"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour. " Usagi watched her new friend enter the next chamber with rapidly declining interest. She rested her chin on her arms and watched the Goblet's flame grow red and spit out another slip of parchment to Dumbledore.

'The flame should glow some other color besides red...maybe pink...' She thought to herself as Cedric Diggory was proclaimed the Hogwarts champion.

"Don't you think he's cute, Usagi?" Hermione whispered to her as the hall cheered. Usagi took a closer look at the boy as he passed into the next chamber.

"Him? No, not really..." Usagi blinked. Hermione looked dissatisfied with her answer while Ron let out a small cheer.

"See? I told you he wasn't all that great." Ron said victoriously.

"Oh, Ron, get over it. Usagi doesn't like him but every other girl in the school does." Hermione snapped. Usagi sweatdropped and turned her attention back to Dumbledore. He was half way through a speech when the Goblet of Fire came back to life, spurting out yet another slip of parchment. He stared at it for a moment before clearing his throat and announcing:

"Harry Potter." Usagi sat up straight in her chair, eyes moving between Dumbledore and Harry. The people in the hall start muttering to each other and people were standing to get a good look at Harry. Harry sat frozen in his chair, eyes straight ahead and full of shock.

'He didn't do this.'

Usagi entered the common room last and settled herself on the stairway to the boys' dormitory, since girls kept going up and down the one leading to the girls' dormitory. She settled her elbows on her knees, crossed her arms, and rested her chin on them. The rest of the common room was chattering about the whole Goblet of Fire incident. Usagi tuned them out and concentrated on counting the small lint balls collected on her school robes. Thoughts kept flashing in her head, like blinking neon signs outside of run down motels, disturbing her counting.

'Who could've entered Harry's name into the goblet? 3, 4, Why? 17, 18, Was this what I was supposed to be protecting Harry from? 25, 26, 27, How can I protect him while he's participating? I can't just jump in there while he's competing.'

"Usagi?" Usagi jumped, the voice startling her. She looked up at Harry. He had a Gryffindor banner draped around him like a cape and a lopsided smile on his face. She blinked and realized that she must have been sitting there for at least an hour, and had counted over a hundred lint balls on her robes. 'Maybe I should get a lint roller.'

"Hey, Harry. Having fun?" She inquired, glancing over at the partying Gryffindors.

"Loads of it." Harry replied with sarcasm.

"Who do you think did it?" Usagi said after a moment of comfortable silence. Harry looked thrown off balance.

"Did what?" He questioned.

"You know, put your name in the goblet. Who do you think did it?" Usagi asked again, elaborating on her point. Harry didn't respond. He looked like he wanted to hug her to death just for saying that, but he didn't move. After a moment, he answered.

"I don't know, Moody thinks it's someone who wants me dead but he's paranoid." Harry said half-heartedly.

"Maybe, but he might be right this time. I mean, can we really think someone entered you just for laughs? Isn't the tournament supposed to be dangerous? Whoever entered your name probably didn't have good intentions." Usagi reasoned. Once again Harry looked like someone had just spun him in one of those wheeled office chairs for 10 minutes straight. 'It's almost like she's reading my mind.' He thought to himself, but quickly scolded himself for thinking such a stupid thought.

"Anyway, you should probably be really careful while you compete. I'm not saying that you can't take care of yourself, but whoever did do this has to be powerful, and smart enough to trick the goblet. If they can pull that off, they might be able to put you in danger even while you compete." Usagi smiled reassuringly at him and stood from her spot on the stairs. She walked past him, but when she reached the bottom step, she turned back around to face him. "Whatever the case, I'm sure you'll be alright."

"Thank you." Harry called out to her as she walked away. She smiled and kept walking.

It wasn't until Usagi had pulled the covers up to her chin and closed her eyes that her day-long mission came back to her: She had yet to talk to Harry about what she'd been meaning to, even though she'd sat across from him all through dinner and the ceremony thing and talked to him in the common room. She mentally kicked herself.

'Usagi, you idiot. I guess I was sort of distracted by Luna and Fleur. Then Harry becoming the fourth champion for the tournament was disturbing as well. I guess it can wait until tomorrow.' With that thought in mind she fell asleep.

