In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter LXIX: The Only Star That Guided Me Was You

LUCY:

I shot up to a sitting position, pushing back the darkness that had just engulfed me for a fifth time. I wasn't really drowning at the bottom of the Black Lake. I was safe. So why didn't I feel any better?

"Same old nightmare, Lucy," I muttered to myself, but those words weren't enough to slow my racing heart. It didn't matter how many times I had the nightmare --- I never got used to the terror that gripped me every morning when it woke me up.

I glanced at the clock. 6:24 again. I shook my head, realizing there was no way I'd get back to sleep. I changed into my robes for the day. As I dug through my trunk for my socks, I found the stuffed osprey I had gotten for Cedric --- since I had my patronus in stuffed animal form at home, I thought it would be only fair to do the same for him. I considered giving it to him before the task, but I thought he might appreciate it more if I gave it to him at the end of the night, when it was all said and done. If he lost, it would hopefully remind him of all of the good times he had over the year anyway, and if he won, well, it'd just add to the celebration. I had been working with the twins and Henry for the better part of the week to put together a joint party for Cedric and Harry for after the task. They were both Hogwarts champions, after all, and we figured that there would be no better way to officially set aside the rivalry throughout the year than with a huge party, whether they won or lost.

As such, I wasn't terribly surprised to see Henry in the Gryffindor common room with the twins when I headed down, putting the finishing touches on what looked like the poster Dean had painted --- they were adding a couple of charms to make the letters change colors.

"Morning, boys!" I said, wedging myself between George and Henry. "Need any help?"

"Not with the charmwork, but if you wouldn't mind making sure Harry doesn't see any of the things we've stashed in the corners, that would be great," Fred replied.

I looked around the room; the "things" were spilling out of every corner, sticking out from underneath every chair, and falling off of bookshelves. "How? Steal his glasses?"

George glanced around and laughed. "You have a point. We need to hide everything better."

I checked my watch. "And fast. He could come down any minute, I doubt he's slept very well."

"I'll have to try to sneak back down before Cedric wakes up, so I can take some of it with me," Henry added. "Lucy's right, we should hurry."

The four of us were a remarkably efficient team; we barely even needed to talk as we passed various posters and bottles and fireworks and bags back and forth. Henry disappeared through the portrait hole just before seven, and Harry came down not five minutes later.

I hoped for a nice, normal breakfast at the Gryffindor table since I knew I'd be spending the rest of the day with my family, but Rita bloody Skeeter made that impossible.

Hermione spewed her pumpkin juice all over the front page of the Daily Prophet. She shoved it under the table to me so Harry didn't see it, and I cleaned away the pumpkin juice with a flick of my wand in order to read the article.

June 24, 1995

HARRY POTTER "DISTURBED AND DANGEROUS"

The boy who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is unstable and possibly dangerous, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Alarming evidence has recently come to light about Harry Potter's strange behavior, which casts doubts upon his suitability to compete in a demanding competition like the Triwizard Tournament, or even to attend Hogwarts School.