Elsa was dreading their first DADA lesson of the year. Moody was a creepy man, with his magical eye and in general.
Those who already had a class with him were completely amazed by him, so he couldn't be too bad, could he?
His weird staring was probably because he's been told of her royal status; she really should force herself to relax a little more.
In the classroom, she saw the majority of the boys, including Ron and Harry, filing to the front seats.
Since she and Ron hadn't quite talked things out yet, and since Moody was making her feel uncomfortable, Elsa opted to stay in the back, sitting next to Alice behind Padma and their friend.
The three unforgivable curses weren't supposed to be on the schedule, there was only a brief mention later in their DADA book, but their new professor seemed to think it was crucial that they'd know them by heart. So they could defend themselves against them.
A spider was the victim of the horrible curses. Being forced to act as Moody wished, it was flung across the room to give the students scares.
Padma gave a screech when it landed on her desk, amusing the class greatly.
Elsa found it rather unnecessary.
Watching the spider writhe in pain under the Cruciatus Curse was horrible, especially seeing the sick satisfaction in their professor's gaze.
The killing curse put an end to the spider's torture, and made Elsa's dislike for Moody grow.
Unfortunately there were plenty who liked him for his directness and rough demeanor, so unlike Quirrel or Lockhart.
For their next lesson he really dared to perform the Imperius Curse on them and their exercise was to try and fight it off.
Neville was performing acrobatics under the influence of the curse, while Padma suddenly blurted out that she and Parvati wore hair extensions and another Gryffindor girl suddenly spoke perfect Chinese.
Some were acting like animals, for example, all to the amusement of Moody and the majority of the class.
Harry managed to partly fight off the curse, crashing right into a desk instead of jumping on it like Moody had wanted him to.
Elsa dreaded her turn, but intended on making the best of it. There was a sense of weightlessness then as she stood in front of the class.
For once she didn't have to think, didn't have to be in control.
"But I have to be in control..." Her inner voice reminded her. "Conceal, don't feel."
A foreign voice echoed inside her head. "Tell us your secret."
The desire to follow that command was strong. Finally let it all out and don't bother with secrets anymore.
However, she couldn't. It was too dangerous. Nobody can know.
"You're hiding something, come on."
Elsa pressed her lips tightly together. Did the voice – no, Professor Moody – know? No, he couldn't know her secret. It was just his weird curiosity, he probably saw something with his magical eye and wanted to know.
Why did everyone have to meddle with her life?! As if cutting ropes, she faced Moody with a dark glare, mouth in a thin line. The haze cleared.
The professor seemed impressed, clearing his throat.
"Interesting. Must be one hell of a secret."
Since it was the end of the class, Elsa didn't bother with a response and hurried away when they were dismissed.
She had to be way more careful. And keep her secret safe.
The following DADA classes were rather unspectacular. Moody seemed to have accepted he wasn't getting anything out of her and instead kept a magical eye on Harry.
xxx
"Can you tell me again why we're hiding?" Draco rolled his eyes as he ducked behind a statue with Blaise, carefully peaking out from behind it.
"Are you seriously asking that? Didn't you see the horde of chicks following us around?"
"Dude, if a horde of girls is following you, you don't flee. You enjoy it. Why run away when you can have whoever you want?"
"I don't want any of those hormone-crazed hysterical bitches..." The blond mumbled, eyes never leaving the corridor in front of them.
"It's not like you have to marry them." It was Blaise's turn to roll his eyes.
"You know my parents. They've tried to engage me to Pansy from the very beginning."
Blaise let out a sigh and shook his head. Draco could be so stubborn when he wanted to. Deciding to let the topic slide for now he moved so he could also watch the corridor.
"What are you looking at?" he finally asked when there was nothing interesting to see, aside from several students walking by.
"No-..."
When Draco failed to finish his sentence, a stupid grin taking over his features, Blaise raised an eyebrow, looking back to the hallway.
Some Ravenclaws were just passing by, probably coming from their tower.
An Asian and a brunette ahead, with two blondes right behind them, followed by an Indian girl and two more giggling brunettes.
The two in the front were bickering about something he couldn't quite catch.
The shorter blond was reading some colorful magazine, holding it upside down and showing something to the girl next to her, who had a frown on her face.
