BOOK FOUR: THE GOBLET OF FIRE

CHAPTER ONE: Emma White

"Good morning, woman of mystery. How was your week?"

Ellie tried to smile back at Aleks, the handsome, teenage barista who had been ruthlessly hitting on her every chance he got since her first stop-in at the little coffee shop, but she didn't quite manage it. Despite his attractive features—coiffed, dark hair; bright, blue eyes; smattering of stubble across his chin—there was something about the boy that always made her feel uneasy.

She hadn't told Sirius about him, of course. It had taken them several weeks to find an area that Sirius deemed safe enough for him not to get caught by the Ministry and for Ellie not to get attacked by Muggles—which, frankly, she found a bit insulting—and the last thing she wanted was for them to have to leave again. She wasn't even entirely sure where they were—somewhere in the ballpark of the Czech Republic and Poland, if not all the way in Russia. All she knew for sure was that Aleks was one of the few people there who seemed to speak English, and for that, if nothing else, she was grateful.

"Fine, thanks, Aleks," she said as she handed him the money Sirius had transfigured out of grass to match the local currency. "The usual, please."

"I get off in ten, you know," Aleks told her as he made change for her. She waved the change away, as she always did, offering it to him as a tip instead. "We could go somewhere."

"Thanks, but I can't. I've got to get—"

"—back to your dad, right, right." He leaned in close at that, then asked, in a softer voice, "Can I tell you a secret?"

She forced another smile. She wished she could just get out of there, already. "Sure."

"I know you're a witch."

Well, that, she hadn't expected. "You… what? How?"

"I am, too—a wizard, anyway. I go to a wizarding school not too far from here—as do several other folks in this town. I'm surprised you haven't crossed paths with any of them yet."

So she and Sirius had randomly stumbled on a town that was filled with witches and wizards? That couldn't be good, could it?

"Look," said Aleks. "Just come for a walk with me. If you want to keep up the whole woman-of-mystery act, fine—I'll do all the talking."

She still didn't want to go. Sirius would freak if he knew, and besides that, she was trying to keep a low profile and not make an impression on anyone.

But it had also been over a month since she and Sirius left Hogwarts, and Aleks was the only person she'd said more than five words to; she was starved for human communication. Besides, it could only be a good thing that he was a wizard… right?

"Sure," she said, forcing the third smile of the encounter. "Let's do it."


"So," she said a few minutes later as she sipped her coffee and strolled down the street with him. She still had to shop for groceries for herself and Sirius, but it could wait. "Tell me about this school you attend."

"It's called the Durmstrang Institute. It's one of the largest wizarding schools in the world, though probably not quite as large as…" He eyed her thoughtfully. "Hogwarts, I'm guessing?"

She stiffened. If he knew she attended Hogwarts, it wasn't a good sign for her and Sirius. They'd have to relocate after this… right? "What makes you say that?"

He laughed. "Well, you clearly aren't from around here, love. Hogwarts is English, isn't it? Or at least in the UK?"

But she certainly wasn't going to answer that one. "I thought we were going to be talking about you and not me."

"Right—of course. Apologies. So, yeah—Durmstrang. Not all that much to say about it, other than that our star Quidditch player is currently training for the Quidditch World Cup at the moment."

"Hang on." In spite of herself, Ellie felt her eyes light up. "Who's your star player?"

"Ever heard of one Viktor Krum?"

Of course, she had heard of Viktor Krum; anyone who had half an interest in Quidditch as a sport had heard of him. He was the Seeker for the Bulgarian Quidditch team. "But… do you mean to say that he's a minor?"

"Well, he's of wizarding age now—seventeen, coming eighteen later this year. It'll be his final year at school."

She was no less impressed. "Wow. That's incredible."

But Aleks didn't seem particularly interested in discussing Viktor Krum. "I'd be quite curious to know what they teach over there at Hogwarts. D'you have a favourite spell or two you could share with me?"

"Share with you?" she repeated, confused. "If I performed magic, I'd be expelled."

He laughed again. She didn't much care for his laugh; it sent shivers down her spine. "Doesn't work that way out here, love. That little Trace your silly Ministry of Magic put on you doesn't reach out here—they'd have no way of knowing."

That thought was certainly enticing, but she still wasn't sure about any of this. "Why don't you show me your favourite spells, instead?"

He considered that for a moment, then glanced carefully around. The street was mostly deserted, but it wasn't exactly a great option for performing spells. He led her to a nearby alley, pulled out a long, black wand, cleared his throat, and said, "Floriana."

A long stream of petals shot out of his wand, dancing all around them before gathering themselves in front of Ellie and forming a bouquet.

"Pretty," she admitted as she reached out to take the bouquet in hand. She had never seen magic quite like it before. "Haven't learned that one yet."

"That's because I came up with it." He winked at her. "Care to learn it?"

She shouldn't want to learn it. She should want to go back to Sirius and get the hell out of there. She should want to find someplace new.

