viii. pluto the owl

ϟ

When Matilda woke up on Sunday morning, it took her a moment to remember why she felt so tired and worried. Then the memory of the previous night rolled over her. She sat up and ripped back the large comforter on her bed, planning to get ready for the day, hoping that the dramatics would come to a stop, but she knew better than to hold onto false hope.

Matilda rolled out of bed and went toward the restroom to prepare for her day. She never wore much makeup, but her older sister Harper had given her some mascara and glosses that she had taken to putting on most mornings.

To get dressed for the day Matilda had returned to her dormitory, making sure to place her toiletries back on her shelves hung above her bed. From her chest full of clothes Matilda picked a dark green, suede miniskirt and since the windy month of November had fallen upon them, she picked a striped, long-sleeved turtleneck and tucked it into her skirt. To protect her legs from the chill she pulled up a pair of knee-high socks before slipping on a chunky Mary Jane heel.

Quickly, Matilda ran a brush through her hair, pinned it back and went down the staircase into the common room. A few Ravenclaws who had already finished breakfast began bombarding her with questions once more, but she shooed them away. The prospect of going down to the Great Hall and facing the rest of the Ravenclaws, all wanting to know what happened in the back room yesterday evening, was not inviting. And so, she could only imagine how poor Harry was feeling in facing the rest of the Gryffindors. Matilda walked resolutely over to the large, wooden door, pushed it open and walked out, suddenly coming face-to-face with Hermione.

She stood, holding toast, which she had been holding in a napkin.

"You brought toast?" Matilda raised her eyebrows slightly.

"It's for Harry," said Hermione. "Didn't think he'd want to walk into the Great Hall this morning."

Matilda's eyebrows furrowed with confusion.

"Hermione, this is the Ravenclaw Tower," Matilda reminded her friend. "Harry is not here."

"I know that," Hermione rolled her eyes. "But I thought you'd want to come with me to talk to him."

Matilda nodded. She had accompanied Harry yesterday to face Dumbledore, the other champions, and the professors, of course Hermione would assume she'd be by his side today. Which she had planned to do, but not so suddenly.

"Sure," Matilda shrugged. "But you've got to give me a piece of that toast."

Hermione grinned and as they turned on their way to the Gryffindor Tower, she handed Matilda a piece of the stack of toast she had brought from the Great Hall for Harry. And similar to what happened with Matilda, as soon as Harry came from the portrait hole he was met with Hermione and Matilda.

"Hello," Hermione said, holding up the stack of toast, still wrapped neatly in the napkin. "I brought you this... want to go for a walk?"

"Good idea," said Harry, gratefully.

They went downstairs, crossed the Entrance Hall quickly without looking in at the Great Hall, and were soon striding across the lawn towards the lake, where the Durmstrang ship was moored, reflected blackly in the water. It was a chilly morning, and they kept moving, munching their toast, as Harry and Matilda told Hermione exactly what had happened after he had left the Gryffindor table the night before. To Harry's immense relief, Hermione accepted his story without question.

"Well, of course, I knew you hadn't entered yourself," Hermione said, when Harry had finished telling her about the scene in the chamber off the Hall. "The look on your face when Dumbledore read out your name! But the question is, who did put it in? Because Moody's right, Harry... I don't think any student could have done it... they'd never be able to fool the Goblet, or get over Dumbledore's –"

"Have you seen Ron?" Harry interrupted.

Hermione hesitated.

"Erm... yes... he was at breakfast,' she said.

"Does he still think I entered myself?" Harry asked.

"Ron things you entered yourself?" Matilda questioned, surprised. "But you told you didn't, didn't you?"

"Yes, of course," Harry told her. "But he got weird last night, and I think he still thinks I entered myself."

"Well... no, I don't think he does... not really," said Hermione awkwardly.

"What's that supposed to mean, not really?" Harry questioned.

"Oh, Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said despairingly. "He's jealous!"

"Jealous?" Harry said incredulously. "Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?"

