I, London Man, did NOT write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.
I did NOT steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.
Chapter 4: Three: Final Preparations
Family Matters
Disclaimer: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, the Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.
Warning: This story contains slash.
Chapter Three – Final Preparations
Alexander Cullen was sitting in the student government office on the third floor of the campus's central building. It appeared that in the week that passed from his resignation to his re-election to the office of Student Body President, then-Acting President Eric Weathercrest hadn't done a single bit of office work. Not even a paperclip was out of place.
With a tired sigh, Alex took the stack of papers that were sitting in the inbox and began to prioritize them.
"Hey man, why aren't you out celebrating?" Eric's deep voice came from the office door.
The sixteen-year-old looked up at his friend and gave him a wry grin. "I have work to do. You know that I have work to do, because it is the work you should have been doing for the past week."
"Hey, that's not fair. I gave the morning announcements, didn't I?"
"Yes, but that appears to be all that you did."
The bleach-blond athlete crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the door frame. "I told you, bro, I didn't become VP to do work."
"Yeah, yeah," Alexander muttered as he sorted through the stack of papers. "Why are you still here? Shouldn't you and Marcia be off doing something?"
"Nah, she's busy. Got a part-time job."
"Good for her."
The Quodpot player let out an unexpected laugh a moment later. "Also, I couldn't resist watching Cirilla bitch to Reynolds about losing the election."
"You'd think she actually expected to win," the green-eyed boy said leaning back in his chair. "I mean, who in their right actually runs on a platform of re-instating mandatory uniforms? She had to know that the only votes she was going to get were from her like-minded friends."
"Also bitches," Eric pointed out.
"Wanting the traditional uniforms back doesn't make them bitches."
"No, being bitchy 24/7 makes them bitches. But hey, this whole thing is just one of the constants of this school. My team will always win the championship, Reynolds will always be a prick, and Cirilla will always lose the election."
"Now that's just not true," Alex said sternly. "Eventually, we'll graduate."
The larger teen let out a barking laugh. "I guess that's true. So what do you have on your plate?"
Looking back down at the stack of papers, Alexander replied. "Hmmm, it looks like the only pressing thing is the dinner on the night that the other schools arrive."
"You have to plan the dinner? I thought that was something for the House Elves."
"It is, but I have to make a few non-essential decisions. There is also a request from the headmaster for me to try and do something to promote interaction amongst the students of the different schools. I'm toying with the idea of trying to split everyone from our school up so that there will be at least a few of us on hand at each table to field their questions."
Eric made a grunt to let Alexander know that he thought the idea was a bad one.
"You don't like it?"
"I don't think that I want to sit at a table with a bunch of people I might be competing against in a few weeks."
"I take it then that you're planning on putting your name in the Goblet?" Alex questioned, the topic of the conversation moving away from the issue of seating.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I am. My mom doesn't really want me to and Marcia's gonna bust my balls over it, but I kinda like the idea of 'eternal glory.'"
"Some eternal glory. Secretary Eda didn't even seem to know that the Boy-Who-Lived competed in the last Tournament. And he won the damned thing," the Student Body President said.
"Yeah, but I bet everyone in his own country knows that he won."
"Point," Alex conceded.
"So, yeah, I think I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna enter."
"Well, you know you can count on me to provide you as much support as you need. And Marcia and your mom will come around."
"You seem pretty confident that my name is gonna come out of the Goblet," Eric pointed out.
Alex gathered up the stack of papers and slid them into his bag. "Why shouldn't I be? Who else in this school is it gonna be?"
Eric shot his friend a confident grin. "I'd lay good money on Cirilla thinking it should be her."
"Cirilla won't put her name in. The Tournament might cause her to scuff her shoes or something. Besides, it would bruise her ego too much to be beaten by a Mudblood in the election and then have a Blood Traitor's name come out of the Goblet of Fire instead of hers in the same two-week period," Alex joked back as he made for the door.
"Heading out? It's a bit early for you, isn't it? I mean, your sibs are still in school."
"They should be. But I'm hungry, so I think I'll just work from home anyway."
