Chapter 3 – Durmstrang
Lily woke up on Halloween morning feeling excitement mixed with a little trepidation, she was looking forward to going to another school but was also a little scared about being out of the safe and familiar halls of Hogwarts for almost a whole year, however her thoughts and feelings were dashed when another presence landed on her bed and shouted, "We're going!" She sat up and smiled at her fellow traveller, Lizzie, who was almost beside herself with happiness. She then looked over at her two other friends who would not be accompanying them on the trip and her smile turned to a frown as she saw the sad looks on their faces.
"I'm going to miss you so much," Stephanie squealed hugging them each in turn and then allowing both girls to dress themselves in their school robes and prepare to float their packed up trunks out of the dormitory to the entrance hall where they would be taken down to the station at Hogsmeade.
After teary goodbyes and a send off breakfast, twenty students accompanied by the headteacher and Professor Longbottom climbed into the waiting horseless carriages and set off away from the school, Lily looked back at her third favourite place in the world (her home and the Burrow being the two at the top of the list) and sighed. "Don't worry we'll be back next year, it's not the end," Lizzie said sympathetically feeling the same small sense of sadness at leaving the school behind. Lily nodded at her and sat back in the carriage thinking about the new things which were awaiting them at Durmstrang.
As they pulled up at Hogsmeade station, the girls could see the Hogwarts Express waiting at the platform, only it looked completely different to how it usually did. The huge scarlet steam engine was still at the head of the train, smoke billowing out of the funnel as it prepared to take the travellers on their journey but behind it were not the usual long carriages which it pulled along. Instead the girls found themselves looking at four long, thin and tall coaches which looked like small houses, they were three stories high and had separate small square windows along each storey. There were curtains hanging at each window which were drawn back and fastened with tie backs.
"Welcome to your new home for the rest of the year," Professor McGonagall said as the students alighted from their coaches, "the Hogwarts Express will not only be taking us to Durmstrang but it will be housing us for the duration of our stay, please come on board," she continued gesturing to the doors on each carriage. "Boys in this carriage with Mr Longbottom" she gestured to the coach at the back, "and girls in this one with me," she indicated the front carriage and the girls climbed onto the step in front of the door.
Lily and Lizzie were at the back of the line waiting to jump on the train and when they entered the compartment their jaws dropped, they had stepped into a long, thin cosy room which had a large stone fireplace at its centre, the floor was carpeted in a dark red pile with golden fleur de lye woven into it. A collection of squashy mismatched, leather armchairs and couches were scattered around the room facing the fireplace and under the windows were long thin wooden desks with individual candles. The walls were covered in patterned red flock wallpaper and at the windows were the curtains they had noticed from the outside which matched the carpet but the fleur de lye were much smaller. Hanging from the ceiling of the room were small crystal chandeliers housing large yellow candles and around the walls were a few other candle holders which added to the homely and inviting atmosphere of their new home.
"This," the headmistress began, "is the girls common room, through that door," she indicated an adjoining door to the next carriage, "is a common room for all of you and above that is a library and study area containing most of the books you are likely to require during your NEWT years. Above the library is a private staff area for Professor Longbottom and myself which houses separate rooms for our own use." All the girls were listening avidly to their professor who continued, "beyond that is a carriage with a small dining area underneath a kitchen staffed with Hogwarts houselves, their living quarters are on the top floor of that coach and finally at the end, the boys' carriage which is kitted out similar to this one. Up those stairs," she pointed into the opposite corner of the room where a thin set of winding stairs led up and out of sight, "are the bedrooms, sixths years on the first floor and seventh years on the top. You will find your trunks already up there, we shall be leaving in a matter of minutes if you would like to make yourselves comfortable."