But for the first time, she was seeing something enticing in Aleks. It wasn't his looks, his accent, or his charm; it was the possibility of what he was offering her—a way to learn—a way to practice her magic.

After all… was there even any guarantee she'd be back at Hogwarts in the fall? Sirius had seemed so certain that Dumbledore would understand, but they hadn't actually received any updates via owl. Communication was too dangerous, and they all knew it. So, if she did find her way back to Hogwarts in September, there were no guarantees that she'd be allowed through the doors.

And if she wasn't, then this summer with Aleks might be the last chance she had to learn magic.

So she smiled her first real smile of the day and said, "Okay. I'm in."


"You were gone for quite a while," Sirius said when she returned to their little home a few hours later. It wasn't much—a tiny cabin on the edge of town that, using Ellie's wand, he had spelled to be hidden from the Muggles around it—but it did the trick, and even had a small paddock out back for Buckbeak.

"Sorry about that. Sat in the coffee shop for a while—you know, just daydreaming." She hated lying to Sirius, but she didn't dare tell him the truth—not if it meant leaving again.

"Right." Even the knowledge that she'd sat in public for long seemed to make him feel uneasy. "Look, Ellie… I've been thinking. What if you took off? Went to the Burrow for the rest of the summer? I could ride most of the way there with you, and then—"

"No," Ellie interrupted immediately. It wasn't the first time they'd had the conversation, and her answer had always been the same. "I can't, Dad."

"Fred was there that night, Ellie. He clearly wanted to make amends. Maybe—"

"No," she said again. Sirius was right; Fred had wanted to make amends. Even now, a month later, the locket he had given back to her almost never stopped glowing, signifying to her that he almost never stopped thinking about her. She knew she could open it and talk to him like he wanted, but she didn't. It would be too hard—too tempting. "It doesn't change anything, Dad. It doesn't change what he did."

He sighed. "It won't be like this forever, you know. Once the dust settles, I'll move back to Grimmauld Place, and you can stay with me there."

He had told her many times about 12 Grimmauld Place, the Black family home that had been left to him when the rest of his immediate family died out. He didn't exactly seem thrilled with the prospect of returning there, but he did seem eager to get her back to the UK and to some semblance of normalcy.

"I'm happy, you know," she told him. "I'm happy I came. I don't regret any of it—except the part where we didn't catch Peter."

He smiled at that, reaching out a hand to ruffle her hair. "If you're happy, I'm happy, kid. Just do me a favour and try and stay safe while you're at it."


When Ellie went into town again the following week, she went on another walk with Aleks.

"I've been thinking," he said as they walked. "There are loads of pretty spells like I taught you last week, but if I really want to show you what Durmstrang has that Hogwarts can't offer, I need to kick things up a notch."

"That Hogwarts can't offer?" she repeated, surprised by that. "You mean your school's what—better than mine?"

She had meant it in good fun, but his azure eyes flashed a bit as if excited by the challenge. "Let me put it this way… they give us less… restrictions than yours does. At Durmstrang, we don't just study Defense Against the Dark Arts; we study the Dark Arts, too."

She froze in her tracks, instantly checking her surroundings to see how alone they were. They were back in one of the alleys off Main Street—alone, but not more than a shout away from possible help.

"I'm not interested in learning Dark magic," she told Aleks when she finally returned her gaze to his. "Not at all."

"No—you only think you aren't interested." He smiled patiently at her. He certainly didn't seem like he planned on hurting her at any given moment. "I understand why you feel that way, coming from Hogwarts. You've heard the stories of the Dark Lord and all the pain he caused. You were taught to resist all that—to fight back."

She'd done a little more than hear stories about Voldemort, but she wasn't about to share that with him. "Yeah. So?"

"So, the magic I'm talking about has nothing to do with the Dark Lord or his followers. In fact, with a few pointers from me, I'd reckon you'd hold your own against any one of them."

She didn't buy it, of course. Not at all. Only… if she had known that kind of magic… was it possible she could have stopped Peter Pettigrew from escaping? Would it be possible for her to catch him now?

"Dark magic isn't synonymous evil magic," he continued. "It's simply magic that has the ability to harm others. If you're using it to harm someone evil…"

She was starting to see his logic; it wasn't far from her own. Would Dark magic, used against Peter Pettigrew, have been evil? Of course, not. In fact, she had a feeling her own father would have used it on him himself if he'd had the chance.

"Nothing cruel," she clarified carefully. "No Unforgivable Curses. Nothing used to torture or—"

"Really, woman of mystery. Do you think so little of me? I'm not that kind of guy. I'm just a barista."

Right. A barista who attends a magic school and knows Dark magic.

She was going to have to be careful with this one.

"Call me Emma," she said. "Emma White."

And so they began.


Okay, probably not the smartest call Ellie's ever made. But maybe you can see her logic here... maybe? Any thoughts on where this is going? Surely not ANOTHER romance? Stay tuned to find out, and don't forget to review! The positive comments thus far have been so encouraging - keep it up!