Days after Analeigh's initial fight with Ron, she was relaxing by the Black Lake with not only Harry but Neville as well. The shy Gryffindor was kind enough to join the two of them since their original friend group was, well, not exactly seeing eye to eye.

Analeigh had climbed up a generally low tree but it was so thick with leaves that it covered her almost entirely. When Harry had noticed her gone from his side by the water, he warningly said, "Be careful!" to which she merely chuckled at. On the other hand, that green-eyed boy stayed in his place, reading a book on his lap while Neville waded in the water until it was up to his ankles as explored and examined the plants. From time to time, he would make comments about them and Analeigh and Harry nicely responded to, but after a while, they go too distracted with what they were doing themselves.

"Amazing," Neville muttered, holding up what looked like seaweed.

"That's great, Neville," Harry tried to sound interested.

"Amazing!"

Harry looked up from his book, slightly irritated by his constant comments. Neville was his good friend, but sometimes, he just wanted his peace and quiet.

"Neville, you're doing it again," he said.

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"It's alright, Neville," Analeigh reassured the boy, not wanting him to feel bad from Harry's comment.

"Magical Water Plants of the Highland Lochs?" Harry suddenly questioned out loud. She saw him holding up the book he had been reading, and he had directed the question to Neville.

"Moody gave it to me," Neville explained, looking away from the plant he held. "That day we had our first lesson."

Harry nodded and went back to reading the book, Neville continued to be fascinated with the plants surrounding him, and Analeigh quietly continued to practice some newly-learned charms from Flitwick's classes the past week. The three of them were left in their own worlds for a few moments until a couple of new voices broke their silence and caught their attention.

"We've already been through enough people. Why don't you just go do it yourself?" someone asked in annoyance. Analeigh pushed a few leaves away to find Hermione glaring at Ron and Ginny trailing behind them, all of them just a few feet away from where Harry sat. "Ugh. What do you want me to say again?"

There was a pause wherein Hermione and Ron just whispered harshly to each other. Finally, after what seemed like a lot of convincing, Hermione seemed to give in to Ron's orders and approached Harry who stared up at her with raised brows.

"Ronald would like me to tell you that Seamus told him that Dean was told by Parvati that Hagrid was looking for you," Hermione told him, sounding unsure of what she was saying which as highly unlike her. "And Analeigh, too — wherever she is."

I wonder when they'll notice me up here, Analeigh thought.

"Is that right?" Harry raised his voice. Analeigh supposed that after so many days of not speaking, this was all they had to say and frankly, he was miffed about it. Just when it looked like he was going to lash out on them, he stopped and said, "Well — what?" It seemed that he hadn't understood what Hermione had just said after all.

"Uhhh..." Hermione shuffled back to Ron and they began speaking in hushed tones again. The bushy-haired girl was clearly getting frustrated at how Ron couldn't just walk over to Harry instead, which would've been so much easier, and all the while, Analeigh just watched in amusement from her comfortable spot in that well concealed area of the huge tree.

Hermione then walked back to Harry. "Dean was told by Parvati that... Please don't make me say it again," she pleaded. "Hagrid's looking for you and Analeigh and — where is she, anyways?"

"Probably off snogging someone like Diggory, I bet," Ron muttered to Ginny, but Analeigh had heard. Something inside of her snapped; what he said offended her quite a bit. Is that what Ron, one of her closest friends, really thought she did in her spare time? Snogging random guys? Especially one who's rumored to have something going on with another girl?

"Is that so?" Analeigh finally spoke, jumping down from the low tree. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were genuinely surprised at her appearance, each of them taking a few steps back from where she landed.

"Leigh!" Ron stuttered. "I —"

"What exactly are you trying to insinuate?"

"W-What?"

"When you said I'd just be snogging someone just like that? Is that what you think I do in my spare time?" Analeigh gave a humorless laugh.

"No, I... I didn't see you there —"

"So that's your excuse for talking about me like that?"

Ron didn't say anything for a second, then it looked like he had composed himself, adjusting to the fact that he had just said something offensive behind someone's back— but she was, in fact, right there.

"Well," Ron finally said. "It's probably true! I know you're quite close with him — you'd probably do that!"

