Georgia wrapped her Slytherin scarf an extra time around her neck as she walked through the cold November air, shivering slightly. The snow crunched underneath her boots as she trekked down to Hogsmeade along with everyone else in her year and above on the bitter Saturday morning, around a week before the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
She stared in awe as she came closer and closer to the small village, full of little cottages with snow covered roofs and smoke coming out of the chimneys. It looked like something straight out of a Christmas card, so quaint and enchanting. It felt great to be out of the castle for once and to somewhere where she could relax for a bit. The school was just too full of tension approaching the first task.
The lovely, warm scent of baking bread and pastries filled her nose as she walked past the bakery on her way to Honeydukes, where she was going to meet Ginny before they go and fetch Luna before she gets lost searching for her Blambering Whatsits and have a butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks. She made a mental note to stop in that bakery before she left the village.
Georgia could tell what building Honeydukes was without even needing to look at the sign, due to the fact that dozens of students were surrounding the outside, either nibbling on their just-purchased sweets or staring in the windows while talking to their friends. She pushed open the door into the warmth of the inside, causing her glasses to fog up. A chime of a bell near the door, obviously charmed to signal when someone entered, was heard as she entered the shop, but was barely heard over the commotion in the room. At least twenty students were crammed into the small shop, all checking out the stacks upon stacks of candy and sweets. From Cockroach Clusters to Cauldron Cakes, from Drooble's Best Blowing Gum to Acid Pops, you name it, it was there.
Even through the crowd, she spotted Ginny right away, not that she was that hard to spot anyways, with her smooth flaming red hair that Georgia wished she had. She pushed and shoved her way through the other kids to where Ginny was standing, looking over the shelves.
"My brothers were right; this place is amazing." She sighed as she filled her arms up with as much candy as she could carry. Georgia grabbed all the Peppermint Toads off the shelf and tossed them into a tote bag that she made sure to bring because she had a feeling that she would spend a lot of her pocket money here. She also made sure to take as many Chocoballs as she could, because once, Draco brought her back one, and she'd been craving them ever since. From Sugar Quills to Honeydukes Chocolate, she made sure she had a little bit of everything.
After her bag became extremely heavy and almost filled to the brim, she walked over and stood in line at the till, with a lot more candy than Ginny had. She made sure to make a mental note to share at least a bit of her hall with her red-haired friend. Her candy ended up costing her almost half of her pocket money, but at least she had enough sugar to last her the rest of the year, and she had a feeling that she would need it.
After joining Ginny again at the front door, the two left the store and made their way around the town, looking at all the businesses that the little hamlet had to offer, and in the meantime, were keeping an eye out for Luna, who had determined that the weather was just right to look for whatever she said those creatures were, and was wandering around the place. They saw Fred and George with their friend Lee Jordan coming out of Zonko's Joke Shop, which wasn't a surprise to see at all, Willow could be seen from the window looking inside the Quidditch supplies shop, and Mercedes was just going into the tea shop, accompanied by a boy that she couldn't identify.
They found Luna by the edge of the village, sitting in the show, staring into the forest. She didn't look the least startled when Georgia and Ginny sat down beside her.
"Did you see one yet?" Ginny asked, leaning her head on Luna's shoulder.
"I thought I caught a glimpse of one about ten minutes ago now, but I should have known better, Blibbering Humdingers don't like crowds and noise. There wasn't a good chance of me spotting one. Besides, I'm quite cold after sitting in this snow. Let's go warm up. How was the candy store? Any good?" Luna asked, pushing herself from off the ground and letting Ginny lead the way to The Three Broomsticks. The three made their way down the snow-covered street to The Three Broomsticks, the local pub that Ginny's brothers told her to go to.
They entered the pub and Georgia sighed at the warm heat filling the building, much warmer than Honeydukes was. They took a seat at the bar as Ginny asked the barmaid for three butterbeers. The three mingled slightly as the barmaid return with three foaming mugs of warm golden-toffee coloured liquid. Georgia took a small sip of the foaming drink and found her taste buds being introduced to a delicious mix of butterscotch, cream, and a hint of toffee. Georgia never tasted something quite like it but was ever glad that someone put these flavours together.
She quickly had another sip as the door opened and Draco walked in, accompanied by Zabini and Nott, who were both pretty close friends of his. Georgia turned around and waved to the trio, and Malfoy pointed at her and laughed cockily.
"Nice mustache, Newton." He smirked. Georgia knew immediately what he was talking about, and quickly licked off the foam from above her lip, blushing for some reason. Ginny saw all this and smirked, which Georgia responded to by rolling her eyes.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you are in love with your best friend." Ginny mocked.
"Oh really, I don't think you should be talking, Mrs. Potter." Georgia retaliated. Ginny turned as red as her hair, before making sure nobody else around them heard that, then shot Georgia a dirty look before returning to her Butterbeer. Georgia laughed, and glanced over at Luna, who didn't notice a thing as she was too busy staring at something behind the bar. Georgia wanted to see what she was looking at but changed her mind because it was most likely something she didn't want to know about.
Instead, she turned her attention to where Draco and his friends were now sitting, and got carried away and let her mind drift off as she absentmindedly stared at her best mate. Everything was just so… perfect about him, although she never paid any attention to his looks before very much, excluding the World Cup, of course. She thought of the Yule Ball coming up in a little over a month, and what would happen if he were to ask her, although she was almost certain it would never happen, he was probably going to go with someone in his year. Hell, he'd go with Astoria Greengrass, who was two years younger and who he never expressed much interest in, before her. The only way he'd ask her is if Pansy was at his arm begging him to take her.
