A/N: Hello all! Here's the next chapter, seriously guys, review, it helps me as a writer, as I'm kind of crap. FYI, If you recognize it, it's Jo Rowling's, and I'd love to have it, but I don't.
"Well that was bloody amazing," George said as he sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room.
"Those beauxbaton girls.. whoa," the newly single Fred sat, sitting next to his twin brother. He'd just recently broken up with Angelina after they'd gotten into a fight about something or other. Cyn hadn't really been paying attention when they'd talked about it.
"Oh come off it, they weren't all that pretty," She said reproachfully as she sat on the floor next to the roaring fire.
"Were you even in the same room as us?" Fred asked, looking genuinely confused, "They were bloody gorgeous!"
"Could not have said it better myself, Fred," George said and Cynthia raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh really now? Well I think I'd much rather have Krum over any of the boring boys here, he's so good looking, and strong too. Oh, and he's actually a good quidditch player, too." She crossed her arms and looked at George expectantly.
"Oh come on, he's not that good looking!'' George replied, his ego sorely hurt.
"He's just as hot as you two think those beauxbaton girls are,"
"This is sickening," Fred muttered.
"Actually no, he's not just good looking, I think he's rather sexy," Ignoring Fred, she laid back on the carpet, feeling the warmth from the fire cover her body. It was now George's turn to cross his arms.
"Well that's not fair, I just said the beauxbaton girls were pretty,"
"So?" Cynthia said, very offended, and not feeling any better.
"Well I didn't say they were prettier than you..." George's voice dropped in volume, and he looked like an injured puppy.
"I didn't say you weren't sexy, either," Cynthia replied, rolling over to face the fire to hide her smile.
"Excuse me while I vomit," Fred said, actually sounding disgusted.
"Bugger off," George replied.
"Really, I don't think you get what that means, I'm telling you I'm leaving, and you're just telling me to hurry up! We all know you want me here!" Cyn laughed into the fireplaces, and her eyes grew heavy as she watched the tails of the fire kick up and fall down gracefully.
"Who'd like to go first? If no one volunteers, I'll pick randomly," Moody said pacing in the front of the classroom. They were working on their reactions to the cruciatus curse, and all the desks in the room had been cleared. No one had said anything the entire class period.
"Well then, you, Sutton," Cynthia tried to step back. Why had she bothered to answer that question on the first day? Ever since then, he'd picked her for everything, no one else bothered to make their presence known in the classroom. The class was now split on either side between boys and girls, juvenile as it was, Moody had told them it would make it easier for them to get through their work. Cyn said no logic in it, but not bothered to argue back.
"Yes you, come on, center of the classroom, now," He said, pulling out his wand. Feeling her whole body tremble, she stepped to the center of the stone floor.
"Remember, clear your mind, calm it, and imagine yourself at peace, if you can successfully do that, then you'll feel a reduced pain, and it'll be over quicker. I'll keep the curse on'ya until you've calmed your mind. Ready?" It wouldn't of mattered if she wasn't. "Crucio!" A pain shot through her whole body like a thousand burning daggers. She wasn't sure if she had let out a scream, but found herself clutching at the flag stone, convulsing in agony. The next time she knew she screamed, feeling pain in every inch of her body. It was like every layer of her skin was being slowly ripped apart, and pulled off her body.
"Calm your mind, Sutton!" She screamed out, how the hell was she supposed to calm her mind. She was known on her hands and knees, nails digging into the floorboard. Between her screams she counted back from five. Her bones screamed out in protest and she turned her back in a truly unnatural way. She felt pain in places she didn't even realize she could feel in. The inside of her thighs hurt the most, it felt like the skin there was slowly being burned off with a piece of piping hot metal. Her thoughts cleared, as she lost the will to live slowly. It was either her taking control of her mind, or losing it, but she felt clarity. Even as she screamed.
"Imagine yourself at peace, imagine a peaceful place," Her eyes flung open as she screamed again, and she imagined herself in a garden. The sound of the ocean surrounding her, and the smell of lilies, and cinnamon, and... and George. She imagined a warm breeze enveloping her skin, but didn't realize that the warm breeze was just another wave of pain. Slowly, her whole body was numbing itself, and she felt herself cling to the last bit of sanity. The daggers seemed to slowly drag themselves out of her body, layer of tissue by layer of tissue. She lay, curled up on the floor, tears streaming from her face, whimpers escaping her pursed lips.
"You need to clear your mind quicker, do you think the Dark Lord is going to wait that long? Absolutely not. He'd have killed you by now. Not that he'd personally kill you anyways, it would be a death eater. You, Diggory, help Ms. Sutton to a seat," She felt two warms hands on her, one on her right arm and one of her waist. They pulled her up and she shuddered. He set her on a table, letting her sit on it, and then sat next to her, and, with permission from Moody, sat there for the rest of class. He kept his hand on her back, rubbing it occasionally.
Midway through the torturous class, Alicia Spinet burst into tears, and soon after Cynthia joined her in her horror, when it was Fred's turn to go up. He writhed in agony for about forty-five seconds, managing to stay on his feet, then yelled out in pain. He was quick to clear his mind however, Moody only kept the curse on him for about a minute and a half. George was next, and Cynthia sobbed harder and louder as George yelled out in pain. She cried into Cedric's shoulder as George crumpled to the floor at the two minute mark. She saw Fred who was looking away, tears falling down his face. She'd never seen Fred crying before, and it was almost harder to watch him cry for his twin and best friend than to watch George writhing on the floor in pain. She knew George would give her grief for crying into Cedric's shoulder. Not because she was getting sympathy from another guy, but because he'd never fully forgiven Cedric for beating Gryffindor in the first match of the season last year.
Finally, after what felt like a century, class was over. And as half the class left quickly, the remaining tortured class somberly left, practically without a dry eye in the house. Cynthia found George in the crowd of people and rested her head on his arm, she was still too short to reach his shoulder. He pulled her in, wrapping his arm around both of her shoulders and holding her tightly. He leaned down and whispered into her ear, "I'm going to kill Cedric for trying to steal my woman,"
"Is that what you're really concerned about right now?" Cynthia asked, extremely shocked. All she could think about was the torture that had just happened.
