Death By Dragon's Bottom

It was eleven o'clock. Ila crept downstairs into the empty common room. She looked around, and Sirius didn't mention how he was going to talk to her. A sudden image of Sirus being dropped off by an owl came to her mind, only for it to vanish a few seconds later when a voice hissed, "Ila!"

She spun on her heel.

"ILA!"

Where was that coming from? She looked out the window to see if there were any incoming owls when she heard the voice once more.

"You're getting colder."

Right, so now she would play hot and cold with the invisible voice to talk to Sirius. "You're not here, are you?" she whispered back.

"Of course not – watch out for the table." Ila stopped in her tracks, and she was two steps away from hitting her toe on the leg of the table.

"If you're not here, how did you know that?" she said.

"You're getting warmer," he said. Ila sighed, walking up to the armchair and taking a seat, already tired of the game.

"I hope you know that you're making me stay past your bedtime."

"Merlin bedtime?" he snorted. "I thought you were Jai's daughter."

"I am," she replied defensively to the air, pulling herself up. "There's nothing wrong with having a reasonable bedtime."

When there was no reply, Ila sank back into her seat. She must have left the window open as a breeze drifted in, circling her feet. Ila moved to the floor, towards the fireplace. She placed her hands in front of the fire, warming herself up…she smiled. Merlin, this is why she goes to bed early. The fire…, for some reason, looked exactly like Sirius. She peered closer to see his face…That's such a weird coincidence.
Until it faced her.

"Surprise!"

"ARGH!" Ila yelled, backed away and placed a hand on her mouth in case another noise came out of her that was going to wake everyone up. "What the fuck, Sirius!"

"Oi, language," Sirius tutted. "I am your elder."

"Just because you spent a few months in India," Ila started, rolling her eyes as she crawled closer to the fireplace. It did look like him.

"That's more than you've ever been," he retorted. Ila pulled her legs in, still cold from the draft coming through the window.

"How was it anyway? Did you find about black magic in Assam?" she asked excitedly. "You said that the first thing you'd do is teach me everything you knew."

"That was before I knew there about the potential revival of a Dark Lord," Sirius said…seriously.

"Way to ruin the mood," Ila muttered, not wanting this to be her first conversation with her godfather after having months of not seeing him.

"Alright…we'll talk about that after…how's everything else? What's been happening?"

"Well…" First, there was that dream, and then there was the attack by the Death Eaters and the Dark Mark. Malfoy acting weird in the forest. The Triwizard Tournament. Hearing about Lauren Dawlish. Malfoy saving her from falling to her death. The ritual with Trewlany and then there was Malfoy acting weird again. Then there was her being one of the Champions, the entire school hating her, including. Rita publishing those articles about her and then…Malfoy acting weird again. "…and I'm pretty sure the First Task is to do with Dragons. What do I do with dragons?"

"Merlin," Sirius sighed after Ila told him everything. "Sounds like an eventful few months…kept you busy alright…"

"What do you think?"

"There's a lot to think about," Sirius said.

"What about Malfoy? Don't you think he's acting a bit dodgy?" Ila asked, hoping that someone would agree with her.

"I guess…Malfoys aren't the nicest…I guess does make sense…listen, I don't have that much time to talk to you, alright? I snuck into someone's house, but I need to tell you that Karakoff is a Death Eater."

"What do you mean? The headteacher Karakoff?" Ila asked, and Sirius nodded. "So that's why Moody and he hate each other."

"It was Moody who put him in the first place," Sirius said. "Karakoff had been touching up some students which landed him in Azkaban. Once they found out that he was a Death Eater, he struck a deal with the Ministry, and he'd tell them who the rest of the Death Eaters were to be released."

"I'm guessing it worked…"

"How is here then?" Ila aksed. "Surely Dumbledore would know who Karkoff is and not let him into his school?"
Sirius shrugged. "I'm not too sure…Dumbledore's a bit old; you can't expect him to be aware of everything, can you… but…you know how you were saying that someone else must have put your name in…

"What has Karakoff got anything to do with…anything?"

