Harry was counting down the hours to his meeting with Sirius. He was just going to have to hope that Gryffindor Tower would be empty by the time it got to 1 am. He could tell Hermione was trying to slowly edge his way back into his life and he was perfectly fine with that. She was one of his closest friends over the past 3 years, if she was willing to apologise he was willing to forgive, even if he had been a bit hostile towards her over the past couple of weeks. He'd also realised just how close the first task was and he still had no clue of how to prepare. He and Marissa had gone over a few pointers for what he should prepare for but he still wasn't sure of what he was doing. Marissa had done some research on previous tournaments and had noticed that the first task almost always included combat with some kind of dangerous creature; one year it had been erumpents and another year it had been kappas, both of which were creatures with extremely high danger ratings according to the Ministry of Magic. All Harry knew was that he was going to face something far more dangerous than he. He'd been walking around with a pit in his stomach for a few days until Marissa had suggested a trip to Hogsmeade. At the thought of a distraction, Harry had jumped at the idea.
"So, what's on your mind?" Marissa asked as they sat in The Three Broomsticks.
"Other than the fact that I might be dead by the end of the year, not much," Harry sighed.
"Yeah, but at this stage, that's normal for you isn't it? Between Voldemort and Basilisks, I'd think you'd be able to stroll through the tournament without care," Marissa joked, earning a light smile from Harry. "Seriously though, what's up?"
Harry looked away from his mug and up at Marissa. They'd become pretty close over the past few weeks and they had been speaking to each other more and more. He trusted her and so he told her about Sirius.
"Trust me, Mary," he said as he finished, "He's a great guy and is the closest thing I have right now to a dad." Her face was unreadable, she seemed to be caught between several different thoughts, not sure of which to express first. They sat in an odd silence for a while before the guffaw of Hagrid caught their attention as he walked over to them both with Mad-eye behind him.
"You alright Harry?" he said with a smile, "I see you've found yourself a lass." He began to laugh at the embarrassment on both of their faces as his announcement reached every set of ears in the pub.
"I'm fine, Hagrid, Professor Moody."
While Marissa started a conversation with Moody about an upcoming assignment, Hagrid leaned over to Harry and said as lightly as he could, "Harry, meet me tonight at midnight at me cabin. Wear that cloak." Slightly bewildered by his request, Harry looked up at the half-giant and nodded with a small smile. Before watching him leave with the Professor.
"Don't you have to meet with Black at one, though? How are you going to make it?"
"I'll just have to rush, Hagrid wouldn't call me over if it wasn't important, I think." Before their conversation could continue an annoying blonde jumped onto the seat next to Harry, with her quill and camera floating next to her.
"Harry darling," Rita said with a sickly smile, "I just overheard your conversation with Hogwarts' own keeper of keys, do you mind giving us any information on the young lady here?"
"I'd love to give you some information," Marissa butted in before Harry could respond. He noticed the strained smile on her face as she feigned excitement. Before Rita could ask for anything specific Marissa said, "Did you know that in especially hot summers, England often gets hit with an infestation of ladybirds? They get everywhere and they always carry some sort of infection with them. It may be winter but I could swear it's been getting hotter, I could have sworn I overheard someone say that you're a big fan of insects. Am I wrong?"
Harry was rather confused by the exchange as the two women glared at each other while keeping their smiles plastered to their faces. "And who are you?" Rita spat looking down at the girl in front of her.
"Not important," she responded coolly, "What I could do to you is. I'd suggest you bug off before you get into bigger trouble than you can stir up for other people." With no response, Skeeter stood up and left the pub with one final glare at the Slytherin.
"What was that?" Harry asked Marissa, "What did you just do? Is she allergic to bugs or something?"
"No, no, quite the opposite." Noticing that she wasn't explaining any further Harry dropped the subject and got up with her to leave. As they did though, he noticed Hermione and Ron in the corner, a Butterbeer each, an open notebook between them, likely Hermione's plans for SPEW. She nearly raised a hand to greet Harry before Ron clearly said something that made her look back down. Harry wasn't sure what to think but Marissa grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the Hog Head. "Jealousy is a disease," she tutted as they entered the cold. Harry was inclined to agree.
