I'm not sure when I drifted asleep, but one moment I was reading about water related spells and the next, Harry was shaking me awake.

"What time is it?" I asked sleepily, blinking as my eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room.

"The second task starts in five minutes!" Harry shouted.

I swore under my breath and shot up. "Harry, have you found something?"

"Err... maybe?"

"What do you mean maybe? What is it?"

Harry held out a slimy, grayish-green thing.

I blinked a couple times before I registered what it was. "Harry, is that Gillyweed? That should work... but how did you get it?"

"A friend gave to me," he muttered.

"Well, what are you still doing here? Go, go, go!"

Leaving the books sprawled out on the table, we sprinted out the library, down the staircase and through the Entrance Hall where the last minute stragglers watched curiously.

"Good luck!" I called out to Harry when we reached the lake and parted ways. He went to stand with the other champions while I searched the stands for Neville.

"Where have you been?" He asked as I sat down next to him, offering apologies to the people around me who had to move down the row for me to sit.

"Library," I answered, still slightly breathless from running all the way down here.

Neville looked like he was going to interrogate me further, but at that moment, Ludo Bagman's voice echoed across the lake.

"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One... two... three!"

I watched nervously as Harry ripped off his shoes and socks, reached into his pocket for something I couldn't quite see – the Gillyweed – and stuffed it into his mouth as he began to wade into the water. He stood there for a bit before finally diving into the water and I took it the Gillyweed had worked its magic.

Only when I saw the Gillyweed in Harry's hand this morning had I remembered learning about it from my grandfather. He taught me a wide range of complex spells and potions. And while some came in handy, such as withstanding the Imperious Curse, others I haven't thought about since his passing. Though I wished I'd remembered as it might've saved Harry from a very stressful and tiring night.

Time passed, and I fiddled my thumbs, nervously wondering what Harry was facing down below the lake's surface.

Fleur Delacour returned first, having been attacked by grindylows. Next to arrive was Cedric Diggory, only, he wasn't alone but with a dark-haired girl I recognised as his date from the Yule Ball. I thought back on conversations and tried to remember her name. C something? Cho! Cho Chang!

"Why is Cho Chang with him?" I wondered out loud.

"Dunno," Neville said, following my gaze. "Maybe she's part of the challenge?"

That theory was confirmed shortly after with the arrival of Viktor Krum and... Hermione?

"Hermione went to the Yule Ball with Krum," Neville said, echoing my thoughts as we remembered that night. "So you reckon Harry's with Pavarti?"

I shook my head and pointed further down the stands where she was standing with Lavender Brown. As I wondered what was going on, another champion bobbed up to the surface. Even from a distance, I recognised that dark hair. Onl Harry wasn't with another person.

He was with two.

"Can you see who they are?" I shouted to Neville over the crowd's cheers.

"Not really," Neville replied. "One's a young girl – not old enough for Hogwarts yet. And the other could be about our age with... red hair."

Realisation dawned on me. "It's Ron!" I yelled. "Professor McGonagall needed to talk to him and Hermione yesterday afternoon. It must've been about this! And the other girl must be Fleur's sister."

We watched as Madam Pomphrey tended to the champions, and then the judges announced the results. I grinned proudly when Harry was given second place, only two points behind Cedric. Combined with the points from the last challenge, Harry was now tied for first place along with Cedric.

He was alive. He was up for first place. He had time before the final task. Everything was going well.

And yet, why did I have this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach? A feeling that, no matter how much I tried, I couldn't shake away.

Neville talked incessantly about the tournament, asking me what I thought had occurred in the depts of the lake. I kept turning the conversation back to him, so in the end, he stopped asking my opinion. I was alright with that as it allowed me to retreat into my own world with his chatter playing in the background.

"Lean?"

I was jolted back into reality by the sound of my name. We were now beginning to ascend the slope leading back to the castle.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I lied. "Actually, I think I forgot my wand at the stands. I better go get it."

"Want some company?"

"That's okay. I'll meet you in the common room in a bit."

Neville nodded and walked off without me. I waited until he was out of sight before walking over to the side of the lake, walking along the bank until I came to the tree – my tree. I had only been sitting there for a bit, leaning against the smooth bark when a voice came from behind me.

"Hey," Harry said simply.

"Hey," I repeated without looking up, keeping my eyes on the still lake surface.

"Where's Neville?"

"Common room."

"You didn't join him?"

"I forgot my wand - it's still at the stands."

"You sure it's not that thing in your pocket?"

I glanced up at Harry for the first time. He was still wet despite the towels Madam Pomphrey had given him. I looked from him to my back pocket where my wand was clearly visible. I didn't bother coming up with an excuse. We both knew I hadn't forgotten my wand. Just like we both knew there was a reason I was sitting here, waiting for him as I knew he'd come.

"Thank you," Harry said after a minute or so of awkward silence. "For staying with me last night – this morning."

"Of course." Another awkward silence and then, "How's Ron?"

"Good," Harry said instantly. "Good, really good."

"That's good."

Harry scratched the back of his neck and then, with only slightly hesitation, sat down next to me. "So..." he said after a short pause. "Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

"Why would something be bothering me?"

"You could be hanging out with your friends right now, but instead, you're sitting here alone with an expression that makes me think you've just received news that you're dying."

"I'm not dying," I said.

"Then what is it?"

"I wanted to be your special person," I blurted out before I could stop myself.

This was clearly not the kind of reaction Harry had been expecting. "Y-you... what?!"

"For the second task," I tried to explain. "Krum and Diggory both had to rescue their dates from the Yule Ball! But for you, it was Ron. Which I get; he's your best friend. I just thought that maybe... I don't know... you liked me."

Harry's eyes widened. "I-"

"But you don't, and that's fine. You don't want to get too close to your arch enemy's sister. And that's fine, really."

"That's not true!" Harry insisted. "I do like you, Lean."

"Then how come I'm not shivering from the cold right now? How come it's Ron who everyone's paying attention to? How come I'm sitting here now – a pathetic looser who doesn't even know what she's saying anymore?"

"Lean..." Harry said slowly, but I was already retreating back to the castle, worried the next word from my mouth would be something I'd seriously regret.