Dark

Chapter 14

Eleanor
I had only just spoken with Viktor, but I needed to find Harry immediately. If Viktor was right, Fleur would know about the dragons as well. Harry may infuriate me, but I can’t stand by and let him be unprepared for dragons. Thinking of that, I knew I needed to tell Cedric as well. He can’t be the only one to not know, the least we can do is make it an even footing for all the champions.
I couldn’t find him in the castle. I had just done another round of the Gryffindor table trying to spot him, but I couldn’t. I figured he may be at Hagrid’s so I left the castle for the cool bite of November air. The first task is tomorrow, and my original thought was that I didn’t want to be stuck out in the cold air, but now that I know we’re facing dragons, I suppose there’ll be enough fire to warm the entire student body. As the thought crossed my mind I noticed Harry in the courtyard.
He was talking to Cedric, which was good for me. I can warn them both now and spend the rest of the day deciding what can be done about the dragon tomorrow. As I drew closer to Harry and Cedric, they broke off separate ways. Harry was thankfully headed in my direction.
“Harry, I just talked with Viktor.” I said as I pulled up next to him and turned to continue in the direction he was going. “The first task, its –“
“Dragons, yeah I know.” He mumbled.
“How do you know?” Did Viktor already tell him?
“Hagrid showed me on Saturday.” Harry answered.
On Saturday? He’s known since Saturday? I grabbed his arm tightly and brought him to a stop.
“Saturday? That was two days ago, Harry!” I whispered viciously. “You…you weren’t going to tell me, were you?” The thought suddenly crossed my mind and I was quickly losing my composure. Would he have really left me to be completely surprised by the dragon tomorrow?
“Eleanor –“
“Wait…you were just…you just told Cedric, didn’t you?” I asked him. He averted his gaze away from me. “But you weren’t going to tell me?”
“Hey, Potter!”
Harry and I both turned toward the voice to find Draco Malfoy sauntering up to us.
“What do you want, Malfoy?” I asked him shortly.
“Not you, Potter. Him.” Malfoy said, inclining his head in Harry’s direction. “Do you like the badges?”
I had been so distracted by Harry and dragons that I hadn’t noticed the glaringly obvious badge pinned to the front of Malfoy’s robes. Now that I had realized it though, I couldn’t miss the fact that nearly half of the people in the courtyard were also wearing one. The badge read:
“Support CEDRIC DIGGORY
The REAL Hogwarts Champion”
As I read the words they morphed into something new:
“POTTER STINKS”
“Do you want one?” Malfoy asked with a harsh laugh.
“Get stuffed, Malfoy.” Harry spat.
“You know, my father and I have a bet. I don’t think you’ll last ten minutes in the first task, but my father thinks you won’t last more than five.” Malfoy laughed again and was quickly joined by a large group of Slytherins behind him. I recognized most of them as fourth years, though there were a couple of older students as well.
“I don’t give a damn what your father thinks, Malfoy.” Harry yelled.
That was my cue. I needed to get him out of here before one of them did something stupid. I grabbed Harry’s shoulders and turned him around roughly. With a tight grip on his arm I began to walk him away, until there was a loud BANG!
Harry and I both quickly turned around to see a white ferret sitting in the spot that Malfoy had just been standing in. Suddenly the ferret was bouncing up and down in the air, nearly seven feet high. Its small legs were moving about frantically, trying to find some way out of the air. Harry’s first reaction was to start laughing nearly uncontrollably. I just watched in horror.
“OH NO YOU DON’T, LADDIE!” Someone boomed from behind us.
I turned yet again and was met with the face of Professor Moody. An uneasy feeling immediately came over me, just as it always did in his presence.
“Did he get you?” Moody asked Harry.
“What? No.” Harry answered between gasping breaths and laughter.
“I’ll teach you to attack someone when their back is turned!” Moody said, addressing the ferret again and continue to bouncing it up and down in the air.
“What the bloody hell are you doing?!” I shouted. This was absolutely cruel.
I stepped between Moody and the ferret, sending my typical glare in Moody’s direction. Moody broke his spell on Malfoy and he fell to the ground with a soft thud, still in his transfigured form. I was about tell Moody off when thankfully McGonagall arrived. I couldn’t honestly say I had ever been so happy to see her before.
“Professor Moody!” She shouted in a shocked voice. “Was that – Is that – a student?”
“It is Professor.” I spoke up, still refusing to move out of Moody’s way.
“Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!” McGonagall continued. “Surely Professor Dumbledore has told you that?”
“He might’ve mentioned it, yeah.” Moody mumbled.
“We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender’s Head of House!” She said shortly. She was in a towering temper.
