When Lyla woke up the next morning she was wearing the same clothes as the night before, minus the sweater and one sock. Her leg was hanging off the bed she was sharing with her sister and she was drooling into her hair. She tried to open her eyes to the sunlit room as her brain pounded against the back of her eyeballs but she had left her eyeliner on all night and they were incredibly itchy and felt like they were on fire. Alicia had noticed her stirring, however, and instantly sat up in bed beside Lyla and shook her into semi-consciousness.
"Lyla!" Alicia whispered, nudging her in the arm. "You got home late! Where were you? Are you coming to the First Task today? I'm sure Dumbledore will be alright with you starting work tomorrow!"
"Ugggggg" Lyla moaned, rubbing her temples. "Pixie, I love you, but right now I can't answer that many questions." She sat up slowly
"Are you...hungover?" Alicia asked uncertainly.
"Yes, little one" Lyla replied, patting her sister on the back. "Yes. One day...you will understand. I have to go see Professor Snape. I'll meet you down at breakfast." She kissed her sisters head slowly and struggled to get out of bed.
She didn't clean her face, put her sweater back on or put her shoes on. She just walked as quickly as she could to the Dungeons before the rest of Hogwarts began to stir and come down for breakfast. When she was just about to turn down the staircase to the dungeons she caught something strange out of the corner of her eye.
"Friar?" she said warily as she approached the figure
"Yes?" he replied jovially, turning to face her. When he saw her his face froze comically. "I-I'm cured!" he exclaimed, waving his arms and shaking his robes at her.
Lyla narrowed her stinging eyes at his edges "You don't even have Mist Rot!"
"Nope!" he said nervously, still smiling. "All better. What's that Nick?" he cupped his hand around his ear as though listening to someone far off. "Coming!" And with that he floated quickly through a wall.
"Urggg!" Lyla groaned as she continued down to the dungeons, this mini mystery making her head pound even more. When she reached the door of Professor Snape's office she rapped her knuckles against it softly. Without an answer she tried knocking again.
Snape opened the door and pursed his lips when he took in her appearance. "Miss Murphy" he looked her up and down and drawled, sarcastically, "lovely." He turned into his office leaving the door open for her to follow as he began rummaging through his glass bottles. He returned to her with a small tin of Burning Bitterroot Balm and two small vials of Invigoration Draught. "Rub this on your temples" he said, holding up the balm, "and drink this with a large breakfast." He put the potions in her cupped hands.
"Thank you so much, Professor." she said genuinely, then smiled and narrowed her eyes at him. "You're a lot nicer than you were in school."
He scowled at her and began closing the door; forcing her out. "Give the other vial to that Weasley of yours." The door snapped shut.
Lyla moved so fast that when she arrived back in her sister's dormitory at Ravenclaw Tower before they had gone down to breakfast.
"We'll wait for you!" Alicia yelled in her sister's ear before bounding down the stairs to the common room.
"Little bugger" Lyla murmured to herself as she clutched her head.
After a quick but thorough shower Lyla massaged the Bitterroot into her temples and felt its soothing effects, paired with the calming steam from her shower, work instantly on her headache. She put on a white bra under a white lace bralette and slipped into a pair of floral leggings with a white background and an array of brightly colored peonies and tea roses. While she slipped into the same leather boots she was wearing last night she slid into a western style Chambray shirt that she buttoned up to right below her bralette. When she was finished weaving her damp hair into a loose french braid she dug out a pair of dark, round, turtle shell sunglasses, slipped them over her eyes and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
She plopped down next to her brother who was sitting with Alicia at the Ravenclaw table and piled her plate with greasy breakfast meats and toasts covered in jam. After eating a slice with strawberry jam and two sausage links she popped the stopper out of the Invigorating Draught and swallowed it in one gulp.
"So!" Alicia squealed finally after giving her sister time to settle in. "Who was the mysterious note from?"
"An old friend from school who is here for the first task too," Lyla swigged down some orange juice. "Charlie Weasley, you met him, remember?"
"Oh yeah" Alicia said, "Like Fred and George's brother. Why is he here?"
Lyla winked at her sister, "You'll have to wait until the first task to seem I guess"
"Oh gosh I'm so excited!" Alicia said and her friends twittered in agreement.
Alicia wasn't the only one excited. The Great Hall was completely abuzz with anticipation. Fred and George Weasley were loudly taking bets from on top of the Gryffindor table but as Lyla's eyes travelled down the table to Harry Potter she saw him pale and forlorn and found it odd that he wasn't sitting with Ron.
