I am so so so so sorry my lovlies for taking so long, I've been having issues and projects and this chapter isn't satisfying to me, so I'm going to try to post the next one as soon as possible! I love you all!
The entire way back, Rose teased Avery about Dimitri, who was joined by Jessica. Apparently, she had seen Avery's pink hair and 'deer caught in the headlights' look from across the Hall.
"Did you see the way he was looking at you?! I swear, I've never seen anything so cute in my life!" Rose gushed as she spazzed out about the Bulgarian.
"He was looking at me like I was a person. Nothing new there. Besides, you can't possibly fancy someone within 20 minutes of meeting them." Avery pointed out.
"Oh, come on, let a girl dream."
"Avery has a point," Jessica said," She and this Dameon guy will never have the chemistry that her and a certain Gryffindor I shall not name has."
Avery rolled her eyes,"It's Dimitri, and frankly, at this point, he's winning."
"Oh, please, Team James all the way. I'm making you guys shirts."
Rose giggled, "Well, now that you mention it-"
"I will make Scorose t-shirts." Avery threatened.
"Okay, consider the idea abandoned.'' Rose said quickly as they turned the corner before the portrait to the Ravenclaw Common Room.
"See you tomorrow!" Jessica said as she turned to hear her entrance riddle.
"Goodnight!" The girls responded before walking through dozens of halls and staircases to their common room.
As soon as Avery and Rose walked through the Portrait hole, they could hear the sound of two voices yelling from the Girls' Dormitory. They started walking up the stair's, Avery praying for herself to be wrong as the sound got louder and louder with each step. When Avery reached her dorm, she silently pleaded with Rose. "Oh hell no, your roommate, your problem." Avery hesitated as she heard Lily yell from inside her dorm, "It's madness!"
"You're overreacting, it's just a tournament! I thought you would be supportive of me, I am a Gryffindor, afterall!"
"No, do not use that excuse on me James Sirius Potter, there is a fine line between bravery and idiocy!"
Avery breathed before she opened the door and said,"You do have to admit, though, they often go hand-in-hand for Gryffindors."
"See, even Ree agrees with me." James said triumphantly.
"Woah, woah, woah. I agreed to no such thing. At least tell me what I am agreeing to, but honestly, I suspect I am going to end up agreeing with Lils." Avery said, plopping down on her bed.
"Weeeelll," Lily said between gritted teeth, "This genius here thinks it's a fabulous idea to enter the Triwizard Tournament along with every other suicidal wizard at this school. "
"I know what I'm doing Lily! I can see why you're worried, but I am a seventh year and if the Ministry thinks the tournament is for for seventh years that give me every right to enter." Seeing Lily and Avery's unconvinced faces, he continued, "I'll be fine, this is what being a Gryffindors is about, showing courage in the face danger."
"Yup, I knew it, Potter, listen to your sister, this isn't bravery, it's stupidity."
"I'm the great James Potter, what is the worse that could happen?" He said, jokingly.
"I'm being serious James, you remembered what happened to dad. He said it was one of the most terrifying experiences of his life. He would flip if he found out they were holding another tournament here!"
At this, Avery could see his resolve weaken, but he continued to argue, "There is no Lord Voldemort here to hurt us Lily. We can't spend out entire lives in fear of someone who so many people sacrificed so much to ensure he was gone. If we do he wins."
Lily went silent as she tried to think of a different tact. Before she could open her mouth again, James opened the door and left the room. Groaning, Avery got off the bed and went after him. He was already in front of the fireplace when Avery finally caught up with him.
"Potter-" she was about to stop him when he turned around and interrupted him,"Look Avery, in case you didn't hear my whole speech back there, I am entering. I can't let my family and everyone else be haunted by something that was suppose to end years ago."
"This isn't about that, Potter. You're too busy worrying about how you entering will look, you're not thinking about Lily and Albus. As annoying as you are, they still love you and would be devastated if anything happened to you. The fact is people have been hurt and killed before your father was a Champion. For some delusional reason, the Ministry thinks that they have some degree of control over this damned competition but the truth is they don't. If they don't even know who the Champions will be how can they know anything? How do they know thy they won't have to tell someone's family that they will never see their child again because of them?" Avery shrugged," If you can tell me that, James, then I won't stop you from entering."
