It's time for another update as we start to see where things are going for Ursa in her final year at Hogwarts, which will certainly be her toughest one yet regardless of where the plot goes.

Change in the Air

The holidays came and went, and it was soon time for Draco and Ursa to return to Hogwarts. This was going to be Ursa's biggest year yet, since she was walking into her final year as Head Girl which meant that she was going to be more busy than usual, but Ursa was up for the challenge. There was also a cloud hanging over everyone as they returned to Hogwarts, with the events at the World Cup still being fresh on everyone's minds. Ursa was trying not to think about what happened there, since she figured that it was a situation that she would rather stay ignorant about.

Upon arriving at Hogwarts, they were all ushered to the Great Hall for the welcoming feast like always, and the usual discussion for everyone was who the new Defence Professor would be, even though Ursa already knew thanks to her cousin's blabber mouth. As per usual, Dumbledore went through his welcoming speech until he was interrupted by a disturbance that was resolved by Mad Eye Moody's sudden appearance before he was officially introduced as their new Defence Professor. Then Dumbledore continued with his speech, until he said something that instantly caught Ursa's attention.

"It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

Whispers immediately broke out in the crowd and people even laughed at the announcement. Ursa probably would've laughed too if she wasn't so speechless. Of course Ursa knew about the Triwizard Tournament since it was only one of the most infamous events in wizarding history. As Dumbledore explained the Triwizard Tournament, Ursa's look of bafflement turned into a grin as she realised what this meant. The three schools that competed in the tournament were Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Ursa's cousin attended Beauxbatons, and was even in the same year as her, which could only mean that her cousin would be coming to Hogwarts and that Ursa could be seeing her cousin in person for the first time in years.

They were then dismissed after the feast and headed to their dormitories, though all anyone could talk about was the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament.

"Isn't it cool?" Tessa grinned as they headed towards Ravenclaw Tower. "This tournament is gonna be awesome."

"Sure, but Quidditch is cancelled because of it," Roger grumbled.

"We should just be glad that Flint and Wood have left now. Could you imagine the riot they would have started if they were here for that announcement?" Tessa remarked.

Ursa couldn't help but snort to herself, since she knew that Tessa was right. Marcus and Oliver had always been the two biggest Quidditch fanatics for as long as she had been at Hogwarts, and she had no doubt that they would have been seething at Quidditch being cancelled for something like the Triwizard Tournament.

"There would've been hell to pay if they were here for that," Ursa agreed.

"So, are you guys going to enter?" Tessa asked.

Roger shrugged, "I might give it a go. I don't know."

"Well, I'm going to go for it. It would be nice to finally be noticed around here for my own accomplishments," Tessa proclaimed. "What about you, Ursa?"

Ursa shrugged. "I don't know. I kind of want to throw my name in the hat and just see how it turns out."

"Aren't you already busy enough with Head Girl duties? And besides, what would you even have to gain from the tournament? It's not like you need money and you're already great on your own," Tessa pointed out, though Ursa could faintly notice some bitterness in Tessa's voice.

"It wouldn't be about the money for me. It would just be nice to prove myself worthy of something as prestigious as the Triwizard Tournament. My accomplishments are always downgraded because I'm a Malfoy so for once, I just want to feel like I really earned something on my own merits," Ursa stated.

"I would've thought that you'd be above entering yourself in something as dangerous and reckless as the Triwizard Tournament," Roger commented.

"So did I. But it would just be nice to have an accomplishment like that for myself. Maybe then both of my parents would actually be proud of me," Ursa said.

"It would be nice for me to have a moment without my best friend always hogging the spotlight," Tessa muttered, though Ursa could only faintly make out what she said and chose not to acknowledge it.

"Hey, don't your cousins go to Beauxbatons?" Roger asked.

Ursa grinned. "They do! And my eldest is in the same year as us which means that she'd be coming. At least I hope so. It's been so long since I've seen them."

"How come?" Tessa wondered.

"You know why," Ursa grumbled. "Because my father is just an absolute git about who we associate with, and apparently they're not good enough because their mother's blood is questionable."

"Your father is an asshole," Tessa remarked.

"You got that right," Ursa muttered.

"How'd your parents react to you being Head Girl?" Roger asked.

Ursa shrugged, "My mother was proud and bought me a new necklace but my mother is the kind of mother that thinks spoiling her children is the best way to show them love. As for my father, he refrained from making any ludicrous remarks and congratulated me from my efforts but that was it before he whisked Draco away to the World Cup."

"It was awesome, a part from the whole Death Eater nonsense," Tessa commented.

