The Quiet Before the Storm

"Lumos!"

A bright orb lit up the hallway that she was in. It had been ten minutes before she realised that using some light would hurry up in finding her other shoe. Looking at the portraits, she could see that it was near the library. Her shoe wasn't there. How far did she throw her shoe?

If she couldn't figure anything out with the Summoning spell, the thought of punching the dragon didn't seem too far off.

Looking both sides to make sure no prefects or teachers were patrolling the hallways, she slipped into the library. It was strange. This must have been the first time she heard silence in here. As much as Madam Pince tried to shut all the students up, there was always something in the background that comforted Ila. The student's strained whispers or the sound of quills scratching parchment. The flicking of pages or the occasional snog from a couple. But now…it was so quiet that her ears were trying to latch onto any noise, anything to stop her from feeling uncomfortable. The only thing it could was her heart. It felt like it was echoing in the room. She tiptoed into the library, wincing every time there was a creak of her weight on the floorboards. As she walked past the bookshelves, she wondered if Cedric would thank her for basically giving him the biggest helpful hint. She was an idiot.

What was she thinking?

He defiantly didn't have a crush on her.

He's…he was just nice. There was no way a sixth year would ever look at a fourth-year as anything other than a child…Ila wrapped her shawl closer to her. She passed the Invisibility section – or at least she thought she did. It was hard to tell. But she knew she was close by.

CREAK!

Ila whipped her head around, the light quickly following her. It was empty. But she was sure that creak wasn't from her. Was it Cedric? Did he follow her?

Was he going to confess her dying –

Maybe it was from her.

She sighed before continuing her journey to the Magical Creature's section. When she arrived, she bent down, pulling down her dress even though no one else was there with her, to where she found that book about dragons. She and Hermione had spent the entire Sunday going through books about dragons, trying to figure out if there were any ways to get past them. There wasn't that much information because all the books they had read talked about specific dragons and their specific weaknesses. At the time, she didn't know what dragons she could go up against.

"A BREATH OF FRESH FIRE: A SURVIVAL GUIDE TO DRAGONS!"

CREAK!

There it was again. She crawled to the edge of the bookshelf, peeking her head out from side to side. Yet again, there was no one. She shook herself and went back to her book.

There on the contents page, she flicked to the pages about the four dragons: Welsh Green Dragon, Swedish Short Snout, Chinese Fireball, Hungarian Horntail. Turning to page forty-eight, she saw a giant bright green dragon sitting on a rock before covering itself by its wing. She turned a few pages to see a blue-white dragon, with icicles hanging off its horn, breathing ice around itself to form a barrier. She did the same for Chinese Fireball. It was much skinner than the other two, but that didn't make it any less terrifying. The long, thin dragon flew into a fiery landscape, the red of the fire camouflaging the dragon. It wasn't until she saw the yellow underbelly did she realise that. She moved to the last, the Hungarian Horntail.

"Considering what you're going up against tomorrow, Potter…I suggest you brush up on your reflexes."

The wand from Ila's light lit up Malfoy. His face morphed as he walked closer to her.

"You seem to be stalking me," Ila said, standing up, letting the book drop from her lap. "I thought we already established I didn't want you talking to me anymore – in fact, I'm pretty sure it was right here."

Ila saw his eyes travel down her body. She wished the shawl was slightly longer as his eyes slowly travelled back up. "You're not ready for tomorrow."

"You don't know what I've been doing - "

"You only found out what you were going up against from Hagrid today," he said. "I heard everything."

"So what? Doesn't mean I haven't prepared anything."

"What have you prepared then?" he asked, taunting her with the rise of a brow.

"Well…" Don't falter now Ila. "I've learnt the Summoning charm - "

Malfoy snorted, smirking. "Is that it? Merlin, I expected this from you, but you had Granger of all people to help you and that was all you got?"

"If you're so confident, why don't you give me a suggestion? Because I've had it up to here with this stupid Tournament that I didn't even want to join in the first place even though everyone thinks I did!" Ila heard her voice echo throughout the library. She wondered if Madame Pince would hear. Maybe she stayed here. Maybe she would hear Ila. Maybe she would get so angry, she would give Ila detention for the whole month. That way she wouldn't need to do the First Task tomorrow.