Analeigh half-expected Ron to take back what he said when he realized she had heard everything, but instead, he was encouraging his hurtful words.

"Excuse me?" was all she could say. "You are so assuming!"

"And like I said before, you're being such a naive git!" said Ron. The whole time they fought, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville stared at them with their jaws slightly dropped, listening intently as if they were paying attention to an interesting game.

Analeigh took a dangerous step towards the redhead, tired of this endless fighting. "If that's what you think of me, then fine. But just know that you're being incredibly insensitive. You can't trust any of your best friends, especially Harry, which is why we started fighting in the first place! And you're just picking up meaningless fights with me because you're being immature!"

The girl then stalked off, dismissing the calls from Harry and even Neville to come back together with Hermione and Ginny's voices scolding Ron. She stormed away from all of them as tears threatened to fall — angry tears. She was frustrated that he thought all those things about her and angry that he had such unreasonable reasons for being mad at Harry and even her when she did nothing but try to understand what he was going through. This truly was Analeigh's first major fight with Ron — with any friend, for that matter.

Analeigh made her way all the way back to the castle, ignoring the feeling of her legs growing more tired with each step she took and just mindlessly wanting to get as far away from her so-called friends. Her pace slowed down to a walk as she trudged down the corridors. A tear slipped from her eye and she furiously wiped it away right when she turned a corner where two other people so happened to be.

Cedric Diggory was taking a walk with Cho Chang in that very hall that Analeigh was now in. The fifth year Ravenclaw oh-so-subtlety hinted that she wanted to spend time with him when she encountered him in the library minutes earlier. Cedric, who was obviously not daft, kindly invited her to accompany him after he finished his schoolwork on his way to the Great Hall for an early lunch. Small talk was exchanged between them and he admitted it wasn't boring but not exciting either, and in the middle of it, he saw a familiar head of dirty blonde hair in front of him before she quickly passed by him and Cho. He swore she was wiping away stray tears from her face based on her actions, but he didn't actually see if she was crying. Either way, he wanted to find out.

"So, I went up to Professor Flitwick and asked him why my grade was an A — Cedric?"

Cedric looked away from the girl behind him and faced Cho. "I'm really sorry, Cho, but I'm afraid I have to leave."

Cho tried to hide her disappointment by nonchalantly asking, "Oh, why?"

Cedric didn't know how to explain that he wanted to check up on the girl who just passed by them. "I, uh, I forgot that I needed to meet up with a friend of mine."

"Oh, I see," Cho nodded. "I'll see you around, then?"

"Sure. See you."

The Hufflepuff left the girl without another word, briskly walking to where he saw the dirty blonde girl walk off. Thankfully, he was fast enough to see her at the end of the next corridor, just about to head up a set of stairs. Now that she was in clear view, Cedric was sure who it was.

"Analeigh?"

Analeigh halted abruptly, startled by the sound of someone's voice in the quietness of the hall. She turned around with her head slightly tilted downwards, not wanting to show any sign that she was upset. Still, she was able to see that it was Cedric. Knowing that she passed by only two other people a mere few seconds ago, she realized he was probably one of them.

"Hi."

Cedric took quick and longer strides until he reached her. It was obvious she was avoiding his eye, so he bent down a little lower to be in level with her, giving him the opportunity to see that she had a few tear stains on her face. It didn't look like she was bawling her eyes out, but the fact that she still cried was enough to make conclude that she was upset.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Analeigh mumbled lamely.

Cedric scoffed disbelievingly. "I'm not forcing to tell me what's wrong, but you shouldn't lie either." Analeigh still didn't say anything. "What happened?"

"I had was a stupid fight with a friend. Like, really stupid. You wouldn't want to hear it."

"I want to help you. That is, if you want to talk about it?"

Analeigh looked up at him, trying to read his face. His eyes held concern, but she wondered why he would want to hear her talk about her problems to help her out of all people. Even if they were now partners for the Triwizard Tournament, it didn't mean they were automatically the closest of friends that he would want to listen to her about dramatic things such as petty fights with friends. In the end, she slowly said, "I suppose."

Cedric smiled at her answer. "Now, why don't we get something to drink in the Great Hall and talk there? We can have some tea, perhaps?"

