"Remember that you know what you need to do. If you find you can't conjure the birds, move on to the next part of the plan. The dragon keepers are on standby if anything goes wrong, and I will be there as soon as I can if you need me," Severus said quietly as they walked down to the tent where the champions were supposed to gather while the rest of the school went to the small arena that had been built over the past week.
Rachel nodded. She was feeling vaguely sick. The day of the first task had finally arrived and she did not feel at all ready, though she supposed no one ever felt ready to face down a dragon.
"If you feel like you're panicking, try to take a couple of breaths. I'm confident that you can do this," Severus continued.
Rachel did not share that confidence but she nodded anyway. They were past the point where anyone could do anything about it.
"I will do whatever I can to help if the situation becomes out of control. If you need to retreat from the arena, do so," Severus said, coming to a stop a few paces away from the entrance to the tent. "Alright?"
"Yes," Rachel said, feeling at where she had her wand in her robe pocket. They'd been directed to wear their school uniforms today.
"Alright," Severus said. "Hopefully this will all be over with quickly. I'll see you directly after the task has ended."
"Okay," Rachel said. It seemed like Severus didn't want to leave. She supposed he was worried about this whole thing too. "I'll be okay."
"You will be," Severus agreed, nodding. "I suppose you should go on then."
"I'll see you soon," Rachel said, meeting his eyes but unable to force herself to smile. She turned away and walked into the tent, where she found Mr. Bagman, Mr. Crouch, and the other three champions waiting.
"Here we are, Rachel," Mr. Bagman said, smiling brightly.
Rachel nodded and went to go stand near Cedric. Cedric looked pale and grim, and Viktor and Fleur didn't look much better.
"Shall we explain the event?" Mr. Crouch asked.
"Yes, yes of course," Mr. Bagman said. "Now, first things first. Your task is to collect the golden egg, understood?"
They nodded. Of course they all knew what the task was, though if everything had gone correctly Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch didn't know that.
"Inside this bag is a model of what you'll be facing. Each of them has a number, indicating what order you'll go in," Mr. Bagman said, holding out a small purple silk bag. "Ladies first."
Fleur stepped forward and pulled out a small model of a green dragon with a number two around its neck. She nodded and stepped back.
"Rachel, come on over," Mr. Bagman said.
Rachel took a steadying breath and reached into the sack. She pulled out a model of a black dragon, with bronze horns on its head and bronze spikes on its tail. It had the number four around its neck. She felt a small flood of panic rush through her and managed to take a few steps back before she threw up on the ground.
"Oh dear," Mr. Bagman said.
"I'll manage her, you continue with the others," Mr. Crouch said. He used his wand to vanish the vomit and took Rachel's arm and guided her out of the tent. "Do you need a Stomach Soothing potion?"
Rachel shook her head. It wouldn't do any good now.
"What about anything else? Do you need help?" Mr. Crouch asked.
She had the brief urge to ask for Severus, but there wasn't really anything he could do. She had to go out there and face the dragon one way or another. "No," she said.
"What about a Calming draught?" Mr. Crouch asked. "It might help you clear your head before you enter the arena."
"No. I just want this to be over," Rachel said.
"It will be soon. It will go more quickly than you think. There are many ways you can approach this, the most important thing is that you don't panic," Mr. Crouch said. "Do you have any ideas about what you might do?"
"Maybe," Rachel settled on. It would be weird if she said she knew what she would since she supposedly just found out about the dragons a few minutes ago.
"Good. It's good that you're going last, it gives you some time to come up with a plan. If you try one thing and it doesn't work, regroup and try something else," Mr. Crouch said.
Rachel nodded.
"Do you feel well enough to return to the tent?" Mr. Crouch asked.
"Yes," Rachel said. At the very least she didn't think she'd throw up again.
"Let's return you then, Mr. Bagman and I will be leaving soon as we have to judge the task," Mr. Crouch said.
Rachel went back inside the tent.
"Doing alright now?" Mr. Bagman asked.
"I'm okay," Rachel said.
"Good, good. Well, we've got to be off. Remember, enter the arena when you hear a whistle, in order if you would," Mr. Bagman said. He and Mr. Crouch left, leaving the four champions alone.
"Are you okay, Rachel?" Cedric asked.
"Better than I was," Rachel said. She took another look at her dragon and quickly put it in her pocket. She didn't quite want to think about that yet.
"Good. Just do your best," Cedric said. "We'll be fine."
Rachel nodded. There came the sound of a whistle blowing.
