Everyone liked the last chapter more than I genuinely expected LOL. Apparently, chaos is in. I have been waiting a while for that cliffhanger though, I have to admit, so I'm glad it took so many by surprise. When I change canon, I gotta change canon. Cedric and Nessa have become my Lily and Snape. He's just pining from afar.
On a less happy note…I got a review that someone was upset I updated another story but not this one. I delete all reviews that aren't either positive or constructive, so that I don't drive myself insane (I'm a crybaby LOL), but I'll address this one real quick.
This is no way intended to be rude to the reviewer in any way (just a general PSA/heads up on where I'm at at the moment) because I do know that a lot of you wait with bated breath for the updates AND I left you on a cliffhanger (so very sorry haha). I try to update every story I post as I have the chapters prepared. The other story happened to have more chapters ready than this one. Hermione and George's personalities are already fleshed out by JKR so that story is a bit easier to write. When I write this one, I have to genuinely consider how I want Nessa to react and then build the rest off of that, while also considering where I want this story to go in future. It takes more time for me to do for this one and requires a bit more consideration. Also, I think it goes without saying that I do (very unfortunately LOL) have a lot going on at the moment — I have a job, bills, holidays, birthdays, etc. This tends to be a very busy time of year for me (I'm the oldest of 11, so it's very back to back on top of holidays LOL), and with the colder weather comes my seasonal depression as well (also very unfortunately). So while I do understand that you're all very patiently waiting for updates, each story is updated based on what I already have saved. The other story had more chapters in the bank than this one, and because I was taking a much needed mental health break from writing new chapters last weekend, that one was the only one that got updated since it was already prepared from the jump. The posting part takes me 5 minutes, but the writing part… that can take me anywhere from a few days to a week to be honest, depending on my mood and whether I end up deleting large portions of what I had and then re-writing it hahaha.
That being said, I appreciate each and every one of you, and I promise that I have not forgotten this story in the midst of the other one. At the moment, some days are just better than others. I so appreciate each and every one of you for sticking with me, and your reactions to each chapter give me far too much excitement to write the next.
I'm updating early (or late, I guess, considering how you look at the missed update last week lol) because I've been working on this chapter all week (I say as it's only Tuesday evening and I just started this chapter yesterday when work was slow haha), and I've got a bridal shower and a family Halloween party this weekend, so I won't have the time to do so later. Also, my autoimmune flare is giving me chest pain at the moment, so I could use a distraction.
I appreciate you, lovelies! Enjoy!
As a side note, I have to go back and fix the points for Cedric because I did the math WAY wrong hahaha. I was looking at this while I was adding and I'm like what is happening? So just pretend that he's not far behind Harry point wise while you're reading. Also, I didn't proofread and I typed most of this on my phone at work, so please forgive me. It's a busy, busy life at the moment LOL.
LoverGal2024: Thank you so much! I was so waiting for that cliffhanger, I cannot lie. It was so much fun reading the reactions. Also, thank you for the reminder to take some time. It was what I needed to hear last week, and taking the weekend made me feel much better! I appreciate you always!
Bookcozy: OMG, I love leaving on cliffhangers. They are so much fun to write. The chaos is so exciting for me. Cedric has become my poor, lovesick Snape pining after a clueless Lily. I don't know when or where I decided that was going to happen, but we're in deep now. Teenage love is it's own force, the sad sack. Poor Cho though, seriously! Bonus points for Harry on the Cho front though (for now). Also, thank you for always giving me the time to get myself together even though the updates might be a bit off timing wise. Sometimes setting a schedule for updates works and other times it feels like another deadline, so taking the weekend to myself was a nice relief. Enjoy!
Gi-L-Ha: Hahahhaha, your review made me laugh so hard. I did do that on purpose, yes. I simply couldn't help myself. The time for drama between Nessa and George is yet to come. Enjoy!
Responding to very old reviews that I (may have?) missed:
Xiamen: Thank you so much! I will reach out if I decide I want to go that route. I appreciate you!
Calypso: I just adore George and Nessa too! George is the sweetest, I can't.
naedinefebruary2.0: Ahhhh! That chapter when Tori meets the Dursleys for the first time was actually my very favorite chapter to write for this entire story. There's just so much chaos within in and I really do agree that it's a nice clash between magic and Muggle.
As a side note to any other reviews that I may have missed, I try to respond to you all but I moderate guest reviews because (very unfortunately — which is probably the nicest word I can use in this case) there are people on this website who post links to inappropriate sites for children in the reviews section without signing in, and I'm heavy on the ick for that. We do not support that. I have to delete like one every week that I update, at least.
That does sometimes mean that I forget to moderate genuine guest reviews and they get lost in the shuffle. I swear I see you all and I appreciate you all for leaving your thoughts.
Anyways, longest author's note of my life, let's get back to the fun!
Chapter Thirty Six
She came to the moment her head broke water, exactly as Dumbledore had advised that she would have.
There were several things that hit her immediately upon breaking the surface. The first was that it was dreadfully cold. Every one of her extremities was somehow numb and tingly all at once and her teeth began chattering immediately. The second was the sound of loud cheering that hit her ears immediately, pressing against her ears painfully.
It was the last one though, that sent her gaping. Because when she turned to face her brother, she was not greeted at all by him.
Instead, she was staring directly at Cedric. He was keeping pace beside her in the water and looking as awkward as she felt.
"What the hell did you do?"
The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, and she wasn't sure if she was mortified or angry or concerned by this turn of events. Perhaps it was a mixture of all three emotions. Cedric didn't answer, instead pulling her toward the shore, and she wrenched herself away from him in order to swim herself, trying to wrap her mind around what was actually happening.
Maybe she was having a nightmare. One of those dreams that was overly embarrassing — like when she dreamed she went to class in only her underwear or a professor called on her when she was nowhere close to knowing the answer.
