A Year to Remember
By Izzy
Part 2:Right Before the Action
"Platform Nine and Three-Quarters," repeated Fleur to herself. She and her sister stood in King's Cross. Gabrielle's things were packed into the trunk next to her, with her owl, Dolon, on top. The time was a quarter to eleven. "Where is it?"
"You don't know where Platform Nine and Three-Quarters is?" boomed a female voice from behind them.
Fleur turned. There was a woman standing there, looking about in her sixties. A boy in his late teens was next to her, pushing a trunk. He looked extremely nervous.
"No." answered Fleur. "Do you-"
"Through that barrier." She pointed to the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten. "Walk strait through the barrier and you will end up on the platform."
"Thank you." Without hesitating Fleur walked towards the barrier, Gabrielle following with her trunk. She reached the barrier, she continued walking, next thing she knew she and Gabrielle were on a crowded platform. Seconds later the boy and woman appeared next to them.
"Gabrielle! Neville!"
Ginny came running over. She swept past Gabrielle, reached the boy, and kissed him. Then she saw Gabrielle was staring at her. "Oh," She turned pink. "I forgot to tell you. This is my boyfriend, Neville Longbottom." Neville was also turning pink.
"Come on, you guys," called Ron from nearby, "the train leaves in less then ten minutes."
The next ten minutes were spent getting everyone's trunks onto the train. Then Gabrielle kissed her sister goodbye and got on, quickly claiming a seat. Seconds later Neville sat down, waving to his grandmother, at least until Ginny landed on his lap. Finally Harry, Ron, and Hermione all got on. Hermione had just settled into her seat when a whistle sounded, and the train started to move.
Fleur watched until the car carrying her sister was out of sight. Then she Apparated back into the flat about Madam Malkin's in which she had lived in for over two years, and shared with her sister for several months.
She checked the clock. She didn't have to go to work just yet.
She felt as if a great burden had just been lifted from her shoulders. For the past months she had found herself always tensed, fearful for her little sister. But now the task she had been laboring at was done. Gabrielle was off on a train that would take her to Hogwarts, where Fleur knew she would be allright. For the first time, it seemed, since she first heard her mother had been killed, she allowed her muscles to relax. She collasped into a nearby chair. She'd fix herself a small lunch, then she'd go down to work-
Then she heard a screech at her window. She opened it, and an owl flew in with a letter.
Wondering who would write her a letter, Fleur read it.
Miss Fleur Delacour,
The Triwizard Tournament is taking place this year. As a previous champion, you are expected to attend all events and ceremonies. A list of events, locations, and dates are as follows:
The School Selection-September 28-Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
The Tournament Opening-October 30-TBA
The Champion Selection-October 31-TBA
The First Task-November 26-TBA
The Yule Ball-December 25-TBA
The Second Task-February 20-TBA
The Third Task-TBA-TBA
School selection? wondered Fleur to herself. Then she hurried downstairs to talk to Madam Malkin.
Meanwhile...
Harry and Ron were talking. Hermione was reading. Gabrielle was also reading, and practicing her writing. Neville and Ginny were making out.
"Excuse me?"
Everyone looked up as another girl entered the compartment. She had a pink face and yellow hair pulled behind her head in a bun. "There aren't any seats left. Can I sit here?"
They nodded, and she sat down next to Gabrielle, and held out her hand. "Hannah Abbot. And you are-"
Gabrielle took it. "Gabrielle Delacour."
"Gabrielle Delacour?" asked Hannah in astonishment. "Fleur Delacour's sister?"
"Zat's me." Gabrielle grinned.
"This your first year?"
"Yes."
"Makes me wish it wasn't my last. We have something in common, Gabrielle."
"What ees zat?"
"We're both foreigneers."
Gabrielle stared, She looked to the others in confusion.
"She's American." Ginny explained. "Flys back and forth to Hogwarts each year."
"Why do you do zat? Aren't zere schools een Amairica?"
