MORALITY ( HARRY POTTER )

SEVEN.

A scraping sound was heard as a quill elegantly wrote out a letter to a boy, its cursive neat and aristocratic. A curly haired boy looked down at the few words written; grey, stormy eyes reading it over again and again. Nodding to himself slightly in satisfaction, the boy rolled up the parchment, tying it with a red and white string, before attaching it to his barn owl, Otulissa. He stroked the brown, furry head a few times before clicking his tongue at her, Otulissa understanding the message as she then took off, brown and white wings flapping in the cloudy sky. The letter that was currently on its way to a raven haired boy with striking green eyes and a lightning bolt scar read: Good luck today. Try Aqua Eructo to extinguish the dragon's fires, and Carpe Retractum to pull the dragon's egg toward you. Oh, and try not to die will you? The fate of the Wizarding World heavily rests on your shoulders.

Eridanus sighed, taking in a deep breath of the rancid smelling owlery, before leaving. He was already dressed for the first task; crisp black button up shirt, dark blue fitted trousers, as well as a black blazer overtop. To keep away the fall chill from biting at him, he wore black gloves, his green and silver striped Slytherin scarf, as well as a ridiculous Russian hat Draco had made him wear in support of Viktor Krum. The ushanka was a perfectly round hat that was black and furry with ear flaps that Eridanus chose to tie up rather than leave down. The male huffed out a breath as he stepped off the last step of the owlery, a small cloud of air leaking out of his mouth as he did so. His thighs were imperceptibly burning as although he was used to the stairs at the Manor, the owlery stairs were much steeper and the sum of the steps much greater.

"There you are, I've been looking all over for you." Eridanus hadn't even walked two steps before an exasperated voice was sounding just ahead of him, the male pale with blonde hair and grey eyes.

"Well, you found me." Eridanus supplied boredly, growing slightly agitated that Draco found it necessary to be by his side all hours of the day. However, his cousin did remind him of home and the familiarity of it was comforting so he supposed that was something to be thankful for. The fellow Slytherin was dressed in similar attire to his cousin (black undershirt, black trousers, black blazer, as well as black gloves and the ushanka hat), grinning gleefully as they began making their way towards the stadium where the first task was to be held.

"Let's hurry up, I want to make sure we get a front row seat to Potter getting crushed," Draco chatted excitedly, quickening up his pace, expecting Eridanus to do the same. The Lestrange boy sighed softly to himself, not all that happy about his cousin's enthusiasm for the only hope the Wizarding World had of surviving to die, yet he eventually did speed up to once more be in step with the blonde.

"Do you really think Potter won't make it?" Eridanus asked his cousin curiously, said boy glancing over at him, wondering why the question had been asked.

Draco shrugged carelessly, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he thought over his response before verbalizing it. "Well if he doesn't die then he'll probably tap out before the task has even begun like the wimp he is." The Malfoy boy laughed at his own response, most likely imagining the exact scenario he just said playing in his head. Eridanus, meanwhile, stayed quiet as he hoped what Draco said didn't become a fact. Even though Draco technically knew more about The-Boy-Who-Lived than Eri, he still felt as though his representation of him was more accurate as his cousin had been fed lies his entire life.

The pair was still quiet as they approached the arena where the first task was to be held; a small coliseum resting on the edge of a cliff. Crabbe and Goyle joined up with them then, the two and Draco eagerly talking about what was to come. Eridanus didn't join in on the conversation, as he instead half listened to what they were saying as he looked around for any sign of Harry or his friends. As they entered the coliseum, the Slytherin spotted a bright patch of red hair as he found Ron Weasley with a grumpy look on his face - although there were also hints of worry and nervousness there. Sat beside the infamous redhead were two other boys that Eridanus vaguely remembered to be Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan.