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"Cenedra?" Harry asked despite the snickers and buttons on the shirts of those closer to the older girl, his eyes and mind focused on why he'd sought her out in the first place.
Cenedra attempted to quiet her friends down with a stern look and wave of her hands as she turned to face Harry, her eyes as kind as ever. "Hi, Harry. Is there something I can help you with? Here, let's move to the courtyard for some fresh air — you all go on ahead, I'll join you in the Great Hall before too long."
Her friends made to leave while Harry kept his eyes focused on her. She hadn't needed to ditch them, he didn't intend to make this something big and yet, the gesture was oddly nice from somebody he assumed would have a fair dislike of him; he had stolen her spot as the sole champion of Hogwarts, after all, even if that wasn't something that seemed to mean much to Cenedra.
"Thanks," Harry said finally and only when the others were far enough removed and the two had made their way over to a quiet corner of the nearest courtyard.
"I tried telling them not to wear the buttons, they're in poor taste but you know how dense a lot of our schoolmates can be," Cenedra said with a half-shrug and half-gesture of another sort he didn't pick out. "So, what did you come and find me for?"
Harry looked at her and said his answer without any pause. "Dragons. That's our first task, one each, so I've heard. I know we're supposed to be competing with each other, but I figured there's no point. I didn't enter my name, I don't want the glory or galleons, I just want to get it all over with."
Cenedra looked intently at his face before her own fell. "Dragons… that's certainly a fierce start to the tournament, I can't deny that. I don't know anything about them beyond the basics, I'l- we'll have to study."
By the time her latter comment was coming out of her mouth, Harry was already on his feet as he prepared to leave. When it registered in his mind what she'd just said, he furrowed his brows and looked at her curiously. "What do you mean 'we'll have to study' — we shouldn't work together."
Cenedra shook her head vehemently. "My House has treated you poorly, they've worn buttons and been the driving force behind why most of the others are treating you how they are. I've tried to stop it to some degree, we were friends on the Quidditch Pitch and I know how you are, but I could've done more," she stood up, taller and stronger-looking than Harry on account of the few years between them. "Come study with me. You shared information that you could've kept from me without any reason, whereas I actually have a reason to do something for you."
"It wasn't your fault. We don't control anybody else," Harry said even as he stayed rooted to the spot, the offer of help very enticing since he didn't seem to have Hermione around anymore on account of her deep friendship with Ron.
"Exactly," Cenedra said with a smile that fit her outgoing personality as she took ahold of his closer hand in one of her own. "We're going by the lake, the far side of it. Nobody will see us if you don't want them to and there's no getting out of my help now that you've done this for me. We'll be a team, for a change, luckily enough for you."
Harry's furrowed brows broke as he narrowed his eyes up at her. "I've won more often than you have."
"Your team and you especially are very gifted," she agreed with a laugh as she started forward, pulling her along behind him.
Somehow, as he walked with the older girl through the Halls of Hogwarts to the shock of many an onlooker, he felt like he'd lost even when he'd thought he'd won with his final remark. Then again, there wasn't really anything to lose if Cenedra was now helping him. Everybody knew how smart she was and the amount of talent she possessed, beyond that, everyone wanted to be friends with her.
When Harry looked back up and over to Cenedra, he noticed a sharp look on her face directed towards a few Ravenclaw boys who were suspiciously quiet this time around that he saw them. No sooner than the pair were behind them and gone, did she look back over to Harry with as friendly a smile on her face as ever she had.
"You're ready, right?" She asked him with a snicker in her tone and a peppiness in her step that was all too nice for somebody who'd just learned they would soon face off against Dragons.
"Ready for what?" Harry asked in response, his mind still a bit behind the rapidly-advancing series of events.
Cenedra paused when they turned a corner and looked at him, a grin on her face until she spoke. "We're going to train together. I don't really know all of the spells that would work against a Dragon, but it won't take long to find books about them and once we have those, we're gonna have to spend a lot of time perfecting them. Actually, I wonder if I'll get in trouble if I let you read stuff from the restricted section… probably not."
"Go on then, show me your egg," Cenedra said to him after she lightly elbowed his ribs, her eyes peeking over his shoulder at the strap of his satchel, the girl undoubtedly thinking up a plan to see it for herself if he didn't do so.
"Fine, fine," Harry said with a huff as he unslung the bag from around his person and pulled it before the pair of them. "Here, it's open, you can grab it yourself but I've told you it looks identical to yours."
