Title: Magnificent Spite

Summary: Magnolia Evans is in her third year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, along with her twin sister Lily, when the Triwizard Tournament makes an appearance. Now its her chance to climb out from beneath said sister's shadow. But Magnolia's starting to think staying invisible might have been a much better choice...

Fair Warning: I've altered the rules of The Triwizard Tournament when it comes to the age thing.

Disclaimer: I own what I create.

[One]

"I hear Dumbledore's going to be announcing something after the sorting ceremony."

I glanced up at my Slytherin companion, Theuban Nott. He sat across from me in our otherwise empty compartment, his pitch blair looking just as messy as his robes, the darkness beneath his eyes standing out against his pale skin. He was, without a doubt, my best friend in the entirety of Hogwarts. The only person coming to a close second would maybe of been his girlfriend, Arya McMann, a fellow Slytherin. I furrowed my brow.

Speaking of...

"Where's Arya at?" I'd yet to see her since the previous year. She and I got along splendedly, she was the only one of Theuban's 'conquests' that even acknowledged me. Which was a surprisingly and endearing thing, considering most of my house liked to act as though I didn't exist.

Slytherin Muggleborn were about as common as albino troll's (the stupidest of troll's) that write poetry.

Theuban's eyes flickered out the window and then back to me, looking so completely at ease the somebody could easily mistake him for one of the stoner hufflepuffs. Yeah, there was no secret as to why they were so good at herbology.

"Oh, her? We broke up this summer. Her mum was beginning to plan our...er...marriage ceremony" he swallowed hard and I watched as a shiver ran up his spine.

My laughter sounded more like a bark.

This was nice, one of my favorite parts of coming back to Hogwarts. Theuban was just so familiar, and as far as he was concerned, Lily was about as interesting as a muggle television show. And from his point of view, that meant 'not at all.'

His commitment issues, general lack of regret, and honest attitude was what made us connect so well. We were both pretty bad people, and it was nice to be around somebody who accepted that. Even if it meant suffering through him shagging his way through another one of the houses.

Last year it had been Slytherin, and that explained why he went out with Arya.

"Which house will you be deflowering this year?" always fun to throw in a good flower pun, as I often said, coming from a family of women majorly named after flowers.

Theuban paused, a mischevous smirk gliding up his face as he thought of the possibilities.

"I'm thinking either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, what do you think, eh Mags?"

My answer was immediate.

"Ravenclaw. If you could be particularly nasty when ending it with Lyra Edgecomb, it would be much appreciated. And I hope you don't suppose you'll be playing that game with Lily whenever you do conquer Gryffindor."

I didn't care if he was my best friend, if he so much as tried then I would castrate him. Muggle Style. But Theuban, as always, knew just what to say to make me happy.

"Lily who?"

He knew exactly which Lily I was talking about, but he was just proving how he preferred me over my sister. Probably because he knew the sick and twisted feeling of being flattered whenever he did. Whatever, it wasn't like I cared. Of all times for me to start being guilty, doing it with Theuban was not the time.

Theuban reached beneath his bench and took a swig from the familiar bottle that he often carried with him, despite the rules. Firewhisky. I still remembered the sizzling warmth of it sliding down my throat and resisted the urge to gag. My previous year, when I first tried the drink, I'd gone and little overboard with it and gotten so smashed that to this day tasting it results in vomit. But not Theuban, he could hold his alcohol so well that it had become sort of a game.

If a teacher was passing him by, he'd have to chug the whole bottle before said teacher saw it. All in all, it was actually quite impressive...until he got to about three bottles and started getting all emotional on me.

"So where'd you hear this announcment that's supposedly happening?" I couldn't help but wonder as I popped open my trunk and pulled out my two most prized posessions.

My notebook and my wand. The notebook was a wizarding version of the usual muggle ones, except you had to special order it and send in one of your tears in a vial, and then from there the company, Difinda's Delicate Displays, would make it so only the owner could see the writing. It was what I scribbled all my musings in when it came to spell crafting.

Something I was desperately interested, but had yet to really accomplish anything in.

He shook the bottle and gave a little shrug before swinging his legs up on the seat. He took another long drink, his lips crimson, his hands already growing clammy. But that was how he always looked...because he was always tipsy. Finally he replied.

"Lucius' father, Abraxas Malfoy, and my father are quite close. He came over about a day or so ago. You see, I tripped and my ear fell off, rolling into the room. I could do nothing to prevent my accidental eavesdropping" I rolled my eyes fondly and bit back a smile I flipped open my notebook and began paging through it, looking for where I last left off.

The Malfoy's were a prestigious pureblood family made up of mostly Slytherins. None of them had ever spoken to me, but in my first year Lucius Malfoy put me in the hospital wing by tripping me down a flight of stairs and breaking my nose. He really didn't like me, for whoever knows why.

I suspected he was jealous of my friend ship with Theuban.

"Care to try and get me to understand what it is you're doing in the little book of yours one last time?"

One last time? Pfft, yeah right. Theuban asked me that every year. He was probably waiting for me to get really famous off my spellcrafting, once I managed to actually get some crafting done, and then cash in and live off of my earnings forever.

I'd probably do the same if we swapped places.

"Spell crafting is extremely difficult and in order to do so, you have to have a deep understand of magic. One of the most used yet under-studied subjects ever. And so everything I've theorized or come up with about magic has been collected here in this notebook from the minute I found out about it and order one, two years ago."

"Right now, I'm attempting to use Rune's in spell crating and see if that has any results but its insane how complex some of this stuff is, I swear..."