"That's me then," Cedric said.
"Good luck. You can do it," Rachel said.
Cedric nodded and left the tent with a determined expression.
Rachel sank down so that she was sitting on the ground, watching as Fleur nervously paced. Viktor stood to the side, his expression dour.
This was it then. The first task.
Severus took his place in the section of the stands reserved for the staff and the judges and watched while the students filed into the stands. It had pained him to leave Rachel at the tent, but he wasn't allowed to wait in there with her. He could only hope that she would be alright.
"How is she, Severus?" Minerva asked as she sat down next to him.
"Nervous, understandably so," Severus said.
"Anyone who isn't nervous when approaching a dragon is a fool," Minerva said.
Severus nodded and looked into the arena where a bluish-grey dragon had been placed along with a number of dark grey eggs and a golden egg. He supposed that it did not matter which dragon Rachel faced, but he hoped that Rachel could at least go first and get it safely out of the way. It wouldn't do her any good to wait and worry. It wouldn't do him any good either.
Pomona and Filius joined them a few moments later.
"I saw Cedric to the tent. He seemed in good enough spirits, though I dare say I hope he keeps his head when he learns what he's to do," Pomona said.
"I'm sure he will, Cedric is very practical and quick on his feet," Filius said.
Severus nodded. By all standards Cedric was a model student. Out of all the students at Hogwarts he was likely the most well equipped to take place in the tournament. Severus only wished that they weren't pointlessly endangering their lives.
"Welcome everyone, to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament!" Bagman announced loudly. "Take your seats because we're about to begin with our first champion, Cedric Diggory!"
Minerva sighed and when Severus looked he saw that her lips were pressed together in a fine line.
Severus knew exactly how she felt.
A loud whistle blew and a few moments later Cedric Diggory entered the arena.
They watched as Cedric moved a little bit closer to the dragon and then knelt down on the ground.
"Let's see what tricks Mr. Diggory has up his sleeve," Bagman said.
They watched while Cedric worked and a few minutes later a large dog was standing beside Cedric, barking loudly.
"That's further than we are in class," Minerva said with a hint of pride in her voice.
The dragon became aware of the dog and lowered its head. Cedric hurried away, going toward the nest.
"Oh no," Pomona said.
"He's going for the eggs, but look out!" Bagman called.
The dragon turned its head away from the dog and opened its mouth, flames shooting out. Cedric grabbed the egg, even as he screamed.
"No!" Pomona cried loudly, standing up.
Severus watched as the dragon keepers hurried out to put out the flames and restrained the dragon. The smoke cleared, revealing Cedric pushing himself up.
"He's alright, he's on his feet," Filius said, patting Pomona's arm.
"There he is, Cedric Diggory with his egg! Mr. Diggory will have his injuries seen to and then the judges will announce his scores," Bagman said.
Severus shook his head. This tournament was a farce.
"At least he's alive," Minerva said quietly. "It went faster than I expected."
"That's probably a good thing," Severus said.
Cedric came back out of the Healer's tent a few minutes later, his arm and his shoulder bandaged and a thick application of Burn Paste on his face, with Poppy as his escort.
The judges gave the scores, with Albus and Crouch giving him an eight, Bagman and Maxime giving him a nine, and Karkaroff giving him a six.
It wasn't particularly surprising that Karkaroff was not being impartial, but it was a little obvious.
The second dragon was now in the arena, with a new set of eggs and a new golden egg. This dragon was green and Severus actually recognized it as a Common Welsh Green.
The whistle blew again and this time Fleur Delacour stepped into the arena.
"And here's Miss Fleur Delacour, all the way from Beauxbatons. Let's see what she can do!" Bagman called.
Severus sincerely hoped that Bagman wasn't going to be commentating at all of the tasks. There was only so much of this he could take.
Fleur stood in front of the dragon and began to move her wand back and forth. It was obvious that she was incanting, though they couldn't hear what she was saying from the stands.
The dragon's head began to droop, its eyes fluttering closed.
Despite himself, Severus was impressed. Enchanting a dragon to sleep was no easy feat.
Fleur finally stopped and hurried to where the nest of eggs was waiting. She froze as the dragon snorted, and a flame shot out from its mouth, hitting her. She quickly put the fire out with water from her wand and collected the golden egg, running back toward the tents when she was done.
"Well that's an unfortunate stroke of luck, but well done Miss Delacour," Bagman boomed.
