The return to school after the break was uneventful. Blaise Zabini hesitated for a moment when he saw Harry and Draco on the train, then slouched past them without a word. "Rotter," Harry muttered, but he didn't really care about Zabini. If Sirius was going to invite him to every Christmas party, that was fine, but the next one was a year away, and in the meantime, he had better things to worry about than some scowling Slytherin.
Things like looking interested in the Second Task when all he really wanted to do was play Quidditch. Ginny might be dating Neville – or, at any rate, holding hands with him in the Common Room – but she was always game for a little flying practice. And that was exactly what Harry wanted to be doing, if not with her, then with Draco, but instead, he was sitting on stands in air that was cold enough to be actually unpleasant and pretending he wasn't even the slightest bit resentful he wasn't one of the Champions.
"That could be you down there," Neville said, displaying his recent knack for saying cutting things. Not that he meant it, of course. Neville was one of the kindest people Harry knew. He was just a little socially awkward at times, which was how he'd managed to put voice to the exact thing Harry'd been thinking. He did it again with, "Bet it sucks to be up here with us when you could be one of the stars."
"Harry doesn't like being a star," Hermione said primly. She gave Neville a slightly puzzled look. "You know that."
"It would have been great, though," Harry said. He slouched and tried not to feel sorry for himself. Neville had his arm around Ginny, and Draco and Hermione were joined at the hip, as usual. He looked over at the Slytherin section, trying to spot Pansy, but if she was there, she was lost in the sea of green and silver. He did see Zabini, his arms crossed and a scowl on his handsome face.
"You would have died," Hermione said.
"The glory, though," Neville said. "And Harry's not a coward."
"Do we even know what this task is?" Ron asked. He was obviously trying not to look at Ginny and Neville, and Harry sat in utter sympathy with him. He was eager to at least watch the Task. It would give him something to focus on instead of feeling alone. And it was just weird the way Neville always seemed to end up with his ex-girlfriends, so he was always stuck seeing him draped around a girl who only a month or two ago had liked him.
"I think they're about to announce it," Hermione said. As usual, she was right, but the explanation of the task only made Harry slouch lower on the bench. The Champions were all going to rescue the person who mattered most to them from the Black Lake. That was all well and good, and probably thrilling if you were one of the Champions. He didn't see how it would make a very good spectator sport. Not like the dragons.
There was a brief moment of excitement when the three emerged from their tent and waved at the crowd. Hogwarts went wild for Cedric Diggory, and the Hufflepuff section of the stands cheered so loudly even the mermaids could probably hear them. Unfortunately, after that, it got very dull.
They all sat and stared at the Black Lake.
Nothing happened.
Nothing happened.
Nothing happened.
"God," Draco complained after a bit. "It's as if we've been sitting here for three years waiting, and absolutely nothing happens."
"I want to go work on some research," Hermione said. She disentangled herself from Draco and stood up, looking a bit apologetic. "The creepy Defense teacher said I could do an extra credit project, and I wanted to go do some reading on historical Dark wizards."
Neville stirred on the bench. "Which ones?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I figured Grindelwald was the best choice. Voldemort was too recent for there to be any good books I could use, but Grindelwald was long enough ago I should be able to get a decent research project done."
"Huh," Neville said.
"You are such a swot," Ron said.
"Mind if I come with you?" Harry asked. "Maybe I can help look stuff up." If he couldn't be playing Quidditch or flying, he wanted to at least be someplace warm, and no one could fault him for helping her do homework. Just going back to the Common Room was be unsporting, but research was a legit excuse. The roll of Hermione's eyes suggested she knew perfectly well he wasn't interested in helping her, but she didn't tell him no.
"You don't really have to come to the library with me," she said once they were safely inside.
Harry hadn't been planning on it, but the sight of Snape swooping through the halls in his black robes like a bat with its wings spread made him say hastily, "No, I'm happy to help you research Grindelwald."
That stopped Snape in his tracks. "Gellert Grindelwald," he asked with a sneer. "Since when you do have such an interest in Dark Wizards, Mr. Potter?"
