TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUXBATONS AND DURMSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER. LESSONS WILL END HALF AN HOUR EARLY.
STUDENTS WILL RETURN THEIR BAGS AND BOOKS TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORE THE WELCOMING FEAST.
"Merlin, it's happening! They really are coming over!" Daphne gushed as we left the crowd that was gathering around the large sign.
"I cannot wait to meet them! I wonder what they'll be like," Tracey said as we entered the Great Hall.
We settled ourselves at the Slytherin table and began serving our plates with food.
"Well, Beauxbatons are French," I pointed out.
"And so are you," Daphne reminded me keenly.
"Barely. I mean, my cousins were born there so they are, but I have only ever visited France," I clarified. I took a sip from my cup, thinking I had settled the matter.
"But you speak French!" Daphne insisted.
"I speak old lady French. When young people talk, I get so confused. They've come up with so many new expressions over the past few decades. If my mother doesn't know it, I won't either," I said.
"Don't you speak with your cousins in French?" Tracey queried, an eyebrow perked up?
"Not really. We always speak English with each other," I said with a shrug. "Anyway, I know what you two are thinking, and no, I won't be your personal translator, nor will I spy on the Beauxbatons students' conversations for you."
"Well, that's rather lame," Daphne said in sheer disappointment. "What's the point of speaking French if you won't even use it?"
"You don't understand how terrible I am at it," I said rather despondently.
"I'm sure you're not terrible," James said as he slipped into the seat next to me.
I usually sat with him and the rest of the S4, but I was so distracted by my conversation with Daphne and Tracey that I had completely forgotten to do that.
Well, it was about time James sat with my friends anyway. Whenever Daphne and Tracey sat near the S4, our conversations would be a lot less natural, and I could always sense how nervous they got (mostly Daphne, but if Daphne was nervous, so was Tracey). So, if I sat with the S4, my friends sort of didn't always join, and I wanted to speak with them too.
"Do you even know what we were talking about?" I asked, raising a classic eyebrow at him. He shrugged.
"No idea."
"I was just telling them that I'm terrible at speaking French — Yes, despite my mother being French," I said before he could point it out.
"My Korean is pretty terrible too," James said with another shrug. That actually did make me feel better.
"Well, glad to know we stand in solidarity," I hummed. "Oh! It just occurred to me that you will all meet my cousins as they both go to Beauxbatons. I'm rather looking forward to it."
"Looking forward to meeting them," James said. "Although, I have to say, my French is worse than yours, for obvious reasons."
"Don't worry. They speak English very fluently," I reassured him.
"Maybe I should learn French. Do you think Beauxbatons boys are cute?" Daphne asked suddenly. She had her head tilted to the side and her large green eyes were staring at me inquisitively.
"I — I don't know," I said when I realized she was expecting an answer from me.
James snorted next to me. I whipped my head at him, and his grin only widened.
"Damnit. I was really hoping you would know the answer to that," James said in fake disappointment.
I clicked my tongue at him and rolled my eyes but didn't give him a witty retort simply because I couldn't think of one.
Later that night, when I was in the middle of stirring my Felix Felicis cauldron in my dormroom with only Millicent Bulstrode to keep me company, James came by. He knocked on the door that was left ajar by Pansy earlier. His dark hair only slightly reached his dark eyes now, his pink scar above his eye only a little exposed. But he hadn't bothered to hide it in months. His hair had just grown back now.
The corners of his eyes wrinkled when I noticed him. He looked around the room cautiously, saw that it was just me and one other person (Millicent) and then ambled inside.
"Aren't you worried about getting caught brewing potions again? Why d'you leave the door open?" James queried as he approached me.
Millicent didn't even spare him a glance from where she lay lazily on her bed. Her eyes remained glued to that dark mysterious book she was reading, and her face made no indication of having noticed James' appearance.
"I didn't even realize until you arrived. Pansy must have accidentally left it like that when she left the dorm, earlier," I told him, giving my cauldron one last stir. Then, I grabbed my notebook and skimmed through it a little. "So, what's up?" I asked after a short quiet moment.
