A/N: Essentially, what you recognize belongs to the goddess that is J.K. Rowling, and what you don't belongs to insignificant little me.
•~0~•
The first task arrived sooner than Genevieve expected. Before she knew it, she was sitting in the stands, waiting for the start of what was, undoubtedly, going to be an interesting show.
Cedric Diggory was the first to face his dragon. He was trying to get past the Swedish Short-Snout. Genevieve watched curiously, wondering what method he was going to try. Diggory turned to a rock, Transfiguring it into a Labrador.
"Impressive," she whispered to Katie, who seemed way too wrapped up in Diggory than she would probably care to admit.
Genevieve realized what he was trying to do: distract the dragon with the dog so he could get to the egg. He was assuming, of course, that the dragon would see a dog as a bigger threat than a human trying to get to its eggs. Diggory was forgetting one crucial thing: this was a nesting mother.
"That's not going to work," she muttered.
To her relief, for a while, it seemed she was wrong. The Labrador distracted the dragon long enough to Diggory to grab the egg - but then the dragon shifted its attention, burning the side of his face. Genevieve winced.
Fleur Delacour went next. She used a charm to put her dragon, the Welsh Green, into some sort of trance. The dragon, however, let out a snore and . . . set Fleur's skirt on fire. Genevieve failed to stifle a snort, and all the males in her immediate area scowled in her direction.
Krum tried the Conjunctivitus Curse, which worked in the sense that he effectively defeated the Chinese Fireball, but backfired due to the fact that the dragon, stomped on its own eggs as an effect of the pain the spell had caused.
"Poor thing," Genevieve said quietly. The people around her gave an incredulous look. She shrugged.
Harry's idea, however, was brilliant, suited just to his strengths. It was almost as though it was planned before - in fact, all of the champions looked as though they had already known. He used the Summoning Charm to get his Firebolt, which he used to get the Horntail to follow him into the air, leaving her eggs unguarded, allowing Harry to swoop down and grab the one he needed, only getting one scratch in the entire process.
After being congratulated by the professors, he was swept into the tent by an irritated Madam Pomfrey. Harry was awarded by the judges - Madame Maxime, Crouch, Dumbledore, Bagman, and Karkaroff - an eight, nine, nine, ten, and four, respectively. Genevieve met up with Charlie and went to congratulate him.
"You're tied in first place, Harry! You and Krum!" Charlie said excitedly.
"You were, by far, the best," Genevieve said. "Don't listen to Karkaroff."
"Listen, I've got to run, I've got to go and send Mum an owl, I swore I'd tell her what happened - but that was unbelievable! Oh yeah – and they told me to tell you you've got to hang around for a few more minutes . . . Bagman wants a word, back in the champions' tent."
Harry and Ron dashed off, and Charlie turned to her.
"Look - I've got to send this letter to Mum, and then we're off - don't want to keep the dragons here long. I don't know for sure when I'm going to see you again . . ."
He hugged her. "No more growing up."
"Promise," she replied.
He smiled, and jogged off to where the other Dragonologists were struggling to rein in the dragons. She went back to the castle, planning to relax for the rest of the day.
•~0~•
When she returned to the common room, Fred grabbed her arm, dragging her off.
"We're going to the kitchens," George informed her.
"Can't have a celebratory party without food," Fred said with a hint of glee.
Genevieve tickled the pear on the painting. It giggled back at her, and became a door handle. Genevieve swung open the door, and a dozen house-elves hurried up to her. "Gen Snow, Gen Snow!" they called. She grinned. She'd tried to get them to stick to just Gen, but even calling her by nickname seemed to be pushing it for them. "What can we do for you and your Wheezys?"
"We're not her Wheezys," George said with mock outrage. The house-elves shrunk back.
"Very sorry, sir, what would you like?"
Genevieve jabbed him with her elbow.
"It's fine. We were just hoping to get some food for the rest of our House; Harry's just got first place in the first task."
