Chapter Three

All That Glitters Is Gold

The first part of the year flew by. Before anyone knew it is was the twenty-fourth of November. Settling down in the stands Draco's eyes widened, he knew the task was going to be hard but her never expected this. Fleur and the rest of the champions had to save a golden egg from a dragon. Draco had to endure watching Cedric battle his Swedish Short-Snout first. Draco was worried for Fleur. The commentary floated over him in his haze.

"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow". . . "He's taking risks, this one!". . . "Clever move - pity it didn't work!"

Fifteen minutes later it was over. The commentary brought him back to the present.

"One down, three to go!" Bagman yelled as the whistle blew again. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"

Fleur was trembling from head to foot, as she left the tent with her head held high and her hand clutching her wand.

"Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" he could hear Bagman shouting gleefully. "Oh. . . nearly! Careful now. . . good lord, I thought she'd had it then!"

Draco was breathing heavily, trying to keep himself in his seat. Ten minutes later he was able to breath again. Only when she was safe and her skirt had been put out. The fire must have burned her because she limped slightly but she was alive. Next Krum came out but Draco paid very little attention to him. Soon after Potter came out and Draco zoned in on him despite himself.

"Bloody Hell," Draco muttered "He called his broom."

He watched as Potter dived and swooped around the dragon. He joined in the collective gasp of the crowd. Potter's dragon had broken free of its chains and was chasing him. Soon they both had left the area and no one could see what was happening. Finally he came back and got his egg. It was over, Fleur had come in second, Krum and Potter had tied for first. When he saw Granger and the Weasel slip into the tent afterwards. He decided what better way to bugger off Potter then to show his face. Climbing down from the stands he strolled over to the tent. Entering it he walked over to Fleur taking both her hands in his.

"How are you?"

"Better now that's it over." She looked down at her egg.

"What do you have to do next, love?"

"Not sure, they said the egg will tell us."

"Lets get out of here so you can check out your egg then"

Fleur slipped off her stool and took Draco's hand. Draco could not help but fling a smile over his shoulder at Potter. Walking from the tent, they head off towards the lake to sit and talk.

"Go ahead and open it."

Fleur opened her egg and dropped it quickly. A howl like a banshee filled the air causing both of them to grab their ears. After a moment, Draco realized it was not going to stop and he released his ears with a grimace closing the egg quickly.

"Merci Drago" (Thank you Draco) "That was horrible."

Handing the egg back to Fleur he was shocked when her fingers did not support it and it rolled into the shallow bank of the lake. Landing on a rock it opened again and they both grabbed their ears. It took a moment for Draco to realize that the screaming could not be heard. Nudging Fleur she removed her hands from her ears and looked at the egg in the shallow water. Small bubbles were rising in the water causing it to vibrate. Pulling her hair back she leaned forward and placing her ear very close to the surface of the water she could make out singing.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We have taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

To recover what we took,

But past an hour- the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it wont come back"

Fleur was in shock as she repeated it back to Draco. Unsure of what it meant they talked it over for a while. After some time they worked it out. Merpeople lived in the lake they sat at. While still unsure of what they would take from Fleur they did understand that she would have to find a way to breath underwater for an hour. Draco silently thanked Merlin that they had until February twenty-fourth to figure the rest out. He was becoming fond of Fleur quickly and he did not want to lose her.