The Second Task
Ila woke up to the entire left side of her body moving. Why was it moving? Ila didn't know. She didn't really want to know if she was going to be honest. But something told her that maybe it was a good idea to wake up. Opening her eyes, she was slowly met with the upside-down faces of Ginny, Dean and Seamus, as well as Lavender and Parvati.
"ARGH!"
Ila shot straight up, getting up from the chair…she had been in…the night before – she really did spend the night in the library. Oh. What was she turning into? Ila really hoped Ron and Hermione didn't see her…speaking of –
"What's going on? Why're you lot here?" Ila asked the group of concerned faces. "Where's Ron and Hermione?"
"There's no time to explain," Lavender said before Ila was pushed out of the library. She was forced out of the school and was making her way to the Black Lake involuntarily.
"Er – why're we here?"
"Merlin, don't you know what day it is?" Dean asked, before telling Lavender to hurry up. She gave up and grabbed Ila by the sleeve and pulled her instead. As they made their way up the hill, Ila could see the extensive collection of students waiting patiently in the February breeze.
Oh shit!
Not again.
"C'mon," Parvati urged and ran down the hill.
"But – but I haven't found a way. I only figured out what the clue was the day before yesterday!" Ila cried, getting closer to the crowd. Ila could see the Judges' panel on the edge of the pier with the rest of the Champions waiting patiently. "I can't even hold my breath for two minutes. I have a very small lung capacity."
"Just think about Ron pissing you," Ginny suggested, hurriedly pushing students out of the way to form a path. "You're pretty good at shouting then."
"Where even are they?"
"I know as much as you do," Ginny said. "I didn't see them at Breakfast."
"What? They only had a meeting with Dumbledore and McGonagall…unless Colin was lying and - "
"Ila!" she heard a voice call out. For a moment, she thought it was Draco. Looking behind her, it was only Neville. They had gotten to the pier when she was stopped. "Listen – I didn't know if you had a way to - "
"Please tell me you have something," Ila pleaded with him as the Judges ticked her off. Neville shifted as he patted his pockets down. In his cloak pocket, there was a bag of…seaweed.
Maybe not.
"Look, it's – it's not what you think," Neville said quickly, seeing the look on Ila's face. "It's Gillyweed. If you eat it, it's meant to help with breathing underwater."
Ila eyed the bag suspiciously as she took her shoes and cloak off, leaving just her uniform. "How did you get that? Unless you always carry a bag of seaweed in your pocket."
"Gillyweed and I…" Neville looked around before pulling her to the side, away from everyone else. "…Remember when Moody pulled me into his office after his lessons…he gave me this book about all sorts of plants. At the time, he was talking about how Gillyweed was the most interesting and thought I should look at it first. Obviously, I didn't think it was and I still don't. It's obviously - "
"Get to the point," Ila said through gritted teeth, seeing the Champions get into their starting positions.
"Anyway, I bumped into Moody again last night and he was asking me about it and I told him I haven't read about it and then he told me what the Second Task was going to be and just in case you haven't thought of it, he said to look at it as a precaution. You know just in case you haven't - "
"Moody told you?" Ila said before realising she didn't have the time to talk about the logistics how the Gillyweed came into Neville's position. She thanked him, planting a kiss on his cheek before snatching the bag and running to the rest of the of Champions, almost bumping into Cedric and falling into the water.
"Woah – you alright Ila?" Cedric said, holding her arms so that she didn't fall.
"No, no I'm not. This is the second time that I nearly missed the Task," Ila said, swallowing any bouts of fear before realising that she couldn't actually swallow. What was wrong with her throat? Her body can't give up on her now. How was she going to eat her Gillyweed?
"You're not the only one," Cedric said, "I only got here a few minutes ago. I'm pretty sure Fleur and Krum minutes before I did…don't worry."
Ila looked to the crowd behind her, which became much more raucous at the sight of all four Champions in their positions.
"Right, I think it might be time get started then," Fudge announced.
"What about Barty Crouch?" a ministry official asked him. "Shouldn't we wait for him?"
