"Ms. Kingsley, you cannot attack another student, no matter what the circumstances!" Professor McGonagall said exasperatedly.

"Professor, he was verbally abusing a little girl!" I was nearly shouting. "Frankly, I don't even understand why you bother to teach people like him! They're cruel and vile and they use their abilities to kill and torment wherever they go! Why does Hogwarts allow students like them and why does Ollivander make wands for people like them!? They're not even cheats or liars or just bullies- they're murderers, Professor."

Professor McGonagall watched me rave. When I had finally finished, out of breath and strangled out of words by frustration, McGonagall said, "Raylynx, I understand your concerns. But understand this: Every person deserves a life without prejudice- and that goes for purebloods just as much as Muggle-borns. You do not know, until the very end, what a person will grow to be and whether it will be for good or evil. Can you understand that?"

Slowly, I nodded.

"Good. Now, I will let you off with a detention this time, but I fear I will have no choice but to suspend you should such an event arise again."

Quietly, I murmured, "Yes, Professor."

"Very well. Now let us put such dismal news behind us and begin with Dissularation, the Study of Disguise, as based on Human Transfiguration."


"Hey, Raylynx! Raylynx!"

Having just finished Dissularation, I had headed straight for the dorm for some peace and quiet. I turned just before I reached the girl's dormitory in the Gryffindor common room to see James Potter coming up to me, a bit out of breath.

"Ray, I've been calling out your name for a while now."

"Sorry. I suppose I was a bit preoccupied,".

"Well, you left your broomstick at my house last summer. Did you know?"

Did I know? Of course I knew. I'd left it there on purpose so I'd never have to fly again.

"No, it must've slipped my mind," I said uneasily. "Sorry about that."

"Oh, well, it's no problem," James said, shrugging.

"You can keep it, though," I said. "It's really not-"

"But I've already- I mean I brought it with me. It's here, in my dorm room," James replied rather awkwardly.

"Oh."

James waited for me to say more, but when I didn't, James said, "Shall I get it then?"

I forced a smile onto my face. "Yeah, that'd be brilliant. Thanks."

I followed him up to the boy's dorm.

"Well, I don't know about you two but I'm going down to lunch," someone was saying as James pushed open the door.

It was still as messy as ever, if not more. Now all sorts of Wizarding games and what looked like a Muggle unicycle was in the center of the room.

"Wormtail, will you please get off my leg so I can go to lunch?" Remus was saying patiently to a half-asleep Peter who had his arms wrapped around Remus' left knee.

James entered. "Hey, Moony. Where's Padfoot?"

"With that girl from Ravenclaw- Eliza Remington might've been her name," Remus said tartly and his tone left no question as to what exactly Sirius and Eliza were up to.

"Here you are," James said, pulling a broomstick out from under his bed. He handed it to me. I took it and said, "Thanks".

For a moment, I swore I felt Remus' uneasy gaze on me but the next moment he was completely focused on trying to ease Peter off his leg.

"Oh, and keep your eyes out this evening, won't you?" James said brightly as I stood by to let Remus pass me without a single word.

"For what?" I said uneasily.

"My next gift for Lily."

"Oh, James, please don't-"

"But I've already set it up."

"You had to set it up?"

"Yeah, the balloons, the glitter, the…"


And sure enough, when Lily entered the Great Hall, the sound of five hundred balloons popping went off at once, scaring the entire student population and most of the staff as well. Glitter and confetti rained down on Lily, sticking all over her red hair and wool sweater. Even her eyelashes had glitter on them.

There was dead silence.

Then a Slytherin girl snickered. "She looks like a stripper."

"You would know," Marlene snapped back.

"James," I said tersely, sitting beside him and Remus at the Gryffindor table, "did you think this through at all?"

"Does he ever?" Remus muttered under his breath on James' other side.

