Chapter Six
Plans
"Impossible" Lorena whispered, with wide eyes. She glanced at Abril and saw she was open-mouthed with an incredulous expression on her face.
"How was it possible that Harry was chosen?" Abril wondered shocked.
Lorena turned to look at the Gryffindors at the far corner of the Great Hall. No one cheered. Harry was immobile, staring stunned at Dumbledore. Every single student had its eyes on him.
A sound like furious bees started to rise across the Great Hall, murmurs of anger and confusion, and some students even standing up to take a better look at Harry, who hadn't moved an inch.
In the teachers' table, McGonagall rose and went to stand next to Dumbledore, with whom she whispered impetuously. Then, he looked up and nodded.
"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore called, "Harry, stand up and come here, please."
Abril saw Hermione Granger urging him to get up, and he staggered across the tables towards Dumbledore.
The protests of hundreds of angry students seem to rise, and when Harry finally arrived at the teacher's table, Dumbledore ushered him into the back room.
When the door closed behind him, the angry voices finally rose into shouts.
"Traitor!" someone shouted next to Lorena, and several students around her stood up. The angriest ones were, of course, the Hufflepuffs, who were outraged about someone trying to overshadow the glory of their champion.
McGonagall, who had stayed while the other headmasters deliberated with the champions, lifted her hands and bellowed.
"SILENCE!"
Everyone stopped shouting, but the angry murmurs were still audible.
"Tis can't be tolerrated! It is not fairr that Hogwarrts has two champions," a Durmstrang student suddenly said over the crowd.
"I can assure you that I am as shocked as everyone here. This was not supposed to happen, but I guarantee you that professor Dumbledore and the other teachers will come to an agreement about Mr Potter. For now, please return to your common rooms, in silence."
With that, professor McGonagall swiftly turned around and entered the room behind the teachers' table.
Everyone stood up, reluctant to leave. Abril went out accompanying her friends, but when they were out in the hallway, she excused herself and hurried to where the Ravenclaw Tower was. She craned her neck looking for Lorena, but she was dragged by the crowd of students, so she didn't notice when someone caught her arm, and Abril couldn't do anything but yelp before she was dragged into an empty classroom.
Lorena glared at a second year Gryffindor who had stepped on her foot, and Violet looked pitifully at the boy who had fled after that.
"Why are you so upset anyway?" Violet asked her when she turned around, "I know it's quite a shock, but anyone would think you are Hufflepuff by the look of anger in your eyes."
"It's nothing" Lorena answered evasively "I just hope the teachers don't let Harry compete."
"Now you're calling Potter "Harry"?" Emma asked.
Lorena tried very hard not to roll her eyes.
"That's his name, isn't it?"
"I agree with her" Violet said, surprising Lorena, "Potter can't compete. He only cheated to have more fame than he already has."
Lorena cursed under her breath. What did they know, anyway? They continued through the halls heading for their common room when Lorena heard a ripping sound, and a second later, her schoolbag torn, all of its content falling to the floor. Ink splattered everywhere and stained her parchments and books. Lorena snarled in annoyance, and bent down to recover her things when a pair of hands appeared and picked up her books. She looked up smiling gratefully but her smile froze when she saw Lorcan holding her things.
"Hey Dolohov! You coming?" a Slytherin shouted over the crowd before she could thank him. Lorcan turned to look at him and then looking at Lorena, he gave her the books and turned to leave with his friends.
"Dolohov" Lorena thought as she tried to clean the ink-stained parchments and organize her books. When she was finally done, she saw she was alone on the hallway. She resumed her way to the common room, but she had just taken a few steps when she heard a muffled cry.
Frowning, she followed the sounds to a closed classroom. When she heard more sounds, she blushed and turned away, but then she heard a distinct voice. Frowning, she opened the door and peeked inside before making an incredulous face.
"OI!" she roared, stomping into the classroom and surprising the two students who were inside. One of them looked at her in arrogant annoyance.
"Get out, Rodriguez. This is non of your business" Zacharias Smith said.
In that instant, Abril tried to sneak from under Smith's arms, but he caught her before she could escape.
"I'm not done with you, pretty," he said laughing.
"Oh, but I am with you" she said angrily, and kicked him in the shin.
Smith howled in pain and dropped to the floor.
"How muggle-ish" Lorena said racing and eyebrow to Abril, who was now getting away from Smith.
