Chapter 11
Rebecca had originally planned on going to bed without the draught, certain that she was tired enough that it was unnecessary. Hermione, out of an abundance of caution, argued differently.
"Please, please just drink it." Hermione grasped for reasons as to why Rebecca would be wary. "Is it because you're worried you won't be able to wake up? I'll make sure you're awake!"
Rebecca made a face and took out her cup and the draught. "Get out of my head."
Hermione threw her pillow at Rebecca, catching Ginny's attention. "We're throwing things?!" Ginny scrambled to her top drawer, pulling out a dusty white ball. Rebecca ignored it while Hermione hid behind a pillow.
"No, we're not!" Hermione shouted out, laughing.
Rebecca enchanted the water to be warmed and made the tea, adding in the drops of concentrate as Madam Pomfrey instructed her too. Sipping from the drink, Rebecca narrowed her eyes at Ginny's weapon of choice. "What even is that?"
Ginny tossed it up and down a few times before putting it back gently in her drawer. "A snowball."
"A...snowball?" Hermione's jaw dropped. "From when?"
Ginny refused to answer when the snowball was from, but did look to Rebecca with a grin. "You should pass that on: Never-melting snowballs."
"Pass to whom?" Hermione asked as she pulled her blankets up over her, thinking Ginny was talking to her.
"Not you." Ginny said sassily. "Becs and the prank-makers."
"That sounds like a wicked band." Rebecca said, continuing to rearrange her pile of blankets until it was the perfect level of messy.
"I know I've asked before," Hermione started. "But why can't you make your bed like a normal person?"
Rebecca drank more from her tea, already feeling the exhaustion creep up on her. "What? What's not normal about this?"
Hermione pointed to the different blankets and how not a one was actually laid out but how they were piled on and about without a single semblance of order. "There's absolutely nothing normal about any of that."
Rebecca reached down and tidied the corner of one blanket, making it so her foot that had been uncovered was covered. "There. Happy? Nice and orderly."
Hermione shook her head in utter disbelief of the oddities of her roommates and turned her lamp off.
"And you'll make sure I'm up?" Rebecca asked only a moment after the room was dark.
"Yes!"
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Ron was awake when Harry sat up in his bed the next morning--the morning of the event. Through barely-opened eyes, Ron watched conflicted after Seamus' actions the day before.
"Seamus crossed a line." Ron thought.
Harry got up and put his glasses on, eying the bag at the on his trunk resignedly. Harry took a cursory glance around the room to see that the others were all sleeping and tore the paper quietly.
Ron watched, silently observing how Harry held the red and gold uniform in his hands to sit on his bed. Minutes passed, Harry not moving until he had steeled himself inside. Pulling the kit on and taking only the slightest glance at the POTTER across his back, Harry left the room.
Ron was more conflicted than when he had first opened his eyes.
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"Rebecca?" Hermione called, sitting on the edge of Rebecca's bed and fishing around in the blankets for wherever she had ended up. "It's time to wake up." Hermione followed a trail of curls, finding Rebecca curled up in the middle of the bed. Hermione shook her shoulder, getting no response. "Rebecca?" Louder still and yet, nothing. Nothing besides a small snore.
"Ginny?" Hermione sighed. "I think we need something...shocking."
Ginny grinned deviously and paused her getting ready for the day. "I've waited since last Christmas to use this." Ginny took a step to the side and jumped, sending the snowball through the air with perfect aim. Making contact directly with Rebecca's face, she woke up sputtering and confused.
"I'm up! Don't get the turtle!"
Hermione looked at Ginny with a smile, turning back to Rebecca amused. "Turtle?"
"I don't know." Rebecca unburied herself from her blankets and sat on the edge of her bed, rubbing at her eyes before reaching for her glasses. "What time is it?"
"Ten to eight!" Ginny called from in the bathroom.
"Damn it!" Rebecca jumped to her feet and grabbed clothes at random, grabbing a pair of trousers on from the floor and scrambling for a shirt. "Harry should have left by now and I said I'd walk him!" She jammed her toothbrush into her mouth and went to put the bottoms on, only having to take them back off to remove her pajamas and start again.
