Chapter 52

The weeks before the first task had passed by in a flash and the 22nd was upon them, unseen and unexpected. Atlas and Fleur spoke regularly now, never broaching on the topic of the tournament and Zasha had become a constant sight in the Gryffindor Common rooms, never without Ginny Weasley at her side. It was safe to say their relationship was steadily growing, blooming into something at least, however, because of this, Atlas was only on the sidelines, content in being there of course but still she and Zasha hadn’t spoken as much as she’d like. 

And she would very much like to talk to Zasha, because, in reality, Atlas was probably closer to Ginny than her. They’d only known each other for three weeks before Atlas had had to return to Hogsmeade those years ago and their contact had been nonexistent. Zasha never replied to her letters nor did she write her own, in actual fact, Atlas didn’t know much about her besides a few basic things. So having her in the same room and being unable to talk to her was a tad frustrating.

Though, that was more Atlas’s fault really, as when in the Common Rooms, she was going over potential spells and charms she could use for the first task with Harry and Hermione and didn’t pay much attention to her surroundings. She had been, admittedly, stressing over what was to come, often staying up to the dead hours of the night, reading up on past tournaments to get an idea of how hard or dangerous it was going to be. She had a dreadful feeling in her chest, inching towards the pain she would experience when it was warning her of a possible two things. What was to come, or a warning for her to calm down. With the current predicament, however, Atlas thought it could be both.

That dreaded article hadn’t made it any better. Rita had managed to salvage some of their interview after Atlas had actually been permitted to burn the woman’s stupid quill and notepad and had put her and Harry on the front page of the Daily Prophet. Her portrait was just a tad bit smaller, as was the section about her. It was enough, however, to cause some sort of backlash.

While Harry was getting picked on for mourning his parents and being a decent student, Atlas had been, once again, painted as a temperamental person, someone loose and just a tad bit crazy. Atlas hadn’t been surprised whatsoever, Rita had always written her that way, using her trauma and past as justification and proof of her claims. That, though, was not what had almost set Atlas off. Rita Skeeter had interviewed a few of the students and, of course, a certain group of ‘anonymous’ Slytherin girls just had to bring up her ‘relationship’ with Hermione.

A guard dog, a group of anonymous Slytherin girls had said when describing Atlas Black. A vicious one, rarely seen without the company of one Hermione Granger, who was described as stunningly pretty by Colin Creevey, a fellow Gryffindor. It seems Atlas has earned quite a name for being fiercely protective of her friends, including Hermione’s boyfriend, Harry Potter, our other Hogwarts champion. Even going so far as to attack a teacher of the school. We have received no comment from the professor in question but many eyewitnesses support this claim.

Hermione had snatched the newspaper from her and promptly tossed it in the fire, going off on a rant while Harry had sat and continued his Summoning Charm homework and Atlas had gone back to playing with her pet robin. The little guy had decided to stick around and Crookshanks hadn’t tried to kill him yet so that was a good sign. Kalo had gotten a little jealous at first but had warmed up to the little bird more than he had Pidgewidgeon, eventually teaching the robin a few tunes. It was a fun little performance and Atlas often had them practice in the Common Room where she could show both Hermione and Harry to cheer them up. It always worked.

They were in the library right now, doing some theory before going to Hogsmeade for the day. Atlas was chewing on a chocolate frog dazedly while Hermione and Harry chatted about both the Summoning Charm and more tactics they’d use if anyone decided to venture down into the Common Rooms tonight when Sirius came. However, the incessant giggling was seemingly getting to Hermione and Atlas could see her usually pale cheeks tinting with frustration.

The reason for the sudden influx of visitors to the library was undoubtedly Viktor Krum because, though Atlas was now aware of her little ‘fan club’, none of the girls looked too familiar and they certainly weren’t whispering and starting at the back of her head.

“He’s not even good-looking!” Hermione muttered angrily, glaring at Krum’s sharp profile. “They only like him because he’s famous! They wouldn’t look twice at him if he couldn’t do that Wonky-Faint –“

“Wronski Feint, hun,” Atlas corrected idly.

“– Wronski Feint thing. I can’t concentrate with those girls giggling like children with playground crushes!” She hissed harshly and Atlas quirked a brow, looking over her shoulder at the group before sighing and standing up. “Atty, where are you–?” But Atlas was already approaching the group, garnering their attention immediately.

