I own nothing except Benjamina, Joshua and their mother!
"Oh, Joshua!" my mother cried giving my brother one more bone breaking hug. "I can't believe this is your last year at Hogwarts!"
I sighed and slumped down onto my trunk. Another year, another rousing chorus of farewells before the departure of the Hogwarts Express. None of which are directed towards me. I've gotten used to it.
My mother doesn't like me as much as she likes my brother. Mr. Perfect-Grades-Doesn't-Cause-Any-Trouble-Whatsoever dear brother of mine. What with his brain that sucks in all the information he glances upon, topped with incredibly soft, golden blonde locks. Those incredible baby blue eyes gazing down from his six foot height. He's pretty much perfect in every way.
Don't get me wrong, I love him to death. He accepts me and loves me for who I am and shows it in every way he can. When I was in the hospital, suffering from appendicitis, he held my hand the entire time. The nurses had to practically drag him out when visiting hours were over. He is, by far, the greatest brother in the world. Everything he touches seems to turn to gold.
And finally there's me. Barely reaching five, five, my dark brown hair and hazel eyes make most of the people we meet think I was adopted. Especially since the one person that could argue against that departed the earth when I was ten. In appearance I take after my father completely. I think the only thing I got from my mother was the height and hair thickness.
The loud sound of the train's whistle pulled me from my thoughts.
"Goodbye Joshua!" my mother said between sobs. "I will sure miss you!"
"And Benny too." Josh said picking up his things.
"Hmm?" she turned wiping tears from her eyes.
"You'll miss Benny too." He repeated. "Right?"
She nodded. "Oh, yes of course."
"Oh gee," I breathed. "Try and hold back your enthusiasm."
Suddenly, my trunk started to rise from the ground. I gripped the edges tightly and held on to keep from falling off.
"We'll take it from here, Mrs. Summers!" I heard Fred Weasley say.
"Yes, Mrs. Summers!" George Weasley concurred. "You have nothing to fear!"
I bid a final goodbye to my mother and laughed as I was whisked around toward the train. The amazing Weasley twins, my best friends since we were kids. We met when my mother took me to Diagon Alley for my first year school supplies. I will never forget how much building forts in the bookstore can really bring people together.
"And how is Miss. Benjamina Summers today?" Fred asked.
"I'm perfectly fine, thank you!" I said giggling. "Have you seen Kay?"
"You want to get rid of us already?" George asked with a shocked voice.
"Of course not!" I said with a smile.
As we neared the loading car, the twins lowered the trunk to let me off then handed it to the baggage claim. I threw my arms around them in a hello embrace.
"God, it's fantastic seeing you guys again." I said holding George tight, ignoring the woozy feeling that began to stir.
"Same to you shorty." He replied with a grin.
"Benny! Fred! George!" a hand waved from an open window.
The smiling face of Katie Johnston beckoned us inside. "Hurry up before they leave you behind!"
Fred, George and I exchanged glances then ran for the train. Speeding down the halls to the compartment Kay had reserved for us.
"Took you long enough," Kay's curly black hair bounced as she scolded us. "I had to fight off those grabby little first years from stealing our space."
Fred grabbed her into his arms for a noogie. "Much appreciated, little raven."
I smiled with satisfaction. Finally, here with my best friends on the way to my dream school, I couldn't think of anything that would make this moment better.
We spent the rest of the train ride chatting about our summer adventures and all the new pranks the twins had planned out. The sun dropped as we traveled on, signaling the approach of our sixth year at school.
As if on cue, Josh poked his head into the compartment. "We're nearing Hogwarts, fellas. You better get your robes on."
"Yes, Mr. Perfect." I replied grabbing my robes from my bag.
"You hush, Miss. Benjamina." He said with a chuckle.
"We'll see you two at the feast." Fred winked, leaving the compartment to change.
"Or, at least Benny." George corrected. "Miss. Katie happens to be in Ravenclaw."
Kay shot him a death glare.
"Oh, ouch!" George faked a fatal wound. "The room just got colder."
"We'll save you a seat Ben." Fred called back.
Once they shut the door, I shut the blinds so we could change.
"I really hate those two sometimes." Kay said pulling her blue trimmed robes out.
"It's all in good fun." I assured her as I wrapped my tie around my neck. "It's not like all their pranks are aimed at you."
She rolled her eyes. "If you hadn't have exploded my feather back in first year Charms, I'm sure most of their pranks would be."
I couldn't help but laugh at that memory of our blossoming friendship. Being my best class, I've only had good memories in Charms. Professor Flitwick absolutely loves having me in his class, even though I blow up quite a few things.
"You know," Kay started as she pulled up her knee sock. "I think this is the year!"
I paused. "The year for what?"
"George Weasley!" She said, hitting me with her tie. "You've had this thing for him for forever and I'm pretty positive that this is your year!"
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Sure, Kay."
"Hey! I've only been best friends with you three since first year. I think I know you all by now." She remarked.
"Kay, you're being ridiculous." I said tossing my cloak over my shoulders.
"Fine, be in denial. That's the first stage of acceptance." She said with a smile.
I folded my arms and glared.
She responded by folding her own arms and smiling in return.
After settling myself between the Weasley twins, keeping myself awake throughout the Sorting Hat's song, and stuffing myself to bursting, Professor Dumbledore started his announcements.
