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It was the day of the first task and the air was full of nervous anticipation. Some students were fighting, some were throwing insults the champions' ways, others wished them good luck. Potter seemed more nervous than ever.

Draco belonged to a small group of people who wished everyone good luck. He did not really care who would win the tournament. He was friends with Krum now, and Cassius was a Slytherin, so he did not have one champion who he preferred over the others. Not that it really mattered. He was about 95% sure that Potter would win again. If not because he had won before, then at least because whoever had put his name in, had to make sure that he would grab the Portkey in the end.

"Good luck, Potter," Draco said casually, when he saw him in the Great Hall at lunch.

"Thanks," Harry said, smiling.

Draco was not sure when exactly things had started to change, but Potter's presence had stopped annoying him. And Potter's opinion of Draco had seemingly changed as well. He did not look at Draco like he had grown a second head every time he did something which could be interpreted as being nice any longer. But Draco couldn't for the life of him figure out why Potter seemed to suddenly trust him. He even sometimes walked over to Draco just to talk to him. How weird was that? They weren't becoming friends, were they?

Draco, together with Astoria, Daphne, Theo and Neville, made his way to the arena that had been built specifically for the task.

He was pretty sure that saving Sirius was not what had changed the Boy Who Lived's mind. He had still accused him of being one of them at the World Cup...

Draco's musing was interrupted when Neville elbowed him, pointing at the crowd that had gathered on the stands. He noticed right away what Neville meant when he spotted Sirius. Sirius, accompanied by Lupin, was making his way through the crowd, probably looking for someone he knew. Too bad they were walking straight towards an unsuspecting Severus Snape.

Neville and Draco, sensing an ugly confrontation, hurried towards them.

"Hey there," greeted Draco happily, grabbing Sirius' arm. "Why don't you two watch with us? We'll be standing over there."

Together with Neville, he pulled them in the opposite direction of where he knew Snape was standing.

Sirius's face lit up when he spotted their group.

"It's so good to see you," Sirius said, while nearly crushing Theo and Daphne in a bear hug.

Theo and Sirius had developed a close bond over the summer holidays, which Draco assumed was due to Sirius seeing himself in Theo - a boy disowned by his Death Eater parents for voicing an opposing opinion.

The sight of his closest friends greeting each other like family members warmed Draco's heart. Most of them had been rather lonely the first time around, and Draco was happy that his presence had at least had a positive effect on their social lives.

Sirius whispered something into Astoria's ear, to which her eyes started to gleam and she started to grin. He was not sure what they were talking about, but he was momentarily struck by how beautiful Astoria was when she smiled. His heart skipped a beat and he could not help but smile as well.

"I'm seeing a mind healer," Sirius announced to the group, pulling Draco out of his thoughts. "Moony thought it would be a good idea," he motioned his head towards Lupin.

"Not just me," said Lupin, "Dumbledore reckons that if the mind healer declares Sirius healthy, he would stand a good chance of becoming the legal guardian of Theo and Harry."

"For real?" asked Theo ecstatically. "Man, that would be awesome."

The older Nott's trial would start soon, and if he was found guilty, which he undoubtedly would be, Theo would officially need a guardian.

"I can also reapply for my job as an Auror, then," continued Sirius, his voice dreamy.

Just when Draco started to worry Sirius would start into a sappy monologue, Hermione Granger appeared.

"Good afternoon, Hermione. Where is Ronald?" asked Lupin.

"He's watching with Dean and his brothers. He can be such a prick sometimes," Hermione sighed.

"Is he still mad at Potter or is it us?" asked Daphne.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "A bit of both, I guess. I hope he'll come around once he sees how dangerous these tasks are. It is bloody ridiculous. As if Harry would fool Dumbledore and lie to all of us just to be a part of this stupid tournament."

"Oh," interrupted Theo, "looks like they're starting!"

A few seconds later, Crouch's voice echoed through the ranks, as he shortly explained the rules. Then a dragon was brought into the arena, a whistle blew and the first task began.

The first champion was Cassius Warrington. Besides the champion being Cassius and not Cedric, nothing much had changed from what had happened originally. He had to steal a golden egg which was guarded by a dragon with silvery blue scales - a Swedish Short-Snout.

