The last weeks of Summer went by agonizingly slow and it wasn't for lack of things to do. News of what happened at the Quidditch Cup spread like wildfire. And as each day passed, rumors kept getting crazier and wilder. Lyonel and Sage hadn't been at all pleased when they learned of the events. For the next couple days, Romina was sanctioned in the house for safety. And when they found out about her "talk" with Barty Crouch, things got even worse.

"You can't go talking to an important man like that!" Lyonel said, both he and Sage looking down on Romina during breakfast.

It may have made things worse that Romina continued eating breakfast like nothing. "Talk like what? I was defending myself and my friends from a stupid accusation. How could he think we conjured up the Dark Mark? Honestly!"

"Don't snort," scolded Sage. "This is serious."

"Yeah, so was I!"

"We understand what you were trying to do. Of course we would want you to defend yourself but tailor your attitude to the situation, please."

Romina rolled her eyes. "But if I hadn't gotten "an attitude"," she raised her fingers to do quotation marks in the air, "He wouldn't have listened. He didn't even listen to Harry and he's the one who ended You-Know-Who! I did what I had to do."

Lyonel shook his head. His niece was dangerously close to sounding like her father. "I did what I had to do."

All Arden was surprised about is that Romina had managed to get away with talking to Crouch like that.

"I would've loved to do the same thing but I'd be scared to death to talk to him like that," she remarked after hearing the story. She had only just learned about the events that took place at the game through Romina.

Romina laid on her bed, very comfortably as if she hadn't gotten an earful that morning, or the morning before that, or for a whole week. "Nothing to fear when you know you're right."

Arden snorted. That was a way to put it. "Still. How much trouble are you in?"

"Well, they've stopped yelling a couple days ago. Now they just give me the same lectures." Romina propped a leg over knee. "I imagine once I go back to Hogwarts they'll finish mellowing out."

"I'm surprised they haven't made you apologize or something," Arden said, getting off the bed. "You know my Mom makes us hand write letters to each other when we really mess up."

Romina snorted. "I remember. They know I couldn't make me write anything."

"You're that stubborn?"

"And petty."

Arden laughed. "And blunt." It wouldn't be the first time Romina's bluntness got her into trouble. Arden walked up to the open window to close it, peeking out slightly to get a glimpse of the Dursleys' residence. "Well, at least Harry didn't have to come back here anymore. Bet the Dursleys love it too." She turned away from the window and eyed the significant amount of letters on Romina's desk. "What's all that?"

Romina looked at her pile of letters and shrugged. "Friends. I haven't exactly been in a writing mood lately. That's sort of what happens when you've been yelled nonstop. Besides, knowing our friends, they're all going to be asking about the Dark Mark at the game and I'm not really sure I want to write about that stuff."

Arden agreed. "I'm sure Angel will be the most worried, although...a couple of these seem to be from Draco, mind you. Didn't expect him to be so worried. Wasn't he supposed to be there too?" At Romina's sudden huff, Arden paused and looked her way. "Have I missed something else?"

"Nope," Romina said swift and easily but the emphasis on the line word betrayed her.

Arden's eyebrows raised together. "You sure?"

"Yup."

"So, what was it that finally made you snap?"

"Come again?"

Arden chuckled on her way back. She flopped down sideways on the bed. "The thing that finally made you get properly mad at Malfoy. I'm assuming that's why you've got this behavior going on. There's been plenty of viable reasons but it never stuck. So, what was the thing that finally made you get mad?"

Romina's face scrunched in utter confusion. "What are you talking about? 'Never stuck'? I've been plenty mad before at him."

Arden's head turned in Romina's direction. She gently patted a hand against Romina's leg and made the dark haired girl put both her legs down and over Arden's.

"I'm not denying that you haven't but it's never really lasted very long, not even when he messed with the Hippogriff and got it killed. Poor thing. I mean the Hippogriff." Arden smirked. "But before that, you had many things to be mad at him for but you hardly do. Like you can't get mad at him."

Romina scoffed deeply. "Believe me, I can get mad at him. And I am."

"So what was it then?"

Romina told Arden what happened while she and Hermione had been hiding and attempting to find the Weasleys and Harry. Even as she told the story, Arden could hear the heavy annoyance in Romina's tone...but that was it. Annoyance. And perhaps something else she couldn't describe yet.

"I always knew that he hated Hermione—he hates muggleborns and half-bloods — but I always associated that with what his parents taught him." Romina propped herself on her elbows, meeting Arden's eye. "He's applying what he's been taught since he was born. But that night, what he said, he was willing to let Hermione die. I never thought...when push came to shove…"

Arden knew exactly what other word she was missing to describe Romina's face. Disappointment.

"Oh boy, he struck a big one," Arden said, taking her bottom lip under her teeth.

"He went above and beyond! So of course I had to punch him!"

