#French#

$Bulgarian$

Parseltongue

Elven

'Thoughts'

Dwarven

(A/N: Here is a refresher on the Language department.)

Lone Child

Chapter 33: Arrival & What You've All Been Waiting For!

"So, how do they expect us to talk with these people? I doubt all of them speak English," said Fred shrugging on his Gryffindor outer robe. Somehow the whole group managed to loose track of time, and the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were due to arrive in 15 minutes.

James gave a Fred a look that clearly said 'You are so stupid.' "Both Trisstessa and I speak fluent French and almost fluent Bulgarian," said James.

"Is there anything you guys can't do?" asked George, sounding a bit jealous.

"I can't shift into more than one animal," Triss responded.

"I can't hold onto my family," James replied just as easily. Fred and George flinched. Both knew how tense of a subject family was becoming around James. Most of the group pitied him for his lack of a loving family. Triss was the exception, as she knew what it was like and considered James family, and vise versa.

"Come on, we need to get going," said Dray, catching up to them. "Everyone else is already on the grounds."

"Okay, okay, we're going," said Triss, pushing James along, with Fred and George following. They entered the hall a few minutes later and walked out on to the school grounds through the main doors, under the disapproving glares of all of the professors, including the new DADA professor, Alastor Mad-eye Moody.

"See you guys in a bit," said James as the group of 5 departed, the twins to go join the 6th year Gryffs and James, Triss and Dray to go join the Slytherin 4th years. The professors made one last round through the groups of students, making sure that they were all presentable. All of the professors, without exception, glared at James and Triss as they went by.

'WTF?' asked Triss.

'I don't know. It must have something to do with the World Cup,' James responded. 'As you said, it seems like everything has something against one of us these days.'

'It's still weird. I've never seen Dragon get mad at you for something you did, and I've never seen Fudge do anything remotely intelligent,' Triss said.

'Yeah, well. There isn't too much we can do about it, so let it lie,' James responded.

Triss didn't comment further and the two of them waited for the arrival of the students. Five minutes later James caught the sound of horse hooves in the distance. Four very large pure white horses appeared out of thin air. "What are those?" Dray asked, looking at the horses.

"Pegasi. They are a female version of Pegasus. Remember the movie we watched last summer, 'Reign of Fire'?" James asked. Dray nodded. "Their breeding habits are the same as the dragons in the movie. One male impregnates the females and when the male is ready to die he creates another male, who takes over."

"Cool," said Dray. Evans shot them a glare and they stopped talking. The first out of the large carriage the Pegasi carried was a woman that James quickly identified as a half giant. She was followed by several young woman and a few young men. One of the young women James identified as part Veela. This belief was only enforced as most of the Hogwarts males started drooling over her.

The half-giant James knew as Madam Maxime walked over to Dumbledore and shook his hand. They conversed for a few minutes when a whirlpool started in the lake. Out of the whirlpool came a fair sized wooden ship.

The ship docked and several young men and women pored out, and none other than Igor Karkaroff lead them. It took a lot of restraint on James' part not to go strangle the man. He was one of the group of Death Eaters that had attacked and killed his adoptive parents.

Like Madam Maxime Karkaroff shook Dumbledore's hand. After talking for a few minutes Dumbledore signaled for all of the students to go into the Great Hall. The Hogwarts students sat at their respective tables, and the foreign students picked where they wanted to sit.

The part Veela girl's group sat at the Slytherin table, across from James, Triss, Dray, Mel and Gin. At the Gryffindor table there was a group of athletic looking boys, all a little to close to Kat for his or Dray's liking, and Rome didn't seem to like it either. James was surprised to find that the boy sitting closest to Kat was none other than Victor Krum, a player from the World Cup.

"Shall we kill him now or later?" Dray whispered.

"Later, unless he tries anything," James responded. Dumbledore then stood and made a small speech, and the feast began. James and Dray quickly became uncomfortable when the girls from Beauxbatons started eyeing them like fresh meat. They started talking in rapped French, talking about some rather inappropriate things.

