PART 6

ROSY sunlight poured down from the cerulean sky , soft white clouds floating past , the rays piercing the last few standing emerald leaves on the trees - travelling down the blades of withering grass that stood swaying in the cold breeze. The last few days of sunlight before winter set in at it's fullest. Draco had been resting against a marble pillar that had stood still upon an arched window ledge , letting a snitch leave his curled palm , and catching it again before it flew too far away. To pass his boredom , he had resolved to making badges mocking Harry. Badges which turned gold , and gave slogans to support Cedric , the 'true' champion , and turned a nasty green whenever Harry was around - mocking him.

Asides from that , and bullying Harry at whatever chance he got , his languor knew no bounds.

Evanna had been too busy to see him. Most of the times she would be fetched from classes to give an interview , for the wand weighing ceremony - and other unwritten rituals. It had been a  week since when Evanna had been elected as a champion , a week since he had last been able to see her.

Draco stood up , deciding to walk towards his dormitory , having finished his classes for the day , when someone suddenly grabbed him by the seam of his robes , pulling him along with surprising strength. He was about to pull away , and possibly threaten the person who had dared to touch him. But his glower relaxed when he saw a familiar Ravenclaw pulling him across the courtyard towards the wooden benches that sat unoccupied under a drooping willow.

Once they were near the wooden bench , and Evanna had settled down , she let go of her firm grasp on his arm. Draco rubbed his skin dramatically , saying ,"You have the grasp of a mountain troll !"

Evanna rolled her eyes , as Draco took his place beside her - leaning back and saying ,"Miss me ?"

"Quite , actually. Especially since I've figured out the first task", Evanna replied , making Draco sit up with alarmed eyes.

"What ?", He asked incredulously. "How ? What is the task ?"

"Patience , Malfoy. The first task is dragons."

"How are you so sure ?"

"Turns out , Golden Boy Diggory has a weakness for cats. I held up mine in front of him , and exchanged the information for a cuddle with my cat. A little bit of flattery and I was able to confirm the news from Harry as well", Evanna said , smirking triumphantly.

"You have a cat ? And you never told me ?", Draco asked , completely overlooking the other two facts.

"I do. Haven't I told you ? My bad", Evanna apologized half-heartedly , before coming down to business.

"You have to help me."

"Say , please", Draco said , enjoying teasing her. Evanna narrowed her eyes before letting out a groan.

"You promised to help me out. So now keep that promise", She said , before crossing her arms across her chest - her messenger bag resting on the grass , curled at her feet.

"Fine. But , Evanna , have you even given thought to the basics ? Such as , the skills you will require in the first task ?"

"Yes , I have , actually. The subjects I will most need are Charms , and Transfiguration , and Defense Against the Dark Arts", Evanna said , before grinning impishly.

"What is it ?", Draco asked , confused.

"You just called be by my name."

Draco scoffed and said ,"So ? Merlin's above , you are going to go down in an arena against a bloody dragon - and all you care about was whether I said your name , or not ?" But inside , his heart gave a flutter upon realising her observation was correct.

Evanna raised her hands , as though surrendering , before digging through her bag and producing atleast seven books. Placing it with a thud in the space between them , clouds of dust escaping into the air as Draco coughed , she spoke ,"I found these books in the library. Five on dragons , two on advanced magic."

The rest of the afternoon would pass by with the duo frantically searching each of the books for a speckle of useful information. And though it would not have been much of a better upgrade from Draco's previous position of boredom , for Draco , spending time with Evanna was enough. Whether it was silently watching the stars , or reading up something that might help her escape the clutches of death.

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 "I will meet you at nine , after curfew , outside the Slytherin Common Room. Be ready", She said. A moment's hesitation passed , before she said ,"Thank you , Draco", and flashing him a beautiful smile - before swiftly turning on her heels and walking down the corridor , melting into the crowd of students.