The next morning, however, Harry wasn't at breakfast. Usagi nibbled at her toast and cast curious glances at Ron, who was sitting by himself. Hermione wasn't there either.

"Hello, Ron." Usagi greeted, moving to the seat across from him. He looked up at her.

"Oh, hello Usagi." He smiled, but it looked terribly forced.

"Is something wrong?" Usagi asked.

"No. Harry isn't here." Ron said. Usagi blinked.

"I didn't ask if he was." She said slowly.

"Well that's what you were going to ask me, wasn't it? Where Harry is?" Ron asked accusingly. Usagi gave him a confused look, and it dawned on her.

"Did you and Harry have an argument?" She asked.

"No." Ron said quickly.

"Was it about the goblet incident?" Usagi pressed on, keeping her voice steady.

"None of your business." Ron snapped, standing from his seat and stomping off.

"It wasn't his fault!" Usagi called after him. Ron ignored her. She sighed and thumped her head on the table. 'This is just great.'

"Ah, Ron's just a prat, he'll get over it." Usagi turned her head to look at Lee, her forehead still pressed against the table.

"Yeah, I know, but it's not the best thing that could happen right now. This whole situation is just stupid." Usagi sighed again and picked her head up off the table.

"You're worried about Harry?" Lee asked.

"Yeah, you're not?" Usagi raised her eyebrows at him.

"Well I would be, but then I remember what's happened in his past three years here." Lee said matter-of-factly.

"Like?"

"Well, he's taken on Voldemort twice, a huge snake, Dementors, werewolves, insane criminals, and worst of all, Snape." Lee grinned. "If anybody can live through this tournament, it's Harry."

"Yeah, I guess so." Usagi smiled.

Later that day, Usagi had once again spread out her class work in the common room. She figured it would be better to tackle her potions essay first. After much agonizing through notes and textbooks, she finally decided to do what most high school teenagers would do in this situation: bs her way through it. 'Probably not the best idea with Snape but I'll never get it written any other way.'

Thirty minutes later she had written the most full of it essay that Snape would ever read in his career as a Potions teacher, but she tucked it away and set to work of her History of Magic essay. After a while, she started developing a headache, so she put her work away and moved over to the window. She looked out onto the grounds, where most of the students were relaxing and chatting with friends. She sighed and silently wished that Harry and Ron wouldn't argue over such stupid things.

"Hey." Usagi jumped and looked over her shoulder.

"You have a thing for sneaking up on me, don't you?" She asked playfully. Harry smiled.

"I guess so."

"Things aren't going well between you and Ron, are they?" Usagi asked, even though she knew the answer.

"No, they aren't." Harry sighed and plopped down on the couch.

"He'll come around, just give him time to think about it." Usagi smiled reassuringly at him. "Did they tell you anything about the First Task?"

"No, they said something about facing obstacles without knowing what the are, quick-thinking, something like that. So I have no clue what it's gonna be." Harry said. Usagi pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the window and watched the Durmstrang ship rock gently on the lake's surface.

"Any idea what you're going to do to prepare?" She asked after a few moments.

"Not really. I figured I could master some basic spells and pray." Harry smiled half-heartedly and Usagi wished she could do something to cheer him up.

"We have nothing when we do not have hope, but when we have hope we have everything." She said suddenly.

"What?" Harry questioned, raising his eyebrows.

"It's advice my mother gave me. She told me that no matter what happens there's always hope." Usagi pulled her locket out of her robes and opened it. "It's hard to follow that advice sometimes. Sometimes I don't want to risk walking forward because I'm afraid. But in the end, all we can ever do is hope." She snapped the locket shut and ran her fingers over the warm metallic surface. "Sorry, I'm just rambling."

"No, it's okay. I know you're trying to make me feel better. I appreciate it." He smiled.

"Things are probably going to get worse from this point forward. You listened to me and helped survive through one of the darkest times in my life. I couldn't possibly thank you enough for that, but I can promise to return the favor if you ever need it." Usagi laughed. "I must sound insanely corny right now." Harry laughed as well.

"Maybe, but thank you." They both smiled.

"I'm hungry, want to go down to dinner?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I'm starved." Usagi replied.

Ron watched as Harry and Usagi walked into the Great Hall chattering.