Now, they may have been there for Krum but Atlas was also a famous person who could pull off a Wronski Feint, so a few of them froze and went wide-eyed, like deers caught in headlights when she stopped, leant against the bookshelf and gave them all her best smile, canines glinting in a threateningly attractive manner.

“Hey girls,” Atlas began, running a hand through her hair as she heard Hermione groan behind her. She held in her laugh and continued, “I’m preparing for the tournament and Viktor is too, we need all the prep time we can get and I’d be grateful and I’m sure Viktor would be too if you kept your voices down?” She dug her hand in her pocket, winking at them to sell it just that bit further. “Please?”

“S-sure, Atlas…” The one at the head of the group stuttered out and blushed further when Atlas took up her hand and brushed a kiss across her knuckles.

“Thanks, Romilda.”

“You know my name…?” Romilda breathed as Atlas dropped her hand and turned around, a satisfied grin on her face. Harry was smiling, wider than she had seen him do in quite some time while Hermione looked surprisingly furious, her face disbelieving as she cocked her head to the side and raised a brow. 

“Was the kiss necessary?” Hermione muttered as Atlas sat back down. Sort of past the initial awkwardness of realizing her feelings for the girl, Atlas smirked and leant on her palm, taking Hermione’s hand from the table and bringing it to her mouth. 

“Jealous, Mi?”

Hermione snatched her hand back, face bright red, before Atlas could even move to kiss a knuckle and instead, grabbed her book and hit her in the arm continuously. Atlas laughed as she tried to fend off the attacks, Harry simply rolling his eyes with a small smile as he, yet again, tried to summon some shelved book to his hand.

Soon, they left and ventured down to Hogsmeade Village, Harry insisting he went under his invisibility cloak while Atlas snorted and made fun of him the entire way, making it seem as if she was talking to Hermione instead of the air beside her. The streets were busy, busier than usual and Atlas reasoned people had travelled from far and wide to watch the Triwizard Tournament in all its deathly glory. The Inn’s in the area seemed to be packed to the brim so that was enough to confirm her suspicions.

The Three Broomsticks appeared in the distance and Atlas quickly ducked inside an alley when she saw Rita Skeeter exiting from the pub with her cameraman, talking in quick but hushed voices and throwing random gestures to the air. Hermione moved in front of Atlas as if it would help, pressing a hand against her chest to push her further into the dank side street, breaths coming out laboured only to stop sharply all together when Rita went right past them. Atlas ended up having to catch Hermione as the girl had tripped over some misplaced box but she hadn’t made a sound so they weren’t spotted.

“Thanks for trying,” Atlas whispered into her ear and Hermione made a sound at the back of her throat, retracting her hand from her abdomen and flicking her scarf over her shoulder which sent some of the cloth into the taller girl’s face, thumping her upside the head. Atlas winced, one of her eyes squinted closed as she exited after her and slipped inside the Three Broomsticks with Harry pinching the back of her jacket so he wouldn’t get lost in the crowd of people within.

Hermione went to get them drinks while she and Harry sat in a booth in the far corner, reminiscent of the one she sat in the year prior, forced to listen to all the horrible things her father had supposedly done. If she didn’t know how false the facts had been, she’d probably feel sick sitting there but knowing her father was innocent and that she was seeing him that night, alleviated some of that anxiety and she happily took off her jacket, tucking it between herself and Harry.

“So, with me being invisible, it sort of looks like you and Hermione are on a date,” Harry whispered and while Atlas flushed she also glared, stamping on the boy’s foot beneath the table. He let out a quiet yelp. “I’m just saying.”

“And I’m just her guard dog, remember. You’re her boyfriend,” Atlas huffed, still mad about the article.

“Can’t believe you’re jealous…”

“Course I am, the whole wizarding world things you two are dating!” Atlas grumbled. “Clearly, I’m the more likely candidate, right? Considering she likes a girl right now…”

“I don’t think that’s how it works…wait, hold on, she told you who she likes?” Harry said and Atlas could hear the grin in his words, she nodded and he punched her shoulder. “Then why are you so glum!?”

“Because it’s not me, idiot.” Atlas huffed, looking at the empty space beside her in confusion. “She said her crush was…like, all hypnotised by Fleur and I literally can’t be hypnotised by Fleur, so it’s not me.”

“Hey you, I got a butterbeer,” Hermione was back with a smile on her face and turned to where she thought Harry was. “I got the same for you.”