"When first told me about how you're name was put in the Goblet, I knew something was up immediately. I heard about Dumbledore's Age Line…it wouldn't make sense…so being the good godfather that I am, I did a bit of snooping around and…you're not going to like it."

"Hit me with your best shot, Sirius."

"Well – and don't take this too seriously, alright. I could always be wrong but…well – with the sudden rise of the Death Eaters again, first with the attack during the Cup Final and then with the Dark Mark…I think you might know what this means," Sirius said, not wanting to finish the rest of his sentence.

"Right," Ila said, unsure. "But still – what does Karakoff have anything to – oh…you think Karakoff put my name in the Goblet as a part of His plan…"

"I've told Dumbledore to keep an eye on him for you.

"Are you sure you think it's him?" Ila said. "I mean…I guess, but he seemed pretty pissed off that Hogwarts has two champions…he kept on saying how hard Krum had worked…"

"He's a good actor Ila," Sirius said. "I saw him during one of his trials…he kept on saying that he was innocent – someone had set him up and he was taking the fall for it…he's lying Ila…Maybe he even got Malfoy involved in this somehow…all I know is that whoever put your name in the Goblet wanted to - "

" – make sure I get burnt alive by dragons, so they didn't have to deal with me anymore," Ila said bleakly. "I guess it's working…"

"Don't say that, Ila," Sirius said, though even he didn't sound reassured. "Don't you have a plan for the First Task?"

"No!" Ila exclaimed. "All I've got is a Summoning Charm, and I haven't even learnt how to do that."

"How's a Summoning Charm going to help you against a dragon?"

"That's what I'm thinking," Ila replied feverishly.

"Alright, alright…I'll help you – you could…"

"I could what?"

"Er – well, there's…you could always y'know…I suppose - "

"You're not helping," Ila whispered feverishly. Somehow, she was more stressed out about a dragon killing her than the megalomaniac Dark Lord that was out to get her. But then again, she's never faced a dragon before.

"Have you talked to Hagrid about this?" Sirius asked.

"What kind of helpful Godfather are you?"

"Oi!" A finger erupted from the fire, wagging at her. "I was the one who did all that snooping – hang on!"

"What?"

"I know how you can get past the dragon."

Ila leaned closer, forgetting about the potential hazards of fire and human skin and hair. She didn't care, and she was going to experience that on Tuesday if she wasn't careful enough.

"What? What is it? What do you know? Tell me, Sirius?"

But suddenly, his face had disappeared from the fire. It looked normal. There was no bulging finger or weirdly shaped face in it. "Sirius! Fuck! Sirius come back!"

"Sorry Ila," he said, though his face hadn't returned. "Someone's come back. I need to leave."

"What? No! What kind of you Godfather are you? Come back!"

But it was no use. Ila could hear a thud coming from his end. He was gone. Ila stared at the fire for a few more moments, deluding herself into thinking that maybe Sirius was still there. But that went away when the face of an elderly woman appeared. Her eyes bulged and she screamed. Ila panicked and blew out the fire as hard as she could. Wafting the smoke away from her, she leaned against the armchair. She was going to die…She had to accept it sooner or later. She had dealt with Basilisks, crazy werewolves, serial killers. She had come face to face with Voldemort three times, nearly dying every time. And yet, here she was…on her grave would be carved 'In memory of ILA POTTER, a loving goddaughter, friend, student. Death by Dragon.'

Sunday morning had passed by in a blur and before she knew it, it was already Monday. She didn't want to leave her bed. Surely her teachers would understand. She checked her schedule. She had Transfiguration, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures and Charms…Ila groaned into her pillow. She would have screamed if it weren't for the other people she had to share a room with. Even though she knew her teachers wouldn't care if she missed out…she knew that if she was stuck in her bed, everything would be worse. She would imagine all the different ways she could die. She gets burnt alive, she could bleed to death, she could get eaten and even worse, she could die by the Dragon not seeing her and sitting on top of her. 'Death by Dragon's bottom.'

