15TH NOVEMBER 1994

When Meera arrived at the library Evie was doodling indolently nodding along with what Lory was saying. "Meera! Thank God you're here. Lory is boring us to death." Evie said, gesturing to herself Roman and Merlin. Lory glared at her and Evie stuck out her tongue at the elder girl. Merlin smiled at her, his eyes still trained on his book.

Roman rolled his eyes as he glanced between the Hufflepuff and Slytherin and greeted her. "Hey Meera. What's up? So about last Friday..."

"Busy, homework, pay attention Evie." Meera said pointedly ignoring the sixth year boy as she carefully maneuevered between the chairs towards the Transfiguration books, to avoid hitting anyone or anything with her bag.

"But DADA theory is boring! Don't leave us here!" Evie exclaimed dramatically

"By us you mean just you considering Harris has Grade 6 Charms out." Meera replied.

Roman got up to follow, carrying a Potions book with him. "Hey so I just have a few questions...I mean from the way you dragged Cedric away it did seem..."

"Hey, Meera!" one of the twins called. He then did a countdown before he and the other twin drew a love heart with their fingers in front of their chest and said in a high pitched voice. "Scottish Nipples!"

"Sorry?" Meera asked, laughing nervously, trying to play it off. Fred and George simply grinned. Roman looked between her and the twins trying to find the words. "Would you excuse me."

Meera turned and made her way back to Evie. "You said you wouldn't tell them." she hissed.

"What?" Evie asked. Meera jabbed her finger towards the twins who were approaching and put her fingers together to make a love heart.

"I didn't!" Evie denied. Meera rose her eyebrows at her. "I promise you I didn't, but...I did see one of them up there...with Lory, must have been Fred..."

"You good Meera, looking a little tense there." one of the twins said the other snickered

"What's 'Scottish Nipples'?" Roman asked pushing between them. Harris' head shot up, and the brunette girl opposite him spat out her water laughing. Lory rose her eyebrows at the redheads, one of them shrugged in response to which she shook her head.

"How much do you wanna bet that, that one's Fred?" Meera muttered between her teeth, Evie nudged her. Meera nodded toward the Hufflepuff stranger who was shaking with laughter and Evie pursed her lips. "It's not that funny Alexa, calm down."

"You're just saying that cause Meera is pissed." Alexa responded pointing towards the Ravenclaw, her voice was strongly accented. Meera frowned quizzically at Evie. "We have Quidditch together."

"One of my best Beaters." Cedric grinned, patting her shoulder.

"These three have mentioned you before." Alexa explained pointing to Evie, Roman and Cedric.

Meera nodded. "I'm going to get my books."

"Woah, woah what's Scottish Nipples all about or should I say..." Roman asked again.

"Let it rest Ro, you don't need to know everything in everyone's life?" Lory cut in. "You better study for Charms, that test's going to be brutal."

"You're good at Charms." Roman disagreed.

"I know its going to be brutal for you." Lory responded which made Roman glare at her.

Meera laughed, slinging her bag onto her shoulder more securely.

"Ms Ranga, you still owe me several of those Divination books you borrowed." Madam Pince called.

"Oh, of course..."

"Divination? I thought you dropped that Meera." Cedric said.

"Yeah, um...I borrowed for a friend." Meera lied, as she opened her bag and placed a copy of Unfogging the Future and a strange book called Diviners' Diary from the Restricted Section.

"Hey Meera...oh hi Cedric." Cho said joining them. She smiled at the tall boy and then turned back to Meera. "Hey, so about Poisons and Antidotes...have you finished revising for the quiz."

"The what?" Meera asked,

"The quiz Meera...the quiz which is tomorrow. The quiz which you revised for a few days go with me...the quiz Snape will make us resit if we fail..." Cho trailed on.

"Yeah...sure: Antidotes:...hmm: Bezoar, Deflating Draught, Draught of Peace, aah there's the Potion for Dreamless Sleep." Meera said snapping her fingers before taking the book and moving away from Pince.

"We have to know that one?" Cho asked, her eyes widening in panic.

"Huh? No...I just...know it." Meera said. "Yeah...that's kinda all the revision I've done. Have you done any more?"

"No. I'm nervous...I really don't want to resit it." Cho replied.

"I'm sure you'll do fine Cho, especially if you've been revising with Meera. She helped me pass Muggle Studies." Cedric said putting an arm around Meera's shoulder. "Well, she said she'd kill me if I got anything below Acceptable, so I guess fear was a part of it."

Meera shrugged his arm off and gave him a light shove. "I never used the word 'kill', Diggory." she pointed out.

Cho laughed. "Yeah...I guess...I mean I can only revise so much. I swear Snape thinks he's the only teacher in the school sometimes. He sets homework like we have all the time in the world to complete it. I'm gonna be honest with you O.W.Ls are stressing me out."