"Said he wasn't feeling up to it…poor sod's been locked in his house for weeks cos of this cold," Fudge said before walking to the Champions, all of whom looked slightly less afraid since the last time Ila had seen them. She took one more final glance at the crowd, hoping for a familiar face. There was, but not the one she was hoping for.
She tore her eyes away from his, listening to Fudge for what they were about to do. She was surprised that her friends weren't here. Ron might have forgotten, but Hermione? That was out of the question.
"Now, in case someone hasn't figured it out yet," Fudge started, for some reason looking at Ila, "the four of you will be heading into the Lake. Each of you has something down there that is precious to you that you must receive. Unlike last time, however, you do have a time limit of one hour. If you do not come back, you won't be disqualified, but you will lose points. You will also lose points if you do come back without your object. Is that clear?" Fudge asked, to which the four nodded. "Alright," he said, clapping his hands, "now, Krum and Ila won the first Task, so they'll be getting a head start with this one. I'll give you a minute before you two can join."
Fudge walked away, towards the crowd, pointing his wand to his throat.
"WELCOME TO THE SECOND TASK OF THE TOURNAMENT!" The crowd screamed in excitement. Ila could see stands above the water where students were standing trying to get a better view of everything. "NOW I'VE JUST EXPLAINED THE RULES TO THE FOUR CHAMPIONS. I DON'T THINK I'M FORGETTING ANYTHING SO….LET'S BEGIN," Fudge said, before walking back to the champions, leaving the restless students. "WITH ILA AND KRUM WINNING THE LAST TASK, THEY WILL GO FIRST." Fleur and Cedric stepped back, letting Ila and Krum take their places at the edge of the pier.
Ila quickly took a piece of Gillyweed and shoved it down her throat. It was a struggle, to say the least, to get it down her throat. It was so slimy, it just wouldn't go down no matter how hard she tried until she bit the bullet and swallowed as hard as she could, almost choking on the thing. But it went down. Her hands and feet were starting to feel sticky. She looked down to see her hands were webbed. She stretched them out, seeing the skin that stuck her fingers together stretch and get bigger too.
What the fuck did Neville give her?
"THREE…" The crowd and Fudge shouted.
She began to cough. It felt like she couldn't breathe. Her neck was starting to itch as well. It felt…it felt…Ila touched the side of her neck only to still momentarily.
"TWO…"
Three incisions were made on each side of her neck. She thought – actually scratch that, she knew she was going to be sick.
"ONE!"
The sound of the whistle pierced her ears. Ila plunged herself into the Lake, the water taking a hold of her. For the first time, she suddenly felt like she was able to breathe. Everything slowed down; she was able to see bubbles periodically drift to the surface but that was as much as she could see down here. She could make out the black, vague outlines of pondweeds, travelling all the way down to the bottom. She needed to get going before Cedric and Fleur jump in. She pushed herself, finding it easy to glide through the water. She looked behind. Her feet were starting to merge.
Nope, that was a horrible mistake.
Using her hands, she swam further along the Lake and deeper into the water. Long pondweeds tangled with each other, moving with the ripples that Ila was making. She wasn't sure what exactly she was trying to find exactly. All that Fudge had said was it was precious to her.
Unless they actually took her fucking fire –
Ila's head swivelled around. Everything was still. Ila was sure that she heard a noise. Unless it was coming above. Ila quickly swam up, momentarily coming up to see that she had no idea where she was. Ila couldn't even see the pier from where she was, nor the castle. She sank beneath the water once more, pushing herself deeper than before. There was a clump of pondweed that she would have to go through. Using her hands to untangle the weeds before releasing that it was better to use her hand to cut through some of them, she found something tugging at her feet. It was probably her mind.
There it was again.
It was pulling harder. Ila kept swimming, shaking her feet until –
"ARGH!"
Ila was dragged hard, down to the bottom of the Lake. Ila finally looked down to see there was some sort of creature – it was small, with prickly skin. Its mouth was currently clinging onto her feet. "Fucking grindylows!" Ila cursed. She tried shaking it off again, but it seemed that her cursing might have attracted a few more than what she wanted. A herd of grindylows were swimming towards, all with ravenous smirks. She grabbed her hand, before yelling – "Stupefy!" A bolt of red emitted from her hand, hitting the grindylow at her foot. It screamed, floating away from her. Several red jets flew towards the herd as Ila swam further through the pondweeds, hoping she would lose track of them. It mostly did. Apart from one.
