DISCLAIMER – I own nothing, I'm merely borrowing for the duration of this story.
SUMMARY – 'Now that he had been gone for almost a year, supposedly vanquished by an infant whose parents had sacrificed their lives in a desperate attempt to save his, she and her husband had come to an agreement. It was time for them to begin anew, without the pressures and expectations put on them not only by their family but by the Wizarding Community at large. They had their son, their little dragon, to think of now.'
WARNINGS – Alternate Universe, Alternate Timeline (tiny little tweaks only), Slash, Canon-Typical Violence, Coming Out, First Time, Underage (nothing graphic), Homophobia
A/N – Please be aware that in some places I will be utilising some of the original material, although it has all been adapted and altered to fit with my changes to the overall storyline. None of it is literally copy/pasted as I consider that to be cheating (and borderline plagiarism which is not acceptable in my book.) As the story progresses this will happen less and less but in this first chapter, particularly in the very first section where the "scene is being set", I struggled not to include some aspects. Just wanted to warn you.
'My Champion, My Dragon'
Chapter Three. 1994.
"Today we shall be returning to a subject we covered briefly at the end of last year; the treatment of Magic, so termed 'Witchcraft' by the Muggle population of England."
"Briefly?!" Ron muttered incredulously, glaring at the transparent figure floating in front of the vast chalkboard at the front of the classroom. "We spent most of last year learning about the flaming 'Witch Trials'; seriously, how is that briefly covering a subject? Ugh…"
Harry, already struggling to stay awake, couldn't help but agree with his friend.
"Page 135. Religious tensions in England during the 16th and 17th centuries resulted in the introduction of serious penalties for witchcraft," Professor Binns droned on, ignoring the grumbling spreading around the classroom as they obediently opened their text books to the required page. "Henry VIII's Act of 1542 was the first to define witchcraft as a felony, a crime punishable by death and the forfeiture of the convicted felon's goods and chattels."
Some students had already given up, folding their arms on their desks and resting their heads upon them, and Harry was sorely tempted to join them. He was so very tired. His sleep had been disturbed for a number of reasons recently; visions sent by Voldemort, nightmares of his Godfather being captured and, most frequently, dreams of a significantly more erotic nature focused solely on the striking blonde haired student from Beauxbatons.
It was one such dream which had left him wide awake at four o'clock that morning, unable to return to sleep with the sensations thrumming through his body and a telltale dampness inside his pyjamas. He'd dealt with the mess, using a simple cleaning charm to remove any and all evidence, but there had been nothing he could do to calm his body down enough to get a couple more hours sleep; hence his already exhausted state during their first lesson.
"According to the Act it was forbidden to; use devise practise or exercise, or cause to be devysed practised or exercised, any Invovacons or cojuracons of Sprites witchecraftes enchauntementes or sorceries to thentent to fynde money or treasure or to waste consume or destroy any persone in his bodie membres," Professor Binns continued, the historical inflections and spelling making it even more challenging for the students to focus on what was being said. His monotonous voice was a sedative at the best of times. "Or to pvoke any persone to unlawfull love, or for any other unlawfull intente or purpose."
Harry let out a deep sigh.
The worst thing about his new dreams, the ones about the Beauxbatons student, was that he didn't even know the boy's name and there was no way for him to find it out without asking either him or one of his friends and that…that simply wasn't possible. They were all seventeen, at least, making them Seventh Years whilst he, despite being the 'Boy-Who-Lived', was still only a Fourth Year and therefore not really worthy of their time or attention.
"The Act also removed a right known as 'Benefit of Clergy' from those convicted of witchcraft, a legal device that spared anyone from hanging who was able to read a passage from the Bible. This statute was repealed by Henry's son, Edward VI, in 1547."
It was at this point that Ron gave up, pushing his textbook away and joined his fellow students in folding his arms on his desk and going to sleep, his movements almost perfectly synchronised with those of Justin Finch-Fletchley who had also decided to give up on the lesson. Hermione shot him a predictable glare, her hand moving quickly as she took notes despite the fact that Binns was literally just reading from the textbook just as he always did.