They beamed back at her, and, almost instantly, Genevieve and the twins were surrounded by mountains of cake, pumpkin juice, and butterbeer.
With some effort, they managed to get it all back to the common room. Genevieve had a few cakes and some butterbeer and sat with a book while pandemonium reigned supreme around her. When Harry arrived, it seemed to triple. Many pressured Harry to open his egg, which contained a clue about the next task.
He did, and a horrible screeching sort of noise echoed throughout the room.
"Shut it!" Fred protested.
"It's preferable for me to have functioning eardrums after this!" Genevieve shouted, plugging her ears.
Thankfully, Harry got the message. Genevieve watched with amusement as the Gryffindors speculated what it could mean.
"I thought it sounded a bit like Percy singing . . . Maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower, Harry," George joked.
"Please," Genevieve said, smirking. "You're insulting the egg."
Hermione managed to trick the twins into telling her how to get into the kitchens, and Neville demonstrated beautifully the effects of the Canary Creams. Genevieve yawned and retired to bed, though the party raged on.
•~0~•
Genevieve scoffed as girls walked past in herds, giggling every time they saw a boy. The news of the Yule Ball had just recently been announced, and Genevieve really didn't see what was so important.
Katie tried to explain. "It's a dance."
"So?"
"It's a dance on Christmas."
"Oh, how romantic."
"You get it!"
"No, I really don't."
After several unsuccessful attempts, she gave up. Many students had signed up to stay the holidays at Hogwarts this year, Genevieve among them, as her father had owled informing her that he had to work these holidays.
One day, they were planning to send another letter to Bagman, who had now managed to avoid them on multiple occasions.
They walked into the common room just in time to see a pyramid of Exploding Snap cards explode in Ron's face, leaving his eyebrows slightly crispy.
"Nice look, Ron . . . go well with your dress robes, that will."
George asked. "Ron, can we borrow Pigwidgeon?"
"No, he's off delivering a letter. Why?"
"Because George wants to invite him to the Yule Ball," Fred deadpanned.
"Reckon he would make a better dancer," Genevieve commented.
"Because we want to send a letter, you stupid great prat," George said.
"Who d'you two keep writing to, eh?"
"Nose out, Ron, or I'll burn that for you too," Fred threatened. "So . . . you lot got dates for the ball yet?" he asked.
"Nope."
"Well," Fred advised, "you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone."
"Who're you going with, then?"
"Angelina," Fred said without hesitation.
"What?" Ron asked in surprise. "You've already asked her?"
"Good point." Fred shouted across the common room, "Oi! Angelina!"
"What?" she asked with mild irritation.
"Want to come to the ball with me?"
She looked at him. "All right, then."
"I feel bad for her," Genevieve said teased. "First the tournament, and now she's got to go to a ball with the likes of you."
Fred laughed. "Yeah, you're not wrong."
George turned to Genevieve. "You and me?"
"Why not?" she replied with a shrug. "At least it'll be interesting."
"There you go," Fred addressed Harry and Ron again, who looked absolutely astonished that it had been so easy for them, "piece of cake."
They promptly left to borrow a school owl.
•~0~•
Genevieve and Ginny were studying in the library, Ginny a bit reluctantly, when Hermione had walked up, looking absolutely stunned.
"I've just got asked to the dance," she whispered breathlessly.
"That's great," Ginny said. "By who?"
"Krum," Hermione answered, still looking floored.
"What?" Both girls exclaimed in surprise.
"Why didn't he go with one of his fan club?" Genevieve questioned, gesturing to where a group of girls stood swooning as Krum brooded, looking slightly less surly than usual.
"I-I don't know," she said.
Just then, Neville approached them, looking particularly flustered, more so than usual.
"H-Hermione, w-wanna go to the ball with me?"
Hermione's face fell. "I'm so sorry, Neville, I really am. I'm already going with someone."
