If You've Got the Nerve

Dragons. I was suddenly so relieved I wasn’t seventeen. And suddenly so relieved that Dumbledore could pull off an extraordinary age line. We had all sat in the stands, watching as three of the four champions got past their dragon and snatched the winning trophy of the first task: the golden egg. It was a horrifying sight, really. I was sitting among other Gryffindors, my seat placed next to Fred. George and Lee were both sitting on the row right behind us. Cedric, Fleur, and Krum had all gotten their egg successfully. Mr. Bagman’s commentary had done little to take my mind off the coming event. Harry was next. And, bloody hell, did that dragon look vicious.

“We might not have a Seeker after this, boys…” Lee breathed behind me. I could tell it was his crude attempt at lightening the mood, but he was just as anxious as everyone else in the stands. Even the Slytherins looked white with horror at the moment.

Finally, Harry appeared in the opening to the enclosure. A few people around us took in a breath, waiting for the dragon’s reaction to this new threat to her eggs. I held my breath, my teeth digging painfully in to my lip. Even from where I sat, I could see how sick Harry looked. I would be too. I let out the air trapped in my lungs slowly as Harry lifted his wand. He gave a cry and several agonizing moments later, his Firebolt zoomed to rest in the air next to him. I jumped to my feet with a multitude of other students including Fred, Lee, and George. We gave great shouts of encouragement. At least he had a plan. And we’d all seen him fly.

I was back in my seat though as the dragon let out a vicious jet of burning flames, nearly catching Harry. My hands covered my open mouth, but Harry seemed unshaken by this near deadly strike. A cry left my mouth as the spiked tail of the angry beast swiped Harry across the shoulder. The tearing of his robe echoed just as loud as the beast’s roar of rage. My hand shot out instinctively to my side, clutching at anything to keep me steady. It wasn’t until Fred gave my hand a reassuring squeeze that I realized I had clutched his own hand in my desperation. I leaned against him, my eyes fixated on Harry.

“Don’t worry,” Fred whispered in my ear, “Charlie and the other workers are right here. They won’t let anything get to Harry.” But even Fred’s words seemed to fade on me as the dragon reared, spread her wings, and gave out a great bellow that seemed to shake the entire stands. I buried my face in Fred’s shoulder, not wanting to see what happened next. Then, a different sound shook the stands.

I emerged from my hiding spot in time to see Charlie rushing towards the enraged dragon along with the other workers. Harry had gotten the egg. I joined in the uproar of cheers, a grin splattered across my face, not even caring that I had missed how it had happened. We all left the stands in a considerably cheerful mood. All of the champions had survived after all. That was defiantly something to smile about.

“All right, Nox?” George laughed as we made our way back to the castle. I shoved him lightly.

“Shut up, Weasley. I heard you screaming behind me.” He childishly stuck out his tongue, but I could see him fighting the blush creeping up his features.

“We all knew Harry would do excellent though!” Lee exclaimed from my left. He grinned at me and I smiled back. “He’s the best Seeker we’ve had in years! It was just another match to him, I expect.”

“I wouldn’t fancy playing against one of those beasts,” Fred commented, screwing up his face at the thought. “Charlie has to be mental.”

“Hey, maybe if you run back you can snatch a bit of blood for the shop,” I suggested sarcastically. I regretted it the second George’s face lit up.

“Do you think?” He asked excitedly, already turning to head back.

“No, you moron!” I exclaimed, dragging him back with Lee’s help.

“Oh, come on!” George groaned, “It could be a breakthrough!”

“You’ve had enough breakthroughs, Weasley.” Lee wrestled his friend back in to a normal pace towards the castle.

“We’re gonna go nick some food from the kitchens,” George said as we all came to the bottom of the marble staircases.

“Harry needs a good feast after that,” Fred agreed. “You and Lee can grab some fireworks from our dorm,” with that, the twins sped off towards the kitchens and Lee and I raced up the stairs. We both called out the password together, alarming The Fat Lady out of her conversation with her dear friend Violet. The painting swung open so quickly that it would have smashed me in the face if Lee hadn’t pulled me out of the way.