Analeigh chuckled a little. "Tea sounds great."

A comfortable silence fell over the two as they made their way into the Great Hall. Analeigh silently went over what happened in her head, trying to make sense of what happened. She tried not to dwell on it too much though — she was going to the hall to have tea with Cedric, and she didn't want to be an emotional mess in front of him.

It was peaceful in the Great Hall when they entered. Cedric led Analeigh to the Hufflepuff table. She didn't mind considering Ron might walk in any moment. Once they sat down, Cedric grabbed the teapot, which seemed to be there before they even arrived, then he poured some into two cups.

"So," he said after a moment, sounding very serious. "What is your dilemma, Miss Analeigh Heart?"

"I would hardly call it a dilemma. Like I said, it was a pretty stupid fight. Loads of rubbish."

"Was it such rubbish it made you that upset?"

"Okay, so it wasn't exactly loads of rubbish, but it was a stupid misunderstanding."

"With who?"

Analeigh sighed. "Ron."

"Weasley?" Cedric was a little surprised. He didn't know that boy well, but he didn't seem like the type to make girls cry for no reason. "What in Merlin's name did he do?"

"Well..." Analeigh paused, not knowing if she should even bore Cedric with her story or spare him. But he nodded his head at her as if urging her to continue, so she did. "Ron's been in a foul mood with me recently. To make things short, he was basically just upset not to be able to enter the Triwizard Tournament."

"That caused you to fight?"

"In a way. We cleared things up the night they announced our names, but let's just say he wasn't too thrilled at the idea of Harry Potter being the center of attention once again."

This time, Cedric wasn't that surprised. He heard many of his classmates bashing the Potter boy for stealing the limelight from himself and even one of his best friends, Analeigh Heart — Cedric knew Analeigh didn't care that Harry was being focused on once again after being named a champion, too. Cedric also believed that Harry didn't enter his name in the first place, much to his friends' dismay. They were all miffed at that Gryffindor for taking Cedric's glory as they said.

"But, isn't Ron Weasley..." Cedric said. "Potter's best friend?"

"I hope they still are," Analeigh just said. "I defended Harry's situation and Ron didn't like it. He practically said everyone praised Harry and didn't need more people doing that."

Cedric nodded, now understanding more. "I see. And this lead to you not talking for..."

"For a few days." Analeigh didn't even remember how many. "Then today, I was with Harry by the Black Lake when Ron came by — said he had a message from Hagrid, then asked where I was because Hagrid was asking for me as well. He ended up..." She stopped for a moment, thinking about whether or not she should even mention that Ron brought up Cedric, which eventually lead her to getting mad at him. She decided against it.

"Ended up what?"

"He ended up insulting me. Something along the lines of a naive git."

"Did he say anything else worth beating him up for?"

Analeigh blushed when she recalled that Ron said she would be snogging Cedric Diggory in her spare time. Meeting the aforementioned boy's eyes again, she cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Well, he said something about me spending my spare time, er, snogging people," she eventually said uncomfortably, causing Cedric's eyes to widen. "Not that I do that! I wouldn't. That's why I was offended." Analeigh couldn't put her finger on why she cared so much about how Cedric viewed her all of a sudden. She certainly didn't want to be seen as a tramp.

"I'm not very good at comforting people," Cedric admitted. "But if it makes you feel any better, I don't think you're a naive git. I never thought of you, and never will, as someone who just, er, snogs people instead of doing something productive."

Analeigh let out a small laugh at his attempts. "Thanks, Cedric."

The sixth year boy grinned. "I actually think you're intelligent and quite a wonderful person."

All Analeigh could do was blush.

★ ★ ★

"Harry, are you absolutely sure about this?"

"Yes, Leigh. Now hush."

The blonde glared at the bespectacled boy, but he either didn't notice her in the darkness as they walked on the school grounds in an Invisibility Cloak in the evening or he just ignored her. Perhaps it was the second — it seemed more like him.

Analeigh and Harry arrived at Hagrid's Hut. Like Hermione and Ron said earlier, the half-giant was asking for them. Harry rapped his knuckles on the wooden door three times before the door swung open. They would finally get to know why Hagrid so badly wanted to see them.