The judges gave their scores again, with Albus and Bagman giving Fleur a nine, Maxime giving Fleur a ten, Crouch giving her an eight, and Karkaroff giving her a five. Maxime started speaking loudly in French, which Karkaroff ignored and Albus quickly began speaking back, his French sounding much calmer.
Severus sighed as the dragon keepers exchanged the dragons, this time bringing out a bright red dragon with a golden mane. The whistle blew again and this time Viktor Krum entered the arena.
"Mr. Viktor Krum from Durmstrang entering the arena. What will we see next?" Bagman announced.
Severus shook his head. That meant that Rachel had to go last. She was probably having an anxiety attack sitting all alone and waiting. He considered getting up and going to sit with her in the tent, but he was aware that it would look like he was giving her advice before she went out.
Viktor took the direct approach, drawing his wand and hitting the dragon in the eye with what looked like a Conjunctivitis Curse. Chaos immediately ensued as the dragon trampled around, flames issuing from its mouth.
"Oh, not the eggs, the judges won't like that," Bagman said loudly when the dragon smashed a few of the eggs.
"Foolish boy," Minerva said, shaking her head.
Viktor managed to get the golden egg and retreat without any injuries and the dragon keepers moved in and joined together to stun the dragon.
"Let's see what the judges have to say," Bagman said.
Albus, Crouch, and Maxime gave Viktor a seven, Bagman gave him an eight, and Karkaroff gave him a ten.
"Perhaps we should have gone with a panel of judges entirely unaffiliated with the schools," Filius said.
Severus couldn't disagree, but if they had there was a good chance he wouldn't have known what the tasks were in order to prepare Rachel.
Finally the last dragon was brought out. It was huge. Its scales were black and it had bronze spikes along its tail.
Severus drew his wand and prepared himself to vault down into the arena at the first sign that Rachel was in trouble. He wouldn't let her die. He couldn't.
Rachel got unsteadily to her feet when she heard the whistle that meant it was her turn to go into the arena. There was a part of her that was tempted to run from the tent and flee back to the castle, but she really didn't want to lose her magic.
She drew her wand and exited into the arena, trying to ignore how much her chest hurt. Her attention was immediately divided, first to the dragon that was waiting for her, and then to the crowd surrounding her in the stands. This was so much worse than Quidditch.
"Here's Rachel Snow, the Girl-Who-Lived! Let's see what she can do!" Mr. Bagman announced from somewhere in the stands.
After a moment of just trying to focus on breathing in and out, Rachel went as close as she dared - which was still a fair distance from the dragon - and held out her wand. "Accio golden egg!"
Nothing happened, which she and Severus had expected, but she would have felt stupid for not trying it in case it worked. Now onto the main plan. She'd finally managed to conjure some birds last night, and she hoped the spell still worked today.
"Facio larum," she said, pointing her wand skyward. She was immediately showered with feathers.
"Well that didn't seem to work," Mr. Bagman said loudly.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Rachel said to herself. She closed her eyes and tried again. "Facio larum!" This time a large seagull appeared and took off flying.
Rachel watched, seeing if the dragon was interested, but it didn't seem to notice. She conjured another bird, and then another. Finally there were ten birds circling nearby, but the dragon hadn't given any indication that it was interested in them.
Time to move on to the next part of her plan. "Odor remotionem," she said, tapping the end of her wand to the tip of her nose. She pulled her plait over her shoulder and sniffed it. Sure enough she couldn't smell the shampoo she'd used to wash her hair that morning.
And now for the more difficult part. She paused and concentrated, trying to feel her magic and put more power into the spell. "Eodem aspectu," she said, touching her wand to her chest. She checked out her arms and found that while she could tell a little bit when she moved them, she was mostly invisible.
"Why she's disappeared. That will be the Disillusionment charm," Mr. Bagman announced.
Rachel shook her head and considered the dragon. She still didn't want to approach it, even though it couldn't see her. It was massive, with black scales, red eyes, and bronze horns sticking out of its head. She had no doubt that it could swoop down and eat her in a single bite and there wouldn't be anything anyone could do about it.
Right now what she wanted didn't matter very much. She had to go get that egg. She began walking, making sure to step lightly even though Severus had said that dragons didn't rely a lot on hearing. Her heart was beating hard in her chest as she approached the dragon and she had the urge to throw up again. She couldn't do that right now, the dragon would definitely smell it.
Finally she reached the eggs. "Eodem aspectu," she said, grabbing onto the golden egg with one hand and tapping it with her wand with her other. The egg turned invisible and she picked it up.
