The next morning came too soon (in Jake's opinion anyway). Selena had to push and shove him off his bed before he would so much as moan. Harry and Ron were keeping watch after they realized that Jake wouldn't get up without some help (and besides, no girls were allowed into the boys dormitories). Once Jake had been roused several times, Harry, Ron, and Selena managed to drag him down the stairs and to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry seemed to be a bit jumpy, always looking out the window as if he was waiting for someone or something to come.
"I'm tired." Jake grumbled.
"It's because you stayed up so that I could sleep. I'm sorry." Selena said. "How about this? Next time I'll stay up late and the next time you. We'll switch every day so that we don't die of exhaustion."
"Okay." Jake mumbled. He looked at his sausages and tries to eat it without poking the fork into his eye by accident.
Once they were sitting at the table, Jake and Selena began to eat the delicious Hogwarts food. Neither had tasted anything like it and, considering the fact that almost everything existed in their world, that was saying something. When the Owl Post came through the window, Selena and Jake didn't bother to look up. Who in this world would send them a letter? To their great shock, a letter dropped right in between them. Selena glanced up but the owl was gone.
"Who would send us mail?" Selena demanded.
"Maybe it's from your family back home?" Ron said.
"Nah, they're glad we're gone." Jake said. "My mother nearly jumped for joy when she found out we'd be in another continent for almost the entire year. She was even happier when she found out that the Dark Lord makes home calls here too." Hermione and Ron paled drastically.
"Don't scare them!" Selena hissed.
"selena, i was only joking. My parents loved me so much she could hardly let me go to England. So i wasn't expecting much of a letter. I guess i better see what this said."
The first month of school had been a blast! The classes were extremely interesting, especially when Jake and Selena finally got around to learning just how their wands worked. Living in Hogwarts was the best thing that ever happened to them (besides being born).
Moody's class turned out to be the most interesting. During Harry's trial, Selena had been watching the crowd instead of him. It turned out that there was a girl in the room who was another Gryffindor that Selena had never heard about. Her name was Melissa Sol, a tall girl with bright red hair and strangely pale gray eyes. Selena always caught the girl starring at Harry, which made Selena blushed and get very jealous. Over the course of the month, Selena found Harry to be all that she had expected and more. He was a sweet person, handsome, very athletic, and strangely gentle. When Harry had managed to throw off the Imperious Curse and Melissa's eyes strayed to follow him, Moody finally turned his rolling eyeball towards Jake. He smirked slightly, which made Selena gulp audibly.
"You, smart ass. Get over here." Jake glanced giving a quizzical look at Selena, who was smiling encouragingly. Secretly she was crossing her fingers, praying that Moody wouldn't kill him. "Imperious!" Jake felt the strangest sense of calm, even as he stood with everyone watching him. Deep within his mind he heard a thought which didn't belong to him say 'Tell me what you know about the future.' Jake opened his mouth but closed it soundly.
'No thanks, I'd rather keep it to myself.' The voice became firmer. 'Tell me what the future holds. Tell me if I will succeed in my mission.' The voice became more coaxing as time progressed.
Why should I tell you? I'd rather not. The voice began to scream hideously in his mind. 'TELL ME NOW OR I'LL FORCE YOU TO JUMP OUT THE WINDOW!' Jake felt very prompted and actually opened his mouth and began to say something before he bit his tongue down.
"Shan't say. I won't!" He said simply. Moody shook for a moment and he looked angry and dangerous but then again, he began to laugh.
"Did you see? On the first try he actually threw it off! Good, very good indeed. Go sit down now." When Jake sat down, he caught a deathly glare from Moody before he saw Selena smiling widely.
"You're still alive!" She muttered into his ear.
"Yeah." Jake was about to continue but Moody stopped him.
"Selena! Your turn, get over there." He growled. Selena gulped and walked over to the center of the room. She watched as Harry rubbed the place where his kneecaps had rammed into the desks. Selena closed her eyes for a moment before watching Moody point his wand at her.
"Imperious!" He shouted. Selena felt an overwhelming calm descend on her as she stood there. She didn't notice that people were looking at her nor did she see Jake mouthing for her not to open her mouth.
'Walk to your cousin and kiss him.' Selena glanced at Jake and wrinkled her nose.
'Ew. There is no chance in hell that I'm going to do that.' The voice came very firmly this time. 'Tell me of the future or I'll force you to kiss him'. 'Absolutely not, no way, I'd rather not, thank you very much.' Moody finally began to laugh again. but the eyes looked menacing.
"Potter, maybe these two are related to you. This girl is pretty good at this." Selena sighed deeply and sat down beside Jake (a little farther than usual). Harry looked at the two bit red as Selena glowers at Moody a bit.
"What did he want you to do?" Jake whispered to her.
"You don't want to know." She muttered back, "How about you?"
"ditto." Jake whispered.
Back to the present day, Selena ripped open the letter slowly.
"Hey look!" Selena whispered after she'd read the first few lines. Jake leaned over her and both read silently.
"Dear Mr. Berenson and Ms. Minton,
I hope you don't mind, I'm sorry to bother you but I have decided that in order for you to remain in the school without accidentally releasing any information to cunning, evil ears, I have decided that an update on all that is going on in the Ministry and so forth must be passed to you. No one is to see these letters, especially Mr. Potter and his friends. I also ask that today, when you would normally have Potions, to please go with Professor McGonagall to Hogsmeade to buy yourselves an owl. She shall give you the money and leave you to do as you will. Voldie wouldn't dare to attack Hogsmeade so don't be worried about that. As for telling the others where you have been, simply tell them that you have been asked to perform a service for me.
Sincerely yours,
Professor Albus Dumbledore." Selena grinned. Jake grinned back and knew what this means.
"No Potions today. I think Snape had a mind to poison you for the last class when you 'accidentally' spilled your potion on him." Selena said.
"Why don't you have Potions?!" Ron demanded angrily.
"Dumbledore wants us to do something for him." Jake said smugly. He too had been worried that Snape would try to poison him, and not just with a curable potion. He would have probably chosen one that neither Selena nor Hermione knew about.
"We'll see you guys later." Selena and Jake waved to their friends and rushed out of the Great Hall and into none other than Professor Snape. He glared horribly at them, especially Jake.
"Good morning. Where do you think you're going? You'll be having my class very soon and you wouldn't want to be late." He said greasily and menacing as well. He was as greasy as ever and he was glaring between the two as if they were conspiring against him (which was absolutely true).
"Dumbledore wants us to go to Hogsmeade so we'll be missing your class." Selena said with a huge smile on her face. Snape looked down at her frowning disbelief.
"So terribly sorry, professor. We would have refused, but Dumbledore's orders are Dumbledore's orders." Jake said smugly. The two laughed softly as they left the stunned and disappointed professor (he had really planned to poison Selena and see if Jake could come up with an antidote in time to save her) behind. The two teenagers soon found McGonagall and she immediately began to walk with them to Hogsmeade. Once out in the streets, she handed them a bag filled with coins.
