Bella woke in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, images of Cedric and Harry lying dead at her feet tainting her dreams. It took her a minute to realise she was, in fact, still in bed and that it had all been some awful nightmare. When she closed her eyes again, all of the horrible ways Cedric and Harry could be harmed in the tournament played in her head like some awful montage. By the time morning came, Bella was a mess. Her eyes were blood-shot and swollen, letting everyone know, without words, just how awful her night had truly been.

If Bella's night was bad, it was nothing compared to Harry. He stumbled down the spiral staircase into the common room and clutched his head in his hand when those in the common room broke into another round of applause.

"Are you okay?" Bella asked as she jumped up from her seat on the sofa and joined Harry at the bottom of the staircase.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry replied. "Just didn't sleep much."

Bella smiled softly at him in response.

"Are you coming?" Harry asked, nodding his head towards the portrait hole.

Bella nodded her head quickly and Harry held his head high as the pair of them crossed the common room and climbed through the portrait hole. Bella smiled softly to herself as she watched him walk as if nothing was bothering him. Every head turned to follow them through the corridors as they made their way to the Entrance Hall.

"Are we going in?" Bella asked, pointing to the Great Hall as they stepped off of the marble staircase.

"Why wouldn't we?" Harry asked.

"Um, doesn't matter." Bella said, linking her arm with Harry's and following the crowd into the Great Hall.

Most chatter in the Great Hall stopped when they entered and Bella felt Harry tense under her hand but he kept walking and sat down at the Gryffindor table where they usually sat. Ron sat a few seats down, with Fred and George, glaring hatefully at them.

"Is there a problem?" Bella asked, staring pointedly at him.

"Did you hear something?" Ron said, turning to Fred and George with a confused expression.

"Pathetic." Bella mumbled, turning away from him.

"He doesn't believe me." Harry said quietly.

"Harry, if I told Ron that two plus two equals four he would still argue with me just because he always wants to be right - and it doesn't even matter what he thinks or believes, I know you didn't do it, you know you didnt do it and so does everyone else. That's all you need to worry about." Bella said forcefully.

"He thinks I done it." Harry spat, nodding his head forward. Bella turned to see what he wanted her to see and directly across the hall from them, Draco sat at the Slytherin table, talking and laughing with his friends. "He thinks I did it for the 'fame' and the 'glory'. As if I don't get enough of that."

"Who honestly gives a damn what he thinks." Bella replied. "Don't let him get to you, or Ron, or anyone." ]

"That's easier said than done." Harry replied, picking at the plate of bacon in front of him. "Everyone thinks I put my name in the Goblet."

"Right, okay - some people think you put your name in the Goblet." Bella said, taking a sharp intake of breath. "But I don't, surely that means more than them?"

"Yeah, you're right." Harry said, smiling sheepishly at her.

"There's the Harry I know and love." Bella chuckled, nudging him with her arm.


Classes began the following day and no matter where they went in the castle, they found someone who had something to say about Harry and the Triwizard Tournament. By lunchtime Bella had already earned herself three weeks worth of detention from Professors McGonagall, Sprout and Flitwick.

"Bella, you really shouldn't have done that." Harry said pointedly as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. "Not for me, anyway."

"Oh, come on." Bella huffed. "They deserved it. No one says anything like that about my friend and gets away with it."

"You won't be saying that when you're stuck in detention." Harry replied.

"It's all worth it, my friend." Bella smiled. "All worth it."

After lunch, they were headed to Care of Magical Creatures. Out in the Entrance Hall, many people were milling around, waiting for their next classes to begin and Bella overheard a snippet of conversation from the Hufflepuff boys that Cedric was friends with.

"That Potter is a joke." One boy said.

"Dumbledore's the joke." Another replied. "Imagine actually letting a 14-year-old boy compete when he clearly stated we had to be 17."

"The old bat's always had a thing for Potter - he can do no wrong in the old man's eyes." Someone else added.

"I bet you wouldn't actually say any of this to Harry's face, would you?" Bella asked from behind them.

The three boys turned, startled, and glared at her when the realised who had spoken.

"Why don't you run along and play with your dolls." The first boy sneered. "Or whatever kids do these days."

Bella scoffed; "You think I'm a child and yet you're slandering a 14-year-old boy whose not even there to defend himself? That's pathetic."

"Who do you think you're talking to?" One boy growled.

"Um..." Bella looked around the Entrance Hall and back to the three boys stading in front of her. "I mean, I thought it was pretty obvious but I'll dumb it down for you. I was talking to you."

"You ought to watch your mouth -"

"Can you guys just back off a little?"

Bella looked over her shoulder and Cedric was standing a few steps behind her, staring over her head at his friends.

"Whatever." One boy said. "See you later, Ced."

"What did you do that for?" Bella asked angrily, turning around to look at Cedric.

"Tiny, come on. What was I supposed to do?" Cedric said.

"I can handle myself." Bella said firmly.

"I'm not saying you can't." Cedric said with a chuckle. "Just, maybe pick your battles next time, yeah?"

