I was woken from my trance by Eric hugging me from behind. I was still shivering. My mom sat down next to me and gave me her jacket. I was a little warmer now. People around me were still cheering, but most of the students were making their way to the boats.
"Honey, are you alright?" Asked my dad. My teeth were clattering.
"It's very c-cold," I replied. He picked me up and engulfed me in a warm hug. We made our way to the boats as well. I saw Harry walking a bit in front of us with Hermione and Ron.
My dad's arms were always a safe place. I was finally relaxed since the task ended.
"Why'd you go back under?" Asked Eric suddenly. "You were back just in time, but then you went back down, why?"
"Eric, honey, Ariel just wanted to help her friend. It was a noble thing to do," my dad told my brother. "Besides it earned her a shared second place with that Krum boy, and we're very proud. Aren't we Juliette?"
"Extremely, Frederick," responded my mother happily, though she didn't look it. I don't think that she likes me being around Harry that much.
"Wait, shared second place?" I asked. I hadn't even thought about that yet. I wonder what place Harry's in.
"Yes, honey, your heroic actions in the lake earned you an all over second place," explained my mother. I was stunned. I didn't know hoe to react.
"Who was the little girl by the way?" I asked finally. We had now reached the big front doors leading inside the castle. It was so much warmer inside that I didn't need my moms's jacket anymore so I gave it back. "The one I saved?"
"She was the french girl's little sister," explained Eric. "And she's really cute"
"Ew"
"Hey! I'm never whining about you and Harry Potter kissing all over the place," spat Eric. I smacked him hard on his arm. My parents looked at me awestruck.
"You're making out with Harry Potter," stated my mom dully, an undertone of anger in her voice. "What happened to Draco? You went to the ball with him right?"
"Well well Julie. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation," my dad reasoned with my mom. "I'm sure she's only trying to make Draco jealous by making out with Harry Potter."
"No, I'm not!" I defended. "I actually like Harry! He's kind to me. Draco's a selfish prick!"
"Ari!" Called my dad shocked. "There's no need to make such things up. Are you mad because he doesn't like you like you like him?"
"What? I don't-," I asked shocked.
"Well why else are you so nasty towards him?" Asked my mom. I looked at them both with my mouth hanging open in shock. Eric shuffled behind us, keeping his mouth shut. I'll handle him later.
"It's getting late, guys. I think you should go home," I told my parents. "I'm going to celebrate with my friends." I said as I walked away from them.
"What friends," called Eric from behind. I pointed my finger to him from over my head.
I raced up the stairs leading to Ravenclaw tower. My hair felt dirty and I was cold. All I wanted was a hot shower and then I'd look for my friends. I reached the door to the common room, but I was too tired to answer the question the doorknob asked me. I sat outside waiting for a bit, but no other Ravenclaw came along. I knocked on the door. Somebody unlocked it and I pushed to open.
As soon as I entered the common room a loud cheering filled my ears. Almost all of the Ravenclaws were cheering. It's the most noise I've ever heard them make. Not counting the heated debate many of us had on the function of keys when we can simply use alohamora.
![Common Ground ⌁ Draco Malfoy [2/4] ✔ von _TomMarvoloRiddle_](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/63357379-80-k877544.jpg)
I got patted on the back by almost fifty people, most of whom I didn't even know. The other people were less interested in me and were busy doing their own things. The sudden attention seemed weird to me and I felt quite awkward. Luckily, after a while the chatter died down. I went to sit with Cho Chang to ask her how she was doing.
"Still cold?" She asked me. I noticed legs still had goosebumps all over.
"Now that you mention it," I said and laughed. Then I quickly made my way over to the bathroom. I rushed to wash my hair and scrub my body of filth. I put on my most comfortable clothes and made my way over to the Gryffindor tower.
I arrived at the statue of the Fat Lady feeling physically drained from the swim and the walk up the many many stairs Hogwarts has. I then realized I had no idea what the password to the Gryffindor common room was. Surely someone would come along soon.
Sure enough Ron and Hermione soon arrived at the common room entrance. Hermione swung her arms around my neck.
"Blimey, Hermione. You're suffocating her," said Ron after he saw my startled look.
"What's wrong?" I asked the two of them. "Where's Harry?"
"He's with Dumbledore," explained Hermione. "We- we found Mr Crouch. His body."
I gasped. "Are you serious?" I asked astonished.
"Why would I joke?" said Hermione.
"Fair enough," I said quickly.
"Let's go inside," said Ron and he covered my ears with his hands to shield me from hearing the password.
"Don't you trust me?" I jokingly yelled not being able to hear myself. The door to the common room opened and I saw the Fat Lady looking at me with disapproval. I winked at her. The three of us plopped down on the couch.
"I can't go into your common room, you can't go into mine," Ron answered matter-of-factly.