Rebecca took a handful of water and wiped her face off quickly, shaking her head. Just as she'd though, the mark from where she'd hit the table didn't wash away and she was left with a bruise that had only darkened overnight. Grabbing her winter cap from the bedpost where she kept it, Rebecca called over her shoulder that she'd see the girls at the match and ran down the hallway.
Harry had been hovering at the portrait hole for minutes, looking between his watch and the girls' door. Relief coursed through him when Rebecca appeared.
"I'm sorry!" Rebecca called, taking the stairs two at a time and jumping the last few. The thud caught the attention of a few others in the common room, though she didn't notice. "So, so sorry!"
Harry opened the portrait hole, stepping out with her at his side.
"You've eaten, haven't you?" Rebecca asked, noticing how pale he was. His delay was all the answer she needed. "Oh, Harry..."
"If I eat, I will be sick."
"You need your strength!" Rebecca started to argue, falling silent when Harry grabbed her shoulders and stopped her where they were.
"Rebecca, you are my strength." Harry tried to keep his voice as level as he could, his eyes distinctly appearing to glisten to Rebecca. "You have been since the very start. I love you, so much--I can't tell you how much. There's no better sister in the-"
"Is this a goodbye?" Rebecca asked, her tone void of all emotion.
"It's not goodbye, persay." Harry stumbled. "But if anything were to happen-"
"Harry," Rebecca yanked her arm from his grip, pushing him forward so he would walk on. "Don't you dare. Don't you even dare!" Her voice was raising. "I-You cannot-There will be no goodbyes!" She shouted at last.
"It's not a goodbye, more of a contingency-"
"No!" Rebecca shook her head. "No nothing! You're going to go and you're going to be fine and we're not doing this!"
"Rebecca," Harry said softly. "It's stupid to pretend there aren't any risks involved with these tasks. People have died."
The exit of the castle loomed ahead and Rebecca grit her teeth. "No, what's stupid is to think I'd ever let you die." She hissed, the path to the arena empty. "I don't care if I have to kill a bloody dragon myself; You are not dying today."
Harry knew what she talking about, what she had done before. "Please, I don't want to fight. I just needed you to know."
"Of course I bloody well know." Rebecca cursed under her breath before looking to Harry expectantly. "Do you know how much I love you?"
Harry nodded immediately--Of that he had no doubts.
"Then there's your fucking answer." Rebecca took a deep breath. "Woken up with snow, you and your damned goodbyes, now we're onto dragons! What a-"
"Snow?" Harry asked confused. Rebecca rolled her eyes and told him about how she'd been woken, bringing a laugh from Harry. "Brilliant!"
The path ended at a fork, one side leading towards the stands and the other towards a tent with a sign outside that read, "Champions only beyond this point."
"This is it." Harry said.
"This is it." Rebecca held her hands to the sides of his head. "Remember your visualising, picture what you want. Remember to stay calm. And..." Rebecca wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly, leaving a kiss on his cheek. "Remember that I know you can do this and that I love you. I believe in you."
Harry was the one to disengage her embrace, she wasn't going to stop until he was through.
"I'll be right in the stands, cheering you on!" She called after him as he turned and entered the tent. Harry considered looking back to her, but he knew if he did that he would fall apart and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to put himself back together.
"I don't want this." Harry thought, his heart beating painfully hard as he locked eyes on the other champions. "I never wanted to do this."
"Your attention, please," Dumbledore's voice could hardly be heard in the tent and Harry paced around as the headmaster spoke. Outside, Rebecca fought her way through the crowd to where Fred and George were already sitting Ron and Ginny, two spots saved between them for herself and the missing Hermione. "This is a great day for all of us."
A dragon let out a roar even more powerful than what Rebecca and Harry had heard in the Forbidden Forest, sending a shiver down Rebecca's spine. "Each of the three tasks involves very considerable danger. Please keep your seats at all times."
"Psst!" Harry followed the noise to a split in the tent where two panels met.
"Hermione?" He asked, hoping it was her.
"Harry, is that you?" The voice whispered.
"Yeah, yeah it is." He knelt his head against hers, only the tent material between them.
"How are you feeling?" Hermione asked, speaking regularly. "Did Rebecca get down in time? I forgot you'd be leaving earlier and-"
"Yeah, she did." Harry interrupted, not wanting Hermione to blame herself for anything--Not when everything had worked out perfectly. "Just in time."
"The key is to concentrate. After that, you just have to-"
"Battle a dragon?" Harry finished.
