"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." -Sarah Dessen
"Finally," Fred said as he, McKenna and George stepped into the great hall.
"Happy to be back?" McKenna asked with a smile.
"Yes, but also soon we're going to find out what's happening at Hogwarts this year."
"Can't wait to find out," McKenna said, taking a seat at the Gryffindor table. Fred took a seat next to her and George sat on Fred's other side, next to Katie.
"Can't they just hurry up with getting the first years sorted?" Fred mumbled into McKenna's ear, bouncing slightly in his seat.
"Fred, relax, you'll be finding out soon enough."
"You know I'm not the most patient person in the world," Fred replied, resting his elbow on the table and his cheek on his hand. He sat in that position and just looked at his friend. She certainly was pretty, that was for sure. He had always thought so, but he had just never really thought about it until now. Besides that, they had been friends for three years and known each other for five, so they had a pretty close relationship. Fred thought that maybe he could like her, but then again, she was his friend. Everything George had been saying was simply going to Fred's head. That was all.
"Will you quit staring? Trust me, the Sorting is a lot more interesting than I am."
Fred snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head as if clearing his ears of water. McKenna was looking at him strangely, a mix of confusion and amusement on her face. She tilted her head towards the front of the room, where, sure enough, Professor McGonagall was placing the Sorting Hat on a stool. "Sorry," Fred said. "I was thinking."
"Looked like something serious," McKenna whispered. Her eyes were on the sorting now, but Fred could see the candlelight reflecting off of the deep blue color. He shook his head wildly again.
"It wasn't that serious," he said. "It was nothing, actually."
"It really didn't look like nothing. You were completely zoned out. Any second, I expected drool to come out of your mouth."
Fred quickly checked the tabletop just to double check and make sure that he hadn't drooled. That would have been the worst. He shrugged and turned his eyes back to the front. One of the first years had just gotten Sorted into Gryffindor, so Fred clapped, but instead of cheering, he leaned over to McKenna. "It was nothing. Promise."
"Okay," she said, shrugging. "Whatever you say."
"Yeah," Fred teased, "whatever I say."
"Shut it," she answered.
When the Sorting was finally over, the food appeared in the middle of each of the four house tables, as usual.
"I was hoping they'd tell us what's going on before we ate," George said.
"Care to explain?" Lee asked from across the table. Katie, Alicia and Angelina nodded in agreement.
"Oh, our brothers and Mum were dropping a few hints that something big is happening at Hogwarts this year," Fred said, filling his glass with pumpkin juice and taking a sip.
"What is it?" Lee asked.
"We don't know," George said impatiently. "If we did, we'd have told you already. It's been driving us crazy all day."
"They're incredibly impatient," McKenna chimed in.
"We know," Lee, Angelina and Katie said together.
Finally, after the last of the food had disappeared, Dumbledore stood up and the room fell silent. "Welcome," he began. "Before you all go off to your dormitories, I'd like to make a few announcements. Firstly, Mr. Filch has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has been extended this year to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list contains-,"
"Four hundred and thirty seven items," Fred whispered into McKenna's ear, a grin spreading over his face.
"—four hundred and thirty seven items," Dumbledore finished.
"How do you-?" McKenna began, looking at Fred with wide eyes.
"George and I know these things," Fred answered with a smirk. "We have to be familiar with what's banned so that we can use them, anonymously, of course. We haven't been caught once."
"Naturally," McKenna whispered.
"The full list," Dumbledore was saying, "can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it. I would also like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is off limits to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. It is also my duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."
Fred vaguely noticed McKenna's eyes shoot to his. He was too busy turning to look at George as protests could be heard throughout the room, mainly by members of the Quidditch teams.
"This," Dumbledore continued, "is due to an event that will be starting in October and continuing throughout the school year. It will take up much of the teachers' time and energy, but I am sure you will enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-,"
"This is it," McKenna whispered, nudging Fred.
Fred's brain was still trying to catch up. He had just been disappointed by the news that there would be no Quidditch and now Dumbledore was moving directly into the news that Fred had been waiting so long to hear. Then, before Dumbledore could finish speaking, the door to the great hall banged open loudly. Everyone turned their eyes from Dumbledore to the doorway, where a man was standing.
"Oh my goodness," McKenna breathed. Fred could feel her breath on his neck, but he kept his eyes on the man in the doorway. He had a long, wooden staff, and a black cloak, but those weren't the cause for everyone's staring. The man's face was heavily scarred, it looked like a chunk of his nose was missing, and he had a large, fake, blue eye in the place of one of his real eyes. The fake eye was spinning rapidly in the socket and it eventually spun right back into the man's head, showing nothing but whiteness.
"Who is he?" Angelina whispered as the man began to walk, or limp, rather, towards Dumbledore.
