Gabriela left after the girls finished eating and Ada asked Freddie if she wanted to hear a few Muggle fairytales. Freddie felt slightly embarrassed because she had asked this in front of Akinyi and Madame Garnier, but Akinyi looked intrigued.
"I would like to hear them," Akinyi said. "I have always been fascinated by the old folktales from my country, even the Muggle ones. My mother used to tell me stories of Anansi the Spider, he is one of the most popular characters in West African Muggle folklore."
"Is your mother a Muggle?" Ada asked her curiously.
"Yeah, I am half-blood. I could tell you an Anansi story if you tell us a Muggle fairytale from your country?" Akinyi offered.
"Oo yes! I would love to hear one," the girl said brightly. "I will go first. Hmm...Have you ever heard the story of Cinderella? It was first written by Charles Perrault in the 17th century and versions of the story are now told worldwide."
"I do not think I know it," Akinyi said.
"I definitely don't," Freddie added. "But I'd like to hear it, too."
"Oh good," Ada said, looking pleased. "Most Muggle fairytales start with the phrase 'Once upon a time' and that is how this one begins. So... Once upon a time there was a girl named Cinderella. She lived with her evil stepmother and two evil stepsisters, who treated her like a slave. Every day Cinderella had to cook and clean for them. She worked hard all day long while the others did nothing..."
Freddie listened, resting her head on one arm, as her friend told the story of Cinderella. Ada was animated, her green eyes sparkling as she told how Cinderella had snuck away from her family to go to a ball at the King's castle where she met a prince who fell in love with her. At the end of the tale, when the prince came to take Cinderella away from her family, Freddie noticed the dreamy look in Akinyi's eyes as she listened.
"-And they lived happily ever after. The end," Ada finished. "That is how a lot of their stories end as well, with 'happily ever after'."
Freddie thought it was certainly different from the Beedle the Bard tales Ada had told her earlier. Not all of the Beedle tales had a happily ever after ending, particularly The Warlock's Hairy Heart.
"We do have a fable like this in my country, now that I have heard it," Akinyi said. "The story of Nyasha. Would you like me to tell it or would you rather hear an Anansi story?"
"I would like to hear both if you do not mind," Ada said shyly. "I am curious to hear the version of Cinderella that made its way to Africa."
"Well Nyasha is not exactly the same, but it is similar. I will tell it as best as I can remember – it has been years since I was a child listening to my mother tell these stories," she said with a smile. "There once was a man named Mufaro who had two daughters. Mufaro loved both of his daughters, but Manyara is selfish and conceited while Nyasha is kind and sensitive. Nyasha befriends a magical snake named Nyoka while working in her garden. Soon the King of Zimbabwe announces that he is seeking a wife. Both Manyara and Nyasha make the difficult journey to his city. Along the way, the sisters encounter a hungry boy and an old woman. Nyasha happily shares her food and is kind to all she encounters while Manyara refuses to share and is disrespectful. When the sisters approach the King's room, Nyasha discovers that the king is actually her friend, the magical snake Nyoka. Nyoka asks for Nyasha's hand in marriage and her selfish sister is forced to become her servant."
Akinyi wasn't as good a storyteller as Ada, but Freddie enjoyed listening to her talk. She really liked the way her accent sounded, clipped and cool. Ada's french accent lent a more musical quality to her words.
"That was really good," Ada told Akinyi, though Freddie suspected she was just being nice. "Thank you for telling it to me. I know I am getting too old for fairy tales-" She looked slightly embarrassed and Freddie smiled reassuringly at her. "-but I love collecting stories."
"Then I will tell you the story of Anansi and the Turtle," Akinyi declared. "I probably remember that story better than any other. My mother used to tell it to me frequently because it is about sharing food and that is not something I liked to do as a child. But first tell me another story from your country. You are much better at telling stories than I am."
"Thank you," Ada said, her cheeks pink. "Okay. This is the story of Little Red Riding Hood..."