"Neville?"
Harry's attention was drawn away from his best friends by the concern he could hear in Hannah Abbott's voice, prompting him to twist his body so that he could look back over his left shoulder to where the boy she was addressing was sitting. Neville was pale, unusually so, his hair and clothes looking more unkempt than usual, and his hands were trembling.
"Are you…" Hannah bit her lip, leaning in closer to the Gryffindor. "Are you alright?"
"I'm…I'm fine…just…" Neville mumbled, bringing a shaking hand up to rub at his eyes. "I just didn't sleep very well, that's all. I couldn't…I couldn't stop thinking about my…my parents…"
Hannah let out a murmur of sympathy even as Harry flinched, his mind supplying him with an image of the events which had taken place in their 'Defence Against the Dark Art' class the previous afternoon; when Professor Moody had demonstrated the unforgivable curses.
"The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody barked, causing them to jump even as he picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar. "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"
Hermione, quite predictably, threw her hand into the air, eager to supply the answer.
Quite unpredictably, however, was the second hand which rose hesitantly into the air.
Neville's.
"Yes?"
"There's one," Neville spoke up, voice trembling yet clearly audible. "The Cruciatus Curse."
Harry didn't like the way the Professor looked at his friend.
Like he was something fascinating, worthy of study, but not human.
"You're name's Longbottom?"
Neville nodded nervously.
For a long moment Professor Moody just stared down at the fourteen-year-old boy and Harry began to worry about he was going to say or do, Neville beginning to tremble under the scrutiny, before finally he turned away from the boy in order to reached into the jar for the next spider which was subsequently placed upon his desk where it remained motionless.
It appeared to be too scared to move.
Harry could understand that.
"The Cruciatus Curse," Moody announced gravely, pointing his wand towards the poor spider sitting upon his desk. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea. Engorgio!"
The spider swelled, almost tripling in size, and Ron wasn't the only one to flinch backwards.
A shiver of fear ran down Harry's spine as Professor Moody loomed over the spider.
"Crucio!"
Harry had seen pain before.
Harry had seen suffering before.
But he had never seen anything like this before; the spider's legs bent twitched, curling in on its body as it twitched horribly, rocking from side to side. It made no sound; as not all spiders were like Aragog, born with the ability to speak. And yet Harry was certain that had it been able to it would have been screaming, begging for mercy as the pain wracked its small body.
How long it would have gone on for, Harry didn't know. Professor Moody seemed content to continue indefinitely, changing the angle of his wand which sent the spider rolling in the opposite direction, but the mindless torture finally came to an end when Hermione cried out,
"Stop it!"
Unlike the rest of the class Hermione wasn't watching the spider; she was watching Neville.
Neville's hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, so tightly that his knuckles had turned completely white and he'd probably be left with crescent shaped marks from his nails.
His skin had taken on a worryingly ashen tone and his eyes were wide, filled with horror.
Moody raised his wand, allowing the spiders legs to relax although it continued to twitch.
"Reducio."
The spider shrunk back to its normal size, still trembling, and was returned to the jar.
"Pain," Moody announced, looking around at the class before finally settling his gaze on Neville. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse…that one was very popular once, too. Right, anyone know any others?"
Neville's reaction had been pushed to the back of his mind as the class had continued with a demonstration of the killing curse; the curse which had robbed him of his parents. It had only been afterwards, when Professor Moody had sought out the still affected Neville, that he had realised why his friend had been so upset; the Cruciatus Curse was to Neville what the Avada Kedavra Curse was to Harry. It was the thing which had taken his parents away.
