I am sorry this is so late. I had to write everything on sunday but then I had a hangover and so it was shit so I had to write it all over again between today and tomorrow... don't hate me, please!

"I'm warning you, Anna." Barty muttered as he crowded her closer to the wall. "I took care of Diggory, he'll talk to Potter tonight. I did my part, you do yours. I need more potion. This batch is done but I need to start another one soon."

She let out an irritated huff and pulled him closer so that they wouldn't be visible from the windows.

"I know. Just give me a week or two, alright? I'll do it in my next potions class."

"He'll catch you." Barty's breath was foul and it clouded the air between them. "That traitorous scum will find out."

"No, he won't." She hissed. "I know him. I've been living in close quarters with him for four years, I know what will keep him distracted."

Barty was about to answer when his blue eye -that had been fixed on the hallway behind them- suddenly shot back to her face. He pulled her away from the wall and put distance between them.

"If you have any further questions, Connors, you'll have to wait for classes to start again." Barty had made his voice rough again just as Daphne and Pansy walked around the corner.

"Thank you so much, Professor Moody." Anna smiled blindingly. "I think I'll have everything under control now."

Barty rolled his eyes at her, making sure the girls couldn't see him, and limped off.

As soon as he was out of earshot her two friends hurried over to her, tense looks on their faces. Daphne's hair hung limply across her shoulders and Pansy's bob was slightly wavy, but neither of them seemed to care. The halls were empty and cold and it didn't matter if they walked around without the usual amount of polishing since there was no one to see it.

"We've been looking for you for hours!" Daphne exclaimed, holding on to one of her arms.

"Stop exaggerating."

"No. Literally hours. Where in Merlin's pants did you run off to?" Pansy huffed as she grabbed her other arm.

They both started pulling her away, muttering among themselves about stuff Anna didn't particularly care for.

"I was practicing. Why?"

"You gotten any better?"

"I'm deadly. Now go on."

"It's past three. You need to get ready- WE need to get ready for the Ball. Theo's already dragged Draco and Blaise off." Daphne explained.

"Already?" Anna mused. "Why?"

"He said something about you wanting them to look nice for us and that he'd be damned if he was going to let them disappoint you."

A soft smile spread on her face. "That's sweet."

"It's adorable." Pansy huffed. "Theo and you are adorable. It's so sweet I'm getting cavities."

Daphne laughed. "You sure hit the jackpot, boyfriend-wise."

"Merlin, yes. The second you break up I get him." Pansy mumbled. "Ptolemy."

The wall to the SLytherin Dungeon slid open and Anna was ushered through. Together Daphne and Pansy herded her all the way to her bedroom, waving their wands over their shoulders to summon large bags filled with all sorts of beauty supplies.

Daphne started taking out everything from the bags and laying them down as Pansy started pulling the sweater over Anna's head and pushing her to the bathroom.

"Go on, hurry up!" She urged her friend. "Daph, don't forget the vial!"

"Vial of what?" Anna complained as she started undressing.

Pansy had already taken her clothes off and was fumbling with the taps of the large bath. It wasn't overly large, just enough for the three of them. They did this sometimes, although always with underwear on.

"Here it is!" Daphne smiled, holding up a small golden vial of something... green?

"What?" Anna's voice was slightly alarmed as she took off her pants, far too nervous to be shy as they did so too. "What is that for?"

"Don't let the hair on you head touch it. This gets rid of all body hair." Daphne said as she stepped carefully inside and poured it in the water. "It's expensive, alright. Even for us."

"It's complicated because it sort of dissolves all the hair without damaging you skin or anything, unlike the more common products." Pansy added as she also got in. "Heard they make it in China with dragon stomach acid or something."

They turned to her expectantly and Daphne splashed her hands on the water surface.

"We don't have all day. This takes about an hour and then we have to straighten both your hair and Pansy's."

"Straighten my hair?" Anna exclaimed as she let herself fall into the water. "What for?"

"It's a special occasion." Pansy smirked. "I think Theo will be fascinated. How long is your hair anyway?"

Anna shrugged. "It reaches my waist if it's straight."

