Dark

Chapter 31

Draco
I fought against the turning of my stomach as I made my way down the sloping lawns with Eleanor. It had been a few weeks since I had promised to teach her how to fly. A part of me was interested to see how this would go. Would Eleanor take to flying the same way that Potter did in our first year, or would it actually be something she wasn’t good at for once? On the other hand, I also wanted to back out of my promise.
Eleanor and I had managed to keep our friendship going, but we had spent most of our time in the company of either Greengrass or Zabini. Spending time alone with her suddenly seemed uncomfortable in a way. I was sure that I would manage to say something that would set her off, and the odds of that only increased with the fact that I never knew what exactly would set her off.
In the end, I could tell the pressure of the upcoming task was beginning to chip away at Eleanor and I offered to finally show her how to fly to take her mind off of it. That’s not really accurate I suppose. It was Astoria who had rushed up to me and suggested the idea. According to Eleanor it was the “not knowing,” that bothered her the most about the third task. Thankfully for her, they were supposed to be finding out the details of the third task tonight.
“Students usually learn to fly in their first year, right?” Eleanor suddenly spoke, breaking the silence that had settled between us as we walked.
“Yeah.” I answered, and then a question came to my mind. “I thought you covered all the earlier curriculum over the summer though, why didn’t they cover flying too?”
“There wasn’t time.” She answered simply. “I had the option to learn if I wanted, but I was trying to cram in as much information as I could for the placement tests. I didn’t exactly have time to waste on flying lessons.”
“So we’re just heading out here to waste time then, are we?” I questioned.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying.” She countered quickly. “I just…I have more time now I suppose.”
“Well, we’re past the far end of the pitch now, as long as we don’t fly high enough to top the stands, we should be fine.” I told her. I swung a leg over my broom and felt that familiar rush as I hovered off the ground. “Flying is pretty simple, really, it just takes getting used to. It’s more of a confidence thing than anything else.”
I circled Eleanor a couple of times before coming back down to the ground. I fought against the part of my brain that was telling me to take my broom back to my dorm and lock it away, and I held it out toward Eleanor.
“Are you sure this is all right?” She asked me, looking apprehensive for once.
“If I didn’t trust you with my broom, Potter, I wouldn’t be doing this.” I told her. Did I really trust her that much? Or was I just trying too hard to maintain a friendship between two people who weren’t exactly great at being friends. I continued to hold out the broom, but Eleanor was still looking at it strangely. “What, are you scared, Potter?”
“Of course not.” Eleanor said sharply, and her hand finally shot out and took the broom out of my grasp.
Over the course of the next few hours, I knew one thing for certain. Eleanor was a natural on a broom. As much as I hated to admit it, it reminded me a lot of Potter. She hadn’t taken to it quite as quickly, but it had only been a half hour before she was flying without any fear or hesitation. We took our time though, making sure that she could manage all of the basics with ease.
Eventually Eleanor’s feet were firmly planted back on the ground and my broom was safely situated in my possession again.
“You know, that reminded me a lot of Potter. Never flown a bloody broomstick before and he just jumped on one and chased me around in our first lesson.” I grumbled.
“And what exactly did you do to make Harry want to chase after you?” She asked. “Certainly it wasn’t your charming personality that drove him mad.”
“Ha, ha, Potter.” I retorted. “No, I took a Remembrall or something of Longbottom’s and Potter was demanding I give it back.”
“See, I don’t find that surprising from you at all.” Eleanor muttered. “You really shouldn’t do things like that.”
“I was eleven. Give me a break.”
“Well when I was eleven I was working in the orphanage kitchens and spent my nights sneaking into food cupboards to feed the still hungry children on my floor.” She said.
I froze.
“Just because you were only eleven doesn’t mean that you can be an immature jerk to people.” Eleanor said, a sharp bite to her words.
Though I knew my next question was comparable to poking a sleeping dragon, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why were you working in the kitchens at eleven?”
Eleanor’s eyes went wide and I was certain that she had only just realized what she had revealed. She avoided talking about her past at all costs. The most she had ever revealed had been when she was drunk. Now she had revealed something else. I could see the shock in her gaze as she tried to recompose herself.
“It doesn’t matter,” was all she said before turning and heading back toward the castle.
I should have left it at that, but I couldn’t help myself. That familiar intrigue about Eleanor and all of her secrets began to bubble up again.
“Eleanor, just tell me.” I said as I caught up with her. “Why would they make children work in the kitchens?”
“It was just a part of my punishment for something, all right?” She answered. “It’s nothing.”
“What do you mean a punishment? They punished kids by making them work –“
“That was just a part of it, and I’m telling you that it really doesn’t matter.” Eleanor said, the frustration beginning to show clearly through her tone of voice.
“Only a part of it?” I asked. “What else was there?”
This time it was Eleanor who froze. It was nearly as though as she had simply stopped working for a moment. She just stood there, staring ahead, not responding and not even acknowledging that I was still there. Then she slowly turned her gaze toward me again and I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. Her face had become unreadable, as blank as blank could be.
“I’ll see you at dinner.” She muttered. Then she finally moved again, walking away from me with no explanation, no answers to my questions.
This was what I had been worried about. I had been worried that I would manage to push too far, that I would set her off. What had been a simple flying lesson, one that had gone better than I had expected, still turned into a disaster.

Eleanor
I was reluctant to enter the Great Hall, but I took a seat with the fourth year boys anyway. I was eventually joined by Astoria as well, but it must have been clear that I wasn’t in the mood to talk as she didn’t try to strike up a conversation. To my relief, Malfoy hadn’t brought up our discussion from earlier. So I remained silent as I picked at the food on my plate, waiting for the time to arrive when I would finally discover what the third task would be.
When I felt a hand on my shoulder I was glad to find it was only Viktor standing behind me.
“Ready?” He asked.
I simply nodded and got up from the table. Our instructions had been to meet in the Quidditch Pitch, and Viktor and I walked in silence down the lawns, much as I had early today with Malfoy. When we entered the pitch though I was surprised to see what looked to be various pathways of hedges standing a mere two feet up from the ground. It had only been a few weeks ago that the pitch had been flat and pristine as the whole of Slytherin House either played or watched the Quidditch skirmishes. What had been done to it since then, I couldn’t tell.
Bagman was standing at the center of the pitch with Fleur Delacour. Viktor and I carefully made our way through the maze like growths to join them. By the time we reached the center, Harry and Cedric Diggory had entered the pitch, expressions of utter disbelief on their faces. It must have been a shock to see their pitch in such disarray.
“Hello there!” Bagman called out, waving Harry and Cedric toward the rest of us.
As Harry approached, Fleur smiled down at him. She had certainly changed her mind about him since the second task. Though her sister was never in any real danger, I suppose it must have been a relief to see that Harry had ensured she was retrieved from the lake.
“Well, what d’you think?” Bagman said happily as Harry and Cedric finally climbed over the last hedge. “Growing nicely, aren’t they? Give them a month and Hagrid’ll have them twenty feet high. Don’t worry,” he added, grinning at the less than-happy expressions on Harry’s and Cedric’s faces, “you’ll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we’re making here?”
If the hedges were going to be twenty feet high by the day of the task, I could only think of one purpose they could serve.
“Maze,” Krum grunted from beside me.
“That’s right!” Bagman said. “A maze. The third task’s really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks.”
“We seemply ‘ave to get through the maze?” Fleur asked.
“There will be obstacles,” Bagman said happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Hagrid is providing a number of creatures…then there will be spells that must be broken…all that sort of thing, you know. Now the champions who are leading on points will get a head start into the maze.” Bagman grinned between Harry, Cedric, and myself. “Then Mr. Krum will enter…then Miss Delacour. But you’ll all be in with a fighting chance, depending how well you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?”
Though a maze certainly wasn’t what I would have guessed the third task to be, I was indeed intrigued. This was something that could be prepared for easily. Defensive magic, some research on magical creatures, and that was all it would take.
“Very well…if you haven’t got any questions, we’ll go back up to the castle, shall we, it’s a bit chilly…”
The six of us climbed our way back over the hedges and out of the pitch. My mind was so focused on what books I needed to collect to help me prepare for the third task, that I nearly missed Viktor saying my name.
“Eleanor, I vill see you tomorrow.” Viktor said.
“All right, see you tomorrow. Training bright and early before classes, right?” I asked him.
Viktor nodded before turning away. I assumed he was going to head back toward the Durmstrang ship, but instead he approached Harry. Though he seemed apprehensive at first, Harry followed Viktor away from the pitch. I wasn’t sure what they were up to, but I had more pressing issues to deal with. Alone, I trudged back up the slopes toward the castle and made my way through the lower corridors to the Slytherin common room.
By the time I made it back, the common room was mostly empty. Only a few fellow Slytherins here and there studying. To my surprise, the person I most wanted to find in that moment was still up. I approached the couches near the fireplace and take the empty seat next to Malfoy.
“It’s a maze.” I said simply.
“A maze?” Malfoy asked, turning to face me.
“Yeah. It’s just a maze with some obstacles we have to get through. Enchantments, magical creatures, that type of thing.” I explained.
“Well that’s simple enough then.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I’m going to get some books together and start working on some new defensive spells tomorrow.” I said.
“Do you want help practicing?” Malfoy asked.
I was surprised by the offer, especially after the disastrous end to our flying lesson earlier. Why was he suddenly so interested in helping me though? I considered what Astoria had brought up a few weeks ago. The truth was though, helping someone doesn’t mean you like them or want anything more than a friendship with them. Eventually Astoria would realize that.
“Well I know that Viktor and I are still going to train together, but it would nice to have some help learning some new things. Viktor and I will probably just work on dueling anyway.” I answered.
“All right then, I’ll help you.” Malfoy said simply.
With that, we made our separate ways to bed, the list of books I needed to collect still running through my head.