"Since one of them killed his parents," Hermione snapped. She put her hands on her hips, and the force of her ire seemed to make her hair spring out from her head. "Makes one develop an interest."
"Be sure I shall check with Madam Pince to be sure you are both doing research and not indulging in disgusting adolescent urges. Detentions await you if you have been less than honest," Snape said before sweeping away.
"God, dating you, gross," Harry said without thinking, then realized a moment too late that might be rude.
Hermione, thank Merlin, wasn't offended. "As if," she said. "It's like it doesn't occur to him you can be friends with a girl and not want it to be more."
"Creeper," Harry said.
In perfect sympathy with one another, they walked to the library. The dour librarian was out, presumably watching the Second Task with everyone else, and it occurred to Harry this was the perfect time to do some sort of prank – any prank – but now he was trapped helping Hermione research if he didn't want to end up scrubbing cauldrons for Snape.
She didn't really want his help, though, other than making him carry a pile of dusty books to a table near some windows, so once she was absorbed in reading something about 'hallows' Harry leaned back in his chair and began wadding bits of parchment up and throwing them into the air.
"Too good to watch the Task?" asked a familiar voice.
"Could ask the same of you, Zabini," Harry said.
The boy dropped into a chair at their table. "Yes, but I have merely followed you to see what kind of trouble you are getting into so I can report it," he said. "I have a reason to be in. What's yours?"
"I'm helping Hermione research," Harry said. "And Snape's already seen me, so you can toddle back out to your snakes and tell them I'm such a loser I'm doing homework."
Zabini, however, showed no signs of leaving. "Diggory got his first," he said. "Cho Chang, can you believe it?"
"What's so weird about that?" Hermione asked without looking up. "She was his date at the ball."
"Don't you think it's a little sad the person he most fears to lose in the whole world is some girl he took to the ball?" Zabini asked. He was sneering, but under that, he might have been a little sad. "Not his mum, even?"
"If it had been me, it would have been Draco," Hermione said. She turned a page. "Did you know Grindelwald's followers would wear a little triangle charm? And he was rumored to have an unbeatable wand."
"Can't have been that unbeatable," Zabini said. "Everyone knows Dumbledore beat him in a duel and sent him to prison."
"It's obviously just a myth," Hermione said. Harry hid a smile. It was her lecturing voice, which Zabini had probably never heard. "Political movements built on the sort of cult of personality Voldemort and Grindelwald used have to have that kind of unbeatable myth thing. Voldemort was supposed to be the most amazing wizard ever, and Harry beat him when – "
"Yes, we all know Potter's special," Zabini said.
"Some of us just are," Harry said.
"Who would yours be?" Zabini asked.
"My what?" Hermione asked.
"If you were the Champion," Zabini said. "Who would be waiting for you to rescue them?"
"Draco," she said. It was an automatic response, given so immediately Harry was startled by the sheer matter-of-factness of it. He knew they adored each other, but somehow he found himself in agreement with Zabini. They were too young. Her boyfriend shouldn't be her most important person. He studied her face, and when she met his eyes for a moment, they weren't the eyes of his studious, swotty friend. The brown had become troubled, and she seemed haunted by pain and wisdom. Then she smiled broadly, and the ghosts that had flickered disappeared. "I sound as boy-crazy as Pansy, don't I?"
"Yes," Zabini said blandly.
"Arsehole," Harry said.
"How about you?" Zabini asked. "Which of Hogwart's legions of girls would be the most-missed of the Chosen One."
"None," Harry said. He tried to shake off the weird shadows that hung over the table and threw one of his wadded-up bits of parchment at Zabini. "Sirius is who I'd miss most, but I can't really see him letting Dumbledore shove him under the lake."
Zabini let out a shaky laugh. "Yeah," he said. "That wouldn't happen. Not with Sirius."
"Who would yours be?" Hermione asked. "Not that girl you took to the ball, I assume."
Zabini pushed himself to his feet. "Like I'd tell you losers that," he said.
