Let Harry die! I want another book!

So sorry about the wait, by the way! I got caught up in some family stuff, or this would've been posted this morning (or yesterday for my European, African, or Asian readers). To make up for it, here's a long chapter!

~~~~

"Albus, wait, that's not..." Colette groaned. "You weren't supposed to put the essence of slug in until after you stirred it."

"Whoops," Albus whispered, as their potion turned a nasty shade of orange.

"At least you've just started," I whispered. "It won't take long to catch back up." Colette was grumbling under her breath, but Albus smiled gratefully at me.

It was our last class of the day, Potions. Lockley was on the other side of the room, luckily, because I knew he wouldn't be happy with Colette for the mistake. Not that it was her fault, but if anything went wrong with her and whoever her partner was, he tended to blame her. That's actually why we'd switched partners, because Lockley didn't seem to pay any particular attention to Albus, unlike me.

I'd been trying for several weeks to get him to stop liking me, actually. I really didn't like him at all, but he was completely oblivious to that. Along with Ciara and Scorpius, I was his prize student, though my grades completely average and my attitude wasn't even that good. However, whenever I said anything disrespectful or outright rude to him, he laughed, told me I had a good sense of humor, and gave a point to Gryffindor for my "joke." I was beginning to wonder if he was simply an idiot.

After I'd been placed in the Tournament, I'd hoped he might at least back off a bit. But no, the next time we had Potions he kept exclaiming over what a laugh this was, and congratulating me. I wasn't exactly sure I wanted congratulations for it.

At least he'd decided Wren wasn't a criminal. He'd been there to witness the Veritaserum, Wren told me. He couldn't deny its effects, either, and had thus started treating her like most of his other students.

Class had only been going on for about ten minutes when it was interrupted by a knock on the dungeon door. We all glanced up as Dean Malfoy walked, glancing around nervously. He quickly walked over to Lockley's desk. "I'm supposed to take Astra Lestrange upstairs," he whispered, but we could all hear him. The Potions room was silent.

Lockley raised an eyebrow, looking amused. "And why is she wanted upstairs?"

"It's Mr. Davies, he wants all the champions... I think they're taking pictures..."

I felt my face heat up as Ciara and Nico started quietly laughing across the room. I tried to ignore them and simply gather my things as Lockley waved Dean and me off, telling me to have fun.

As we walked upstairs, Dean grinned at me. "Isn't this great? You being champion? I mean, I've got nothing against Slytherin; my whole family's been in Slytherin. But it's nice to have someone from your own House, you know?"

I smiled weakly. "I suppose..."

When we reached the right room, Dean wished me good luck before disappearing down the corridor. I took a steadying breath and then let myself in.

It was a rather small classroom. The desks were all stacked to one side, leaving a large open space in the middle. Three desks were pushed together in front of the blackboard, forming a long table of sorts. Five chairs sat behind it. Mr. Davies was leaning against it, talking to a middle-aged blonde witch in lime green robes who looked like she tried desperately hard to appear younger then she was.

Étienne and Faith were whispering tougher on one side of the room. Kirsten was standing near them, and smiled slightly at me when I walked in. I would've gone over to join them if Mr. Davies hadn't jumped up and crossed over to me. "Ah, here we are, our fourth champion!" He ushered me into the room. "Nothing to worry about here, it's just the wand weighing, the expert will be here soon, he's just talking with the Headmasters right now..."

"Wait, wand weighing?" I asked, frowning.

"Nothing at all, just making sure your wands are fully functional! Don't want you having in the problems in the middle of a task, now do we?" He burst out laughing, though that seem very funny to me.

