A/N: Thanks for reading and a special thanks to reviewers! x
The Tournament
We'd been queuing for around quarter of an hour now waiting for our turn to start the tournament.
The background noise reminded me of being at some kind of horror film funfair, with terrified screams ringing out above the frantic chattering.
The seventh years ahead of us were already well into the course by now.
Every so often, the informal line we were in would shift and everyone would jostle forwards, looking expectantly to see if they could see any better from their new position.
I balanced up on the tips of my toes to look around over the masses of students. Jesse had made it sound like we could go through it together, but I couldn't see him anywhere.
The queue moved again without me realising and someone accidentally nudged into me from behind. I lost my balance and fell back onto the flats of my feet, feeling defeated.
As I caught up with my friends just ahead of me, another blood-curdling scream rang out from the section of the pitch that housed the wall of fire. I tried not to think about what lay ahead. It was like being trapped in a nightmare.
"Oh shit, did you see that?" Marlene cried, a mixture of nerves and excitement on her face.
Sally, Lily, Dorcas and I all looked in the direction she was facing.
It was the massive water tank at the very end of the course. The first lot of seventh years had just started to climb the ladder leading up to it, getting ready to enter the water and swim across to the other side.
Unfortunately, it seemed like the current inhabitants had woken up.
Even from our distance, I could see the many vicious little grey claws ascending out of the water's surface. They seemed to pull the unsuspecting students down into the depths of the tank, one by one.
I watched in sick fascination as yet another boy climbed the 20ft ladder at the side of the tank. Almost as soon he reached the top he found himself violently yanked forward by the bodiless arms of whatever the creatures were, still half submerged in the water.
I felt a bolt of panic constrict my chest. How was this being allowed to happen?
"It's Grindylows," Sally realised, her eyes wide.
My eyes roved around the outskirts of the pitch, as if looking for a means of escape. It was only then that I noticed a solitary figure, sitting up in the stalls regarding us with an austere expression.
"Professor McGonagall," I murmured aloud.
"Looks like she's come to keep an eye on everyone," Lily observed, following my line of vision.
"Oh, thank goodness," Dorcas said, looking over at her.
Like Dorcas, I felt my rattled nerves calm ever so slightly at the sight of our Head of House. There was no way she would let anyone get seriously hurt, I was sure of it.
.o.
"NEXT!"
We were close enough to see Professor Military still positioned over at the starting flag now, beckoning each student forward with a constantly moving arm as if he was conducting an evacuation.
"NEXT!" he barked again. "Hurry up! Keep it moving!"
I looked at my friends nervously. Though they were clearly trying to hold it together, I could tell from their eyes they were as anxious as I was.
"Get a move on!" he shouted at us when the last of the people in front of us had been ushered onto the course.
Whatever nasty we would have to face for the first challenge, there was one hidden in each of the three small wooden huts that had been erected at the edge of the playing field. They were all lined up in a row and completely identical.
Even though the shed-like structures must have been newly made especially for the tournament, they had been designed to appear dingy and ramshackle, as if to add to their grisly atmosphere.
Marlene was the bravest of us, moving first and walking over to the middle one as directed.
Once there, she jogged on the spot and shook her hands out as if to prepare herself. With one last look over her shoulder, she gave us a final wave before entering through the door.
There was a minute's silence and then, "No! You're not real! Get away!"
We could hear her distressed calls even from outside.
"What on earth is in there?" Lily wondered, looking at us worriedly.
"You're about to find out," Military replied with a sadistic look in his eyes.
He pushed her forwards into the next one along using his constantly revolving left hand. Unlike Marlene, Lily didn't cry out at whatever it she found inside.
Before I could try and spot my friends coming out the other side, I felt Military shove his hand into my back, forcing me towards the only other unoccupied hut.
"Your turn!" he exclaimed.
I stumbled forwards, coming face to face with the aged door that led into one of the compact mystery buildings. None of them seemed big enough to hold anything really bad, but Marlene's reaction had said otherwise.
