Ugh, so I know there is no excuse for such a delay but here is just a short bit until the next update which will contain the ENTIRE second task, this is just a preview to hold you over until I'm done with it! I've just had so much going on and I won't bore you with the details, but I have decided that boys are evil demonic spirits and I hate them. :) Oh, and I also wanted to say a big thank you to all my reviewers who don't sign in when they review so I can't send you a personal thank you! Next time sign in because I always like to take the time to say thank you for reviewing because it really means a lot to me! I love you all!
"Say it again, Harry," Hermione commanded, pacing across the floor of the library, practically ripping her hair out from frustration.
Much to Arra and Ron's dismay, there was no daisy soap left in the bathroom for Harry, but he did happen to figure out the egg. However, their short-lived victory only led them to another problem—deciphering the eerie poem the egg had told him.
"Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground," Harry droned, his head resting on one of the many open books surrounding the four friends. "And while you're searching, ponder this, we've taken what you'll sorely miss. An hour long you'll have to look to recover what we took, but past an hour, the prospect's black, too late it's gone, it won't come back."
Hermione nodded fervently, "Alright, so let's go through what we've figured out. The first line is obviously about the black lake, and the mermaids," She was mostly talking to herself at this point, "They've taken something from you, and you'll have an hour to look for it under the water—"
"Ah, yes, and back to our present situation—the breathing underwater for an hour part," Ron cut in, finishing his project of arranging a multitude of books into even columns across the table.
It was the evening before the second task and Harry, Ron, Hermione and Arra had been sitting in the library since lunch time. Going through book after book, they searched for a spell or charm or something that would enable Harry to breathe underwater for an hour, but they had come up with nothing so far.
"I don't think it can be done," Ron continued.
Hermione shook her head, "No, there must be a way! They wouldn't assign you a task that was undoable!"
Arra looked up from the book she was flipping through, "Well they didn't mean to. I'm sure that this is a simple problem for a seventh year, but we're fourth years! We don't know anything about human transfiguration or advanced charms or any of that mumbo jumbo yet." She closed the book with a thud and a grim face.
Harry nodded, "Arra's right, this is ridiculous."
"What I'm pissed about," Arra said, "is that you straight up told Cedric about the dragons in the first task. Gave him the complete task! And what does he do in return—tell you to take a bath! Not anything straightforward like, 'Oh here Harry, the task is to go in the lake, let me tell you how to help yourself out with that, seeing as how you're only just a little fourth year!'" She said in her best Cedric Diggory voice, which wasn't close to the real one at all.
"That's cheating, Arra," Hermione said, still scanning her eyes over the pages of the books. Cedric just can't give Harry the answers to the task…" She trailed off, lost in the literature once again.
Ron snapped his fingers, "Hey! How long does it take to become an animagus? I mean, Harry's dad and Sirius both taught themselves, I bet Harry could do it too!"
"In 8 hours? You have an awful lot of faith the scarhead there," A drawling voice came from the end of the bookshelf. Arra's heart did a little backflip of nervousness, but she kept her face stoic.
"Malfoy," Ron seethed, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I've come to join the little Golden Group on your many adventures to triumph over evil and make the world all good and smiley and bake cakes for the homeless!" He said with mock excitement. "Piss off Weasley," He said regaining his usual demeanor, "McGonagall saw me in the hallway, told me to come and find you two." He gestured to Arra and Hermione.
Arra stood up quickly, "I swear that dungbomb in the common room was not me!"
"I don't know what it's about, she just wants to see you now," Malfoy responded with malice in his voice, but Arra could see in his eyes that it wasn't real.
Arra groaned, "Fine, come on Hermione," She said, beckoning her bushy haired friend. Arra leaned down in front of Harry's chair, "Keep looking for an answer, I'll be back soon. We will do this Harry, I promise I won't let you drown," She smiled at him with sincerity and stood straight to follow Malfoy out of the library.
"I'll follow in a bit Arra, I think I'm on to something here," Hermione said quietly, scribbling down notes onto a bit of parchment.
"Arra," Harry said just before she rounded the corner, gaining her attention once again, pausing before continuing to speak. "I just wanted to say…um..."
"Yes?" She said, taking a step back towards his chair.
"Uh…just, hurry back, okay?" He said with complete honesty.
"Yeah, I will," She promised, a bit crestfallen, for she thought he would say something a bit more…exciting.
Kicking herself for screwing up her terrible, half-hearted relationship with the one and only Harry Potter, Arra turned a corner to come face to face with the main reason for her treachery.
"Is Granger following you?" He asked, craning his neck to see behind her.
Arra scowled, "Not yet," And she swept past him, heading down the hallway.
"Whoa, excuse me?" He said, following her, "Have I done something to upset you?" He asked accusingly.
"Yes. No. I mean, I don't know!" She said, continuing to walk with him close on her heels.
"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?"
She rounded on him, "It means, that I am a terrible person who lies to her best friends about the boy she is seeing and is too embarrassed to tell them the truth!"
He looked so confused, "Where the hell is all of this coming from? We've been fine the whole time until right now when you went all wonky!"
Her eyes widened, "I'm a GIRL, Draco! Emotions and thoughts just pop up in my head like flowers! If you knew anything about me at all then you would know that I'm a complete nutter when it comes to things like this!"
"Things like what? Things like me?"
She rolled her eyes, "Yes! Things like this! Like relationships! I have no idea what I'm doing! I have no idea what the proper steps are that we're supposed to be taking for this! Is there paperwork? Do I need to take a test to become a 'certified girlfriend'? Do I get a certificate so that I can prove to everyone that I'm not completely useless at this sort of stuff?" She blabbered on, continuing down the corridor to Professor McGonagall's office.
It was now Draco's turn to roll his eyes, "Come here," He said, pulling her into the nearest empty classroom and shutting the door behind them. "Now," he said, placing his hands on her upper arms, holding her in front of him, "What's all this about?"
She sighed, placing her hands on his chest, "I just feel like I'm doing this wrong. Like I'm going to screw it up. Maybe I already have," She whispered quietly.
He frowned, "Why do you think that?"
She shook her head, "I just don't know if I can balance all of this. I feel like I'm leading a double life! And if I try and mesh the two of them, I just know I'll loose one. And I can't bear to lose either you or my friends."
Draco smiled, "As much of an insufferable group of complete asses your friends are, I can put up with them for you."
She broke away from him, "See, it's things like that that make me worry! How can you say things like that about my friends and expect me to be okay with it? And they say the same things about you! How can I ever be expected to tell them about you? I know you Draco, and you won't put up with them, nor do I want you to have to be forced to do that."
"So, what are you saying?" His eyes narrowed. "Are we breaking up?"
"No." She said sternly. "I just need…to gather my thoughts, okay?" She asked with pleading eyes. "Can we please just talk about this again later? Right now, I just need to go talk to McGonagall and then get back to helping Harry."
He definitely did not look happy about her decision, but decided to go with it anyway. "Fine."
"Okay," She said, walking past him to the door, before turning around to face him again, "I'm sorry that I'm so difficult."
He nodded with a smirk, "Yeah me too. But you always have been flawed, Arra. But it's one of the things I love about you."
She gave him a small sad smile, before opening the door, leaving the classroom, and shutting it behind her.
Today for reviewing, I have fettucine alfredo! I went to Olive Garden last night so I've been pigging out on my leftovers, and I will share with my lovely reviewers!