Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.
The Third Task
It was the day of the third task, and Harry was actually sitting at the Gryffindor table, and appeared to even be choking down some food. He must be feeling pretty good about the task. Of course, after the amount we drilled into him, he'd better be feeling confident... Draco, of course, was trying to rouse the Slytherin House into a de-moralizing antic of some sort, but she didn't think he'd have much success. Everyone was too excited about the task itself to care who was participating.
Except for Zabini.
He'd been doing nothing but stare at her lately. He never went near her, or tried to get at her stuff, or torture her snake, or anything but look. She'd drawn her wand at him once or twice, and he obediently blanched and ran away, not to bother her for another day or two. All in all, she figured she could handle a little glaring, especially with some real friends to keep her company, even if they sat at the other end of the Great Hall.
The evening came, and the Great Hall was alive with chatter. Everyone was talking about the tasks, wishing Fleur, Viktor, Diggory, and Harry the best (or worst) of luck, and devouring every scrap of food the house-elves put out. Ryua noticed that Harry had visitors, as did Fleur. Hers were obviously her mother, and little Gabrielle, of course, but the people sitting with Harry appeared to be yet more Weasleys. As if Fred, George, Percy, Ron, and Ginny weren't enough, and Charlie with the dragons, there was apparently yet another brother she hadn't met yet. And even more incredibly, they all seemed to possess the same, friendly Weasley charm. Hmm...
Ryua held back behind the Slytherin table, and behind most tables, since it took Mrs. Weasley a rather long time to wish Harry good luck. She fell into step beside them and Fleur's family (apparently they were having a 'champions' family section', or something). "Er... Mrs. Weasley? I was wondering if I could sit with you... I'm one of Harry's friends, Ryua."
The plump, jolly looking woman surveyed her with kindly, if slightly untrusting eyes, (Well, I am a Malfoy...) when her expression suddenly cleared. "Oh, Ryua! Of course, Ron's told us all about you, I'd be pleased to have you sit with us. Come along then, dear, we've got seats reserved for us, and we don't want to miss any of it. And this is Bill... Bill... BILL!"
Bill had quietly lost interest in the conversation, and was busily watching Fleur glide towards the main doors, making Viktor, Harry, and even Diggory look rather clumsy and scruffy in comparison. He jumped very quickly to attention when his Mother yelled, however, and said in an innocent voice, "Yes, Mum?"
She sighed, exasperatedly. "Bill, this is Ryua, Ron's friend, remember? She'll be sitting with us."
"Sure. Nice to meet you, Ryua." He shook her hand, but slid almost immediately back into watching Fleur as she passed out onto the field ahead of them. In fact, he started to drool slightly at the corner of his mouth, and earned a sharp thwack on the back of his head from his Mum. "Ouch, Mum, what was that for..."
"You know very well what it was for, William Weasley! Now, keep your eyeballs in your head and march straight ahead!" Mrs. Weasley brandished her purse at him again, and he ducked and skipped a few paces up as Hermionie and the rest of the Weasleys joined the group.
Ryua grinned. For all the yelling, and mock-fights, the Weasleys were such a perfect family. She'd give so much to be part of a group like that... nearly anything she had, in fact. Well, I'll just have to see about becoming even better friends with them, then. It doesn't seem like it'd be too hard, actually...
And it wasn't. Mrs. Weasley and the twins were amiably chatting with her about the portraits, students, food, giant squid, what to blow up next... whatever came to mind. And once Fleur got out of sight, Bill joined the conversation too, and it switched to speculations about the task. It appeared that Mrs. Weasley had rather taken to thinking of Harry as another one of her children, and was proving to be almost sick with worry. Once Ryua said she, Ron, and Hermionie had been teaching him to curse things, she looked a bit on the pale side, but not so green anymore. Once the task started, she alternated between squeaks of fear (and it didn't seem to matter which Champion was being squished, she was still as upset as if it were Ginny) and a tense, grim expression.
"At least he's having a fairly easy time of it." Ryua remarked after a half hour or so.
"Easy? You call that-that beast easy?" Mrs. Weasley shrieked.
"Well, maybe not easy, but we've been raising Blast Ended Skrewts all year, he can handle them. And he's been able to do Boggarts since last year, and whatever that spell was didn't bother him at all. It's like he's just avoiding them before he has to blast anything out of his way. Not like Fleur, there..."
She had just gotten stuck in a dead end, and there was a rather large stallion Hippogriff coming up behind her. Apparently he'd staked out this little corridor as his own, and was completely ready to kill anyone he found trespassing. Shaking just a little, Fleur bowed deeply and gracefully, managing to keep a steady, submissive gaze with the huge black beast in front of her. He snorted, cocked his head to get a better look, and ruffled his wings. Ryua could see Fleur tense, ready to spring out of her bow, when suddenly, the Hippogriff sank to its knees. Breathing a sigh of relief, Fleur started to edge past it, still keeping in a half-bow. She was all the way to it's flank when it let out a blood curdling shriek and whipped around, catching Fleur with a hoof, cutting off her own scream of panic. Professor Moody stunned the Hippogriff through the hedge and levitated Fleur out, being the nearest teacher, as well as the one who could see through walls. Madam Pomfrey rushed over, as well as Madam Maxime, and MRs. Weasley was entirely ready to faint. Ryua patted her on the back, muttering something about Madam Pomfery's competence and that she'd be fine, and noted that Viktor and Diggory were just coming around a corner face to face.
Unexpectedly, Viktor raised his wand, ignoring Diggory's yells, and cast something that sounded remarkably like the Cruciatus curse. It looked remarkably like it too, as Diggory collapsed to the ground, screaming and writhing.
And being the hero that he was, Harry blasted a hole in the hedge and stunned Viktor right then and there. And not only was he being a hero, he even sent up sparks so that a Skrewt wouldn't eat the insensible Champion. Then, quite cheerfully, they parted company again. It took Harry only five minutes to puzzle out a Sphinx's puzzle, which pleased Hermionie to no end, and he was let into the final corridor. Diggory, having just shaken off a ditch full of Red Caps, stumbled into a branch just ahead of him, and something very large and furry barreled out of the opposite passage.
Ron squeaked, went green, and slumped down in his seat. The Acromantula was on a beeline for Diggory, all Harry had to do was run past it... but no. Of course, he had to attack it. And get bitten. And then dropped. And then almost squished. At least the person he'd sacrificed his clean win for was even more of an upright person than Harry. Diggory hauled him to his feet, and they moved slowly and painfully to the cup.
The round of cheers that started to rise as they grabbed it was rather abruptly cut off with shrieks of fear as both boys disappeared. Mrs. Weasley and Amos Diggory were of course the most frantic, but the rest of the crowd was making a rather lot of noise too. Dumbledore, marvelous wizard that he was, managed to get everyone under control within 15 minutes, and was just starting to organize the teachers into a search squad when Harry and Diggory appeared back on the now-cleared quidditch pitch. Moody seized Harry immediately, something easily done in the outcry over Diggory's death. Death? Who would kill someone like Diggory? He was never a danger to anyone...
Dumbledore blanched, quite suddenly, and took off in the same direction Moody had gone. Mrs. Weasley ordered everyone to go to their common rooms, which of course, none of them would, so they all trooped up to the Hospital wing, knowing that's where Dumbledore would bring Harry eventually. And so they waited.
Author's Note: Sorry to end it there, people, but I have to go... at least if anyone wants me to update tonight.
The fifth book, and all the ones coming afterwards, will be under a separate story. This one takes me too long to load the story screen, and I've had to change the rating anyway at the fifth book, so it's a good place to stop. The name will be the same, just with 'part two' after.
