* * *

            ELARA SAT IN FRONT OF DUMBLEDORE, HER LEG BOUNCING UP AND DOWN. after seeing her dreams come true multiple times -- elara decided it was best to go to dumbledore. it took a long while to convince mcgonagall to give elara the password to dumbledore's office without sounding completely mental, but she had done it.

            he was currently reading her two journals. elara looked around his office, feeling awkward. everything was silent except for a few portraits talking and the dull ticking of a clock. earlier, elara and ron got into a fight about harry, so now both harry and elara were avoiding ron, which meant avoiding hermione sometimes too. 

            only the gryffindors were impressed with harry. the hufflepuffs, who were usually friends with the gryffindors, did all they could to haze harry. the slytherins, especially draco, were worse than usual. the ravenclaws seemed to think harry was just desperate for attention.

            draco had taken to making pins that said "support cedric diggory, the REAL hogwarts champion" that would switch to, "potter stinks!" anytime harry would walk by. draco and harry got into a fight, as usual, and hermione was caught in the crossfire.

            dumbledore finally put down the second journal. for the first time, dumbledore's usually soft and warm expression was slightly worried. elara sat on the edge of her seat, awaiting what dumbledore would say.

           she was wondering whether or not she should've mentioned the siren call she had heard in her latest dream. hearing voices wasn't a good thing, even in the wizarding world.

            "it seems you have a peculiar ability, along with your metamorphosing, elara."

            elara nodded, waiting for dumbledore to explain further.

            "please tell miss granger a 'thank you' from me, for giving you these journals. they've been a great help."

            elara fidgeted with the hem of her skirt.

            "i am unsure of what this newfound ability of yours is, but if you could continue writing your dreams down and alerting me when something like this happens again, i am sure we will be able to figure this out. i would advise not to tell harry, but it is up to you."

            "okay," said elara, the tiniest bit disappointed.

            she had a feeling dumbledore was withholding some truth, but she didn't blame him. elara passed by a mirror earlier that morning, and she saw she looked like death. she thanked dumbledore and stuffed her journals in her bag.

            elara elected not to go to the feast, and instead went down to the kitchens. the walk was silent other than peeves trying to unscrew a chandelier, and he only elected not to prank elara when she informed him it unscrewed the other way.

            as she neared the kitchens, an issue of the daily prophet was lying on the floor. curious to see how harry's interview turned out, elara picked up the paper and opened it to page two.

harry has at last found love at hogwarts. his close friend, colin creevey, says that harry is rarely seen out of the company of one elara lestrange  a stunningly pretty metamorphagus girl who, like harry, is one of the top students in the school. elara lestrange, the daughter of the feared bellatrix and rodulphus lestrange, has rumored to be in cahoots with sirius black since his breakout just last year. are black and lestrange working together to get harry killed? find out more on page four.

            elara scoffed. rita skeeter has, in the past, trashed her over and over again. first, it was that elara was behind the gringott's break-in. second, she wrote editorial after editorial on how elara was the 'heir of slytherin' and she was slaughtering muggleborns left and right. third, it was how elara was the mastermind of sirius black's breakout from azkaban. and now, of course, it was how she was working to kill her alleged lover.

            people were making fun of harry left and right. pansy ridiculed elara by comparing her to a raccoon, since elara always had dark circles under her eyes. 

            "stunningly pretty? her?" pansy parkinson had shrieked the first time she had come face-to-face with elara after rita's article had appeared. "what was she judging against — a raccoon?"

            "golly, pansy," snipped elara before hermione could tell her to ignore it, "that's rich coming from someone who looks like a pug."

            "i see you're hanging around your boyfriend again! watch out potter, she might poison you!"

            "oh, just ignore it, lara." hermione took a look at harry, who also looked angry. "you too, harry. just ignore it."

            harry grumbled and kicked at the ground. elara huffed. ron hadn't spoken to them at all since harry had told him about snape's detentions. elara knew harry had half hoped they would make things up during the two hours they were forced to pickle rats' brains in snape's dungeon, but that had been the day rita's article had appeared, which seemed to have confirmed ron's belief that harry was really enjoying all the attention.

            that annoyed elara even more. 

            hermione was furious with the three of them; she went from harry and elara to the one, trying to force them to talk to each other, but harry and elara were adamant: they would talk to ron again only if ron admitted that harry hadn't put his name in the goblet of fire and apolo- gized for calling him a liar, and that elara wasn't on harry's side of this because she wanted to see harry get hurt because her parents are death eaters.

            "we didn't start this," harry said stubbornly. 

            "it's his problem," elara huffed.

            "you two miss him!" hermione said impatiently. "and i know he misses you both—"

            "that's ridiculous," said elara.

            "miss him?" said harry. "i don't miss him. . . ."

            but elara could tell that was a downright lie. hermione was elara's best friend, and was used to hanging around her, although elara avoided the library as much as possible. harry generally stuck with elara, but elara generally reserved her fun activities for the dead of night, which harry was not thrilled about. the pair also had to do a small bit of sneaking around, as anytime they were seen together people would start singing, "potter and lestrange, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

            elara would just roll her eyes and harry would turn pink.

            on the saturday before the first task, all students in the third year and above were permitted to visit the village of hogsmeade. hermione and elara told harry that it would do him good to get away from the castle for a bit, and harry didn't need much persuasion.

