To You I'm Devoted
xStarletx
A/N: So here we are the third chapter =) I'm having fun reading it even if no one else wants to read it. Well if you do read it, do me a fav and REVIEW! Thanks guys
Chapter 3
I had given Harry a hint, use the Prefects washroom, take his egg with him. I didn't know if he had got it or not, but I owed him for telling me about the dragons. I knew Harry wasn't all bad he was actually pretty decent, but everything, good and bad, happened to Harry. Sometimes I wanted people to notice how good I was, not just how mediocre Harry was and elevate him to splendor. My day dreams about Aria were getting more intense, I struggled to keep my head in school or at least on the Triwizard tournament but I found it hard. I laid awake at night think about her and when I finally got my eyes shut my dreams consisted of her flowery laugh and long black hair. I saw her everywhere, though I wasn't sure if I was imagining her or not. I relished every sight of her, I tried to work up my courage to talk to her, but she was never around long. Appearing for a moment beside Harry and then disappearing again, most likely to her castle. Sometimes I saw her walking around the grounds, heading to the forest for some god awful reason. It never mattered where she was, she was in my head running around and wreaking havoc on my nerves and my attention span.
The day of the second trial I was called down to Dumbledor's office, on the way there I met up with Harry.
"You know what this is about?" I asked.
"No, you?" He replied.
"No." Obviously, why would I have asked if I didn't? Honestly he wasn't the brightest.
"Have you seen Aria today?" Harry sudden asked. "I didn't see her hovering around me this morning, nor was she in my room when I awoke just staring at me. I find it disturbing when she doesn't show herself… I never know when she's going to pop up."
I said nothing, I had noticed Aria wasn't around, but I had no idea that she would greet him in the morning, in his bunk, after he was sleeping… it was the third time I was jealous of Harry Potter.
Dumbledor stood to meet us, the other opponents were there, Victor Krum and that blonde girl.
"I hope you have all found your clue in your golden egg." Dumbledor whispered. Everyone nodded.
"Then you will know that the mermaids have taken you're more precious thing. Your friends. They are waiting for you at the bottom of the lake." Dumbledor explained. Harry's eyes had buldged out, apparently he hadn't realized they'd be taking people, to be fair neither did I. I had been sleeping with the bewitched telescope my grandfather had given me in fear of them taking it and sinking it somewhere in the lake.
"Won't they drown?" Harry asked. Dumbledor chuckled.
"No Harry, they are asleep and bewitched to breath underwater." Dumbledor explained he turned to Cedric.
"You're precious person refused to be put under. Luckily Aria can breathe underwater as it is. She's not happy to be submerged I expect she will give you quite a bit of trouble." Dumbledor warned, my cheeks flushed he had just told everyone in the room that Aria was my most precious person. Harry was eyeing me, I could feel it, I ignored him and nodded to Dumbledor.
"Any tips?"
"I'd say hit her but she'd see it coming and then she might try to kill you. I've told her to behave, if she doesn't offer her this." Dumbledor offered, handing him a golden bracelet. A golden heart charm hung off the gold links. I stared at it, the heart read Apollo. I didn't understand how this would help me.
"It's hers. Apollo took it off her this morning. She's been looking everywhere for it, she never takes it off. She's charmed it to be invisible the second it touches her wrist. You flash this is front of her face and then swim in the opposite direction…. Preferably towards shore." My face had gone red, Apollo? Who was Apollo? It was obvious he was living in the castle with her, he was important enough to have his name etched on a heart that meant a lot to her. Who the hell was this man? I pocketed the charm bracelet and then let them lead us out to the lake. I had already decided what form I would take when I got to the lake, but I was worried, Aria didn't know my name, I had only talked to her once and she was assessing whether or not I was a threat to Harry. Apparently I wasn't.
Dumbledor started the race and I used the bubble head spell so It looked like I had a diving helmet on my head. Harry had already gone underwater, he had used some herb of sorts he now had gills. He swam away from me, heading towards the depths. There was a great shadow from Aria's floating castle, I couldn't help myself I swam under and saw that there was a hole in the floor, obviously a water entrance, the floor happened to be see through. She could see anyone or anything coming from the lake. It was the first time I was seeing anything inside the castle, it looked rather homey, well the room I was looking at. A reading room, she had bookshelf after bookshelf of books, and a fire was lit in the hearth. I could see there were stairs beyond that room that lead up to the high levels. I waited, listening, I wanted to catch a glimpse of Apollo. He never came and I had a task to complete. I dove, straight down, and after a while I hit the bottom, I skimmed the sifting mud like sand wondering if Aria had gotten the mud from walking on the bottom of the lake. It would make sense, she could breathe underwater. I came across another ruin like castle, one you would expect to see in a fish aquarium at those muggle pet stores, except much, much bigger. Harry was already there, he was beside Ron, his best friend, Hermione was tied behind him as was a smaller blond person. There were two mermaid guards. Aria was sitting upon an overturned column her arms crossed she looked furious. I was certain I could see bubbles around her, I was worried she was so angry that she was boiling the water around her. I approached cautiously.
"Um, can we go up now?" I asked her, my voice sounded funny in the bubble. I wasn't sure if she could hear me. She didn't move. I fished into my pocket and took out the bracelet. She was on me in a second, pushing me into the mud, I didn't get a chance to swim away.
"How did you get this? How did you know I even had it?" She cried, bubbles escaped from her mouth but he heard her clearly.