"fifty galleons each. Enough to buy you many things as you like but be warned that buy only what is nessiscary or your case fun. No bad tricks.
"Off you go then." McGonagall urged as she began to make her way back to the castle. "Be here around three o'clock at the Three Broomsticks. Don't be late. I'm giving you a treat even when Dumbledore wants me to. But one false step, you'll never come back to Hogsmeade. Ever." Selena and Jake grinned evilly at each other and rushed to the store which Dumbledore had told them would contain any magical pets that they would require. It was actually an owlery with especially charmed animals which could change from an owl to something else.
"Can we see the owls that you have and what they can turn into?" Jake asked as he and Selena entered the dark shop with their eyes wide. The shop owner nodded and moved towards the counter. He handed them a list.
Owl – Coral Snake
Owl – Panda Bear
Owl – Bull Frog
Owl – Snowy Tiger
Owl – Mountain Lion
Jake and Selena thinks having a owl who turns into a Bullfrog seems useless, same with panda bear since it wouldn't be good idea to have around Hogwarts. And for Coral snake is very ridicules. and so much others are not nearly fascinating as the ones who can turn into cats.
There were many more on the list but Jake stopped at the one with the mountain lion. Selena was starring at the name of the one owl which could turn into a snowy tiger. The shop owner paled and tried to smile. Jake grinned darkly as he know that the dangerous a creature the better. Hagrid would be jealous if he knew they would buy two deadlist cats ever.
"These are the two most dangerous of the owls. Perhaps you would prefer another, friendlier owl?"
"Nah. these cats are more fun. Why else would you sell them if they're not?" Jake said.
"What's wrong with the other ones? I mean the owl who can transform into a rat is very friendly." The shop manager said. Jake wrinkles his nose. Selena and Jake insisted so the shop owner had no choice but to motion for them to follow him. They moved around the counter and into the back room, where there were even more owls. Some owls were actually inside of huge cages, most of them glaring angrily at the kids. Selena and Jake were too excited to care that some of the owls didn't seem to realize that they were birds since several of them were shrieking like banshees.
"These are the most dangerous owls in the store." The shop owner said nervously, keeping a good ten feet away from a very large metal door. Two separate hissing and roaring sounds could be heard from within as well as the smashing of unidentified objects. Selena and Jake didn't hesitate as they opened the door and stepped inside. A snowy owl was glaring at the shop owner angrily from one side of the room and on the other a large tawny owl was roaring angrily. With a pop, both of them turned into beautiful giant cats.
"They're so gorgeous!" Selena gushed. The snowy tiger stopped hissing and starred at her curiously. The tiger purrs and walks toward her. Bows to her respectfully and nudges her.
"If only we had animals like this back home!" Jake said dreamily. The mountain lion was trying to paw at him, its roars turning into whimpers. Jake moved forward and began to pet the lion delightedly. The lion actually began to purr and shift around to give Jake a better place to pet it. Selena was gushing over the tiger, continuously petting it and saying how beautiful it was. Both animals were completely charmed by the humans. The shop owner was starring at them in shock.
"How much?!" Jake and Selena demanded.
"Er, just take them. On the house." He added shaking and stuttering like Professor Quirrell. He looks as if he's gonna faint.. Selena and Jake immediately opened the cages, which made the shop owner scream and run back to his office and lock the door behind him. The two animals crept out of their cages and with a loud pop turned into actually cats. The snowy tiger became a beautiful Siamese cat with huge blue eyes and a delicate body. The mountain lion leapt into Jake's arms as a black cat starring up at him with sharp hazel eyes.
"You're the cutest thing I've ever seen!" Selena gushed as she picked up her owl/tiger/cat lovingly. Jake was grinning as he petted his owl/lion/cat.
"You hate rats, right?" The black cat actually nodded. "Then we'll get along just fine!" The two of them left the store happily with their cats in their arms. Jake and Selena walked into the middle of the street and looked around at the nearly empty streets. It was still fairly early in the morning and the other students couldn't go to Hogsmeade so they were basically alone.
"Where should we go now?" Selena asked curiously.
"How about the Shrieking Shack? I've always wanted to see it." Jake said. Selena was about to protest but Jake had grabbed her and was pulling her along to what he thought was the Shrieking Shack. Once they were there, Selena and Jake starred at the little building for a long time.
"Good morning." A gruff voice behind them said. Selena and Jake whirled around to find Moody standing there. Both teenagers inched closer together for comfort and protection. The cats hissed angrily, feeling their owners' distress.
"Hello Professor." Selena and Jake said at the same time.
"I wanted to ask you something." Moody said, skipping the pleasantries and jumping into his question. "How much about the future do you know?" Selena's grip on her cat's fur made it hiss.
"Just the basics." Jake assured him.
"Do you know who I am?" Moody asked tensely.
"No-," Selena began to say.
"Barty Crouch Jr." Jake said at the same time. Selena whacked Jake in the head very hard.
"You know that, do you?" Moody's voice had turned deathly cold. "Have you told anyone?" Selena and Jake exchanged glances.
"No, unless you're gonna tell your master." Jake said casually.'
"Oh really? ." Both teenagers paled instantly. "Al right then, We'll make a bargain. I keep your secret and you keep mine, understood? Either that or I bring not only the Dark Lord but all of the Ministries on this planet." Selena gulped. Jake grinned viciously.
"Alright then, we have a deal." Moody didn't smile as he turned around and left. When he was gone, Selena breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was close." She muttered. "God Jake, just keep your mouth shut. It's gonna get us both killed."
"Alright, alright. Sorry. Let's go to the Zonko's shop."
"Actually, you go ahead i'll be at the bookshop." Selena said nervously.
Jake grinned darkly and then walked down to Zonko's then stopped and turned, "I'll come to the bookshop too after this." and then went in.
"Ah, hello. anything?" The shop manager asked.
"Just seeking if you got anything like dungbombs, fireworks, and such." Jake said and started purchasing few items and then stopped to see the orb necklace with eagle talon holding it. He looks closer at the sparkling orb as it starts to swirl a tiny cloud inside. It turns blue.
"ah, when it shows blue color, it resembles as powerful magic within the owner. colors tells what you were like red for evil, green, for mysterious, purple for cunning magi, and variety. This is a very vauluable item. Very protective of the owner whom possesses it. Ah, but for you i would charge 5 galleons." The shop owner said as he looked at the orb as Jake observes it. Then buys it. As then, Selena checks out her books as she had taken Transfiguration, divination, Quidditch, and variety things and began to purchase it as Jake came in and got his books he just grabbed from the shelves. and then, they both got their things and walked outside talking.
"I wonder why Moony didn't just curse us and hail us off to Voldie to get us to tell them what we know." Jake muttered. Selena whacked his arm.