"Are you sure about this?" Anna huffed as Daphne busied herself with painting Anna's fingernails black. With her free hand she smoothed down her dress. It was strapless and tight until her waist but the skirt was loose and reached past her feet, which is why she had to wear heels. Not that she didn't do that every day anyway. The pattern of the dress was beautiful, though. It had multicoloured flowers spread out over the dress in red and pink and yellow and light blue and the space between the flowers was white at the top and black at the bottom.

"I'll die of a cold." She huffed. "I should take a coat."

"No, don't." Daphne insisted, not even looking up. "That way you'll have to borrow Theo's."

"Alright, which ones?" Pansy came back carrying three little boxes with different jewelry. She held each one up to her ears so they could see the contrast with her peachy skin, black hair and pink lips. Her salmon dress made her skin look even softer and she looked pretty.

"The pearls." Daphne ordered. "And pass me my wand."

As soon as it was in her hand she waved it over Anna's hands to dry the varnish. Then she turned Anna's head in her hands, making sure there were no stray hairs falling out of the hairdo that she'd spent half an hour on and the make up that she'd specifically chosen for Anna.

"I'm starting to think you see me as a doll." Anna mumbled.

"That's because I do." Daphne hummed. "You look perfect."

Anna raised an eyebrow at her blond friend, who had dressed herself and done her hair, make up and jewelry in a flash and still looked better than either of them.

"If you say so."

"I do a much better job at dressing you than you do."

Anna rolled her eyes fondly. "Alright. I think we should go now, though, since I'm pretty sure the boys are waiting for us."

Pansy nodded. "Exactly. Though, between us, stay away from Haynes."

"Why?" Anna asked, getting to her feet and walking to the door, the two girls right behind her.

"Because he's a stupid bigot who's convinced that you're a mudblood dating a pureblood."

A slightly violent grin spread on Anna's blood-red lips. "I did tell you I was deadly, didn't I?"

"We know you are." Draco's voice sounded.

The girls turned to him. Draco, Theo and Blaise were seated in their usual spot all dressed up in silk dressrobes and costly cufflinks.

Blaise quickly got to his feet and walked to Daphne, automatically extending an arm which she took. Together they walked off, both with completely obvious smug looks on their faces.

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Let's go then."

Draco nodded and held out his arm. "We'll see you in the Great Hall?"

At both their nods he let himself be pulled away by his childhood friend.

Theo stayed seated, languidly resting his legs on the small table in front of the couch and threading his fingers though his newly cut hair. It used to be longer and reach his chin but he's opted to get a shorter cut that wouldn't tickle his neck all the time. He was smiling gently as he watched her walk closer and lean with her hips against the armchair across from him.

"Get a good look?" She smirked.

His eyes crinkled with amusement and he reached up to scratch the birthmark by his eyes – as usual – before he stood up. With slow steps he walked to her until he could grab her hand and raise it to his lips. He placed a soft peck on her knuckles, just slightly brushing her Lestrange family ring.

"Should you be wearing that ring?" He wondered.

"No one will notice." She laughed. "And if they do, it'll be the Slytherins who will once and for all stuff their prejudices about me up their arses."

Now it was his turn to laugh. "You look beautiful."

She reached up and kissed him. "Thank you, but we have to go."

A laugh burst from her lips as Theo twirled her around again and again to the beat of the song. Her long skirt spread out and floated around her legs letting cold air get to her skin. She wasn't cold, though, there were too many bodies packed close together for that. There was glitter in her hair from where it had showered down as artificial snow and a very sweet taste on her tongue from the red punch they'd been drinking. The seventh years had spiked it with something.

One of Theo's hands rested on her waist and the other between her bare shoulder-blades as she wrapped her arms over his shoulders. His breath was warm on her neck as he pressed soft kisses to her skin.

So maybe they have stopped drinking as soon as they tasted the alcohol, but it had taken away the stiff appearance they alway took and they could finally relax. Even if she did feel slightly unsteady on her feet.

"Maybe..." Her voice sounded raspy even to her own ears and she pressed the side of her face to his fresh smelling hair. "Maybe we should go. I'm a bit tipsy and I can feel Draco's glare from here."

Theo pulled his face back and pecked her on the lips. "Your wish is my command."

He turned and laced his fingers with hers while spreading out a path with his other arm. Anna followed him closely, giggles bursting from her lips against her will. Not that she minded much. She was having so much fun. It was as if for once she didn't have to think about anything else. She was just Anna and she was dancing with Theo and nothing more.