"Hogwarts is a family tradition." said Hannah. "My great-great-grandparents moved to America, and there's not one descendent of thiers who hasn't gone to Hogwarts. I could marry a Japanese Muggle and go live in Tokyo with him, and my children would still go to Hogwarts."
"But-you sound Eenglish."
"I didn't back in my first year," said Hannah with a laugh. "Felt so akward I started speaking as little as possible. But then, living in England most of the year, my accent changed. Now I sound strange when I'm in America."
Hannah and Gabrielle continued to talk, barely stopping when the lunch cart came in.
"So, what House do you want to be in?" Hannah was asking a few hours into the train ride.
"Gryffeendor." Answered Gabrielle without a second's hesitation.
"Ah." Hannah sounded dissapointed.
"Ees zere anyzing wrong wiz zat?"
"Not at all, Gabrielle. Gryffindor's a good House. It's just-"
"You were 'oping I would want to be een Hufflepuff."
"Yeah. You know," and here Hannah sighed as she remeninsced. "When I went to Hogwarts, I assumed I would be in either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. I never considered Gryffindor. My opinion was shaped by my father's. And when he went to Hogwarts, the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin was violent. Kinda like the year before the Triwizard Championship when everyone got hyped on the Quidditch Cup, except much worse, and part of everyday life. And while these days, most Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, myself included, side with Gryffindor, in those days opinions were spilt, and so were the two Houses-my father was a Ravenclaw. You-Know-Who fed off this rivalry. Finally Dumbledore surpressed it, but that was after my father had graduated. So you can understand why my father made sure I had no interest in either Gryffindor or Slytherin."
Hannah's speech had silenced the compartment.
"But Gryffindor was right, wasn't it?" spoke up Harry. "All of Voldemort's-" everyone else flinched "-supporters came out of Slytherin."
"I don't like Slytherin either." Hannah agreed. "But the rivalry wasn't started by You-Know-Who. He'd originally been Slytherin himself, so of course he'd recruit from them."
"Speak of the devil," said Ron, because the door was opening, and Malfoy had entered, flanked, as usual, by Crabbe and Goyle.
"Well," said Ginny cheerfully, "If it isn't Draco Malfoy. How's that jaw?"
"Shut up!" he snarled at her. He continued on towards the other end, stopping only to shoot Harry a look of pure hatred. Then he was gone, Crabbe and Goyle with him.
"He blames Harry for getting his father convicted." said Hermione softly.
"Just wish I'd gotten him convicted," sighed Harry.
"I don't like 'im." announced Gabrielle.
"Join the club," said Ron with a laugh.
"Ze what?"
"It's an expression." Ron explained. "Means 'So do we'."
"Oh. My Eenglish ees not vairy good." she added sadly. "I am afraid ze others will laugh at me."
"Oh, I'm sure you'll fit in fine." Hannah assured her. "No one laughed at me for my accent. No wait," she added after a second, "the Slytherins did. Made me dread Double Astronomy. But they're mean at any rate, so I guess they don't count."
"So I should not be bothered eef ze Slythaireens laugh at me."
"No, you shouldn't. They laugh at everyone."
"They laughed at me the most." said Neville glumly. "Still do. It's hard not to be bothered."
"It's okay," Ginny said to him, and they went back to making out. "Want to see me in my new custom-made robes?" she asked him about a minute later.
"Actually, we should all get into our robes." said Ron. "I think we're going to be there soon."
Soon...
"Firs' years this way!" called Hagrid.
Gabrielle stepped onto the platform and sniffed the air. "Zere's a storm coming." she announced. "Eet should strike witheen meenutes."
"I hope not, for your sake" said Ron, "you have to go across the lake."
"Een zis weather?" Gabrielle looked shocked.
"It's been traditional for first-years to sail with the gameskeeper across the lake since 1381." Hermione replied. "Even though the weather has often been much worse then this. In 1711, there was a blizzard, and the lake was frozen. They had to break the ice for the journey across, and so many of the students got frostbite and had to be taken to the hospital wing that they couldn't do the Sorting until the following day."
