Heyyy ! I'm so sorry it tok so long for me to update, i've been a bit busy with school and stuff :p But i've made this chapter extra extra long to make up for it ;)
xoxoxo
The End of the first
"You're cold." I state, noticing Scorp's shivering and the slight blue tinge to his lips. I reach out a hand, wanting to lay it on his arm, but it just passes straight through him, and makes him shiver even more.
"This sucks."
"You think? I'm quite enjoying watching you freeze to death and hoping that ghosts aren't made out of water."
"They aren't, they're spirits, not mist." He answers, and I roll my eyes.
"Great, one less thing to worry about."
We lapse into silence after that, both desperately trying to figure out what to do. Scorpius is sitting cross legged in the snow, his eyes closed in concentration and his brow slightly furrowed in a way which makes him look so attractive. I'm trying to think too, but my thoughts always go back to how gorgeous Scorpius looks, or how much I want to throw my arms around him to warm him up. I would have hugged him ages ago if I weren't immaterial.
I glance around, hoping to see something which would correspond to me and Scorp's favorite things, but all I can see is the attractive french boy, a petrified Zaza and an unconscious Albus. Oh yeah, I'd completely forgotten my cousin.
"What should we do about Albus?" I wonder, and Scorpius cracks open an eye to look up at my hovering form.
"We can't really do anything about him until he wakes up, other than hoping that he's become reasonably sane."
I glance over at Al again, and then grin.
"Being a ghost might actually have it's advantages..."
Passing through someone is such a strange sensation, kind of comparable to passing through a wall of water, only the water is passing through me, not the other way round. Thankfully, all I can see is darkness as I lie exactly where my cousin is lying, thus in him, as I have little desire to see my cousin from the inside. It does to trick, to Al, it should feel as if someone just dunked him into freezing cold water.
"Aaah !" He screams in a rather high pitched, girly voice as he leaps up suddenly, shocked from his awakening. He looks around hurriedly, and then sees me,
"Aaah !" He exclaims again, stumbling backwards and falling rather elegantly onto his backside. I make sure to wave cheerily at him.
"Wake up Al, you'll be able to sleep in this weekend." I say with a small wink, but he just continues to stare at me, his mouth oppening and closing in shock.
"R...Rose... are you... dead ?!" He's completely white, and I finally understand why he's looking so shocked. To anyone that doesn't know the story, it must look like I'm dead, being a ghost and all. Then again, Arla had known I wasn't a real ghost when she'd seen me...
"Oh no Al, don't worry, it's only George's ghost potion !" I exclaim, hurriedly reassuring him.
"What's Zaza doing here !?" He exclaims, finally caching sight of his frozen girlfriend. I roll my immaterial eyes at him.
"Make a lucky guess Al."
"Oh yeah."
Albus walks briskly over to Zaza, and immediately sets about casting a warming spell over her. Gradually her cheeks regain color and her lips go back to their healthy pink. A few seconds later, her eyes flutter open, and regain their focus. She starts upon seeing her surroundings, and then falls backwards into the snow with a small cry of surprise, having regained control of her legs.
"Zaza !" Me and Al cry delightedly, rushing over to see her, Al immediately helps her up onto her feet, and then she catches sight of me, and falls back again in surprise. I groan. Is every body going to act like this at the sight of me ?!
"Are y..."
"No I'm not dead." I say, cutting off her question. She sighs in relief as she sits up in the snow.
"Wh... why are you... a ghost ?" Her hair has turned blue from worry, and still has a few fearful yellow streaks in it.
"I am honestly not going to explain it all when we're freezing to death in the middle of the Triwizard tournament." I say, rolling my eyes.
Zaza nods, and then suddenly throws herself into Al's arms, sobbing hysterically.
Me and Scorpius exchange one quick, incredulous glance.
…...
"Think Rose, who's the most special person for you ?" Zaza asks, smiling softly. She's finally recovered from her crying fit, and she and Albus are preparing to head down the mountain.
I groan, "I don't know ! You, Albus, Scorpius... but it obviously couldn't be Scorpius, he's right here ! Maybe me and Al are sharing you..."
"I thought you were smart Rose." She answers with a wink, and then Albus tugs her down the mountain, and they disappear out of sight.
I turn to Scorpius, feeling more hopeless than ever. I'm finally realising the enormity of the situation ; We're stuck up a mountain, Scorpius is obviously starting to feel the cold despite his thick coat, and we can't go down and hope to stay together unless we finish the challenge, meaning unless we figure out what we have to take down with us. I'd never imagined ghosts could cry, but suddenly my eyes are stinging and my throat feels constricted. A single tear falls to the snow, glinting brighter than any crystal.
I just feel so powerless, despite being a witch. A muggle would surely appreciate the irony.