"By now, you're just contradicting yourself." Ginny sighed, leaning on Georgia's shoulder, staring in the same direction.
"Shove it, Weasley." Georgia snapped with a smile on her face.
"Come on, let's get out of here, I can't bare seeing you undress him with your eyes. As your friend, I worry for your sanity the longer you stare at him." Ginny said, chugging down the rest of her drink and hopping off the barstool. Georgia followed, hesitating but leaving without a second glance. Ginny was right, she might just be going insane.
The whole school was down in an area built specifically for this event, down by the Forbidden Forest. The crowd was buzzing with excitement, as the First Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was due to start any moment. Georgia and Mercedes sat together, just the two of them as Willow was viewing the event with her Quidditch teammates, including Malfoy, although against his will, and Ginny and Luna were with Ginny's brothers. Around them was the whole of Slytherin House, all equipped with their POTTER STINKS badges, all lit up green.
Georgia grabbed another Jelly Slug from her bag and bit off its head, offering Mercedes the tail end, who shook her head.
"No way, no thanks, no offence, but I know what happens if both of us would eat at opposite ends at the same time." Mercedes said.
"That we'd fight over who gets to eat more and it would end very badly in the end?" Georgia asked.
"You read my mind."
"Wise choice." Georgia smirked, taking another bite and leaning back in her seat, putting her feet onto of the chair in front of her, which was occupied and earned her a dirty look from the fifth-year in the seat. Mercedes absentmindedly played with her hair, twisting it around her finger.
"I'm thinking of dying it." Sadie said randomly. Georgia looked at her.
"Pardon?"
"My hair. The ombre's getting old, I've had it since I was nine, black to blonde like this. I thought it was cool at the time, and Mum was more than willing to let me go get it done. It's professionally done, at a Muggle place, not Charmed or anything." Mercedes said. Georgia shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what to think of the unusual conversation.
"Oh, cool." She said simply.
"Yeah. I think it's getting kinda boring. Maybe if I did it light brown, maybe black, I think it would look nice like that." Mercedes sighed.
"I like it the way it is. You look cute." Georgia replied. Mercedes looked bewildered, then flattered.
"Oh, um, thanks." Mercedes mumbled. Georgia desperately wished for the First Task to begin so she could be recued from the awkwardness following the strange conversation. Fortunately, her wishes were answered as the voice of Ludo Bagman blasted through the arena.
"Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the First Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament! Today, the Champions will be facing a different dragon guarding a pile of eggs, among those eggs, is a single golden egg. Their goal is to retrieve the golden egg faster than their fellow Champions, and as unscathed as possible. The Champion with the fastest time and least penalties will win the First Task. Now, first out, facing the Swedish Short-Snout, is Hogwarts's first Champion, Cedric Diggory!" Ludo Bagman shouted as a giant, fuming, scaly dragon of slivery-blue was brought into the arena, along with a pile of eggs, and delicately placed on top of the huge pile of white, Spaniel-sized eggs, was the smaller yet much more noticeable golden egg.
Cedric came into the arena from a tent where the Champions were getting ready and was greeted by applause and cheering from most of the crowd, before taking a good look at the dragon, and freezing in his spot for a millisecond.
"Come on, Cedric!" Mercedes shouted, turning her badge from POTTER STINKS to SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY with a press of the fingers and waving a Hufflepuff scarf in the air that seemingly came out of nowhere.
"Where in the hell did you get that?" Georgia asked, bewildered.
"Nicked it." Mercedes shrugged, before grabbing another Jelly Slug and taking a bite out of it. Georgia looked at her friend for a good five seconds with a very confused look before shrugging and returning her attention to Cedric and the dragon, where now Cedric had proceeded to Transfigure an egg from the pile into an actual Spaniel, then ran laps around the place, and distracting the dragon long enough so Cedric could go for the pile.
Ten minutes of careful navigation landed him almost to the pile, but, all of a sudden, the dragon breathed out a large puff of blue flames that killed the dog. Georgia gasped and held her breath as the dragon caught sight of him. Everyone, especially Cedric, knew it was now or never to get the egg, so he made a bolt for the pile, as the dragon breathed out flames behind him. He scrambled up the pile faster than she had seen anyone climb up something, and grabbed the egg.
He slid down the pile, holding the egg up in victory, sprinting to the tent, but not before the dragon breathed out fire in his direction and he looked back in surprize, and he got nailed in the face, causing a huge, painful-looking burn all over his face. Everyone gasped in shock and Georgia was sure that Mercedes was praying with tears in her eyes next to her.
Georgia sighed in relief as Cedric safely made it the rest of the way into the tent before the dragon could get him again. Sadie was crying of relief, but hid her face as she saw Georgia look at her. Georgia smirked, before rubbing her friend on the shoulder.
"Everything's fine, Cedric's alive, don't worry, you can still go propose to him. Unlikely that he'll say yes, but it's worth a shot." Georgia sneered jokingly. Mercedes whined and kicked Georgia in the shin. She winced but smiled. "But honestly, that was intense." Georgia admitted.
"I'm not sure I can watch any more." Mercedes groaned.
"Don't worry, everyone else is fair game. It'll actually be good if Krum was burned alive, maybe Willow would stop obsessing over him every time she saw him." Georgia smirked.
"Not sure that would work, she'd cry about his death for the next two years." Sadie laughed.
"It's worth a shot." Georgia grinned as the next Champion, Fleur Delacour, was coming out to face her dragon.
"Oooh, I kinda wanna stay and see if pretty Veela girl rips her pretty little silk dress." Saide exclaimed. Georgia laughed.
"To be honest, I do too."