"Of course not! I also want to know what's for lunch," she rolled her eyes as him, and felt tears roll down her cheeks.
Mathilda was nowhere to be found at lunch, and Cynthia, George and Fred skipped lunch, after losing their appetites from hearing the torture. So instead, they sat outside in the chilly autumn air. "I can't even believe he actually made us do that, I mean, the imperious curse is fine, you don't actually feel any pain, but the cruciatus curse? People have gone insane from it! My dad once told me about two aurors, Frank and Alice Longbottom, they were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband, they're still in St. Mungo's and I think their son is in your brother's year. It's mad!" Cynthia's voice was extremely quiet, because if she spoke any louder, her voice would crack, "It was worse just listening to everyone else, especially you two, you both looked like abused puppies, and Fred, you made this little noise before you fell, it shattered my heart," She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to forget everything.
"Give me a piece of paper," she said, leaving her eyes shut.
"That was relevant," Fred said, and a tearing noise ensued. He handed her the paper, and opening her eyes, she pulled her quill out.
Cynthia Sutton.
~Hogwarts
She folded the paper and held it between her index and middle finger.
"Really? You're going to put your name in after all that? I'd not be half surprised if the Durmstrang students used the cruciatus like you use expelliarmus!" George said, looking slightly proud. But only slightly. The rest of his face screamed jealousy.
"Oh I doubt I'll be deemed worthy, I can barely cast rictusempra in a straight line, and besides, I thought you lot had an aging potion going,"
"That we do, and I'm pretty sure Lee's got it upstairs by now," Fred said, jumping up from his seat.
"Alrighty Fred, I say we go give this a go," George said, following suit.
There was loud laughter as Lee Jordan ran down the stairs, followed by Fred and George.
"We've done it!" Fred yelled, jumping down the last few stairs.
"Done what?" His younger brother asked him, and Fred whispered a reply, Cynthia knew, of course what he was saying. They'd just taken an aging potion, and would soon be entering.
"We're going to split the thousand galleons between the three of us if one of us wins," Lee said smiling brighter than she'd seen him since last year.
"I'm not sure this is going to work," said Hermione granger, rolling her eyes,"I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this," The three of them ignored her.
"Ready?" Fred asked Lee and George, "C'mon then-I'll go first-" Cynthia's eyes widened and she crossed her fingers under her robes. He pulled the slip of parchment out of his pocket, and walked to the edge of the line. He stood there, rocking on his toes, and then stepped over the line. George let out a yell of triumphant as Fred successfully made it into the line. He jumped in after his twin beamed brightly. But shortly after, there was a loud sizzling sound, and both twins were hurled out of the circle like they'd were bludgers just hit by a very strong beater's bat. They landed, with a sickening crunch of the stone floor and they both sprouted identical white beards. Everyone in the entrance hall burst out laughing, including the twins, who were now on their feet.
"I did warn you," Dumbledores voice rang out, from straight behind Cynthia. She jumped slightly, and saw him exiting the Great Hall, "I suggest you both go up to Madam 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." Dumbledore turned on his feet and left, leaving the rest of the population in the entrance hall quiet. A blonde girl from Beauxbatons, who had to be part veela, gracefully slid up to the goblet, attracting the attention of all the males in the room, including George. They all seemed mesmerized by her movement, and the way her hair flew gracefully behind her. She put her name in, and Cynthia's eyes flew to George's face, and he and his twin had mirrored expressions, their mouths open and eyes glossy. Several more Beauxbatons girls entered their names, and then retreated in a big group. The men in the room seemed thoroughly enchanted, and in a fit of jealousy, Cyn ran up to the Goblet, dropped her name in, to some rolling applause from the females in the room, then grabbed George by his forearm, dragging him to the hospital wing.
As Madam Pomfrey finished up with him and moved onto Fred, he grinned broadly.
"You're good to go Mr. Weasley,"She said in her sing-song voice, and Cyn grabbed him yet again by the forearm.
"See you later Fred," George said still smiling, and Fred rolled his eyes at his brother.
"You're not honestly jealous of them are you?" George asked in the rare moment when his lips weren't locked with Cynthia's.
"Of course I am," she said, leaning forward.
"Mmm, why?" He asked, pulling her head closer to his.
"Oh don't pretend to be naive, Georgie,"she kissed his jawline,"I've seen the way all the guys here watch them, you included,"
"Me? I never!" He said, his warm lips making contact with her forehead.
"Bullshit, especially that part veela girl that put her name in after you did," She grabbed his collar and pulled him up off the table they were both sitting on.
"Now if you don't mind, I've got work to do, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't distract me," she looked at him, and an idea formulated in her head,"And there was one Durmstrang student who caught my eye earlier, and he seemed pretty nice," winking, she walked off, deciding a trip to the library would be necessary.
As she sat in the library, pulling out a Hogwarts: A History, she flipped to the index, eyeing a group of Durmstrang boys that had just entered. One of them looked at her, and she smiled. Oh how sickening this dating game was, she thought to herself, looking back down to her book, if she could just get that Durmstrang boy over here, and bring him 'round to sit with her at dinner, she'd have George wrapped around her finger. Of course, it was completely unnecessary, as she already had the best, George was already (on the whole) altruistic, and handsome, and brave, and extremely witty, and who could ask for any better than that? But if she did want to throw him for a run, all she had to do was getting that boy over here, find out his name, and ask him to come sit for dinner. As she read, she concentrated very little on the actual text, although she was horrified when she found out that nearly every girl that took part in the Triwizard Tournament died very early, she kept looking over at the group of boys, smiling more brightly each time.
After about ten minutes of this, when she was losing hope, the tallest one of the group said something to the others and then made his way over to the table she was sitting at. What was it with tall guys and being interested in her? Was it some sort of inferiority complex where they had to be near girls that were half their height?
"Er, hello," He said, leaning smoothly against the table.
"Hi," she said smiling, and leaning back in her chair.
"Vot are you reading?" He asked, pretending to take an interest. Cyn was generally very good at deciphering when guys were just pretending to be interested to seem cool, she'd only ever called George out on that once, when she was on some rambling tyrant about muggle politics.
