. Harry soared above the crowd, as an odd ringing started to sound in my ears. Maybe it was the noise level in the stadium. The tiny golden ball was held tight in his fist, beating its wings hopelessly against his fingers. Montague threw the Quaffle to the ground in fury.
"Yes, Harry! Yes!" I screamed.
We all instantly flew over towards him. I couldn't believe that we had finally managed to win Oliver his Quidditch Cup. Just in the nick of time. Then Oliver was speeding toward Harry, half-blinded by tears; he seized Harry around the neck and sobbed unrestrainedly into his shoulder. There were two large thumps as Fred and George hit them; then Angelina's, Alicia's, and Katie's voices, "We've won the Cup! We've won the Cup!" Tangled together in a many-armed hug, the entire Gryffindor team sank, yelling hoarsely, back to earth.
Harry's arm wrapped tightly around my waist as I practically landed on his Firebolt. "You did it!" I cried.
"We all did it," Harry said breathlessly.
"We won! Oliver, we won!" I shouted, grabbing Oliver in a tight hug.
He looked as though he couldn't believe it. "We - We won..." Oliver stuttered.
"We won!" everyone was shouting.
It became almost impossible to tell who was who and who was shouting what. I gave up and merely enjoyed the excitement of the moment. Wave upon wave of crimson supporters was pouring over the barriers onto the field. Hands were raining down on all of our backs. I had a confused impression of noise and bodies pressing in on me. Then I, and the rest of the team, were hoisted onto the shoulders of the crowd. I shouted in surprise but didn't protest otherwise. Thrust into the light, I saw Hagrid, plastered with crimson rosettes.
"Yeh beat 'em, Harry, yeh beat 'em! Wait till I tell Buckbeak!"
We all smiled and laughed. At least he had something to be happy about for a little while. Off in the distance there was Percy, jumping up and down like a maniac, all dignity forgotten. I laughed softly. Professor McGonagall was sobbing harder even than Oliver, wiping her eyes with an enormous Gryffindor flag; and there, fighting their way toward Harry and I, were Ron and Hermione. Words failed them. They simply beamed as Harry and I were borne toward the stands, where Dumbledore stood waiting with the enormous Quidditch Cup.
The moment that I landed back on the Pitch, I was instantly swept up by someone else. I was about to shout at them for grabbing onto me the way that they had when I realized who it was. Cedric had finally managed to fight his way past everyone else. Harry released me from a hug so that I could jump into Cedric's arms and plant a large kiss on him. The two of us merely smiled at each other proudly. I had never been quite so happy. My arms looped back over his shoulders as Cedric leaned forward and pressed another long kiss against my lips.
Nothing could force the two of us apart right now. At least, nothing that I could think of. We had managed to win the Quidditch Cup. Oliver would be thrilled. Malfoy would be furious. My boyfriend was finally my boyfriend and no one seemed shocked or horrified about it right now. Actually, the two of us were laughing as we stayed together, despite the fact that others were continuously running into us. The entire school had all but forgotten their manners in the wake of the win. Not that anyone cared. Not that I cared.
"Well done!" Cedric said as we finally pulled apart.
"Oh, I don't ever remember feeling this great!" I laughed.
"Your parents will be so proud."
"And what about you?"
Cedric smiled proudly, brushing my slightly sweaty and very windblown hair out of my face. "It would be hard to beat how proud I am of you," Cedric said.
Normally I would have blushed. Today I was too excited. "Aha, we beat Slytherin!"
"Congratulations, Tara. You absolutely deserved it."
"Thank you."
We had done it... After three years at Hogwarts, we had finally won what we had honestly deserved for the past two years. Nothing could take this moment away from us. The two of us smiled at each other again as Cedric leaned forward and pressed another kiss against my lips. A moment later he grabbed me around the waist and lifted me up onto his shoulders. I laughed as Harry was brought up on Fred and George's. The two of us met in midair and wrapped each other in a tight hug, absolutely thrilled with our performances.
It seemed that everyone in Hogwarts - teachers and students - were cheering. I could see Professor Lupin in the distance smiling. He gave Cedric a slight eye - making me blush - before looking back at me and winking. It was the happiest that I had been in a long time. Now if only there had been a Dementor around... As a sobbing Oliver passed Harry the Cup (who gave me one of the handles to share in holding it with him), as the two of us lifted it into the air, I felt that I could have produced the world's best Patronus.
A/N: Next time... As final exams begin at Hogwarts, Buckbeak's execution arrives, but before it does, Professor Trelawney makes an eerie prediction during the Divination final. I have some cool news, guys. Number one, I'm planning on writing a debut novel soon and ultimately self-publishing with Amazon. More on that as it gets closer to being finished. In other news, I graduated college and got my first real job! Thanks so much for your patience as I establish a new routine. Thanks for the follows and favorites! Please review! Until next time -A
Vincent: As you see, things are very well with me. Thanks for checking! Hoping things are well with you too :) I also hope that you liked this chapter!
Serephina Nova Black: That's a good point that you make. She doesn't really want to care about the House prejudices, but she does make a point to say that it's difficult not to get behind them in Hogwarts. In her opinion, they're much more open in Ilvermorny. It's not that she genuinely believes that, it's one of those cases where everyone tells you the same thing so many times, it becomes very hard to start thinking otherwise. And I did mention once that Tara does get along with some of the Slytherin students. She just has a strong dislike for Draco Malfoy and his friends. Regardless, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter :)
VincentFGS91: The whole Polyjuice Potion debacle still makes me laugh. I'm so glad that you like my writing style!