She didn't have much time to think about it though because she was trying to get her limbs to work when they felt like lead. The cold, icy black water made her arms and legs feel like lead, and she was desperate to get out of the cold. She should have asked more questions because hypothermia was clearly not far off for her at the moment.
By the time she'd gotten to the point where she could touch, she was more than mildly irritated. Whatever soil was on the bottom of the lake was not sand, and her shoes squelched in the muddy, clay-like mineral, forcing her to tug on her feet to get them to cooperate. On several occasions, she'd been genuinely concerned she might lose the shoe in the mud.
The moment the two of them were upon the shore, they were immediately bombarded by an annoyed Madame Pomfrey.
"Here, here," she said, wrapping them each in thick blankets, and running a charm over Nessa. "Sending students into the freezing lake all evening…unbelievable. They've no sense at all —"
She was spared the matron's irritation by Fleur's frantic French from behind her. Nessa only caught parts of what she was saying to her headmistress, but there was a panic, the sight of Nessa having come up with Cedric seeming to clue her in on what the merpeople had stolen.
She was frantic, making to run back toward the water, but Madam Pomfrey stopped her.
"You're not going —"
"Zey 'ave my seester!" Fleur said desperately, fighting tooth and nail to get back toward the water. "GABRIELLE!"
"Fleur!" Nessa said, grabbing her by both arms, and trying to get her to focus on her instead, her eyes trained on the black lake behind her. "Fleur! Look at me…she's fine — they won't hurt her."
"She cannot swim!" Fleur said, her panic bringing her close to tears. Nessa had never seen her so upset before, but she understood the panic she must have been feeling. She hardly wanted to think about whatever was going down under the water where her brother was. Particularly because the person he'd been intended to rescue had been rescued by someone else. "She cannot swim! She 'as never learned!"
The girl was stronger than she looked, Nessa would give her that. Despite her petite size, she nearly dragged her toward the lake, despite Pomfrey's protests. Nessa had to dig her heels into the ground to keep her footing. She shook Fleur hard.
"Fleur, I promise you, she's fine!" she said sharply, trying to get her to maintain some semblance of calm. "Come here — you're going to freeze to death if you don't —"
She was hardly listening to her, her panicked gaze still locked on the lake behind her as if she were unable to pull it away. Nessa reached a hand out to Madame Pomfrey for a blanket to wrap around Fleur's shoulders, forcing the older girl to sit in front of her.
Cedric followed them, but Nessa ignored him completely. He was just another problem for her at the moment, and she hadn't decided how to respond to his idiotic show of chivalry.
"I could not get past ze grindylows," Fleur said morosely, her eyes still locked on the water and her body shaking violently from the chill. Nessa cast several charms over her to make sure she was warming some, ignoring the violent gnashing of her own teeth. "Zey were everywhere…I 'ad to ask for 'elp to get out…I couldn't 'ave gotten to 'er. I couldn't 'ave."
Her eyes moved to meet Nessa's and her tone was firm, as if she were trying to convince her of the truth behind the words, despite the fact that she hadn't at all accused her of giving up.
"I believe you," she said, kneeling in front of her. "You couldn't have helped her if you'd drowned. She's perfectly safe — she can't even feel the cold with the charm they used on us."
"She is only eight."
Nessa recalled this from their previous conversation, and squeezed her hands tightly. She had particular feelings about the fact that they'd allowed an eight year old girl to spend the entire evening in the frigid lake, but bringing those up now seemed a poor idea.
"I know," she said calmly. "You can have words about that with Dumbledore and Maxime later. They'll get her once the hour is up —"
"Harry was waiting for you down there," Cedric said from beside her. Nessa's head snapped up to look at him. "He might bring her up if you don't show —"
"What?" Nessa said sharply. "Why was he waiting? Did he take that song seriously?"
"He must have," Cedric said with a shrug. "He was there before I was —"
"So you saved me instead of Cho even though you saw Harry there?" Nessa said, standing angrily to face him. "Why would you —"
"Do you think we could argue about this later?" Cedric said, with a pointed look at Fleur, who was looking between them with clear intrigue.
"What difference does it make?" Nessa said with a snort. "The whole school is going to know about this when Harry brings Cho up here anyway! What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that you're my friend, and I didn't want you to freeze to death down there —"
He sounded as angry as she did, but she didn't care at all. She didn't care that he was taller than her either or that she must look ridiculous trying to force herself into his personal space enough to yell at him. She wanted to hit him.
"You knew I wouldn't!" she said, poking him deliberately in the chest. "Even if you had taken that song seriously — which I sincerely doubt or you'd have waited down there with Harry — you know good and well that Harry would have died before he let me stay down there! What the hell are you going to tell Cho when she asks why you saved me instead of her, huh? How many times do I have to tell you to —"
"Perhaps you should go wait over zere, Cedric," Fleur said, grabbing Nessa by the arm and pulling her away from the Hufflepuff to stand next to her. "Zis does not seem like a good time."
Cedric hesitated, looking at Nessa guiltily.
"Nessa —"
"Go!"
He sighed heavily, rubbing a hand down his face, but left without much comment. Fleur looked at her for a long moment but seemed to decide that she didn't want to ask for specifics, and sat down again, looking forlornly back toward the lake.
Nessa tried not to panic about the fact that her brother was still not back yet, even as Fleur stood to begin pacing beside her. She tried harder not to panic when Hermione and Krum appeared out of the water next, and were cared for by Madam Pomfrey before being shoved in their direction.
Nessa was too angry to notice the chill in the air, and too anxious to ask Hermione if she was alright, but she was grinning widely so the answer was clear anyway.
"Was Harry the first to —" Hermione paused, looking around in confusion. "Wait, where's Harry?"
"In the lake," she said shortly.
"But you aren't?"
"No."
This was really not the sort of conversation she wanted to be having with her little brother's best friend, particularly because she couldn't figure out how she felt about the entire thing herself and Hermione asked far too many questions.