"Oh, just reading about the Triwizard Tournament, I'm Cynthia by the way,"
"My name is Yohan,"
"Nice to meet you," She said, her smile dying, but still existing on her face.
"So, you enter the tournament?" He asked holding the edge of the table.
"Yeah, and you?" She said, finding her own english faltering, and being slightly confused by it.
"Yes, but I think that Viktor Krum will be the champion,"
"And why not you?" She asked closing her book and setting it on the stack of books to be returned to their proper shelves.
"Our high master is always preferring him, as he is a very good seeker in quidditch,"
"I see," she was beginning to be bored with the conversation, "Have you been on a proper tour of Hogwarts yet?"
"No, I have not seen the school yet, only the outside, dining room, and library, our high master said it is better if we do not see the whole castle,"
"Well, would you like to break a few rules?" He looked confused, and she tried very hard not to sound exasperated, "Would you like to see the castle?"
"Yes, I would very much like to see it,"
"Well, let's go then, we only have so much longer until dinner," She stood up, and pushed her chair in, and walked with Yohan out of the library.
As she walked into the dinning hall with Yohan besides her, she winked at Aria who covered her mouth with the sleeve of her black cardigan. "Would you like to sit with us for dinner?" She asked him, slowing her pace to show off what she'd just achieved.
"Yes, it's very kind of you," He said, as she crossed the table and sat down next to George, who now had a very stunned look on his face, while Fred laughed into his hands.
"Fred, George, this is Yohan, he's a student from Durmstrang," She said as Yohan sat down.
"Yohan, this is Fred Weasley, and this is George Weasley, my boyfriend," she felt George's hand wrap around her waist and pull her closer to him, and she had to hold back a giggle. Yohan's face fell slightly, but he looked completely unabashed.
"Very nice to meet you, Fred, and George," His accent was thicker as he said George, and Cynthia smiled.
"Did you enter the tournament?" George asked, his grip tightening on Cyn's waist.
"Yes, but as I said to Cynthia earlier, I think Viktor Krum will be a champion," Fred, finally unable to control his laughter, sniggered loudly.
"Something funny, Fred?" George asked scathingly.
"No, no, nothing at all, don't mind me," On the other side of the table, across from Fred, Lee Jordan had his head down on the table and was practically in tears.
"I think our high master would like for us to get together now, thank you for being so very kind today, you are very lucky George, she is pretty girl, I will see you later, Cynthia," he said, bowed slightly, and walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Cynthia finally dissolved into a fit of giggles.
"So, you spent all day with Yohan then? Is he incredibly beautiful, intelligent, strong and foreign?" George said, mocking Yohan's accent.
"I did actually, and he is really intelligent, very academic, but he's not very witty, I threw a couple lines out there that you'd turn brilliantly, but he kind of shot them down awkwardly, he's really not as much fun to be around," She said biting her lip and looking towards the bleacher that would usually be the Slytherin table.
"Ah but he's completely gorgeous, is he not?" Fred said earning a death glare from both Cynthia and his brother.
"Yes, but I have a thing for gingers, I suppose," she said, as all the lights in hall extinguished themselves and everyone fell silent.
"He's going to be killed!" Cynthia said to Mathilda as they sat in the common room, Mathilda finishing up homework and Cynthia attempting to finish one of her books. "He's only fourteen!" She said, slamming her book down and clutching her heart. Mathilda nodded nonchalantly. "Why do you not care?" She said angrily, standing up. "I'm sorry, as far as I'm concerned if he was able to take out you-know-who before he was able to speak, I think he'll do fine,'' she said, not even bothering to look up from her homework.
"That was different! There were people protecting him! Now he's on his own! And I don't trust that Fleur girl, she looks like she'd kill if anyone got on her bad side!"
"Look, I don't think they're going to let him die out there, I'm sure he'll get outside help,"
"He's fourteen! It's like if Danny were in the tournament!"
"Alright, he's going to be fine, and I'm sure if Danny were in the tournament he'd be fine too!" There was no emotion in her voice and Cynthia was about to tear her hair out.
"WHAT WERE YOU ABLE TO DO WHEN YOU WERE FOURTEEN MATHILDA?" She yelled at her best friend.
"Listen, I have no idea what you lot are yelling about now, but I do know you were able to do some pretty interesting things when you were fourteen, Cynthia," George said, leaning on the back of the sofa.
"Not now George! He's going to be slaughtered!"
"Oh he'll be fine, he's Harry bloody Potter!" George said propping himself up and lying on the back of the sofa.
The trees were now bare, and the day before the first task came quickly. Cynthia had taken to worrying obsessively over Harry, which had become very annoying very quickly. She had been spending more time with Yohan, finding his stories extremely interesting, and only feeding her longing to travel. George had become very possessive of her, which started putting stress on her, much more than she'd have wished.
As she found herself in a joyful trance as the imperious curse was put on her in defense against the dark arts, she found herself wanting to not fight back. The feeling was so blissful, and she felt like everything was right. But as soon as she found herself being told to chuck a dustbin out the window, she fought against it using all her mental strength to pull herself out of her blissful trance. Sadly, as soon as she was out of it, she found all the stresses fall back into place.
"Good work Sutton," Moody said, and Cyn began daydreaming, going into one of her usual trances.
Walking to dinner that night, she found herself in the company of Yohan, once again.
"Hello," he said, smiling slightly.
"How are you?" She asked airily.
"I'm fine, and you?" He walked very deliberately, like a soldier.
"Very tired, are you excited for the first task tomorrow?"
"Yes, I was talking to Viktor last night, and he seems extremely prepared for it. Our high master told him what the task was, and I assume the two Hogwarts champions have known for weeks,"
"Er, I'm not sure, I didn't think they did, but I guess if Krum knows, then so do they," She said as they turned into the Great Hall, the smell of food heavy in the air, "Would you like to sit with us?" She asked him politely.
"I would like to, however, I think it'd be best to go sit with the rest of my school, as it is nearly the first task," he said, and turned away, she waved slightly and then continued on to the Gryffindor table.
"You want to place a bet?" Fred asked, holding a metal box.
"Fine," she said exasperatedly, knowing that the odds would be against who she was going to bet for.
"Alright, what's your bet?" He asked.