The three in the back were appearing to be talking about crushes, blushing and laughing.
It were mere seconds until they rounded the corner, leaving Blaise to wonder who exactly left his friend to act like a love-struck fool.
Speaking of Draco, the boy was leaning back, trying to force the smile off his face. It went way faster when he realized Blaise was staring at him.
"Okay, this has to be the gayest thing a guy ever says, but... Oh. My. God. You are in love."
Draco glared at him, a blush coloring his pale cheeks. "It's not really love. We're fourteen! It's just some sort of crush..."
Blaise's eyebrows almost touched his hairline when his friend didn't even try to deny it.
Amusement etched its way on his face as he turned to look at where the girls just left, as if he could still see them.
"Who is it? The chatty brunette? A little too tomboy for my taste, but hey, I won't judge."
"What... no way. I'm not talking to you about that." Draco's embarrassed blush was worth the glare, Blaise thought.
It was a shame that he wouldn't just tell his best friend. No, instead the blond left their hiding place and practically fled from his friend.
The dark skinned boy rubbed his chin as he watched him run off, he needed a different approach.
"So... I've heard Draco has a crush on some Ravenclaw..." Blaise had tried to get Draco to talk about it, but the blond was being quite stubborn.
It was a trait they shared, so Blaise wasn't about to give up. So far Hogwarts had been rather boring to him, aside from the Triwizard Tournament that's going to take place soon.
Draco's little love life, as shocking as it was Draco even had a love life, was the best way to amuse himself.
But since his friend didn't want to talk, Blaise decided it was time to get the heavy weapons. Which meant asking Pansy.
He had made sure he was alone with the girl, because he had a feeling Draco would skin him alive if he found out he was talking to her about him.
The escapade, their argument last year, had only reached him through Draco's letters, and the blond hadn't been very sharing when it came to information about it.
"Oh please, don't mention that stupid bitch in my presence. It's just a tiny little crush. A way for him to kill time until he gathers up the courage to ask me out."
Okay, maybe asking Pansy was the wrong approach. Apparently she hated this girl, seeing her as a danger with her own crush on Draco in the way.
"Ah yeah. Who exactly is it? He won't tell me."
Pansy scrunched up her face, making it even more unattractive than it already was.
"Why do you even wanna know?"
Blaise had a hard time staying patient with her. "Oh, you know me. I'm curious. And if I don't approve of her either I could talk Draco out of going after her."
That was the hard truth. If this girl, whoever she was, wasn't good enough for his friend, he would go miles to keep him away from her.
Pansy seemed pleased to have a potential ally in her wrath against the girl.
"... Believe me, she's definitely not worthy of him. She's a mere halfblood. Not even wealthy. And the name, Elsa Winters. Psh, as stupid as herself."
"Well, if she's in Ravenclaw I doubt she's as stupid as you say..."
"She is! She's making friends with stupid people, that makes her stupid too. She's even close with Loony Lovegood. Another freak in Ravenclaw, even though she clearly doesn't belong there."
Blaise had his eyes narrowed in concentration, looking at nothing in particular. It's been only a few weeks since the term had started and he barely knew people from other houses.
From what he saw and heard, the Gryffindors were the Slytherins' sworn enemies, especially since Draco's first year when famous Harry Potter refused to befriend him.
A guy named Neville Longbottom and a mudblood called Hermione Granger were two of the favorite punching bags of Pansy and her gang.
To Blaise's surprise Draco seemed to keep out of those bully attacks. There was even a rumor that he helped Longbottom out one or two times.
Anyways, Blaise didn't really care about the other houses, not even bothering to learn the names of the classmates in his year.
Loony Lovegood sounded familiar, he had overheard Pansy talking about her some time ago.
She was said to be a completely insane girl. And Elsa Winters... hm. This year they didn't share many classes with Ravenclaw, but he believed she was in their year.
"... And she thinks she's so beautiful with her long blond hair. I bet it's dyed."
Blaise had completely tuned out Pansy's rambling, but the last part he heard.
A blonde. That cut it down to the two girls in the middle. Since the smaller one probably was a year or two under them and she had been reading a magazine upside down – which was really insane – that meant it was the other girl.