Hermione took a sharp breath at his statement. Before that moment, they'd only been preparing. But to hear him say it like that brought it all into reality. Hermione gasped and pushed the tent material apart, wrapping her arms around Harry's neck.
Rita Skeeter entered the tent with a flourish. A camera flash went off, shocking Hermione and Harry apart. "Young love!" Rita gasped, stalking her way into the tent. "How...stirring." She pointed to the quill following her at her shoulder and told it to write that down.
"You have no business here." Viktor's voice enunciated, his English choppy but clear. "This tent is for champions." He looked over Rita and connected eyes with Hermione, sending her into a scarlet blush that Herry failed to notice.
"No matter." Rita said smugly, turning back to where she had come from. "We've got what we came for."
The opening at the main side of the tent opened again as soon as Rita and her photographer had exited, a slew of adults entering that included Dumbledore, Karkaroff, Madam Maxine, and Barty Crouch.
"Good morning, champions!" Dumbledore waved his arms out at them all as he greeted them. "Gather around please. Now, you've waited, you've wondered, and at last, the moment has arrived. A moment only the four of you can fully appreciate." Dumbledore retallied those in front of them and found an extra. "What are you doing here, Miss Granger?"
Hermione reddened, looking guilty. "Oh, erm...Sorry, I'll just go." Hermione backed out of the tent, leaving the adults with the champions.
"Champions?" Barty demanded. "In a circle around me." He held in his hands a purple, thrashing pouch that he held out roughly. "Miss Delacour, if you will."
Fleur reached in tentatively, feeling whatever was in the bag moving about quickly. She managed to snag something in between her fingers and pull it out, holding it in her palm. It was a miniature model of a dragon--the one to be her dragon--that had been enchanted to act like its living counterpart.
"The Welsh Green." Barty stated, moving onto the next. "Mr Krum?" Viktor reached into the bag without hesitation, pulling out a red and orange dragon that seemed to have a penchant for flames. "The Chinese Fireball, oohhh!" Barty Crouch's commentary was obnoxious, though he didn't have much of a chance to let any out with Cedric, who didn't even wait for his name to be said before reaching into the pouch.
Cedric closed his eyes as he plunged his hand into the pouch, pulling out a little green fellow. "The Swedish Short-Snout." Barty stated, frowning. "Which leaves the..." Harry found that while there was only one dragon left in the bag, it still moved about roughly. His miniature bit his thumb. "The Hungarian Horntail."
Barty turned away from Harry, outlining the event broadly. "These represent four very real dragons, each of which has been given a golden egg to protect. Your objective is simple: Collect the egg." Barty looked at each champion in turn. "This you must do for each egg contains a clue, a clue without which you cannot hope to proceed to the next task."
Dumbledore toyed with the end of his beard, asking if they had any questions. None of them made any move to speak as they were fairly speechless. "Very well," Dumbledore nodded. "Mr Diggory, at the sound of the cannon-"
Filch, on a platform above with one job, heard the word 'cannon' and lit the fuse. The cannon sounded loudly, marking the start of the Triwizard Tournament.
Cedric walked to where Dumbledore pointed and exited the tent, the cheers from the crowd sounding out at a volume somehow louder than that which the cannon just had. pointed.
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"Three of our champions have now faced their dragons, and so each of them will proceed to the next task." Dumbledore announced over the arena. "And now, our fourth and final contestant."
Rebecca sat at the edge of the bench, grabbing the lip so tightly the edge bit into her palm. "It's time." She thought, a sickening sense of realisation washing over her. Watching the other three contestants had only magnified her worries, especially since Dumbledore had said earlier that the Hungarian Horntail Harry had drawn was the more ferocious of the bunch.
Harry walked down the same tunnel the others had, the opening spitting him out at the bottom of a bowl-shape surrounded and filled with rocks. The crowd was mostly silent, no one cheering for him--Only the occasional, odd rise and fall of whispers.
Harry saw the egg he had to collect in the center of the clearing, it appearing undefended. Hurrying forward, the dragon made its presence known before Harry could go more than a handful of paces. It swung its tail over its shoulder, striking the stones above Harry's head so they crumbled down around him.
Harry ducked and rolled to the side, the dragon's plume of fire scorching the space had had been occupying only a moment before.
