Chapter 49

Again, for the second time that weekend, Atlas found herself by the Black Lake. Though this time, instead of peacefully relaxing by the water’s edge, she was skipping stones with a furious amount of strength, a harsh yell expelling from her lungs each time she threw one and on a particularly vicious throw she almost dislocated her shoulder. Grimacing, she watched as the rock soared through the sky, landing some distance away over the Giant Squid’s cove.

A tentacle rose from the water and tossed the rock back, splashing a few times playfully before diving back down to its home. Atlas smiled at that and collapsed backwards, sitting on the rocks and sighing as she fiddled with a stray smooth pebble. She’d woken before anyone else, sneaking out before the sun rose to save herself from enthusiastic Gryffindors and nosey ghosts. 

Sitting by the lake had offered her time to reflect, time to really process Dumbledore’s words and what this could mean. By the time the sun had revealed itself fully upon the horizon, Atlas had calmed her nerves, the adrenaline from the night prior and the warning aches in her chest, now, spectres at the back of her mind, floating around. Atlas had no doubt they would return but she would deal with them when they came. Still, she did idly wonder why the cup had been so ominous, its flames whispering words to her ear, it had told her she was to be called from it before anyone had even seen the paper and that knowledge…it did leave her thinking.

“Oh Harry, isn’t it obvious?” A sudden voice came and Atlas sat up, glancing around hurriedly before, in a fit of panic, she shifted, her great big form leaving her even more noticeable. “He’s jealous!”

The wolf looked for cover desperately, but it was too late, Harry and Hermione had already come upon the clearing and were staring at her with great big bulging eyes. Atlas acted inconspicuous, sniffing the rocks and licking up some of the lake water, she grimaced at the taste and sneezed, causing a ripple to appear on the water’s surface.

“Frog!” Hermione cheered and Harry remained frozen, staring at the beast silently. Hermione ran forward and hugged the furry being, pulling away to examine the scars in her sides, tracing them delicately with her fingertips. “How are you girl? I see you’ve healed nicely. Thank you for saving us, I’ll tell Atlas to give you so many treats! She’ll have to listen to me.”

Atlas almost lost concentration, her shift nearly dropping as the contact sent her reeling backwards and rolling across the rocks with a startled yelp. Hermione observed her silently a moment before giggling amusedly, Harry finally moving forward and standing beside her as Atlas covered her face with her paws.

“This is Atlas’s Dire Wolf? The one that saved us from werewolf Professor Lupin?” Harry murmured and Atlas peered over at him, standing tall and padding over to him. She pushed her snout against his face and relished in the chin scratches she was awarded. She couldn’t help it, scratches and strokes always felt better as an Animagus. “She’s sweet…” he murmured, though Atlas could hear a hint of dejection in his words. Something had happened.

“Isn’t she?” Hermione grinned, scratching behind Atlas’s ears. The two humans decided to stop and sit, Atlas internally debating whether it would be morally right to eavesdrop on a private conversation undercover before huffing and deciding to lay down also, tail thumping against the ground. Her head rested across their laps and she smacked her chops, yawning loudly.

“Hermione, can you tell me why on earth Ron would be jealous?” Harry said after a moment, taking a bite out of a slice of toast he pulled out of his pocket. Atlas hadn’t eaten that morning so she slipped her nose into his jacket discretely, pulling out a piece of her own to eat. “Does he want to make a prat out of himself in front of the whole school?”

“Look,” Hermione began quietly, brushing a hand down Atlas’s neck, “it’s always either you or Atlas that gets all the attention, you know it is. I know it’s not your fault,” she added quickly, seeing Harry open his mouth furiously. “I know neither of you asked for it…but – well – you know, Ron’s got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you’re his best friends, and you’re both really famous – he’s always shunted to one side whenever people see you two, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many…”

“Great,” Harry said bitterly. “Really great. Tell him from me I’ll swap any time he wants. Tell him from me he’s welcome to it…People gawping at my forehead everywhere I go…I’m sure Atlas would agree with me, wouldn’t she Frog?” 

A short huff was offered in return and Harry cracked a smile, scratching between her ears.

“Besides, I don’t see you getting jealous.”

“You know I’m content without the fame…” Hermione sighed.

“Yeah, until Atlas is swept away by the crowd and you don’t get to spend time with her,” Harry grumbled and Hermione went to retort, only she came up empty, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes as she took in a breath. Atlas peered up at her and grinned internally.