"Look at that, the golden egg is gone too. She must have reached it," Mr. Bagman said, leading to the sound of cheers from some of the stands.
Rachel sighed and forced herself not to run as she backed away from the dragon eggs and walked back toward the tents. Finally she made it back to her starting place. "Finite incantatem," she said, first tapping herself, and then repeating the spell on the golden egg.
"And she's done it, she's got the golden egg! Well done!" Mr. Bagman called, followed by cheering from the stands. "Let's see what the judges have to say about that."
Rachel shivered as a breeze blew the nearby treetops and she realized how cold it was. If she'd been thinking more clearly this morning she would have brought her cloak.
Professor Dumbledore held up his wand and the number nine appeared above him. Mr. Bagman gave Rachel a ten, as did Mr. Crouch. Madame Maxime gave her a seven. Professor Karkaroff gave her a four.
Rachel puzzled over that for a moment before deciding that a Death Eater wasn't going to give her a good score regardless of how well she did. Besides, her score hardly mattered. What mattered was she made it through the first task alive and in one piece. Thank god.
"That puts Miss Fleur Delacour in first place, with Mr. Cedric Diggory and Miss Rachel Snow tied for second, and Mr. Viktor Krum in third place. Champions, if you'll please meet me back in the tent to receive your next instructions," Mr. Bagman announced.
Hopefully that meant they were actually telling them about the second task this time. Rachel went back into the tent and was soon joined by Viktor and Fleur. Cedric came in a few moments later and Rachel gasped.
"Cedric, you're hurt!" She hadn't realized any of them had been hurt.
"Just a burn, the bandages are just to keep the Burn Paste on," Cedric said, smiling despite the fact that half of his face was covered in an orange paste. "Madam Pomfrey says it won't even scar."
"But that had to hurt," Rachel said. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. It was more of a shock than anything and the flames went out pretty quickly," Cedric said.
Rachel wasn't entirely sure she believed him. She'd had plenty of small burns from cooking for the Dursleys and they always hurt.
"Here we are, here we are," Mr. Bagman said as he entered the tent. "Well done everyone! Now, onto business. The second task will take place on February 25th at half past nine, but you've got something to do in the meantime. You're all holding the clue for the second task, it's inside those eggs. Solve the clue and you'll know what the second task is. Any questions?"
Rachel examined the egg more closely and found that it had a small golden hinge on one side and a golden latch on the other.
"Well then, good luck and I'll see you all at the Yule Ball!" Mr. Bagman said cheerfully.
They left the tent as a group and found there were several people waiting for them. Professor Dumbledore was there, with Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout at his sides, with Professor Moody standing not far behind. Severus was there, with all of Rachel's study group standing nearby. The two upper year Hufflepuffs and the upper year Ravenclaw that Rachel had seen Cedric with before were here waiting for him. Professor Karkaroff was there, along with Viktor's friend, and Madame Maxime was standing with Fleur's little sister.
"We must address this now," Professor Karkaroff said, glancing at Severus before looking directly at Rachel. "I do not believe a fourteen year old student could have known those spells without help. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Rachel bit her lip as she thought quickly. She had to protect Severus. "My study group is rather advanced, we know a number of upper year spells," she said, aware that everyone was watching her.
"Such as?" Madame Maxime asked, moving to stand with Fleur.
Rachel glanced at Severus and he gave her a slight nod, clearly understanding what she was about to do. She closed her eyes and thought of Severus and her friends. "Expecto patronum!" When she opened her eyes her silvery doe was standing nearby.
"Look at that!" Mr. Bagman said, clapping his hands. "A Patronus at fourteen!"
"Very impressive," Mr. Crouch said.
"It is impressive for a young girl to do such magic, but it does not address the fact that she must have received help," Madame Maxime said firmly.
"I did receive help from my study group," Rachel said, turning to her friends.
Fortunately they all knew exactly what to do. Hermione and Theo each conjured a seagull, Ginny and Luna used the Disillusionment charm on themselves, and Neville and Millie each took a moment longer to cast the Patronus charm.
"Incredible!" Mr. Bagman said.
"Do you teach all your young students these spells?" Madame Maxime asked Professor Dumbledore.
"No, this is quite unusual, however Rachel's study group is always at the top of their classes. I'm impressed, but not surprised," Professor Dumbledore said.
"Miss Snow, it appears I owe you an apology. I have clearly underestimated you," Professor Karkaroff said.