Rebecca's hand shot up from the lip to grab Fred's knee as she leaned forward to keep her eyes on Harry. Fred leaned forward with her, putting his arm around her shoulder and holding her together. "He's prepared, RJ."
Harry had run to the pile of rocks the egg was on, trying to scale the slick bottom ridges and sliding down. The Horntail lifted its giant body into the air, flapping its wings so that it was above Harry.
Looking over his shoulder, Harry saw the tail coming at him seconds too late. The rocks beside him shattered and one of the spikes on the dragon's tail caught his shoulder and tore the flesh roughly.
Rebecca was on her feet instantly, her hands to her mouth. A dark stain spread down the back of Harry's shirt as he made it to his feet and ran towards the dragon who was roaring at the sky. The dragon noticed and focused in on Harry the best it could, opening its maw and letting out a pillar of flames that forced Harry to duck behind a rock.
The crowd was muttering to themselves now, raising in volume steadily as one opinion was had unanimously--They did not see how Harry was going to get out of this.
"Your wand, Harry!" Rebecca shouted, raising her voice above the crowd. "Your wand!"
Harry closed his eyes and held his wand tightly. "My Firebolt. The handle with the little spot where Rebecca carved HP. The odd twig at the end. The divot where I hit the-" Running through the details that made his broom his alone, Harry raised his wand and visualised what he wanted. "Accio Firebolt!"
Hermione stood up next to Ron, most of the crowd was on their feet as well. Harry was running from rock to rock, shielding himself from the dragon's frequent fire attacks well. At the sound of his broom flying through the air, Harry ran forward and threw himself into the air.
The dragon tracked the blur of a boy, readying itself to send the final fire where Harry would have landed. Would have, that is, if his broom hadn't caught him. Harry crouched down against the handle and sped out of the dragon's range.
The crowd cheered triumphantly, seeming to forget how they'd treated Harry.
"Breathe." Fred said quietly, not focusing on how Harry had soared high enough to survey the arena like he was looking for the snitch, but on how Rebecca hadn't blinked out of fear of missing anything. "RJ?"
"I am." Rebecca insisted, looking to Fred for a single second. In this turn of her attention, she oted how Ron's hards were holding each other so tightly his knuckles had gone white.
Rebecca watched as Harry cut a path through the sky, trying to find an approach to the egg. Fred kept his arm around Rebecca, feeling as if she were wired so tightly she might break if he didn't keep her in one piece.
After the third attempt had been cut short by the dragon nearly singing Harry, he flew back up to his vantage point to try and come up with another plan. The dragon didn't like this, not at all. It flapped its wings again, flying higher than it had before. Stopped by the chain around its neck roughly, the dragon let out a roar and surged higher with a sharp flap of its wings, forcing the chain into pieces.
"Oh my god." Hermione said softly, the dragon free and now going after Harry without anything to stop it.
The dragon snapped at the tail of Harry's broom, forcing Harry to urge the broom to go even faster. Zipping over the staff's seating, Harry led the dragon towards the castle where he hoped to lose it in the numerous towers and spires. The dragon's tail caught the cover and posts surrounding the staff, splintering the wood roughly.
"Well done, dragon!" George shouted as the crowd cheered louder for Harry than it had throughout the entire event so far.
Unbeknownst to the spectators, Harry and the dragon sped off in loops and turns Harry wouldn't have ever attempted before but was forced to--Always remaining one step ahead of the dragon.
Rebecca sat back down, pulling at the front of her jumper before taking it off. She was suddenly overwhelmingly and unbearably hot, the heat culminating in a blockage that felt as if it were keeping her from breathing--A mass that seemed to grow larger with every passing second Harry was off in the unknown.
Fred sat down, swinging a leg over the bench so that he faced her entirely. He cupped his hands to her cheeks, finding a fear in her eyes that he hadn't ever seen before. "Like me, okay? In...out. Do it again, c'mon. In...out..."
Rebecca shook her head, reaching up and holding her hands against his. "F-fred, we don't know what's happening and now-now if they're not here and he's not here, how can I do anything to help? What if the dragon k-what if the dragon gets him and it's too late and I can't-"
"Rebecca, in and out." Fred moved his head slowly, miming the speed of the breaths he wanted her to take. When she'd managed one, the next seemed easier. Closing her eyes and focusing on following Fred's instructions, Rebecca's hearbeat slowed slightly.