"Or for dispite of Cryste, or for lucre of money, dygge up or pull downe any Crosse or Crosses or by such Invovacons or cojuracons of Sprites witchecraftes enchauntementes," Professor Binns voice drew Harry's attention back to his current surroundings. "Or sorceries or any of them take upon them to tell or declare where goodes stollen or lost shall become…"
Finally, after what felt like significantly longer than the two hours that the lesson had actually lasted, they were finally released and stumbled to their next lessons; the Hufflepuff's heading down to 'Care of Magical Creatures' whilst Harry and his fellow Gryffindor's made their way to the opposite side of the castle for their 'Charms' lesson.
As they navigated the magical staircase they passed a group of Durmstrang students, all of them participating in an in depth conversation with a couple of wizards in a portrait hanging on the wall. Viktor Krum was with them, his muscles threatening to burst through the sleeves of his uniform as he stood with them folded across his chest and of course this had the predictable side-effect of making most of the Hogwarts group, including Ron, Harry noticed, but not including Hermione, go weak at the knees, their cheeks flushing brightly.
"He's just a Quidditch player, Ronald," Hermione huffed, pulling him along by the sleeve of his ill-fitting jumper as he began to gush once more about the wonders of Viktor Krum. "Honestly, sometimes I don't know what to do with you…are you sure you're not gay?"
"What?" Ron all but shrieked in a painfully unmanly manner, her enquiry effectively cutting through his haze and interrupting his rambling. "No! I am not gay, thank you very much!"
"There's nothing wrong with being gay, Ronald," Hermione pointed out. "And I just wondered as you've been developing a rather unhealthy obsession with Viktor Krum."
"Because I admire him as an athlete," Ron protested firmly, his entire face, neck and ears flushing an alarming shade of puce. "Not because I think he's hot or…something…I'm not..."
"He is hot if you go for that sort of thing, which I don't. I go for blondes myself…" Harry blurted out before he could stop himself. Ron and Hermione turned to look at him as one and then it was his turn to flush. "I…uh…this was not how I intended to tell you guys…"
"…are you trying to tell us you're gay, mate?"
Harry nodded stilted lay in response to Ron's soft question.
"Oh," his friend mumbled. "You're not into me right?"
"Ronald!"
"What?" Ron grumbled, glaring defensively at Hermione who was practically vibrating, ready to argue on Harry's behalf. "I don't have a problem with it. Honestly. Guys, you do know Charlie's an equal opportunities kind of guy, right? I just wanted to make sure…"
"No, Ron, I'm not into you," Harry chuckled softly. "And Charlie…he's really…?"
"I think the muggles call it bisexual," Ron supplied with a shrug. "He's dated witches and wizards. In fact his most serious relationship was with a wizard. Mum was sure he was going to be the first one to settle down but then something went wrong and he's single again."
"Huh…"
"Please, please tell me you don't fancy my brother…"
"I don't fancy your brother," Harry reported obediently without a single trace of emotion in his voice, earning himself a swat on the arm from his best friend. "Well, I don't any more…"
Hermione let out a peel of laughter as Ron spluttered, slipping her arms through theirs and pulling them along the empty corridor as quickly as she could knowing they were now late.
"…so, you guys are ok with me being…"
"Yes, Harry, were ok with you being gay," Hermione announced. Ron nodded his head in agreement, his face returning to its normal colour. "I'm not ok with us being late, however."
It was such a Hermione thing to say that Harry couldn't hold back his own peel of laughter.
"And don't worry mate, well keep this between us until you want to tell everyone," Ron murmured reassuringly as they reached the classroom, groaning when he saw what was written upon the chalkboard in cursive writing. "Ugh. Not the Summoning Charm again…"
"Please, take your seats quickly and quietly so that I may begin the class," tiny Professor Flitwick called out from his place standing upon a stack of books. "Now, as you can see…"
Harry smiled to himself as he slipped into one the seats left available in the tiered seating along the wall nearest the door, finding himself next to Seamus. He'd been so worried about his friends would react, had put off telling them so many times, and now he could help but wonder why? Why had he been so afraid to tell them when they had reacted precisely the way he had both hope and expected them to; Ron, blustering but understanding, Hermione, relying on her knowledge but also understanding. Why had he been so worried?
