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The rest of the week passed in almost the same manner; the spell Harry had discovered was proving to be quite handy. The fire in a dragon was magical and it could only be countered by ice of the same kind. The spell he and Neville had discovered promised to do just that, but came with its own drawbacks. For one, the dragon would have to be more or less still while the spell worked. Once it was completed, the dragon would be unable to move, that was true, but the same could be possibly said about Harry; apparently, the spell was disturbingly taxing on the caster and Harry had no idea how it would affect him, being unable to cast it in full scale as he wished. There simply was no spot he knew of in Hogwarts where he could freeze the equivalent of a dragon in size without causing some damage or drawing attention. He hated to admit it, but it seemed he would have to go with the stinging curses after all.
It was the Sunday before the task when Harry's world was thrown off balance once more. It had been decided that that Sunday would be the first Hogsmeade outing of the year and the school was abuzz with expectation. Harry, as one could expect, had trouble focusing on the outing itself; the past two nights he had slept dreadfully, nightmares of what he was about to face haunting his mind. That morning he had debated with himself on whether he should actually go to Hogsmeade or stay at school and try to find a place where he could practice the spell he had found. Neville had put his foot down the very moment Harry had tried to express his thoughts.
"You're going stir crazy in the castle, Harry!" Neville had exclaimed in the middle of the common room, disregarding the startled looks he received. "You need to get out and will get out, even if that means I'll have to drag you out myself!" And then he had clasped his brother's hand, shooting him a look that clearly said 'for a supposedly smart guy, you can be completely stupid sometimes' and dragged him out the common room and towards the grand staircase as promised.
That was how they had found themselves walking into the Three Broomsticks; Severus, who was seated with the other three Heads of Hogearts' Houses and Hagrid in the far corner of the tavern smiled brightly at his son the moment he entered, waving at him as Harry did the same. Then he nodded at Neville, his eyes sparkling mischievously; Neville nodded back and the green eyed wizard could practically taste the conspiracy. It seemed that his father and brother had ganged up on him, in their effort to drag him out of the castle. Smiling fondly and looking at Neville, rolling his eyes, Harry walked towards the bar.
"What?" Neville asked, noticing his brother's exasperated expression and correctly guessing the origin of the feeling behind it. "You had to get out, Harry!"
"I know." Harry agreed, before ordering butterbeers for both of them. "And I thank you for not letting me rot in the castle, believe me."
"I sense a 'but' coming my way." Neville muttered, making his brother laugh.
"But," Harry began, "I can't stop thinking about the task." He paid for the butterbeers and sat on a barstool, all tables around him occupied. Neville mirrored his move before turning to face him.
"Look," he said, regarding his brother intently, "I know you wanted to do something spectacular for your first task. But you have a good plan and you'll get pass that dragon no matter what happens; in the end, that's all that matters."
"Slow and steady wins the race, you mean?" Harry offered, somehow irritably. He sighed, trying to regain his composure; the last thing he wanted was to snap at his brother. "Sorry, Nev. It's just that, nothing in this tournament has turned out as it was supposed to. Not that my plans ever do, but I had expected… I don't even know what I had expected!"
"Definitely not competing against your twin." Neville offered, understanding the root of Harry's problem. The green eyed wizard nodded.
"I know it sounds petty, but I wanted to do this for me. You know what's coming." Harry added, his voice lowered. "I might not get another chance at something like this before the war and here I am, practicing stinging spells of all things!" He was frustrated and it had started to show, he knew that, but he found there was little he could do to stop himself.
"Hey, Harry!" A familiar voice sounded behind him; it turned out to be Terry Boot from Ravenclaw, a boy in Neville and Harry's Ancient Runes class. "Everything ready for the task?" He asked, smiling brightly. "I have money on you!"
"Yeah." Harry muttered, his head swimming. "Everything's great!" Terry smiled once more and left, taking his own butterbeer and heading towards his table where he passed the news to his friends; they all turned and raised their bottles and glasses towards Harry in a toast, as the raven haired teen mirrored them mechanically. The moment they turned away, Harry turned towards his brother so fast his neck complained and he almost propelled himself off the barstool. His eyes were wide and he had gone completely pale, his breathing shallow, showcasing the symptoms Neville was shocked to recognize as the forewarning of a panic attack.
HI GUYS IF YOU WANT READ 400 + CHAPTERS THEN VISIT
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