"Better quality eats than what you'll get around here, that's for sure," Eric said as the pair made their way out of the office.
"Also, Alice is great at party planning, so the real work won't get done until she's home from school anyway."
The pair made their way across campus, quietly discussing the best way for Eric to break the news to his mother and his girlfriend that he was going to enter the Tournament. Eric was in favor of putting his name in and then just waiting to see if his name came out. Alex pointed out that if that was his plan, he should be prepared to get his ass kicked by the two Witches when and if his name erupted from the Goblet.
No real decision was reached before the pair arrived at the portkey point and was, therefore, forced to split up. Eric returned to his family's estate in North Salem, New York while Alex returned to the Cullen family's home in Forks, Washington.
Because he returned home earlier than usual, Alex wasn't greeted by any member of his family. He didn't waste any time enjoying the walk back to the house; he moved to the residence at a brisk pace.
Upon entering the house, Alexander called out to his mother to let her know that he was home.
"She isn't here," came Edward's soft reply from his seat at the grand piano. "She had a meeting with an engineer in Port Angeles."
"Edward," Alex greeted in surprise. "Shouldn't you be in school?"
"Mental health day," the vampire explained. "I couldn't bear having to discuss 'Pride and Prejudice' yet again."
The mortal boy smirked at his adoptive brother as he made his way over to lean on the piano. "You see, when I start Muggle school, you'll need to stick by me for that sort of thing. At least the first time around."
Edward gave the mortal a warm smile. "Nothing would make me happier."
"That's just because you have low standards," Alex quipped.
"You know why I'm home, how about you tell me why you're home so early."
"School has been out for me for the better part of an hour," the darker-haired boy explained.
"Shouldn't you be celebrating with your friends?"
"That easy to figure out that I won?"
"Was there ever any doubt?" Edward questioned. "You've beaten Cirilla Bellcroft three times before and she was the only person running against you, wasn't she?"
"I'm going to get a big head if you people don't start at least acting like it was hard-fought victory."
"Don't you mean 'bigger' head?"
"Watch it, vamp-boy."
The immortal laughed musically before reiterating his earlier question, "So why did you go ahead and come home instead of staying until classes in Forks are dismissed as you usually do?"
"It's more comfortable here," Alex answered.
"Is that human code for 'there is a fully-stocked kitchen'?"
"Absolutely," the mortal answered as he moved around the piano and into the kitchen.
The kitchen was large; too large for a family that only had one person who ever actually ate food. The rectangular kitchen boasted all of the latest appliances available for a gourmet chef. At the far end of the kitchen opposite of the door was a breakfast bar with a pair of stools. Next the bar was a space that opened up into the formal dining room that was separated from the television viewing area by a curved dividing wall.
Alex spent a few minutes searching the cabinets before deciding to eat a bar of chocolate.
"Not the healthiest afterschool snack. Perhaps you should have some fruit," Edward suggested as he entered the kitchen.
"I should, I could, but I won't," Alex said as he sat himself down on one of the bar stools. He opened the candy bar's wrapper and began to break the bar into smaller pieces with one hand as he pulled his paperwork out of his bag with his other hand.
Edward sat himself down next to the Wizard. He leaned over and began to read the papers that Alex had brought home.
"You have to plan a dinner? Alice will love you if you let her help."
"Alice already loves," Alex said dismissively. "But I plan on asking her help anyway. I'll also want her help with a ball that we have to have later in the year."
"She'll be thrilled. Though Rosalie and Jasper have more first-hand experience with that sort of thing."
Of course Rosalie and Jasper had more experience attending balls. Rosalie was raised in the upper crust of society where that sort of thing was common. And Jasper was raised in the south; he'd had a fair amount of experience taking young, Southern belles to extravagant balls. Not that Alex really knew too much about that; he'd never really had more than a small handful of in-depth heart-to-hearts with his empathic brother.
"Don't let Alice hear you say that," Edward warned good-naturedly. Alex wasn't sure it if was about his statement about Rosalie and Jasper having more experience with balls than her or his thoughts about really connecting with Jasper.
"So if you're going to let Alice help you with this first party, then why are you glaring at the paper so?"