For the first time since Avery had met him, James Potter looked shocked. "What?" Avery asked.
"You...you called me James, "He said,disbelieving, "Not 'Potter' or 'egotistical toerag'."
Avery, despite her own shock, focused on the topic at hand, "Potter, look me in the eyes and tell me you won't put your name in the Goblet."
James joked, "Wow, you sound almost concerned. Have you finally come around?"
"James..." Avery looked at him expectantly, waiting for a response.
James hesitated before sighing,"Okay...I won't enter."
Avery breathed a sigh of relief. Before she could register what she was doing, she pulled James into a hug. "Thank you for finally seeing some sense."
Soon, she processed what happened and was about to flee to her room to hide the oncoming hair color change, when the door of the Common Room swung open, "Avery, are you still awa-?.." Jessica's voice died down as she saw the scene before her, a look of complete bewilderment on her face. It looked as if the god of the sky had flown down and gave her a pineapple before breakdancing.
She shook off enough of her wonder(horror) to say, "Uhh yeah, umm, Professor Mcgonagall asked me to come and get James. Mr. Cadwell wanted to talk to you."
"Who?"
"I dunno, some ministry person. Something about quidditch. Honestly, I was too tired to hear the full message, just go Sergeant Flyfail."
"Will do, Captain Clumsy."
Jessica fake coughed, "Ravenclaws for the win."
"In you dreams." James fake coughed before stepping through the Portrait Hole around Jessica, who now had recovered from her shock and was full out smirking at Avery with a knowing look in her eyes.
"What?" Avery snapped which only caused Jessica's grin to grow.
"Avery and James sitting in a tree-"
"If you value your life you will end that sentence and back away slowly."
"K-i-s-s-i-n-g, first comes-''
At this point, Avery put her fingers in her ears and started singing,"Lalala I can't hear you!"
Jessica laughed and increased her volume, causing Avery to sing at the top of her lungs as she stomped up the stairs,"If I don't hear it, it's not true; if I don't hear it's not true!"
"I loves you!" Jessica yelled up to her.
"Yeah, yeah, I love you too. Next time you need something from the tall shelf, don't ask me for help."
"..Low blow, Winchester, low blow."
"Well I have to, you're not even 5foot."
"Good night, hope the nargles bite." Jessica said as she left the common room. Avery felt conflicted. She shouldn't be so concerned, or at least obviously concerned, with James's safety. Things were spiraling too quickly out of her carefully planned out control. Sighing, Avery went to her dorm and got ready for bed. Despite her inner battle between her head and her heart, Avery fell into a deep slumber and, for the first time in a long time, had a nice, uninterrupted sleep.
*Le time skip to breakfast*
"Who says they would enslave the human race?" Rose asked Jessica.
"The 'eww who is this peasant' face they have every time they're within a six foot radius of humans." Avery retorted, doing her best attempt at the expression she described.
"I think it's more of a 'oh god why do you exist' face." Fred said, thoughtfully.
"Exactly, they would most definitely kill us if given the chance. We would be simply oxygen stealers to them." Jessica agreed.
"But we give them catnip and open cans of food and scratch their ears. We're somewhat useful." Rose argued.
"Well if they have evolved enough to take over the human race, I think they can open their own cans of catnip." Dimitri sided with Jessica.
"Yes, I have the foreigner on my side! I officially win!" Jessica said smugly.
Rose playfully glared at her before asking,"Aren't you supposed to be at a different table, Ravenclaw?"
Jessica whined,"The foreigner isn't suppose to either and you have no qualms!"
Dimitri cut in, "Actually, we-"
"Shh, just go along with it, foreigner."
"You know, the foreigner has a name."
"Yes, it's the foreigner."