"Oh, you don't like it?" James said, running a nervous hand through his hair. "I got the idea off the back of a Hogsmeade chocolate bar wrapper. It said to 'creatively shower your loved one with love'. I didn't think she'd actually let me take a shower with her, so this was the only reasonable alternative."

"Reasonable," Remus snorted.

"Maybe," I suggested, as Lily stomped over to us, glitter flying off of her with every movement like some deranged fairy, "you should ask for a refund. Preferably enough money to cover your funeral costs."

"Pot-ter," Lily spat out vehemently, and with each syllable a little poof of glitter left her and settled in James' hair.

"Yes?" James said eagerly.

"You are so dead," Lily said through gritted teeth.

"Not exactly the confession I was hoping for," James gulped. "Not exactly the future I'd imagined us having."

Lily reached out and grabbed his hair.

"If you're going to kiss me, Lily flower, you don't have to grasp my hair quite so hard," James said, wincing.

Lily let out a roar of frustration.

Marlene stood up and tugged Lily's arm with two hesitant fingers, not wanting to 'catch' the glitter disease. "McGonagall," she warned.

Trying to maintain whatever dignity was left, Lily slid into a seat and began to pour herself some water.

"Ooh," a nearby first year girl with sparkling eyes, whom I recognized as the first year who'd been bullied by Travers, said, clasping her hands together as she stared at Lily, "are you a unicorn? Can I touch you?"

I burst out laughing.

"It's not funny," Lily said through gritting teeth.

"I know, I know," I said hastily, and quickly hid my face in my hands, trying desperately not to laugh.


Between Crouch and Collins, Astronomy was becoming three-times-a-week torture. I finally managed to snatch a seat besides another Slytherin girl named Serena Vera.

"Sorry," I muttered, "but listen, I promise I won't bother you in any way. I'm just here because-"

"How about you shut up?" she said to me sharply, not bothering to look at me.

"Yeah," I said in a small voice, "Great."

Merlin. Sixth years are so much scarier than seventh years.

In front of me, I heard a pair of Gryffindor girls chatting quietly together.

The long, blonde-haired girl sighed. "I feel bad. I always want to talk to her, but I never know what to say. I mean, she has no friends. She must have been held back or something."

"You could start with 'hey'," the short, black-haired girl answered, smirking at her.

Who are they talking about? I wondered.

Then the blonde-haired girl swiveled around in her seat and after a deep breath said to me, "Hey."

"Hey," I responded, torn between amusement and embarrassment. They're talking about me. They think I got held back a year and that I'm an outcast.

Fabulous.

"I'm Elizabeth Hazel," she said brightly and extended her hand for me to shake. Trying to repress a laugh, I took it and let her shake it rather pompously.

"And I'm Julie Lee," the black-haired girl introduced herself.

"So, you're a seventh year, right?" Julie asked.

I nodded.

"How'd you end up in this class?" she asked.

"I wasn't able to take it my sixth year," I replied honestly. I truly hadn't, as my wand-making classes prioritized other classes before this one.

Elizabeth gave Julie a significant look as if to say, "See."

I barely stifled another laugh as Collins walked in then, exactly thirty seconds before the lesson began. The girls turned around to face the front.

I leaned back in my seat.

I heard Regulus laugh quietly two seats back.

I felt the corners of my mouth turn up in hush amusement.

"Something funny, Ms. Kingsley?" Collins barked out at me.

"No, sir," I said, trying to sound humble and fighting the natural sarcasm Collins always managed to bring out of me.


September faded gently into October that year and soon, it was time for the Letra Damien and Academie des Talonxs students to arrive. This could otherwise be known as the day that Dorcas and I successfully added the hellebore, powdered bicorn horn, and knotgrass to the Potion, accompanied by a bipolar Myrtle, who alternated between being gloomy or giggly, and always threatened to tell on us. Or this day could be known as the day the Marauders managed to infiltrate the Slytherin common room and laid a ton of childish booby traps, including stepping onto the rug only to have a crater of eggs fall all over the victim or opening the common door only to find an unpleasantly zoomed-in picture of Snape in their way. Classic.