"Get on with it, girl!"
Military shouted directly into the back of my neck. The air from his breath made my skin crawl.
Cowering away from him, I turned the door handle without a second thought, desperate to get away.
As soon as I stepped into the room the door slammed itself shut behind me.
At first nothing happened and I was just stood there staring into the darkness created by the lack of windows while my eyes adjusted; the only source of light a single flickering candlestick set on a tiny table at the side of the room.
But just as I was about to hurry across to the other door directly opposite me, which I felt sure must be the exit, a rattling sound came from the corner of the room.
Stopping in my tracks, I turned slowly around to see what it was, hardly daring to look. My eyes landed on a waist-high cupboard I hadn't even noticed right next to the entrance I had just come through. Like the hut itself, it looked dusty and rickety.
The large, broken-down cupboard doors at the front were moving ever so slightly as if something was trying to get out. At first it was gentle, but then the rattling got louder and more aggressive until finally both doors swung back on their hinges, whacking the wall on the one side with a 'crack!'
What came out of that cupboard was possibly the most unnerving sight I'd ever laid eyes on.
It started with a pair of childlike hands thrust out onto the floor just in front of it. Then a body followed, crawling out on its knees.
When it raised its dark head to look up at me I almost died.
Standing up to its full height, which was still a good head shorter than I was, it pointed its small hand at me and sneered nastily.
"Beaver!" it called out in a higher pitched voice than I remembered. "It's the Beaver!"
The pre-teen Sirius Black started to laugh cruelly, looking around him for others to join in, exactly like he used to. Except there were no others around this time, we were on our own.
For a split second I felt the same crushing melancholy and shame I'd tried so hard to forget about, and I was transported right back to my lonely days at Hogwarts, feeling like I didn't have a real friend in the world.
Pointing my wand at his smirking little face, I yelled, "Riddikulus!"
The young Black finally stopped pointing at me and looked shocked for a second, before his trousers fell down around his ankles revealing a pair of heart-emblazoned boxers.
His face turning an unnatural shade of red, he disappeared quickly back into the cupboard, desperately trying to hide his modesty.
I stood there in shock for a second, and then I started to laugh. I wasn't sure if it was the absurdity of what had happened, or just sheer relief that it wasn't real.
Without waiting for anything else to appear, I headed quickly out of the opposite door, steeling myself for whatever would be next.
The daylight hurt my eyes after becoming accustomed to the dark of the room, and I shielded them with my hand, looking ahead at the blanket of netting that lay just ahead. There was a mass of it, black and thick, covering an area about 4 metres square.
The netting was suspended a little from the ground, and I could see other students already making the journey underneath it. Lily was one of them.
She shimmied forwards, making what looked like good progress, but I watched as a piece of the netting wrapped itself around her ankle, twisting her leg at a strange angle.
"Argh!" she yelled out in shock, wincing in pain as her ankle was pulled upwards behind her.
Brandishing her wand at it best she could in the enclosed space, she shot a burst of light in its direction. The black tendril quivered at the attack, withering away until it had curled back up the way it came as if nothing had happened.
Recovering quickly, she continued to commando crawl her way out until she was completely free of it.
Once on the other side, she dusted her clothes off looking proud of herself. When she noticed me she smiled.
"It's Devil's Snare," she called in brief explanation, before turning and running on to the next thing.
I looked down at the stringy net in front of me, thanking my lucky stars we'd already learnt about it in Professor Mison's class.
Wasting no time, I got down to the ground and began to clamber underneath, trying to move as fast as I could to get through it before it could be tempted to lash out for me too.
I had made it at least three quarters of the way through and could practically smell victory when there was an abrupt tightness all around my waist.
My hand went there on reflex and tried to prise the leathery arm off me, but the Snare squeezed me even tighter in response, the pressure increasing until I felt like my organs were going to be crushed. I was starting to feel a little light headed.
Use your wand, I reminded myself stupidly.
