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Bold = Parseltongue

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January 21, 1995

Saturday

Harry watched as Tracey sheepishly made her way over to Daphne, her younger sister who'd only just exited a shop that she'd entered, and Daphne's parents. As she mentioned, Daphne's parents were very formal-looking and had that air of authority about them that attracted attention as well as caution. He knew for a fact that her father, tall and bulky as he was, would make quite the intimidating figure for any bloke to speak with.

That 'any' bloke in this instance, would be Harry. Daphne had persistently gone after him until she'd gotten what she desired, that being him and whilst he could seldom complain, especially with how intelligent and aggressively affectionate she was… he would have liked a bit of a warning regarding the giant of a man that her father turned out to be.

"Tracey, Tracey," Daphne's mother said loudly as the aforementioned girl drew closer and closer. "It's been far too long since you visited or wrote to us, aren't we still your favourite home away from home? My, my, look at you — I'll have to take you shopping soon, just like we used to with my Daphne when you were younger. You've turned out to be a wonderfully beautiful young lady and this year especially you seemed to have filled out even if you do continue to wear those hats of yours."

"They're comfy," Tracey defended, her pout audible as the older woman pulled her into a very tight-looking embrace.

Daphne's mother held that hug for nearly ten seconds, her arms rubbing up and down the younger girl's back even whilst her husband spoke to her; his voice was far softer and less gruff than Harry would have expected from a man that looked the part of a Viking. "Give the girl some space before you strangle her, wife. It's good to see you, Tracey and Alina's right, you should visit us this summer. We're headed home for a vacation, you're more than welcome to come along."

At this point, Daphne spoke up, though her eyes were scanning all over the place in the event that Harry made an appearance of his own. "You should come along, my parents are right. You'd love the private beach just as much as I do. It'd give you a beautiful background for all of your reading."

Astoria, Daphne's little sister that he had still yet to meet in any official capacity, snorted at her older sister's comment. He wasn't sure if it was because of an inside joke or if it were due to Tracey's typical reading choices, those being Muggle romances that often were cookie-cutters with only different appearances. Well, when she didn't read the more… inappropriate books that Daphne would occasionally mention when Tracey needed a reminder not to act out.

"But that means not laying in bed all summer," Tracey moaned as she rubbed her hands together to stave off the coldness in the air. "The whole point of our school break is to rest and relax before another boring year of studying. How else can I get my hundreds of hours of beauty sleep if I'm out at a beach where it's oppressively hot and I can't wear my hats of comfortability?"

"Hats of comfortability, is that what you call them?" Daphne's mother, Alina as Harry had heard, asked with a hint of levity in her tone as she grinned down at the younger girl before wrapping an arm around her and motioning towards a nearby coffee shop. "Regardless of your decision that'll ultimately lead to you joining us, why don't we finish up the day? Phillip and I were just about to take the girls for biscuits and tea, you'd like to join us, won't you? I'm sure you could tell us all about Daphne's boyfriend too, she never was all that good at keeping anything a secret from you."

"Mother, I told you that I'd tell you about him when I feel the need to do so. Currently, our relationship is very new and as such, I wouldn't want to scare him off with a request to meet the family as I'm more than certain there'd be a lot of embarrassment thanks to your actions. Need I remind you of the boy you thought I fancied and how you spoke with him at length regarding politics and family lineages?" Daphne's eyes all but zoned in on the location he was still tucked away at and this time, he could very easily see her giving a look that told him not to come out.

Alina didn't seem to catch the look or the direction that her daughter was facing when she gave her response. "Lineage and the desire to have grandchildren are important topics for any family, as are expectations that you two would have for one another, but alas, I'll leave you to your boy troubles alone. I'm sure my Tracey would be more than willing to share a few sprinkles of truth with me too regarding the mysterious young man who's captivated you. Isn't that right, my sweetling?"

Tracey shook her head quietly, her face completely red as the family pulled her towards the coffee shop and away from the remainder of her day with Harry. He felt bad for the girl, but when he reckoned she was going to be stuffing herself full with cake, biscuits and whatever else she could possibly want, he figured it wasn't all that bad. She was familiar with Daphne's family, anyhow, so anything that happened between the lot of them would be good fun, as the teasing was that he had seen.

Well then, what'll you be doing, mate?

Harry tapped idly on the wall of the building he was still cuddled up against, indecisive about what he would do now that his date for the afternoon was taken. There were many possibilities, most of which revolved around studying or something of that nature, but his mind was very quickly made up for him when he saw an all too familiar bloke walk by. One that was all alone and seemed nervous as can be; Cedric.