"Don't be stupid! If he did, Dumbledore would have questioned everyone and found out that Moody was the only one not in the castle! And besides, Dumbledore would also know that we weren't at Hogwarts and he would call off the TriWizard tournament because of the threat so close to his school." Jake blinked.
"Are you better now?" Selena sighed.
"Yes, I'm much better now, thank you." Jake nodded. "Do you think that Snuffles is around?" Selena asked curiously. Neither she nor Jake noticed the big shaggy dog standing behind them, watching them with interest.
"Maybe. I mean, if the Ministry hasn't caught him for some weird reason. Wouldn't that suck? If we worked so hard not to tell anyone anything about the future and then we just blurt something out that ruins everything anyway?" Selena nodded sadly.
"It really would suck." She mumbled.
"What's wrong?" Jake demanded.
"Well, I'm just worried. You know that in every fic in existence something really terrible happens if a writer goes into it. It's always something that wasn't supposed to happen in the original story but does. Could you imagine it? I've done some research in this world on the spells we've been learning and we're really lucky. If we'd been hit by any of the Unforgivables without knowing about it, we could have actually been forced to do anything." Jake frowned.
"Don't worry about that for now. If we don't relax about this, we'll end up killing ourselves if we say anything." When he noticed that she hadn't relaxed, his expression softened. "Come on, cheer up, we're going to Hogwarts for Christ's sake! And besides, the Yule Ball will be coming around some time and we don't know who we'll go with yet. Let's get an ice cream and try some butter beer!" Selena smiled in gratitude.
"Okay." She said, allowing Jake to tug her towards the Three Broomsticks.
"What's the matter boy? Do you smell a rat?" Jake crooned to his cat along the way. His cat had gotten a bit stiff but relaxed when Jake gave him attention. "If its Wormtail you can go bring him to me. I still haven't gotten to blow him up yet." There was a soft whining sound behind them and both teenagers turned to find a surprised dog starring at them. It turned instantly and ran at full speed.
"Jake?"
"Yeah?"
"I think we're in trouble."
Later, once they arrived at the Three Broomsticks, Professor McGonagall was shocked to find each one of the new students carrying bulking bags.
"What did you buy?" McGonagall asked, her face turning pale. It was the money of Hogwarts that the teenagers were spending and the Transfiguration professor had never been too happy about Dumbledore insisting that they be allowed to buy what they wished. Jake nudged Selena.
"I got a few books." She said instantly. It wasn't a lie either. She's gotten two books on Quiditch, another one on Transfiguration and Animigus training, two more on Divination which came with a Tarot card deck, a book on Charms, a book on curses, two books on the history of dragon wars and elf wars, and a final book on different magical creatures. Once Selena showed the professor all of her choices, McGonagall was too happy to ask what Jake had gotten.
In his bag were dung bombs, several fireworks and magical necklace, different candies that he promised to share with Selena, several specially chosen herbs from the Apothecary which couldn't be found anywhere else, a book on Quiditch and another on the Dark Arts (he didn't want to show McGonagall that one), and his cat was sitting on his lap.
"These animals can't carry mail." McGonagall mentioned after her eyes had stopped glazing over each time she turned to Selena.
"They're actually special owls." Selena said.
"I see." Her eyes glazed over for a long time before the waitress brought three mugs of what appeared to be-,
"Butter beer!" Selena and Jake said at the same time. They each took one into their hands and starred down at the foamy liquid eagerly. They toasted their drinks and drank down the delicious lathery liquid. They each felt that wonderful warm and cozy feeling that one has when they are sitting beside a fire with a blanket around them while watching snow fall outside the window.
"Good morning." The cheerful voice said. Selena opened her eyes to see who had interrupted her moment in paradise but Jake ignored him. There was an idiotic smile on his face, exactly as Selena's face had been smiling seconds before. Selena hiccupped in surprise when she saw the man and nudged Jake. When he opened his eyes in annoyance he saw what appeared to be a mismatched Christmas tree ornament in the shape of an ugly elf. Jake began to laugh hysterically before Selena urged her cat to sink her nails into his foot.
"Good morning Minister Fudge." McGonagall said, giving her two charges deathly glares.
"Good morning." Selena managed sweetly while tightening her grip on Jake's hand, which she had taken when her cat began to scratch him.
"Isn't it a beautiful morning?" Jake hissed between clenched teeth, swearing beneath his breath to hurt Selena later. "It's an honor to meet you Chocolate, er, I mean Fudge." Selena bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.
"I assume that you are the two new American transfer students that Mr. Lucius Malfoy told me about?" Fudge asked warmly. He hadn't noticed anything strange about the two students. If anything, he was smiling at them in such an admiring way that Selena scooted closer to Jake.
"Er, that's right." Selena said slowly.
"Well, I was just coming to meet you. It's such an honor to meet you, truly. The American Ministry of Magic is known far and wide to be one of the most powerful Ministries in the world. They would not have sent inexperienced children to England, I'm sure." He gave them both a deeply-proud-uncle wink which made Selena edge even closer to Jake. It was almost as if he was flirting with them!
"Thank you." Selena muttered, trying to smile. Jake leaned closer to her ear and mumbled "child molester".
"Don't be ridiculus. Course he isn't he's just stupid." Selena whispered back in his ear.
Fusge didn't realize what's happening as he proudlt talks a bit.
"Well, I must be going. The TriWizard tournament needs all of the help it can get to be set up!" He said enthusiastically, as if he had just met Barney live. He nodded to McGonagall and left practically skipping. The two cats hissed after him and pawed the air, as if they were asking for permission to play cat and mouse.
"Child molester." Jake muttered again, petting his cat to soothe it.
"Why was he fawning on us like that? It was as if he was planning to give us our own day of the week or something like that." Selena whispered.
"You heard him; he thinks that the American Ministry of Magic sent us here to check up on them. Of course he's going to kiss ass to keep himself on our good side." Jake whispered back.
"I do believe that we should be going." McGonagall said. She was glaring in the direction that the Minister had just skipped himself out of. "I believe that the other schools will be arriving soon. She led the two conversing teenagers back to Hogwarts and told them to get ready for their next class (Charms).
Later that day, right outside the school, Selena and Jake were standing a bit away from everyone and were whispering to each other.
"Do you think that Fleur will look good?" Jake whispered. "And will Krum really play Quiditch well?" Selena shrugged.
"I don't know, but if they don't let us back into the castle soon I think we'll find Meimi and Shawn destroyed the owlery." Meimi was Selena's owl/tiger/cat and Shawn was Jake's owl/lion/cat. Both had been very reluctant to let their new masters leave them in the owlery. Selena had begged Jake to let them come down to greet the two schools but Jake had said it would be impossible to think if the two cats were around.
"Don't worry about that." Jake growled. "I'm more worried about food. I'm hungry." Selena rolled her eyes.
