Malak Aboul Gheit is no stranger to suffering. To death. But she is neither a stranger to love.
The path of this young Egyptian witch as she joins Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy in 3rd year seemed uncertain, but she will soon be trapped i...
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"Charlie is here" Malak Aboul Gheit blurted without a warning, as she and Harry Potter picked up their things, readying themselves to go back to Gryffindor's Common Room after their daily training session.
"That's great Malaki" Harry smiled faintly. "So no training tomorrow?"
"No! Of course we are training! Why wouldn't we?" the Egyptian spoke alarmed.
"Your boyfriend is here, tomorrow is Saturday so I figured you'd like to spend the day with him at Hogsmade."
Under the scrutiny of his green eyes, Malak felt the pressure of the world on top of her shoulders and she couldn't help but to look away from him. Time to reveal it, I guess.
"I can't see him yet" she announced in a low voice. "He is here for work, Harry."
Harry's stare suddenly became much more intense and the silence weighted heavily on them.
"I have good reason to believe that the first task will entail... dragons."
The second the name of the creature was uttered, Harry Potter's strength left his ached body suddenly and he could have sworn he fainted for an instant.
"I cannot fight a dragon" he spoke after a while, in a whisper that revealed just how scared he really was.
"Neither can I" agreed the Egyptian.
"For a very different reason, Malak." Now Harry Potter sounded plainly desperate "I am not capable of the magic needed to face a dragon."
"Yes! Yes, you are, Harry!" The stunning spell and the conjunctivitis curse are excellent against dragons" Malak explained, "and the shield charm will also be helpful."
Harry paused and took in her words, and its implications. "So you knew from the beginning."
"I suspected it" confessed she. "It's still a suspicion, I haven't seen a dragon flying around Hogwarts, but what else can Charlie be doing here?"
"Visiting you!??" Harry tried desperately, standing up all of a sudden. "Hogsmade is tomorrow, so..."
"No, Harry, he specifically said we couldn't meet tomorrow" the witch gave him a sad look, as he paced the empty classroom nervously.
"So dragons" he said after his nerves settled down and he was able to just barely regain his composure.
"Everything points to that direction, yes."
"I hope you are wrong" said Harry.
"I hope I am too."
But it was not to be. Like all of those days before the first task, when time seemed to speed up, that Friday night and the following Saturday simply flew by — and all Malak wished was for the total opposite. She hoped for time to slow down — Harry was not prepared, and Sirius Black was putting an awful lot of pressure on her.