Glad I still had it clutched in my other hand, I pointed it at the offending vine now wrapped around me like a belt.
"Incendio!"
I was extremely careful to make my aim as precise as possible.
Just like it had with Lily, the Devil's Snare writhed and retreated back from the attack. Free of it, I was able to continue on underneath the last bit as quickly as possible before sliding out, breathing in the open air gratefully.
Glancing behind me, I saw Dorcas about to face it on the other side, staring at it with as much horror as I had.
"It's Devil's Snare," I called back to her, repaying the favour that Lily had given me. When Dorcas still looked unsure I added, "Light or fire charms!"
She nodded gratefully and carefully crouched to start her descent underneath it. Satisfied that she knew how to beat it, I went on ahead.
.o.
I made it through the wall of blazing hot fire easier than I thought I would. It turned out 'Aguamenti' was enough to blast a big enough gap in it to run through if you were quick. It had been touch and go for the now kind of singed ends of my ponytail, though.
When I reached the next assault I found myself standing in the first of the queues since the very start. People seemed to need to build up the nerve to tackle it before taking their turn.
I craned my head to look up at the house-sized axes swinging back and forth, suspended in the air by an unseen force. They looked like they belonged in the dungeon of a haunted castle somewhere.
"Mori, over here!"
Near the front of the line, Marlene waved madly at me, beckoning me over.
I went over reluctantly, not wanting to face the murderous axes any quicker than I already had to.
As I sidled my way in there were a few grumbles from the other students about me pushing in, but no one dared to actually say anything to Marlene's face about it.
Once trapped in the confined space with her, I realised not only was Lily already there, but James and Sirius as well.
"They caught us up," Lily said in answer to my unspoken question.
"Moony and Pete are 'taking the course at their own pace," James said as if it was something bizarre to do. "They're probably still at the Devil's Snare."
He seemed to find his friends lack of athletic prowess funny.
'Whooooosh! Whooooosh!'
The swinging axes were surprisingly loud close up. The air whistled around them, sending a breeze into our faces.
"Merlin's balls, it's massive," he marvelled at it. "Wonder if all this was just the DADA professor's work."
"Look, it's Dorcas and Sally!" Lily exclaimed, pointing over at the wall of fire.
They had finally caught up enough for us to see them, but it seemed like they were struggling to get the timing right with their water spell.
We all focused our attention in their direction, egging them on, but from the corner of my eye I noticed Sirius was the only one of us not looking.
From what I could make out in my peripheral vision, it sort of seemed like he was looking at me. To start with I tried to pretend I couldn't see him; I was probably imagining it anyway.
In the end the curiosity got the better of me.
Turning to face him, I found him visibly appraising me.
It was then that I remembered the embarrassing outfit I had been forced to put on that morning thanks to the lack of anything else appropriate for a sports event.
My shorts probably should have been given away years ago, now two sizes too small to fit me, and my poor t-shirt had been torn all the way down the side by the Devil's Snare.
With my singed ponytail and the smudges of dirt on my arms and legs from crawling across the floor earlier, I must've looked an absolute state.
Despite our lack of interaction due to the fact he'd been permanently attached to Marlene's face lately, he mustered a somewhat playful grin, looking only slightly embarrassed that I'd caught him.
"Nice shorts," he commented.
I pulled down on the hem of them, trying pointlessly to cover my sun-starved legs from his wandering gaze. He seemed to just find it funny though.
When Marlene turned around to us expectantly, probably wondering what he was chuckling at, Sirius looked back at her like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
She gave us both a suspicious look as if she could tell something had happened, but wasn't exactly sure what.
"You two look guilty," she remarked bluntly.
Lily and James turned around questioningly.
"Cheryl was just telling me how her hair got burnt," Sirius replied easily, lifting a hand to clasp my frazzled tips between his fingers. He let it slide through them until it fell back to my shoulder, making eye contact with me as he did.
