Chapter 7: Unexpected turn of events
Meanwhile in the Slytherin common room, Skylar and Draco were continuing an argument they had started before the Yule ball. "I don't care anymore Draco! I will not continue to pretend that I'm dating Cedric, just to get at Harry! I love him and I'm not going to pretend anymore!!" Skylar yelled at Draco from across the fire lit common room. "Skylar Ambrosial Snape, you will not talk to me like that! I am your cousin and you should listen to me, I'm only doing this for your own good!" Draco yelled back, his perfectly fixed hair falling out of place.
Skylar walked over to him, the top of her head coming only to his chin. "I will talk to you however I want to. It would be wise of you to remember that I am older and higher up in our family… so, you should be taking orders from me, not the other way around!" Skylar yelled, causing Draco to take a step back. She then pushed past him and walked out of the common room.
"Skylar… Skylar I'm not done talking with you! Skylar!!" Draco yelled out as Skylar closed the common room door behind her. "That's too bad, because I'm through with you." Skylar whispered before she made her way to Gryffindor Tower. It wasn't long before Skylar reached the seventh floor, where she stood outside the Gryffindor portrait calling out to Harry. "Harry! Harry come outside!!" Skylar yelled out her voice cracking with anger and grief. "I know you can hear me…" she said softly.
Slowly she slid down the wall next to the portrait and started to cry. "Please just come outside." She whispered as she put her head in her hands."Skylar?" a voice asked next to her. Skylar looked up startled at the sound of Harry's voice. "Skylar what are you doing out here? It's not even five o'clock yet…" Harry said, looking down at his ex-girlfriend, a part of him deeply angered that she was sitting outside his dorm, and the other part hopeful as to why.
"I just wanted to talk to you Harry." Skylar said before she picked herself up off the floor and wiped away her tears. "I don't think you should be here. What would your boyfriend think?" Skylar looked at Harry for a moment, why was he acting like this? "Cedric Diggory is not my boyfriend and he never was."
Harry looked surprised for a minute. "Well what would Malfoy think?" Skylar threw her hands down in anger, "I don't give a damn what that little blackmailer thinks! Draco Malfoy doesn't control me anymore!" "Why should I believe you?" Harry asked, this time much softer than before. "Because," Skylar said as she walked over to him and took his hands in hers. "I'm in love with you, Harry." With that Skylar pulled him closer and kissed him.
Everything changed after that morning; Skylar was accepted back into the Golden Trio's inner circle of friends and was now Harry's steady girlfriend. Ron and Lavender also started a relationship. But something's weren't changing for the better, despite Hermione always being with Harry and Ron; it was starting to seem like she was unimportant to them. Soon it was February and time for the second task. This time though, Harry didn't come to Hermione for help and as Hermione realized, she depended on her two friends to depend on her. So when Harry didn't need her, it felt like a knife had cut deep into her heart.
On February 23rd, Hermione and Ron were asked to meet in Professor McGonagall's office. No reason was given. The next day Harry was to compete in the second task, which involved swimming to the bottom of the black lake and retrieving something the champion holds dear to them. Once Harry and the other champions dived into the water they made their way to the bottom of the lake, each champion using a different means to breathe under water. Harry used a plant called gillyweed.
Soon Harry reached the bottom and swam through the merpeople's village, where in the center stood a stone statue of a merperson. Four people were bound to the statue's tail. As Harry swam closer he noticed that the four people were none other than Hermione, Ron, Skylar and a little girl that looked no older than eight, whose silvery hair made Harry sure that she was Fleur's younger sister. All four of them appeared to be in a very deep sleep, their heads were lolling onto their shoulders and fine streams of bubbles were issuing from their mouths.
Harry hesitated once he was floating in front of the three people he wanted to save, but as he tried to cut the ropes on them a hideous mermaid told him he could only take one. As he floated there, he wondered where the other champions where. He didn't have to wait long, for Cedric swam up and started to cut Skylar loose from the statue before he swam off, motioning for Harry to hurry. The next person that came was Viktor, who used his transfigured shark's head to bite through the rope holding Hermione, before he too swam back towards the surface.
Harry waited and waited for Fleur to come and save her sister, but she never appeared, so after threatening the surrounded merpeople, Harry cut away both Ron and the little girl's roped and carried them to the surface of the lake. Once Harry, Ron and the little girl climbed onto the platform Fleur rushed over to him and thanked him for saving her sister. The judges were informed that Harry was the first one to reach the mer-village and that he wanted to rescue all of the hostages…as a result Harry and Cedric tied for first place.