"Yeah, whatever." Bella grumbled under her breath with a pout on her lips that made Cedric chuckle.

"You'll be nice to him, won't you?" Bella asked.

"What?" Cedric asked, creasing his brow.

"Harry." Bella said. "You'll be nice to him, won't you? He didn't put his name in the Goblet -"

"I know." Cedric said, stopping her before she could go on. "He seemed as confused as everyone else when he came into the chamber last night."

"Finally. Someone else that's not extremely stupid." Bella replied.

Cedric laughed and Bella swatted his stomach with her hand.

"I'm being serious." Bella said. "Everyone in this school is so dim."

"For once, I agree with you." Cedric replied.

"Hey!" Bella cried.

Harry, Freya and Emily arrived at that very second, giving Cedric his escape. He wished Harry good luck in the tournament and bid his farewells to Bella before leaving them in the Entrance Hall.

"Come on, we've got Care of Magical Creatures now." Freya said, walking towards the double doors.

Harry groaned and both girls laughed, coaxing him out of the castle and down the hill to Hagrid's hut. Most of their class, the Gryffindors and the Slytherins, were standing on the grass in front of Hagrid's hut.

"Ah, look boys, it's the champion," Draco said smugly to Crabbe and Goyle as they passed him. "Got yout autograph books? Better get a signature now, because we don't know how long he's going to last... half the Triwizard Champions die! How long d'you think you'll last, Potter? I reckon you won't even make it ten minutes into the frist task."

"Shut up and go away." Bella said, pushing Harry further across the grass before he could say anything.

Hagrid arrived shortly after and announced, to the entire classes' horror that they would be taking their Blast-Ended Skrewts for a walk. Bella reluctantly left Harry and Freya to join Draco and their Blast-Ended Skrewt.

"Well I'm not doing it!" Draco cried when Bella tried to hand her the leash.

"Don't be such a girl." Bella replied, trying to wriggle the leash around the Skrewt's middle.

"I'm not being a girl." Draco scoffed.

"Then how come -" Bella huffed, holding her knee over the wriggling creature, "I'm the one trying to put a leash on this toilet brush while you sit there and complain. I thought you were supposed to be a man."

Draco spluttered, looking aghast at Bella's accusation; "Give me that!" he cried, ripping the leash from her hand and forcing it around the creatures middle.

"Finally." Bella said, standing to her feet and brushing the dirt from her knees.

"Let's get this over with." Draco grumbled.

Bella and Draco walked back up the hill towards the castle and off towards the Whomping Willow.

"What's going on with you and Weasley?" Draco asked after a few moments of silence.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked.

"You're not talking anymore." Draco said. "I seen you arguing this morning."

"He's just being stupid." Bella said nonchalantly. "He doesn't believe Harry that he didn't put his name in the Goblet."

"And you think he didn't?" Draco asked.

"I know he didn't." Bella said harshly.

"Whatever you say." Draco said dismissively.

"You don't believe me?" Bella asked.

"I never said I don't believe you." Draco said. "It's Potter I don't believe. He honestly expects us to think he didn't put his name in the Goblet? He's always getting away with things that none of us would."

Draco, please -" Bella scoffed. "he didn't put his name in that Goblet and I would bet my life on it. I know my best friend and he didn't do it."

"We can agree to disagree." Draco said. "I don't want to argue with you."

"You better be nice to him." Bella said pointedly, poking him in the arm.

"Me?" Draco said with a smirk. "I'm always nice."

"Yeah, and I'm really Dumbledore." Bella laughed.

"It's good to see you finally smiling." Draco said, smiling down at her.

"Thanks." Bella smiled back shyly.

Before either of them could say another word the creature at their feet let out a loud hiss and they both sprang apart with startled looks on their faces.

"Maybe we should get this thing back to Hagrid." Bella said.

"Yeah, let's go." Draco said.

They hurried back down the hill to Hagrid's hut and Draco only just managed to lift the Skrewt into the crate in which they lived before it managed to wriggle free from the leash and began to spit violently at them.

"Hagrid spoke to me." Harry told the girls on the way back to the castle after the lesson.

"What did he say?" Freya asked.

"He believes me - that I didn't put my name in the Goblet." Harry said.

"We knew he would!" Bella said enthusiastically.

"It feels good, knowing that someone else believes me. I mean, who could think I would actually want to enter my name in a deadly tournament?" Harry asked.

"I don't know." Freya replied.

"But at least you know Hagrid believes you." Bella said.

"Oh yeah, he's now one of three who believe me against the hundreds in the castle, including Durmstrang and Beauxbatons that don't believe me."

"Harry, you can't think like that." Bella said sternly. "You need to be preparing for the task, who knows what dastardly things they could have you doing?!"

"I think everyone would love it if I just died." Harry said.

"Oh, shut up, Harry." Freya said. "You'll be fine. You're Harry Potter for Merlin's sake."

"'Cause that's always helped me before." Harry grumbled.

Bella and Freya chuckled at his sour face and tried to cheer him up by pulling faces and with their hilariously bad jokes, earning a soft smile from the very rightly terrified boy.