The Goblet of Fire
Mizuki had had Arithmancy with Draco again later that week, but they were so busy working on numerical assignments and readings that they didn't have much time to talk since the night he had found her talking to Krum in the library. Mizuki spent her entire weekend either in the library or the Ravenclaw common room working on homework and studying. It was hard for her to focus, so she often went for walks around the school, finding new places that she had never seen before, but she always found herself circling back to the seventh-floor corridor. She sat down on the stone step, her forearms resting on her knees as she looked out the window.
The weather had warmed up considerably from the first day she had arrived, but it was still too cool for her to study outside. However, she did enjoy walking around the grounds after dinner, her new ritual.
Mizuki had been unconsciously avoiding him all weekend, but her guilt eventually took over, leading her right back to the seventh floor, hoping that he would show up. He never did. Not that she blamed him. Pansy was probably keeping him busy since she was most likely his girlfriend.
Mizuki sighed, looking down at her hands. She didn't even know why she cared or why she felt guilty. It wasn't as if they were dating, and he had caught her cheating on him. Yet, whenever she recalled the look on his face when he saw her with Krum, she couldn't help but feel guilty. It was as if she had done something wrong, but she didn't even know what. There were plenty of nice people at Hogwarts and within her own house—like Padma, Cho, Luna, and Anthony, but for some reason, she just wanted to spend more time with Draco. She wanted to get to know him.
Sighing yet again, she got up and decided to walk the grounds. She shoved her hands in her pockets as she went out, circling around the courtyard and admiring the fountain. The sun was hidden behind grey clouds, and the sky was steadily growing darker, the wind cold against her skin. She sat along the edge of the fountain, watching the water trickle from the top into the pool at the bottom, engrossed in her thoughts. There were other students about, chatting and enjoying some fresh air. Harry and his friends were passing through the covered pathway near the fountain as Draco, Pansy, and his friends came out.
"Oh, Merlin, she's here," Pansy said snidely, rolling her eyes. They were walking right to her. Harry spotted them and stopped walking, nudging Ron, and Hermione.
"Saito!" Draco called, lifting his chin up. "Still haven't got any friends?" The moment the words were out of his mouth, he regretted it, but he kept the arrogance in his demeanor so no one else would see it.
Mizuki looked up when she heard his voice, realizing what he had just said. She looked down. She had never had friends before, always ostracized because of her lavender eyes. She should be used to it, but somehow coming from him cut her deeper than any other insult, and when she looked back up at him, he could see how he had wounded her. He couldn't help but stand there feeling like someone had just ripped out his insides.
Merlin, Draco! Why did you have to say that to her?
Because she's better off without you. Because you don't deserve her. Because you're poison.
Pansy and Draco's cronies laughed. Mizuki stood up to her full height—even though everyone in front of her was taller than her short five-foot frame—just as Harry and his friends came to help. She looked up at Draco, her legs trembling.
"I'd rather have no friends than ones who pretend to like me because of who I am. Do they know your deepest and darkest desires?" Mizuki pointed right at his chest, feeling anger bubbling inside of her. "You are constantly surrounded by people yet don't you feel so utterly alone?" She lowered her voice slightly, "Because that's how I've always felt. Being alone is much better than trying to be someone you're not." And despite standing up to him and his friends, Mizuki's entire body was trembling with fear.
Why is he acting like this? Why is he suddenly mean to me? What have I done to him to make him hate me?
It brought back horrible memories that flashed in her mind. Was her life here going to be like Mahoutokoro after all? Perhaps she had become too complacent in thinking that things would be different, but they were never going to change, were they? She was always going to have people poking fun at her. Mizuki's eyes became blurry with tears, and her lower lip began to tremble. She pushed past Draco just as the tears slipped down her face, hoping that he hadn't seen them.
Harry and his friends watched her leave, they saw the tears streaming down her face as she kept her head high and walked slowly so Draco and his gang couldn't see just how much pain she was in. They turned their attention back to Draco and his friends.
"Merlin, Draco. Why are you always such arsehole?" Hermione demanded. She turned and ran after Mizuki. Harry and Ron had their wands out, but Draco held his hands up, backing away slowly.
See? Didn't take long at all. Now she knows what it means to get close to you. You hurt everyone around you because you're so weak and pathetic.
Draco felt sick. He turned and walked off in the opposite direction with his friends following him. Harry and Ron followed Hermione, who was now sitting with Mizuki on the stone bench just inside the covered walkway.
