Skill and Seclusion [2] || Harry Potter x OC x Draco Malfoy

148. Enter

DISCLAIMER

I do not own Harry Potter ... but Moody was acting so sus the entire time HOW did no-one suspect anything

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The third challenge was set to take place in June.

That left just over three months in-between the day Bel was released from the hospital wing after a very thorough final examination from Madam Pomfrey, and the day when this nightmare the tournament turned out to be was over.

In that time, nothing much had happened to the Hufflepuff girl.

Something that was not in her control.

Dumbledore had very much stuck to his word of keeping her on the side-lines. The headmaster had returned to their lessons twice a week with the upmost caution.

The wandless magic spells Bel practiced on Wednesdays were all repeats of ones she had learnt back in first or second year, and in duels they had on Fridays, she could tell the old man was pulling his punches.

He also made it very clear to her that her previously assigned duties surrounding the final challenge of the tournament were almost entirely reassigned to Professor Moody.

That included growing the maze itself, being in charge of hiding the Triwizard Cup, and figuring out the various spells that would be laced around said maze as challenges the champions would need to surpass.

The one thing she was still supposed to do was oversee protection on the actual day of the challenge. In other words, Bel was going to be the one heading into the maze if any of the champions gave indicators that they needed assistance.

It was the only thing Dumbledore couldn't get her out of, considering Fudge would be there to witness the event.

But Bel was thankful she was still going to have some hand in involvement. Now the construction part was entirely out of her control, she needed to have some type of peace of mind when it came to protecting Harry and Cedric when they headed into the final challenge.

Speaking of Harry and Cedric, they were the other two people who were ensuring nothing abnormal found its way into Bel's life in those three months.

Cedric had stuck to her like glue whenever he could, forcing her to go to the hospital wing once a week for a check-up with Madam Pomfrey.

He had also found her one night when one of her nightmares came back.

Bel had taken herself out of her shared dorm room as to not wake Riley, Tia, and Susan, and opted to sit in front of the fireplace in the Hufflepuff common room.

Given that her clearing was only visited during daylight hours, and the horror of running into Malfoy on the Astronomy Tower late at night was a real risk, she had decided it was the only place she could go.

The thought of going to the Gryffindor common room and trying to wake Harry crossed her mind, but it was tricky when he was sharing a dorm room with Ron, Seamus, and Neville.

Three people they really didn't want waking up and asking questions as to why Bel was in their dorm room.

So she had to deal with it alone. Or so she thought.

When Cedric ventured down to the common room by a lucky coincidence to get some water, he had seen Bel curled up on one of the sofas trying to calm herself down.

It wasn't so much the nightmare itself that phased her; she had gotten fairly used to those over the past year. It was the fact that, despite her steps to a hopeful recovery, even one nightmare would remind her that she wasn't totally healed and might never be.