The Chosen Two

33- The Second Task

HARRY'S POV

I walked back with Cedric to where my sister was. She was sitting at a table in the corner of the library, piles of books surrounding her.

"Harry," Hailey said, looking up. She gave me a smile that I had missed. "You've heard the clue, yes?" Cedric left my side and pulled out the chair next to Hailey, taking a seat.

"Yea, do you know what we have to find that they're going to take?" I asked, pulling out a chair and sitting across from Hailey and Cedric, who now had his arm wrapped lazily around her shoulders.

"No idea, but we have bigger problems, Potter," Cedric answered for her.

"We've been here all night reading book after book, but we can't find a thing about holding our breath for an hour. Cedric found something- a bubble charm, but it's too complex for me to perform and he can't do it for me as that would be considered cheating and we're supposed to be competing against each other." Hailey said, looking down.

"Don't worry, love, we'll find something." Cedric said, kissing her cheek. I almost vomited, but kept my cool.

"I found something, Neville did actually." I said. Hailey's face lit up, as well as Cedric's.

"What?!" She squealed.

"Shh!" I leaned forward, hushing my voice. "Gilliweed."

"Where can we get that?" Cedric asked. Hailey looked confused.

"Snape's closet." I bit my lip. Cedric knew the consequences of getting caught stealing from Snape. Very long detention's, but we had to try.

"The cloak! Harry, we can use the cloak!" Hailey lit up once again.

///

The three of us walked back to Gryffindor tower, so I could fetch the cloak. I expected Hermione and Ron to be lounging in the common room, or to be in the dorm, but they weren't in either spot. Where were they?

Once I grabbed the cloak, we all walked as close as we could get before we left Cedric by the Prefects bathroom and disappeared under the cloak. He was amazed. Hailey and I walked slowly towards the closet, pushed the door open slowly, making sure it didn't creak and searched for Gilliweed. It wasn't a big closet, but there were many ingredients within.

"Here!" Hailey whispered, grabbing a jar and grabbing 2 plants from it.

"Let's get out of here!" I whispered back, only to the door being whipped open. It was Snape! I grabbed Hailey, one hand on her mouth and one around her waist, pulling her into a back corner.

"See, I told you Dumbledore, I'm missing Lacewing Flies and Boomslang Skin, Knotgrass and Fluxweed! Someone's brewing Polyjuice Potion, and I believe it's Potter and his little friends." I scoffed silently.

"Now, Severus, I'm sure there has to be a reasonable explanation for this..." Dumbledore said as they continued walking down the hall. I let out a breath I was holding and released Hailey, who did the same.

"That was close." She said, hugging me underneath the invisibility cloak. I agreed.

///

"So..." Hailey started as we walked down the empty corridors. Cedric had gone to his tower after Hailey and I promised him she would make it back to her tower safely. I looked over at her and noticed she was ringing her wrists. Was she nervous? "Like Cedric said... I should explain everything to you, I owe to you, you told me about... Cho." She whispered her name, which I appreciated.

"Alright, go for it." I encouraged. Though I knew most of it, I was very curious to what I didn't know.

"Well, I met Cedric in the champions tent, during the first task. He came over and introduced himself. Draco was being very affectionate at the time, and I used Cedric as a way to get away from that, a break if you will. I ended up spending every day with him after the first task until he told me he liked me a few weeks later. I had realized I liked him too and agreed to date him. I didn't want to tell you or Draco because I didn't really know how. I've never had much experience with boys, seeing as I attend an all-girls school, and didn't want to lose any of you." She said, avoiding my eyes the entire time, avoiding judgement.