The blonde witch had come up behind him, and Davies now turned to her. "This is Rita Skeeter, one of the top journalists from the Daily Prophet. She's doing a piece on the Triwizard Tournament, so after the wand weighing we'll have photos."

"Oh, um—"

Rita Skeeter smiled widely. "Roger, you wouldn't mind if I have a word with Astra, would you? Everyone's always interested in the youngest..."

"Oh, of course!" Davies grinned. "I don't see why not!"

I was about to say that I could think of a few reasons why not, besides not wanting to be in the paper at all. However, Rita Skeeter grabbed my arm with quite a bit of strength and pulled me out of the room, into the next classroom.

She sat down on a desk, and motioned for me to take a chair, still smiling. I slowly sat down. Had she already interviewed the other champions? Something told me she wasn't very interested in them.

"Isn't this lovely?" she said, smiling at me. I couldn't tell if she was trying to put me at ease or not, but if so, it wasn't working. She reached into her bag and withdrew a lime green quill and a parchment. "You don't mind if I use a QuickQuotes Quill, do you? Makes it much easier to talk." She smiled again and sucked on her quill for a moment, then set it down on the desk between us.

"Um..."

Rita Skeeter raised an eyebrow at me, still smiling. "So, Astra, what made you decide to enter the Tournament?"

"Um..." I was staring at the quill, which was already writing. Astra Lestrange may be young, but already it seems she's made a name for herself. She—

"Ignore the quill," Rita Skeeter said firmly. I looked up reluctantly. "Now, why did you want to enter the Triwizard Tournament?"

"I didn't enter," I said, frowning. "I don't know who entered me."

Rita Skeeter raised an eyebrow. "Oh, come on, you can tell me. Everyone loves a rebel, especially such a pretty girl like you..."

"I didn't, though," I said, trying not to glare at her. She was just a reporter. I couldn't blame her for not knowing this already, could I?

"All right," she said, winking. "We'll keep that between us, then. Now, let's see... Is it true Harry Potter is your mentor?"

"Um... I suppose... Maybe..." I was tempted to glance at the quill. "But—"

"Do you think the desire to step out of his shadow might have prompted this little flair of rebellion?" Rita Skeeter asked.

"What? I told you, I didn't enter!"

"Right, right." She nodded. "How does Harry feel about this repetition?"

"I... He's not very happy, I suppose."

"And has it strained your relationship at all?"

"Um... No...?"

Rita nodded, thinking for a moment. "How are you feeling about the tasks? Nervous, excited, prepared?"

"I don't know... Nervous, I suppose." I frowned again.

"You've been quite a hero before, haven't you, though? Faced danger beyond the average person, wouldn't you say? Do you think a wish to outdo what you've done before was what made you enter the—"

"I already told you! I didn't enter!" I glared at her.

"Your father is in Azkaban, isn't he?"

"Yes. What does—"

"Do you think he's ashamed of you, since you tend to go against all his pureblood beliefs?"

"I... I wouldn't know, I don't ca—"

"Has Harry Potter been the father you've never had, then?"

"I suppose, I don't—"

"And do you think he's proud? Disappointed? Worried?"

I glanced down at the quill. Tears start to brim over as the topic shifts to the father she's never known, and the one who's stepped in to replace him—

"I'm not crying!" I said loudly, glaring a her and standing up.

Before she could answer, the door opened. I turned around to see Mr. Potter there, looking annoyed.

"Oh, Harry Potter!" Rita Skeeter cried, grinning. She didn't look particularly sincere. "What a pleasure!"

"Rita, leave Astra alone," he said, walking in so he stood right next to me. "Hermione can still tell the Ministry—"

Rita Skeeter frowned. "No reason to bring that up, Harry. Just trying to get a good story."

Mr. Potter turned to me. "The weighing of the wands is about to start, come on."

Rita Skeeter followed us back into the other room, though luckily she went to go join her photographer. I walked over to the other champions, who were watching Felicity Eastchurch talking to Mr. Ollivander.

I remembered Mr. Ollivander from when I received my wand. His grandfather had been sitting in the back, much too old to continue running it. The younger Mr. Ollivander had been rather nice, I'd thought. He looked quite serious now as Eastchurch talked to him.