"I wouldn't call it nonsense since we should be worried if the Death Eaters are on the move again. They're not a force that should be underestimated," Ursa said.

"Let's just see if we can get through the school year with some kind of normality," Roger remarked.

Ursa scoffed, "How do you expect anything to be normal about this year with the Triwizard Tournament here? That's basically asking for trouble."

"We'll just wait and see how long it takes before everything turns to shit," Tessa said.

With this being their final year at Hogwarts, Ursa really didn't quite know what to expect from it, especially with the Triwizard Tournament being involved now. Ursa hadn't even been sure of it when she mentioned possibly throwing her name in the cup, but now her words were definitely on her mind. It would be nice to prove herself once and for all, but Ursa was never the kind to just jump the gun and do something on a whim. If she was really going to enter her name into the Triwizard Tournament, she was going to have to give it a long and hard thought before doing so.

~*•°•*~

Now that Ursa had her Head Girl duties to attend to, she didn't have as much spare time like she used to in previous years which meant that Ursa was yet to find time to see Hermione again. Though from what she had heard so far, Hermione was causing quite the fuss with the House Elves. The talk from everyone was about the Triwizard Tournament, with people constantly discussing putting their names in or arguing about the age limit. The only people who could enter the tournament were seventh years and a select few sixth years who have already had their birthday. Ursa wasn't even sure if she should be surprised at the fact that most people seemed to be excited about the tournament rather than nervous about it.

Classes had begun, and Ursa's last class on the first day had been Defence. Ursa was quite intrigued to see how Mad-Eye Moody was as a teacher, and he certainly lived up to his name. Ursa had been left gobsmacked as Moody willingly showed the three Unforgiveable Curses to their class. While her classmates were intrigued, Ursa was mortified. After all, those curses were unforgiveable for a reason and Ursa couldn't believe that Moody would just show them off in a classroom like he did, even with his status as an Auror.

Like always, everyone joined together in the Great Hall for dinner after the first day of classes, and everyone who'd had Moody as a teacher was talking about his lesson.

"I always knew that Mad-Eye Moody was a bit well… mad…but I never expected him to be like that," Tessa commented as they sat at dinner.

"I can't believe that Moody would have the audacity to use those curses in a classroom. I hope that he isn't showing them to the younger students," Ursa stated.

"Oh, don't be such a stick in the mud, Ursa. Moody himself said that we're allowed to see the curses once we're in our sixth year. It's not like Moody was using them on someone, and that's probably the closest that any of us will ever get to seeing the Unforgiveables. At least now we know what they can do," Tessa argued.

"You shouldn't even want to know what they can do! And their names are pretty self-explanatory. The Killing Curse, the Imperious Curse and the Torture Curse. You shouldn't need a demonstration to know what those curses are capable of," Ursa proclaimed.

"It was just a spider," Tessa scoffed.

"So what? All life is sacred regardless of how evil or bloodthirsty it might be," Ursa argued.

"Even You-Know-Who? Or your psychotic aunt?" Tessa pointed out.

"Yes, even them. Everyone should be treated like they're worth giving a chance," Ursa stated.

"You're weird," Tessa muttered.

Dinner continued as usual, with the talk of the Great Hall remaining the same, so Ursa lost interest to the multiple conversations that were going on around her as she read her Arithmancy textbook. It wasn't until Ursa started to see people leaving the Great Hall that she realised dinner was over, so Ursa was all too happy to get up and leave, only for a commotion at the entrance to stop them. Ursa groaned as she saw Draco taunting Hermione's friends, since she knew this could only end badly. Sure enough, it did when a comment from Harry set Draco off to the point where he was about to curse him from behind, only for Moody to intervene by transfiguring Draco into a ferret.

Ursa watched in disgust as Moody bounced Draco up and down in his ferret form while everyone around them had the audacity to laugh. It only got worse when Draco's friends tried to help him, only for Moody to dump Draco down Crabbe or Goyle's pants. Ursa couldn't really tell who since she had never really been able to tell them apart before. Mortified by what was happening, Ursa rushed over to grab McGonagall for assistance and was relieved when the Transfiguration Professor returned Draco to his normal state before Draco took off running from the Great Hall.

"That was hilarious!" Ursa heard Tessa cackling from beside her.

Ursa turned to glare at her friend, "That was my brother."

"And I'm sure that he did something to deserve that," Tessa snickered.

"Have some compassion for goodness sake!" Ursa snapped before storming out of the Great Hall with every intention of finding her brother.