We were to gather at the front of the school and wait for the students to arrive but quite honestly, I had no interest in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. I wasn't going to enter as I had no desire to make a fool out of myself any more than I already did. I instead tried to stay and talk with Professor Maudrick after Defense Against the Dark Arts had ended half an hour early, but Professor Maudrick shooed me out, telling me that I was being an anti-social hag. When I brought up that he wasn't going either, Professor Maudrick shot me a grin and said sternly, "I'm old enough to be justified in my argument that I prefer being an anti-social hag, but you're too young. Go, now."

So I made my way out to the grounds to await for the schools and found myself standing between a group of Ravenclaws and Slytherins. I spotted Regulus amongst the crowd, standing at the edge of the group of Slytherins, and slowly made my way through the crowd until I was standing next to him. I adamantly faced forward and once he had turned his head and glimpsed me, he too pretended to ignore me. Or is he pretending? What if everything was really just... a lie?

But his hand carefully reached out to take mine and I felt a flutter of fear shoot through my heart as our fingers touched.

When he felt me tremble, he immediately began to withdraw his hand, but I just managed to clasp onto his fingertips with mine.

He didn't move, but he felt me calm down as a blossoming warmth began to overtake the fear. My fingers stopped trembling and instead, my hand slowly slid into his.

A nearby fourth year whom I recognized as Roxanne Weasley suddenly asked aloud, "How are they getting here?"

"School carriages?" a Ravenclaw fourth-year offered, but he was immediately shot down by others.

"Don't think these schools are going to miss an opportunity to show off," some wise seventh-year explained. "It's going to be something impressive."

"Like dragons?" an excited second-year piped up.

Next to me, Xenophilius Lovegood scoffed. "No dragon is going to be controlled by wizards."

Then, somebody suddenly shouted, "The clouds! Look at the clouds!"

We peered up at the clouds and sure enough, the completely cloudy sky had rays of gold peeking through, as though the sun was coming out.

Slowly the entire sky began to glitter brilliantly like diamonds had been encrusted in the skies.

"Wow..." I heard a first year breath out, but he was not the only one. Many people gasped at the beauty.

Suddenly, the clouds burst apart and for a moment, dazzling golden light blinded us all.

"Now's your chance to anonymously kiss your crush!" Sirius shouted loudly from somewhere to my left. A lot of people laughed, and the laughter only grew when James Potter yelled, "Lily Evans!"

"I said anonymously, you dimwit!" Sirius yelled back.

But both of them fell silent as we witnessed a large tent-like thing coast down out of the sky on an elaborately decorated royal purple and blue carpet. It even had large tassels of yarn and crystals at each of the four corners.

"Oh Merlin, is that a magic carpet?" somebody said, awestruck.

"I thought those were banned ages ago," William Darcy frowned.

Jay Salinger, Dorcas' boyfriend, nudged him and said, "Just enjoy the show while you can. If they are banned, this is your once-in-a-lifetime chance to see this."

And indeed, we watched as the carpet gently coasted down towards Hogwarts and landed on the sloping lawns of Hogwarts.

When it finally touched down, we could all see how gorgeously elaborate the tent structure atop the carpet was as well. Its fabric was shimmery orange-red and covered all over with gems of every color possible. There was also a sort-flap that must be the entrance, and it was distinctly marked with a symbol of a white tree with a silver Crescent moon carved into its trunk. The tree was surrounded by six eight-pointed stars.

And then suddenly the symbol was hidden from view as the flap rolled up- and people began to exit out of the tent.

The first to exit was a man in his late thirties or early forties. He had a rather haughty face with eyebrows that made him look like he would never believe a word of what you would say. His sandy hair had streaks of light blue.

Professor Dumbledore was already at the very front of the crowd and the two wizards grasped each other's hands and pleasantly greeted each other, obviously pleased to see each other. Suddenly, the man made a sweeping gesture towards the tent and the Hogwarts students watched in awed silence as around fifty students walked single-file out of the tent. They gathered in front of Professor Dumbledore and bowed to him.