She didn't have to though. She was the brightest of her age for a reason, and Nessa could see her connecting the dots in her head slowly, and looking like she was trying very hard not to press for details on why Cedric had saved her instead of Cho. She didn't have them anyway, so she sincerely hoped that she had enough self-control not to ask.
"What iz taking 'im so long?"
Nessa might have bristled at the accusatory tone if she wasn't as simply worried about her brother as Fleur was her sister.
The hour had expired already, and Harry was still not there with the remaining people, and she had no idea why. There were all sorts of creatures within the lake, and though Dumbledore had been positive that he was on good terms with the merpeople in this lake, they were not typically prone to being fond of wizards. Just like every other creature in the Wizarding world.
She didn't want to think what they could do with those spears they used or whether Harry's Gillyweed had even run out by now. It was one thing to run out when he was close to the surface, but so far down…how would any of them know if he'd drowned? At least Fleur's sister was charmed to breathe under the water…the same could not be said for her brother and it was a horrific thought.
And one that she was not the only one thinking because Bagman, Dumbledore, Maxime, and Percy had all stood together in a huddle, looking tense and concerned. The fact that Karkaroff was the only one who didn't get up from the table was not lost on her and she wanted to take out her residual anger with Cedric on him instead. He looked pleased at this turn of events, and the anger was bubbling up again —
"You have a water beetle in your hair, Nessa," Hermione said, pausing her conversation with Krum and reaching over to pull the bug out of the older girl's hair. Nessa barely even flinched, despite her displeasure for insects. She didn't care or notice it at all, nor did she notice Hermione's attempts to pull her into conversation to stop her worrying. She was too far gone by this point, and she didn't even care that Fleur had worked herself into a panic again, trying to get back toward the lake.
Where in the hell was her brother? They were well outside the hour mark by now. Had the twins given him enough of the plant to last this long? She couldn't tell and they were currently being held at bay by McGonagall and Snape, despite their quite furious looking faces at their denied attempts to get back to the champions and their hostages. She couldn't exactly ask them how much they'd nicked in front of the professor they'd stolen from. Or their head of house.
She was going to simply kill Cedric for bringing her up here. She wouldn't have had to worry at all if he hadn't saved her. She'd still be blissfully asleep. Not to mention would have had no knowledge at all that Harry had been the first to the hostages to begin with and was still not back.
What was he even —
Nessa's legs nearly gave out in relief when Harry's head broke the surface of the water, and a sob caught in her throat. Gabrielle and Cho were next and Nessa could see, even from this distance, that Cho was more than mildly confused that she was looking at Harry instead of Cedric.
All around them, wild, green-haired heads were popping out of the water, smiling widely at him. The crowd in the stands was making a great deal of noise; shouting and screaming, they all seemed to be on their feet. Nessa had the distinct feeling that the crowd suspected that Gabrielle and Cho might be dead, but they were wrong. Fleur and Nessa took off at a sprint back toward the lake, splashing through the water in an attempt to get to their siblings. Cedric came running for Cho, and Dumbledore and Bagman, who appeared the most concerned for the safety of the people in the water, were not far behind them.
"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?"
Harry didn't look like he had the energy to answer, and Cho was trying to console the younger girl between her and Harry. They met them halfway to the shore, water splashing up to their knees. Fleur had grabbed a sobbing Gabrielle in her arms immediately. Nessa could hear her sounding near sobs with the relief she felt, but she didn't care at all. She was pulling her brother upright, wrapping him in a hug despite his severe shivering.
"Harry, for God's sake," she said, the relief of seeing him, despite the fact that his lips were blue from being in the water. "Are you alright? What were you waiting for?"
"The song said —"
"It wasn't serious," she said, half-exasperated. "Honestly, do you really think Dumbledore wants to be fielding owls about dead students under the lake?"
Her brother looked distinctly annoyed by the words, but she didn't care. He had a hero complex and it was very annoying. He'd get himself killed one day if he didn't use his head. The moment they made it back to the shore, Madam Pomfrey seized Harry impatiently, wrapping him in a blanket and then giving Nessa another one. She wrapped it so tightly around her this time that it felt like she was being wrapped in a straight jacket. She forced a very hot potion on them both — one that Nessa had refused earlier because she'd been too concerned trying to calm Fleur — that caused steam to come out of their ears.
Hermione came running up to them.
"Harry, well done!" Hermione cried. "You did it, you found out all by yourself!"
"Well —" Harry began, but Nessa elbowed him surreptitiously. Karkaroff was watching him, looking distinctly displeased that Cho, Gabrielle, and him had returned safe and sound. Nessa still had the urge to hit him. "Yeah, that's right," Harry said loudly so that Karkaroff could head him.
"You need to get warm, Herm-own-ninny," Krum said. Nessa shared a look with her brother because she was under the impression that he was only trying to draw her attention back onto himself, but Hermione brushed him away impatiently and said, "You're well outside the time limit, though, Harry…did it take you ages to find us?"
"No," Nessa snorted. "Cedric said he was the first one there. He was playing the hero."
Harry gave her an irritated look at Hermione's half-exasperated, half-admiring look.
"Yeah, well, I tried to tell Cedric that he didn't need to take you but he didn't listen," he said in annoyance as a means of changing the subject.
It worked. It made her immediately annoyed again, and Hermione gave her a cautious look.
"Why did he grab you instead?" She said, "Surely, he knew you were meant for Harry."
"Because he fancies her —"
"Harry!" Nessa said in irritation. "Just because you did something stupid doesn't mean you should be going about spilling my business to half the school —"
"They're all going to know now, aren't they?" he snorted. "I'm surprised George hasn't just shoved his way through to force feed him a flirting fudge —"
"It's a Flirting Fancy, first of all," Nessa said with an eye roll. "And don't encourage him — he's been trying to get past McGonagall for the last ten minutes —"
"Looks like he succeeded," Harry grinned, nodding behind her. Nessa couldn't tell if the groan she released was exasperation or impatience.
