I didn't know what to say to him.I didn't know if I should run after Harry who had stormed off down the corridor leaving me behind. I stood glued to my spot and suddenly  wondered why I even cared what he thought. Harry did make it clear he only liked me as a friend, even if he never said it out loud. But I know dating his enemy was going to put a dent in our friendship. I looked behind me to the handsome blonde who looked confused and raised his eyebrows expecting me to sit back down, and I glanced back to where the awkward raven haired boy took off running.

I made my choice saying yes to being Draco's girlfriend, but at what cost? So I sat back down and faced the decisions I made just like I have always done. "What was that about?" Draco asked slipping his cold  hand back into mine. I just shrugged, staring off in the distance where Harry last stood.

 "He wont be happy." I mumbled more to myself than answering his question.

 "Potter will get over it." Draco with a shrug of his shoulders.

Draco walked me back to Gryffindor tower kissed me goodnight and headed back to the dungeons to his own dorm. When I walked inside it was quite crowded, Seamus and Dean were playing wizards chess by the window. Fred and George were trying to get a group of first and second years to buy their products, Lee was beside them snickering over someone with puss filled boils covering their face. Hermione and Ron were on the couch talking about something, and Harry of course like normal was sitting on the floor facing the fireplace. 

"Hi guys." I said softly walking up behind them. Hermione looked up and smiled and Ron did the same, Harry must not have told them what he say yet.

 "Harry I—" I started to say, but was cut off when he jumped up and held up his hand.

 "Don't Ali.How could you do that?" He asked quietly, and I noticed several conversations around us stopped to look towards us.

 "Harry, you knew that was bound to happen." I said trying to reason with him.

 "NO! the one person in the entire school that none of us can stand, and you decide to become an item with him." Harry practically sneered. It was like the yule ball all over again where they were yelling at me for fraternizing with the enemy.

"Harry, whats wrong?" Ron asked coming to stand beside him.

 "Harry, you were too stupid to see that you were the one I wanted to go to the ball with!" I said my voice getting louder with every word, and the common room was dangerously silent all of a sudden. A look of confusion laced with worry flashed across Harry's face before his head sunk to the floor.

 "Whats wrong Ali?" Fred and George said together as they were now standing on either side of me. 

"Harry is mad that I'm dating Draco, but that wouldn't have happened if Harry plucked up the courage to ask me to the ball himself!" I said feeling tears roll down my cheeks. I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders and one around my waist, and I knew it was the twins again. They seemed to take me under their wing as another little sister since they started dating mine. 

 Harry wouldn't look at me, he just looked down at his worn grey converse sneakers. I saw Ron nudge him in the arm and whisper something I couldn't hear, But Harry just wouldn't say anything to me and that made my tears fall harder.

"I hate you for making me cry, Harry." I whispered and took off running up to my dorm. I slammed the door behind me and fell face first onto my bed and pulled the curtains shut around me. I didn't even know truly why i was crying, must be stupid teenage girl hormones, which I was definitely not used to. My curtains were shoved open and I felt my bed dip slightly as someone sat on the edge of it. It had to be either Hermione or Ginny, as I knew Lavender and Parvatti didn't give two shits about me crying. 

"Ali, don't cry" Hermione whispered, and I rolled my head over to see her looking down on me with worry. I rolled onto my back before sitting up to look at her properly

 "I have never cried over a boy until now." I chuckled, wiping my tears. Hermione just smiled and patted my leg

 "Happens to the best of us." She said looking down, playing with some string on my blanket. Hermione and I chatted for a few hours, before we decided to call it a night and get ready for the next days classes.

~

The next few weeks sort of went by in a blur for me. Harry wasn't talking to me and was spending most of his time avoiding me at all costs, and even though he was an ass, I was really missing him. Just like I thought, Hermione got over the fact I was dating Draco, Ginny did the same. They weren't happy about it, but they were happy for me and that was all I asked for. A lot of people in Gryffindor weren't very happy about my new found relationship, often times I would get called a traitor and a way too many of them just told me he would break my heart.

The thing about that was, if Draco were to hurt me in any way it would only be hurting himself since his best friend happens to be my brother. Slytherins were notoriously known for their loyalty to the people and things that they care about, and my brother's loyalty was beyond anyone I ever knew. Regardless of who they were or even their blood type, once my brother found you essentially a friend to him he would stick by your side until the very end. And I knew that was why he was sorted into Slytherin. But Damian's loyalty to me trumped it of any other person in his life. If Draco ever did anything to me, my brother would probably make  him wish he was never born.

I was enjoying my time with Draco over the past few weeks, he was so sweet and cordial to me. But I felt like our relationship would always be strained given my best friend hated him with a passion. I didn't think we could ever be really serious about each other until Harry could accept that we were together. But a small part of me was happy he would never accept the two of us, it gave me hope that something might eventually happen between Harry and I, that he might come to his senses seeing me with someone else, and come for me. It was a horrible thing to think, I wasn't intentionally dating Draco to make Harry jealous. However if I was having fun with Draco in the meantime, it wasn't hurting anything. 