They were dressed in appropriate student attire and not a single shirt was left untucked, but each was dressed in glittering robes of light blue.

Professor Dumbledore smiled warmly at them before speaking loudly to the Hogwarts students. "{lease welcome the Headmaster, Professor Cadmus, and students of Academie des Talonxs!"

We all politely applauded, though Regulus' and my hands quickly found one another again, but Professor Dumbledore remarked, "No need to be reserved."

Then everyone cheered, screamed, wolf-whistled, and James and Sirius let a bunch of green and red lights explode from their wands. The students from Academie des Talonxs laughed and waved at us.

"They seem nice enough," Jay commented and beside him, William nodded.

Then, the Headmaster from Academie des Talonxs suddenly put on a hand and snapped his finger and the entire carpet, tent and all, rolled up in a tiny ball. He tucked it into his pocket and then proceeded to line up with the rest of his students to await Letra Damien.

And we had not long to wait.

This time it was a first-year who excitedly shouted and pointed at the Forbidden Forest.

We gasped again as the Forbidden Forest suddenly became a forest of light pink cherry blossoms, with sunlight shining through.

Suddenly two trees leaped aside as six unicorns galloped through, pulling an elegant carriage along the ground. As they passed, the cherry blossoms twirled and fell to the forest floor, before disappearing without a trace. The carriage, which was absolutely huge, and a beautiful white and gold, was pulled across the entire lake without leaving so much as a ripple.

The unicorns pulled the carriage across the lawns and came to a stop, rearing and neighing where Academie des Talonxs' magic carpet had been moments ago. Again, the emblem of the school- a crown made of roses was carved into the entrance of the large carriage. And the entrance opened- A woman of many years lightly climbed down the steps of the carriage before turning her beautiful grey eyes to appraise us all. One could tell that this woman had been a very fine woman indeed. The streaks of grey in her hair and the wrinkles she possessed now did not detract from her beauty in the slightest. Rather, it gave her the power that came with age. Otherwise, she was a gorgeous lady who had a slightly aristocratic air about her. She bowed gracefully to us all, and we immediately found ourselves bowing back without hesitation. She approached both Headmasters and inclined her head before she snapped her fingers.

At her snap, students exited out of the carriage. They came out in pairs, led by a very tall blonde boy and a girl who gave off the same aristocratic feel as the Headmaster had. It seemed that they had also brought around fifty students.

We clapped politely again and this time, Professor Dumbledore did not ask us for more.

Dumbledore led the Headmasters and their students into the castle and the Hogwarts students began to clamber in after them, towards the Great Feast that awaited us all.

Regulus and I immediately let go of each other's hands and I hurried to enter the Hall before him. It was like nothing had happened. And nothing had, except between the two of us.


The welcoming feast had finished soon enough, and by the end of it, the students from Academie des Talonxs had all found friends amongst the Hogwarts students.

"Your robes are pretty cool," Marlene addressed a girl from Academie des Talonxs.

"Thanks," she replied, her vibrant blue eyes meeting Marlene's confidently.

"Our robes change every month depending on what color my brother decides to change everything," she explained, and nodded her head towards an obviously popular boy also wearing the same glittering blue robes.

"That's my twin brother, Julian. Kids at our school call him Midas because he turns the whole castle into whatever color he decides for a month. In honor of the tournament, its light blue, our school color, this month."

"He changes the whole school into one color?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah, last month was the pink phase. That was terrible. Everything except black ink was turned pink. Imagine pink statutes and ceilings for a month."

"And he gets away with that every time?" Lily asked, disbelieving. "Don't you have rules enforced against that kind-of behavior?"

"Well, he is pretty brilliant. I guess you can say he's the star student. The teachers encourage him because his talent at color-changing is growing. His first year, he could only cover his bedsheets in one spell. Now he can cover a classroom and everything in it."