"Look," said Hermione patiently, "it's always you who gets all the attention, you know it is. I know it's not your fault," she added quickly, seeing Harry open his mouth furiously, "I know you don't ask for it... but – well – you know, Ron's got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you're his best friend, and you're really famous – he's always shunted to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many..."

"Harry's parents are dead, he almost dies every year, his grades aren't all that great, and someone probably put his name in the Goblet to try and get him killed" Matilda shrugged, not understanding why Ron would be jealous. "There's really nothing to be jealous of."

"That's easy for you to say, you're Matilda Winters," Hermione pointed out, making Matilda grin. "Besides, Harry has you on his side as well."

"Great," said Harry bitterly. "Really great. Tell him from me I'll swap any time he wants. Tell him from me he's welcome to it... people gawping at my forehead everywhere I go..."

"I'm not telling him anything," Hermione said shortly. "Tell him yourself, it's the only way to sort this out."

"I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow up!" Harry said, so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. "Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying myself once I've got my neck broken or –"

"That's not funny," said Hermione quietly. "That's not funny at all."

"It's a little funny," Matilda giggled.

Hermione looked extremely anxious. "Harry, I've been thinking – you know what we've got to do, don't you? Straight away, the moment we get back to the castle?"

"Duh, give Ron a good kick up the—"

"Write to Sirius," Hermione said overtop of Matilda. "You've got to tell him what's happened. He asked you to keep him posted on everything that's going on at Hogwarts – it's almost like he expected something like this to happen. I brought some parchment and a quill out with me –"

"Come off it," said Harry, looking around to check that they couldn't be overheard; but the grounds were quite deserted. "He came back to the country just because my scar twinged. He'll probably come bursting right into the castle if I tell him someone's entered me for the Triwizard Tournament –"

"He'd want you to tell him," said Hermione sternly. "He's going to find out anyway –"

"How?" Harry challenged.

"Harry, he'll find out, this isn't going to be kept quiet," said Matilda, her tone very serious. "This Tournament's famous, and you're famous, I'd be quite surprised if there isn't anything in the Daily Prophet about you competing – you're already in half the books about You-Know-Who, you know, and Sirius would rather hear it from you, I believe."

"OK, OK, I'll write to him," said Harry, throwing his last piece of toast into the lake. The three of them stood and watched it floating there for a moment, before a large tentacle rose out of the water and scooped it beneath the surface. Then they returned to the castle.

"Whose owl am I going to use?" Harry said, as they climbed the stairs. "He told me not to use Hedwig again."

"Ask Ron if you can borrow –"

"I'm not asking Ron anything," Harry said flatly, stopping Hermione before she could finish the suggestion.

"You can use Pluto," Matilda offered. "I've already told you that she's quite the discreet owl."

They went up to the Owlery. Hermione gave Harry a piece of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink, then strolled around the long lines of perches, looking for Pluto, while Harry sat down against a wall and wrote his letter.

Dear Sirius,

You told me to keep you posted on what's happening at Hogwarts, so here goes – I don't know if you've heard, but the Triwizard Tournament's happening this year and on Saturday night I got picked as a fourth champion. I don't know who put my name in the Goblet of Fire, because I didn't. The other Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory, from Hufflepuff.

Hope you're OK, and Buckbeak

– Harry.

"Finished," he told Matilda and Hermione, getting to his feet and brushing straw off his robes. At this, Hedwig came fluttering down onto his shoulder, and held out her leg.

"I can't use you,' Harry told her, looking around for Matilda who set off to fetch Pluto. 'I've got to use Pluto.'

Hedwig gave a very loud hoot and took off so suddenly that her talons cut into Harry's shoulder. Hedwig kept her back to Harry all the time he was tying his letter to the leg of Pluto, Matilda's cherished Northern Saw Whet Owl. When the barn owl had flown off, Harry reached out to stroke Hedwig, but she clicked her beak furiously and soared up into the rafters out of reach.

"First Ron, then you," said Harry angrily. "This isn't my fault."

