"Harry Potter! Harry! Up here, if you please!"
Dumbledore's voice called over the buzzing among the students. Harry got up and walked slowly towards the staff table trying not to hear the whispers of everyone in the Great Hall. The sound seemed to get louder the closer he got, like he was signaling for a crescendo. Normally I didn't condone gossip but I couldn't blame them for being so surprised. There was no way he could've gotten past the age line. Not possible that he be called up by the Goblet of Fire. And who would even consider making him the Hogwarts Champion. Yet Dumbledore waited, ignoring the dumbstruck students and staff, for Harry to meet him.
"I don't think I've ever seen Dumbledore this serious" Daphne whispered into my ear. The truth was I hadn't either. He wasn't smiling like he usually was. Though I knew it was impossible for someone to be happy all of the time it was still surprising to see him without one.
Harry made his way past the staff table and to the door just behind it, the one the other three champions had disappeared through. Ludo Bagman followed quickly behind him.
"Everyone, report to your common rooms. The Halloween Feast has come to an end." Dumbledore's voice roared over the still increasing sound of the student chatter. With that he, along with the rest of the Triwizard Tournament judges, left the same way the others had. With one look at each other Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape couldn't help but do the same.
"What was that?" Draco practically had to yell over all the other students who, like him, had decided it was a good time to start talking again.
"I'm not sure but can we go somewhere quieter" Daphne yelled back getting up from her seat. Most of the students had already started heading out. Some were excited, others looked annoyed, but everyone had some degree of confusion written on their face.
"Yeah let's go back to the dungeon" I agreed.
All of us got up and began to walk out. There didn't seem to be much order in the way we were exciting. Normally professors or prefects were in charge of this sort of thing but my guess was that even they were severely distracted by what just happened. Harry had been chosen as a Hogwarts Champion. The second Hogwarts Champion. He wasn't even of age…
As we neared the door out of the Great Hall I saw the twins towards the back of the crowd, slowly making their way to the front. They looked surprised by what had just happened, as everyone else did, but that didn't mean they were completely unaware. I was rather curious too and thought that if they happened to know something about Harry's admission then it wouldn't hurt to just ask.
"I'll meet you downstairs" I called to the Slytherins waiting for me. Thankfully I didn't have to yell as loudly this time, seeing as most students had cleared out. Daphne frowned a little but nodded, Draco was slightly more reluctant, and the rest were more or less indifferent. Regardless, the all headed out and towards the dungeon.
"Hi" I smiled at them and gave a small wave as they got closer. Fred and George walked up to me both with large smiles on their faces. I assumed they were in the group of students happy with Harry's admission.
"Can you believe it?" George asked happily
"No, no I can't" I answered honestly. He caught something in my tone, I could tell from his expression, but he didn't comment on it.
"Looks like we have a Gryffindor Champion" Fred added looking very happy too
"Did you know about this?" I asked the twins. They looked at each other as if disappointed at something.
"No" Fred replied sounding surprised yet almost pleasantly so. "If we had known how he did it we would've entered ourselves. Last time we talked Harry said he didn't want to try but that might have been a cover for his own plan."
"Alright" I said looking to the door behind the staff table, where Harry had disappeared. I had to admit it was slightly disappointing but I believed them. The real question was why would he hide it? Even if Harry had wanted to enter he seemed more like the type that would involve his friends in it not hide the methods from them. It didn't make sense.
"Is everything okay, Kitty?" George asked, leaning in slightly to look at my face. I nodded in response.
"Yes, I'm fine, just… thinking."
"Vell, Vell," a voice sounded behind me. I made a face, guessing exactly who it was.
"Bobby, hi" I turned to greet another familiar Durmstrang, one who was currently smiling through gritted teeth.
"It's Robert" he corrected stiffly.
Robert Solberg was one of the people I had given a nickname to as a child. A couple of others were Draco, aka Deedee, and Viktor, aka Vik. Not very creative but in my defense I was about six when I chose them. Curiously I had never thought up one for my brother, though I never minded him calling me Princess. In fact it made me feel a little special. I assumed Bobby didn't feel the same way. Guess now he thought things would change once he was older. Well he was wrong.
"So it's been a while Bobby" I insisted with a smile. His lip twitched but he decided to overlook the name rather than argue with me about it.
"Katerina, it is like you have been avoiding me" he smiled the same arrogant smile that made me want to hit him as a child.