"Impressive. But what about you? What's your name?" Alice asked.

"I'm Lorraine," she introduced herself.

"That's a pretty name," Alice said.

Dorcas leaned over to me and whispered, "If this Julian kid is half as talented as she claims, it seems like Sirius and James will have competition this year."

The students from Letra Damien seemed to prefer speaking amongst themselves. Though they were not rude in any way, they rarely spoke to any student outside of their school unless necessary.

Dumbledore stood up then and spoke to everyone in the hall. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts, and - most particularly – guests. I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

"Now, let us address why we are all gathered together this night. As you know, three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore now took out his wand and tapped three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames. Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools."

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," said Dumbledore, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under sixth year will be able to cross this line."

There was, predictably, a lot of discouraged and frustrated sounds from the younger students at this announcement.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. And as a Champion, you stand alone. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

"Well," Lorraine said, smiling at us, "it was nice to meet you. See you around, I hope."

We returned her farewell as we all headed for the exit at the Great Hall. Never before had there been so many different students trying to get to so many different places at once. I found myself shoved forward and slammed into someone else's back. I winced in pain but muttered, "Sorry" to the person in front of me.

The person I'd slammed into turned around. His expression was not friendly at all. He was quite tall with blonde hair and cold gray eyes.

I opened my mouth to apologize, but he'd already strode away, out of the Great Hall and towards the exit of the castle.


The next morning, Marlene insisted that we stay and watch the extremely hectic chaos in the Great Hall as the other school candidates all put in their slips of paper, followed by sixth and seventh years from Hogwarts, and finally, a spectacular display of younger students trying to get their names in. It was quite amusing to watch fifth-years Bilius Weasley and Sturgis Podmore grow beards and have their robes transform into trousers. They promptly shifted into gear and began to perform an Irish jig, and someone conjured up a pair of pipes for them.

Then, the Marauders came in, with James in the lead. Naturally, they were followed by wild scrunched up her nose in distaste as he entered his name first to admiring applause, followed by Sirius and Peter. Lupin stayed back, watching the others with a kind-of longing.

Marlene jumped up then and I suddenly understood why she wanted to 'watch' everyone else put their names in. She had been waiting for this moment, to show Sirius that she was brave. With the Marauders looking on, Marlene strode forward confidently and dropped in her name. I stayed back and applauded for her and then for Lily, Dorcas, and even Alice.

I remembered watching Alice carefully write her name on a sheet of parchment last night.

"Even you?" I'd said.

She smiled at me sheepishly and shrugged, "It doesn't seem right not to."

I suddenly felt very aware of everybody looking at me, expecting me to drop my name in.

"Uh…"

"Come on," Marlene said overly-playful as she grabbed my arm and dragged me forward. "Aren't you putting your name in?"

Over her shoulder, I could see Sirius and James watching us.

"No, I'm not," I said.

"Oh, please," Marlene said and giggled in a way that was most unlike her.

"Marlene, what are you doing? She doesn't want to," Dorcas said.

"She's just saying that," Marlene said, rolling her eyes. She suddenly grabbed my book bag and opened it.

"Marlene," I hissed between my teeth which I'd clamped together in an attempt to look like I was smiling. I didn't want to embarrass her in front of everyone, particularly in front of Sirius.

She found my recently handed-back Astronomy essay with my name in the corner and my grade from Professor Collins- a T, for Troll, the lowest level possible. She ripped off the corner and before anyone could say anything, she started towards the Goblet.

"Marlene, don't put it in. It's not your name, you might get hurt," Alice warned.

Marlene then decided it'd be awfully eye-catching and funny to shove the parchment in my hand and drag me towards the Goblet of Fire.

"Marlene," I hissed fiercely, starting to get seriously annoyed.

Marlene suddenly shoved me forward and I fell against where the Goblet stood. The paper slipped from my hand up into the air.