"I'm going to apologise in advance, Harry," Seamus muttered, picking up his wand when the class were instructed to do so. "Last time I did this I nearly set Dean on fire by accident so…"
Now that, given Seamus's unfortunate habit of creating pyrotechnics with even the simplest of spells let alone the complicated ones, was definitely something to be worried about.
Draco Malfoy
Claude DuPont
Javier De La Fuente
Ramona De La Fuente
"…I still don't understand why you can't sign your own names," Draco muttered as he carefully put the finishing touches to his friend's circular slip of parchment. As was their habit the four friends were curled up together on his bed, Javier and Claude exchanging lazy kisses as they completed their required reading for their next Transfiguration class while Ramona lay with her legs tangled with Draco's as she worked on her Potions essay. "It's not as though it's very complicated; all you have to do is turn the parchment as you write so as to follow the circular shape. Even you could have managed such a feat, Claude…"
Reaching backwards, careful not to remove his lips from those of his boyfriend, the young Frenchman delivered a sharp smack to the curve of Draco's hip in response to the slight.
"Yes, we could have," Ramona agreed, reaching over to flick the back of Claude's ear for no other reason than she could. "However, we all agreed that your penmanship is far superior to our and, given the importance of these slips of parchment, only the very best will do."
"…uh huh…" Draco muttered, blowing on the last of the four slips of parchment in an effort to dry the ink. He was proud of his penmanship, something his friends knew all too well, and he was perfectly aware that the easiest way to convince him to do something he either didn't want to or didn't technically have to was to flatter him in some way given that his pride was his greatest weakness. However… "It sounds more like the three of you couldn't be bothered so I suppose you all owe me a favour now for doing your work for you…"
"Hey!" Javier protested as he pulled away from his boyfriend, pushing himself up onto his elbow so that he could glare good-naturedly at his friend. "We didn't agree to any favours!"
Draco snorted, waving his wand over the circles of parchment and watching as the rose into the air performing odd little spinning motions as they folded like a circular concertina, creating rigid folds and an almost deadly point. The wider part where the outer edge of the circle had ended up gathered was quickly secured with thin ribbons in their house colours.
"Oh, I think the least you can do is owe me a favour," he announced as, with a flick of his wand, he sent the tiny bundles of parchment to the correct owner. Ramona murmured her thanks, tucking hers into her pocket, while both Claude and Javier continued to stare across at him in protest, tiny bundles on their open palms. "Or perhaps some Belgian chocolates…"
A quick flick of her own wand, paired with a simple summoning spell, and Ramona was soon in possession of a medium sized box of Belgian truffles. The Muggle kind, Draco noticed with silent approval, rather than the Magical equivalent. If there was one thing that Muggles, particularly the Belgians, could do better than Witches and Wizards it was make superior chocolate. She handed them over without a word, Draco accepting them with a small nod.
"To us less étudiants devraient-ils she réunir dans la sale commune." 1
Ramona was the first to respond the loud announcement which echoed magically throughout the entire carriage, Madame Maxime's easily recognisable voice calling for her students to assemble in the common room. It seemed that the time had come for the, to make their way to the why there Goblet of Fire was being house and enter their names.
"Time to go," she sighed, tucking her slip of paper into her jacket pocket. "Come on. Move."
Draco, albeit rather reluctantly, obeyed. Plucking his jacket from where he had hung it over the back of his chair he slipped his arms into the sleeves before rolling his shoulders to get the garment properly situated, his hands tugging at the hem for a moment before moving to secure the buttons. Javier was less precise in his movements but the overall effect was the same, his uniform fitting him rather perfectly. Claude, on the other hand, spread his arms and legs out over the now empty bed like a starfish, rubbing his head against the pillows.
When he finally sat up, reaching out for his own discarded jacket, Draco snorted loudly,
"You might want to fix your hair first…"
Ramona frowned, patting her hands over her voluminous curls self-consciously.
