"So you want me to spend my birthday unconscious at a bottom of a lake and wait around until I get rescued by a school kid?"

Professor McGonagall answered my question with a short sharp nod.

"Cool."

"Bloody hell!" Ronald Weasley spluttered to my left. "And I'm relying on Harry?!"

"Language, Weasley," McGonagall barked, narrowing her eyes from across her desk at him. "I can assure you that you will all be perfectly safe. If your rescuer doesn't succeed, then the merpeople have agreed to bring you to the surface once the time is up."

"But don't the merpeople hate us?" Hermione Granger blurted out, her big bushy head quivering. "How do we know they won't turn around and decide to keep us down there forever?"

The little girl on my right who looked no older than eight or nine, started crying; the poor thing was utterly terrified.

"Hey," I said, gently nudging my elbow into her arm, "we've got this, girl. And just think of how mad jelly your friends are gonna be when they find out you got to be a mermaid for the day. Cool, huh?"

Large blue eyes blinked up at me through silvery blonde hair. This could only be Fleur's 'hostage', seeing as Hermione had somehow got her claws into that dick Krum.

She said nothing, but her watery smile and absence of further tears told me that my words had somewhat appeased her.

"Professor Dumbledore happens to be on good terms with the merpeople of the Great Lake," McGonagall said haughtily, "And he would never do anything to put any of his students in danger. You should show a little bit more faith in your Headmaster, Miss Granger."

We all shook our heads, tutting, as Hermione hung her head in shame.

*****

McGonagall allowed me to run back into the dungeons to grab my waterproof mascara.

"Hey, where're you going?" Draco asked as I bumped into him on my way back out. "It's a bit late to be meeting up with Pretty Boy, isn't it?"

"It's classified," I said, waggling my eyebrows up at him. "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

"Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have ever introduced you to Top Gun." Draco grumbled, rubbing his forehead despairingly.

"What - and deny me of that sex god?" I said, giving a mock gasp. "But he makes my dreams so much more exciting!"

"Come on, Blaire," Draco sighed, rolling his eyes, "it's the night before your birthday; don't go getting into trouble."

"Aw," I said, playfully reaching out to rub his shoulder, "were you planning me a little birthday surprise, Drakie? Two bags of chocolate coins this year, perhaps?"

He shrugged my hand off, a look of irritation flickering across his face. "I just don't want you getting in trouble for him."

"If you must know, it's a school thing." I reassured him, giving in to his evident frustration. "But I can't tell you what. Just trust me that I'll be fine, okay?"

He frowned down at me, looking uncertain as his grey eyes pierced mine. Eventually, seeming satisfied that I was telling the truth, he relented; moving aside from the exit which he had been blocking.

"Go on, then," he muttered, "just don't forget that it's the second task tomorrow as well. I'm sure Hufflepuff would be gutted if you missed him showing off."

"Oh, I'm not going to miss it," I chortled wickedly. "In fact, I'm quite possibly going to be getting one of the best seats in the house."

*****

I didn't just get the best seat; I also got the best champion.

"Fuck baby, we did it!" Cedric roared jubilantly in my ear as I came to, water sloshing everywhere; and loud, thunderous cheers resounding all around us.

It took me a moment to realise we were still in the lake; Cedric expertly supporting my head above water as he swam us to the stands.

He won, of course, getting the majority of the points for being first back.

It's just a shame that twat Potter got awarded pity points for having a hero complex and being an absolute thick shit.

It meant he tied with Cedric when it came to the start of the third task.

But that was ages away, and right then, we were just enjoying the moment.

"Be my girlfriend, Blaire," Cedric murmured heatedly between peppering my face with furtive kisses; not caring that the entire school was watching, "I want to call you mine."

Fuck, I wasn't going to say no to that.

*****

I went straight back with Cedric to the Hufflepuff common room to celebrate his victory.

Say what you will about the Hufflepuffs, but they know how to have a good time; the entire common room was filled to the brim with Butterbeer and food. Music pumped out loudly as bodies swayed and writhed all afternoon and into the night.

Cedric kept me possessively to his side, introducing me as his girlfriend to anyone that asked. He kissed, touched and looked at me as though I was his queen.

I had never felt as exuberant as I did that day.

Yet, it wasn't until I was sneaking back into the dungeons had I realised that I'd forgotten it had in fact been my birthday.

I'd been so into helping Cedric celebrate his victory all day that my birthday seemed insignificant and therefore forgotten about by everyone, including myself.

Everyone that was, except for a certain Slytherin.

"Draco?" I asked as I looked in shock to the sofa where he was slumped, evidently waiting up for me despite the late hour.

He tiredly rubbed his exhausted looking face, glancing up towards me, yet at the same time barely meeting my eye.

"So it's official then?" he simply said; the bitterness of his tone shocking me. "You and Diggory?"

I nodded, not knowing what to say; the atmosphere was suddenly so tense, I could almost feel it reverberate around us.

He withdrew a wrapped package from his pocket, throwing it heavily onto the coffee table in front of him.

"For you," he explained dully, before getting morosely to his feet. "Happy birthday."

As he sloped off to the boy's dormitories, not once looking back, I tentatively bent down to pick the present up; unwrapping it with an uneasy feeling inside my chest.

He had, indeed, gotten me two bags of Muggle chocolate money.

*****