Dangerously Close

“Hey, Potters, like the badges,” a random student yelled, pointing to the flickering badge pinned to his shirt as his friends snickered, directing to their robes as well, sharing the same pin. It was round, and said something about Diggory, but was gone too quick to read as the letters swirled away and faded to “Potters Stink.”

I groaned. “Just ignore them. Those Ravenclaws have it coming for them later.”

Harry sighed heavily. “I can barely step out of bed without being glared at or called out.”

“It’s no different for me,” I pointed out. “But we can make it through it. Promise.”

I was walking, almost stomping, hurriedly as me and Harry walked through the halls and into the courtyard, searching for Cedric. We had made an agreement that he deserved to know, mainly because Fleur and Krum knew as well. I - We, didn’t want anything to happen to Hogwarts’ actual champion.

After a quick glance, I could make him out sitting on a bench with several of his Hufflepuff friends, laughing and talking. All except him wore the pin as if it were their pride.

I nudged Harry’s shoulder and pointed to the group. He turned his head to them and nodded, and we began making our way towards them.

We grew into view for them, and his friends began to laugh, pointing to the badges. Cedric shooed them off, chuckling a bit.

“Cedric, we really need to talk to you,” Harry urged, ignoring the Slytherin-wannabes.

“We wouldn’t bother you if it wasn’t important,” I added.

He nodded, standing up. “Alright, come on then.”

We walked a bit further away from the bench and away from any student’s hearing before speaking up.

“Dragons. That’s the first task,” I blurt out.

Cedric’s eyes widened. “Wait - what?”

I nodded, my expression remaining serious and hard.

“We saw them, Cedric.”

“Wait - are you serious?”

“Certain,” me and my brother both said at the same time.

He bit his lip. “And do the others know, or just you two?”

“They know,” I assured. “Madam Maxine would have told DeLacour, she was there when we were. And Karkaroff told Krum. We’re sure of it.”

Cedric sighed, scratching the back of his neck. “Thanks for telling me. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.”

“It wasn’t quite easy for us when we found out, either,” Harry mumbled.

“But no problem, you deserve to know,” I said, smiling at him.

He smiled back.

“Harry, we need to head to the library, and I still have to go to Transfiguration or McGonagall will kill me,” I said.

Harry nodded. “Right. Erm, see you around, Cedric?”

His smile still on his face, he shook Harry’s hand and mine. “Surely. Good luck, and thanks again!”

And with that he was off.

I sighed.

“What’s up, Rose,” Harry asked, smirking.

“Oh, shut it, Harry. You’re my little brother and all, but this isn’t the time to be annoying.”

“Annoying? How am I - Oh! You like -”

I cut him off by making a “Shh!” sound at him and blushing a deep red. He grinned.

“If I do, it shouldn’t matter to you,” I remarked.

He rolled his eyes.

Sadly, the small moment of happiness and sibling we just had came to end as Harry caught Ron and Seamus turning around to the direction we were heading, deeply involved in conversation to notice us.

He began storming towards them and I reached for his arm to pull him back, but to no avail.

“Harry,” I whispered. “It’s not worth it!”

Too late.

He yanked his arm from my grasp, standing in between the ginger and the Irish boy. I grumbled, sensing the tension in the air.

“You’re a right foul git you know that,” Harry exclaimed.

“Anything else,” Ron asked, clearly annoyed as his gaze hardened on the two of us. I shot him a glare, warning him to not dare shoot a threat at neither of us.

“Yeah, stay away from me.”

“As if it wasn’t clear enough,” Seamus interjected.

“Fine,” the Weasley boy murmured, walking off and away from us.

I turned to face Harry who looked rather angry. Today was not a good day. When he didn’t make eye contact with me, I groaned and stormed off, heading the direction we came.

Unfortunately, my day was about to get worse.

“Hey, Potter, why so blue? Finally realized how big of a sore loser you are,” a familiar cold voice taunted, bursting into laughter.

I turned on my heel to see the pale-blonde Slytherin malcontent Draco Malfoy himself, hopping down from a tree.

“What do you want, Malfoy,” I snapped. “I don’t have time to stand here and listen to your remarks.”

“Quite hilarious how you act like you have no idea how yours and your brother’s name ended up in the Goblet! And Skeeter agrees with all of us, you’re probably not even a real bloody Seer!”

I closed my eyes shut, the fire boiling inside me of as I was ready to launch at him in anger.

“At least I don’t need a posse following me everywhere I go to worship me so I can feel good about myself,” I spat.

He seemed taken aback by my sudden response, but the sneer rolled back in as Harry joined my side, ready to defend me.

“Oh look, if it isn’t the other snooty Potter,” Parkinson screeched.

I shot her a glare as Malfoy began talking again. “Oh, why so tense Potter? You know, my father and I made a bet! I think you won’t last ten minutes in this tournament.”

He stepped closer to Harry’s face threateningly, smirking evilly as always. “But he disagrees. He says you won’t last five!”

His group began to snicker. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, shooting daggers at him.

“Well guess what, Malfoy,” I said coldly. “I don’t give a damn what your bloody father thinks.”

I let go of his shirt and Harry shot him a glare, stomping his foot on the ground. “He’s vile, cruel, and evil. But you’re as pathetic.”

Me and Harry were about to storm off when suddenly we heard Professor Moody’s voice gruffly exclaim something, and Malfoy’s odd scream of terror.

I turned around and burst out laughing along with my brother as we watched the so called “Slytherin Prince” transfigurate into a small ferret. A few students were now wandering around us, laughing at the sight as the Malfoy ferret began running around in circles everywhere.

Moody was controlling him with his wand as he lifted him up and down, laughing. When he let go, Malfoy headed straight for Goyle’s pants, crawling inside of them making the chubby Slytherin jump and run around everywhere in fright.

When the animal came out of his leg, Professor McGonagall came rushing by.

“Professor Moody! What are you doing,” she asked.

Moody rolled his eyes, his magical eye swirling a bit more. “Teaching, of course.”

“Teaching? Is that a student?”

“Actually no, it’s a ferret,” I pointed out, still chuckling.

Before anyone could continue joking, McGonagall pulled out her wand and transformed him back into his horrid self.

“My father will hear about this,” he exclaimed, trying to threaten him.

With that, Moody began chasing him around the tree. “Like I give a damn about your father! I could tell you stories about your father that would curl even your greasy blonde hair, boy!”

When Draco was gone, the group looked at Mad-Eye in fear before running off.

I was trying to hold my laugh but I couldn’t resist as I clutched my stomach, letting it all out.

“That was too good.”

Professor McGonagall gave Moody a stern look. “Alastor, we never use Transfiguration as any sort of punishment for students. Surely, Albus told you that before you started!”

He looked down at the floor, unamused. “He maybe mentioned it.”

“Well you should do well to follow orders.”

And with that, she was off. Moody mimicked an odd face, making fun of her behind her back before grabbing Harry by the shirt. I raised a brow.

“And where do you think you’re going with my brother,” I asked suddenly.

“I need to show ‘im something. You can feel free to wait here,” he said, a toothless, untrustworthy smile curling up in his lips as he took Harry to his office.

I sat on a bench. As amusing as recent events were and how I thanked the crazy Professor for them, I still had my eye on him. Something wasn’t right.

But I didn’t have time for that, when the first task was a mere few days away. Yet, I had no plan of action.

Usually, this is when I would trust my visions to show with help, or at least allow me to see what happens so I can change it or start working. But for an odd reason, I still hadn’t had one. It was worrying me, but I didn’t have time to focus on that with the jammed list of fears and worries.

This was going to be a long, and hard year.