“Thanks,” Harry murmured, taking it and slipping it under his cloak. Hermione shuffled in beside Atlas and knocked their legs together. Atlas, not expecting the action, choked slightly and wiped her mouth, turning her face away but immediately regretting it when she remembered Harry was on the other side. She could practically feel the taunting gaze he had upon her. “Wow…you’re as red as–“

“Shut up!”

That garnered a lot of attention and to make it seem like she wasn’t avidly arguing with the air Atlas quickly turned upon Hermione. The other patrons of the pub soon went back to their own things and Atlas heard her brother chuckling to himself beneath his cloak, setting a glum look on her face. Hermione smiled again and patted her head comfortingly.

“Did you bring something to do, Mi? I’m afraid we won’t be able to walk around too much with my face plastered in the Daily Prophet again,” Atlas said apologetically.

“It’s alright, Atty and yes, in fact, I did,” Hermione pulled out the notebook in which she’d been keeping a record of S.P.E.W. members and writing down more facts and information about elves within. Atlas noticed a little passage of her mini interview with Fobbo and smiled at some of her elf’s responses. He really was too good for this world. It seemed Hermione thought so too considering the number of cutesy drawings inside, well, only on the one page adorned in hearts and wispy writing but Atlas couldn’t discern what the topic may have been without making it seem obvious she was being nosey. “You know, maybe I should try and get some of the villagers involved in S.P.E.W.,” She said thoughtfully, looking around the pub.

“Really doubt that, Mione. Sorry to burst your bubble,” Atlas grimaced, while Hermione unbuttoned the top of her shirt to pull out her quill, “I mean, Bella would join and I’d probably ask her if she wanted to if she was responding to my letters. I’ve sent seven and she still hasn’t replied.”

“I’m sure she’s ok.”

“Oh I have no doubt about it,” Atlas said quickly, taking up Hermione’s quill and doodling a quick drawing of Fobbo on the interview page. “She’s just a git and doesn’t reply to my letters, only when it suits her, the prick.”

Hermione chuckled into her knuckle and took her quill back when Atlas was done, scribbling more notes down upon the parchment. Atlas watched her a moment before going back to her butterbeer, sipping on it idly and pondering silently. A light nudged dug into her side and she withheld her grimace, turning to look ‘out of the window’. She could see the shimmer of Harry’s cloak shift so he was directly in front of her.

“How do you feel about the tasks?”

“Why do you ask?”

Harry turned in what seemed to be a nervous manner, “I’m worried, I wouldn’t mind as much if we weren’t going into the tournament blind.”

“I know what you mean,” Atlas nodded with a sigh, slumping against Hermione and taking another gulp of her drink. “To be honest, I feel super drained just thinking about it,” she mused and Hermione glanced down at her, Harry keeping his unseen eyes trained on her expression, he smiled softly and nodded to himself, forgetting for a moment he was invisible. “But we’ll get through it, you always have, even before I was here, with Hermione and…Ron. And I’ve done just fine on my own. It’ll be a breeze.”

“You’re not on your own now, Atlas,” Harry said and Hermione nodded. “But yeah…yeah, you’re right, we’ve gotten through harsher things I suppose.”

“That’s the spirit,” Atlas grinned as Hermione huffed and rolled her eyes. “Granger you need to talk too, otherwise, to outsiders, this looks like a heavily one-sided conversation. Which is really a first considering I’m usually the one doing most of the listening while my admirers’ blabber on,” she joked, glancing at the girl.

“Yes, well, I’m not an admirer,” She claimed surely. “And with how much you seem to love yourself I’m sure conversing with yourself is a regular thing.”

“I don’t like me, people like me,” Atlas shrugged, finding a sense of deja vu in that and thinking back to how Fleur had said the same thing. She suppressed a laugh and sat up straight, leaning her chin on Hermione’s shoulder to blow in her ear. The girl shrieked. “Talk to me, Mi.”

“Yeah, talk, Hermione,” Harry jeered.

“Fine,” Hermione huffed, pushing Atlas’s face away from her and tucking her S.P.E.W. book back into her bag. “What do you want to talk about?”

Atlas shrugged and Hermione had a feeling Harry had too. Luckily they hadn’t had to ponder on that much longer as two hulking figures walked over to them, one claw-footed while the other walked hunched over, his head brushing the ceiling. Atlas grinned and Hermione smiled, Harry probably doing the same beneath his cloak.