"Yeah, but you seem to have managed pretty well. I mean this year you don't have Quidditch, which is actually good you know because balancing Quidditch practice with OWL studying is not fun." Cedric pointed out.

"Oh, yeah...that's true...I seem to have a lot more time without Quidditch, but then teachers became serious. I mean with the tournament and with all this excitement going on you'd think they'd cut the slack, but it seems like they've become worse." Cho said, smiling. Cedric nodded, laughing a little. Cedric walked to a nearby shelf to replace a book and Meera noticed Cho's eyes following him. The air became tense as they stood there silently.

Meera picked at the side of her book becoming restless in the silence. "Don't you nod, mister." she blurted a little too loudly, startling the other Ravenclaw girl. Meera could have sworn that she saw Cho blush as she walked over to Pince's table to return the books she's been carrying. "You don't have to do half of your N.E.W.T. practice exams. You might still have lessons but most teachers, especially Sprout is being quite preferential towards you. Harris told me Snape set him no homework, once."

"Well they're the ones competing in a deadly tournament Meera." Cho reasoned.

"They chose to...choices and actions you take have consequences. You have to face them by yourself. Besides I don't see him or Harris preparing for the task." Meera said turning to the smaller girl.

"Hey! I've prepared..." Cedric protested. However, when Meera turned back on him, with a dead eye gaze his confidence crumbled within seconds. Meera rose her eyebrows at him, a small smirk appearing on her face. "Well...um...I've tried you know...I can't prepare for what I don't know."

"Fair enough." Cho agreed. Meera noticed Diggory shoot a grateful smile at Cho and resisted the urge to roll her eyes as Cho became cherry red.

"Should have thought about that before you entered." Meera said, shaking her head. "Now you're suffering."

"Well you're the one who said I should do it." Cedric said. "I probably wouldn't have joined if we hadn't had our conversation...or more aptly our session of you talking at me."

Cho's head shot up and she looked between the two puzzledly. "Really Meera? I thought you didn't like the idea of the tournament. When was this?"

"I said he should do it if he wants...and I wasn't talking at you, you just...spoke sparsley." Meera replied. Avoiding Cho's last question she continued. "You were paying attention to everything I said so that's not talking at you..."

"I was just kidding." he laughed. Meera rolled her eyes. "But what I said stands, I wouldn't have entered if it wasn't for you."

Meera didn't know how to respond to that, on the one hand, it's a good thing considering she'd inspired confidence in him, but on the other hand she'd give him the confidence to jump into something she found to be rather questionable. When she looked up she found Cedric's eyes on her as he patiently waited for her to respond.

"I..."

"Mr Diggory, Ms Ranga, may I have a few words with you." a voice interrupted. Both started and found Rita Skeeter, her smile thinly veiling her anger. "Sorry to interrupt, this won't take long."

The two of them went towards a corner and her smile dropped almost immediately. "Humiliating me with that howler? How stupid are you two? Did you not think I'll do anything." she asked, struggling to keep her tone level. A student walked past and her expression morphed into a pleasant one almost instantly. She then turned back to Cedric. "You think you are so untouchable and can do anything you want because you're school champion? Well think again."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Cedric asked. "I didn't know about any howler. Neither of us know who sent it."

"Oh, you know don't you Ranga? We had a deal and you screw it up." Rita seethed glaring at the dark haired girl, her horn-rimmed glasses below her eyes as usual.

"I don't know what you are talking about Miss Skeeter. Why would I ever do such a thing to you?" Meera asked. She was quite proud of the lack of snark or sarcasm in her voice, it sounded almost genuine. "You are a reporter of the truth, albeit a slightly exaggerated version, but still the truth. Ask anyone, I would not be responsible for such low actions involving such callous and frankly inappropriate language!"

"Meera would never do something like that." Cedric told her.

"Oh, of course you'd say that!" Rita snapped. "When I find out who sent that Howler, there will be hell to pay."

"I do not know what's going on here, but take this outside of my library." Madam Pince said. "You have no right to be harassing students in here."

Meera smiled gratefully at the librarian. "I want the other books by tomorrow, Meera."

"What was that about? What did she want with you Meera?" Cho asked.

"No clue." Meera lied. "Anyway, I have an essay to write and test to revise for and..."

"Lunch to eat." Evie said grinning as she joined her. "I see the Howler worked."

Meera nudged her pointing towards Madam Pince who was rearranging some books on a nearby shelf.

"Oh she doesn't care, either way she's now been seen actively harassing students, so she won't publish for a while, because you can ultimately have her removed by complaining to Dumbledore." Evie said. "It's a genius plan."

"Yeah, okay I'll totally believe you planned this." Meera laughed. "You're just lucky that its working out this way."

"Tomato, tomato, you say luck, I say genius, its the same thing really. Let's go to lunch."

"Yeah, let me just..." Meera turned to DIggory only to see him engaged in an animated conversation with Cho. "Oh...okay, never mind."

"You good?" Evie asked, immediately clocking her change in tone.

"Yeah, just...I'm just realising I haven't eaten all day." Meera replied, shrugging and smiling. "Come on."

Evie looked behind Meera and realisation dawned upon her. "Now you know how I feel." Evie responded cryptically beginning to walk away.

"You feel hungry? Meera frowned, confused by her remark.

"Oh, don't play dumb Meera you know exactly what I mean." Evie said pointing towards Cho and Cedric.

"No I don't actually." Meera denied, knocking down Evie's hand. "Can we go eat please?"

Evie nodded and smiled suddenly driven with a new burst of energy, and she wanted to waste little time before doing something productive with it.

------***------

22ND NOVEMBER 1994 - Hogsmede

The sky was devoid of colour, painted with shades of grey with the darker patches loomed ominiously over the Shrieking Shack. It had looked so bad from Ravenclaw tower that Cho and Marietta had almost decided against going into Hogsmede that Sunday morning.

The colours of the shops and restaurants had seemed accentuated on the gloomy backdrop and seemed more inviting then ever. Fortunately, for Meera and Evie it had been quite a pleasant rain free morning so far as they slowly made their way around the village, entering, purchsing and exiting various shops. Despite Meera's efforts she could not prevent Evie from going into Zonkos and now the Hufflepuff was positively glowing with delight as she walked along happily with her purchases, of items that were no doubt going to show up in one form of chaotic prank or another.

They had spent some time in the bookshop hoping to find some interesting books. The owner was particularly intrigued by the fact that they bought a book about ancient spells and rituals. He was always interested in talking to his customers so Evie and Meera often spent some time listening to him. The poor old man was alone most of the time because not many people came to the bookshop and he had no family nearby.

By mid-afternoon their luck had ran out and light but steady rain began, much to Meera's distaste. She hurried into the Three Broomsticks with Evie in tow. The pub was moderately full and so Meera had to stand on her tiptoes to find a free table. She then noticed Evie's sour expression, and quickly spotted the cause: Merlin and Freya sat with Fleur around a table near the centre of the room.

"Let's join them." Evie said and she quickly tugged Meera over to that table, before she could argue.

"Why don't we go and get our drinks first?" Meera suggested, but Evie ignored her.

"Can we join you?" Evie asked.

"Of course! Perfect timing too. I was just about to leave so there are spaces." Fleur replied. "Zose two are pretty boring company if you ask me."

Merlin and Freya were intently reading something and having a very quiet conversation that could barely be heard over the noise of the pub. They barely acknowledged them, continuing with their conversation. Both of them seemed eager about something and then Freya giggled softly. Meera watched Evie warily as she waited for the pair to notice them.

"Could you stop bouncing your foot the table's bouncing." Evie said to Meera. "Wouldn't want their drinks to spill now would we."

Freya looked up. She seemed a little startled by their presence and blushed a little. "How has your day been Harris?"

"Hmm, oh hey Evie. It's been okay." He replied before looking down again.

"Hogsmede has been so great! There are so many places to visit here. Harris has been showing me around." Freya replied.

"Oh, really?" Evie asked. Merlin tensed. "Where exactly was he showing you around?"

"Honeydukes, he bought me some sweets from there, I insisted he didn't have to, but he didn't listen. Then we went to Zonkos and ran into the Wesley twins." Freya continued.

"Weasley twins...not Wesley." Meera corrected.

"Of course...then we briefly went to the bookshop before visiting Madame Pudfoot's and walked past the Shrieking Shack, to the outskirts. We went around the paths all the way to the station and walked back. It was so lovely and beautiful." Freya said a faint smile appearing on her face, her eyes distant.

On the other hand Evie was becoming more and more annoyed, as she intensely glared at Merlin, Meera noticed him wince, and shrink away from the table. She looked under and realised that Evie was kicking him.

"Hey guys!" Cedric exclaimed, hurrying towards them as he fought to shut an umbrella. "It's become a downpour out there." He shuffled into the seat next to Meera and rubbed his hands together.

"Ow!" he shouted suddenly. "Why did you kick me?"

"What? Oh! I'm so sorry!" Evie said apologetically. "I wasn't aiming for you."

"Then who were you aiming for?" Merlin asked.

"I think we all know the answer to that Harris." Evie replied. Cedric looked quite confused and glanced at Meera who nodded towards Freya.

"Do you think it's justified?" Merlin asked.