I trailed off and furrowed my brow as I look at some of my earlier ideas which turned out be completely off track.

"What in Salazar's name...? Mags take the firewhisky away from me. I must be seeing things."

I glanced up and followed Theuban's gaze out the window and my jaw nearly hit the floor.

Resting gently upon The Black Lake was a huge ship, to which men were pouring out of, and off on the edge of the forebidden forest was carriages...carriages being pulled by pegasus.

"Durmstrang" Theuban whipsered in awe.

"Beuxbatons" I echoed him.

My companion turned away from the window and took the last swig of his firewhisky and gave me a beaming, but lazy, grin.

"Looks like this years going to be an interesting one, eh Magnolia?"

Interesting, indeed.

Bewitched. I was bewitched when I entered The Great Hall, as were everyone else. Theuban's heavy arm was planted across my shoulders for support, as per usual. He had trouble walking straight after he drank firewhisky. So...always.

The Beuxbatons girls were so insanely gorgeous that I was pretty sure Theuban was drooling, literally. And before I could get jealous of them, I caught sight of the Durmstrang boys. The pale skinned pureblood and I shared appreciative glances with each other before making our way over to our usal spot at the front of the Slytherin table.

But the beautiful visiting school's weren't what really caught my eye. No, it was the large cloth covered object just up next to Dumbledores podium.

"An announcement indeed" I bobbed my head as the first years began getting sorted. Wherever Abraxas Malfoy had gotten his information was obviously very reliable. At the thought of said Pureblood family, I glanced over at the opposite end of the table where the Detestable young Lucius sat.

His golden locks were so vibrant they practically lit up that half of the table, long, and even nicer then my own, not that I would ever admit. For an evil little creaton, he was gorgeous. I might of even found him attractive if he didn't kick me around like a ragdoll every five seconds. His jawline and cheekbones what were enchanted me the most though, and his blue eyes.

But sadly for him, he looked mediocre considering how attractive the real beautiful men of Hogwarts were. Like Lily's friend Sirius Black. A real git, a real beautiful git.

Why were all the good looking men horrible in some way or another? Except Theuban, but he was practically my brother. The ida of him being attractive made me gag.

My hand stretched out and I was about to look down and take a drink of some pumpkin juice but paused when Lucius looked up. Our eyes met. Blue to grey.

The amount of hatred that burned deep in them startled me. The word's 'why do you hate me so much?' on the tip of my tongue. Sure, I was muggleborn, mudblood in his eyes, but I'd seen him bully other muggleborns, and not once was his disdain this passionate...this violent.

"Merlin's spit, Mags, which one of Lucius' owls did you kill?"

This was my chance. I looked away abruptly and all but bumped heads with Theuban, my brow furrowed. So he saw it too?

"What does that mean?"

He rolled his eyes as if annoyed by my muggleborn ignorance of the wizarding world's idioms.

"It means, why does it look like I'm gonna have to duel my childhood playmate in order to keep him from murdering your sorry self?"

Yeah, Theuban didn't know the truth about the stair incident all those years ago. He didn't know the countless times I'd been injured by the blonde snake sitting not but three feet away. I'd always been afraid to tell him. Because they were great friends and while he joked about fighting for me over him, I knew he would choose Lucius over me.

We both knew it, but we would never say it. I didn't blame him either. Because that's not what our friendship was about.

"Because you're under the influence, git, now eat your bloody potatoes before I do" he took that for what is was and began clearing his plate like an animal. No less normal then usual. So as I quietly nibbled on my magic sweet that turned your tongue different colors, actually it resembled the japanese candy mochi in taste and looks, I tried to inspect whatever was beneath the cloth.

Whatever it was, it was huge, and had to be something from the wizarding world, so my chances of guessing were complete crap.

I sighed. Guess I'd have to wait...

"Students."

Or not.

Dumbledore's booming voice echoed around the Great Hall, silencing everyone and probably terrifying the first years. It had when I first arrived.

"As you can all see, and did upon arrival, there is something different about today. Other then the fact that it is your first day back. Hogwarts is glad to welcome the sons of Durmstrang and the daughters of Beuxbatons here for The Triwizard Tournament!"

Chatter erupted everywhere, excited giggles, shouts of terror. It certainly woke Theuban up from his tipsy haze. His sat up straight, his eyes sharpening, before glancing back at me. I couldn't resist the wicked grin that graced my lips.

I was so entering

But just as I thought that and I moved to look back up at Dumbledore, I made eye contact with a familiar ginger over at the Gryffindor table. My twin sister. Lily eyed my grin, her brow furrowed, and forehead scrunched up, a strange look of determination in her eyes. She knew what I was thinking and she would probably try to stop me.

As per usual, though, The Marauders said something which stole her attention away from me. They were quite rowdy and no doubt speaking of their plans to enter the tournament, but the worst part? The look on Lily's face.

She looked like she cared more about them entering then me.

Deep down, deep, deep, deep down, I knew I was probably just imagining it. I knew the fact that I saw it that way just revealed that I really did have issues, but that didn't make it any less real for me. And then, as if he saw me watching, Theuban nudged me, albiet roughly, and redirected my attention to something much better.

The Triwizard Tournament.

You had to be fifteen and up to enter, and luckily for me, I just made the cut. Not very many Slytherins looked excited to enter, but both Theuban and I knew we just had to.

On our way out of the Great Hall, when my pale companion and I chatting over how we would split the earnings when one of us won, a hand caught my shoulder followed by the fragrant aroma of a familiar muggle perfume.

I sighed and told Theuban to go on.

"How can I help you, my dear twin?"