"No! Don't let it fall! Catch it!" I shouted, but it was too late. With a single fuck-you flourish in the air, the piece of parchment fell into the Goblet of Fire.

It took all of my self-restraint not to strangle Marlene right there and then.

But remember- it won't pick you anyways. No need to get overworked about this, right? Right.

Still laughing heartily, Marlene glanced over at Sirius and James.

"If you're done, get out of the way."

I looked up and saw on the other side of the Age Line, the tall blonde-haired boy I'd seen yesterday. His expression wasn't scowling anymore, but it was frightfully stern. His sharp gray, burgundy, and black uniform were the colors of Letra Damien. I stepped out of the circle created by the Age Line and he entered instead, casting his name into the Goblet of Fire.

Then, Dorcas' expression turned murderous and she growled, "No. No way is that disgusting person going to be Hogwarts champion."

I followed her gaze to see none other than Bartemius Crouch Jr. striding up towards the Goblet.

Dorcas suddenly did something very foolish and very brave. She blocked his path, saying sharply to him, "And what makes you think you can even be considered for the Triwizard Tournament?"

Crouch fixed his perverted gaze on her and with a flick of his tongue replied, "I'm innocent. I'm here at Hogwarts and I have no idea what you're talking about. I should have just as many rights as you, half-blood."

"Innocent", Dorcas snorted. "You were the one who cursed Alice last year, you repulsive bastard!"

Besides me, Lily stepped protectively in front of Alice.

So it had been him. Him, who I had heard laughing in the Slytherin corridor after cursing Alice.

"I simply helped her break out of her shell," Crouch said and grinned viciously. "Now, if you would get out of my way, I don't really have time to chat with half-bloods."

I felt infuriated. I wanted to be brave so badly at that moment, I wished I could be like Dorcas and say something, anything. But my feet were frozen, my heart was pounding, and all I could do was stand there like a dummy, staring, not even glaring.

Crouch looked towards my direction, and raised an eyebrow at me. When he realized I was scared stiff of him, he smirked before walking forward and all I did was watch as he entered his name into the Goblet.

I sank back into my seat, fighting the sudden wave of self-hatred that rose from inside me, but something about this boy scared me. He scared me even more than Travers and Yaxley and the rest of them.


The Halloween feast finished quickly as the students feasted more on anxiety than the food, for the twenty-four hours were now up. Dumbledore dimmed the lights before approaching the goblet.

"My money's on Athena Cross," Dorcas said.

"Madison Jane," Marlene countered, "One Sickle."

"You're on," Dorcas said.

"I'll put my money in for Lily Evans," I whispered, grinning.

"Me too," Alice whispered.

Lily looked at us wide-eyed and gave a nervous, quiet laugh.

The goblet suddenly flickered golden sparks amidst its blue flames and suddenly a long red streak of fire blazed into the air, spitting out a single piece of parchment. He caught it with lightning quick fingers and peered down at it through his half-crescent moon-shaped glasses.

"From the honorable school of Academie des Talonxs, the champion is Julian Sorentis."

The entire sky-blue delegation from Academie des Talonxs roared cheers and applause and gave Julian a standing ovation. Julian, who shared the same bright blue eyes as his sister, gave a modest smile before striding up to shake Dumbledore's hand and enter into a room beyond the staff table.

"From the honorable school of Letra Damien, the champion is Jared Kaius."

Another roar arose but unlike the applause at Academie des Talonxs, the reception at Letra Damien seemed to be more an evenly split mixture of curses and celebration.

The tall, blonde-haired boy who had demanded I get out of the way got up and walked to Dumbledore before heading to the chamber beyond.

I grimaced. I wouldn't fancy having to go up against him in anything, much less the Triwizard Tournament.

No sooner had I thought this then the goblet spat out another name, which spiraled high in the sky before Dumbledore finally caught it.

He peered down at it.

"The Hogwarts Champion is-"

Everyone waited, not daring to breathe, not daring to-

"Raylynx Kingsley!"