ϟ

Matilda had hoped that matters would improve for Harry once everyone got used to the idea of him being champion, the following day though, her hopes had been shot down. Harry could no longer avoid the rest of the school once he was back at lessons, and Matilda wasn't there to guide him all day as she had been the previous weekend. It was clear that the rest of the school, just like the Gryffindors, thought Harry had entered himself for the Tournament. Unlike the Gryffindors, however, the houses did not seem impressed.

The Hufflepuffs, who were usually on excellent terms with everyone, had turned remarkably cold towards Harry, and the entire lot of the Gryffindor House. Harper Winters' comments on the situation was enough to demonstrate this. It was plain that Harper and her fellow Hufflepuffs felt that Harry had stolen their champion's glory; a feeling exacerbated, perhaps, by the fact that Hufflepuff house very rarely got any glory, and that Cedric Diggory was one of the few who had ever given them any, having beaten Gryffindor once at Quidditch. Harper, Matilda's older sister, who normally had no issue with Harry, had tried to accuse him of being a cheat to Matilda, who quickly shut her sister down, but was unable to convince her of Harry's innocence. Ron wasn't talking to Harry either. Hermione would have to sit between Ron and Harry and force conversation since Matilda had started to refuse to dine with them in fear that she would say something hurtful to Ron when he would treat Harry badly.

Matilda attempted to raise Harry's spirits by reminding him that he would be seeing Hagrid, which, under normal circumstances he would look forward to, but Care of Magical Creatures meant seeing the Slytherins, too – the first time he would come face to face with them since becoming champion.

Predictably, Malfoy arrived at Hagrid's cabin with his familiar sneer firmly in place.

"Ah, look, boys, it's the champion," he said to Crabbe and Goyle, the moment he got within earshot of Harry. "Got your autograph books? Better get a signature now, because I doubt he's going to be around much longer... half the Triwizard champions have died... how long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task's my bet."

"Give me the words Harry and I'll hex him," Matilda whispered, her cheeks reddening from anger. "I will, I swear it."

Crabbe and Goyle guffawed sycophantically, but Malfoy had to stop there, because Hagrid emerged from the back of his cabin, holding a teetering tower of crates, each containing a very large Blast-Ended Skrewt. To the class's horror, Hagrid proceeded to explain that the reason the Skrewts had been killing each other was an excess of pent-up energy, and that the solution would be for each of the class to fix a leash on a Skrewt and take it for a short walk. The only good thing about this plan was that it distracted Malfoy completely.

"Take this thing for a walk?" Malfoy repeated in disgust, staring into one of the boxes. "And where exactly are we supposed to fix the leash? Around the sting, the blasting end or the sucker?"

"Roun' the middle," said Hagrid, demonstrating. "Er – yeh might want ter put on yer dragon-hide gloves, jus' as an extra precaution, like. Harry, Matilda – you two come here an' help me with this big one..."

Hagrid's real intention, however, was to talk to Harry away from the rest of the class and knowing that Matilda wouldn't be leaving Harry's side anytime soon, he included her as well.

He waited until everyone else had set off with their Skrewts, then turned to Harry and said, very seriously, "So – yer competin', Harry. In the Tournament. School champion."

"One of the champions," Harry corrected him.

Hagrid's beetle-black eyes looked very anxious under his wild eyebrows. "No idea who put yeh in fer it, Harry?"

"You believe he didn't do it, then?' said Matilda, concealing with difficulty the rush of relief she felt at Hagrid's words.

"'Course I do," Hagrid grunted. "He says it wasn' him, an' I believe him– an' Dumbledore believes him, an' all."

"Wish I knew who did do it," said Harry bitterly.

The three of them looked out over the lawn; the class was widely scattered now, and all in great difficulty. The Skrewts were now over three feet long, and extremely powerful. No longer shell-less and colorless, they had developed a kind of thick, greyish shiny armor. They looked like a cross between giant scorpions and elongated crabs – but still without recognizable heads or eyes. They had become immensely strong, and very hard to control.