The girls looked at each other and then immediately, en masse, headed up the narrow winding staircase, they came to a closed door about halfway up which had sixth year dormitory written on it, the seventh year girls continued up but Lizzie, Lily and three champion contenders, Suzanna Jones, Maria Johnson and Reese McClaggan, opened the door and walked into a second room of equal proportions to the one beneath it. This room had three sets of bunkbeds down one wall, each bed was enclosed like a small pod with a set of heavy red drapes, on the wall above the pillows each pod had a candle and at the foot of the bed a small shelf with enough room for a few bedside items. Between each set of bunkbeds was a wardrobe and when Suzanna opened one they saw that it was magically enlarged to house not only their clothes but their cumbersome trunks as well. Along the opposite wall was a long table which stretched almost the length of the room, it was divided with small slats of wood into six separate stations each of which had a small padded stool, a candle holder and space for a person's belongings. There were six comfortable armchairs grouped together at the end of the narrow aisle which ran between the beds and the table all facing a low coffee table, beyond the set of armchairs was a door which opened into a small shower room and toilet. Matching red drapes hung at the six windows in front of each section of the long table and identical chandeliers to the ones in the room below hung from the ceiling.
Each girl chose a bed, Lizzie on the bottom of the first bunk and Lily above her, and then they began to unpack some of their belongings from the trunks which had been placed at the end of the aisle by the chairs. After a few moments they all felt a slight lurch as the train began to move and they scrambled to the windows to get one last look at their beloved school standing high and proud on the hill above Hogsmeade. They were off, the steady rhythmic noise of the train built up until they were travelling at speed and the five girls turned around to continue unpacking their things.
Half an hour later Lily and her blonde haired and blue eyed best friend left the dormitory and walked back down the stairs to explore a little more of their new home, a couple of the seventh year girls were lazing in the chairs by the fire in the common room below and they nodded curtly at them as they headed into the next compartment. They found a room very similar to the first one, but this one was decorated in greens and had more chairs around the fireplace, there were no desks in this and they assumed it was more a place to socialise than to work. Climbing another curved staircase they found a long thin library with row upon row of books, at the end of the room by the windows were a few private workstations with hard wooden chairs. After perusing the selection of books for a few minutes the girls decided to head back down to the common room where they found Terry Deary and another seventh year Hufflepuff who's name they did not know.
"This is quite something hey?" Terry asked when he saw the girls re-enter the room, "can't say it will be a chore to live here for a year!"
"It's amazing isn't it?" Lizzie commented, "do your dorms have separate bunk pods?"
"Yeah," Terry replied, "I think they are all exactly the same, by the way this is David Clearwater, the Minister's nephew."
"Hi, I'm Lily," she said holding out her hand, "and this is Lizzie," she indicated her friend.
"Lizzie and Lily, I'm sure I can remember that! After all I don't want to forget the names of our wonderful supporters do I?" he laughed and the girls sat down in two other armchairs next to them and joined in a long and simple conversation for the next few hours.
They had been travelling for three hours through woodlands when Professor Longbottom popped his head around the door from the dining car and announced that lunch was ready, by that point everyone had congregated in the main common room and had introduced his or her self to the rest of the group. Lily had noticed that everyone seemed friendly and easy going and she realised it would probably be a very pleasant time for them all living together in such close quarters. They walked though to the dining car where a long wooden table had been set for twenty two, the teachers sat together at one end and the students took seats along the benches. As in Hogwarts empty plates in the middle of the table were suddenly filled with sandwiches of every description, pork pies, sausage rolls, scotch eggs, bowls of crispsand when they had pushed away their dinner plates a mountain of doughnuts magically appeared in front of them, some filled with jam or fruit mixtures, some covered in frosting and sprinkles and a few plain ones piled high with sugar crystals which stuck to their lips and they made a game out of seeing how long they could go without licking their lips.