Blaise couldn't fight the triumphant grin when he figured out who Draco was crushing on. This was going to be a lot of fun... for Blaise.
"Tell me more..."
That evening at dinner time, Blaise casually leaned over to his friend, trying to keep the smirk off his face.
Draco let out an annoyed sigh and concentrated on his food to keep from glaring at Blaise, not about to give him the satisfaction.
"Still not going to tell me?"
"No." Draco kept his face blank, becoming wary by the look on his friend's face.
"Will you tell me if I can guess who it is?"
"No." It had been easy to keep the others from teasing him about his crush, but Blaise was a completely different story. If he found out, there was no way in hell he would ever hear the end of it.
Mostly because Blaise was the only one of his fellow Slytherins who wasn't scared of him when he got angry.
"Come on. I'm sure I can find the girl that stole your heart." Blaise ignored his friend's glare and let their shoulders touch as he lifted his head a little higher to see the Ravenclaw table better. "So... you already said it's not that little brunette..."
The smirk turned into a wide grin as he watched Draco from the corner of his eye. The blond's face twisted in realization before he buried it in his hands, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips.
"Who told you?" He's known Blaise long enough to be able to tell he already found out and was just going to tease him about it for fun.
"Pansy, of course." He patted his friend's shoulder. "But it's not like you made it that big of a secret from what I heard, Mr. Romantic Valentine."
"Oh Merlin." Draco sank further in his seat.
"Don't worry, I won't tease you about it... much."
Draco elbowed him in the ribs when he laughed and sat straighter again.
The food was abandoned for the time-being as his eyes found Elsa at the Ravenclaw table, laughing about something Luna said.
Blaise followed his gaze and shook his head. "Damn, that girl really must be special if she can get you to act like that."
"She is special. I don't know what it is, but I feel so... so drawn to her. There's something in her eyes. They're so deep and just so stunningly blue. She always has this mysterious aura around her, like there's even more to her than she already shows. So many things to find out."
Draco let out a small sigh. "I just feel better around her, you know? She actually makes me think about what I'm doing, and I actually want to be a better person for her, only to see her smile. Ugh, her smile. It makes something flutter in my chest, and I get all warm and fuzzy."
The blond cleared his throat and shook his flushed head when he realized he'd been rambling while staring at Elsa.
Fortunately most of the Slytherins around them had already left, so no one else could hear his embarrassing speech.
"Okay, I changed my mind. That was the gayest thing a guy ever said." Silver eyes rolled, but refused to look at his friend, who had his face in a frown.
"But seriously, how can you say it's just a crush when you feel so strongly for her?"
Draco shrugged. As much as Blaise was going to tease him, he had to admit it was nice to have someone to really talk to about it.
"I'm not sure she feels the same, or even something similar. She repeatedly called us 'just friends', and like she really means it..." His mouth twisted.
"I don't know if I can get out of that friend zone."
"Dude... are you scared of asking her out? The Draco Malfoy, scared of asking a girl out?"
"I'm not scared!" Draco defended himself, stabbing the meat on his plate with way more force than necessary.
"Then go for it! Isn't there this Yule Ball thingy around Christmas? Go ask her to go with you. And you have to make it clear that it's not as friends." Blaise shrugged.
"If she agrees, there's definitely a chance for you. If not, you know and can at least hope to stay friends with her."
Draco frowned at his plate. He had planned to ask her ever since their summer vacation a few weeks ago, but he's been putting it off as long as possible. Now that Blaise was starting to taunt him too, he couldn't be a coward any longer.
"Fine, I'll ask her to be my date to Yule Ball."
"Have you tried making her jealous yet?"
"Why do you think did I let Pansy cling to me?"
"Bad choice, really. Pansy sounds like a psycho when talking about her."
Draco shrugged one shoulder, glaring at his plate. "She's been a bitch towards Elsa, especially since last year. I'm gonna crush her like a bug if she's harming her again."
"Overprotective much?"
The silver eyes of his best friend were intense as they met his. "When it comes to her? Yes, definitely."
"Damn, you got it bad."
When his friend didn't even deny it, Blaise knew he was totally screwed. And with how he was still skirting around the girl without approaching her after weeks now, there had to be done something.
A few days later, Blaise had decided what to do.
