About a week had past until the newspapers came in, everyone talking about the amazing performances of the seven champions and tossing around possible spells Ness could have used to deflect the last minute head on fire attack.

Some theorized that Ness had taken a Flame Resistance potion before going up against the Spiked Tail Mountain Dragon, others suggested a quick shield charm while Luna's Father said that Ness used a spell to tunnel underground at the last moment. (Ness got a good laugh out of that.)

Of course, Harry, Adaliz and Alexander were dragged into the realm of theories, some wondering how Adaliz had managed to create such a potent way of distracting the River Frost Dragon and complaining slightly that she hadn't ranked first for getting out unscathed. Alexander's theories were mostly about how the boy managed not the faint while he performed a bubble head charm on the dragon to use her own voice against her while he snatched her egg and fled.

Cedric, Victor and Flur got a couple theories but it was clear that everyone was rooting for the underdogs, infuriating the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins even more since the only bad things the newspapers could say was a possible romance between Ness and Ginny and Harry and Hermione when they recounted how Hermione could have taught Harry Accio and how overjoyed Ginny was to see that Ness was alright.

Selivs used this information to relentlessly heckle Ginny about Ness being her boyfriend and managed to get his housemates on the joke so Ginny couldn't secretly hex him.

The Mystic Informant hadn't arrived yet so they couldn't see what the American wizards thought of the first challenge. But that was okay, it allowed Ness to worry about something more important, like the Yule Ball which was announced during breakfast at the start of December. At first, it was a simple little thing which Ness ignored since he planned on heading home for the holidays and it was for Fourth year students and older to attend to celebrate the temporary truce between the three schools and the Tri-Wizard tournament, or the lack of.

He was never a fan for stuffy parties that forced him into formal wear since they took waaay to long to end and were a giant nuisance. But he quickly payed attention when Dumbledore added, "The ball shall begin at eight, opened by our Tri-wizard champions and their partners, and shall end at midnight."

"…Why?" Ness simple questioned as classes started up and he was dragged away by Ginny, "Because, the universe hates you." Ginny offered, glaring at a couple of now envious Gryffindor girls over that fact that she was holding Ness's hand.

"Everyone's going to ask me to take them to the ball." Ness bemoaned as they entered the Charms classroom, "Aren't they?"

"Yup." Ginny replied, taking her usual seat behind Ness as class started and they went into turning coarse leather into floaty silk, something Ness flat out ignored since he knew he was only going to get a headache and an F for trying.

Instead, he focused on more important thoughts, like possibly finding somewhere to hide until December was over. Sure, he normally didn't find school dances that bad, despite his hatred for wearing formal clothes he didn't mind going to them just for the heck of it.

But this wasn't just a school dance, it was a dance between three competing schools with a diverse house system and rumors lurking around the corners, Ness couldn't just randomly ask to go with someone as a friend since he could barely remember anyone in his class thanks to all the tense atmosphere plaguing him, completely killing his whatever vibe.

Hogwarts was becoming really, really dumb. Which was saying something since Ness used to think his old school was dumb given how obsessed the students were with social classes and hanging out with the cool kids. Now, it just seemed petty and a bit more enjoyable.

"I need to call mom." Ness realized as a wave of homesickness crashed down on him. Causing his stomach to curl into knots and his mood to dip into quiet depression as he realized he couldn't just call her, he would have to write her a letter and then wait almost a week for her reply.

His home sickness grew even worse when Professor McGonagall posted a list of what they should wear to the ball and strict orders to look presentable while letting their hair down. This was no longer 'just' a dance, it was a 'prom night' which required careful planning of who you were going to ask out, what you were going to wear and pictures. Which would have been tearfully taken by his mom if he was back home.

King would probably yell that he was a penguin and demand to know why they kidnapped him, Tracey would relentlessly tease him about his date while his father would call him and give him some embarrassing tips about what not to do at a prom dance.

Harry and Ron didn't help either since the next day they dragged him away from the girls to ask who he was going to take to the ball, which was slowly annoying Ness to death despite learning about it yesterday.

"I dunno," Ness lamely answered, wanting to sneak up to the dorm room and try and write a letter just to get the crushing feeling of not being home off his chest, "I'll probably just go solo."

"To the Yule ball?!" Ron exclaimed, "Ness, it's a once in a life time opportunity! And, you and Harry have a bunch of cute girls to pick from!"

