Alina
"Okay dear, you can come in now," one of Durmstrang's nurses told her as the door to the hospital wing opened.
"Finally! Thank you," she said and quickly bolted past the nurse and into the hospital wing. There were quite a few beds inside, most were void of students, but she could make out at least four beds that were occupied and one other with its curtain's drawn. After some frantic searching to spot her friends she eventually found them at the far end of one of the row of beds.
"Hey guys!" she shouted when she got right behind Harry and Marik. She could not help but laugh a little as they jumped a little in fright. They could fight a hydra, troll, and minotaur but someone sneaking up behind them was somehow still scary.
"Holy Hell Alina!" Marik shouted as he turned around to see that it was her that had scared him.
"How is she doing?" she asked her two friends as she leaned in between them to take a look at the unconscious Hermione laying on the bed. Thankfully, Hermione didn't look as bad as Alina had expected her to.
"Nurse says she should wake up any minute now from the sleeping draught they gave her. She will be fine in no time though, the burns will heal within the week, and two weeks at most for all of the bones to heal," Harry answered her. It made her happy to see him sitting beside the bed with Hermione's good hand in his, even if Harry was oblivious to everything that his actions meant.
"I'm surprised things didn't end up worse, her arm took the full brunt of that last hydra's spell," she replied, looking over the damage on Hermione's arm.
"Even you got to watch it too? Man I missed out," Marik pouted.
"How did you get to see it?" Harry asked her.
"They had a bunch of screens set up in the dining hall for us all to watch the task on. There was a camera on each of you so we got to see almost everything for the most part. Congratulations by the way," she answered, grabbing an empty chair next to the other side of the bed.
"Thanks," Harry replied.
"Thanks Alina," Marik added with a smile.
"So how did we do?" Harry asked her opinion.
"You guys honestly did the best I think since you were the only team who managed to steal a scroll. Though Beauxbaton's was close behind and handled their dragon a lot easier than you and Hermione handled the hydra," she started to answer. "Do you want the long synopsis or short synopsis?"
"We want the long, but wait a sec it looks like Hermione is waking up. I'm sure she will want to hear everything too," Harry told her and moved closer to the now moving Hermione.
"Ugghhh," was the first thing Hermione said as her eyes slowly opened.
"Welcome back Hermione," Harry greeted their newly awoken friend.
"How you feeling oh mighty minotaur slayer?" Marik joked, the groggy Hermione seemed to find it funny and was giggling a little, though might have been due to the aftereffects of the potion she had been given..
"I knew I liked you Marik," Hermione said to Marik with a smile. "And I feel pretty darn good, which I guess means I'm drugged up good."
"Yeah, you are. I'll go over your potion schedule with you later when you are a little less loopy," Harry said playfully.
"Thanks Harry. And Marik, congrats! I never got the chance to tell you," Hermione said turning to look at Marik.
"Thanks 'Mione. The congrats this round belongs to you though, From what Harry told me you were the MVP for sure."
"Thanks Marik, and I know! Hey Alina! How did we do?" Hermione asked her. Alina laughed at how ditzy Hermione was acting.
"Hey Hermione. And I was actually just about to give the guys a rundown of everything I saw, do you want me to tell you now, or wait for the drugs to wear off?" she asked her friend.
"Tell us now! I wanna hear!" Hermione shouted. Of course Hermione had to know everything then and there.
"Okay, well like I was saying, overall you guys did the best out of the teams. Beauxbatons was the only team that decided not to go for another team's scroll and was on pace to finish a lot quicker than everyone else. However, Fleur and Weiss had to fight a tough cerberus halfway to the center of the arena and that slowed them down a lot.
"Fleur and Weiss are a great team though, so you guys need to keep an eye out for them. I think they may have earned more points just based off their teamwork alone. They finished the last part of their task a lot quicker than you did, but they were a little slower dealing with the cerberus than Hermione was with the minotaur. Harry your strategy with leading a troll to their base in your animagus form was bloody brilliant too. It took Oliver a good five minutes to deal with it without his wand," she started to explain.
