(Hey guys! I'm sorry it's so long in between posting, life is kinda all over the place right now! I really appreciate every single one of your reviews and views, and I'm so happy so many of you like my story. If you like my writing, maybe share a little love to my other Harry Potter story "Leave It All Behind" if you'd like to. It is linked to this story, and you get a little more of Charlie's back ground and her story at Hogwarts with that one, as well as more of my OC's and a more rounded view of what's happening in these characters time at Hogwarts. Charlie was my first ever Harry Potter OC and she is very near and dear to my heart. Her story is not near as cheerful and playful as this one is(mostly), and it's definitely a darker side of what's going on. But, I'm a Slytherin, so I'm a little biased. If not, that's okay! I'm going to write a TON of Harry Potter stuff, so don't worry about it ;) Thank you so much guys!)
The whole castle was bustling, even Peeves was minding his manners as he floated down the hallway above their heads as all students returned to their houses to dress as instructed and put away their books. "How do you think they'll come? By train or-" "I can promise you that Beauxbatons will not arrive by Hogwarts express." Josie stopped Lee as they stepped through the port hole. "How the bloody hell are you so sure?" Josie rolled her eyes before looking at the now shorter-than-her boy. "Because I know." She followed Marina up the stairs to the girl's dormitory to put away their things. "You've been very tense today." Marina commented as she fluffed her hair in the mirror. "I'm sorry, I just…I'm really not excited for seeing Beauxbatons again. It brings back uncomfortable memories." Josie said quickly, ruffling her bangs and straitening her robes. "It'll be fine, just be you. You're at Hogwarts now; you don't have to follow their rules."
Josie nodded timidly before following her back down the stairs to meet up with the rest of Gryffindor house. McGonagall was rushing all the students into lines, Josie falling behind Marina and watching as the twins and Lee excitedly talked about seeing the new schools. Their house gathered with the rest, waiting patiently in the cool evening air to wait for the other schools to arrive. Josie watched as some of the younger students buzzed with excitement, chattering to each other while their heads of house shushed them. The wait felt like it was forever, Josie getting antsier as time went on. Picking at the skin around her fingers, she winced when she broke and began to bleed, hiding her blue nail polish under her sleeve.
"Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!" All heads turned when Dumbledore spoke up, younger students frantically calling out "Where?!" while trying to see over their friends. Josie sighed, leaning back against the pillar behind her while her friends looked around them for any sign of an arrival. Looking towards the sky again, she decided to take pity on the clueless students. "There!" she yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear as she pointed towards the tree line of the forbidden forest. Everyone instantly turned, Fred and George smiling widely at her before following her fingers. As everyone scampered to figure out what it was exactly, Josie fluffed her hair with her fingers before taking George's hand in hers to keep from harming herself. "What is it?" Marina asked excitedly, turning back quickly to watch the splotch on the horizon come nearer. "It's a carriage." "No bloody way something that big is a carriage." Lee added, from his spot standing above them on the stone opening in the wall behind them. "You'll see." She replied.
The entire group of students reeled backwards as is landed, the large palomino horses clashing their hooves against the ground and the powder blue carriage rocking slightly until it settled. The silence that followed was short, the door opening and a younger student stepped down the golden stairs that extended out and stepped aside. Anxiety hit Josie immediately, worried of who was going to step out of the carriage first; the headmistress or the students. Her question was quickly answered when Madame Maxine stepped out of the carriage into a sea of shocked students, earning a few gasps in her usual fashion.
Madame Maxine was the only person at Beauxbatons that Josie ever felt respected her as a person. She laughed to herself as everyone's necks tilted backwards to look up at the very large woman, following the headmasters lead and applauding with the rest of the students as Maxine looked around. "My dear Madame Maxine, welcome to Hogwarts." Dumbledore said, holding a hand out to her and kissing hers when she took it. "Dumbly-dore, I 'ope I find you well?" "Merlin, do I sound like that?" Josie muttered to herself, glancing at the twins. "Used to-" "Kind of." They replied, grinning widely. "You do more when-" "-you go home. " "It's not that bad though." "It's cute." Josie couldn't help the flush that came to her cheeks, looking back towards her past head mistress.
She immediately stiffened as the Beauxbatons students stepped out of the carriage, shivering in their light robes against the autumn breeze. "Bloody hell, did you wear that?" Fred commented, looking down at her with raised brows. "I did." She replied, raising her brows when his grin widened. "They're gorgeous, how much where they?" Marina asked. "Too much, my mother never let me know the price." "Why aren't they wearing bloody cloaks, its autumn." Lee asked loudly, gesturing towards the Beauxbatons students. "Probably because they wanted to look nice." Josie replied, sighing softly and leaning into Fred as she watched the two headmasters' converse. "Oi, do you still have that?" George asked with a grin, watching as they began to walk towards the castle. "Bloody hell…" she heard Fred mutter. Josie's eyes rolled, looking at the two of them questioningly. "Yes, why?" She asked. Their grins fell into smirks as they looked her up and down. "We need to come over during the holidays." They said at the same time.
"Quoi?" she asked turning towards them and crossing her arms. "So you can put it on for us of course." Fred grinned, slipping an arm around her waist and trailing a finger down her spine from over her robes. "Get a room." Marina groaned, causing Josie to jump and turn bright red. She was cut off before she could reply, Lee Jordan almost jumping out of his skin and yelling at the top of his lungs. "The lake! Look at the lake!" He shouted, pointing down towards the Black Lake below them. Everyone surged forward, Josie standing on her toes to try and see over the crowd. Hands took her waist and lifted her up to stand next to Lee on the ledge, waiting until she was steady before letting go. She smiled down at Fred, who kissed her hand with a wink before turning back to watching the massive ship that was rising from the water.