As we entered, everyone in the common room looked up, but seemed relieved it was only us. Everyone had seemed to just have set to work on grand decorations to celebrate Harry’s survival. Dean grinned at us from across the room. He had ink smudges on his face from his latest piece of work which seemed to be a grand picture of a dragon.

“I think he’s had enough of those,” I laughed on my way up the stairs. He only grinned more then went back to work.

Lee and I began rummaging through the brightly colored boxes that the twins had piled around their beds.

“You sleep here too; you should know where they are,”

“I tend to avoid this area of the dorm,” Lee laughed, “Much too dangerous.” I shook my head but continued the search with him. Finally, we discovered a small hoard of fireworks. We grabbed a few packs then headed downstairs. I slid down the railing, jumping off at the end and dumping the packages on the ground.

“Oi! That’s expensive merchandise!” George called from his spot by the fire. He was helping Dean with sticking the tapestry of drawings to the wall. I rolled my eyes and set to work with Lee figuring out how to set the explosives up safely.

“Give me that,” I snapped at Lee while he continued to light a continuously stubborn box. I grabbed at the firework, but he pulled it back.

“I can do it, just wait a second.” He muttered another spell and flicked his wand at the short fuse poking out of the top of the bright green box. Instead of lighting the string though, the spell missed and ricocheted off the mantle over the fireplace back towards us. I yelped and ducked just before the ball of heat shot over us and exploded in the air.

“Git,” I mumbled, finally snatching at the box. He grinned sheepishly.

Before I could attempt to light the thing myself though, a loud, unbearable screeching filled the air. My hands slammed over my ears as I cursed in surprise. The screeching ended a few seconds later. Everyone was staring at Harry who was clutching the golden egg he had snatched from the dragon. After the initial shock wore off, everyone was shooting out theories on what the clue meant.

Finally, everyone was exhausted from the excitement and, not bothering to clean up, we all headed up to bed. My last thoughts before climbing in to bed were clouded, though.

Dragons. That’s all I could wrap my head around. I lay in bed, my eyes fixed on the dark ceiling. Dragons. The last echo of the dragon Harry had faced echoed in my mind and my heartbeat picked up.

“Bloody animals,” I muttered before turning over and staring out the window, closing my eyes, and waiting for sleep.



I trudged up the long staircase towards Divination. A yawn escaped my mouth and I rubbed at my sleep crusted eyes. Mornings were not my thing.

There were a number of students waiting below the trap door that led to the heavily scented classroom when I arrived. A few greeted me with their own tired waves. I smiled back and fell against a wall to await entrance. When the door finally swung open, it was only with a few muttered curses that I climbed up the ladder.

I settled in at a table near the back and stared off in to space. There was a loud bang next to me and I jumped. I looked up to see Vinny smiling down at me. He took his seat.

“Morning,” he yawned.

I nodded, “Morning,”

The class started up with the resumed study of star charts. Vinny was going on about the first task next to me as I sat hunched over my book and chart.

“And did you see Potter? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone fly like that. I can’t believe Viktor didn’t think of that strategy.” I nodded absently as I tried reading over a paragraph in my book for the third time. Soon enough, the same cloud of thoughts from last night flooded my senses. Fire and dragons…I glared down at the text in front of me.

First the goblet with its stupid blue fire and then the first task is dragons. Dragons that roared and screeched with anger and shot hot flame at anyone near them.

“Anima? Anima, are you coming?” I snapped out of my haze and tried again to concentrate on the text in front of me. A hand blocked my view though. I blinked up at Vinny in confusion.

“What?”

“I said, are you coming? Class is over.”

“Oh.” I glanced around to see the class filing out of the room. Oh. I felt stupid for not realizing Vinny had been talking to me. I looked at him in confusion.

“What did you call me?”

“Anima…it’s your name, right?” his face flushed. “I mean…I know you said to call you Nox…but I like the name Anima…” he mumbled.