"So that's what you did. Ha ha ha, I would have paid to see the look on that guy's face when a troll showed up out of nowhere!" Marik said through laughter.
"Trust me, it was priceless," Harry added looking proud.
"Durmstrang on the other hand did the worst out of everyone, and honestly they were lucky to have finished the task at all," she said to her friends.
"Was Dedrick mad?" Hermione asked her.
"I don't know, I haven't seen him yet. I wanted to hang out with you guys for a bit before I went over to his bed. Figured he would need some time to cool off," she answered Hermione. Honestly, she figured Dedrick would not be in the best of moods to at the moment and was dreading going to see him a little bit.
"He is in here? What happened?" Hermione asked her. Alina noticed Marik backed away from her at Hermione's question. "Why are you backing away like that Marik?"
"Just want to get out of range from Alina's fist," Marik answered. She saw that he was staring at her looking frightened, she just shook her head at him.
"Why would I hit you Marik?" She asked him, wondering what on earth he was talking about.
"Uhh. . . I figured you would be mad at me for beating up your boyfriend. . ." Marik mumbled his answer, he looked seemingly in disbelief at the fact that she was not angry.
"You are dense. I would never be mad at you for beating someone in a duel. Dedrick was a moron for thinking he could beat you one on one with a strategy like the one he took. And to answer your question Hermione, Durmstrang sent Dedrick after your team's scroll box. When he got there, to be honest, Marik kicked his ass pretty hard," she answered Hermione.
To be honest Dedrick got what he deserved in that fight, and to be blunt he had it coming. She felt that way even if he was her boyfriend. On their last date Dedrick had gotten so jealous when she told him that at one time she had had feelings for Marik. Since then Dedrick had gotten an ego the size of Hogwarts and would not stop saying how he was going to make Marik look like a fool in the first task, and prove to her that she got the better wizard in the end. In the end though, Marik made Dedrick look like a muggle. Dedrick should've known it would not be easy going up against Marik, who was a three time-defending dueling champion and a year ahead of him. And Marik certainly proved that point to be true.
"You put her boyfriend in the hospital! What did you do Marik?" Hermione shouted at Marik angrily. Alina smiled at Hermione's attempt to defend her.
"Uhh just hit him a little here and there. . . And you're welcome for defending the scrolls!" Marik answered in a mumbled tone uncomfortably.
"He kicked him in the back of the head, broke his nose with a punch, kicked out his feet and tripped him, chained him up and then threw him into a pillar with said chain breaking his arm, and then tied him up with a bunch of ropes, pulled him within point blank range, and then blasted him with a high powered shadow spell, which sent him flying through the forest where he was cut hundreds of times by branches and impaled in the leg by a large log to be exact," she answered, enjoying how pale Marik's face got the more she went on. Marik backed up away from her again which annoyed her.
"Marik stop it! I get that you don't like Dedrick and you went hard on him because it was personal to you, it was personal to him too. You are my friend and I wanted you guys to win, if you had gone easy on him because he was my boyfriend then I would have been pissed at you," she shouted at him. The color in his skin returned a little at her words.
"Well at least you kept the scroll box from being stolen. Alina what did you think of our performance?" Hermione asked her again, apparently the potions were messing with Hermione's short term memory.
"You guys did awesome," she laughed as she repeated herself. "Especially you Hermione. Your time-magic against that minotaur was mental! Everyone watching had to pick their jaws up off the floor and Flitwick wouldn't stop bragging about you afterwards. And I thought McGonagall was going to die when she saw you guys up against the hydra, but after a few minutes even she admitted your strategy was brilliant," she answered Hermione, drawing smiles from all of her three champion friends.
"Oh that reminds me Hermione, Dumbledore gave us the clue for the next round already," Harry turned to tell Hermione.