As soon as he saw that, his mind was made up and his feet led him toward his typical competitor.


"Harry, mate, what're you doing out here?" Cedric asked as soon as the older boy had spotted Harry walking towards him.

"I was out here with a friend, but she ran into a few friends of her parents that stole her away. They'll be an hour at the least, I think, so when I saw you out here all alone I figured I'd see what you were up to — how's the studying going? Are you thinking you're ready for the next task?" Harry asked as the pair started off again, continuing wherever it was that Cedric was leading them.

Cedric looked down at him a couple of times as he looked to be formulating some sort of response and eventually, after nearly half a minute of silence aside from the snow crunching beneath their feet, he responded. "I was taking this walk to clear my head and I guess I'm sort of ready for this next task. Don't be too worried for me, I managed to keep up with you the first go around, didn't I?" Cedric gave Harry a fond look that reminded him of the other boy's sporting attitude when it came to Quidditch. "How're you doing? You're not behind or running about without any solid plan, are you?"

Immediately, Harry shook his head with a grin of his own in place. "I think I'll be ready, but who really knows. These tasks aren't exactly what I thought they'd be and if we started with a dragon, Merlin… I just hope nothing goes off the deep end, yeah?"

The older boy nodded a few times, clearly agreeing with the sentiment as they drew closer to the outskirts of the village. His earlier nervousness which he had all but tucked away when Harry made his presence known was still gone, but Harry could tell that Cedric wasn't quite himself. Whether it was the stress of the next task or girl problems eluded Harry but whatever it was clearly had his friend on edge. He felt sad for the guy, but there wasn't much he could do for him save for making one proposal that he felt fairly hesitant to do on account of what it would entail.

"Cedric?" Harry asked, his mind made up at that moment as he looked at the older bloke that was still walking next to him.

"Yeah?" Cedric said in response, looking at Harry curiously as the silence between them was broken.

"This next task will probably be more difficult than the previous one and I was thinking, why don't we watch each other's backs? If you don't want to, we don't need to, but I don't really care about winning this tournament. All I actually care about is surviving to see the end of it — if we're both at the end first, you can win as long as we made it there together," Harry offered, confident and sure that the deal was good for the both of them.

Cedric furrowed his brows as he looked at Harry. "You don't want to win, not at all? What about the prize money or the glory the other two are chasing? That doesn't mean anything to you in the slightest even if it's far more wicked than any Quidditch cup?"

Harry shook his head and was about ready to give a response of his own, but Cedric cut him off with a pat on the shoulder and a shake of his hand that happened so quickly he half wondered if he'd thought the whole thing up. That theory of his was proven false when Cedric spoke, that earlier nervousness now completely gone as his shoulders sagged in relief.

"I was thinking the same thing if I'm honest with you. Fleur and Krum, they're driven to win. I was the same as they were before the first task, but that was before I saw that we were going up against dragons, thanks for that, by the way. You really did save me from a world of trouble even though you didn't have to," Cedric shook his head with a smile in place as he, again, patted Harry on the shoulder. "I'm down with this deal. I don't care about winning, about the prize money or whatever else they're offering us. So long as I can beat you in one more match of Quidditch when we're both professionally playing, I'm happy."

It was at that point the two shook hands and not too long after, separated from one another. Harry didn't have a doubt in his mind that Cedric would keep to his promise and he knew for a fact that he himself would do just that. Together, the two blokes from Hogwarts would make an exceptional team where there'd only ever been competition and recently, a touch of strife due to the idiots from Slytherin; not Tracey, she was a bit of an idiot, but she was his and Daphne's personal one.

"Well then," Harry said as he sat his happy arse down on a bench and looked at the people of Hogsmeade going through their day-to-day lives. "That's that dealt with, now I've just got to wait for Daphne and Tracey to be set."

He leaned back, the shop where they'd gone in easily visible from his current seat and rested. Obviously, he would remain alert lest somebody tried to steal anything off of him, but he owed his body a bit of a break, a chance to take in the brisk of the outdoors and the niceness that was nothing.


Nearly two hours later with the sun only just starting to set and the coolness of the air turning outright freezing, Harry found himself greeted by a beautiful witch and her companion after having dozed off for maybe half an hour if that.

"Were you sitting here all this time?" Daphne asked as her hands took hold of his, the warmth and softness of them incredibly appealing to his vaguely cold, more calloused hands.