            "what about ron, though?" harry said. "don't you want to go with him?"

            "oh . . . well . . ." hermione went slightly pink. "i thought we might meet up with him in the three broomsticks. . . ."

           "no," said harry and elara simultaneously.

            "oh come on, this is so stupid —"

            "just go on, hermione," said elara, "i'll stay with harry."

            "are you sure?"

            "of course!"

            with an apologetic glance over her shoulder, hermione hurried off to the three broomsticks. elara shoved her hands into the pockets of uncle ted's old grey jacket and began to trudge forward against the wind.

            "i'm going to wear my cloak," said harry randomly.

            "fine . . ." elara snapped, "but i hate talking to you in that cloak, i never know if i'm looking at you or not."

            so harry went put on his invisibility cloak in the dormitory, came back downstairs, and together he and elara set off for hogsmeade.

            it was a good decision, really; she watched other students walking past them as they entered the village, most of them sporting support cedric diggory! badges, but no horrible remarks came their way for a change, and nobody was quoting that stupid article.

            "people keep looking at me now," said elara as they came out of honeydukes sweetshop later, eating large cream-filled chocolates. "they think i'm talking to myself."

            "don't move your lips so much then."

            "you're such an ass, harry. just take off your cloak for a bit, and if someone bothers you, you can hex them."

            "lara, no."

            "fine," she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "i'll hex them."

            "lara, no!"

            "oh please, harry? i'll get you fancy french chocolate from fleur."

            "no."

            "i hate you," elara grumbled, but the wide smile on her face said different.

            "seems like i made the right decision. look behind you," said harry, and his tone suggested he was smiling smugly.

            rita skeeter and her photographer friend had just emerged from the three broomsticks pub. talking in low voices, they passed right by elara without looking at her. when they were gone, elara said, "think i would get in trouble if i flipped her off?"

            "you're a terrible person," said harry, who sounded like he was rolling his eyes.

            "i know."

            "i bet she's coming to watch the first task."

            elara made a noise of disgust, which was able to distract her from the wave of molten panic in her stomach. she and harry hadn't discussed what was coming in the first task much; neither of them wanted to think about it.

            "she's gone, thank merlin," said elara, looking toward the end of the street. "it's freezing, wanna go to the three broomsticks for a butterbeer? we're not gonna talk to the great prat, don't worry." she added, correctly interpreting his silence.

            the three broomsticks was packed, mainly with hogwarts students enjoying their free afternoon, but also with a variety of magical people elara rarely saw anywhere else. elara supposed that as hogsmeade was the only all-wizard village in britain, it was a bit of a haven for creatures like hags, who were not as adept as wizards at disguising themselves.

            elara made her way to the bar to get butterbeer for her and harry. on her way through the pub, elara spotted ron, who was sitting with fred, george, aurora, hermione, and lee jordan. resisting the urge to give ron a good hard slap upside the head, she finally reached the bar and ordered.

           a moment later, elara made her way to an empty table in the corner and slipped harry a butterbeer under his cloak. 

           "i hope you realize you're going to have to give me something for this, because i look like such an idiot."

            harry snickered under his cloak. elara kicked him discreetly from under the table and smirked.

            "no matter," elara reached into her bag and pulled out her journal and pen. she shifted her butterbeer to the side and placed her items on the table.

            "you have a diary?" harry whispered incredulously.

            "no, you twat, hermione gave it to me so we could figure out why the hell i have nightmares all the time," elara whispered back as she glared at him through her lashes.

            "can i read it, then?"

            "no," answered elara, without looking up from her writing.

            "what, come on," harry pleaded in a whisper-yell.

            "maybe soon, but not now." her tone indicated that he should drop it, and harry decided it would be best not to push.

           they fell into a comfortable silence. elara focused on her writing, and harry was doing whatever. she had no idea whether he was still there or not, but considering there were no noises to indicate he had left, elara assumed he was still sitting across from her.

            awhile later, elara spotted hagrid's hair over the crowd.

            "hagrid's here," said elara.

            the back of hagrid's enormous shaggy head — he had mercifully abandoned his bunches — emerged over the crowd. elara wondered why she hadn't spotted him at once, as hagrid was so large, but she saw that hagrid had been leaning low, talking to professor moody. hagrid had his usual enormous tankard in front of him, but moody was drinking from his hip flask. madam rosmerta, the pretty landlady, didn't seem to think much of this; she was looking askance at moody as she collected glasses from tables around them. perhaps she thought it was an insult to her mulled mead, but elara knew better. moody had told them all during their last defense against the dark arts lesson that he preferred to prepare his own food and drink at all times, as it was so easy for dark wizards to poison an unattended cup.

            as elara watched, she saw hagrid and moody get up to leave. moody paused, his magical eye on the corner where elara and harry were sitting. he tapped hagrid in the small of the back (being unable to reach his shoulder), muttered something to him, and then the pair of them made their way back across the pub toward harry and elara's table.