Ron had joined the fray of Weasleys and Tori, all of whom had forced their way past their professors despite their many protests. Despite her clear irritation, McGonagall did not appear as if she cared enough to chase them down to stop them.
"Harry! Are you alright? What took you so long?"
"Nessa! You scared us half to death —!"
"Thought you'd taken a dive off the Astronomy tower —"
She didn't even have the opportunity to respond to Tori or Fred before George was plowing into her and hugging her so tightly that she was lifted clear off the ground.
"Bloody hell, are you alright?" he said in her ear. "Are they mad? It's below freezing out here."
She squirmed against him in an attempt to get enough freedom to breathe.
"George," she gasped. "I had an easier time breathing in the water, for Merlin's sake."
He released her with a grimace, not appearing to notice that his entire front was wet from having her pressed against him.
"Sorry," he said, looking her over in a way that distinctly reminded her of his mother. She bit her lip to keep herself from saying so. "They didn't tell us you were going to be dragged down into the lake."
"You said Harry would be fine —"
"I'm not snogging Harry —"
"Thank Merlin for that," Harry muttered, sending Fred into peals of laughter.
George reached over to knock Harry's glasses askew and then discarded his own jacket and wrapped it around Nessa's shoulders.
"Honestly, George, I'm fine," she sighed, trying to hand his jacket back to him. He grabbed the lapels and pulled them tighter around her, and she rolled her eyes to the sky. "You're being ridiculous —"
"Your lips are blue —"
"I took a potion for that," she said, snorting when he pulled the coat tighter again. "You're starting to behave like your mother, you know. Besides, my lips are the least of my concerns when my shoes are filled with water."
She sighed in exasperated fondness when he waved his wand at her feet and they dried immediately, though the change in temperature made her grimace as her toes began to warm up rapidly. She let him pull her into his chest and wrap his arms around her tightly, partially because she was weak and his incessant fussing was sort of sweet, but mostly because he was like a furnace and no matter how much she told him she was fine, she despised the cold.
"You're being ridiculous," she repeated fondly, pulling her arms in so that they were trapped against his chest. He snorted.
"Tell me that again when you aren't shivering like mad," he said.
"You spend the evening under water in the middle of February and tell me you aren't shivering," she said shortly. She laughed into his chest when he started grumbling his distaste at this reminder. "Who'd have thought you were such a worrywart —"
He squeezed her sides and she jumped, trying to squirm away from him.
"I learned from the best," he said, grinning down at her when she huffed at him, still trying to move away from him before he could try and tickle her again, "You scared me."
She stopped her squirming immediately, looking up at him with that softness that made his stomach flip.
"I'm sorry," she said. "You'd think they'd have told people that we wouldn't be back until after the task. They didn't give us any warning at all —"
He didn't care, really. The sweeping relief he felt at the fact that she had not, in fact, decided to take a dive off the Astronomy tower and was standing in front of him was enough, even if he did want to shake Dumbledore until all the screws in his head fell back into place.
He pulled her up for a kiss, cutting the words off completely, and grinning against her when she gasped in surprise, her hands tightening in his sweater. It was the whistling from the stands and Harry's irritated, "Do you two have to do that right in front of me?" that pulled him away from her. That and the fact that kissing her had reminded him of the other thing he'd come over here to do.
"Just one sec, love," he said, turning away from her after tightening the coat around her.
It was childish, what he was about to do. A bit caveman. A lot ridiculous.
And it was going to piss Nessa off, he knew, but he was sick of Diggory's shit, and he was impulsive. Two very dangerous characteristics to mix together.
Before Nessa had any idea what was happening, George stormed the short distance to Cedric, turned him around forcefully, and then took a swing, his fist connecting with his nose with a loud crunch that made Cho scream in surprise.
There was a myriad of other reactions across the grounds. Tori burst out laughing, Fred nodded as if he'd expected nothing less, Harry and Ron gaped, Percy and McGonagall started yelling, the stands erupted in cheers. Nessa wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing, her hand coming to cover her mouth in surprise.
"George!" she said after several long seconds of staring at the scene wide-eyed.
Cedric didn't even appear like he was going to hit him back, and George backed off before Pomfrey and McGonagall could even force them apart.
"Now, honestly, what would possess you to do a thing like that?" McGonagall was shouting above the cheering of the crowd. "When he wasn't even doing a thing to you — fifty points from Gryffindor and a month's detention! I'll be writing to your mother — the two of you have given me nothing but headaches since the day you started here —!"
Nessa wasn't even able to determine how she was supposed to be responding to the entire thing at the moment. She'd expected it to irritate George, but to say she'd expected that would have been entirely false. Or the fact that Cedric would just accept the hit as if he'd been waiting for it…her head was spinning.
Before she could even begin to make sense of the cluster of emotions she was feeling, Bagman's magically magnified voice was filling the area, adding to the chaos around them, making them all jump and causing the stands to go quiet.
He and the judges had been conferring on points for the task while Dumbledore had conversations with the merpeople near the shore. If he had any idea of the chaos occurring behind him, he paid it no mind, wrapped up in his control of the task instead.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows…Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."
Applause from the stands, but Fleur shook her head.
"I deserved zero," she said throatily.
"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head charm, was first to return with a hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour, and with the wrong hostage in tow." Enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs in the stands, but it was not loud enough to mask the whispers that erupted at this news, nor was it enough to erase the awkwardness that had enveloped those of them on the grounds because George was glaring at Diggory again, and Cho was looking forlornly between Cedric and Nessa, who was deliberately looking anywhere but their direction. "We therefore award him forty-five points."
Harry's shoulders sank from beside her, and she laced her fingers with his, smiling at him gently. He'd been well outside the hour by at least twenty minutes, but she supposed when he'd been swimming around in the lake, it had felt like much less.
"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."
Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior. Tori snorted on Nessa's other side, dragging a judgemental gaze over the Durmstrang headmaster as if he were dung on the bottom of her shoe. Nessa was just glad she wasn't the only one who couldn't stand the sight of him.
"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own."
It was all of them, except Fleur and Gabrielle, who gave Harry half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks that he deliberately ignored.
"Most of the judges," and here, Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However, Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."
There was a long moment of surprise where she and Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at each other before they burst into laughter and started applauding with the rest of the crowd.
Nessa shoved her brother playfully, and rolled her eyes. Moral fiber. She didn't know if she was proud or annoyed that his stupidity paid out for him in the end every single time.
But her excitement that her brother was now in first place (by a mere few points, but still) was too much to ignore, and she couldn't help her large grin anyway.
"There you go, Harry!" Ron shouted over the noise. "You weren't being thick after all — you were showing moral fiber!"
Fleur was clapping very hard too, but Krum did not look happy at all. He attempted to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering Harry to listen.
"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," continued Bagman. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."
Harry was staring at Bagman as if he couldn't quite believe what had just happened and she didn't blame him. Their life had become a mess, but they didn't have to worry about anything else until June. Anything else life-threatening anyway.
"Moral fiber," Tori snorted, looking at Harry in exasperation and eating a bag of popcorn idly. "Dumbledore is as barmy as he ever was. You could have drowned down there, moron."
"You thought I was dead and you were eating popcorn?" Nessa said incredulously, her eyes catching on the food in her hand rather than the words out of her mouth.
"It's called stress eating!"
"Thanks, Tori," Harry snorted sarcastically before they could devolve into bickering.
"I zink it was very brave," Fleur said imperiously, swooping down to kiss Harry twice on each cheek. Harry's entire face turned bright red, and Ron spluttered, stumbling forward as if she might kiss him on the cheek too. Fred sniggered and pulled him backward by the shirt, sending him tumbling back into the water of the lake. Ron glared at him, but Hermione crossed her arms, looking pleased despite the rudeness of the action. "You saved 'er…when she was not yours to save. I cannot repay you for zat."
Tori rolled her eyes, eyeing Fleur in distaste as the older girl straightened and grabbed her younger sister by the hand. Fleur caught the look, and eyed Tori up and down critically. Tori glared at her for a long moment before Fleur said, "You are very beautiful. Are you part-Veela?"
Tori reared back as if she'd been slapped and gave Fleur a look that Nessa couldn't quite read. There was a long silence as they stared at each other and they all looked between her and Fleur to see what would happen between them. Nessa couldn't quite be sure if the compliment would outweigh Tori's distaste for Veela or if it would simply make it worse.
After a long moment, Tori relaxed and ate some more popcorn, holding the rest out to Fleur.
"Did you want my popcorn?"
Fleur shook her head, and dragged her sister toward the champions tent to change into dry clothes. Fred snorted and rolled his eyes to the sky.
"I will never understand women," he said to no one in particular.
"That's because you can't land one," Tori said immediately to which he merely smirked and raised an eyebrow at her pointedly. She rolled her eyes and looked at Nessa in exasperation. "It physically hurts me, Nessa."
Nessa did not have to ask to know that she meant admitting that Fred had caught her in the middle of a trap.
It was clear she was attempting to be as vague as possible in an attempt to keep her relationship with Fred private from Ron, who they still had not told. Not that it mattered — the moron was staring after Fleur and didn't appear at all concerned by anything happening around him.
Nessa snorted, and grabbed Harry by the arm to tug him toward the tent as well.
"You two obviously have clear issues, so if you'll excuse me, I'd like to change into something that hasn't frozen to my skin." She pointed at Fred warningly. "And you tell your idiot brother that I want a word with him — punching people in front of the whole school. Entirely inappropriate."
Fred grinned at her and saluted mockingly, bounding toward George, who was still being subjected to McGonagall's rage and Dumbledore's amused attempts to be disapproving beside her. She rolled her eyes again and Harry laughed.
"I don't know what you expected," he said with a snort. "You're lucky Cedric isn't growing tentacles out of his eyes."
"That's disgusting," she said before she could stop herself. "And don't encourage him. Violence is never the answer —"
"Didn't you hex Murton last year for talking about Tori behind her back?"
She shoved him into the tent in impatience.
"For once, could you not remember every little thing?"
If she wasn't so relieved that Harry was alive and had not drowned in the lake, she'd have found his laughter quite irritating. As it was, she was too simply happy that another task was complete, and the worst thing she had to worry about was the fact that George was a caveman and Cedric was an idiot.
One more task and her life could go back to as close to normal as it had ever been. If she was lucky, she'd be relaxing again by July.
The fact that Harry was in first place in the tournament meant the party in the common room was far rowdier than it had been the last time. The entire house appeared to be under the impression that this was proof that Harry would be the winner, and their ticket to more glory for Gryffindor.
As far as Nessa was concerned, they got plenty of glory, but saying so was really just asking for a fight, and she was in no mood. Despite her happiness at Harry's current standings in the tournament, she had become convinced that her toes and fingers were never going to return to warmth, and there was simply no amount of oversized sweaters that was going to fix that.
"What are you over here pouting for?"
She huffed at George's amused question, wiggling her toes in front of the fire as if it might help. She'd completely forgone sitting on the couch and had taken up residence on the floor directly in front of the flames. Her face felt like it was melting off, but her fingers and toes were still icicles. Had she complained to Dumbledore about this when he'd come to check on them in the champion tent?
She didn't think she had and she should have. It was entirely ridiculous.
"I'm not pouting," she said petulantly. "I am warming myself up."
"You've been over here for an hour."
"Yes, and my toes are cold," she griped, glaring at him when he tried to disguise his laugh with a cough. "This fire is useless. And don't laugh at me."
He held his hand out to her to pull her up from the floor and she ignored it, giving him a very pointed look before she moved closer to the fire. He grinned up at the ceiling.