"Ooh what is it?" Hermione asked excitedly, sitting up in her bed.
"Wait," Marik put up his hand stopping Harry before he could continue. "Alina if you hear this you aren't going to go tell Dedrick are you?" Marik asked her. This time she immediately stood up and gave him a hard punch on the shoulder.
"You are an idiot Marik! Of course I'm not going to tell him! How bad of a friend do you think I am?" she asked him, angry that he thought she would stoop so low.
"Sorry, just checking. I don't know what the two of you do or talk about, or how close you are. I'm just looking out for the team," Marik argued. She just continued to glare at him, making him shift around nervously in his seat.
"Okay, so here is the clue:
Scores of doors line my halls,
Each with something special within their walls,
The mystery should be one of your fears,
What's left unsolved could end your years,
When you find the missing piece,
You should worry about yourself the least,
Because when you look into the mirror who do you see,
But of course it is
I, your greatest enemy," Harry whispered the riddle and immediately Alina found her mind racing in an attempt at trying to solve it.
"Hmm. . ." Hermione started to say. Alina could already see the cogs turning inside Hermione's mind, thinking of what the clue meant. "We will have to do some research on the riddle and see if you can find any of the lines in anything else. All I got right now is that it is probably going to be some sort of a puzzle."
"Why you figure that?" Harry asked her, looking impressed that a drugged up Hermione had still come to a conclusion quicker than anyone else.
"When you find the missing piece. Sounds like an obvious find the puzzle pieces to me," Hermione answered him.
"Hmm, maybe. We will start looking stuff up tonight. The sooner we solve it the better," Marik told Hermione.
"Okay, well I know where I want to look first!" Hermione said and started to try and get out of her bed.
"Oh no you don't. You are to stay in this bed for at least two days. Doctor's orders," Harry told Hermione as he put her back under the bed's covers.
"What? But I feel fine!" Hermione tried to argue.
"And I am so happy that you do, but you won't win this. Especially after all the times you made me stay in the hospital wing!" Harry told Hermione playfully.
"Isn't even a doctor. . ." Hermione mumbled out as she pouted under her covers. Alina couldn't help but laugh at her friend.
"Are you guys about to go to the library then?" she asked Marik and Harry.
"I just want to rest but I guess we should before dinner time," Marik said, shrugging at Harry to see if he agreed.
"Well I'll be up there in a minute too, I wanna help however I can. I'm just gonna go be a good girlfriend for a few minutes first and say hi to Dedrick," she said, standing up.
"Alright see you in a bit," Harry called as she turned and headed over to Dedrick's bed. As she headed for Dedrick's bed she figured her boyfriend was not about to be in a the best of moods, the curtains pulled around his bed only helped to confirm that.
"Hey Dedrick," she said with a smile as she made her way inside the curtain and saw that his eyes were already open.
"Hey," Dedrick answered her without even making eye contact. He looked even worse up close in person than he had looked through the camera. His arm was entirely covered in bandages, his nose was beyond swollen, and the rest of his body looked like hundreds of angry cats had scratched him. She couldn't even see his left leg through all the wrappings and dressings on it.
"How are you feeling?" she asked him, already knowing the answer.
"Fucking great," Dedrick answered sarcastically.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, not sure what else to say. She grabbed his hand as she sat down next to his bed, trying to make him feel better.
"I bet you are. I swear the next task if I get the chance I am going to rip that kids face off," Dedrick said in anger. She could feel the venom in his voice.
"Dedrick don't say that."
"I'm serious! That fucker isn't good, he just caught me off guard. It won't happen again," Dedrick argued. She mentally rolled her eyes at his words.
"If you say so Dedrick," she replied, sounding defeated. She really just didn't want to argue with him right now, especially when he was being a sore loser.
"Are you defending him? You are my girlfriend not his!" Dedrick shouted at her, she recoiled a little bit as he raised his voice.