He found the Ravenclaw alone in the library, reading what appeared to be a book about learning french.
With a carefully masked expression, he sat down across from her, observing her reactions closely.
After a few seconds, she looked up at him.
"... Can I help you?"
Putting on a smirk, Blaise shrugged one shoulder. "I was hoping so. I'm Blaise Zabini. New here."
Elsa pursed her lips. "Transferred from Durmstrang. The year started five weeks ago and we share several classes. I know who you are."
"And yet I know so little about you."
She raised an eyebrow. "There's not much to know about me."
"I heard something entirely different."
Elsa took her time replying, busying herself by marking a spot in her book.
He was Draco's best friend, it was likely they talked about her. On the other hand, she had no idea what others, like Pansy, said about her.
"So you're one to believe random rumors?"
"I prefer building my own opinion. However, that's not why I'm here. Like I said, I was hoping you could help me."
"With what?"
"In Durmstrang we learned things differently. Not to mention the heavy accents made things even more difficult. I thought, since I heard you were quite smart, that you could help me."
Elsa blinked. It wasn't unusual that her classmates asked for her help. But Blaise was a Slytherin, and his best friend's marks were nearly perfect. So why would he come to her of all people?
Especially since Draco himself was still keeping his distance.
It could be some sort of trap, so she should be careful.
"Sure. Anything specific you need help with?"
"Oh, Astronomy maybe and Transfiguration. And Arithmancy is killing me. I really regret taking the class."
"Then why don't you drop it?"
"I need two, and before I run around with beasts, suffocate in perfume or study muggles I rather stay theoretical."
The blonde pulled out her timetable, sighing as she looked over it and all of her added scribbles that filled the spare time.
"I could make some time for you on Thursday after classes. Though we'll probably need all the time for Arithmancy and Transfiguration. Maybe you can ask Draco to help you with Astronomy instead."
"He's always been a little nerd when it comes to the stars, that hasn't really changed, has it?"
The question was innocent enough, but Elsa knew Draco wasn't going around and boasting about his passions. Blaise was obviously trying to find out if they were closer.
"I just know that his grades in Astronomy are top. And he's in your house, so you can work together after curfew."
Blaise pursed his lips. "Hm. That's true I guess. Anyways, Thursday is fine with me. Let's meet here?"
"Alright."
"And hey, as a thank you I'll help you with learning french."
"You speak french?" Elsa asked in surprise.
"Un peu." Blaise grinned. "My mom's third husband was from Toulouse. I know how to pronounce most of the words at least."
Elsa smiled, this was going quite well. "Great."
The following weeks the princess found out that Blaise was an interesting fellow.
He and Draco shared a few traits, though there were also quite a few differences.
For one, he wasn't as quidditch crazy as Draco. And he was more one for observing than actually doing things.
And with Draco somehow still keeping his distance, he was a good sounding board when none of her other friends was available.
Blaise was quite approving of Elsa so far. She was quick-thinking and quite clever, with enough wit to keep up with his jabs and hidden meanings. It was interesting indeed. He could understand how Draco was crushing on her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
A dark eyebrow raised in amusement as Blaise held up his hands in defeat when his best friend was pushing him against a wall.
"Going to my room?"
"Don't fuck with me, Zabini! You know what I mean!"
"No, thanks, I'm more of a ladies man."
It took all of his will power to not start laughing at Draco's rage-pink face and a glare that sent younger Slytherins running.
"Bulstrode saw you with Elsa in the library after classes!"
"Wow, your sources are slow. We've met for weeks, and you noticed just now?"
"Blaise..."
This time he couldn't hold back his laughter. "Chill, she's not my type. Too goodie-two-shoes. I was just checking her out. Y'know, to find out if you two are compatible. With the nice side effect of tutoring."
"It's none of your business, and I don't care if you think we're compatible or not. Stay away from her."
"Are you telling me you don't want your best friend and your future girlfriend to get along? That would be really awkward at your wedding."
"Shut up."
xxx
Hogwarts had been thoroughly scrubbed for the upcoming arrival of the other schools at the end of October.
Flitwick was working over-time to prepare the choir for the Halloween feast to make their school look good, and the other professors were trying to brief the students to be on their best behavior.