"Nessa, my love, you're going to scorch your eyebrows," he said, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Don't care," she grumbled. "Long as I can feel my toes again —"
"You're going to feel them when they burn to a crisp," he quipped, "Besides, you're scaring the ickle firsties. They think you're trying to throw yourself into the fire."
She rolled her eyes, looking over at the first years pointedly. They weren't paying attention to her at all, so wrapped up in asking Harry what had happened underneath the lake. They'd started with her, but her firm answer that she'd been asleep the whole time hadn't been quite as exciting.
Which was fine with her because she wasn't in the mood to give them a play by play. She didn't like when people asked her hundreds of questions and paid too much attention to her. She'd have preferred that attention go to Harry and Hermione though they didn't appear any more willing.
"They seem quite calm."
George rolled his eyes to the ceiling, bent down, and lifted her from the floor with his hands under her arms. She screeched indelicately, sending the people around her into tittering laughter.
"George Weasley, have you not an ounce of propriety?" She snapped.
"Perhaps I quite like the tone of your voice when you use my full name," he remarked casually as if her irritation with him was not at all concerning and set her on her feet, grabbing her wrist to tug her up the boys staircase with a shouted, "Carry on then, nothing to see here —"
"Other than the fact that I'm being kidnapped against my will, you mean," she said with an eye roll as he dragged her up the stairs.
"You seem quite willing from where I'm standing."
And it was true because she was climbing the stairs after him even if she were stomping impatiently after him.
She was a child, really. Because the words made her want to be difficult just for the sake of being so, and she followed that impulsive urge immediately, coming to an abrupt halt and leaning backward against his hold.
He was either too amused or too unconcerned by this behavior to care because he merely turned around and lifted her by the waist, tossing her over his shoulder unceremoniously.
She screamed in frustration, suddenly under quite the understanding of why Tori found Fred so irritating when he did the same thing to her. From her perspective, she'd always found it amusing. At the moment, she was working very hard to knee George Weasley in the stomach. Or at least pound her fists into his back until he released her.
He ignored both and she was fairly certain he was laughing, but he didn't allow her the opportunity to complain. Instead he shoved his way into his dormitory, and sent her flying over his shoulder until she landed on his bed with a bounce. She smothered her scream, making a desperate attempt to grab onto something before she glared at him in reproach when she'd finally landed.
"What is the matter with you?" she said in annoyance, sitting up and pushing her hair back away from her face. He looked entirely relaxed and unconcerned, and it made her want to kick him. "The caveman act is getting quite old —"
"You're mad at me."
"I am not mad at you."
She was a bit mad at him. Maybe.
She really couldn't tell. She'd been trying to think it all through for the last several hours, but it was very annoying having the entire school asking her why Cedric had saved her instead. It certainly didn't make wrapping her head around it any easier.
All she knew at the moment was that she was annoyed. Annoyed with the fact that Cedric was making her life so complicated when she already had things to tell George about him to begin with. Annoyed with herself for not having told George already just because she wanted to keep the peace a little longer. Annoyed with Cedric for not understanding that she was simply not interested in anything romantic with him. Annoyed with George for not having the presence of mind not to jealously punch a man in the face in front of the entire school.
Though in his defense, his actions at least made the most sense.
"Do you really expect me to believe that?"
She crossed her arms and stared at him blankly. He snorted, rolling his eyes to the ceiling as if she were testing his patience, and pulled the blanket out from under her.
"George, you are quite possibly the most annoying person I have talked to today —" He shushed her impatiently and she huffed, giving him a curious look when he resituated her on his bed so that her head was on his pillows, and pulled the blanket up to her chin. "George, what are you —"
"I said shush, didn't I?" he said pointedly. She growled at him, but he ignored her, tucking the blankets around every inch of her, so tightly that she couldn't move at all. "There. Nice and warm. Are you done throwing a fit now?"
"No, I feel like a sausage roll," she snorted, though truthfully, it was very warm now. "And I was not having a fit —"
"We can quibble what to call it, love, but we both know you're having a fit," he said in amusement. "And you look like a very cute sausage roll."
"I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about that."
He laughed, taking a seat next to her, and she nearly rolled her eyes again because she genuinely could not move and she must look entirely ridiculous.
"Do you want me to apologize for punching Diggory?"
"Would you mean it if you apologized for punching Diggory?"
"No," he snorted pointedly.
She huffed in frustration.
"Then I don't want you to apologize for it," she said shortly. "You'd just be lying —"
"So what would you like me to be doing?"
"Not punching people, for starters," she said with an eye roll. "And you can loosen these blankets too because I think I'm about to asphyxiate in here."
He laughed despite himself and pulled them out from either side of her. He grinned at her when he replaced the blanket with himself, curling into her side and forcing her backward a little. She merely rolled her eyes at him fondly and gave him a pointed look.
He should have known she was going to do something because of that twinkle in her eye, but he still jumped a foot in the air when her foot slid under the leg of his pants to touch his leg.
"Bloody hell!" he hissed, jerking his leg away from her in reflex. "Your feet are freezing, Vanessa!"
"Told you," she said smugly.
"Give me that," he said, trapping her feet between his legs, blocking the chill with his pant legs instead. He squeezed her side in retaliation for the smirk on her face. "Can I be sorry for upsetting you even though I'm not sorry for hitting Diggory?"
"Why did you have to hit him to begin with?"
"Because he's a prat."
She huffed at him, tugging on her hair in frustration.
"Is that really the reason or was it because of some ridiculous possessive, testosterone-y thing that I don't understand?"
"Testosterone-y?" He snorted, looking at her in amusement. "I don't even know what that is. I'm trying to get a point across here —"
"Yeah, well, it came across very well, I'd say," she said in annoyance. "McLaggen took a dive around the snack table when he saw me coming earlier."
"McLaggen's a prat too," George snorted before sighing heavily. "Love, I'm sorry, okay? I may have overreacted. Mildly." She snorted and tried to shove her foot under his pant leg again, and he trapped it hastily between his calves again. "Stop that — why aren't you wearing socks, for Merlin's sake?"