"Where'd you go off to?" Faith asked me.

I glanced up, slightly surprised. "Rita Skeeter... I don't know, she wanted an interview." I glared over at the journalist.

Faith frowned. "Oh."

"Students!" Pouri said, drawing our attention. "This is Mr. Ollivander, and he will be checking your wands to confirm they are in good condition."

"Miss Lindsey, if you'd like to be first," Mr. Ollivander said, motioning her forward. Faith walked over to the table and handed her wand to the wandmaker.

Mr. Ollivander turned it over in his hands a few times, eyes closed, smiling. "One of my grandfather's, am I right?"

Faith nodded, and though Mr. Ollivander's eyes were still closed, I didn't think he needed the confirmation.

"Elm, unicorn tail, 13 inches." His eyes popped open, and he smiled. "Perfect condition."

Faith's own smile looked relieved, and she walked back over to us as Mr. Ollivander called Kirsten over.

He checked Kirsten and Étienne's wands before mine, which was all right with me. I was a bit annoyed no one had told me this would happen, because my wand wasn't polished and clean like the other champions', and I was trying to discreetly clean it with my robe sleeve.

"Miss Lestrange?" Mr. Ollivander said. I sighed and carried my wand over.

Mr. Ollivander smiled as he felt mine. "I remember you, yes. It took you quite a while to find the right wand, correct?" I nodded. "Yes, yes. This was the first wand I ever made well," he continued. "Alder, phoenix feather core. A very good one, in my highly biased opinion." He smiled at me. "Perfect condition. Very nice."

"Wonderful!" Pouri said, standing up from his seat at the table. "Students, I don't believe you have time to return to your classes, so you may go down to dinner n—"

"Pictures!" Rita Skeeter exclaimed. "We must have photographs!"

"Yes, of course!" Davies exclaimed, jumping up. "Pictures! Quite important, of course."

I didn't want pictures, but the photographer arranged us, with help from Rita Skeeter. It took quite a while, and by the time they'd finished individual shots, I was worried I might've missed dinner.

I caught sight of Rita Skeeter coming my way, and would've made a run for it if Mr. Potter hadn't appeared at my other side. Thankfully. I smiled at him, and caught sight of Rita Skeeter's annoyed face out of the corner of my eye.

"Are you nervous?" Mr. Potter asked, leading me out the door while glancing back at Rita Skeeter himself.

"Um... Yes. Very," I admitted.

Mr. Potter nodded. "I understand." And unlike anyone else who might've said that to me, I knew he really did.

"I suppose you can't tell me what the first task would be?" I asked hopefully.

He didn't smile, instead seeming to grow even graver. "I'm afraid not."

"What's wrong? Is it that dangerous?" I asked, frowning as a tiny bit of fear crept in. I'd expected him to laugh a bit, play along maybe. Making light of the situation was one of the only ways to stop myself from cracking under the pressure when I actually got to thinking about the first task. If Mr. Potter wasn't able to comfort me, I knew it had to be bad.

Mr. Potter sighed. "Just be careful. I don't know what we'd all do if something happened to you." He looked away, but not before I'd seen a flicker of fear in his eyes. It made my blood run cold. If he thought it was dangerous...

Mr. Potter seemed to notice he'd scared me, because his demeanor quickly changed. With a smile, he said, "I'm sure Albus and Wren are waiting for you downstairs by now. Hurry off. I'll stalk Rita, all right?"

I simply nodded, faking a smile. My stomach was twisting up again, but I decided not to let it show. I could handle being scared for myself, but I didn't want my friends to worry.

When I reached the Great Hall, I found my friends sitting with the Dubois twins, all laughing at a story Amélie was telling. When I sat down, though, they all turned to me. "Well?" Albus asked.

"Well, what?" I said, frowning.

"What did they want you for?" Colette prompted, rolling her eyes.

"Oh. It was the Weighing of the Wands."

"Oh! I know about zat!" Françoise exclaimed. "Zey see if your wand is in ze good condition, no?"

"Yeah, that's right. There was a reporter there, too."