"I would've paid big bucks to see that upfront," Arden smirked, "Course, I suppose it says a lot that you didn't punch him in the face like Hermione did."

"You're not supposed to know about that," Romina reminded him. "And what do you mean 'it says a lot'…?"

"Well, one could say, deep down…" Arden bobbed her head from side to side against the mattress, "Possibly very deep down, you didn't want hurt his face."

"If you forgot part of the story, I was a little bit in a rush and concerned with the death eaters, Arden. As much as it pains me to admit it, Draco and Theo were right in that Hermione was the one in the most danger."

Arden shrugged. "Doesn't make my words any less true."

Romina, exasperated, let herself fall flat on the bed. "You're supposed to be helping!"

"Help what? You don't even read his letters, you're still clearly upset. Nothing I say is going to make it any better."

Romina rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She did not appreciate the way Arden giggled, as if there was anything else to this.

~0~

On the day of September first, Romina was packed and ready to head back to school. For better or worse, she was bored at home in her "grounded" situation. At least in Hogwarts, nobody could ground her (if you didn't count detentions, of course, not that she ever got any). Breakfast went by pretty quietly. Nobody uttered a word about the World Cup and Romina was just fine with that.

It was on the platform that Romina saw her cousin Rolf and, to her pleasant surprise, her grandparents as well. She broke into a wide grin and rushed over to meet them, leaving her aunt and uncle to carry her trunk for her. She hugged Rolf first and told him that she'd missed him. Rolf replied that he had missed her as well and then very quietly whispered to her 'we gotta talk about the World Cup' before their grandparents took their hugs next.

"Ah, ma chérie, I hope you have an excellent year!" Abigail said with a good pinch on Romina's cheek. "Stay out of trouble, even though I know you have your grandfather's genes."

Newt rolled his eyes beside her. Romina, however, laughed at the idea. "He doesn't seem like the troublemaking type!"

"Don't be fooled," Abigail crossed her arms. "His trouble came from his knack of keeping secret pets at school."

"Guilty as charged for that," Newt said and it sounded like he had no regrets about it. "Always be kind to creatures, Romina. Rolf knows it."

"I do," Rolf said and saluted his grandfather. "I can't wait to see what creatures Hagrid's gonna show us!"

"Me too, but also nervous," Romina remarked. Hagrid wasn't exactly the prudent kind of professor.

Lyonel and Sage caught up with them , along with Rolf's parents. They greeted Romina's grandparents cordially and then started ushering the kids towards the train, as it was set to leave soon.

"Now remember, stay out of trouble, please," Sage was kind about it and brief too. She kissed Romina's head and wished her all the luck for the new school year. "And remember, you are just the prettiest girl out there."

"Oh God," Romina groaned. She shot Rolf a look and warned him to never speak of the moment again.

Sage rolled her eyes at her niece. "Oh, alright!"

"Romina, do stay out of trouble," Lyonel reiterated and much more seriously than Sage.

"Yes, uncle," Romina nodded. "I know."

Lyonel looked at her sharply and repeated his warning once more. Thankfully, the rest of their family stepped in to say their goodbyes and soon, Romina and Rolf were climbing into the Hogwarts Express to find their seats.

"We need to talk about the game," Rolf said as soon as they were free.

"What we need to do is find somewhere to sit," Romina said curtly. Almost every compartment had been taken by now. "Unless you don't want to be seen with me, of course."

Rolf's answer was to jab his elbow into her side. "Shut the hell up about that. We're not doing that. By now, everyone will know that we are family so deal with it."

She rolled her eyes and stopped suddenly when she saw a compartment with some familiar faces. "Come in here, twat."

"What?" Rolf made a face yet he stilled followed her.

"Hey guys," Romina greeted Harry, Ron, and Hermione inside the compartment. "Mind if we cram in? The other ones are taken. By the way, this is my cousin Rolf. Say hi, Rolf."

"My cousin — the comedian," Rolf stared flatly at the Slytherin.

"It's nice to formally meet you, Rolf," Hermione said, and was the first one to shake hands with him. "I'm happy Romina's got some more family."

"Thanks," Rolf said and proceeded to put his trunk up above them. He helped Romina with hers. "And, uh, in the spirit of the fact that we're all Gryffindors—"

Romina cleared her throat. "I'm not!"

"—I would like to ask what the hell happened at the World Cup." Rolf plopped down beside Ron and motioned Romina to do the same. "Because my cousin has refused to tell me anything."

"Because you literally asked 10 minutes ago," frowned Romina.

"Not true, I wrote you a ton of times and you never responded!"

"I don't want to talk about it!" Romina exclaimed and looked away. "And I bet that no one here does either."

"Not true," Ron said, ignoring her glare. "But there's nothing real going on, mate," he said to Rolf. "I mean, the Ministry doesn't know anything. My dad works there and all he says is that things have been 'happening', but that's it."

