~Everything's Not What It Seems~
Alex and Justin are siblings sent to Hogwarts to learn about magic just like their father. There they meet new friends, fall in love, and find out that truly everything is not what it seems.
Disclaimer: J.K Rowling and Disney Channel own the right to all these character. I am only borrowing them :)
It had been four days since Alex had talked to Harry. Four days since they had kissed in the Room of Requirements. Four days since the feeling of Alex's lips had flooded his mind. Since that day, Harry had tried and tried again to get a moment alone with Alex to talk about their kiss. She always found a way to get out of it. She even went out of her way to avoid Ron and Hermione so that she could minimize the chance of running into Harry. Harry mostly found her occupying her time with Fred and George. He had tried to see if Alex had told Justin anything, but he found that Justin had barely caught a moment with his sister since that day. With the busyness of the new school year, no one else had seemed to notice Alex's absence besides Harry. Justin was too preoccupied with snogging Ginny. Ron was preoccupied with his discomfort of seeing Justin and Ginny together. And Hermione was busy keeping Ron away from the new couple.
"Harry, let's go! It's time for dinner!" Harry looked up to see Hermione standing in front of him, her hands on her hips. He looked around them, realizing they were the only ones left in the common room.
"Sorry, I lost track of time." He stood up and smoothed his robes before following a smiling Hermione towards the exit of the common room. As he followed, he nodded along, pretending to listen to Hermione's drabble about Potions until they reached the Great Hall.
"Seems the Great Hall is already full." Hermione comments as the step into the Great Hall. "Looks like there are still seats by Ron." Hermione pointed to the end of the table. Harry's eyes followed her hand to where Ron was seated with Justin, Ginny, Alex and the twins. Harry was happy to see there were two empty seats between Ron and Alex. He immediately began to pick up the pace, hoping to snag the seat before Hermione could. "You seem to be in a hurry to get to dinner now?" He looked at Hermione to see her watching him with a raised eyebrow as they walked.
"There is so little room left already, would hate to have to sit all the way in the back away from our friends." He smiled at Hermione before quickly taking the seat closest to Alex. As he joined them, he found everyone's attention was on Fred and George as they recalled another story.
"It was magnificent but Professor Snape docked us two-hundred points." Fred smiled before high-fiving George.
"That's not something you should be proud of." Hermione frowned as she seated herself between Ron and Harry.
"You would say that Hermione, wouldn't you?" George said as he rolled his eyes.
"I think it would be a record but nothing Alex can't beat." Harry smiled as he looked beside him at Alex. Her eyes met his for a brief moment before she turned her head and looked down at her plate.
"True, but that's also not something to be proud of either." Justin said as he looked pointedly at his sister. Harry opened his mouth to say more but was silenced by a noise at the front of the Great Hall as Professor Dumbledore took his place at the podium.
~~~~~
Alex couldn't will herself to look up from her plate since her eyes met Harry's. Until that moment, she had not realized the boy who lived was sitting right next to her. She wouldn't and couldn't allow herself to join any conversation with Harry or allow herself to look at him. He had attempted to include her in a few conversations during dinner but she was relieved to find that Fred and George were in a talkative mood and unintentionally kept thwarting his attempts. Even after her plate was gone, signaling the end of dinner, she kept her eyes fixed on the empty spot on the table. All she wanted was for the stupid choosing of champions to be over with so she could escape to her room and continue to avoid everyone... more specifically and importantly, continue to avoid both Harry and Cedric.
While she was impatient for the selection of the champions to be over with, she had also been dreading this day all week. This would be the day she would find out if her boyfriend would be entering the very dangerous tournament that had caused their disagreement on the first day of the term. Quite honestly, Alex might have spoken to Cedric by now about the whole thing and made amends. She would have agreed to disagree. But after the kiss with Harry, she couldn't even muster up the courage to look in her boyfriend's direction. She knew that Cedric had likely tried to get a moment alone with her since the first day of classes, being the caring boyfriend that he was. Fortunately for her, and unfortunately for him, his busy and conflicting schedule didn't allow for the opportunity. She couldn't be more thankful at that time that they were not in the same year and house. Despite their conflicting schedules, Alex still had to be tactful about avoiding him in the times she knew they would see each other. Skipping breakfast, eating lunch away from the Great Hall, and slipping into the Great Hall at odd times for dinner were only some of the few methods for Alex's avoidance. Only once in that long week had she actually been spotted by Cedric. Lucky for her, Professor Sprout had intercepted Cedric as he attempted to make his way to the Gryffindor table. Alex took advantage of the moment to slip out of the Great Hall unnoticed.