When the meal was finished Professor McGonagall excused them all and they went back to the common room, Lily and her friend took two seats by the window this time and stared out at the passing scenery, they had left the forest area and were now travelling across a bleak and vast open space with mountains on either side, there were trees and bushes dotted around but precious few, it was mostly an expanse of grassland. Most of the mountains were snow capped and the girls began to feel chilly just from looking at it, deciding to head up to the dormitory in search of warmer clothing they left their window seats and walked back through the girl's common room and upstairs. After pulling on another jumper they each jumped onto their beds and lay looking up at the ceiling talking about Durmstrang and what it was going to be like.
As the dormitory became darker when the sun began to set a house elf ran into the room and lit all the candles in the chandeliers, they were then surrounded by safety bubbles which cocooned the flame and helped to diffuse the glow around the room. Lily got up and looked out of the window and was surprised to see that they were crossing the sea, "How is that possible?" she asked Lizzie when she had pointed it out to her.
"Magic?" she replied shrugging her shoulders, "who cares as long as we are getting there?" she added and flopped back onto her bed.
Before they reached their final destination the Hogwarts Express left the rails it had been using to cross the sea and began to once more travel through dense forest, enormous, tall pine trees enclosed the carriages on either side and nothing whatsoever could be seen through the windows.
Finally after what had seemed an age, the train appeareded to be slowing down and all the passengers congregated in the main common room where both teachers were waiting for them.
"We are almost at Durmstrang students," Professor McGonagall began, "we will be pulling up on the outside of the fortress, the Hogwarts Express will reside there until we leave at the beginning of summer next year."
The students looked eagerly at each other, they were not sure what to expect when they finally saw Durmstrang, it was well known that all wizarding schools were hidden and safely guarded, unless you visited one you would never find out what they actually looked like. "Take a seat while we pull into the station everyone," Professor Longbottom told them and the two friends hurried over to sit in two chintz chairs by the window. Peering out they could see that the dense forest had now cleared and they were travelling up a tall mountain side, the track curved slightly as it wound upwards and they all looked up to see if they could find the top however it was too dark outside to really see anything.
Eventually the track levelled out and the students once more headed to the windows and gasped audibly when they saw a tall, dark fortress rise up in front of them on a plateau near the very top of the mountain. The building was square and extremely wide, unlike Hogwarts which had turrets and towers dotted here and there this structure was completely symmetrical, each corner had a tower and the entire building had battlements around the top. All the windows were thin arrow slots at symmetrical intervals along each level, in total Lily counted six storeys. There was a moat all the way around the fort which was built on a slightly higher platform, as she looked down Lily noticed more slit like windows on the mound and she realised that there must be at least one more storey below the actual castle. It stood proud and menacing looking but it also had a strange welcoming quality about it, it was not magically attractive like Hogwarts but Lily could tell she would be almost as happy here as at her own school.
The train finally came to a standstill outside a huge wooden drawbridge which had been let down for the arrival of its guests. As they all watched, a tall man in an enormous shaggy coat with a thick fur lined hood walked across the drawbridge towards the waiting train, Professors McGonagall and Longbottom went to the main door of the compartment they were all gathered in and stepped outside to greet the man, he smiled as they approached him and shook hands with them both in turn. A short conversation continued and the students could all see their headmistress interacting animatedly with the man who had now removed his hood and revealed a head of long, black and wiry hair. A few minutes later Professor Longottom climbed back onto the train and began to talk to everyone.
"Well, we are now at Durmstrang as you may have guessed, the headmaster is outside waiting to meet you all and we will follow him into the castle and along to the great hall, the students and teachers from Beauxbatons arrived about ten minutes ago and are about to be introduced to our host's students, please leave all of your belongings here and follow me sensibly off the train." They all nodded assent and then one by one alighted from the train forming a snake like procession behind their teacher. The cold air hit them like a blast of ice and they all realised why the headteacher was wearing such a thick coat, the sky was clear of clouds and this made it seem even colder than it probably was, as they looked to each other and muttered, "It's freezing," under their breaths they could see condensation in the air as their warm breath hit the cold air surrounding them.