"What would make you think that?" I asked though it was probably because I had been. He was prideful, arrogant, and had an immense sense of superiority, and a highly undeserved one at that. I did realize that those words described a large amount of students I spent time with. But for some reason, though I never minded those traits on others, on him they always aggravated me.
"My imagination I suppose" he waved it off with a gesture of his hand. Part of me wanted to grab it and hit him with it. "Just vanted to say hello and catch up. Last time I saw you… vell you certainly didn't look like this."
"That's the kind of thing that happens, when people age they, you know, grow."
"Yes I can see you have grown up" he smirked looking at me up and down. He appeared to be assessing my height. Like he hadn't realized people don't stay children forever
"Hi" George said a little loudly stepping in front of me. His position directly blocked me from Bobby's view making him look at George. Bobby looked at him, glanced up and down like he had with me but much faster and with an uncaring expression. George was looking at him annoyed not that I blamed him. It took years for me to learn how to tolerate idiots like that. "I –"
"Don't care" Bobby interrupted and moved to the side to be able to again look at me. "Interesting company you keep." His face looked somewhat confused. It took me a second to realize why that was. Looking back at the twins I clearly realized the problem. Once you've been given a certain quality of things it isn't hard to distinguish that which is lower. In other words, though I didn't care for it, the difference in our wealth was as clear as day. It made me frown to know that was what he was thinking.
"Yes well I like their company" I emphasized but he didn't get the hint. It's not like it was any of his business who I spent my time with or what their family's status was.
"I vas thinking" he continued, not noticing the tone of annoyance I had purposely let slip into my voice. Either that or he was trying to ignore it. "Since you know your vay around the castle, mind giving me a tour?"
"Not really, no" I answered turning to leave. I was not going to spend my free time showing an irritating boy like him around. I had come here for the sole purpose of getting away from people like him, not to give them tours of my school. Before I even got a step away Bobby grabbed my arm and turned me back to face him.
"Professor Karkaroff thought it vould be a good idea for us to get a look at the castle" insisted but quickly let go of my arm. I wondered if that was due to the look I had given him.
"Yes well then ask him to give you the tour" I retorted. Behind me I heard a muffled snicker from one of the twins. Part of me had forgotten they were standing there. Down at his sides I saw Bobby's hands tighten on his robes meaning I was irritating him just as much as he was irritating me. Well I doubt that but it was still nice to see him annoyed.
"You know I had heard you vere nice now" he commented casually though with clear intent. The sarcasm in his voice made it obvious he didn't agree with his statement.
"People and their rumors" I smiled innocently and tried to step past him; once again he blocked me. Bobby stepped closer, both of us losing the control of our temper though both were still smiling.
"Look—"
"Solberg!" someone called from behind him. Draco was casually walking over to us, though his tone hadn't been very welcoming. His hands were in his pockets as stepping closer. Bobby leaned back, his face holding a scowl.
"Malfoy" he greeted through gritted teeth. "It has been a while"
"Shouldn't you be with the rest of Durmstrang?" Draco replied, his teeth gritted too.
"I thought you went down to the dungeon" I commented to Draco. Both he and Bobby ignored me.
"Is it really any of your business vhere I go" Bobby replied stepping closer to Draco.
"It is my business if I want it to be" Draco replied narrowing his eyes and standing his ground. Unlike the fake kindness I had developed over the years I don't think I had ever seen those two getting along; at most it was passive aggressive-comments.
"Didn't anyone teach you how to respect your elders?"
"Didn't anyone teach you how to behave around your superiors"
"Don't push me kid" Bobby snapped in a hushed tone. I sighed at their behavior. Apparently it was a loud sigh since both paused their glares to look at me. I took the advantage to break things up before I had to deal with Draco in detention again.
"Well I'm tired" I mumbled with a fake yawn. "We should all probably go to bed now."
"Is that an offer?" Bobby smirked at me making Draco, Fred, and George all frown. I tilted my head a little confused by their reactions since I clearly hadn't been offering anything.
"What—"
"Go to bed" Draco commanded next to me not turning away from Bobby.
I rolled my eyes but decided that if I didn't leave now I'd be dragged into whatever those two decided to do. I said goodnight to the twins and gave obviously fake smile to Bobby though he still smiled back. Draco and George kept their frowns as I saw Bobby still looking at me. It wasn't until I made it down the stairs to the dungeon that I disappeared from their view.