Ila pulled herself together and slowly got ready. With two coloured socks and half of her hair in a braid, she made her way downstairs, to the Great Hall to find Hermoine and Ginny anxiously talking to each other on the Gryffindor Table.

"What're you two talking about?" Ila asked when she neared the two girls, who coincidentally stopped their conversation when they saw Ila. Before she sat down, Hermione stood up and fixed her uniform.

"Nothing interesting," Hermione said untucking Ila's jumper from her skirt.

"We were just talking about what we're going to wear for your celebration party for when you win," Ginny said, hoping to raise Ila's spirits.

"I don't even care if I win," she said as Hermione fixed her collar and finally let her sit down, though she knew she wasn't going to be able to stomach any food. "All I care is that I survive."

"And you will," Hermione said gently, pushing a plate of toast, to which Ila declined. "Dumbledore won't let you get hurt."

"You don't know that," Ila said as she declined a goblet of pumpkin juice from Ginny. "He is an old man after all."

"Are we talking about the same Dumbledore?" Ginny asked her. "This is the same Dumbledore who's known as the greatest wizards of his time…that one?"

Ila shrugged. "Everyone has their flaws."

"It isn't just Dumbledore who's in charge…you've got Bagman and Crouch and…you have Madame Maxime and Karakoff."

After hearing Sirius's theory from last night, Hermione's word didn't bring her any comfort. She wondered if she should tell Hermione about what he said. But the bell rang for their first lesson before she could make any decision.

"I'll see you two later," Ginny said, squeezing Ila's hand before getting up. "By the way, you've got most of Ravenclaw third years backing you."

Hermione and Ila made their way to the first lesson which was Transfiguration. As she entered, she saw Ron shift in his seat uncomfortably as the rest of the class erupted into cheers. Even McGonagall did her best to reassure Ila by giving her a small smile, though it looked rather strained. She wasn't sure if it was because McGonagall struggled with smiling in general or if it was because she too knew that Ila wasn't going to make it out alive tomorrow.

"It's not because of that," Hermione scolded after Ila told her. "You need to stop thinking like that. You do know that if you think you're going to fail, you'll end up failing. You have to think happy thoughts. Not depressive ones."

"I'm not being depressive, I'm being realistic!"

"Yes but sometimes, being a realist won't help the situation. But you know what will?"

"Books?" Ila said deadpanned.

"I found this charming book in the library. I think some student left it but – it's basically a cheat guide that'll help you get the spell within seconds," Hermione said hesitantly. "I wasn't sure if I was going to give it to you…but desperate times call for desperate measures." Hermione handed the book to Ila under the table. While the rest of the students were trying to change their mice into goblets, Ila was reading the cheat codes for casting a Summoning Spell.

'Now, most of your charms textbooks won't tell you this – because they actually want you to fail your O.W.L.S but that's a conspiracy for another day – but when casting the Summoning charm rather than just imagining the object, think about physically grabbing the object. Imagine your hands actually grabbing whatever object you want. But, you want to make sure you do this a few seconds before you do the charm and then as your casting your charm, have your mind blank. This is essential if you want to make sure you summon your object. Otherwise – I won't go into detail about the exact magic behind it but if you keep thinking about grabbing the object with your hands as your casting, the effects tend to be doubled and you'll get blown away as the object comes towards you.'

Ila reread the paragraph once more, making sure she knew what it was talking about it. Thinking about grabbing an object with your hands a few moments before and then keep your mind blank. Right – sounds easy enough…

Ila scanned the room, picking an object to…use…ah-ha! She'll use one of the Goblets on McGonagall's table. Quickly checking behind her to see McGonagall busy with Neville who couldn't turn his mice – goblet hybrid into a goblet, she got her wand at the ready. Glancing once more at the way she should move her wand, she closed her eyes. She pictured the goblet on the table. She imagined moving past the table, grabbing the Goblet in her hands before placing it down. She opened them, keeping her mind blank. She tried her best to push down any distracting thoughts – which always seemed to increase whenever she was trying to have a blank mind. She waved her wand and whispered, 'Accio Goblet!'

Nothing.

The Goblet hadn't even moved an inch. It stayed where it was.