"Who? Me?"
"No," Draco responded, pitching his tone to be reassuring even as he turned to gesture at where Claude was now stretching his arms above his head, his jacket half on. "Claude."
"I'm going for the just had sex look," Claude responded with a cheeky grin, leaving the buttons of his jacket undone in favour of running his fingers through his wild hair. Rather than taming it as the action could have done his careless movements only made it worse, one side of his hair sticking up and out whilst the other lay almost flat. "What do you think?"
"I think it looks like you just got out of bed," Draco responded, earning a glare from his friend even as the twins snorted loudly. "And Madame Maxime will never let you leave this carriage looking like that, or did you forget her lecture about representing our school?"
"Oh, shut up…" Claude muttered, moving over to Draco's mirror so that he could sort his hair out properly until it could be described as stylishly messy rather than just a mess. It was similar to how Draco worse his own hair only Claude added more volume. "There? Better?"
Unable to resist teasing his friend further Draco responded with a noncommittal sounds and a patronisingly reassuring smile which was actually more of a grimace. Claude stuck his tongue out at him, moving to follow his boyfriend out of the room, their hands drifting towards one another so that they could link their fingers together. It was sickeningly sweet.
"Come on, mi amigo," Ramona sighed, pulling an elastic shred hair band from her wrist and quickly pulling her hair up into a semi-smart high ponytail. "Best not keep Madame waiting."
"Indeed."
Exiting his bedroom Draco paused to pull the door shut before offering his arm to Ramona so that they could join the flow of students making their way towards the common room.
"Ah! Excellent!" Madame Maxime cried out once they had entered the common room. "Now that everyone is here let us head into the castle and show them how a united school enters the Triwizard Tournament. "Remember, mes étudiants, there shall be a great many eyes upon us. I expect you all to behave properly as you have been taught to. Show these inférieur schools what students from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic are made off. Oui?"
"Oui, Madame."
It appeared that word of their decision to enter their names that evening had reached almost every student currently residing within the castle walls as from the moment they stepped out of the carriage to the time that the doors of the Great Hall swung open to admit them they were surrounded by a gaggles of students, all of them giggling and gossiping and pointing out various members of the group. Whilst it was predominantly the younger students, the ones who wouldn't have entered even if they hadn't introduced the age restriction, Draco spotted a few of the older students amongst the group. Their expressions were different, more calculating, as they attempted to figure out which one of the Beauxbatons party round be chosen to compete. Some, however, wore expressions of idle curiosity and he guessed that these were the students that weren't going to enter.
Moving almost as though they'd rehearsed this moment which, surprisingly, they hadn't the students formed two lines just as they had when they'd entered the Great Hall for the first time and filed past the Goblet of Fire, one student on either side as they dropped their slips in. Draco was last, finding himself paired up with Ramona this time rather than Lara, and hesitated a fraction of a second before he released the piece of parchment into the flames.
He paused, watching as the piece of parchment was eaten by the flames until there was nothing left, before moving to join his friends who were chattering happily with the rest of their classmates about the important moment which had just taken place. Beauxbatons had officially entered the Triwizard Tournament and now it was simply a matter of waiting to see whose name would eventually be selected. Madame Maxime seemed to be exceptionally pleased with their performance, offering Igor Karkaroff a smug smile. The Headmaster of Durmstrang was stood with a small group of his own students and Draco noticed as he felt Ramona grab hold of his arm to steady herself as she giggled that they all seemed worried.
Odd.
What did they have to be worried about at this stage of the proceedings?
Unless they were like Draco who, unfortunately, was rapidly realising that perhaps he should have stayed back set Beauxbatons after all even if it had meant being alone for their final year of school. His stomach suddenly felt like it was full of lead, clenching unpleasantly at the very thought that his name could be the one to be chosen, his skin becoming clammy as he imagine the amount of attention he would receive. But it was too late to do anything about it now; his name had been entered into the Goblet. Now he just had to wait and see.