"It is my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."
"What?" I turned to look at Harry Potter's shocked face.
He was looking around at the rest of the Quidditch team to see the same shock he had.
Fred and George seemed to be mouthing soundlessly at Dumbledore.
"I'm so sorry guys." I whispered to them. "You too, Harry."
He gave me a side smile and a shrug.
Before Dumbledore could go on, the Great Hall doors banged open to reveal a man shrouded in a black cloak. This man was introduced as the new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Moody. He was a sight to behold. One normal eye and another huge, bright blue and darting like crazy in its socket.
"As I was saying," Dumbledore said smiling. "we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."
My mouth dropped.
"You're JOKING!" Fred said loudly.
His comment made the whole room shake with laughter.
"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore chuckled.
As he continued to jabber on about the tournament, Fred, George could barely move. Every part of their attention was focused on Dumbledore's words.
"An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard cup," Dumbledore continued. "the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."
"I'm going for it!" Fred hissed down the table filled with enthusiasm.
I sighed and shook my head. "This can only lead to trouble."
Dumbledore cleared up my worries. "I know you all are excited but only those of age will be allowed to put their names forward."
"They can't do that!" George protested as we walked out from the feast. "We're seventeen in April, why can't we have a shot?"
"They're not stopping me entering," Fred said as stubborn as ever. "The champions'll get to do all sorts of stuff you'd never be allowed to do normally. And a thousand Galleons prize money!"
"Fred," Kay protested after catching up to us. "It's going to be so dangerous. Don't put yourself in danger for Galleons!"
I nodded but he didn't seem to be listening.
"Who's this impartial judge who's going to decide who the champions are?" Harry wondered.
"Dunno," Fred said. "but it's them we'll have to fool. I reckon a couple drops of Aging Potion might do it, George."
Kay started biting her nails, something she always does when she's nervous.
"Dumbledore knows you're not of age, though." Their brother, Ron, told him.
Kay lowered her hand from her face.
"Yeah, but he's not the one who decides who the champion is, is he?" Fred said shrewdly. "Sounds to me like once this judge knows who wants to enter, he'll choose the best from each school and never mind how old they are. Dumbledore's trying to stop us giving our names."
Kay's hand went straight back up to her face.
"People have died, though!" Hermione Granger said worried.
"Yeah!" Kay agreed. "Please don't!"
"But that was years ago, wasn't it?" argued Fred. "Anyway, where's the fun without a bit of risk?"
The rest of the conversation was a blur. Kay tried so hard to get them all to forget these thoughts and I just hung out in the back of the group trying to make sense of everything. This whole idea of theirs sounded crazy. Even crazier than normal. Those very same thoughts even prevented me from getting to sleep. After tossing and turning for the longest time, I felt around for my quill and some parchment then quietly slipped out of my room and went down to the common room.
I sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace and stared at the flames. The bright orange and red flames jumping and leaping around like in some sort of vibrant dance.
A tapping at the window drew my attention away from the fire and to the window. The tapping seemed to be coming from Kay's owl, Cat.
Yes, she named her owl, Cat. It's a long story.
I opened the window and let him fly in and rest on the side table in front of me. He dropped the letter from his beak in my hand and flew off. Not without first crashing into the closed window next to the open one.
"Oh, Cat!" I said picking up the poor bird. "When will Kay take you to get your eyes checked?"
I set him down on the table and opened up the letter.
Benny,
My intuition is not lying to me! Dear old, George fancies you! I'm SURE of it! And I have a plan to make it all happen!
I love being a match maker!
Kay
I crumpled up the note and threw it out the window.
"Bloody Hell, Kay." I muttered.
"Bloody who?" George's voice echoed through the empty room.
It's hard to deny how attractive George is. I have to admit, his flaming red hair that sticks up in every direction and his chocolate brown eyes really do just pull you in. I would never fully admit this to Kay, but I have begun to find myself thinking more and more about George with butterflies in my stomach. Since fifth year, it's been escalating. I've tried to push it away though, George would never think of me that way. We've been friends for way too long.
"Oh, Kay let Cat loose and he crashed into the window again." I said cool as ever.
"Ah." He gave his head a slight nod. "What are you doing up so late?"
I shrugged and made my way back to the couch. "I couldn't sleep. All those thoughts about this tournament kept me awake."
He sat down beside me and laughed. "Fred and I are going to enter."
"That worries Kay so much you wont believe." I said.
"Kay worries to much." He replied.
I nodded. "Well, she has a reason to be worried."
"But the people who died, died years ago!" he waved his arms dramatically. "Besides, Fred and I can take care of ourselves!"
"Can we talk about something else?" I asked with a yawn. "I'm tired of arguing."
"Well, sure." He nodded. "School's going to be awesome this year. Are you all set to help us with our pranks?"
I smiled. "Of course, Weasley. It will be one exciting adventure!"
He chucked and scooted over to the edge of the couch. "You look like you want to lie down."
"I just might." I took up his gesture and used his lap as a foot rest.
"Oh, and I have something to ask you." George's voice was growing distant as I nodded off to sleep.
"Hmm? What's that?" I asked sleepily.
"Well, um, would you…"
I never got to hear the rest of his question. Sleep overcame me and I was tossed into a dream filled night.
Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think! And no flames pretty please!