Stars in Her Eyes {Wolfstar's Daughter}

Chapter 45: Bubbles

The sky hung as a grey sheet in the sky, the occasional drops of rain falling and teasing a downpour which never came. Hogwarts, despite spring quickly approaching, remained in a miserable grey winter.

Rather than snow this year, cold thick rain fell in its place, melting into a sea of muddy sludge as it hit the ground. Harry stared absentmindedly out across the gloomy scene of wet grass and bare trees from the shelter of the covered bridge.

"You two were supposed to figure this out weeks ago! The task in a week Harry" Hermione scolded from beside him, turning to the boy who kept his gaze fixed ahead onto the hills.

"I know, we just kept putting it off" he explained guiltily, not wanting to meet the girl's eyes seeing as both him and Nell had promised her they would solve their golden eggs weeks ago and yet still hadn't made any progress.

"You are trying to figure this egg out aren't you?" Hermione sighed, looking to the boy with softer eyes as he finally turned to face her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He queried defensively, trying figure out her strange insinuation that they possibly hadn't even tried.

Which in all truthfulness, they probably could've done more, but Harry had a terrible habit of distracting Nell and Nell had a terrible habit of letting Harry distract her. So when together, they didn't always get the most work done.

"It just means these tasks are designed to test you Harry. They're supposed to push you to your limits and..... honestly I'm scared for you. Nell can't exactly help at the moment and after months neither of you even know what the task is." Hermione said, her voice sinking down to a softer, more concerned tone as her true intentions for pestering the pair shone through.

With only a week to go, she was right. Harry really needed to figure something out especially considering that Nell was passed out in bed from the previous evening's full moon so that was one less brain to work with.

"I know Hermione, we're trying" he said hopelessly, tearing his hand through his hair as he struggled to come up with any ideas whatsoever for solving this thing.

"I know that, I just- I don't want to see either of you hurt" she sighed gently, placing a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder and trying to calm his quite obvious nerves.

"We-" Harry started, not really knowing where he was going with it but being cut off before he could say anymore anyway.

"Potter!" A familiar voice called out from the other end of the bridge having Harry hastily taking off in the opposite direction, Hermione not taking much notice and just continuing to stare out across the grounds. Ever since he had realised his feelings, Harry found it even harder to put up with Cedric's presence seeing as he was the guy that Nell, like every girl, would of course choose over him. Not that it was even a choice.

He didn't have a problem with Cedric as a person, which if anything made it that much worse. The Hufflepuff made it impossible for anyone to hate him and as much as it pained Harry to admit, he knew Cedric would treat Nell well and undoubtedly make her far happier than he ever could. So naturally, he was doing everything it took to avoid the boy.

"Hey Potter!" Cedric called out again, louder this time as he jogged to catch up to Harry on the bridge who still kept his head glued firmly down.

"Hey" Cedric breathed as he finally managed to jog up in front of Harry and cut his path off.

"Er hi" Harry replied, reluctantly pulling his head up to look at the boy who was looking around the bridge as if trying to find someone.

"Where's Nell?" He questioned, finally turning his gaze back to Harry as he realised Nell wasn't anywhere near.