“Anyway!” She redirected and Harry smirked to himself. “I’m not telling Ron anything, for neither you nor Atlas, wherever she is,” she said shortly and Atlas almost laughed at the irony of it. Imagining herself shifting and just popping up in their laps, arms wide as she shouted ‘surprise!’, she idly wondered how they’d react. “Tell him yourself. It’s the only way to sort this out.”

“I’m not running around after him trying to make him grow up!” Harry yelled and Atlas snapped at him, the shout sensitive on her ears. His mouth was right by her head, after all. “Sorry, Frog. Look, maybe he’ll believe we’re not enjoying ourselves once I’ve got my neck broken and Atlas has drowned or –“

“That’s not funny,” Hermione murmured quietly and Atlas sat up, turning her head to look at Hermione. “That’s not funny at all. That’s all Atlas was worried about yesterday and I tried to be positive but I’m scared as well, somethings not right.” She looked extremely anxious and at her words, Atlas went still, resting her head against her paws silently. “Harry, I’ve been thinking – you know what we’ve got to do, don’t you? Straight away, the moment we get back to the castle?”

“Yeah, give Ron a good kick up the –“

“Write to Sirius. You’ve got to tell him what’s happened. He asked you to keep him posted on everything that’s going on at Hogwarts…It’s almost as if he expected something like this to happen. I brought some parchment and a quill out with me –“

“Come off it,” Harry hushed, looking around to check that they couldn’t be overheard, but the grounds were quite deserted, Atlas had made sure of that. “He came back to the country just because my scar twinged. He’ll probably come bursting right into the castle if I tell him someone’s entered me and Atlas in the Triwizard Tournament. Especially Atlas! He already lost her once, he’ll go ballistic –“

“He’d want you to tell him,” Hermione said sternly. “He’s going to find out anyway.”

“How?”

“Harry, this isn’t going to be kept quiet,” Hermione said, very seriously. “This tournament’s famous, and you and Atlas are famous. I’ll be really surprised if there isn’t anything in the Daily Prophet about you two competing…You’re already in half the books about You-Know-Who, you know…and Atlas is in a quarter of them, not to mention the books written about her parents…and Sirius would rather hear it from you, either of you, I know he would.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll write to him,” Harry resigned, pulling out his final piece of toast and throwing it like a fanged frisbee into the lake. Atlas perked up and watched it fly, it floated atop the water for a moment and then, rather suddenly, a large tentacle rose out of the water and scooped it beneath the surface. “Let’s go.”

“Sorry, Frog, we’re leaving now,” Hermione announced apologetically and Atlas stood up, stretching like a cat before turning and sitting in front of her best friend. The girl looked down at her a moment before reaching out to hold her face, tracing along the scars with the tips of her fingers and smiling when Frog nuzzled her nose against her palm. “Yeah, you really do remind me of her…” she murmured, placing a kiss on Atlas’s nose and getting one in return as the wolf licked her cheek.

“Bye, Frog, thanks for saving us,” Harry waved with a small smile. They walked away, talking in hushed voices between themselves and once far enough, Atlas watched them go, running a hand through her human hair and kicking a rock into the water. She felt the tip of her nose idly, a faint flush on her cheeks as she smiled at their distant figures.

So, Ron didn’t believe Harry didn’t put his name in? Atlas wished she could say she was surprised, she adored Ron, he was one of her best mates, but really, he could sometimes let his jealousy get the better of him, which was stupid because if Atlas knew Hogwarts – and she did – there would be a lot of animosities aimed at her and Harry in the coming months and Harry needed all the support he could get.

Of course, she did too but after last year and the students’ wariness, she would rather anger aimed at her than fear. At least she’d have Hermione and Harry by her side, though that was a given considering she and Harry been thrown into the same predicament and Hermione had reassured her the night prior that she believed in her. She sighed heavily and pulled out her wand, running her fingers along the length of its wood. It hummed a much more pleasant hum, singing rather than whispering as the cup did.

The cup. Perhaps it was related, Atlas had always connected to magical objects and beings, perhaps this was just another instance of such a thing. Maybe, Luna was right. Maybe the magic sprites were real and were right about Atlas’s ‘magical imprint’. She needed to ask around but the only person she could think of that would know about her magic would be Minerva, perhaps even Sirius but she couldn’t contact him for stuff like that and Minerva doesn’t like talking about the ‘incident’ anyway so it’d be useless to ask her. Then there was Dumbledore but he never let anything on, like he knew but was withholding the information for another time. She hated that about him.