"This is bullshit," Ila said, pushing the book towards Hermione. "It's not helping."

Hermoine glanced around before quickly placing the book away from McGonagall's eyes. "You've only done it once, you can't get it during your first time."

"I am going to do die tomorrow Hermione," Ila said bluntly. "I might as well deal with it now and enjoy whatever time I have –"

Hermione slapped Ila.

It wasn't loud. Nor did it hurt. Ila remained where she was, holding her cheek. She slowly turned around to see Hermione's eyes already fill up with regret.

"Did – did you just slap me?" Ila asked, more confused than angry.

"You need to shut up about dying ok Ila?" Hermione said hotly. "I'm not going to let you die without trying your best. Now do it again!"

Ila didn't know if she should be intimidated or impressed by Hermione's change of her passive personality. If only Ron was here to witness everything. Ila slowly grabbed her wand, still confused by everything. She closed her eyes and thought about the Goblet again. This time, instead of walking up to the desk, she was already there. She paid more attention to actually grabbing the Goblet. The way the cup felt, how it fit in her hands. It was slightly too big to hold it in one of her hands, she had to use two. It was smooth, cold. The rim of the cup was quite sharp. It was lined with red jewels. They felt sharp. Ila wondered how it was comfortable to drink from them. She opened her eyes. She pushed down any thought she had in a box. She was sat on it, making sure the lid wouldn't even move. She waved her wand.

'Accio Goblet!'

The Goblet zoomed across the room, travelling towards Ila. She held her hand out and grabbed the Goblet. It felt exactly how she imagined.

"I told you would do it," Hermione said, trying her best to not sound like she told her so.

"I guess that fixes one problem," Ila said.

For the rest of the lesson, she continued practising her spell. By the end of the lesson, she had a small pile of miscellaneous objects from around the classroom. She was getting better at it. At first, when she tried to get some of the objects, she managed to hit a few people in the head before she grabbed them. But by the end of the lesson, it was a lot smoother. She felt her hopes rising once more. Even McGonagall wished her well, telling her that she feels she will do Gryffindor proud. That was probably the nicest thing she had ever heard McGonagall say. Her hopes were so high; she now realised how dramatic she was starting to sound last night about the whole dying thing. The thought still lingered in her mind but…if worse comes to worst she'll just…summon her Firebolt and she'll fly away from everything.

During Divination, she summoned objects, this time increasing in size. All the objects she got from Transfiguration were the size of her pockets. This time, she summoned a few pillows – hitting herself in the face a few times before she got the hang of it. As she was about to summon a crystal ball, Trewlany mentioned –

"Children, I have suddenly got a vision!"

Parvati and Lavender gasped, encouraging Trewlany, "What is it? What did you see, Professor?"
Trelawny held a hand to her head, narrowing her bug eyes. She did her best to speak in a hazy voice as if she was actually trying to recall the vision she had received from the Gods above.

"I saw…I see…a young witch…she's in the…it looks like our Quidditch pitch…she's battling something big…her demons perhaps – no! A dragon…"

"How convenient," Ila muttered before asking Trewlany, "what happens to her? Does she get burnt alive?"

"No – no, she doesn't," she replied genuinely before closing her eyes. "She…I see her get sat on by the Dragon."

After that, for some reason, crystal glass balls were smashed to pieces, close to Ila's seat, who took no notice. But by the end of the lesson, Ila had managed to summon almost everything in the class. Even a crystal ball. But while she had managed to summon things at her will – as long as they were no bigger than a small cushion – there was still one answer that she needed knowing.

"What exactly am I going to summon?" Ila asked Hermione as they made their way to Care of Magical Creatures. "Also do I have to use the summoning charm? Can't I just hex a dragon?"

"Unless you want a guaranteed death Ila," Hermione said, "a summoning spell is our safest bet. Besides you're the one who told me that First Tasks usually consist of getting past a creature in order to get something."

"Ok, yeah," Ila said, remembering how she took credit for Malfoy's work, "but say if I was wrong? Maybe I don't need to do that. Maybe I have to fight the dragon to death."

