𝙰/𝙽-  𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚜! 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢, 𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚊 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎.

𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜 𝚐𝚘 𝚝𝚘 @𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚒𝚣𝚊𝟷𝟾, @𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚔𝚊𝚝𝚎, @𝚓𝚊𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝_𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚛, @𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚏𝚘𝚢𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚛𝟿𝟸𝟺, @𝚓𝚊𝚍𝚢𝚗𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚏𝚘𝚢𝚢𝚢, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 @𝚊𝚜𝚢𝚕𝚟𝚖𝚘𝚌! 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚕𝚕, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝.

𝙰𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗, 𝚜𝚘 𝚐𝚘 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚘𝚞𝚝!

—

"Excuse me? Of course it's a bad thing to think about!", I shout in frustration, my eyebrows raised. "Are you bloody mad? What's gotten into you?"

As I question Draco, he doesn't say a word. He just keeps his ash-coloured eyes trained on me, observing my reaction. He stays silent, for some odd reason, but what for, I have no idea. I can't take him looking at me like that anymore, I have to leave the room.

"Clear the rumor, then we can go back to belittling each other, alright?", I suggest. I remove myself from the comfortableness of Draco's bed, and curse to myself before walking out of the boy's dormitories. "Viri sunt viri. (Men are slime)"

Merlin, how I'd missed swearing in Latin.

I needed to sleep, the first task for the TriWizard Champions begins tomorrow, early in the morning, so I don't bother to go back to the delicious, hot meals that were waiting for me, I had to support Harry. I headed back to the Gryffindor common rooms, no one else was there, just a few sixth years who either didn't attend the evening meal or left early.

I trudged myself up the wooden stairs, reaching my dorm, and passed out onto my bed after changing into a tank top and some sleeping shorts.

I wake up abruptly from a dreamless sleep. It's time for breakfast, before the first task. Alarmed by how I have awakened, I realize why I jolted awake like this. I forgot to give Harry some information on the dragons! Hopefully I'll catch him before the task begins, I'll see if he's present at breakfast. I made my way into the bathrooms, taking a shower before the day begins. The hot water instantly soothes my muscles once I get in. I got out of the bathroom cautiously, until I see that it's empty. Thank god, I don't like unnecessary conversations or interactions, they get me wired up because of their inconvenience.

I changed into a white top, with a tan plaid shirt over it, adorned with baggy jeans cuffed at the ankles, and white sneakers. I wore a black belt with it, which had a chain on the side, and I let my natural wavy hair fall down to my shoulders.

Making my way to the Great Hall by myself gives me a breath of fresh air. I'm always next to at least one person I know, and it's tiring having to keep up conversation. As big as Hogwarts is, I can never seem to find my alone time unless I'm at the Covered Bridge, my favorite place to collect my thoughts and overthink. The stone structure and the vines that grow and latch themselves onto the arch during the springtime always brought me a sense of comfort, the harmony that the juxtaposing colors provide me give me a sense of warmth in my heart every time I brush my hands upon the formation, even when it's crumbling. Especially when it's crumbling; it gives it personality, I suppose.

I often catch myself feeling content when I'm with certain objects. No matter how large or tiny, I get myself attached to them, and in my mind they are the things that make me feel like I belong here without having to tell me so, other than my friends.

I enter the Great Hall and it takes me a while to spot my friends since the Gryffindor students like to change the seating chart every year. I didn't even know we had such a rule until my third year, when Percy scolded me for being 'out of my seat'. He was absolutely fuming, and I'm pretty sure he wanted to look scary to get me to comply, but it was extremely hard for me to contain my laughter at the sight of the ginger boy with this eyebrows angrily furrowed and a scowl on his face.

I sit down next to Ron, across from Hermione and Harry. Apparently, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made up recently, when they realized that Harry desperately didn't want to be a Hogwarts Champion and that he wouldn't even think about putting his name in the Goblet of Fire, even if he was of age. They all explained to me about someone saying something to someone, and the chain going on and on until it got to Ron somehow, but I clearly didn't understand and just went with it, acting like I knew what Harry was speaking about.