Professor McGonagall raised her wand and I stepped out of the way. With one quick wave Malfoy was transfigured back into his normal self, though his hair and robes were disheveled. He looked at me with a confused expression, but it also looked as though it was mixed with sadness. I didn’t know what to make of that. Then he turned back to Moody.
“M-my father w-will hear about this!” He spat before turning on his heel and storming away, followed by the rest of the Slytherins. Other than me.
As the crowd in the courtyard dispersed Moody called over to Harry, “Come with me, Potter.”
I moved to join them but Moody fixed me with a glare.
“Not you, just him.” Moody said.
I watched as Harry walked away with Moody. I never felt right around Mad-Eye Moody. Now he’s managed to walk off with my partner for this ridiculous tournament, and I’m on my own to figure out what I can do about the dragon.

Harry
Moody’s office wasn’t particularly large, but the amount of stuff he had accumulated within it made it feel cramped. He had described some of the things scattered throughout the room. They were all Dark Detectors of some sort. I recognized the sneakoscopes thanks to the one Ron had given me two birthdays ago. In addition to that there were Secrecy Sensors and some large mirror like item that Moody called a Foe-Glass.
“So…got any ideas how you’re going to get past your dragon yet?” Moody asked me.
“No,” I answered honestly. The fact that I didn’t know what to do yet kept pressing in on me every time I thought about it. Now that the first task was tomorrow, I could nothing but think about it.
“Well, I’m not going to tell you,” Moody said. “I don’t show favoritism, me. I’m just going to give you some good, general advice. And the first bit is – play to your strengths.”
“I haven’t got any,” I said lamely.
“Excuse me,” Moody growled, “you’ve got strengths if I say you’ve got them. Think now. What are you best at?”
“Well…Quidditch.” I said dully, unsure of how that could possible help with a dragon.
“That’s right,” Moody said. “You’re a damn good flier from what I’ve heard.”
“Yeah, but…” I was still confused, I don’t get to take a broom with me. “I’m not allowed a broom, I’ve only got my wand –“
“My second piece of general advice,” Moody cut me off, “is to use a nice, simple spell that will enable you to get what you need.”
After a moment it all clicked into place. I needed a broom but couldn’t take one in with me. I did get to take my wand though, and with that, I could summon my broom. I quickly thanked Moody and ran out of his office in search of Hermione. If anyone could help me by tomorrow it was her.

Draco
I couldn’t get the image of Eleanor’s face out of my head. I shouldn’t have confronted Potter about the badges while she was around. She looked furious. But then again, she seemed upset with Potter before I even showed up. What did he do this time?
It shouldn’t matter to me what Potter did to her, but for some reason I can’t get that out of my head either. My friendship with Eleanor may have been formed from a twisted truce, as she so harshly reminded me, but I don’t hate her. No matter what she says. I should, seeing as she’s a Potter. But I just don’t. So I keep trying to figure out what Potter could have done to piss her off so badly again.
A better question seemed to cross my mind. How can she even let that git bother her in the first place? He clearly doesn’t want anything to do with her. So why does she try talking to him? They’re nothing alike. Potter sees it. I see it. I’m pretty sure everyone can see it at this point. Potter is the reckless Gryffindor, and Eleanor is the resourceful Slytherin. They’re nothing alike. So why does she care what he thinks?
Eleanor doesn’t seem to care what anyone thinks. She’s not intimidated by anyone, she’s not even intimidated by me. She was ready to take me on the first night of term. That certainly hadn’t happened before. Eleanor is unique. She’s definitely more Slytherin than she is Potter. So why does she want Potter’s approval anyway?
Maybe she does care what people think then? Our confrontation the other night popped back into my head. I had never thought that my harsh comments had fazed her during those first few weeks. Then she told me that I obviously hated her because of what I was always saying about her, about her appearance, about her secondhand belongings. She had been furious during that confrontation too, but now that I thought back on it she also looked hurt. I guess we were both hurt that night.
I couldn’t stand it anymore. I slipped out of bed, my feet hitting the cold stone floor. I quietly left the dormitory, intending to while away the late hours in the common room by myself. As I turned into the common room I was surprised to see that the very reason I couldn’t sleep was standing before me.
There were a number of times I had hoped to find solace in the common room late at night only for my hopes to be dashed by Eleanor. Not only did never seem to eat much in the Great Hall, but she didn’t seem to sleep much at night either. How she manages to get through the day is beyond me. This time seems different though. Usually she has her head buried in a book, most often it’s that blasted book that I can’t seem to uncover.
Instead of sitting and pouring over a book tonight, Eleanor is standing in the center of the common room. Her back is turned toward me and her wand is raised in front of her. She muttered something and gave her wand a sharp flick. I expected something to happen but nothing did. I could hear her sigh in frustration before raising her wand again, taking a deep breath and trying the same thing.