That night , Draco stood outside , waiting for Evanna while simultaneously praying that Filch or his obnoxious cat did not catch him. He felt a tap on his arm , and turned to see no one. Just then , as though a veil of concealment had lifted , he saw Evanna holding a shining silver cloak above her head - a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"How did you even manage to get it from Potter ?", He asked , as they silently made their way underneath it - towards the library , the feeling of Evanna's head brushing against his shoulders making his cheeks warm.

"There is nothing in the world that cannot be achieved without Chocolate Frogs", She said , winking. "They are his favourite."

Draco scoffed. "You seem to know an awful lot about him in two days of friendship."

 "Well then it would not surprise you to know that I am aware that you particularly adore peppermint candies , love listening to gramophone music and vinyl records as much as you deny using muggle objects , and you have a huge sweet tooth which causes your mother to send in boxes full of them every week. Won't be a surprise if you bought Honeydukes itself", Evanna said , looking front.

"H-how did you know ?', Draco stammered.

"Thank you for confirming my observations", Evanna said with a chuckle , and he hoped that she could not see how furiously he was blushing in the looming darkness. As they rounded upon the library , Evanna momentarily took off the cloak from both their heads , shoving it into her pocket as they sneaked into the library.

The duo searched shelves of books – looking for clues on how Evanna could survive an hour in the arena with a dragon not burning her alive. The rustle of pages echoed in the deathly silent room , as both of them lit their wands and held it close to the books – reading. They got a lot of material there , and Draco realised maybe they should've raided the restricted section earlier. The pale light of the moon fell onto the dusty leather-bound books , illuminating the words that had blossomed across the yellowing pages. Their tranquility was soon broken by the sound of Filch's steps , and the mewls of a cat they did not wish to cross paths with.

Quick as lightning , Evanna pulled Draco by the wrist and covered them with the Invisibility Cloak , huddled together between the shelves of books. Their gaze was directed towards the dull , yellow-green eyes of Mrs. Norris , who perched herself upon the tall pile of books Draco and Evanna had forgotten to put away – looking right where they stood close , as though she could see through the veil of invisibility.

"Shit", Draco murmured under his breath , as Filch shortly made himself visible along with an old lantern in his hand and a crooked smile on his lips – and Evanna unconsciously pressed herself closer to him. Filch took in the sight of the books strewn across the table , and it was clear as day that someone had been out after hours.

"I know you are there" ,Filch said , lifting his lamp higher and swinging it around , in an attempt to find the one out of bed. "Come out!"

Merlin , of course they would be caught ! What was he thinking , coming to the restricted section of the library at the dead of night ? He was a Slytherin , and chose to save his own neck under numerous circumstances. But all his self-preservation went down the drain the moment it came to Evanna Frey.

Draco felt a tug at his jumper , and looked down to see her gesturing towards an empty aisle that meandered through the shelves of books – one they could use to escape Filch. Noiselessy , they navigated themselves through the tall , dark shelves that rose into the arched ceilings – stopping at places to make sure they would not come across Filch or his cat. And when the sound of their footsteps drifted , they scurried through again.

Upon finally escaping the library , they found themselves in the Transfigurations classroom – which they knew was miles away from the library. Breathing a sigh of relief , Evanna took off the cape from them , folding it neatly. In an attempt to catch their breaths , both leaned against the classroom wall – and when they looked at each other , peals of laughter erupted from their throats at the thought of their nightly adventure.

"It was fun. But I never wish to experience the anxiety again", Evanna mused.

"Me too", Draco replied , before asking ,"I found something useful. You could use a disillusionment Charm."

Evanna looked intently at Draco , as he narrated on how she could distract the dragon , cast a fragrance charm to cover her scent and a disillusionment charm to camouflage – before sneaking up and stealing the golden egg.

"But I don't know how you can distract it ? Maybe transfiguration ?", Draco admitted.

"I've got a better idea", Evanna grinned.

"I can cast a Patronus. This way , I am sure to gain points , as well as get the golden egg without so much as a scratch."

"And do you know how to do it ? It's a NEWT level spell", Draco whispered.

"I do."