"Didn't take Harry long to find a new best friend." He muttered to himself. Fred and George heard his grumbling and turned to him.

"Can't really blame him though, you being such a jerk to him." Fred said nonchalantly. Ron's ears turned pink.

"Yeah, Usagi is way nicer than you." George agreed.

"She's a lot prettier than you too." Fred pointed out. The two burst out laughing while Ron glared daggers at them.

"What's so funny?" Usagi inquired as her and Harry took a seat next to them. Harry noticed that half of the Great Hall was shooting heated stares in his direction, Ron included, but he ignored them.

"We were just making fun of Ron, nothing new." George said casually.

"That's not very nice." Usagi said, frowning.

"Aw, come on, he deserves it." Fred whined.

"Yeah, it's not our fault he's such a prat." George defended.

"Shut up!" Ron snapped. Usagi shook her head at the two and concentrated on her meal. When she climbed into bed that night, she had the ominous feeling that tomorrow was going to be a very long day.

Usagi's prediction was confirmed the next day in Herbology. The Hufflepuffs were upset that Harry had taken the spotlight away from Cedric, so they decided to blatantly demonstrate their frustration. Usagi and Harry were paired with Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley to work on their Bouncing Bulbs assignment. The two Hufflepuffs wouldn't talk to either of them. They both laughed at Harry when he got smacked in the face with the plant, and Usagi countered by kicking both of them roughly in the shin.

Then, of course, it was time for Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins. This was never a pleasant experience, regardless of the circumstances, but today Malfoy's smug appearance was more annoying than ever.

"Ah, looks boys, it's the champion." Malfoy announced to Crabbe and Goyle. "Got your autograph books? Better get a signature now, because I doubt he's going to be around much longer...half of the Triwizard champions have died...how long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task's my bet."

"Why don't you lay off, Malfoy?" Usagi snapped, glaring. Malfoy turned his attention to her.

"Oh? And what are you going to do about it, Tsukino? Beat me up?" He mocked. The Slytherins laughed.

"Why don't I tell you're little gang about our episode yesterday? I'm sure they'd all be interested to know the details. Would they look on you with the same undaunted admiration then?" Usagi grinned at the slightly panicked look on Malfoy's face as the rest of the Slytherins exchanged curious glances.

"You sure you have the guts to do that?" Malfoy asked, regaining his composure.

"It depends on whether you would do it again, it wouldn't be worth that." Malfoy glared at Usagi, but she brushed him off as Hagrid came out to teach the lesson. Harry was looking at her with curiosity but she ignored him. They launched into an interesting lesson of trying to walk the Skrewts like one might walk a dog.

The Gryffindors were on the edge of their seats, counting down the seconds until they were dismissed from Double Potions. As they filed out, Snape called Usagi back. She sighed and sat her bag back down.

"Sir?" She asked politely. He eyed her like a famished lion would eye an injured gazelle. Finally he held up her potions essay.

"Would you please tell me what this is?" Snape said slowly, observing her every movement. Usagi studied the paper a moment.

"It's my potions essay." She said simply. Snape's lip curled.

"Would you explain to me, Miss Tsukino, what you were thinking when you wrote this piece of garbage?" He inquired maliciously.

"You really want to know?" Usagi asked calmly.

"Don't get sarcastic with me. I don't care what title you hold, Miss Tsukino. Princess or not, I won't allow you to turn in trash like this for my class. Rewrite the essay, twice the length. If your work isn't quality this time, I will deduct 100 points from Gryffindor and give you detention for the rest of the year. You may go."

"Yes sir." Usagi bowed and left the room. Once out the door, she kicked the wall violently, and then collapsed to the floor holding on to her foot. "Stupid grease ball." She cursed under her breath the whole way back to her dormitory. Luna was perched delicately on the windowsill. Usagi was hit with an idea.

"Hey Luna, you remember the other day when you were criticizing my potions essay?" Usagi inquired nonchalantly. Luna turned with a suspicious look on her kitty face.

"Yes, what about it?" She asked. Usagi fell to her knees and assumed a begging position.

"I completely screwed it up and Snape got really mean and told me that I have to rewrite it only a million times longer and there's no possible way I can do that but if I don't then I'll lose a bunch of points for Gryffindor and be stuck in detention everyday with that grease ball for the rest of the year so I really need you to write the essay for me please please please!" Usagi said in one breath.