"Alright," Malfoy muttered. He uncrossed his arms and sat down, grabbing the book that had fallen to the floor.

"W-what are you doing?" she asked.

"If I prove to you that I can give you a better plan…I'll…" Malfoy looked hesitant to tell Ila the second part. She crouched down, lowering her wand so it wasn't in his face. He looked normal for once. "I'll…tell you what you want to know." Her expression must have given away how confused she was when because he then said, "You know what I mean Potter – why you think I've… 'changed.' I'll tell you everything."

"Why?"

"Why not?" he shrugged. "Have you never made a deal before?"

"I've never made a deal with a Slytherin and there's a good reason why," she said suspiciously.

"As I said before, my life doesn't revolve around making your life shit. If it was, it would be fucking worse. If I wanted to sabotage you, I would have done that already but fortunately, I have better things to do."

"Like what?"

"I don't know like getting Parkinson off my fucking back," he said. Ila didn't buy it, but she didn't want to push it. Malfoy was helping her.

Ila should have felt panicked. Considering, the way their last conversation ended, she wasn't sure why she didn't feel panicked. Usually whenever the idea of Malfoy being anything other than…Malfoy churned her stomach…she didn't feel anything. Perhaps the thought had stayed with her for such a long time she had gotten used to it. Maybe she was getting used to the idea of Malfoy no longer being Malfoy. Or maybe it was late and she was desperate for some help.

But whatever it was, she didn't dwell on it for long. A sense of excitement coursed through her. An idea formed in her mind. She could use him. If he was working with You Know Who, Ila could get something out of him. Know what he was planning. If Ila hung around him enough and charm him, maybe he'll trust her. Trust her enough to divulge in You Know Who's plan. She could then go to Dumbledore, tell him what she knew. He'll defiantly believe her then.

But she can't half-arse it this time. Not like the other times. She'd have to really play the part.

"Took you long enough to come to your sense," Ila said easily, relaxing against the bookshelf. Her legs were stretched out beside him. She pulled her shawl further down. If only that Witch Weekly article talked about how to get a guy to like you. But it seemed to work. Ila could see his eyes occasional drop down to her…merlin, even your worst enemy could be tempted.

"I realised that a long time ago," he said, going back to his book.

"I saw you cosying up to Parkinson last year," she said with another idea coming to mind. Should she be jealous? Considering the way Malfoy is, even he'd be flattered that Ila was jealous of Parkinson spending time with him.

"Jealous, are you?" Malfoy smirked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she said before, wondering if that wasn't subtle. Malfoy looked up and stared at her.

"Now it's my turn to ask if you've changed," he said quietly. Ila sighed, cursing herself for what she was about to do. But she swallowed her pride – and dignity – and moved closer to Malfoy. Ila could see him gulp.

What the fuck was she doing, Draco asked herself as he watched her get closer. She was doing this on purpose. Of course, she was. He saw the way she pulled her shawl down. Not that he minded.

What was wrong with him?

He should mind. He shouldn't be feeling like this. What was going on…But any related thoughts died down. Every thought he had barring one had died down. The only one that managed to permeate through the fog that formed in his mind: He wanted to do nothing but kiss her. She looked perfect. Draco could hear his heartbeat so loudly; he wondered if she could listen to it too. She smiled. Now that she was closer, he could see everything. The way her makeup was starting to smear, but it still looked good. The way her hair curled after constantly being put up in a braid. Seeing all the matching pieces of jewellery felt the same way when he understood a complicated Alchemy topic. Draco never knew how good she looked in silver.

"What makes you say that?" she whispered, her eyes widening in confusion. Draco blinked at her, unsure of what to do next. He wasn't usually like this when it came to girls. He was sure of it. But…Ila moved closer…and closer…and closer…there were only a few centimetres between them. He wasn't sure how many. All he could do was stop himself from brushing her hair out of the way so he could see all of her face. She bit her lip, waiting patiently for him to reply.

"The last time we had a conversation, you shouted at me," he said hoarsely. "What's changed within a few days?"

Ila shrugged. He watched her shoulders intently, swallowing down any thought that related to his lips on her neck. "I was wrong…you can change…maybe you're right…it's me that can't let the old Malfoy go."

"Why?" he asked. Her shawl had slipped further – something that he didn't think was intentional this time – as she moved her arm to play with the buttons of his shirt. He breathed deeply, moving his chest as far away from her touch. But it didn't work. He could feel her cool fingers slowly trace a circle around one of the buttons.