She turned, looked out upon the lake one final time before venturing back to the castle. Harry and Hermione would be in the Owlery sending Sirius that letter so perhaps she should go and meet them, of course, while pretending she hadn’t heard a lick of what they’d spoken about down by the lake.

The courtyard came into view and instead of being empty as it usually was so early in the morning, a lone figure stood, pacing in front of the entrance hall with his chin in his hand. Atlas huffed, rolled her eyes and jogged the rest of the way, garnering the attention of the Hufflepuff boy she’d come to call her brother. Cedric looked up, his eyes going wide as he rushed forward and brought Atlas into a hug, only to pull away a second letter and shake her around by the shoulders.

“What were you thinking!? Entering the tournament? Have you lost your mind!? Bella is going to have a fit and I’ll be the one to blame–!”

“Ced–“

“Oh, Merlin’s balls I’m dead!”

“Cedric–“

“I’m too young to go out by the hands of–“

“Cedric!” Atlas shouted and the boy stopped, looking down at her, red-faced and concerned. “I didn’t put my name in.”

“Oh…what? Then how…?”

“I don’t know, nobody does,” Atlas sighed. “You believe me right?”

“Believe you? Atlas, of course, I do just…do you still have to compete? Surely…” Atlas shook her head and Cedric frowned, taking a seat by the fountain at the centre of the yard. “But wouldn’t Dumbledore be able to jinx the cup? He’s one of the greatest wizards ever known.”

“Apparently not,” Atlas huffed, sitting beside him. “I have to compete and honestly…” she laughed shortly. “I’m scared as fuck.”

“Hey…” Cedric shuffled closer, hooking an arm around her shoulder. “You’ll be alright. I’ll be there for you every second of the way, in fact–” he took his hand back, grabbing his ring from his finger and shimmying it off. “Here, it’s synced to my heart isn’t it? If you wear it, I really will be with you.”

“I can’t take it, Ced,” Atlas smiled, gently pushing the offering away. “You wear it, it’ll bring me more comfort.”

“Fine, fine. But my offer stands,” Cedric smiled and then stood. “Look, I need to go, there’s a prefects meeting and already late enough as is but if you need my help with anything, don’t be a stranger. Come and look for me, you know my timetable, Las.”

“Yeah, thanks Cedric,” Atlas smiled and cast him a wave as he turned away with one of his own. He extended the gesture as he jogged past some busybodies out on a walk, before disappearing around a corner. Atlas waved at the stray students also, surprised to get a curt wave back. 

So maybe the entire school body wasn’t going to be against her and Harry, perhaps some, the ones who just wanted the school to win and didn’t care about entering themselves, would simply treat them the same as before. She hoped that was the case, more so for Harry because Merlin knew that boy needed some good exposure in his life.

Standing up and brushing herself down, Atlas decided not to continue to the Owlery, figuring Hermione and Harry had already sent the letter off by now and were just enjoying their free time in the Gryffindor Common rooms or down in the library where they couldn’t be bothered because the students would have to remain silent for fear of incurring the wrath of Madam Pince. Well, of course, they were enjoying it the best they could anyway, Atlas had no doubt Harry was either getting showered in praise or dislike and as Hermione was with him, she was worried the animosity would spread to her.

With that in mind, Atlas set off towards the tower, jogging up lengths of stairs, waving and making idle chatter to those who waved her over or clapped her back, ignoring the glares and legs stuck out intent to trip her and eventually, came to the tower, uttering the password she had done the night prior and climbing in through the portrait hole.

The sight that met her, however, was one she never thought she’d see. Zasha, sat on the common room couch with Ginny by her side reading out a Charms manual animatedly to her, she watched as Zasha brushed a strand of hair from Ginny’s face and had to hold back her laughter when the youngest Weasley went as red as her hair.

“Cute, aren’t they?” Atlas almost jumped out of her skin, catching a yelp at the back of her throat and bumping into the wall as she looked down at Hermione, wide-eyed. “Hey you, sorry about that,” she smiled amusedly and then she tilted her head to the side. “You really do remind me of Frog, she did that this morning. Rolled across the bank and yelp when I stroked her.”

“Did — did she now?” Atlas stuttered, brushing down her front and clearing her throat. “Sounds like her.”

“Really, one of the most fearsome creatures known to the wizarding world and she’s scared of a few belly-rubs,” Hermione huffed, smiling as she turned back to look at Zasha and Ginny. Atlas tried to hold her retort because of course Frog would be opposed to belly-rubs when it was actually her and she was a human. A human that had a massive crush on the girl rubbing her belly. Her belly that was actually her bare stomach if she were to change back.

