Fault lines tremble underneath my glass house
But I put it out of my mind
Long enough to call it courage
To live without a lifeline
I bend the definition of faith
To exonerate my blind eye
Till the sirens sound, I'm safe

"Earth"
Sleeping At Last

LUCY:

"Son of a banshee!" I shouted, throwing my lunar calendar as hard as I could across the dormitory. I fumed in silence for a couple seconds more before sheepishly getting up to retrieve it.

The door burst open, Hermione rushing in. "Lucy! Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I burn you?" I asked, slapping my hand to my forehead.

"A bit. But it's okay," she added quickly, twisting her ring a couple of times, "it was really brief. What happened?"

"I just realized the full moon is on your birthday," I mumbled. "And then the next one is the night before Cedric's. I'm going to ruin both of your birthdays."

"Oh, no, you won't ruin anything at all! It's a Monday, anyway, so it's not like we would have stayed up all night partying. Besides, even if we were planning on that, it's not your fault."

"Thank you for being so understanding," I said in a small voice, flopping down onto my bed. "I'm just so sick of everything in my life revolving around something so..."

Hermione settled down next to me. "Horrible?"

I nodded. "Yeah. That's a fair way to put it."

"Well, do you want to come do homework with me? Harry and Ron are there, too."

I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned, realizing the boys had been right there when Hermione rushed up here in a panic. "I just need to be alone with my thoughts for a while. I'm going to take a walk."

"What? Lucy, it's dark outside!" Hermione said as I rose to my feet.

"I'm going to go visit the skrewts." I grabbed the Magpies beanie Harry had given me for Christmas once and made my way down the stairs.

"But you're not bringing your notes! How will you record your findings?"

"I'll write them down when I get back," I said, securing the beanie over the tips of my ears. I plastered a smile on my face as I passed Harry and Ron, who were looking between me and Hermione with obvious confusion and a bit of concern. "I'm heading down to visit the skrewts. See you later."

Without waiting for another word of protest from Hermione, I leapt through the portrait hole.

The events of my first week of school weighed heavily on my shoulders as I made my way down the stairs.

Harry had sent a letter to Sirius practically begging him not to come back, but I figured it was no use. If I had been in Sirius's shoes, I would have done the exact same thing. I could tell that worry for Sirius had created a dark cloud of worry above Harry's head, and by extension, Ron's and Hermione's (and mine) as well. I wasn't worried about Sirius, necessarily, but I did worry for Harry. His scar hurting 24 hours before the events of the World Cup didn't sit right with me, but I didn't dare voice this concern to anyone else. I didn't want to worry my friends any more. They had enough burdens of their own,

Speaking of friends having burdens of their own, Neville had forgotten about his Snape detention after the disastrous DADA class, meaning Snape was even more cruel than usual. I reckoned that having to disembowel a hundred or so horned toads was nearly as traumatic for him as watching the spider be hit with the same Cruciatus Curse that stole his parents from him. Ginny and I had stayed up past midnight trying to calm Neville down after the detention; we were the only ones who seemed to make any difference.

Then there was the return to Ancient Runes. I had attempted to ask Draco if he was okay after the ferret incident, but he bristled at my genuine concern and suggested a very specific place I could try shoving my wand. (Needless to say, I kept my wand in my pocket where it belonged. Because... ouch.) After our surprisingly civil conversation in Care of Magical Creatures about our shared wand cores, I had thought that perhaps Draco and I were one step closer to becoming friends --- or, at least, not enemies. But he made it abundantly clear that we weren't, so I kept my head down as best as I could with him glaring at me every chance he got.

On top of everything, whispers of the Triwizard Tournament followed me everywhere I went. Every single person in my year asked me at least once if Cedric was entering. I replied to every one of them with some version of "He's still thinking about it," because I knew he was, in fact, still thinking about it.

As for myself, I'd been thinking about Cedric entering, too. I really saw no harm in him entering, but if he were actually chosen... I would be more than a little worried. I'd been unable to shake the words "death toll" from my mind. But I was determined to stand by what I had said to him on the first full day of school; I was going to support him wholeheartedly whatever he decided, entering or refraining, chosen or not chosen.

Before I knew it, my feet had brought me to Hagrid's hut. Despite the chilly September night, he was on his front step, tossing a bone for Fang to fetch.

"Hi, Hagrid!" I called, waving.

"Is that Lucy Diggory?" he asked teasingly, squinting into the distance.