"I can see you as a Champion," an unfamiliar voice announced suddenly, startling Draco enough that he jumped as he turned around to face the owner of the voice. He was genuinely surprised when he came face to face with none other than his cousin, Fleur, the young witch flanked by a couple of goons with a couple of less than attractive young witches hovering in the background. Ramona, having realised what was going on, smacked Claude on the shoulder until he turned, bringing Javier with him, and the three of them moved to flank Draco just in case he should need their assistance dealing with his cousin. "Should you be selected I would be delighted to attend the Yule Ball with you, were you to ask me."
It took him a moment to get over his genuine shock but when he didn't he could help but scoff loudly, drawing the attention of everyone in their vicinity as he enquired coldly,
"…why in Merlin's name would I want to attend the Yule Ball with you?"
Fleur flushed a deep red colour, spluttering angrily,
"How dare you speak to me like that, you…you ignorant peasant!"
Draco frowned as a sudden realisation hit him and then he couldn't help but burst out laughing, an action which only seemed to annoy the already irate Slytherin even further.
"I'm sorry, but...you have no idea who I am, do you?"
At that Ramona let out an unladylike snort, catching up with him, while Javier and Claude shared a blatantly amused look before sizing up Fleur's goons who looked ready to attack.
"No," Fleur responded sharply, her voice carrying above the amused titters of the Hogwarts students gathering around them watching the scene taking place with undisguised interest. "Although, obviously, you can't be all that important or else you would know that I am…"
"Fleur DeLacour, daughter of the known Death Eaters, Apolline and Pierre DeLacour?" Draco interrupted her calmly, folding his arms across his chest as he met her gaze and held it. Her mouth dropped open in shock as the Great Hall plunged into silence, no one daring to make a sound as they all listened to what he had to say. Even the various teachers seemed to be frozen in place, none of them moving to intervene and put an end to the confrontation. "Niece of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange…or should that be Bellatrix and Rabastan Lestrange, seeing as how everyone knows that she was sleeping with both of them..."
A stunned silence fell, broken only by Fleur's sharp intake of breath before she hissed,
"…how dare you?!"
Draco smirked down at her.
"What?" he scoffed. "Don't like having your dirty laundry aired in public, little cousin?"
This time the silence that fell was preceded by a startled gasp which spread throughout the crowd like wildfire as eyes flickered back and forth between Draco and Fleur, each of them cataloguing the similarities between the two of them even as she reared back in shock.
"C-Cousin?"
Draco offered her his most cultured smirk.
"Draco Malfoy, at your service," he supplied his name without hesitation, so focused on his cousin that he didn't even realising how many people were staring straight him. "Our mothers are sisters, Fleur, only mine decided to get away from Voldemort's clutches before it was too late, as did my father, saving their reputations and their souls. Unlike yours."
Several students cried out fearfully whilst one, a boy with red hair and freckles, cried out,
"Don't say his name!"
"Why not?" Draco responded with a shrug. "It's just a name."
Draco turned his back on Fleur, frowning across at the alarmed students. Of the large group only two seemed to be unaffected by his use of the taboo name; a girl with bushy brown hair who was sat on one of the long benches, a book open on her lap, and the boy who had caught his attention when they'd been presented to the students of Hogwarts, the one with piercing green eyes and ink black hair which was unfortunately even messier than before.
Well, at least he had the good sense not to be frightened of a name even if he did appear to have no sense of fashion or style whatsoever given that, as well as the birds nest on top of his head, his clothes were in desperate need of tidying up. It might be the end of the day but that did not mean that you should go around in such a scruffy state, or so Draco thought; you shoulder either wear your school uniform with pride or change into your own clothes.
"Why not?" he finally responded to the redhead, folding his arms across his chest as he met the wide eyes. "It's just a name. A word. What's the point in being frightened of a word?"
That was what his parents had told him growing up when they would share stories of their past so that he could understand the decisions they had made and learn from their mistakes. Several students spluttered, trying to come up with an answer, but no one spoke.