"Ahh, these must be our new students, good evening everyone," said a booming voice and they momentarily forgot how cold they were feeling as they turned to look at the wrapped up man in front of them. "I am Professor Nitschmann the headmaster here at Durmstrang, welcome to your new school for the coming year, I hope you will all be happy and comfortable within our walls. Please follow me, a sumptuous feast awaits you, I trust you are all hungry after your journey?" They all nodded in reply and continued to follow in the procession as the bulky man led them across the drawbridge and under a large iron gate which had been pulled up to allow them in. Beyond the gate was a large courtyard which the fortress appeared to have been built around, there was an enormous expanse of grass stretching across to the opposite wall of the school, in the middle of this were a number of small green houses and to the left an area was sectioned off with small stone walls which housed undercover seating areas which Lily presumed the students used during their break times.
All along the ground floor of the courtyard was a covered walkway which they began to follow with hurried steps, Lily could see huge stone doorways spaced sporadically along these walkways, some of them were open and revealed soft glowing light which she longed to reach so she could stop feeling so cold. Eventually they stopped at the doorway directly opposite the drawbridge they had crossed on their way in, looking back at the entrance it seemed to be a long way off and the dark haired witch began to get a true feeling for the size of this place, it was at least equal in size to Hogwarts if not bigger.
Through the doorway was a large corridor leading to off to the left and right and directly in front of them were two more large double doors which were currently closed, Lily could hear noise behind them but when the headmaster knocked abruptly with the large brass knocker it fell silent. He went on to open the two doors to reveal a large room with a vaulted ceiling, it was similar in size and dimensions to their own great hall at Hogwarts though it was lacking an enchanted ceiling. There was a long thin table at the end of the hall around which a group of adults, whom they all assumed to be Durmstrang teachers, were seated. Instead of four house table like they had at their own school, the students were sat at seven large stone topped ones, Lily could tell from looking that they were seated in year groups as the closer the table was to the top the older the students sitting at it seemed to be. The two tables closest to the end of the room were larger than the others and a handful of students dressed in pale blue robes were seated amongst the obvious Durmstrang ones. All of the fortress' students were clothed in similar attire to the headteacher who had welcomed them to the school. The overcloaks were made from some kind of animal skin which was brown and they all had large fur lined hoods and hems. Underneath the cloaks Lily could see brown leather thigh length jerkins fastened over a high necked white shirt and close fitting woollen trousers. Both boys and girls were dressed in the same garments and Lily assumed this was to keep out the cold.
They noticed that around the two large tables were a number of empty seats but before they were led over to them Professor Nitschmann lined them up along the front of the teacher's table and introduced them all as the students from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, a round of applause resounded round the room and then the sixth years were guided towards one
table while the seventh years were led towards the other. Lizzie and Lily found seats next to each other and sat down beside a tall Beauxbatons student who smiled shyly at them before turning back to her friend on her right.
The headmaster stepped forwards to a small podium which had appeared magically in front of the staff table, their own professors had taken a seat at the table behind him and were waiting expectantly for the upcoming speech. "Good evening everyone, to our visiting students I bid you a warm welcome on behalf of our staff and pupils and invite you to join us in a lavish feast prepared specially for the occasion, please dig in," he gestured to the tables which were immediately filled with food.
Unlike their own school where the centre plates filled up for children to make their own choices, here the pewter plate in their place was filled with food for them to enjoy and the required cutlery appeared simultaneously beside them. Golden goblets also appeared in each place brimming with mulled wine, the spices of which filled the air making the students feel instantly warmer, a slice of grainy farmhouse pate and a selection of toasted bread piled high up each plate and the ravenous Hogwarts travellers began to dig in with vigour while the students from the other visiting school picked slowly at their own plates. After the remnants of the first course had been magically wiped away and the plates cleaned a large piece of bread appeared in front of them, about the size of a small bloomer, it was hollowed out and as the students watched a hearty thick stew of meat, potatoes, carrots and turnip filled the hollow. The Beauxbatons students at Lily's table looked down in disgust and she heard one of them whisper, "All zis stodge cannot be good for uz," but she ignored the comment as she tucked into the energising meal.