I smiled. "The one and only. I came to see if you needed any help with the skrewts."

"Not particularly, but thanks fer thinkin' of that. Yeh want ter see them anyway?"

"Sure!" I could use the distraction, I added to myself.

I followed Hagrid in silence to the boxes where he kept the creatures.

"Do you think I could try letting one out and seeing what happens?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I don' see why not. Could be helpful."

I gingerly reached down into one of the crates and lifted one out with both hands. I didn't realize in the darkness that I had grabbed a male until I felt his stinger sinking into my arm.

"Hey!" I protested, dropping him back into the crate. "I'm just trying to help! No need to sting me!"

Hagrid rushed over, clearly worried. "Yeh alrigh', Lucy?"

"I am, don't worry," I said. I smiled. "I'm no Draco Malfoy. I can handle a little pain. I will grab a female next, though."

I lit my wand and reached in to grab a female. I set it on the grass and went to stand with Hagrid, wand out in front of me so we could see what she did.

"Does it hurt?" Hagrid asked suddenly. "Transformin'?"

"A little," I lied. "Why do you ask, Hagrid?"

"When you were in the Forest las' year, tryin' ter look for Sirius Black, I could hear somethin' sometimes. Screams an' howls an' the like."

I bit my lower lip. "Yeah, that's me."

"It hurts that much?" He sounded a bit stunned.

"Er... yeah. But the pain doesn't last very long," I added, trying to dodge his pity, "and you get used to it. I used to cry when I was younger, but I don't anymore. Professor Lupin told me last year that it gets easier the older you get. He doesn't even gag taking wolfsbane anymore, which I thought was rather impressive when I first saw him drink it in October." I sighed. "I miss him, possibly more than anyone else does, even Harry. He... made me feel better. Like I wasn't the only one at Hogwarts with a secret monster."

"Yeh never have been," Hagrid said after a moment. "The only one, I mean."

"I... what?"

"I thought yeh knew."

"I... knew what?"

"I'm half-giant, Lucy."

I turned to face him. "You are?"

He nodded, looking rather ashamed. "I thought yeh knew, and tha's why yer always so nice ter me. Because you didn' want me to feel like I was any different from you."

"Oh, I..." Looking back, it seemed rather obvious. He was a massive man, after all. But I'd never really questioned Hagrid's parentage, because he was always just... Hagrid. "Hagrid, I've always been nice to you because you're a good person. Not to mention you're the only person who understands how I feel about creatures. I mean... dragons and werewolves and giants and blast-ended skrewts are still living beings, right?"

"Right." He sighed. "I'm sorry fer not tellin' yeh sooner, Lucy. It's not that I don't trust yeh, I do, I just thought yeh knew."

"I should have known," I admitted with a sheepish laugh. "But honestly, Hagrid, I've never thought about it because I like who you are, so it doesn't matter to me what you are."

Hagrid looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and I might have spied a glimmer of tears in the glow of my wand. "'Slong as yeh remember the same thing for yerself."

I offered a thin-lipped smile and nodded, but doubts lingered in my mind. Hagrid was only half-giant, and there was no such thing as a half-werewolf. And when it came to giants, I knew it was possible to reason with them. I knew it was possible to teach them how to love; Hagrid was living proof of that. But werewolves... without wolfsbane, we killed without second thought. For werewolves like the infamous Fenrir Greyback, I reckoned they killed even with wolfsbane.

I appreciated the sentiment, but Hagrid and I were very, very different in that regard, and we always would be.

A sudden thought occurred to me. "Oh! Hagrid!"

"Mhm?"

I couldn't help but laugh as I began to explain. "Alright, so I saw Charlie Weasley this summer. Ron's brother, who works on the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary? He had an update on Norbert!"

Hagrid sounded like a child in his excitement. "He did? Oh, how is the little tyke? Do you think he'd still know us? Is he getting along well with the other dragons? It was a good update, right?"

"He's alright! But... he's not a he. Norbert is actually Norbert-a."

"Really! He's a female? Well, erm, she's a... well, yeh know what I mean."

I laughed again. "Don't worry, I understand. Yes! And to answer your other questions, she's doing well, she'll probably recognize us when we visit, and she's getting along well with the others! Say, Hagrid, Charlie had a very interesting story to tell me about a dragon expedition he took with Bill and Adalyn and a couple of others. Would you happen to know anything about that?"