"I was wondering if you wanted to go somewhere with me," he said. I peered up at him, intrigued. "At eleven o'clock sharp."
"Sure," I said. "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere fun. You've been before — Ah, and you should bring your clothes for tomorrow," he added.
"A sleepover?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.
"Mayhaps," he said airily. "Anyway, I'll wait for you in the common room at eleven — Oh, and you should put on your pajamas, and brush your teeth in advance."
"So, it's definitely a sleepover," I concluded.
James shrugged innocently before darting out of my dormroom, closing the door behind him. When I glanced at Millicent, she still had her nose deep inside her book. If she had heard the exchange I had with James, she was awfully good at pretending not to have heard anything.
"What the bloody hell are you reading anyway?" I asked her as I started getting my bag ready. Her lips curved upwards slightly, and she casually turned the page.
"Something I found in the restricted section," she said as if it were above me to understand anyway.
"What is it?" I pried.
For the first time, she peered up from her book, her dark eyes boring into mine. "I won't tell Snape about your little sleepover tonight if you stop asking."
I jumped my eyebrows at her in surrender and just resumed packing. A moment later, when I was done, I put my bag aside for later.
I turned back to Millicent and asked, "What did you do with the Felix Felicis, anyway?"
"Stop asking questions, Blackwood," she warned.
I pressed my lips together and accepted defeat before finding my notebook and continuing to brew my potions while I waited for eleven o'clock to arrive.
In the common room, under the dim lighting, I first spotted Isaiah's bright red hair, and then, Wyatt's light blonde hair. They were standing by the couches with James and Elijah right next to them.
"Ready to go, then?" James asked everyone in a hushed tone as soon as I arrived.
Everyone nodded or hummed positively.
"Great."
And at that, we all left the common room together.
When we reached the hallway, all four of the boys peered around cautiously, halting every so often to make sure there was no one else in the corridors. It was actually quite comedic to witness all of them doing it in sync. I had to force down my amusement as to not draw any attention.
We made it to the library, and that's when I realized we were having our little sleepover in that hidden room of theirs in the restricted section.
We shuffled mutely to the restricted section, and before I knew it, we were already going through the bookcase entrance, and passing by the chalky and dusty crate-filled room.
The layout of the hidden room upstairs from there hadn't changed. A black leather couch in the corner with a matching coffee table; a black desk with an engraved armchair pushed inside it; a large purple curtain right behind the desk; dark-wooden bookshelves with many books; a large ornate mirror; an assortment of colourful but wilted flowers.
"Haven't been here in ages," Elijah said. The first thing he did was slump onto the couch and lay his arm over the camel back.
"Who forgot to change the flowers?" Isaiah said disapprovingly, gently touching a dead one in a vase on the desk.
"Hasn't anyone of you been here since the start of term?" James asked everyone. He went and sat on the couch next to Elijah.
"I have, but I didn't know we were the ones changing the flowers," Wyatt said.
"Well, who else would?" Elijah shot back, surprised by Wyatt's surprise.
"I don't know... house elves?" Wyatt pointed out with a shrug. He reached around the desk and slouched into the armchair.
"It's a little dusty too," Isaiah said, sliding an index finger across the desk.
"Alright, Isaiah. Do your thing," Elijah said, a smile tugging at his lips.
"Why am I always the only one keeping this place tidy?" Isaiah protested.
"Because you're good at it. Now, get to it," Elijah said, in a jokingly authoritative way.
"Yes, sir," Isaiah mumbled in lighthearted surrender.
Isaiah waved his wand and cast a spell I wasn't familiar with on the flowers all over the room. They all, in sync, began to come back to life, their beautiful bright colours illuminating the room like flamboyant lights.
"Well, Hakuna Matata," Wyatt said airily. He leaned back into the armchair, his hands opening up at us as if that had solved all the problems in the world.
"What?" Elijah said, bemused.
