PRANKSTER [1] ↝ C. DIGGORY

thirty-seven

"Oh look, here he goes, here he goes," Clary said, nudging Vasantha to get the girl's attention as she watched Ron approach Fleur where she sat with two of her friends. When Ron had told Clary that morning that he planned to ask Fleur Delacour to the Yule Ball, Clary knew she needed a front row seat to the action. Knowing all too well Fleur and her friends frequented the Hogwarts courtyard in an attempt to spend time outside the castle, Clary knew it was the perfect place for her and Vasantha to study that day. She watched as Ron steeled himself, taking a deep breath, but instead of asking her calmly, his voice rang out into the courtyard, loud enough that both Clary and Vasantha could hear him from where they sat on the other side.

"FLEUR WILL YOU GO TO THE BALL WITH ME?" Ron screamed, eerily close to the French girl's face, and his cheeks instantly flushed bright red, eyes so wide they were nearly bursting.

Without waiting for an answer, Ron ran off, sprinting away from Fleur and running down the hill, in the direction of the Black Lake. Fleur watched, bewildered, as he ran off, before turning back to her friends, looking both shaken and surprised at the prior events. Clary couldn't help laughing at the predicament her brother had found himself in, even after Ginny followed after Ron down the hill.

"Well that's just about as I would've expected." Clary observed. "George owes me one Sickle."

Vasantha smirked in response, her eyes briefly looking down to the Care of Magical Creatures essay she'd been working on before suddenly shutting her book and looking back up at Clary.

"Speaking of which," she said, "that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about."

"George owing me money?" Clary asked, furrowing her eyebrows together in confusion.

"George," Vasantha clarified, "He asked if I would go with him to the Yule Ball."

"Oh," Clary said, a bit taken aback at first, though a smile soon lit up her face. "That'll be fun! I heard Fred and Angelina were going together, and I wondered who George would get to bring."

"It's not weird or anything, right?" Vas asked. "Y'know, since he's your brother and all."

"No," Clary assured her friend, shaking her head. "That just means George got the prettiest date of all."

Vasantha smiled in response before her eyes caught sight of something moving behind Clary. "Speaking of the prettiest date of all," she said, nudging Clary as she turned around to see Cedric rushing up to her, panting and out of breath from his run, the golden egg clutched tightly in his hands. As he grew closer, she noticed his hair was sopping wet, as if he'd just come from the showers.

"Hey," Clary said, rising to her feet as Cedric finally reached the girls. "You look..." she trailed off, surveying him once more. "...distressed."

"I'll leave you to it," Vasantha said, "I have to go help Newt with that... special someone he wants to ask to the ball, but we'll see you both for dinner later."

"Bye," Clary and Cedric chorused as Vasantha hurried back into the castle to meet up with her brother, and once she'd rounded the corner and vanished from sight, Clary turned back to face him.

"I figured it out," he said, holding the egg up triumphantly, and the expression on his face changed to a relieved grin as Clary's jaw nearly dropped in response. "I got the clue. It's merpeople, Clary, their song can't be heard above water. That's why it just screeched when we tried to listen to it before."

"Well, go on," Clary said, "what did it say?"

"I wrote it down," Cedric said, rummaging through the pocket of his robes before he pulled out a small piece of parchment, passing it to her.