Staying Alive // D.M *On Hold*

1.1 - The First Task

"Harry, will you stop pacing? You make me nervous too."

"Oh, poor Mia, you're nervous!" Harry snapped at her, making her flinch at the sudden tone. He relaxed his tense shoulders, he hated how she reacted to his loud voice. "I'm the one about to face a dragon, Effie."

Mia threw her arms around his neck as he wrapped his own around her body. Harry only called her Effie if he was absolutely broken or in a bad state. "You'll be okay, Harry. We've been getting ready for this task for a long time. You'll do well, I know you will. Just try to stay calm. When you're finished with the dragon I'll be waiting for you and we'll go take a nap together like we used to do okay?"

Harry nodded slowly. He remembered the way they used to sleep hugging after a long day back when they were young. It had been such a long time since Harry had been truly alone with his sister. "Okay." He let her go with a final kiss on the cheek. He bounced on his heels. "I'm going to ace it!"

"I will be rooting for you! Susan is holding a poster for Cedric so I won't be with her but don't forget to give me a glance when you get out, I have a surprise for you." She winked mischievously before leaving.

Mia made her way to Lisa in the sitting area. She was holding the gigantic poster Mia had prepared for the night. It wrote 'My brother is the best' in bright glittery pink and the word 'best' bounced in its place thanks to a charm she had cast on it. Lisa seemed to be having trouble keeping it away from bypassing people. Mia had made sure to threaten Lisa that if the poster were to wrinkle in the slightest she would jinx her roommate.

"Thank Merlin, Mia. Where were you?" Lisa jumped from her seat handing the ginger her poster. "I tried to spare a seat for you but people were crazy. I barely found this seat for myself. I had to fight a Hufflepuff on it, didn't know she had it in her but she was pretty aggressive if you ask me."

Mia laughed at Lisa's facial expressions as she recalled her fight. She shook her head. "Don't worry, I planned to go to annoy Malfoy anyways. No one stands close to his gang for the fear of getting cursed and I already saw Daphne wave at me. I'll just go sit with them."

"Are you sure?" Lisa glanced at the group. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"Oh, no. I'll be fine. Your seat is good and it sees everything, don't want you to lose it." With that, Mia made her way to the Slytherins. She too had to push some people away as she made her way. She was also pretty sure she had stepped on a Durmstrang student's feet but didn't have the time to say sorry as she was also being pushed away. She struggled to keep her poster from harm but when she finally reached the Slytherins it was all worth it.

"Did your friends kick you out, Potter?" Pansy commented as she watched Mia fix her hair, slightly out of breath.

"People are crazy! Lisa couldn't save a seat for me." She smiled up at them. "So I decided to come to see my favorite Slytherin."

"I'm flattered, Euphemia." Draco put his hand on his heart jokingly but Mia wasn't looking at him.

"Daphne! Hi, how have you been?" She gave the blonde girl a friendly hug as Draco's face dropped. Both Theo and Blaise, as always, had big grins on their faces upon that. Mia turned to squeeze Draco's cheek after leaving Daphne's hug. "Don't worry, Draco, you are a close second."

"Oh, please honey," he pushed her hand away gently, looking down at her. "I'm at the top of every list."

"Does the most annoying people list count in that?" Mia sat down after teasing him once more. Draco rolled his eyes before sitting down next to her. Blaise sat on her other side with Theo next to him. On Draco's other side were of course Pansy and next to her Daphne. "Check my poster out, Draco!"

Draco looked down at the bright pink words before snorting. "Darling, it's hideous." Mia shut the poster close, offended. "Oh, Potter." Draco hit her with his shoulder lightly. "Euphemia," she didn't look up. "It's only because I don't think your brother won't stay alive to see it."

Mia gave him a glare. "Shut it, Malfoy!"

He leaned in to speak to her ear without anyone hearing. "Sorry, Mia." Her heart melted at the usage of her nickname. "I had a bet with my father."

"You're a dick, you know that." Mia pushed him away but he put his arm on her shoulders anyway. In any other condition, Mia would push him away but the bomb going off and both a dragon and a champion coming out got all her attention. "Look!" She jumped from her seat to go closer with the Slytherin group following right behind her. Draco watched her instead of the champion. He enjoyed how she got worried over him and how her eyes glistened when Diggory managed to turn a rock into a dog, distracting the dragon. "Go, Cedric!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

They watched Cedric capture the egg successfully. Another dragon was brought after that, common Welsh green, one of the easiest to get along with. Fleur Delacour got her egg too only having a little trouble with her robes catching fire. The next was the Durmstrang boy, Viktor Krum and of course, he managed to get his egg too. Mia cheered for all of them with big smiles. Every time an egg was captured the crowd erupted into cheers. It was like the atmosphere at the Quidditch world cup but much more exciting.

