"To love someone fiercely, to believe in something with your whole heart, to celebrate a fleeting moment in time, to fully engage in a life that doesn't come with guarantees --- these are risks that involve vulnerability and often pain. But I'm learning that recognizing and leaning into the discomfort of vulnerability teaches us how to live with joy, gratitude and grace."
Brené Brown

LUCY:

The sense of miraculous calm I had felt the night before disappeared the second I opened my eyes Tuesday morning. My hands shook violently as I tried to get dressed.

You have to keep it together, Lucy, I told myself sternly as my trembling hands attempted to button my bookbag. You can't let Cedric or Harry see how scared you are. You need to be strong, for their sakes. You being nervous will just make them even more terrified than they already are.

And so I did my best to appear unfazed. I stuck close to Harry throughout the morning, smiling at the people who wished him good luck and glaring at the people who continued to mock him. He stuck out from the crowd, wearing a special set of robes and a jacket reading POTTER in large red letters across the back. When I passed Cedric on our way to Herbology, I could see he was wearing the same robes in yellow with DIGGORY across the back. I offered him a reassuring smile, but I could see the apprehension in his eyes even as he smiled back.

When lunch came around, I found myself incapable of eating a single bite. I sipped occasionally on the cold water in my goblet, but I doubted my stomach could support much else.

Professor McGonagall approached the place where Harry and I were sitting alone ten minutes later. "Potter, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now. You have to get ready for your first task."

Harry dropped his fork with a loud clatter. "Okay."

"C-Can I come too, Professor?" I asked, seeing Professor Sprout leading Cedric from the Hufflepuff table. "I won't go into the tent, but- but can I walk down with them?"

Professor McGonagall followed my gaze and nodded. "Of course. Quickly, now."

I jumped up from the table as the three of us hurried over to Professor Sprout and my brother. I positioned myself firmly between Cedric and Harry, Cedric to my left and Harry to my right, trying to ignore the way my heart felt like it was trying to burst out of my chest.

We walked down to the edge of the forest in silence, a frigid wind whipping around us. I found myself wishing I had grabbed a scarf, then chided myself for thinking of something so trivial as my two favorite people in the entire world were about to face dragons.

Soon enough, we reached a tent that had been erected sometime between Saturday night and Tuesday morning. Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout turned to their respective champions, and I wrapped my arms around my waist as I stood in between the two halves of who I was. My brother on my left, my best friend on my right. The Hufflepuff I used to think I was and the Gryffindor I now knew myself to be. My foundation on my left, my future (I hoped) on my right. Torn apart by the knowledge that one --- or Merlin forbid, both --- might not make it through the hour. I felt sick, but I had to hold it together just a moment longer, because suddenly, Harry was turning to me.

"Good luck," I squeaked, hugging him tightly. He hugged back, shaking. As we pulled away, I managed a small smile. "Nine minutes, you hear me?"

He tried to smile back, but it died instantly on his lips. "I'll do my best."

"That's all I ask," I whispered as he headed in the direction of the tent.

I spun on my heel and flung myself at Cedric. He hugged back with equal ferocity.

"Go out there and prove yourself, yeah?"

He nodded as he released me, finding a smile a little more successfully than Harry. "That's the plan. Love you, Lu."

"Love you too," I replied. As soon as he turned in the direction of the task, my smile faltered, and I wrapped my arms around my waist again.

Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout laid a hand on each shoulder.

"The stands are just beyond the tent," Professor McGonagall said gently. "Your peers should be on their way now. You can go find a seat."

I nodded, forcing out a weak "Okay." Arms still pressed firmly to my midsection, I bowed my head against the biting wind and hurried in the direction of the dragon enclosure. As I crested the hill and laid my eyes on it for the first time in broad daylight, I was nearly overcome with vertigo.

All four dragons, larger than life, were pacing around the enclosure. I could see the figures of Charlie and his fellow dragonologists --- small, so small in comparison --- trying to usher the Hungarian Horntail, the Welsh Green, and the Chinese Fireball into massive cages beneath the stands, meaning the Swedish Short-Snout would be first.

I must have remained there, paralyzed, for a couple of minutes, because I was suddenly aware of shouts and giggles almost directly behind me. I turned around just as the crowd reached the base of the hill, and two redheaded figures wrestled their way to the front.

"You look like you've seen a ghost, Cub," George said. "What is-"

He fell silent as soon as he saw the dragons.