Once the other schools had arrived and everyone was sitting at their tables, Jake and Selena were sitting with Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Jake and Ron were still starring at Fleur Delcaur as if she was a goddess on earth, just as the entire male population of the school was doing (much to every girlfriend's disgust).
"Jake? Hello? Is anyone in there?" Selena demanded as she waved her hands in front of his face. She sighed deeply. "Hey lover boy, I know how to make her like you." Jake's eyes instantly turned to Selena.
"How?!" He had always thought it would be cool to meet a half veela. He had never thought of the consequences of meeting one up close. Fleur was ravishingly gorgeous with milky white hair and startling blue eyes. Her skin was a moonlight white and she had a grace which was unequalled by anyone at the school. Only Harry seemed to be able to turn a blind eye, which seemed to be very difficult for him to do.
"Just ignore her completely." Selena said. Jake starred at her and then began to laugh.
"Ha ha, very funny. Seriously though, what should I do?" Selena rolled her eyes.
"Look around! Everyone is starring at her! Why would she go for you when she has all of these other idiots starring at her in the same way?" Ron made a gurgling sound deep in his throat and missed his mouth while he was trying to eat. Hermione was fuming angrily, her reddened face buried in a book. Selena would have been reading as well but she was too excited. "My point is proven by Mr. Graceful over there." She added and motioned to Ron.
"Are you sure ignoring her will work?" Jake asked doubtfully.
"Trust me. Just don't pay attention when she walks by. Or you could start talking to someone about something and don't change how you say something just because she happens to be starring at you right now because you're talking to me." Jake was confused for a second but his eyes widened instantly.
"She's starring at me?!" He asked. Selena stopped him from whirling around to stare right back.
"Don't! Just look at her, smile, and turn back around." Jake did as he was told and looked at Selena quizzically. Now that Selena was making him think, he felt much more at ease knowing that the half veela was starring at him. "I told you! She looks really jealous now. Okay, from today on I want you to treat her like everyone else alright? If you do, when she starts trying to get your attention then she'll feel special that you treat her differently from everyone else. Oh, and don't tell her stuff likes she's beautiful or graceful. I think she's the kind of girl that wants to hear that she has some brains behind that platinum blond hair of hers." Jake grinned. Now that he'd listened to Selena's worthless ranting, he felt much calmer. Sure he wanted to go over and lay his charm on Fleur, but it was true. All of the guys around him had that same _expression of their faces.
Across the room, Fleur was fuming. She had been looking around the room in utter boredom. Her little sister was with her, talking about all of the interesting things all over the school in perfect French. Fleur was barely listening. And then her eyes fell on something that shocked her into nearly falling out of her chair!
A boy was actually talking to some other girl and completely ignoring her! Fleur couldn't believe it at first since all of the guys starred at her for her looks; no guy cared about how smart she was. Still, Fleur dismissed his drawn attention as simply not having seen her yet. Still, he actually turned to her. She expected that same glazed _expression, that same idiotic smile that the entire male population of the room was wearing, but what she saw shocked her back into numbness. He just smiled and turned around! Fleur couldn't believe it! A guy was actually ignoring her?! It was unheard of! Fleur spent the rest of the night simply starring at him in shock and awe. Hermione was extremely happy to know that at least Jake could keep his head in front of a girl.
"I have a question to ask you." Hermione said when she turned to Jake and Selena. Harry turned in his seat and starred at her.
"Leave them alone Hermione! They don't want to join spew." Ron mumbled as he starred at Fleur starring back in his general direction.
"It's S.P.E.W.!" Hermione hissed. "And besides, they can figure it out for themselves. I mean, they're from the United States! They know all about the slave labor going on there and all of the years that those poor people had to go through. They wouldn't just turn their backs to other slaves in another country." Hermione's eyes were glittering dangerously. She was leaning over the table threateningly, ignoring Harry as he tried to calm her down.
"Er, Hermione, are you okay?" Selena asked meekly from behind her book. After Jake had stopped starring at Fleur, she had taken out the book on Divination that she had gotten and was currently hiding behind it. Jake was glancing around nervously for a place to escape.
"I'm just fine, but what about those poor slaves down in the kitchens, miserable and helpless as they make our lives easy? They're making food from France and other places just so that the new students can feel welcome!" Hermione kept ranting for a while before Jake interrupted.
"Hermione, if this upsets you so much, then why don't you just go to the kitchens and ask them how they feel? You don't know if its slave labor. And since you're a Muggle-born witch, you don't know if they like being here or not. We're only human and by our standards it would be horrible, but maybe they really like it down there." Hermione was opening and closing her mouth in disbelief.
"Bloody hell! You got her to stop talking about the house elves?!" George demanded as he and Fred came to sit with them. Each one of the twins shook Jake's hand in awe. "Thanks mate!" Hermione bristled for a while before she returned to her book. Selena rolled her eyes.
"May I have your attention please?" Dumbledore stood and everyone fell silence. He began to talk about the TriWizard tournament and about all of the things that happened during its years of use. Selena and Jake starred at Moody to see how he behaved. The man was excellent at not showing his emotions.
After Dumbledore finished talking about the Goblet of Fire, he allowed the students to leave the Great Hall for bed. As Jake and Selena were leaving for their usual midnight classes, they came across Fleur, Cho Chang, another girl who had to be Gabriel (Fleur's little sister), and Melissa, the girl that kept starring at Harry. Melissa and Fleur glared at Selena angrily.
"Good evening." Fleur said with her beautiful accent. Jake would have turned into a statue if Selena hadn't 'accidentally' stepped on his foot.
"Good evening!" Jake said cheerfully, his throbbing foot keeping him wide awake and fully prepared to 'accidentally' spill the contents of his next Potion's class cauldron onto Selena. "It's nice to meet you; you must be a student from one of the schools. Which one was it?" He turned to Selena, who grinned at his wonderful recovery.
"I think it was Beauxbatons." She said. "Isn't that right?" Fleur's jaw muscles tightened and her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Oui." She said scalding with her perfect French.
"Come on cuz, we'll be late for our class if we don't hurry." Selena moved off, leaving them alone. Jake smiled warmly at the girls.
"I have to be going now, I'll see you around." Jake began to leave.
"Wait!" Fleur said quickly. Jake turned to her with a curious smile.
"Yes?" He asked.
"Well, I was wondering how you know dat girl." Fleur said, blushing slightly. Jake grinned wider.
"She's my cousin." He explained. "We're from the United States so you're not the only new students around here." Fleur seemed extremely relieved as she watched Jake move off to follow Selena. Fleur was secretly thinking that her job to snare him was much simpler without another girl in the way. All she had to do was get him to notice her.
"Did you see the look on her face?!" Selena demanded as she grabbed Jake out of the middle of the corridor and into the side wall. "I told you! She's already in love with you!" Jake grinned.