"Sort of like the Tri-wizard tournament." Harry bitterly reminded Ron, causing the red-head to flush with embarrassment and stammer, "W-well, this is a good once in a life time opportunity!" before he focused on Ness who was daydreaming about Tracey's last snowball fight to the death which they performed almost every Christmas.

Would he be allowed to leave after the Ball? It would be after Christmas eve, he would probably have enough time if he packed his bags beforehand and left right after the dance.

The dance that was ending at midnight. Dang it, he wouldn't be able to make it back in time for Christmas morning—unless he teleported! Yes, teleportation could get him there and back—

"Ness!" he jumped and almost choked on a piece of egg he had been absently chewing on as Harry and Ron shot him worried looks, "Ness, are you alright?" Harry asked, "You were spacing out on us."

"Yea mate, something wrong?" Ron pressed.

Ness blinked, confused as to where he was at the moment before he bluntly answered, "Just homesick." And resumed eating breakfast, even though his stomach felt like a web of knots.

"Oh yea, you guys won't be able to take off for break." Ron realized before he tried to cheer Ness up, "Well, don't worry! You can write your mum about the good news!"

"Which well take exactly a week for me to send it and another week to receive it." Ness deadpanned, feeling oddly cranky as he heard the excited whispers about the Yule ball and who was taking who. The dance wasn't for twenty-nine days and everyone was overflowing with excitement! Which would soon translate to relentless energy to hover around the champions.

Unless, the girls in Europe had more tact than the girls back home. He knew a couple who weren't afraid to nervously stalk the person they wanted to go to the dance with.

Ness grimaced as another wave of homesickness washed over him, eating his good mood away as it reminded him just how far away he was from home. He wasn't in another town or a couple miles away. He was in another continent, in another country, in another culture. One that didn't seem able to shut up about the dumb ball.

"I'm going on ahead." Ness said, standing up and abandoning his breakfast minutes before class started. Not caring that he left his friends behind who watched him with confused and worried expressions or that he was basically sitting in an empty Transfiguration classroom trying to write a letter to his family.

Transfiguration. Did he really have to be here? It wasn't like he could do magic anyway, and he had just about given up faking it after Professor Kale's insight to PSI, pointing out how vastly different they were despite seeming almost the same.

He should skip, it would probably before the best since he couldn't focus on anything but the letter. Which was now ruined thanks to Ness's hand twitching and sending his pen off course ruining his sentence.

"Greeaaaat." Ness grumbled, rolling up the letter and making a mental note to ask for pens. Why didn't wizards use pens? They were much cleaner and more efficiency than using freaking quills which dripped ink over everything. But nooo, he was stuck in the middle ages of Europe with a weird smelling quill.

Ness paused then slumped in his desk, "Today is going to be a looooong day." He groaned as the bitter and agitated thoughts continued running rampant in his head.

The only thing that seemed to stop himself from snapping or bluntly answering people's questions were thoughts of home, which just made him feel worse when a teacher called on him or Ginny nudged him back into reality. By lunch he had completely run out of steam and desperately wanted to take a nap.

Or, at least figure out a way to mute the happy conversations and worried questions around him. Questions that were quickly answered with, "I'm just homesick." Which was poorly received by his friends. Or, that's what it felt like.

Didn't anyone know how bad homesickness felt!? Sure, him doing a complete 180 was odd and yes, him becoming a space cadet was odd but seriously! He just needed some space away from the other wizards to calm down! How the heck had he survived last year without a serious case of homesickness? Oh wait, last year he thought it was a fluke and he was busy playing secret agent, Plus, he got to go home during holiday break.

Something that had helped keep the longing for home away. Now, he was stuck in a crazy tournament and had accidently forgotten to sign the slip to head home for Thanksgiving break thanks to the first challenge.

And now he was going to miss Christmas! GREAT! He resisted the urge to bang his head against the dining room table as he forced himself to go for a walk before his bad mood made him do something he'd seriously regret.

Did Belinda feel like this when she was attending Hogwarts? Cranky, listless and moody? He knew that Paula also felt homesick as well, not as much as Ness had during their journey but enough for her to become a little moody when they were taking it easy. It was sort of hard not to feel homesick when traveling to new lands to try and save the world.