Had she known that at that exact moment Harry was dangling from the edge of Gryffindor tower after the dragon had knocked him clear off his broom, she would have been too far to calm. But she didn't.
In fact, no one did. The crowd speculated and spoke to each other in anticipation for the return of Harry and the dragon, the egg sitting untouched and unguarded.
Fred took his hands away from Rebecca's cheeks when she sat up straighter, her eyes clearer than they had been. "Put this back on," Fred said, grabbing her jumper from where it had fallen between them. It was far too cold to be in nothing but a t-shirt. "Are you-okay, it's okay." Fred slid himself closer to Rebecca, keeping her against his side.
"Yes!" Hermione screamed, jumping to her feet and raising her hands.
Harry was streaking back towards the arena at a top speed, a trail of smoke left behind from his broom's smoking tail with the dragon behind him and gaining. Rebecca watched how Harry lined the broom up with the egg, scooping it up as he flew by.
The crowd erupted into celebrations unrivaled.
Rebecca turned her face into Fred's chest, the relief seeming to press her down into nothing. Fred held the back of her head, the two of them allowing comforts they wouldn't have ordinarly, but finding that the circumstances had made it entirely necessary. Fred patted her back, rousing her from her stupor. "Go on, it's smart."
Rebecca nodded, not questioning how he knew that she had just been thinking that the crowd's cheers should have been more direct. She stood up, balancing on her seat and cupping her hands to her mouth. "Harry! Harry! Harry!" The crowd followed her chant, taking it farther and louder than she ever could have hoped.
Hermione grabbed Rebecca's hand, pulling her back down. Fred and George had formed a pseudo-shield, pushing their way through the crowd making for the exit to get the two girls back to the champions' tent--Back to Harry. Ginny, left behind with the surly Ron, was certain she'd gotten the short end of the wand.
"There you go, ladies." George said over his shoulder as the exit came into view ahead, the tent only just past.
Rebecca tried to word her thanks, finding it impossible at the moment.
"Go on," Fred grinned. "There'll be time to talk later. We've got a celebration to plan."
Hermione and Rebecca broke into a run the second they could, their feet slapping against the path as they cut through the grass and forwent the path back to the path where they'd both said their goodbyes only hours earlier. Bursting through the entrance, Rebecca saw how Fleur was holding Gabrielle tightly, murmuring in French as she smoothed the younger girl's hair off her forehead. karkaroff stood in front of Viktor, listing things in Bulgarian as he raised his fingers to count.
Harry was off in a corner, Madam Pomfrey beside him. His kit's shirt was beside him, the healer prodding at the hole one of the Horntail's spines had left in him gently. Rebecca and Hermione only found it in them to slow when they were in front of him, their eyes scanning his red-eyed, soot-covered appearance desparately.
"I did good, didn't I?" Harry asked, wincing as Madam Pomfrey sent a bolt of pain through his shoulder.
"Well, Harry." Hermione corrected, unable to stop herself. "You did well."
Rebecca grabbed Harry's face and kissed his forehead, pulling him into her chest and holding him there tightly. "You did brilliantly."
Madam Pomfrey tapped his shoulder with her wand after deciding what was the best approach, nodding. "They are correct, Potter. You flew true." It was the closest Madam Pomfrey had ever come to complimenting one of them and it left Harry whirling.
"Thank you...Madam."
Madam Pomfrey smiled, holding his shirt out to him. "Put some clothes on, Potter." She left, wanting to make sure the cut Fleur had sustained had closed satisfactorily.
Harry winced as he lifted his arm up and slid it through his uniform, pulling it over his head and getting stuck until Rebecca reached forward and freed him. Hermione and Rebecca each took one of Harry's side, their arms through his.
Barty Crouch was at the middle of the tent, calling for the champions' and their guests' attention momentarily. "Champions!" He looked over them all slowly, nodding in turn. "You all displayed exceptional bravery today, exceptional indeed! The eggs which you have percrued provide a hint for you next challenge which will take place on the 24th of February. Good luck to you all!"
Dumbledore walked Barty to the exit, the two men still talking bout the finer points of the task and the magic that they had bared witness to.