It zig-zagged through the tangled weeds, dodging the fallen grindylows, aiming straight at Ila.
"Stupefy!" Ila yelled, the bolt of red missing it by a few inches. It seemed to get even more excited having survived and was getting hungrier. "Expelliarmus!" Ila yelled before realising that it didn't even have a wand. "Fuck!" It was swimming closer and closer. Ila tried her best, but now she was getting tangled with the weeds. A few pond weeds wrapped around her feet. She was starting to struggle to breathe. There were weeds that were blocking her gills. It smiled wider at the sight of her struggle. "C'mon, c'mon!" Ila pushed her legs, trying to get them to work. She was kicking and pulling the weeds in front of her to pull her out of the tangle. Her wand now in her mouth, she was using both hands to pull herself out of the knot that she had formed. It felt like it was no use. Every time she moved; she was tangling herself even more. Not to mention, there was a bloodthirsty grindylow that was going to drag her away if she did do anything soon.
She needed something to pull her away…Ila quickly grabbed her wand pointing it at the grindylow that was just about to bite her toes off when she yelled "AQUA ERECTO!" A powerful jet of water burst from her wand, pushing the grindylow away from her while giving her enough force to be pushed out of the pondweeds, and into a clearing. While she wanted to float and relax, she had a task to finish. Somehow, it wasn't getting away from the grindylows. She turned around, only to see four people. Unconscious. Chained up. Cho, Ron, Hermione, and some little girl that looked strangely like Fleur. That was what he meant. But – which one?
A slight feeling of guilt washed over her as she swam to her unconscious friends. They were unconscious so it wasn't like they would actually know…Maybe she should figure who the others are for first. The little girl mostly like would be Fleur's…Cho would be Cedric's, Ila thought annoyed. That left her and Krum.
Maybe she should start with Ron first. Something was telling her that maybe Ron wasn't the person Krum cared for that much. She looked at the chains, trying to figure out how to break them away. "Bombarda!" The chains exploded into tiny pieces. Ila quickly caught Ron before he was going to fall to the end of a very deep lake
"What the fuck happened to you?" Ila said, watching Krum, whose head had now been replaced with a shark's head, swim to her. He didn't respond, pointing to his mouth before making his way to Hermione. He used his wand, a puff of smoke, which Ila wasn't sure how that was possible, covered her chains. Ila didn't pay attention to him after that and began swimming back, this time keeping close to the surface. Not only did she not want to get attacked by the Grindylows again, this time with an unconscious Ron, but she was starting to find the effects of the Gillyweed wearing away. It was starting to get harder to swim. But she was close. Popping her head up, she could see the pier getting closer. Dragging Ron, she pushed and pushed past the water. She looked up again to see that Krum hadn't reached the pier yet, neither did Cedric. Strangely, only Fleur was there. But…her sister wasn't anywhere near….
"Mmmm – what's - "
Ron was overtaken by a fit of coughs as he tried to take a deep breath through his nose and mouth. Ila pulled them up to the surface. Treading water, Ila patted him on the back, making sure that he was alright. He groaned as his fits of coughing were less frequent. "What happened? Why the fuck are we in water?"
"The Second Task," Ila said, eyeing the pier. She still couldn't see the boys. "We had to get something that was precious to us back as before the hour finishes."
Ila could see Ron smile slightly. "Am I your precious - "
She violently splashed Ron with water before he could finish his sentence. "Listen, I think Krum and Cedric have gotten theirs – but Fleurs up there. She has her little sister down there; I don't think she's going to get her."
"What're you saying?"
"We can't leave there," Ila said. "She's basically a child. Who knows what could happen down there?"
"But – but - " Ila could see Ron struggling to choose which option he wanted. "Who were the other people down there."
"Well, Cedric had Cho's and Krum's was…Hermione," Ila said, watching his reaction. There wasn't much but the twitch of a brow.
"Alright," Ron said sternly, "let's get her."
The two with a sudden burst of determination swam down to the bottom of the Lake.