"Wicked!" Fred exclaimed. "Dragons are the first task! C'mon, Cub, let's get good seats!"

I let them steer me back in the direction of the stadium, my entire body buzzing with nervous energy. I was glad I hadn't eaten anything at breakfast or lunch, because I surely would have thrown it all up.

Ron and Hermione wedged themselves between Fred and me as soon as we found seats. Not that we were sitting, I was much too nervous for that --- we would watch the task on our feet.

"Dragons?" Ron asked, his eyes wide with fear.

I couldn't bring myself to reply out loud, so I merely nodded and stared straight ahead.

"I-I think someone's trying to do Harry in after all," he said. "He wouldn't- he-"

"Took you long enough!" Hermione snapped.

Henry and Cho slid into the row in front of us.

"Doing alright, Lucy?" Henry asked, looking nearly as terrified as I felt.

I managed a nod. "P-Probably better than Ced. You?"

Cho pressed her gloved hands to her cheeks. "Oh Merlin, Cedric's so scared of dragons and fire. He must be..."

"He'll be okay," Henry assured her. "He always is."

Archie and Cam slid in next to Henry, Padma and Parvati and Lavender slid in next to Cho, Angelina and Alicia found seats next to Fred, and Seamus and Dean and Neville filed in on the other side of George. I was glad to be surrounded by so many friends, but knowing that Cedric and Harry were only with the other champions in that tent... knowing that they'd face dragons alone... I couldn't stifle the moan of fear that escaped me.

Hermione reached down and grabbed my hand --- I noticed she was already holding Ron's. "They'll be okay," she said, though I could tell from how hard she was squeezing that she was scared, too.

George grabbed my other hand. "Don't worry, Cub. They won't let anything terrible happen."

"I sure hope not," I whispered.

Not a second later, Ludo Bagman's disembodied voice filled the stadium.

"The champions' first task is to collect the golden egg from these very protective mother dragons! First up, with the Swedish Short-Snout, is CEDRIC DIGGORY!"

George and Hermione squeezed my hands tighter, but I ripped them out of their grips and pressed my knuckles to my mouth, jumping down to the next row to stand between Henry and Archie. It only seemed right.

"There he goes," Henry said in a strangled sort of voice as Cedric emerged from the tent, wand at the ready and a fierce look of determination on his face.

My brother offered a smile to the crowd, that cheered in response. I couldn't bring myself to join in; not because I didn't want to support him, but because I couldn't lower my hands from my face.

Cedric edged along the enclosure at first, sizing up his opponent. As if he could somehow hear my thoughts, I tried to tell him everything I knew about Swedish Short-Snouts. Before I could even get through an entire sentence, however, the dragon suddenly arched its back and sprayed fire directly at him. He dove out of the way just in the nick of time, but the entire stadium screamed at once. Again, except for me --- I was paralyzed by fear.

"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow!" Ludo Bagman said.

Cedric rose to his feet and extinguished the nearby fire with a jet of water from his wand. He then ducked behind a rock as a second blast of fire came.

This dance between Cedric and the dragon continued for about five minutes, as Cedric methodically tested the range of the dragon by inching further and further away and drawing its fire.

"Come on, Cedric!" Archie shouted impatiently. "Just go for it!"

Cam swatted his arm. "He knows what he's doing! Let him think!"

"He can't hear me anyway," Archie protested.

It seemed as if Cedric might have actually heard Archie, because he jumped from his hiding spot and pointed his wand at the dragon. A flock of birds exploded from his wand, and they started pecking at the dragon's face. He tried running in the direction of the egg.

"He's taking risks, this one!" Ludo Bagman announced, sounding incredibly impressed.

However, the dragon ate all of the birds within about ten seconds and began pursuing him. Cedric, sensing the danger, hurdled over a rock and crouched down just as the dragon sent another fireball his direction.

"Clever move, pity it didn't work!"

"Yeah, thanks for that, Bagman," Fred spat loudly. If I weren't still so terrified, I might have laughed --- the twins had yet to make progress with the swindling Quidditch star.

But Cedric wasn't out of tricks yet. He tried the birds again, this time casting the spell three times, trying to buy himself even more time. He got closer to the egg, but he had to duck out of the way of the fiery blast once again.

He rose to his feet, but this time, he pointed his wand at a nearby rock instead of at the dragon. Before our eyes, the rock became a Labrador, drawing quite a few "Awww"s from the crowd.