This was, to Draco at least, the most interesting part of the task. He had already seen Harry fly his way through the task, but Cassius offered an enjoyable element of unpredictability.

Cassius entered the arena and if he was scared, he didn't show it. He immediately waved his wand in the air, but nothing seemed to happen.

"What'd he do?" asked Neville, leaning over the railing to get a better look.

"A privacy charm," explained Draco quietly, hoping that only Neville would hear his explanation.

"Not one I have ever seen before," commented Sirius loudly from behind him, which made Draco jump.

Cassius now cast a Fumos and smoke shot out of his wand towards the dragon.

"Well, I don't doubt that." Draco hesitated for a second. "Snape invented it."

If Draco had expected anything like surprise or awe from Sirius, he was about to be disappointed.

"Cheater," breathed Sirius.

"Oh, come on," complained Draco, growing weary of their animosity. "Harry cheated as well. He snuck out of the castle at midnight to find out what the first task is."

That shut Sirius up.

"Snape can invent spells? I didn't know you could just do that," said Hermione.

"And potions," added Neville, absentmindedly. "Wow, look at that. Now the dragon can't see or hear him! Brilliant!"

"The potions he taught us were all improved by him, you know," said Draco, also only half paying attention to Hermione, preferring to keep his eyes on the dragon. "Or did you never wonder why we never used the textbooks in class? Why he always wrote all instructions on the board?"

"What's wrong with the textbook potions?" Although Draco wasn't looking at her, he knew she had her arms crossed and a defiant look on her face.

"They're rubbish, that's what's wrong with them," complained Theo. "I haven't had a single potion turn out the way I wanted it to this year and I followed the instructions to a t."

Cassius now got the golden egg with the dragon still unable to get out of the cloud which surrounded it.

"That was brilliant," cheered Astoria and the stands also erupted in applause.

"Not bad," agreed Sirius, begrudgingly.

Next up was Fleur Delacour, who faced a Common Welsh Green. Just like the first time, she enchanted the dragon to sleep. And again, the dragon let out a jet of flame while snoring, setting her skirt on fire. But she extinguished it and retrieved her egg.

Viktor Krum was third, facing a Chinese Fireball. He used the Conjunctivitis Curse to blind the dragon and retrieve his egg. However, he got docked points when the dragon stumbled around and smashed half of the real eggs.

Harry Potter was last, facing the Hungarian Horntail. Draco watched him summon his Firebolt. The audience went wild. Showoff, Draco thought, amused, although he had to admit that Harry's performance was a lot more spectacular than those of the other champions. How he dived down, again and again, narrowly escaping being grilled by the Hungarian Horntail. Circling the dragon. Nearly getting thrown off his broom when he almost got hit by the dragon's tail. How the dragon made to fly and Potter stole his golden egg. Then he flew above the heads of the audience, holding the egg above his head like a trophy. Showoff, Draco thought again, joining the crowd in their thunderous applause.

In the end, most of the students had cheered for all four champions. Theoretically wanting someone to die and actually wanting them to die in a real life-and-death situation, Draco knew very well, were two completely different things, after all. He had told Potter that he hoped he would die in the tournament originally, he had really believed that he wanted Dumbledore and blood traitors and muggleborns dead - until he had experienced death and torture first hand, until death and suffering weren't arbitrary any longer but became something real, palpable.

Which was why Draco wasn't surprised when Ron Weasley suddenly stood next to them, asking Sirius, Remus and Hermione whether he could join them in visiting Harry.

All three of them were of course very happy to have him back as a friend and Draco was quite sure that Potter would be as well.

The points, in the end, were no big surprise. Potter tied with Warrington for first place. Krum was a close second. Fleur came in last, but was only a few points behind the others.

After that, Draco celebrated Warrington's success with the other Slytherins in their common room. It seemed like, for one night at least, all the animosity in their house was forgotten.

TBC

My story suggestions of the day:

1. Calibration by The Devine Comedian – A one shot in which Remus prepares a boggart for his DADA lesson. Well written and incredibly funny.

2. Ananke by Eunike – Lily travels to the future and then the past - very well written (Snily) and complete.

I am a little scared of the next few chapters, as the Yule Ball is coming up and that will mean a lot of drama and romance. But it's snowing heavily right now, so at least I will have time to write as I most certainly won't leave the house.