Aurora | Harry Potter

chapter eight

"POTTER STINKS! CEDRIC RULES!"

I scoff as me and Harry walk through the corridor leading to the centre garden area with the large oak tree, students standing everywhere wearing badges that go from 'CEDRIC RULES' to 'POTTER STINKS'.

"Pay no mind to them, Harry," I whisper, "they're just pathetic jokes." He nods and gives me a brief smile as we come to the exit of the corridor, which is blocked by four or five students. Harry says excuse me but none of them move, so I shove them all out of the way and we push through. 

Harry pulls me towards a group of Hufflepuffs, my brother being one of them, lying down on a bench and laughing with each other. He asks to speak to Cedric and I know he's going to tell him about the first event, which he told me all about last night after visiting Hagrid.

He also said that Ron is keeping things from him now, which is one of the reasons he's still quite pissed off. 

"Dragons, that's the first task," Harry murmurs to Cedric, who looks at him in shock. "Are you serious?" He asks in response, looking to both me and Harry. We both nod and as we go to walk away, Cedric tells Harry that he's asked his friends not to wear the badges, to which Harry just nods his head. 

I briefly exchange eye contact with Cedric and when I do, I give him a kind smile and mouth 'I love you' to him. He smiles and mouths it back to me, which fills me with happiness that we seem to be on friendly terms again.

Harry then pulls me away and once I see that we're heading towards Ron and Seamus, I know his mood isn't going to increase because he's going to insult Ron or something equally bad. 

"You're a right foul git, you know that?" Harry snaps. "You think so?" Ron retorts, followed by a sassy, "I know so!" from Harry.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, stay away from me!"

Ron scoffs and barges past us both, knocking into Harry's shoulder and mine. Harry goes to shout at him, but I swoop in front of him and tell him not to bother. "Don't make it any worse, Harry. Let's just get back to the Common Room."

He sighs and nods as we start walking past the oak tree, but then I hear Draco's voice and when I look up, I see him in the tree again.

"Why so tense, Potter?" He exclaims, looking down at me and Harry with a smirk. "My father and I have a bet, you see. I don't think you're gonna last ten minutes in this tournament," he says, jumping down from the tree, a few Slytherin buddies of his moving behind him. 

"He disagrees. He thinks you won't last five."

I groan and storm forward, pushing Draco hard in the chest. "No one gives a damn about what your father thinks, Draco! He is vile and cruel, and you're just pathetic," I snap, going to walk away. I then hear Draco pull out his wand and I spin around with mine in hand, but a spell from the side turns him into a white ferret.

Me and Harry look to our right and see Professor Moody, his wand pointed at Draco.

"That'll teach you to cross someone when their back is turned," Moody says as he starts controlling Draco, moving him up and down. Then, I hear Professor McGonagall's voice behind us. 

"Professor Moody! What are you doing?" She asks, to which he just says teaching. Her eyes jump from the ferret and Moody until it clicks. "Is that a... is that a student?" She exclaims.

"Technically, it's a ferret," Moody replies sarcastically as he shoves Draco down Crabbe's trousers. A crowd of students have gathered at this point and are laughing at the scene. Goyle tries to get Draco out, but jumps back after being bitten on the finger.

I see Moody wink at me and Harry, both of us trying to stifle our laughter. Draco crawls out of Crabbe's trousers and McGonagall quickly turns him back into human form. "My father will hear about this!" Moody starts chasing him around the tree, eventually making him run away.

"Is that a threat? Is that a threat?! I can tell you stories about your father that would curl even your greasy hair, boy! It doesn't end here!" Moody shouts, McGonagall stopping him from going any futher.

"We never use Transfiguration as a punishment, surely Dumbledore told you that," she asks, to which Moody casually responds with, "He might have mentioned it."

McGonagall raises her eyebrows as she turns around, telling students to leave as she walks away, Moody sticking his tongue out at her behind her back. Me and Harry somehow manage to contain our laughter as Moody turns to us.

He points to Harry and says, "You, follow me." Harry looks to me and I just usher him away, quickly saying I'll be in the Common Room waiting for him. 

When I get into the Common Room, briefly talking to the Fat Lady before entering, I see Ron sat with Hermione by the fireplace. He looks up, sees me and scrambles to his feet. 

"I'm sorry about earlier," he mumbles and I smile at him. "Thanks Ron, but I don't think that I'm one that you should be apologising to and I think you know that too," I reply, which makes him slowly nod his head and he looks down at the ground.

"Hey," I say, placing my hand on his shoulder supportively, "apologise to him after the first event tomorrow, be patient with him and he'll take it easier."

He smiles and nods his head. "Thanks, Aurora. Do you want to join us for a game of Wizards Chess?" He says, motioning to him and Hermione. I smile and say that I'd love to, sitting down and watching them finish their match, Hermione just losing.

"Come on, Hermione, didn't you learn anything from first year?" Ron jokes, making us all laugh aloud. I look at both of them and just smile, happy that hopefully the golden trio and I will fully be back together again soon.