"They were wet, and I didn't want to go upstairs," she said, smirking smugly at him again.
"Well, keep them to yourself for a second," he snorted. "I could have handled it better out there. I'll give you that, but I wasn't trying to be a prat — to you, I mean. I could give a rat's arse what Diggory thinks —"
"George," she warned, trying not to smile at how serious he sounded despite the words.
"I know, I know," he said. "You're a goody two shoes. I just got a bit fed up with looking over and seeing him pine after you, is all. Pulling you out of the lake instead of his own girlfriend is a bit more than I was really prepared to deal with today."
She looked at him for a long moment, but when he didn't say anything else, she said, "You were jealous."
He looked affronted by the suggestion.
"I was not jealous."
"What were you then?"
"Befuddled."
"Befuddled? You've never used that word a day in your life, have you?"
"I have, I used it just now."
"I can take care of it myself, you know," she said, rolling her eyes and ignoring the ridiculousness of his words entirely for the sake of continuing their conversation. "If I hadn't been asleep the whole time, I would have. I dont need you protecting me or defending my honor or - or whatever other ridiculous thing this might have been. I can do all of that myself."
He snorted.
"I know that," he said pointedly. "I've met you before. I've no doubt that you would have taken care of it, Vanessa, that's not the point. The point is that you've done that already, and maybe punching him in front of the whole school wasn't exactly the most mature thing to do, but it helped. The urge to put Doxy venom in his afternoon tea has really subsided now." She huffed at him, and he reached forward to tuck her hair behind her ear and kissed her on the nose. "I'm sorry for upsetting you. I promise to be on my best behavior around him from now on."
"Your best behavior is everyone else's worst behavior, George," she said, laughing when he grinned at her in response. She sighed, letting her forehead rest against his. "Can you just trust me to deal with it please? I can hex him myself if I need to."
"I do trust you," he said seriously. "I saw you yelling at him. I quite enjoyed it actually —" he laughed when she took a swipe at his head. "I didn't do it because I don't trust you. I just want to make my feelings very clear about the whole thing. Maybe a broken nose is exactly what he needs to mind his own bloody girlfriend."
She'd have liked to tell him not to worry about the entire thing, but truthfully, she wasn't sure that she really blamed him for the reaction. She was as irritated by Cedric's display as he was, and she wasn't even sure how much of her irritation with George was residual from her anger with Cedric to begin with.
She hated the entire thing, particularly because they hadn't spoken in months, which really made his feelings all the more clear to her because if he just had a simple crush on her, it would have faded by now, wouldn't it have? Course, hers hadn't when George had been dating Alicia, so what the hell did she know?
The fact that it upset George so much really only added to her anger with Cedric because she had told him that she wasn't interested, and he was still having some sort of pissing contest for her affection, and, really, perhaps Cedric deserved to be punched by George if he was going to be the sort of prat that would try to woo another man's girlfriend.
Then again, she really did believe that violence (in most cases) really just made things worse. Even if she was quite possibly the worst person to make that statement, as Harry had so politely pointed out to her.
The entire thing was too much for her at the moment.
She chose not to voice her complex thoughts aloud, and poked him in the side instead for his snark, causing him to inhale sharply. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said casually, his entire body tensing despite the wide smile on his face.
It was said far too casually in her opinion. Her brows furrowed in concern and she sat up quickly.
"What?" she said again. "He didn't hit you back, did he?"
George snorted.
"Was he in the Hospital Wing?" he said rhetorically. "Course he didn't. I'm fine —" She rolled her eyes and poked him in the same spot again, and he inhaled sharply again, grabbing her wrist tightly in his hand. "Vanessa, quit that —"
"You quit that," she said with an eye roll, using her other hand to poke him again. She narrowed her eyes on him again and held her other hand out of his reach. "Why do you keep jumping like that?"
"I've no idea what you're talking about."
"Why are you being weird?"
"I'm not being weird," he said, holding his hand out in front of him in an attempt to keep her hand at bay. "You're being weird. You can't just go about poking people in the sides —"
"You poke me in the sides," she said pointedly. "How is this diff —" She stopped talking and narrowed her eyes on him. He poked her in the sides because she was ticklish and he knew it. She grinned slowly. "Are you ticklish?"
He scoffed in a way that was clearly intended to be dismissive, but really just sounded nervous.
"Course not," he said casually. "You'd have known I was ticklish before now, wouldn't you have? You touch me all the time."
That was true, but had she ever poked him in the sides before? She couldn't remember. Most times he irritated her, she poked him directly in the center of his chest, but she was sure she had to have poked him in the sides before now. Unless it had been Fred?
She couldn't remember.
She poked him lower and he didn't react at all.
"See? I told you. Not ticklish."
She didn't believe him. He was still very tense, and his hand was still out as if he were prepared to take her arm off if she made to touch his side again.
But she let him believe that she'd given up, her shoulders sagging in defeat and her face going blank. He relaxed immediately and opened his mouth to say something, but she'd already moved, poking him repeatedly in the side until she found the spot she'd touched before and he blew out an unwilling laugh. She grinned widely.
"You liar!" she said triumphantly, fighting against his hold on her wrist. "You are —"
He was much stronger than her, but her determination to tickle him proved mostly successful on multiple occasions, sending him into random bouts of uncontrollable laughter until he managed to roll over her and pin her hands to her sides.
"Alright, we're done with that," he panted above her, giving her a hard look. "You're on probation."
"Probation from what?" she snorted, squirming under him. "You tickle me all the time."
"This isn't a debate, love," he said pompously. "You've already been sentenced, so you can wipe that smirk off your face or I'll tickle you right now."
She huffed, tugging on her wrists until he released them, but he held his hands out in front of him as if he were expecting her to come at him again. She held her hands up in placation.