"Oh, who?" Albus asked. "I bet Mum knows them."

"Someone named Rita Skeeter—"

"No!" Colette exclaimed. "They're letting that old hag cover this?"

"Aunt Hermione's not going to be happy," Albus said, frowning. "Neither is Mum or Dad."

"What's wrong with her?" I asked. Obviously, she embellished her stories a bit with that QuickQuotes Quill, but that wasn't too bad of a sin, was it?

"She's a liar, that's what," Colette said, frowning. "Don't you read the paper? She's had articles on Mr. Potter about how he's growing crazy, and she had some piece on Wren a while back, with a lot of jabs at Pouri and how he should be removed from the position since he's so fine with 'endangering the lives of the students.'"

"Mum says she's always looking for the most scandalous story," Albus told us, frowning. "And when Dad was younger she was always writing awful pieces about him, especially when the Ministry was trying to discredit him."

Amélie had been trying to say something for about a minute, and cut in quickly when James took a breath. "Wren was in your papers? Zis Wren? Why ees zat?"

"It's... It's a long story," I said, glancing at my friend. She'd been listening to Albus and Colette, looking worried, but now she was twirling her spoon around in her stew and avoiding my eyes.

"We have ze time!" Françoise said eagerly, smiling kindly at Wren. "It ees a good story, no?"

"Not exactly..." said Albus.

"Doesn't Étienne get the Daily Prophet?" Colette asked slowly.

"Oui, but we never have read it!" Amélie said, laughing. "Why would we read your English paper if we can be reading our own?"

"But what is ze story?" Françoise said, her smile slowly being replaced by a frown. "It ees not good?"

Wren sighed. "Do you know what the Cruciatus Curse is?"

Both twins gasped, eyes wide. I could see the mere name horrified them. "Did someone use zat horreeble curse on you?" Amélie asked.

"No..." Wren let her spoon fall. "I... In first year, I was put under the Imperius Curse and used it on other students here..."

Françoise had covered her mouth with her hands. Amélie had been holding a croissant when the topic had come up, but she now dropped it on the table in shock.

"It wasn't her fault," I said quickly. "Someone put her under the Imperius Curse each time, all through the year."

Françoise blinked a few times, then finally seemed to remember how to use her voice. "Why would anyone be wanting to do zat? It ees awful..."

"And to use a child..." Amélie trailed off.

"I ran away at the end of the year," Wren said quietly, not dating to look up. "And my family... I..."

"She escaped them at the end of term last year," Albus explained. "And she was in the paper because she had a trial. And she's completely innocent, so don't—"

"Well, of course she is!" Françoise exclaimed, frowning at Albus. "Who has said she ees not?"

"A lot of people," Colette said, glancing at the Slytherins across the hall. "I think you'd be surprised."

"And zat woman, zis Rita Skeeter, she ees saying Wren ees not innocent?"

"And that she shouldn't have been allowed back at school," Albus said, frowning. "She's an awful person."

"Who was making you do it?" Amélie asked. "And why would zey do zat? To ze little children?"

"It was my uncle," Wren said quietly. "He's an awful man." She didn't say why he did it, and I didn't offer the answer either. The Deathly Hallows were probably supposed to be a secret, and it wouldn't do to have the knowledge spread throughout the school, through the Beauxbatons students or through us.

Françoise and Amélie looked genuinely sympathetic as Wren took a steadying breath and finally looked up. I couldn't help feeling a little grateful. They might have been annoying in their obsession over James, but I couldn't deny that they were sweet girls, and anyone who stood with Wren was perfectly fine in my book.

"Are people vairy mean to you, zen?" Amélie asked after a minute.

"They're awful," Albus answered before Wren could say something about how it wasn't so bad, and it was her fault. "But we don't let them hurt her."

"We will help!" Françoise said enthusiastically. "We will not let zem be unkind!"

I glanced at Colette, slightly surprised. She looked amused, but also a little proud of her friends. I couldn't help a smile either.