And to make matters worse, today was the day of the second task. And my whole body was shaking from nerves. Harry and I weren't speaking so I had no idea if he came up with some way to stay underwater. Hermione was trying her hardest to help me, but we were both clueless. And poor Ron was stuck between Harry and I. I had no earthly clue how I was going to stay underwater for an hour, and I had no idea what Moody's message meant about the water. Maybe I could block the water out. I don't know what he meant.

I was standing with Draco in the courtyard watching the students walk excitedly to the black lake. Most of the Slytherin boys had taken to supporting Krum, by wearing Bulgarian clothing today. The Hufflepuffs were a mixture of support for Cedric and myself, the same with Ravenclaw. Gryffindors of course were supporting Harry and I. Draco and a few of his friends were supporting me today, with buttons with my face on it I think Draco threatened them if they didn't wear them. 

"Give em hell Ali!" Fred and George said as they passed by once again collecting money to see who would win this task.

I smiled nervously and felt Draco squeeze my hand. "Where is he?" I asked looking around the heads of people who were running around. I was looking for Damian, who I haven't seen since the day before, and Draco hasn't either.

 "I'm not sure babe." Draco shrugged. I heard a whistle down by the lake signifying that the champions were due on the dock in five minutes. 

"We need to go." Draco said tugging on my hand trying to lead me away. I took one last look around before nodding and following him to the lake.

"Good luck." Draco said before quickly pecking my lips and walking to stand with his friends on the rafters that were in the middle of the lake. I walked over and took my spot in between Harry and Cedric on the edge of the dock. It was freezing out here, and along with worrying about holding my breath for an hour I would have to worry about hypothermia. 

Cedric nodded to me when I looked over at him,  he was jumping up and down trying to stay warm in his black and yellow swim trunks. I smiled and took off my red and gold robe that was keeping me warm, leaving me now in my maroon and gold one piece bathing suit. 

I shivered when the cold air hit my skin and rubbed my arms to stay warm. I quickly tied my long hair into a braid to keep out of my face and glanced to Harry out of habit. He was staring at me with saddened eyes and then looked back to the water with worry. 

"You didn't figure this out did you?" He asked loudly over the screaming students behind us. I snapped my head up to look at him and gave him a confused look. "The water," He said nodding to the lake in front of us. I hesitated slightly before nodding my head.

Harry sighed before reaching in his pocket and pulling out this cluster of green stuff that looked like the seaweed that washed up on the shores in California. He ripped it in half and shoved the second part into my cold palm. "Eat that." He said nodding to my hand before shoving his own pile into his mouth. I looked down at the grassy looking stuff in my hands that was very cold and slimy.

 "Hurry up." Harry grunted holding his throat as if gasping for air.

 "Do it." Cedric urged me from the other side, and soon enough the whistle blew.

Fleur was quick to jump into the water with a perfect dive, Cedric flopped in after her, followed by Krum. Harry was still gasping for air, and I had the sudden urge to reach over and help him, that was until Moody shoved him hard into the water, his body landing with a loud splash.

 "Harry!" I gasped peeking over the ledge to see him. 

"Get in the water Soloria!" Some random Slytherin shouted who was next to Moody.

 "I've got money on you, get in!' Seamus yelled from beside Neville and Ginny. I finally realized I was the only champion still standing lost on the deck.

I shoved whatever it was Harry gave me in my mouth and jumped into the freezing cold lake. It was like a shock to my system with how cold this water actually was right now. I held my breath and opened my eyes to see how murky everything was. I could hear the faint sounds of water life calling out in the distance, and plant life was growing from below. I got tangled in a pile of green weeds for a moment before cutting out of them with my wand. 

I thought holding my breath was going to make me feel like I was going to explode after about a minute, But I was surprised when I went to gasp for air, that i didn't end of choking on lake water. It was like I was breathing oxygen, only it was water.I felt like a fish, it was a strange yet mystical feeling. I swan towards the bottom of the lake, and even swimming was simple, like I had fins or something. Which I noticed I did when I looked down at what once was my feet. 

I swam as quick as I could towards the lake floor, trying to make up as much time I lost as possible. When I came through a clearing of water plants, I saw several gryndelow's attacking something. They had tridents in their hands and these razor sharp teeth, they were long—a lot longer than I thought they were from the books in the library. When I swam a little closer I saw they were attacking Fleur, who had transformed herself into what looked like a mermaid. Fleur screamed when one of them came for her with a trident and took off for the surface of the lake.

I guess I was heading in the right direction if Fleur was heading this way. The gryndelows were distracted for a moment and I took that as my opportunity to swim across the clearing, but didn't make it too far. They must have smelled me or something, because the second I swam to the center of the clearing all ten of their heads quickly turned in my direction. Within seconds, I was surrounded by all of them with no hopes of escaping. 

'I wont hurt you'  Was all I was thinking at that moment, it seemed to work with my dragon, maybe I have some sort of animal intuition I don't know about or something. I don't know if these things count as animals though. The gryndelow in front of me just stared, but looked a little less violent than before.