Rather than simply let the immortal pick the answer out of his head, Alex opted to simply explain his concerns. "I was opposed to the Tournament for safety reasons, not philosophical. The idea of holding a friendly sporting event between schools of different nations in an attempt to foster goodwill and cooperation is a good one.
"The problem that I'm having at the moment is with something Eric said to me. I suggested we split the New England students up so that every table at the dinner will have at least some of our students there to answer questions and help our guests acclimate themselves. Eric said that he didn't like the idea; he didn't want to sit and act all friendly with a bunch of student who may be his competition in the not-too-distant future."
"You're worried that the fact that it is a competition will make the students less interested in building bridges," Edward surmised.
"Precisely. I don't want the purpose of the Tournament to be lost amidst all of the rivalry. It should be a friendly competition, not cut-throat."
"I think that the idea of having a few of the New England students at each table is a good one, but you have to make sure that they are students who are interested in making friends with the newcomers. Or, at a minimum, are interested in making a good impression."
Alex placed the stack of papers down, "So what I need to do is figure out how to make sure the students want to make friends or a good impression. How do I do that?"
"I'm confident you'll figure something out," Edward said as reached over and placed his hand on top of Alex's in a reassuring manner.
The pair sat in silence for a few seconds as the vampire gently squeezed the Wizard's hand. Once again, Alex could feel his heart begin to beat rapidly in his chest for some unknown reason.
"Edward," the human began.
"She's home," Edward said abruptly as he removed his hand.
"What?" Alex asked, not following the abrupt change in the conversation.
"Esme," the immortal explained as he rose from his bar stool. "I just heard her car pull into the drive."
"Oh," the green-eyed boy said. He followed Edward's lead and got up off of his stool and moved to greet his mother.
Alexander forced himself to remain busy for the rest of the evening, which wasn't hard. Although he had plenty to do given the short amount of time that he had before the student population would triple, he was mostly interested keeping his mind busy so that he was not thinking about the strange reactions he was having to Edward's presence. He wanted to think about the situation and analyze it, but he didn't want to think about it at home where Edward would overhear is every thought. So mortal spent his evening thinking about school.
By the next morning, he had formulated a plan to address his concerns and decided to implement it as soon as possible. After running the idea past Professor Brekenridge and getting her support, he headed off towards the main administrative office so that he could make the morning announcements.
"Morning, Alex," Eric greeted as the younger Wizard entered the main administrative office on the first floor of the central building. The older boy was sitting on the long counter that separated the area that non-staff members were allowed to be in from the work area.
"Good morning. Not to sound rude, but what are you doing here?"
"I thought you could use a bit of an introduction to get you back into the swing of things," the Vice President explained before producing his yew wand.
"I don't need anyone to introduce me; everyone here knows my name. Isn't that right, Mrs. Roberts?"
Doreen Roberts was the school's head administrative assistant. She was a short, no-nonsense woman who was very proud of having been raised in Savannah, Georgia. She looked up from her desk to look at the two boys. "Of course we do, Alex," she said kindly before leveling a glare at Eric. "You had best be moving before I use a Blasting Hex to make sure to can't sit for a week."
Eric slid off the counter and walked over to Alex. "So, did you get all that paperwork done?"
"I did," Alex replied. "What did you do with your evening?"
"The usual," the seventeen-year-old replied with a careless shrug. "Video games, dinner with my mom, then a long talk with Marcia on the phone."
"Cool."
Mrs. Roberts got up from her desk and handed Alexander a sheet of paper with the announcements on them.
Before Alexander could stop him, Eric put his wand to his throat and began to speak.
"Goooood morning, New England Academy!" he shouted, much to Mrs. Roberts' displeasure. His wand amplified his voice so that it boomed throughout the campus. "This is your Veep speaking, letting you know that it is time for your morning announcements. Without further ado," he said before his voice took on a ridiculously official tone, "ladies and gentlemen, the President of the New England Academy of Magic."