"Well, you know, the movie we saw with Amirah," Wyatt said. Elijah still looked perplexed. "How did you forget already? The little animals said Hakuna Matata. It means no worries for the rest of your days."
"Yeah, I know that. But why are you bringing that up now?" Elijah queried.
"Why not? I just remembered it. Kind of catchy," Wyatt said. "Hakuna Matata," he began to sing.
"Okay, stop," Elijah said, frowning.
"The circle of life!" Wyatt switched to singing another song. James, Isaiah, and I just laughed as Elijah rolled his eyes dramatically at Wyatt.
"How do you even remember the melody?" I finally asked Wyatt after our laughter had died down.
"Amirah was humming it under her breath the other day," Isaiah answered instead of Wyatt who just nodded at Isaiah's words.
"Speaking of which, why isn't she here?" I asked them all. Elijah and James looked confused at the suggestion while Wyatt and Isaiah's eyes widened. "She knows about this place, doesn't she?"
"Does she?" James asked, his head cocking to the side curiously.
"I don't think she does," Elijah said, his eyes narrowing with uncertainty. I evidently was not going to tell them that I first discovered this place not because of James but because of Amirah, but I still couldn't help but be surprised that they didn't know that she had come here before. I thought she said she discovered the place because of them? Maybe I was misremembering.
"Why do I know about it, but she doesn't?" I then asked.
"You're my girlfriend," James said as if that were obvious.
"You showed me the place before we got together," I pointed out.
"Yes, well, it was an emergency," he said with a shrug. "Weren't we running away from Peeves or Filch or something?" he added.
"Yeah, something like that..."
"I think what Maeve is pointing out is that... Isaiah and Amirah are awfully close — why aren't you two together by now?" Elijah said suddenly. He had a devilish smirk forming on his face. Wyatt shuffled uncomfortably nearby.
"I, erm, don't think she fancies me," Isaiah said with an awkward laugh.
"So, you fancy her?" Wyatt asked, looking almost crestfallen.
Isaiah's face melted into an undecipherable expression. His mouth hung open slightly, but no words escaped his lips. Then, he winced a little before finally saying, "I do, but I don't want to talk about this, right now."
"Yeah, we all already knew that, Isaiah. It's like when James and Maeve got together. All of you make your feelings so bloody obvious," Elijah said, lacking enthusiam. He leaned further back on the couch, looking up at the ceiling with disinterest.
"So, when are we sleeping?" James said suddenly, as if hoping to alleviate the tension.
"More like, where are we sleeping?" I countered. James grinned.
"Oh, she doesn't know about this," Elijah said, humming with slight intrigue. He got up from the couch at the same time as James did. The two of them motioned for me to back away to where Wyatt was at the desk, and they followed me there too.
Isaiah came forward and waved his wand at the couch. In a spectacular and swift movement, the couch opened up into a very extremely large mattress. Frankly, the word large couldn't even describe how large it was. It was stretching out to the other end of the wall and almost knocked the ornate mirror onto the floor.
The mattress held the same black colour that it did originally as a couch, but instead of leathered material it was made of some sort of bouncy and soft foam. And before I could even finish processing what had just happened, Isaiah waved his wand again and levitated some drapes and blankets out of the black desk's lofty bottom drawer. In one swift motion of the wand, the drapes stretched out to every far corner of the mattress. Then, the blankets flew to the edge of the bed where we were standing. Only four blankets.
"You forgot the pillows," Wyatt said, pulling out his wand.
"Wait, Wyatt—"
But Isaiah didn't stop him in time. Wyatt waved his wand and strangely, whatever spelled he tried did not set the bed on fire.
Instead, four bumps began protruding out of the mattress, aligned next to each other, imitating pillows, but not quite looking like pillows. They were oddly shaped and still very clearly attached to the bed, under the drapes.
"You know, I was going to engorgio the pillows I brought," Isaiah said. He pulled out five tiny pillows from his pockets.
"Oh, smart," Wyatt said, nodding slowly. He stuffed his wand away, looking slightly embarassed. "You can undo what I just did. I don't know how anyway."
