19. NOT ON MY WATCH! NOT ON MY WATCH!

Elara's mouth dropped open and she stood up immediately, her head turning in Harry's direction. The younger boy was just sitting there. Angry whispers starting filling the hall. McGonagall stood and walked over to Dumbledore, whispering something and frowning. Then, Dumbledore turned back to the students. "Harry Potter!" He called out. "Harry! Up here, if you please!"

Elara could see Hermione pushing Harry slightly. The boy stood, and walked between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, and walked right through into the chamber. People immediately began yelling as several of the Professors left, and the remaining ones did nothing to stop the noise.

"This isn't fair!"

"He's too young!"

"He can't get a special treatment!"

And at this point, Elara had enough. She clenched her fists, stood up on her bench and then on the table. "OI!" She yelled out, her voice resonating louder than the others. "You listen, and you listen well. Harry Potter did not put his name into the goblet. The boy hasn't had a peaceful year since he's been at the school. Do you really think he would jeopardise his only chance at that? If I hear one more person badmouthing my brother, I'll make you regret it."

She jumped down, and stormed out of the hall, making her way to the top of the Astronomy tower. There, she sat at the window sill, and let her legs dangle out. She changed her position so that she was leaning against the side of the window, with her legs against the other side, so she took up the whole sill.

Someone's frantic footsteps could be heard rushing up the steps, and Elara could see a head of brown hair appear. Bianca. "EL!"

"Hey, Bia." Elara's voice cracked. She got down from the sill and sat down on the floor. Her best friend came closer and sat down beside her.

"Theodore wanted to come, but I convinced him to let me come instead. He doesn't know what if feels like to have a brother, and be constantly worrying about him. Speaking of, I noticed that you called him your brother, and not your godbrother."

"I guess it just slipped out. But I don't regret it. Harry feels like my younger brother, and so does Draco. I mean I've already unofficially adopted Draco." Elara laughs lightly. "I'm glad you're here, I mean, I love Theo and all, but he doesn't get it."

"Yeah. It's just that feeling you have, when your brother or your sister is in trouble, and you can't breathe, and all you want to do is make sure they're safe. Granted, Blaise never was in as much danger as Harry, but I've been there. It helps if you talk about it?"

"Harry has been through so much, and he's almost died so many fucking times. I just want him to relax and have a peaceful year for once. And this time, I can't do anything to stop it, and it's killing me that I can't do something like take his place."

"You know what you can do?"

"Hm?"

"You can help him. You can help him prepare and memorise spells and think of strategies for the Tournament. Because Merlin, he is going to need all the help he can gets. And you're very smart, El. You can help him."

"Thank you, Bia, you've no idea how much you've done for me tonight. I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart." Bianca wraps her arms around her best friend, and Elara returns the hug, and rests her head on Bianca's shoulder.

The next morning, Elara woke up feeling slightly better than she had the night before. What she needed to do right now was head down and speak to Harry. She kissed Theodore's cheek. "Theo, I'm headed down, I'll see you later, alright?"

"Mhm." He buried his head into the pillows, eyes closed. Elara rolled her eyes and left the dorm, dressed in some ripped jeans, an emerald green sweater and some black boots. She had her hair down and her lips bare, with her red lipstick in one of her pockets.

As soon as she arrived in the common room, she saw Draco sat with Blaise near the fireplace and approached them. "Draco, Blaise."

They both looked up. Blaise nodded with a small smile. "Hey El." Draco responded.

"You two alright?"

"Yeah, just worried for Harry I suppose." Draco sighed heavily.

"He clearly didn't put his name in, you could see it in how panicked he looked. I hope he does well." Blaise leaned back.

"He will do well. You know why? Because I'm going to help him in every way I can. I'll see you boys later." She waved and walked out of the common room, heading right up to the Great Hall. When she got there, it was half full, and she couldn't see any signs of Harry anywhere, so she sat at the Slytherin table and poured herself a coffee.

When she was finished with it, she grabbed some toast, spread peanut butter on it, and finished it quickly. Suddenly, whispers flooded the hall, and Elara immediately knew who had just walked in.

She stood and turned to face the entrance. Harry was stood there, with Hermione by his side. Elara walked there, and as soon as Harry saw her, he began talking. "El, I swear to Godric I didn't pu-"

But she cut him off by wrapping him a massive hug, and resting her chin on his head. "I know Harry, I know."