"I wish I had someone to talk to." Ness grumbled, he had tried talking his frustration out with Luna but her rambles about some monster didn't help and Ginny didn't even know how to deal with homesickness since she was always busy and distracted with school. Harry was a no go since he hated his home life, Hermione vaguely helped him out, but she was like Harry only she enjoyed learning and wished that the school year was a bit longer.

Ron didn't really care since he was glad that he had his own space for once and Selvis, Selvis was too busy trying to figure out Rita to lend an ear.

Did wizards do anything that was somewhat normal? His question was quickly answered as he wandered into the Herbology greenhouse section to see Professor Kale, Professor Sprout and Mad Eye Moody examining a purple butterfly shaped plants and tossing theories about it.

Well, Professor Kale and Sprout were tossing theories about how to save the plant while Mad Eye Moody merely exclaimed they should blow it up, grumbling about how it could be a trap sent by the upcoming Death Eaters who were feeling bold enough to attack the school.

"Moody," Professor Kale said looking annoyed as Sprout finally gave up with idea tossing and wheeled the plant back inside, "It's not sent by the Death Eaters, she grew it herself."

"And you know this how?" Moody challenged before he paused and turned toward Ness who was hiding behind a wriggling tree which was hissing for some reason, "Ah, Earthbound, out for a stroll?"

"How the heck did he see me?!" Ness slowly stepped out for the bush and adjusted his robes and sweater, "Something like that." He bluntly answered, not in the mood to get another 'pop quiz' from Moody. The last time he had bumped into Moody during break he had to turn around and run as Moody attempted to see how well his shield charm held up.

He could see Moody's wand hand twitching as Professor Kale brightened at the sight of him, "Just the person I was looking for!"

Really?

"You were looking for me?" Ness questioned, frowning slightly as Professor Kale nodded and ushered him back inside the castle tossing a casual, "See you later!" over his shoulder as he led Ness up to his office/

"I've been receiving a ton of letters about you and the other champions." Professor Kale explained, "I would have just redirected the owl to you but ah…" he trailed off and managed a sheepish smile as he pushed open his door revealing a barn owl glaring disdainfully at a mountain of multicolored letters resting on his desk.

"It's been a bit much." He finished laughing softly as Ness blinked in surprise and stepped forward, "Whose been sending me letters?" Ness questioned picking up a letter that was messily addressed to him and covered in stickers as Kale sat down on a moon shaped beanbag.

Apparently, Kale took great pleasure in his job of observing the stars since his office was full of tacky yet comforting objects related to outer space, he had beanbags shaped like the sun, moon and a star, the walls were painted a soothing night blue and had faint paintings of comets shooting through the night sky, the floor was covered with black hole rugs and he had a telescope looking out the window.

He probably had more star related trinkets that Ness couldn't see thanks to the overwhelming stack of mail.

"Wow… You really like space." Ness noted, spotting a poster of Pluto that said, 'Pluto is a planet!' off in the corner of the room.

"Live for it," Professor Kale admitted with a small laugh, "There are just so many secrets hiding within the black void known as space, with our guides being planets far beyond our reach that predict our future and fate." He gave a dreamy sigh before he stood up to prepare some hot coco. "I hope to find all the secrets, or at least life on Mars."

"Good luck with that." Ness said as he turned the letter over and looked up, "And speaking of secrets, where did all these come from? The letters."

Professor Kale shot him a confused look before he relaxed, "Ah, you never got the Mystic Informant."

"You got it?"

"Course I did! I'm their number one fan!" Professor Kale moved behind his desk, rummaging around a couple drawers before he tossed Ness their latest issue.

"Read it, I'm off to find marshmallows."

Ness barely heard him as he sat down and studied the purple cover of the magazine, the picture in the middle which had a magnifying glass with a sun shining through it, revealing a faint M and I with a couple tag lines to intrigue the reader.

One tagline caught his eye, saying 'Turn to page 29 for exclusive news about the Tri-Wizard Tournament!' which he promptly turned to and reeled back in surprise at the article with a picture of the seven champions receiving their points separately.

Chip and Lily went all out, the writing sounding like a passionate fan-boy gushing about the amazing skill sets everyone showed out there and not holding back on their fears at the injuries everyone received. For some odd reason, they didn't theorize over Ness's resistance to the fire blast and instead fussed over Harry's near-death experience.

Something no fourth year wizard should have faced given how close he was to death. After the information about who was in the lead, who they thought deserved it and the aftermath they went into private interviews.