"Compared to that," Ginny added, "a oncoming storm is minor. Off you go, Gabrielle." And she gently pushed Gabrielle off towards Hagrid. Within seconds, Gabrielle had dissapeared into the crowd of first-years.
The others headed up the platform to the carriages. As they did so, lightning cracked across the sky. "Gabrielle was right." commented Harry. "There is a storm almost on us."
"I hate that," said Neville. "And where's Trevor?"
"Right here," replied Ginny, pulling Neville's toad out of her robes. "You nearly forgot him on the train, so I got him right before I left."
"Oh thank you," sighed Neville, leaning in to kiss her.
"Hey, Ginny! Come ride with us!"
"Coming!" she called. "Come on." She pulled Neville off towards Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.
"That leaves us four." noted Hannah. "Lets claim a carriage. Hurry, I think I just felt a raindrop."
Scarcely five minutes later, on the lake...
Gabrielle kept her eyes on Hogwarts, trying to forget she was on the lake into which she had been dragged and tied less then three years ago, trying not to think of the squid and the merpeople and the Grindylows, when she heard a loud clap of thunder, and the rain came pelting down.
The wind had already been blowing, and Gabrielle had already been clutching to the edge of the boat like mad, and now she found her grip slipping.
"Careful." said a voice behind her. The voice belonged to the boat's only other occupant(as the last to get into a boat, she had of course ended up in the unfilled one), a girl with brown eyes and blond hair that fell in ringlets. "You'll fall in."
"I hate zis." moaned Gabrielle. "I fall into ze lake again and get attacked by ze Grindylows."
"No you won't," said the girl. "We're-"
"My! How delightful to see you here!" A figure appeared in front of them, wearing a bell-covered hat and an orange bow-tie. "Remember me? Old Peevsie?"
"Your memory ees not vairy good. We nevair met, though Fleur did tell me about you." Gabrielle informed him.
"Who-o is this?" asked the other girl, frightened.
"You were in the back. I thought I might give you a push." He grinned menacingly.
Now it was Gabrielle's turn to be terrified. "No, please, I can't stand-"
But Peeves gave the boat a shove and it was tossed about the waves. Feeling sick to her stomach, Gabrielle collasped onto the bottom of the boat and tried not to throw up.
"Are you allright?" asked the blond girl.
"No," moaned Gabrielle, "make ze boat stop. Please."
"I would if I could-" but the blond girl was interrupted when the boat hit the side of the cliff.
Gabrielle lay still, heedless of the rain pouring down on her, but the girl stared out of the lake, where Peeves was wrecking havoc with the other boats while Hagrid yelled angrily. "Who is that?"
"Ze poltergeist."
"How did you know?"
"Long story."
Peeves had finally gone away, and the other boats were making thier way towards them. Gabrielle pulled herself up. "Ze boat ees not badley damaged. We waire lucky."
"You're not very good at handling motion, are you?"
Gabrielle shook her head. "Anothair long story."
"What your name?"
"Gabrielle."
"Mine's Elaine. I've got the feeling we're going to be friends."
"I 'ope so."
Meanwhile...
"What a storm," commented Harry as he, Ron, Hermione, and Hannah entered the Great Hall.
"Hey, Hannah!" called a girl from the Hufflepuff table. "Where ya' been?"
"Excuse me." Hannah hurried off towards her table.
"Looks like we were last to arrive," commented Ron as they settled down into the three seats Ginny had saved them.
"No, there are still people coming in." Hermione pointed to the entrance. "Look, there's Dean."
Dean Thomas, his Head Boy badge clearly visible, walked over and sat down beside Parvati. "Uh, hi." Parvati said nervously.
"Hello," replied Dean, equally nervously.
Lavender whispered to Ginny, "They're driving me crazy. Why don't they just say how they feel and get it over with?"
