Where Dark Meets The Light

Chapter 3: The First Task

Jay and Neville were hatching a plan. It wasn't a solid plan yet, but the concepts and manners of implementing it were already in the run.

With Jay's nightmares, it was obvious that at some point in the future, Voldemort would rise again. Even without her nightmares, things were getting serious. People with questionable morality were implementing themselves in the government. The newspapers were getting little by little less muggle and muggleborn friendly. Muggleborns were featured less often, instead, they were replaced by less impressive pure-bloods. It was concerning, and very well and subtly done. Neville was the one who had noticed it and pointed it out.

War was on the horizon and Jay was going to start planning sooner rather than later.

So sometimes she said the wrong thing to the right person or the right thing to the wrong person. She asked slightly worrisome questions to teachers after class. She was caught with books that were edging on being illegal. Overall, she was just being a bit dodgy.

For some reason Mad-Eye's interest in her spiked, and not in a way of 'Oh this dodgy figure needs to be watched!' but more in a nurturing way as if he were encouraging her behavior. He watched her every move during class hours, and when he spoke of extra violent spells, she pretended to fidget a bit in her seat. There was definitely something going on with the man, and she had the suspicion that something was going on.

Neville also pretended to pull away from her, bit by bit. It hurt, but if she was going undercover, he needed to man the home front. This meant they couldn't afford him being suspected by anyone. They still spent almost every night in the RoR, now even more driven to learn more and learn faster.

This also meant that her parents were back to putting a lot of pressure on her, and this time they were encouraged to. Her monthly appointment with a mind healer was now a minefield of questions she had to navigate perfectly in order to maintain suspicion, but not to the point they could legally do anything about it.

It was exhausting. But it paid off.

By the time the first task arrived, people were ever so slightly growing more and more suspicious of her. She even caught Charlie throwing her worried glances when he thought she wasn't looking.

Neville was waiting for the inevitable breakdown she'd have. Jay was putting a lot of pressure on herself, and it was only a matter of time she couldn't handle it any longer.

It wasn't until a week before the first task that it happened. Jay found out what type of task she would be presented with.

Dragons.

She stumbled upon them by accident when she was messing around in the forbidden forest. Neville was still in the castle. While the boy was moving forwards with leaps and bounds, he wasn't quite ready yet for the high climb of the trees. The great beasts were locked in cages and she spotted a red-head that she recognized as one of the older Weasley brothers.

And then panic set in.

How was she supposed to keep Charlie safe from this? She would be expected to compete herself and there was no way she could sneak off to give her brother a hand he desperately would need. Well... a hand? More like do the entire thing for him.

She raced back to the castle as fast as her feet could carry her.

She burst into the common room and pulled Neville to his feet. By now the boy was long used to her behavior and just rolled with it, knowing already that something was off.

They were barely in the classroom before she forced out, "Dragons!"

Neville looked confused, "Dragons?"