"Yes, I do." Evie told him.

"What about you Meera?" Merlin asked. Meera glanced between them uneasily, stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Um...well...it's complicated." Meera said. She laughed nervously. "You'll have to put in all the different variables and arguments to come out with a definitive answer for deep philosophically debatable questions like these."

She looked at Cedric for help. "Yeah...um...it's not an easy question to answer."

"You know what? Evie and I'll get you two a refill." Meera said. "It's butterbear for you right Diggory."

"You go." Evie said shortly.

"No, you're coming with me..you know how prone I am to spilling drinks." Meera said, giving Evie a gentle nudge.

"I can help you with them if you want." Cedric said.

"No!" Meera blurted, startling Cedric a little. "It's just...you just got here, better you warm up."

"You know what...I think we've spent enough time studying theory. Let's go and learn a few spells Freya." Merlin said. Freya nodded. "We'll see you guys later."

Evie looked as thought she'd erupt like Mount Vesuvias. Merlin was being petty on purpose...he knew Freya bothered Evie. Meera presumed he knew why, because if he didn't he's an idiot.

"Why don't you take Cedric with you? He said he was struggling to prepare." Meera suggested quickly.

"Yeah..." Cedric said, beginning to get up reluctantly.

"Didn't you just say he should stay seated to warm up?" Merlin asked. Now Meera wanted to kick him.

"Yeah...he can practice spells with us Meera." Evie said.

"Well we're going to go. Enjoy your day." Freya said a touch icily the pair left. Meera sat down and patted her shoulder consolingly.

"Don't do that." Evie said annoyedly.

"You should really be a bit more respectful towards Freya. I mean it's not her fault that Harris is swooning over her." Cedric said. "And she can't help it if she likes him just like you can't."

Evie glared at him. "I'm going to go get some drinks. Cherry syrup and soda right, Meera?"

"Yeah." Meera responded absently, turning towards Evie. "He's right you know, you off all people should know you can't control your feelings for someone."

"She's so sus though! I mean they are on opposing teams. Even if she fanciess him shouldn't she show a modicum of team loyalty like...I don't know!" Evie shrugged. "Maybe flirt but not have romantic dayouts with him. Admit it. We have not seen much of him this month."

"That maybe be a combination of a lot of things: his N.E.W.Ts, the tournament, potentially Freya, but we don't know that. You've told him how you feel about her...and if he hasn't listened to you then...well the tournament's glory is getting to his head. However, he could have been doing homework...he didn't spend time with me at all one month because he helping his friends with O.W.Ls. Besides, the guy needs some space Evie. And no offense, but he's happy in a strange way around her. You have to agree with that." Meera told her. Evie remained unconvinced though and looked a little hurt. Meera sighed. "I'm not saying he's not happy around us, but something about her is special. He feels some kind of familiarity with her. I think all he's doing is trying to figure out what that is."

"Don't you think he's getting a bit too familiar with her?" Evie muttered. Meera rose her eyebrows at her, taken aback by her friend's implications. Evie grimaced when she realised how that had sounded. "No! That's not what I meant! You said this will go on for a little bit. It's been one and a half months Meera! She's on the opposing team! Oh, my God!"

"What?" Meera asked.

"What if she's exploiting him to steal his ideas on how to win the tournament! He should be much more responsible." Evie said.

Meera frowned.

"See! You know I'm right." Evie exclaimed triumphantly. "And I must say for once Diggory is being smart. He keeps his interactions with the Beauxbatons and Durmstrangs limited. He's polite, but he doesn't spend his whole day with them! I bet you'd understand exactly how I feel if he was spending his time with another girl!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Meera asked exasperatedly. "I don't have feelings for Cedric. On the other hand you do have feelings for Harris!"

"Stop..." Evie said, but Meera ignored her.

"No I refuse to stop. How dare you even indicate I have feelings for...OW!" Meera continued angrily, but got kicked by Evie who pointed behind her.

"Here's the drinks!" Cedric said joining them. "You have feelings for Ow? Who's Ow?"

"Please stop trying to be funny." Evie said dryly.

"Anyway, I was just wondering if you are free today." Cedric said.

"Who? There are two people you could be referring to right now." Evie rolled her eyes and went to drink her butterbeer.

Meera slapped her on the back of the head. "Don't be rude."

"So...who were you talking to?" Evie asked shortly.

"Well I was talking to Meera." Cedric replied. Evie rose her eyebrows at him. Meera didn't answer as she was a little surprised by his response.

Evie took this opportunity and answered for her, curious to know why exactly the Hufflepuff boy was asking. "Yes she is. Why do you want to know?"

"Well, to help me prepare for the tournament...first task is in two days. Harris said that Meera's pretty good with Charms and Potions, which helps with identifying poisons and antidotes. She also takes Arithmancy which could be useful to make any calculations for timing, etc." Cedric shrugged.