"I bet Harry places first, but gets a low score from Karkaroff," she said lazily, watching as food appeared on the tables.
"Interesting bet, why aren't you going with Krum? You seem to like Durmstrang,"
"Oh come off it George, that's what the whole tournament is about, making friends," She said rolling her eyes.
"You sound exactly like Hermione Granger,"
"Do I now? That's great, at least someone's got brains here," she exhaled angrily and cut several slices of chicken for herself.
"It must be a girl thing," Fred said.
"The hell it isn't, I want to crush those bastards," Angelina said, sipping her pumpkin juice.
The air of the arena was both excited and nervous at the same time as everyone awaited the cannon signaling the start of the challenge. She was sitting with Mathilda and Aria near the Beauxbatons crowd. They were both talking excitedly, and Mathilda kept babbling on about how hot Cedric Diggory was. "You do realize he's dating that Ravenclaw girl, Cho Chang right?" Cynthia said wearily.
"Oh don't ruin my fun Cyn," Mathilda moaned.
For the entirety of the task Cyn kept falling in and out of attentiveness, and wasn't completely focused until Harry was jumping on a broom hurtling upwards towards the sky at unfathomable speeds.
"Is he on a bloody firebolt?" Cynthia asked, amazed.
"I don't know! Don't ask me, you're better off asking George, he'll know!" Aria answered and Cyn huffed. Harry of course, scored highly from all the judges, except for Karkaroff, as Cyn had correctly predicted, however, she had not predicted Krum to tie with him.
"Damn, do I not get paid, then?" Cyn asked her boyfriend as they walked up to the castle together.
"You get half I guess, you got the part about karkaroff giving him a low score and him getting first, just not the part about him tying with Krum,"
"Better than nothing," She said.
There was a massive party in the common room, not ending until till well after midnight, which also included Harry opening to Golden Egg, much to the dismay of everyone's ears. It shrieked and howled like a dying cat, and of course, Fred and George had a field day with it.
In the morning, all the Gryffindors were called to the Transfiguration classroom which was now completely empty, with a two sets of wooden bleachers on either side of the room.
"Ladies on the right, boys on the left," McGonagall called out as everyone begrudgingly went to their side of the room, it was early, only 9:30, and usually most people wouldn't have been up then on a Sunday.
"Boys, will you please pay attention?" She snapped at Lee, Fred and George once everyone had found seats.
"The Yule Ball is approaching quickly, and for hundreds of years the house of Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizarding world. I will not have you embarrassing us while acting like a bambling, bumbling band of baboons. Because the Yule Ball is first and foremost, a dance," The entire right side of the classroom exploded in chatter and excitement, while the entire left side seemed to sink twenty feet into the ground. As soon as the girls' chatter died down, McGonagall continued, "You are required to wear dress robes, and it will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, and end at twelve o'clock, it will be a time for you to socialize with our foreign visitors and improve upon existing relationships. It is open only those in fourth year and up," this elicited quite a groan from some loud third year girls, "although you may invite a guest who is younger." She proceeded to demonstrate how they were to dance using poor Ron Weasley to help. His brothers laughed uncontrollably behind his best friend, who also had a massive smirk on his face.
"Are we seriously supposed to dance?" She asked Fred as they walked through the portrait hole.
"I really hope she was joking," He said.
"Well who do you think you're going with then?" She asked him.
"I dunno, maybe I'll ask Angelina," He said quietly.
"So you two have made up then?"
"For the most part, yeah."
"So I guess you'll be waiting for Yohan to ask you then?" George said scathingly.
"Oh come on George, you know I want to go with you!" She said, very offended.
"But isn't he so much better looking than me? And he's foreign you know? Isn't that the point of the tournament? Hooking up with foreign guys?"
"Really?" She hissed, "That's what you think this is?"
"Yeah, maybe I do," He said, his voice shaking slightly.
"You are unbelievable George Weasley, I've told you so many damned times, he's just a friend, we're just friends, and I love you!" Shit. She thought, that was not the way she wanted to say that.
"Yeah, but you probably love him more, with his silly accent and they way he dresses, and how strong he is!" He said his face reddening.
"Oh honestly George, you're being silly! I don't even like him anyways, he's a bit arrogant," Heads were starting to turn at the pair of them, who were now standing in the middle of the common room, arguing.
"He's probably getting ready to ask you right now!"
"What? That's not even a valid point, I'd turn him down anyways!"
"Sure you would," he said sarcastically, his twin slipping away to go stand awkwardly by Harry and Ron.
"You know what? I might as well go with him! The way you've been acting lately, maybe I don't want to go with you!" Her face went bright red and she crossed her arms.
"Fine!" He said angrily, and feeling tears burning at her eyes, because she was angry that they were both saying the things they were saying, because she was miserable that she may not have a date to the only dance Hogwarts would ever have, and she wouldn't have George, and embarrassed that they were immaturely fighting in the middle of the bloody common room, with everyone in it. She turned on her heels and burst out of the portrait hole, practically running headlong to the library.
She tucked herself away in a corner of the library for most of her free time since her argument with George. She ate all her meals with Mathilda, who blabbered on mindlessly about hoping Cedric would ask her to the dance. She didn't have the willpower to tell her there was next to no chance it'd happen. As soon as she was done eating, she'd rush to the library, and sit there, crying over a book. She hadn't spoken to George, Yohan or even Fred for at least a week when Holmdel delivered her a package. As she unwrapped it, she groaned and bit her lip until it bled. It was a gorgeous blue satin dress with little crystal embellishments around the waist. Her sister had heard about the Yule Ball, inside was a note:
Mom told me not to send you anything-she wanted you to wear something traditional, but bollocks to that. Oh, they think they've got a lead on Dad, but they keep saying it's not looking good. Stay optimistic.
Love,
Patti.
She crumpled the note up and lit it on fire. She didn't want to hear about her father. Unless they were going to tell her they'd found her and that he was completely safe and would be coming home just fine, she didn't want to hear about it. She'd done perfectly well skipping over that stupid little counter the Daily Prophet had going in the paper.