He returned the hug by wrapping his arms around her middle. "Thanks for believing me, El."

Elara pulled away and frowned. "Has someone not believed you?"

Hermione then spoke up. "It's Ronald. He thinks Harry somehow put his name in."

"I beg your pardon?" Elara raised her eyebrows. "He thinks Harry somehow surpassed the line drawn by Albus Dumbledore. As much as I don't like the man, I don't think he would mess this one up."

"I think he's jealous." Hermione chimed in.

"Jealous? Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?"

"Look. It's always you who gets all the attention, you know it is. I know it's not your fault. I know you don't ask for it, but – well – you know, Ron's got all those brothers to compete against, and you're his best friend, and you're really famous – he's always shunted to one side whenever people see you, and he always puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many."

"Great. 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." Harry scowled, and Elara placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not telling him anything. Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this out." Hermione replied.

"Thank you for believing him, Hermione."

"He's my best friend." The Granger girl smiled, and she went to walk away but before she did, she said "Harry, maybe you should write to Sirius."

Harry turned to Elara, wide eyed. "Sirius will literally come up here and rip Dumbledore a new one."

"Oh please lets tell Dad then."

"El."

"Harry."

"Alright, fine."

"Hurray! Also, you don't really think I'm going to leave you to your own defenses? I'm helping you as much as I possibly can with this tournament."

"Thanks, El."

"My pleasure, Harry. Now, go and write to my father and tell him everything!"

"Alright, alright! Bloody hell." He muttered as he left the Great Hall, headed for the owlery.

The next days, during lessons, people heeded Elara's warning and they kept Harry out of their conversations. Hufflepuff's were still being considerably cold to him, but she couldn't really force people to speak with him, so she let them be.

But, when Elara found out that several people, some Hufflepuff's and some people from her own house had made badges that said, 'Support Cedric Diggory – The REAL Hogwarts Champion' and then would proceed to change and say, 'Potter Stinks', she was furious.

So, when the weekend arrived, Elara wandered the castle, wand in hand a furious expression plastered across her face. She hexed every person she saw wearing those badges, not caring if she got detention in the process.

She went to dinner that evening after a long day of hexing people, and sat down beside Harry. She hadn't been able to spend much time with him, as she had been with Theodore and Bianca the whole week.

"What's got you so down?"

"There was a fight in the dungeons yesterday." Harry sighed. "Draco tried to stop it, but he couldn't. Some guy shot a spell at me, and so I returned it. But his spell hit Hermione and mine hit Goyle. I made boils appear on his face, and his made Hermione's teeth elongate to her chin. When Snape saw her, he said there was no difference."

"Oh that slimy little git!" Elara fumed. "I've been hexing people all day, one more wouldn't hurt anyone, well, except maybe him." She smirked.

"No! El, you can't hex a Professor!" Harry exclaimed.

"Bloody watch me, Harry." She took out her wand, and searched the staff table. Snape was sat there, looking very smug about something, no doubt him tormenting yet another student. She discreetly pointed her wand at him from under the table, and muttered a spell.

Then, she tucked it away and turned back to Harry. "Did I get him?"

Laughter erupted in the hall, and Harry grinned. "Oh you got him alright. He looks a right mess." Elara had hit Snape with a hex that made sardines come out of his nose. "Flitwick appears to have cast the counter spell to it, and shit, El, he's coming over."

The hall grew quiet as Snape approached the Black girl. He cleared his throat, and she turned around, looking innocent. "Oh, hello Professor, can I help you?"

"Detention Ms. Black."

"What for? I haven't done anything!" Elara protested.

McGonagall approached them. "Severus, you cannot simply give detentions out without a reason."

"She cast the spell!"

"What spell?" Elara questioned.

"The one that made sardines come out of my nose." The Potions master scowled.

"There's a spell for that?!" A look of wonder and excitement crossed Elara's face. "Also, how do you know I did it? You can't punish me without evidence!"

"Severus. Maybe you should take a walk, and calm down a little. Ms. Black did not cast that spell." McGonagall said to Snape, and when he stormed off, she winked at Elara before walking back to the staff table.

Elara turned back to Harry. "Holy shit I love McGonagall."

Elara wanted to get away from the castle for a night and so when dinner finished that night, she found Bianca and dragged her behind the marble staircase. "El, darling, I didn't know you thought of me that way. Theodore's going to be heartbroken."

