TRAINING WHEELS--
THE SECOND TASK.

021

Amora and Draco were back to ignoring each other as if they hadn't spent the past four weeks meeting up twice a week for secret snogging sessions. In Defence Against the Dark Arts, where they sat beside each other, it was back to Draco only turning in his seat to speak to Crabbe and Goyle whilst Amora pretended like she couldn't hear them.

A good thing to come out of it was that Amora really was studying now, and she had mended her friendship with Harry. They were pretty much back to normal, which Amora hoped would be the case since it was nearly two months since they had shared the kiss under the mistletoe.

Time was going fast, so fast that the second task rolled around two weeks after Amora's fight with Draco, and with hours left to go, she was stressed. She worried about both Cedric and Harry and what the next task could possibly be. Cedric seemed pretty relaxed, but it had been a good few days since Amora had had a proper conversation with Harry. As far as she was concerned, Hermione and Ron were helping him with his task since he had left it quite late.

Amora sat in the library opposite Kathy and Leon, rolling her eyes when they leaned in and kissed each other for the hundredth time that hour. It wasn't that she didn't like them together, in fact, that was far from the truth, but she missed the dynamic that they all used to have. It was weird seeing two of your best friends snogging each other.

Part of it was probably bitterness because things hadn't worked out with Draco. Amora hadn't expected them to really work out, but she didn't think it would be over so soon. She sort of missed meeting up with him and having him kiss the worries of the day away, leaving her feeling euphoric and calm.

Sometimes, lying awake late at night whilst all of her roommates were asleep, she wondered if she should go up to the Astronomy Tower and see if she would find him there. She always decided against it though. They'd ended so abruptly for a reason.

"Do you guys have the answer to question eight?" Amora glanced up from her parchment, sighing when she saw that Leon and Kathy had their foreheads pressed against each other, eyes locked as they smiled and whispered under their breaths. "Hello?"

"Sorry, Amora," Kathy pulled away, blushing. "What was your question?"

"Number eight," Amora replied, attempting to sound as neutral as possible so that they didn't expect that they were annoying her.

"Oh." Leon looked down at his parchment and then laughed, looking back at Kathy. "Would you look at that, Kath? It seems we haven't completed any questions yet!"

Kathy giggled too and they did the stupid Eskimo kiss that they always did before pressing their foreheads back against one another. Amora loved romance, truly, but this made her feel sick. She grabbed her parchment and quill and slipped them both into her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. They didn't even notice that she'd stood up until they heard her chair scrape back.

"I'm going to call it a night," Amora said, making Leon raise his eyebrows.

"We've only been here an hour," he interjected.

"You know what?" Amora forced a smile as she hummed, "I think I might work better in silence."

"We haven't been speaking," Kathy frowned.

Merlin, they didn't even realise how irritating that they'd been being. It had been for over a month now, too. Even the Golden Trio had complained about it a couple of times, but nobody had to deal with it as much as the Buckley girl who had finally reached her breaking point.

"No, you haven't been talking-- it's actually the sound of your lips smacking together," Amora practically spat, "Or those stupid giggles. Nothing's funny!"

"Amora--" Leon tried to call out to her but she was already storming away. "What's up with her?" She heard him mutter to Kathy, but she couldn't be bothered to turn around.

She had just left the library when she noticed Draco and his friends stood across the foyer, Blaise telling some story. Draco didn't look interested, but as if he had sensed her presence, he glanced up, his silver eyes meeting her copper-coloured ones. It was the first time that they'd made eye contact in two weeks.

Amora froze in her spot, swallowing thickly. Before she could turn to dash towards the Hufflepuff common room, she felt a hand press down on her shoulder, causing her to glance to her left. Professor Sprout, Hufflepuff's Head of House, stood there with a smile on her face.

"Miss Buckley, you're just the lady I was looking for," the curly-haired woman said, "Professor McGonagall has requested to see you in her office!"

Amora immediately frowned, suspecting the worst. "Have I done something wrong, Professor Sprout?"

"Of course not, Miss Buckley," Professor Sprout replied, guiding her in the direction of the deputy head's office. "Well, if you have, I'm sure you're not going there for that."

Amora breathed out a sigh of relief, gripping her bag tighter as she followed the Hufflepuff woman past Draco and his Slytherin friends. She avoided looking since she could feel a familiar pair of silver eyes still watching her, but that wasn't the most of her worries.

Hopefully, Professor McGonagall had good news and not bad news for her.

D.M + A.B

Draco admittedly hadn't been able to get Amora out of his head for the past couple of weeks. He refused to apologise-- after all, he felt like he truly hadn't done anything wrong. Amora was the one in the wrong. She had cancelled on him to study with his own enemy and even defended him like he was some sort of saint! Stupid Saint Potter.