This time when they had finished eating the plates disappeared from the table completely and were replaced by deep polished wooden bowls, within minutes of their appearance they were filled almost to overflowing with treacle sponge and hot, thick custard which Lily had been sure would not fit inside her already filled up stomach. However the smell was so delicious that she manged to force down the entire bowl before sitting back in the wooden chair with her hands clasped over her stomach feeling satisfied and ready to crawl into a warm and comfortable bed.
When all the tables were cleared and the room had fallen into a hushed silence the tall bulky headteacher once more took to the podium and waited for complete silence before speaking, "Now you are fed and watered I am sure many of you are anxious to retreat to your waiting beds in your respective dormitories, however before you can retire for the night there are formalities which must be attended to. He waved his wand in the air and a wisp of blue smoke appeared in front of him, it swirled down from the ceiling and began to form a solid structure on the floor beside the podium, beginning with a tall stone platform which was topped with a large golden goblet, there was a gasp from the room and then all was silent again.
"The goblet of fire," Nitschmann went on, "a sacred and ancient cup used to select the champions who will compete for the prize of eternal glory and of course one thousand galleons," he added chuckling for a moment before going on, "the goblet will be left here in the great hall for one week, if you wish to contend for a place in the tournament you must place your name into the goblet of fire on a small piece of parchment along with the name of your school. However you must think very carefully before doing this, the triwizard tournament can be dangerous and should not be entered into lightly, you will require a great deal of skill and magic to pass the three trials which await the champions and once your name has been withdrawn from the cup you are entered into a binding magical contract which cannot be broken. Remember," he said emphasising his words through intonation and pointing around the room, "only students who are of age by next Friday may enter the competition, if you are still sixteen or under you will not be able to take part, I urge all underage students to stay away from the goblet and do not attempt to fool it by using age potions or charms, you will only find that they backfire on you as your name is tossed back out of the goblet."
"Apparently my Uncles tried to do that in the one my Dad competed in," Lily whispered to her friend, "they ended up with long white beards and hair for about a week!"
"Wasn't your Dad underage though?" Lizzie asked quizzically.
"Yeah, but his name was put in by someone else, someone who wanted him to go through so He-who-we-cannot-name could get him, I don't know all the details but Nitschmann is right, once his name came out of the goblet he had to take part, even though he was only fourteen."
"Bet that was fun!" Lizzie chuckled as she turned back to listen to the end of the speech.
"And so, I remind you once more that the goblet will be here for a week and the three champions will be chosen at the feast next Friday night, until then I urge you to think carefully and enter wholeheartedly if that is what you decide to do. But now, your beds are waiting and, I understand , so are a few Halloween parties." He laughed at his final comment as some of his own students looked nervously around the room, Lily knew that there were often parties held in the dorms which she thought the teachers never knew about but she could never imagine Professor McGonagall making a joke out of them in the same sense and as she looked at her own headteacher she could see her pursing her lips a little and frowning disapprovingly at her Durmstrang counterpart.
Resounding noise began to fill the hall as the students scraped back their chairs and started to make their way out of the great hall to their respective rooms, the Beauxbatons students stood and left together but the Hogwarts ones began to leave in twos and threes making their way slowly back to the train outside. Lily and Lizzie stood up together and headed behind the rest of the crowd towards the doorway, as the crowd began to thin and they were debating whether to use the covered walkway again
or brave the elements and cross the courtyard directly when someone called out from behind them, "Lily," she turned around and found herself face to face with the handsome Raulph Krum, she almost melted away when he looked her in the face and asked, "how are you?"
"I'm...I'm good," she stuttered and looked down at her feet.
"I didn't realise you would be coming over, are you going to enter the tournament?"