So Avery had seen Dimitri walking to the Great Hall for breakfast and had invited him to sit with her, resulting in her introducing him to Fred and Jessica, seeing as Rose already knew him. While Fred had been nonchalant but polite about it, Jessica had been ecstatic about having another person who wasn't British in their group and had insisted on only referring to him as 'the foreigner'. Now with their introductions out of the way, she still had one more person to introduce.
Avery spotted Lily coming towards their table. She pointed towards her."
"That's the ginger."
Dimitri turned his head to glance at her and started to turn back to his food, until he quickly turned back again, as if he hadn't seen her the first time.
"This is Dimitri, he's from Durmstrang. Say hello, Lily." Avery said as Lily sat down.
"Hello Lily."
Avery rolled her eyes."Hardy har har, I'm dying. Of laughter, of course."
"So, this the infamous ginger I've heard so much about and,truthfully, thought was imaginary?" Dimitri asked.
"You told him I was nonexistent?" Lily asked puzzled.
Avery dismissed the the statement,"Meh, he assumed. Anyway, why has you, the ever punctual Lily Potter, late to breakfast?
Lily groaned in annoyance and anger, "I had to turn in my Muggle Studies' essay Easley this morning, so I figured I would take a
shorter hallway to get here. As soon as I exited the hallway, I was ATTACKED by those damn pixies in a box. Just a bit of advice, Fred, THEY DO NOT ENJOY BEING IN A BOX!" She finished, glaring at Fred.
Fred looked indignant, "Who said it was my fault? I'm not the only prankster at Hogwarts."
"The pixies told me, they are looking for blood. Lucky for you, I'm a NICE cousin and told them it was Scorpius. But trust me, dear cousin, revenge will be sweet."
Fred rolled his eyes amusedly, "And what shall thou inflict upon me? Perhaps a whoppee cushion under my chair? Or dare I even contemplate you shocking me hand while I give you a handshake?"
Lily shrugged her shoulders, "You won't know when, you won't know how, but I'm gonna get you back. "
Lily then turned to Avery,"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, thank you, thank you, thank you for whatever you said to James, he hasn't mentioned the tournament once since you did."
"No problem, Lily. I never have a problem guiding people guiding people down the less idiotic path in life."
"Oh, how saintly you are Avers! You truly have saved lives through your immense generosity."
"You know, the tournament can't be that bad if the ministry allows it." Dimitri said tentatively.
Avery groaned,"Oh not you, too."
He held his hands up in defense, "What? It is what I traveled across Europe to do. I'm sorry I'm worrying you, but this is something I have to do. Speaking of which," He searched through his bag before pulling out a piece of parchment and scribbling on it, "I really should do this now."
Dimitri walked up and waited his turn in the crowd of students entering their names or supporting their classmates.
Avery watched as the crowd grew thinner and thinner, Dimitri close to the front. Jessica elbowed Avery in the ribs,"You worried?"
"No, I'm not in control of what he does, we did only just meet. If he wants to enter, I have no right to stop him." She sighed, "I just know there is something not right about this. And I have a feeling it's just going to explode in our faces."
"Ohh, the foreshadowing of future events to come. Our little Avery is mastering the great lost art of Divination." Fred joked. Everyone at the table chuckled.
Avery laughed along with everyone, grateful for the distraction from her thoughts. She and everyone turned back just in time to see Dimitri slip his name into the cup. Right after the Goblet accepted his name, everyone's attention was turned to the mysterious Tiger Girl who had left the Hufflepuff Table and approached the cup and entered her name.
"Is that the last of them? Wow, you'd think there would be more people entering." Rose said as she saw the rapidly diminishing crowd. Everyone turned back to their food, all interest lost.
"No, I think there's still one more person." Jessica said as she spotted a tall figure walk up to the Goblet. Avery whipped her head around to see a flash of brown hair and blue eyes. Oh my god no, this isn't happening.
Avery could feel the oxygen catch in her throat as she saw James place a slip of parchment into the Goblet of Fire with a burst of blue embers and flames as it was accepted.
"Well, my job just got a whole lot harder." Lily growled as her face started to turn as red as her hair.