"Yes," Draco muttered, offering the gathered students a tight smile. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that the bushy haired girl was shooting the redhead a rather smug looking leading him to assume that he wasn't the first to point this out. "That's what I thought."
"Draco," Ramona murmured, her voice little more than a pure as she moved to stand beside him, placing a gentle hand on his arm. He didn't miss the way the redhead's eyes snapped across to her, an entirely different look appearing in them. "Perhaps we should be going…"
A cheer rang out, startling every single person in the room, and Draco turned along with everyone else to watch as two identical red haired boys, all gangly limbs and broad smiles, sped towards the crowd. Both of them had one hand raised almost triumphantly and after a moment Draco realised that they were holding identical potion vials filled with a blue liquid.
"Thank you!" the first twin cried out in response to the crowd who had responding to their cheering with cries of their own, moving out of the way so that they could move to the centre of the group. "Thank you. Well lads, we've done it. Brewed it up this morning."
Stepping backwards Draco slotted himself into the group of Beauxbatons students alongside Ramona, all of them watching the scene with barely concealed interest. Claude and Javier, standing so close together that they had managed to slip a hand in each other's back pocket, snorted as the Hogwarts students continued to fawn over the admittedly attractive twins.
Obviously they were something of a big deal amongst the student body.
This time it seemed that only the bushy haired girl was unaffected by what was going on as she let out a deep, dramatic sigh, closed her book as loudly as she could and announced,
"It's not going to work."
After sharing a look the twins moved to sit on either side of the girl, leaning in far too close for them to be anything less than good friends. Had they merely been school acquaintances Draco got the feeling that the bushy haired witch would have had no trouble removing them from her personal space. As it was she merely offered them both a truly unimpressed look.
"Oh, yeah?" one of the twins finally demanded with a cheeky grin. "Why's that, Granger?"
With a family name like Granger Draco was left to surmise that the young witch was either a half-blood or a muggleborn although he did think that it was more likely to be the latter.
There was just something rather endearing about her that screamed muggle upbringing.
"You see this?"
He watched, amused, as she indicated the circle of blue smoke floating a couple of feet off of the floor around the Goblet of Fire. Draco had barely paid it any attention earlier, all of them passing through the boundary without hesitation as they were all over the age limit.
"This is an age line," Granger explained to the twins. "Dumbledore drew it himself."
"…so?"
"Idiotas…" Ramona muttered, twirling her wand in her hand like a baton. Draco hummed softly, agreeing with her sceptical tone of voice. "And they want to be campeones? No…"
"So," Granger sighed, closing her book with a distinctive thud. "A genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by something as pathetically dim-witted as an ageing potion."
"Oh, but that's why it's so brilliant–"
"–because it's so pathetically dim witted."
There were a set of twins a couple of years below Draco and his friends, Andre and Etienne, who did the whole 'finishing each other's sentences' thing and it was just as disconcerting from them as it was from the two redheads who had jumped up to stand on the bench, shaking the potion vials so vigorously that Draco feared for the potion held within them.
Seriously, did they not understand how dangerous that was?
Yes, most potions required shaking to activate the ingredients, but what they were doing was so far beyond what was needed it was unreal. They'd be lucky if they didn't explode.
"Ready, Fred?"
"Ready, George?"
Draco grimaced as the twins linked their arms together, smiling broadly at each other as they uncorked their vials in preparation of drinking the worryingly unstable contents.
"Bottoms up."
Gulping down the potion, identical grimaces flashing briefly on their faces, the twins wasted no time in jumping down from the bench, landing on the floor inside the glowing blue circle.
A hush fell over the crowd as everyone waited with baited breath to see what would happen to the twins and, when nothing obvious seemed to take place, the Hogwarts students broke out into thunderous applause, cheering far too wildly in response to what had taken place.
"Ready?"
Another hush fell over the crowd as they dropped the scraps of paper into the blue flames.