Walking into the Slytherin common room it wasn't hard to tell nobody was happy with the news of the fourth champion. The entire Slytherin House looked to be sitting here complaining about one thing or another. For one, having a Hufflepuff as a champion is utter insanity. For two, having a Gryffindor is even worse. And, according to the numerous conversations I overheard in the first few seconds of being in the room, having both basically means Tournament suicide. In other words, we are not winning this year.
In one of the various groups of gossip and complaints was Daphne. I didn't see the rest with her, or anywhere else in the common room, which was odd. Instead she was talking to numerous boys, all varying from third to sixth years. That part wasn't that surprising. Though not the brightest in the bunch she was still a very attractive girl. Among one of her many hair flips Daphne caught sight of me and cane over to me.
"Hey" I greeted her as we met halfway. Daphne smiled at me in reply. "Where is everyone?"
"Oh they all went up to the boys' room. Far too crowded and loud here" she claimed, gesturing a hand to a crowd of annoyed Slytherins. I nodded in understanding
"Okay I'll go up then. Are you staying with them?" I asked turning to the group of boys all looking to be waiting for Daphne to return.
"No, they're just my back up for when the rest of you are busy" Daphne said nonchalantly with a goodbye wave to her backups. They smiled though looking a little disappointed and watched her leave with me up the stairs to the boys' room.
"You use people like that?" I asked a little surprised. Not that I thought of her as innocent in that sense but I hadn't expected that from her
"Don't say it like that it makes it sound so mean" she pouted at me.
"Well it is true" I replied with a small sigh. People should just accept that they aren't perfect. Changing words to sound more pleasant doesn't change the action they're describing.
"You do too" she retorted. I rolled my eyes at her.
"I know, and I admit it, I just wasn't aware that you did that" I repeated trying to simplify it for her. She shrugged and smiled at me.
"So where's Draco?" she asked changing the subject
"He'll be down in a minute" I answered not wanting to get into what happened upstairs
"Okay. So, hey, who was that Durmstrang guy you were talking to? He was cute!" Again I was amazed at her speed when it came to gossip. Daphne must have seen me talking to him before walking completely down and out of view. Or, knowing her, she had stayed and idled a bit to see a little more. Either way I didn't ask.
"His name is Robert Solberg. I wouldn't bother with him; he's annoying and fake" I answered as we reached the door to the boys' room.
"So are you but I like you just fine" she teased, knocking her shoulder against mine playfully. I giggled and she opened the door for us.
Inside the dormitory the rest of our group sat around chatting casually with one another. You could still hear the mumble of voices from the common room but it wasn't nearly as loud as it had been down the stairs. Still it was impressive that the sound could travel so far up. But then again the Slytherins were pretty upset. All the boys looked to be sitting on their own bed, which wasn't at all shocking. Crabbe sat next to Millicent on his bed as they very quietly mumbled to Goyle. Pansy decided to occupy my usual place on Draco's bed, probably because he wasn't here to protest against it. She was talking to Theo and Blaise looking happy as can be.
"Hey you're here" Theo smiled at us noticing the door had opened. Daphne smiled back and without hesitating went to sit next to him.
"Oh goody" Pansy called looking at me with a fake smile. I returned it though mine was better, of course.
"What were you doing anyway?" Blaise asked leaning against his arms.
"I had a little talk with someone from Durmstrang but it wasn't important" I replied with a shrug. My lack of detail left him uninterested so he simply shrugged back.
"Catching up with your besties?" Pansy asked batting her eyes. I couldn't tell what she was trying to do with that so I sighed but otherwise just ignored her. Instead I moved to sit next to Blaise on his bed. Though normally I sat in Draco's bed I was not sharing it with that fanged beast. Blaise scooted a little to the side to make room for me. I smiled in thanks and sat down.
For a while we just had shallow conversations. Nothing too interesting, mostly topics to pass the time. Nobody brought up the newly elected champions though that was probably for good reason. It was almost like politics; some opinions are better left to one's self. Rather than start something we would not want to finish we just passed the time having a laugh here and there. After some time Draco finally made it back into the room.
"What took you, Malfoy?" Blaise called out to him. Draco looked up a little confused seeing me sitting next to him. Curious as to why he moved his sight to his own bed noticing the monster that was happily awaiting him. I had to suppress a laugh at the expression he held. After a sigh Draco answered.
"I had to deal with an annoying bloke. Don't worry about it" he called back casually but gave me a look as if to say it was my fault. It's not like I could control everyone. Well, I guess I could, but that took effort I wasn't willing to give. I shrugged and smiled at Draco in reply. "So how did Potter get in anyway?"
