Year Four - Chapter Twelve

There were a lot of things that could go wrong, thus having secondary and even tertiary plans were a must. I had stocked up. I had countless things that I could use. The only thing I didn't have was the certainty I wouldn't become dragon food if I made a mistake somewhere. However, even if that was the case, I'd fight the damn thing every step of the way. The hide could protect against spells from the outside, but if I stuck a Diffindo into the creature's guts, I was reasonably sure no one would argue it was a valid self-defense tactic.

My trip to Hogsmeade was profitable, all things considered, but I reckoned I had missed a couple of History of Magic lessons to get certain things done in time. Especially judging by how the trip was just the week before, every hour was precious to finish my masterwork Dragon Statue, embedded with spikes of cheese and engraved with renditions of cheese wheels on fire.

"You'll be fine, Shade," someone said, slapping a hand against my shoulder.

"Go get them, champion!" Some students cheered me on whenever I walked through the hallways. This, in turn, made me wish there weren't so many hallways all around Hogwarts.

"Hogwarts! Hogwarts! Hogwarts!" a few others would cheer at random times, and all that I could think about was the silence in the back of my head. The absolute silence that filled my head was a soothing, welcoming thing. If you can't fix a problem, then don't worry. If you can fix it, then why are you worrying? Don't worry, be happy.

All of that cheering for me was starting to get to my head, and not in a good way.

"Shade," Megan shook me ever so slightly awake. I glanced up at her. I had barely made it back to the Ravenclaw Common Room somewhere after four in the morning, and crumpled asleep on the carpet. I didn't need to worry about being punished for House Points. Three in the morning was the magical hour in which all professors slept, Prefects had their final curfew, and Argus Filch would wake up only four hours later, at seven o'clock.

He had told me that confidentially, saying how he enjoyed one more hour of sleep with no one the wiser, since he should normally do the morning rounds at six.

I had sworn to keep his secret, and thus used it to my advantage.

"Whuzzit?" I muttered. "Megan?" I blinked. "Supposed to be in Ravenclaw."

"You are in Ravenclaw's common room, I just solved the riddle and got in," Megan answered with a sigh. I looked up at her, and then grunted as I got to a sitting position.

"I see," I nearly slurred the words out, before thumping on the carpet for a bit, "Coffee, please," I mumbled, and a steaming mug appeared by my side. "Thank you," I added to the empty air, sipping it gently. "Ah," I exhaled, in utter relief.

"You know what you could use?" Megan said.

"Not having to compete in the tournament?" I replied, only for Megan to shake her head.

"You could use some rest, once you're done with the task," she said. "We'll be rooting for you," she continued. "I'd have said something sooner, but you're pretty much untraceable; you're even skipping the lessons."

"Working on a big thing," I answered, truthfully enough. "I'll catch up after I'm done."

Megan's eyes took on a sad expression. "It's the day after tomorrow, you know? Are you sure you'll be ready?"

"Sure, but you could help me," I continued, thoughtfully. "Now that I think about it, you could all help me."

Megan blinked, and then gave a nod. "Tell me what you need," she said resolutely, "I'll tell the others."

"Nothing much," I shook my head, and smiled. "That's one less headache I'll have to deal with." I finished my mug, and slowly got to my feet. Judging by the time outside, it was quite late in the morning.

But still, I had places to be.

It was as I was making my way down that someone actually caught my attention. The silver-haired Fleur had apparently decided to worry about me. It had to be my beautiful smile, my incredibly charismatic face, or perhaps she just didn't wish to see me become dragon-food.

"We need to talk," Fleur whispered in a hushed tone, and I gave her a small nod. Finding an empty classroom wasn't that hard, and as soon as we did, she bent down to be at my eye-level. "Listen, little one," she said. "I know you did not want to participate in this, and whoever did it was a cruel, cruel prankster," she said hotly, "But you need to know that the task involves dragons," she continued, "So you need to be careful, and as soon as the fight begins, you just need to try a bit and then surrender."

"Dragons?" I mouthed. "There will be dragons?" My eyes widened. "I-aren't dragons immune to spells?"

"Not truly immune, the eyes can be hurt, but it will make them really mad," Fleur continued. "Just keep away and make a small show, then surrender. That will work the best, all right?"

I gave her an awkward nod. "All right," I said. "I'll do my best."

Inwardly, I was trying my hardest not to laugh.

Fleur gave me a reassuring smile, a small encouraging nod, and then went her way out of the classroom.

I stepped outside with a serene smile on my face, the face of a satisfied troll about to successfully troll someone else. The heavy-sounding thunk of steel against stone caught my attention not a second later.

I quietly turned, and saw Amanda, holding on to her Beater's Bat, looking menacingly in my direction. "I was thinking that we could blow off some steam hitting bludgers," she said, quite calmly. It was the calmness that made me wonder what she was going to do with that Beater bat. "But instead I see you were speaking French with that toad," she hissed out.

"Amanda," I said, ironically trying to keep a smile up. "It's-" I wasn't going to say 'It's not what you think'. I wasn't going to. "She just wanted to help me, since I'm the youngest, and-"

Amanda sighed, and dropped the Beater's bat on the floor where it rattled. She then neared, placed both hands on her hips and pursed her lips in a displeased pout. "You think I'm stupid," Amanda said in the end. "I didn't enter Ravenclaw just because I'm odd, you know?" she grumbled. "Shade, you've got this in the bag. You knew what it was going to be, and you prepared for it too. The only reason I do half the things I do that are scary, or worrying, is because I know you're the safest safety net there can be in the whole school."

I blinked. "Amanda-"

"So you just should drop that annoying eye-twinkling thing that you got going on, and just be yourself," Amanda said, "I heard from Megan you need us to carry your guard dragons or something with us to wherever the challenge's going to be," she preened up, "Can you paint mine pink and yellow?"

My lips broke into a smile that would have blinded Dementors.

If she wanted, I'd paint her golden and eye-searing greentastic.