"Just for that, I'll forgive you for stepping on my foot and having Meimi cut my other foot open." Selena grinned in embarrassment.
"Sorry about that. Do you forgive me?"
"I already told you I did." Jake said pleasantly. They didn't notice a pair of eyes glaring at them through the darkness.
"I'm tired." Jake grumbled.
"It's because you stayed up so that I could sleep. I'm sorry." Selena said. "How about this? Next time I'll stay up late and the next time you. We'll switch every day so that we don't die of exhaustion."
"Okay." Jake mumbled. He looked at his sausages and tries to eat it without poking the fork into his eye by accident.
Once they were sitting at the table, Jake and Selena began to eat the delicious Hogwarts food. Neither had tasted anything like it and, considering the fact that almost everything existed in their world, that was saying something. When the Owl Post came through the window, Selena and Jake didn't bother to look up. Who in this world would send them a letter? To their great shock, a letter dropped right in between them. Selena glanced up but the owl was gone.
"Who would send us mail?" Selena demanded.
"Maybe it's from your family back home?" Ron said.
"Nah, they're glad we're gone." Jake said. "My mother nearly jumped for joy when she found out we'd be in another continent for almost the entire year. She was even happier when she found out that the Dark Lord makes home calls here too." Hermione and Ron paled drastically.
"Don't scare them!" Selena hissed.
"selena, i was only joking. My parents loved me so much she could hardly let me go to England. So i wasn't expecting much of a letter. I guess i better see what this said."
The first month of school had been a blast! The classes were extremely interesting, especially when Jake and Selena finally got around to learning just how their wands worked. Living in Hogwarts was the best thing that ever happened to them (besides being born).
Moody's class turned out to be the most interesting. During Harry's trial, Selena had been watching the crowd instead of him. It turned out that there was a girl in the room who was another Gryffindor that Selena had never heard about. Her name was Melissa Sol, a tall girl with bright red hair and strangely pale gray eyes. Selena always caught the girl starring at Harry, which made Selena blushed and get very jealous. Over the course of the month, Selena found Harry to be all that she had expected and more. He was a sweet person, handsome, very athletic, and strangely gentle. When Harry had managed to throw off the Imperious Curse and Melissa's eyes strayed to follow him, Moody finally turned his rolling eyeball towards Jake. He smirked slightly, which made Selena gulp audibly.
"You, smart ass. Get over here." Jake glanced giving a quizzical look at Selena, who was smiling encouragingly. Secretly she was crossing her fingers, praying that Moody wouldn't kill him. "Imperious!" Jake felt the strangest sense of calm, even as he stood with everyone watching him. Deep within his mind he heard a thought which didn't belong to him say 'Tell me what you know about the future.' Jake opened his mouth but closed it soundly.
'No thanks, I'd rather keep it to myself.' The voice became firmer. 'Tell me what the future holds. Tell me if I will succeed in my mission.' The voice became more coaxing as time progressed.
Why should I tell you? I'd rather not. The voice began to scream hideously in his mind. 'TELL ME NOW OR I'LL FORCE YOU TO JUMP OUT THE WINDOW!' Jake felt very prompted and actually opened his mouth and began to say something before he bit his tongue down.
"Shan't say. I won't!" He said simply. Moody shook for a moment and he looked angry and dangerous but then again, he began to laugh.
"Did you see? On the first try he actually threw it off! Good, very good indeed. Go sit down now." When Jake sat down, he caught a deathly glare from Moody before he saw Selena smiling widely.
"You're still alive!" She muttered into his ear.
"Yeah." Jake was about to continue but Moody stopped him.
"Selena! Your turn, get over there." He growled. Selena gulped and walked over to the center of the room. She watched as Harry rubbed the place where his kneecaps had rammed into the desks. Selena closed her eyes for a moment before watching Moody point his wand at her.
"Imperious!" He shouted. Selena felt an overwhelming calm descend on her as she stood there. She didn't notice that people were looking at her nor did she see Jake mouthing for her not to open her mouth.
'Walk to your cousin and kiss him.' Selena glanced at Jake and wrinkled her nose.
'Ew. There is no chance in hell that I'm going to do that.' The voice came very firmly this time. 'Tell me of the future or I'll force you to kiss him'. 'Absolutely not, no way, I'd rather not, thank you very much.' Moody finally began to laugh again. but the eyes looked menacing.
"Potter, maybe these two are related to you. This girl is pretty good at this." Selena sighed deeply and sat down beside Jake (a little farther than usual). Harry looked at the two bit red as Selena glowers at Moody a bit.
"What did he want you to do?" Jake whispered to her.
"You don't want to know." She muttered back, "How about you?"
"ditto." Jake whispered.
Back to the present day, Selena ripped open the letter slowly.
"Hey look!" Selena whispered after she'd read the first few lines. Jake leaned over her and both read silently.
"Dear Mr. Berenson and Ms. Minton,
I hope you don't mind, I'm sorry to bother you but I have decided that in order for you to remain in the school without accidentally releasing any information to cunning, evil ears, I have decided that an update on all that is going on in the Ministry and so forth must be passed to you. No one is to see these letters, especially Mr. Potter and his friends. I also ask that today, when you would normally have Potions, to please go with Professor McGonagall to Hogsmeade to buy yourselves an owl. She shall give you the money and leave you to do as you will. Voldie wouldn't dare to attack Hogsmeade so don't be worried about that. As for telling the others where you have been, simply tell them that you have been asked to perform a service for me.
Sincerely yours,
Professor Albus Dumbledore." Selena grinned. Jake grinned back and knew what this means.
"No Potions today. I think Snape had a mind to poison you for the last class when you 'accidentally' spilled your potion on him." Selena said.
"Why don't you have Potions?!" Ron demanded angrily.
"Dumbledore wants us to do something for him." Jake said smugly. He too had been worried that Snape would try to poison him, and not just with a curable potion. He would have probably chosen one that neither Selena nor Hermione knew about.
"We'll see you guys later." Selena and Jake waved to their friends and rushed out of the Great Hall and into none other than Professor Snape. He glared horribly at them, especially Jake.
"Good morning. Where do you think you're going? You'll be having my class very soon and you wouldn't want to be late." He said greasily and menacing as well. He was as greasy as ever and he was glaring between the two as if they were conspiring against him (which was absolutely true).
"Dumbledore wants us to go to Hogsmeade so we'll be missing your class." Selena said with a huge smile on her face. Snape looked down at her frowning disbelief.
"So terribly sorry, professor. We would have refused, but Dumbledore's orders are Dumbledore's orders." Jake said smugly. The two laughed softly as they left the stunned and disappointed professor (he had really planned to poison Selena and see if Jake could come up with an antidote in time to save her) behind. The two teenagers soon found McGonagall and she immediately began to walk with them to Hogsmeade. Once out in the streets, she handed them a bag filled with coins.
"fifty galleons each. Enough to buy you many things as you like but be warned that buy only what is nessiscary or your case fun. No bad tricks.