 'let me pass' I thought, which worked for me because all of the creatures backed off and swam away. I had no clue what was going on with me anymore, it was like this weird mind thing I have been able to do. First the dragon and now the gryndelows. I'm guessing if creatures are involved in all the tasks maybe I will be ok. 

When I got to the second clearing I saw several bodies floating in the water, and I gasped when I realized I knew all but one.  Hermione and Ron were floating side by side unconscious, with Cho on their other side. A small blond girl was floating beside Cho, and I wanted to cry seeing who was on the very end—Damian.

The challenge I realized now was to save the most important person to you, and three of them meant so much to me. Cedric appeared by my side, clicked his watch with his wand before snatching up Cho and heading to the surface. A shark head flew past me making me gasp and hide my head. But seeing the swim trunks attached and the fact that it grabbed Hermione in it's arms, I realized it was Krum and calmed down.

But where was Harry, And Fleur? I saw Fleur with the gryndelows but figured she would have come back by now. But I didn't have time to worry about anyone else but my unconscious brother in front of me.  I sliced off the rope holding him to the bottom of the lake and pushed him up towards the surface. I swam after him pushing him along ever so gently, until the two of us reached the surface. The second the air reached us, we both gasped for air. Damian started coughing violently, causing me to slap him on the back. 

"I knew you wouldn't let me die down there." Damian laughed when he stopped coughing. I smiled at my brother and wrapped my arms around his neck causing us both to fall back under the water, but immediately pop back up laughing.

 "You're not going anywhere. " I said and helped him swim back over to the rafters that were several yards away.

When we got there I could finally hear the cheering again, people shouting my name, and others yelling upset that they lost money and I wasn't in first place. But I didn't care, I wasn't in this to win, I was just trying to survive. I helped Damian climb up the ladder and then followed behind him. 

"Ali!" Someone yelled, and I turned to be engulfed by a hug by Hermione. I laughed and hugged her back, smiling at Seamus who was standing behind her. She wrapped a warm towel around my shoulders, before doing the same to Damian. 

Ten minutes went by of me sitting with Hermione and Ron waiting on Harry to surface. Fleur I learned had been disqualified when she came up after her encounter from the gryndelows, sticking her in last place overall for the tournament. Damian had wandered over to talk to the girl he took to the yule ball, and the rest of his Slytherin friends. I was looking for Draco, and didn't see him, I figured I would just see him after the task was over and we all were back at the castle. 

"There he is!" Someone shouted, and Hermione and I sprung to our feet so fast we almost fell into the lake again. I looked out and saw Harry slowly swimming towards us, helping Ron and the little girl on the way over. Harry of course would go and help someone who wasn't his, that was just the person he was. 

Hermione and I scrambled to help Ron up with us, and I reached down and grabbed the little girl who then flew into Fleurs arms mumbling things in French. Ron helped us get Harry back up and the cheering in the stands was even louder than before.

"Great job Harry." I said softly when he looked at me. He nodded and turned back to our other friends. I would have to thank him later for helping me. I finally caught glimpse of my blonde boyfriend who was now standing near my brother chatting with his friends, and since Harry was busy I made my way over to him. When my brother caught sight of me he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and I smiled up at him. Draco hadn't seen me yet and was chatting with Goyle and Crabbe who were in front of us. 

"I don't know why you're with that Gryffindor, Draco." I heard Goyle say. I felt my brother tense up next to me, and had to wrap an arm around his waist to calm him. "Yeah, shes nothing special." Crabbe said agreeing with his friend.

 "Trust me guys, if it wasn't for father insisting I get to know the blood traitor I wouldn't have anything to do with her." I heard Draco say, and I could almost hear the smirk in his voice. 

Draco didn't stand a chance. The second those words left his mouth my brother was there in a second. "Care to repeat that Malfoy." My brother sneered to him, ripping his shoulder around so they would face each other. I could tell Damian was trying his hardest to keep his temper under control, but I could see him clenching his fists by his sides. Draco's eyes went wide as he saw my brother fuming, and me crying behind him.

 "I didn't me—" But Draco never got to finish because Damian had punched him in the jaw so hard causing him to spin around and land on the ground. 

I heard people gasp and all conversation stop. "Mr. Soloria!" Professor Mcgongall yelled from across the way. Damian was still fuming, and soon had Draco thrown across his broad shoulders, and ended up throwing him into the black lake. I wasn't sure if Draco knew how to swim or not, but I didn't quite care anymore.

 "That's a blood traitor!" my brother yelled out to where Draco was sputtering in the lake. Almost everyone around us had moved away, not wanting to be caught in Damian's wrath. But his face softened immediately when he saw the slow tears rolling down my cheeks.

"Ali don't cry." He said softly and quickly wiped them for me. He took my face gently in his large hands and kissed my forehead. I smiled up at my big brother who has always been there for me, the one person I always knew I could count on. 

"There's my Ali bear." He whispered and wrapped an arm around my shoulders once more.

I wasn't sure what else went on that day, only that I for sure wanted nothing more to do with Draco, My brother was getting a detention, and me and Harry were tied for first place in this tournament. I could feel something definitely wasn't right, like something terrible was upon us. Unfortunately once I found out, it was too little too late.