"Finally someone brings it up" Daphne remarked throwing her hands up as if having waited for hours though at most it had been one.
"Really?" I grumbled. Of course that would be the first thing he mentions.
"What?" I rolled my eyes at her and mumbled under my breath making Blaise snicker next to me.
"Well while we're on the subject," Blaise shrugged allowing the conversation to take form, "what are the thoughts on our so called champions?"
"Diggory really isn't that bad I guess" Theo contributed earning a look from me. "But what I'm really wondering about is how Potter even got in?"
"He was snuck in obviously" Pansy replied though didn't bother adding an explanation of her own.
"Who wouldn't want the great Harry Potter as their champion" Blaise laughed next to me. I was guessing the laugh was mostly due to the annoyance he was causing Draco as it was clear on his face.
"Seriously though how did he get in?" Daphne looking at me
"How should I know?" I asked with a frown. It wasn't really for her but for the fact that I couldn't answer her question. It had been bothering me since the announcement of the champions. I didn't know and I hated not knowing
"Well he's an idiot for entering" Pansy insisted yet again not bothering with an explanation.
"He's probably going to die out there" Draco said with a laugh. I gave him a look but was too busy thinking to do anything else
"I don't think he did it. He's not stupid enough to try, nor is he smart enough to get in" I mumbled to myself
"Well, either way, he's in" Blaise smirked at me. "But I will say one thing: he better not win"
"Could you imagine how much of a pain the Gryffindors would be if he did win?" Theo made a face and sighed. "They already think they're the greatest House here"
"Doesn't every house think that" I asked rhetorically
"Obviously, but we don't act self-righteous about it" Blaise smiled at me
"He's got a point" Draco smiled raising his eyebrows at me. I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah I guess you do."
"How long do you think he'll last before he gets annihilated?" Blaise asked with a laugh. Draco and a couple others joined in
"Bout ten minutes is my guess" Draco smirked at him.
"Care to make a wager?" Blaise offered standing up and moving to get something.
"Ten galleon says he's dead within the first ten minutes of the first task" Draco clarified reaching for something too.
"Ten it is," Blaise smiled walking to him with the money in hand. Draco met him half way and they shook hands. I rolled my eyes at the two
"What's wrong don't want your little buddy to die?" Pansy called noticing my expression and stood to meet the two boys in the middle.
"I don't have anything against Harry but I don't really care for him either. What I will say is that you have to believe he will last longer than ten minutes"
"I don't know" Daphne interceded, standing up too. "A lot can happen in ten minutes. And the tasks are supposed to be really dangerous, right?"
"Right" Theo answered her but, like me, stayed in his seat. "That's the reason the headmasters decided on the age ban. You really think he's going to last long?"
"I'm not saying he's going to win just that he'll last a little longer" I replied
"Then how about putting money on it? The buy-in is ten galleon" Blaise smirked probably thinking something along the lines of 'the more the merrier'.
"Ooh I want to join" Daphne said, clapping hands together happily.
"Do you have ten galleon?" Pansy asked though not in an entirely horrid way, more like she was curious.
"Not ten, not right now..." Daphne muttered to herself sadly.
"We'll split it" Theo offered standing up like the rest of them. Daphne smiled big smile.
"Okay" Daphne cheered once again happy. "So what's our bet?"
"I say Harry lasts… at least 15 minutes" Theo offered Blaise who had apparently taken the role of bookie for this event.
"Lot of faith you have in him" Pansy mumbled coming closer to the group of gamblers. She smiled at Draco ready to place her own bets. "I agree he won't last ten."
"How about you Volkov? You got money to waste. Come now don't be the only one left out" Blaise remarked with a smirk. I think all of them had forgotten about the other three fourth years happily mumbling to one another in the corner. I rolled my eyes at him but finally stood up too
"Fine" I sighed, walking closer to the lot of them. "But since we don't know the details of the task we don't know how long it's going to last. And if there's a time limit then all our guesses—"
"Just shut up and pick" Draco interrupted rolling his eyes at me. I stuck out my tongue at him but made a decision. Another thing they had yet to notice was the obvious loophole in their phrasing. Though, seeing as the mistake was in his favor, I assumed Theodore was aware of the fact.
"Fine I'll just go with Daphne and Theo. If Harry lasts at least 15 minutes we get the price; if he doesn't make it that far and dies, you win." Theo smiled at me, knowing I had realized the mistake too. I smiled back and shook my head. The rest didn't seem to see our little interaction
"Since there are two sides why don't we just pile everything together and the prize gets divided by the winning group?" he offered trying to hide his smile.