"They saw the Dark Mark," Rolf said. "Something happened."

Romina noticed the way that Harry was rubbing his forehead, more specifically right over his scar. She wondered if it was hurting him — he mentioned something about it during the game but she didn't want to ask with Rolf around.

The lunch trolley passed by their compartment and Harry seemed to jump at the opportunity to get out of the compartment even for just a moment. Ron ended up following him outside.

"Hey, Romina," Hermione shifted towards the girl beside her, "How, um, how much trouble did you get for the, uh...the thing...?" She wasn't really subtle with her glance at Rolf and so of course the Gryffindor boy was asking what 'thing' Romina was supposed to be in trouble for.

"It's not what your uncle was talking about, was it?" he asked.

Romina shook her head. "Not quite. No, Hermione, I didn't get into any trouble about that."

"About what?" Rolf said impatiently.

Hermione looked positively relieved with the answer, but still a little confused. "Thank goodness. I really thought Malfoy would get his parents to come after you for that. Still, if he didn't do anything...I hope he's not planning on doing something while we're at school. You really shouldn't have done that, Romina."

"Done what!?" Rolf exclaimed.

"He deserved it, Hermione," frowned Romina. "And besides, you punched him last year too. How come I can't do that?"

Hermione flushed pink at the reminder. "Well, I — I was upset — no excuse either — I — oh, shut up!" She shifted in her seat to once again face ahead, and in turn, Rolf who was still dying to know what they were talking about.

~ 0 ~

It had been pouring when the students arrived at the castle. Most of them were soaking wet and those lucky enough to stay dry weren't exactly all dry. Romina met with Arden at their Slytherin table.

"You didn't come find us!" Arden said as soon as they had sat together.

"Sorry, I met Rolf and then we found Harry and Ron and Hermione and it just got away from us."

Carolinha and Angel Paes soon joined them at the table and were both eager to start their dinner and know what happened at the World Cup. By that point, Romina was tired of telling the same story over and over, and that was just the story that everyone knew.

"Can you imagine if Mom had let us go?" Carolinha looked at her brother with wide eyes. "I would've been scared to death!"

Angel shrugged carelessly. "You're afraid of spiders, Carol."

"So what?"

Angel waved her off and set eyes on Romina. "Hey, you didn't write back to us anymore. Are you feeling better now?"

Romina gave him a half nod. "Yeah, I was punished for my loud mouth so I couldn't really talk to anybody for a while."

"You should've," Carolinha said, eyes still wide for some reason, "Because Daphne is—" She never got to tell Romina what Daphne was because Daphne herself appeared behind Romina and promptly smacked her upside the head.

"OW!" Romina clapped a hand on the back of her head.

Arden, Carolinha and Angel all burst into laughter. It didn't make anything better when Draco, Blaise and Theodore arrived to see the scene.

"Whatever just happened, can we do it again?" Blaise asked with a clean smirk on his face.

Romina, who was rubbing the back of her head and lifting up a curl of her hair off her plate, sent Blaise a glare. "Gladly, come over here so I can show you what happened."

"Oh shut the hell up!" Daphne promptly said, earning a couple surprised looks from the others as it wasn't typical of her to use those words. "Romina never answered my letters!"

At that, Draco snorted. "She does that a lot." He ignored Romina's new glare on him until he came to sit in the empty spot on her left.

"You know exactly why," she said, making a show of scooting away, even if it was just an inch before Daphne took the spot on her right. It was the principal of things.

"Get the feeling we missed a lot this summer?" Blaise had the last comment as he took the spot on Draco's left.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it," Theodore said with a wide smirk.

"You could say that," Daphne said bitterly. "Romina, I wrote you a ton of letters and they were urgent!"

"How urgent could they have been? Nothing else exploded," Romina said, reaching for a new biscuit from a platter.

Daphne was not amused with her. "Do you even know what's happening this year?"

"What?" Romina looked around and saw that only Arden seemed out of the loop like her.

"Maybe you should have at least opened one letter," Angel chuckled. "Could have avoided a bruise on the back of your head, huh?"

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Romina put her biscuit down and stopped eating altogether.

"I feel like not telling you anything anymore!" Daphne crossed her arms over her chest, puffing and turning her head away from Romina.

"Then what was the point in hitting me!?"

"Could've avoided it all if you had opened your bloody letters," she heard Draco mutter on her side.

Her head flipped in his direction, eyes narrowed. "Even if I had, I wouldn't have opened yours! You are not worth my consideration!"

"I cannot believe you're actually angry—"

There was a light tapping from the head of the room, silencing everyone and every conversation with them...for the moment.

Dumbledore had risen from his seat to address the students. "Now we're all settled in and sorted, I'd like to make an announcement. "Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and 37 items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it. As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

Outraged murmurs and shouts erupted throughout the room.