Harry nodded in response to her question, indicating that, yes, he had been seated here so that he could walk them back and spend the remainder of the day with them; it wasn't like he'd go about spending all that much time with Ron, Hermione or the others anymore. Call him petty, but he wasn't exactly fond of those who'd brushed him off so readily when they'd thought he'd lied even if he had sworn he hadn't… maybe Daphne as his girlfriend was also more appealing too. Why spend so much time with your fellow blokes and the occasional friendly witch when you could be spending all of your time with the one you really liked and her pet too?

"That's so sweet," Tracey said while Daphne was pulling him to his feet after his nod, the latter shooting the former a dirty look that did little to stop her from continuing. "Your boyfriend was out here, waiting in the cold like a lost, sad puppy. If he would've frozen out here and turned into a little Harrycicle, it would've been the ultimate ending to a romance book. I could see it now, the loyal boyfrie—"

"We're going to the carriages. Feel free to walk with us, or you can freeze while you fantasize about those Muggle books of yours," Daphne said to Tracey as she started herself and Harry off down the path that led them back to the carriages, and eventually back to Hogwarts herself.

Tracey seemed only a bit put out, but she shrugged it off easily enough and started skipping alongside them, happy as ever despite the bite of the cold air and the snow that was starting to fall.

"I heard you tried sushi and some sort of fried dessert with Tracey before my parents stole her away," Daphne said, seemingly unbothered by the fact that he had spent some alone time with her best friend and fellow witch. "Would you tell me if it was any good? I'd wanted to go, but I'll admit the thought of consuming raw fish and trying other Muggle foods was a bit of a nervous one, my family drilled it into my mind at a young age that what they produce isn't all that fit for consumption."

"They were right! My tongue still hurts from what we were doing, but Morgana, it was sooooo sweet. If you would've joined us, you would've loved it — I know Harry did, my company's greater than most, but I'm sure he would've been so happy to have you right next to him while we were experimenting," Tracey piped up before he could, her voice loud and carrying on account of the quietness of Hogsmeade.

As for the words she spoke, well, they sounded incredibly suspicious and suggestive even to Harry, so when the few people around shot them dirty looks or the occasional one filled to the brim with surprise, he figured out easily enough why that was. Daphne, for her part, only quickened their pace after she shot a look of her own towards the grinning, tongue-out Tracey.

"That's for making me eat a salad with you and your mum. I'll have you know I like my rear just fine," Tracey said childishly as she quicked her skip to match their near-jogging pace towards the now visible, snow-covered carriages.

"Yes, I made Tracey eat a salad. You would think it was the end of the world with how much moaning she did because of it," Daphne commented, rolling her eyes as she tightened her grasp on his hand and tucked herself in closer to him, the cold getting to her. "Aside from an apparently wonderful meal and relaxing day, what did you do? It can't all have been so simple knowing you and if it was, I'm going to curse you when we're alone. I haven't forgotten how many times I had to ask you out before you said yes."

"It was a mistake?" Harry offered, grinning at Daphne who herself was blushing by the time she'd finished her speaking; well, he liked to think of it as blushing, the general cold could also be getting in the way of things but he didn't really know. All he knew for certain was that her pink nose, the redness of her neck and her closeness were all really cute, enough so that he truly did feel stupid for declining her multiple times.

Merlin, to think I nearly went alone or decided on some other, as of yet unknown witch. I really can be thick just like Hermione said, can't I?

"As long as we're both aware that it was a mistake, I'm happy," Daphne said with her nose raised and the corners of her lips upward-facing as they practically ran the last fifty or so feet to the nearest, warm carriage.

Harry, ever the gentleman, helped his girlfriend up and into the warmth of the cabin before doing the same to a giggling Tracey that demanded to be lifted up as if she were a child. She was lucky that he was in such a good mood and that he'd gained a good deal of muscle from Quidditch, else he doubted he would have been able to pick up anybody close to his build and Merlin, that would have been horribly embarrassing.

"This is much better," Daphne said as she once again pressed herself into his side, only this time in the confines of a heated cabin that didn't allow the bite of the outdoors to freeze them. "What would you think if I suggested we spend the night relaxing rather than studying? I know it's not ideal with the second task fast approaching, but I do believe I'd like to enjoy a quiet night in, so to say, with you. I'm sure we could discuss a few key areas of interest."

"Anatomy isn't something you talk about, dork," Tracey piped up again, this time with nowhere to run and with an accidental spell from Daphne fired shortly thereafter. Harry laughed, Tracey pouted and Daphne seemed pleased. Hours later, the two of them would be together and in front of a fire with Tracey cooing in her sleep in the chair beside them.