When they left the Great Hall the music suddenly stopped, as if there were a silencing charm on the halls, and their footsteps were the only sound that pierced the silence. A cold breeze flew through the windows forming goosebumps on her skin.

It wasn't until they got to the dungeons that she truly started to shiver.

"I'm cold." She whispered, speaking for the first time since they'd left.

Theo stopped walking and turned to her. His skin was somewhat flushed but his eyes shone bright with happiness. He hurriedly took off the jacket of his dressrobes, staying in a black and green waistcoat and a white blouse. "Here." He offered. "Use mine."

The coat was still warm as she swung it over her shoulders and it smelled like mint and green tea and fire-whiskey and it had handfuls of glitter stuck on it. She smiled contentedly and let him pull her to the common room.

Theo could taste the alcohol in her mouth, could feel her skin -still cold from the night air- under his fingertips and could smell her barely there perfume. What he felt the most was warm pit of happiness that was his stomach.

He trailed his lips away from her mouth and started kissing the spot between her jaw and her neck, nibbling on instinct and smirking as he heard her gasp in surprise. His waistcoat lay discarded over the back of the couch, along with his dress shirt. Her fingers now traced patterns on his bare arms until they reached the sleeveless undershirt he still had on. But she didn't try to remove it, just like he didn't move his hands under the waist for anything else than to rearrange their legs more comfortably.

All of a sudden she let herself fall back without pulling him with her. In the dim lights he could see her looking up at him, flushed and smiling with her hair spread around her head like a halo. It was straight and when she'd loosened it he'd spent minutes running his fingers through it in marvel.

She's so beautiful, he thought. But instead he said:

"Draco threatened me."

Her eyebrows pulled together in confusion. "Why?"

"He thinks I'm up to something."

"And are you?"

He could hear her voice waver slightly as she showed more vulnerability than he'd seen her show in a long time.

"Yeah. I'm pursuing my ambition." He leaned back down to kiss her.

She let him, but soon her hands started pushing him back up so he straightened up again.

"What's your ambition then?" Her voice was hard and she wasn't smiling anymore. There was the Anna the public knew.

"Don't do that." He whispered, noticing his words had stated slurring. "Don't close yourself off to me, I'm never going to hurt you." He leaned back down until his lips were brushing hers. "All I want is to make you happy."

"What?" She pushed him up but she went with him. Her hands were on his face as she kissed him slowly. "What did you mean by that?"

"My father told me to keep you safe before our first year." He explained. "But then I realized you happiness mattered too, you know. I want to be powerful, I want to stay rich and all that, but where's the originality? I'll give that all up to keep you smiling." His hands were gently stroking her face. "Because you're so beautiful when you smile. You deserve to be happy forever, Anna."

He closed his eyes when she kissed him again, letting her envelop everything he was. She gently pushed him into a sitting position and rested her head on his shoulder. He pulled her legs up over his lap and wrapped his arms around her. There they dozed off together until Draco shook them awake and dragged her off to her room.

Harry shivered in the cold as another breeze brushed his wet hair. He should have dried his it before he left but he was way too exited to think straight. His eyes scanned the Marauders' map for any teachers' names as he clutched the egg with his other hand.

Everything was dark around him, but he had no difficulty reading the map what with the strong moonlight streaming through the windows. Suddenly his eyes fixed on two names he hadn't seen before, or rather, a new name and a name that shouldn't be in Hogwarts. Barty Crouch and Annabelle Lestrange. He frowned confusedly as he stared hard. They were in an empty classroom, standing quite a bit apart but definitely facing each other. What were they doing? And who the hell was Annabelle?

He was so distracted he forgot about the trick step in the staircase and he sank through it. In his surprise he dropped the map and the egg and while the map landed a few steps down in a silent huff, the egg did not. On its first rebound it flew open and then the wails pierced the silence. It would be a miracle if anyone in the castle kept their eardrums whole.

"Who's there?" Filch's voice called out through the screetching. "Peeves if it's you I swear-"

The man appeared from a corridor at the bottom of the stairs, clutching at his ears as he scanned the air for the poltergeist. But then his eyes landed on the egg and he hurried forward to close it.

The silence was deafening as the squib cradled the heavy egg in his arms and kept looking around, faded eyes wide and wild.

"What is going on here?"