Then I realized what was hovering not far behind her. It was that book again. It looked like she used the same hover charm that she uses in the Great Hall so that the book was floating at eye-level again to where she was standing now.
Eleanor made another frustrated sound and ran a hand through her hair. What was she trying to do? Why wasn’t it working? More importantly, could I finally uncover what book she’s been obsessing over while she’s distracted?
I quietly made my way across the room and reached out for the book. She hadn’t noticed me yet. I snapped the book shut and pulled it away from where it had been hovering.
Eleanor quickly turned around, her wand raised. At first she seemed relieved that it was me, then her eyes caught sight of the book and widened.
“Give that back.” She demanded.
“Why? What is this book anyway?” I asked as I narrowed my eyes at her.
She just glared at me for a moment, so I took my chance. I turned away from her and flipped the book over as quickly as could. The cover was extremely faded, but now that I was finally up close to the book I could just barely make out the words that adorned the front.
There’s no way. She couldn’t be reading this.
I felt a stinging pain in my arm and the book fell with a loud thud to the floor.
“Move!” Eleanor said harshly.
I backed away from the book and watched as Eleanor snatched it up in her hand, never once lowering her wand from me. She stood back up, holding the book close so that the cover was buried against her chest.
“What in the world are you doing with that?!” I asked her. I couldn’t believe that she carrying a book like that around. Not only that but she had been reading from it obsessively for weeks.
Eleanor rolled her eyes and turned away from me, finally ceasing threatening me with her wand.
“Eleanor!” I said harshly as I reached out and grabbed her wrist. I pulled her back to face me again and drew closer to her. That book was dangerous, she shouldn’t be carrying it around with her anywhere. “Secrets of the Darkest Arts?! Eleanor, you could get into trouble just for having that. Where in the hell did you find it?!”
“That’s none of your business.” Eleanor spat as she ripped her arm out of my grasp.
“None of my business?” I asked her. “You could get expelled if a teacher thought you were trying to use anything from that book.”
“What would that matter to you?”
“What would it…?” Does she really not see it? “Eleanor…I…I thought we were actually friends.” I told her. It was almost physically painful to admit it.
“You hate me, Malfoy.” She stated simply, as if it was just a simple fact.
“No. I don’t.” I told her.
She just stood there for a moment, watching me. It felt as though she was trying to look right through me, see what was going on in my head. I wanted to turn away, I didn’t want to look her in the eye and I wanted to take back my words just for the survival of my own pride. Then she turned away again, saving me the trouble.
“We’re not talking about this, Malfoy.” Eleanor said quietly.
“Then at least tell me what you were trying to do.” I said.
“Don’t worry about it…”
“Eleanor…”
I waited for her to answer me, I wanted to know what she was so busy with that she wasn’t sleeping the night before the first task.
“It’s dragons, Malfoy. The first task…it’s dragons…” she was still quiet, barely audible.
“Dragons?” I felt my stomach drop. They were going to make her face a dragon? With Potter by her side? She would surely get killed then.
“Yes. I have to get past a dragon. Harry found out on Saturday and didn’t bother to mention it to me. I only found out from Viktor this morning. I’m not sure how to get past the dragon, but I figured if anything I could learn to protect myself.” She said all of this quickly, as though it had been on her mind all day and she was finally releasing it all.
“That doesn’t explain what exactly you were trying to accomplish.” I told her.
“It’s like a shield charm. You know, Protego?” She explained. “But it’s more powerful. Harder to produce as well. The only person I know of who can do it for sure is Dumbledore. The kind he can produce though is somewhat different. The one I’m trying to make is strictly Dark Magic.”
“A shield?” Where was she going with this?
“Yes. A shield, to protect me from dragon fire.” She raised her wand again and now I realized that there was a stack of books sitting on one of the tables. That must have been what she was aiming at before. “There’s a spell in this book that allows you to create something like bubble, except it’s more rigid of course. You can encase something it in. The intended use is apparently for the purpose of encasing living things. There won’t be any air inside of the shield, so it’s used to suffocate things.”
“Wait, so what…what are you trying to do with it then?” I asked her, confused as to where she was going with all of this.
“If I can create this shield, it’s powerful enough to go up against dragon fire. When I face the dragon tomorrow, I can use it on myself. I cast it and just hold my breath for a moment before releasing the spell. That way if the dragon breathes fire at me, I don’t have to waste time dodging flames.” Eleanor had a determined expression on her face now. She raised her wand again and tried the spell, but still, nothing happened.
“Do you think you can learn it before the task? It’s only hours away at this point.” I asked her.
“I don’t know. But I have to try. I have to do something.”
So I spent the night in the common room with Eleanor, trying to figure out a vicious spell from one of the darkest books that probably exists in the school. All I could think was that this plan of hers better work, or she’s in deep trouble tomorrow.