And finally the beginning of the Tri-Wizard Tournament! I was super slow in writing this chapter because I no longer have my Goblet of Fire book to reference. And looking up things online is difficult because I wanted the entire scene, not just facts. Oh, well. Here is the result, and I hope you enjoy!
Trixie Black Lestrange
Ginny woke the morning of the tournament, groaning as she heard some of the other girls chattering excitedly about what they would be going to see during the task. She saw Hermione enter the room, fully dressed with a worried expression on her face, and sat up as the brown-haired witch walked over to her.
"Good, you're awake," Hermione sighed. "Please hurry and come on down to the Great Hall. I have to go now, but I'll save you a seat."
"Okay, but I'm going to be with my brothers during the task," Ginny yawned, reaching out her hand and summoning a fresh robe. Hermione stared at her for a few seconds, then rolled her eyes at the younger witch and left the room.
With a look around the room, Ginny quickly got out of her bed and dressed before hurrying to the bathroom to do her hair. She tied her red hair back, scowling at it. "I promise," she said to herself in the mirror, "one day, that red will be completely gone. I swear it."
Ginny nodded firmly, striding from the room and making her way down the halls to the Great Hall, finding a seat next to Hermione. She looked across Hermione at Harry and said, "Good luck today, Harry."
"Thanks," the boy muttered, shaking his head slightly.
"Where's Ron?" Ginny frowned, looking between the two before she said, "Oh."
Harry just stared at the table in front of him as Hermione motioned Ginny to look down the table. Ginny frowned, finding Ron sitting with Dean and Seamus. "He's still being stupid."
Hermione turned to Harry and began to talk in a low, earnest tone, Ginny turning away from them. She quickly ate her breakfast, not looking up when McGonagall came to get Harry for the gathering of the champions.
The two girls walked down to the stands together, Hermione jumping in shock when she heard a roar. "Dragons," Ginny said with a nod. "Charlie helped bring them in the other day."
"I hope Harry will be okay," Hermione said, her brow furrowed in concern. "He said he had a plan…."
"He's smart enough," Ginny reassured Hermione. "I mean, he should know better than to go up against a dragon with no plan." She smiled slightly, then looked up to see Bill and Charlie waving at her. "I'll see you later this evening, probably," she told the girl. "I'm going to see my brothers now." She slipped away without another word, making her way through the crowd toward her brothers.
Ginny did not miss the young woman standing between her brothers, knowing full well the red-haired witch was Nymphadora. She doesn't look right with red hair, Ginny thought to herself, almost smirking in amusement.
The moment she reached her brothers through the crowd, she hugged them both tightly, glad of Bill keeping his arm around her shoulders so it wasn't too awkward as she said, "Hi, Dora."
"Hello," Tonks answered with a grin. "Do I blend in, do you think?"
"No," Ginny rolled her eyes. "You don't look right with red hair."
"Damn," said Dora, pretending to be insulted.
Charlie raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't you swear in front of my innocent little sister," he teased.
Nymphadora laughed out loud at him, making several students look their way. "Shh, Charlie," she said, her hair morphing brown before she tossed it over her shoulders. "You'll draw too much attention to us."
Ginny snorted with laughter, though frowned as she realised that several Durmstrang students were muttering to each other in another language and motioning to Nymphadora. "I'm sure you meant to, but I don't think you should draw too much attention to yourself in this setting," she said to Dora quietly, making both her brothers grin. "There are too many...unusual people here."
Dora looked at her for a moment, then said, "I'm sure you don't want to know, but you sound like my mother."
Ginny's immediate response was to stick her tongue out at the young Auror, making her brothers laugh again. Bill shushed the others and motioned to the five judges. Ginny didn't say much as they watched them conference for a moment before turning to announce the beginning of the contest.
Dora and Ginny looked over at the dragon enclosures, and Ginny shivered as they announced the first contestant: Cedric Diggory. "I wouldn't want to go first," Bill said to Ginny, and she and Nymphadora agreed.
"I wouldn't want to do this at all unless I had some of the boys with me," Charlie admitted. "As beautiful as these dragons are, they're deadly. All of us have been injured by them at one time or another."
Ginny didn't speak, leaning forward to watch as the Hufflepuff seventh year walked out onto the field, a moment of absolute silence following his appearance. Everyone watched intently as Diggory approached the dragon quietly, his wand out.
"What's he going to do?" Bill said uneasily. "I can't imagine…."
Charlie's eyes widened as they all saw Cedric Transfigure what must have been a rock into a dog. The dog darted toward the dragon and then away, distracting the dangerous creature while Cedric moved carefully toward the golden egg that the nesting mother dragon had been guarding.
