He looked at her with wide eyes and said without a hint of sarcasm.
"I guess there are better things to look at."
The game began wonderfully, full of excitement. The boys all ooh and ahh'ed over the "amazing brooms-man-ship" and "splendid defensive tactics". Sasha, on the other hand, was more interested in watching the handsome Viktor Krum swoop around on his broomstick with ease. Halfway through, she got up to sit with Seamus and Dean. She made her way through the crowd to where the ticket said their seats would be.
"Hey guys!" The seats had a considerably worse view than the top box, but they were still good seats and the view was fine.
"Hey." Dean and Seamus hardly took their eyes off the sky. Sasha laughed and settled between them, a contented smile on her face.
Ireland was up by 160. The Snitch was nowhere in sight. If Bulgaria got the quaffle through just once more, then caught the snitch, it would be a tie game, but that was highly unlikely due to Ireland's stupendous Keeper. Suddenly, Krum was off. Was it another Wronski Feint? The crowd was silent for a second. Every person in the stadium held their breath and watched. Then, like a wave crashing, there was an explosion of sound.
"Krum caught the snitch! Ireland wins! Ireland wins!" What happened next, Sasha never could quite recall. Everything was moving so fast, but also, so slow. There was Dean, cheering and jumping on her right, and to her left, there was Seamus a grin on his face. Their eyes caught and before either one knew what was happening they were kissing. Sasha was vaguely aware of Dean yelling something along the lines of encouragement towards Seamus. She pulled back and a small smile escaped her lips.
"I've wanted to do that for a very long time." Seamus said.
Back in the Irish section of the tents, everyone was crazy with happiness. The firewhiskey flowed freely through the adults and there was butterbeer all around for the kids. Mrs. Finnigan offered each child a sip of Firewhiskey. The liquid burned Sasha's throat as it went down, tasting like peppered hot coals. Sasha screwed up her face, causing Mrs. Finnigan to laugh heartily.
"It's an acquired taste dear." She said. After hours of singing and dancing and celebration, the 3 teens finally retired to bed in the tent, but it felt like Sasha had only slept for minutes before she was startled awake. She vaguely remember a dream of a horrible skeletal face in the sky, but there was no time to consider it. Peeking her head out the tent, Sasha saw a horrific scene. Dark figures in masks were rampaging about the camp grounds. High in the air were three figures, writhing and twisting horribly.
"Seamus! Dean! Wake up!" Sasha cried.
"What's wrong?" Dean mumbled.
"Something's wrong! Wake up!" Dean shot up and gave Seamus a shove.
"What? What's happening?" Seamus asked.
"Come look!" She exclaimed. The two boys followed her to the tent flap and peered out.
"Are those...?" Seamus asked.
"They're coming this way!" Dean exclaimed.
"Run!" Seamus exclaimed. Sasha drew her wand and ran away from the figures, towards the woods. They were not the only ones running. There was a large crowd also trying to escape the masked assailants. Within moments, she lost sight of Seamus and Dean. People were pushing on her from all sides, forcing her to follow them. She didn't know where she was, or what was going on. There was roaring noise in her ears. She couldn't think. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't function. Suddenly, like being pulled out of water, she felt someone scoop her up. Fred pushed through the crowd until it finally let up, then put her down.
"Are you okay?" He asked, a concerned look on his face.
"Yeah I just... I just... What happened?" She said, dazed.
"There's been an attack. You were standing in the middle of the crowd like you were hypnotized. I was afraid you were going to get trampled!" Fred told her.
"So you..."
"So I picked you up, and got you out." He blushed.
"Thank you Fred." She breathed in deeply. She looked up. There was the skeletal face from her dream. "What is that? I've seen it before..."
"I hope you haven't! It's the Dark Mark! The symbol of You Know Who! Where did you see it?" Fred asked. Sasha debated how she could tell him that she had dreamed seeing the mark before it had appeared in the sky. It was a long story that she didn't have the energy to retell.
"Sasha!" Seamus ran up. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"
"I got...lost." She shrugged.
"Well, come on. I think it's safe to go back." He said, extending his hand.
"Maybe you should stay with me tonight." Fred said, grabbing her arm. Sasha looked between the boys, each with a determination in their eyes.