Ron had begun to accept Elsa's presence, since Hermione and Harry were still friends with her. It was a start, so the princess didn't complain.
She was busy learning a few french terms, hopeful to find out more about her real mother. Especially since Beauxbatons was Isabelle's old school.
Blaise's help did wonders, though she was still far from actually speaking, aside from maybe a few basic terms.
On the October 30, the overall mood could be described as excited. The student body was solely talking about the other schools. How they would look like, how many of their pupils would come along and so on.
Elsa was excited too. She had researched that Madame Maxime was the headmistress of Beauxbatons, has been for over 20 years, which meant she had known Isabelle personally.
If there was someone who could tell her more about her mother, it was Maxime. Of course it had to be done carefully, as not to raise suspicions.
Tilting her head at her reflection in the bathroom's mirror, Elsa wondered how much she looked like her real mother.
The only parent she clearly saw in her dream was her father, and she thought they didn't look all that much alike, aside from the eyes maybe.
Her hair was a silvery platinum blonde, in opposite to his purely white hair. The pale skin they shared, though her mother could've also had very light skin.
Anyhow, she wondered if Maxime would notice any similarities and could connect the dots. That could be dangerous indeed. Who knew how she would react?
On the other hand, she could take it with grace. One way or another, her curiosity was way too strong to just cowardly leave it be.
Later that afternoon, the students did as instructed by their heads of houses and brought their bags to their dormitories, before gathering in front of the main entrance.
They stood in lines, from first years to seventh years on the steps.
It was quite chilly, and they had to wait for a very long time. There was lots of murmuring and excited chattering.
"That new Slytherin guy said Viktor Krum would come too." Padma informed her housemates.
Anthony sighed. "Great. The Bulgaria fans will go crazy."
He eyed the giggling Padma and her friends. "Not to mention the fangirls."
Michael Corner rolled his eyes. "And he's not even that good looking. It's just because he's famous. Like with Harry at the beginning."
Elsa couldn't help but agree quietly. Fame was making people interesting, that was something she had quickly learned when coming here.
Suddenly a large carriage, pulled by gigantic winged horses, flew over the high tree tops before landing roughly on the grassy ground.
A tall woman, probably even towering over Hagrid, left the carriage first. That had to be Madame Maxime.
After her, about twenty girls and boys around 17 or 18 years old followed, all of them dressed in fine silken robes that did nothing to hold off the cold.
While Dumbledore greeted the headmistress, they observed the castle with a rather unpleasant expression on their faces, as if smelling something particularly nasty.
From what Elsa had read, Beauxbatons was quite posh and fancy. Their school was overly pompous with lots of gold and white marble. Compared to that, Hogwarts would look like a ruin to them.
Since it was quite cold, they hurried past their hosts to warm up inside the Great Hall.
Durmstrang's pupils arrived in a ship that rose from under the water.
Their headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, had a dark vibe about him, as did his students. Viktor Krum was indeed among them, causing quite the ruckus in the crowd of Hogwarts pupils.
The Quidditch professional was wearing different clothes than his classmates, and it was clear from one look that his headmaster was favoring him.
Despite that, Krum appeared to be in a rather sour mood as they too entered the castle, followed by the rest.
Elsa was pleasantly surprised to see the Beauxbatons students had seated themselves at the Ravenclaw table.
While quite a few of her classmates appeared a little intimidated by them, or perturbed by their behavior, Elsa was excited to have them here, so close.
She sat down next to them with Luna, Anthony and Michael more or less hesitatingly following.
The foreign students were talking among themselves in french, way too fast for Elsa to understand a single sentence.
She really hoped she could learn to speak as fluent as them one day.
All in all it was a quiet dinner after Dumbledore hat revealed the so-called goblet of fire and that it would pick the three champions to compete in the Triwizard Tournament.
"Do you have veela blood too? I feel it."
Elsa's eyes widened a fraction at the blunt question directed at her. It was one of the Beauxbatons girls with silvery blonde hair that seemed to glow in the candle light.
Her accent was heavy, though unfortunately she's spoken slow and clear enough for everyone to in a radius to understand her.
"My mother was quarter veela, so yes, a little." She answered honestly.
Given her fake background of being a halfblood, there wouldn't be too much confusion. However, her three Gryffindor friends and Draco shouldn't hear about this at all.