Filch looked over his shoulder to Snape, who had seemingly melted from the shadows. If Harry hadn't been looking around so carefully he might have missed the black-clad professor altogether. But since he didn't miss him, Harry hurriedly clapped a hand over his mouth, knowing that Snape would be looking for any sign that he was here.

"Peeves, sir." Filch answered. "Think he might've stolen this egg here from one of the champions, dropped it and left it behind."

Snape's dark eyes dragged slowly over the room and he raised his lit wand to see better. Then his eyes landed on the map which had fallen to the floor and closed. He picked it up and his face froze in recognition. Harry almost cried in desperation as the professor started turning his head from side to side, seeking him out. In a snail-like pace he stepped closer and closer, free hand reaching out as if to grasp at a ghost.

He was getting too close for comfort.

"What are you doing, Snape?" Moody's voice broke the tense silence and Harry's head turned so quick he got whiplash.

"Student out of bed, Moody." Snape drawled and pointed to the egg. "A champion." He raised the parchment. "And this belongs to Potter."

With that he kept searching until his fingertips almost brushed Harry's invisibility cloak.

"There's nothing there, Snape!" Moody barked and limped forwards. He roughly tugged the map out of his hands and turned to Filch. "Give me that. I'll see that Potter gets it back."

"There's a student out of bed, Mad-eye." Snape hissed. "And you're saying you'll just let it slide?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Now, isn't there something you should be doing?"

For a second it looked like Snape might hex the ex-auror but then he seemed to change his mind as he turned around without another word.

Filch followed after nodding a goodnight and whistling for Mrs Norris.

Moody waited for the old cat to round the corner before turning to Harry, scarred face twisting into a horrible parody of a grin.

"You need to be more careful, Potter." He said as he got closer. "Old Snape almost got ya there."

As he came closer Harry noticed that the strap of his eye was slightly undone and his leg sounded loose. Then Moody's arms wrapped around him and he pulled him up out of the trick step and Harry could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Professor, have you been drinking?"

"Yeah, wine. What's it to you, Potter?"

"No, nothing. No problem." He mumbled slipping the cloak off his head. "No problem at all."

"Good. Now what's this thing?" Moody held up the Map as he shoved the egg in Harry's arms. "Snape was pretty sure it's yours."

"It is mine." He answered. "It's a map, actually." He opened it. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

Moody's eyes widened as he raised the map up to his face, blocking Harry's view of the map. "Interesting... And you can see everyone?"

"Everyone."

"Everywhere?"

"As long as it's in school grounds then yeah."

"Can I hold on to it?"

"Ye- what?"

"Listen, have you seen anyone out of place on this map?" Moody's frantic eyes fixated on him from above the parchment.

"Ehm, yeah. Actually, that's why I got stuck in this." Harry frowned. "Someone called Annabelle? And mr Crouch was with her."

"Yeah?" Moody's eyes disappeared behind the paper again. "Can I hold on to this? To keep the Tournament under control and such. Mighty useful for security, ya know?" He sounded suddenly alarmed.

"Uhm, yeah, alright." Harry nodded.

"Good." Moody forcefully turned him around towards the Gryffindor common room. "Go on. I'll walk you there."

Harry couldn't do anything other than comply.

Anna tapped her fingers impatiently on her desk, stirring her potion absent-mindedly. Where was he? He should have appeared by now… The tapping of her fingers only grew more rapid until Theo placed a hand on hers. He was frowning.

"What's going on with you?" He whispered. "You've been on edge all class-"

He was cut off by the loudly opening of the dungeon door. Karkaroff stepped through, white cloak billowing behind him as he hurriedly walked to Snape. The potions professor didn't look surprised to see him, merely majorly pissed off. Of course, that's what she'd been aiming for when she'd had Karkaroff bothering him so often. Did Snape actually think that a Death Eater would be so careless as to show his Dark Mark under Dumbledore's roof willingly?

As the two men started arguing in low tones she hurriedly, though slowly so as not to attract attention, strode over to the ingredient cabinets. In the locked drawers lay the ingredients she needed; the gillyweed, the boomslang skin, the lacewing flies and the horn of Bicorn. All the other ones were easily come by.