Which made Ness's jaw drop as he read the interviews between the four youngest champions. Alexander had the shortest one out of all four of them but Ness could feel the fear behind his answers as Lily asked him about how he felt about joining the tournament, how he even managed to get in and his plans for if he won before moving onto pressing him about his plan against his dragon.

Alexander had confessed that he hadn't planned on entering and honestly saw it as a sick joke that he, a wizard who was held back a year because of his struggles with performing magic was actually in the tournament.

"It's just… wrong, and going up against that dragon reminded me that I'm not supposed to be here, I'm not supposed to be risking my life for money I never wanted and I can't even leave, I know the Daily Prophet accused me and a couple other champions of working together or rather, trying to, but can you blame us? I'm probably the weakest link in our partnership and I had an almost easy dragon to go up against. I really just want to leave and watch from the sidelines but I can't, I'm a champion, competing for his life basically—oh! Sorry, didn't mean to go off on a tangent, I've just been, well, a nervous wreck."

Ness made a mental note to have a heart to heart with Alexander later as Chip made a dumb joke to cheer the clearly overwhelmed wizard up before they moved onto Adaliz who was spitting fire about what happened. Chip and Lily had to interrupt her a couple times to beg her to switch back into English and speak slowly so they could write down her statement.

"I never asked to be here, I never wanted to enter this silly tournament! I was content with cheering Flur on, I was content to watch from the sidelines with friends who temporally abandoned me since they thought I entered the tournament of my own free will and I was perfectly fine with coming to Hogwarts despite my Mother's hatred of the school.

But instead, me and three other underage wizards were dragged into a-a battle to the death for entertainment! I can't even ask to be kicked out for cheating my way into the tournament since they do not have a rule book! The Ministry has it! And they can't ask for it for some silly reason! Ugh, British Wizards and their rules make no sense!

I feel that I lucked out during the first task, I love fooling around with non-attack spells since I plan on being a doctor, and being able to dislodge water seemed helpful. If I had gotten a dragon like Ness or Harry did, I would have been screwed since I tend to panic and shut down. I could have been killed if I had a panic attack!"

Panic attacks, Ness hadn't even taken that into consideration since he was always a cool cucumber, but seeing how Alexander had actually fainted and Adaliz, who Ness pegged as an easy going person until she had angrily agreed with Ness that they should be disqualified it was easy to see where she was coming from.

"She's going to lose it when the second challenge comes around." Ness realized, remembering how Adaliz lamented the fact that she couldn't swim. And it was waay too cold to start practicing unless they somehow snuck into the prefects' bathrooms, which apparently had a private bathtub that was super fancy.

His and Harry's interview was very mellow compared to Adaliz and Alexander's interviews but he couldn't help feeling a bit unnerved by how many things he let slip when talking to Chip and Lily.

It hadn't felt like much at the time as he cringed at his accidentally out of him facing much more dangerous monsters like the Dementors and how Harry seemed to be giving the true answer as the interview shifted to focus on Harry who was talking for both of them.

They had somehow gotten more answers out of Ness and Harry than Rita Skeeter had, which was amazing given how upbeat and honest they seemed, letting Harry go on as they gentle prodded answers from him before they stopped themselves from getting completely off topic from their questions.

"There good." Ness decided, planning on keeping his guard up the next time he saw them. "Really good." As he turned the page to find an article worrying about Hogwarts education tactics and the Ministry's performance as they pointed out how two children and a group of friends had managed to solve the mystery the Ministry couldn't and how the same group of friends nearly became lunch for the Dementors while Peter Petigrew slipped away.

The writer actively questioned the reader, asking why Albus Dumbledore allowed the same two heroes to enter the tournament when a clear madman was on the loose and with the attack of You-Know-Who's forces clearly becoming bolder for some odd reason.

He also questioned why the two competing schools allowed clearly unprepared students in the tournament and hoped they would managed to survive the dangerous tournament before the article ended with an ad for a school which Ness ignored.

Flipping through the rest of the paper and grinning at the corny jokes hidden in the titles the news of American politics which had a joking theory that their president was really an alien and some news about a serve thunderstorm that had happened near the end of November before it ended with an art corner competition for young children to draw the Mystic Informant's newest secret hider.