"He's trying to distract the dragon!" someone nearby shouted. "That's brilliant! Look, the dragon's chasing the dog instead of Cedric!"

Surely enough, it was. Cedric seized advantage of the distraction and sprinted toward the golden egg, but just as he reached it, the dragon whirled its head to face my brother.

I was instantly broken from my stupor when I saw its throat glow orange.

"CEDRIC, LOOK OUT!" I shrieked. The crowd joined my desperate shout, and he turned his face as soon as the dragon blasted him.

The crowd screamed, fearing the worst, but after a second, once the fire receded, Cedric rose from the rock, holding the golden egg above his head.

"Oh, Merlin," Henry said, pressing a hand to his mouth.

Cedric didn't look good. The entire left side of his face was burned, and the left side of his robes were tattered and smoking, but he was alive.

"He's alive," I whispered, watching with relief as the dragon tamers rushed forward, immediately subduing the dragon, and Cedric staggered back to the tent. "That's what matters."

I felt a little bit better knowing Cedric had made it out alive, but I was still terrified for Harry.

Once Cedric had received his score --- 38 points --- I stepped back up to stand between George and Hermione, who automatically stepped closer to me. I twirled my ring around my finger, purple on purple, as Fleur entered the stadium.

"Next up, with the Welsh Green, is FLEUR DELACOUR!"

Her round with the dragon passed in a haze for me. She tried to put the dragon to sleep, which was only minimally effective. It took her longer to get the egg than Cedric, but she escaped with only a small burn on her skirt. She scored a 38, too, probably because she took more time but was less injured.

"Next up, with the Chinese Fireball, is VIKTOR KRUM!"

"That... that means Harry has the Horntail!" I choked out. "The most dangerous dragon here!"

George reached for my hand again and squeezed it hard. "He'll be alright, Cub. He's Harry Potter. If anyone can handle it, it's him. No offense to Cedric, of course. Squeeze as hard as you want, by the way. I don't mind."

I nodded numbly, squeezing his hand back a bit.

"I'm insulted. Squeeze harder, I swear I can handle it."

"N-Not yet."

Viktor stepped out into the stadium and immediately fired a curse right at the dragon's eyes without so much as a glance at the crowd.

"Very daring!" Ludo Bagman declared.

The dragon roared in pain and staggered backward, stepping on some of the non-golden eggs.

"Oh no," I whispered. "Th-Those are real eggs. Merlin, that's horrible."

Viktor seemed focused however, and sprinted forward, securing the egg in a matter of seconds. He received a score of 40, which made me incredibly mad.

"He wasn't supposed to hurt the real eggs!" I protested. "Why did he score higher than Cedric and Fleur?"

"Look at Karkaroff's score," Henry said, pointing at the perfect 10 among the sea of 7s and 8s. "Just a case of bias."

My anger faded the second Ludo Bagman's voice filled the stadium again. Harry was all that mattered.

"FINALLY, FACING THE HUNGARIAN HORNTAIL, WE HAVE HARRY POTTER!"

I squeezed George's hand so hard I was worried about hurting him. But when I glanced up, he was laughing.

"Told you I could handle it," he said. "Now come on, here he comes. GO HARRY!"

The stadium roared, and to my surprise, a lot of it sounded rather supportive. I guess, like Ron, everyone seemed to realize Harry wouldn't have signed up for this himself.

Harry lifted his wand straight into the air. "ACCIO FIREBOLT!"

One second... two seconds... three seconds...

"There it is!" Hermione gasped, pointing. Everyone around us followed her finger, and surely enough, there was the Firebolt, soaring straight to Harry.

He mounted it immediately and kicked into the air.

"YES!" I screamed, wrenching my hand free from George's grip and cupping my hands around my mouth. "GO HARRY GO!"

He soared straight into the sky, then turned around to survey the ground. Unbelievably, there was a smile on his face. And, with a jolt, I realized I was smiling, too.

He dive-bombed the dragon, then dodged its blast and shot straight back up, circling above the Horntail in an increasingly tight spiral.

Ludo Bagman was astounded. "Great Scott, he can fly! Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?"

"Who cares?" George called. "He's our Seeker!"

Harry dove down again at the dragon, then missed its fire, but he was unable to dodge the spiked tail. It caught him by the shoulder, and my hands flew to my mouth in horror as Hermione screamed loudly.

"He seems alright!" Fred said loudly, over the sound of everyone's groans. "Look!"