"So you're telling me, you're going to need maths in a deadly tournament but you're not going to need say...herbology...i.e another subject that could help you with antidotes and poisons?" Evie asked sceptically. "Oh, and let's not forget Care of Magical creatures. It's my best subject. That could help."

"Well yeah, but you know you always hang out with Meera so I figured..." He began.

"You figured what? That if you asked her that I'd just tag along 'cause I have nothing better to do?" Evie asked, a touch indignantly. She emptied her butterbear "Well listen up, mister I have a lot of important things to do with my life, so if you want my help you should ask me."

"Okay...okay! Firstly, Meera has tutored me before in Muggle Studies and it wasn't too bad. we got along surprisingly well. Secondly, I figured you'd prefer to help Harris, when he comes around, decides to not share with the other team so much. Plus you were already complaining about the O.W.L workload. But...if you are willing to, I'd be very grateful for your assistance. You do know some things that may not be in Meera's textbooks." Cedric smiled.

"Okay. That's a suitable apology and I'm sorry I flew of the handle a little. " Evie said. Cedric relaxed visibly and Meera bit back a smile. "Now if you two don't mind I'm going to go and get myself a refill of butterbeer." Evie said and left. Meera chuckled as Cedric sat causing him to frown.

"What?" Cedric asked as he also sat down.

"Nothing." Meera replied but this only confused him further. "Have I got something on my face? Is my hair weird? Or is it my cloak? Why are you laughing?"

Meera only laughed more as the Hufflepuff boy's hands moved to try and readjust his cloak.

"No, no...nothing like that. I'm just glad that her mood is a little better than it was a few minutes ago." Meera smiled, nodding towards Evie. "You have managed to prevent Evie from spontaneously combusting. Congratulations, it takes a lot of skill to do so."

"Is it just me or are you finally acknowledging that I might have some skills you don't?" Cedric asked amusedly. Meera scoffed.

"No. I said that you have skills others don't. If I couldn't prevent Evie from exploding then she would have already assassinated a certain sleezball Slytherin blonde." She replied.

"Thought so. Because the day you admit that I might be good at things you're not, will probably be the day I die." Cedric laughed. "Humility is really not your thing is it Meera ?"

"No, but humiliating people is." Evie said as she joined us again. Meera punched the Hufflepuff girl's arm after she sat down. "Also, attacking people, chasing them across the school, her competitiveness, screaming like a banshee, blurting out random words...it can get very annoying."

Evie was counting on her hand as she said each one and Meera narrowed her eyes at her after setting her empty glass down. "Don't hit me." Evie said retreating towards Cedric.

"You know...I don't find those things annoying, Meera. None of them really bother me except the hitting thing. I find all the other things quite endearing." Cedric said. Meera rose her eyebrows at him. "They're what make you, you."

Evie snorted. "Well you've only experienced a few of them. If you experience all of them 24/7 then you'd be annoyed too."

"Na! I think I can manage." Cedric shrugged looking directly at Meera. "Small price to pay to hang out with you."

Evie rose an eyebrow at him and then looked at Meera. A strange silence had settled between the three of them. Evie's eyes were distant and pensive as she sipped on her butterbeer, carefully considering something. Meera and Cedric glanced at each other briefly; he smiled. Meera looked away quickly however, feeling uncomfortable at this peculiar exchange tracing the rim of her empty glass.

"What are you thinking about?" Meera asked finally, giving Evie a nudge.

Evie looked at her then said. "I was just thinking about...getting Cedric a refill. You want another butterbear?"

He nodded. "Thanks."

"Come on, Meera ...I could use a hand with carrying the drinks." Evie repeated her suggestion from earlier, giving her a pointed look. Cedric was oblivious to this though as he was looking around the pub. Meera got up and followed Evie, puzzedly.

Even after they reached the counter the Hufflepuff girl remained silent as she looked at Cedric with a pensive expression. This was very unlike her as around her friends Evie was quite exuberant. She waited for a few minutes hoping Evie would break her silence but she just sat there.

"What?" Meera asked, nudging her once again.

"Well...don't you think Cedric's being a little too agreeable today. He's siding with you a lot." Evie said.

"That's because he wants my help to prepare." Meera shrugged. "I don't think he actually finds me using violence on my friends endearing."

"Na. I think there's something else going on between you two. Either you know exactly what it is and are not telling me or you are selectively oblivious to whatever has changed between you two. There is also the final option that you are both oblivious to what it is...selectively oblivious at least." Evie said. It sounded like Evie had given this lots of thought, a lot more than just the past few minutes at least. "I think it's option two, because you always have been a little resistive to change, Meera."

