Something Magical

Chapter 16

Another Plea

Winter break passed much more quickly than Millie or any of her friends would have liked and, much too soon, they were back to classes and doing homework each night. Homework, however, was the least of Millie and her friends' worries though because they were all worried about Harry and how he hadn't figured out the clue for the second task yet. The task was only a couple weeks away now and they weren't any closer to cracking the clue. It had gotten to the point that Harry was convinced the whole thing was just a hoax and there wasn't any way to discover the clue but Hermione was always there to tell him that was ridiculous and they wouldn't have assigned the champions an impossible task.

At the moment, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Millie were all pouring over books to figure out something that would help with the clue. Ron kept throwing out suggestions that were getting further and further from the realm of actual possibilities but Millie thought this was just because he was trying to make up for not being there to help for the first task.

Tired of staring at the millionth book that afternoon, Millie huffed and slumped over the book, lightly banging her head on the table, "Harry, I think I agree with you. This is impossible!"

"It's not impossible!" Hermione snapped at her, as she slammed another book closed and grabbed another.

"Hermione, Millie's got a point. We've been her for hours and we've done this for days and haven't been able to figure anything out. Maybe I'll just have to forfeit the next task..." Harry trailed off, looking put out at the thought of failing in the tournament.

"Harry, why don't we ask Cedric? Maybe he's figured out something." Millie suggested.

"What? No, I'm not going to ask him for help. I don't want his help." Harry replied indignantly.

"Okay, but Harry, sweetheart, Cedric is a sixth year. He's learned loads more than us and he's actually really smart. He's one of the smartest students in his year. Even Fred and George will admit that." Millie tried to reason with him, knowing that if he asked Cedric, Cedric would do everything he could to help him.

"No, I'm not asking Cedric."

"Well, fine then. I can't handle another moment in this library without murdering someone so I'm leaving. See you lot at dinner." Millie bid her friends goodbye, heading off to escape the library and find something else to do. She was just considering going down to the kitchens to nip some food when she heard her name called. She turned around curiously, spotting Colin Creevey running towards her, out of breath.

"Hello, Colin. Everything okay?" Millie asked.

"Yes...I...have a...letter...for...you." Colin managed to get out between catching his breath.

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Colin." Millie took the letter from Colin and asked to make sure that he was okay before walking away to look at who had written her. She started to rip the letter open before pausing at the handwriting, realizing that it was from her father. Her stomach dropped and dread invaded her bones, and Millie was reminded that she had left the past few letters unanswered from her father and she had backed out from talking to him with Harry in the fire. She had a feeling she knew what this letter would be about, given that Harry had mentioned Sirius was becoming increasingly more hurt that Millie had suddenly gone back to ignoring him.

My Darling Daughter,

I won't lie and say I'm not disappointed in your lack of communication with me. Remus and Harry have both told me that I need to give you time. Time to come to terms with me being back in your life, time to realize I won't abandon you again, just...time. But they don't know (and you don't either) that every day I was in Azkaban, I thought of you. I thought of your smile, your laughter, the feeling I got when you said "Dada" for the first time, the joy I got when I saw you take your first steps.