"You there, Harry? Leigh?" the man whispered, staring straight through the two of them. He held a lamp as he squinted in the dark, his hair more tamed and clothes neater than usual. Analeigh made a note to ask him later on.

"Yeah."

"Why were you looking for us?" Harry asked.

"Got summat ter show yeh," he explained, stepping out of his hut and shutting the door behind him. "Follow me."

Harry and Analeigh exchanged glances with one another as Hagrid walked over to the thicket of trees next to his home. Although wary of what they were going to do, the two of them followed him into the Forbidden Forest anyways.

"Hagrid," said Analeigh after minutes of silence aside from the crunching of leaves beneath their feet. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Just wait."

"Hagrid, you combed your hair!" Harry suddenly exclaimed.

Analeigh scoffed. "You noticed just now?"

"What, you noticed it earlier?"

"The moment he opened his front door."

"I —"

"Shh, we're almost there," Hagrid interrupted, not entirely confirming what Harry and Analeigh said, but the sheepish look on his face was enough. Was he trying to hide something about why he dressed up specifically tonight?

All of a sudden, a figure emerged from the trees. Analeigh thought it would be one of the creatures that lurked in this forest, but instead, out came her former Headmistress, Madame Maxime.

"Ah, 'Agrid... is it time?" she said, her accent thick as ever. Analeigh had the urge to reply back in French, seeing as she hasn't spoken to anyone in that way besides her mother in a long time. But since Madame Maxime was someone she respected but never really knew well nor liked as much as Dumbledore and that they were in the Forbidden Forest late at night, she kept her mouth shut and watched as Hagrid smiled brightly at the giant woman before they continued walking away. Harry and Analeigh tried to keep up as quietly as possible, and they both wondered why in the world Madame Maxime was even here meeting up with Hagrid in the first place.

Hagrid finally stopped walking after what seemed like forever. The two Hogwarts champions were getting irritable from slouching and bending under the cloak for a long time while trying to be as quiet as possible. Analeigh tugged on Harry's shirt and the two walked to the side since Hagrid and Madame Maxime were blocking them due to their big statures. Once they steered clear of them, all they could see at first was fire — fire and jets of light flying around everywhere. Following that were thick chains and sturdy cages that all lead to gigantic, vicious-looking, sharp-tether beasts roaring and struggling to get free.

Dragons.

"Ah, c'est magnifique!" Madame Maxime exclaimed. Hagrid beamed proudly, and all Analeigh could think of was why in the world they found dragons "magnifique." Sure, these creatures were fascinating, but they were incredibly dangerous. Because Madame Maxime found them amazing, she walked out from the thicket of trees and nearer to the clearing to be able to get a better look at them.

Harry took this as their opportunity to finally speak to Hagrid. He ripped off the cloak over his and Analeigh's heads and said in disbelief, "Dragons? That's the first task? You've got to be joking!"

"Come on, Harry," Hagrid tried to reason with him. "They're seriously misunderstood creatures. Right, Leigh?"

Both heads turned to Analeigh as she sputtered out, "S-sure —" Just then, one of the dragons breathed out flames that danced dangerously near to where they were all standing. "Actually, no. Sorry, Hagrid."

Hagrid looked like he expected her answer. "I have to admit that Horntail is a right nasty piece of work," he added honestly, glancing at the dragon that had breathed out the fire seconds earlier. "Poor Ron nearly fainted just seeing him, you know."

"Ron was here?" Analeigh couldn't help but ask with bitterness in his voice. Hagrid didn't seem to catch that.

"Oh, sure. His brother Charlie helped bring them over from Romania. Didn't Ron tell you that?"

Harry sneaked a look at Analeigh to see her looking irritated just by the mention of Ron.

"No," Harry answered for the both of them. "He didn't tell us a thing."

Either way, Analeigh and Harry were going to have to face these dragons for the First Task.

A/N: [extremely belated] happy New Year, everyone! Super sorry for the late update, but here it is! I've had so much going on with school and I still have one last exam tomorrow, but since it's almost the end of a long quarter full of schoolwork, I decided to finally post this ♥︎