For some reason I suddenly felt as guilty as we probably looked. It was the most attention he'd paid me all week.
I looked away from him, not really understanding why he was lying. He had been making fun of my outfit if anything; it wasn't as if we'd actually done anything untoward.
Marlene looked at me and I gave her a faltering smile.
Before she had a chance to say anything else, the last person in front of us moved away to have their turn.
"We're up!" James called, clapping Sirius on the shoulder.
With no Military around to tell us no, we all headed forward to face it together. It turned out the whole ordeal was a lot less stressful to deal with when you weren't on your own.
In the end we managed to avoid the ginormous swinging blades by casting a mass Immobulus on them and racing through before it wore off. It had been that simple.
I don't know how, but we were finally facing the very last task.
I looked up at it; the dreaded Grindylow tank.
Grateful to have finally reached the end, everyone else was already running towards it, but I found myself frozen in place.
Ever since I was little, I had hated any water where I couldn't clearly see the bottom. Or, more importantly, what was hiding in there.
It had started during a family holiday when I was around nine. Begging my parents to take me swimming with dolphins, I'd arrived on the boat only to find out the dolphin excursions had completely sold out.
Instead, we were going to swim with something I had never heard of. Manatees.
Just to give you an idea of their size, one of their pet names is the 'sea cow'; incredibly docile, but terrifyingly giant to a nine year old girl...and most definitely not a cute, chirruping dolphin.
Almost as soon as I'd jumped into the murkily dark water of the ocean to join the 'sea cows', my mum had been forced to put up with me practically climbing up onto her shoulders to avoid them as she tried her best to tread water.
Sadly she wouldn't be here to save me this time.
With everyone else already near the top of the single-lane ladder leading up to the tank, I knew this was another one I was going to have to face on my own.
I climbed the ladder on autopilot, not looking down and trying to completely clear my mind.
All too soon I was at the very top, looking over the edge at the deceptively placid water inside. It was as dark as I had expected and then some, with great clumps of slimy-looking plant-life floating on the surface.
A line of students had already formed on the ladder behind me, waiting for me to get on with it and take my turn so they could get theirs over and done with.
"Hurry up!" someone called up to me.
Taking quick, deep breaths, I tried to get as much oxygen into my lungs as I could before jumping in.
But before I had a chance to dive gracefully in and finally conquer my fear, I felt a clammy little hand reached out from the water and grab my ankle, gripping it tightly and pinching the skin.
"Ahh!" I exclaimed as I was pulled unprepared into the water.
Once submerged in the tank I found I couldn't see a thing, and it was hard to tell which way was up. There was no light for some reason, despite the fact I must've been somewhere near the surface still. It also wasn't helped by the fact my eyes refused to open any further than a squint.
Trying to allow gravity to take me naturally to the surface where I could reclaim a breath of oxygen, the small grabbing hands seemed to multiply around me. They wouldn't let me go.
I kicked at them blindly, but thanks to the water resistance my legs couldn't manage the same thrusting power as they might have on the surface.
Using the first jinx that came to mind, I shot it right into the pointy teeth-filled face of one of my attackers.
"Faucium Sardi!" I shouted with as much force as I could.
Except, of course, thanks to the fact I was trying to talk underwater, it came out sounding more like 'oorrieemm arreeeii!" along with a useless stream of bubbles.
Let me just say, I was as shocked as the Grindylows seemed to be when it actually worked.
I watched as a conveyor belt of sardines began to pour in a steady stream from my target's oversized mouth.
At first I thought I had supremely messed up, managing to choose the least deadly of all the spells I could've picked in that instant.
But then something amazing happened. Instead of attacking me, all of the Grindylows in my vicinity started to swarm after the trail of sardines left behind, snatching at them with greedy little claws and gnashing until even the bones were gone.
Not hanging around for the novelty of a free lunch to wear off, I threw my feet back and forth, pushing myself with every last bit of strength I had left towards the direction the bubbles had gone in.
I felt the welcome outside breeze hit my face as I bobbed out of the water.