"Look like they're havin' fun, don' they?" Hagrid said happily. Matilda assumed he was talking about the Skrewts, because her classmates certainly weren't; every now and then, with an alarming bang, one of the Skrewts' ends would explode, causing it to shoot forward several yards, and more than one person was being dragged along on their stomach, trying desperately to get back on their feet.

"Ah, I don' know, Harry," Hagrid sighed suddenly, looking back down at him with a worried expression on his face. 'School champion... everythin' seems ter happen ter you, doesn' it?"

Harry didn't answer.

"He'll be okay," said Matilda, noticing Harry's dropped shoulders. "He's got me."

ϟ

The next few days were some of the busiest of Matilda's at Hogwarts. The closest she had ever come to feeling like this had been during those months, in her second year, when Hermione had been petrified and Matilda was left to protect Harry from the people who suspected him of attacking their fellow peers. But Ron had been on their side then. Now, Matilda and Harry were by themselves. And Matilda thought that Harry could have coped with the rest of the school's behavior if Ron was by his side, but Harry didn't want Matilda trying to persuade Ron to talk to him if Ron didn't want to. So, it was Harry and Matilda, and right now that's all Harry felt he needed.

Matilda could understand the Hufflepuffs' attitudes, even if she didn't like it; they had their own champion to support. She expected nothing less than vicious insults from the Slytherins – Harry was highly unpopular there and always had been, as he had helped Gryffindor beat them so often, both at Quidditch and in the Inter-House Championship. But she had hoped the Ravenclaws might have it in their hearts to support Harry as much as Cedric. She was wrong, however. Most Ravenclaws, besides a few like, Luna Lovegood and Bentley and Asher Morgenstern, seemed to think he had been desperate to earn himself a bit more fame by tricking the Goblet into accepting his name.

Then there was the fact that Cedric looked the part of a champion so much more than Harry did. Exceptionally handsome, with his straight nose, dark hair, and grey eyes, it was hard to say who was receiving more admiration these days, Cedric or Viktor Krum. Matilda had expected her older sister, Harper to drool over Krum since she has been such a big fan of his for many years, following his Quidditch career. But she stayed loyal to Cedric and kept her longing eyes only on him.

Meanwhile there was no reply from Sirius and Cho began to give Matilda the cold shoulder because a rumor had started around the school that she and Harry were dating. Also, to make things even harder for Matilda, Professor Trelawney was trying to convince her that she was a growing seer. Every other class she was passing with flying colors, but Trelawney wouldn't give up on the belief that Matilda had the abilities of a true seer, but Matilda refused to listen to the batty lady.

"It's really not that difficult, Harry," Matilda tried to reassure him, as she handed him her Charms notes on their way to Potions to meet with Hermione. "You're just not concentrating properly."

"Wonder why that is?" said Harry darkly, as Cedric Diggory walked past, surrounded by a large group of simpering girls, one of whom was Harper who looked at Harry as though he was a particularly large Blast-Ended-Skrewt. "Still -- never mind, eh? Double Potions to look forward to this afternoon."

Double Potions was always a horrible experience, but especially for Harry, these days it was nothing short of torture. Being shut in a dungeon for an hour and a half with Snape and the Slytherins, all of whom seemed determined to punish Harry as much as possible for daring to become school champion, was about the most unpleasant thing happening to Harry. He had already struggled through one Friday's worth, with Matilda sitting next to him, intoning "I'll kill them, I'll kill them, I'll kill them" under her breath, and Matilda couldn't see today being any better.

When he and Matilda arrived outside Snape's dungeon after lunch, they found the Slytherins waiting outside, each and every one of them wearing a large badge on the front of his or her robes. For one wild moment Matilda thought they were S.P.E.W. badges – then she saw that they all bore the same message, in luminous red letters that burnt brightly in the dimly lit underground passage:

Support CEDRIC DIGGORY –

the REAL Hogwarts Champion!

"Like them, Potter?" said Malfoy loudly as Harry and Matilda approached. "And this isn't all they do – look!"