He grinned. "A bit. Would yeh like to hear my version of the story?"

"Of course!"

Hagrid and I didn't learn anything new about blast-ended skrewts that night, but I did learn a lot about dragons. I returned to the Gryffindor common room in much higher spirits. So high, in fact, I didn't even remember being stung until Harry's eyes bugged out at the sight of my arm.

"What happened?" he asked, jumping up out of his chair. I noticed offhandedly that he was the only one still in the common room.

"What do you mean?" I replied.

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean?' What happened to your arm?"

"Oh." I pushed back my sleeve briefly to look at the puncture in my arm, which had apparently bled quite a bit, but I quickly yanked my sleeve back down as soon as I realized Harry had already crossed the room and was standing right in front of me. I had forgotten about my scars for half a second, somehow. "Just got stung by a skrewt. No big deal."

"No big deal? Lucy, Hagrid knows nothing about them. What if they're poisonous?"

I laughed a bit as I looked up at him. "Well, I'd probably know by now if they were. This happened hours ago."

"Hours? Let me see."

Without really waiting for an answer, Harry reached out and gently grabbed me by the elbow. He rolled my sleeve up with so much care and caution I might have actually laughed again if I hadn't been so flustered. I grew even more flustered as he used his thumb to clean some of the blood away, revealing in even more detail the thin white scars I kept hidden by long sleeves 24/7. The thin white scars I hated so, so, so much.

"Well... I'm no Cedric, but it hasn't turned green or started smoking, so I think you're right. It's not poisonous."

"Venomous," I corrected, before I could stop myself.

He glanced at me, hands still gently holding my arm. "What?"

You absolute idiot, Lucy Everlin Diggory! I chided myself. I cleared my throat and looked down at the floor for half a second before meeting his gaze again. I managed an embarrassed smile. "Sorry. The creature-lover in me couldn't help it. Venomous creatures bite or sting you to kill you. Poisonous creatures have to be eaten to kill you."

He stared at me for half a second longer before laughing, dropping my arm in the process. I tugged my sleeve back down over my forearm and wrapped my arms around my midsection.

"Glad I could amuse you with my useless knowledge," I said softly, still smiling.

He shook his head and grinned. "No, it's not useless. You might have just saved me from Snape's wrath. I think I wrote in my essay that doxies are poisonous, but they'd be venomous, wouldn't they?"

I nodded. "Technically speaking, yes, they're venomous. Which is confusing, considering we counteract doxy bites with the antidote to uncommon poisons."

"Well, poison or venom or whatever, I'm glad the skrewts don't seem to have it. How'd you get stung, anyway? You've managed just fine all week without getting burned."

"I, er..." I felt my face growing hotter by the second. "I picked one up. To observe how they behaved on their own."

"Well, that's the most Lucy answer I've ever heard," he chuckled. "Did you learn anything?"

I shook my head. "Not about skrewts. Dragons, sure, but not skrewts."

"Another very Lucy answer. Well, I'm going to fix the poisonous versus venomous part of my Potions essay, then head to bed, unless you want someone to stay up with you."

"I'm heading to bed, actually," I said, though I was sorely tempted to take his offer. Talking to Harry was the calmest I had been all night, and I really didn't want to have to part ways. But at the same time, I was tired, and I was sure that Harry must have been, too.

"Not a Lucy answer," he teased.

"Yeah, well, contrary to popular belief, I do actually sleep," I replied in the same teasing tone. "Good night, Harry."

"G'night!"

I climbed the stairs quietly, grinning from ear to ear and making a mental note to visit the skrewts more often.

Despite what I had told Harry, I didn't sleep much the next week, with the full moon approaching.

I did the best I could to make Hermione's birthday as special as possible. I had knitted an S.P.E.W. sweater for Crookshanks, which she immediately and very excitedly forced him to wear. She had promised that the full moon wouldn't ruin anything, but I wasn't stupid --- I saw the way she watched me out of the corner of her eye all day, concerned as always by my tomato-red face and my trembling hands. She insisted on walking with me to the Room of Requirement after Potions, where she squeezed my hand reassuringly and said she'd see me in the morning. I wished her a happy birthday again, pulling her into a quick but firm hug, and disappeared behind the door. I sank to the ground, breath coming in ragged gasps as I waited for the sun to fully set. I cursed my condition with every foul word I could recall until the transformation began.