"Fine by me. Let's see who gets the price" Blaise smiled taking some of the gamblers' money and moving to store it away. The rest of the group dispersed.
"Gambling" I said to no one in particular. Draco smiled having heard me. "You're a bad influence, did you know?"
"Like you're such a good person" he replied with a grin. I giggled and stuck my tongue out at him.
Again we talked for a while. It wasn't long before Daphne and Pansy decided to call it a night. It was getting late and even the murmur of voices from the common room was starting to disperse. Millicent and I stayed a while longer in the boys' room. She kept with Crabbe and Goyle. I stayed with Draco and Blaise, mostly talking about possible tasks and other Triwizard Tournament events. Theo had pulled up a book to read, having had enough conversation for one day. But I wasn't done talking with him. He was sitting comfortably on his bed, probably proud of himself for having found the loophole. He should be though. Even I wasn't able to think of it until after he did. Though, had I been more interested in it from the beginning, I might have.
"Did you do it on purpose or was it a happy accident" I asked sitting close to him so I wouldn't have to raise my voice. He smiled into his book knowing exactly what I was talking about.
"I didn't realize until after I said it and didn't bother to fix it when I did" he replied setting his book down to look at me.
By purposely avoiding the word 'win' Theo had raised our chances of winning the bet exponentially. If Harry wins within the first 15 minutes it would be surprising but not necessarily relevant to our bet. All that was stated was that he last that long, not that he win the task. Even if he fails within the first five seconds, as long as he stays alive, we would still win the bet.
"You know that if he dies they win" I whispered. He shrugged, having already thought of that as a possibility.
"My guess is that, if the task is dangerous enough to kill him, they'll pull him out of it before he dies. If they don't then I guess he dies. Either way the reward is worth the risk. Aren't you going to tell?"
"Nah. It's not like I wanted to join anyway but since I did why ruin my chances?" I shrugged too. We weren't hurting anyone by it and it's not like if Harry did die our bets would have anything to do with it. Though it's not like I was in any rush to tell Hermione about any of this either.
"What are you two mumbling about?" Draco interrupted getting curious of our conversation.
"Her immense love for toasts" Theodore smiled reaching once again for his book.
"It's true, they are my weakness" I giggled getting up from his bed. Draco narrowed his eyes at me and crossed his arms.
"Your weakness is hot chocolate and cookies. Now shouldn't you be getting off to bed?"
"It's weird how much you know about me" I teased heading towards the door.
"Go"
"Fine, relax I'm going, goodnight guys," I called noting that Millicent was no longer in the room with us. The boys all gave me a goodnight in return, all except Draco.
"Goodnight, Deedee" I repeated standing by the door patiently. He sighed at me and shook his head.
"Goodnight, Kitty" he mumbled with a small smile. I leaned in and kissed his cheek. He frowned to hide the blush that always seemed to grow when I did that. But before he could reprimand me one of his roommates intervened.
"How come we don't get a kiss?" Blaise asked from his bed. Theo snickered but didn't comment.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping by now?" Draco snapped, roughly opening the door for me.
"I will after she answers my question" he replied smirking at Draco.
"You shut up" Draco called to Blaise who merely continued to smirk. Then he turned to look at me, still trying to get me through the door. "You get out"
"You are being awfully pushy today. Fine, I'll just meet you in the common room tomorrow morning before breakfast"
"Us too?" Blaise called out.
"I said shut up, Zabini!" Draco barked at him. I giggled a little at his expression distracting him enough to look at me. "I'll see you tomorrow"
"Sweet dreams"
"Yeah, yeah, you too" Draco mumbled the last part a little quieter so the boys wouldn't hear. He was so adorable sometimes. I waved goodbye to him and moved down the stairs towards on path to my own room.
.
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Sorry if it's a little sloppy I was trying to hurry so I could post this today. I remember I used to update like twice a week when this story first came out but now it's barely twice a month. Sorry about that…
Also, if you have any questions about the story, or really anything in general you wanna talk to me about, you can always PM me and I will be happy to answer you. If you just leave a comment with a question I can never tell if want me to answer it since some are just doing it rhetorically. Or you can also send me a message through twitter. My username is (annybannany35) I check it periodically so I can answer questions there too :3
I love you guys \(^-^)/ it really makes my day knowing that there's people who enjoy reading a story I love writing. Alright happy days to you and all that