She'd watched Snape carefully. The ingredient cabinets were in the classroom during the day and then moved to his locked storage rooms during the night, where his already potions were stocked. She'd have no chance to break in there at night, not without making a lot of noise, so she'd have to do it during the day. He only checked in the morning before class so he wouldn't discover the robbery until the next day.

With her back to the other students she took a small pouch from her pocket and her wand from the holster on her arm. She carefully drew the opening runes with her wand –runes were stronger than spell and could open what Alohomora could not- and opened the forbidden drawers.

"Accio Gillyweed." She muttered under her breath.

In less than a second the little green bundle of seaweed flew out of a drawer and landed on her hand. She stuffed it in one of her pockets.

"Accio Boomslang skin."

She put the jar in the small pouch.

"Accio lacewing flies."

"Potter!" Snape yelled, causing her to almost drop the smaller jar.

She carefull looked over her shoulder as she put the jar in the pouch only to see Harry washing his armadillo bile at the sinks, close to Snape and Karkaroff. Her friends were staring at her, not pointedly, but still. It was time for Karkaroff to go so she didn't have much time.

"Accio Bicorn horn."

This time she didn't wait for it to land in her hand, she merely snatched it from the air with the pouch and wiped the runes off with her sleeve. The slipped the pouch in her pocket and grabbed a small cup with an ingredient she needed for her potion, which would hopefully still be salvageable. Mentally she told Karkaroff to leave and hurried back to her seat just as he walked out of the dungeon.

Snape sat down at his desk, a tired look on his face.

Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended Skrewts, or because there were now only two skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Professor Grubbly-Plank could, Harry didnt know, but Hagrid had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he'd returned to work. It turned out that Hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was clear that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing.

Today he had managed to capture two unicorn foals. Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold. Parvati and Lavender went into transports of delight at the sight of them, and even Pansy Parkinson had to work hard to conceal how much she liked them.

"Easier ter spot than the adults," Hagrid told the class. "They turn silver when they're abou' two years old, an' they grow horns at aroun four. Don' go pure white till they're full grown, 'round about seven. They're a bit more trustin when they're babies .. . don mind boys so much... C'mon, move in a bit, yeh can pat 'em if yeh want. . . give 'em a few o' these sugar lumps. . . ."

Harry turned away, far too preoccupied to pay any attention to what Hagrid was saying. The Second Task was tomorrow and he had nothing. Absolutely no solution.

"You okay. Harry?"

His head whipped around in surprise, only to find Anna standing a few feet away, back completely turned to the unicorn foals. She was looking at him with a mixture of concern and aprehension that he hadn't seen before.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine." He assured her.

She didn't seem to believe him, if the deepening frown on her face was anything to go by. She stepped closer and placed a hand on his arm.

"Do you need help with anything? Im considered pretty smark, you know." She smiled.

He shook his head. "No, you don't have to. It's fine, I-"

"But I want to." She insisted. "You're fourteen and competing in the Tournament. I told you I believed that you didn't do it so I also believe that you shouldn't have to deal with this by yourself."

He pursed his lips together. Hermione wouldn't want hi mto talk to her. He liked Anna, but Hermione didn't trust her. That didn't matter, though. He trusted her.

"I need to find a way to breathe underwater for an hour." He sighed. "And I haven't found anything."

"Nothing?" She mumbled, glancing over her shoulder to where Malfoy and Nott were staring at them.

Suddenly Harry felt very conscious of the fact that he was talking to Draco Malfoy's best friend and Theodore Nott's girlfriend. Muggleborn in Slytherin or not, she was someone high in the Slytherin ladder. And he was Harry Potter, a Gryffindor. There was no reason for her to help him.

"I know something." She told him, startling him into looking at her.

Her grey eyes were piercing from under her black curls and her lips had curled into a sweet smile. How could he not trust her? Something deep inside him told him that they… it felt like a sibling trust, as if they were family without him having spoken to her more than a handful of times.

"Really?" He asked, voice betraying the relief he felt. "What is it?"

"It's called Gillyweed. You only need to eat it." She twirled a lock of hair around a finger. "It's pretty rare but I know where to get some. I can get it to you tonight."

"Oh, Merlin, Anna." He sighed. "You've saved my life."

Suddenly her expression turned uncomfortable. "Oh, no. I'm sure you'd have figure something out. Meet me in the Astronomy Tower tonight, I'll have the Gillyweed with me."

The squeezed his hand before turning away.