"Fred..." She began. She could see Fred's eyes light up with triumph while Seamus's face fell. "Fred." She repeated. "I have to go." She grabbed Seamus's hand. She began to walk away and urged herself not to look back. There was a horrible finality in her decision that she knew was ridiculous. Fred was her best friend. That was all. She had no reason to feel bad... Did she?
Seamus and Sasha pushed their carts through Kings Cross station. After the World Cup, the two had returned to his house for the small amount of time before school began. The Finnigan household was nice. Not as loud as the Weasley's, though not as awkwardly quiet as the Vogel's.
"Race you to the platform." Seamus grinned. Sasha took off running. "Hey! No head starts!" Seamus chased after her. Sasha ran through the barrier and found herself on Platform 9 3/4. There was tearful goodbyes from families all around, and steam filled the air from the train. Seamus appeared behind her.
"You, are a cheater." He panted.
"And you, are slow." She laughed. They boarded the train and went to their usual compartment where Lavender, Parvati and Dean were already waiting. There were hugs all around and Lavender whispered to her.
"We need to talk!" She had a fiery look in her eyes that made Sasha uncomfortable. The gang was back together and they sat for sometime discussing everything that had happened over the summer. Finally, Sasha made to get up to find Fred, George, and Lee.
"Where are you going?" Seamus asked.
"Where I always go." Sasha said. Seamus gave her a confused look. "To find the twins...?"
"Oh right." He said. "Just stay here a while longer. I want you to be here when I tell the story of what happened the other day when we went to that Muggle store. You tell the story better anyways." And that was how it went, every time Sasha tried to leave, someone found an excuse for her to stay. Soon enough, the ride was over and she had never left. She figured it wasn't that big of a deal. The twins knew she had other friends. The group got into a carriage and made their way to the school. They entered the Great Hall to find it was decorated splendidly for the feast.
"Where have you been!" Fred exclaimed. "You never came to our compartment!"
"Sorry, I kept getting distracted and we all had so much to catch up on and-"
"Sasha come on there's seats over here." Seamus grabbed her hand to pull her away.
"I'll talk to you later Fred!" She said, an apologetic look on her face. She turned away, missing the look of disappointment that was slowly growing on his face. Sasha sat next to Seamus.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"I haven't talked to Fred at all and then you come over and yank me away?" She said angrily.
"Sorry Sash, it won't happen again." But she could hear it in his voice, he wasn't sorry. They enjoyed their food and buzzed about their summers until Dumbledore finally interrupted them.
"So! Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it.
As ever, I would like to remind you all that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year.
It is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch Cup will not take place this year. This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teacher's time and energy- but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts..." He was interrupted as a strange looking man walked in. Sporting a peg leg and a crazy eye that seemed not to go the same direction as his other. Sasha instantly had a bad feeling. She just hoped it wasn't one of her psychic feelings.
"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? Professor Moody.
As I was saying, we are to have the honour of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event which has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."
"You're joking!" Fred exclaimed. Sasha looked down the table to Fred and smiled at him, he gave her a weak smile back. It felt odd, not being with him.
"I am not joking Mr. Weasley, though, while 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...er...but maybe this is not the time...no...where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament...well, some of you will not know what this Tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wonder freely.
The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years, as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry- Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The school took it in turns to host the Tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities- until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the Tournament was discontinued. There have been several attempts over the centuries to re-instate the Tournament, none of which have been very successful. However, our own Departments of Magical Co-operation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that, this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger.
The Heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Hallowe'en. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money.
Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the Heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on the contenders this year. Only students who are of age-that is to say, seventeen years or older-will be allowed to put forward their names 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 below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts Champion. I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen.
The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October, and remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!" Well, that certainly got people talking. They walked back to the common rooms.
"Going to bed?" Seamus asked.
"Not yet." Sasha said firmly. He seemed tentative to leave her but finally, slowly, went up to his dormitory. Not a minute later, Fred walked in. He searched the room for a second before rushing over and hugging her tightly.
"Fred! I just saw you in the hall!" She exclaimed.
"But that prat Seamus dragged you away!" He said, still not releasing her.