"Mh, oui, I sense it faintly. My name is Fleur, quarter veela." She introduced herself. "I didn't know there were any veelas in England."
Luna gave Elsa a look, she saw it in her peripheral vision, and took her time answering.
She didn't want to give too much away, but the temptation to do so was quite great.
"She has her roots in France, but moved away when she met my father."
The Beauxbatons girls perked up.
"Unfortunately she didn't teach me her mother tongue."
"That's... what is the word... a pity? You should learn it, it's a fantastique langue."
"I'm trying."
The older girls went back to their conversation then, but Elsa was quite happy. That had went surprisingly well.
After their high-nosed entrance, she hadn't expected them to be so nice.
"So you're a half-breed?" Michael's and Anthony's eyes were wide as they stared at her from across the table.
"... Huh?"
"With you being partly veela, it makes you a half-breed!"
"... So? Who cares?" Elsa blinked in confusion.
Michael shrugged. "I mean, okay, I guess it's good that it's veela blood and not a troll's or giant's or whatever."
Being pretty sure Hagrid was half-giant, she frowned. "What's the big deal?"
Luna leaned closer to her. "There's a lot of prejudice on those whose blood is mixed with creature's. Almost worse than with muggleborns."
"This is ridiculous..."
"Tell that to those who believe in blood purity..."
xxx
It shouldn't have been a surprise to see the Great Hall crowded the next morning.
Usually Elsa was among the very few that got up early, even on Saturday, but this day there were already many students there from every house.
Everyone wanted to see who would throw in their name into the goblet of fire.
Fred and George were trying to trick the age line around it and got long white beards for the trouble, which was quite amusing to watch. As if anyone could get past Dumbledore's magic.
Under the influence of their other friends, Ron was being civil while they ate, probably sick himself of being mad.
It had been stupid from the very beginning, but Elsa wouldn't complain. She had her friend back, after all.
Another factor of his change of mind was probably because she spent less time with Draco since the year started.
Her tutoring sessions with Blaise on Thursdays was pretty low-key, not many even knew about it.
He was a great help with pronunciation, while she helped him catch up with their current curriculum.
The new Slytherin didn't seem to have any problems at all with her, so Elsa was a little unsure of why Draco didn't approach her again.
It had been his reason for staying away, after all. Perhaps he just didn't want to be friends with her anymore all of a sudden?
However, she had other things to concentrate on.
The entrance of the Beauxbatons students, for example. They, along with their headmistress, drew all the attention in the hall.
All of the pupils threw their name in with Madam Maxime watching proudly with a confident expression.
They left as quick and graceful as they entered.
Hermione wanted to ask Hagrid if he wanted to join S.P.E.W., but when they met him at his hut he appeared rather distracted.
While his "neat" clothes were hideous, his hair looked like a complete jelly mess.
He wouldn't give them a proper explanation about this weird appearance, and Elsa wasn't sure if she even wanted to know.
The afternoon approached rather quickly, and when they decided to get back to the castle together, Hagrid tried to freshen up by drenching himself in something from a bottle.
It probably was supposed to be after-shave, but he smelled like he took a bath in several stinking ceder oils and musk.
"No, no, no." Elsa shook her head, eyes watering at the intensive stench, "Too much."
Since Harry, Hermione and Ron had about the same reaction, Hagrid hurried outside to wash it off in a barrel of water.
Elsa followed with one of his gigantic towels.
"You should wash that... whatever it is out of your hair too while you're at it." she advised.
"But it has to look good." Hagrid pouted while he dried his neck and beard, the after-shave's smell lessened considerably.
"I'll help you, just..." Elsa trailed off when she noticed Hagrid's attention was elsewhere all of a sudden, a silly grin taking over his features.
Madame Maxime was coming over to them from their large powder blue carriage that was parked conveniently close to Hagrid's hut.
Elsa needed a moment to gather her bearings. She automatically dropped a curtsy and gave a friendly "Good afternoon, Madame." when the tall woman came to stand in front of them.
Hagrid was still trying to get his face back under control.
The french headmistress eyed Elsa, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards minimally. Though, her brows furrowed ever so slightly as she took in the blonde's appearance.