~~~~

"Why, if it isn't Gryffindor's little queen."

I sighed as I noticed Eris Prince walking towards me. It was two days before the first task, and I was hurrying downstairs to catch my friends in lunch after Professor Patil had held me back to help round up all the birds I'd transfigured from water goblets and, more importantly, to wish me good luck.

"What do you want?" I asked her. She was, per usual, surrounded by her hand of Ravenclaws. I had to wonder what sort of fun they found in harassing younger students, even slightly well-known ones.

"Oh, nothing," Eris said, acting very sincere. "Simply wanting to pay my homage to the star of Gryffindor. I suppose you accept that verbally as well as monetarily? I'm afraid we're not all rich enough to buy an entire store."

I glared at her. "Just go away." I would've walked past her if her friends hadn't been completely blocking the stairwell below me.

"Oh, definitely," Eris said, nodding. "But first, I have to wonder why anyone would want Death Eater scum like you representing their House?"

"Don't talk about my family," I growled.

"Maybe if you were a Slytherin, I'd understand, even though your mother was just a muggle, wasn't she?"

"Shut up!" I yelled, drawing my wand.

Eris seemed surprised, then smirked. "Five points from Gryffindor. Don't draw your wand on a fellow student."

"What? You can't—"

"But I can," Eris said, tapping her prefect's badge. "It doesn't pay to cross a prefect, Star."

"So stay away from Astra, or I'll find a reason to penalize all your friends," someone behind me said. I turned and saw Marcus Dillam a few steps above me, his expression hard. I hadn't known he was a prefect, though it made sense considering the only other boys in his year were James and Colin Creevey, neither of whom seemed suited for the job.

Eris was glaring at Marcus as he descended he steps to stand beside me. "You can't do that. You can only take points for real reasons. She was going to hex me."

"You antagonized her!" Marcus said, glaring at her. "You can't use your position as prefect to be a prat. Five points to Gryffindor because Astra hasn't already hexed you already for being such an annoying git."

"That's not how this works!" Eris said loudly. However, I glanced at the hourglasses with the points, and five stones had tumbled in.

"You're blocking the stairs," Marcus told Eris. "Tell your friends to move."

Eris turned and walked off, head high, very annoyed. Her friends followed, sending glares in our direction.

"Wow. Thanks," I said, smiling at Marcus.

He suddenly seemed to lose his confidence. "Um, no problem at all, I mean, well..." he said. "Can I... Uh, well, you wouldn't mind if I walked with you into the Great Hall?"

"Sure," I said, shrugging. He grinned, and stayed by my side until wed reached my friends, when he finally left to go sit with Colin, I supposed.

"What were you doing with Marcus Dillam?" Albus asked, frowning.

"Eris Prince was being a prat—"

"Big surprise," Colette muttered.

"—and she started talking about my parents, so I decided enough was enough and pulled my wand out. She took five points from Gryffindor for it, since she's a prefect."

"What? Thad not fair," Wren said, brow furrowed.

"Exactly," I said. "Marcus saw it. He's a prefect, too, so he told her off and gave us the points back. Then he walked me over here." I smiled. "Pretty nice, right?"

Colette and Wren exchanged a significant looking glance, and I frowned. "What?"

"Nothing," Colette said, rolling her eyes. "Just eat."

Albus was acting a little sullen for the rest of the meal, and I wondered if it was simply because he was worried. The first task was in two days. I'd decided to tell him the night before how his dad had acted after the Weighing of the Wands, and he'd been quick to comfort me that his dad was probably just averagely worried, not overly. It wasn't the best excuse, but it was oddly comforting. I wasn't sure he'd believed his own words, though.

As the task drew closer, it had gotten harder to concentrate in my classes. We had History of Magic and Arithmancy after lunch. I could hardly stay awake during those on a normal day, let alone focus. However, that day I could only state out the window and wonder what the next two days had in store for me and the other champions.

I was hoping the day would go by slowly, because the last thing I wanted was to have the task arrive. However, time seemed to speed up over the course of the afternoon, and by evening I was wondering where all that time had gone, and realizing there was a little over thirty six hours left until possible death.