"Wow… these guys are awesome!" Ness exclaimed handing the issue back to him and accepting a cup of hot coco, "I know right? There a semiserious news publishing group that talks about almost everything and anything." Professor Kale replied with a small smile, "Just last week, they had a report about a guy stealing swing set seats and ended it by saying 'This is what happens when we can't find anything exciting to write about' before moving onto astronomy news."

"So, they wrote an awesome article about the Tournament, why the letters?" Ness asked.

"Well, from what I can gather, it's the tournament's American fanbase," Professor Kale explained, handing Ness a letter he had opened which had been sent by a young child who was cheering Ness and Flur on and explaining about how he couldn't wait to see what they would do for the second tournament. He even drew a small picture of what he thought Ness and Flur looked like fighting a giant goose and protecting the golden egg.

"Oh, and also worried letters from American parents, double oh, you got an army of letters from your mom."

"I did?"

"As far as I can tell," he pushed a stack of neatly bundled letters toward Ness who pulled one free and grinned when he saw his sister's handwriting.

"Seems like you haven't written to them enough." Professor Kale noted as Ness opened the letter and read Tracey's complaints about Ness doing cool things without her as usual and chiding him for actually going into battle with just a baseball bat, there were some sticks inside the envelope, probably from King and a clay good luck charm which Tracey promised would stop Ness from getting himself killed.

"It's been hard actually," Ness admitted as he opened an envelope from his mother which was basically three pages worth of fussing and angry scolding for entering something so dangerous, "I can't really explain anything to them and it just seems like the moment I send a letter off, something new and important pops up and I have to write about that to." He grimaced as he glanced out the window, "Plus the bazillions of miles between us isn't helping with daily letters."

"You don't seem used to writing them either." Professor Kale noted with a small frown, "How did you keep in touch with your mother during your adventure?"

"Phone. I used to call her three times a week." Ness's blank stare hardened into a glare as he grumbled, "But since wizards don't seem capable of adding phone lines to their world."

Professor Kale laughed and nodded in agreement, "I hear you, my uncle hated how medieval wizards were, always finding something to complain about when he was homesick and threatening to add modern technology to the school when he was attending Hogwarts."

"He was homesick as well?" Ness questioned, sounding a little surprised as Professor Kale nodded in agreement, "He was awful when he was missing home, couldn't focus, purposely blew things up during magic classes, wandered around the school grounds and distanced himself from other students before he could ignore the feeling." He glanced up at the ceiling which was covered in maps and mused, "I think PSI users are greatly affected by homesickness, don't know why though, I just remember my father talking about how he always had to write his uncle a letter twice a week since he attended a Muggle school."

"So… the reason behind my bitter and agitated thoughts are because…?"

"A lot of things, I mean you're from America which was much less… er… strict in certain situations, you're practically in a new world and have time to breath to actually realize the differences around you. Plus, being surrounded by students who are split into four different groups isn't helping since that's four different mind sets you're dealing with in a frustrating situation."

Professor Kale laughed and looked at Ness, "When my uncle found out he was a PSI user and not a wizard he was convinced that wizards spiked their food so they would only look at one answer for almost everything."

"One answer?"

"Sure, think about it, you only know one shield spell, right?"

Ness nodded.

"And yet no one's taught you any different types for say, hexes or stunning spells, it's just that shield spell and dodge. Seems sort of silly, doesn't it?"

"Very." Ness agreed, remembering the two types of shield he, Paula and Poo used depending on what their enemy favorite attack was. They also had to build them up to deflect large amounts of damage.

"Man… Wizards are very short sighted." Ness decided, "Even with their giant library of spells."

"Well, I could be wrong," Professor Kale admitted with a shrug, "I don't really favor wand combat, terrible at it actually, so I use my fists if it comes down to a fight."

"You sure? I pegged you as the guy who would attack with a telescope."

Professor Kale gasped in mock horror and exclaimed, "How did you know?" causing Ness to laugh.

"Jokes aside, how about we sort this fan mail for the others?" Professor Kale studied the mountain with a strained smile and said, "I'm sure the others would love to get some good news with the Yule ball happening."

"Don't remind me." Ness groaned as he pulled up a desk chair and started to sort, "I'm seriously considering skipping with all the rumors going on."

"Ah yes, rumors." Professor Kale mused as he went off on a slight tangent about someone rumored the world ending and Kale had been the only one smart enough to read the stars to realize that the world wasn't ending. Ness laughed as Kale huffed, "Then they had the nerve to call me a liar when I proved them wrong!" before he started to talk about Venus's worrying placement, grumbling about he hoped that the warnings of a loved one being sent to a watery grave was aimed for someone else before he asked Ness how Harry was doing and laughing as Ness recalled their attempts to find dates.