For a second Elsa thought it might be recognition, her heart beating fast.
However, Maxime cleared her throat and shook her head slightly. "Good afternoon to you, too." She finally said, accent heavy.
"Nice to see at least some of Hogwarts' students have manners. Hagrid, shall we?"
Elsa smiled, proud of herself, and watched the two adults walk ahead.
"Psh, what a snob. As if the rest of us were pigs." Ron rolled his eyes as they followed them with quite the distance between them.
The Ravenclaw refrained from commenting, wanting to avoid another argument so soon.
xxx
That evening after the feast the Great Hall felt even more crowded than usual. There was a certain buzz of excitement in the air, the goblet of fire a glowing center of attention.
Elsa couldn't quite understand how everyone was so freaked over the tournament when it was said to be that dangerous. She had no idea what the tasks would include this time, but she was sure there was a reason it had been banned back then.
Yet the majority of the students thought it was a game, with the grand prize of 1,000 Galleons, and the never-ending fame that came with winning it.
Apparently being famous in the wizarding world was pretty important, if you take Harry as an example.
The ceremony started with the goblet spitting out the first name of the evening.
Viktor Krum was Durmstrang's champion. It was certainly boosting his ego even more, and it was not hurting his already great fame at all.
He held a superior air around him as he walked through the aisle between the Slytherin and Hufflepuff tables towards the professors and vanished behind a side door.
The Beauxbatons students were huddled together, each of them crossing their fingers as if it was already a victory when you were picked as champion.
Fleur Delacour's name was announced, and the quarter veela was as proud as one could be.
Maxime shared the smirk, apparently very sure that her student would win.
Elsa couldn't imagine participating in barbaric games like these.
It was getting really suspenseful. Hogwarts' champion would be drawn next.
The princess didn't know of many who put their name in, Cedric Diggory was one of them according to Cho, Angelina Johnson from Gryffindor, two seventh year Ravenclaws. She didn't know anything about the Slytherins, but there sure were a few who tried.
When Cedric's name was called out by Dumbledore, the Hufflepuff table erupted into cheers. Not only them, there were quite a few applauding along.
He bathed in the rush of the cheers as he followed the other champions into the side door.
"I knew he would be our champion, he's just awesome..." Cho said dreamily, still clapping along with the others.
Becky rolled her eyes and laughed.
Dumbledore calmed the students down and was trying to give a little speech to end the feast, when the goblet suddenly flared up and spit out another piece of parchment.
"Harry Potter!" The headmaster did seem really surprised, which was not assuring the slightest.
How was this possible? He wasn't 17 yet, he couldn't have gone past the age line.
Could it be someone else threw his name in? But why?
Elsa watched Harry hesitantly making his way towards the front of the room, silence his companion.
No, judging his blanched expression he certainly didn't want to participate. Someone must've put his name in the goblet without his consent.
There had to be a rule that would get him out of this mess. They surely wouldn't allow a 14-year-old to join such a dangerous tournament... right?
The rest of the students were dismissed, while most of the professors joined the champions in the side room, most certainly to discuss the matter.
"I can't believe he managed to throw his name in!"
"Can't he let others be the center of attention once?"
"Potter sucks, why did he do that?!"
All around the pupils were voicing their confusion and anger. Elsa couldn't grasp how they were turning against him so fast. Did they really believe he's done it on purpose?
As it turned out, they did.
It was bad enough that it was decided he had to participate, he didn't need his own classmates against him.
Even Ron didn't believe in Harry's innocence. The week after the feast was hell for Harry, it was radio silence between him and Ron.
The Weasley kept to his other Gryffindor friends, and it was weighing Harry's mood down even more.
Elsa was included in the silent treatment. With Ron because his anger for her lying had flared up again, and with Harry because he was hiding away in his common room or wherever.
She couldn't even blame him with how the others were being jerks towards him.
Two weeks after the disaster, Elsa found him by the lake with Neville. He was sitting by the roots of a tree with a book, while Neville was digging around in the muddy water for something.
She greeted the other Gryffindor with a small wave before coming to stand next to Harry.
He didn't even look up from his Herbology book. "Are you here to tell me how irresponsible I am?"
"I'm here to ask how you were doing." Elsa tilted her head. "Throwing your name in would've been insane. I don't think you did it."