"Off you go then." McGonagall urged as she began to make her way back to the castle. "Be here around three o'clock at the Three Broomsticks. Don't be late. I'm giving you a treat even when Dumbledore wants me to. But one false step, you'll never come back to Hogsmeade. Ever." Selena and Jake grinned evilly at each other and rushed to the store which Dumbledore had told them would contain any magical pets that they would require. It was actually an owlery with especially charmed animals which could change from an owl to something else.
"Can we see the owls that you have and what they can turn into?" Jake asked as he and Selena entered the dark shop with their eyes wide. The shop owner nodded and moved towards the counter. He handed them a list.
Owl – Coral Snake
Owl – Panda Bear
Owl – Bull Frog
Owl – Snowy Tiger
Owl – Mountain Lion
Jake and Selena thinks having a owl who turns into a Bullfrog seems useless, same with panda bear since it wouldn't be good idea to have around Hogwarts. And for Coral snake is very ridicules. and so much others are not nearly fascinating as the ones who can turn into cats.
There were many more on the list but Jake stopped at the one with the mountain lion. Selena was starring at the name of the one owl which could turn into a snowy tiger. The shop owner paled and tried to smile. Jake grinned darkly as he know that the dangerous a creature the better. Hagrid would be jealous if he knew they would buy two deadlist cats ever.
"These are the two most dangerous of the owls. Perhaps you would prefer another, friendlier owl?"
"Nah. these cats are more fun. Why else would you sell them if they're not?" Jake said.
"What's wrong with the other ones? I mean the owl who can transform into a rat is very friendly." The shop manager said. Jake wrinkles his nose. Selena and Jake insisted so the shop owner had no choice but to motion for them to follow him. They moved around the counter and into the back room, where there were even more owls. Some owls were actually inside of huge cages, most of them glaring angrily at the kids. Selena and Jake were too excited to care that some of the owls didn't seem to realize that they were birds since several of them were shrieking like banshees.
"These are the most dangerous owls in the store." The shop owner said nervously, keeping a good ten feet away from a very large metal door. Two separate hissing and roaring sounds could be heard from within as well as the smashing of unidentified objects. Selena and Jake didn't hesitate as they opened the door and stepped inside. A snowy owl was glaring at the shop owner angrily from one side of the room and on the other a large tawny owl was roaring angrily. With a pop, both of them turned into beautiful giant cats.
"They're so gorgeous!" Selena gushed. The snowy tiger stopped hissing and starred at her curiously. The tiger purrs and walks toward her. Bows to her respectfully and nudges her.
"If only we had animals like this back home!" Jake said dreamily. The mountain lion was trying to paw at him, its roars turning into whimpers. Jake moved forward and began to pet the lion delightedly. The lion actually began to purr and shift around to give Jake a better place to pet it. Selena was gushing over the tiger, continuously petting it and saying how beautiful it was. Both animals were completely charmed by the humans. The shop owner was starring at them in shock.
"How much?!" Jake and Selena demanded.
"Er, just take them. On the house." He added shaking and stuttering like Professor Quirrell. He looks as if he's gonna faint.. Selena and Jake immediately opened the cages, which made the shop owner scream and run back to his office and lock the door behind him. The two animals crept out of their cages and with a loud pop turned into actually cats. The snowy tiger became a beautiful Siamese cat with huge blue eyes and a delicate body. The mountain lion leapt into Jake's arms as a black cat starring up at him with sharp hazel eyes.
"You're the cutest thing I've ever seen!" Selena gushed as she picked up her owl/tiger/cat lovingly. Jake was grinning as he petted his owl/lion/cat.
"You hate rats, right?" The black cat actually nodded. "Then we'll get along just fine!" The two of them left the store happily with their cats in their arms. Jake and Selena walked into the middle of the street and looked around at the nearly empty streets. It was still fairly early in the morning and the other students couldn't go to Hogsmeade so they were basically alone.
"Where should we go now?" Selena asked curiously.
"How about the Shrieking Shack? I've always wanted to see it." Jake said. Selena was about to protest but Jake had grabbed her and was pulling her along to what he thought was the Shrieking Shack. Once they were there, Selena and Jake starred at the little building for a long time.
"Good morning." A gruff voice behind them said. Selena and Jake whirled around to find Moody standing there. Both teenagers inched closer together for comfort and protection. The cats hissed angrily, feeling their owners' distress.
"Hello Professor." Selena and Jake said at the same time.
"I wanted to ask you something." Moody said, skipping the pleasantries and jumping into his question. "How much about the future do you know?" Selena's grip on her cat's fur made it hiss.
"Just the basics." Jake assured him.
"Do you know who I am?" Moody asked tensely.
"No-," Selena began to say.
"Barty Crouch Jr." Jake said at the same time. Selena whacked Jake in the head very hard.
"You know that, do you?" Moody's voice had turned deathly cold. "Have you told anyone?" Selena and Jake exchanged glances.
"No, unless you're gonna tell your master." Jake said casually.'
"Oh really? ." Both teenagers paled instantly. "Al right then, We'll make a bargain. I keep your secret and you keep mine, understood? Either that or I bring not only the Dark Lord but all of the Ministries on this planet." Selena gulped. Jake grinned viciously.
"Alright then, we have a deal." Moody didn't smile as he turned around and left. When he was gone, Selena breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was close." She muttered. "God Jake, just keep your mouth shut. It's gonna get us both killed."
"Alright, alright. Sorry. Let's go to the Zonko's shop."
"Actually, you go ahead i'll be at the bookshop." Selena said nervously.
Jake grinned darkly and then walked down to Zonko's then stopped and turned, "I'll come to the bookshop too after this." and then went in.
"Ah, hello. anything?" The shop manager asked.
"Just seeking if you got anything like dungbombs, fireworks, and such." Jake said and started purchasing few items and then stopped to see the orb necklace with eagle talon holding it. He looks closer at the sparkling orb as it starts to swirl a tiny cloud inside. It turns blue.
"ah, when it shows blue color, it resembles as powerful magic within the owner. colors tells what you were like red for evil, green, for mysterious, purple for cunning magi, and variety. This is a very vauluable item. Very protective of the owner whom possesses it. Ah, but for you i would charge 5 galleons." The shop owner said as he looked at the orb as Jake observes it. Then buys it. As then, Selena checks out her books as she had taken Transfiguration, divination, Quidditch, and variety things and began to purchase it as Jake came in and got his books he just grabbed from the shelves. and then, they both got their things and walked outside talking.
"I wonder why Moony didn't just curse us and hail us off to Voldie to get us to tell them what we know." Jake muttered. Selena whacked his arm.
"Don't be stupid! If he did, Dumbledore would have questioned everyone and found out that Moody was the only one not in the castle! And besides, Dumbledore would also know that we weren't at Hogwarts and he would call off the TriWizard tournament because of the threat so close to his school." Jake blinked.