"Not everyone is" Steven said jutting his jaw behind him toward Cedric Diggory who was an odd shade of green and was staring at the eggs on his plate.
"Do you think you'll be able to watch too?" Alicia asked Lyla
"IIIII don't know" she replied, recalling vaguely her run in with the Fat Friar. "Excuse me." She stood up and strode toward the front table where the Headmaster was sitting.
"Oh Miss Murphy!" Dumbledore said welcoming her with a gesture "Good morning, good morning! Will you be joining us down at the first task."
"That's actually what I can to ask you about, sir. I saw the Fat Friar this morning and..."
"Ohhh" he said, holding his hand up and nodding softly "Forgive me for overreacting. When I voiced my concerns to a mutual acquaintance of ours he very fervently suggested I bring you in, even as a precaution." He gazed over his half moon glasses at her with a knowing twinkle in his eye then straightened up in his chair, "It's not every day that we have dragons on our campus. It's best to get as much of them as we can." He winked and nodded at her in polite dismissal, "See you at the first task then, Miss Murphy. Good morning."
"Good morning" she replied as she returned back to her table in shock and confusion.
"Can you come then?" Alicia asked excitedly
"Yeah" Lyla breathed, "Yeah I can"
"Ooh! I can't wait" she squealed
"I bet the Durmstrang lot are already there" Steven scoffed. "Probably got the best seats."
"Hey" Lyla furrowed her brows "This tournament is about unity" She tore a slice of bacon in half and bared her teeth at her brother comically.
Halfway through breakfast Harry and Cedric were lead of the Great Hall by Barty Crouch and the excitement was replaced with hushed whispers.
When Lyla finished her breakfast of protein and carbohydrates she turned to her siblings. "Lets get down there a little early and see what Charlie is up to."
"Yeah!" Steven said, "I'll ask the twins too." He sprinted off toward the Gryffindor table.
"Um, I'm going to go down with my friends actually." Alicia replied, twirling her hair in her finger.
"Okay Miss Thang" Lyla said and flicked her glasses down off her head and over her eyes as she, Steven, Ginny, and a sullen Ron headed down to the arena together while Fred and George stayed back to continue taking bets.
Down by the Quidditch pitch there was a new wood structure set up made of thick, dark wood and taller than the Quidditch Pitch even was.
"Hey! You're not supposed to be here yet, go back and wait for the rest of the school to come - Oh! Hi Lyla!"
She turned around at the sound of her name and saw another one of Charlie's friends. Taylor was American and had perpetually tan skin, dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes. "Hi!" she said in greeting and gave him a hug. "This is my brother." she pat Steven on the shoulder, "And these are Charlie's siblings."
"Oh yeah, I recognise you guys!" he said shaking Ron and Ginny's hands. "Well Charlie's in the back with the dragons but-"
"Dragons?!" Steven blurted in amazement
"Shh" Lyla and Ginny scolded
Taylor chuckled. "Yeah, anyway we all have to sit pretty close to switch the dragons out and in case anything goes wrong. You all" he gestured at the Weasleys and Steven "can probably sit close by." He led the group into the arena and up a small flight of stairs to the right. There was a long bench twelve feet off the rocky ground, an easy height for the strong dragon tamers to swiftly lower themselves down to the ground.
"He-ey you guys!" Charlie said in surprise as he rounded around the corner on the ground below the risers. He turned quickly around and bolted up the stairs then scooped his sister up in his arms and spun her around, he gave his brother a side hug and ruffled his hair after putting Ginny back on her feet. "Steven" he said warmly, shaking Steven's hand "Nice to see you again" He was squinting painfully, shielding his eyes from the sun.
"Oh!" Lyla exclaimed, Charlie's stance reminding her. She reached in her small chest pocket and pulled out the vial of Invigoration Draught. "From Professor Snape" she handed it to Charlie, "for, uh..." she tapped on her sunglasses and smiled.
"Oh great!" Charlie said, taking it from her grasp and downing it.
"Looks like the gang's all here!" Ronin called from the floor of the arena with the rest of the Romanian team.
Charlie saluted his friend and turned back to his family. "People are going to start coming soon. We have to be back there and wait for them to tell us which to bring out. I'll see you all later though!" He turned and vaulted over the railing to join his friends.
The group had settled in on the benches when they heard a wave of noise coming in from the castle. Soon, the whole stadium was filled with cheering crowds of students. After a couple of long-winded speeches from Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch, Dumbledore stood up and simply said, "With this test of daring we will begin the Triwizard Tournament and may every participant have the best of luck." As soon as he finished speaking a large door in the far side of the arena opened and a snarling Swedish Short-Snout was led through after a handful of tamers carrying large dragons eggs, one of them painted gold. When the dragon was safely in the middle of the arena, hovering over the eggs protectively, the group of dragon tamers bolted to their seats, Charlie in the lead.