She began to shake her head, "No, I just wanted to come and experience another school for the year, and of course support our champion, whoever that may be. Are you going to enter?"
"Yes, following in my father's footsteps hopefully!" They both laughed at the comment and for a moment Lily actually forgot that she was in another school in another country as she felt as happy talking to this tall, dirty haired boy here as she had by the range in the kitchen at the Burrow. "So a whole year without any family then? I notice none of them are attending, not only have you managed to be away from your brothers but you've managed to ditch your cousins too! I'd better tell my friends to watch out for you!" She immediately began to blush and he laughed again saying, "I see you still inherited the Weasley redness, even if you are officially a Potter! Louis is exactly the same, though of course Victoire and Dominique do not have an embarrassment bone in their body but Louis can turn bright red at the drop of a hat!"
"Hey, Raulph, hurry the party!" a voice called from the doorway.
"Sorry Lily, I must go but it is nice to see you and I hope we get a chance to catch up again soon, it will be good fun to have you here at school with us, goodnight and happy Halloween," he added as he took her hand in his and kissed it then he left the two girls to stride confidently and purposefully towards the door where a few boys had congregated waiting for him to join them. Lily noticed them pointing at her as they set off walking away and Raulph turned back to smile at her before shaking his head at his friends and continuing around a corner and out of sight.
Suddenly Lily felt a sharp tap on her left arm and she turned her head to see a pair of goggling eyes almost hanging out of her best friend's head, "Hello?" she asked flapping her hands about, "who was that? And how do you know him?"
She began to blush a little which was something that did not go unnoticed by Lizzie, Lily took her by the arm and they set off out of the great hall as she started to explain, "That was Raulph Krum."
"The son of Victor Krum, the Bulgarian seeker and world renowned auror?" Lily nodded her head in response, "How do you know him?"
"Victor was in the triwizard tournament with my Dad and my Aunt Fleur, he married Fleur's sister Gabrielle so Raulph is Victorie, Dominique and Louis' cousin." Lizzie stared goggle eyed again as she processed this information.
"What did he mean that his friends had better watch out?"
"He was over at the Burrow the day before we went back to school with his Dad and we were talking about going back, he had realised that I would be at school without my watchful brothers and he was teasing me that I would be playing for the boys," she blushed furiously again but Lizzie didn't notice because they were back in the cold air now and hurrying across the middle of the courtyard desperate to get back to the warm, comforting beds in the Hogwarts Express.
"I think he seemed quite happy that none of your family were going to be around!" Lizzie teased.
"Shut up," Lily replied tapping her friends arm.
"Oh so he just noticed by chance did he? I don't think so Lily!"
"He'll have been looking to see if Dominique was there, they are the same age and he loves to tease her to death, he was probably disappointed that it was me and not her."
"Oh yeah, he looked gutted!" she laughed as they finally reached the drawbridge where a few other Hogwarts and Beauxbatons students were hurrying across to get to their heated accommodation. "I bet I know who you'll be going to the ball with!"
"Lizzie," she screeched tapping her friend's arm again as they passed an enormous silver carriage parked up next to their train.
The pale blue clad students were hurrying up a set of silver steps and clambering inside the carriage closing the door resolutely behind them, "It iz so cold 'ere," they heard one of them say as the door met it's frame.
"They're not wrong," Lily added trying to change the subject but Lizzie was not going to be swayed from the topic of the hunky young man they had just left in the fortress.
"You're not getting out of it young lady, I want to know what you really think about Raulph," her stomach did a little flip at the mention of his name, "he may have been a typical bloke, completely oblivious to the signs but I wasn't!"
"What do you mean?" Lily shrieked as they finally reached the fire warmed common room in the girl's carriage, it was deserted and after closing the door properly behind them they both curled up in a chair directly in front of the fireplace.
"You were stuttering at first and I could tell by the look on your face that you fancied him!"
"I do not!" she squealed in a high pitched voice her face turning instantly beetroot red once more.