"My hands were indisposed," she said hotly, and then turned to look at Smith still lying on the floor, "He is such a drama queen."
"You are perfect for each other then" Lorena said smiling as they walked out of the classroom.
"You wish. Thanks for appearing anyway. It helped distract him." Abril answered just as Ludo Bagman turned the corner, almost banging into them.
"Oh, my apologies ladies! I didn't see ya there"
"It's quite all right," Lorena said nonchalantly, and then turned to Abril, "Why were you in there anyway?"
Abril huffed while she picked up her hair in a messy ponytail.
"He dragged me there when I was looking for you" she said, and then her face turned worried, "How could Moody..."
"Not here" Lorena said, seeing Bagman had sat on a bench near them and covering her friend's mouth with her hand, "We'll meet at lunch time tomorrow. You know which part of the library."
Lorena grabbed her ripped bag and both girls said their goodbyes, as Bagman took out a handkerchief to wipe his brow, sighing.
The worm exploded with a disgusting sound, staining Lorena and Violet's faces.
"Charming," Violet said, while she took a lock of her hair soaked in green slime.
"Miss Rodriguez, Miss Knight, tell me now. What happened for you to have this result?" McGonagall asked with a severe face.
"Umm...the worm fought us?" Lorena answered dubitably.
"Indeed. You should have been more focused on turning it into the ball of yarn than thinking about how ugly it is or whatever you were doing. Five points from Ravenclaw."
In that moment, the bell rang and everyone stood up and went out.
"I'm going to take a bath" Violet said and walked away.
Lorena wondered the corridors enjoying herself when she saw a group of Slytherins loitering in one of the corners of the clock tower courtyard. She stopped walking and looked at them while they laughed. Lorcan was among them, and when he saw her staring, he sent her a charming smile. Lorena blushed and turned away. Although he was indeed handsome, there was something eerie about him. "Besides his last name being Dolohov" Lorena thought sarcastically. Antonin Dolohov was one of Voldemort's most loyal followers, and having his son fancying her was not very engaging. She walked quickly away from there and went to her common room.
After lunch, Abril went to the library and decided to explore a bit while she waited for Lorena. There were hundreds of volumes and all kind of strange parchments and tablets. Abril took out a heavy book with a purple cover from the stacks and opened it, revealing a text in red ink which changed every few seconds and another text appeared, as well as symbols and numbers. She was trying to read a paragraph when she heard some muffled sounds near her. She was going to inspect the sound when a couple suddenly appeared engaged in a passionate kiss with their arms tangled around them. Abril blushed furiously and tried to escape, but just when she was going to flee, the couple accidentally pinned her to the wall. They both jumped and they stared shocked at Abril while she stared back.
"I...I'm sorry," Abril mumbled embarrassed, "I didn't want to…um...interrupt you."
The boy laughed and then, like it was the most natural thing in the world, he pulled up his girl against the wall and licked her neck while she giggled.
"Care to join us?" he asked casually.
Abril gaped at them in shock and then swiftly turned around and fled.
"What took you so long?" Lorena, who was sitting comfortably in the Muggle Section of the library, asked her when she arrived.
"I just found out that the stacks are a very good place for couples," she said, burying her head between her arms as she sat down.
"Save me the details" Lorena said amused, but then her face grew serious, "This is not good, Abril. Somehow, Moody managed to make Harry get chosen right under our noses."
"But it couldn't have been him. He had a broken leg and Madame Pomfrey was with him all day."
"Maybe he imperiused someone to do it?"
Abril nodded thoughtfully, but then shook her head.
"As much as I am worried about how he did it, we have to bear in mind that Harry is now the fourth champion, and remember you promised we would help him."
"But how can we help him without making ourselves too obvious?" Lorena asked.
"The only way I can think about is trying to be his friends. That way he will trust us. Besides, we already have Fred and George in our side."
"The tasks are the ones who worry me the most. At least Hagrid's going to warn him about the dragon..."
Abril touched Lorena's arm and widened her eyes.
"Moody is the one who suggests Hagrid to do it! Although his main goal is to keep Harry safe until the third task, we can't let him go near him. You know how fond of him Harry came to be."
Lorena nodded worried.
"We have to be extremely careful with him. We can't let him even suspect that we know who he is. For now, what we have to do is get closer to Harry. Obviously we're not going to be as close as Hermione and Ron, but close enough that he listens to us."
"With that thick head he has, it's not going to be easy" Abril said, rolling her eyes.