As he watched the man, Fred saw McKenna out of the corner of his eye shake her head in response to Angelina's question, but then she gasped and whipped her head around to look at the staff table.
"What is it?" Fred asked, turning in his seat so that he was facing her instead of the other way.
"There isn't a new teacher sitting at the staff table," McKenna said, turning to look at him again. "He must be our new Defense teacher." Lee, Katie, George, Angelina and Alicia were watching her as well and their eyes widened as they realized she was right.
Fred looked over her shoulder to the staff table and his eyes scanned the seats. There wasn't a single new face, except for the man who had just walked in, of course, who was now shaking Dumbledore's hand. Dumbledore gestured for the man to sit down at an empty seat at the staff table, which the man did.
"I would like to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Dumbledore said once the man had sat down. "Professor Moody." He gestured to the newly occupied seat as the man, Professor Moody, gave a small nod.
"Moody," Fred said thoughtfully. He looked at George. "Mad-Eye Moody?"
"Yeah, must be," George said, nodding.
"Do you know him?" McKenna asked curiously. Fred could see the surprise on her face.
"Not personally. I've never actually met him, I mean, but my father had to go help him this morning. Apparently, Mad-Eye thought he heard intruders in his yard, but it was really a bunch of enchanted dustbins or something like that," Fred whispered.
"Heard he's a nutter," George chimed in.
"Wonderful," McKenna said, rolling her eyes.
"He's an incredible Auror, though," Fred added, his eyes watching the staff table. "Half the cells in Azkaban are filled because of him."
Before McKenna could answer, Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued to speak. "As I was saying, 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."
"You're joking!" Fred yelled. The words slipped out before he could stop them. He couldn't believe it, though. Bill had told him all about the Triwizard Tournament a few years ago after he read about it in a library book. Now it was actually being held at Hogwarts and Fred would be there to witness it, or even participate in it.
Everyone in the room burst into laughter and Dumbledore chuckled. "I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said, "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar…"
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, putting an end to Dumbledore's off topic rant. "But now is probably not the time," he said quickly. "Where was I? Oh, yes, the Triwizard Tournament. Some of you may not know what this tournament is, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation and allow their attention to wander freely."
Already knowing all about the tournament, Fred was more than happy to take Dumbledore's advice. He rested his chin on his hand again and looked up and down the table until his eyes fell on McKenna. For the second time that night, he found himself staring absentmindedly at her. She was staring at Dumbledore, a fascinated look on her face and her head tilted to one side. Her light brown, almost blonde hair was falling out of her ponytail and framing her face. Why couldn't Fred stop looking at her all of a sudden? He wished people would have never planted the seed in his head about the two of them making a cute couple.
"What?" McKenna gasped suddenly.
"Huh?" Fred asked, jumping. He had definitely missed something.
"Don't tell me you were zoning out again," McKenna said.
"Well, Dumbledore did say-," Fred began.
"Never mind that," McKenna said. "He just said that the tournament was discontinued years ago because people died."
"Oh, yeah, Bill mentioned something about that," Fred said. "That's mostly why I was so surprised that Hogwarts is hosting it."
"That doesn't worry you?" McKenna asked.
"Not really," Fred said. "If they're reinstating it this year, then they're going to make extra sure that nothing bad can happen, right?"
"I guess so," McKenna said slowly.
Dumbledore continued to explain that students from two other schools, along with the heads of those schools, would be arriving in October and the selection of three champions—one from each school—would take place on Halloween. The champions would compete for the Triwizard Cup and a thousand Galleons prize money.
"I'm going to go for it!" Fred whispered to his friends. He turned back to McKenna with the sudden urge to impress her. "What do you think? I'm going to do it!"
"I don't know, Fred," she said hesitantly. "It sounds pretty dangerous to me."
"It's a lot safer than it was back then," Fred assured her excitedly. "The teachers wouldn't let anything happen."
"Still…" McKenna began. "I just don't like the sound of it."
Fred felt a slight irritation at her words. He clamped his mouth shut and turned to look at Dumbledore again.
"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," the headmaster was saying, "the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age, that is to say, seventeen years of age or older, will be allowed to put their name forward for consideration. This is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take and it is highly unlikely that students under seventeen will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no under-age student tricks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion."
"What?" Fred cried. He wasn't the only one, either. George was voicing his opinions as well as many other students who had most likely wanted to enter but were falling short of the age limit.
"That's rubbish!" George cried. "Fred and I are seventeen in April! Why can't we have a shot?"
"It's not going to stop me from entering," Fred said stubbornly.
"It should," McKenna said.
"Kenna," Fred pleaded. "Come on, the champions get to do so many things that we'd never be allowed to do normally and a thousand Galleons prize money!"
