𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 ━━ harry potter

chapter fourty-four

Ben had been completely right about the next day being difficult for Harry.

All the boys from their dorm woke up earlier than usual, and left without them, even though Ben was already awake. He took his old sketchbook, and a pencil and an eraser that Marina had given him from a Muggle store, and stayed in his bed, with Boots and Snowie purring beside him.

It was quite early, and he didn't want to wake Harry, because he assumed that he would have had a hard time falling asleep the night before, and that this would be a hard day, so he wanted to let him rest.

He began to look through some of his old drawings, from before he even started going to Hogwarts, and remembered the time when his days consisted precisely of what he was doing now; staying in his bed, drawing, waiting for the day to end, and praying that his parents wouldn't take out any frustration on him.

There were many drawings of the same landscape: that of the forest around his house. They were always from the same point of view, that of her room, and the only thing that changed were the colors. Above all, he liked to paint views at sunrise and sunset, because the tones of the sky gave him the freedom to let his creativity fly.

In all of them, a small fragment of the lake could be seen in the distance. It wasn't even that far away, but he had only been there once. He had wanted to go there all his life, wondering what the lake was like in its entirety. At night, he dreamed that he escaped and visited it, and discovered hundreds of creatures accompanying him along the path to the lake through the forest.

And, during the day, he would draw exactly what he had dreamt. They weren't very good drawings, it was evident that Ben had improved a lot since then, but the essence of the boy's desperation to visit that lake was present in every stroke, in every silhouette, in every color.

"Good morning," Harry's sleepy voice came from the bed next to his, startling him. Ben looked at him as he rubbed his eyes and put on his glasses. "Has everyone left already?"

"Yeah," he replied, closing the notebook, and placing everything back in his trunk. "They told me to join them, but I said I wasn't leaving you here on your own."

"Thank you," he said. Ben smiled at him.

"I think it's too late for breakfast, though."

They still got dressed as quickly as possible, just in case there was still a chance to be on time. They went downstairs, and Harry asked Ben to look around the common room to see if there was someone there. After he shook his head, they pushed the portrait hole open, and climbed out of it, finding themselves face-to-face with a worried looking Hermione.

"Hello," she greeted, holding up some toasts, which she was carrying in two napkins. "I brought you this... Want to go for a walk?"

"Good idea," said Harry gratefully.

They went downstairs, crossed the entrance hall quickly without looking in at the Great Hall, and were soon striding across the lawn toward the lake, where the Durmstrang ship was moored, reflected blackly in the water.

"Well, of course I knew you hadn't entered yourself," said Hermione when Harry was done telling them everything that happened the night before in the chamber off the Hall. "The look on your face when Dumbledore read out your name! But the question is, who did put it in? Because Moody's right, Harry... I don't think any student could have done it. They'd never be able to fool the Goblet, or get over Dumbledore's-"

"Have you seen Ron?" Harry interrupted.

"Erm... yes, he was at breakfast," she answered hesitantly.