#You really shouldn't talk about people when they understand what you're saying,# said Triss in perfect French not even taking her eyes off of her plate. The chatter stopped and the group of about 6 girls blushed crimson. James and Triss stifled chuckles.

And Dragon said speaking other human languages wouldn't come in handy, James said smirking. He immediately regretted saying anything because the girls started eyeing him dreamily. Oi vay.

You can say that again, Triss responded glaring at the blond French girls. They didn't seem to notice. About 15 minutes later everyone had finished eating and Dumbledore stood again.

"I would like to formally welcome students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. I'm sure most of you know the reason for you all being here, but for those of you that don't know, Hogwarts is to be hosting the first Tri-wizard tournament in over 100 years," Dumbledore announced.

Some students clapped, others just looked shocked. "One week from tonight there will be a drawing from the Goblet of Fire. The bravest student to enter themselves from each school shall be chosen. After you enter your name it cannot be withdrawn, and if you are chosen as the participant from your school, you must participate. Now, before the younger students start to get their hopes up, only students 17 or older may enter their name," said Dumbledore. Some of the younger students booed, but James couldn't have been happier.

"Finally, a calm, relaxing year," he whispered to Triss. She agreed whole-heartedly.

"The Goblet of Fire shall be set up in the main entrance hall, inside an age line. I suggest that you do not try to enter your name if you are below the required age," Dumbledore finished. "Now, I suggest you all go to bed. Visiting students, you may choose the dormitory you wish to stay in. Good night."

I think Slytherin may have a few visitors tonight, said Triss, seeing how the group of French girls were eyeing James and Dray.

"Oh no," James sighed, smacking his head on the wooden table. Dray seemed to share that belief, thankfully Gin had seen it as well and was now glaring at the girls. Dray smirked and wrapped his arm around Gin's waist.

I think your situation just got worse, said Triss, as the girl's full attention fell on James.

Triss, I would normally never ask you this, but help, James pleaded as the girls eyed him hungrily.

Of course, come on, said Triss standing up. James followed her lead as she practically attached herself to him. Triss walked side by side with James towards the Slytherin Common room, with the French girls following not too far behind. James hardly had time to process what was going on before he found himself sitting on one of the chairs in the common room with Triss straddling him, and kissing him.

Now, one would think that these were only small little pecks here and there, but no. These kisses were full force, on the lips, tongue and all. James was just a little shocked, but quickly caught up. About 5 minutes later the clearing of someone's throat broke the warming couple apart.

None other than Draco Malfoy stood over them with a wide, knowing smirk on his face. "So, when were you planning on telling the rest of us?" Dray asked.

"What are you talking about?" James asked, his voice slightly husky. Both were still too shocked to disentangle themselves from each other.

"Well, from your current position, I would say you two are rather close," said Dray.

"We were trying to get the French blondes to leave James alone," Triss replied.

"The girls left right after the first minute. You two have been at it for a good 5 minutes, we timed it," said Dray, motioning to Gin, who held a stopwatch. It was then that the two of them notice the common room was empty.

"Where is everyone?" James asked.

"No one else is back from dinner yet. Good thing for you guys too, other wise the whole school would know by breakfast. As it is now, you'll be lucky if they don't know by dinner tomorrow night."

&&&&&&&&&&

And Dray had been right. By dinner the next night the whole school was under the influence that James and Triss were a couple. Dumbledore was visibly sulking and sending glares and the two of them, which they either ignored, or returned. The other professors looked mildly interested, but none asked.

It only got worse the next morning at breakfast when the two of them got a letter from Sirius with a full sex ed. talk. "God help us," James groaned, smacking his head on the table.

"One would wonder why so many people care," said Triss, glaring at a few of the Bulgarian boys who were looking at her with interest.

"Please, this is like the scandal of the century. Dumbledore's unofficial granddaughter and a rich orphan boy. I wouldn't be surprised if this ended up in the papers," said Rome, sitting down at the Slytherin table.

