The instant Victoria spoke the password, the blue sphere glowed. The wall simply disappeared in between the two small statues, and she lead the way into the common room. "This," she said, making a wide gesture around the room, "is our common room." There was an astonished, collective gasp from all of the first years. They were awed by the high ceiling, large navy armchairs, monstrous fireplace, fire already burning, and many small, heavily polished tables scattered around the room. But mostly they were staring at the large window that took up the entire wall opposite them. The fireplace was on the same side as the entrance, leaving room for a single window to take up the entire other wall. It was rather like the ceiling in the great hall, in that you weren't actually looking through it. What they saw as they looked at the wall was exactly as it looked outside.
"Now then," Albert began, pulling everyone back to their senses, "I suggest you all go to bed and get a good night's rest. You'll need it for tomorrow." There were a few grumbles from the students, especially the sixth and seventh years. They were not pleased with the idea of a fifth year telling them what to do. Victoria, Kathrine, and Albert waited until the common room cleared out before heading up to bed themselves.
With a sleepy "good-night", Victoria ascended the steps to the girls' dormitories. She opened the door to the fifth years' room and stepped inside quietly, Kathrine only a few steps behind. She looked around at the five four-posters, three of which were filled with sleeping bodies. "What do you think?" Victoria whispered to Kathrine.
"I think this is going to be a great year. I'm excited for this tournament thing, whatever it is," she said with a yawn.
"Mmhm. I agree." They each pulled on their nightgowns and crawled into bed, pulling the deep blue curtains around them.
The next morning they awoke to a very loud bell, ringing in a nearby tower. Victoria woke slowly, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "God-forsaken bell. Why do they have to spell it to make it louder? It's only two towers away from here," she grumbled. "Now I remember the one thing I hate about this place. She pulled on a clean shirt, her skirt from yesterday (she went through two a week, since they were so hard to get washed), and her Hogwarts robes. Victoria brushed her hair back and tied it in place with a deep blue ribbon. She then went to examine herself in a floor-length mirror the girls had had in the room since their first year. Smoothing her skirt a bit, she called out to her roommates. "Girls, you really should be getting up by now, don't you think?"
Kathrine groaned. "No, absolutely not. It's much too early. However," she said, looking in the general direction of the bell, "if that thing rings one more time, I shall have to break it."
Victoria laughed. "You say that every year. What makes this year any different?" She walked over to her friend's bedside and pulled the covers sharply off of her. "Come on, get up. There's no time to break the bell this morning, unless you don't plan on eating." Kathrine sat for a moment, weighing her choices. A large growl from her stomach made clear her decision. She sat up and began to get dressed.
Victoria waited as Kathrine took her time about pulling her things on. They then slipped their black slippers on and half-walked, half-skipped down the stairs. Seeing no sign of Albert, or any male for that matter, Victoria looked at the large wall. "It's a beautiful day out today." And indeed it was. The sun was out, shining brightly, and the sky was a bright blue, dotted with small white clouds.
"Yes, beautiful. It's too early for anything to be beautiful," Albert muttered as he came down the stairs from the boys' dormitories. "Who's up for breaking the bell?"
"No one, we're too hungry," said Victoria, heading for the exit wall.
"Hungry doesn't begin to describe things," Kathrine complained. "Try ravenous."
They walked down the hall, descended a rather large, spiraled flight of steps, took a small passageway from the bottom into a large hallway, and from there proceeded into the Great Hall. Kathrine breathed a sigh of relief as the wonderful smells of breakfast at Hogwarts drifted towards them. The three slid into their regular seats at the end of the table closest to the Gryffindor table. The silver bowls and serving platters had already been filled with food.
Victoria served herself a large helping of porridge and took a piece of bread. Just as she was beginning to eat, Professor Mixtem walked over and dropped her schedule into her lap, doing the same for Kathrine and Albert. Victoria was going to thank him, but he was already moving toward the early risers at the Gryffindor table. Instead, she took a look at her schedule. "Not bad," she said, nodding. "Today we've got double potions with the Hufflepuffs and defense against the dark arts with the Gryffindors." She poured herself a glass of water and took a sip.
"No Slytherins today," Albert said happily.
Soon the entire Great Hall was filled. The owls swooped down in a magnificent show from the ceiling, dropping off letters. Victoria, Kathrine, and Albert each got a copy of the Daily Prophet. Before they could begin reading, Professor Clayrmonte was atop his chair, sending golden sparks into the air with his wand. "Your attention please," he began. "This is very important." Still the students would not quiet down. "It pertains to the tournament taking place here this year." Within seconds, the room was silent. "Yes, we are sure it is going to happen this year. Last night I got three owls. One from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang each, and another from the Ministry. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are planning to arrive on Friday. The top students of each school and their headmasters will be here. We have also decided what to call this tournament of ours. Students, welcome to the beginning of the first ever Triwizard Tournament." This statement received loud cheering and clapping. "That is all for this morning," Clayrmonte shouted over the din.