Surely enough, he was still weaving around the dragon, looking completely unfazed. He climbed higher and higher into the sky, and it became clear what he was trying to do.

"He'll lure her off the ground," I said, half to myself and half to the people around me. "Then once she takes flight-"

She lifted off the ground, and Harry turned sharply.

"He'll dive!"

Harry snatched up the golden egg and soared out of her way, turning a circle over the stands.

He had done it. He was alive.

The stadium shook with screams and cheers.

"Come on!" Ron shouted at Hermione and me. "Let's go meet him down there!"

"I need to see Cedric, too!" I shouted back as we pushed our way through the crowd and wrestled our way down to the tent.

A first aid tent had been erected too, and Harry was just about to enter when we arrived.

I sprinted forward, running as fast as I could, and threw myself at him, adjusting at the last second so I didn't hit his injured shoulder.

"You did it!" I gasped.

"In less than nine minutes, no less," he panted.

I gave him one last squeeze and pulled away. "I need to go see Cedric, but I brought company," I said, gesturing over my shoulder. He looked up curiously, before breaking into a smile as Hermione flung herself at Harry, too. I ducked into the tent and rushed to my brother's side, grabbing his unburned hand.

"Are you alright?"

He grinned through the orange goop covering the burned half of his face. "I'll be completely alright, Lu, don't worry."

"Good. You weren't supposed to get hurt!" I scolded. I then squeezed his hand harder between mine. "But you were brilliant just the same."

"Absolutely smashing," Henry agreed from behind me, patting Cedric's shoulder.

Cho pressed a kiss to the cheek not covered in orange. "We're so proud of you."

He turned red. "Thank you. I did my best. What did everyone else do?"

Harry sat in the chair next to Cedric as Madam Pomfrey examined his shoulder. "I summoned my Firebolt and got it to follow me off the ground. Once it was flying, I dove down and got the egg. What'd you do?"

"I tried distracting my dragon with a couple flocks of birds, but she ate them all," Cedric chuckled. "Then I transfigured a rock into a Labrador, and went for the egg once she started chasing it instead of me. I had just gotten the egg when she blasted me, and well, you can see the rest."

"That Fleur girl tried this sort of charm, I think she was trying to put it into a trance," Ron piped up from Harry's side. "Well, that kind of worked too, it went all sleepy, but then it snored, and this great jet of flame shot out, and her skirt caught fire. She put it out with a bit of water out of her wand. And Krum! You won't believe this, but he didn't even think of flying! He hit it with some sort of spell right in the eye. Only thing is, it went trampling around in agony and squashed half the real eggs --- they took marks off for that, he wasn't supposed to do any damage to them."

"Come on, Harry, let's go get your score," Hermione said, grabbing him by his uninjured arm and leading him out of the tent. "Are you coming, Lucy?"

"You three go ahead!" I called back as they ducked out of the tent.

"You can go with them, Lu," Cedric said.

I shook my head. "The three of them haven't really talked in three weeks. I'll let them have this." I glanced up at Henry. "Party in the common room?"

Henry grinned. "You bet."

"The champions have to go to a quick meeting," Cedric said, pushing himself with some effort off the chair, "then I should probably clean up a bit. But I'll be there as soon as I can."

"We'll wait outside for you," Cho said, gesturing to Henry.

I, on the other hand, continued gripping Cedric's hand as we walked together into the champions' tent, not wanting to let go of Cedric after what he had just been through. Fleur and Viktor were already waiting in the tent when we arrived.

"You must be Lucy," Fleur said with a kind smile.

I nodded, offering a smile. "That would be me."

"I have heard you love Quidditch," Viktor commented. "Were you the one on the Pitch in the rain? This Sunday?"

I burned bright red as I nodded. Viktor Krum had seen me playing Quidditch?! "That would be me, too."

Before he could say anything else, Harry entered the tent, Ludo Bagman just behind him.

He beamed around at the four champions. "Well done, all of you! Er, the four of you, though I did hear your cheers and screams louder than just about anyone else's," he said, winking at me. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth, but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open... see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg --- on your own, mind you --- because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"

"I'll catch up with you in a bit," I told Cedric, finally letting go of his hand. "Take care of him, will you, you two?"

Cho quickly grabbed Cedric's hand and nodded, leaning into his shoulder. "Of course."

I smiled and hurried to catch up with Harry and Ron. Now that the burning anxiety was beginning to fade, I couldn't help but shiver in the November chill.