"Yeah, that was quite a show you two put on last night," said Gin. James gave her the Byrd.

"Well, look at it this way, other girls aren't looking at you like fresh meat," Kat added. "I, on the other hand, an being eyed like a lamb chop no matter how clear I make it that I have a boyfriend."

"Too true. O'well, there wasn't much we could do anyway," said Triss. She seemed to be handling the whole thing a lot better than James was, then again, she was always cool under pressure.

"Right. Come on, we need to get to class. I don't like the look Poppy is giving me," said James, standing up. Triss followed, as did Dray. The three Slytherin's all had potions next, while the Gryffs had COMC and the 3 years had DADA.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Potions went by with out any major accidents. However, Poppy had managed to corner James and Triss and give them a full blown 'birds and the bees' talk. James didn't know if his face would ever be the right color again, with all the blushing he did. Triss was in a similar state, though her eyes were glazed over, and James had to steer her to make sure she didn't fall down the stairs or something like that.

"Come on Triss, lets go train. It should keep people off of us for a while," said James, subtly sneaking Triss into his and Dray's room and into his trunk training room.

"I'm going for a swim," Triss declared. She disappeared into the bathroom to change into her bathing suit, and James did the same. A few minutes later James returned to find Triss already swimming laps. Silently he dropped into the pool and joined her. Nearly two hours later Triss called for James's attention.

"You don't think your dad will try to give us 'the talk' do you?" she asked.

"I seriously doubt it. He doesn't give a damn what goes on in my life. I would be surprised if he bothers to acknowledge me at graduation," said James.

"It sounds like he's turning into quite the bastard," Triss commented.

"Yep. What about Dumbledore? You think he's going to try to give us 'the talk'?" James asked, cringing.

"No. I swear, for an anti-pureblood person he sure is worried about me marrying a pureblooded wizard. He's probably trying to find me a husband as we speak. Ass hole," Triss growled.

"What about publicly? Think we should carry on the charade? It would keep the foreigners off of us, and no one would question where we disappear to all the time," said James.

"Sounds good. But why would it have to be a charade?" Triss asked innocently.

James was slightly confused. "What are you talki-" James was cut off by Triss covering his mouth with her own. Like a few nights before it took James a few seconds to process the fact that his best female friend had her legs wrapped tightly around his waist and was kissing him, tongue and all.

Normally James would have pushed her off, but her was, oddly enough, enjoying the contact. A few minutes later James was shocked to find that some how he had pinned Triss to the side of the pool, removed the top of her bikini and was working on the bottom, while Triss was working on it board shorts.

"Stop, stop, stop. We need to stop," James panted, backing off of Triss a little. She looked confused, and a little hurt. "No, this is wrong. I am NOT going to take a girl's virginity in a pool," James declared.

Triss seemed to snap back to reality, and quickly put the top of her suit back on. "Um, sorry got to go," she squeaked running off to the bathroom. James groaned.

"That did not just happen. I did not almost have sex with my best friend in a pool. Nope didn't happen," James said to himself, going into his bathroom to change, all the while trying to convince himself that that whole event didn't just happen.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Sadly enough for the couple neither could convince themselves that that little event didn't happen. With that they ended locked in Triss's room for a nice long talk. "I take it you're just as confused as I am," said James. Triss nodded. "Personally, I have no problem with the two of us starting to date and what not, but I'm shutting up now," he said awkwardly.

Triss sat cross-legged on her bed in deep thought. "I think," she began, "That this was going to happen one way or another. Remember our bond? Dragon just told us it was a soul bond, her never elaborated. My guess is that it's more than that, and that we were going to end up together no matter what we did."

"So you're saying we never had a choice and that we've more or less been destined to fall in love with each other since we were 8 years old?" James asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Not the most romantic ways to get together, but still, it's getting together," Triss sighed, laying back on her bed.

"So what do you purpose we do?" James asked, sitting down next to her.