The boy was nearly there when the dragon suddenly turned on him, a jet of flame spewing from his mouth, and Estella gasped in horror as several of the other girls in the audience screamed. Charlie reached for his wand in case he had to run help, but the other dragon keepers were quickly there and Cedric came forward safely, though injured.
"He's got it!" came the announcement, and Nymphadora smiled in relief, joining the others in applauding for Cedric.
"He's done it," Charlie grinned. "Survived with only slight burns."
"Slight?" a younger witch nearby said in shock. "The side of his face—"
"Madam Pomfrey will put it back, don't worry," Estella said, rolling her eyes.
Nymphadora and a couple others laughed, though Charlie merely shook his head at them. "They're literally playing with fire," the young Weasley boy said. "Not something I would recommend."
A boy chuckled in the row before them and replied, "But it's a good show, isn't it?"
Ginny smiled to see Karntaan sitting in front of them, though none of them answered the boy. She saw Dora look at her, but she refused to look back at the young woman as the second champion was announced.
Ginny wasn't surprised to see that Fleur didn't do well at all. The girl completed the task, though the dragon that she had enchanted to sleep snored flames and burnt the skirt of her dress, Charlie slightly amused at the witch's difficulty.
"Charlie, be nice," Dora pouted, elbowing him teasingly. "It isn't easy with all that material, I swear."
"What of it?" Charlie chuckled, seeing Ginny's grin and laughing again. "Well, let's see what Krum decides to do. This should be interesting. The champions should have been told they weren't to hurt the dragons."
"You think he will because he's from Durmstrang," Dora frowned. "I'm sure not all students of Durmstrang are Dark wizards, Charlie, though I do think they would know more offensive magic than defensive magic."
"True," Bill agreed. "Wait and see, you two."
Ginny smiled, wondering how many times Bill had had to sort out differences between his brother and Nymphadora. She watched curiously as Krum entered the field, his wand also gripped tightly in his hand.
It did not take long for him to complete the task, though Ginny cringed at Charlie's yell of rage when the Durmstrang boy used a blinding curse on the dragon. The poor creature stomped around, crushing some of its own eggs as it tried to find and crush its opposition. Ginny didn't realise it for a few moments, but Dora leant closer to Charlie, her hand touching his slightly as she reminded him to stay calm.
The dragon keepers buzzed around in great concern, taking care of the poor mother dragon and its remaining eggs, but the damage was done. Krum stood next to his headmaster, who looked smug, but Viktor frowned to realise the damage he'd done to the creatures.
"They'd better subtract points for that," Charlie muttered under his breath. "That was not supposed to happen."
Ginny shook her head slightly as the other dragon keepers shot Krum scornful glances before finally clearing the field to prepare for the final contestant: Harry Potter. Dora looked at Charlie carefully. "Potter got the Hungarian Horntail, didn't he?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "He would get the most dangerous."
"He'll be all right," Ginny said confidently, despite hearing the Lestrange twins' joking about Harry finally being defeated by a dragon. She kicked the back of their chairs, and when they scowled at her, she leant down and whispered, "He belongs to the Dark Lord."
They both laughed, Estella laughing as well as she sat back with her brothers. A slight ripple of harsh laughter went through the crowd, and Dora leant over to the other witch. "What did you tell them?" she asked curiously.
Ginny just giggled, not saying a word as the Lestrange twins smirked, watching Potter slowly walk into the arena. Dora looked confused. "He hasn't even drawn his wand. Does he know what he's up against?"
"He saw Norbert before he was taken to the sanctuary," Ginny said, biting her lip. "But I doubt he truly understands what dragons are capable of."
At that moment, Harry dove out of the way of a burst of flame from the dragon that had discovered him. Both Lestrange twins said, "Oooh!" and hurried to the rail to watch better.
"Harry, use your wand!" Hermione half-screamed at him, and Ginny couldn't help but be concerned as well.
The boy finally grabbed his wand and shouted some spell, trying to keep away from the dragon that was now taking great pleasure in stalking him. Moments later, Bill shouted, "Look! He's called his broom!"
Ginny almost grinned as she watched the broom soar into Harry's hand, the boy soon teasing the dragon as he hovered just out of reach. "He wants it to follow him!" Charlie said in disbelief. "Is he crazy?! If she gets out of that chain…." And almost as soon as he spoke the words, the dragon mother roared and took off, breaking the chains on it as she spread her wings and followed Potter. "Damnit!" Charlie groaned. "I hope Harry will be all right, because she's the most bad tempered dragon I've ever encountered."
"Perhaps you should go help them, if you all have to recapture it after all this," Dora said, glancing at the astonished dragon keepers before looking after Potter and his fiery pursuer.
"She'll return to her nest," Charlie replied with a nod. "That's the good thing about her nesting right now. She'll always return as long as we have her little ones."