"Don't let Malfoy get to you," Hermione said as she placed a comforting hand on Mizuki's shoulder, her face red with the effort to keep her tears and sobs to herself. She couldn't fall apart in front of people. Not now. Not ever. Krum was standing in the corner of the walkway, watching. He had seen everything mainly because he had been trying to work up the courage to talk to Hermione. He strode up to them, and to everyone's surprise, held his hand out to her.
"Come vith me," he said. Mizuki stared at him and swallowed around the lump of emotion in her throat. She took his hand, and Krum led her out to the Quidditch pitch where he got their brooms. Harry and his friends followed, curious to see what Krum was doing. Krum handed her Firebolt to her.
"Ven you feel too much, flying is best," he told her with his deep voice. He got on his broom and kicked off from the ground, hovering just above her. Mizuki sniffed, and got on hers, kicking off. He was right. Mizuki's favorite feeling in the whole world was the way the wind rushed against her skin as she flew in the air, whipping her hair back.
Together, they zoomed around the school side by side, almost racing as they tried to get in front of each other. Krum was smiling and looked happy, and Mizuki felt like nothing else mattered except this glorious feeling of flying. She laughed as she soared higher in the air until she was in the clouds, and once Krum was there, she dipped down, plummeting to the ground. Harry and Ron followed them, Hermione on the back of Ron's broom. Mizuki heard Hermione's screams as they all flew back quickly towards the ground.
There was no way that she'd be able to do the Wronski Feint, so Mizuki pulled up sooner than Krum and Harry did, but she watched them both in awe. She couldn't believe that she was flying with Krum and Harry Potter, it was just too amazing to believe. Their cheeks were flushed from the cold wind and the pleasure of flying—except for Hermione, who was as pale as a ghost. Little did they know that Draco was watching from the ground—alone as he had the same idea as Krum—flying made him forget, and he wanted nothing more than to rid himself of the guilt he felt over making her cry.
Harry Potter. It's always Harry Potter. Who am I compared to him? Draco thought bitterly.
"That was very kind of you," Hermione said to Krum as Harry and Ron put the brooms away, chatting excitedly in the shed.
Krum blushed. "It vas nothing," he said, smiling. Krum finally started talking to Hermione, and Mizuki smiled as she moved ahead to give them some space. Once Harry and Ron were out of the shed, they walked back to the castle together, laughing. Mizuki felt so much better, and she felt like she had somehow formed a special friendship with the four of them.
Later that evening when they were gathered in the hall for dinner, Dumbledore announced that the Goblet of Fire would be choosing the champions. The students began chatting excitedly as Dumbledore waved a hand in the air to decrease the light of the fires in the sconces. All talking died down at once, excitement and tension filled the air, palpable to Mizuki so that it made her feel slightly sick. The Goblet glowed mystically as the flames turned red to emit the name of the first champion.
"Durmstrang's champion is Viktor Krum!" the students applauded, and Mizuki noticed that Hermione's cheeks were slightly pink as Krum walked by them, he was looking at Hermione with a smile. He shook Dumbledore's hand and went into the room behind the teacher's table. Mizuki clapped and cheered from Krum. He had been nice enough to comfort her with flying, so he seemed like someone that deserved to be chosen.
"Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!" Again, the crowd applauded. Fleur looked smug as she got up elegantly to shake Dumbledore's hand before disappearing to the same room as Viktor had. From what she had seen of Fleur, she was haughty and liked to complain a lot about the castle; but Mizuki didn't want to judge because maybe Fleur was nice underneath all her pageantry. She wanted to think that Draco was the same too, but right now, she didn't want to think about him. Yet her eyes traveled to the far table in front of her, and she saw him sitting there. When he saw her looking at him, he looked away. Everyone else was clapping, but he wasn't. In fact, he almost looked—miserable. Mizuki kept looking at him, wondering if it was just her imagination or the light from the Goblet of Fire that made him look paler than usual. His friends were clapping for the champions, so why wasn't he? Her attention was ripped back to the Goblet of Fire when the final champion was announced.
"The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!" More applause as Cedric stood up from his seat, grinning. He was tall, handsome, and popular, Mizuki saw how all the girls watched him with smiles on their faces—but the one that was beaming at him, and the only one that he seemed to care to look at was Cho Chang.