"Okay, okay, let me go! And don't call him a prat! He's my boyfriend!" He slackened his grip so her feet could once again touch the floor.
"Yeah yeah yeah." He groaned. She looked at her friend for a moment before asking the question she knew he had an answer to.
"So how are you going to get into the triwizard tournament?"
"You know me so well." He pulled her to the couch and began shooting off ideas with her. George joined them for some time as they formulated their plan. Eventually, she had to sleep, so she left the twins to their plan and quietly ascended the stairs to her dorm. She quietly tiptoed in and changed into her pajamas, desperately trying to avoid waking anyone up. She slid under the covers and silently applauded herself for being so stealthy but, the moment was ruined in seconds.
"Lumos." There, in front of her, were the faces of Lavender and Parvati. Sasha groaned.
"Can we do this tomorrow? I'm tired."
"Of course not! You didn't even tell us about you and Seamus!" Lavender exclaimed.
"We want answers now!" Parvati added in a whisper.
"I don't know what to say. Or where to start." Sasha shrugged.
"Tell us everything." So she did. She told them about last year. How she thought Seamus liked Lavender. How jealous she was. She told them about the World Cup. About staying at his house afterwards. When she finished, she searched her friend's faces.
"That is so cute!" Lavender exclaimed.
"How does Fred feel about it?" Parvati asked quietly.
"I don't know. How should he feel? He's my friend." Sasha snapped.
"Well, I always thought...You two were so close..." Parvati shrugged, unable to find the words to explain to Sasha.
"He's my friend. I could never even think about him like that..." Sasha said, pushing the thought away.
It seemed, to Sasha, that school should come second to the Triwizard Tournament. It was an odd feeling, collecting Bubotuber pus when in a few months, a student from their school would be risking his or her life in an incredibly difficult challenge. She tried to maintain hope that Care of Magical Creatures would actually be a useful class that year, but found herself greatly mistaken when the class found themselves wrangling something called a Blast Ended Skrewt. Not that she wasn't good at it. At the end of the class, she had the least amount of burns. Divination was a bore. Sasha found that predicting the future had practically nothing to do with anything Trelawney said. It didn't help that Harry seemed to be in a bad mood, simply making her angry. The end result was a months work of planetary charts. At dinner, the twins raved about Mad Eye Moody, calling him a genius. Of course, since it was coming from Fred and George, that meant Mad Eye was mostly likely insane. Sasha heard about how Moody had turned Malfoy had turned into a ferret. It was probably the greatest thing she had ever heard. She was bursting at the seams to have his class. Finally, it was Thursday and Sasha and Seamus headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"I don't know about this new teacher." Seamus said.
"Why? Are you scared?" Sasha said.
"Of course not!" Seamus puffed his chest out. "Are you?"
"Terrified." Sasha joked.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you!" Seamus declared before stepping into the classroom. Naturally, his arrogant macho-ness was gone the moment he saw old Mad Eye Moody. It was definitely an interesting class. Sasha was shocked to find that Mad Eye showed them the Unforgivable Curses.
"This can't be legal." She whispered to Seamus.
"It's not." Seamus said, Sasha noted the hint of fear in his voice and couldn't help but think, Fred would have a completely different reaction. She could just imagine his voice.
"About time we got a teacher around here with a little spunk." Then he would flash his Fred Weasley smile and be the first to volunteer to have the Imperious Curse used on him.
"You alright?" Seamus asked. She must have been staring off into space, daydreaming.
"I'm perfect." She smiled brightly.
The school year ticked by. There was endless amounts of homework, shrouded by the impending Triwizard Tournament. Hermione had recently come to the revelation that Hogwarts employed house elves and was now on a kick to free them. She called her organization S.P.E.W. and it was the source of never ending jokes from the twins. Not that she had a lot of time to joke with them. Seamus seemed very against Sasha spending much time with them, which caused the rift that had recently been closed somewhat between Fred and Seamus, to reopen to a proportion much bigger than it ever had been. In October, it was announced that the representatives from the other schools would be coming at the end of the month. The school was humming with excitement, waiting for October 30th.
"Wake up Sasha they're going to be here any minute!" Parvati was shrieking.
