How You Get the Girl |Harry Potter|

Chapter Twelve

It had been a month. One whole blasted month! Elizabeth had never been this pissed off or heartbroken in her entire life.

Yes, in the past she might have wished for some solitude away from Harry. Yes, she may have enjoyed those moments when he was busy, off saving the school from whatever happened that year, a little too much. But now she was falling to pieces.

The morning after the Yule Ball, she was freaking out. She admitted that she liked Harry. Out loud. Padma had stared at her, eyes wide in shock, for a good few minutes before exclaiming that Elizabeth better explain herself before Padma forcefeeds her a truth serum. So Elizabeth did. And all Padma could do was ask if she was feeling alright or if she needed to visit Madame Pomfrey. (For the record, they did end up visiting Madame Pomfrey. After talking to the nurse, the nurse put her hand over her heart and said, "ah... young love" before shooing them away because she had "actual patients" to tend to).

Elizabeth had tried to approach Harry during the month - she really did. She would go to the library and find him there researching something, and would offer to help. She would sit so she was across from where he sat with the Gryffindors in the Great Hall. She even made a point to sit beside him in Potions after Snape took the seating plan away. But he ignored her, like she was nothing more than a mosquito pestering him.

She had even gone so far as to rant to Draco about Harry avoiding her. Draco looked ashamed and she knew that something went on between him and Harry. After days of following him like a lost puppy (or a Pansy), he finally told her about the hexing. But he admitted that he didn't think that his hexes were enough for Harry to avoid her. She didn't either.

And so there she was, a month after the Yule Ball, staring hopefully at her partner, Anthony, for Divination for news.

Anthony was staring intently into the tea, his blue eyes squinted to try to make out an image.

"I see... A circle. With lines around it... A circle being crossed out?" Anthony narrated his thoughts. "No... Um..." He tipped the cup, taking its substance in from all angles. "Aha! It's a sun!"

"A sun?" Elizabeth asked to verify, flicking through her Unfogging the Future textbook. She reached the page with the sun and read, "The sun symbolizes great happiness. It could mean the granting of power, energy, success, or a new beginning."

Anthony put the tea cup down, just for Elizabeth to pick it back up.

Elizabeth peered into the teacup and noticed that it was, indeed, a sun. This sight brought a smile to crack on her face, an action that she hadn't done in at least a week.

"I have never seen anyone so happy in Divination before," Anthony commented, noticing her wide grin. "Does this mean that you will be happy for Padma and I's relationship now?"

Elizabeth patted his head thoughtfully, "I've been wanting to say this but have been too miserable to... You guys are cute together. And it's about darn time."

Anthony smiled back at her. He was beyond glad to see a smile on her face. Being around Elizabeth with her in a bad mood was like being under a constant gray sky: always expecting a storm or for the clouds to blow away, but getting neither.

"Does this mean you'll stop pouting about your Chosen One?" Anthony joked.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow in question before she caught on, "Oh. Ha ha. You're absolutely hilarious, Anthony."

"I know," Anthony said cheekily.

The bell rang from outside in the bell towers, signalling the end of class.
Elizabeth collected her book before throwing Anthony a wink, "Now you can go snog your girlfriend." She turned to leave only to notice a quill go flying past her. Anthony was laughing at her, and she joined in. It was nice to smile again. Why was she even upset in the first place?

A boy with shaggy black hair and the greenest eyes she'd ever seen flashed in her mind.

Oh yeah.... Elizabeth groaned. She was going to kill him.

ϟϟϟ

Elizabeth threw a pebble into the lake, watching it skip across until it sunk, going under the dark water. She had never seen lake water so dark besides at Hogwarts, she supposed that's where it got the name of the 'Black Lake'.

She bent over and picked up another pebble. Strangely, skipping rocks was stress relieving. She just imagined that every time the rock sunk it was her worries disappearing. She felt the pebble for a moment, admiring its smoothness, before chucking it with all her might into the lake water.

"It skips more if you toss it lightly," she heard Luna in her lighthearted voice say from behind her.

"I know," Elizabeth grimaced, "I just like watching it sink. Is that weird?" She grabbed a handful of pebbles and offered them to Luna. "Want to join me? It's oddly calming."

Luna nodded excitedly, her platinum blonde hair bobbing with her head. She stepped forward and took a few and lightly tossed them in the water.

"Why do you think those platforms are out on the lake?" Elizabeth asked after she skipped a few rocks. There were these tall wooden platforms out on the lake that were barely visible from where they were standing.

"The merpeople might be having company over," Luna said thoughtfully.

Elizabeth raised her free hand to shade her eyes from the sun. She stared over at the platforms and nodded her head, "I reckon you're right."

"Oh, Professor Flitwick wanted to see you in his office," Luna remembered.

Elizabeth dropped the pebbles in her hand. She wasn't in trouble, was she? She didn't think that she did anything bad, but maybe she accidentally took a book that she thought was hers but wasn't? She went pale at the thought.

"Um... I guess I better go see him. Want to come with?"

Luna shook her head, "I have classes again in a few minutes."

Elizabeth was going to question why, if she had classes in a few minutes, she didn't have any books on her but decided against it. Luna always had a unique way of getting things done, getting her books to class might be included.

Elizabeth headed off to the Charm classroom to find it empty.

"Professor? Are you in here?"

Elizabeth asked while knocking on the door that was open.

"Ah, yes," Professor Flitwick jumped up on to his chair. "Miss Reething, come in."

Elizabeth stepped in and walked to where he sat, "Luna said you wanted to see me."

"Yes, it's about a matter about the Second Task."

"The Second Task? What about it?" Elizabeth racked her brain for what the second task was. She hadn't spoken to Harry, but she did overhear Fleur saying something about the golden egg from the first task had the message inside.

"For the Second Task the Champions will be finding what important item was taken from them. The item this time around just happens to be a person, and you, Miss Reething, are Potter's important person," Professor Flitwick explained.

"What?" Elizabeth blinked a few times, trying to digest the information. "What about Ron?"

"It was a tie between you and Weasley, and Weasley when asked denied it. He suggested to go to you instead," Professor Flitwick answered.

"I'm Harry's most important person?" Elizabeth still wasn't over that. She was rethinking killing him the next time she saw him.

"Yes. Now, for the task he'll have to save you from the Black Lake where you are tied up with the others. He has an hour, and if he fails the task the merpeople will bring you up later to safety," he continued to explain. He handed her some tea, "Drink this and you will go unconscious, only awakening when you surface from the water."

Elizabeth accepted the tea. She took a sip and wondered if it had been tested before. She remembered the sinking pebbles and let her doubts sink with them as she continued to finish the tea. Her head went fuzzy, her vision blurring, and then it all went black.