"First of all, there is no way Dumbledore would allow that, second of all, we could always ask Hagrid."

"We're going back ter yeh skrewts!" Hagrid said excitedly, much to the displeasure of Ila who hoped for a more calm lesson before her fight with a dragon the day after. The class slowly collected their buckets containing their skrewts as well as slabs of meats. She left Malfoy to take everything away. He didn't seem to mind. After their last conversation, it was pretty obvious why he wouldn't want to speak to him. Besides, it wasn't like Ila was in the mood to speak to him either.

"How're yeh been, Ila?" Hagrid asked when Ila came up to him.

"I've been better…"

"Yeh stressin' aren't yeh?" Hagrid tutted. "Yeh'll do fine Ila. Don't worry 'bout anything!"

Ila hummed in response. "I would think that if I knew what I was going to face against…" she said as casually as possible. Hagrid narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Wha' makes yeh think I'll know?"

Ila shrugged. "I've done a bit of researching…the First Tasks always makes their champions some beast like Acromantula, merman or even…dragons…"

"Yeh know I can't help you," Hagrid said, moving away to help Lavender and Theordore's skrewt that was trying to climb up a tree. Ila quickly followed him.

"But we're friends Hagrid," Ila pleaded. "What're friends for if they don't help each other out once in a while?"

"But now's no' the time!" he said, grabbing the skrewt from one of the branches and carefully placed it on the ground. "Now ge' back ter yeh skrewt will yeh?"

But Ila wasn't ready to give up just yet. Ila followed him around the class, waiting patiently for Hagrid. She passed Parvati who was running away from her skrewt, she saw a skrewt send an explosion in Seamus's face. She watched Parkinson and Ron argue, only for him to stop when he saw her follow Hagrid.

"Oi! I don't care if you have a crush on her, we're not finished!" Parkinson yelled. They were getting closer to the edge of the group. There weren't many people left for Hagrid to pretend to check up on in order to ignore Ila. They had walked past Hermione and Blaise, who was lounging around on the grass while she was busy feeding the skrewt haphazardly. Ila could see Hermione mouth –

"Found anything?"

"Not yet," she mouthed back, showing that she needed two more minutes. There was only one person that was left to check. Malfoy was watching their skrewt devour the chicken liver. He sat on the bucket, waiting for the lesson to finish. Hagrid turned around to see there was no one else, as well as Ila, innocently smiling up at him. He had no other choice.

"How do yeh know it was dragons?" Hagrid asked.

"It is actually dragons…" Hagrid cursed under his breath before realising that Malfoy was there. He pulled Ila aside, far enough so that he couldn't hear them speaking.

"I was supposed ter tell yeh before but…"

"What?"

"I was compromised," he said, turning bright red.

"Compromised how - "

"Tha's not important," Hagrid interjected. "All yeh need ter know is there's gonna be dragons involved..."

"Ok," Ila said slowly. "Is that it?"

"I jus' told yeh what you're gonna do. Wha' else do yeh want?"

"How to not get burnt alive by a dragon?" Ila asked. "I've already figured out how to summon things but - "

"Tha's ter safest bet."

"Ok but…I don't know, can you not give me anything else? Maybe know how to lure a dragon to sleep or…anything?"
Hagrid looked around them, to make sure no one else was listening before telling her –

"I can tell yeh ter dragons: Hungarian Horntail, Chinese Fireball, Common Welsh Green and Swedish Short Snout…look into them…tha's all I can say."

Hagrid quickly walked back to the rest of the class as casually as possible as if he hadn't broken two of the rules of the Triwizard Tournament.

"Is that it?" Hermione said as the two entered their dormitory. Their lessons had finished for the day and all that Ila wanted to do was have a good night's sleep.

"He said he couldn't tell me any more," Ila sighed, flopping back onto her bed. She could already feel how heavy her eyelids were. At that moment, she couldn't care about the dragons tomorrow. All she wanted to do was –

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" Parvati screamed, startling Ila.

"What are you doing?" Ila said, pulling herself back onto her bed from the floor.