"I s'pose…my whole life…it's never been stable. There wasn't any structure. I'm constantly getting paranoid about Voldemort" - Draco wasn't sure, but it felt the grip on his shirt had tightened - "coming back…or even if it weren't him, there would be someone out there that'll finish his plan off and…finish me…you were the one thing that was stable in my life. I knew that you would always be there wherever I went – albeit it was to make fun of me but…I don't know; I guess I was a bit caught up with the idea that now you, too were changing. I guess I couldn't handle it…"

Draco warmed at the idea of him being a constant in Ila's life. Until he realised that his teasing was a regular thing in her life. Guilt had punched him in the stomach. While he was always good at hiding his emotions, being close to Ila…his hard exterior was melting away. It seemed to disappear when Ila took his hand completely. She held his hand in hers. He hoped he didn't realise how sweaty it was.

"I still hope you'll be here, Draco," she said. "I want you to be there…maybe you'll be in my life in another way…hopefully."

Ever since he dreamed of the two of them in his library, the thought hadn't left him. He would like to daydream more often; most of the time, he wouldn't even realise until he was just about to kiss her, and he'd snap out of it. But it wasn't just in the day when it came to him. Almost every night, he can't stop thinking about it. It would have some variation, but it would always be Ila and Draco. It would always end with them in a kiss.

A sudden déjà vu swept past him. He was in the library. Ila was right there, right in front of him. One hand was on his chest, while the other was holding his hand. She was observing him, probably waiting for that sign. The sign to kiss him. He probably dreamt of this exact scenario before.

And yet –

"We should get back to working," he said stiffly. But he made no move to pull his hand away. He wasn't sure why he couldn't lean in. She was right there. His lips would be on hers. Her hands would tangle in his hair as he pulled her closer. The two would melt into each other. But he couldn't. He couldn't do that to her. The thought that the only stability in her life was him making fun of her and her friends was too much. He couldn't do that to her. He would be messing up with her feelings.

He needed to prove to her that he was different.

Well, he had been trying to do that for the past couple of months, but he had to try harder. He can't half arse it. He had to go all in.

Ila bit her smile back as she moved back to her side of the bookshelf. Was she a genius or was she a genius?

Wow. Look at her. Ila Potter – the Seductress, the Temptress, the Mistress…merlin, she should do this more often. She was so good at it. While the speech Dumbledore had given to her helped a bit with her seducing, it was basically ninety per cent all her. She now knew why the Sorting Hat wanted her to be in Slytherin initially. Ila picked up another book about Dragons but couldn't even be bothered to read it. Why would she when Malfoy would be doing all the work? All she had to do was wait.

"You've been reading an upside-down book for the past ten minutes," Malfoy noted, his eyes never leaving his book. Ila couldn't care less. He was only acting like that because she wasn't so close to him anymore. If she wanted to shut him up, all she had to do was go right up to his face and pretend to be a damsel in distress. She couldn't believe her plan would work. Malfoy always expressed disgust whenever she touched him but look at him now…couldn't even form a sentence when she held his hand…

…

Hang on…

Why was he acting like this in the first place? Why couldn't he even form a sentence when she held his hand? What…

The more she thought about it…the more…no…defiantly not. It can't be. It seriously can't be – he's Malfoy for fuck's sake, there's no way…he's…but…

"Oh, dear."

"What?" Malfoy asked.

"N-nothing," she said, before bringing the book up to her face so that she could hide behind it.

Oh, dear.

So…there may be a slight mishap in the plan that Ila thought would work so great. It's only been fifteen minutes and there was already a problem…Wonderful…just a slight…oh dear…

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Now that she thought about it, she was surprised at how well her plan had actually worked.

…

That would only mean one thing, wouldn't it?

The only way Ila plan worked was because…

She couldn't even bring herself to think about it, but…Ron was right. Holy fuck, Ron was right!

Malfoy did have a crush on her.

"Get up, Ila! Get up for Merlin's sake!"

"Fuck off, Mione."

"Fine, if that's how you want to play it!"

There were a few moments of peace before blankets were ripped off Ila, bathing her in the cold. Ila groaned, pulling her legs closer to maintain the little warmth she had in her body. The curtains had been pulled up so now the sunlight was hitting her too.