Draco pressed his badge into his chest, and the message upon it vanished, to be replaced by another one, which glowed green:

POTTER STINKS

The Slytherins howled with laughter. Each of them pressed their badges, too, until the message POTTER STINKS was shining brightly all-around Harry. Matilda felt the heat beginning to rise in her face and neck.

"Have to hand it to you, Malfoy," Matilda said, standing to the right of Harry. "You're even worse at arts and crafts as are at everything else."

Draco scoffed at the brunette's insult, "Why are you even here, Winters? Your house is separate from this class."

"Class overcrowding, Malfoy, but it's not like I owe you any sort of explanation," Tilly retorted, blue eyes narrowed "If you have an issue take it up with—"

"Dumble-bore presumably," Draco cackled, "C'mon, Potter, you and your friends should lighten up."

Matilda went to shriek back an insult, her cheeks flushed angrily, but Hermione grabbed onto her arm.

Daisy Morgenstern stood close by Draco but took no part in his antic, only rolling her eyes occasionally at her closest friend's childishness. She had a look of guilt on her face as many of the Slytherins continued laughing at Harry and flashing their badges at him. She shushed Draco and Pansy's band of girls next to her, who were all laughing the hardest out of the house.

"Oh, very funny," Hermione said sarcastically to Pansy. "Really witty."

Matilda noticed Ron was standing against the wall with Dean and Seamus. He wasn't laughing, but he wasn't sticking up for Harry either.

"Want one, Granger?" Malfoy offered, sneering as he held one out towards her. "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see, don't want Mudblood sliming it up."

Daisy suddenly slapped the badge from his hand angrily, the metal button clattering to the floor, "Draco!"

Hermione and Matilda both cautioned Harry as he seemed to snap, reaching into his pocket for his wand. Students surrounding them seemed to recoil and move out of harm's way. Daisy opened her mouth to scold Malfoy once more, but instead he pushed her out of the line of fire.

"Go on, then, Potter," Malfoy challenged as he drew he own wand, "Moody's not here to look after you now – do it, if you've got the guts—"

For a split second, they looked into each other's eyes, then, at exactly the same time, both acted.

"Furnunculus!" Harry yelled.

"Densaugeo!" screamed Malfoy.

Jets of light shot from both wands, hit each other in mid-air, and ricocheted off at angles – Harry's hit Goyle in the face, and Malfoy's hit Hermione. Goyle bellowed and put his hands to his nose, where great ugly boils were springing up – Hermione, whimpering in panic, was clutching her mouth.

"Hermione!" Matilda yelled as she rushed over to the panicked girl's side as well as Ron who had come up from the wall to check on his friend.

Matilda carefully took Hermione's hand and moved it away from her face. It wasn't a pretty sight. Hermione's front teeth – already slightly larger than average – were now growing at an alarming rate; she was looking more and more like a beaver as her teeth elongated, past her bottom lip, towards her chin – panic-stricken, she felt them, and let out a terrified cry.

"And what is all this noise about?" said a soft, deadly voice.

Snape had arrived.

The Slytherins clamored to give their explanations. Snape pointed a long yellow finger at Malfoy and said, "Explain."

"Potter attacked me, sir –"

"We attacked each other at the same time!" Harry shouted.

"– and he hit Goyle – look –"

Snape examined Goyle, whose face now resembled something that would have been at home in a book on poisonous fungi.

"Hospital wing, Goyle," Snape said calmly.

"Malfoy got Hermione!" Ron said. "Look!"

Matilda and Ron forced Hermione to show snape her teeth – she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape's back.

Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, "I see no difference."

Hermione let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heel and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight.

It was obvious that Hermione was ready to cry as she quickly turned on her heel and ran, ran all the way up to corridor and out of sight.

All at once, Harry, Matilda, and Ron began yelling at Professor Snape. Lucky their voices echoed so much in the stone corridor, for in the confused din, it was impossible for him to hear exactly what they were calling him. He got the gist, however.

"Let's see," he said, in his silkiest voice. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and a detention each for Potter, Winters, and Weasley. Now get inside, or it'll be a week's worth of detentions."