As the Yule Ball drew nearer and nearer, Cyn found herself feeling increasingly guilty and wanting to run up and kiss George full on the lips and tell him she was sorry and that she still wanted to be with him and that she still wanted to go to the dance with him, if he still did. But sadly, the true Gryffindor was squashed down by the more logical side of her, feeling that maybe it was better if they had a break, two years of constant affection toward each other couldn't be good for either of their mental health, even the fights they'd had, had never lasted as long as this.
Four days before the Yule Ball, Cynthia was leaving the library when a familiar face came up to her.
"Hi Yohan," She said, with all the happiness she could muster, after all it wasn't his fault George had decided to become possessive, and it wasn't his fault her dad was missing.
"Hello, how are you?" It could have just been the language barrier, but Yohan always sounded so formal.
"I'm fine thanks, and you?"
"Okay. So vill you be going vith, uh, vhat vas it? George? Yes, George, to the Yule Ball?" He asked her, looking very confident.
"Uh, no, I don't believe I will be, actually," she said, her voice cracking.
"Oh, vould you like to come vith me to the Ball then?" He asked her, a small smile appearing on his face.
"Um, you know what," she looked past him and saw George, Fred and Lee walking down the hallway."You know what? Yeah, I'd love to go with you, that'd be awesome. Thanks!" She said, putting on a smile.
"Excellent. I vill see you then," he said, and turned around to go join the rest of the Durmstrang boys.
Cynthia practically ran up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower, bursting through the common room up to the dorm room.
"Mathilda!" She yelled, startling some of her other roomates.
"What?" Mathilda asked, looking thoroughly shocked.
"I've just been asked to the dance!" She said excitedly, however, it was just an act, on the inside, she was crying little a little girl, wanting nothing more than to say she was going with George.
"Did George finally grow a pair and do it? I swear, he's been bitching about it all week, nothing but angst from him, he's constantly telling Fred and Lee that he regrets every minute of your fight, and just wants to ask you, but he's too damn scared! Keeps asking' me for help!" Cynthia gasped and stumbled back slightly.
"You're joking! You're bloody joking!" She nearly screamed.
"He didn't ask you..." Mathilda said, beginning to piece it all together.
"If I had known! Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, please don't do this to me now! No!" She said using the wooden support of her four poster bed as a balance.
"Who asked you Cyn?" Mathilda asked, her voice scared,"Who did you say yes to?" Cynthia shook her head and sat down on her bed, putting her head in her hands.
"Cythina Maureen Sutton, don't you dare tell me it's who I think it is," Cynthia nodded and moaned, falling backwards on her bed, her head hanging off the other side.
"George can't find out, he'll kill himself!" She said hurriedly.
"Don't be so dramatic Mathilda," Cyn said, her tone full of hatred and regret.
"I'm not! Tell her Angelina!" Mathilda and Angelina had an obviously better relationship, none of their conversations were ever forced.
"It's true, he's not been himself for days, keeps going real quiet, even Fred's tried to get him to do something and failed, and you know Fred, he never meddles with George's love life. George's been moping constantly, hasn't he Katie?"
"Yeah, he's barely said more than four words to me or Alicia," She said lazily.
"I'm going to hang myself off the Transfiguartion tower." Cynthia said, actually debating that as an option.
Her pleading eyes met George's several times at dinner that night, and it became apparent that halfway through dinner he found out who she was going with, as he started looking like an injured puppy, as he always did when he was sad. Cynthia buried her face in her hands and groaned. "Cynthia look! It's snowing!" Mathilda said. It had of course, already snowed, but only lightly, barely dusting the grounds.
"That's great Mathilda, will it help me fix things with George? Or get my dad back? No? That's a real bloody shame," she stood up and left heading for the common room. Somewhere between seven and nine she had fallen asleep, curled up in the armchair by the fire. Somewhere between one and two, a tall, ginger boy had woken her up and helped her up the stairs into her dorm room. She was too groggy however, to remember any of this, and no one else was in the common room then.
"So he got a Beauxbatons girl then?" Cynthia said sourly, pinning her mahogany colored hair up with a light blue bobby pin. She was wearing her ice blue dress, and it fit nicely, following the contours of her body to just under her navel, where it then ruffled out into a floor-grazing skirt.
"Yeah," Mathilda replied, fussing with the corset of her own dress.
"Doesn't surprise me, he could have his grand pick of the girls here really, he could probably even have that Fleur Delacouer girl if he wanted," Cyn said now putting in a small crystal stud earring.
"You nearly ready? I'm starting to nitpick at everything, and I'll be wanting to change by the time you're done," Mathilda said, pulling her wand out and muttering a quick spell to change the color of some lace on her skirt.
"Yeah," she put the back on her left earring, "Okay, let's go, oh Mathilda you look gorgeous," Mathilda was going with Oliver Wood, the captain of the quidditch team. He was rather handsome, and both girls wondered why there weren't many other girls chasing after him.
"You look stunning too, I'm sure it'll piss the hell out of George," her heart sank slightly. She'd had a dream last night that she'd be dancing with George, not Yohan.
"I suppose so" Cyn said, her eyes glazing over slightly.
The entire floor of the Entrance Hall was dusted with a white glittery powder, meant to imitate snow, and small flakes of what appeared to be real snow falling from the ceiling, melting about seven feet off the ground. As her feet touched the floor of the entrance hall, Yohan quickly made his way over to her, bowing slightly. From the corner of her eye she saw George, and her heart sank slightly, but she forced on a smile and took his arm. Still in her peripheral vision, she saw George huff and then take his date's arm and walk towards his brother and Angelina. George's date was gorgeous, but George... George looked amazing. When they started talking again, she needed to ask him how he managed to have such good looking dress robes while his brother was upstairs looking like Cynthia's grandmother's curtains.
Soon, everyone was ushered into the Great Hall, which looked nothing like the Great Hall, and several fourth years looked completely flabbergasted. Cyn leaned slightly on Yohan's arm and stretched her neck a bit to get a glance of George, who seemed to be fighting off boredom as his date talked at him. His date was very tall, very thin, but was extremely curvy, and very, very blonde. She seemed to blow Cynthia out of the water, what with her short stature, mahogany hair, and slightly more defined curves. Her face was also so much prettier than Cynthia's, the girl's cheekbones were really high and extremely defined, and her lips were very full, and every angle in her face seemed to flow harmoniously. Unlike Cyn, with her too-big lips and rounded face, where every angle seemed to fall into the next.