"Now the moment you've all been waiting for. The champion selection!" Dumbledore called out to the room.
Alex finally looked up, her eyes going to the podium where the Headmaster was standing. He waved his arms around the room, dimming all the lights until they were in nearly complete darkness. The darkness didn't last long as the Goblet before him lit up, bringing light to the entirety of the Great Hall. Dumbledore turned towards the Goblet of Fire and held his palms out against it. The flames in the goblet turned a bright shade of red before spitting out a small piece of paper. The parchment slowly floated down to their headmaster, who took it in his hand, holding it up in emphasis. The room went quiet as he held the parchment before him, his eyes studying the name that was likely on it. Alex bit her lip nervously.
"The Durmstrang champion is Victor Krum!"
The hall burst into cheers, mostly those from the Durmstrang students. Victor shook hands with a few of his friends before standing up and shaking hands with Dumbledore. Dumbledore motioned him towards a door behind the professor's table but the young quidditch player stopped and scanned the crowd. His eyes stopped on the Gryffindor table. He smiled briefly sending a wink to the table before turning and heading swiftly towards the door. Alex looked behind her to see Hermione's blushing profoundly as she stared after Victor Krum. Interesting. How hadn't she noticed this till now?
Alex returned her eyes to the goblet, where the flames that were previously a bright red had morphed to a delicate pink tone. This time, as Dumbledore held out his hands to the goblet, a fancier, pink piece of paper flew out of the goblet. Dumbledore caught the piece of paper as he faced the Beauxbatons girls sitting at the front of the Hufflepuff table.
"The Beauxbaton champion is Fleur Delacour!"
Another burst of cheers came throughout the room. Not quite as loud as the ones for Victor, but Alex could hear the excitement coming from the girls in the room from having a female champion. Fleur joined Professor Dumbledore at the podium, shaking his hand happily as he congratulated her. He pointed to the the same door he'd instructed Victor towards before turning his attention back to the crowd.
As Fleur disappeared through the door, Alex could hear her heart racing. The announcement of the Beauxbaton and Durmstrang champions meant that only one more champion selection remained, Hogwarts. Alex held her breath for the painstakingly long seconds as the pink flame morphed to a blue color. She closed her eyes, praying that Cedric hadn't ended up entering the tournament. That he had decided it wasn't worth the fight with Alex. She didn't think she could watch as her boyfriend put himself through these life-threatening challenges. Alex didn't know why, but it scared her so much to think about it.
"The Hogwarts Champion… Cedric Diggory!"
A louder chorus of cheer burst around her. Alex only felt numb. He entered the tournament... and now he'd be in it. As the cheers picked up around her, she dug her nails into her palms. She looked towards the Hufflepuff table only briefly to see Cedric emerging from it, a proud smile on his face. He accepted pats on the back and high-fives from those he passed as he made his way up to the podium. His smile faltered only briefly before he looked towards the Gryffindor table, his eyes meeting Alex's. His expression softened as he stared at her. He looked away from her, slightly dejected as he shook Dumbledore's hands and made his way towards the room the other champions had headed into. Her heart dropped as she heard the excited chatter around her from the other Gryffindors on the prospects of seeing Cedric Diggory perform in the dangerous competition.
"Excellent! We now have three champions. By the end of this tournament, one of these champions will be recorded in history and will hold in his or her hand, the Triwizard Cup!" Alex looked up as a wave of gasps erupted around her. Her eyes fell on a glass goblet that was now being held up by Mr. Crouch. Was this what everyone was fighting over to risk their life for?
Suddenly Alex's view of the goblet became blocked by a black cape. Alex watched as Professor Snape cautiously made his way towards the headmaster. As his eyes looked around the room in suspicion, Alex noticed the concerned look on his face. Alex finally noticed what had him concerned as her eyes fell on the Goblet of Fire. Sparks were shooting out of the goblet wildly, the flames changing from color to color. Was this normal?