“Right…” I trailed off, glancing again around the room. “Hey…Vinny?” My eyes were locked on Professor Trelawney. “I…uh…I have to ask the Professor something.” Vinny looked ready to say something like “I’ll wait for you,” but I shook my head. “You go on. I’ll see you at lunch or something.” He hesitated then turned on his heel to hike down the ladder himself. I gathered up my parchment and books and swung my bag over my shoulder then picked my way past the table to stand nervously in front of the room.

“Professor Trelawney?”

“Yes, my dear?” Professor Trelawney turned her giant spectacled eyes on me.

“Professor, I was wondering if I could ask you a question…about divination…about visions to be exact…” I shifted nervously and adjusted my bag’s strap on my shoulder, wondering briefly if she would think me mad. Of course, I shouldn’t be worrying about that. After all, she had predicted a lot of things, didn’t she? And they couldn't all be fake...

“Visions? Have you had one, dear? I assure you that your aura was prominent the second you walked into this room in your second year. Though I can tell that your friends are discouraging of this noble subject, that does not mean you are to push yourself away from natural talent. ” I shifted again. She sounded almost too proud as she spoke.

“I think I had one just before school,” I said hurriedly.

“Ah,”

I cleared my throat awkwardly as she stared at me. It was only after glancing around the room that I realized she was waiting for me to explain. “Um, right. It was…I went to the Qudditch World Cup. You must have heard what happened…”

“Dark things,” I nodded in acknowledgment of her muttered response, my mind going suddenly serious as I vividly remembered the events.

“Yes. Death Eaters decided to crash the party. And the Dark Mark, of course. That’s what I came to talk about.”

“You predicted these exact events?” she turned suddenly in a twirl of her dusty shawl and scarves to consult a rather thick book resting on her desk. Immediately, she started to mutter and flip through pages.

“Er – no. I mean, I didn’t see any of that happening until it actually did happen. But it was there that I think I had a…a vision…” It seemed strange to acknowledge the fact that I had made some sort of serious prediction. I had no recollection of Seer heritage in my family. But what else could it have been? I narrowed my eyes at the floor as I remembered the pictures flashing in front of my eyes, the sick feeling in my stomach. She looked up at me again with an unreadable expression though I thought I saw a hint of joy repressed by a webbing of disappointment when I glanced at her.

“You seem so unsure, dear. You need to accept the travels into the beyond. You indeed have a gift.” I bit my lip nervously. My father had always told me that divination was useless while my mother had always been silent on the matter. But everyone else seemed to laugh at the thought of the branch of magic. Even some of the professors thought it a joke.

“What did you see?” she asked suddenly. She moved again to stand before me.

“Well…it was when I saw the Dark Mark in the sky. When I looked up and saw it…it was like a dream playing out in front of my eyes. But it wasn’t completely clear. I mean, not blurry. More transparent. I could still see the sky and the mark, and feel the wind and the ground. It was pretty surreal.” I nodded at my own words slightly, “And I saw this cup. This cup with ferocious blue and white flames. And then they completely consumed my sight and I heard an enormous roar – like a dragon.” I felt oddly like I was rambling. But when I stopped talking, Professor Trelawney only stared at me. So I shifted uncomfortably once again and added a final thing, “And that’s all there was. It ended there and everything was back to normal.” She continued to stare at me then turned again to flip through her book.

Perhaps she hadn't thought it mattered. Maybe, her being locked up here all day every day, she hadn’t even been aware what was happening in the school.

“I didn’t think much until I came back to school and they showed us the Goblet of Fire and the first task was completed…” My voice faded at the end as the image of Dumbledore presenting the cup swam through my mind and the distant roar echoed horribly in my ears. I waited for her to say something, but she only watched me silently through her glasses. After a long silence in which I returned her stare intently, her head bowed over the dusty book once more.

“I assure you that your aura was prominent the second you walked into this room in your second year.” She muttered almost darkly. “Professor Snape is in a fit about your absence from class. Run quickly and you may make it in time to view your friend’s cauldron spilling the Wilting Brew on Ms. Landson’s bouquet.” I stared opened mouthed at the frail women.

“But – ” I fell silent after only the first word. It was obvious she wasn't paying me any heed. My mouth snapped shut and I stalked from the room.

Snape could wait. I was in a furious huff and even potions didn't sound appealing to me.