The two of them spent the next few hours exchanging stories while Freddie just listened. She wished she had a story to share too but as much as she wracked her brain she couldn't come up with one. But she liked listening to them and for a while she almost forgot all about the Potions Championship.
Until one of the doors opened, banging against the stone wall as Andrei came striding out. Freddie looked at her watch – he had been in the Enchanted Garden for almost 3 hours and she wondered what could have taken him so long. He looked confident and smug as he walked across the courtyard and she started to wonder if it was possible that he had won.
If he wins I'm definitely asking Severus if we can leave, I'll beg if I have to. I don't wanna sit around listening to him being smug, she thought to herself. He doesn't even look injured and all the rest of us came out with injuries.
But as Andrei got closer Freddie saw there was blood dripping from his right hand. Madame Garnier didn't even notice until he walked over to her.
"I need some dittany," he told her stiffly, holding out his hand. There was a large bite covering his palm and it was bleeding heavily. "If I could have found some in the arena I would have healed it myself."
"Oh my," Madame Garnier said, hurriedly opening her case. "What bit you?"
"Just give me the dittany," he said shortly. "I want this healed before the judges come out and announce me the winner."
Freddie rolled her eyes at Ada, but the girl looked worried. Freddie leaned close so she could whisper in her ear.
"There's no way he can know who won," she assured her. "Plus, he took longer in the Garden than anyone else. He was gone almost three hours."
"It usually takes the judges a while to decide," Madame Garnier was telling Andrei. "Anywhere from ten minutes to- well one time it was over an hour before they came out. They spent quite a while arguing over the winner."
"That will not happen this year," Andrei said confidently. "I am certain it will be me. Those challenges were easy."
Freddie opened her mouth to ask why it had taken him so long then, but Ada grabbed her arm and shook her head. 'Rise above' she mouthed and Freddie remembered what she'd said earlier about Dimitri - just because he was awful didn't mean they should stoop to his level.
When Andrei had healed his hand he came to sit at the table with them, next to Akinyi.
"How did it go?" Akinyi asked him.
"Flawlessly," Andrei answered with a self-satisfied smirk. Freddie had to fight the urge to roll her eyes at him and Ada patted her hand under the table. She wished that the two of them could go off somewhere, but she felt like they were supposed to wait with the other competitors. She looked around for Dimitri and saw that he was now slumped against the gate, asleep. She decided to leave him there. He wasn't her responsibility after all, she didn't even like him that much.
So the four of them waited, sitting together at the table under the tent. There was no conversation, no more sharing of fairy tales now that Andrei was with them, though Freddie would have appreciated the distraction. She watched the minutes tick by on her watch and dreaded the moment that was coming. Dreading when the judges came out to announce the winner and she would have to face Snape and her own failures. He'd said last night that he would be proud of her no matter what...but she knew he would be disappointed in her. It wasn't like she had tried her best and someone was just a better Potioneer...she had failed because she'd done something stupid. She could practically hear his voice calling her 'foolish girl', could see the annoyed look he would have on his face when he said it. He claimed he could never hate her, but he would probably be mad at her...and he would definitely be disappointed.
Freddie bit back a groan and put her head down on her arms on top of the table. She felt like she was going to puke and was regretting the one pastry she'd forced herself to eat, when suddenly Ada elbowed her in the ribs.
"Freddie," she said uneasily. She lifted her head to see Ada's face had paled and her green eyes looked fearful, but she wasn't looking at her. Freddie followed her gaze to see the middle door had opened and the judges were coming out one by one, with Monsieur Benoit in the lead. When Snape's dark figure came through the doorway Freddie quickly looked away. She couldn't bring herself to look at him so she stared at her splinted wrist on the table.
"Gather round everyone!" Monsieur Benoit called and she had to look up again. All the judges were standing in front of the gold cauldron. Freddie reluctantly rose from the table with the others, but she noticed Ada didn't move. The girl was trembling, her hands clasped together in her lap.
"Hey," Freddie said softly, putting her good hand on Ada's shoulder. "Come on. Be confident."