"Oh yeah?" Lizzie went on, "And I suppose you are just glowing like a beleesha beacon because you've been so warm as we walked across that freezing cold courtyard?" she lifted one eyebrow at her friend who was speechless, she opened her mouth to argue but had nothing to say so she sat back in her chair and tried to stop her face from glowing so much. "I knew it!" Lizzie concluded and Lily could do nothing but smile.
"Okay so he's cute!"
"Cute? Cute? He's bloody gorgeous!" Lizzie chuckled, "I know what I'd like to do to him and it wouldn't stop with a quick fumble behind the greenhouses!"
"Lizzie," Lily exclaimed turning her head round to make sure they were still alone.
"Come on, don't tell me you don't get all tingly in special places when he looks at you through those deep cerulean eyes!"
"I...what? I don't know what you mean!" she replied still unable to look her friend in the eye and also failing to contain the red 'Weasley' look that was still on her face.
They spent another hour by the fire before they could keep their eyes open no longer and had to make their way up the spiral staircase to the dormitory above. They found Suzanna, Maria and Reese already tucked up in bed so they changed into their bedclothes quietly and hopped into their beds, closing the drapes around the pod Lily blew out the candle and settled down into bed. As her head hit the pillow her thoughts returned to the blue eyed boy who had made her stomach flip when he had said her name, she wondered whereabouts in the immense fortress he was enjoying his private Halloween party while she was tucked up in her comfortable bed thinking about him.
Lizzie had continued to tease her for the last hour trying to illicit her deepest fantasies about the son of Victor Krum, she had wound her up asking questions about him but she had also prompted Lily to start thinking about a few fantasies involving the tall, muscular seventh year who she would be attending school with for the next nine months.
She slept soundly dreaming of Rauplh Krum whisking her off her feet at the Yule ball and taking her away to a secluded corner of the Durmstrang fortress after dancing her to exhaustion. They were sitting together on a seat in a small, dark coach hidden away in the stables, after catching her breath from the dash across the courtyard Lily leaned back against the leather seat of the coach and allowed Raulph's strong arms to ensnare her as he leaned in and placed a soft but firm kiss on her lips. She responded to him by returning the kiss and moaning softly as his tongue flicked gently in and out of her mouth sending shivers down her spine and making her tingle in places she had never felt it before. In the dream Raulph had then laid her down on the coach seat and begun to slowly and sensually peel the soft satin fabric of her dress from her lithe body, revealing her young and pert breasts which he gasped at as he tenderly began to stroke one of them. She had then begun to unfasten the smart dress shirt he was wearing one button at a time as his hands continued to caress her breasts, "Are you sure?" he had whispered to her and she had nodded her response pulling him down on top of her to kiss her again as her hands...
"Atchoo!" Lily sat up abruptly in bed trying to locate the noise which had dragged her from the deep slumber and the wonderful dream she had been having. Shaking her head she realised that it was Lizzie below her who was now clambering out of bed in search of tissues.
"You all right?" Lily sighed, silently cursing her friend for disturbing her.
"Stupid cold weather! I should have known I'd end up with a cold," she replied climbing back into bed and settling down. Within minutes Lily heard her breathing become deeper and steady and she realised that Lizzie had fallen straight back to sleep. The aggravated girl turned onto her side and closed her eyes again, willing her mind to go back to that exact same spot she had left with Raulph Krum, but now she was awake and could do nothing more than think about and imagine what may have happened next if she had remained in her slumber. The more she thought about it the more excited she began to feel and she realised that being at school for a year with this boy may not be as easy and as fun as she had first thought, if she was going to have dreams like this about him then she would blush to the roots of her hair like a typical Weasley every time she came face to face with him. She mused over this for another half an hour or so before she managed to drop back to sleep, however this time her dreams were of quidditch matches and family parties, none of which Krum was even attending and she woke the next morning still silently seething with her friend for disturbing her before she could play out the fantasy.