"Thank you, sir," she said. Rachel thought back to her conversation with Severus when she'd first learned the Patronus charm and how he hadn't wanted her to show people. She thought it would have been better for her if Professor Karkaroff had continued to underestimate her.
"If that's everything?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
"It is," Professor Karkaroff said, walking away with his students following him.
Madame Maxime left as well, with Fleur and her little sister following, Gabrielle speaking quickly in French.
"I think some points are in order," Professor McGonagall said. "Twenty points to Hufflepuff for your advanced transfiguration, Mr. Diggory. Twenty points each to Miss Snow, Miss Granger, and Mr. Nott for your work in conjuration. Twenty points each to Mr. Longbottom and Miss Bulstrode for their corporeal Patronuses. And twenty points each to Miss Weasley and Miss Lovegood for their demonstration of an advanced charm."
"Yes, yes," Professor Sprout said. "Well done, all of you."
"Indeed, you all did very well," Professor Dumbledore said. "I'm proud of how you have represented Hogwarts. From here I'll leave you in the capable hands of your Head of Houses."
Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Moody left, followed by Professor Sprout, Cedric, and Cedric's friends.
"You did it!" Hermione said, wrapping her arms around Rachel. "You even conjured the birds!"
"Too bad the dragon didn't seem interested in them," Rachel said.
"Even so, you did very well," Severus said.
"You did. You should have seen yourself! One minute you're staring down the dragon, conjuring birds, and then you've disappeared and then the egg is gone too," Millie said, smiling broadly.
"You did much better than the others, your score should have been higher," Theo said.
"Professor Karkaroff is awful, he only gave you a four when he gave Viktor a ten," Neville said.
"He's very biased, I'm not sure why they allow representatives of the schools to be judges," Hermione said.
"It's tradition, Miss Granger, though perhaps not a very good one," Severus said. "Regardless of your score, you did well. Don't worry about it."
"I'm not," Rachel said, glad that was the truth. She didn't care what her score was, she just wanted everyone to make it through the tournament alive and safe. "What did everyone else do? How did Cedric get hurt?"
They made their way back up to the castle, her friends filling in the details of what had happened while the other champions had done the task. Rachel felt like she was able to really smile for the first time in weeks. It would be good to take a short break before worrying about the second task.
"Rachel, may I speak with you for a moment?" Severus asked as they approached his office.
"Okay," Rachel said, glancing at Theo and Millie.
"We'll wait for her here, unless you want to bring her back to the common room, sir," Theo said.
Severus nodded. "We will be brief."
Rachel followed him into his office, wondering if he was going to tell her about the second task already. She watched as he shut the door behind him.
"I just wanted to check that you were alright," Severus said. "That was undoubtedly a frightening experience."
"I'm really okay, though I wish Cedric hadn't been hurt," Rachel said.
"Yes, that was disconcerting to witness, but the dragon keepers responded very quickly in putting out the fire and it seems as though Mr. Diggory's injuries were minor," Severus said.
"Cedric said that Madam Pomfrey said there shouldn't be any scarring," Rachel recounted. "It wasn't so bad out there, once I got past the first part of it being scary. I kind of wish Mr. Bagman hadn't been commentating though. Do you think he'll do it at the other tasks too?"
"Unfortunately I believe he will be. Try to ignore him as best you can," Severus said. "I would also like to note that Rita Skeeter wasn't present today. Albus has barred her from the grounds given what she has said about you."
Rachel supposed that was a good thing. "She'll probably keep writing about me anyway. She seems to know about what's going on here at Hogwarts."
"Most likely. However, if you do see her on Hogwarts grounds, report that to a professor immediately," Severus said. "Your Housemates will likely be celebrating. Do you feel comfortable joining them? If not, you're welcome to stay here with me."
"I'll be okay, at least for a little bit. I want to try to get some homework done today, I'm a little bit behind," Rachel said.
"If you need an extension on an assignment let me know and I'll request that from the appropriate professor. They're supposed to allow you some leeway around the tasks. Don't push yourself, take a break if you need to," Severus said, still looking concerned.
"I'm okay," Rachel said again. "And I think I can get everything done on time."
"What did Bagman tell you about the second task?" Severus asked.
"The clue to the second task is inside the egg, it opens," Rachel said, showing him the latch. "It takes place on the morning of February 25th."
"We'll examine the egg more closely at a later time, after you've caught up with your classwork and have taken a break. That gives us three months to determine the task and prepare. You're certain you wish to return to the common room?" Severus asked.