He turned very red. Before he could run off, however, Genevieve, feeling sorry for him, said, "That was very brave, Neville, I'm sure you'll find someone."
The boy gave a weak smile, and said, "Thanks."
Ginny stood up, readying to go.
Neville seemed to have an idea. "Are you going with anyone, Ginny?"
"No," she replied.
"Wanna go with me?"
Ginny studied him for a minute. "Sure."
Neville smiled for real this time, and departed a little more confidently than he had entered.
"Well, that was nice of you," Genevieve said.
"Not really," Ginny said. "I wouldn't be able to go otherwise; I'm a third year."
Genevieve nodded. "Honestly, I don't understand why everyone gets so worked up about it. It's a time to have fun."
•~0~•
Christmas Day, Genevieve woke up, slipped on her new Weasley sweater - a bright aqua - and waited for Katie to rush in before opening her presents.
From Katie, she'd received a set of earrings that would match beautifully with her dress robes, along with the promise to fix her hair for the ball. From the twins, Genevieve had gotten a free box of Canary Creams. From Charlie, a small model of the Hungarian Horntail. And, from her father, a photo album of her mum, which she resolved to look through later.
She'd given Katie a miniature Firebolt, which she had bought at the Quidditch World Cup. The twins, more joke shop ideas, including having a Muggle magic section of their store. To her father, she had sent a letter detailing the players at the Quidditch Cup, like he'd asked. She'd sent Charlie some sweets from Honeydukes and a letter proudly stating that she hadn't gotten injured since the day in the hospital wing.
That afternoon, Genevieve was trying and failing to hit anything but the ground with a snowball in a rather vicious snowball fight with the twins, Harry, and Ron, while Hermione looked on. At five o'clock, she went in to get ready for the ball. Genevieve, however, stayed out till the last possible minute, which turned out to be an hour later, when Katie dragged her away.
She took a shower, reading a book while she waited to dry off. Katie was contemplating what to do with her short hair, finally deciding on a small side braid, with the rest of her hair curled gently. As Genevieve dressed and Katie fussed over her hair, Ginny laughing in the background, Hermione stepped out.
Her hair, usually bushy, was sleek and shiny, done up in a sophisticated bun, while her robes were a beautiful periwinkle blue. She smiled nervously.
"How do I look?"
"Stunning."
"Beautiful."
"Amazing."
"As always," Genevieve said, giving the girl a hug. "And much more approachable than I expect Krum could ever look."
She laughed. "You look nice too."
"Thanks. Shall we go?"
With a few last, minuscule tweaks to her hair by Katie, the girls walked to the common room. Hermione left early with Krum, though Genevieve suspected that she didn't want Harry or Ron to see her quite yet.
George was waiting for her.
"Don't you look nice?" He teased. "Suppose you'd want to, for a catch like me."
"I'm sorry," she replied jokingly. "I think you've mispronounced 'imbecile'."
He feigned offense. "How dare you?"
She laughed. "Let's just go already."
Genevieve spent the night laughing with Katie and Angelina at the twins, and feeling sorry for Angelina as Fred, with mostly good intentions, danced her so forcefully around the room that those around them backed away.
Harry and Ron didn't seem to be having a stellar night, however, looking quite miserable, Ron having a heated conversation with Hermione and Harry, ever loyal, staying with him. Fred and George tried to corner Bagman, but he shook them off again, though the fact that they were talking to Bagman at all dismayed Percy, who was there in place of a sick Crouch, so the effort wasn't in total vain.
Even though Genevieve had a great deal of fun, the Yule Ball still didn't seem worth all the trouble and effort that had gone into it. And certainly, the night had held some bad memories for others; Hermione and Ron continued bickering in the common room after the ball, Harry watching helplessly as Hermione stormed off.
Genevieve whistled softly. "Just stay out of it, Harry. With those two, I don't reckon trying to help would do any good at all."