The twins are sitting at the far end of the table, I notice, and I silently praise Merlin. I do not want the boys to be messing with my food this year, I learned that the hard way. Thanks to them, I can never look at hot chocolate the same. It's a plus that they're not near me, I don't want them constantly nagging me with the potion I'm supposed to give to Snape. I've decided it was best to do it a couple of days after today, the first challenge will be enough for one day.

Ron and Harry are discussing who to take to the Yule Ball, and Hermione is just eating, watching the boys speak nonsense.

"I don't know if mother will let me to go to the ball without a date, I don't want her to send me another howler.", Ron whimpers, cowering in his seat at the thought of his mother somehow finding out.

"Well then maybe I should let your mother know that you're struggling to find a date, perhaps she'll find someone for you.", Hermione snaps. Apparently, Ron asked her to accompany him to the ball as a last resort. Stunned, the only thing I replied to Hermione with was, "How chivalrous."

I begin to laugh. "What if he makes him go with Ginny?", receiving a chuckle from Harry and bulging eyes from Ron. Hermione isn't that amused, given her feelings for Ron, even though they're brother and sister, but I can tell that Hermione still wants to go with him, even after his half-hearted attempt of asking her.

Harry begins to assure him, "It's alright, we'll find dates to take by the end of the week."

Then, both boys turn to me.

"Oh no, I am not going with either of you, don't even think about it.", I warn them. They both look down in disappointment, not knowing what to do. "Why can't you two just go with each other?"

Ron and Harry snap their heads my way, staring at me with dumbfounded and shocked expressions, turning away awkwardly when Hermione bursts out laughing, not being able to contain it anymore. There's even a small blush of each of their cheeks, flustered at my comment.

"So, Harry, you said the first challenge was about dragons, correct? Well I've been in the library, and I discovered a few things about some dragons, do you know which ones are going to be used today?", I ask Harry. Hopefully I have some information on the ones that we'll see today, or at least the one that Harry will battle. He wasn't even supposed to know what the challenge was going to be, I doubt that they'd tell him which dragon he would be up against.

"Yes, that's brilliant, Heather.", his eyes lighting up at the mention of any and all information that could help him with his task. Harry told me the chosen dragons were the Hungarian Horntail, a Chinese Fireball, a Swedish Short Snout, and a Common Welsh Green. Thankfully, those were all mentioned in the book, and I explained to Harry about what information I've received about them from the selection from last night.

"Here's what I recall; Common Welsh Green dragons are usually non-aggressive, they prefer to be secluded from humans. Chinese Fireballs are the opposite, they are generally hostile towards other dragons and humans, making them one of the deadliest dragons to exist. Swedish Short Snouts haven't really killed many people, but the fire that they release is one of the most sweltering. Finally, the Hungarian Horntail is considered the deadliest dragon of all time, and their breath range is the longest and fastest of all dragons, so let's hope you don't get that one."

As I explain what I've learned to Harry, all I see are two pairs of eyes looking back at me, two pairs of eyes that belong to both Ron and Harry, staring at me with their mouths agape as if they were surprised I could retain this much information all in one sitting.

"What? It was from one book, how could it be that hard to remember?", I defend myself. I can already sense Ron building up the courage to ask me to help him with his OWL's, then asking me to help him cheat after I refuse his plead.

"Bloody hell, Heather! You might as well be Hermione if you could read like that!", Ron exclaims in awe.

After a couple more minutes of chatting, eating breakfast, and laughing our faces off at Ron, who was shooting pumpkin juice out of his nose, breakfast was over and we climbed out of our seats to go to the Quidditch Pitch for the first challenge. As we walk past the Gryffindor table, I pass the twins, and before I leave, I duck my head down to the both of them, my head in between theirs.

"Hello boys, I'm giving the potion to Snape tomorrow, just wanted to give you both a heads up", I say to them, receiving a nod from Fred. But, before I can leave, George gently grabs my wrist and turns me to face him. 

"Heather, will you meet me at the Clock Courtyard after the first task is over?", he asks, looking at me with pleading eyes.

"Sure.", I say, smiling down at him. Although, I am wondering why George wants to meet me, without Fred as well.

As I'm walking away, I hear both boys conversing.

"Finally going to do it, eh?", Fred says in a teasing manner.

"Oh, shut it Freddie.", George warns.

Huh. Wonder what all that's about. I suppose I'll find out soon today.