Cenedra looked it over for all of a second before she withdrew her own egg. She gave off a series of hums and nods as she cast spell after spell over the pair. He had never seen her focus so hard on something that was decidedly the same.
"Perfect!" Cenedra said suddenly and loudly, enough so that Harry jumped, which of course made her laugh.
"What's perfect?" He asked when he pulled his egg off the table and pushed it back into his satchel.
Cenedra motioned to her egg, then his and finally, to the door to the classroom they had met in. "They're identical, which is perfect. If they react the same, look the same, hold the same enchantments, then the answer I've thought up should be the same too," she jolted upright and grabbed ahold of Harry's hand as she started pulling him towards the classroom door. "I hope you're good with transfiguration and I really hope you're not going to think I'm crazy."
"I would never think you're crazy," Harry said honestly, making the older girl blush and shake her head before she picked up their pace.
"I'm glad to hear that — we're going to the Prefects baths and there we'll find our answers," Cenedra didn't look at him after she said their destination, in fact, she didn't say anything until the two were stood out-front of the aforementioned place.
Harry looked at the doors, then back to the older girl. "I don't know the password and we don't know if anybody else is inside. Couldn't we use the la—"
Cenedra didn't answer him save for a reassuring arm around his shoulder as she said the password and like magic — because it was — the doors before the couple opened, revealing a beautiful interior thick with steam. "Here we are. I could use a good bath after all the work we've done… who would've thought it would help us?"
I don't see how this helps… Merlin.
Internally, Harry had just about disagreed with Cenedra until she transfigured her clothing in one take with a simple wave of her wand and a muttered incantation. From one second to the next, she had gone from a near-complete Hogwarts uniform to a bathing suit, one-piece and fairly tight-looking. He liked to think he managed to stay respectful, but Cenedra was beautiful enough that he wasn't certain if she'd seen his silent staring or how long said action had lasted.
"Get into whatever you're comfortable wearing, we have a task to accomplish," Cenedra said with a wide smile as she started forward again, her egg in her arms as if it were a newborn babe as she hastily lowered herself into the water; the pleasurable sigh she made upon doing so kicked Harry into action.
With more focus and more time used to do so, he transfigured his clothing so that he wore a good, long bathing suit in the Muggle fashion. It wasn't nearly as quality as Cenedra's magic, but it worked well enough and he joined her quickly, lest she spots any of the marks his upper body had.
Harry stared at Cenedra even if he tried to stop himself and the older girl blinked back at him, her expression beautiful, warm and welcoming as always. As that duration grew longer and the pair grew closer, Cenedra finally spoke.
"In the water," she said to him quietly as she pointed to his egg. "Join me under it, we'll listen together, like teammates."
"I don't think teammates take baths together," Harry said with a snort, unable to help himself when he looked to where she'd pointed in regards to her egg; it was mashed firmly against her chest, which wasn't the least bit helpful.
Cenedra grinned at him. "Sounds like they're missing out!"
At that, she dove under the water and in his direction, her hands managing to just pull him below the surface and that was when they heard it; singing. Harry opened his eyes below the surface of the water and stared at Cenedra as the siren-like song sang them their clue.
It went without saying that he had to hear it a second time, as the true Siren was the one he finally saw with clear eyes.
"You finished in first against the Dragons, first against the Merfolk and now here we are, minutes away from the final task starting with you getting a good head start," Cenedra shook her head in mock sadness. "I'll never win with somebody like you in the same tournament, now will I?"
Harry laughed lightly, the tension of his shoulders lessening as he tightened his hold of the older girl's hand. "I told you I'd wait for you here, it'd be better if we worked like a team like we did the second go around."
Cenedra looked conflicted before eventually, a negative answer won. "No," she said to him with a soft shake of her head and that smile of hers still on her face. "You've come so far and if you won after everybody knew you didn't want to, that none of this was your choice, it'd be quite the statement. I'll be fine — I'm older, remember? I should be giving you the speeches."
"Please," Harry said, waving his hand with a small smile on his face. "I'm the better seeker, and we both know that correlates to this tournament, dudn't it?"
"You're lucky I'm a good friend," Cenedra huffed before she leaned forward and messed his hair up. "Really, Harry. Be safe, please. I can't lose the only other seeker that's made Quidditch fun for me — besides, it'd be a shame as cute as you are, to lose you."
"What?"
He didn't get a chance to have any clarification before the cannon blasted and he was sent forward, into the maze that lay before him. This was it, then. It was time to finish this infernal tournament, win, and make sure everybody had a happy ending.