He continued the rest of the day with her exploring Hogsmeade ignoring the stares of students and people who had either read articles or heard rumours about business they were not a part of. Having someone on his team did make him feel a lot better.
"Yeah, that could work, their eyes are the only thing not protected by an armour of dragon scales and flames," Marissa said as she played with her hair. She and Harry were sat in the Great Hall for breakfast the following day. Thankfully no one had interrupted Harry and Sirius during their conversation and Sirius was able to tell Harry that he should use the Conjunctivitis Curse on the dragon Hagrid had warned him that he would be facing. "You're awfully calm for someone who has to face a dragon though Harry."
"Yeah, just wait for it to settle in and I'll start to panic," he said with a sigh. Every time he thought about the task it was like molten panic filled his lungs. He found himself again struggling to breathe.
"What's this I hear?" Draco interrupting as he sat on the bench next to Harry, "Next on those vanquished by the Great Harry Potter, a dragon! The horror! Will he survive? Or will he tear that dragon to pieces and return to the Great Hall the next day with a pair of particularly scaly boots. We may never know," Draco said with a smirk as Marissa began to laugh. Though he tried to hide it, Harry felt a smile playing on his face at the sudden playfulness of the Malfoy next to him.
"Yeah, he's fighting a dragon. He wants to use the Conjunctivitis Curse," she said as she gave Draco a knowing look.
"Well, this won't do," Draco began.
"Why?" Harry said turning to the blond incredulously, "A dragon's eyes are their weakest point, why shouldn't I just get rid of it in the easiest way?"
"Harry this is entertainment..."
"In the form of a competition..."
"If you're going to be in it..."
"You have to try to win it..."
"Meaning that you have to go in with the most creative idea possible," Marissa finished as Harry looked at them both in confusion.
"I don't want to win," he eventually forced out, "I just want to survive."
"There's no fun in that, Potter," Draco said as he took a bite of his food.
"Come on, Harry. We can think of something fun or exciting. The curse can be a solid Plan B."
"We're talking about facing a dragon, that's pretty exciting entertainment if you're on the sidelines," Harry said still confused as to why they needed him to win so badly.
"You are sat at the Slytherin table, Potter," Draco began, "if there's anything we are good at it's winning.."
"We know how to do it well," Marissa finished.
"OK, first of all, stop that it's weird, if you're going to start a sentence, finish it yourself. Secondly, when was the last time Slytherin won the House Cup?" Harry said with a smile as Marissa hit him over the head with a slice of toast.
Harry had found that Draco was actually not the worst when he was on his own. Not as the bigot that he normally acted towards Harry and his friends, or as the snooty Malfoy that he acted as in front of his father. In his own house, he was just Draco, and Harry realised that just Draco was a nice-ish sort of guy, especially when Marissa was around to keep his tongue tight.
"What's something that you're good at Harry?" Marissa said.
"Not much," Draco quickly intervened.
"Draco!" Marissa responded playfully, "Let him answer."
"I don't know, Quidditch? Flying?"
"You can't outfly a dragon, Potter, that's ridiculous."
"And a sure-fire way to get yourself killed," Marissa agreed, "Come on, something that sets you out from everyone else, anything at all?"
Harry struggled in thought for a moment. When in Rome, he thought to himself. "I'm a parselmouth?"
"Now that I can work with," she said with a smile, before leaving the two boys at the Slytherin table and rushing off to figure something out. Harry noticed as she left that Cedric Diggory was also leaving. As Harry got up to warn him about the upcoming task he felt himself get pulled back down into his seat.
"We're trying to help you win, Potter, and you're already trying to give the competition some leverage," Draco hissed.
"It's not fair on Diggory, the rest of us know, why shouldn't he?" Hiding his confusion at Draco reading his intentions so well.
"It's not meant to be fair Harry. You're four years younger than the other contestants, that's not exactly fair either is it? He can prepare himself." Harry sat down properly as Draco finished his mini-tirade, ignoring the small nagging guilt in his stomach by filling it with food.
Any magical creatures mentioned in this chapter I've taken out of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them book (I mean a copy that is meant to be like the one you'd get at Hogwarts, not the script) so I haven't just made them up!
Really hope you enjoyed reading, remember to comment and vote!