"I'm sure, I want to change out of my uniform anyway," Rachel said. She could manage the common room, even if it was only for a short time.
"Alright. Please come to me if you wish to be somewhere more private and quiet," Severus said. "You comported yourself very well today."
"Thanks," Rachel said. "Only because you helped me."
"No, you did the work yourself, all I did was teach you the skills," Severus insisted. "And you handled the situation afterward well also. It was fortunate that your friends learned those spells along with you, something we may wish to keep in mind for the later tasks."
"That seems like a good idea. I'll see you for dinner tomorrow night if I don't see you before then?" Rachel asked. She'd gotten a little bit used to seeing Severus every night.
"That's fine, I'm sure I'll see you in the Great Hall for meals at least," Severus said.
"Okay, see you later," Rachel said, letting herself out of Severus' office.
"What did he want?" Theo asked when they were a little further down the corridor.
"Just to check on me and see what they said about the second task," Rachel said. "And to warn me they're probably throwing a party in the common room."
"That sounds about right. What did they say about the second task?" Millie asked.
"February 25th. The clue is in the egg," Rachel said.
"Three months," Theo said after a moment. "That gives us a better lead time for you to get prepared."
"Better than three weeks," Millie said, shaking her head. "Is the plan to go up to the study room to see the others after we drop by the common room?"
"Yeah, I've got homework to do," Rachel said.
"We should at least put in a brief appearance at the party, it would be appropriate," Theo said. "Or at the very least, I should."
"We can do that," Rachel said.
"Miss Rachel, I heard you tamed the dragon?" Curbin the Brave called from his frame as they passed.
Rachel turned back. "Hello Curbin. I wouldn't say I tamed it, but I got past it and got the egg," she said, holding up the golden egg so Curbin could see.
"Even better. The trouble with a tamed dragon is where to keep it," Curbin said, adjusting his silver shield.
"Try telling that to Hagrid," Millie said with a smile.
Curbin laughed. "Carry on, Miss Rachel."
"See you later, Curbin," Rachel said.
Theo said the password and opened the door to the common room, music and the chatter of people talking over the music spilled into the corridor.
Rachel braced herself and walked inside.
"There she is!" someone shouted, and people started cheering and yelling.
Rachel gritted her teeth. In some ways this was worse than facing the dragon.
She said thank you a number of times to people congratulating her and tried to stick close to Millie. Theo nodded to her and slipped away so he could go speak with the people he needed to put in appearances with.
"Rachel, come over here for a moment," Tracey called from where she was standing with the other prefects.
Rachel made her way over to the prefects, Millie at her side.
"You did great, you definitely deserved a higher score," Tracey said once they arrived.
"You were cheated," Cassius, the sixth year male prefect, said with a nod.
"Definitely," Sadie said. She was the seventh year female prefect. "Did they tell you about the next task?"
"It's on February 25th. The clue is in the egg," Rachel explained.
"Oh, open it, maybe we can help," Tristram said.
"I'm not sure if I'm allowed," Rachel said, glancing at Millie. She supposed the rules hadn't said she wasn't allowed to accept help from other students.
"Well, we won't tell anyone," Sadie said. "Besides, we saw you got a load of House points for doing well too."
"That was actually points to me, Millie, and Theo. Professor McGonagall liked our conjurations," Rachel said.
"Either way, well done. Sixty points in one shot is nothing to turn your nose up at," Cassius said. "Let's see what's in the egg."
Rachel shrugged and opened the egg. It was hollow, and fortunately it was empty because Rachel immediately dropped it when it started screeching loudly.
Millie managed to pick it up and shut the egg. The sound mercifully stopped as soon as the egg was closed.
"What the hell was that?" someone shouted.
"Sorry! Never mind, go back to what you were doing," Sadie called.
"Was it supposed to do that?" Millie asked, handing the egg back to Rachel.
"It definitely was," Tristram said, his eyes wide. "That was Mermish."
"Mermish?" Rachel asked.
"The language of the Merpeople. It only sounds like that above water. If you're underwater you can actually understand it," Tristram explained. "My dad and I did some diving and talked with some Merpeople in the South Pacific once."
"Thanks," Rachel said. "I guess the next step is listening to it underwater. Did you want me for anything else?"
"No, enjoy the party, it's a chance to celebrate," Sadie said. "Go get some food and a drink, I'm sure everyone wants to hear what it was like."
The last thing Rachel wanted to do was rehash facing the dragon over and over, but she nodded and stepped away. "I'm going to go put this egg away and change, I'll be right back," she told Millie.