Only for Ron to give up after a few seconds, realising that he couldn't hold his breath for more than two seconds.
"Ron!" Ila yelled as she watched him swim back to the surface. Rolling her eyes, Ila pushed further, going back to where everyone was. Cho wasn't there, only leaving Fleur's sister. At this point, Ila knew that she'd probably be last. But she wasn't just going to leave some eleven year old in the middle of the Black Lake. Especially where they were strange merpeople surrounding the girl. "OI!"
The merpeople turned around, something Ila wished didn't happen. This was like the grindylows all over again. "Leave her alone." Ila swam closer, using her wand as some sort of weapon, waving it threateningly to all of them. As she turned around, a large mer…man…was floating next to Fleur's sister, his arms akimbo. A stern look, the same look Aadit had whenever he was going to tell Ishani off.
"I won't hesitate to use this," Ila said, pointing her wand in his face, though something told her that he already knew what it was. The merman raised a brow, daring her to use it. Ila looked around to see that she was surrounded by what seemed the entire clan…merlin she never knew merpeople lived here. What exactly were the Founders thinking, placing a castle full of students next to a bunch of murderous people…
"Leave us alone," Ila said, hoping they didn't hear her voice wobble. Fortunately for Ila, the merpeople hadn't understood a word that she was saying. They thought she was a random student, trying to interfere with the Task. Which was why Ila suddenly heard loud…gibberish. One of the merpeople was shouting, at least she thought they were shouting at the head merman, waving his fist all round. This caused all the other merpeople to shout as well. Ila wasn't sure if they were defending the head of their clan or they were backing up the angry merman but what she did know was that they were all distracted.
As the merpeople looked like they were ready to start fighting with one another (they were lying down, their tails pointing at each other), Ila took the opportunity to break the chains, catching Fleur's sister and swam as hard as she could. She was pretty deep, and she was very aware that she couldn't breathe underwater anymore. She looked down at her feet to see they were now two separate limbs. Come on, push harder, she thought. Ila could see the refracting of the light dancing on the surface. She was close. Her lungs were burning. They were on fire. She needed to take a deep breath in the next few seconds or otherwise, she was going to be stuck down there for the rest of –
Shut up, Ila!
Ila's used her left arm to push the water away, trying her best to push herself back to the world. There was a black vignette, getting closer to the centre. She couldn't hold her breath anymore. She was going…she was…she was going to….
Ila broke through the surface, gulping breaths of clean air, her chest shuddering at the movement. Her arms were still thrashing around, pushing herself under the water again. She swallowed, what she assumed to be the Giant Squid's piss before coming back to the surface.
"Took you long enough…what happened?" Ron said before realising that Ila was dangerously pale, a feat that wasn't possible for someone like her. He quickly swam to her side, taking Fleur's sister by the arm, giving her a break to take some deep breathes.
"I…these mer…I think…ugh, I'm so done with this stupid tournament," Ila grumbled through breaths, her chest still hurting from having to hold her breath for that long. "I still can't believe there was a time where you thought I actually wanted to do this." Ila took another deep sigh before taking one of Fleur's sister's arms.
"I apologised, didn't I?" Ron muttered, the two swimming back. "What…er – why did you have…gills?"
"Neville," Ila said as if that was enough of an answer. By the time the pier wasn't a blur, and she could hear the roars of the crowd, her legs her burning, her lungs were filled with the water and most likely the piss of the Giant Squid and she was last.
"Nearly spending two hours in the Lake, it's safe to say that Ila Potter will be last in today's Task," Fudge commentated. No need to rub it in. When they reached the pier, they were immediately pulled up by various people, no one of which Ila recognised. She tried to stand up, pushing the hands away only to feel like a jelly legs curse hit her. She crumpled to the floor.
"Come on, let's get you up," Madam Pomfrey said, and with strength, Ila thought she wasn't capable of, pulled her up to her feet and walked under the marquee. Hermione and the rest of the champions were there. Ila was met with a bone-crushing hug from Hermione, who wrapped her towel around there.
"Oh, I thought someone had happened to you…I thought…I thought you and Ron - "
"We're fine Mione," Ila breathed, as she watched Fleur and her sister embrace.