"I'm so sorry." I whisper, fighting back more tears.
Scorpius' eyes widen in surprise, and then his gaze turns more tender, "Why ?" he asks softly, taking a step closer to me.
"I never should have been so reckless, I shouldn't have bonded us in the game, or even let you do it !" My tears are flowing faster and faster, creating small pits in the snow wherever they fall.
Scorpius takes another step towards me, and then raises a hand, as if to stroke my immaterial cheek. His hand stops, however, a few millimeters away from it, and he grins at me.
"I honestly don't care about any danger I might be in, Rose, because I'm in far too deep with you already."
If I still had a proper body, I would have been bright red at his words, but as it is, I can act relatively dignified, by sinking down until I'm at eye level with him, and gently brushing my immaterial lips against his. He shivers at the cold, but doesn't move, and closes his eyes as if it were a proper kiss, smiling softly.
"Rose ?" he whispers, opening and looking straight into mine, I feel something flutter around where my heart would be if I weren't a ghost at the honesty of his gaze.
"Yeah ?"
"I love you." He announces, and the fluttering in my chest errupts at these three simple words. Mechanically, my hand reaches out to grab his, and, for just a few precious seconds, I'm solid again as I hold his hand tightly, and his thumb brushes gently against it. And then my fingers are passing through his hand again, and once again I'm nothing more than a spirit.
Then the realisation hits me.
"Merlin Scorp, we are so dumb !" I exclaim, shooting up a few feet in my excitement, "We're the ones most precious to each other ! We just have to go down together !" I'm grinning widely, but Scorpius is still looking slightly confused as it sinks in. Then he grins too.
"And I thought we were smart. Let's get going !"
"Don't forget me." I remind him, and he rolls his eyes.
"I'm not that bad a boyfriend Rose." He says, smiling, "And we're taking the french boy too, I would feel so bad leaving him up here alone."
"You really are too nice sometimes." I tease as Scorpius conjures up a large muggle sled, and levitates my unconscious body and the frozen french boy carefully into it. He then grins at me.
"That's why you love me, now try to keep up." He then leaps into the sled, and, with a wave of his wand, it takes off down the mountain. I grin and follow behind him, effortlessly keeping pace with the sled as I fly behind, my arms outstretched and strands of my almost transparent hair flowing behind me.
Within no time, we've reached the bottom of the mountain, having overtaken Albus and Zaza on the way down.
The stands ris up in front of us, and in no time we're in front of them, and being ushered into the infirmary tent, where Scorpius immediately sights and shrugs off his coat, smiling blissfully. I would surely have reacted the same had I not been insensible to the weather.
The french boy is unfrozen with a quick spell from the nurse, and she takes away my unconscious body to be nursed back to health before I return to it. In the meanwhile, me and Scorpius turn eagerly to the french boy, who is happily drinking from a large cup of hot chocolate, still looking slightly shaken up from his experience.
"Merci." He says gratefully when he sees us looking at him, and then he remembers that we're english, and corrects himself hurriedly, "I mean thank you."
His english accent is almost flawless, despite a small french twinge to it, and I smile at him reassuringly.
"De rien." I say in french, and he seems relieved at my answer.
"What's your name ?" Scorpius asks, and he obligingly answers.
"Tristian."
"I'm Scorpius, and the strange ghost up there is Rose." Scorpius says, grinning slyly at me. I pretend to hit him, and my hand passes right through his shoulder.
"You'll see when I'm solid again." I threaten.
"I'm looking forward to it." Scorpius answers, winking. I roll my eyes at this.
"Euh... excuse me for asking, but are you a couple ?" Tristian asks, his eyes twinkling in amusement at our banter.
"Yes." Scorpius answers without hesitation.
"It's complicated" I say, at exactly the same time.
We both glance at each other, smiling.
At that moment, Albus and Zaza step into the tent, and grin upon seeing us,
"Hey !" Aliza explains, her cheeks still flushed form the cold, but looking absolutely delighted. Albus looks just as delighted as her, and I resolve to ask Zaza the reason to all thishappinessas soon as possible.
Before we have time to catch up any longer, however, the kindly looking nurse emerges from the back of the tent and beckons me towards her. I do as she motioned, following her into the back of the tent. She doesn't bother holding the flap open for me, letting me pass straight through the fabric. It feels similar to passing underneath a waterfall, only with the water going through me.
My body is lying on the nearest cot when I come through, and I'm surprised to see that I look as if I had never fallen off a dragon's back. I had never broken anything before, and expected to at least have to spend a few weeks with a cast, like in the muggle films my mom likes to watch.
"You can get back into your body now." The nurse tells me, smiling, "And let me give you some advice : avoid riding any more dragons."
