Chapter 10: Selections and Accusations

As Professor Rain had mentioned during her speech at the start of the school year, the Triwizard Tournament was going to be held at Beauxbatons this year, and eligible students from each house were going to be selected to make the very special trip to France. A few days before Halloween, it was finally time to announce who had been chosen. Also, there was someone new at the staff table, someone Rebecca thought she recognized.

"Is that the woman who gave me my wand?" she wondered, seeing who she thought was Padma Patil.

"Now I'm sure many of you have been anticipating this moment, especially those of you who are of age. The 12 students who are going to visit Beauxbatons for the Triwizard Tournament have been selected. I will announce the names of those selected students, and then I will also tell all of you about the changes in staffing that are going to take place while I am at Beauxbatons, as I will be accompanying the selected students. First, from Gryffindor, are Mortimer and Basil Binks, and Laura Davidson. From Hufflepuff Professor Sanders has selected Molly Weasley, Jessica Blips, and Casey Wellington. Professor Sprite has chosen Ravenclaw students Amy Zimmerman, Peter Pudding and Rachael Bennington. Finally, the selected Slytherin students are Maria Flint, Jeremy Jumper and Aquarius Sparks."

"No! You forgot my sister! How could you?! You have no right to reject my sister, YOU FILTHY MUDBLOOD!" Andromeda screamed, jumping up from her seat. Libra put a hand on her and pushed her down.

"Let it go, Andromeda. If Professor Quigley didn't select me, then I'm not going. It's not something worth screaming about," Libra said firmly. Other students could be heard whispering and talking to each other, some of them obviously horrified by what Andromeda had just called Professor Rain, and Scorpius could be heard shouting at Andromeda too, accusing her of sounding like his "evil father."

"SILENCE!" Samantha shouted, using the Sonorus charm to amplify her voice over the students' arguing. "I wasn't finished explaining about what would happen while I am gone."

"Then you shouldn't reject my sister," Andromeda muttered angrily to herself.

"Professor Quigley was the one making the selections for Slytherin, not Professor Rain," Libra reminded her.

"As I was saying, I am going to Beauxbatons with the selected students. In my absence, Amanda Quigley will be the temporary Headmistress. Pansy Parkinson, who has started teaching Astronomy this year, will be the Head of Slytherin until I come back. Also, I would like to introduce you to Parvati Patil, who will be teaching Transfiguration until Professor Quigley is able to resume her usual duties," Samantha explained. Rebecca stared at Parvati in confusion and then realized that she was probably the sister of the person who she had seen at the place where she got her wand, given that they looked so similar to each other and had the same surname.

The school year continued as usual in Professor Rain's absence, and on November 17 Gryffindor and Slytherin competed in the first Quidditch game of the year. It was also Galaxy's first time playing for the school, and she was very excited about it. The day after the game, she met with Bunny, Rose and Serena in the Recreation Room to discuss what had happened in the game, which Gryffindor had won. As Serena hadn't been able to watch the game due to the fact that the day of the match was also a full moon night, she had asked her friends to tell her what happened, especially since Galaxy was in the game herself.

"Well, our team won, but it was very close," Galaxy said, "Your new Slytherin Keeper is very good, you know, Diana Goyle? But I also got a few shots past her, and so did James. It took a long time, though, because Andromeda and David spent a lot of time doing fancy flying moves and taunting each other, and both Captain Quigley and Captain Weasley were yelling at them to search for the Snitch. It was actually pretty funny, they were doing all these goofy twirls around each other. I think they were showing off or something," Galaxy explained, "But they both finally started looking for the Snitch and David spotted it first. Andromeda almost caught up to him, but he caught it first."

"I also saw what they were doing. I think David and Andromeda might be replaced next year, it sounded like both captains were pretty upset with them. Fred's always been very serious about Quidditch, and he also doesn't really like it when people just goof around," Rose added.

"That sounds like Andromeda, she did that kind of stuff in Flying class last year too," Serena said, shaking her head. It was then that Electra O'Blarney charged into the Recreation Room and skidded to a stop.

"Another student was attacked!" she shouted breathlessly, "It was Elizabeth Topper this time! I heard her screaming and then saw her lying in the hallway! If I saw who attacked her, then I could've fought them! A true Gryffindor never runs away from any opponent, even an invisible one, but I couldn't find them."