Harry Potter managed to ruin everything. He won over the entire school simply by being bloody born, stealing all of the attention that should have been given to a Malfoy. Draco was supposed to be a natural-born leader, a force to be reckoned with and the school's most popular boy, yet Harry seemed to take it without care and leave Draco's father disappointed in him. Harry had all these mentors, all of these friends that genuinely cared for him and looked out for him, and he even had Amora.

Whether she realised it or not, Amora was loyal to Potter and his clang of friends. Draco knew that if it came down to it, her Hufflepuff loyalty would lead her on the side of Harry rather than Draco. Harry would probably have to do something seriously evil to get Amora to even think of picking Draco first.

It hurt Draco. It pissed him off. It made him hate Potter so much more than he had before he became infatuated by Amora Buckley.

He knew that he wanted them to have whatever it was that they had back again. He'd been in a bad mood ever since, taking out his frustration and anger on his friends. Draco knew Amora was stubborn-- just as stubborn as he was, perhaps. She wasn't going to come after him and so, as much as it truly pained his ego, he was going to have to be the one to make amends with her.

Draco just hoped two weeks was long enough for her to cool down because he didn't feel like blabbering lies such as 'I didn't mean what I said about Potter', because the honest truth was that he did mean it.

So, when he saw her exit the library in a seemingly bad mood before being led away by Professor Sprout, Draco followed behind. The Herbology teacher led Amora all the way to Professor McGonagall's office and then inside. About a minute later, Professor Sprout exited, but not with Amora.

Draco frowned and decided to move out from the corner. He made it appear like he had accidentally stepped out in front of the short, plump woman, making her gasp before releasing a small laugh. She planted a hand down on Draco's shoulder, nearly making him grimace. Working with plants meant her fingernails were always so dirty.

"Sorry, Mr Malfoy!" Sprout said cheerfully, "I almost didn't see you there."

Draco forced a charming smile. "It's no problem, Professor Sprout. I was actually wondering if you knew when Amora Buckley would be leaving Professor McGonagall's office? We were supposed to be doing homework together, you see."

The beam on the woman's face slowly faded into a grimace. "I'm afraid that is none of your business, Mr Malfoy," she said, somewhat regretfully. "I wouldn't hang around for Miss Buckley. Curfew is soon."

As she left down the hall, Draco frowned, glancing at the door that Amora had disappeared into. Curfew wasn't for another hour-- how long could she possibly spend in there? He ignored Sprout's advice and waited for about fifteen minutes before he grew bored. He released a huff and stood from where he'd been leant against the wall.

He would talk to Amora tomorrow, hopefully before the second tournament.

D.M + A.B

Amora lurched awake, gasping for air and feeling icy water soak her skin. Her eyes were bleary as she blinked out the water, barely aware of what was happening other than the cheers echoing around her and an arm wrapped around her waist. She finally blinked enough to gain her vision back and everything came flooding back in her brain.

She remembered Professor McGonagall telling her that she was a part of the second task before things went black, and now she was only just waking up, her cousin pinned to her side as Hogwarts students cheered them on happily. She shivered as Cedric began to swim over to one of the wooden stands, taking her with him.

Amora coughed over the waves that were crashing against her cold skin, holding her hand out to Neville as he helped her up the short ladder. Cedric followed behind, the two of them being wrapped in golden blankets representative of their house, trying to stop their teeth from chattering in the February wind.

"Y-You did it," Amora smiled at Cedric. "You came first."

Cedric grinned and pulled his younger cousin in for a tight hug, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. She heard something shoot out of the water followed by gasps and turned to see Viktor Krum had Hermione in his arms. That must have meant that Harry had Ron to look after.

Before she could turn and give Cedric another hug, immensely grateful for being pulled out of the water despite not even remembering being in there, Cho Chang came rushing over and wrapped him in a hug of her own, pressing her lips against Cedric's.

Merlin, what was it with everybody suddenly getting into relationships?

"Amora!" She heard Leon yell before her best friend dropped down to her side. "Are you okay? I had no idea you were in there! Did you know that was going to happen? Kathy was worried sick when you didn't return to your dorm last night!"

"No, I didn't know," Amora admitted, holding her towel closer to her. "I'm fine, though."

Leon didn't reply but hugged her tightly to him. She held on for a few moments before another splash was heard. Amora craned her neck, pulling away and moving closer to the edge of the platform they were on. Ron and a blonde girl, Fleur's sister, were swimming towards them.

But where was Harry?

Amora's dark eyes darted all around the slightly rocky water, waiting for a familiar head of brown hair to pop up. It felt like she was waiting for an agonisingly long time, her heart in her throat as she waited anxiously. Dumbledore went to stand by the edge, everybody seemingly worried about him.