The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students had slowly spread out over the Great Hall over the past three weeks. Étienne and his friends had taken to sitting with the Slytherins, Faith specifically. This had resulted in his girlfriend dumping him (because, according to Amélie and Françoise, amidst a multitude of giggles, it was bad enough that he'd been the Beauxbatons champion instead of her, but now he was sitting with the only person at Hogwarts he knew a bit besides his little sisters' friend? And she was a girl? Scandalous), and now there were a great many Hogwarts girls suddenly much more interested in the twins. It wasn't uncommon for six or seven at a time to interrupt us at dinner to ask a question about Étienne.

Kirsten rarely sat with anyone other than the Durmstrang students. She rarely talked to anyone other than the Durmstrang students, actually. I was beginning to think the only reason she seemed so intimidating was because she was simply quiet.

That night, however, she surprised me. After the food had disappeared off the golden platters, I saw her walking straight towards me.

"Hi," I said, frowning, as she stopped next to the table.

"Hello," she said, glancing around at my friends before looking back at me. "Vood you like to take a valk tonight?"

"I..." I frowned. "I guess... Maybe... Why?"

"It is a nice night. I have not made Hogwarts friends. Perhaps my fellow champion?" She looked very serious about it, and I wondered what on earth she actually wanted. People don't just randomly ask to take a walk with someone.

"Should we all go?" Albus asked slowly. "You could get to know all of us..."

"No. It must just be Astra," Kirsten said firmly. "Vill you?"

I glanced at my friends. They all looked a bit wary. I didn't share that wariness, surprisingly enough. I remembered the Quidditch match. She had been so worried she'd hurt me. I didn't believe she had any intention to hurt me or anything. "Yeah, sure."

"Astra, wa—"

"I'll be upstairs before you know it," I told Albus, reassuringly. "Anyway, it's just a walk. Calm down."

I followed Kirsten outside before my friends could argue any more. The sun had set long ago, but the moon was so bright that night that I could see everything so clearly. Kirsten smiled, breathing in the cold night air. "It ees varmer here than at home. But it ees nice."

The Durmstrang boat bobbed on the surface of the Black Lake. I thought we would head that way, and walk along the edge of the lake, but instead Kirsten headed towards the Forbidden Forest.

"How do you like Hogwarts?" I asked, glancing around. The lights from the castle windows lit the lawn in several areas, and as we passed through them I couldn't help feeling a bit of a chill. Kirsten might think it was warm, but I wished I had my scarf.

"It is vairy nice," she said. "Does your forest have true verevolves in it?"

"People say it does, but I'm not sure," I admitted. "It's a bit of a scary place anyway, though, especially at night."

"You have been in it?" Kirsten glanced at me, shocked.

"Um... Once or twice..." I didn't care to elaborate, so we fell silent. We started walking along the edge of the forest.

After a few minutes, Kirsten said, "Are you nervous for the task?"

"I'm not sure I should admit that to my competition," I said, grinning. Kirsten nodded, smiling.

Suddenly, the temperature seemed to drop about twenty degrees. I froze. No. No, that wasn't possible. There couldn't be any here. I was imagining things.

Kirsten had stopped too, frowning. "It is colder."

"It's... No... It can't be dementors..." I glanced at Kirsten. "You brought me out here for a reason, didn't you?"

Kirsten sighed. "I vas truly valking, and I felt the cold, and I vas vondering if it could be a dementor, but I vas not sure. I thought you may know. You are sure?"

"Definitely. That's from dementors..." I frowned, then slowly understand dawned on me. "You don't think it's for the task...?"

Kirsten's eyes widened. "They expect us to face the dementors?"

"Well... Last time it was dragons..." I had to wonder if dementors were worse.

"You cannot tell anyone," Kirsten said as we quickly started back to the castle. "They may think ve vere cheating."

"I won't. I promise." I certainly didn't need to be labeled a cheater on top of being an attention-seeking liar.