"Daphne!" Just behind them, she could see another pair of siblings' hugs, though it wasn't as wholesome.
"You shouldn't have listened to her Ron – you should have just swum back yourself - "
"Ge'off!" Ron growled, pushing Percy a bit too hard, making him fall into the Lake. Ron hobbled to where the girls were. Hermione let go of Ila, and hugged Ron, causing him to fall in the water nearly.
"Calm down Mione," Ron smiled, hugging her back. "We're not dead…yet."
"Don't say that Ron," Hermione said sadly, looking up at him before resting her head on his chest. Ila could see the remorse on his face.
"Sorry," Ron whispered in her hair, holding her tightly. From the corner of her eye, Ila could see Viktor – who looked much less shark-like, scowl at the two.
"Herm – ninny!" Viktor strutted up to the two. Hermione pretended to ignore him for a few more seconds before letting Ron go and walking back with Viktor.
"WITH RESULTS IN," Fudge said, tension filling the air, though Ila didn't know why considering she already knew she had lost, "IN FIRST PLACE IS VIKTOR KRUM!"
The crowd cheered, chanting "KRUM! KRUM! KRUM!"
"IN SECOND PLACE IS CEDRIC DIGGORY!"
The Hufflepuffs were deafening. Cedric waved at them, blushing a deep red with Cho smiling and clapping along. Ila could literally throw up right now. "IN THIRD PLACE IS ILA POTTER AND IN FOURTH PLACE, HAVING TO PULL OUT IS FLEUR DELACOUR!"
Ila was surprised to hear the crowd silent. She was about to stand up and say something before she saw what was stopping them from celebrating. Dumbledore was at the edge of the pier. He was talking to the merpeople. Ila couldn't help but walk up by his side just in case she needed to defend herself.
"Sir, whatever they're saying isn't true! Don't believe it. They're practically crazy – you know they were going to fight each other with their tails!" Ila exclaimed desperately.
The head of the mer-clan tipped his head at her before diving back into the Lake, with the rest of his clan following him, singing a melodic echo.
"Do you mean to tell me that I shouldn't believe that they saw you first?" Dumbledore said, turning around. "And do you mean to tell me that I shouldn't believe them in you saving Miss Delacour's sister?"
"Wha – oh…yeah, no that – that all happened, just forget everything that I said…apart from the fishtail fighting, you might want to ask them about…that," Ila finished lamely, scurrying away from him, back to her seat.
"What happened?" Ron whispered as they watched Fudge and Dumbeldore, as well as the other two judges talk.
"Basically, I met these merpeople when I was trying to get Fleur's sister and they just told Dumbledore that actually, I was the first person to reach you and that I saved her…"
They heard a snort from behind her. Ron and Ila turned around. Krum was sitting there, smiling to himself, next to an annoyed Hermione who hated not knowing what was going on.
"What're you smiling for?" Hermione asked.
"Your friend wasted her time!"
"What do you mean her friend wasted her time?" Ila said.
Krum rolled his eyes. "I mean that you didn't need to save her…Did you really think that all the judges vould have let a young girl stay in the Lake…vhat do you think the…the – er – vhat you say…mediwizards are here for," he said, pointing to the other side of the pier where there a bunch of bored-looking mediwizards.
Hmmm….
You know what…now that Ila thought about it…that did make sense….hmmm…
"Right, right, right…" Ila said as she pondered the thought a bit more, making faces of someone that was thinking hard about making a decision. "Yeah…well, I suppose that makes sense…" Ila chuckled, throwing her hands in the air. "You learn something new every day don't you?"
Ron didn't return her smile. "You are such a fucking idiot!"
"Idiot?" Ila said dramatically. "Says the one that wanted to save her in the first place but couldn't even hold his breath for two seconds!"
"You should've realised that they wouldn't have left her in the Black Lake!" Ron said, pointing his finger at her.
"Well, maybe you should have realised first!" Ila cried.
