Chapter 16 - A Slippery Slope

A/N: This chapter doesn't feature SS :c But the next one does so hang in there!

Thank you for sticking with the story so far ❤️ I've got so much stuff planned and we're still only in the 'introduction' whoopsie 🙈

Leave a vote if you're enjoying the journey :P

*

Very quickly, the school year began to drag. Asha was finding a lot of her classes exceedingly boring, seeing as she had learnt a lot of the magic already, and classes like History of Magic were dull to begin with. But Magical Creatures was usually good fun (Hagrid had them trying to wrangle Blast Ended Skrewts nearly every lesson) and Potions was at least challenging, but being around Snape always made her paranoid that she was being watched or might accidentally give away another piece of herself. She was also very fond of the new DADA teacher and he had mentioned he was going to get them to practice resisting the imperious curse at some point which Asha thought would be very interesting.

On the 30th of October, the long-anticipated arrival of the Beauxbaton and Durmstrang students finally dawned. The following evening, during the Halloween Feast, the names of the champions were presented from the Goblet of Fire: Viktor Crum, Fleur Delacour and Cedric Diggory (Despite the fact Asha lacked a feeling of belonging in Hufflepuff, she still felt a strong sense of house-pride when Cedric was announced to be Hogwarts Champion) were selected. Oh, and Harry Potter.

The whole school was furious that the famous 'Boy Who Lived' had somehow weaselled his way into the competition, and Asha was one of them. She had trusted Dumbledore when he had told her no exceptions would be made for underage students. How could she have been so naive? Everyone knew Dumbledore practically worshipped Harry. In their first year he gifted Harry and his friends only about a bazillion house points for breaking school rules. It was fair to say that Asha was indeed quite bitter.

However, she channelled her bitterness into a brilliant idea and a few days later she found herself face to face with Cedric Diggory.

She had followed him on the way to his Charms class and non-verbally cast Tranquillium Sedato on him - the same frowned-upon spell she had used to coerce Madeline back to East Sussex. Cedric drowsily slipped from his throng of friends and disappeared with Asha around a corner. She guided him behind a large tapestry into a secret corridor and lifted the spell.

"Wha... how did I get here?" yawned Cedric, rubbing his eyes. "Er, sorry- who're you?"

"Hi Cedric, my name's Asha, I just wanted a quick word," she said cordially.

"Hang on, aren't you that girl who punched a wall or something? Asha Winters?"

"Yup, that's the one," she admitted reluctantly.

"Huh, I can't actually imagine you being the violent type," Cedric mused.

"Well, I did just bewitch you," Asha reminded him.

"Yeah, about that... pretty sure that's against school rules."

"You gonna report me?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't decided yet," replied Cedric, flashing that endearing smile of his. "So what is it you want? You're not going to ask me to go with you to Hogsmeade, are you? Girls have been doing that all weekend."

Asha gave a small laugh. "No, not quite. I'll get straight to the point; I want to help you prepare for the Tournament."

Now it was Cedric's turn to laugh. "No offence, but I'm not sure there's much you have to offer me. Aren't you only a fourth year?"

Asha bit her lip, trying to decide what the right move was. In a flash, she whipped out her wand and the handsome sixth year was pinned to the wall with an invisible force clamped around his abdomen, wrists and ankles. He yelled in surprise but she had already cast a muting spell and the corridor remained silent.

"I promise you, I'm pretty good," she smirked before releasing him.

"What the fuck!" Cedric said in a hushed voice (they were both supposed to be in class by now).

"Look, truth is, I just really want to practice my duelling. And I figured you could do with someone to practice with for the Tournament. I bet I'd make a more worthy opponent than any of your pretty sixth year pals."

Cedric looked wary and was rubbing his wrists where the spell had hit.

"Listen, Cedric, I'm not crazy, I promise," Asha assured him, smiling apologetically. She waved her wand over his wrists, instantly stopping the pain and preventing any future bruising. After a second, a daring smile spread across Cedric's puppy-dog face.

"Okay then, why not? I'm not promising anything but I'll give you a trial run. Deal?" he held out his hand.

"Deal," she said, as the pair shook on it. "Oh actually, just one more thing..." Cedric made a face. "It has to be a secret. I don't want people even knowing that you know me."

"Er... yeah okay. I guess I don't really want the whole school knowing I'm training with a fourth year either," Cedric said with a cheeky smile.

*

Over the next few weeks, many things began to change. Asha and Cedric's trial duelling session was a major success. The pair were surprisingly well-matched when it came to speed and accuracy. As a result, they started to train together multiple times a week in an old classroom Flitwick had cleared out for Cedric to practice in.

Asha taught Cedric spells she had read about, while he showed her strategies he had learned from experience. They got along surprisingly well and quickly became close (for Asha's standards anyway). Despite this, Asha still maintained that their training and friendship should remain a secret. The student body couldn't stop talking about Cedric and the Tournament and she did not want her name thrown in the mix.

With all the excitement of duelling with Cedric and joining in on the constant speculation about what the first task might be, Asha began to slack on her schoolwork. On top of this, despite her continued effort in potions, her general patience seemed to be wearing thin again and she was quickly developing an attitude along the lines of 'not giving a fuck anymore'.

She didn't learn anything from the homework, especially when the content was something she had taught herself a year ago. The only reason to do it was to stay out of trouble but, thanks to Snape, she was already on Dumbledore's radar anyway. Hence her motivation to hand in every Transfiguration and Charms essay was fleeting.

It started off with sub-par essays and the occasionally missed assignment, but the professors forgave their talented and usually reliable student. However, this was only the start of a slippery slope and within the span of a few weeks, she was now getting constantly reprimanded and had even served a lunchtime detention with McGonagall. But Asha wasn't bothered by her fall in reputation and struggled to remember why she had been so obsessed with being a 'goody two shoes' in the first place.

After three weeks of Asha's progressively delinquent behaviour, she received another letter from Dumbledore asking her to come to his office. Asha knew Dumbledore was now aware she was too advanced for her classes and was worried he might ask her to move up a year-level (the idea of hard work and classes full of strangers was not appealing), but he did not.

"Thank you for meeting with me this afternoon, Asha," he said in his usual friendly tone, "Please take a seat. I'm afraid I have been receiving multiple reports from your professors regarding your sudden decline in class engagement and homework completion."

Asha looked back into Dumbledore's twinkling blue eyes and stubbornly kept her mouth shut.

"Is there anything you would like to tell me about, Asha? Anything at all?" he asked gently.

"No sir, I've just lost motivation," she replied, before hesitating, knowing she should stop there. Unfortunately, she was feeling reckless and fed up with discipline so she opened her mouth again; "I find most of the homework the professors set us pointless; writing an essay is not going to help us learn the magic."

To her surprise, Dumbledore's expression didn't change. That was until he spoke.

"Asha, I will not have you speak of my staff in such a way," the Headmaster said sharply but without raising his voice. "Whether or not you see the point in the matter is irrelevant. You are a student at Hogwarts and it is expected of you to show your professors respect. That means abiding by their rules, and completing the tasks they assign you."

Asha bit the inside of her lip and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yes sir, I understand," she said with convincing remorse, though inside she felt angry. Not at anything in particular; perhaps she was just angry at herself, or about her life in general. Too often her emotions seemed to be in a world of their own, coming out of a thick fog she couldn't see behind.

"Good," said Dumbledore cheerfully, his eyes twinkling once more. "I look forward to hearing of your improvements. You may leave."