"Who? Who's going to be here?" Sasha grumbled.
"Durmstrang and Beauxbatons!" Lavender cried, throwing clothes around looking for something to wear.
"Lav you realize that we have to wear our uniforms right?" Sasha said sitting up.
"I know but looking at my clothes soothes me." Lavender sighed.
"Do you need soothing?" Sasha stood up and began getting dressed.
"Um, duh! Do you realize who will be here in a matter of hours?" Parvati exclaimed.
"A bunch of foreign students?" Sasha guessed.
"A bunch of foreign guys." Lavender corrected. "These Hogwarts boys are getting dreadfully boring."
"We need a new batch of men around here." Parvati waggled her eyebrows. Sasha snorted, which earned her a scowl.
"I'm sorry. You two are being ridiculous." Sasha pulled on her cloak and left the room.
"Hey there you are!"
"Oh, Seamus. Have you been waiting for me?" Sasha asked. She had hardly stepped into the common room when Seamus had appeared by her side.
"Yeah. I know you like to sleep in so I figured I'd wait up. I brought you some pumpkin juice." He said eagerly.
"Oh thanks Shay but I think I'm okay." Sasha said.
"Well, the other students are going to be here any moment. We should start walking." Seamus said grabbing her hand.
"Oh well, Lavender and Parvati were hoping to walk with me I think." Just then there was a crash from the girls dormitory and a squeal from Lavender.
"I think they might be a while." Seamus grinned. Sasha couldn't help but laugh.
"I suppose so."
The Hogwarts students were lined up neatly and pristinely. Teachers flitted about adjusting them to be sure they looked perfect. Sasha rolled her eyes and made a laughing sound. Seamus nudged her.
"Shh Sasha this is important." He said sternly. She sighed and glanced around. A ways over, Fred had enchanted his hair to flash rainbow colors, causing McGonagall to rush to him, wand already out to fix his hair. He caught her eye and winked. She giggled.
"Seriously Sasha. They'll be here any minute." She sighed audibly. Seamus pretended not to hear her.
First to arrive was Beauxbatons. Girls in robin's egg blue danced lightly from their carriage. Despite the fact that it was tiny, they all seemed to fit in there quite comfortably. The most spectacular thing though, was not the size of the carriage, but what was pulling it. Pure white horses soaring on long feathered wings. Sasha was amazed.
"Shay do you see those? They're amazing!" Sasha exclaimed.
"Yeah... I mean, they're not that great! Just girls...with silky hair and...and..." Seamus seemed flustered.
"I was talking about the horses Seamus!" Sasha laughed.
"Oh...right." He gave her a half smile and wrapped his arm around her waist. She rolled her eyes.
Next was Durmstrang, arriving in a boat that rose up from the depths of the lake. In marched men with short hair, wearing blood red shirts and wrapped in fur.
"They're much more suited for the weather than the Beauxbaton girls. Though no guys here seems to be complaining." Sasha noted.
"I for one think they look ridiculous..." Fred appeared at her side. "Look at how they're shivering."
"Yeah me too." Seamus said quickly. Fred chuckled and shook his head before wandering off.
Everyone filed into the Great Hall. Sasha sat between Fred and Seamus. It was awkward, seeing as the two seemed to be as tense as ever, but she pretended it didn't bother her. The Beauxbaton girls sat together, and stuck their noses up to many of the dishes.
"A bit particular, aren't they?" Sasha whispered to Fred.
"Yeah, high maintenance it seems. I like my girls down to earth. A lot like-"
"I wish the Durmstrang boys would've sat over here. I would've liked to discuss tactics with Krum." Fred was cut off by Seamus, much to Sasha's dismay. She would've liked to know who Fred was interested in... Because he was her friend. And she wanted him to be happy.
Author's Note: Seamus/Sasha! Can you believe it? I'm so sorry this has taken so long! My grades have slipped a lot this year and my mother is making it difficult for me to access a computer for more than 10 minutes. Plus I haven't reread Harry Potter yet this year. But today, I put the Goblet of Fire in and just kept replaying it until this chapter was done. Thanks to everyone who has stuck around this long. Excitement to come in the next chapter.