After he went into the room, everyone began chatting excitedly until the Goblet's flames began swishing again, but the students were too distracted with the Triwizard Cup that Crouch had brought out and placed on the teachers' table. Mizuki heard the flames and saw them moving from her peripheral vision. Snape's eyes were transfixed on the Goblet, he moved a few steps away from the teachers' table, walking closer toward the Triwizard Cup. Mizuki turned her head slightly to look at the Goblet as its flames turned red yet again, emitting another name. Everyone went quiet. Dumbledore looked at it with surprise, catching the little piece of parchment in his hands.
"Harry Potter," he mumbled. "Harry Potter!" he said louder. Everyone stared at Harry. Hermione had to give him a little push so he could make his way up to the front, passed Dumbledore and the other professors who were staring at him with equal expressions of surprise. Mizuki frowned. Harry wasn't old enough to participate, so how had his name gotten in the Goblet of Fire? Judging from his expression, he looked as though he didn't know either. He was completely perplexed, stumbling as he walked toward Dumbledore, eyes wide, trepidation seeping from every pore on his body.
Everyone waited in anticipation as the professors and headmasters went into the room to talk to the champions. Hermione looked perplexed, but Mizuki noted the resentment in Ron's eyes as he stared at the door where all the champions were. Mizuki's eyes found Draco again who was looking at the door with the same expression. She frowned.
What's wrong with them? Are they both jealous of Harry? But why? Is it because his name was somehow drawn from the Goblet of Fire? Is it because of how famous he is or is there something more?
If Mizuki had been here in previous years, perhaps she would have known the answer, but she was still new, and she had not been at the school that long. She didn't even know Harry and his friends that well, so she was just as perplexed as everyone else, if not more. It made her feel even more like an outsider, so she looked back at the food in front of her, though her mind was still buzzing with questions and coming up with answers that she knew were probable but not likely.
They began eating as they waited for the champions to return, Harry filled Hermione and Ron in on what had happened, but Mizuki was sitting at the Ravenclaw table and Fleur was too busy complaining about Harry for her to hear what they were saying. For the rest of the evening, Mizuki avoided looking at Draco.
When she finished eating, she went up to the Ravenclaw tower to grab her violin and find an empty classroom somewhere—ending up on the seventh floor because she felt herself gravitate toward that floor, and she didn't like to deny her instincts.
She stood in position, her fingers resting delicately and loosely over the neck of the violin as she began playing the first few notes. Mizuki played a song that she liked to play when she felt like she needed to relax; but for some reason, the song didn't help her relax at all. Her mind was buzzing like a bunch of angry Cornish Pixies, making it difficult to concentrate on the piece she was playing.
Would Harry be okay participating since he was underage? Did he have to participate after all? What were the tasks going to be and how dangerous were they? Why had Draco said that to her? Why was he so different among his 'friends' compared to when he was with her? Why was he even friends with people like that? Was it because of who he was—or was there something else she didn't know about him that Harry and his friends hadn't mentioned?
The piece ended, and she began to play another relaxing one. This time, as she played the notes, she closed her eyes momentarily as she felt the strings give under the pressure from her fingers, how the bow moved across the body, and how her own body slowly began to relax. A smile formed on her lips the longer she played. She was standing at the front of the classroom, facing the end, and completely unaware that just outside the door, someone was watching her.
It was Draco.
Saito was too focused on the notes and her thoughts to notice him there, watching from around the corner. There was something about the way she looked when she played like it was one of the most joyful experiences in her life, the way her eyes closed when she played, the way her body swayed with the music, and the expressions she made as the music moved her. He watched, entranced, each note she played struck a chord that resonated deep within himself, and for the entirety of the song, he forgot that he was a Malfoy, what he had said to her, and all the horrible things he had said and done over the years.
He knew that there was a possibility that she might open her eyes and see him standing there, but he was transfixed by her. It was as if there was some kind of magic that came out of the notes she played, enveloping him so that all he felt was a sense of calm, like everything would be okay. His heart rate slowed as he listened to the entire piece, and even when she had finished, he remained standing in the doorway, his body half obscured by the door frame as she began to play yet another piece.
If Draco could, he would have walked in and sat down to listen, but he was afraid that if he did, she would stop playing. She would ask him to leave, and she might yell at him. Why would she want him there listening to her play when she obviously wanted to be alone like he did? So why had he followed her here? He didn't know, but he stayed until she finished playing, hiding in the darkness of the far wall as he watched her leave the classroom, heading toward the marble staircase.