Everyone waited. Finally Professor McGonagall led in the line of nervous first-years. Gabrielle was amoung them, and it looked live she was shivering more then the others. She was whispering excitedly with the blond girl next to her.
Now Professor McGonagall placed a ragged old hat on a foot-legged stool. She stepped back, and the hat jumped up and sang:
If you are wondering what I am
A tale I can tell you
Of things a thousand years ago
When I was very new
When Hogwarts school was just begun
And there were houses four
Ravenclaw and Slytherin
Hufflepuff, Gryffindor
And I was called the Sorting Hat
Which I am still today
I sorted students back then and
I'll sort you if I may
I'll send you into Gryffindor
If you are true and brave
I'll send you into Slytherin
If power's what you crave.
I'll send you into Hufflepuff
If you are a hard worker
I'll send you into Ravenclaw
If with your mind you're better
Come slip me on! don't be afraid
You have nothing to fear
A journey lies ahead of you
That journey starts right here!
"Don't think it was as good as it's other songs," commented Harry as everyone clapped.
"It was shorter," replied Ron. "We'll get to eat a bit sooner."
"When I call out your name," said Professor McGonagall, "you will go to the stool, put on the hat, and sit down. Then you will go to the table it puts you at."
"Aldant, Lindsey!"
One of the girls walked calmly to the stool, put the hat on, and sat down.
"SLYTHERIN!" yelled the hat after a few seconds.
"Always is upsetting, isn't it, when Slytherin gets the first student," said Ron sadly, as the Slytherin table burst into applause, and Lindsey joined them.
"Awalfa, Carl!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Now that's more like it!" the table burst into applause.
"Bolon, Fredrick!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Cartor, Olga!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Hope there aren't too many of them," commented the Gryffindor ghost, Near-Headless Nick. "We're going for quality, not quantity."
"Cemout, Illyria!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Cowiven, Samuel!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Delacour, Gabrielle!"
"Delacour? Is that-"
"Looks just like her!"
"But Beauxbatons-"
The whispers did not die down as Gabrielle stumbled to the stool, grabbed the hat, shoved it on, and sat down. They did not stop for the entire six seconds she was on the stool.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
A smile spilt her face, and Gabrielle hastened over to the Gryffindor table and collasped in the chair next to Hermione.
"Erebisad, Yvonne!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Foyaru, Daniel!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Grener, Stephen!"
Name after name, name after name. Harry began tapping his foot, and Ron sighed, "Hurry up!" The line began to shrink.
"Pynik, Gerald!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Quentin, Teresa!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Rodel, Patrick!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Rumarin, William!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Sai, Quiang!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Sarpan, Elaine!"
The girl who walked nervously to the stool was the girl Gabrielle had entered with. She put the hat on, there was a second's pause-
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Shawn, Riley!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Tomlinson, Laura!"
"SLYTEHRIN!"
"Ves, Fanni!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
And finally, "Yonan, Berthia!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
Berthia joine the Slytherin table, and Professor McGonagall took the hat away.
"Now," started Dumbledore, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors," everyone perked up "and they are true. The Triwizard Tournament is indeed occuring this year."
There were cheers. Dumbledore silenced them with a wave of his hand. "First of all, I must explain what the Triwizard Tournament is. Those of you who already know may eat without listening."
The plates filled up, and everyone fourth-year and above and several younger students, including Gabrielle, dug in without a second's hesitation. The others, however, listened as they ate.
"NOW," said Dumbledore loudly after several minutes, attracting everyone's attention. "There are a few details that I believe everyone will be interested in hearing. The Tournament has been expanded to include all schools worldwide."
A babble erupted. Once again Dumbledore silenced the hall. Meanwhile Filch had brought in a casket which the older students immediately recognized.
"Of all the schools that apply, three will be selected to compete. They will be selected by an impartial judge:the Goblet of Fire."
Out came the Goblet, once again filled with blue-white flames.
"The Goblet of Fire has previously been used to select the champions for each school, a role it will reprise. But this year, it is also being used to select the schools that will participate."