Although everyone in the classroom, even Professor Snape knew that Matilda would easily avoid punishment with but conversation with Professor Dumbledore. But Matilda's ears still rang with anger. The injustice of it made her want to curse Snape into a thousand slimy pieces. She passed Snape, walked with Ron and Harry to the back of the dungeon, and slammed her bag down onto the table. Ron and Harry were shaking with anger, too – for a moment, it felt as though everything was back to normal between them, but then Ron turned, and sat down with Dean and Seamus instead, leaving Harry to side with only Matilda at his table. On the other side of the dungeon, Malfoy turned his back on Snape, and pressed his badge, smirking. POTTER STINKS flashed once more across the room.

Matilda sat there staring at Snape as the lesson began, picturing herself torturing him. She would use a forbidden curse on him if it wouldn't affect her chances of becoming the next Minister of Magic. She'd have Snape twitching around the hard floor, like that spider from Defense Against the Dark Arts when under the Cruciatus Curse.

"Antidotes!" said Snape, looking around at them all, his cold black eyes glittering unpleasantly. "You should all have prepared your recipes now. I want you to brew them carefully, and then we will be selecting someone on whom to test one..."

Snape's eyes moved over Matilda and met Harry's eyes, and suddenly Matilda knew what was coming. Snape was planning to poison him. But his thought of poisoning Harry was interrupted by a knock on the dungeon door.

It was Colin Creevey; he edged into the room, beaming at Harry, and walked up to Snape's desk at the front of the room.

"Yes?" said Snape curtly.

"Please, sir, I'm supposed to take Harry Potter upstairs."

Snape stared down his hooked nose at Colin, whose smile faded from his eager face.

"Potter has another hour of Potions to complete," said Snape coldly. "He will come upstairs when this class is finished."

Colin went pink.

"Sir – sir, Mr. Bagman wants him," he said nervously. "All the champions have got to go, I think they want to take photographs..."

"Very well, very well," Snape snapped. "Potter, leave your things here, I want you back down here later to test your antidote."

"Please, sir – he's got to take his things with him," squeaked Colin. "All the champions –"

"Very well!" said Snape. "Potter – take your bag and get out of my sight!"

Harry swung his bag over his shoulder, got up, said a quick goodbye to Matilda, and headed for the door. As he walked through the Slytherin desks, POTTER STINKS flashed at him from every direction.

"Melodramatic today, isn't he?" Malfoy commented as the class was instructed to begin gathering ingredients for their antidotes.

Matilda, having heard the comment, threw an icy glare in Malfoy's direction, picking up her cauldron, "Shove it, Ferret Face."

ϟ

When class let out Matilda went to her room to put her things away before meeting Luna and Padma for supper. The feast was as large as it is everyday but Harry wasn't present. She peered over Padma's head and watched the Great Hall doors, waiting for Harry to walk through so that she could question him about what happened after he was pulled from Potions class. He never showed though and she didn't bother with going up to Ron to question what was happening for he has been unreasonably cold these days.

So, after supper Matilda took it upon herself to find Harry. She made her way up to the Gryffindor Tower and knocked on the portrait of the Fat Lady. Neville and Seamus answered the door. Seamus was hesitant about allowing Matilda to enter but Neville gave her a welcoming smile and stepped aside so she could go in.

"Where's Harry?" Matilda turned around to them as soon as she stepped into the Common Room.

"Dunno," Seamus shrugged, walking over to the couch and plopping down on it. "In his room I suppose."

"I need to see him," said Matilda.

"Of course you do," said Seamus with a grin. "Been spending a lot of time together recently, you and Potter."

Matilda rolled her eyes, "What are you getting at, Finnigan?"

Seamus raised up both his hands in surrender, "Nothing. It's none of my business."

Matilda shook her head deciding to ignore Seamus and turned to Neville instead.

"Can you take me to Harry, please?" She asked politely.

"Of course," said Neville happily. "I'll show you to the room."