"If you use your brains, you can easily go into our common room. It's really not that hard. I bet if Hermione wants to she'll be able to get in," I said and stuck out my tongue.
"Whatever, I'm still not saying it," said Ron.
"I think that's hardly our biggest problem right now," mentioned Hermione. She was right. If Barty Crouch was murdered it must be by someone here at Hogwarts. Who else would be able to get onto the grounds unnoticed. I mentioned this to the two Gryffindors.
"You're right," said Hermione. "Besides we would've seen the culprit. Mr Crouch took Harry aside right after the task. Soon after we found him dead. So the murderer couldn't have been far," she explained.
The door to the common room opened and Harry stepped in. He didn't seem surprised to see me, but when our eyes met he smiled. I moved away from Ron to make space for the dark haired boy. As soon as he sat down he pulled me in for a hug and kissed my cheek. I felt myself blush.
"How are you?" I asked him. I rested my head on his shoulder.
"Fine," he said almost instantaneously. I knew this was a lie, but I didn't push him to open up. I'm sure he's used to saying he's fine even though he's not. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it.
"What happened at Dumbledore's?" asked Hermione after a moment of silence. Harry explained his evening to us. All about the trial he'd seen in the Pensieve and how he recognized the son of Barty Crouch from a dream he'd had. (Which he didn't tell me about before this by the way.)
"So you're saying that Barty Crouch's son, who is now in Azkaban, appeared in your dream and seems to be working with You-Know-Who, who's supposedly gone, and Wormtail, who used to be Ron's rat? What!?" I asked afterwards, entirely confused.
"It's probably a lot to understand right now," said Harry. "But it comes to this, Wormtail and Barty Crouch Jr need me for something. I think they want to kill me."
"Damn Harry do you have to deal with this stuff every year?"
"Sorta," replied Ron while shrugging. I looked at him wide eyed. "We're used to it now."
I rolled my eyes. Hermione scoffed at Ron for being so nonchalant about Harry facing potential death and they started arguing. I looked over to Harry to make the usual married couple joke, and found him staring at me, eyes squinted.
"What's wrong?" I asked. "Do I have a pimple?" I gasped hiding my face behind my hands.
"No! No, not at all," said Harry quickly, peeling my hands from my face. "I just remembered something. Can we talk for a sec? Away from them?"
"Sure," I replied and the two of us made our way to a corner of the common room. "What's going on, Harry?" I asked once we were far away from the others.
"You're name. I've heard it once, before we met. You were mentioned in my dream," Harry said looking serious.
"I was mentioned? What the hell did they say about me," I asked shocked. My heart started pounding.
"The need you for something. I don't know what. They just said they need you for their plan," explained Harry.
"What the hell do they need me for? I'm no different than any other witch," I said.
"Why did the dragon let you by? In the first task? You told me that you touched the dragon and it let you go. Why?"
"I don't know," I replied. Harry looked skeptical. "I really don't know."
"I think I know," came Hermione's voice from the couch. I just now noticed they had gone silent and must have heard our entire conversation. I chuckled and pulled Harry with me to the couch.
"You're best subject is Divination, isn't it," said Hermione. She was building up to something. "Harry and Ron always make up their fates. They don't have a clue what they're doing. But you can actually see things, can't you?" I nodded, not sure where she was headed. She went on. "And you have dreams too, don't you?" I nodded again. "I think you might be a Seer, Ari," said Hermione.
"A Seer? Like Professor Trelawney?" I asked.
"Well, we're not sure if she really is such a gifted Seer, but you get the idea," said Hermione. Ron and Harry were quiet. I looked at her in disbelief.
"You can see the future?" Ron said. "Read me, will you?" He said and thrust his face in my hands. Nothing happened.
"I can't do it on command, Ron, sorry," I said pushing his face back. Ron grunted.
"What did the Dragon's future say then?" Asked Harry.
"It showed her I was only taking the golden egg and leaving the others alone," I explain. "That's probably why she let me pass."
"That's probably why Voldemort wants you," said Harry. "So he can use you to determine his fate."
"Well it's no use. I can't do it all the time," I said. "Anyways. This is all just speculation. I'm not sure whether I'm actually a Seer. I'm just good at Divination because I like doing it. Speaking of which, I was going to tutor you, because you helped me with the summoning charm before the First Task," I told Harry.
"You helped me more, than I helped you," Harry corrected me. "Besides, I think that Trelawney enjoys my gruesome fate more that anything I would actually predict." The four of us laughed at Harry's sad but true comment.
"Promise me one thing, will you?" Asked Harry. "If you ever have a dream, you'll tell us?" He said.
"Of course I will," I replied. "If you promise to do the same." He nodded in agreement.
"I'm done moping. Tonight's supposed to be a celebration! The two of you survived another task," cheered Ron.
"So did you," I added. Ron shrugged.
"I have an idea on how to celebrate," said Harry.