"Why do you sound angry?" Hermione asked as Parvati and Lavender pushed past her.

"Are you guys seriously kidding me? Is this actually a thing? Parvati, please tell me this isn't real?" Lavender said hysterically, fanning herself while Parvati stared at the two as if they were dragons themselves.

"What?" Ila said defensively.

"You do realise that tonight's the Champions party," Parvati said as if it was obvious.

Ila and Hermione stared at each other. "What?"

"How are you one of the Hogwart's champion's and you don't even know there's Champion's party?"

"Because I don't think one of the tasks for the Tournament is to party the night before so hard that you're still drunk the next day," Ila hissed. "Who even came up with the party anyway?"

"The twins," Lavender said, taking out a few dresses that looked far too short for Ila and Hermione's liking.

"Of course it was them," Hermione muttered before telling the girls, "count us out. Ila needs to be ready for tomorrow and I don't think going to party that the twins are hosting is a good idea." Ila agreed to her statement and moved up on her bed so that now her head was resting on her pillow. She pulled her glasses off. She was ready for tomorrow.

At least as ready as one could be if she didn't know how to defeat a dragon with a simple summoning spell.

Besides, that wasn't the only thing that kept her awake.

She felt a pair of hands wrap around her feet and she was pulled out of her bed, away from her the comfort and safety of her blanket.

"What the fuck!" Ila yelled as she hit the cold floor. Merlin, was it always so cold down here?

"You need to go," Parvati said, getting far too close to her face. "That's the whole point. A Champions party can't be a champions party with the champions there to party."

"Say champion and party one more time," Ila growled, getting to her feet. "I'm not going," she told the two girls, who with their arms akimbo, looked at each other before giving Ila a look that read simply: Over my dead body.

"If I don't die tomorrow, you better watch your backs!" Ila condemned the two girls who were busy talking up to the Durmstrang guy Ila had seen them with from the Halloween party. "It literally makes no sense for me to be here right now! I do have a tournament to start tomorrow!" They still weren't listening. Ila put it down to the screeching sounds of the Weird Sisters blasting through the room and not because they were ignoring her. "Fine. If I die tomorrow, you best believe I will come back as a ghost and haunt you for the rest of your lives!"

And with that, Ila left them and headed towards a quieter area of the Ravenclaw common room. She wasn't sure why the party was held in the Ravenclaw room. Maybe the twins had a rota for where all the parties are held. She also didn't know where Hermione had gone. She was too busy arguing with Lavender and Parvati to see where she went to. There was a small window that looked out to the grounds of Hogwarts. She had never seen the entire grounds as a whole. She would either see the Forest or the Quidditch grounds. Even though it was pitch black, Ila could see the faint breaths of fire through the Forest. She leaned her head against the glass, the coolness calming her down.

Perhaps it was a good idea that she went to the party. It gave an opportunity to not only practise summoning things but also figure out what she needed to summon in order to defeat a dragon.

She could…there was…ah! She couldn't think with the music bursting her eardrums. She needed to get out of here. Pushing past various familiar faces as well stepping over already passed out people on the floor, she found the door to the Common room and stepping out felt like a breath of fresh air. Mainly because it didn't smell like sweat and firewhiskey. Taking off her heels that she threatened to stab the girls with, she stepped down the stairs. After questioning and whining about the number of stairs Ravenclaw had, she hobbled to a small alcove nearby. She couldn't that much compared to the common room, but she could still see the black lake, as well as the Quidditch Pitch. She peered closer to see that the hoops of the Quidditch Pitch had gone. Instead, it was replaced by…were they rocks?

For some reason, the idea of the Quidditch Pitch turning into a colosseum made her so angry, she threw her heels into the darkness. What she didn't expect was for those shoes to make a human-like sound.

"OW!"

She stood up, her wand instantly in her hand. Stepping out of the shadows, was Cedric Diggory. He was massaging his head and held up one of her shoes.

As if this day couldn't get any worse.

"Definitely didn't think getting attack by a shoe would be on my list of things I'd do today," Cedric groaned, taking a seat on the alcove and handed Ila her shoe.