After the task, things didn't go back to the way they were before Harry and Skylar got back together, instead they worsen. Now Hermione was getting mean looks from Viktor's fan club that followed him around the castle because she was what the judges considered he would miss the most.
She even started to receive hate mail because of an article that was written in the Daily Prophet about Hermione and a love triangle with Viktor and Harry. On March 8th, Hermione opened one hate letter that contained undiluted bubotuber pus, which as soon as it touched her skin caused painful pus-filled sores to form over her hands, giving her the appearance of wearing a pair of thick knobby gloves.
After Hermione came back from the Hospital Wing she went to lunch where she had some difficulty managing her knife and fork, because her fingers were so stiff and swollen. Suddenly she put down her utensils, "I hate that Skeeter woman!" She burst out savagely. "I'll get her back if it's the last thing I do!"
Soon it was May and the Champions were informed about the Third and final task. They had to reach the center of a maze and be the first one to touch the Triwizard Cup. Later that same week Harry received a letter from Sirius.
"Dear Harry,
Alexea and I have been talking and we wanted to know if you had ever considered having parents again? We believe that you do, so we want you to know that we want to adopt you, so you can have a family again. We will understand if you don't wish to be adopted. But please write back as soon as possible and let us know your decision.
Love, your Godfather and Prospective parents
Sirius and Alexea Black"
Harry had tears in his eyes as he finished reading the letter. Without thinking Harry ran off to the Great Hall where dinner was about to be served, looking for Jasper Black. It didn't take him long to spot his spiky dark brown haired friend, half running half walking, Harry came up to him in a matter of minutes. Once Harry was at the Ravenclaw table Jasper turned to face him. "Is something wrong Harry?" He asked him, a small smile on his face.
"Would you be upset if your parents adopted me?" Harry asked, his hands clutching the letter tightly in his hands. "Of course not Harry" Harry smiled. "We talked about adopting you a lot over the summer. You don't deserve to stay at your muggle relative's house… you deserve a happy family, and we want to give that to you." Jasper continued, noticing that with each word he spoke Harry's eyes, and smile got larger until Harry grabbed Jasper and gave him a hug.
"Thanks." Harry whispered before running out of the great hall to write his response to Sirius. "Harry! Harry!" Someone yelled out as he was running up the grand staircase. Quickly Harry looked up to see Hermione waiting at the top of the stairs. "Hermione, I can't talk. I've got to write a letter to Sirius." Harry said as he stopped next to her. "I know, but this is more important, you have to come to the common room." Hermione said, a little out of breath.
"But I really need to write this letter to Sirius… Hermione?!" Harry said as Hermione grabbed onto his arm and started pulling him towards the next staircase. "Come on!" Hermione said as Harry tried to pull away from her. "You'll be sorry if you don't come… please trust me." Hermione said turning her head to look at Harry. Harry looked back at her in wonder before he allowed her to drag him to the common room.
It wasn't long before they reached Gryffindor Tower. "Ok… ummm… oh just come on..." Hermione said with difficulty. Slowly Hermione pushed aside the portrait and entered the common room with Harry following close behind. Once they were standing in the middle of the common room Hermione turned back to Harry with a smile on her face. "Turn around." Slowly Harry turned back to face the portrait hole and the fireplace behind him. Harry couldn't believe his eyes as his Godfather and Alexea walked out of the shadows he had just past.
"Hiya Harry." Alexea said as she watched Harry's eyes begin to water. "Have you made a decision?" Harry nodded his head. "I want parents… I want you to adopt me." He managed to say before Sirius enveloped him in a hug. "Lily and James want you to be happy Harry… I'm sure their very proud of you right now." Sirius whispered into Harry's hair as the teenager began to cry harder.
"When can we make this official?" Harry asked a few minutes later. "Right now if you want" Alexea said coming up next to them. At Harry's confused look she continued, "We met with a Ministry official before we sent you the letter and he made up the paperwork for us… we've already signed it with the official as our witness… so that just leaves you to sign." She said pulling out a long piece of parchment from her bag.
Upon seeing the official adoption documentation Harry smiled widely. "Where do I sign?" He asked as Alexea handed him the parchment. "Under Sirius's signature, next to Hermione's" Quickly Harry signed his name and once he was finished a golden light surrounded them before it, and the parchment disappeared.
With a smile on his face Sirius walked over to Harry. "Welcome to the family, son." After that heartfelt moment, nothing else eventful happened until it was June 23rd, a day before the final task was to take place. Harry sat at dinner that night worrying about what dangerous tasks he would face the following morning.