Tournament of Triumvirates
II. (Re) Introduction
The next morning after the arrival of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, Albus entered the Great Hall, greeted by a louder buzz of chatter than usual. To his surprise, almost everyone was awake – heck, even James was awake and rowdy. This was a rare sight on Saturday mornings, since students usually preferred to exchange their breakfast time for extra sleeping time on the weekends.
Exhausted from last night's long introductions and tours for the visiting students (Al was unfortunately dragged on a tour by one of his Prefect buddies), he headed towards the Gryffindor table, hoping to grab his favorite blueberry scone and cup of coffee before his fellow House mates did. Halfway down the aisle, however, Al's attention was distracted to the front of the Great Hall, where an assembly of students was crowded in front of an unfamiliar object.
"The Goblet of Fire shall be placed in the middle of the Great Hall as of tomorrow, at eight o'clock sharp. Any bold student, ages 16 or older, will be allowed to write their name on a slip of parchment and charm it into this object." Albus faintly remembered an enthusiastic Friedan explaining the rules and code of conduct of the Tournament, but, exhausted as he was, he had tuned out everything the Headmaster had said.
"Potter!" someone shrieked, and Al's head jerked up, an involuntary reaction to his last name. It was in the direction of the goblet, and if not directed at him, Al's instincts gave him a wild guess that it was probably directed at James Potter, the trouble maker of the family.
He sped up his pace towards the sound and elbowed his way through the crowd of students, in the direction of his brothers' messy auburn hair. Al wedged himself further past the younger students, blocked by the age barrier, and succeeded in making his way into the wide circle that held the Goblet of Fire.
In the middle of the circle, to the left of the Goblet, stood James, his wiry and fit frame relaxed as he took in the center of attention. He lazily held up two pieces of parchment in his left hand, while his right hand likewise held onto his wand. The person who yelled his last name, Al soon realized, was Jessica O'Byrne, James' ex-girlfriend.
"You wouldn't dare put his name in there!" her face was contorted in fury, and her skin flushed red as she pointed her wand shakily at James.
"What's wrong now, O'Byrne? Afraid your darling boyfriend can't handle a little tourney?"
"James Siri-" Jessica opened her mouth to shriek, and Al took his chance to barge in the middle of the two. He patted Jessica sympathetically on the shoulder, hoping to relay the message that he would take charge of the situation from here.
"James, if you aren't going to throw away that piece of parchment and stop acting like an immature brat, I swear family ties or not, I'm going to hex you-"
James' face stretched into a lopsided grin, eerily similar to Ron's. His, however, had a ghost of a smirk on his lips. "Oh, dear brother! I'm glad you're here. I was actually about to put both our names into the Goblet," he said, jerking the parchment into Al's line of vision.
Albus Severus Potter, Hogwarts, was scrawled messily on the piece right next to James' own name.
He was just causing a scene to mess with Jessica. The git. Before Al could open his mouth to object, James quickly flicked his wand and transfigured the parchment into two paper doves that were sent flying straight into the electric blue flames of the Goblet.
Al felt the blood rush to his head, in anger and disbelief. No, no, NO. He was not going to relive the same experience as his father, with his name being put into the goblet against his will. His heart was pounding, fists beginning to clench, and he felt the rush of adrenaline pulse through his body as he spun around, aiming to swing at James' face.
"Al?" a musical voice to his left side pulled him back to a calmer state of mind. His flushed expression was met with one of pure concern, on the face of his cousin Rose Weasley. He quickly glanced at her torso and mentally breathed a sigh of relief to see that she was wearing casual clothing, similar to the rest of the student population. She lifted one of her thin manicured hands and placed her palm across his forehead.
"You're burning up, Al."
Al heard a dark chuckle from James, and quickly sent a death glare in his direction. By now, about half the crowd had dispersed, as some were curious to watch the O'Byrne and Potter showdown. A couple of Durmstrang boys hung within the age barrier, as if unsure to place their name inside the goblet, and only several young Hogwarts students strayed around the edge of the magical object.
"That was an impressive transfiguration, James," Rose complimented her cousin, angling her body towards them both so that they formed a triangle.
"You know what's impressive? Your French friends," James countered, sending a sly wink in Rose's direction. She proceeded to falsely gag into his jumper and slap his arm rather painfully. Meanwhile the cousins were reuniting, Al's eyes wandered back to the group of Durmstrang boys. Among them was the familiar boy with pale coloring. His attention accidentally lingered longer than necessary, and the boy, sensing that someone was watching him, moved his eyes to meet his.
Olive green eyes met with a pair of cold, yet familiar stormy gray eyes.
"What are you looking at, bro? Albie got a fever?" James taunted as he took his hand and waved it up and down in front of Al's face. His brothers' eyes wandered towards Al's point of focus. Suddenly, his face lit up into a devious smile as it rested on the pale boy, who was eerily eyeing up James' stare.
"Ah, Scorpius Malfoy! Long time no see!" James jumped from his spot by Al's side and bombarded Scorpius (the poor boy) with a one-armed hug that suggested that they had been long-lost buddies.
Scorpius. Malfoy. Scorpius Malfoy? Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, the one with a middle name almost as bad as mine? Al's brain was working overtime, and he felt a rush of lightheadedness run through his body. He shook off the feeling and stepped towards the Durmstrang boys, James, and Rose – just to see his aforementioned cousin making acquaintances with the group.