"IN LIGHT OF SOME…IN LIGHT OF SOME NEW INFORMATION, IT SEEMS WE MIGHT HAVE TO MOVE SOME OF THE PLACINGS AROUND. IT SEEMS THAT ILA POTTER HAD ACTUALLY REACHED HER BELONGING FIRST BUT – PERHAPS IT WAS THE GRYFFINDOR IN HER THAT WENT BACK TO SAVE FLEUR DELACOUR'S BELONGING."
The crowd was silent as Fudge waited for the Judges to make their final deliberation. Ila could hear the furious whispered of Madame Maxime, Dumbledore's calming words and Karakoff's…anger…Fudge leaned in, asking for their final opinions.
"WHILE SHE DIDN'T MAKE IT BACK IN THE ALLOCATED TIME, IT WAS PROVEN THAT SHE WAS THE FIRST ONE AND IN WONDERFUL SPORTSMANSHIP THAT WAS ACTUALLY RATHER UNNECESSARY, ILA POTTER IS NO LONGER IN THIRD PLACE BUT NOW IN SECOND PLACE!" Any annoyance Ron held for Ila disappeared as he picked her up, yelling in celebration along with the rest of the students.
"AND, THERE HAS BEEN INFORMATION THAT A CERTAIN CHAMPION HAD ACTUALLY CHEATED…BECAUSE OF THIS, CEDRIC DIGGORY WILL NOW BE IN FIRST PLACE, ILA POTTER IN SECOND, FLEUR DELACOUR IN THIRD AND VIKTOR KRUM IN FOURTH PLACE! THAT IS IT FOR THE SECOND. A LARGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR OUR CHAMPIONS, YET AGAIN PUTTING ALL THEIR EFFORT INTO THESE ARDUOUS TASKS! YOU ALL WANT TO GET RESTED UP FOR OUR FINAL TASK IN JUNE! WELL, DONE TO EVERYONE!"
Ron and Ila, the mature fourteen-year-olds they were, gave Krum the finger, wiping the smile off his face. Unfortunately for Ila, her smile would also be wiped off. Seeing the bravery deep inside Ron, Fleur felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for him, planting a big fat kiss on the side of his cheek as he was holding up Ila. Ron was so startled; he had dropped Ila to the floor, not giving her a second notice as he took his seat. He was speechless before uttering the words –
"I'M NEVER WASHING THIS CHEEK AGAIN!"
"Oh, will he ever get a hold of himself?" Hermione asked Ila as they walked back to the castle. The two looked behind to see Ron telling the story about what happened to Dean and Seamus over and over and over and –
"I thought you died," Neville said rather seriously. Even in his skin, he looked rather pale. "I thought I had gotten the wrong plant. I thought Moody - "
"I'm fine Neville," Ila said, placing a hand on the shaking Neville. "I'm alive. I'm touching you aren't I?"
"Moody helped you?" Hermione asked. Ila patted her wet pockets, finding them empty. Ila glanced at the pier, seeing someone standing there, staring out at the Lake.
"Er – you guys go ahead, I – er, I forgot my wand," Ila said and walked away before Hermione could say anything else. It was much quieter now, without the raucous crowd cheering the four champions on. She looked out to the river stretching ahead of her. A grey haze was floating above the river, making it hard to see very far. She could only make out the outlines of parts of the castle. She never realised how peaceful some of the places at Hogwarts could be.
Draco turned at the sound of Ila's heavy footsteps. A permanent line etched in his forehead gave away his true feelings. His blank expression could only go so far.
"Are you looking for something?" he asked, holding her wand out. Ila didn't immediately get it. There was something more important than her wand.
Well, only slightly more important.
"I wasn't actually going to come," Draco said when he saw her open her mouth. Ila decided to let him speak. "I was still….I was still pissed off at you…but something told me that I should go…just in case."
"In case of what?" Ila asked, observing him. He looked to the right, staring at the castle. Most of the students were inside right now. The two were alone once again. He sighed before taking a few steps closer to her. Ila let him be close.
It was warmer that way.
"I thought you were gone," he said, staring at his feet. "I thought you weren't going to come back. I thought Dumbledore and his lot would have to start trying to find you…"
"Well…they didn't," Ila said weakly.
"How did you even stay underwater for that long?" he asked, looking up at her. His eyes were watering.
"Gillyweed."