Isaiah smiled and shook his head in disbelief at Wyatt. The golden boy waved his wand again and the giant mattress went back to its original smoother surface.
"What would we do without you, Isaiah?" James hummed pleasantly.
"Aren't we missing a blanket?" I pointed out as the boys climbed onto the bed.
"You and James can just share one," Wyatt said as if it were an easy fix. I blanched.
"No, Maeve can have my blanket. I'll share with one of you," James said before I could embarass myself with an answer of my own.
"Not with me," Elijah said, protectively grabbing his blanket and settling himself the farthest away from us.
"I can share with Wyatt and you can have mine," Isaiah proposed.
"Why do I have to share? Just share with James," Wyatt said immediately.
"Because James already gave up his blanket. I just thought I'd be nice," Isaiah said.
"Well, you can be nice. Doesn't mean you have to drag me into your good deeds—"
"I'll just share with James!" I declared, frankly tired of this back and forth. Nothing was going to get resolved otherwise.
James looked at me hesitantly. "You don't have to, Maeve. We'll figure something out. You can have your own," he said assuredly, but I shook my head at him.
"No. It's okay. We're just sleeping anyway," I said, the thought of it creeping into my head and making my knees wobbly. James still looked unsure. "No, really. It's fine. Anyway. You're my... boyfriend. It's not weird."
Except that it was a little weird because the most we had done was kiss sometimes and held hands. Not that I was worried that something was going to happen between us if we slept under the same blanket, but it did feel like a bit of a leap in our relationship.
No, it wasn't weird. It was fine. We were just going to sleep. I didn't have to find this weird. It wasn't. It really wasn't.
I think.
"Well, if you're sure. I can engorgio the blanket so we have more space between us," James proposed. I didn't want to sound like a creep by rejecting that idea so I just nodded and watched as he flawlessly and effortlessly engorgioed the blanket.
"Well, now that that's solved..." Isaiah said. He grabbed his blanket and settled himself next to Elijah. A moment later, Wyatt settled himself next to Isaiah, and then, all that was left was James and I.
Feeling rather nervous, despite the blanket now being enlarged, I slipped under it and settled myself on the pillow closest to the wall. James promptly followed suit and layed down between Wyatt and I.
We weren't touching. Our pillows were somewhat far apart. And yet.
I still couldn't block out this sedulous feeling in my stomach. Butterflies. Frankly, they were rather annoying.
"Should we dim the lights and share scary stories?" Wyatt proposed.
Before anyone could say something, Elijah pointed his wand at the candles and they blew out, leaving just a string of smoke in their candleholders. It was very dark now, and the large purple curtain was drawn as well so there barely was any moonlight seeping into the room. Elijah, then lit his wand. It gently illuminated the bottom of his face.
"I've got one," Elijah said. He leaned onto his elbow and turned to us. We were all laying cozily under our blankets, staring up at Elijah who had this up-to-no-good look on his face.
"As long as it's not the one about the demiguise," Wyatt said, slipping ever so slightly more under his blanket.
"You're afraid of demiguises?" I said with a laugh.
"Deadly afraid," James clarified.
"That's because they can be deadly," Wyatt insisted. James laughed.
"They're peaceful herbivores," Isaiah interjected.
"You can't even see them," James added.
"Well, you can't see wrackspurts, but apparently, we've got a bunch of them flying in our brains, or something," I said, recalling our encounter with Luna Lovegood the Ravenclaw in the carriage at the start of term.
"Don't tell me you believe in those things, Maeve," Isaiah said, sounding very surprised.
"Well, James and I saw them through this kind of owl-shaped rainbow spectacle," I said. James chuckled next to me.
"It's true — Maeve, if you've still got those funky glasses, you should show them to Isaiah," James added.
Before I could say something, Elijah cleared his throat very loudly.
"Well, in any case, my story is not about demiguises," he said.
"Right, right, go on," Wyatt said, nodding in approval, as if demiguises were his only objections to scary stories.