It was a perfect end to a pretty enjoyable day.


January 28, 1995

Saturday Afternoon

'As we move past fortification and support-type magic, namely of the sort that's sole purpose is to enable proficiency and survivability in prolonged combat or harsher conditions than many are used to, we naturally move towards those more specified spells. Some of these will be related to places that get extremely hot and as such, are meant to preserve water throughout one's body by temporary magical transfiguration. Other spells are meant to be used in aquatic situations and whilst not all are related to transfiguration, many, like especially hot conditions, are in that branch of magic on account of the ease with which they're created due to using a basis and fundamental understanding of creatures, Magical or Mundane.

First among the list of most utilised magic underwater is a spell that proves practical in Muggle means too as they grow increasing industrious and horrible towards one another. The bubble-head charm keeps out all bacteria, fumes, gases and other conditions that can fill the air so as to keep the person within safe from the harmful effects that unnaturally occur. Of course, that isn't to say it doesn't work well against effects that naturally occur, however, it's best to use potion immunisations in those instances instead of relying on a spell that's manually controlled, especially one as fickle and prone to popping as the bubble-head charm has proven itself to be. For more information on this particular spell including the practicality, difficulty and motions, please turn to page one-hundred and forty-two.

With the most common spell now covered, we would move on to a myriad of others that are far more situational — aside from transfiguration as I'll increasingly repeat throughout the entirety of this work — and as such, more difficult to master due to the lack of practice that many a witch or wizard often give them. Common, uncommon spells that I tend to favour are as follows; the gill-giving charm, self-transfiguration of limbs to suit the needs of the environment, mantis-vision and tongue of the fish folk.

As you can likely determine by reading the names those spells commonly go by, all of them are only practical underwater or when in the presence of extreme bodies of water. To start with, the gill-giving charm is incredibly self-explanatory in the sense that it's an advanced spell that's based on transfiguration so that one may replace their breathing organs with those that can filter water and the oxygen therein. Self-transfiguration is equally as easy to determine and the usages are far too many for me to list; it is important to mention that this type of magic is incredibly dangerous and should only be done by those of age whilst in the company of others of age that prove themselves capable in handling magical situations as they arise. Mantis-vision is another transfiguration that requires a constant level of concentration and as the name suggests, it grants a user additional eyes as well as the most sophisticated vision throughout the entirety of the underwater kingdom. With this spell on, one should expect never to be caught off-guard. Finally, we move to the sole spell that isn't based on transfiguration but on the beings native to the underwater world as we've come to know it; the Tongue of the fish folk. This spell grants the caster the ability to communicate underwater and makes it possible for the sounds we make to turn into those that would be comprehensible by sirens, merfolk or other beings that are of sufficient intelligence to communicate. As we con—'

Harry set the book he was reading down, leaned back, and let out a long breath. All of this seemed far more complicated and difficult than he had imagined to the point that he was beginning to doubt himself. If he couldn't learn all of these spells in addition to the many that Daphne had started to help him with since they'd begun dating, he would be right and properly done in without a doubt.

"You're reading an especially difficult book, you are aware of that, right?" Daphne asked him as she entered the small, long-abandoned classroom they'd taken over for their studying and other bonding time that happened throughout their fledgling relationship.

"The person who wrote everything seems a bit… unique, but the spells seem like they could be pretty helpful. Isn't this one of the books we picked out together anyhow? I'm pretty sure it was," Harry marked his position and fully closed it in favour of turning his attention totally over to Daphne, he could hear Tracey's hums outside of the door, echoing throughout the hall too, so he reckoned she'd be joining them in the next few seconds.

"We picked it out together, yes, but it's something we should probably look at together too," Daphne cast her eyes over to the door as Tracey entered, a bit of a testy look on her face as the humming grew louder, but ultimately, she didn't seem bothered enough to say anything before she turned her attention back over to Harry whilst her friend all but collapsed onto the couch beside them. "This bubble-head charm that we've read about in the past few days seems like it would work well enough — Cedric could potentially help you too since he seems to be going along that same path."

Harry nodded, not entirely convinced but now distracted that his girlfriend and her best friend had arrived. "What do you two think we should go about doing today? More studying, some practical experience or something a bit less boring?"

I can guarantee Tracey will be in favour of whatever isn't deathly boring.