The crowd was becoming uneasy a few minutes later when Potter finally appeared, whizzing over the Forest and the crowd on his broom before plunging down toward the ground. The audience's applause turned into alarmed shrieks and yells when they realised the dragon was still after the boy.
"Damn, he can fly!" Nymphadora said in admiration, watching Harry skim right over the ground, easily plucking the golden egg from among the real ones in the nest. The dragon keepers quickly moved to distract the dragon as Harry soared back over the crowd, the egg held high for them to see. "He's better than you, Charlie!"
"At what?" Charlie smirked, and Bill laughed at the two. "He's done it!"
Most of the Gryffindors were ecstatic when the results were announced, as Harry and Viktor were tied for first place, Cedric was second so far, and Fleur was last, of course. Nymphadora whispered something to Charlie, then hugged Bill, telling him and Ginny that she was going to go off and celebrate with Hufflepuff House. Ginny hugged her goodbye as well without hesitation as it seemed she should, since her brothers had and they had all been sitting together.
Once Dora was gone, the boys turned to Ginny. "We're going to talk to the other dragon keepers," Charlie told her. "I guess we'll see you later, Stel."
"Goodbye," Ginny answered, quickly hurrying away from them in time to see Hermione run from the tent the champions had gathered in previous. The girl was in tears, and Ginny quickly went to her. "Hermione?" she asked. "Isn't Harry all right?"
"Oh, he's fine," Hermione sobbed. "He and Ron are just so stupid."
"What's happened now?" Ginny asked hesitantly.
"They—they're talking again," Hermione said in relief, tears still trickling down her face. "They're just—ugh. Boys, Ginny. I don't know how you put up with six brothers."
Ginny wrapped her arm around the girl's waist, Hermione sighing as she did the same. "Come on," she said to the younger witch. "Let's go up to the Common Room before everyone else arrives."
The two arrived in the Common Room quickly, though they were still surprised at how many people were already there. Hermione pulled Ginny up the stairs and into her dorm room, motioning her to be quiet. "I need to ask you something important," Hermione said finally, a slight blush on her cheeks as she bit her lip nervously.
"Oh?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow. "Do we need a Silencing Ward?"
"Yes," Hermione nodded, relief in her voice. "I always forget about those...I need to learn them. It would be a good thing to know."
Ginny nodded and put up the ward around them, Hermione watching curiously. "There," she said. "Now what was it you wanted to ask me?"
Hermione bit her lip again, then finally said, "Someone's asked me to the Yule Ball, and I don't know if I should go with him or not."
Ginny smiled. "Good! Who is it?"
"Erm...Viktor Krum," Hermione whispered.
"Hermione!" Ginny gasped in shock. "Really?"
"Yes," Hermione said, wringing her hands. "Ginny, he's so nice; he really is! He likes me because I didn't follow him around like his fangirls do, and now—should I really go with him?"
"Why wouldn't you?" Ginny shrugged. "Do you like him?"
"Well, I think so," Hermione said, slightly confused.
"Then go with him," Ginny told her, a grin spreading across her face. "Imagine, going to the Yule Ball with someone so famous!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "That's not why I would go, Ginny," she said. "That's the point. He is famous! He's competing against Harry, and Diggory! I can't go with Viktor...could I?"
Ginny plopped down onto Hermione's bed. "You are the very last person to worry about what people think," she told the brown-haired girl. "People will always talk, but it's all how you react to it that matters." She held back a smirk at her own words. "I think you should go. Don't tell Harry or Ron anything but that it's a secret who your partner is."
The older girl sighed and sat down next to Ginny. "I really would just rather go with Ron or Harry, but they both still don't know that I'm a girl."
Ginny giggled, and Hermione smiled slightly. "Hermione," Ginny said firmly, "you've got to work on your dress, and all that. Since you're going with Krum, you have to be at your very best."
"So you think I should go?" Hermione asked.
"Yes!" Ginny clapped her hands in delight. "Ron will be sooo jealous! He won't speak to you for the rest of the year, probably."
"What?" Hermione looked horrified.
"Or at least the next task," Ginny shrugged. "But Hermione, this is the perfect chance to make everyone realise you're not all about books and studying and learning! You'll have fun! I'll be going too: Neville's asked me."
"He asked me too," Hermione sighed. "He's smarter about girls than Harry and Ron, even if he can't string a sentence together in front of them. At least I knew what he meant, though I felt really bad that I had to turn him down."
Ginny nodded. "Well, I'm going with Neville, otherwise I wouldn't be attending because I'm only a third year. So thanks for telling him no."
Hermione giggled, turning to her mirror. "I do have plans," she said. "And I could help you with your hair if you needed. Do you have a dress for the ball?"