On September 19, 1994, Hermione's birthday was celebrated with a small party in the common room after dinner, consisting of Harry and the Weasleys who remained at Hogwarts. Since Lucy wasn't there, they played truth or dare. There was much laughter, of course, as Harry and Fred waltzed around the common room and Ginny attempted to backflip off the back of the couch. There was also a surprising amount of intimacy. They learned that Hermione's greatest fear was rejection rather than failure, that Ron wanted a career as an Auror one day but doubted he'd ever get there, that George really was afraid of dogs. All of these things Lucy already knew, of course --- these were the confessions made late at night in the girls' dormitory, in the middle of a wizard's chess game, at a Quidditch party while Fred wasn't around. These were the confessions Lucy drew out of her closest friends, not on purpose, never on purpose, but... these confessions came anyway, naturally.

Lucy slept through all of this, safe and warm --- but very much a werewolf --- in the Room of Requirement.

This same group played again on October 19, 1994. They'd tried all month to convince Lucy to play, but she refused time and time again, with a new excuse every time. She always had more homework to do, more skrewts to observe, more reasons to visit the Hufflepuff common room. Fred, George, and Ginny were of the opinion she was scared of being forced to confess her feelings for Harry to whoever else was playing, and they were correct, in a sense. Hermione, Ron, and Harry were of the opinion she was actually using all of this extra time to talk to Cedric about the Tournament; they knew Lucy well enough to know without even asking that Cedric still hadn't decided whether he was going to enter or not. They could tell from the way she stiffened every time someone asked her, from the way she often became lost in thought staring at the Hufflepuff table during meals, from the way she was often found in the Hufflepuff common room on the Marauder's Map. And they were correct too, in a sense --- Lucy was spending lots of time with her brother, and the Tournament was on her mind, but the two of them never explicitly talked about the Tournament. She didn't want to put any more pressure on Cedric than he was already feeling. Really, she was spending time just being with him, after a whole summer spent apart. And... she was afraid of confronting her feelings for Harry.

Lucy once again slept through the game, completely unaware it was even happening. But her last conscious thought as a human was of Harry.

"This is why Harry could never love you," she whispered to herself, half a second before the billions of hot knives plunged into her skin. This final whisper gave way to a scream, then another scream, then another scream. Then with one last piercing howl, the werewolf curled up to sleep until sunrise.

I was jolted from my sleep by blinding pain. I screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and then, slowly, the pain stopped, and I was human again, sprawled on the floor of the Room of Requirement. I drew a deep, steadying breath and pushed myself to a sitting position.

It was Cedric's birthday!

That very happy thought motivated me to push myself to my feet.

"Happy birthday!" I exclaimed, flinging myself into his arms as soon as he rounded the corner.

He chuckled as he set me back down. "Thank you! How are you? Did anything happen?"

I shook my head. "I'm alright. Tired, of course, but alright."

"I'll walk with you to the Hospital Wing to get your wideye potion."

"Okay, thanks. So... any plans for the big day?" I asked as casually as possible, knowing very well that he did have plans, just plans he didn't know about quite yet. "You're seventeen, after all, making today arguably your most important birthday ever."

He shrugged. "I have a Potions exam today, so that's probably going to be the highlight of my day... kidding, of course," he added with a grin, noting the horrified look on my face.

"No, I thought you were serious," I replied with as much sarcasm as I could manage. He laughed as I slipped into the Hospital Wing and downed the wideye potion waiting for me on a floating tray near the door. When I emerged again, Cedric was leaning against the opposite wall, suddenly looking nervous.

"Well, I may have been kidding about that," he said, shyly tucking his hands under his armpits, "but I'm completely serious about what I'm about to tell you. I figured my birthday was a good day to announce this, and I wanted you to be the first to know."

I will never understand how he goes from Mr. Confident to an insecure mess in half a second, I thought to myself.

I felt my heart beginning to pound in my chest, my palms suddenly sweaty. But I forced these emotions away and smiled encouragingly at my now-very-nervous brother. "Oh?"

He nodded, biting the inside of his cheek for a second. "I've decided to enter the Tournament. And I know what you're going to ask, and... no. This isn't about Dad. I'm doing this for myself. I promise."

Part of me wanted to be angry with him for going along with what Dad wanted, even if it was his own decision. But I immediately forced it away along with my anxiety and jumped at him in another hug. "You made your decision!"

"Do you think it's the right one?"