"Think about it this way," Lorena said smiling, "Now is the best moment to get close to him because of all the bullshit about him cheating and stuff. He'll appreciate someone who is willing to listen to him and understand him, and believe him."
"Yeah," Abril agreed, "For now."
At dinnertime, Lorena went to the Great Hall and as she sat down, she saw Abril entering through the doors.
"Hey" she greeted when Abril sat down in front of her.
"Hi"
Violet and Emma gave Abril a court nod as greeting, and then turned their backs on them.
"Your friends are charming" Abril murmured sarcastically.
"You have no idea," Lorena said as Violet and Emma whispered between them, glancing cheekily at them.
"Cedric told me the other day that the champions had been called for the wand weighing, and that there had been photographs and stuff" Abril said as she filled her plate.
"Harry must have felt in paradise," Lorena said.
"You're calling him "Harry" again," Emma said sweetly.
"Well what do you want me to call him? Jeremiah?" Lorena retorted angrily. Those girls were getting on her nerves.
Emma just narrowed her eyes but said nothing.
"Well, I saw the article that came out after that photo-shoot" Violet intervened like nothing had happened, "it seems Potter is far more important than the Triwizard Tournament"
"Why do you say that?" Lorena asked frowning, not liking the girl's tone.
"Didn't you read?" Violet asked faking surprise, "More than half of the interview talks about how Potter receives his strength from his parents and how proud they must be of him right now. Viktor Krum and the French girl are squeezed into the last line of the article."
"And Cedric?" Abril asked.
"Oh, I think he wasn't mentioned at all" Violet said with a wave of her hand.
Abril opened her mouth outraged, and Lorena made a rude sound.
"I'd love to squash Rita Skeeter right now" Abril said angrily.
"Literally" Lorena said laughing.
At the surprised look of the two other girls, Abril and Lorena laughed harder.
"So, are you super excited about Snape's detention tonight?" Abril asked after the laughed died out.
Lorena almost choked with her food.
"Damn it, I had forgotten!" she said alarmed and quickly took her bag and burst out towards the dungeons. She arrived panting at Snape's office but quailed.
"Are you planning on staying out there wandering outside my office or are you coming in?" a harsh voice suddenly boomed behind her, making Lorena jump.
She turned around just when professor Snape stepped aside to let her in.
She went into his office in silence and before she could say anything, Snape had placed a bucket full of beetles and a tray on the table in front of her.
Lorena gulped.
"Am I going to pop their eyes out, professor?" she asked weakly.
"Well of course not, Miss Rodriguez" Snape said, and Lorena didn't know whether to feel relieved or scared.
Snape took a step towards her and took a beetle in his hands.
"Your task" he said with an amused twinkle in his eyes, "is to squash this beetles and place their organs in this tray."
Lorena turned pale and was about to say something when Snape spoke again.
"This beetles" he said raising his voice to silence any protest, "have an orange pebble inside them that can be used as an ingredient in potions. When the tray is full, you will search for every single pebble and gather them in a jar. Did I make myself clear enough, Miss Rodriguez?"
Lorena, who had turned from pale to a sickening green, opened her mouth, but Snape gave her a murderous look and she closed it with a snap.
Snape turned around and went to sit behind his desk. Lorena took a glimpse inside the bucket and she had to use all of her strength not to shriek. The beetles were still alive.
"Can't I really do something else, pro…?"
"Fifteen points from Ravenclaw for your insolence, Miss Rodriguez."
Lorena felt a bubble of anger in her stomach but stayed silent as she sat in front of the bucket and tray and started her work, not before glaring at Snape one last time.
The first tries were the worst, for the beetles kept wiggling between her fingers and made a horrifying sound when she squashed them. To her surprise, the inside of the beetles was an electrical blue slime with a shiny orange pebble in the middle.
She didn't look at any of the beetles when she squashed them, and after some time, the tray was full and the bucket, empty. She stared at the blue slime for some minutes, trying to gain the courage to touch it.
"Do you wish for me to give you silk gloves or perhaps golden tweezers, Miss Rodriguez?" Snape mocked.
She glared at him, but Snape only snorted amused and went back to his exam grading.
Hours passed insufferably slow, and when a large glass jar was full with bright orange pebbles, Lorena collapsed on the table.
"I have no desire to carry you out if you fall asleep in here. Get out of my sight" Snape said flatly, but Lorena was out of his office before he could finish.