"Okay, I'm going to keep an eye on Theo, I'll see you in a few minutes," Millie said.
Rachel made it halfway down the hallway with the girls dorms before she heard someone call her name. She turned and found Cassius hurrying up to her.
"Rachel. I had an idea. You can use the prefect's bathroom to listen to the egg, there's a large bath in there. It's on the fifth floor, the fourth door past the statue of Boris the Bewildered. The password this year is pine fresh," Cassius said.
Rachel abruptly felt very cold and like something had just hit her in the chest. "Okay, thanks," she managed to say.
"No problem. You did great out there," Cassius said, turning and walking away.
Rachel made it into her dorm room and next to her bed before she sank down onto the floor. She put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes, feeling her heart hammering in her chest and her lungs aching. She felt cold all over, like she'd just been doused in ice water, and she tasted something bitter in her mouth.
Why was she freaking out now? She'd just faced down a dragon and she'd been fine. But someone told her about the prefect's bathroom and she was having a breakdown?
She felt Midnight trying to climb onto her lap and tried to use her elbows to push her away. She didn't want to be touched right now, not even by a cat.
She wasn't sure what she wanted, other than to stop feeling sick and to not be freaking out.
Eventually she remembered what Torey had told her about counting her breaths. She began to count. Six in, and then eight out. Six in, and then eight out. Her chest still hurt, but it was helping a little bit.
"Oh no! Rachel, what happened?"
Rachel reluctantly uncovered her ears and opened her eyes and found Millie kneeling down next to her.
"Rachel, are you okay?" Millie asked, looking very worried.
"I'm okay," Rachel managed. And then she felt two tears running down her face as she blinked. She covered her face. She didn't want to be crying. She didn't even know why she was crying.
Millie put her hand on Rachel's back. "It's okay. Is this some sort of after reaction to the dragon? Like, you couldn't get upset then so you're upset now? I don't know, Hermione knows about these things."
Rachel shook her head. "The dragon was fine. It was scary, but it was fine. This is different."
"Did someone say something?" Millie asked.
Rachel bit down on her lip. She wasn't sure what to do. She didn't want to tell Millie, but she didn't know what to say either.
"We can go tell Professor Snape if someone is bothering you. Or Theo and I can deal with them. You just have to tell us who they are," Millie said.
"They didn't mean anything by it," Rachel said, rubbing at her eyes. She thought she had stopped the tears now.
"What did they say?" Millie asked.
"Cassius told me how to get into the prefect's bathroom, and what the password was, so I can listen to the egg," Rachel explained.
Millie was quiet for a moment. "I don't understand why that was upsetting. Did he say something else?"
"Leander, he took me to the prefect's bathroom, when…" Rachel trailed off, not sure how to finish her sentence.
"Oh," Millie said quietly. "I don't think Cassius meant it like that, unless, did he say he wanted you to go there with him?"
"No, he just told me where to find it," Rachel said.
"I get why that was scary though. I would have been upset too," Millie said. "Look, Midnight wants you, she knows you're sad."
Rachel lifted Midnight, who had been persistently pressing against her, and put her in her lap. "I just don't want to think about it."
"Yeah. I wouldn't either," Millie said, patting Rachel's back. "Do you want to stay here for a bit? We can't hear the common room in here. Or we could go be with our friends, if you want something to distract you?"
"Yeah, I need to go do homework," Rachel said. She didn't want to think about this anymore and she felt a little calmer now.
"You don't have to start on it right away, if you want a break," Millie said.
"No, I've got to get things done. I'd rather be in our study room anyway," Rachel said. She gave Midnight one last hug before putting her down and getting up. She decided against changing her clothes, she was fine to wear her uniform for the day, and began figuring out which books she needed.
"Okay. When you're ready we'll go find Theo and we'll go see the others. If you want we can get some food from the kitchens too. It's almost lunch time, that way we don't have to see the rest of the school," Millie offered.
"That sounds good," Rachel said. She didn't think she was up to seeing the rest of the school just yet.
Rachel, Millie, and Theo had just entered the third floor corridor on their way to their study room when they saw Professor Moody. He saw them just as quickly and walked over to them.
"Congratulations, you handled that well," Professor Moody said, fixing both of his eyes on Rachel.
"Thank you, sir," Rachel said, bracing herself for Professor Moody to tell her what she did wrong.
"Do the rest of your friends know the Disillusionment charm as well?" Professor Moody asked.