I laugh, "No worries there, I've definitely learned my lesson."
I then dive into my body, and the next thing I know, I'm waking up painfully, with the bright light in the tent, which I hadn't noticed as a ghost, blinding me, and with pain almost everywhere. I guess wizard medication still has a long way to go. Eventually however, I manage to sit up, despite my stiff muscles, with the nurse's help, and after a few minutes and a large cup of some fowl tasting medicine, I can walk out to see the rest of the candidates.
They all greet me happily, and I see that Arla and the french candidate, Violette, are both there, warming themselves up with a cup of hot chocolate. Violette is woriedly checking on her brother, but I notice that Arla seems more silent than usual, and is sitting separately from everyone else. She smiles at me slightly when I walk into the room, but then goes back to her mournful pensiveness.
I don't have time for anything more than an enthusiastic hug from Zaza before one of the Durmstrang teachers comes in to bring us into the great hall, and we have to file out after her. Scorpius grabs my hand on the way out, and I fully appreciate the feeling of his hand enveloping mine after having been deprived of it when I most needed it up the mountain.
The teacher casts a warming spell around us on the way up the castle, and I infinitively regret not knowing how to do that for the task.
The noise when we walk into the great hall is tremendous, and while most of us, including me, fully embrace it, and wave at the crowd as if we were famous muggle actors, Zaza and Tristian seem absolutely terrified at the attention, and stare nervously at the ground for the whole trip up to the teacher's table.
Once up there, we're told to line up, each next to our most precious thing. I hold Scorpius' hand proudly as we face the rest of the students, and notice the way Tristian clasps Violette's hand particularly tightly from his fear of crowds. Arla glares at the crowd, hugging her lone picture frame to her chest in such a way that no one can see what it shows. Mr. Ankher claps his hands once, regally, and silence sets over the hall as everyone turns to look at him.
"I will not bore you with long speeches about the champions bravery, or the dangers they faced, but will get straight to the point : Last, we have the Beauxbatons champions, Violette Beauregard, who, unfortunately, was unable to climb up the mountain in time, as she encountered a sphinx, and was unable to pass." There's a polite smattering of applause, and many sympathetic looks sent her way.
"Next up, we have Albus Potter, who fell under an imperius curse sent by one of our teachers, and, despite it having allowed him to get up faster, he was then beaten by Scorpius Malfoy, whom our teacher made him attack." There's louder applause for him, due to his fame, and he accepts it gratefully, smiling bashfully at the crowds.
"And we have... a three way tie in first place !" He exclaims, and the crowd erupts into applause, loud whoops, and, from Fred, James and Roxanne, loud, meaningless chanting : Rosie Posie !Rosie Posie ! Rosie Posie ! They sing again and again, and after the first few times, the rest of Hogwarts gradually joins in, until the obnoxious chant is the only thing heard in the whole hall. I can feel myself blushing, despite being almost used to my cousins' madness. Besides me, Scorpius is shaking from silent laughter, which only augments when I dig my nails into his hand. Finally, the chanting stops, and Ankher begins to talk again.
"Arla used a very particular spell, to fly up without much difficulty, and to get back down again without any trouble. She was the first to finish, despite not having been the first to reach the top." He has to wait for the applause to subside before he can continue.
"Rose Weasley, in realising she would not be able to walk her way up, hatched the particularly daring idea of riding a dragon. A Norwegian Ridgeback, more precisely." Ankher's tone is dripping with disapproval, and he only looks even more disapproving when James whoops loudly, and his whoop is closely followed by a loud roar from Fred.
"Unfortunately, her plan failed quite a bit, so she was obviously saved by the night in shinning armor, Scorpius Malfoy." A wolf whistle, from Roxanne this time, interrupts him.
He goes on telling the story, despite the fact that everyone had seen what had happened, with much disapproval at the sentimental parts. He eventually finishes, and the hall erupts into applause once again, mostly fueled by my cousins, and Ankher, after a bit more talking, which I mostly tune out, and then eventually announces one clue as to what will happen in the next task.
"In the next task, I must warn the champions to practice team work with their precious someone, as this person will be helping them in the next task." He announces, and the students immediately begin whispering among each other in surprise, they become silent once more, however, when Ankher begins talking again.
"However, seeing as Arla has n one with her, for the moment, we will decide who will be joining her in the arena according to who she stays with the most in the next few months. Also, Weasley and Malfoy, having an unfair advantage, being two champions, will be joined together at the wrist for the second task." I swear Ankher's smile is even more awful than usual when he announces this.
There we are ! Plz review ! And what do you think they should go against for this task ? Any suggestions are welcome, even the most ridiculous ! :D
xoxoxo
Darkchocaholic
