CHAPTER FIFTEEN: OBJECTING
Over the next seven and a half weeks, school continued as normal, the twins getting into an enormous amount of trouble from the Professors, and never learning their lesson.
The twins had let Buffy in on their outrage towards Ludo Bagman, the Minister of Games and Sports who had cheated them out of about three hundred galleons. When the twins and Buffy had won the bet they'd placed at the Quidditch World Cup, Bagman had paid in leprechaun gold which had disappeared after about three hours, which meant the Weasley's had not only not been paid, but they'd lost their original thirty-seven galleons, plus the ten of Buffy's that she'd put in.
The trio began writing letters to Bagman, carefully wording them so that they wouldn't be accused of trying to blackmail the Minister or anything like that. Buffy wasn't too concerned about the money, it had come from her dad, who she knew was actually incredibly rich. Sirius was the heir to most of the Black fortune, and he was incredibly lax with money. Buffy hadn't been too worried about it either, seeing as she didn't really understand the conversion rate, or how much ten Galleons actually was.
But to Fred and George, thirty-seven galleons had been two years worth of savings. They were outraged and desperate to get their money back from the cheating bastard who'd robbed them of it.
Giles had been helped by Dumbledore to set up a training area for Buffy in a classroom that hadn't been used in years for one reason or another. The Watcher was practically in heaven with the collection of books in the Hogwarts library. He'd previously thought that the Council's library had been the most extensive in the world, but he'd been proven wrong. Plus, he had a whole new subject to study. The Wizarding community was a new and interesting topic for Giles, and he was revelling in learning as much as he could.
Buffy had gone home nearly every week, usually taking Harry with her so that it was easier for the black-haired Boy-Who-Lived to stay in touch with his godfather/uncle and his aunt. Harry couldn't have been happier, especially when Sirius had presented him with his own portkey ring like the one that Buffy had. He'd never felt at home with the Dursley's, but even having spent only six evenings with the Black's, he felt more at home than he ever had before.
He'd discussed his aching scar with Sirius, who was concerned about it and told Harry to stay alert. Harry had thought it was a bit like talking to Professor Moody.
During the trips back home for Buffy, her parents would teach her spells, Sirius teaching her several that would never be taught in school, some of them even Fred and George hadn't learnt, and they were the Kings of pranks.
Joyce taught Buffy how to cover up her magical signature, a trick that would be especially useful if there were other wizards in the area who could sense the magic emanating from Grimmauld Place. People would be suspicious if they could feel magic, but not see its effects.
Moody's tutoring sessions with Buffy had been going well, and the Professor had taught her all manners of Dark Arts defences. She'd learned to block spells and disarm her opponent, learnt to freeze and immobilise and stun other people. It wasn't altogether surprising that Buffy was a natural at Defence Against the Dark Arts, seeing as she was a Slayer with a natural affinity to equip herself with the skills she needed to stay alive.
Potions was where Buffy was having troubles, but she was adept at ignoring a hovering Snape. She was used to distractions when she was trying to concentrate, patrolling with chatting Scoobies had taught her all about focus. It was the actual application of ingredients that usually messed her around. If she was asked to follow a list of ingredients, she was fine. It was when Snape demanded answers about different ingredients for different Potions that Buffy found herself floundering. But she was applying herself harder than she'd ever done at Sunnydale High, a fact that she was incredibly proud of.
Buffy's explorations of the Forest had always been fruitful. Giles had accompanied her on patrols at first until Buffy had a firmer grasp on everything within the Forest. Along with the darker creatures of the Forest, she'd discovered a whole world of useful creatures that resided in there as well. Centaurs and unicorns being her favourite creatures within the Forest. She'd run into a giant spider that had attacked her, and when she'd battled it, she'd stopped short of a killing blow when she'd seen the spider bring it's legs up to defend itself. "Never attack me again," she warned it. The spider had nodded and scurried away into a massive cave.
After a bit of research on Giles' part, and casually mentioning giant spiders, she'd discovered from Harry that the cave was actually filled with Acromantulas, and that the spider she'd battled had been about a quarter of the size of Aragog, the largest creature that Hagrid had brought to Hogwarts when he was a young boy. Since then, whenever the spiders had crossed paths, they'd bowed respectfully to her and continued walking.
Moody had been impressed by Buffy's quick learning during his tutoring sessions, and had thought up harder spells for her to try. It took nearly two weeks for Buffy to be able to conjure a fully corporeal Patronus that took the shape of a large black dog. Moody hadn't commented on the shape of it, though he had looked a little surprised by it.
The day before Halloween, Moody had rescheduled the session, as the students from Durmstrang and Beaubaxtons would be arriving that evening as the Triwizard Tournament grew closer.
Ten minutes before the session drew to a close for dinner, Moody sat down and gestured for Buffy to sit as ell.