"Cold, Lu?" Without waiting for a response, Harry untied the jacket part of his uniform and slipped it around my shoulders.

"Thanks," I said through chattering teeth, pulling my arms through the sleeves and wrapping my arms around my waist, this time with cold and not with nerves. "I d-don't know if I'm c-c-cold necessarily, but..." I sighed. "It's b-been a stressful three weeks."

"We get three months off now," Harry assured me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer.

"And it won't just be you two anymore," Ron said softly, sounding somewhat sheepish. "Mione and I will be there too."

We had nearly gotten past the forest when Rita Skeeter jumped out from behind a tree. Her quick eyes absorbed the scene, and she flashed a smile at Harry.

"Congratulations, Harry! I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How you feel now, about the fairness of the scoring?"

Harry nodded stiffly, cutting her off. "Yeah, you can have a word: Good-bye."

Harry tightened his arm around my shoulders, and the three of us headed up to the castle together, trying desperately to hold our laughter in. Hermione caught up with us a couple minutes later and suggested Harry write to Sirius and let him know he survived the dragon. I took that as my cue to head down to the Hufflepuff common room for Cedric's party.

It was already in full swing when I ducked through the barrel. Cho spotted me immediately and waved me over to where Cedric and a group of other people had their heads bowed low over a table.

"Found her!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, perfect!" Cedric glanced up from the table, grinning. He had wiped all of the orange off of his face, which had fully healed. "Want to be on my team, Lu? We're playing Scrabble, and I remember you demolished us all in Tahoe."

I grinned sheepishly and perched myself on the arm of his chair. "Yeah, you bet. Whose turn is it?"

"Cedric's," Henry said from Cedric's other side. "You came just in time."

I leaned closer to look at Cedric's board, grinning even wider when I recognized a high-scoring word. "Are we counting wizarding words in this game?"

Cho nodded. "Yes! It makes it more fun."

"In that case, you're all going down." I reached forward on Cedric's board and arranged the letters to ABRAXAN.

"Oh!" Cedric immediately scanned the board for an open S. "You know, that's a lot better than what I was going to do."

"What were you going to do?" I asked as he started laying down ABRAXANS.

"I don't even want to say out loud," he replied with a chuckle. "Alright, Cho, your turn."

"You know, I would complain more about you and Lucy tag-teaming," she said sweetly, batting her eyelashes at him, "but considering I'm going to win this game anyway, I'll let it slide."

Cedric raised his eyebrows. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

She continued smiling sweetly as she laid down her letters to spell QUIXOTRY.

"This is why you never play Scrabble with a Ravenclaw!" Archie exclaimed, pushing himself back from the table and laughing. "Bloody hell, and to think I was proud of WITCH last round."

"Is that even a word?" Hannah Abbott asked tentatively. "Quixotry?"

Cho smirked. "Check the dictionary."

"I will," Zacharias Smith said, reaching forward and flipping through pages until he reached the Q section. His jaw dropped. "It's a real word. 'A romantic or quixotic idea or action.'"

"Like this?" Cedric leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to Cho's cheek.

She blushed and nodded.

"Aw, come on, Cedric, you missed!" Archie called. "This is quixotry." He turned to Cam and pulled her face swiftly to his, making everyone at the table either whoop or throw popcorn at the pair.

"Should I tell Archie he pronounced it wrong?" Cho whispered just loud enough for Cedric, Henry, and me to hear.

"Let him have his fun," Cedric said, waving it off. "Maybe you could teach me how to say it properly?"

"I'd prefer a practical approach," she replied, this time tilting her face toward his.

I glanced away as they kissed, shooting Henry an amused glance. He smiled a bit back at me, but... was that pain in his eyes? I brushed it off quickly, guessing it was just residual anxiety. His best friend had nearly been killed by a dragon a mere hour earlier, so it was understandable.

Cho made good on her bold declaration, wiping the floor with the rest of us in that game as well as the next, when I played on my own team. It was funny, really --- as smart as Cedric was, he was really terrible at Scrabble.

"You okay, Lu?" Cedric asked as Henry packed up the game. "You look overwhelmed."

He wasn't wrong. The common room was getting louder by the minute, and the friendly rays of sun streaming through the windows were too bright. The dragons were in the past, but my heart wouldn't stop racing. There was some other fear deep inside of me, something I couldn't yet name. I was panicking, for no good reason at all.

"Just a bit," I replied, chalking it all up to the post-full-moon sensory sensitivity. "I'm okay, it's just a little loud, after..."