The music started playing, and all four champions came out. There were obvious sighs of anger when Cedric Diggory and Viktor Krum came out with their dates, and slightly more noticeable sighs of infatuation when Fleur Delacouer came out. Then came Harry Potter, with one of the Patil twins, it might have been Padma, maybe Parvarti, it didn't help that they were both wearing the same dress.
Before she realized what was happening, she was being gently pulled onto the dance floor, along with the other Durmstrang students, who seemed to be the first ones out. Yohan's hand was on her waist and they were gently gliding across the floor. Cyn had always been good at dancing, but she never realized she'd be able to slow-dance. She tried to keep her head down as they passed George, and felt her cheeks go red.
It had been at least an hour of straight dancing before her heels were swollen and they went to sit down. "This is fun," she said brightly as she sat down.
"Vould you like me to get something to drink?" Yohan asked her, and Cynthia pulled her gaze away from George.
"Uh, yes please, that'd be great," she said smiling up at him.
He'd been gone for at least five minutes when someone else took his place. She was too out of focus to realize.
"Hey," the voice broke her out of her trance and she glanced over at her new companion, before quickly turning back to look at the dancers.
"What do you want?" She asked bitterly.
"I want to apologize, I was a complete prick, I shouldn't have gotten jealous like that, you're completely right, this tournament is about international magical cooperation," It was a sweet apology, but Cyn saw right through it nonetheless.
"She kissed you didn't she?"
"What? How did you..?" He asked, seriously taken aback.
"This is the weirdest time for you to come over here and apologize to me, I've got a date getting me drinks and so do you, or you're supposed to, and she's infinitely prettier than I am- no, don't argue with me, she is, you're neither dumb nor blind, and it's the middle of the Yule Ball, so there are only two possible explanations, one, you really have decided you were a massive git, and wanted to make amends for it, but I know you, and that's not likely, or two, she's kissed you, and you don't want that getting back to me, because then you know I'd go off and do something drastic, and this would just get blown out of proportion, so I went with the second one, because I know you," He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it immediately.
"You are amazing," was all George managed to say. She leaned in until their forwards were practically touching,"I know, and I still have a date who is ten feet behind you with drinks for us,"
"I already know how to fix that," and he quickly turned, standing up. He found himself face to face with Yohan, and they both immediately straightened their postures, George just barely edging out Yohan in height. That would put Yohan at a sturdy 6"2 and a half, maybe.
"Listen mate, Yohan isn't it?" Yohan nodded solemly, "Right, great, you know there's a girl over, from Beauxbatons, her names Adelaide, and she's really interested In dancing with you, she's over there the blonde one," he pointed Yohan, who glanced backwards at Cynthia, who in turn she nodded at him and smiled lightly.
"So since I didn't get to do this properly before, would you like to dance?" He asked.
"You're a complete pouf," She said as she took his hand, her dress sweeping the floor below her. People were still dancing en masse, it was only 8:50 or so. As he pulled her close together and she rested her cheek on his chest he asked, "Does this mean I'm forgiven?"
"Let me think about that," she said as she put her hands on George's shoulders and he hoisted her up by her waist in time to the music.
"I think a change of music is in order," Professor Flitwick's squeaky voice boomed across the Great Hall,"And now, here is the band that needs no introduction," The floor near the Hogwarts' band slid up and appearing from thin air were the Weird Sisters. Cynthia screamed, along with every other girl in the hall, and pulled George towards the stage, squealing as she went.
"GOOD EVENING HOGWARTS! ARE YOU READY TO PARTY?" Screams arose from the predominately female crowd and the band busted out the first chord of their famous song 'This is the Night,'. Soon, the crowd was a sweaty mess, and George was pulling Cyn out of it towards his twin, and his twin's apparent girlfriend. Angelina. Again. She wiped her fringe away from her forehead and inhaled exhaustedly.
"This is fantastic," she said, attempting to recover her breath. George leaned into his twin and muttered something, all Cynthia could make out was bag, man, and gold. She eyed George as she sat down by Angelina, who was giving her a look that said that she was better than her, so Cynthia gave up trying to start a conversation, and sat back in her chair, fiddling with one of the loose waves in her hair. "We'll be right back," Fred said, steering his red faced brother away. They'd been quietly arguing.
"I'm hot and sweaty, and you're coming with me," Fred said to Angelina and Cynthia nearly spat out her butterbeer. They both ran off, giggling like four year olds making mud pies and George sat down next to Cynthia.
"You still mad at me?" He asked, squeezing her hand.
"Maybe, want to redeem yourself?"
"Depends, how do I do that?" He asked and she winked.
"You go get me food, how about that?"
"Damn. You got me excited for nothing." He said, standing up.
She was now seated next to a teary Aria, whose date, Michael McManus, had left her to dance with a girl from Slytherin. As she stood up to get water for Aria, and Mathilda who seemed on the verge of having a heat stroke, she found herself face to face with Peregrine Derrick and Lucian Bole, both beaters for the Slytherin team.
"What do you want?" She snapped.
"Missing ickie-daddykins? Getting your friends to weep over it for you?" Bole said, sneering, showing his straight, white teeth.
"Very funny, where do get your insults, Frankie First-year?" She bit back, not in the mood for his nonsense.
"Think you're funny do you?" Derrick answered, "Bet your dad did too, see where that's got him,"
"Ooh, you're hilarious, did mummy ever tell you that? Bet she think's you're a real laugh. What's your mother do? Cleans toilets doesn't she? With the brains she's got, I'd not be surprised," Cynthia had only ever met his mother once, and his mother had spat in her face.
"Don't you say anything against my mother," He nearly yelled, now on the defense.
"Good, well I think you two will be leaving me alone, you can go back and dance, I must say, you two have go to be Hogwarts' first gay couple, congratulations," She said, attempting to push through them, but was unsuccesful, damned beaters and their strong upper bodies.
"You need to learn to respect your elders, Sutton," Bole said still smiling, in a sick way.