It took all of Alexander Cullen's considerable self-control not to laugh at his friend's antics. Forcing himself to keep a straight face and a steady voice, he pulled out his own wand—an unyielding rod of ash, stained dark red with a hemlock leaf pattern carved into it and a core of sphinx wing feather—and put it to his throat.
"Good morning. This Alexander Cullen bringing you your morning announcements," the teen began. For the next several minutes, he read over the announcements that he'd been given. The topics were mundane and included such things as a reminder about not impeding the custodial staff's efforts to prepare the campus for the arrival of the foreign students to the menu for that day's lunch.
After completing his recitation of the required morning announcements, Alexander put the piece of paper down and began to speak extemporaneously. "As everyone is now aware, our school will be playing host to the Triwizard Tournament. This is a monumental and historic event because it is the first time that a non-European school has been allowed to participate. But more importantly, we are all being given the opportunity to make new friends from distant countries.
"On Friday morning, students from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic will be arriving at our school. That evening, we will host a dinner in honor of out guests in order to properly welcome them. Those students who typically commute home before dinner are strongly encouraged to stay to properly welcome our guests.
"Although these students will be our rivals and competition in the Triwizard Tournament, I urge each and every one of you to show them our brand of hospitality. More than a chance at eternal glory, this competition represents what will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most of us to make friends from distant lands and to learn about new cultures. In that spirit and in my capacity as your Student Body President, I am at this time announcing the creation of a new student organization: the New England Academy of Magic Student Ambassadors.
"The students in this organization, myself included, will help our guests to feel at home on our campus. We will be spread throughout the dining hall during the Welcoming Dinner this Friday evening in order to greet the visiting students and answer their questions about life here. Make no mistake my friends, we shall take the initiative in this situation and extend our hands in friends to the students of Beauxbatons and Hogwarts.
"I invite you all to join the Student Ambassadors. The organization's first meeting will be this afternoon immediately after classes are dismissed for the day. This concludes the announcements. I wish you all a pleasant day. Thank you."
With that, Alexander removed his wand from his throat.
"Student Ambassadors?" Eric questioned him.
Alexander answered as he made his way towards the door. "Professor Brekenridge agreed that it was a good idea; she's our faculty sponsor."
"'Our'? You aren't expecting me to join, are you?"
Turning midstride to answer, the youngest of the Cullens gave his best mortal friend a mischievous grin. "No. But Marcia already agreed to join, so if you want sit with her during the dinner, you're going to have to sit with some of the foreign kids anyway."
The rest of the week was fairly uneventful. Alexander spent copious amounts of time trying to get things ready for the arrival of the other schools. It often felt like a losing battle, but by the scheduled time of their arrival, everything had come together. So there he stood alongside his classmates and instructors on Friday afternoon, waiting for the new students to make their appearance.
"So, how are they arriving?" Marcia asked excitedly from Alex's right.
Marcia Johnston was a Mugglebron student who was often amazed whenever she was exposed to some new aspect of magical life. She was just slightly shorter than Alexander at 5'7" and wore her mousy brown hair in a French braid. She was holding onto Eric's arm tightly.
"The Beauxbatons students use a large, flying carriage, if I remember correctly," Alexander answered his friend. "And I don't know for sure, but I believe that the Hogwarts students will be arriving by train."
"Um, not to burst your bubble, dude, but we're on an island," Eric pointed out.
The bespectacled boy didn't answer his friend's statement aloud. Instead, he just pointed to the far end of the island where a set of metal train tracks were barely visible emerging from the water.
As if on cue, a large, red steam engine broke the surface of the water and made its way onto the island campus. It continued for a ways, pulling several passenger compartments out of the cold Atlantic waters.
"They rode a train underwater?" someone to Alexander's left said in surprise.
After a few minutes, the train came to a stop and the students and faculty members began to disembark. They stood near the train for a bit, surveying their surroundings before they began to make their way towards the school. An ancient-looking Wizard with a very long beard and midnight blue robes was at the lead. He was easily recognizable as former Supreme Mugwup of the International Confederation of Wizards, Albus Dumbledore.
Amidst the mass of Wizards and Witches, Alexander was able to spot another easily recognizable Wizard. Jonathan Potter: The Boy-Who-Lived.