The walk back was silent. Neither wished to begin a conversation , just taking in the warmth of each other's presence.

After parting their ways , Draco returned to his room , sliding underneath the green duvets as the lights flickered shut. The first task was only three days away , and he could only hope Evanna would remain intact after it.

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Daphne Greengrass was not having the best of days. After having finished her classes , she had wished to sit by the Common Room fire , snuggled under a blanket and read a book on Charms she had borrowed two days ago from the library. Yes , the Common Room was chilly , despite it only being early November - but that was just one of the perks of being a Slytherin - of having a common room under a lake. See when you became one of the snakes , you became used to being isolated by all the other houses - shunned by everyone except probably your own , as well as the feeling of numbness that came along with it , the feeling of numbness that washed upon them once they realised that they were the enemies all despised.

A little cold was something all Slytherins could survive , something each bearer of green and silver could adapt to. They were born survivors after all.

But instead of relishing in the pleasure she had decided to treat herself to , she had to trudge all the way down to the Hufflepuff Common Room to be tutored by a girl named Hannah Abbott in Herbology , for apparently , she had been failing the subject. Pansy had discovered the fact , and with their Herbology test upcoming in the next week - she had confiscated Daphne's Charms book , a subject which Daphne adored , and had stashed it away.

"You will only get it back if you finish up your Herbology assignment and prepare for the test , Daph. I've set up a Badger to help you out. Meet her in their common room at seven", She had said.

Daphne had always appreciated Pansy's caring nature for those she loved , but at times like these , she wished Pansy would leave her alone.

The tutoring had not been bad. In fact  , she would even call it good. Abbott was an agreeable person , easy to get along with. But the studying had taken up so long , that now Daphne was skipping back towards the Slytherin Common Room - quietly as possible , and it was almost an hour to midnight. But atleast she had successfully crammed part of the textbook for next week's test.

As she rounded another corridor , hoping to get to the common room quick enough to grab a little bit of peaceful sleep - she heard a voice. No , two voices. One was a gruff , rugged voice. Similar to the rasp of two stones being rubbed against each other. The other was an angelic sound. With all the sweetness of honey.

The gruff voice said ,"Your parents are extremely displeased. You should thank me for convincing your mother not to send a howler."

"I live to displease them", the sweet voice replied.

"Oh , but you shouldn't. You are treading on thin ice , you must be careful. They did not wish you to enter your name in the tournament."

"They asked me to spy on that boy. The best way I can do that , is by being in the same tournament as him. And all of this is none of your business. All you're hear for , is for babysitting. Which I certainly don't need. I have done every job perfectly to this day", the pleasant voice said in a tone which could have easily classified as a sneer.

"But here I am. Making sure you complete the task. So be careful unless you wish to get yourself killed."

"Certainly , Professor."

Feeing slightly bold , Daphne peeped from behind her hidden place close to the wall - her blonde hair glowing silver in the moonlight and her books held closely to her chest - as though it were a shield.

What she saw , left her shell-shocked. There she was. Evanna Frey , facing what appeared to be Professor Moody. His back was turned towards her , and was whispering something to Evanna , who listened attentively - her hands folded obediently behind her back. For a split of a second , Evanna's eyes flitted dangerously towards Daphne , and Daphne quickly moved back. She quickly ran across the corridor , down the pillars , turning at every corner in an attempt to move as far away as possible. She had just stumbled upon a suspicious piece of information that she did not wish to lose.

She walked as fast as her feet would carry her , and just as she was one corridor away from the Slytherin Common Room - a shadow jumped in front of her. Before she had the time to scream , a cold hand clamped around Daphne's mouth - the gleaming sapphire of a ring piercing her lip - dragging her towards a pillar before pinning her to a wall.

Empty , soulless voids of blue.

That's what the blonde saw , before the same , soft , angelic voice whispered a word with a wand pressed to her temple.

"Obliviate."

And next morning , she wouldn't remember a thing of what she had seen , deeming it as a figment of her imagination.