In The Shadows² ★ Draco Malfoy

*Second Task

The day of the second task was tense for everyone in Hogwarts. Everyone had been taken down to the Black Lake, and were anxiously waiting for the task to start. Briar was unusually not sitting with her friends, and instead was sitting with Theo in the stands.

The fourth year had his arm around her waist and was constantly pressing kisses to her cheek, turning her face so she would kiss him properly. And behind them Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle were sitting there making remarks about Harry.

Suddenly everyone's attention was drawn to the stand in the middle of the lake, where the champions and judges were all standing "Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them.On the count of three, then. One . . . two . . . three!"

The whistle echoed through the chilly February air and the four champions quickly waded out into the dark water. Soon after, the applause died down and everyone's attention was now on wondering what was happening below the water surface

Briar was incredibly worried for her friend Harry and as the minutes ticked by her worry grew more. But Theo didn't seem to care for Harry or any of the champions's safety, since he immediately turned Briar's chin towards him and pressed his lips against hers

She reluctantly kissed him back for a few minutes before pulling away firmly "I should go see my friends, none of us have seen Hermione or Ron since last night and I want to know if they're here"

"They can wait," he shrugged

"But I'm worried," She said

"You worry so much," He sighed "First it's you looking bad, then it's you're not spending enough time with your friends, and now it's you don't know where you are. Do you want to make me happy in this relationship, or just worry?"

Briar was taken back. Theo had always been so kind to her, but she realised that maybe she was right and her constantly worrying wasn't making him happy so she should do it less. "Sorry" She said quietly

"It's okay, love," He smiled "Focus on us okay?" 

Briar nodded and let him pull her back into a kiss, ignoring the gut feeling of guilt in her stomach. When they eventually pulled apart, Briar focused back on the lake and played with her fingers in anticipation of something finally happened

And something finally did when Cedric emerged from the dark water, with Cho Chang in his arms. The crowds from Hogwarts erupted into cheers, relieved that one of the champions had finally got through it okay

Then they were all informed that Fleur had been forced to drop out of this task, and she was soon retrieved from the lake, so that meant they were only waiting for 2 more champions to succeed 

As it got closer to the hour mark Krum emerged in the water, with a struggling Hermione, and Briar stood up to cheer loudly with the rest of her friends. Once Hermione had been wrapped in a thick towel she glanced over at her friends and waved at them 

"She's okay!" Briar cried in relief

"Harry might not be," Theo said nonchalantly "He's only got three minutes"

"Harry can pull it off" Briar assured herself

But when two more figures appeared, neither one of them was Harry. It was Ron and Gabrielle, Fleur's younger sister. The pair began to swim back to shore, before suddenly Harry emerged from the water

Hogwarts exploded into more cheers as both of their champions had made it

There was a tense wait for the points to be distributed, until Dumbledore's voice echoed to the stands

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcushas told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have thereforedecided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows. Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-HeadCharm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed toretrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points. Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return withhis hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We therefore award him forty-seven points. Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which wasnevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award himforty points. Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect. He returnedlast, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainessinforms us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in hisreturn was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely hisown. Most of the judges feelthat this shows moral fibre and merits full marks. However . . . Mr. Potter's scoreis forty-five points."

Briar and her friends once again burst into cheers and they began to climb out of the stands to see their friends

But before Briar could go Theo grabbed her wrist "Where are you going?"

"To see my friends" She replied and tugged herself out of his grasp before running along the shore to see them

First of all she put her arms around Harry to congratulate him, before she moved on to checking on Ron and Hermione. The large group of Gryffindors then made their way back up to the castle and sat around the common room fire listening to Harry's story of the events that happened under the water

At dinner it seemed as though Ron was basking in the glory of having been saved by Harry, and was telling anyone who listened a very obviously exaggerated story of how they were taken down under the water

Briar was exhausted from the day's events and was desperate to sleep, but she was stopped from heading upstairs by Theo pulling her into an empty corridor off the entrance hall

"What's going on?" She asked him, immediately sensing that he was off

"What do you think you're playing at?" He scoffed and Briar furrowed her eyebrows in confusion "Earlier when you were cheering for your little friends, and then running off to them. What were you playing at?"

"Nothing, they're my friends and I was worried about them" She replied 

"But you're dating me!" He exclaimed

"So?"

"So I can't be seen running around with someone cosying up to mudbloods and blood traitors" He scoffed "When you're with me you can't act like that"

"But-"

"I'm a pureblood, Briar," He continued "You associating with these people makes me look bad, and if I look bad then I'll be punished at home. So you have to stop it when you're with me or me getting hurt will be your fault and you wouldn't want to do that to me, would you baby?"

"Then maybe you shouldn't be with me," She said. She didn't want Theo to get hurt, and especially not because of her

When Theo didn't say anything Briar took that as his answer and was about to head back to her tower, when he grabbed her wrist. But this time it was painful, and his hand was tight

"No" He nearly growled "You're not leaving me. You're mine, baby, no one else will want you now that I've kissed you. You're not going anywhere, understood?"

"You're hurting me!" She whined. As he had been speaking his grip on her had tightened more until she could feel his nails digging into her skin and she was sure it would bruise

"Understood?!" He snarled

Briar didn't know what to say. Obviously she didn't want Theo to get hurt because he seemed to really care about her and it was her fault, but she also wanted to be with her friends. But Theo seemed to care about her and she wanted to stay with him

"Okay" She said softly and he finally released her wrist, he raised it to his lips and kissed the red skin softly

"I'm sorry about that, baby, but I was angry" He said "I don't want to hurt you so please don't make me angry again okay?"

Briar nodded nervously and he walked off into the entrance hall. Briar clasped a hand around her still painful wrist and ran up to Gryffindor tower, heading straight to her dorm and falling onto her bed