Meera looked at Evie, absolutely perplexed by her statement. "What the fuck?! Are you back on that bandwagon again?"

"Watch yer language, Meera." Hagrid said.

"Hey, Hagrid!" Evie said cheerily. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, I'm just here for a drink with the other teachers. Do you two know where Harris is?" He asked.

Evie's expression soured and Meera shook her head. "He left earlier."

"I see...well can one of you tell him to meet me at midnight at my cabin. Tell him to wear something that allows him to hide well in the night. I have to show him something." Hagrid said.

"Well he's going to be busy all night...unfortunate isn't it?" Evie asked with mock regret. "Besides neither of us can tell him. Meera has a study date with Diggory..."

"Oi! It's not a date and I didn't even accept!" Meera cut in.

Evie smirked. "If it didn't matter you wouldn't be so defensive."

"Girls! This really important. If Harris can't come one of you should. Please! I don't know what he has done to anger ya Evie. One of you must meet me tonight or tell him to meet me. Is that clear?" Hagrid looked between the two of them with a grave expression.

"I'll meet you there. I'm the smallest and so it'll be easiest for me to hide." Evie said.

Hagrid nodded. "Well I'll see ya then Evie. Have a good day. And you have a good date Meera."

"It's not a date!" Meera protested, Hagrid chuckled and left. Evie simply smirked.

"Do you have anything that would hide you and your prominent blonde hair in the dark?" Meera asked. "Or should I put a colour changing charm on it."

"The last time someone did that, my hair ended up bright green. It was supposed to be strawberry blonde." Evie said. "I looked like Beetlejuice."

"That someone was Roman." Meera countered. "You know how bad he is at Charms."

"True, but I don't want to take the chance. Going to Professor Sprout to get that changed back was mortifying...she was trying to hold back her laughter. I'll just find something to hide it." Evie said. "I'll become the ultimate master of stealth." Evie said.

Meera laughed. "If you say so little ninja." She patted her head before taking her drink and returning to their table.

------***------

22ND NOVEMBER 1994 - After Dinner

The Hufflepuff common room had been abuzz with chatter and laughter when Meera, Cedric and Evie had arrived after dinner. The three had retreated into a corner by the fire to avoid getting distracted by the conversations and games being played around the room. Evie made several excuses to leave but Meera always managed to find her in the common room again. One stern look from the Ravenclaw was enough to make the Hufflepuff girl return to her homework.

Roman joined them at some point recounting his day in Hogsmede. When he'd brought up Freya and Merlin, Cedric shook his head vehemently jabbing his quill towards Evie, who thankfully had her walkman on. Roman instead moved onto his encounters with some of the other Beaubatons students at the library earlier. "I mean things were going pretty well but then her friend showed up out of the blue and she had to leave! If I'd had my wingman with me everything would have been great. But someone had to study."

The black haired boy gave Cedric a pointed look, only to be ignored. The brunette's eyes were trained on Meera as she demonstrated a wand movement, holding a quill. "Why aren't you using your wand?"

"Because I'm demonstrating the wand movement to cast Baubillious." Meera responded as if it explained everything. Roman frowned. "Wasn't that one on your test?"

"You think I remember questions on a test from 4 days ago?" Roman asked. "Bro I can't even remember what I had for lunch today."

"It produces a lightning bolt from your wand. Wouldn't want to accidentally electrocute anyone." Meera replied she then noticed that most of the other students had turned in. "Not that there's really anyone left to."

"Geez, why the hell do you need a spell like that Ced?" Roman asked. He ducked out of the way when he noticed him practicing the wand movement. "Bloody hell, don't aim that at me when you're practicing Baubles or whatever."

"He's not saying the spell, you'll live." Meera said.

"You know we've been learning non verbal spells this year...I wouldn't trust anyone in my year to be practicing anything silently." Roman disagreed.

Meera then noticed Evie exit her dormitory in dark clothing and considered the clock behind her. Quarter to midnight. Meera blurted the first thing that came to mind, to keep him occupied and help Evie evade a lecture from the elder boy. "Do you know the Bubble Head Charm?"

"No..." Cedric shook his head.

"Well if you haven't covered it yet, you will soon. It's pretty cool. It's the most effective way for one to breath under water." Meera continued, she watched as Evie crept across the common room.

"How do you know about it?" Cedric asked smiling and leaning back into his armchair. "Late night reading?"

"No actually, I was talking to Cho about how some spells have funny names at lunch on Wednesday." Meera replied. "That's when a seventh year next to me brought it up...then I looked it up because I was curious."

"Of course you did." Cedric said, with a small endearing smile. "Sounds useful."

"Why on earth would you need a spell to breath under water?" Roman asked exasperatedly.

"Meera's helping me prep for the tournament Roman." Cedric replied, his smile fell when he noticed the time however. "I've got to get to prefect duties."

Evie was just reaching the common room door and stopped abruptly the door to the exit half open, her eyes wide.

"I'll cover for you." Meera blurted quickly, Cedric frowned at her. Evie gave her a thumbs up and exited swinging the common room door shut as quietly as possible. "You seem to be motivated right now...might as well get some practice and research done. I don't think the teacher's will care if you miss one night...if they ask if I know where you are I'll say you're checking a different floor or something."

Meera jumped to her feet, and haphazardly chucked her belongings into her back pack, before placing it in the armchair. "I'll come back for this later tonight."

"No, no, it's fine..." he began.

"The first task is in two days you need to get all the preparation, practice and rest you can get." Meera cut off, taking her wand. "I insist Diggory."

Cedric reluctantly relaxed into the arm chair. "I feel bad...you've already been helping me prepare and..."

"Oh don't worry, when the time comes I'll cash in." Meera responded, yet again interupting his sentence. "You owe me big time."

"I'll be happy to help if you need it." Cedric assured her, sincerely. "I mean generally as well, not just as payback for this, for anything."

Meera nodded and hurried out of the common room to meet Evie.

"What took you so long?" Evie hissed at her. "I'm gonna be late."

"Like that's a first." Meera joked.

"This isn't funny Meera, Hagrid specifically said I had to be there at midnight." Evie said seriously.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, Diggory was being difficult...I had to convince him to stay put." Meera said.

Meera walked over to the door and opened it as quietly as she could. Evie cringed when it made a loud screeching noise as it echoed across the silent halls of the castle.

"Shit." Meera muttered. She could hear some footsteps from the corridor. "Go! Good luck little ninja." Meera whispered as she closed the door.

Ignoring Meera's comment Evie made her way over to Hagrid's cabin as quickly as possible shivering on her way. What could be so important that she, Meera or Merlin had to come and see at the dead of night when it's most certainly below 0 degrees Celsius.

As Evie made her way over she noticed the well lit carriage of the Beauxbatons and noticed a familiar large form walking towards it. She made her way over and hid herself on the side of the cabin. A few words were exchanged and she saw Madame Maxime exit the carriage. Hagrid offered her his arm, and they set off around the edge of the paddock con­taining Madame Maxime's giant winged horses.

Surely, Hagrid didn't invite her for dating advice, he wouldn't do that. Then why on Earth did he want her to be there specifically. They were beginning to disappear and so Evie began to run to ensure she kept up with them. She carefully stepped over any twigs in the vicinity to avoid alerting Fang. It seemed that Madame Maxime however was also unaware of the destination of this clandestine journey. "Wair is it you are taking me, 'Agrid?"

Evie hoped that it was the same thing he was going to show her as otherwise she felt she might freeze to death or be caught by teacher and receive severe punishment that would bring down Hufflepuff. She did not want to be that girl who ruined the reputation and lost points earned by the perfect prefect. Cedric would never let her live that down.

"Yeh'll enjoy this," said Hagrid gruffly, "worth seein', trust me. On'y - don' go tellin' anyone I showed yeh, right? Yeh're not s'posed ter know."

"Of course not," Madame Maxime said, fluttering her long black eyelashes. Evie gagged, but then a thought crossed her mind...what if Madame Maxime was trying to take advantage of Hagrid...wait this must be for the tournament? Bloody hell that's why its so important!

Evie began to pursue them with greater focus now much more keen to find out what exactly Hagrid wanted to show her. As she did so however she could've sworn she heard another set of footsteps padding behind them, but looked around and saw nothing. She continued hearing these footsteps and grew very wary, clutching her wand, and running through some offensive spells in her mind while following Hagrid.

Finally, when they had walked so far around the perimeter of the forest that the castle and the lake were out of sight, Evie heard another sound. This was much louder and clearer. Evie hid behind a clump of trees and saw a painfully bright orange light. She looked away, and tried to let her eyes adjust to the sudden increase in light.

The scene before her filled her with astonishment.

Dragons?

Dragons!

Five Fully Grown Dragons!

They were enormous in size and rearing onto their hind legs, inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, they were roaring and snorting. The intricate colours and patterns on their scales glimmered majestically as torrents of fire shot out from their open fanged mouths into the night sky. She couldn't rememeber the last time she was this close to a dragon (discounting her recent meeting with the one in the dungeons).

There was a silvery-blue one with long, pointed horns, snapping and snarling at the wizards on the ground; a smooth-scaled green one, which was writhing and stamping with all its might; a red one with an odd fringe of fine gold spikes around its face, which was shooting mushroom-shaped fire clouds into the air; a gigantic black one, more lizard-like than the others; one with white scales, and an almost transparent membrane which glimmered with an orangy glow that came from the light of the other dragon's flame. It had big, light blue eyes, four horns, short neck spikes, and tail spikes.