"I'm so excited!" Kathrine squeeled. "Do you think there will be any handsome French boys?"
Victoria rolled her eyes. "I don't know. But the bell is about to ring, and we've got to get all the way to the potions dungeon. We ought to be going now."
"How do you know the bell is going to ring?" Albert asked.
"It always rings shortly after Clayrmonte's announcements." Victoria stood up and gathered her books together. As she started to walk out of the room, the bell began to clang. She nodded.
"Fine. So you're always right. Another point goes to Victoria," Albert said dryly. He cracked a bit of a smile as they walked down the long hallway to potions.
Upon reaching the potions classroom, Victoria wrinkled her nose. "What is that horrible stench?" she asked.
"I don't know, but I certainly agree with you in saying that it's horrible," said Kathrine, one hand over her nose. They stepped into the classroom and took their usual seats in the middle row. Their cauldrons had already been placed in their usual seats. Professor Simtera had given up trying to get them to move the previous year, and now resorted to taking points from Ravenclaw for so much as a whisper.
When the whole class had entered and settled into their seats, bell having rung, Professor Simtera began to speak. She was a young woman with light brown hair and hazel eyes. Her features were stark, and she frowned constantly. "Class!" she snapped. When the class was still not completely silent, she slapped her wand loudly on her desk, resulting in a few loud cracks. "Silence!"
"I'm surprised she hasn't broken her wand doing that," Albert commented in a whisper.
"Mr. Logan," Professor Simtera began sharply, slapping her wand on the desk a few more times, "would you like this desk to be your bottom? It can be arranged." Albert's mouth snapped shut. "Now then, class. What you smell is armadillo bile. It is used in a wit-sharpening potion I'm going to have you all try today. I suggest you get out some parchment and quills so that you can write all of this down." She waited with her arms folded as the class hurriedly pulled out their writing materials. "Honestly, after five years in this class you should remember at least that much!" She proceeded to talk about the wit-sharpening potion, making points of what the ingredients were. "One last thing," she said when she was finished. "You need to be careful when adding the armadillo bile. If you add even the slightest bit too much, it will dull your wits instead of sharpening them. It works almost as a concoction for stupidity. Get to work."
Victoria and Kathrine shared a cauldron, and Albert worked with Andrew Black. "This is possibly the most wretched-smelling solution that exists on the face of the planet," Victoria said in disgust. She was pouring the armadillo bile into Kathrine's pewter cauldron. "What do you think, Andrew?"
"I think that if the Slytherins all got together and threw up after eating the world's supply of garlic, it definitely wouldn't smell this bad." He waved a hand in front of his nose for emphasis. This got a laugh out of everyone nearby, and a shout of "Ten points from Ravenclaw!" from Professor Simtera, who was head of Slytherin.
When Victoria and Kathrine had finished with their potion, they waited for the professor to inspect their work. Simtera walked over slowly. She dipped a finger into the potion and sniffed. "I don't believe you've gotten it quite right. Add a bit more armadillo bile, then you may test it on yourselves." She smiled evilly and then walked off to inspect another group.
Once she was out of earshot, Kathrine spoke up. "No way I'm adding any more of that to this potion. I'm not going to risk my wits. We ought to just try it."
"Okay. I suppose that works." She walked over and took two silver goblets off of the shelf.
"I just hope Professor Simtera didn't forget to mention what happens if by chance there isn't enough armadillo bile," Kathrine said as she poured the cups full of the concoction. "Cheers," she said as she drank her goblet down. Victoria did the same. When she was finished, Kathrine was blinking furiously, her face scrunched up. "That was horrible. I sure hope it was worth it."
Victoria shrugged, an expression similar to Kathrine's on her face. "I don't feel any different."
Professor Simtera had walked over. "If it is successful, you should feel more on top of things today. More together, faster, smarter. That's in a general sense. If not, you will either end up very stupid or extremely sick to your stomach." She raised her voice to speak to the class, "I want to see you all today after your next class, to check on how your potions turned out. If I fail to see any one of you, make no mistake in that I give out detention freely whenever I get the chance."
Professor Simtera walked into the back room. "I sure hope we don't get sick," Victoria said. "That is one of the last things I need."
"Better than being stupid. At least if you're sick, you can get a bit of work done." At the next table over, Albert and Andrew were drinking down their potion. Andrew was holding his nose with one hand and the goblet with the other.
"Honestly, if that's what it takes to sharpen my wits, it's certainly not worth it," he said, making a face.
"I whole-heartedly agree," Albert grumbled. "I would rather eat mud. Does anyone know how long it takes before we'll notice the effects?"
Victoria shook her head. "Professor Simtera didn't mention it. Apparently she didn't think it very important."