Her popping out of the lake did not douse those thoughts, as he wasn't paying attention to what was going on in the lake. He wasn't even at the lake. He had more important things to do than watch stupid-Potter grab all the glory again. Instead, he was searching the castle trying to find her.
He'd first looked in the Gryffindor dorms but couldn't find anyone to go up to the fourth year girls' dorm to get her. He then, reluctantly, tried the library. Not finding her there, he thought she might be packing to move back to Gryffindor, so went to their apartment; after finding out from a Ravenclaw where it was. Then the stupid statue wouldn't let him in, or announce his presence. He tried to curse it with every curse and hex he could think of, which wasn't many. However, no matter how hard he tried to force magic through his wand, every single one failed. Having the statue chuckle at him as he tried just made him angrier. Eventually, while staring at his wand tip, he tried with all his might to cast a Lumos. It worked; and rendered him nearly completely blind. The statue then outright laughed at him with deep belly laughs while he tried to rub vision back into his eyes and verbally cursing it before he, finally, stormed off.
When he tried to answer the riddle by the Eagle at the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room, and failed to answer it, he again was unable to hex or curse it. Magically near complete exhaustion he finally stomped away.
He decided he really needed to go back to bed. However, lunch would soon be served and he couldn't miss that. He'd starve if he missed lunch, as weak as he was. And he still needed to find Hermione before someone else was able to provide her with comfort. And, once more, steal her from him.
Lunch saw him sitting at the Gryffindor table waiting for the food to appear, almost asleep, but knowing he needed to eat a big meal to recharge his energy levels. However, just before the food turned up on the tables, he was stunned to see Hermione, again, on stupid-Potter's arm walking into the Hall. Life was just so unfair. Thankfully, he wasn't put off his meal for it.
Over at Slytherin, Malfoy wasn't surprised to see Potter enter with one of his bondmates missing at breakfast. He, of course, knew exactly what the second task required, and of the hostages. He just couldn't figure out why it was Granger that was missing, and not Greengrass. After all, Greengrass was the pureblood, while Granger was only a mud... muggleborn.
And that was yet another thing he couldn't stand. The ban on the word mudblood was, to him, ludicrous. After all, that's what they were. Their blood was dirty.
Now, there was an idea. If he couldn't use the word 'mudblood' any more, he'd begin to use 'dirtyblood'. After all, it wasn't a banned word. And, if he could do that with 'mudblood', then he could do that with 'scarhead'.
Thinking hard about a replacement slur he finally decided upon 'scarface'. Yes, that'll do nicely, he thought. The mud... dirtyblood-loving fool of a Headmaster was no match for the mind of a Malfoy.
It was about fifteen minutes later when he and the rest of the school received a really big opportunity to laugh. Weasley had managed to fall face first, unconscious, into the middle of his half-empty plate. When McGonagall hurried down and tried to revive him, nothing worked.
Madam Pomfrey had to levitate him up and hurry him from the Hall to the infirmary. Whatever was wrong with the red-headed blood-traitor - yet another word he needed to find a replacement for - a standard Renervate charm wasn't strong enough. He suspected someone slipped him a Draught of the Living Death just so they wouldn't have to watch him eat. It's what he'd have done.
A quick lunch and the three headed back to their apartment to await their guests. And the change in layout of their living room was quite significant.
The couches had all been pulled away from the fireplace, the armchair had been replaced with a couch, and there was now a couch facing the coffee table with its back to the fireplace. It formed a nice square around the coffee table as centre. Then, on the coffee table stood a nice flower arrangement; which was then surrounded by little canapés, pieces of fruit and cake.
Also on the coffee table was a pair of jugs of butterbeer surrounded by a half dozen glasses, each. Midnight appeared miffed sitting on the floor trying to get to the good stuff on the coffee table. However, each time she reached forward with a paw, it appeared to bounce off a force field. Crookshanks watched on from one of the couches, amused.
"Did you see Ron get levitated out of the Great Hall?" asked Hermione, as she collapsed onto one of the couches, reached down and picked the half-kneazel up, placing him on her lap.
"I think everyone saw the prat levitated out of the Hall, Hermione," said Harry.
"What do you think was wrong with him?" she asked.
"Magical exhaustion," replied Daphne. "That's why the Enervate charm wouldn't work on him. He's too drained of magic for it to work."
"Magical exhau... Oh!" she said. "From when he tried to curse Professor Whittaker. Of course."
"I'm surprised, if he was that exhausted, that he managed to hold out until in the middle of lunch," said Daphne.
"I'm not," disagreed Harry. "When it comes to putting food in his belly, I don't think even having a dragon in his way would stop him getting it. He finally collapsed when he had some food in his belly and the need to eat wasn't as great anymore."
"Harry, unless you want our visiting guests knowing we all sleep together, go shrink your bed," instructed Daphne.
Harry had just risen to his feet and was about to go do just that when he noticed the faces of his two wives. They appeared quite sad.
Thinking a bit, he said, "You know what. Do you really care if they do? I mean, they know we're bondmates; where's the harm?"
That earned him two smiles right back.
"It stays as it is," he firmly said. "And, if they ask, we won't hide it from them."
When the guests arrived it was in a rush. Diggory turned up escorting Chang, Delacour turned up with her sister, and Krum came escorting Jones; or, more likely, the other way around as Krum didn't know where their apartment was located.
"I'm glad you found the place," said Harry to Krum. "Cedric told me, and I told Victor," smiled Jones.
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