"I'm not defending him. And I know that I'm your girlfriend! Just because you are being a sore loser doesn't mean you have to take it out on me," she shouted back, knowing that her last words would only upset him more but she couldn't help it.
"A sore loser? I am not being a sore loser. Excuse me for being pissed when I am sitting in a hospital bed because of your ex and you are defending him!" Dedrick shouted at her again. She was sure if the curtains had not been drawn around them that she would see plenty of eyes looking at them right now.
"He is not my ex, and again I am not defending him! I am just being a realist. He kicked your ass Dedrick! He beat you! You went up against the three time-defending dueling champion of Europe and a wizard a year older than you and expected it to be easy! Am I supposed to lie to you? No, I won't do that. You won't get better if I sugar coat things. You went in there with an ego and he humbled you. You should be thinking of strategies for the next meeting not revenge!" she shouted back at him again.
"Get out of here," Dedrick screamed at her, ignoring all of her words.
"FINE!" she screamed back in anger, before turning and leaving the hospital wing. She made it a point to slam the door of the hospital wing behind her. The walk to the library was a short one, but felt like it took much longer. She couldn't believe how much of an ass Dedrick had been to her.
Alina knew herself to be more competitive than anyone else she knew. When she had lost the dueling tournament this summer she had wanted nothing more than to hex someone. But she didn't, she had sucked it up and moved on. Dedrick had kicked her ass, he had humbled her. Instead of bitching about it she went straight to the library when she got home and got to work. He was acting childish, and she was in no mood to babysit. She would try again with him later after he apologized to her and cooled off.
"Well you look like hell," Marik said to her as she sat down loudly at their table in the library.
"Do you really want to say that to me right now Marik?" she asked him, ready to hex him at the drop of a wand if he answered her wrong.
"Good point. Here," he said, handing her a book.
"What am I looking for?" she asked them as she took the book from Marik.
"We divided the riddle up and are going to look at it line by line. The line you are looking into is: What's left unsolved could end your years. Look for any spells, puzzles, rituals, riddles, and anything else that could end in death if solved incorrectly or not at all," Harry answered her.
"Simple enough," she replied sarcastically.
Thank god for books and magic is all she had to say. After being in a horrible mood, nothing was more relaxing and calming than turning the pages of new books and reading up on new magics. For a few hours the three of them went through countless books on Durmstrang's shelves. Both of the boys were obviously exhausted from the task and made slow progress but she did her best to keep pushing them harder. Since she wasn't able to help them during the tasks in between them was the only time where she could help them.
Harry had been looking into anything with doors, walls, and halls, and had for the most part come up dry on anything to insightful. Marik was looking into famous puzzles and riddles to see if he could find anything that might shed some light, but he also for the most part had found nothing useful.
"Harry look!" Marik said sounding excited after a while, she craned her neck to see what he had found.
"What am I looking at?" Harry asked confused as he scanned over the book Marik had put in front of his face.
"This book used to belong to a student here at Durmstrang. There are quill markings on almost every page and look, it's the Deathly Hallows symbol," Marik answered Harry.
"What do the Deathly Hallows have to do with the clue?" she asked him confused. She had been read the children's story of the hallows and the four brothers countless times growing up. She knew the legends and rumors of the story well, but was unsure of how they applied to the clue exactly.
"It doesn't have anything to do with the clue. Look at his notes on this page," Marik told them, laying the book down on the table.
One down four to go. Was written in the margins of an article on legends of the elder wand.
"So whoever wrote in this book owned the Elder Wand?" she asked him looking at the quill marks written right next to the wand part of the symbol. She was still a little confused.
"How do you know they really had it?" Harry asked him.
"I don't, but I've been reading all the notes whoever owned the book took as I skimmed the pages. This person definitely knew their magic, so I think it is a real possibility," Marik answered her, his voice still excited.
"But the Deathly Hallows are just part of legend, no one knows if they actually exist," she tried to argue.