He slid onto the bench, smoothly wrapping his arm around Lyla's waist but kept his keen eyes focused on the dragon. "Heard a rumor that Cedric's first." As he said that a much smaller door opened and Cedric walked out into the arena. First, he stared around the arena at the crowd that had fallen silent except for a few hoots and hollers.
"She'll catch him in her sights soon" Charlie whispered to Lyla. She couldn't see Cedric's face but she imagined his eyes were darting around the arena trying to formulate a plan. After agonizing silence in which the Short-Snout sniffed intensely around the eggs she spied Cedric in the corner of the arena and screeched at him then breathed a jet of fire in his direction. He swiftly dodged out of the way and fell on the rough boulders around him. He kept his body low and crawled away from the dragon.
At this point Lyla was perched on the edge of her seat, chills running up her spine and her nails digging into Charlies other hand. When Cedric stumbled and knocked a rock free, making a sound that drew the Short-Snout in his direction. Lyla and the rest of the onlookers gasped as the dragon dove toward Cedric and snapped its jaw, just inches from his foot. He quickly scrambled onto his feet and ran to the other side of the arena throwing spells over his shoulder at the dragon as he did. When he was crouched, again, behind a boulder and out of the dragons line of view he stuck his head over it, pointed his wand at another boulder and turned it into a Border Collie. The dog barked and ran away from Cedric, causing the mama dragon to pursue. With the dragons back turn Cedric bolted for the pile of eggs and scooped up the golden one. He steadied it in his grasp and kept running toward the door he entered through. At the last moment, though, the dragon rounded on Cedric, picking the bigger of two targets to focus on and breathed fire yet again. This time, Cedric was not as lucky and the side of his face was burned.
Lyla screamed and Charlie jumped up and over the wall with the rest of his comrades. The subdued the dragon and escorted the unconscious scaly mass out the large door, one of the team members staying behind to help the wounded Cedric to a medical center.
When the team returned with a Common Welsh Green, Charlie's shirt was torn down the front. As he bounded back into his seat next to Lyla she saw the red blood around the tear and one thin gash in his left pectoral.
"What happened?!" she asked standing up and touching his chest.
"Nah," he said, "This is nothing. The Chinese Fireball grazed me is all. Oi!" he called down to Javier who tossed him a small container. Charlie picked his shirt up and pulled the hem behind his neck, fully exposing his chest, opened the contained and rubbed the grass green balm on the gash in his chest. Lyla watched as the red opening turned into a sinewy, white line but then her gaze moved to his right pectoral where there was an Antipodean Opaleye with an aquamarine hue to its pearlescent scales.
Lyla softly drew a circle around the dragon with her finger and looked up at Charlie, "When did you get this?" she asked
"Same night you did" he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"What?" she replied, shocked, "You were there that night?"
"Of course I was" he laughed, pulling his shirt back down over his body. In the background Fleur Delacour was doing something with the dragon that caused the crowd to gasp but Lyla didn't know what because she was enthralled with this new piece of information. "Everyone was there that night."
The their second to last night on the Hogwarts campus all of the seventh years had gathered in a shallow part of the Forbidden Forest, made a bonfire out of their copies of Hogwarts: A History, drank, danced and, thanks to an incredibly talented and artistic group of black-sheep Slytherins, some got tattoos. Lyla was mortified at the prospect of Charlie being there because, that night, she and her two best friends had taken off all their clothes except for their bras and underwear and danced around the fire with paint on their face and body that represented their house colors. She had then run into the clearing where people were getting tattoos and demanded a golden dragon. She fell asleep face down on the forest floor while she was getting the tattoo and didn't wake up until the next morning.
"I was getting mine when you burst through the trees and demanded yours." he continued
"Well that's really bloody embarrassing"
"Oh come on Lye, no one expected 'The Triplets' to be tame especially at a party like that. Least of all me."
"Ohhhh my gosh" Lyla said, covering her mouth as she began laughing hysterically. "I have not heard that phrase in a long, long time."
Charlie chuckled, "Yeah! The Triplets: the girls who got closest to the Shrieking Shack, the girls who would make outfits for Mrs. Norris and set her out wearing them, the girls who dressed as professors for Halloween and followed them around mimicking their every move. Remember," he started laughing, "Remember that like two week period when you were all really mad at each other and kept changing each other's hair color and every bit of food you tried to eat into flower petals."
