CHAPTER 15

LAKE

The next few weeks felt like the flew by. Hogwarts had never been under such content calmness after the Ball. Students seemed more relaxed as the break ended, and Hogwarts atmosphere was the most 'homey' Blaise had ever seen it.

Lyra and him had arrived into a peaceful acquaintanceship, Blaise wanted to call it. They acknowledged and smiled to each other in the hallways, well, Lyra smiled Blaise just nodded as nicely as he could. Still he found himself looking around for her when they were in the hall or by the lake.

As the break came to an end, Blaise, along with the rest of the Slytherins began dedicating themselves to the homework due after the holidays.

"Oi! Malfoy, what are the ingredients in an Anti-Paralysis Potion?"

"A few drops of shut the hell up."

"Screw you!"

Draco just sent him a middle finger back and Theo chuckled as he scribbled on his parchment.

"Malfoy! What's the third step?"

"It's to go fuc--"

"Oi!" Theo yelled before smacking Draco's head with his textbook, "Watch it, there are first years here."

"Pretty sure the first time you spoke to me, you cussed, Nott." Blaise smirked as the Ellen year olds giggled from the table nearby.

Theo glared at the boys who just sent him back a smile and flopped back down onto the big sofa chair.

"...Malfoy--"

"Zabini if you ask me one more time about your Potions homework I will throw you off the Astronomy tower."

"Alright, fine! I'll just fail Potions this year."

"No. Don't start."

"Fail and disappoint my mother. My poor mother."

Theo turned to Blaise, "You don't even like your mom."

Blaise ignored him. "And then fail my OWLs next year, and NEWTs. And live as a beggar on the streets. My good looks being the only salvation left."

Draco growled, "Alright! Just give me your damn assignment, you wanker."

Blaise whooped before handing his parchment over. "Thanks Draco."

"Yeah, yeah."

And that was how the rest of break went with Draco taking over most of the Potions assignment. Blaise persuaded all of his friends to take over the assignment that were their forte. He took the History of Magic and Herbology ones. They would sometimes finish early enough to help the first and second years.

Until school began again and they returned to their usual schedules. They still tried to helped the younger and sure, sometimes they also cheated off each other. But the quiet, relaxed atmosphere faded returning to a much stricter, colder one that matched the Slytherin common room.

Blaise credited himself on being a pretty good student. In Potions and Transfiguration he needed some help. DADA was alright, he didn't really care too much in that class. History of Magic, Herbology, and Astronomy were his best subjects.

("You're a massive nerd." Daphne and Theo would say.)

Which was pretty much true, especially since he actually enjoyed the classes. And yeah, he was definitely interested in a position at the Ministry after Hogwarts, if that was even an option for someone like him.

So, the return of school was something he had taken very seriously. With OWLs coming int he next year, practically every teacher had decided to cram it into his head that he had to work harder not only for his 5th year, but as early as now.

And now Grubby-Plank was replacing Hagrid, probably for the rest of the year it was another class he had to put more effort in. He would have felt bad for Hagrid, I mean from what he knew, he had been here since forever. But the giant was more of a risk for the school. Not only with his terrifying creatures but he was also a freaking giant, which was an issue all on it's own. He had already received a letter from his mother, ready to step in and complain to Dumbledore

"That type creature is a risk, figilio. Stay as far away, and I shall be expecting you to leave that class after this year." She had said in her letter.

He needed to remember to let her know that there was a substitute now. And while class with Hagrid had been boring, and borderline suicidal, it was just as boring with Grubby-Plank on the first day.

She had introduced them to unicorns, which was fine but left little to do for the guys in the class other than just sit around while the girls fawned at the animal.

If anyone asked Blaise, no he was not staring at Knight when she pet the unicorn, seemingly knowing what she was doing. But no one did ask, thankfully no one even noticed as Draco began picking a fight with Potter and Weasley.

"What d'you mean, 'We all hate Hagrid,'" Harry spat at Malfoy holding up the Daily Prophet. "What's this rubbish about him" He pointed at Crabbe, "getting a bad bite off a Flobberworm. They haven't even got teeth"

Crabbe began sniggering beside Blaise.

"Well, I think this should put an end to the oaf's teaching career. Half-giant, and there was me thinking he'd just swallowed a bottle of Skele-Gro when he was young. None of the mummies and daddies are going to like this at all. They'll be worried he'll eat their kids." Malfoy taunted and began chuckling. Blaise knew it would only end in a fight and began pulling at the back of Draco's robes away from the tightening fists of the Gryffindors.

"Are you paying attention over there?" Grubby-Plank called, saving Draco from a fistful to the face and drawing all of their attention back to the unicorn and clustering girls.

Blaise felt a swoop in his stomach when he noticed Knight staring worriedly at the Gryffindor boys, seemingly asking what had happened with her eyes. He blamed it on the breakfast he had.