"It's the story of this couple. They decided to travel up North in Scotland, not that far away from Hogwarts actually—"
"Okay, don't make it too scary, either," Wyatt protested. I tried not to laugh at his reaction.
"Fine, in Sweden," Elijah said wildly. "Anyway, they were traveling up North, and it was rather cold—"
"Why were they traveling in the North?" Wyatt interrupted once again.
"Wyatt, let him talk," James said.
"Sorry, sorry. I'm just wondering," Wyatt said semi-defensively.
"Well, anyway, they were travelling up North, looking for a creature. A creature that was rumoured to have gone extinct. A creature so dangerous and so large that even muggles knew of its existence... The Yeti."
"Hang on, I thought Yetis were native to Asia," Isaiah jumped in.
"Yeah, what is it doing up there?" Wyatt said, not even scared by the story anymore, but rather just confused.
"It travelled. I don't know." Then Elijah went on in his suspenseful story-telling voice, "The couple heard that there was a creature roaming in the North, a creature that wasn't meant to be there."
"Who is this couple anyway? Why do they even care about some loose Yeti?" Wyatt said, nearly scoffing at the idea.
"I'm getting there. Salazar, you're irksome," Elijah groaned.
"Right, right. Go on..." Wyatt said as if he hadn't been interrupting Elijah every five seconds.
"As I was saying, the couple heard that a Yeti was wandering off into the Swedish Highlands. The Department of Magical Creatures set out a prize—"
"They're actually called The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," Isaiah chimed in in a small voice.
"Well, whatever they're called, they set a very large 1000 galleon reward for those who could find it and bring it back to Asia—"
"Was it from Tibet or Nepal? You know, they can have different behaviours depending on where they're from—" Isaiah inserted.
"You know, this is why we never do scary stories. You two are the worst listeners," Elijah said in exasperation. He gave up leaning on his elbow and just slumped back down on his pillow.
"So, no more scary stories?" Wyatt asked, sounding disappointed.
"Not if you keep interrupting him," James reprimanded lightly.
"No. I'm done. I'm sleeping now," Elijah said, clearly very frustrated. He raised an arm over his eyes and noxed his wand, so it was dark all over again. "Good night."
James, muttered a, "sorry about that," to me.
"It's okay," I whispered back. "I'm pretty tired anyway."
I heard James' body shift on the bed. I didn't really know where he was going, so I reached out with my hand and went looking for him. Then, when my hand touched what I thought was his arm, I pulled away.
"Oh, there you are," I said in a very low voice.
"I was just turning my body towards you," he returned in an equally low voice. Then, something touched my hand and stayed there. James was resting his hand on mine.
"You two are really bad at whispering," Elijah grumbled. I heard him shift his body as well.
"Sorry," James and I said at the same time.
Then we remained quiet as to not disturb the others (mostly Elijah, but still).
But James' hand was still holding mine.
I heard his body shift closer to mine, until he was holding my extended hand to his chest. He moved my hand up towards the pillows, until I felt his lips on the back on my hand. Gently and very quietly, he kissed it. The kiss made no noise, but I still felt it tingling my skin.
Even though I was laying down, I could still feel my knees going weak. I felt like I was melting into my pillow. I wanted to shift closer to James, but I was frozen into place. His touch both terrified and delighted me at the same time.
I tried to sleep, but with my hand clasped into James', my head was racing. I couldn't stop my heart from hammering into the bed. I almost felt like everyone in the room could both hear and feel my heart pounding. I couldn't quite comprehend what it was that I was feeling anymore.
We were just holding hands. We had done that before. We held hands nearly every day. But this felt more intimate. More intimidating. More everything.
After a while, I thought that maybe James also couldn't sleep, but then when I listened closely, I could hear him breathing very softly. He was utterly unbothered and at peace, his mind drifting away into another world, unlike me.
And yet, his gentle breaths only calmed me. And eventually, though at a terribly slow pace, I drifted off to sleep as well.