My chest burned from lack of oxygen, the pain screaming through my lungs like nothing I had ever felt. Taking deep gulps of air, I tried to catch my breath as quickly as possible.
Turning to face the opposite side to the queue of people entering the tank, I swam like my life depended on it towards the edge.
Once there, I threw my arms over the side and heaved myself up and out, feeling heavier than a ton weight.
My feet felt wobbly and unstable on the ladder going down, but I focused my vision resolutely straight ahead of me, watching each rung as it passed my eye-line.
I had actually done it. It was officially all over.
My heart nearly fell out of my mouth when my right heel hurtled down into thin air, my foot somehow managing to miss one of the steps. My knuckles turned white as I was forced to hang on to avoid falling.
Tilting my head down ever so slowly, I peeked towards my feet to see what had happened.
The reason I had missed the step was because there were no more steps, I realised.
"What?" I gasped quietly, peering down at what looked like a 10ft drop.
I looked up. Thankfully no other students had managed to make it out as of yet, so there was no one waiting for me to move.
"Subpateo!" I pointed my wand at the base of the ladder, calling out the lengthening charm. Perhaps this was all part of the challenge to test our problem solving skills.
But the bottom remained exactly where it was, refusing to bend to my spell.
"Magic doesn't work on it, you just have to jump!"
I recognised Lily's voice immediately. Looking tentatively down, I saw her wet red hair, already waiting on the ground just below me.
"Just go for it, Mori!" I heard Marlene call next to her. "What are you waiting for?"
My hands continued to clutch the sides of the ladder tightly.
"I can't!" I realised.
"Are you scared of heights?" Lily called up to me uncertainly.
"I don't know," I breathed. "Maybe."
I looked down at the ground again and this time it seemed to physically move, first towards me and then away. It was like a blanket being tossed up and down.
I pressed my eyes shut to make it stop.
I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it.
After everything I had come through, I was going to be beaten by what should have been the easiest part.
"I can't do it!" I yelled out again, more frantic this time.
"I'll catch you!" Marlene offered.
Forcing myself to look again, I saw the short haze that was my friend, her small arms extended towards me as if she would be anywhere near capable of taking my weight. I knew if I jumped now we'd both end up in a broken heap on the floor.
For the first time since I had started the tournament, I actually felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack.
Stop it, I berated myself.
You can do this, you can do this, you can do this, I repeated to myself as if there was broken record going round and around in my mind. Despite my inner pep talk, I still didn't move.
I glanced out to the side and noticed Professor Military over by the finish flag now. His blood shot eyes were preoccupied with another group of students.
I was desperate enough that I was tempted to call him over to catch me, but the thought of his ham-like hands catching my body mid-fall was enough to put me off. Plus I was certain he would probably shout at me in front of everyone for being cowardly.
"Cheryl?" a new voice called. It was distinctly deeper than the others.
"Jesse?" I replied, recognising his familiar accent. I wasn't sure whether to feel criminally embarrassed or relieved to hear him.
"I'm here, I'm right underneath you," he called with a strength and calmness that immediately took the edge off my nerves. "Jump, I have got you."
Not fully trusting my ears, I lowered my face to check he really was there.
Sure enough I could see him standing next to Lily, his much larger arms ready to break my fall.
From the corner of my eye I saw Military's furious gaze finally fall on me from his position a few feet away, only now noticing the small crowd gathered around me.
"Do you promise?" I called out desperately.
There was a pause as he steadied himself for the impact.
"I promise," he assured me.
My very last thought before surrendering to gravity was 'please God, let someone be there to catch me'.
I felt the wind leave my body as I collided with Jesse's body. He took a step back from the impact, but somehow managed to keep both of us upright.
"Thank you," I uttered, breathless with relief and dissipating fear.
Seeing that I was down on the ground now, Military turned away in disgust and stormed away to shout at another poor unsuspecting student.