Suddenly, I froze. Footsteps were coming towards us. Heavy footsteps. "Hide!" I whispered. Kirsten and I ducked behind two trees as Hagrid came into view. Madame Maxime was leaning on his arm. They seemed to be on a date, though they were walking in the direction of the dementors. Perhaps Hagrid had been swayed into showing his girlfriend the next task... I internally groaned.

But... If Kirsten and I knew about it, and Madame Maxime would tell Étienne... That wasn't fair to Faith at all. I frowned as the two lovebirds drew far enough away that they couldn't see us, and Kirsten emerged from the trees.

"I'd better go back to the castle now," I said, glancing at my watch, even though I couldn't see its face in the dark. "It's almost curfew."

Kirsten nodded. "Professor Eide vill be there still. I vill go back vith you."

We walked up to the castle, and I waited in the entrance hall until she'd walked into the Great Hall. Then, I dashed down the stairs to the dungeons.

I'd reached the hidden door to the Slytherin common before I realized I needed someone to let me in. And perhaps this wasn't the best idea. The Slytherins hated me. Maybe if I just went and talked to Faith tomorrow at lunch or something... But that wouldn't be fair. If Faith didn't know how to do a Patronus Charm, she had one day to learn, and I wasn't about to cut into that time. I slumped to the ground, hoping Lily or Scorpius or even Faith herself would make an appearance.

The hidden door swung open after about ten minutes, and Eviana Clausen came out. She gave me a weird look. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't let that close!" I said, jumping to my feet.

Eviana quickly stepped in the way of the door so it couldn't close. "All right, all right!"

Lily peered out. "Astra? Why are you here?"

"I need to talk to Faith," I said, stepping forward. "It's important."

Lily seemed to sense the urgency in my voice. "Come on." She grabbed my hand and pulled me through the door.

I'd been in the Slytherin common room once before. That had been when Colette had brewed Polyjuice Potion last year in an attempt to trick Nico into a confession. I felt much more conspicuous now than I had then.

The noise in the common room had died almost instantly as soon as I'd stepped through the door. Lily didn't seem the least bit fazed by the angry glares she was receiving, so I tried to ignore them, too. I followed her through the room over to a corner where Faith and a few other seventh years were surrounding a game of Wizard's Chess.

"Um... Can I talk to you?" I whispered. I was aware of every eye in the room on me as Faith nodded slowly, looking alarmed.

She got up and pulled me over to a more secluded corner. "What?"

"Well... The first task. It's dementors," I whispered.

She gasped, then frowned. "Are you serious? That's got to be a joke."

"No. It's not." I glanced around uncomfortably. "I promise. It's dementors."

Faith now looked highly alarmed, but took a deep breath and nodded, smiling a bit. "Okay. Thanks. Really."

I shrugged, simply wanting to get out of there as soon as I could. Coming to the Slytherin dormitory had been a mistake, I knew it. As I started toward the door, Lily by my side once again, several people started hissing. I heard Faith telling them to cut it out, and loudly announcing that no one had any business with what I said so they'd better not ask, considering what prats they were being. Then, we were outside.

"Thanks, Lils," I said, smiling.

Lily hugged me. "Just stay safe, okay?"

"Okay."

I hurried back upstairs, feeling an odd mixture of embarrassment, relief, and fear. As I reached the stairs to the entrance hall, I slowed down, trying to act casual. I didn't need anyone suspecting me of anything. The Durmstrang students were gathered in the entrance hall, and I ignored them. The professors there didn't pay much attention to me, thank goodness. Curfew wasn't for another ten minutes or so.

That night, I hardly slept. I tried to focus on a strong, happy picture of my closest friends, to prepare for the task, but fear kept pushing through. It had to have been a great many dementors to make it that cold that far out, because I couldn't see or hear any sign of them, not even the frost. This task was definitely a test of bravery. I simply wasn't sure I would hold up.

~~~~

Question of the Day: If James had to be shipped with someone other than Astra, who would you want it to be? Why?

Vote and comment! I've just realized Albus's three closest friends are girls, and when the Dubois twins are around, he's outnumbered five to one! Poor guy... At least James is around most of the time as well.

~Ellie