Harry's muscles cramped up with a sudden, sharp flare of pain, and Harry threw himself out of the seat, fidgeting his weight between his two legs.
"I've told you a million times, Luna. They never explicitly told me I wasn't supposed to kill it, I was told to get past the dragon, how else do you get past a dragon?" Harry murmured. He had his head grasped in his hands as he focused on not spilling up all over everyone's nice shoes. His legs would not hold still. He began to pace around the group.
"Yes, you should not have lost points for that. Was good strategy," Viktor agreed. "Hermione, you are cold?" Hermione shivered in her thin lace gown but shook her head.
"Harry, you are clearly sick. Maybe we could find your mum? She might have a headache potion on her. Either way, I'm getting worried -"
Harry winced at a sudden stab of pain between his eyes. Clutching his forehead, he did not notice the concerned muttering above him. Feeling woozy, he clutched at someone's robes to avoid tipping over onto the stone floor.
Outside, he needed to be outside. Wanted to stay outside and go.
Where was he? How had he gotten out here? A walk, he wanted to go into the forest, that was where he was supposed to be. Deep into the forest alone. Luna had a firm grasp on him and he tugged away from her weakly. His feet shuffled closer to the direction of the forest.
"There's something wrong with him," Luna announced, voice unusually grave and her hand on his forehead. "He's swimming in wrackspurts and his magic is haywire."
"It started with his drink, was he poisoned?" Neville asked. "We need to go find a professor! If it's a magical poison, it can be very difficult to cure. We can try to give him an emetic, I know verbena grows at the edge of the forest, but I think it's already been absorbed into his bloodstream and only a bezoar can help at that point."
"Forest," Harry slurred. He was not listening to the conversation around him, tugging petulantly on Luna's wrist which held him back.
"What was that, Harry?"
"Wanna go - in the - in the forest."
"That is a terrible idea," Ron gently chided him. "You are going to sit down and not move and we are going to fetch your mum."
"I will go get professors," Viktor offered. "You are his friends, stay and keep him calm. If it was deadly, he would likely be dead by now." Well, that was hardly reassuring. Luna kept one hand on his forehead and her other in a tight grip on his wrist as they watched Viktor disappear into the castle.
...
Sirius was in the corner of the ballroom between a pair of carved ice sculptures with some of the other adults as they watched the strange dancing and undulating of the youth. Moody, with whom he had been "talking" (bragging) about Harry's prowess in the first task, alongside Remus and Minerva, excused himself without warning and stalked to the other end of the room, disappearing within the crowd.
"Has he seemed out of it to you?" He asked Remus as they watched the area he had stumbled off to.
"It's been a long time since you last interacted with him," McGonagall said. "He's been more quiet since his retirement."
"Mad-Eye, quiet? Abnormal," Sirius insisted.
"You act as though you are not a completely different man than you were before your imprisonment," she argued back.
"Yes, and I was in prison, Minnie, what is Alastor's excuse?"
Her face fell.
"I have been worried. Have you noticed that flask, he's been drinking like mad. I've tried to talk to him gently but he insisted he was alright. It's unhealthy to be that dependent, and I have heard from students he's been drinking in class." She sighed. "He's been fairly normal otherwise, quiet, yes. Withdrawn."
"Drinking? Damn. Back when I was in auror training, I asked if he wanted to go to a pub after work, and he went into me for at least thirty minutes about how drinking led to complacency. It's not very 'constant vigilance' of him."
Minerva pursed her lips into a thin line. The thin wrinkles shifted around her face making her look very old and very tired.
"I'd thought retirement would do him some good. Then I thought some time around other people, mentoring children, might do him some good."
"I think he isn't sure what to do with himself," Remus assured her. "He's in an odd stage of his life, and he isn't coping well. I doubt the reminders of the war and all this mess with the papers and Fudge arguing about You-Know-Who are not helping."
Minerva nodded, and their quiet conversation was interrupted by Alabasandria storming over, a faint hint of concern visible behind her eyes, which meant that she was internally panicking.
"Have any of you seen Harry recently?"
"I last saw him and Mr. Weasley sulking at the tables," McGonagall said and put a placating hand on her shoulder. "I understand you are dreadfully worried about Mr. Potter, but please try to relax. What could possibly happen to the dear boy tonight?"
"It's the solstice! If Voldemort needs Harry for any manner of evil ritual, he would have to do it tonight," she insisted. "If he hadn't been obligated to attend this stupid dance, I would have made him stay locked in his dorm!" Her paranoid worry grew across her face, eyebrows furrowed as she scanned the crowd of students.
Minerva sucked in a breath. "Well, he would have to get into the school…"
.....
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