thick skin and an elastic heart

Chapter 25

Lightning streaked across the inky black sky overhead. The rough, choppy waves splashed her face and burned her lungs as she gasped for breath. Her entire body felt encased in ice. She was so cold her body felt like it was on fire. She floundered in the water, kicking her legs and arms but still sinking lower and lower. The water burned against her nose, and she continued to gasp for air. Finally, the water rose over her head until the icy water consumed her whole.

Juliana woke up with a strangled gasp. Something heavy pushed down on her chest. She heaved and shifted the weight off her chest, and the magic mirror fell off onto the mattress beside her. She sucked in great lungfuls of air, still feeling short of breath.

This was the sixth nightmare she had about drowning since the second task.

There was no excuse for her performance during the second task. Juliana had panicked when the lake water rose over her head. She struggled to breathe, despite the bubble head charm and despite knowing she couldn't physically drown. She floundered through the water until the panicked feeling in her chest reached its peak over the kelp forest.

She tried to push away the tight, strangling pressure in her chest, but it distracted her so much that she didn't notice the Grindylows before they attacked. She wasn't even sure how she got out of their grasp. One second she'd been surrounded by Grindylows, pulling her deeper into the kelp forest. The next, she was free-floating in the lake, the Grindylows knocked out. Sergio said it was from some kind of accidental magic triggered by her panic, but Juliana didn't remember.

Instead of proving why the Goblet chose her as champion, she made Hogwarts and Gryffindor House look like a laughingstock.

She did her best to walk around and ignore the loud whispers about how horrible she performed, how she let the school down, and let Durmstrang back into the competition. The Slytherins, in particular, had a lot to say.

She hated the stereotype that all Slytherins are evil.

She had seen real evil behind Alacrán's eyes that night they fled the trailer park. She remembered how his eyes roved over her, and how sick she felt, how scared. The idiots in the hallways weren't evil. They were just cruel kids. A nearby Slytherin boy mimicked her drowning, and she felt deep resentment for all of them.

The fallout from the second task distracted her during classes. Her quill hovered over her parchment, dripping black droplets on the still blank page of notes. She tried to concentrate on the lecture.

"Magic leaves traces. Wizards can connect to these traces and manipulate magic, using a conduit such as a wand. Transfiguration is the manipulation of these magical frequencies. Only a great wizard or witch can work magic without a wand and only in small ways-" Professor McGonagall continued her lecture on the magical theory behind human transfiguration, but Juliana felt herself checking out again.

She didn't care about magical conduits and human transfiguration. They wouldn't help her through the third task or navigate the maze. The bell finally rang, and Juliana immediately shoved her books into her bag.

McGonagall's voice rose over the sound of packing students, "Miss Valdés, a word after class, please?"

Juliana waited until the classroom emptied. "I've got Defense Against the Dark Arts-" she started, but McGonagall shot her a look.

"I will write a note. I need to speak with you."

"What's wrong?" Juliana asked, alarmed. She turned in all her homework, right? She was sure she had. And she did well on practical tests. She started to mentally spiral before McGonagall calmed her nerves.