"Why are you doing this?" Ila pleaded, rolling over. At least the light was warming up her back.

"Ila, it's the First Task today," Hermione said feverishly.

"No it's not," she said, slowly opening her eyes. She blinked a few times, getting used to the sudden brightness before grabbing her glasses and slowly getting up. She stretched and realised she was still wearing the dress from last night. "How did I get here?"

"That's not important Ila," Hermione said, quickly grabbing Ila's uniform and throwing it at her. She grabbed her arm and pulled her up from her bed before pushing her to the bathroom door. "You have to fight a dragon in less than…hour…hurry up!"

"But – but it's not…today's…Tuesday."

The synapses in her brain finally started working, shooting out instructions at her body and brain to move as quickly as possible. She shut the door behind her and started pulling the dress from her. She saw in the mirror that all the makeup she was wearing had vanished. She managed to pull the dress over her, something clattered on the floor. It was a badge. As she pulled her shirt on, she picked it up. It wasn't one of Cedric's badges, this one was green. But instead of reading 'Potter Stinks!', it read, 'TAP TO DISTRACT!'

After inspecting the bruises around her ankles that she was sure weren't there last night, she shook the dress to see if anything else was in it. A small note had dropped silently.

'In case you couldn't figure it out from the badge alone, use the badge to distract the dragons. It'll work for any of them, but you only have a few minutes before it'll get bored and go back to you. Use the Summoning Charm. Play to your strengths. You'll figure it out.

Good luck.

Remember, if you don't die tomorrow, I'll tell you everything.'

Ila had re-read the note for the fifth time, with her badge safely in her pocket as she went to the Great Hall. This was Malfoy. She didn't remember much from last night. It was the party, she went outside and found Cedric. She left him and went to the library…Malfoy…he was there…oh.

"Don't look so worried – I mean I know there's no stopping you from getting worried – that be a ridiculous thing to ask you but if you can, I mean if you want to you, you can try to be less - "

"Hermione, I mean this in the nicest way possible," Ila said, looking up from the note he had left her, "but can please shut up?"

"Right," she said, nodding before going back to her porridge.

"Actually, wait don't shut up – do you know what happened last night? Like, how I got back?"

"Where were you?" she asked.

"Where were you?" Ila countered.

"I – I – I was busy talking to people," Hermione said quickly, looking back down at her porridge. "I – I don't know what happened to you last night. By the time I came back, you were already asleep. I thought you came back yourself…did you not?"

"I was in the library," she said.

"By yourself?" Ila nodded, afraid that if she spoke she might say something she would regret later. "What were you doing there? Did you find anything that could help?"

There were a few things that she found out last night, though none were actually helpful.

"What do you think some of my strengths are?" she asked Hermione.

"Your strengths?" Hermione repeated, to which Ila nodded. "Err – well…."

"Really appreciate that Hermione," she said.

"No – you're putting me on the spot here…there's…well, you're good at Defence Against the Dark Arts – I mean, you're the only one that managed to stop being imperious…and..oh – Quidditch! Can't believe that. You're good at flying so…

At that moment, the two friends had the same idea materialise.

"I need to get my broom. I can get away from the dragons - "

"And you can summon it when you're in there!"

"Potter," McGonagall's stern voice wavered for a moment behind her. She turned around to see McGonagall looked worried. Her hat was askew, her eyes were red. Even she was fretful about Ila. "It's time."

Ila entered into the Quidditch tent that had been changed slightly so that there were now hospital beds. She felt like she going to throw up. She saw the other three Champions as well as Bagman. Fleur was sitting on a chair, her leg bouncing up and down so hard, her hair came out of her bun. She cursed in French before transfiguring a vase of flowers into a mirror and fixed her hair. Krum like always was standing at the edge of the room, staring at the canvas walls. Cedric was pacing the length of the room, raking his hand through his hair as he muttered something under his breath. Ila heard the voices of fellow students as they walked past, talking excitedly about the Task. She wanted to run up to them and shout at them before realising that she was too anxious even to move.

"Ah, you're all here!" Bagman said, turning around and motioned everyone to form a circle. He held a small brown bag, which seemed to be alive. "I'll quickly explain what you'll have to do. But first, everyone must take something out of the bag" – Bagman held the bag up – "Ladies first," he said, handing it out to Fleur first.

What was Ila? A brick wall?

She looked around the rest of the champions before placing a hand in the bag. She gasped quietly and brought out a smaller version of a Swedish Short Snout. "Viktor, you're next." Instantly, his hand dove into the bag. Karakoff had probably figured it out as well. He probably told Krum which one would be the easiest to deal with. Krum smiled slightly when he pulled out the Welsh Green Dragon, which circled his hand. "Cedric."

He breathed a deep breath and as quickly as he put his hand in, he took it out, holding a Chinese Fireball. Fire erupted not only from its mouth but from its tail like a skrewt, except it was much bigger and much more terrifying. Which would then mean that Ila was stuck with the –

"Hungarian Horntail," Bagman said as she pulled her dragon out, which kept on nipping at her fingers. "Wonderful. These four dragons will be the dragon you will be up against. Each dragon will be guarding a golden egg. You will have to get past the dragon to obtain the egg. This is what will let you get through the Second Task. And now, I need to explain the scoring system. There is no time limit however, the champion that can complete the Task the fastest will get extra points. You'll be judged on the way you execute the task. As well as this, you cannot harm the dragon or you will lose points. You can also lose points if you get seriously injured, but I'm sure that won't happen," Bagman quickly added, seeing the look of terror on all their faces. "I'm pretty sure that's all I have to say…Fleur, come with me. The rest of you…try and have fun!"

"I don't think I've never wanted to kill someone more than I do now," Cedric muttered as Bagman took Fleur away while the other three tried their best to relax. Ila could hear the screams from the students outside. She wondered what they'll sound like if one of them had…

"I never knew Hufflepuffs had violent tendencies," Ila said, doing her best to joke around.

"I never knew Gryffindors could be terrified," Cedric fired back.

"I'm not terrified!" Ila said defensively.

Cedric smirked. "You're hands are shaking Ila."

She looked down to see that he was right. Why were they shaking? For merlin's sake, she defeated Voldem –

No, she can't mention him. Not right now. Not unless she wanted to throw up.

"Come here," Cedric said. Ila walked up to him, while she overheard Bagman's commentary. "Oh…that was a close call…Miss Delacour, I don't think that was a wise move…"

"Give me your hands," he said gently. She wanted to be confused but felt her brain would fry if she multitasked. Ila placed her hands in his.

"C'mon…yes…yes…no!" The crowd groaned, some even booed. Ila could hear how loud the roar of the dragon was.

"Relax Ila," Cedric said, trying to get her attention once more. "Focus on me, alright…breathe…"

For the next ten minutes, Ila followed the rise and the fall of his chest as he clamped his hands over hers to stop them from shaking. It was also then that she heard –

"AND SHE'S DONE IT!"

Ila looked behind her as if she could see the crowd who roared in celebration and applauded Fleur on her win. Ila thought she would come back, but when the canvas sheets moved, only a Ministry official called Krum for his turn. They were going in age order. She'd be the last one.

"Where did you go off to last night?" Cedric asked as the sound of the students rose in volume once more.

"You know this reminds me of my days back in the - "

"BAGMAN!"

"I went to the library – I was trying to get some more information to help with…y'know…" she said quietly, staring at their hands.

"Find anything useful?" She shook her head as she felt badge pin dig into her stomach. "I'm sure you'll figure something out, Ila."

"…Careful there…that will defiantly have some points taken off for you!"

"I don't know…there's not much I can do now," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Ila," Cedric said. ("Clever move…perhaps he'll get back in the good graces of the judges!") "You'll be fine out there. Ok? Trust me."

"But - "

Before she could speak, someone had interrupted her. "Now, for Mr Diggory!"

The Ministry official arrived once more, like the Reaper himself and waited for Cedric to come. He smiled at her before leaving the tent and Ila.

She stood in the middle of the room, hearing the crowd cheer, shouting his name aloud. She felt as if she was somewhere very far away from here…she could listen to the cheers of his name get quieter and quieter. The edge of her vision was starting to darken; she could only focus on what was in front of her. In front of her, in her hands, was the green badge. 'TAP TO DISTRACT!' The words flashed in her eyes. She watched it until it was her turn. Until she heard – "AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST MISS POTTER!"