Eugh. Been busy lately, plus writers block.

Will probably go through old chapters to rewrite portions I don't like.

Probably not going to have a chapter up on Monday: want to get back in the swing of things.

Through a Half-Breed's Eyes

Things have been an absolute mess lately.

Potter's jumping at every shadow, and even hexed some poor idiot.

Of course, the idiot was trying to be smart and snuck up on him, but still.

Meanwhile, Ginny's been killing time by reading everything she can about the Triwizard Tournament. From what I can tell, she's trying to figure out how to help, without causing anyone to be disqualified.

I've merely been moving about, doing my own thing. Occasionally, I've turned eye to the skies above Potter, wondering when the asteroid will finally hit and kill him.

I mean, that's probably not going to happen.

Probably.

Anyway, it's only been three days since the big drawing, and the Anti-Potter lynch mob is already burning strong. I think I might've dissuaded about a third of the Gryffindors with my rampant betting (They're going after me instead), but sooner or later, the ones that are chasing me are going to get bored.

So yeah, besides the usual, there's been a lot more activity on the outskirts of the castle as well.

They're building some sort of arena for the tournament just on the edge of the forest: pretty large, reasonably sturdy

It honestly resembles a roman Colosseum. I'm hoping the trial's not direct combat.

They're also building a different enclosure, out of stone. Enchanted stone, if the magical presence I've been able pick up from the materials is correct.

Classes certainly haven't eased up either: I had to demonstrate a runic array earlier today

and

well.

lost concentration just long enough to blow myself up.

It wasn't a very big explosion: no one was hurt, except for me.

Luckily, it was written off as 'reasonably minor', so I was given a flask of potion at the hospital wing, and was told to walk it off.

(flask went directly into my bag to look at later, by the way. I can't use the damn thing. To confirm, it's nothing but a minor burn salve. I checked. Seems like an interesting potion, might try and learn how to make it later.)

I might've accidentally started another rumor.

I honestly didn't mean to this time. It just happened.

Anyway, I managed to catch one of the Veela-blooded students (her name was Monique) in the hallway earlier, and started asking her questions.

At first, all I managed to do was make her extremely uncomfortable.

I only managed to convince her to talk to me, after I manifested a ball of fire in my hand. (My fire's actually a bit darker than the usual Veela orangish-red flame. We did a side-by-side comparison, not too long into the discussion).

My explanation was that my bloodline wasn't in contact with other Veela for a long, long time, and we might've adapted differently than the other, more common Veela varieties.

She bought the story, and we found a deserted classroom to talk in. We passed a few known gossips on the way, though, which immediately led to said gossips running off, like the world was about to end.

I'm hoping the rumor is something relatively benign, like "Aura is a Veela-blood", and not something stupid, incriminating, and embarrassing.

But yes, we spent about an hour talking back and forth, talking about what her breed of Veela was like, and what they could do.

Monique is considered middle-of-the-road as far as inherent power in a Veela-blooded: Fleur, the Beauxbatons champion, is about three steps above her, but she's not lacking in power by any means.

Apparently, pretty much all of the Veela-bloods have the allure, three-quarters have the fire, and half are able to manifest a Veela form.

Speaking of which, Veela fire is definitely not natural fire. It's not hellfire, either. I'd assume it's somewhere in between.

We didn't go so far to see if we could burn one another, but from what I could tell, I'd be able to withstand her flame quite handily.

She said that she'd stick around for the rest of the year, or at least as long as the tournament is going on.

Maybe I should try and introduce her to Cinder.

I've got an update on the tournament: rumor has it that there's a Ball upcoming later into the year, which is gated to fourth-years and higher. Apparently third years are allowed in if they have a fourth-year partner.

I haven't said anything to Ginny quite yet. I'm quite afraid of what she'll try to do, once she gets the idea into her head.

I should probably give Potter a good two-three weeks to prepare before I sic Ginny on him.

Dragons.

They've brought in dragons.

Luna was the one who brought it to my attention.

I was in the middle of throwing together a batch of Shrinking Solution in one of the many unused classrooms, when in barges Luna. She was definitely excited, and I only was able to understand what she was trying to say after about a minute.

Of course, once she got her message across, I immediately threw a neutralizer into my cauldron, and took off running behind her. I wasn't going to miss the dragons for anything.

Anyway, they brought in four relatively large dragons, all huge, nasty-looking things.

On the plus side, gladiatorial combat is out, since there's no way in hell any single person, no matter the school or training, would be able to take any of the four down by themselves.

Though I have no idea what they will use the dragons for then.

Who knows, maybe they're for something else.