"Look it's a Hungarian Horntail!" Theo pointed at the dragon, making all of their heads snap at the arena again. Blaise let out a swear word as Daphne and Pansy exchanged giggles over the news. It would be amusing to watch Potter wrestle that beast. All Mia could do was stare dumbfounded.

"Euphemia he'll be okay." Draco put his hand on her shoulder, trying to give her a type of comfort. She nodded before grabbing her poster. She opened it the way Harry would see what was written on it. She tried to keep it open all by herself but the paper kept falling down. She turned her pleading eyes to Draco. His eyes grew when he realized what she wanted him to do. "No." He shook his head. Euphemia checked the arena to see if Harry was out yet before pouting at Draco. "No, Euphemia. I'm not holding a poster for your brother." He almost spat the last word. He really despised him.

"Please, Drakey." And he was a goner. He grabbed the edge of the poster with his three fingers like the paper held some kind of disease. "Thank you so much, you're the best!" Merlin, the girl, knew how to keep him wrapped around her finger.

"Just watch." He pointed to the arena with his chin. He also made sure to give Blaise a death glare when Mia wasn't looking. 

***

"You stupid boy!" Mia marched into the tent where the champions were waiting for the judges to talk. She had left her poster with Draco just before running after her brother. She assumed the Slytherin boy would 'incendio' the poster but couldn't care less at the moment. Her heart felt like it was about to break her rib cage. A Hungarian Horntail! Couldn't they find a more dangerous dragon for him? Whose bright idea was it anyways? "How could you be so foolish! You should've stopped the moment that beast got out of its chains!" 

"Mia-" Harry hugged her tightly. He was shaking, still out of breath. He was also scared to death out there. "I thought I was going to die." 

"You will because of your idiocy!" she snapped but had a big grin on her face as she pulled back. "Congratulations for making both Draco and his father owe me money." 

Harry was about to grin too when he realized the meaning of her words. His smile froze, "You placed a bet on me and with Daddy Malfoy?" 

Mia rolled her eyes. "Come on, Draco wrote to his father about my strong beliefs in you surviving the tournament. He finds it amusing. They will both pay me five galleons each for every task you manage to survive." 

"You're a horrible sister!" He exclaimed in fake horror. "How can you betray me like that?"

"Suck it up." Mia shrugged. "I planned to give half the money to you since you're the one doing the surviving part but if you don't want it, I can ju-"

"I want it!" He caught her head, spinning her body as he had her in a headlock. He started messing with her ever-so-perfect hair. Mia wiggled, hit, and kicked him, trying to get him to leave her alone but Harry had the height advantage due to his growth spurt over the summer. "Tell me I'm the best." 

"I literally opened a poster saying it, you toe-rag!" She tried to bite down on his hand but Harry hit her head with that very same hand as soon as he noticed her motives. "I'm going to kill you and have your body hanging from the Astronomy Tower." 

As a side effect of growing up together, Harry was immune to her treats and sneering, so he just chuckled. The girl's face was bright red due to her struggling. "Say that I'm the better twin then! Admit I'm the most handsome and smart one out of the two of us." 

Mia elbowed him harshly. Harry gasped at the sudden pain, loosening his grip just enough to let Mia get out. She spun around, pushing her hair away from her face while throwing a blind kick in Harry's direction, or where she assumed he was. 

"Ouch!" The twins both froze at the voice. Mia turned to see the Bulgarian 'Bon-bon', clutching his side, looking strangely at them. She tried to offer him a sweet smile. Merlin, she never thought she would hit him, she hadn't even kicked that high in the air. "Miss. Euphemia," he said, his accent thick. "I vould like you to be more... careful." 

"I'm sorry, Mr. Krum." she nodded dutifully. She needed to act 'good' to be out of trouble. "We were having a playful banter with my brother. Apologies for not looking around." 

"Yeah, sorry." Harry rolled the words in his mouth, not very keen on saying sorry to a competitor. Viktor nodded at them, the pain in his side had already vanished. There was no point in having a disagreement. 

"Call me Viktor, please." He offered his hand to Mia. She blinked a few times, a famous quidditch player and arguably the most handsome boy of Durmstrang were offering her his hand. She took it, trying not to seem so eager. 

"Just Euphemia then." she smiled politely. 

The next thing coming out of his mouth had Mia wanting to be six feet under. "You're Draco's girl, right?" Harry choked on his own spit as Mia blushed into the deepest shade of red. "He watches you valk around all the time. He vas vith you out there, vasn't he?" 

"Yes, he was." She managed to say. "But we're friends, nothing more." Harry nodded frantically at her words as Viktor didn't seem like he believed her but nodded nevertheless. 

"Great, Ivan vill be so happy!" Mia raised one eyebrow at this, her cheeks were now back to their normal color. 

"Ivan?" 

"He vishes to ask you out." Mia nodded in shock at his brutal honesty while Harry choked on his spit once more. Merlin, what was wrong with these boys? They seemed to be worshiping the ground Mia walked on. It was gross.