"Your mum?" Harry guessed.
Zabini's jaw tightened, but he wavered at the edge of the table, on his feet but not leaving. "Hardly," he said.
"Crabbe?" Hermione asked.
"I'd leave him there for the mermaids."
"Nice," Harry said. If someone were trapped under the water because of him, he'd go get them no matter what. Even if he hated them. Even if it was Zabini.
"We don't all have people we'd miss," Zabini said. "Some of us would make bad Champions, I guess."
"Yeah," Harry said. "I guess."
. . . . . . . . . . .
"Got it," Narcissa said. She held the golden cup by two fingers, and her pretty mouth twisted into a frown. She could have wept. Helga Hufflepuff's cup. It was an object out of legend. A historical treasure. And Voldemort had perverted it with magic so foul it felt oily to the touch. Slimy. Fetid.
She hadn't even known a thing could feel fetid.
"You wish to keep it?" Lucius asked. His tone was light, but she could hear the worry behind it. Magic this dark ensnared anyone who got close to it. It could pervert the kindest soul. Twist the purest heart.
Narcissa dropped it into the incinerator. A hiss like the screaming of a thousand damned souls spun up from the flames, then died away.
"It was a bit vulgar," she said. "Tastes change over the centuries."
"They do indeed," Lucius agreed. "That's three."
The diary. The locket. The cup. Three down, four to go, and Narcissa still didn't know how they would get the Horcrux out of Harry.
"Maybe it's time we talk to Draco about finding the diadem," Narcissa said.
"He's still so young."
"Time won't be our ally for much longer."
"This summer," Lucius said. "We'll tell him then."
"This summer," she agreed.
. . . . . . . . . . .
"Abandoned, I see," Neville to Draco said after Hermione left.
Draco snorted. Of the many things in life that were worth worrying about, the idea that Hermione would abandon him wasn't one of them. Would he catch the Snitch? Would his mum find out about how he'd coaxed Kreacher to bring his sweets? Would he get good marks? Those were the things he worried about in life. Marks. Candy. Not Hermione. Nothing bad would ever happen to him and Hermione. Never.
"Oh, it's Parkinson," Ginny said, biting disapproval in her voice, and Draco looked back to the lake. The French witch had rescued her sister from the water, which had been even less interesting than it sounded. At least they all knew Cho Chang. Another French witch was just another French witch, and she'd been brought to the surface with no drama at all. This whole Task one was one big yawn.
Pansy, though. That was interesting. Viktor Krum was helping her from the water. Her short black hair hung over her face, and she shivered violently even after one of the Tournament assistants brought her a blanket and cast a warming spell. Viktor tucked one of the sodden locks away behind her ear, and she looked up at him with eyes wide and impressed.
Not that her expression necessarily meant anything. Pansy could give that wide-eyed ingénue look upon command, and even if she wasn't head-over-heels in love with Krum, she had to know her selection for this Task meant she was what he most feared to lose. Even by itself, that was flattering.
A bit sad, Draco thought. Poor Krum, so alone in the world, Pansy was his most beloved. He'd only met her a few months ago. Draco spared a guilty thought for the love that surrounded him. His mum might be smothering at times, but he'd hate to lose her. Not her, not his father, not either of his uncles. Not Harry, his brother.
Not Hermione. His… his…
Draco's nightmare of darkness and nothing flashed into his mind.
Hermione was more precious to him than anything. He'd brave that nightmare to keep her safe, he thought. Mermaids and water were nothing. Then he laughed at himself for being too dramatic. As if he would ever have to risk anything. He'd just been thinking about how his world was filled with love and people he trusted.
"Pansy," he said, leaning back to Neville with a laugh. "Wasn't expecting that. Bet she's on top of the world."
"Krum," Ginny said. "Can you imagine? He's an actual star, and he picked her."
Neville shrugged. "There's nothing that special about Krum." His tone was light, but his eyes were focused on the dripping Viktor and Pansy with almost frightening intensity. "I wonder what will happen at the Third Task."