"I couldn't hide my feelings much longer, Bia, it hurt too much seeing you with other people." Elara replied dramatically, placing the back of her hand on her forehead, before the two girls giggled. "In all seriousness though, or not, want to sneak to Hogsmeade tonight and tick another thing off my list with me?"

"You know I do. Which one is it?" Bianca smirked.

"Let's get some tattoos." Elara grinned. "Let's go now, no one will notice us gone with the bustle and everyone heading back to their common rooms."

Elara linked her arm with the brunette girl and they made their way to the one-eyed witch, where Elara drew her wand. "Dissendium." It moved aside and gave way to a corridor. "Let's go, this leads to Honeydukes."

As they walked down the corridor, Bianca inquired, "You know a tattoo shop in Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah, there's one, and it isn't shabby. Dad says that's where he got his first tattoo, so I trust it pretty well. Got any ideas as to what you want to get?"

"Kind of, yes. You?"

"I want to get two of them, and I've had this planned for quite a while actually. I want a snake, for Slytherin and for my uncle, and I also want a planet, the moon and stars for me, my Dad and our family."

"That's really beautiful. I just want a pretty flower because it looks nice." Bianca said, causing them both to laugh. The finally arrived at the trapdoor that opened into Honeydukes and climbed out before walking to the tattoo shop, where a woman was sat at the front desk, looking very bored.

She perked up when she saw the two girls walk in, still dressed in their uniforms. "Hogwarts students? If I'm not mistaken, it's not a weekend, is it?"

"No ma'am, but you're not going to send us back when we just came to get some tattoos, are you? Besides, my father used to come here." Elara smiled, walking forward, and brushing a strand of hair from her face.

"Your father, huh? Who's he?"

"Sirius Black." Elara shrugged nonchalantly.

"Bloody hell! He's got a daughter now?!" The woman stood up in shock. "And a Slytherin daughter, nonetheless. Well, hats off to you kiddo. Come on back. What are your names?"

"I'm Elara Black, this is Bianca Zabini." Elara pointed to Bianca who waved as they followed to woman to the back where there were numerous pictures of tattoos on the walls, some moving and some not. There was a chair in the middle and a bench to the side, along with some tattooing equipment.

"Black and Zabini. Powerful duo, eh?"

"You know it."

"Got any ideas as to what you want tattooed?"

"I know exactly what I want." Elara spoke up.

"Go ahead, El. I'm still thinking about mine." Bianca ushered her friend forward.

"Alright, come sit here, Miss. Black." Elara sat down on the chair.

"I wanted a snake on my wrist, and if you could make it move, that would be brilliant. And then I wanted some stars and a planet and the moon on my collarbone."

"Collarbone? That one's gonna hurt, kiddo."

"I can take it. Trust me."

"She can take it. She's broken a lot of her bones playing Quidditch. She knows pain." Bianca added.

"Alright." And so the process began. She began tattooing her wrist with the snake first, using enchanted ink to make it move whenever she pressed on it for a few seconds. Then, when that was done, she moved onto the collarbone and Elara clenched the arms of the chair tightly, letting her nails dig into the leather and leave marks, but she didn't make a single sound.

After it was all done, the woman cast a charm on it that healed it and eliminated the need for it to be wrapped like muggle tattoos. Then, Elara moved to the side and allowed Bianca to get tattooed. The brunette went for a few delicate looking flowers on her arm.

She got done and healed and then they headed back to the front desk. "Miss. Black, 20 galleons please and Miss. Zabini, 10 galleons."

The two girls pulled their money pouches out of their robes and counted out the correct amounts before handing them over. Then, they said their thanks, waved and walked back to Honeydukes. Once there, they took the passageway back to the castle and headed down to the common rooms, where they separated at the dorms, Bianca going to the girls dorm, and Elara to Theodore's dorm.

She walked in to find him lying on the bed, tossing a crumbled paper up and catching it, then repeating. He sat up when she walked in. "Where've you been?"

"Hogsmeade with Bia. I got tattoos." She grinned, taking her robes off and sitting beside him.

"Breaking the rules, are we?" He shook his head. "What did you get?"

Elara moved her hair out of the way and showed him the one on her collarbone. He brought his hand up and let his thumb brush over the ink. "Like it?"

"Very much." He smiled. "You said tattoos, meaning plural."

Elara lifted her hand and pressed her index finger to the other hand, making the snake wiggle. "I got a snake as well."

"They're brilliant. Take me with you next time."

"Of course."