His eyes widened in realization, and his mouth made a small O. "Do you want me to go somewhere dark and quiet with you?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Stay. Enjoy your party. You've earned it. I should probably head up to Harry's party, anyway."

Cedric nodded, reaching forward and grabbing my hand. "If you need anything, just come back down, okay? I'm your brother first and foremost, and certainly before I'm a school champion. You know that, right?"

"I know," I said softly, looking down at our hands. "Thanks, Ced. But enjoy your party. I'm okay."

I freed my hand and hurried from the common room, taking a deep breath of cool air as soon as I stepped into the hallway. Time for Harry's party.

I hurried up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room.

As soon as I stepped through the portrait hole, a horrendous screeching sound nearly sent me flying back out onto the staircase. I clamped my hands over my sensitive ears and squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the screaming to stop. I lowered my hands shakily once it went quiet, looking around the room.

I realized Harry must have opened the golden egg, because everyone was staring at it as if it were a lit firework that would explode at any second.

Seamus broke the silence first. "Sounded like a banshee. Maybe you've got to get past one of those next, Harry!"

"It was someone being tortured! You're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!" Neville squeaked.

"Don't be a prat, Neville, that's illegal," Fred said, shaking his head.

"They wouldn't use the Cruciatus Curse on the champions," George added. "I thought it sounded a bit like Percy singing, maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower, Harry."

I giggled at that, making everyone turn to look at me.

"When did you get here, Cub?" Fred asked.

"Right when Harry opened that bloody egg! I thought you were all just disappointed to see me!" I replied with mock indignance.

"Never disappointed to see you," George chuckled, holding out a plate to me. "Jam tart?"

I eyed them apprehensively. "I know better than to take food directly from a Weasley twin."

"It's alright, we haven't done anything to them," Fred said, taking the plate from George and popping one into his mouth for emphasis. "It's the custard creams you've got to watch-"

Neville, who looked like he was making his way over to say hi to me, choked on the custard cream he had just eaten and stared with wide eyes at Fred.

"Just my little joke, Neville," Fred said, laughing. "I saw you take a bite and couldn't resist."

Hermione appeared suddenly at my side, taking a jam tart and fixing Fred with her best smile. "Did you get all this from the kitchens, Fred?"

"Yep! The house elves are dead helpful. They'd get me a roast ox if I said I was peckish."

"How do you get in there?"

"Easy! Concealed door behind a painting of a bowl of fruit. Just tickle the pear, and it giggles and... wait a minute, why?"

"Nothing!"

George smiled knowingly. "Going to try and lead the house-elves out on strike now, are you? Going to give up all the leaflet stuff and try and stir them up into rebellion?"

"I've been trying to convince her to take a more from-the-ground-up approach," I cut in, talking over the sound of people laughing. "We're still trying to figure out the best way to tackle something so universally accepted."

Hermione inhaled sharply through her nose. "Lucy, I said we should-"

Before she could say another word, Neville turned into a canary.

I clapped a hand over my mouth, torn between secondhand embarrassment and hysterical laughter. I reached forward and held out a hand.

"Here, Neville," I said as he hopped into my hand and up my arm, "I know how they charmed it. I helped them over summer. You should be back to normal in a minute or two."

Once he was securely on my shoulder, Fred apologized loudly. "Oh, sorry, Neville! I forgot, it was the custard creams we hexed!"

Surely enough, after a minute and a half, Neville reappeared, back to normal, red in the face but also laughing.

Seeing he was okay and that their product actually worked very, very well, Fred and George took this opportunity to advertise, shouting, "Canary Creams! We invented them! Seven Sickles each, a bargain!"

Just like the Hufflepuff common room, the party only got louder and louder and louder. It started with Neville turning into a canary, then someone firing up the record player, then shouts of "LET'S PLAY SPIN THE BOTTLE!"

"There is no way in heaven or hell or anywhere in between I am playing spin the bottle," I said out loud to no one in particular.

"It's not really my speed, either," someone behind me replied.

Of course it was Harry who overheard me.

I jumped a foot in the air and turned around to see Harry and Ron both doubled over laughing. "Merlin, Harry, I can only take so many jump scares in one day!"

"Sorry, sorry," he said in a teasing voice that suggested he was more amused by my reaction than sorry. He opened his mouth to say something else, but a shout from the spin the bottle group interrupted him.