"Maybe Scorpius is behind it," David Longbottom suggested, a rather malicious smirk on his face. "His grandfather, Lucius Malfoy, was the one who started the attacks back in 1992, from what I heard. He planted the diary on Ginny Weasley because he wanted to make her kill all the muggleborns, and I bet Scorpius wants to do the same thing."

"Stop it! Just stop it! I know you've been accusing him of the attacks, and he would never do something like that! The only way he could be behind is if someone else was controlling him!" Galaxy shouted, jumping up to face David.

"What about an Invisibility Cloak? Could the attacker be using one of those?" suggested Rebecca, who had been listening to the conversation, wondering if she would be attacked again. "I saw James using one last summer, and you couldn't see him at all when he was wearing it."

"Scorpius probably stole it from James, then!" David burst out, "He's planning to...get that out of my face, Baghill! I'm sure you wouldn't want that muggleborn Slytherin friend of yours to be attacked by the evil Malfoy boy." Galaxy had stepped closer to him and had pointed her wand in his face.

"I don't care if the prefects drag me out, if you accuse Scorpius one more time I'm going to hex you," she hissed angrily, "It's your fault he cries all the time about being evil."

"It couldn't be Scorpius anyway, he's too goody-goody and wimpy to attack people. I bet it's Andromeda. She told me on my first night here that the Chamber of Secrets was going to be opened soon, so it's probably her. Maybe she stole James's cloak or something," Rebecca suggested.

"That makes sense," Rose agreed, "It probably is a person under an Invisibility Cloak, but I don't think James would have anything to do with it. It's not his anyway, it belongs to Uncle Harry, and I don't think he took it to school with him."

While David had accused Scorpius of being the mysterious attacker and others believed it was someone using an Invisibility Cloak, Elizabeth Topper had her own ideas about who had attacked her. Though she could not exactly see who or what had been beating her up in the hallway, she was convinced it was the work of Ruby Gorgok.

"I didn't actually see her, but I'm sure it was her! She's part-goblin, and goblins are evil! They always are in books and movies, and she even has an evil hooked nose," Elizabeth explained to Amanda Quigley, who was in the hospital wing with Hagrid, Bridget O'Blarney and Samantha Rain.

"How do you know it was her if you couldn't see her? I don't want to accuse someone without good proof, and her being part-goblin and the shape of her nose isn't really proof that she's done anything to you," Samantha pointed out, "While it's true that wizards and goblins haven't always gotten along, that's still not a reason to accuse Ruby."

"Did you hear the voice of the person who was attacking you? Was it Ruby's voice?" Bridget asked.

"I didn't hear a voice, but it just seems like something a goblin would do," Elizabeth sighed, wishing that she could've seen who or what had been beating her up. "And I think the shape of her nose is also a reason, because people with hooked noses are evil."

"I know it's a trait that villains in movies and cartoons have, but that's just a stereotype used so that people automatically know who the bad guy is. It's not that obvious in real life, and sometimes someone who you might think looks innocent and sweet might actually be a vicious Dark Wizard," Samantha told her.

"Why would anyone attack me, though? I thought the attacker was going after muggleborns, but my parents are wizards! They do magical rituals and can see the future," Elizabeth suddenly protested, "I don't understand why no one believes that my parents are wizards too!"

"Maybe because they never went to Hogwarts and they never showed up on the list of potential students. I didn't meet your parents, if you remember, Professor Sprite was the one who told you about Hogwarts, so maybe she would have noticed something about them. Maybe the list just missed them," Samantha suggested, although she was pretty sure that if Elizabeth's parents never showed up on a list of potential Hogwarts students or were ever known by the wizard community. However, it would be something to look into, because if Elizabeth really wasn't muggleborn like everyone thought, then that made the mysterious attacker even harder to predict.

"I'm sure you wizards overlooked them, because I know they can do magic. I never saw them use wands, but I'm sure they could if they tried," Elizabeth asserted.

"Then it will be something to investigate. Because if this mysterious attacker is going after people who aren't muggleborn, then it will be even harder to predict his or her actions," Samantha said, "Although it's true that Severus Prince was attacked along with Rebecca, and his father is a wizard, but it may have been because he was trying to help Rebecca, according to Bianca's description of the situation. One thing's for certain, we definitely need to find out who this attacker is."