"Oh what, you're only a month older than me, aren't you? Stop pretending you're actually useful for anything," She stood back, putting her weight on her left foot, which was behind her. Her feet were swollen in her heels, but she wasn't going to back down from this fight.
"Well, I'm bloody brilliant with a beater's club, why don't you ask your boyfriend about that! Beat his pretty little face up in second year, didn't I?"
"Oh wow, that's amazing, you beat up a twelve year old, you should be very proud of yourself, very proud, taken him down since then? No, no I don't believe you have," she said, putting her finger on her chin, mock-thoughtfully.
"Bet I could, if I put any effort into it, want me to try?" He snarled.
"Really? When? Last time I checked we don't have any quidditch games this year, and you'll not be here next year, so I'd love to see you find a time to do that, without looking like a bloody lunatic. Then again, you just about always do that, don't you?" A blonde haired girl in a black dress walked towards Bole wrapping her arm around his.
"Is she bothering you, Lucian" She cooed, stroking his arm.
"Oh that's rich, you've got to have your girlfriend come protect you," Cynthia was easily overpowered by the girl, she had to be at least five inches taller than her. She recognized her, she'd had several classes with her over the years, but she'd obivously never paid attention to her name.
"Oh you leave him alone, won't you? You're just as filthy as those stupid mudbloods your boyfriend's family are so obsessed with," She said, flipping her blonde hair behind her.
"Don't you dare say that! Don't you dare! Your filthy little mouth obviously hasn't been trained better, got some daddy issues, do we?"
"Oh you leave her alone," Bole said, pulling out his wand from his robes. Derrik followed suit, as he had quickly become irrelevant.
"What're you going to do? Curse me, in front of three bloody schools?" She forced a laugh, "That's great, love to see what happens to you then!". From the corner of her eye, she saw Fred walking over towards her, a concerned look on his face. George had turned and started walking up the stairs quickly, followed by Angelina. Perplexed, Cynthia returned her attention back to the two wands pointing at her.
"I don't really care, so long as you're not around anymore," Bole answered bitterly.
"Funny, I seem to remember you starting this conversation, not me," She felt an arm around her waist. She looked to her side and saw Fred. Not George, Fred.
"Oh, great, are we going to have a cut-and-thrust?" Fred asked, and Cynthia played along, completely unsure of what was happening.
"So are you just going to have your boyfriend stand up for you now? I thought I told you I'd easily be able to kill 'im with a beater's bat," At this, Fred actually laughed.
"I'd like to see you try, now if you don't mind Ang-uh, Cyn and I are going upstairs to do things that would make your mother's cry,"
"SSH!" Cynthia hushed Fred loudly, feeling blood pump to her face. As they passed Aria and Mathilda, Mathilda nodded knowingly and continued patting Aria's back. Cyn yawned, it had to be at least 11 o'clock now, and judging by the amount of people still dancing, the common room would be dead.
"So should I ask why you're here and not George?" She finally said, breaking the silence that had fallen over them as the walked through the portrait hole, now separated.
"Oh, no reason, George just wanted to get up here quicker, said he had a pounding headache," Fred said, shrugging as if it were nothing.
"Right," she said, stretching it out to prove she didn't fully believe him.
"Are you going to go back down?" He asked her, looking at the couch longingly.
"No, actually, I think I'm going to go change, I feel like my feet are about to fall off," she bent down and took of her heels, running barefoot under her dress up to the dormitory.
"Okay, explain again what he said to you," Angelina said for what seemed to be the fifth time. Apparently, at the quidditch world cup, the boys had bet Ludo Bagman that Krum would get the snitch but Ireland would win, and they were right. They had bet their whole savings, and Bagman paid them out. But three hours later, the gold was nowhere to be found. They'd added two and two together and realized that he had given them leprechaun gold. He was know refusing to pay them back, and as they dug deeper into this, they'd found out he owed loads of other people money too, including a group of goblins.
"He said that if we told anyone what we'd found, he'd have our names down as known and practicing death eaters,"
"But he can't possibly do that!" Cynthia said, having been quiet for the past thirty minutes, "There's no evidence, it wouldn't hold up in an unbiased court room,"
"Except it wouldn't be unbiased, now would it?" Fred said.
"No, they don't take lightly to accused-death-eater trials, and usually the Wizengamot goes in there hoping to convict someone, usually you don't get it even,"
"That's bullocks though! You're underaged anyways,"
"We won't be if he get's his timing right, he's only got to wait 4 months really, then by the time all the legal work is filed, we're legal,"
"Oh," She hadn't thought about it that way, so she slumped back into her silence, rolling her pajama bottoms up. They were nice ones, violet with lilac stripes, and they were comfy too. As she rolled them up, she admired the way her legs looked when she wore these footie socks. She hated them, as they always fell down inside her high-tops, but they were nice to wear to sleep.
"Well, you could just not say anything," Angelina said, and Cyn forced herself not to roll her eyes.
"Yes, but we want out money back,"
"And the only way we'll get it back, is through blackmail," George continued.
"But he's already pegged us to the board with that one, so we're sitting ducks," Fred finished. Cyn idly picked up that day's copy of the Daily Prophet and scanned the front page, however her eyes were immediately attracted to the small countdown that had been at the bottom of the page for the past five months.
'Ministry Official Richard Sutton has been missing for: 4 months and 31 days,' her heart sank as she looked at the article next to it.
"Are Children to Blame for Richard Sutton's Disappearance? By Rita Skeeter
I took a break from my reporting on the Triwizard tournament to delve deeper into this terrifying story, of Richard Sutton. While searching for information that may have led to his disappearance, I decided to ask his seventeen year old daughter for an interview, however, she was unable to be interviewed, as friends have said she is always crying over books in the school's library. This is said to be because of a recent argument with her boyfriend (or fiancé? My sources have told me multiple things) over her friendship with a Durmstrang student. Her boyfriend is said to be none other than the older brother of Harry Potter's best friend, Ronald Weasley. One of my sources has said that she was always seen with her boyfriend, George Weasley, until one day where an explosive argument happened in the Gryffindor common room. Although the reason has been pegged as jealousy from a friendship forged with a Durmstrang student, the same source has also said she feels the argument was also sparked by possible guilt, saying that "Cynthia was usually an incredibly open and innocent girl, until this year, when she seemed to be hiding something, always falling out of conversations and into coma-like stages for hours, it's really crazy, like she's under the imperious curse,". This accusation led me to dig deeper into her family history, and found that her older sister, Patricia Harrison's husband, Zakary, has a brother who is in Azkaban Prison for feeding information to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named followers just four years ago, could Zakary Harrison have put the imperius curse on her and made her kill or hide her father? Is anyone safe at Hogwarts? Is George Weasley safe? More tomorrow, where I reveal further secrets I have found." Next to the article was a moving picture of Rita Skeeter, with a girl in a Hogwart's uniform. The uniform was obviously a Gryffindor uniform, but the girl's face was censored out. Standing up abruptly, feeling anger bubble up inside of her she pulled her wand out from her waistband. "Incendio," She practically screamed.
