𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙃𝙚𝙞𝙧

ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴛᴀꜱᴋ

NOTE: Hey guys!

How are you guys doing? Sorry I haven't updated sooner. I've been working two jobs and my mum is at the hospital right now, so there hasn't been much time. Sorry.

Anyways, another chapter is up and I hope you enjoy it!

━━━━━━━✦━━━━━━━

The night before the morning of the second task finally arrived, Jamie and Mia had already mastered, with great difficulty, the bubble-head charm. Both were now; chatting in the common area while Archie was helping one of the teachers before finally going to rest for the task the following morning.

"Have you talked to your parents?" asked Mia softly, munching on a chocolate frog.

"No. And I don't intend to," assured Jamie.

"That way, at least, I save them from disappointment," he added sourly.

"He didn't mean that, Jamie," tried the girl.

"Yes, he did. I know, and so do you," the boy replied.

"And you know what, I don't care anymore."

"Yes, you do," Mia replied.

"I do not," he argued.

"You do. You're a terrible liar, Jay," she said softly.

"It's your father we're talking about, Jamie. It's obvious that you would care what he thinks about you. Strange it would be if you didn't," the girl comforted.

"I just... I've been trying so hard, but I just can't understand what I did wrong," the boy recounted, ruffling his hair in frustration.

"It's like he started hating me overnight, and I don't even know why."

"He doesn't hate you, Jamie. He's just... Plain stupid," said Mia.

The boy snorted a laugh.

"I understand their fear about me deciding to go to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts, but I'm still me. For Merlin's sake, they're my parents. They should know me well enough to know that it wouldn't be a school that would change who I am or what I believe in," he voiced.

"Or that would make me want anything bad to happen to my brother."

He sighed and rubbed his eyes wearily.

"It's so much easier to just... Stay away from them," he sighed.

Mia agreed slowly.

"You not gonna defend them?" asked Jamie with a frown.

The girl chuckled.

"It's getting hard to do so. I'm sorry, but your dad is an asshole, and your mum is just so freaking clueless and apathetic that I feel the urge to slap her face with some common sense to, hopefully, make her see something other than your stupid green-eyed brother," spoke Mia, and Jay laughed openly.

"I know," he agreed.

Both went quiet for a while.

"What about Iris?" asked Jamie, and Mia sighed.

"Not talking to me, thankfully. Kristoff also stopped sending me letters, which means that me; going to the Christmas party with Adrian pleased him," she told him.

"Speaking of him, is everything alright? He hasn't been around as much," asked Jamie, and Mia shrugged.

"Family problems, I suppose. His family is not much better than mine, and as far as I know, they are threatening him to do whatever it takes to win the Tournament," she explained.