Fleur walked to where Harry was being commanded to drink water by both Hermione and Rebecca, two forces hard enough to argue against on their own and impossible to united.
"'arry, Rebecca," Fleur cleared her throat, her voice hoarse from inhaling so much smoke. "You did very well, you should both be proud."
Gabrielle smiled and looked to them nervously. "The sisters..." Gabrielle paused and asked something of Fleur in French before Fleur nodded and Gabrielle continued. "The sisters are good lucky, no?"
Rebecca have Harry a look as he set down his water, causing him to pick it right back up and take another drink. "Gabrielle, I actually had something I wanted to ask you." Fleur and Gabrielle both smile and nodded as Rebecca winced, knowing what she was trying to remember from Sirius would end up mispronounced. "Vous-lez vous coucher avec moi?"
Gabrielle laughed loudly as Fleur's mouth dropped open. Hermione's hand jumped to her heart, knowing exactly what Rebecca had just asked the young Delacour. "What?" Hermione asked quickly. "What are you trying to say?"
Rebecca was confused by the reactions. "How are you doing?' That's what Si-the person who told me said that meant. Does it?"
Fleur shook her head as Gabrielle continued to laugh, holding her stomach. Madam Maxine shook her head from where she stood in the corner, she having heard the entire exchange.
"You asked if she would go to bed with you." Hermione said quietly.
Harry snorted into his water at the look of horror that crossed Rebecca's face before she blushed brightly. "I'm going to kill him." Rebecca put her hands over her face, hiding her embarrassment from the still-laughing Gabrielle.
Fleur grabbed Gabrielle and guided her away, laughing as Gabrielle's melodic French floated through the tent no-doubt recounting what had just happened.
Harry put his now-emptied cup down and made his way to his feet, shaking his head slowly. "Rebecca, if you're done seducing children," Rebecca lowered her head. "Can we go?"
Hermione laughed and put herself between Harry and Rebecca, an arm going around Harry's middle but across Rebecca's shoulders. "Let's go, before we try to speak any other languages today."
Viktor watched the three across the room, intrigued by the final laugh he'd like to hear more of. He didn't look away until they'd left the tent entirely.
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The Fat Lady stood on guard where she always did, knocking on the wall behind her so that all in the common room knew they were approaching as Fred and George had asked her too.
"Harry!" She shouted. "I knew you'd do well!"
A man in a painting across the way grumbled. "Put your money on 'im too."
The Fat Lady winked. "Yes, yes I did! On you go, loves." She opened, calling to them her pride. "Congratulations, you've deserved it."
Harry put the egg under his arm as Rebecca ducked under Hermione's arm and went behind him, reaching up and covering his eyes. "Rebecca?" Harry asked, confused as he stumbled over the step to the common room she forgot to mention he was at.
"Ready?" She mouthed to Fred and George, their arms held to notify the Gryffindors when to cheer. They nodded, readying themselves.
"SURPRISE!" The common room exploded into a flurry of shouting and pops, the handheld confetti bombs that Fred and George had handed out sending a shower over them all. The Gryffindors all looked to the table Lee was standing near as he pulled the sheet off like one of the magicians they'd learnt about in History of Magic.
Cheering again, the party truly began.
"So that's it?" Harry asked Rebecca quietly, no one having reached them just yet. "They're done?"
Rebecca nodded, directing his attention to the banner that hung from the girls' top of stairs to the boys'. Ginny and George, at either side and waiting, grinned and let go in uison.
"Harry, Gryffindor's true CHAMPION" was painted across the sheets in bold letters. Harry's smile somehow grew larger as the students began to move closer to congratulate him, pushing him towards the middle of the room so they could all see him.
Fred winked at Rebecca as he and George went to Harry, each ducking down and grabbing a leg to hoist him up into the air. Hermione and Rebecca cupped their hands around their mouths and joined into the rising-again cheers as Harry lifted the egg above his head.
"Knew you wouldn't die, Harry!" George shouted.
"Or lose a leg!" Fred shouted, too.
"Or an arm!" George countered.
"Pack it in all together?"
"Never!" Fred and George said together, bouncing so Harry did as well.
Seamus raised his voice, "Go on, Harry! What's the clue?"
Harry ignored the boy entirely, but did hold the egg up higher. "Should I open it?" He asked.
