Dangerously Close

“These are just fascinating,” Neville exclaimed, grabbing at a green plant on the shore of the water. His pants were rolled up as he stood in the water, gaping at the useless greenery.

I grumbled to myself, looking back at the book I was reading. My time was spent searching constantly for spells to learn and teach Harry to defend ourselves from whatever dangers we had to face. I wasn’t sure what tasks we’d face - but I’d have to prepare.

“Neville,” Harry interjected, making the giddy boy look up at us with a big toothy grin plastered on his face. “You’re doing it again.”

Neville raised a brow and then nodded, sighing. “Oh, right!”

I let out another grumble. “This is impossible.”

“Rose, don’t stress yourself out,” Harry said, a little worry in his voice.

“I’m not letting you go to fight anything or face anything without being trained in more advanced spells,” I pointed out, almost snapping at him.

He sighed. “This is going to be a horrible year,” he groaned, sticking his head in between his knees.

“And I’m going to protect you, so don’t you worry your bloody arse,” I said, patting his back.

He rolled his eyes at my attempt to lighten the aura. “And what about you? How are you going to accomplish anything with sickening yourself by protecting me?”

I closed the book and looked back up at him. “I don’t care one bit about this tournament or if I come in last place. As long as you’re safe and are alive to babysit my children who will probably cause a ruckus everywhere.”

He chuckled a bit, but the laughing only lasted a bit before reality had to kick back in.

We heard footsteps on the grass. I sat up straight on the trunk of the tall tree I was leaning on, peeking over to the side to see who was coming. I could make out Ron, Seamus, and Hermione heading our way.

“Harry, it’s -”

They made it to where we sat, making me bite my lip and shut up. Harry turned to the three with an angered and annoyed look.

“Can I help you,” Harry spat.

As much as I loved Ron and Hermione dearly, they didn’t believe Harry, and that hurt him - because now he had no friends. Only me. It wasn’t something that I’d expect from his two best friends who had stuck with him through thick and thin, but I guess that it happened. Rayne occasionally talked to him and tried to cheer him up, and Ruby had gotten to know Harry and liked cracking jokes and trying to help him. I think it meant a great deal to him to not be left completely alone.

Hermione took a few steps towards us hesitantly, her breath hitching every time she neared me. I could tell she knew I was ready to attack if anything went wrong.

“Ron told me - to tell you, that, erm, Dean was told by Pavarti that Hagrid is looking for you two,” she stated, flinching a bit.

I raised a brow. “What?”

“Dean was told by - Please, don’t make me say it again Rosalie,” she pleaded, letting out a sigh.

Harry turned to face me, then back at Hermione, his cold glare softening a bit. “Huh?”

Hermione stomped her foot and walked back to Ron, whispering some stuff to him. I could hear them arguing slightly back and forth but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. She grumbled and walked back up to both of us.

“Hagrid’s looking for you. And he said to bring Harry’s Invisibility Cloak.”

There was an awkward moment of silence, and Harry stood up, still a bit angry. “Well, you can tell Ron that -”

“I’m not an owl or a messenger,” Hermione shouted suddenly, her eyes shooting daggers at him.. “If you have something to say, say it your bloody self!”

And with that she stormed off, Ron and Seamus silently following behind with their hands dug in their front pockets. My eyes were widened a bit by her sudden outburst.

“Looks like we have somewhere to be,” my brother mumbled, kicking a pebble on the ground before beginning to walk towards Hagrid’s hut.



“Hagrid, why were you looking for us,” I asked as we began walking the forest with him.

“Ye’ll see, did ye bring yer cloak, Harry?”

He nodded.

“Quickly, throw ‘t on!”

Harry threw the garment over us. Me and him were taller than we were a few years ago, so we had to crouch a bit to be able to stay hidden. Hagrid was completely alone, so we didn’t understand why he’d bring us to the middle of the Forbidden Forest where no one would be with my brother’s Cloak.

Another odd thing, Hagrid’s hair was actually combed, and he was a bit more dressed up than usual.

“What are we doing,” I whispered to Harry, watching carefully around us as I followed the half-giant.

“I dunno,” Harry whispered back. “But we know we can trust Hagrid, maybe it’s important.”

I nodded, and watched as another figure came up, even taller. The greasy styled hair and dress with fur gave it all away.

Madam Maxine.

I made a disgusted face as Hagrid began to flirt with her, and I shut my eyes.

“C’mon, I got somethin’ to show ye,” Hagrid told her, letting her walk forward before looking over his shoulder to where we were hiding and giving us a thumbs-up.

We followed closely behind until suddenly the Forest grew brighter, and brighter. It was midnight - how was the sun coming out?

When the light kept turning more orange and blinding, I realized it wasn’t sunlight, but fire. The pit of flames were coming out of the snouts of large, winged creatures locked up in cages, being tamed by people. I could make out scaly, dried skin.

Dragons.

“What the fuck,” I breathed, my eyes widened.

I could tell Harry was in utter shock too as he stood stiff next to me, staring at the creatures.

Meanwhile, the crazy French proper Headmistress was too busy admiring the “beauty” of the monsters. As she gawked at them and walked off to the cages, me and Harry stood frozen.

Harry pulled down the cloak from his head. “Dragons? Dragons! That’s the first task,” he asked, bewildered.

Hagrid nodded.

“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” I mumbled, putting my head in my hands.

“Yep, Ron’s brot’er, Charlie, himself is here to prepare te’ dragons! Didn’ Ron tell ye that?”

I furrowed my brows then scanned the area until I could make out the ginger-haired adult opening a cage, revealing a fierce dragon. He immediately blew fire towards us, making us crouch down.

“These things are...dangerous,” I exclaimed. “They’ll burn our heads off in one second!”

“C’mon, Rose, ye’ve always been a bit of a daredevil,” Hagrid said, trying to lighten the aura. “Dragons, seriously misunderstood creatures!”

Harry was still in shock as the large dragon that had previously tried to turn us into ash let out roars. People had to run to pull on the chains around its neck.

“But that Hungarian Horntail ‘s a sure nasty,” the half-giant commented, scrunching his eyes a bit.

“Let’s just hope neither of us gets it, then.”