"Hey," Lyla laughed, shoving him "I lost like seven pounds in those two weeks."
"Yeah because you were starving one another. I remember Rebecca was stuffing her face every second she could in the common room where neither of you could get at her."
"Sounds pretty accurate. Alaysia and I would lock ourselves in the bathroom to eat. I think the only real reason we made up is because we had weakened one another."
Before Charlie could talk he was up over the wall again, putting the Common Welsh Green back to sleep as Fleur slipped back through the door she came through. When they returned with the Chinese Fireball Charlie was slightly out of breath when he sat back down and rested his elbows on the bench behind them.
"Aguamente" Lyla muttered, holding her wand over his face. It poured a steady stream of water, washing away the sweat and he opened his mouth to take some in.
"Oh man" he huffed, shaking his head and spraying nearby people, Lyla included, with water. "I wish I wasn't just here for work."
"Yeah" Lyla replied, understandingly "I thought I was here for work but...I don't know. That Invigorating Draught may have taken my headache away but that doesn't mean I understand why I was called here when the Fat Friar is fine"
"Ohhhh oh no" Charlie said, laughing so hard he began wheezing
"What is so funny?!"
"I thought you were just here for the weekend because you felt like coming. I didn't think that Dumbledore would actually..."
"Actually what?" she said through his continuous laughter
"When I arrived he met me down at the lake and said it was a shame I wouldn't get much of a reunion and that it was a shame you lived so close and wouldn't be here while I was. I told him that your work keeps you busy and that I could relate. Then he said, 'Well then maybe I have a work related problem for her to solve.' And walked away." his laughter was incontrolable now.
Lyla sat in silence, her jaw hanging open. When she finally spoke it was slowly, "This morning he told me, 'It's not every day that we have dragons on our campus. It's best to get as much of them as we can'"
Charlie slapped his knee, his amusement overwhelming him. "Dumbledore really is the brightest wizard in the world." he said finally, his laughter stopping and his breath slowing.
They both turned their attention back to the saga between Viktor Krum and the Chinese Fireball. He was doing so kind of strange jump and roll thing between boulders for shelter, shooting any and all spells that came to his head when he thought he had a good shot. One finally hit the Fireball square in the face and she began stumbling around
"Oh no..." Charlie said, standing up slowly as his peers did the same
"Not a Conjunctivitis Curse you stupid bugger!" Dorin called into the arena
"Puta madre!" Javier yelled angrily shaking his fist.
But Krum didn't hear and as the dragon stumbled around blindly he grabbed the gold egg and ran back through the door, never looking back. When he disappeared from sight everyone on the bench next to Lyla ran as fast as they could to the Fireball. Some of them summoned an egg to their grasp and others tried to hit the dragon with a sleeping curse again but, they were too late - the dragon had already trampled over half the eggs there. When they had removed the curse and the dragon had realised what she did she let out a heartbreaking scream that died into oblivion as the sleeping curse overtook her. When they returned with the Hungarian Horntail there was nothing the Horntail could do because the whole team was using all the force they could due to the fact that they were all fuming mad. Charlie didn't sit as close to Lyla as he had been but instead turned his head down and the floor and rested his elbows on his knees. Lyla rested her head on his shoulder and rubbed his back.
When Lyla saw the semblance of a broom rocketing toward the arena she stood up and cheered as Harry hopped onto it and circled the Horntail's head. Charlie got to his feet too, in complete awe - along with the rest of the crowd, as Harry maneuvered his broom, scooped up the egg and headed toward the door. Before he could reach it the Horntail had brought his tail down close to Harry and sliced his upper arm open. He maintained control of the egg and swiftly exited the arena but was still injured.
After the scores were read and the three schools dismissed from the arena, Lyla circled around the back of the structure and met Charlie in the pen where they had the four sleeping dragons.
"Well," she sighed, "I guess you're on your way out then."
"Actually, some of us, myself included, are over our hour limit for weekly overtime so there should be some replacements here for those of us who are off duty. Dorin and Taylor are going into London but I was thinking of staying the night here and spending time with my family." he took her hands in his, "Maybe we can go down to the Hog's Head after dinner and get a drink?"
"Yeah" Lyla beamed, "can't wait." She stood on her toes and kissed him softly
Charlie put his hand behind her head and leaned into the kiss, forcefully pressing his lips against hers before pulling away.
"It was nice to meet you all!" Lyla called musically to the exhausted group. They smiled and waved at her as she turned and walked back to the castle.