"Sorry – I'm really sorry, I didn't know – I didn't think there was going to be someone on the other side," she said quickly, taking a seat and trying to see how much damage her shoes had actually done. There was a small red mark on his forehead but it wasn't anything too bad.

"Don't worry about it," he said smoothly before raking a hand through his hair. "How're you finding the party?"

"There's a reason why I'm here, throwing my shoes into the darkness instead of in there," Ila said, relaxing against the wall. She wanted to bring her legs close but unfortunately, she had no autnomy when it came to her outfit. She was stuck with a dress that ended up to her mid-thigh. Luckily she got a shawl as well. She took it off, as she brought her legs close and covered them before Cedric could notice.

"Yeah, I don't really see the appeal of a party the night before the First Task," he said. He smiled, though it didn't look like it was calming himself. He rubbed his hands, soothing himself. He probably doesn't know.

She glanced out of the Forest.

"Have you figured anything out yet?" she asked casually.

"The only thing I know is that it's in the Quidditch Pitch…but every time I get close, they stop me because I'll be cheating," he said, a hint of resentment bubbling through.

"What about you?"

Ila shrugged. "I know there's something in the Forest too," she said, tapping the window. Cedric followed her gaze, out of the window.

"I don't see anything," he muttered. He moved closer to where Ila was sitting. She pulled her legs closer to where Ila was. She was no longer staring at the Forest. She could see stubble scattering his chin and jawline. She could see the blend of browns and blonde in his hair. She could see a few acne scars on his flushed cheeks. His mouth was slightly open as he concentrated on seeing what was going on in the Forest. "Are you sure you can see it?"

"Always happen at night," she lied. She noticed a hole in his ear. His ears were pierced? How did he get that past his dad?

"I can't see anything Ila," Cedric said, looking back at her. She felt like she was going to throw up. Merlin, that can't happen now! But it did feel like something was trying to pry its way out of her. But why now? She won't ever be this close to him ever again. To feel the short breaths on her. To see his eyes take in every part of her face. There was a giddy feeling whenever his eyes snapped to her lips before quickly going back to her eyes. Even with her brain working at a slower rate than usual, somewhere in her mind, she remembered reading an article with Parvati and Lavender.

TEN SIGNS A WIZARD LIKES YOU!

NO.7 – He glances at your lips whenever you talk to him. If you see him doing this all the time, it definitely means he wants to kiss you!

Does he want to kiss Ila? He was still looking at her. He hadn't moved away. She wasn't sure if it was her or the trick of the light but were they moving closer. She could see how red his lips were. Maybe he does want to kiss her. Does he like her? He did make the badge for her.

NO. 6 – He cares about you. This can be done in loads of ways. Whether it's doing something for you where you'll be happy or cheering you up. There'll even be a few times where he gets angry if you hurt yourself. But don't worry. He cares about you. He doesn't want you to get hurt or sad. He wants to be the one that makes you feel happy.

And he told her she was amazing during the Cup Final.

NO. 9 – He compliments you. Now, this one is a bit more tricky. While some guys outright compliment you, there are others that are a bit…harder to be nice to. But don't get distressed

And he talks to his friends about her. She was sure that was on the list as well.

NO.5 – He constantly goes on and on about you to his friends to the point where they get annoyed. You're definitely on his mind all the time. He just needs an outlet for it.

Maybe he does like her. She really does feel like she's going to throw up.

"I - "

"HOLY SHIT!" Cedric exclaimed, looking away from and pressed his face against the window like a child at Honeydukes just as Ila was about to say something. "Is that fire?"

"W-what?" she said, slightly disorientated by the sudden switch of the conversation. She looked over at the window. The fog that misted her brain slowly left. Her mind was getting clearer as she was reminded of what they were talking about before. "Yeah…it is…"

"Do you know what it is - "

"Dragons," Ila said simply. The rational side of her brain was kicked up again. She took her shawl off her legs. She picked up her one shoe and stood up. She left Cedric staring out of the window to find her other shoe in the darkness.