"Are you better now?" Selena sighed.
"Yes, I'm much better now, thank you." Jake nodded. "Do you think that Snuffles is around?" Selena asked curiously. Neither she nor Jake noticed the big shaggy dog standing behind them, watching them with interest.
"Maybe. I mean, if the Ministry hasn't caught him for some weird reason. Wouldn't that suck? If we worked so hard not to tell anyone anything about the future and then we just blurt something out that ruins everything anyway?" Selena nodded sadly.
"It really would suck." She mumbled.
"What's wrong?" Jake demanded.
"Well, I'm just worried. You know that in every fic in existence something really terrible happens if a writer goes into it. It's always something that wasn't supposed to happen in the original story but does. Could you imagine it? I've done some research in this world on the spells we've been learning and we're really lucky. If we'd been hit by any of the Unforgivables without knowing about it, we could have actually been forced to do anything." Jake frowned.
"Don't worry about that for now. If we don't relax about this, we'll end up killing ourselves if we say anything." When he noticed that she hadn't relaxed, his expression softened. "Come on, cheer up, we're going to Hogwarts for Christ's sake! And besides, the Yule Ball will be coming around some time and we don't know who we'll go with yet. Let's get an ice cream and try some butter beer!" Selena smiled in gratitude.
"Okay." She said, allowing Jake to tug her towards the Three Broomsticks.
"What's the matter boy? Do you smell a rat?" Jake crooned to his cat along the way. His cat had gotten a bit stiff but relaxed when Jake gave him attention. "If its Wormtail you can go bring him to me. I still haven't gotten to blow him up yet." There was a soft whining sound behind them and both teenagers turned to find a surprised dog starring at them. It turned instantly and ran at full speed.
"Jake?"
"Yeah?"
"I think we're in trouble."
Later, once they arrived at the Three Broomsticks, Professor McGonagall was shocked to find each one of the new students carrying bulking bags.
"What did you buy?" McGonagall asked, her face turning pale. It was the money of Hogwarts that the teenagers were spending and the Transfiguration professor had never been too happy about Dumbledore insisting that they be allowed to buy what they wished. Jake nudged Selena.
"I got a few books." She said instantly. It wasn't a lie either. She's gotten two books on Quiditch, another one on Transfiguration and Animigus training, two more on Divination which came with a Tarot card deck, a book on Charms, a book on curses, two books on the history of dragon wars and elf wars, and a final book on different magical creatures. Once Selena showed the professor all of her choices, McGonagall was too happy to ask what Jake had gotten.
In his bag were dung bombs, several fireworks and magical necklace, different candies that he promised to share with Selena, several specially chosen herbs from the Apothecary which couldn't be found anywhere else, a book on Quiditch and another on the Dark Arts (he didn't want to show McGonagall that one), and his cat was sitting on his lap.
"These animals can't carry mail." McGonagall mentioned after her eyes had stopped glazing over each time she turned to Selena.
"They're actually special owls." Selena said.
"I see." Her eyes glazed over for a long time before the waitress brought three mugs of what appeared to be-,
"Butter beer!" Selena and Jake said at the same time. They each took one into their hands and starred down at the foamy liquid eagerly. They toasted their drinks and drank down the delicious lathery liquid. They each felt that wonderful warm and cozy feeling that one has when they are sitting beside a fire with a blanket around them while watching snow fall outside the window.
"Good morning." The cheerful voice said. Selena opened her eyes to see who had interrupted her moment in paradise but Jake ignored him. There was an idiotic smile on his face, exactly as Selena's face had been smiling seconds before. Selena hiccupped in surprise when she saw the man and nudged Jake. When he opened his eyes in annoyance he saw what appeared to be a mismatched Christmas tree ornament in the shape of an ugly elf. Jake began to laugh hysterically before Selena urged her cat to sink her nails into his foot.
"Good morning Minister Fudge." McGonagall said, giving her two charges deathly glares.
"Good morning." Selena managed sweetly while tightening her grip on Jake's hand, which she had taken when her cat began to scratch him.
"Isn't it a beautiful morning?" Jake hissed between clenched teeth, swearing beneath his breath to hurt Selena later. "It's an honor to meet you Chocolate, er, I mean Fudge." Selena bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.
"I assume that you are the two new American transfer students that Mr. Lucius Malfoy told me about?" Fudge asked warmly. He hadn't noticed anything strange about the two students. If anything, he was smiling at them in such an admiring way that Selena scooted closer to Jake.
"Er, that's right." Selena said slowly.
"Well, I was just coming to meet you. It's such an honor to meet you, truly. The American Ministry of Magic is known far and wide to be one of the most powerful Ministries in the world. They would not have sent inexperienced children to England, I'm sure." He gave them both a deeply-proud-uncle wink which made Selena edge even closer to Jake. It was almost as if he was flirting with them!
"Thank you." Selena muttered, trying to smile. Jake leaned closer to her ear and mumbled "child molester".
"Don't be ridiculus. Course he isn't he's just stupid." Selena whispered back in his ear.
Fusge didn't realize what's happening as he proudlt talks a bit.
"Well, I must be going. The TriWizard tournament needs all of the help it can get to be set up!" He said enthusiastically, as if he had just met Barney live. He nodded to McGonagall and left practically skipping. The two cats hissed after him and pawed the air, as if they were asking for permission to play cat and mouse.
"Child molester." Jake muttered again, petting his cat to soothe it.
"Why was he fawning on us like that? It was as if he was planning to give us our own day of the week or something like that." Selena whispered.
"You heard him; he thinks that the American Ministry of Magic sent us here to check up on them. Of course he's going to kiss ass to keep himself on our good side." Jake whispered back.
"I do believe that we should be going." McGonagall said. She was glaring in the direction that the Minister had just skipped himself out of. "I believe that the other schools will be arriving soon. She led the two conversing teenagers back to Hogwarts and told them to get ready for their next class (Charms).
Later that day, right outside the school, Selena and Jake were standing a bit away from everyone and were whispering to each other.
"Do you think that Fleur will look good?" Jake whispered. "And will Krum really play Quiditch well?" Selena shrugged.
"I don't know, but if they don't let us back into the castle soon I think we'll find Meimi and Shawn destroyed the owlery." Meimi was Selena's owl/tiger/cat and Shawn was Jake's owl/lion/cat. Both had been very reluctant to let their new masters leave them in the owlery. Selena had begged Jake to let them come down to greet the two schools but Jake had said it would be impossible to think if the two cats were around.
"Don't worry about that." Jake growled. "I'm more worried about food. I'm hungry." Selena rolled her eyes.
Once the other schools had arrived and everyone was sitting at their tables, Jake and Selena were sitting with Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Jake and Ron were still starring at Fleur Delcaur as if she was a goddess on earth, just as the entire male population of the school was doing (much to every girlfriend's disgust).