He placed the Goblet of Fire on top of the chest it had come out of.
"During that time," he continued, "It will reside at the schools which won the previous Tournament-which happens to be Hogwarts."
Placing the Goblet onto the chest, Dumbledore pulled out a piece of parchment, on which he wrote "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry". After holding it up for all to see, he dropped it into the Goblet.
"Please note that if Hogwarts is choosen as the host school, the Inter-House Quidditch Cup with be cancelled. Also, Team Captains are advised to find replacement players if thier teammembers show interest in trying for the championship if Hogwarts is selected as one of the other two schools."
"If you are interested in trying for the championship if we are choosen, please remember that the age limit I spoke of is still in effect, and we are taking a number of measures to make sure it is enforced."
"Be aware that through this month, the other Headmasters will be visiting us to submit their schools. Please give them the same respect you would give me."
"Also I would like to remind you that the forest is, as always, out-of-bounds for students."
And then later, "I believed you have finished eating" and indeed they had "I believe it is time you went off to bed."
Several minutes later...
"Password?" asked the fat lady sweetly as Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached the potrait.
"How are we supposed to know the password?" asked Elaine. She and Gabrielle were standing behind them.
"Lemme through!" ordered Dean. "The password's "hermit crab"-"
The painting opened, and they entered.
"Nice place," commented Elaine, looking around at the cozy common room, filled with it's squat armchairs.
"Boys this way, girls that way." Dean directed. The room filled with calls of "goodnight" as they headed into the seperate dormitories.
Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati made their way into thier dormitory, now labelled, "seventh-years". Three four-posters stood in the dormitory, a trunk in front of each. And hurrying away towards a grate in the floor, muttering to herself, "Too slow, too slow, the students are up here already," was-
"Winky!" a delighted Hermione scooped the house-elf up. "How're you doing?"
"How am I doing? Harry Potter's friend asks how I am doing?" her expression was somewhere between shock and amazement.
"Well, if you remember who I am, you shouldn't be surprised." said Hermione, putting the house-elf down. "So tell me, how are you? I see you're taking better care of yourself." Winky was now wearing jeans and a yellow t-shirt. Hermione noted unlike Dobby, who was crazy about socks, Winky was barefoot. "Are you happy?"
"Winky is happy. Winky is being a good house-elf. Winky is not being quite as good as the others, otherwise you would not have seen Winky, but Winky is out of practice."
"It could work out for the better," noted Lavander. She had changed into her nightgown already, and was settling into the bed on the left. "As long as you're still here, you can adjust our bed-pans to make us more comfortable."
"Ooh, that is a wonderful idea!" squealed Winky. She ran over, slipped between the sheets, and started moving the bed-pan.
Parvati had also already changed, and was unbraiding her hair. "D'you think Hogwarts will get into the Tournament?" she asked.
Hermione slipped out of her robes, and then out of her Muggle clothing. "I doubt it. They've been in the Tournament so long, surely the Goblet will give the other schools a chance." She pulled her nightgown over her head. "But if we are selected, I am trying for the championship."
"Me too." said Lavender.
"Me three," added Parvati. She climbed into bed.
"Winky hopes Hogwarts is choosen." said Winky, before crawling under Parvati's sheets to adjust the pan.
"I just hope nothing goes wrong this year," said Parvati. "I'm sick of monsters and Dementors and attacks by You-Know-Who's supporters."
"I think we all are," replied Hermione. She climbed into bed. Crookshanks curled up beside her. Winky scuttled between the sheets, adjusting the bed-pan so that it warmed her superbly without burning her toes. Then, with a "Good night," she dissapeared into the grate.
Oddly, Hermione found herself thinking about Ron, and the way she'd seen him looking at her. Was it just her imagination that he wasn't looking at her the same way as he had before? Lately she wondered if he was becoming more then just a friend to her, but she was so unsure...
It'll all settle itself out, she told herself firmly. A few
minutes later she was fast asleep.