"I think they do. And I think Harry already has one too," Marik argued.
"This again?" Harry interrupted Marik.
"You think Harry's cloak is the invisibility cloak?" she asked him, assuming that was what he meant.
"Yeah, I do, and from all the research I did on the hallows over the summer I think they are real and out there somewhere," Marik told them both as he continued to scan the book.
"Well who owned the book?" Harry asked him, still shaking his head at the conversation.
"I don't know unfortunately. All I can make out is a big cursive G next to the date on the inside cover," Marik answered sounding disappointed.
"G hmm. . . Grindelwald maybe?" she suggested, Marik's eyes went wide. "He did go to Durmstrang back in his day."
"Alina you are a genius!" Marik shouted as he bent over the table to give her a hug.
"Uhh thanks," She replied, caught off guard from the sudden hug from Marik.
"Kingsley mentioned over the summer that a lot of people suspected Grindelwald had the Elder Wand during the war. I don't know how I forgot about that. I'm gonna have to look up books on Grindelwald then," Marik told them as he stood up from the table.
"Not right now you're not," Harry told him, looking at his watch. "It's time for dinner now and Hermione will kill us if we come back to the library empty handed."
"Ugh, fineee!" Marik complained, admitting defeat. They all followed Harry's lead and began packing up their things before putting all of their books back onto their shelves before leaving the library.
"Since when have you been so interested in the Deathly Hallows by the way?" she asked Marik as they headed towards the dining hall.
"Since Luna and me found a children's book over the summer and I learned about them," Marik answered her.
"Oh. How you doing with that by the way?" Alina asked Marik, wondering how he was dealing with the breakup now that the first task was over and he was back in reality.
"With what?" he asked her as they made their way into the dining hall and found three seats in the Hogwart's section.
"With the whole Luna thing!" she shouted at him, he could be so dense sometimes.
"Oh that, I haven't really thought about it all day. I've been too busy with the task, I'll be fine though," he answered her as they sat down. Guess he really wasn't taking Luna breaking up with him too hard. Either that or he wasn't letting her know how much it was affecting him.
"Well that's good I guess," she replied, not really sure what to say.
"The dining hall is extra packed tonight," Harry said as they all waited for the food to appear.
"Wonder if they are making an announcement about the tournament or something," Marik commented as they all stared around the hall. Sure enough as they sat down and more people made their way into the dining hall Durmstrang's Headmaster made his way to the podium and silenced the hall.
"Before the feast begins I have a few quick words. The Triwizards' Tournament is an event of great tradition, and I am happy to announce tonight that one of everyone's favorite events of the tournament will be taking place this year. On Christmas evening, just a few days before the second task, Durmstrang will be playing host to the Yule Ball!" the Headmaster announced loudly and immediately excited whispers spread throughout the hall before he continued.
"The Yule Ball is a spectacular event that provides the students of the three schools the opportunity to socialise and take a break from everything else. The Yule Ball is a formal dance, that has been a part of the Triwizards' Tournament since the very beginning. The event is formal, which means formal attire is required of all, and all students are expected to attend. So get started on searching for your date! The ball will start right at eight o'clock on Christmas Day. Now, let the feast begin!" the Headmaster announced and the loud roar of people discussing the Yule Ball immediately proceeded.
"Ugh! Guess this means I have to go get dress robes or a tux," Marik complained as his head landed on the table.
"Why does everyone have to go? I don't want to go to a ball," Harry added, looking upset that he was being forced to attend.
"Oh it won't be that bad, it's only one night. Besides Harry, this means you can be close with Hermione all night. And hold her hands, grab her waist as you dance closely with her, maybe ki. . ." she teased him before he interrupted her.
"Okay I get it!" Harry said in a full blush. "I have to ask her to be my date first and she might say no."
"Oh shut up, you know she will say yes!" Alina told him. It was unreal how oblivious people could be.