"You saw the article?" Fred asked, watching the news paper crinkle and turn to ash.
"Why would she write about me? What importance do I have to anything? I'm just his bloody daughter, and I just want my damned dad back! I never realized that was such a problem, and OH EXCUSE ME FOR BEING A LITTLE OFF, LET ME JUST ACT ALL JOLLY AND CHEERFUL ALL THE TIME, LET'S COMPLETELY FORGET THAT MY FATHER IS MISSING, AND LET'S PARTY. I'M SURE IT'S NOTHING, IT'S NOT LIKE HE'S GOING TO TURN UP DEAD IN A DUMPSTER ANYWHERE, NO, NO! LET'S JUST-ohgoddamit," she slurred, crumpling to the ground, landing on her knees. "Why can't this just be a quiet year? Why?" She said and tears trickled past her lips.
"Because you've already had five quiet years at Hogwarts, you can't really expect to get a sixth one, can you?" Fred said, and then shut up quickly.
"Ssh, shh, it's alright, everyone knows Rita Skeeter is barmy anyways, and it is a stupid article, she can't just attack sixth-years like that, you're barely of age, you're still at school," George said, sliding off the couch to the ground next to her.
"You know I'm not under the imperius right?" She asked, falling into George's grasp.
"Are you really asking me that?" He asked, obviously looking over her shoulder at Fred and Angelina.
"Sorry, I'm just angry, I just don't like this attention, it's not for me, I don't want people writing about me," she said, before standing up, "You know what? I'm making a bigger drama of this than I should be, I'm going to go to bed, then I'll flip out more in the morning," She slowly ducked out of the common room into her dorm room, holding her extra pillow to her chest.
The next few weeks until the next task passed rather uneventfully, there were only two more articles posted by Rita Skeeter about her in the Daily Prophet. To this, she received some unnecessary attention from som Slytherin students in her year, namely Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick. Then, four days before the second task, the worst happened. Sitting at breakfast while the mail arrived, several owls, about four, arrived for Cynthia. She wasn't used to getting this much mail, she rarely got more than one letter a week. They all dropped letters, and the Daily Prophet. Everyone down the Gryffindor table was silent, several just starting at their copies of the Daily Prophet. And so did Cynthia, she sat there starting at the headline, numb from shock.
"Missing Ministry Official Richard Sutton Confirmed Dead.
At three o'clock this morning, Ministry Official Richard Sutton, who has been missing for nearly ten weeks, was confirmed dead. His body was found just outside Ottery St. Catchpole. Three other wizarding families live near this predominantly muggle town. Two of which also boast Ministry Officials, both were available for comment, Arthur Weasley of the office of Misuse of Non-Magical Objects, did say that it was 'a tragic loss,' and 'can't wait for justice for him and his family,' and Amos Diggory who works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, said, "This is a disturbing tragedy," and, "Richard will not be forgotten easily at the ministry,". No comment from the family of the deceased."
She set the newspaper down on the wooden table and stared, feeling a sinking feeling in her heart. Sure he'd been missing for three months now, but she'd help optimism, she'd held to the one speck of light that he'd be safe, that he'd come home. Still staring in front of her at the wall, she slowly began opening the letters. The first was from Patti and Zak, telling her everything, everything they'd been told and that she could come spend the summer with them, and that she should check if Danny was okay. The second was from her mother, telling her everything, in her rather official way of speaking, and told her that she was to come home with her for the summer, and that Danny was going to spend the summer with some of his friends. She crumpled up the note and put it to her side, she could still feel the entire table's eyes on her. The third letter was from Mrs. Weasley, and she was amazingly kind about it, saying that she was welcome to come for the summer if she pleased, and that she would be writing to her mother later, and that she sent her sympathies, and if Cynthia needed anything she'd be more than willing to help her. The final letter was in a purple envelope, and she didn't even need to see the black 'M' emblazoned on the front of it, before she crumpled it up to, without reading it. She stood up abruptly, forgetting about finishing her breakfast, she shoved the two letters she kept in her robes and made her way over to the Hufflepuff table to find her brother. She found him opening the purple letter as well, then tapped him on the shoulder. The Hufflepuffs were quiet too, the only loud table was the Slytherin table, even the Ravenclaws were quietly looking around the Great Hall at the silent tables. Danny stood up, tears in his eyes, and they both walked out, Cynthia leaning on her taller but younger brother's shoulder.
She leaned against the last tree before the black lake, holding the letter from Mrs. Weasley tightly in her left hand, in her other hand was a quill, and beneath that was a piece of parchment. Both George and Fred had taken their turns trying to convince her to come for the summer, and eventually her mother had relented and said it was okay. Cynthia hadn't laughed in three days, and now that the excitement for the second task was building up, it didn't seem like her face would be boasting a smile any time soon. She slowly began writing,
"Dear Mrs. Weasley,
Thank you so much for your invitation to spend the summer, both Fred and George have been hounding me to say yes, although I was already planning on saying yes, anyways. I would love to spend the summer, if it's not to much of a bother for you. I think it'll be nice to be away from all the drama while my mother works on my father's estate. I do know, however, that my mum has planned a boat trip on Loch Ness for Danny (my brother) and myself, but George and Fred are more than welcome to come, in fact, I think it would save me from imminent boredom. Again, thank you so much for your invitation, and I'm very excited, thank you!
Yours,
Cynthia Sutton.