            "all right, lara?" said hagrid loudly.

            "hey, hagrid," said elara, smiling back.

            moody limped around the table and bent down; elara thought he was reading her journal, until he muttered, "nice cloak, potter."

            elara stared at him in amazement. the large chunk missing from moody's nose was particularly obvious at a few inches' distance. moody grinned.

            "can your eye — i mean, can you — ?" stammered harry.

            "yeah, it can see through invisibility cloaks," moody said quietly. "and it's come in useful at times, i can tell you."

            hagrid was beaming down at harry too. elara knew Hagrid couldn't see him, but moody had obviously told hagrid he was there. hagrid now bent down on the pretext of reading the elara's journal as well, and said in a whisper so low that elara couldn't quite catch it.

            straightening up, hagrid said loudly, "nice ter see yeh, elara," winked, and departed. moody followed him.

            "why does hagrid want me to meet him at midnight?" harry said, very surprised.

            "that's what he said?" said elara, nonchalantly. "what if it's something to do with the task? whatever it is, you should go, harry. . . ." she looked around and lowered her voice, "just be careful, don't be late for sirius. i'll probably be in the kitchens, so let me know if you like."

            later that night, elara was, in fact, in the kitchens. she'd had a dream about the black lake and a beautiful, cryptic, song. surprisingly, the dream wasn't discomforting, and there was no call.

            her favorite house-elf of the bunch, rosie, had cheerfully stirred up some fettuccini alfredo, which elara was now happily eating as she poured over a book she'd found in the library about dreams. 

            the kitchen was one of elara's favorite places in all of hogwarts. the house-elves were always so nice, there was always a pleasant aroma, and just the overall homely feel to the place made it so calming to just sit at the wooden table in the middle of it all. 

             elara was never one to write down things about what she was reading, but this was important. although her most recent dream was almost serene, elara felt like she's been losing her mind over these weird coincidences and constant night terrors. she'd gone so long without answers, and now she was determined to find some.

            the portrait swung open, and a very tired harry stumbled through. he looked panicked and relieved at the same time. he looked around for a moment in amazement before he noticed elara sitting at the wooden table with a heavily amused expression on her face.

            he sat down rather roughly in front of her, slamming his head on the table.

            "are you... good?" asked elara uncertainly, prodding his arm.

            "i need to eat," harry grumbled. "i want pudding."

            elara snickered and called, "hey, rosie? could i get some chocolate pudding? and decaf coffee with three creams, six sugars, please?" she added when she noticed harry had dark circles under his eyes that were a tad like her own.

            "i've never had coffee. ron said its bad," said harry.

            "yeah, well, ron's never had good coffee then."

            rosie scampered over with a chocolate pudding cup and spoon in one hand, and a white mug of light-brown coffee in the other. she placed both in front of harry, who looked up again to thank her. the pudding was gone in under a second, and harry stared apprehensively at the coffee.

            "oh, go on, it's not going to kill you," said elara.

            "isn't this going to keep me awake?"

            "it's decaf."

            "what?"

            "oh, merlin's beard, harry. just try it!"

            sending an amused look at elara, harry picked up the mug with both hands and brought it to his lips. he hesitated for a moment. only when elara gave him an exasperated look did he take a sip. elara looked expectantly at harry. his expression was blank before it shifted into a small smile.

            "this is really good," said harry, taking another sip.

            "of course it is, when have i ever been wrong?" elara mused, grinning.

            "today, when you told me i should take off the cloak," harry said without skipping a beat.

            elara rolled her eyes and smiled. like the pudding cup, the coffee was done in a short amount of time.

            "so, what did hagrid and sirius have to say?"

            harry seemed to have forgotten all about the worrying events of the past few hours since he'd seen elara. 

            "sirius said karkoraff was a death eater."

            "d'you think he was the one that put your name in the cup?"

            "i dunno, but that's what sirius thinks. i mean, with the dark mark, moody being attacked, the cup, and then beth jenkins or whatever her name is disappearing, it seems like it could be him."

            they fell silent. elara considered the possibility, but krum was his bright and shining star, so why on god's green earth would he want harry potter, the boy who lived, the boy who ended the reign of voldemort, to outshine krum? something didn't make sense.

            "what about hagrid?"

            harry hesititated before answering.

            "i have to fight a dragon for the first task," he rushed out so fast that elara almost didn't catch what he was saying.

            "you're kidding," said elara, shocked.

            "wish i was," harry grumbled.

            "hey," elara said, reaching out across the table for his hand, squeezing it. "i'll help you in any way i can."

            "until the end, i remember," said harry, his mood lightened.

            elara smiled, but inside, her stomach was doing cartwheels. they surely didn't expect a fourteen year old to fight an entire dragon?

            "and i may or may not have thrown a 'potter really stinks' badge at ron's forehead."

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

-- MY BABIES AHHHH!!!!!!!

JANUARY 19, 2020