The second task came faster than Blaise expected. With so much of his time and concentration going to homework, February 24th had reached them and the three schools headed out to the lake. Draco had still made him wear a badge and they settled into the bleachers a few seats above the lake.

Blaise could see Knight, and her friends sitting at the edge, closest to the lake. The Weasleys loudly accepting bets from classmates. Dougherty chatting with Knight and Dunbar as they sat close. Lovegood sat with them, her feet in the water. And Thomas, Finnigan, and Longbottom sat behind them, talking amongst themselves.

At one point Knight turned around and sent him a small smile, turning back after he nodded. Her right cheek had a stripe of red and gold paint, the other side had yellow and black, and her hair was loose, curling along her shoulders.

Theo whispered from beside him, "Did Knight just smile at you or do I have a concussion."

"You probably have a concussion." Blaise whispered back and Theo flicked at his shoulder. "It was probably to someone behind us."

Theo turned, with a raised eyebrow but didn't say anything else. Blaise almost sighed in relief. The last thing he needed was to hear shit over Knight and his new friendship.

Bagman's voice soon sounded across the lake, "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 shrilly in the cold, still air; everyone cheered loudly as the champions began. Krum immediately jumped into the water, a shark fin appearing where he had disappeared, Fleur and Cedric cast a charm that surrounded their mouths and noses with a bubble air and they dove in as well. Potter grabbed something green from his hand and shoved it in his mouth after tugging his shoes and socks off.

"Did he just go into the water with his robes on?" Theo asked, his eyebrow raised.

Draco snorted, "Moron. At least he was smart enough to use Gillyweed."

Blaise hummed, looking up at the timer that marked one hour. "What are we supposed to do for an hour while we wait."

Theo shrugged leaning back into the bench.

"What do you think was taken from them?"

"Who knows."

"...I'm bored."

"It's been ten minutes."

"Oi..."

"What?"

"I brought a flask of Bungbarrel Mead."

"Are you kidding me. You idiot."

"Want some?"

"...Yeah."

"We should go into the lake."

"How much have you drunk?"

"I'm hungry."

"You ate forty-five minutes ago."

"And?"

Blaise truly felt bad for anyone who sat nearby and could hear their conversations because Theo got extremely annoying when he was bored, and this second task was Very Boring.

At one minute before the timer ended, Cedric broke the surface, the bubble effect disappeared and he pulled Cho Chang with him. The crowd cheered as he reached the shore and was met by the judges who helped them out, with Madam Pomfrey wrapped them in towels.

"They took their loved ones." Draco said from beside him.

"Damn. What would have happened if they didn't succeed?"

"Well there's no way they would have let them die... Right?"

A few minutes later the surface broke again as a shark head rose with a girl. The shark quickly transformed back into Krum who helped pull Granger to shore.

"That's the most important thing to Krum?"

"Well they did go to the Yule Ball together."

Third to reach the shore was Fleur, but she didn't have her person. She was shaking and her leg had a patch of red where she seemed to be bleeding. Madam Maxine grabbed her, wrapping her in a towel but the girl began fighting to get back into the water.

Minutes passed as they waited for Potter to appear. Finally he did, holding both a white haired girl, very similar to Fleur and Weasley.

They swam to shore, helping the little girl and were pulled up, wrapped in blankets. Dumbledore approached the shore and bent over, probably speaking with a merman before returning to the judges.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision Mer-chieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows... Miss Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by Grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage We award her twenty-five points."

Everyone clapped before he continued.

"Mr. Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour."

Cheers from the Hufflepuffs sounded in the crow.

"We therefore award him forty-seven points."

"Mr. Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

The stands clapped and cheered again.

"Mr. Harry Potter used Gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own. Most of the judges feel that this shows moral fibre and merits full marks. However... Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."

The crowd cheered again, it was probably the loudest as the Gryffindors in the stand in front of Blaise broke out in yells.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw One of the twins and Dunbar hand her a pile of galleons. He chuckled softly.

"Typical Potter and his noble bullshit." Draco spat from beside him.

Blaise shrugged, "Guess Gryffindors work for something."

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," continued Bagman. "The champions will be notified of what is coming, precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

With a few last cheers the stands began to empty out. Blaise has to grab Theo's shoulder to stop him from toppling in his tipsy state.

He pretended he didn't see Knight chuckling at them when they walked past each other. But it wasn't as easy to pretend the swoop in his stomach at her smile.

*****
it's been like 2 weeks since I updated... oops

but I made up for it with some Slytherin bonding time, pining Blaise in denial, and crackhead Theo Nott because that's just how I imagine him when he's with his friends.

also, figlio is italian for son. because I read that Blaise and his mom were most likely Italian. So yay! I am not fluent in Italian nor do I know much so if you notice in the future some mistake please let me know