"Apollo gave it to Dumbledor who gave it to me." I explained. I was sinking into the mud, I was a little afraid that I would drown in it. I was aware that Harry was watching the interchange, I was flushing again. She got off me, and put her bracelet back on her wrist, it instantly disappeared. I got up and stared at her.
"I have to take you back now." I said to her again, I lifted a hand to tap her shoulder, she swatted it away. She was staring at me, I liked the way her hair shimmered around her, she half smiled and then walked past me. Surprised I turned to face her.
"Well come on. You want to get back first don't you. The idiot over there wants to stay to see everyone up safely. Something tells me I'll have to go back to get him before he drowns, so let's get to the surface quickly please." She ordered. I saw over to her, she started walking away and I suddenly had a burst of courage. I swam quickly up to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. Before she could say or do a thing I began to swim up to the surface. It was taking longer then I thought it would and she definitely looked pissed at the fact that I was touching her. When we got to the surface, she pushed me away roughly and swam to the shore. I followed after her, where professors came running to give us blankets. To my surprise a tall brunette handed Aria a towel.
"How was it?" He asked her. Aria slapped him across the face.
"You said you didn't know where my bracelet went." She accused. The man tilted his head back and howled with laughter, and then It dawned on me, this man, this Greek Godly like man with perfectly bulging biceps, a perfect straight nose, lovely fluffy brown hair and disturbingly red eyes was Apollo.
"So, do you recognize him?" He asked, indicating to me.
"Nope. No idea why he's so fascinated in me, but I will tell you he is pretty handsy." Aria replied, toweling herself off, surprisingly she was looking dryer by the second. I turned red, she had no idea who I was.
"My name is Cedric." I called to her. She turned to stare at me.
"I'm not going to remember that. You're badger boy." She countered. I didn't know what to say.
"Badger boy?" I echoed. She pointed to my jersey, the symbol of my house, the badger, was illuminated there.
"My name is Cedric."
"You're still wet Badger Boy. Do you want me to dry you off?" She asked, ignoring my plight. She walked up to me and began to pat me down, I could feel the heat reverberating off of her hands, in moments I was bone dry.
"There you go. Nice and dry." She crowed. I was blushing again. I stammered my thanks, her hands were in my hair.
"You were the one with soft hair." She murmured. YES! She remembered me.
"Who's handsy now?" Apollo asked. The spell between us was instantly snapped, Aria turned and thrust her hand at him, in a flash water expelled from her hand and collided with Apollo's chest. He sputtered and coughed having very nearly choked on her attack.
"That was uncalled for." Apollo snarled, I noticed that she wasn't wet, it was as if the water had evaporated off of him. I sat down on the seat provided, wrapping the towel around myself, I was still pretty chilled, I was to wait for the others to come up. I was the first, I was pretty proud about that. To my surprise Aria sat down next to me, her arms resting on her knees. Apollo had disappeared. I wondered what to say to her.
"I like your castle. It looks cozy." I whispered.
"You saw my castle?" She asked.
"The floor is see through." I admitted.
"Yes, well I have several situated all over the world, They're all the same to me." Aria shrugged off.
"What of the mud? You always have mud on your boots when you come to breakfast. Where do you get it?" I asked, she was staring at me now, I was hoping I wasn't too red.
"I converse with the mermaids before I go to eat, ask if they would like me to get them anything." Aria admitted. I nodded, knew it.
"I'm sorry I had your bracelet. I didn't take it from you honest."
"I never thought you did. I thought I had merely lost it and you had picked it up." I was slightly crestfallen, she probably thought he couldn't have snuck up on her.
"Is it really important to you?"
"Yes, it is. Don't you have a precious item?" she asked.
"Yes, I was so scared they'd sink the bewitched telescope I got from my grandfather. I've been sleeping with it under my pillow all week. I've got a sore neck from it." I admitted. Aria wasn't smiling anymore she was watching me carefully, I wondered what I had said wrong.
"I'm not a good person to get attached to." She stated, "I'm a heart breaker."
"I'm not attached to you." I eased.
"Then why was I at the bottom of the lake?" She asked, I flushed.
"You're interested and that's enough. Stay away from me hot shot, I'm nothing about trouble you'll just get hurt." She warned She had gotten up, she walked towards the lake, stepping up on the waves. She was heading to a certain point in the middle. Krum and the blonde girl was back, she had failed the test, everyone was waiting on Harry now and he was really late. She stopped and made a gesture, a unfishy Harry shot out of the water clutching the small blonde child and Ron. He landed on the water as if it had suddenly solidified. She crouched down beside him, and poked his head, he looked up to her, water sloshed out of his mouth. Aria shook her head and began to walk away, the solidification must have followed her for when she walked away all three sunk back into the water.
"ARIA!" Harry called out, she turned to stare at him.
"Well get up!" Aria ordered. Harry swam to her, he helped the blonde child up and then got himself up, Ron followed. I waited for Aria to come back, she stared at me as if I was going to ask her another question, I offered her a hand to help her onto the sand. She didn't take it, instead she leant in close her cheek resting against mine, I could feel her breathe moving tickling my ear. Her cheek was ice cold against the heat of my flaming blush.
"Heed my warning badger boy people who love me die." Aria warned. She walked away from me, she headed back to her castle. I noticed that she never warmed Harry up like she did for me. I had a feeling that I wasn't going to heed her warned at all.