Feeling too exhausted to do anything else, I let myself be moved away from the tank and gladly succumbed to Jesse's reassuringly stable embrace.
I was too emotionally and physically drained to feel any of the shyness I would've normally felt at our intimate proximity; it was the first time we'd done anything more than just holding hands.
He held me protectively and I pressed my cheek against his warm chest gratefully, starting to feel the chill from my damp clothes now that the heat from my panic had calmed down.
Peering around from my current position, I could see Sirius and James now stood over with Remus, all encouraging Peter on as he finally finished his descent down the ladder.
Unlike me, Peter managed the last jump without a second thought, even if it did leave him sprawled forward on the floor on his hands. From this angle it looked deceptively easy to do, a mere 6ft above the ground.
I was just glad it seemed the boys hadn't seen me make a fool of myself.
.o.
Dorcas and Sally managed to catch up with us just a few short minutes later, both of them looking incredibly exhausted.
When Military said those of us who had completed the tournament could go and get ourselves cleaned up, none of us needed telling twice.
Unable to usher him away without making a scene, Jesse walked with us all back to the castle.
Beyond a quick greeting at the beginning, I was glad that neither my friends nor the Marauders seemed to have enough energy to say any more. We all lumbered tiredly across the grounds, feeling as though we had ton weights strapped to our ankles.
I noticed Jesse hadn't reached for my hand like he normally would have, and I hoped he was just because he didn't want to make things awkward for me around my friends.
Walking a little behind everyone else, he apologised for not meeting me at the beginning of the Tournament as he'd promised.
"I overslept," he'd said, looking way too ardent and apologetic for me to be angry with him.
Apparently when he'd arrived late, Military hadn't let him move ahead to try and find me. Knowing what the substitute was like, I could very much believe that would be true.
Having time to kill during the long, slow walk back up to the school, we spent the time sharing the different ways we'd dealt with each of the trials.
He found my lucky Grindylow sardine spell particularly funny.
"Cheryl," he said in low voice just before we reached the entrance to the covered bridge, holding back slightly as if to ask me to stay back with him for some reason.
Unsure what he wanted, I called out to the others telling them I'd meet them in the common room.
Lily turned her head best she could, what with James's arm slung around her neck, looking first at me and then at Jesse.
"Okay," she called back with a small knowing smile, leading the rest of our group away, "See you in a bit."
Sirius was the only one who didn't even bother to turn around to say bye. I stared after the back of his head for a second, wondering what was up with him.
I'd noticed he and Marlene hadn't been quite so touchy feely since the moment back in the queue for the axes. I figured he was probably just brooding over it.
Taking the lead, Jesse led us over to one of the outer castle walls, which provided us with a small amount of shelter from the wind. Thankfully we'd already performed a thorough drying spell on our clothes.
As we stood facing one another, I looked up at him expectantly. Now that we were here alone he didn't seem to know what to say.
"Thanks again for helping me," I said, not wanting us to end up in an uncomfortable silence.
He gave me a gentle smile, relaxing a little.
"You should thank Lily," he replied. "She was the one who fetched me to help you."
The knowledge surprised me; I hadn't really been aware of anything that had gone on while I was in my panicked state of mind.
"She's a good friend," I said, feeling guilty over the way I'd treated her over the Ant situation.
Jesse's dark eyes gazed down at me through thick, black eyelashes. His hair looked even softer and curlier than usual thanks to the unexpected blow dry from his drying spell.
Not for the first time did I question what he actually saw in me. He was like a beam of positive, radiant light. Popular and nice.
Without really meaning it to, my gaze fell to his lips. They were smooth and parted slightly. It made me wonder what it would feel like to kiss them.
"I like you, Cheryl," they said. "A lot."
I looked back up at his Honeydukes chocolate eyes, unsure I'd heard him properly. They were earnest and surprisingly intense.
"I like you too," I murmured, only then realising how much.
Placing his hands on the sides of my waist, he leaned down towards me a little.
"Be my girlfriend?"