"Why don't we talk about the upcoming summer break and the typical ball that Daphne's family always goes to? I'm typically dragged along because my family attends it too, so why don't we make it a group event for the three of us?" Tracey asked, her voice muffled on account of her face being pressed into the couch but she seemed strangely eager to discuss the event despite her words.

"I'd rather we not discuss such a pointless event and instead, we could focus on something far more important; the likeliness that something eventful occurs during, immediately after or shortly before the upcoming task. We're all well aware of your track record throughout Hogwarts even if the events are most assuredly downplayed," Daphne said, cutting off Tracey's idea and setting the focus back onto Harry. "Why don't you tell us the truth of the matter in some instances, if you feel comfortable doing so?"

Harry shifted uneasily. He hadn't been told to keep all the happenings a secret and the number of people that knew all about what had happened in his first through third years at Hogwarts was definitely into the double digits… surely he shouldn't feel too nervous to discuss anything. Still, he didn't feel completely right and Daphne must have noticed, as she very shortly thereafter altered her question into something that was far more palatable for Harry.

"Are the rumours of what you got up to in our first and second years true, even a portion of them? Did you find the chamber, fight the monster therein and encounter you-know-who within the walls of Hogwarts?" With her newly rephrased question asked, she sat back, primp and proper as ever for the aggressive girl that she was.

"Some of them may be true… can I put up a privacy spell? Would either of you mind if I did that and made sure the door was locked?" Harry asked as his eyes drifted to the sole entry to the room as if he expected Professor Snape, Professor Dumbledore or even Malfoy to jump through it at any time.

Obviously, that didn't happen, but something did; Tracey.

"You're not planning on having your wicked way with Daphne and me, are you? If the answer's no, then do whatever you want and if the answer's a maybe, you'll have to take me back to that place we a— relax, Daph. I'm just kidding, don't forget who was encouraging who to snog the boy you've had a crush on since our second year," Tracey had backpedalled, then, she must have decided to double down on embarrassing Daphne in some way on account of what she said.

Harry shook his head at the other girl's antics and turned to face Daphne and only Daphne. He raised one brow in a way that he completely stole from her and with that and a grin on his face, he asked, "Is that true? You've had a crush on me since our second year?"

Daphne shot the worst, most venom-filled look he had ever seen over to Tracey before her eyes — still glaring — turned on him. "It wouldn't be completely incorrect to say that there was a minor degree of attraction back during that time. Obviously, it was just a crush and nothing more. That doesn't seem to matter in the end though, not since we're together and I've become the first witch to kiss you. Never use the word snog with me regardless of what Tracey says either, that would be a very quick way to lose those privileges."

Duly noted, Harry thought to himself with an internal chuckle at the slightly peeved, still forward as ever girl.

Finally, Harry put up the privacy spell while the two girls bickered back and forth incoherently, Tracey especially, in that regard. "Most of it's true," he would say once he was sure all was good in the hopes that they could very quickly move on from that topic and back to studying or even talks of summer and what it would mean for him and Daphne.

Anything but reliving all of those memories. They're not needed even if I'm just as certain as Daphne seems to be that something bad will happen… aside from having my name entered into the Goblet.

"Thank you for confirming the tales, Tracey and I won't prod you any further, but should you ever want to share more, we'll listen," Daphne said, expertly reading his tone and the general mood his body language conveyed as she steered the conversation towards a topic she didn't want to speak about, but would do so out of fairness. "As Tracey mentioned, her family and my own often attend an event for those with old family names as well as a good bit of wealth to back it up. Generally, it's a means of facilitating relationships between the older, powerful houses regardless of their views and that's where a lot of our parents actually met. You would be more than welcome as my date, so long as you only dance with me — fine, I suppose Tracey could have a dance."

Again, Daphne had predicted an outburst from her friend just as easily as she'd read him and like the latter, she avoided any problems with the former person. It was unnerving how good she was at doing that.

"If you'd want me to, I would," Harry said with a shrug as he fell back down beside her, Daphne's arms pulling his head into her lap as her fingers sought out his hair.

"That's very kind of you," she said to him, those piercing eyes of hers staring right into his tired ones as a sly grin formed on her face. "And here I was thinking I'd have to chase you down just like I did the first time. It would've been fun, but I won't miss the anxiety or the nervousness that you'd continue to say no."

Harry opened his mouth to respond, but he was met with Daphne's soft lips and the whistling sound of Tracey as she turned away from them; it was awkward, when they pulled apart with a pop it was funny, and when Tracey groaned, her embarrassment was incredibly satiating.

Daphne was a dream of a witch.