Harry paused for a few seconds, then closed the book with a sigh and gave a defeated smile.
"Thanks, that makes three people who don't hate me."
Elsa eyed the muddy ground and opted to just crouch next to him to be on eye-level with her friend.
She guessed he was talking about Neville and Hermione as the other two.
"I know for a fact that Luna and Cho also don't think you did it. And I'm sure they're not the only ones."
Harry scoffed, playing with a piece of bark from the tree. "They sure know how to hide their support."
Neville made his way out of the water and carefully waddled over to them on bare feet. He had something slimy and green in his hands that had Elsa scrunch up her face.
"I can't speak for the others, but Seamus and Dean are on your side. They're just afraid to be targeted too when they show it."
Elsa frowned. "But what does that say about them when they put their social status above their friend?"
"Most teenagers are scared when it comes to their social status." Neville shrugged. "It's all about how others see you and how you deal with it. It determines your future."
Harry frowned. "What does it have to do with their future if they make fun of me? Seriously, this is the Heir of Slytherin case all over again."
Neville put the slime thing in a container and wiped his hands on his pants. "Well, it also depends on their personality. Take us, for example." He gestured between himself and Elsa.
"People see me as a loser. It could make me shy and bitter, giving me trouble trusting people. Instead, because of my personality, it makes me wanna try harder, gives me the boost I need to gain confidence in my later life."
"With Elsa it's different. She's popular and smart, it could make her stuck-up and over-confident. But since she doesn't care about what the others think and her personality, she's nice and grateful and knows what hard work is."
Elsa blinked at the insightful theory, coming from Neville of all people. She hasn't seen herself as popular, though aside from Pansy she didn't have any enemies.
Harry sat a little straighter. "So you think because Malfoy is popular and rich he's so stuck up, for example?"
Neville shrugged. "He was at the beginning, yeah. But not anymore as far as I can tell."
"Maybe you can tell me why Ron acts as if I stole his favorite toy."
"Ron is-"
"What about me?"
The three whipped their heads around to see Ron, Ginny and Hermione standing there.
The two girls appeared rather reluctant to be here with a fuming Ron.
Neville flushed and turned around to go back into the lake, while Harry and Elsa stood facing him.
"What do you want?" Harry spat, easily adapting the redhead's offensive tone.
Ron's jaw worked, but Ginny's hand on his shoulder kept him from exploding. She gave us an apologetic shrug.
Hermione hunched up her shoulders. "Hagrid wants to see you. He says it's important."
As soon as she was done delivering the message, Ron twirled around and stomped off again, the two girls hot on his heels to calm him down.
"And he couldn't tell me that?" Harry grumbled, grabbing his discarded Herbology book from the ground.
"Maybe wanted to, but changed his mind when you snapped at him?" Elsa offered with a hint of humor, though she knew there was nothing funny about them arguing.
"He started it."
"He thought we were talking about him."
"Please, he has everyone on his side. Can't you just agree with me?"
Elsa couldn't help but chuckle. "Fine, how about we just change the topic. You should go see Hagrid now."
"Want to come with me? You could tell me more about what Cho said about me..."
The two of them bade their goodbye to Neville and made their way towards Hagrid's hut.
"Do you have a crush on her?" Elsa teased, enjoying how flustered Harry became.
"No! I mean, she's cool. And great at quidditch."
Elsa just gave him an amused look. Harry scratched the back of his head.
"So, you said she believes me?"
"Exactly. She even brushed off Becky when she declared her crazy for thinking so."
The Gryffindor gave a wide smile, the brightest she's seen him since the Triwizard Debacle.
"It's good to know she doesn't think I'm a traitor or an attention whore like everyone else does." He shyly shrugged one shoulder.
"I was thinking about asking her out for Yule Ball."
"I suppose she wouldn't say no if you asked her." Elsa mused. Of course she would prefer Cedric, but the odds of that happening were slim to non-existent.
"If nobody else asks her first, that is."
Harry gulped, eyes wide. "You'd think she'd agree? But what if she says no?"
"Don't worry, even if she declines she's going to be really nice about it."
"Great, you're so good at pep talk."
"Harry Potter, are you being sarcastic?"