Ursa was glad to hear McGonagall giving Moody a lecture for his inappropriate behaviour. If McGonagall hadn't done that, Ursa would've been more than glad to put the mad professor in his place. He had no right to abuse his authority as a teacher that way, and Ursa didn't even want to think about how traumatising it had probably been for her brother. Draco had proven to be elusive for several hours before Ursa managed to track him down to an abandoned classroom.

"Draco," Ursa acknowledged him as he entered the room. Her brother instantly turned around, wincing as he did so.

"Here to come and mock me?" Draco snarled.

"No, I'm here to help you," Ursa said.

Draco scoffed, "Why?"

"Because what Moody did to you was absolutely wrong. He had no right to abuse his authority like he did," Ursa replied.

"I'm sure that Potter and everyone else who laughed would disagree," Draco seethed.

Ursa sighed, "What Potter even do to offend you this time?"

"He insulted mother! I wasn't just going to let him get away with that," Draco answered.

"While I agree that Potter should have left mother out of it, that also doesn't give you the right to try and hex him with his back turned. That's a cheap shot, coming from you," Ursa reasoned.

"So what you're saying is that I should've hexed Potter when he was facing me?" Draco clarified.

"You shouldn't have tried to hex him at all because then all you would be doing is getting yourself into more trouble," Ursa stated.

"Because everyone and their mother fucking loves Potter," Draco snarled.

"Are you hurt?" Ursa asked in an attempt to distract Draco from another anti-Potter rant.

"I think my ribs are bruised," Draco muttered.

"Listen, when Moody, you know… dumped you down his pants. Did you… you know, experience it?" Ursa asked.

"All of it," Draco spat.

"That is… unfortunate," Ursa said.

"You better believe that I'm gonna be going straight to father about this!" Draco proclaimed.

"Good, because you should," Ursa agreed.

"He's going to make Moody wish he'd never – wait, you agree?" Draco stammered.

Ursa nodded, "Yes, I agree. Like I said, Moody had no right to abuse his authority like that and any student in your position would have every right to inform their parents."

"But you never like Father getting involved in anything," Draco pointed out.

"For this one time I'll make an exception," Ursa stated.

"Good," Draco nodded. "So um, what do you want to do with the Triwizard Tournament?"

Ursa shrugged, "I might just throw my hat into the ring and see how it goes. It'd be nice to prove myself."

"Well, I don't think you could be the worst champion we could have," Draco remarked.

"Thanks, Draco," Ursa deadpanned.

It was at that point that Ursa realised that she was actually having a normal conversation without any malice with her brother. They hadn't talked much after he had gotten Ursa off the hook, so she was yet to ask him why he did it in the first place. But that wasn't the most important thing on her mind since Ursa could see that Draco was in pain after being manhandled by Moody.

"We should get you looked at. I'll escort you to Madam Pomfrey," Ursa said.

"No, take me to Snape instead," Draco replied.

"Okay," Ursa conceded, not wanting to start another argument with him.

Their walk to Snape's office was mostly in silence, with Draco occasionally muttering about Potter. It was just nice for them to have a little moment like this, even though Draco was in pain. They eventually made it to Snape's office and the Potions Professor greeted them with his usual expressionless face.

"Draco, Ursa. To what do I owe the interruption?" Snape addressed them.

"Um, Draco is hurt after what Moody did to him in the Great Hall," Ursa replied.

"And why have you not let yourself get looked at until now?" Snape asked Draco.

"Because I didn't want to," Draco muttered.

"I suggested that he went to Madam Pomfrey, but he wanted to see you instead, Professor," Ursa said.

"I suppose that will do. Thank you, Miss Malfoy. You may go now. And five points to Ravenclaw for your assistance," Snape said.

If Ursa had allowed her eyes to widen, they would've. In all her seven years at Hogwarts, Ursa couldn't think of one time that Snape had given her House Points. He'd always taken them away from her, not given her them. But of course it would be because of Draco that she received her first (and probably only) points from Snape. But Ursa was hardly going to complain about it. Instead, she gave Draco one last look before exiting her Potions Professor's office.

Another first for Ursa was her and Draco actually having a pleasant moment at school, since any of their conversations had always been antagonistic at Hogwarts. That, and they also kind of had an unspoken agreement where they didn't speak to each other at school unless it was absolutely necessary. If these first few days were anything to go by, this year was certainly going to be different.

And so the year begins, with Ursa and Draco's relationship taking yet another interesting turn. Next chapter we'll finally get to meet their cousins, and here's another friendly reminder that they're not just random characters that I made up ;).