I stepped away from him and narrowed my eyes. "It doesn't matter what I think, only what you think. We've discussed this, sir."

He smiled sheepishly. "It was worth a shot."

"Do you think it's the right decision?"

"Yes. I do."

"Then I think it is, too!" I lied, concealing my fears with the brightest smile I could manage. Cedric always knew when I was lying, but for the first time in my life... I fooled him. Perhaps... perhaps I fooled him because I gave him the answer he wanted to hear from me. Perhaps I fooled him because he was too scared to look for doubt from me. Perhaps I fooled him because he somehow heard Dad's voice in mine. Whatever the reason... I fooled him.

"Thanks for being so supportive," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Now I just have to tell Henry and Cho, and then... well, I reckon the whole school will know soon enough."

"Definitely," I chuckled. "Well, I'm proud of you for deciding, and I'll see you at breakfast!"

"See you then," he replied. He smiled at me one last time before turning on his heel and heading in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room. I couldn't help but notice a spring in his step that hadn't been there for a long time. He was serious about the Tournament... he really did want to enter. And, true to my word, I would support that.

Besides... what were the odds he'd actually be chosen out of the dozens of Hogwarts students probably entering?

Though his announcement rattled me initially, I felt better after a hot shower and a change of robes. I carefully tucked Cedric's gift into my bookbag and headed down to breakfast, sliding in between the twins as per always.

"You missed a rousing game of truth or dare last night, Cub!" Fred announced.

I wrinkled my nose. "I'm so disappointed to hear that. My absolute favorite game in the entire world. Did I miss anything particularly exciting?"

"I had to cuddle with Crookshanks for an entire minute!" Ron complained.

Hermione laughed. "For what it's worth, I think Crookshanks hated it even more than you did."

"I wish I could have seen that," I chuckled.

"Yeah, it's unfortunate you missed it," George said with a dramatic sigh. "But alas, I suppose you will just have to settle for Quidditch tonight."

"Oh, I can't wait! Even if our positions will be all jumbled up."

"That'll be the best part, I bet!" Fred predicted.

Henry and I had scheduled a very-improper Quidditch game between the end of classes and sundown to celebrate Cedric's birthday. The teams would be composed of the players from Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, with Cho filling in for Oliver Wood, the only person on either team that had graduated. But since Cho, Cedric, and Harry were all Seekers and we only needed two Seekers, we designated Cedric and Fred team captains and decided they could assign positions based on who they chose for their team.

Unsurprisingly, I was on Cedric's team as a Chaser. He gave Henry the role of Keeper, kept the Hufflepuff Beaters as Beaters, and volunteered himself to play Chaser with me, giving the role of Seeker to Cho. Our third Chaser was a Hufflepuff third-year named Mary.

The other team had the Weasley twins as Beaters, Harry as Seeker, Angelina, Alicia, and the smaller Hufflepuff Chaser as Chasers, and the stockier Hufflepuff Chaser as Keeper.

Ginny Weasley was referee, and she had a heck of a time trying to keep up with the match. It was nowhere nearly as fast as the Quidditch World Cup had been, but everyone was surprisingly competitive, and before we knew it, the scores had reached triple digits.

Cedric was an astonishingly good Chaser. He was a natural team player, and a fast learner. Between Mary's sneakiness, Cedric's strength, and my speed, we were quite the team. I was initially worried about playing against Angelina and Alicia, my teammates for three years, but we slowly and steadily pulled ahead of them.

Cho was using the same tactics that had nearly cost Gryffindor the match back in February, distracting Harry every time he got close to catching the Snitch since his broom was faster.

Cedric followed my gaze as I passed him the Quaffle and grinned. "Boys are rather dumb sometimes, aren't they?"

"It doesn't help that Cho's pretty and brilliant," I replied with a huff of a laugh. "Now come on, let's teach Harry a lesson about keeping his head in the game."

Cedric passed the Quaffle back to me, and I sent it flying clean through the left hoop.

We continued to pull ahead, one goal at a time. The sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon when we finally won.

Everyone headed their separate ways after the match, promising we'd do it again someday, but I still needed to give Cedric his gift, so I jogged to catch up to him and Cho.

"Hey, Cho, do you mind if I steal him for juuuust a minute?" I asked.

"Go ahead!" she replied, smiling. "I'm going to freshen up a bit in the locker rooms so I don't smell like a troll at dinner."