"Absolutely not." Luna said sternly.

"But Luna!" Usagi whined. "Now that Harry needs my help I can't spend all my time working on an essay. How can I fulfill my mission if I'm stuck with an impossible assignment?"

"Fine." Luna sighed. "But don't think for a minute that I'm going to do all of your homework."

"Thank you so much!" Usagi squealed.

Over the next few weeks, Usagi turned in her make-up essay and got an extremely reluctant perfect score from Snape. Harry was getting made fun of for Rita Skeeter's big Triwizard article that basically made him out to be 'an emotional prat' as he put it. Usagi tried her best to convince him that it was stupid and there was no reason to get upset over it, but Harry was still agitated and tended to snap at anyone who talked to him. Before they knew it, it was time for a Hogsmeade visit. Harry refused to go meet with Ron and Hermione at the Three Broom Sticks, so Usagi asked him if he would show her around instead since she had never been.

"Yeah, sure." He smiled. Usagi still felt bad, she wished that she could help patch up things between Ron and Harry. She loved being with Harry, but she knew that he should be with Ron and Hermione, not her. Still, she got up that morning and got ready to go, putting on a pair of thick socks, black boots, blue jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a black cloak to keep warm. She met up with Harry in the common room and they set off for Hogsmeade together.

"You really should try to talk to Ron, you know." Usagi suggested as they surveyed the sweets in Honeydukes. Harry frowned. "Are those cherry lollipops?"

"Why should I? If he doesn't want to hear what I have to say then I won't force him to listen to me." He said flatly, then added, "No, they're blood lollipops, for vampires."

"Oh." Usagi said, withdrawing her hand from the container. "So you would rather just lose your best friend than try to talk some sense into him? Come on, Harry, you should know better than that. What are these?"

"I can't do anything to change his mind, least of all talk to him. Ron will come to his senses." Harry nodded at affirmation of his statement, but he didn't look that confident in it. "They're sugar quills, you can suck on them in class and the teacher will just think you're lost in thought."

"I want one of those." Usagi picked up a few of the quills and continued along the line of sweets. Some of the people around them were pointing at Harry and whispering, but they ceased when Usagi glared daggers at them over her shoulder. "And what will you do if he doesn't come to his senses Harry? I can be your best friend as long as you wish but I can't be Ron, and you know that."

"I'm not asking you to be Ron. All I can do is hope that he'll come around. Aren't you the one who told me there's always hope?" Harry picked up some chocolate frogs. Usagi sighed.

"Yes, I did say that. But hope can't do everything alone." Usagi paid for her sweets and waited for Harry to do the same. "I'm not trying to tell you what to do, Harry."

"That's funny, because you're doing a fine job of it." Harry slammed his money on the counter and stomped off without another word. Usagi sighed and left Honeydukes by herself. 'Brilliant job, Usagi, just wonderful.'

"Did Harry ditch you?" Usagi jumped and looked up at Lee.

"Well, it was my fault, I should've minded my own business." Usagi smiled lightly.

"Ah, he's just edgy 'cause of that Rita woman and her articles. It's not your fault." Lee offered her a smile. "I'm headed back to the castle, want to come with me?"

"Sure." Usagi returned his smile and they headed back to the castle together.

Over the next couple of days, Usagi kept her distance from Harry. But the first task was almost upon them and she wanted to help him. She saw him with Hermione in the library often, and this gave her confidence. If Hermione was helping with the first task, then Harry must be in good shape. Right? Still, something was gnawing at her to help him regardless.

Usagi spent most of her time now hanging out with Lee and the twins. Occasionally she would visit Helios in the Forbidden Forest, but she didn't reveal to him the fact that her and Harry weren't on speaking terms. She had talked with Fleur several times as well, and they were getting along splendidly. However, some of the Gryffindor students thought that she might be trying to sabotage Harry's chance of victory in the tournament by telling the other schools what his strategy was. This had caused a silent war between her and most of the other students, which involved a lot of dodging feet on her part, but she was dealing with it.

However, the day of the first task arrived quicker than she had expected, and she was mentally beating herself up for not trying to help Harry sooner. She chased him down in the hall on the way to where first task was scheduled to take place.