"What does that mean?" Alex heard Justin whisper beside her. Another wave of panic hit her as she heard her brother speak. Why did she have a bad feeling about this? Alex quickly grabbed onto the nearest thing to her as she watched the headmaster approach the Goblet of Fire cautiously. He raised his hand towards it as two more pieces of paper flew out of the flames and landed directly into his outstretched hands. He looked around in concern before his eyes went to the the two pieces of paper.
"Harry Potter and Justin Bl-Russo!"
Alex's heart dropped as the headmaster eyes went towards them. Everything around her began to spin as the panic began to rise in her. Harry Potter and Justin Russo. She heard it again in her head, but couldn't get herself to believe it. It wasn't just her boyfriend entering the tournament. Alex's brother and her best friend were going to enter the tournament. It would not just be Cedric. She was going to watch them all die. How could this happen? Alex could barely register that her body was shaking as her head began to throb in pain.
"Harry Potter and Justin Russo!" Alex heard their names again. It wasn't a dream. This was really happening. Her head felt light and the room started to spin as the panic continued to rise.
"Harry, go!" She heard a voice nearby whisper.
"I can't."
"Justin, get up." Another voice called to her brother from across the table.
"I can't!"
"Why?" Another familiar voice demanded.
Before Alex could make out any of the voices or hear Harry or Justin's answers, she felt her eyes go heavy as her vision became completely incomprehensible and everything went black.
~~~~~
Justin looked at his sister in concern as she held onto his hand like her life depended on it. Why had she been acting so odd? Maybe something was off and in his busyness with his newfound relationship with Ginny, he had missed it. Was this about Cedric?
"Harry Potter and Justin Bl-Russo!"
Justin froze in shock at the utterance of his name. The room went silent as the headmaster called out their names again. Why was the headmaster calling his name? Justin looked to the front of the room to see Professor Dumbledore staring at him with a look of seriousness and anger as he held two pieces of paper in his hand. They didn't think... he couldn't be... did he just call his name out from the goblet? Justin looked to Harry who seemed to be as frozen in shock as he was. His eyes went to his sister beside him, who seemed to be clutching his hand even tighter than before. Justin stared at his sister in concern, noticing the pure terror on her face as she began to shake beside him.
"Harry Potter and Justin Russo!"
They couldn't really expect Harry and Justin to participate... I mean, they wouldn't, would they? He looked at Harry whose eyes seemed to be fixed on Alex in concern. When he looked at Justin, he seemed just as unsure as Justin was about the predicament.
"Harry, go!" Hermione whispered beside Harry.
"I can't." Justin looked at Harry again, noticing that Alex's other hand was clutching onto Harry's wrist.
"Justin, get up." Ginny said as she squeezed Justin's free hand.
"I can't." He looked at both girls and saw the confusion in their eyes as they looked at the pair.
"Why?" Hermione demanded.
Justin opened his mouth to respond but stopped abruptly as he felt the hold his sister had on his hand loosen. The loss of his sister's hand made him feel cold.
"Alex!"
Justin looked beside him to see his sister slumped unconsciously against Harry, who was attempting to support her body as he looked on in concern. Justin began to panic as he attempted to shake his sister awake. He heard a few gasps around him and footsteps making their way towards them quickly.
"Justin, Harry, follow Mr. Crouch to the back room." The headmaster demanded as he approached them. "Severus, take Alex to the infirmary now. Ms. Granger and Ms. Weasley will accompany you."
Professor Dumbledore's commanding voice had everyone acting quickly. Justin wanted to protest, not wanting to leave his sister in this state, but didn't attempt to argue when his eyes met the headmaster's. He gulped in fear and nodded as he stood up. He watched in concern as Professor Snape lifted his sister into his arms and walked quickly out of the Great Hall. He felt Ginny squeeze his hand in encouragement before he made his way towards the back doors, only the sound of his and Harry's footsteps being heard as they walked. Whispers began to break out around them as they both approached the door. He tried to ignore the angry words of the other students as he walked, his head too preoccupied by the thoughts of his sister. Justin was only relieved when the voices faded and only his and Harry's footsteps could be heard as they made their way towards the other champions. He didn't know what was in store for him, but whatever it was, he knew it wasn't good.
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