"Well, I doubt people are really going to care about the fact that we're together anymore than they already do. I don't know about you, but this is kind of awkward, and weird," Triss commented, James agreed.

"So, what are we going to do to Dragon for not telling us?" James asked. Triss laughed.

"What do you have in mind?" Triss asked.

"I'm not sure yet. I think something that has to do with a pole this winter," James thought.

"Maybe we should call Fred and George in on this one," Triss suggested.

"Maybe, maybe not," James said with a grin. For the third time in less than a week James found himself kissing his best friend, and he was liking it. In the course of about 5 minutes James had removed Triss's shirt, bra, and skirt, and she had managed to get his shirt and jeans off.

With a snap of James's fingers several locking and silencing spells had been placed up. For the rest of the afternoon and night the two shared themselves with each other, not worrying about the outside world or what they would think should they ever find out.

(A/N: Okay, I know I said James and Triss wouldn't get together for a while, but I changed my mind. I hope all of you James/Triss lovers are happy. And you can also thank my BR, who more or less walked me through the whole romance thing. I've said it once, and I'll say it again, Romance is NOT my thing. Oh! I think I just broke 100,000 words with this chapter! Go me! And, much to my excitement, I just turned 14! May 14, 2004! Go me again! Oy, I think I over did it with the cake and soda… And finally! I'm sorry this is late. I've just had to deal with a week of final exams, and my brain is no longer functional…In the mean time I'm going to go hide under a rock so I can't be murdered for this chapter…)

SiLvErFaTeD: It's so nice to know people like my story. It gives me such a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Wytil: Sadly I get 'big brothered' all the time, even though, should the event call for it, I can toss my older brothers. I think I shocked my whole family when my brother Don started teasing me and I pinned him to a wall, regardless of that he's 6'5" and 300 pounds…

Athenakitty: I know, the part about Fudge is frightening, but it ties in with the rest of it, I think. James gets whacked several times, and almost every girl in the group James considers a sister, therefore he must approve of boy friends.

Gaul 1: Thanks.

Iced flame: Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't. No way to tell.

Lunawolf: I'll try. Hopefully I'll have a lot of time on my hands, because the school year is ending. But then again, we have finals at the end of the week.

PrinceHarry: Thanks.

Jennifer: I'm working on my chapters as fast as humanly possible. If I type any faster I'll be classified as a non-human. Hold on…I thought I was a non-human already…Confused moment.

Insanechildfanfic: Many, many thanks.

Potter-man1: Thanks. Nice to know people like my story.

Cyre: I know, it was short, but I didn't want you guys to have to suffer another week so I could get it all finished. As I've said before, school is being a pain in the ass, and I have finals next week. I wait for the first day of summer!

Beea20: For a while, I had considered letting the goblet give out his name, but then I remembered, Lily Potter never named him so his magically binding name will always be James Alexander Shadow Cage. As for his shifting abilities dropping, well, you'll see. Lily will find out within the next 10 or so chapters. It depends on how long I take with the tournament.

Howling wolf1: No worries, I'm working on it, though I am starting to have trouble with this thing called Writer's block. O'well, this is what my chain saw is for!

Saetan: No worries, I try to update weekly, on Sundays or Wednesdays.

No name TTTT: James (Harry) is 11. I know, people seem to think he is too big, but you have to understand that he isn't human, he's Elven, Sidhe and a few other races.

Serpent of Light: Damn straight! Girl Power rules! But please! No descriptive words for laughing, my reading teacher just spent a whole semester on how many ways you can laugh, and I've been seriously disturbed.

RunningInCircles: Thanks.

Sweet-single: No, not yet. Lily will find out soon though.

GY: I kind of did that on purpose. I wanted to show the line between how James and Triss act in comparison to say, Dray, in first year. Both have been through somewhat dramatic experiences and act more mature because of it. Kat is the same way, and the twins are older. The whole height thing ties in with that fact that they are Elves.

I'm not the weakest link: Thanks. Oy, cool pen name…