I laughed. "I doubt you ever smell like a troll, but thanks! I just need a minute."

I grabbed Cedric by the arm and dragged him under the nearest tree. "Okay, so I put this together before I knew if you were doing the Tournament or not," I explained, "but I hope you enjoy it anyway. One thing was there in case you entered, and one was there in case you didn't."

He dug into the bag and drew out a bright blue Muggle book titled "Guitar for Beginners." He chuckled. "I see you coordinated with Henry and Cho?"

"Yeah, I knew they were getting you a guitar for your birthday," I admitted with a smile. "I wrote to Dom for his best suggestion, and he sent this back in response. He was the DJ at all of our Gryffindor Quidditch parties. Okay, go ahead and open the other thing!"

He extracted a long silver chain with a yellow pygmy puff at the bottom.

"I know, you're probably wondering why I gave you a necklace," I said quickly, "but I can explain. I was thinking that if you were a Triwizard Champion, you might want a good luck charm. I remembered the time you told me you wanted a pygmy puff one day, and I was thinking it might be just the thing you needed for a bit of inspiration. And-" I drew an identical chain out of my own robes, with a red pygmy puff dangling off the end. "-I have an almost-matching one. I made the chain extra long so nobody would see it and think you were somehow cheating, but... I hope you like it."

Cedric immediately tossed the chain around his head and wrapped his arms around me. "I love it. Thank you, Lucy. This birthday has been incredible."

I smiled. "Good. We did our best to make sure it was. Now go, Cho's waiting for you."

He hurried after his girlfriend, looping his arm around her shoulders and whispering something in her ear. And just like that, I was alone in the almost-dark. I thought about heading up to the castle, but I instead lowered myself onto the grass and leaned my back against the tree.

Happiness swelled inside me. Cedric's birthday had been a success.

But alongside that happiness crept a dark knife of anxiety. Cedric was entering the Triwizard Tournament, a competition with a death toll.

I thought about heading up to the castle, but I didn't want to leave that spot, that moment. If I did, I had to accept that everything might change. If I did, I had to accept the fact that I couldn't freeze time. If I moved on from that spot, that moment, I was stepping into the unknown and facing all that the future might bring, for better or for worse.

The sun's rays painted the grounds in vibrant, joyful shades of gold, but I was also acutely aware of the chill breeze that whipped around me. So, I supposed, was my inner whirlwind of happiness and anxiety. Wrestling for control. Trying to push me to one extreme or another. Refusing to let me just sit in the middle, at peace.

In that moment, I chose joy. I couldn't stop the passage of time, the same way I couldn't stop the ever-changing phases of the moon. But I could decide to face it head-on, like a brave Gryffindor should.

So I pushed myself up from the ground and walked in the direction of the castle alone, using my scarf to shield my face and neck from the biting wind. But just before I stepped into the castle, I turned around to face the Quidditch Pitch.

The Quidditch Pitch. My safe place. My escape from reality. The place where we had won the Quidditch Cup. The place where I had first realized I loved Harry. And, most importantly, the place Cedric and I had shared on so many occasions, just the two of us against the world.

Well... it's like Cedric said all those years ago, I told myself. Some things never change. Like Quidditch, and Hogwarts sunsets, and Cedric.

With that, I headed into the castle and didn't look back again.

A/N: Hey, everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Writing it took about twice as long as I was hoping it would, because I had to write it twice. I very specifically hit "Save draft & exit," but it only exited without saving the draft. So, needless to say, I will be very careful to always make sure to have a copy of my drafts ready at all times so I don't lose two hours of my life again anytime soon!

On a completely unrelated note, I'm warning you now that I'm going to slowly stop including author's notes at the ends of chapters. As you all know, the next "season" of this story, if you will, is going to have a very different tone from everything I've written beforehand, and I want my author's notes (and lack thereof) to reflect that as much as possible. But please please please, keep commenting! Keep leaving feedback! I'll keep responding to every comment and engaging in the way I always have, I just won't have quite as many author's notes for a little while.

Oh, and the image for this chapter is taken from the micro music video for "Earth" by Sleeping At Last, the song I used at the beginning of this chapter. If you can't tell by now, I'm a MASSIVE fan of Ryan O'Neal and his absolutely incredible lyrics, and you can expect to see a lot of his work in the chapters to come!

As always, thank you for reading! I hope you liked Chapter 54, take 2. See you all next chapter, with Cedric's perspective on the Tournament!