The line of students that walked towards the castle were the biggest teenagers Josie had ever seen, all of the wide as a house and strong. "Dumbledore!" The man in front called out loudly, voice booming off the walls of the building. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?" "Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff." Dumbledore replied, shaking the man's hand vigorously. "That's Krum, that's Viktor Krum." Lee yelled, his voice hardly as hushed as Josie assumed he thought it was. "Shut up before you fall off there." Marina hissed, hitting him in the knees and effectively almost making him fall. The Durmstrang students disappeared into the castle, the Hogwarts students shifting to follow after as the heads of house called for their students. "Madame." George said with a grin, holding his hand out towards her. Her hands braced on broad shoulders, his gripping her hips and lifting her before placing her on the ground and kissing her cheek before leading her to fall in line as the Hogwarts students stepped inside.
Josie followed after the twins and Lee talking about Viktor Krum, smiling slightly as she passed Charlie with her friends. One of them was searching widely in her pockets, sighing loudly and stomping her feet. "I can't believe I forgot my lipstick!" she cried, huffing before stalking back into line after the rest of Slytherin house. Charlie caught Josie's eye, rolling her eyes widely and giving a small wave before following after. Josie took her seat next to the twins, Marina, and Lee, who had sat near the rear door close to the Durmstrang students standing idly around it. Looking over towards the Ravenclaw table, Josie noticed the Beauxbaton students sitting there, still clutching their shawls and looking around with disdain. "They've got a stick up their arse." Marina joked, watching the blue-clothes students. "It's definitely not like Beauxbatons." Josie said, readjusting herself before leaning her arms on the table. "You didn't react like that, did you?" Lee asked.
"Of course not." Fred said, turning around abruptly from trying to get a look at Krum. "Her eyes were the size of dinner plates." "Looked like she had seen a wild unicorn." Josie couldn't help but laugh. "How do you two know? We weren't friends yet." She smiled, raising a brow as they glanced at each other and grinned. "That doesn't mean we weren't looking." They said together, devilish smirks on bother their faces as the quirked a brow at her in unison. "You two are on a roll." Marina laughed, patting Josie's hand across the table as her face turned red. "Lee you may be kicked out of your room later." She added, snapping Josie from her staring between the twins. "Marina!" She hissed, snatching her hand away from her friends and turning her body away from the group.
After a moment of silence she felt a pair of hands on her waist, pulling her back with a quick jerk and landing her against one of the twin's chests. She guessed it was Fred, who had been sitting closer to her and had been the more adventurous of the two today. Her back stiffened when his breath hit the back of her neck, arms wrapping around her waist and holding her tight. Josie's hands began to shake when his nose pressed against the back of her neck, knowing his lips were only centimeters from her skin and that his hips were pressed firmly against her rear. She felt her abdomen tighten and her throat dry out, the dull ache in her pelvis becoming stronger as he rubbed circles on her hips. "Leave her alone, you've won dominance." Marina laughed, pulling them both back to reality.
"Excuse me?" Josie asked, turning to look at the two of them. "One of the Durmstrang boys was staring at you." Marina clarified, smiling to herself. Josie glanced behind her to look at the Durmstrang students that were moving to all sit at the Slytherin table. "Why do I notice nothing?" was the first thing out of Josie's mouth, the group erupting in laughter and quickly shushed by McGonagall as she walked past. "Because you don't notice that type of thing." Marina replied once they had calmed down. "You really don't." "Especially when it comes to boys." Josie glared at Lee and Marina, scowling at the two of them. "It's true, these two were drooling over you for months before you three owned up to it." Lee said, pointing towards the twins and gesturing widely. "He's not lying." The twins grinned.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and most particularly guests. I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable." Dumbledore announced, all heads turning towards the front of the hall. Josie spied a Beauxbatons girl roll her eyes, another laughing to herself. Her stomach turned over, shaking her head and clenching her jaw at their rudeness. "The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!" The plates filled with food in regular fashion, the tables overflowing with variety Josie hadn't seen before, and a few she had. "Wait, are these French?" Marina asked, poking at a dish.
"Oui, some are. That's coq au vin. It's chicken in wine, and that's bouillabaisse, soup with shellfish, and that's something you may not want." Josie said as she pointed to platters. "What is it?" Lee asked as he picked up a piece. "It's snails." She replied, holding back her laughter as he dropped it. Picking it up herself and putting it on her plate, and digging in. Minutes later she realized that the boys had stopped eating, leaning out of their seats to look down the table. Josie took one glance down the table and knew exactly what was going on, sighing softly and glancing towards the twins. Both of them were looking down the table, heads turned away from her to watch as Fleur, noticing that their brother Ron looked like he was about to pass out from speaking with her. Marina smacked the back of Lee's head loudly, the sound startling all three boys enough to turn back. "What the hell are you doing?" Marina hissed through her teeth. "I can't help it! She's different." "She's part veela." Josie clarified, tearing apart a roll a bit aggressively and looking at her plate to avoid glaring at her boyfriends. "You're kidding." Lee asked in interest, leaning across the table. "I'm not."
The table was quiet for a moment before the twins both groaned loudly in unison. "What the bloody hell is he doing here?" George sighed. Josie looked up watching as Percy and Mr. Crouch conversed at the table with the rest. The plates soon cleared and a hush fell over the hall as Dumbledore stood once again, Josie muttering mostly to herself. "We're about to find out."