It was pretty nice to be focusing on just something that wasn't completely wizard related as Kale made the mistake of calling the New York Yankees Wankers, prompting Ness to launching into an explanation as they the wasted most of lunch trying to sort all the letters.

Ness really wish that lunch lasted a bit longer as he carefully stored Harry, Cedric, Flur and Victor's letters in his book bag, planning to pick up Adaliz and Alexander's during a free period before dinner since they had a bunch more from people rooting for the underdogs.

For the last stretch of classes Ginny shot him worried looks as he flunked Transfiguration with his usual smile and managed not to blow up his Confounded Confusion Potion (Much to Snape's displeasure.) and greeted Professor Trawaleny with a grin as she went on with her usual ramblings, talking about a pear of good fortune or something before class let out and they headed to dinner.

"You're in a good mood." Ginny noted, frowning as Ness briefly ignored her and went up to the Hufflepuff's table, ignoring the annoyed glares they sent him, "Hey, could you give these to Cedric?" Ness asked, pulling out Cedric's stack of letters and handing it to a boy who seemed around Cedric's age, the boy gave Ness a wary glare which widened into surprise as Ness chipperly answered the silent question, "It's fan mail from America! An American paper called the Mystic Informant talked about the Tri-Wizard tournament and their fanbase decided to send us letters."

"You're joking." The boy deadpanned as Ness grinned and waved good-bye before joining his fellow Gryffindors who were shooting him baffled looks, "Why'd you go and do that?" Henry Erand asked as Ness handed Harry his fan mail before keeping his eyes peeled for Victor and Flur who didn't seem to arrive yet.

"It was his mail." Ness answered with a happy shrug, "I shouldn't be hoarding it."

"Even though they've been throwing you and Harry under the bus?" Diana Rose questioned with slight disbelief.

"It was his mail." Ness repeated as he turned to Harry who was studying it in surprise, a small smile forming as he read a little kid's eager message and drew a picture of his scar with a small note of 'the source of all of Harry's awesome powers!'.

"The Mystic Informant sent us this?" Harry asked sounding a little amazed.

"Yea, I spent most of my lunch break chilling with Professor Kale and helping him sort it since he's a subscriber." Ness explained, happily filling his plate with steak, rolls and a couple vegetables as he resumed his search.

"Mystic Informant?" Hermione questioned as she studied a letter from an eager fan girl, "I've never heard of them."

"There an American paper." Ness explained, "I think they work up in Washington since they mentioned their baseball team during the sports page and some politics."

"American?" Ron looked a little uneasy as he stole a couple letters from Harry to read for himself, "These letters are all from American readers?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Ness questioned, smothering the urge to get defensive over his homeland. It must have slipped out either way since Ron quickly corrected himself, "It's just that American wizards aren't too careful about they publish or do since America's so free spirited in a sense, what if a muggle finds out about this?"

"Well, judging by the amount of kiddy mail, I'd say they just think it's just a goofy short the Mystic Informant made up or a reality TV created by us 'wacky' British people."

"They wouldn't believe that." Hermione protested, sounding a little worried about the muggle world finding out about them.

"Hermione, I grew up believing that the Kanto crew of Pokémon were eating jelly doughnuts when they were really Japanese rice balls. When it comes to other people's cultures, we pay more attention to the stereotypes TV shows us than the actual facts."

"You're joking." Ron exclaimed while Harry muttered, "They weren't jelly doughnuts?" and resumed eating dinner.

"Nope, if they say it's an over the top reality show then they'd probably believe it. Besides, none of the pictures moved." Which he was secretly thankful for.

"How'd they get permissions to come over here if they work in America?" Ron asked, "I mean, they did interview you, right?"

"Yea, and speaking of interviews," Ness turned to Harry who glanced up, then straightened as he noticed the serious expression on his friend's face, "Harry, next time you talk to Chip and Lily, you have to be very careful about what you say."

"What happened?" Ginny asked, dreading the answer.

"Nothing too bad, we managed to avoid talking about the incident with Black with just mentioning that we had faced Dementors and got saved by a stranger but Harry went into a lot detail about his challenge, so did Adaliz and Alexander."