"Uhhh, yes," Ginny nodded, almost sickened at the thought of the dress robes Molly had bought her. "It'll need a bit of work, though."
You can get a different dress, Estella.
Ginny jumped in shock, then got to her feet to cover it up. "Come on, Hermione," she said firmly. "Let's go wait in the Common Room for them all to get here." She led the way out of the dormitory, deciding that as soon as she could escape them all, she would go visit her parents in the Chamber.
About an hour and a half later, Estella escaped the Gryffindor Common Room, making her way to the nearest Chamber entrance. She breathed a sigh of relief the moment she was inside the passage, walking toward the main room and her parents' room.
Estella was shocked, as she turned a corner in one of the passageways, to find her mother standing at the end of it, waiting for her. "Mum?" she asked, instantly nervous, though the woman motioned to her. She walked forward, seeing Meretta Parkington's face break into a smile.
She didn't question it as she walked into her biological mother's arms, hugging the witch tightly. "I love you," Estella whispered, her face hidden in her mother's dress.
Meretta merely hugged her again as a response, then said, "Come now. Your father wants to talk to you."
Estella walked beside her mother to her parents' room, Reginald opening the door and smiling at her. "We're so proud of you," he said, wrapping her in a hug.
She was confused, though she hugged him firmly. "What—what did I do?" she asked.
"You handled yourself well these past couple days," her father told her, leading the way into their room. "We watched Search and Curse to make sure you'd be all right."
"All of it?" Estella said, glancing between her parents.
"Even the Nymphadora part," Meretta agreed with a smirk. "You told everyone her secret."
"It won't change anything," Estella sighed. "I didn't know she'd been so important to Lauren and Alvin, but then Dora was at school with them a couple years, I suppose."
Reginald nodded. "When you and Nymphadora were talking, I was amused to hear her tell you to live your life as Estella Parkington," he told her.
Estella smiled slightly. "Well, I think it would be better if I could stop being two people," she told him. "I would like to not have to pretend anymore."
Meretta sat down on the edge of the bed. "As soon as you can, speak out as your true self," she told her daughter. "Start with the students here at Hogwarts, and then tell the Weasleys you won't go by the name Ginny anymore."
"That sounds wonderful," Estella sighed, curling up in the chair in the room. "If everyone just knew who I was."
"Spread the word," Reginald told her. "Start with your little Gryffindor friends." He chuckled slightly. "After all, how amusing would it be for Estella Parkington to attend the Yule Ball with Neville Longbottom?"
"Poor Neville," Estella said, hissing Tishri into her lap. "I could tell him about it...he would have to know what I looked like before the Ball, though. He already knows I'm different; all I need to do is tell him the reason."
"You could have found someone better," Meretta frowned, then added, "but I understand." She smiled. "I wouldn't have wanted to be left out just because I was too young, either."
"But you surely had older friends that would have asked you," Estella asked her mother with a small smirk.
"No one would have dared ask me," Meretta rolled her eyes. "Not even my own brother. Imagine, Estella. Rabastan Lestrange and Regulus Black were in my year. Your father and Anthony Sage were a bit older, but neither of them liked me at first."
Reginald smiled, slipping his arm around his wife. "We were too distracted by serpents," he excused himself. "But I soon learned what a lovely young witch you were and I asked for your hand at the first opportunity."
Estella was thrilled to see her parents reminiscing happily about their past and watched her father plant a kiss on Meretta's cheek. "Share magic?" Teneski hissed hopefully, poking her head out of Reginald's sleeve.
"Hush, young one," Reginald said to her, chuckling. Estella giggled at the two and allowed her bitemates to all slither off of her, some gathering in her lap and others going to see their nestmates held by the other Parselmouth.
"I'll do it," Estella said decisively. "All my classmates will know the truth by the end of the year."
"Good," Meretta smirked. "I look forward to the day that no one can call you Ginny anymore."
The girl smiled. "Me too," she agreed, then drew a deep breath. "I think I'll go back to Slytherin tonight and hope that I haven't made any of them angry."
Reginald looked at his daughter proudly. "Estella, you've done well," he told her. "You'll be fine. Now let me make sure the Lestrange boy healed you properly and you can be on your way."
She got to her feet and walked over to him, allowing him to run his wand down her back to make sure Meris had healed her completely. He chuckled after a moment, and said to his wife, "The Lestrange boy was right. The young Malfoy isn't very good at the Cruciatus."
"Did Meris heal me right?" Estella asked her father.
"Yes, he did," Reginald answered. "He knows his Curse well. You're fine to go now.
"Thanks," she said, turning and hugging her father before going to hug her mother as well. "I'll make you both proud, I promise." She felt greatly encouraged as she left her parents' room, their embraces still fresh in her mind.