Always - Welcome to the Wizarding World

Part 24

For the rest of Boxing Day, Draco stayed by my side and I had a couple of visitors, all of whom believed me to be ill. Zarah, Hermione and Ron, even Professor Snape came to bid me well. I don't think he was fooled by the whole "migraine" act we were putting on, but he didn't bother to speak up. Zarah, as you could probably imagine, had a lot of questions. She even made Draco stand outside the door and wait there until she had finished talking to me.

"So, did he, you know, stay the night?" she asked me inquisitively. I giggled and shushed her in case he heard. She certainly had no trouble speaking her mind!

"Zarah, no! I am not like that. And neither is he. He actually helped me out a lot yesterday when I was...ill" I explained to her. She raised her eyebrow at me, but I knew she wouldn't dare say a word! She'd think dreadfully of me if I told her the whole story. 

"Okay, okay. But, to be honest, after everything, I wouldn't blame you if you let him!" she teased. I laughed and slapped her on the arm light-heartedly. She told me all about the Yule Ball, seeing Hermione Granger on the arm of Victor Krum and kissing Blaise at the end of the night. It sounded so marvelous, I wished I hadn't done what I did. It was thoughtless, irresponsible and now, I would never have another chance to go to the Yule Ball again. I felt so ashamed, but I was glad that only Draco knew what had really happened last night. And, of course, Cho, but she seemed too frightened of me to tell anyone.

After the Christmas holidays, Draco kept well clear of me, much to my disappointment. I had hoped that we could be better friends after what happened on Christmas Day. He still did his unsettling staring thing in the corridors and across classrooms, but that was the extension of our contact. On the other hand, I had caught up with Harry and we had apologized to each other. We decided it was better for us to remain friends rather than enemies, neither of us needed anymore of those! He did, however, ask me a lot of questions about what had happened between Cedric and I. I had discovered Harry to be a dangerously curious boy, not a quality that I thought he should prize.

"So, what are you two going to do now?" Harry questioned, adjusting his glasses cautiously. He knew this could be a slippery slope.

"I'm moving out, Harry. I told him that we couldn't be friends anymore and asked him not to speak to me" I informed him. Harry's bushy black eyebrows crossed in confusion.

"But where will you go?" he asked. I shrugged. 

"Anywhere, except his house. I have to get out, Harry. That's not my home. Not anymore". Harry didn't say anything after that, I think he realized I didn't want to talk about it anymore.  

Harry had asked me to come and watch him at the next task with Zarah. I felt a bit conflicted, but in the end agreed. It would be peculiar not supporting Cedric anymore, but Harry was my friend. It would be bad of me to let him down.

The second task soon came about and the entire school was led by Dumbledore down to the Black Lake. The Black Lake was a dark, sinister place and everybody knew what was hidden beneath the murky water. Merpeople; foul, nasty creatures. Not known to be of the most forgiving or kind nature. They were ugly, unkind and referred to themselves as "beasts", rather than "beings", despite the fact they could speak English perfectly well and I think that told you more about their character than anything. Anyone who wasn't afraid of them was a fool; they would kill you on sight if Dumbledore hadn't ordered them not to. They were positively evil and you would not want to get on the wrong side of one. Unfortunately, I had a bad feeling that Harry and Cedric were going to be forced down there, getting on the wrong side of them whether they liked it or not.