"But Dumbledore said that anyone under seventeen wouldn't be prepared enough," McKenna argued.
"I'll be seventeen in April. I don't think seven months will make a difference."
"Well, Dumbledore seems to think it will. Anyway, you won't be seventeen by Halloween and Dumbledore said he had a way to make sure no one underage could enter," McKenna said. Fred noticed the relief and satisfaction in her voice and he felt even more irritated at this, until he got a sudden idea.
"But you will be!" he said, excitement growing inside of him again. "Angelina as well!" He turned to look at Angelina, who looked thoughtful, as if she were really considering entering.
"What are you getting at?" McKenna asked.
Fred turned back to her. "You can enter!"
While they were talking, Dumbledore had dismissed the students, and Fred stood up as he waited for McKenna's reaction. She stayed in her seat and simply stared at him. Fred held out his hand and she took it, allowing him to pull her to her feet. She never tore her eyes away and when she was standing, she finally shook her head. "No, I won't do it."
"What? Why not?" Fred asked.
"I don't want to," she said stubbornly, crossing her arms. "And I don't want you trying to be daring and crazy through me, so no, I won't do it." She brushed past him and headed for the entrance hall.
"Kenna," Fred pleaded again, chasing after her, George right behind him. "Doesn't the tournament sound the least bit interesting to you?"
"Maybe to watch, but I expect it isn't as fun when you're performing these dangerous tasks that have killed people in the past. I also don't think it would be fun," she began, spinning on her heel to face him, causing Fred to bump into her and grab her arm to steady himself, "to watch someone you really care about go through that."
"Are you saying you really care about us?" Fred asked as George smirked beside him.
McKenna blushed and blinked a few times, before she quickly recovered. "You know I do," she said, narrowing her eyes. The three of them continued towards the Gryffindor common room in silence for a few moments before Fred spoke up again.
"You know, George, I reckon a few drops of Aging Potion might do it."
"You can't be serious?" McKenna asked, glaring at them. "I thought you weren't going to try to get in."
"When did we ever say that?" Fred teased. His grin slid from his face when he saw McKenna's expression.
"You can't enter!" she said. "Plus, even if the Aging Potion worked, Dumbledore knows you aren't of age."
"Yeah, but he doesn't decide who the champion is," Fred answered. "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."
"Oh, for the fun of it?" McKenna asked. "Just for a laugh? People have died, Fred!"
"That was ages ago! We only need to age ourselves to be a few months older," Fred said, his voice rising. "We're old enough to handle this!"
"How do you know?" McKenna asked, her voice rising to match his.
"I just do!" Fred argued back. "We've nearly had enough schooling and we've had a lot of experience with pranks-,"
"Like that will help," McKenna scoffed.
Fred glared at her. He didn't even care that George was staring at them with wide eyes or that they were arguing in the middle of a staircase. All he knew was that he had wanted to win the prize money more than anything to put towards opening the joke shop that he and George wanted to run. This would be a way to get the money. It was their only chance to get the money. Besides that, he wanted McKenna to be proud of him. He didn't know why this had come about all of a sudden, but he wanted her approval and he wanted her to notice him, really notice him. He wanted to be more than the class clown and the goofy prankster.
McKenna shook her head at him and continued up the stairs. Fred glanced at George before they both followed her. They reached the portrait hole before she finally spun to face them once again. "I don't know why this isn't getting through to you, but the tournament was cancelled for years for a reason. These tasks have killed people. I don't know what they are, but I don't want you to participate in something you aren't ready for. I don't want you to—to-,"
"Kenna," Fred whispered, reaching out to comfortingly grab her shoulder.
"Just forget it," she whispered back, turning to the portrait hole. She paused and bit her lip, but didn't turn around. Fred realized she didn't know the password. He didn't either, for that matter. He would have laughed at the predicament if he wasn't feeling an odd mix of anger and confusion.
"The password's 'balderdash'," George said. "A prefect downstairs told me." As he said the word, the portrait swung forward, revealing the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.
"Thanks," McKenna whispered, hurrying through the hole. Fred immediately followed her, but by the time he got inside, McKenna was already hurrying up to the girl's dormitory.
"Is there a chance that what I said over the summer is true after all?" George asked, stepping up next to Fred.
"No," Fred said, shaking his head and trying to keep his voice confident and sure of himself, even though he was really confused. "I want to win the money for the shop, not to impress her."
"What about for both reasons?"
"No, just for the shop," Fred said.
"Okay, if you're sure," George said, but Fred could hear the doubt in his voice and it made him nervous. He was nervous that George might have actually been right after all.
A/N: Don't forget to leave a review! It would really mean a lot!
