March To The Sea - George Weasley ✔️

- 8 2 - KARKAROFF

"ARE YOU DRUNK?" Cedric asked with humor laced in his tone. "And swimming on a full moon? Bit dangero-- Oh, your tail! Brilliant!"

She smiled and nodded. "My tail is wonderful."

Cedric snorted as he took a seat next to her. "Hey, Briz."

Brizo happily climbed on the Hufflepuff's shoulder, getting his shirt all wet. Cedric only laughed.

"So, why aren't you cele-celebrabing, no...celebrating your victory as a Hogwarts Champion?" Lorelei questioned laying back down to look at the stars. She glanced over at him as he twirled his wand in his hand. "Corridor watching? Sucks. I hate monitoring corridors."

"I'm well aware," Cedric said with a laugh. "Roger tells me how much you complain when you both are patrolling." Lorelei grinned sheepishly. "So, this is what a mermaid looks like. Quite fascinating, actually. Why aren't you celebrating your champion?"

"Oh, come off the nice act, Mr. Hufflepuff. You know you're miffed he got chosen as well," Lorelei said with a grin when she saw his lips twitch.

Cedric said, "I'm not miffed. I know he didn't do it. Do I know how it happened? No, but he looked too frightened, too unwilling. He was trying to find a way out, but Bagman wouldn't let him. But I am a bit upset now because who can compare to him? He's the boy who lived!"

Lorelei laughed loudly when Cedric ended the statement in a dramatic tone raising his hand up like he was announcing someone. Lorelei patted Cedric's back. "You're pretty awesome, too. Saved my arse last year. I owe you, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. Just doing my duties as Mr. Hufflepuff," he teased sending her a smirk. "Well, I must go back to my party now that I've done my Prefect duties. Have a good swim, Lor."

He stood up and gave Brizo back to her. She waved at him as he walked away. Smiling, she allowed herself to dry off so she could go back to the Common Room. She was as tired as anything.

Lorelei knew Harry was having a rough few days as the time passed until the first task. People, mostly Slytherins, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws, were treating him terribly. She saw people wearing badges that said POTTER STINKS. Was that the best they could come up with?

Lorelei sighed when she saw Adrian Pucey wearing the badge with a grin on his face. He hadn't been rude to Lorelei since the Moody accident. He hadn't really been nice either; he ignored her presence completely, actually. Montague and Warrington liked to make themselves known, but no, Pucey was all for standing in the back now glancing at her now and then.

It was the twenty-second of November, a Saturday. Lorelei had visited Hogsmeade with Angelina that day instead of the twins as she wanted to get away from them for a while. A girl's day was needed, that was for sure. She was sitting in the Common Room alone that night finishing a Defense essay for Snape. It was fairly late when someone stumbled through the portrait hole. Well, the portrait hole opened and no one was there. Lorelei knew who it was though.

Lorelei smiled at him. "Hello, Harry. All right?"

"No," Harry mumbled when he took the Invisibility Cloak off of himself. He threw himself into the armchair next to Lorelei and stared into the fire. "I wish Ron would speak to me. Completely ignored me today..." he trailed off when he saw something flicker in the fireplace. Leaning over, he gasp loudly.

Lorelei looked over and smiled brightly. "Hello, Sirius."

Harry threw himself onto the floor near the fireplace with Lorelei following in a more graceful manner. Harry grinned for the first time in days. "Sirius! How are you doing!?"

"Never mind me, how are you? Lorelei has been keeping me updated, unlike you," Sirius said seriously.

Harry glanced at the girl, and she gave him a sheepish smile. "I'm--" he paused and thought about something. Lorelei jumped when the boy started pouring his feelings out to Sirius. Sirius listened intently about how no one believed him about entering, how Rita Skeeter had lied in the Daily Prophet, how he couldn't walk down a corridor without getting sneered at, and about Ron...Ron not believing him, and Ron's jealousy. Finally, he said Hagrid had shown him dragons. The first task is dragons.

"You've got to be fuc--"

Sirius gave her a look making her pause and grimace. He looked back at Harry. "Dragons we can deal with, Harry, but we'll get to that in a minute--I haven't got long here...I've broken into a wizarding house to use the fire. Different one from last time, Lorelei--don't give me that face; I'm being careful. These wizards could be back at any time. There are things I need to warn you about, Harry," Sirius said with a sigh.

"What?" asked Harry looking unsure.

Sirius began again, "Karkaroff. Harry, he was a Death Eater. You know what they are, don't you?"

"Yes--he--what?" Harry stumbled and Lorelei placed a hand on his shoulder when he began to shake.

"He was caught, he was in Azkaban with me, but he got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year--to keep an eye on him. I know you don't like him Lorelei, you have a good reason not to, but he was an Auror. Since you have said he has been a bit shifty, Arthur is looking around at the Ministry for you. Remus was able to convince him to ask around about any more of the Black heritage. But... the reason I think Moody is there is because Moody caught Karkaroff. Put him into Azkaban in the first place."

"Karkaroff got released?" Harry asked. "Why did they release him?"

"He did a deal with the Ministry of Magic," Sirius said bitterly. "He said he'd seen the error of his ways, and then he named names...he put a load of other people into Azkaban in his place...He's not very popular in there, I can tell you. And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of his. So watch out for Durmstrang as well, both of you."

Harry questioned if Karkaroff put his name in the Goblet and if he was trying to kill Harry. Sirius brought up that Moody had been attacked before making it to Hogwarts and that he was the best Auror the Ministry ever had. Harry was frightened when Sirius had said the Death Eaters were more active recently. Bertha Jorkins had disappeared from the Ministry in Albania, where Voldemort was rumored to be last.

Lorelei's brain hurt with all of the information Sirius was spewing. He spoke that Voldemort could have found out about the tournament from Bertha and then sent Karkaroff to kill Harry.

Finally, Sirius began speaking about the first task. "Don't try a Stunning Spell. Dragon's are too strong and too powerfully magical to be knocked out by a single Stunner, you need about half a dozen wizards to overcome a dragon--"

"I know. I just saw," said Harry.

"But you can do it alone," Sirius reassured. "There is a way, and a simple spell's all you need. Lorelei, help him as much as you can. Look after him like we talked about, yes? Harry, you stick close to Lorelei. Promise me. Just--"

"Go!" Harry hissed at Sirius. "Someone's coming. I promise, just go!"

Sirius nodded and smiled at Lorelei before vanishing. Lorelei stood up and sat back in her chair while Harry stood watching the boy that was his best friend come down the stairs. Ron glared at the girl, too, after spewing rude thoughts to Harry.

Lorelei hissed at him while allowing her teeth to elongate. Bloody toe-rag.