It felt like hours had gone by, when in reality it had probably only been a minute, as Harry's body suddenly came soaring out of the water and into the air, landing on the wooden platform with a small thump. Amora pushed past her cousin to get closer to the front, standing next to Barty Crouch as she watched their headmaster stumble forwards, placing his hands on Harry's arms.

"Harry!" He exclaimed as Amora shrugged off her towel and wrapped it around Harry. "He's all right."

Everybody was cheering for him, the sound like muffled background noise in Amora's ears as she listened to Harry choke out the water. He had red marks up and down his skin, climbing up to his jaw and resembling lightning strikes.

"Go get him another towel," Seamus ordered, "another one for Amora, too."

She shot the Irish boy a weak smile.

"I want all the judges over here now," Professor Dumbledore commanded.

Fleur dropped down in front of Harry, saying something about being thankful to him, but Amora's eyes were trained on a familiar figure watching them from a distance. Draco seemed to have made it from where the rest of the school was and over to where all of the champions were, wrapped up warm and staring at her back.

Amora stood, her teeth chattering as she contemplated whether or not she should go over to him. She could tell that the same thoughts were running through Draco's own head. Before she could think anymore, a herd of people walked in front of her, blocking her vision of the silver-eyed boy.

Somebody shoved a dressing robe in her hands and she thanked them quietly, wrapping it back around herself. However, when the small crowd had passed less than ten seconds later, the space that Draco had been in was no longer occupied. Disappointment settled in Amora's stomach, a horrible feeling that left her ashamed for even thinking he would bother to come over.

Not that you need him to. He's awful, remember, Amora? You don't need nor miss him.

"Attention!" Dumbledore's voice suddenly boomed out, stopping the 'Krum' chants from happening all around her. "The winner is Mr Diggory!"

Cedric and his Hufflepuff friends all began to cheer and Amora grinned, flashing lights of cameras going off everywhere. Amora was more than proud of her cousin, knowing that this was something that he had wanted since the Triwizard Tournament had been announced all those months ago. It was what he deserved, too.

"...Who showed innate command of the Bubble-Head Charm," Dumbledore continued above all of the cheers and claps. "However, seeing as Mr Potter would have finished first, had it not been for his determination to rescue not only Mr Weasley but the others as well, we've agreed to award him... second place! For outstanding moral fibre!"

Amora cheered, clapping her hands alongside everybody else as she turned back around to face Harry. He was surrounded by his Gryffindor friends and Ron and Hermione, of course. Amora moved forward and grinned at him.

"Congratulations, Harry," she beamed, "You deserve it."

Harry smiled back up at her, teeth chattering. "Th-Thanks, Amora."

D.M + A.B

The Hufflepuff common room was much warmer than the lake had been. After a boat ride back with Leon and Kathy, the brunette had gone straight for the showers and changed into more comfortable clothing. A party was going on and Cedric was the main focus, everybody chanting his name.

"Your cousin is so cool," Kathy muttered, not taking her eyes off of him.

Amora smiled slightly. "He is. He's the best."

Her words held nothing but the truth in them. She meant it. Cedric was not only her cousin but her first-ever friend and one of her best friends ever. She was proud of him beyond more than words could ever express, and he deserved all of the praise that he was receiving.

"What was it like being under the water?" Justin asked her, gaining the interest of a couple of other people too.

Amora frowned slightly. "I don't remember. All I remember is being in McGonagall's office and then waking up freezing and in a lake, hundreds of people screaming Cedric's name."

"Merlin," Ernie laughed, "that must have been well confusing!"

"Innit scary that you didn't even realise you were down there? With all those, like, sea creature and that," Justin continued.

Amora cringed at the thought of something brushing against her unconscious body.

Leon rolled his eyes and his roommate. "Don't freak her out. She's out now."

Hannah sighed. "Well, that was my least favourite task. You couldn't even see them in the water!"

"It was nearly an hour of staring at the lake, really," Susan added, "But Cedric did well, and that's all we could ask for."

Amora smiled. Cedric had come first and Harry had come second. She couldn't have hoped for a better outcome. Well, maybe it would have been better if Draco had actually approached her.

Maybe he didn't care enough. Maybe he just didn't want to in front of all of those people. Come to think of it, she didn't want him to come up to her in front of everyone either. She was pretty sure everybody would be in a state of confusion and then anger.

Simply liking Draco was a betrayal.

...

has anybody ever shifted?? i keep trying (it helps me fall asleep quicker anyway and it's quite relaxing), but i don't seem to really be getting anywhere :(

thanks for reading <33

dyiansobrien.