“All right, Hermione? Atlas?” Hagrid boomed loudly, his hair back to its shaggy state. Atlas had a sudden urge to fix it again but controlled herself and settled with throwing her arm over Hermione’s shoulder, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger.

“Hello,” Hermione smiled, completely unperturbed by Atlas’s actions.

“Alright, Hagrid? Professor Moody,” Atlas nodded.

“I see you’re ok, I hope that lesson on the Imperius Curse didn’t…spook you,” Moody said, his fake eye constantly swivelling in the direction Harry was sitting. Atlas noticed and glanced with him before smiling and shaking her head.

“I understand why you did it, just the prospect of what…you almost had me say had me a little shaken,” Atlas admitted, feeling the curious gazes of both Harry and Hermione.

“Of course,” Moody acknowledged and then limped around the table, bending forward so he was about in the same area Harry was, Atlas watched the scene only slightly surprised, eyes darting between the two.

“Nice cloak, Potter.”

“Can your eye – I mean, can you –?” Harry whispered and Atlas snorted, retracting her arm from Hermione’s shoulder and taking a final gulp of her butterbeer.

“Yeah, it can see through Invisibility Cloaks,” Moody said quietly. “And it’s come in useful at times, I can tell you.”

“Moody had a run-in with a dark wizard who thought his use of an invisibility cloak would give him the advantage,” Atlas piped in, leaning over so nobody overheard. “He was poorly mistaken, right shock if I remember correctly, ended up almost dropping dead where he stood when Moody swivelled round to hex him.”

“That’s the one,” Moody grinned, clapping Atlas’s good shoulder heartily. Another hand soon clamped down on her also, ruffling her hair good-naturedly but making it so it would be a lot to try and sort out when he was gone. Atlas looked up at the man through a few stray locks of hair and sighed exasperatedly.

“Yes, Hagrid?”

“Meet me tonight at midnight at me cabin. The both of you, wear that cloak too,” he beamed as if being all sneaky-like was a great adrenaline rush for him. However, before Atlas or a listening, Harry could question him, he and Moody had already exited the pub, the bell of the door announcing their exit. 

“I wonder what he’s up to?” Hermione said, in slight surprise. She had heard what the man had said and immediately turned to Atlas. “I don’t know whether you should go…” She looked nervously around and hissed, “It might make you late for Sirius.”

“Maybe but…what if it’s something to do with the tasks?” Atlas murmured, looking to where she presumed Harry was excitedly and then to Hermione who had quirked a brow. “Come on, think about it, Hagrid can’t keep a secret to save his life and if he knows it’ll benefit us he’ll surely be the first to spill.”

“You shouldn’t be accepting help from professors,” Hermione muttered but at the look on Atlas’s face plus the knowledge that the girl tossed and turned all night, dreading these tasks more than she let on, she resigned. “But, we need all the help we can get.”

“If Sirius pops up before we get back…can you, maybe…be there in our stead?” Atlas asked and Hermione fixed her with a look.

“I think you’re pushing it a bit, Atlas,” Harry whispered.

“Yes, alright,” Hermione sighed and the god-siblings both grinned, fist-bumping each other beneath Harry’s cloak. “I’ll be there, but make sure to at least try to get back on time, will you?”

“Yes, Mi. Thank you, Mi. You’re the light of my life, Mi,” Atlas rushed and Hermione flushed, smiling to herself as she threw a scrunched up piece of paper at her face and moved out of the booth, gathering her things.

“Come on, we should be going back. I need to see Professor McGonagall about something.”

“Minnie? How come?” Atlas asked, exiting from her seat as well, pulling her letterman jacket back on. Quidditch may not be in season, nor would it be all year round, however, the jacket was comfortable and perfect for cold days.

“Well, I caught her last week on her way to Snape’s office with a look of…intent, it was very scary. My guess is Madam Pomfrey told her about what he did to you outside Potions, I’m surprised you didn’t tell her,” Atlas smiled sheepishly at that. “Now though, it’s just become a regular thing, we drink tea and go over interesting topics, it’s quite enjoyable. You should just us some time. This time, however, I just have some Transfiguration questions and no–” Hermione began, seeing Atlas perk up. Transfiguration was an excellent subject of hers. “–it’s not really a question for you, it’s a question for an Animagus.”

“Oh…” Atlas would still be able to answer it but refrained from saying that, simply nodding. “Yeah, best to ask Minnie then.”

“Are you two done? I’ve been standing here like a numpty for a while now.”

“Yeah, yeah don’t get your knickers in a twist.”