"I think you should enter," he said without explanation of what he meant. Of course, as the Tournament had grown closer, anyone could talk about it without having to properly explain. Most people would understand what you were speaking about.
"Me? Enter the Tournament? Are you kidding?" she asked.
Moody shook his head. "I've never seen anyone take to the Dark Arts like you before. Your cousin's the same way. Probably a Potter family trait," Moody said. "I think you'd have a good chance of being chosen."
Buffy refrained from rolling her eyes at the somewhat hated word. She'd heard it for the last two years and had disliked it intensely ever since.
"I still don't know enough about magic," she replied.
"You follow your instincts," he said. "You've beaten me in a dozen duels, and not because I was holding back. You've got the smarts lassie. And I think you'd have a good shot of winning this thing."
Buffy mulled over his words. When she'd first heard about the Tournament, he'd known that she wouldn't have a chance in actually being able to compete. But Moody was right. Over the last seven weeks, she'd been learning all sorts of useful things from Moody's tutelage. She was of age, and she was a Slayer. She suddenly grinned and Moody clapped a hand onto her shoulder.
"Good luck."
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Buffy entered the library, waving at Madam Pince, who told her where she could find Giles. She found him in the Restricted Section, browsing through a volume on demons and their different skills. She coughed softly so as not to startle the man. He turned and closed the book replacing it on the shelf. He frowned slightly and looked at his watch.
"Aren't you meant to be welcoming Durmstrang and Beaubaxtons right now?" he asked.
Buffy laughed softly. "I just wanted to run an idea by you first."
Giles nodded and waited for her to continue. "I want to enter the Tournament."
Giles raised his eyebrows. He couldn't deny that he hadn't been expecting this.
"I was hoping you could give me your honest opinion," Buffy continued. "I mean…Professor Moody says I should go for it, but…you know me better than anyone, so…"
Giles was incredibly flattered by the comment and took a moment to seriously consider what Buffy was asking his opinion of.
"Honestly? Truthfully, you could probably use a little more magical knowledge," Giles said. Buffy's face fell slightly, and Giles quickly continued. "But...I think that if you applied yourself to the Tournament…you would have a shot of winning."
Buffy grinned and squeezed her Watcher's arm before darting out of the library and down to the Entrance Hall.
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The entire student body and all of the staff were standing outside the Hogwarts Castle waiting for the students and Professors from Durmstrang and Beaubaxtons to arrive. People were fidgeting, checking their watches and looking around, trying to speculate on how they would arrive and when.
"Aha," Dumbledore said loudly above the noise of the other students. "Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"
Something large was hurtling across the deep blue sky towards the castle, growing larger all the time. As it continued to approach and the lights from the Hogwarts castle illuminated the large object, they saw it was a gigantic, powder-blue, horse-drawn carriage, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses the size of elephants.
The students began drawing backwards as the carriage landed with a loud thud.
"Well, those horses have been eating their spinach," Buffy whispered softly.
Harry snickered but kept his eyes on the carriage as the door was opened and one of the largest women that anyone had ever seen stepped out, dressed in black satin with opals gleaming at her throat.
Dumbledore started to clap, the students following his lead.
"My dear Madame Maxime," Dumbledore said as the large woman approached, holding out her hand to him. Dumbledore barely had to bend to kiss it. "Welcome to Hogwarts."
The students of Beaubaxtons filed out of the carriage, some of them shivering in the cooling night air, their clothes hardly suitable for the night air. Dumbledore continued to speak with Madame Maxime, the Hogwarts and Beaubaxton students staring at each other, sizing each other up.
"The lake!" Lee suddenly yelled, pointing down to it. "Look at the lake."
Massive bubbles were forming on the surface of the water, waves washing over the muddy banks, and then, out of the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake's floor. A long black pole began to rise slowly out of the whirlpool.
"It's a mast!" Harry observed.
A massive ship slowly emerged, and an anchor was dropped, people disembarking and heading towards where all the students stood in wait.
"And you thought Moody made good entrances," George murmured in Buffy's ear.
Buffy grinned and watched the greeting between Professor Dumbledore and Professor Karkaroff.
"Viktor come along, into the warmth…you don't mind do you Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold."
Ron suddenly gasped in shock as he stood on tiptoes for a better look.
"It's Krum!"
Fred and George exchanged a look then turned to their younger brother.
"The Quidditch Player?" they demanded.
"Who else?" Ron replied, not even looking back to reply, his eyes never leaving Krum's face. Lee pushed forward, jumping up to try and catch a glimpse of the back of Krum's head.
Fred and George again glanced at each other and grinned in excitement. "Wicked."
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Bit of a non chapter really, but…eh. Many thanks for all the feedback and stuff. You guys rock!
Toodles.
DKG.