"Truce," she laughed. Much as she'd prefer to keep up her assault, he was much stronger than her and if he ended up holding her hands down while he tickled her — which he had done before and she loathed entirely — they'd devolve into chaos. He narrowed his eyes on her before he let his hands fall to his sides, but he watched her carefully this time. "Don't look at me like that, you big baby."
"Did Tori tell you I was ticklish?"
"No," she snorted. "You told me when you were acting so weird. You should have just said Cedric hit you back —"
"What do you take me for?" he said, as if the very suggestion were a capital offense. "I'm not telling people that!"
"Oh, yes, I'm sorry," she said with an eye roll. "You'll have to assert your dominance again —"
"Don't you go about rolling your eyes at me," he said, leaning over her and poking her in the side. She said his name sharply and squeezed his wrist in warning, but he merely grinned at her cheekily. "What would you do if I said I thought Murton could take you in a duel?"
She stared at him for a long moment with narrowed eyes.
"Suppose we call this a draw," she said flatly, sending him into a fit of laughter. When it had subsided, she reached up to brush his hair from his forehead — it so sorely needed to be cut, but she was in no position to offer unless he wanted it to look choppy and uneven. Though she was sure he'd manage to pull even that look off somehow. "You don't have any reason to be jealous, you know."
"I'm not," he said firmly.
She rolled her eyes.
"Right," she said, waving the comment away. "You said that. But if you were…you don't need to be. I picked you."
She needed him to understand this for some reason. The idea that he could even harbor any doubt about that fact bothered her, even though she wasn't the best at expressing how she felt out loud.
He grinned at her lopsidedly.
"You did, didn't you?" he said, and she pursed her lips to keep from laughing. He was one step away from preening, but she didn't say so. Instead he leaned down and kissed her firmly on the mouth. "Because you think I'm dashing?"
"I thought we agreed on roguishly handsome," she said, giggling when he hummed against her neck and sent a tickling sensation down her spine. He grinned against her.
"Right, that's true," he said, lifting his head to kiss her nose. "Or was it because I'm just so pleasantly intelligent? Surprisingly witty? Amazingly talented? Oh, you know what? I bet it's because —"
She covered his mouth with her hand before he could continue to wax poetic about himself.
"You think so highly of yourself, perhaps you don't need me here at all," she said pointedly and he grinned behind her hand. She spoke again before he could move her hand away and start making jokes again. "And it's none of those things. Not that you aren't any of those things, though admitting that feels like a dangerous thing to be doing. I chose you because I don't have to pretend to be something I'm not when I'm with you. You don't make me feel like I need to hide my anxiety or my problems with Harry, and you never try to pretend like you know what I'm feeling better than I do, and you remind me to laugh even when my life's a wreck and you — you make me feel safe. You know, assuming you aren't holding a pastry or a dungbomb because —"
Why was this so hard to put into words? He always made it look and sound so easy, but she felt flustered trying to do the same.
"Love?" he interrupted softly, pulling her hand away from his mouth and leaning over her until their faces were inches apart. His proximity immediately ended her nervous rambling, and he brushed a thumb softly over her check before he said, "Stop talking for a second, would you?"
And she might have panicked at the words because she really wasn't great at vocalizing this sort of sentimental thing, but she felt like he should know it because there really was no reason for him to feel like he needed to be taking swings at other men who just simply compared to him in absolutely no way in her eyes. She might have panicked because he was so much better at vocalizing these sorts of things than she was, so much better at calming her insecurities than she was, and far more open about all the mushy crap she felt on the inside every time she looked at him.
She might have panicked about all that, except the very next moment after he'd asked her to stop talking, he was kissing the air right out of her lungs, and she had absolutely no time at all to wonder if she'd said the right thing or just made the entire thing incredibly awkward somehow. She didn't really appear to have to worry about that at all because the man was kissing her so thoroughly, pulling her so close to him that she was forced to arch backward unless she wanted to stop kissing him (which she most certainly did not), that her entire brain scrambled completely.
It hadn't caught up to her by the time he pulled away from her, leaving her gasping for breath and more than slightly surprised.
"I love you," he said, grinning down at her.
She cleared her throat, trying to get her breaths under enough control and her head to start working properly again.
"Yeah, see, I got that," she said breathily, pulling a laugh from him. Her breath caught when he brushed his lips against hers again. "I love you too —"
"Yeah, see, I got that," he mimicked cheekily. She was just about to retaliate for his impudence by touching him with her feet again, but he merely laughed, and trapped her leg beneath one of his. "Behave, Vanessa, I'm trying to kiss you."
"That's not what you're doing at all!" she said indignantly.
"Well, you've got to stop talking for me to do it, don't you?"
She rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
"You are impossible to deal with, George —"
He kissed her immediately, cutting the words off completely and grinned against her when she immediately stopped talking.
He drove her positively mad.
But she got some satisfaction in letting her arms slide from around his neck to his sides and letting him get fairly comfortable with kissing her before she tickled both of his sides.
He jerked away from her immediately, and she laughed uproariously.
"Think it's funny, do you?" he snorted, making a wild grab for her as she attempted to escape the whirlwind of blankets amid her crazed laughter. "Let's see how you like it then."
If it was him or the end of the second task, she didn't know for sure, but she let herself fall easily into the trap that was being wrapped in George Weasley. Because, for the moment — when she was laughing hysterically and fighting tooth and nail to keep him from holding her down to tickle her in retribution — the rest of it was utterly and completely inconsequential.
Whether I like how this chapter ended is debatable, but we're back in the thick of it with the next one because there's Cedric (because this was certainly not enough drama, was it?) and Sirius and everything else upcoming. I know everyone expected this chaoger to be the one where all the shit hit the fan, but we aren't there yet. It's coming, so prepare yourselves haha. It was going to happen this chapter but I'm just in the mood for some fluff at the moment, so it's coming next. Calm before the storm.
Lord, help her because this last 25% is rough.
See you soon!