He stayed silent for a moment. Both were unsure what he was going to say.
"I was actually going to tell you that you know," Draco said, smiling slightly. "If only we didn't argue, you could've found out earlier."
Ila couldn't help but smile, glad that he didn't seem too angry. It was much easier.
"You said you were pissed," Ila said quietly. "What happened?"
Draco shrugged, looking back down. "Thought you were going to die?... What's the point in keeping a grudge against dead people?"
Ila snorted. "Tell that to the rest of your house."
Draco stared at her once more. He wasn't smiling. Hermione's words from their last conversation in the library sprang to her mind. Malfoy realised the harm that the Dark has done. "I was a prick," Ila said, swallowing down her pride. "I – I should have realised how hard it must have been just to tell all those things during the Yule Ball. I should never have pushed you into telling me anything else. You – Listen…I want you to know" – Ila looked up, knowing that it has to be genuine. It is genuine. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry for not believing you about the whole…working for Him and…I'm sorry that I pushed you when you weren't ready….I get it now…you – you can't blame yourself Draco."
"Yeah," he said hoarsely, sniffing hard.
"I mean…it's harder than it sounds but…blaming yourself for other people's actions isn't going to help…it'll just make everything worse…and you'll get stuck in the past and…"
"Sounds like you're talking from experience," Draco said, chuckling nervously, wiping his nose.
If someone had told her first, second or third-year self about how, "In just a few years, you'll apologise to Malfoy, all in your own volition," she was sure her younger self would have just stared at them.
Before shouting at them, telling them what the hell was wrong with them.
Ila could hear that voice right now. That high pitched, a squeaky voice telling her what the actual fuck was wrong with her. But as Malfoy stared at her, his façade was beginning to melt and she could see just how much he valued her apology, the quieter the voice became until it was silent in her head. She didn't think of anything when he looked at her.
"Yeah, you were a prick," he said quietly, unsure of what to think. "But I guess I deserved it – after all, I was the one who bullied you and your friends…I'll take it as getting your own back…but…I'm also – I'm also sorry, Ila. For everything. For the way, I treated you the last few years, the way my friends treated you and I just let them. The way my parents did. The fact that they just blindly follow the man that…practically destroyed your life and I can't do anything about it" – his voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for everything."
If someone had told her younger self that in a few years Malfoy would apologise for the way he treated you and your friends, she would have laughed in their face before telling you that, Malfoy apologising would only happen when Basilisks could see.
Ila was pretty sure she would have heard from Hermione or Hagrid about the first seeing Basilisk.
"Did you really not know about Fleur's sister?" Draco asked, smiling, breaking the tension.
"Oh fuck off," Ila groaned. "I already had it from Ron and Krum – I don't need it from you either…can I have my wand back?"
Draco took it out of his pocket. Ila made a move to grab it, but he snatched it away in the last second.
"Magic words?" he said teasingly.
"Draco Malfoy's the biggest prick I've ever met?" Ila tried.
"Wrong answer," he said, walking away from her. "You can't get it back now."
"Wait what? It was just a joke," Ila said, trying to grab the wand from his hand. He dodged every move, which only happened because Ila was freezing cold. He held the wand above his head, which was a complete prick move considering he knew that Ila was vertically challenged.
"Give it back Malfoy!" Ila threatened, doing her best to balance on her toes. Because she was so cold, her toes went numb quickly. She grabbed onto his shoulders, while an arm snaked around her waist. They two had been in that position a few times before. There was something different this time.
Maybe he could be there for her, Draco thought.
Was he always this warm? Ila thought. She wasn't sure if it was because she was freezing cold or something else that was telling her that she should stay there. Just for a few more seconds. Draco's arm lowered. He wanted to hold her tighter. Her toes were probably hurting from standing up like that. But just as he was about to grab her waist, Ila snatched her wand from his hand.
"Ha, ha bitch!" Ila threw up two fingers at him before running away, heading towards the castle.
"This isn't over! I need you to help me!" Draco shouted after her. "Don't get sick!"
"I'm Ila Potter," Ila said, running backwards. "I'm fucking invinci - "
THUMP!
Ila had tripped over her cloak.