For a moment Evie seemed to feel a strange sense of recognition to her. This dragon was the strangest remaining quite dormant unlike most and unlike the other dragon's gave little trouble to the 7 or 8 wizards attempting to pull them on the chains connected to heavy leather straps around their necks.

Evie placed a hand over her mouth...she knew dragons were dangerous but seeing them chained like this upset her deeply...she looked at the white dragon once more and a thought that she noticed some pain in her blue eyes.

"Keep back there, Hagrid!" yelled a wizard near the fence, strain­ing on the chain he was holding. "They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I've seen this Horntail and that white one can do forty!"

"Is'n' it beautiful?" said Hagrid softly.

"It's no good!" yelled another wizard. "Stunning Spells, on the count of three!"

The dragons calmed down and settled after a bright red light. Evie shielded her eyes and squinted.

"Wan' a closer look?" Hagrid asked Madame Maxime excitedly. The pair of them moved right up to the fence, Evie stayed behind and strained her ear to listen out for their conversation as she'd get spotted in the open.

The wizard who had warned Hagrid not to come any closer turned and Evie realised it was Charlie Weasley.

"All right, Hagrid?" he panted, coming over to talk. "They should be okay now - we put them out with a Sleeping Draught on the way here, thought it might be better for them to wake up in the dark and the quiet - but, like you saw, they weren't happy, not happy at all -"

Of course they weren't...

"What breeds you got here, Charlie?" said Hagrid, gazing at the closest dragon, the black one, with something close to reverence. Its eyes were still just open as Evie could see it's gleaming yellow eyes.

"This is a Hungarian Horntail," said Charlie. "There's a Com­mon Welsh Green over there, the smaller one - a Swedish Short-Snout, that blue-gray one, a Chinese Fireball, that's the red and the white one...well I haven't quite placed a breed on that one yet because they are very rare and this is first time I've come across one."

Charlie looked around; Madame Maxime was strolling away around the edge of the enclosure, gazing at the stunned dragons.

"I didn't know you were bringing her, Hagrid," Charlie said, frowning. "The champions aren't supposed to know what's com­ing - she's bound to tell her students, isn't she?"

"Jus' thought she'd like ter see 'em," shrugged Hagrid, still gaz­ing, enraptured, at the dragons.

"Really romantic date, Hagrid," Charlie said shaking his head at him.

"Five..." said Hagrid, "so it's one fer each o' the champions, is it? What've they gotta do - fight 'em?"

"Just get past them, I think," said Charlie. "We'll be on hand if it gets nasty, Extinguishing Spells at the ready. They wanted nest­ing mothers, I don't know why ... but I tell you this, I don't envy the one who gets the Horntail. Vicious thing. Its back end's as dan­gerous as its front, look."

Charlie pointed toward the Horntail's tail, and Evie saw long, bronze-colored spikes protruding along it every few inches.

"And that white one too...she may look tame, but she was vicious when we caught her." Charlie said.

Five other dragon keepers staggered up to the horntail at that moment carrying a clutch of huge granite-gray eggs between them in a blanket. They placed them carefully at the Horntail's side. Hagrid let out a moan of longing.

"I've got them counted, Hagrid," Charlie said sternly. Then he said, "How's Harry?"

"Fine," said Hagrid. He was still gazing at the eggs.

"Just hope he's still fine after he's faced this lot," Charlie said grimly, looking out over the dragons' enclosure. "I didn't dare tell Mum what he's got to do for the first task; she's already having kit­tens about him. ..."

Charlie imitated his mother's anxious voice. "'How could they let him enter that tournament, he's much too young! I thought they were all safe, I thought there was going to be an age limit!' She was in floods after that Daily Prophet article about him. 'He still cries about his parents! Oh bless him, I never knew!' "

Evie could imagine Mrs Weasley worrying about that and smiled softly. However, she'd heard enough, she had to return and find Meera before her shift ended.

As she did so however, she began hearing those footsteps again. Travelling further into the enclosure she whispered Lumos.

She didn't see anyone but the footsteps stop and so she hid the light beneath her sleeve...she heard the footsteps again and aimed the light towards where she heard them, while still keeping it hidden. She followed quickly and then saw the snap of a twig.

Twigs don't snap because of air.

Evie ran over towards the direction of the mysteriously hidden person but in the end she couldn't find them.

"Damnit." She snapped under her breath. She sighed and made her way back to the castle, although the dragons had initially astonished, she became more and more aware of a small voice screaming in her head.

They had to pass a dragon...

Merlin's in deep shit...