The Raven

Hidebehinds

Two weeks went by without a word from the mystery writer and Harry was getting desperate.

His search for answers had come up empty and he was running out of ideas.

Besides that, things at Hogwarts were getting... weird , to say the least. More than once he had noticed some of the Slytherins watching him. Not maliciously, just curiously.

There was also the time Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott cornered Ron and told him to piss off after Ron purposely bumped into Harry. Harry had bent down to pick up his books, and by the time he stood up again Ron was against the wall looking utterly terrified. Ron never even bothered to look in his direction after that. Even Hermione looked skeptical.

Harry's first instinct was to tell the Slytherins to leave his friends alone, but he was too angry and too tired to care about what happened to Ron and Hermione. If they wanted to abandon him for something he didn't do, he wouldn't put in any effort to help them. They obviously weren't his friends anymore.

And on top of it all, the first task was approaching and he had no idea what to expect. Harry spent most of his days researching defensive and offensive spells, but other than that he didn't know what to do.

Over the next few days Harry took up a new habit of wandering the castle and the grounds. He couldn't sit still for longer than a few minutes.

At one point Harry found himself walking along the edge of the forbidden forest. He walked slowly and stared down his feet, watching as moisture from the grass began to soak through his shoes.

He sighed and moved a little closer to the forest. Harry stopped and placed one foot on the line between the Hogwarts grounds and the forbidden forest. One half of his foot was situated on green grass, while the other side was sinking into black mud. He swore he could almost feel the Hogwarts wards ending in that spot. He wondered what it would feel like to be free. Free from the suffocating atmosphere of Hogwarts and from the Dursleys.

He wondered if he could use some of the money from his Gringotts account to rent a muggle apartment. He wouldn be perfectly happy living alone, away from the rest of the world. Harry huffed in frustration as he kicked at the ground. Dumbledore would never allow it.

Harry was jerked out of his thoughts as he heard a stick snap behind him. He spun around and saw Draco and Blaise standing there.

"What do you want?" He asked, feeling off balance.

Draco glanced down and noticed the raven pendant around Harry's neck. Harry thought he noticed a glint of approval cross over the blonds face, but it was so subtle he wondered if he imagined it.

Harry tucked the pendant underneath his shirt and asked again with a little more force, "What do you want?"

Draco made eye contact and said matter of factly, "The first task is approaching and you have no idea what you are doing."

Harry clenched his jaw for a moment out of anger, but then relaxed. "Okay, you're right about that one."

Draco and Blaise looked at one another. "We know what the first task is," Draco told him as he turned back to face him. "So do all of the other contestants."

Harry's jaw dropped a little, "Are you serious?"

"Of course," Blaise said smoothly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Cheating is part of the tournament."

"He's right," added Draco. "Krum and Delacour were each informed weeks ago by their mentors."

Harry felt sick. "And Cedric?"