"Oi, you quintessential quirky quartet, get over here!" Fred called.

I closed my eyes and groaned. "I am not playing!" I shouted without turning around.

"And why not?" George asked.

"George Weasley, I swear to Merlin-"

"You know what, we should head down to Hagrid's," Harry suggested, prompting emphatic nods from the other three of us.

"We're going down to visit Hagrid!" I announced as I led the way to the portrait hole. "But you all have fun."

The group assembled started booing, and we laughed as we jumped through one by one.

Just before we were about to knock on Hagrid's door, we heard a voice that was clearly not Hagrid's inside.

"Rita Skeeter!" I hissed. "She can't see us!"

"Come on," Harry whispered, darting in the direction of the forest.

We ducked behind trees and waited. It had been easy to hear what was said on that warm June evening, with the windows open and the gentle late spring breeze pushing their voices over to where Harry, Hermione, and I were hiding. But it was late November now, and the windows were closed.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," I muttered.

"It's hard to have a good feeling around that woman," Harry replied, shuddering.

"Where'd Hermione go?" Ron wondered aloud.

I shook my head. "Off to the kitchens, I reckon. She'll catch up with us later."

Even as I spoke, Rita emerged from Hagrid's hut, looking quite grumpy. The three of us slipped from our hiding spot and made our way to Hagrid's front door.

"Harry an' Ron are together again!" he exclaimed happily. "Come in! I was afraid yeh were her again."

I laughed, shaking my head. "Not at all. What did she want, anyway?"

"Well, she said she wanted ter feature the skrewts in zoological column this Wednesday, but she didn' seem very int'rested in magical creatures, ter tell yeh the truth," he replied. "She jus' wanted me ter talk about you, Harry. I told her we'd been friends since I went ter fetch yeh from the Dursleys. 'Never had to tell him off in four years?' she said. 'Never played you up in lessons, has he?' I told her no, an' she didn' seem happy at all. Yeh'd think she wanted me to say yeh were horrible, Harry."

Harry sighed. "'Course she did. She can't keep writing about what a tragic little hero I am, it'll get boring."

"She wants a new angle, Hagrid. You were supposed to say Harry's a mad delinquent!" Ron said.

Hagrid looked offended. "But he's not!"

"She should've interviewed Snape," Ron muttered.

"Yeah, he'd give her the goods on me any day," Harry replied. He dropped his voice to mimic Snape's. "'Potter has been crossing lines ever since he first arrived at this school.'"

The rest of us couldn't help but laugh, but Hagrid still looked confused. "Said that, did he? Well, yeh might've bent a few rules, Harry, bu' yeh're alrigh' really, aren' you?"

Harry grinned. "Cheers, Hagrid."

The three of us stayed and talked to Hagrid until there was a very persistent knock at the door.

"If that's Rita Skeeter, I swear," I said under my breath as Hagrid opened the door.

Thankfully, it was Hermione.

"Hi, Hagrid!" she said breathlessly, coming and grabbing Harry by the arm. "Harry, you've got to come! You've got to come, the most amazing thing's happened, please-"

"What's the matter?"

"I'll show you when we get there --- oh, come on, quick!"

Ron jumped up and started following them. "Are you coming, Lucy?"

"You know, I think I'm going to sit this one out," I said. I was too comfortable curled up in Hagrid's massive armchair, and the exhaustion of the past few weeks seemed to finally be catching up with me. "You three have fun."

He shrugged and followed the three of them out. Hagrid chuckled as he shut the door behind them.

"The four o' yeh are always up ter somethin' new, eh?"

"Yeah, I guess we are," I replied, realizing how true that statement really was.

Hagrid grinned, settling into a chair at the table and turning to face me. "So, I gotta bone ter pick with yeh, Lucy."

I raised my eyebrows and grinned back. "Oh? Is it about the dragons? I still think they're plenty neat, I just didn't like that they tried to kill Cedric and Harry today."

"No, not about the dragons. Why didn' yeh tell me about you an' Harry?"

I choked on my own laughter. "What? Me and- what?"

"You an' Harry!" he repeated. "I mean, yer wearin' his jacket."

"Oh, Merlin." I pressed my hands to my burning cheeks. "I forgot I was wearing this! I went to Cedric's party wearing this!"

Hagrid continued smiling at me. I shook my head back and forth vigorously.