Neville was happy to lead Matilda down the spiral, steel staircase where the boy's dormitories were. Since it wasn't past curfew they could have friends in their rooms, even girls, but with it being later in the evening Matilda wouldn't be able to stay long.

The doors were lined up side by side and Neville stopped them halfway down the long corridor.

"Here ya are," said Neville, he stopped in front of a random wooden door, plain with no decoration, unlike Matilda's door, which Luna kept made up.

Matilda thanked Neville and he smiled before turning back up the staircase to go back to Seamus. Matilda knocked on the arched door, she heard a loud huff before the door suddenly swung open.

"Oh," said Harry, surprised to see Matilda standing before him. "Thought you was Ron."

"Quite the attitude you have there," said Matilda, stepping into the room, careful not to touch anything as it was slept in by teenage boys and she was scared of what might be laying around. "Something happen between the two of you?"

Harry shrugged and went back over to lay on his bed.

"You disappeared after Potions," said Matilda. "What happened?"

"Promotional stuff for the champions," Harry sighed tiredly. "Met Rita Skeeter. Don't like her much."

Matilda chuckled. She wasn't surprised that Harry didn't like her. She didn't know many people who did like Rita Skeeter. Not even Luna, who for some reason, liked everybody.

"That all?" Matilda questioned.

It was obvious that there was something else on Harry's mind that was bothering him. Perhaps him and Ron had words that he was now regretting. Whatever it was it had Harry down in the dumps and Matilda could see it.

"I've got detention tomorrow," Harry huffed. "And Pluto stopped by with a note from Sirius."

Matilda felt bad that Harry would have to serve his detention, meanwhile she had already gotten out of hers, promising Dumbeldore that she would work in an exrtra tea time into their busy schedules. 

"That was faster than usual," said Matilda. "He must be worried. What'd he write back?"

As Harry reached a hand under a pillow and dug around Matilda climbed onto the foot of his bed so that she was sitting beside him. He pulled a folded piece of parchment out and handed it over to Matilda so that she could read it.

Harry –

I can't say everything I would like to in a letter, it's too risky in case the owl is intercepted – we need to talk, face to face. Can you ensure that you are alone by the fire in Gryffindor Tower at one o'clock in the morning on the 22nd November?

I know better than anyone that you can look after yourself, and while you're around Dumbledore Moody, and even Matilda I don't think anyone will be able to hurt you. However, someone seems to be having a good try. Entering you in that Tournament would have been very risky, especially right under Dumbledore's nose.

Be on the watch, Harry. I still want to hear about anything unusual. Let me know about the 22nd November as quickly as you can.

Sirius

Matilda read the letter aloud and became amused when she read over her name. She found it funny and flattering that Sirius would mention her as someone who would keep Harry safe while he wasn't around. 

"You are going to talk to him, aren't you?" Matilda asked, handing the letter back to Harry.

"I have to," he told her. "But do you care to be there with me when I do talk to him?

Matilda shook her head, "Of course I'll be there."

"Thank you, Matilda," said Harry with a genuine smile. "I don't know what I would do if you weren't here."

"Die probably," Matilda shrugged, standing from the bed.

She sighed and straightened out her skirt, "I should be going. Got a long day of keeping you alive and well tomorrow."

Harry let out a soft laugh and watched as Matilda headed for the door.

"Matilda wait—"

Matilda turned on her heel, slightly started by the urgency in Harry's tone.

"Do you remember the letter I gave you at the end of the last year?" Matilda nodded. "Have you read it?"

"Honestly I haven't," she told him truthfully. "I put it in my pocket and kind of forgot about it. Why? Is there something important in there?"

Harry quickly shook his head his accelerated hear rate now slowing.

"No, not really," he said. "I was just wondering."

Matilda nodded, "Well then, goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight, Tilly."

And with that Matilda left Harry alone in the room so that she could go to her own bed to get some much needed sleep. 

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Tilly's described outfit

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AN:// Hope you're all enjoying so far.

Leave a comment let me know what your thinking. Any predictions or ideas?

xoxo