Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Seventy-Four

"So what's going on with you and Harry?"

I looked up from my vision journal, shutting it as I did. I'd wanted to mark a few points to show to Malfoy — hopefully he'd have some insight.

"What do you mean?" I asked Luke, who'd just returned from Triwizard Tournament planning. It looked like Luke had been given the go-ahead from both Chiron and the Wizard side to have demigods help the Champions during the third task. Luke and I would be two of them; Chiron would send two more from Camp Half-Blood.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The whole thing in the courtyard, Ash. You two kissed, didn't you? Or you were about to, anyway."

"Kissed?" I replied. "Hades, no."

"Are you sure?"

I gave Luke a deadpan stare. "Hmm, lemme think. No, you're right, Luke, I'm totally not sure whether I kissed Harry or not. I was probably sleepwalking or something."

"Okay, okay." Luke put up his hands in surrender and came to sit down next to me. "But do you want to?"

"Luke."

"Okay, fine." Luke looked at my journal. "Whatcha writing?"

"Dream journal," I told him.

"For Trelawney? Another one?"

"Yeah, she thinks they've been great." I shrugged and set down the book. "Anyway... what about Triwizard stuff? Have you guys decided who's coming to help us?"

"Yeah," Luke said. "Sophia from Athena and Brion from Demeter."

"Oh, okay. Cool." I didn't know either of them very well, but they seemed like pretty nice people. There was an awkward silence.

"Ash —"

"I swear to the gods, if you're about to ask about Harry again, there is literally nothing romantic going on between the two of us, and neither of us want anything romantic to go on between us. That would be so weird. In fact, I don't think I'm at a good time to have anything romantic going on with anybody."

"Says the girl who keeps calling Hermione 'wifey.' "

"That is a joke, and you know it." I socked Luke in the arm. "But out of all of you guys, she'd be the one I'd most likely go out with."

Luke laughed. "I really wouldn't blame you. She's the only sensible person around here."

Harry then came in. He and Luke both seemed like they were hoping to forget about the whole scene in the courtyard earlier, which was kind of a relief.

"Just sent a letter to Sirius," Harry said, sitting down with us. "I made sure to tell him about Moody and Snape, including what you said about Moody."

"Oh, really?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "I guess... I think Sirius will probably think along the same lines as you."

I smiled. "I think you're right, Harry. And now that you've updated Sirius, you should focus on the task."

Harry did. The next day we discussed how to help Harry survive underwater for an hour on the twenty-fourth of February.

Ron really liked the idea of using the Summoning Charm again — Harry had explained about Aqua-Lungs, and Ron couldn't see why Harry shouldn't Summon one from the nearest Muggle town. Hermione squashed this plan by pointing out that, in the unlikely event that Harry managed to learn how to operate an Aqua-Lung within the set limit of an hour, he'd most likely be disqualified for breaking the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy — it was too much to hope that no Muggles would spot an Aqua-Lung zooming across the countryside to Hogwarts.