Rose, ever the polite lady, extended her hand and flashed the boys a bright smile. She could sense the tall, dark boy's eyes linger on her figure longer than necessary. She inwardly sighed, making a note to wear clothing that concealed more. It was so freeing in France, she thought, being able to wear the shortest skirts and yet the rest of the Veela population would still make her curves insignificant.
She met Scorpius' gaze and shook his hand firmly, reminiscent of first-year memories in Potions. She was sitting behind Al and his Gryffindor newfound friend with her Ravenclaw roommate, Janice Bell, when Al's very pale friend turned around and introduced himself to her. She remembered quite vividly her embarrassment, as she blatantly asked Scorpius why he was not in Slytherin.
"Long time no see," she greeted.
"Likewise," he said, and she noted that Scorpius' voice had turned into a smooth tenor. Perhaps it was a German thing with the way they spoke.
"No more Gryffindor for you?"
"It's a shame," Scorpius agreed and they both cracked a shy grin at each other.
Hey, maybe he isn't so bad after all, a small voice in the back of her head popped up.
Rose heard a quiet cough to her left and saw Al standing there awkwardly, waiting his turn to reunite with a childhood friend. She quickly let go of Scorpius' hand and clasped her hands behind her back, waiting for the boys to get through their strange introductory remarks.
"You've been staring, Potter."
"You as well," Al retorted, although his face did reveal a slight blush.
"Not as much as at your cousin," Scorpius smirked and the rest of his Durmstrang gang, who was making animated conversation with James, chuckled from the side. Rose rolled her eyes and pressed her lips into a tight line.
"Did your mother ever teach you it was rude to stare?" Al could sense that this was a sensitive topic for Rose, although he had no idea what she meant at Scorpius.
Scorpius, however, seemed amused at this turn of events. "She never said it was a crime if I directed my attention at pretty things." He sent her a winning smirk, which looked oddly familiar to James'.
"Before I get any more offended at being the topic of your eye's fancy, Malfoy," Rose's eyes narrowed and her voice dripped dangerously low, "I'll take my leave now."
She whipped out her wand from the pocket of her overall-skirt, so fast that Al thought she was about to Apparate. Instead, Rose also pulled from her pocket a small piece of parchment, which she quickly charmed her name on in neat script.
"Woah, Rosie, what are you doing?" James stalked over to her, obviously surprised that she was going to enter as a candidate for the tournament. "This tournament isn't meant for delicate bookworms like you," he nervously laughed.
"James, this tournament isn't meant for arrogant trouble makers like you either," Rose pursed her lips. Then, she did something surprising. Her thin manicured hands quickly shed the parchment into minute pieces, enclosing them in the palm of her hand. Rose opened her palm and blew the pieces of paper towards the Hogwarts ceiling and took out her wand, enchanting it into leaves that flew into the blue fire. As the ripped up pieces of parchment reached the flames, the fire flared brighter and dimmed.
What was left of the crowd around the goblet clapped quietly, as the Durmstrang boys whistled at Rose's skill. Looking particularly triumphant, she tossed her ginger curls behind her back and was about to traipse away when Scorpius called her back.
"I'll hopefully see you in the tournament, Weasley."
This was the first time Al had seen Rose so riled up at a person outside their immediate family. Usually, she was so calm and collected, but this statement from Scorpius had caused her to whip around in a wave of ginger fury.
She glared at him indignantly, as Scorpius took out a piece of parchment and lazily levitated it towards the Goblet. Several feet above the blue flames, the parchment transfigured itself into a scorpion, which scuttled its way at the edge of the flame and exploded similarly to Rose's spell, and the remnants of the parchment floated inside the object.
James swiftly whistled from the side, and a few young Beauxbatons girls were curiously staring at Scorpius, batting their eyelashes. "Looks like you met your match, Rosie," James remarked.
At that statement, Rose turned a subtle pink, but her ears transformed into a flushed red shade. Arrogant prats, the whole lot of them, Rose thought as she stormed towards the Ravenclaw table where a fourth of the Beauxbatons Academy was seated. Except Al! she mentally added.
If there was one thing Rose Weasley hated, it was a boy who had no sense of morality and objectified women. Turns out, not only James Potter one of them, but also Scorpius Malfoy and his obnoxious Durmstrang friends.
From the center of the Great Hall, where Al and the rest of the boys remained standing, Scorpius turned back to Al.
"You changed a lot, mate. So did your cousin."
Al relaxed at the obvious decrease in awkwardness, now that Rose had left. "No, YOU changed a lot. I could hardly recognize you."
Scorpius smirked, "Puberty served me well."
Al could only shake his head and said self-deprecatingly, "Puberty made me Harry Potter II." To his surprise, his newly reacquainted friend snorted (quite elegantly, ifhe may say so), "At least it doesn't make you look like a Death Eater of the 90's."
Al allowed himself to burst into a loud guffaw and threw himself in a large bear hug at Scorpius Malfoy, to the surprise of the Durmstrang boys and the lingering Hogwarts students.
A/N: I do not own Harry Potter. Bromance at its best! Please rate and review, despite my sporadic updates. The selection of candidates will begin in the next chapter, and ah, the competition behind Scorose has reared its ugly head.