Discovery

34.

Christmas holiday came to an abrupt end. Classes resumed and were starting to be more difficult. I spent most evenings in the library with Hermione, because I needed all the help I could get if I wanted to get good marks.

But in between study sessions, Hermione would constantly pester me about what had happened that Christmas night between Fred and I.

"Ella, come on! You have to talk about it sometime!" Hermione called from behind a bookshelf.

"No, I don't, Hermione. And it was just dancing, alright? It's not like we kissed or anything." I replied.

"You didn't kiss because you walked away!" she objected, dropping a stack of books onto our table.

"Hermione, I'm two years younger than him," I said. "He doesn't have a thing for me, and that's final." 

***

January flew by, and the second task of the Triwizard Tournament was growing nearer.

Harry had figured out the golden egg, but now he had a bigger problem: he needed to be able to breath underwater for an hour.

"The ideal solution would be for you to Transfigure yourself into a submarine or something," Hermione said. "If only we'd done human Transfiguration already! But I don't think we start that until sixth year, and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing..."

"I think your best chance is some sort of charm," I told Harry. "You don't want to end up as half-human, half-shark."

"We'll find something, we've just got to." Ron said.

***

The evening before the second task, and we still hadn't found anything.

I sat in the library with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, looking through piles of books.

"There must be something," Hermione muttered, looking over Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable."

"They have," said Ron. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate."

"You're no help, Ron," I said crossly. "There has to be a way of doing it!"

"I should've learned to be an Animagus like Sirius." said Harry, resting, facedown, on Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts.

"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish any time you wanted!" said Ron.

"Or a frog," yawned Harry.

"This is hopeless," I said, snapping shut Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. "Unless you want to make your nose hair grow into ringlets, I've got nothing. And no one would want to do that."

"I wouldn't mind," said Fred Weasley's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"

We all looked up. Fred and George just emerged from behind some bookshelves.

"What're you two doing here?" Ron asked.

"Looking for you," said George. "McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you, Hermione."