“She’s a rescue?” Atlas then offered lamely and Hermione chuckled into her hand. “Anyway, you were saying…something about being cute?”

“Yes, those two,” Hermione gestured over to the two sitting on the couch. “They’re pretty cute together. I’ve never seen Ginny so red, none of her flirtatious comments are working on Zasha, I think she’s more embarrassed than anything. Her ego is surely that of a Gryffindor’s, so not being recognised for her advances is probably chipping away at her pride.”

“That’s for sure,” Atlas grinned, crossing her arms and leaning up against the wall. That answered the question of whether or not Ginny was into witches. “Where’s Harry?” she asked, not taking her eyes off of the budding romance happening before them.

“Away from prying eyes, he doesn’t want to see anyone at the moment. He’s really tired, you know?” Hermione murmured and Atlas glanced down at her, smiling softly as she raised her hand to make Hermione’s bushy hair even crazier. “Hey, stop that!”

“Sorry, I’m just glad.”

“About what?”

“That Harry has a friend like you. It’s just a shame about Ron…”

“He’s just–“

“Jealous, I know,” Atlas sighed, nodding her head as she took her hand back and shoved it in her pocket. Hermione looked up at her curiously. “And…I guess it’s not his fault he feels that way but…I never wanted to be famous, Mi, Harry didn’t know he was until he got that letter and it’s not like it’s for good reasons. I’m, first and foremost, Sirius Black’s daughter when I’m introduced and Harry is known because his parents died and he somehow defeated Voldemort when he was a baby.”

“Atty…”

“We’re famous because of death, Hermione. That’s nothing to want,” Atlas finished, her brows furrowed and her gaze distant. “I would give up every ounce of my fame for my family back and I’m sure Harry would do the same, but…of course, you win some you lose some.”

“Ron…he doesn’t see it like that,” Hermione replied, “He sees it as just another thing to be shadowed by.”

“Yeah well, I’d rather be in the dark than in the blinding spotlight. Makes it hard to see,” Atlas said, quirking a smile as she glanced at Hermione. Hermione only rolled her eyes with a huff and nudged her shoulder with a closed fist, walking further into the common room and sitting across from Zasha and Ginny who promptly pulled away from one another when Hermione had made her presence known.

Atlas smirked and decided to make life just that bit harder for Ginny Weasley. She moved over to the couch also, sitting down right beside her and shuffling so the girl had no choice but to press up against Zasha. 

“Hey guys,” She greeted, acting oblivious as Ginny tried in vain to move from in between the sandwich that was Zasha and Atlas.

“Ah, World Holder!” Zasha beamed, patting Atlas’s shoulder over Ginny’s head. The girl was staring at the pages of her book, seeing but not really reading the words upon it. “How are you champion?”

“I’m alright, what are you doing here?”

“Ginny invited me to read her books!” Zasha grinned.

“Did she now?” Atlas smirked and then leaned into Ginny’s ear. “My, my, Ginevra Weasley, It’s been a day and you’ve already got yourself a–“

“Right then!” Ginny exclaimed, standing up from her seat and slamming her book shut. Atlas staggered slightly but sat up after a moment, looking up at her mischievously. “Come on Zash, I have a book in my room I want to show you.”

“Alright,” Zasha nodded, standing up also, she quickly turned to Atlas however, Ginny hurriedly pulling her along by the wrist. “World Holder, do not worry, I know you did not put your name in! You would be a fool to do that!”

“Thanks for that Zash,” Atlas huffed and then cupped her hands around her mouth. “Don’t let the bed bugs bite, little Weasley!”

“Fuck you, Atlas!”

“Payback is one mean lady,” Atlas sighed contently. 

“You shouldn’t tease her so badly,  it’s going to come back and hurt,” Hermione said from across her. Atlas peered over at her and patted the seat beside her, beckoning the girl closer. “What do you want?”

“Nothing…just for you to sit with me?” Atlas shrugged, a playful grin on her face. Hermione regarded her a second before giving in and moving over to her, plopping down beside her slowly in suspicion. Atlas stared at her a moment, internally getting over herself as she then lay lengthways across Hermione’s lap. “So, I was walking–“

“Atlas, what are you doing?”

Atlas swallowed thickly but schooled her expression. “Telling you about my morning?”

“Right…yes, ok, alright then.”

“Cool, so as I was saying. I was walking–“

Hermione didn’t hear a word she said.