She nodded and got to her feet slowly. Freddie waited for her while Andrei and Akinyi were already walking to the middle of the courtyard. She could tell Ada was struggling to maintain her composure, to hide the distressed look on her face.
"It's going to be you," Freddie assured her as they left the tent. "I know it is. You got through the Garden faster than any of us."
For some reason it was easy to console Ada. Even thought Freddie felt just as worried as her friend, she was better at hiding it. By the time they joined Akinyi and Andrei in front of the judges Ada had a more composed expression, though her face was still ghostly pale. Freddie kept her gaze on the grass between them and the judges, still not able to look at Snape.
"Wait, we are missing one," Monsieur Benoit said and they all looked around for Dimitri. He was still asleep.
"I had to give him a Calming Draught," Madame Garnier explained. She had followed them over and stood a few feet away from the judges.
"I will go get him," said a voice and Freddie looked up to see it was Professor Devin speaking. He was Dimitri's Potions Master and he looked exasperated as he left his spot among the judges to go retrieve his student.
Freddie turned to watch as Devin marched over to the gate, said something to Dimitri, then pulled him roughly to his feet. She could feel Snape's gaze on her and it made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. When she couldn't take it anymore she turned back and finally looked at him.
His expression was completely unreadable. She couldn't tell if he was disappointed or angry...if anything he looked a bit bored. She'd seen that expression on his face plenty of times, usually when a student asked him to explain something. She didn't know if it was a good thing that she was seeing it now.
Is it Ada? She asked him silently, wondering if he could hear her. I know it's not me, so please tell me it's Ada.
But he didn't answer. He probably wasn't in her head at all. His gaze flicked past her as Professor Devin returned with Dimitri. The boy looked almost drunk from the effects of the Calming Draught. He stumbled slightly as Devin pushed him into line beside Freddie.
"Just stand there," Devin hissed at him, then returned to his spot. "I am sorry about that everyone. The Calming Draught seems to have had a particularly strong effect on my student. Monsieur Benoit please continue."
"Thank you. After much deliberation we have finally selected our winner. First I would like to congratulate everyone. Each of you showed remarkable talent in brewing potions...but as you learned today this contest is not just about brewing potions. You were asked to assess a number of situations, determine what potions you were expected to brew, identify and retrieve ingredients, and above all use your wits to get through the trials set before you."
Freddie looked away again, staring at the grass. She felt like his last words were directed at her. She certainly hadn't used her wits to solve the riddle in her last challenge.
"Without further ado," Benoit said grandly. "Our second place champion, winner of 250 Galleons, is...Adalene Leroux, from Beauxbatons!"
Freddie let out a breath of air as everyone started to clap. It's not Ada. The winner isn't Ada, it's either Akinyi or Andrei. It's going to be Andrei...oh please don't let it be him...
"Congratulations," Freddie whispered to Ada, who was looking shocked but pleased. When she looked back up at the judges she noticed the Karkaroff looked distinctly unhappy.
"And it is my great pleasure," Benoit continued. "To announce the winner of the gold cauldron and this year's Wizarding Schools Potions Championship...the Hogwarts competitor, Winifred Gray!"
"What?" she cried, looking up. "Wait – what?"
She was certain she had heard him wrong, but suddenly Ada was hugging her and there were people congratulating her – Akinyi, the Ministry officials, Madame Garnier, some of the other Potion Masters. Even Lady Karen congratulated her, with a smile that didn't reach her eyes but Freddie was too dazed to care. She saw Karkaroff looking furious and he stomped away towards the gate.
"Congratulations," Andrei said coldly before following his headmaster.
Monsieur Benoit came forward to shake her hand and he handed her a sack of gold coins, saying how impressed he'd been with the way she tackled each challenge. Freddie still couldn't believe it. Then Snape appeared in front of her and he was smiling.
"Well done, Miss Gray," he said and then embraced her right there in front of everyone. Before he pulled away he whispered in her ear. "I am so proud of you, Winifred..."