"Jake? Hello? Is anyone in there?" Selena demanded as she waved her hands in front of his face. She sighed deeply. "Hey lover boy, I know how to make her like you." Jake's eyes instantly turned to Selena.
"How?!" He had always thought it would be cool to meet a half veela. He had never thought of the consequences of meeting one up close. Fleur was ravishingly gorgeous with milky white hair and startling blue eyes. Her skin was a moonlight white and she had a grace which was unequalled by anyone at the school. Only Harry seemed to be able to turn a blind eye, which seemed to be very difficult for him to do.
"Just ignore her completely." Selena said. Jake starred at her and then began to laugh.
"Ha ha, very funny. Seriously though, what should I do?" Selena rolled her eyes.
"Look around! Everyone is starring at her! Why would she go for you when she has all of these other idiots starring at her in the same way?" Ron made a gurgling sound deep in his throat and missed his mouth while he was trying to eat. Hermione was fuming angrily, her reddened face buried in a book. Selena would have been reading as well but she was too excited. "My point is proven by Mr. Graceful over there." She added and motioned to Ron.
"Are you sure ignoring her will work?" Jake asked doubtfully.
"Trust me. Just don't pay attention when she walks by. Or you could start talking to someone about something and don't change how you say something just because she happens to be starring at you right now because you're talking to me." Jake was confused for a second but his eyes widened instantly.
"She's starring at me?!" He asked. Selena stopped him from whirling around to stare right back.
"Don't! Just look at her, smile, and turn back around." Jake did as he was told and looked at Selena quizzically. Now that Selena was making him think, he felt much more at ease knowing that the half veela was starring at him. "I told you! She looks really jealous now. Okay, from today on I want you to treat her like everyone else alright? If you do, when she starts trying to get your attention then she'll feel special that you treat her differently from everyone else. Oh, and don't tell her stuff likes she's beautiful or graceful. I think she's the kind of girl that wants to hear that she has some brains behind that platinum blond hair of hers." Jake grinned. Now that he'd listened to Selena's worthless ranting, he felt much calmer. Sure he wanted to go over and lay his charm on Fleur, but it was true. All of the guys around him had that same _expression of their faces.
Across the room, Fleur was fuming. She had been looking around the room in utter boredom. Her little sister was with her, talking about all of the interesting things all over the school in perfect French. Fleur was barely listening. And then her eyes fell on something that shocked her into nearly falling out of her chair!
A boy was actually talking to some other girl and completely ignoring her! Fleur couldn't believe it at first since all of the guys starred at her for her looks; no guy cared about how smart she was. Still, Fleur dismissed his drawn attention as simply not having seen her yet. Still, he actually turned to her. She expected that same glazed _expression, that same idiotic smile that the entire male population of the room was wearing, but what she saw shocked her back into numbness. He just smiled and turned around! Fleur couldn't believe it! A guy was actually ignoring her?! It was unheard of! Fleur spent the rest of the night simply starring at him in shock and awe. Hermione was extremely happy to know that at least Jake could keep his head in front of a girl.
"I have a question to ask you." Hermione said when she turned to Jake and Selena. Harry turned in his seat and starred at her.
"Leave them alone Hermione! They don't want to join spew." Ron mumbled as he starred at Fleur starring back in his general direction.
"It's S.P.E.W.!" Hermione hissed. "And besides, they can figure it out for themselves. I mean, they're from the United States! They know all about the slave labor going on there and all of the years that those poor people had to go through. They wouldn't just turn their backs to other slaves in another country." Hermione's eyes were glittering dangerously. She was leaning over the table threateningly, ignoring Harry as he tried to calm her down.
"Er, Hermione, are you okay?" Selena asked meekly from behind her book. After Jake had stopped starring at Fleur, she had taken out the book on Divination that she had gotten and was currently hiding behind it. Jake was glancing around nervously for a place to escape.
"I'm just fine, but what about those poor slaves down in the kitchens, miserable and helpless as they make our lives easy? They're making food from France and other places just so that the new students can feel welcome!" Hermione kept ranting for a while before Jake interrupted.
"Hermione, if this upsets you so much, then why don't you just go to the kitchens and ask them how they feel? You don't know if its slave labor. And since you're a Muggle-born witch, you don't know if they like being here or not. We're only human and by our standards it would be horrible, but maybe they really like it down there." Hermione was opening and closing her mouth in disbelief.
"Bloody hell! You got her to stop talking about the house elves?!" George demanded as he and Fred came to sit with them. Each one of the twins shook Jake's hand in awe. "Thanks mate!" Hermione bristled for a while before she returned to her book. Selena rolled her eyes.
"May I have your attention please?" Dumbledore stood and everyone fell silence. He began to talk about the TriWizard tournament and about all of the things that happened during its years of use. Selena and Jake starred at Moody to see how he behaved. The man was excellent at not showing his emotions.
After Dumbledore finished talking about the Goblet of Fire, he allowed the students to leave the Great Hall for bed. As Jake and Selena were leaving for their usual midnight classes, they came across Fleur, Cho Chang, another girl who had to be Gabriel (Fleur's little sister), and Melissa, the girl that kept starring at Harry. Melissa and Fleur glared at Selena angrily.
"Good evening." Fleur said with her beautiful accent. Jake would have turned into a statue if Selena hadn't 'accidentally' stepped on his foot.
"Good evening!" Jake said cheerfully, his throbbing foot keeping him wide awake and fully prepared to 'accidentally' spill the contents of his next Potion's class cauldron onto Selena. "It's nice to meet you; you must be a student from one of the schools. Which one was it?" He turned to Selena, who grinned at his wonderful recovery.
"I think it was Beauxbatons." She said. "Isn't that right?" Fleur's jaw muscles tightened and her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Oui." She said scalding with her perfect French.
"Come on cuz, we'll be late for our class if we don't hurry." Selena moved off, leaving them alone. Jake smiled warmly at the girls.
"I have to be going now, I'll see you around." Jake began to leave.
"Wait!" Fleur said quickly. Jake turned to her with a curious smile.
"Yes?" He asked.
"Well, I was wondering how you know dat girl." Fleur said, blushing slightly. Jake grinned wider.
"She's my cousin." He explained. "We're from the United States so you're not the only new students around here." Fleur seemed extremely relieved as she watched Jake move off to follow Selena. Fleur was secretly thinking that her job to snare him was much simpler without another girl in the way. All she had to do was get him to notice her.
"Did you see the look on her face?!" Selena demanded as she grabbed Jake out of the middle of the corridor and into the side wall. "I told you! She's already in love with you!" Jake grinned.
"Just for that, I'll forgive you for stepping on my foot and having Meimi cut my other foot open." Selena grinned in embarrassment.
"Sorry about that. Do you forgive me?"
"I already told you I did." Jake said pleasantly. They didn't notice a pair of eyes glaring at them through the darkness.