"Well I guess I lost my date for the ball this morning. Guess I deserved it though," Marik said as he tried to steal a roll from her plate.
"I'm sure I can help find you a cute Durmstrang boy to go with," she joked, batting his hand away from her plate.
"Funny," Marik said, not seeming to find it funny though.
"What are you gonna do?" Harry asked Marik.
"Who knows, I'm not against going by myself. He just said we had to show up, he didn't say we had to stay long."
"It's gonna look weird when you start dancing by yourself though," she joked again, Marik rolled his eyes but let out a quiet laugh at her quip.
"Excuse me," a soft voice said from behind her and Marik. Alina turned around to see that it was one of Beauxbaton's champions, Fleur Delacour, standing tall and beautiful with her pretty silvery-blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and unfair body and Veela effects. The girl looked like a freaking super model. Alina really-really did not like the French girl and all her perfectness.
"Oh, hey Fleur," Harry greeted the girl first.
"Hello," Alina replied halfheartedly.
"Hey Fleur, what can we do for you? Congrats today by the way. We heard that you and your teammates did really well," Marik said to the tall blonde girl. Alina scoffed when she saw how Marik was looking at her.
Boys are so stupid. All they care about is big boobs, big butts, perfect skin, long legs, and everything else Fleur freaking had!
"Thank you," Fleur responded with a large, pearly-white smile. "I just wanted to tell you congratulations on your performance in the first task Marik. I watched a replay of the task and you were very impressive," Fleur said, speaking only to Marik. Alina was getting annoyed how the girl was definitely ignoring her and Harry sitting there and so obviously flirting with Marik in front of them.
"How did you watch a replay? I want to do that! And really? I didn't think I did much at all. I heard you took down a dragon, that's badass!" Marik asked the French girl who blushed a little at his compliment.
"You must be hungry after a task like that Fleur, you better go dig in before the food gets cold," Alina said with some annoyance to her voice, wanting the girl to leave their table.
"If you would like tomorrow I can take you to where I watched it and show you?" Fleur asked Marik, ignoring Alina completely. That only pissed off Alina some more.
Who did this chick think she was?
"Really? That would be amazing! Tomorrow then, it's a date!" Marik responded sounding excited, and failing to notice how is choice of words at the end made Fleur blush even more. It's a date meant a much different thing to Fleur than it did to Marik knowing her friend and looking at the expression on Fleur's face.
"I can't wait. Well I will see you tomorrow then Marik. Bye everyone." Fleur gave a little curtsey before turning away from them.
"I'm excited to get to see everything that happened! Harry you are gonna come too right?" Marik asked as he turned back around to face Harry.
"Uh. . . I don't think that is a good idea," Harry replied, his face a mixture of confusion.
"What? Why not? If we both watch all the other champions perspectives we might get some good ideas about what we are up against."
"Because I don't think I should be there on you and Fleur's first date," Harry pointed out, putting emphasis on his last word. Alina was beyond annoyed at this topic already.
"What are you talking about?" Marik asked, almost doing a spit take with his drink.
"He is just talking about how you totally just agreed to a freaking date with Fleur freaking Delacour tomorrow!" she shouted at him.
"No I didn't. She just offered to show me where I can watch the first task replay."
"You are an idiot Marik! To her you definitely just asked her on a date! God it must be so easy being you! You just break a girl's heart and move right on to the next upgraded version every fucking time!" she screamed at him, unable to control her anger and somewhat unsure of where it all had come from.
"What? Alina what is that supposed to mean?" Marik asked her as she stood up from her seat and started to leave the hall. "Where are you going?" he asked her again as she left.
"To see my boyfriend!" she shouted as she passed through the doorway of the dining hall and headed off towards the hospital wing.
**Please favorite, follow, or leave a quick review if you enjoyed the chapter!**
**Please go to the series forum and join a conversation or start a topic of your own! Link for forum can be found on profile page!**
**Please Check out the Open Polls on my Profile Page!**