"Hello, Harry." She said breathlessly, after just running to catch him. He was startled by her voice; he didn't see her come up to him.

"Hey." He said, and she could hear the nervousness in his voice.

"You know what you're doing, right?" She asked as they filed onto the grounds.

"Vaguely." He answered.

"You can do this, I know you can. Good luck, Harry." Usagi smiled, and then ran off to get a good seat. Harry stared after her in a daze. He felt a large chunk of his fear lift off of him and he felt like he could take on two dragons at the moment, though he would rather not. Usagi joined up with Lee in the stands.

"Hello, Usagi." Lee greeted as she sat down.

"Hey." She replied, looking around the stadium. "Where's the first task?"

"Over there." Lee pointed. Usagi looked to where he was pointing and almost fainted on the spot.

"A dragon? They have to fight a dragon!" She exclaimed.

"Not exactly. They have to get the golden egg from the nest." Lee explained, pointing again to the nest.

"That's insane! Who comes up with this stuff?"

"Who knows? It's about to start." Lee hushed her. Indeed, a man that Lee identified as Bagman was calling the attention of the crowd. Usagi watched as Cedric walked out and took on his dragon, and then Fleur, and then Krum. Her knuckles were white from gripping the seat by the time that Harry walked out to complete his task. The whole stadium was deathly silent as he raised his wand. He shouted something, but Usagi couldn't make it out, and then he stood still. For a fleeting moment, Usagi thought that he had failed to cast a spell, but then a broomstick with a shimmering silver handle whizzed up beside him. A ripple of murmurs went through the crowd around her, and then ceased.

Harry mounted the broom and kicked off into the air. Usagi watched as he rose, and then went in for the egg. Bagman was shouting like a madman, but Usagi tuned him out and watched closely as Harry dodged the assault of flames and spikes from the dragon. One of the dragon's tail spikes sliced into his shoulder and she almost let out a scream, but she bit her tongue in time to stop it. Harry winced and continued flying.

"Harry's trying to make her fly away from the eggs." Lee said suddenly. Usagi nodded her agreement with his theory. Finally, the dragon spread it's large wings and took off after Harry. He dived for the eggs as fast as his broom would carry him, before the dragon knew what happened, and Usagi was almost falling out of her seat. Harry seized the egg with his uninjured arm and rocketed upward again. At once the dragon keepers rushed onto the field to subdue the dragon. Usagi threw her arms into the air, which were the only things keeping her in the chair, and she toppled onto the floor. She heard Lee's laughter above her and she started laughing as well.

"He did it." She breathed after crawling back into her seat.

"Of course he did." Lee said. Usagi smiled.

"I'm going to the first aid tent to see if he's okay." She informed him before sprinting off. When she arrived at the tent, Ron and Hermione were already there.

"Harry," She heard Ron say, so she leaned in to listen, "whoever put your name in that goblet—I—I reckon they're trying to do you in!"

"Caught on, have you?" Harry replied coldly. "Took you long enough." Usagi would've have conked him in the head if she were in there. She settled for glaring at him.

"It's okay. Forget it." Was the next thing Harry said, and Usagi's glare broke into a smile.

"No, I shouldn't've--"

"Forget it." Harry said sternly, and the two grinned at each other. Usagi smiled to herself and walked away from the tent. She felt Helios calling her to the Forbidden Forest. When she arrived he was leaning against a tree in his human form, staring at her expectantly.

"Well?" He asked, and Usagi couldn't stop herself from bursting into a fit of giggles.

"He-He's fine, Helios, just fine." She told him between her laughter. He shook his head.

"Good work, Usagi."

"Who are you telling good work? I didn't do anything." Usagi said as she regained her composure. "No, it was his best friends who got him through this one." Helios raised an eyebrow at her.

"What do you mean by that?" He questioned.

"Nothing, I'm glad things are back to normal." She smiled and watched the students file back to the school through the spaces in the trees. Helios smiled.

"For the moment." He said.

Allo. Miss me? Well, you know what's coming up next chapter, right? The Yule Ball. starts giggling like a maniac Who will Usagi be going with? We'll see...

Well, you know what happens next. You review and then I update! - So please review!

§SachiNyoko§