It seemed, if only for a brief moment, that their potion might have done the trick and their celebrations resumed. Draco was unsurprised, however, when the atmosphere changed.
A loud sizzling sound filled the air as the blue flames went wild, knocking the twins back with enough force to send them flying across the room. They landed with an audible thud, their bodies literally bouncing across the stone floor like two pebbles across a flat lake, and then as though to add insult to injury their hair began to lighten, growing almost as quickly as the ice white beards which began sprouting from their youthful faces until they looked ancient.
"Mon Dieu!" Claude gasped, clutching at his boyfriends arm as his body was wracked with uncontrollable laughter. Javier wasn't much better, chuckling to himself. "Formidable!"
"…you said!"
Draco joined in with his friend's laughter as he watched the twin nearest to him turn and pounce on his brother, his hands grabbing for purchase on his robes as they rolled together.
"You said!"
Chaos descended upon the room as the grey haired twins rolled around on the floor, wrestling with one another over whose fault their predicament was whilst the majority of the Hogwarts students began chanting in favour of the fight. A notable exception was Miss Granger who, with a dramatic roll of her eyes, settled down on her bench with her book.
"I did warn you," a deep voice, filled with amusement, broke through the chanting of the Hogwarts students, silencing them at once. All eyes turned to see Professor Dumbledore entering the Great Hall, his eyes twinkling with merriment, and after a long moment the twins separated and helped each other to their feet, standing side by side before him. "I suggest you both go up to Madame Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little, too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours."
Before either of the twins could obey their Headmasters instruction the doors to the Great Hall swung open once more, this time admitting the unmistakable figure of Viktor Krum. He was followed closely by his own Headmaster, the notoriously Dark Wizard Igor Karkaroff, and one of his fellow Durmstrang students, a serious young man called Ivan Poliakoff who had the unfortunate "claim to fame" of being Karkaroff's favourite nephew. This had, sadly, resulted in him being sent to live with the Dark Wizard after the sudden death of his mother when he was only a young child. His father had died mysteriously before he was born. As such he had been groomed towards the darker aspects of magic all his life and it was only his friendship with Krum, the talented Quidditch player, that kept him on the side of good.
Ramona hummed softly in appreciation, particularly whilst gazing at his muscular arms.
"If you wanted to try and set me up with him I wouldn't mind," she admitted softly as they watched the famous teenager walk up to the Goblet of Fire, not even pausing when he reached the age line, and dropped his slip of parchment into the flames. "He's so strong…"
"I know, right?" Claude sighed deeply. "He's quite pleasing to the eye, isn't he?"
Javier huffed, unimpressed by his boyfriends blatant ogling of another Wizard.
"Oh, you know I only really have eyes for you, Mon Amour," Claude hurriedly murmured, leaning his head against Javier's shoulder. When the Spaniard only grunted in response he nuzzled into his neck, pressing a series of kisses to the lightly tanned skin. "Mon chéri…"
Javier held on to his annoyance for a barely a moment before tilting his head to allow Claude better access to his neck and thus demonstrating his forgiveness. Rolling her eyes towards her brother Ramona missed the moment when, as he turned to leave the Great Hall, Viktor Krum paused to shoot the smallest of smiles towards the startled Miss Granger.
It would appear, Draco thought to himself as he obediently followed Madame Maxime out of the room, that his friend would be out of luck if she was at all serious about the interest she had expressed regarding Viktor Krum as his eyes had already been drawn elsewhere.
He couldn't say what possessed him to do it, it was like there was something drawing his attention back in the room, but as he was crossing the threshold Draco tilted his head to glance back over his shoulder. His eyes met a pair of startlingly green bespectacled eyes.
They blinked at each other for a long moment before Draco finally offered the younger Wizard a subtle nod of acknowledgement just before he finally exited the crowded room.
A/N I had actually planned to carry this chapter on a little bit further than this but it ended up working better when I ended it here. Comments & Suggestions welcome. X