"Harry and I- no, we aren't, I- no. I was cold heading back up to the castle after the task because I forgot my scarf because I was so anxious this morning and I shivered and Harry gave this to me. The twins would have both given me their jackets, Cedric would have given me his, Harry was just the closest to me, and-" I stopped to breathe for the first time and lowered my hands from my face. "Harry and I are just friends. And never anything more. It'd be impossible."

"There's no need to say 'never' an' 'impossible,' now," he said, growing serious.

"It's true."

"Well, what makes yeh think so?"

"Hagrid, he... he doesn't even know my secret." An odd buzzing sound attracted my attention, and I noticed a window was open. I closed it with a flick of my wand, shuddering in the slight breeze. I pulled the hood of the jacket over my head, leaning into the warmth and trying to ignore the fact that it smelled strongly of Harry. I forced the thought from my mind. "And I'm not planning on telling him," I added with a sense of finality.

"Why not?"

"Why not?" I repeated, somewhat incredulously. Involuntary tears started clawing their way up my throat, raw and panicked and nearly hysterical. "I can't- Harry-" I swallowed my tears and tried again. "I care too much about Harry to tell him. He can't know, he wouldn't want to."

Hagrid leaned back in his chair. "Yeh know, I reckon Harry cares too much about you ter stay in the dark much longer."

I sighed shakily, unable to find a verbal response.

There was another soft buzzing sound to my left, and I watched as a beetle crawled over the back of the chair and settled itself on an armrest.

Hagrid took a drink of whatever was in his teacup (I doubted it was tea) and sighed. "Well, even if yeh aren' together yet-"

I managed a smile. "There's no 'yet,' Hagrid."

"Jus' keep tellin' yerself that," he replied cheekily, taking another sip. "I mean, look at me!" He laughed and slammed his cup down. "I never thought I'd find a beautiful woman who I could tell my secret!"

"You told Madame Maxime? Is she a half-giant too?"

"Well, she denied that she was and walked off all in a huff," he said, deflating slightly, "but I told her I was, the night Charlie an' the others brought the dragons. I told her about me mum and me ol' dad, too."

My smile widened. "I'm proud of you, Hagrid, even if she didn't respond as well as you hoped she might. I know how scary it is."

"Point bein', of course," Hagrid said, growing serious again, "if I could do it, so can you. Besides," he added with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "I happen ter know fer a fact he cares more about yeh than yeh probably think."

I furrowed my brow in confusion. "What do you mean, Hagrid?"

"Well, yeh can't have expected him to spend a night in the common room by himself, now could you?"

"You mean, he came here? Last time I...?"

Hagrid nodded, working very hard to not to smile. "Seemed ter think I'd need some help with the skrewts since yeh had been spendin' so much time keepin' him company after that awful article made everythin' worse fer him."

I blinked. "Wait, let me get this straight... Harry came here to help you with the skrewts that night?"

"Seemed ter enjoy himself, too."

I couldn't help but smile. "Really?"

"Really," Hagrid said, nodding. "I believe yeh about the jacket, but I don't believe yeh when yeh say Harry wouldn't want ter know."

"I don't suppose he said anything to you about me that night?" I asked with just an inkling of hope mingled with my curiosity.

"He didn' have to. I think the fact he came says enough."

I wrapped my arms around myself yet again, this time trying to suppress the butterflies that had suddenly erupted in my stomach. "I'm afraid you're right."

"Don' be afraid. Remember what yeh told me that first night yeh came ter help with the skrewts?"

I closed my eyes and tried to recall what I could have possibly said that was so memorable. "It feels like forever ago, Hagrid, sorry. I haven't slept well in three weeks. The Tournament has been consuming every waking thought. I can't remember."

"Well, I do," he said. I opened my eyes as I heard his chair creak. He had leaned forward, and was looking at me with an intensity I rarely saw from him. It was the same type of look Professor Lupin used to give me. It was almost... fatherly. "Yeh said it never mattered ter you what I was because yeh liked who I was. And I know fer a fact Harry likes who yeh are, so I don't see why he'd care what yeh are."

"I'd still rather not take that risk," I replied softly. "Our friendship means too much to me."

"An' that's yer decision, of course," he said.

A pregnant pause followed.

"But...?" I prodded, looking at the setting sun out the window rather than directly at him.

"But yeh can't always run an' hide. He'll catch yeh eventually, because he wants ter know."

I sighed heavily. "You're right. Secrets never stay secrets forever, do they?"

Little did I know at the time the irony of what I'd just said. If I had known... Merlin knows what could have happened.