The cheering was all the answer he needed and, on Fred and George's shoulders, Harry fiddled with the sides before grabbing the ornamenture at the top and twisting it. George dropped Harry instantly, covering his ears as a horrible, deafening screech left the egg. Fred put Harry to the floor before covering his own.
Harry hurried to fold the egg back up, trying to silence the torturous noise.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked from the door when silence filled the common room.
"All right, everyone. Go back to your knitting." Fred turned and held his arms out, clearing the circle immediately beside Harry as Ron walked up to Harry and Rebecca.
George smirked. "This is going to be uncomfortable without all you nosy sods listening in." He, more so than anyone, was definitely one of those 'nosy sods.'
"I reckon you have to be barking mad to put your own name in the Goblet of Fire." Ron said, staring down at his feet.
"You fucking think so?" Rebecca spat.
Harry reached down and grabbed her wrist. "Caught on, have you? Took you long enough."
Hermione and Ginny watched from the side, Ginny whispering so that they couldn't hear. "Bet you right now that Rebecca hits him before their done."
"I'm not arguing against that." Hermione responded as Ron looked between the two Potters.
"I wasn't the only one who thought you'd done it. Everyone was saying it behind your backs."
Rebecca furrowed her brow, not seeing how that was going to lead to an apology. Harry scoffed, thinking the same. "Brilliant," Harry snarked. "That makes me feel load better."
Ron's lips tightened into a line, his eyes flitting to the bruise on Rebecca's cheek. "I didn't have anything to do with that." He followed up after a moment. "I wouldn't have-"
"What?" Rebecca demanded. "You wouldn't have hurt me? What about us--You wouldn't have hurt us?"
Harry looked at Rebecca, finding that he hadn't understood the gravity of the situation. He had felt that he'd been without a best mate. Rebecca had been without someone she'd considered another brother.
Ron sighed. "You are...right." He looked to the ground again, unable to face them. "What you said the other day was right, too. Neither of you would have-"
"Wait," Harry interrupted. "What did she say?"
Ron raised his eyebrows. "A lot." Rebecca narrowed her eyes at Ron until he continued. "But nothing that wasn't true. I've been a pathetic mate and an arsehole."
"Yeah, you have." Harry nodded. "Are you done? Being a shoddy mate, that is?"
"And an arsehole." Rebecca added, tilting her head slightly at Ron.
"Yes." Ron bit his lip. "I'm really sorry."
Harry grabbed Ron and hugged him tightly.
Hermione and Ginny shook their heads, feeling as if they had been jilted from a show. "Boys!" Hermione breathed, shaking her head and looking to the ceiling.
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After the three had reconciled, Ron and Harry gravitated to the corner with the party following--Harry filling Ron in on all that had happened with the tournament so far and with Sirius' situation.
Rebecca grabbed a cup off the table and had a drink, smelling it after she was done. The pumpkin juice tasted off.
Fred chuckled, walking up behind her. "It's juice with...a little extra."
Rebecca gave him a teasing look. "Fred Weasley, have you messed with this?"
Fred shrugged and gave her a cheeky grin. "Maybe, maybe not." They both took another sip from their cups, turning and looking at what had been accomplished.
"For someone who's not a fan of parties, you sure have put one together." Rebecca remarked, the irony not lost on her.
Fred put his head against the wall, looking down at her. "It's not that I'm not a fan of them, not really. I'd just rather spend my time with fewer groups of people..." He smiled. "One in particular, actually."
Rebecca's ears felt hot and she kept her attention on the party, finding that she felt the same. "I would too."
"We could, you know." Fred nodded, his idea wildly appealing to him. "I could just walk you right into the middle of the room and snog you." He leaned closer to her, his voice lowering.
"I want to, trust me." Rebecca's eyes flitted from his eyes to his lips and back before continuing. "But I can't. If I kiss you right now, I'm not going to want to stop and we've got work to do."
"Work?" Fred asked confused, his mind still stuck on what it would be like to kiss her right then as if a sticking-charm had been cast on it.
"Work." Rebecca repeated. "Ginny actually had this genius idea for a new product and we've still got to figure out the packing situation. I was thinking...we either have to find a substitute ingredient for whatever's causing the reaction or, maybe, we could change packing material. Something more neutral or..."
Fred watched how her eyes lit up as she started talking about the business, only wanting to kiss her more.
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