"We do, sir," Theo said.
"Good, that one is useful. Sometimes you can't fight an enemy directly. Being able to successfully disguise yourself or hide can be the difference between life and death," Professor Moody said. "There's an exercise we do with the aurors, where we have one of our strongest fighters draw enemy fire, and we have someone who is disillusioned take the enemy from behind. You might want to consider practicing that. That's not something I can teach in class at your level, but it's worth knowing when you're working as a team."
"Yes, sir," Rachel said. That did sound useful, if a little underhanded.
"Keep watching yourself. You have Karkaroff's attention now that he knows that you're capable. Expect the second task to be more dangerous than the first. You can come to me if you have concerns," Professor Moody said.
"Thank you, sir," Rachel said, knowing full well that she'd go to Severus if she had concerns.
"Go on with you then," Professor Moody said, walking away in the direction of the Defense office.
"How can it get more dangerous than dragons?" Millie asked.
"I guess we'll know soon enough," Theo said, turning to watch as Professor Moody disappeared around the corner. "I don't really like the idea of him knowing where our study room is."
"I think it's a little late now," Millie said as they continued on their way.
They entered their study room and found the rest of their friends already inside.
"Thanks, for helping me today with the judges," Rachel said as they settled in.
"No problem," Ginny said quickly.
"I'm just glad we were able to show them that we knew the same spells that you did, since that made it seem like we were working on them as a group," Hermione said. "We should probably do that for the other tasks, though I doubt they'll question you again."
"I feel bad that people keep congratulating me. I never could have done it if Professor Snape hadn't told me what to do," Rachel said.
"But you still did it," Millie said.
"Don't worry about it," Theo said. "I think we proved to the judges at least that we were your only source of help. And besides I'm sure that Viktor was getting help from Karkaroff, he almost admitted it the other day in the common room."
"I bet Fleur is getting help from Madame Maxime as well. There's no way she learned how to enchant a dragon on her own," Ginny said.
Rachel shrugged. "Which means Cedric was the only one not getting help. And he's the one who got hurt."
"I'm sure Cedric's friends are helping him, and he did well enough," Hermione said. "Well, that's one problem out of the way. I think we can assume that the first task was representative of the difficulty of the tasks in general, so I think as long as we have enough preparation time the remaining tasks should be doable."
"We have plenty of time, the second task isn't until February 25th. And we already have a pretty good lead on it," Rachel said.
"The egg speaks, well yells really, in Mermish when it's opened. We've got to put it underwater and listen to it to find out about the task," Millie explained.
"They told you all that?" Neville asked.
"No, the prefects convinced me to open the egg in the common room. Probably not a good idea, in hindsight, but Tristram told us it was in Mermish," Rachel said.
"I'd like to hear it at some point," Luna said. "I'd like to know Mermish."
"I'll bring it to the study room tomorrow," Rachel promised. At least now she knew to cover her ears when it was opened.
"I'm not sure where we'll submerge it into water. I don't think the showers will work and the sinks are too small. I suppose there's always the lake," Hermione said.
Rachel thought about it for a moment and decided it was probably the only way to listen to the egg privately. "I know the password to the prefect's bathroom. There's a bath in there we can listen to the egg in."
Millie turned to look at Rachel, her expression worried, but she didn't say anything.
"I suppose that's alright, as long as we don't get caught in there," Hermione said. "Shall we plan on doing it tomorrow morning, before your Quidditch practice?"
"Okay," Rachel said. She supposed it was best to get it out of the way before she spent too much time thinking about it. "I want to try and get caught up on homework this weekend."
"We can help with that," Neville said.
"And, I was thinking, maybe let's have lunch up here instead of going down into the Great Hall, it's probably going to be pretty chaotic today," Millie said.
"That's a good idea. Some of us can go get sandwiches and such once lunch has started," Ginny said.
"I'll go, I like to see the House Elves," Luna said.
"I'll come with you," Neville said.
"Thanks," Rachel said, knowing this was primarily for her benefit. She pulled out her planner and looked over the list of the assignments she had coming due in the next week. "Mostly I need to do the History of Magic essay, the Arithmancy problems, and the Ancient Runes translation. I can put off Charms and Potions until tomorrow."
"That's fine, we haven't done Charms or Potions yet either," Millie said.
"Let's start with Arithmancy, since that will go the quickest, and then we can do Ancient Runes after lunch, and then I can give you the main points for the History of Magic essay before dinner," Hermione suggested.
Rachel nodded. Time to get to work.