"How is that a bad thing?" Ron asked as Hermione frowned and looked at Harry, "They didn't do anything like that horrible Skeeter woman did, right?"

Harry shook his head and had a dumbfounded frown, "I don't really remember what I said, I know I answered their questions and gone a bit overboard but I just felt safe, like it was okay to spill my guts about the fear of getting killed by the Volcanic Curved Wing Dragon."

"Which started another article wondering what the heck the three schools were thinking with letting minors enter a deadly tournament." Ness stated, "Alexander and Adaliz both exclaimed that they never wanted to join but were forced in very passionate ways. Adaliz especially since she kept slipping into French and had to be told to slow down."

"How did you feel during the interview?" Ginny asked.

"Nervous, and I think at the start of the interview I felt something nudging me to open up and drift into another topic." He frowned as he tried to remember how he felt exactly before he sighed and said, "I kept my mouth shut for the most part, and they left me alone. They weren't pushy or anything they just let us talk without prompts."

"So, their either really good reporters, or there's something more to the story." Ginny murmured while Harry changed the topic, asking if Ness planned on going to the dance at all.

"I'll probably go, but won't like it." Ness answered after a moment of thought, taking note of the slightly relived look from his friends, "And I'll probably take Luna as my partner."

"Loony Lovegood?" Ron questioned in disbelief, "You're taking her?"

"Luna isn't loony, Ron." Ginny practically growled as Ness caught Luna's eye and waved hello at her, "Plus, she'd be better company since I actually know her." Ness added, "I usually go to school dances as 'just friends' with other girls who didn't get a date."

"Sounds like you already have your eye on someone back home then," Ginny teased, an evil little grin forming as Ness felt himself blush for some reason and found himself thinking about Paula, "Hey! Just because I don't like romance doesn't mean I can't be a gentleman!" Ness protested as Henry looked up and asked, "Ness has a girlfriend back home?" and squeaking when Ness pushed his plate away and rested his head on the table, "Forget you guys! I think I liked it when you were all avoiding me!"

"Hey, we had good reason Mr. Emo." Ginny retorted as Ron said, "Mate, you were like a walking zombie almost the entire day. I'd rather not get on Zombie Ness's bad side."

"Har-har." Ness dryly joked as Harry and Hermione smothered a laugh and sadly started talking about SPEW. It appeared that Hermione was trying to find the Castle Kitchens were the house elfs worked to try and convince them to ask for wages. Of course, the information about the castle kitchen's location was being withheld by Fred and George, which caused Ness to perk up and share a look with Ginny who was silently agreeing with his plan of harassing the twins for the information.

The first challenge hadn't really given them any information on the mystery other than the fact that Mr. Crouch had mysteriously fell ill after going over the room with the seven champions and then quickly recovered after disappearing. Of course, they couldn't confirm or deny this since none of them had seen where he had gone. Meaning that they were probably going to tail him at the next challenge—

"Hold on," Ness perked up and looked at Harry, "Harry, are any of the judges—besides the headmasters, attending the Yule Ball?"

"I believe so," Harry started when Hermione answered for him, "Of course they will, it's a public event connected to the Tri-wizard cup. The only official not attending is the Minister of Magic."

Ron frowned and pointed a potato at Ness, "Why do you ask? Worried about getting in trouble for having cold feet?"

"Just being noisy since I pretty much skipped school." Ness lied, an idea forming of how to watch Karkaroff and Mr. Crouch at the same time.

"So, you didn't hear the announcement of obligatory dance lessons?" Harry questioned.

"Wait what?"

"That would be a no." Ginny answered as Ness looked at Harry in horror and slight annoyance, "I know how to dance! I've been crowned the Cha-Cha Slide King three years in a row at my old school!"

"Why are people sliding and doing the Cha-Cha?" Ron questioned as Hermione wearily answered, "It's a muggle party dance." And gave Ness a firm glare, "Because, we need to learn how to dance like proper people, not crazy party goers."

"Buzzkills," Ness grumbled as he ate dinner and resumed scanning the Great Hall. Why did all of Ness's plans get shoved aside by school? They really needed to stop bringing in annoying school problems like that.


I still sort of see Pokemon's rice balls as jelly doughnuts despite knowing the truth... Also, Karkaroff's name can jump off a cliff. I always misspell it and end up going to the wiki to get the correct name.