"Oswell, you need to cut this out," Draco said in a hushed tone. He barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he heard Romina scoff beside him.

"I don't think you're in any position to demand anything from me!" she retorted.

"You're not actually angry with me," he insisted.

"I didn't know you were a mind reader!"

"Would you two be quiet?" Arden snapped at them and inadvertently brought the rest of their friends in on the conversation. —

"...this is due to an event that will be happening throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy — but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts will have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year. Now for those of you who do not know, the tri-wizard tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school a single contestant is selected to compete…"

"Why are you arguing so early?" Carolinha made a face at Romina and Draco who'd been going back and forth despite Dumbledore continuing his speech. "What could you possibly argue about at this point in the year?"

"Oh, you know, Draco always finds a way to go above and beyond," Romina said with a sarcastic smile.

Theodore snickered from his spot.

"You know what happened, don't you?" Angel eyed their brunette friend suspiciously.

"You're not mad," Draco still claimed with Romina.

"And why not?" Romina did not like the way Draco was grinning at her.

"Cos you're still wearing that," he tapped the charmed headband sitting on her head, boasting an emerald green to match her robes.

"...now let me be clear, if chosen you stand alone. And trust me when I say these contests are not for the faint hearted, but more of that later…."

Romina flushed in both anger and embarrassment. She honestly didn't even notice anymore the fact she wore the headband—his gift—every day. It was just part of her everyday outfits. Well, now she had to make a point. "Fine, you want it back?"

"Obviously not," Draco said, making it clear that it should've been obvious.

"For now please join me in welcoming the students of the Beauxbatons Academy of magic and their headmistress Madam Maxime…"

The front doors suddenly burst open to allow a group of students dressed in blue silk uniforms dancing their way through the middle.

"Obviously you do want it back!" Romina's hand reached up to the headband, readying herself for whatever snappy, no doubt smartass, response Draco would have. He, however, had lost all interest in their conversation in favor of the students sweeping down the Great Hall. "Hello?" Romina frowned at him. He had a stupid grinning face.

Apparently, the Beauxbatons were damn gorgeous because just about everyone around them had frozen in some kind of trance.

"Oh wow," Angel sucked in a sharp breath. He didn't notice his sister whacking him on the arm. It didn't look like any of the boys at the table noticed anything but the dancing girls of Beauxbatons. They even produced beautiful white butterflies to flutter in the air.

"So the boys are there just for show?" Arden remarked to the other girls.

"They don't make them like that at Hogwarts," Draco actually sighed dreamily.

Romina gaped, nobody (at least the girls) were able to deny they heard the offended gasp that came out of her. She yanked her headband from her head and slammed it on the table, not that Draco noticed.

"Careful there, Rom," Arden snickered, "You're dangerously close to sounding jealous."

"As if!" Romina huffed, folding her arms over her chest. Arden exchanged smirks with Daphne. Carolinha was the only one who didn't seem to like the comment.

The Beauxbatons students finished their dance up at the head of the room, bowing and instantly receiving applause from everyone but most of all from the boys at each table. Behind them had come a large woman—resembling Hagrid's height for that matter—dressed in glimmering black robes. Whatever spell had taken the boys was finally extinguished, at least for the moment.

"Oswell, you seriously took it off?" Draco had spotted the headband sitting between them on the table.

Romina huffed again. "Don't sound so concerned. Go back to staring at those girls like an idiot. Oh, and Theodore, you might want to wipe your mouth there."

"I didn't even say anything, God..." Theodore muttered.

"And now our friends from the north, please greet the proud students of Durmstrang and the high master Igor Karkaroff," Dumbledore said, gesturing towards the doors that opened yet again.

A group of students entered then, all wearing more bulky uniforms involving fur coats. Each of them held bo staffs that were twirled in a pattern and jammed to the ground for a show.

"No way," Romina gasped at the sight of a familiar older boy. How could she not recognize him when he was all Ron Weasley talked about at the World Cup. "That's Viktor Krum!"

"I know!" Daphne giggled an infectious giggle that soon spread to Romina.

"He's a lot different from the pictures that Ron showed me," she admitted. Her eyes widened in delight when several of the boys breathed fire. "But maybe I just imagined things during that day."

"Spending all that time with the Weasleys at the World Cup must have done a number on your head," Draco remarked, meeting Romina's eye very quickly.

She frowned for a second before an urge to respond a certain way came over her. Her frown was replaced by a sweet smile. "I actually had a great time there. Met with my friends and wouldn't you know it? I even spent a fabulous morning walk with Cedric Diggory." She was pushing the lines of true and lies a bit but it was all for the sake of the moment.

"No way!" Carolinha's eyes widened, much like Daphne's had. The only one who stayed quiet was Arden and that was only because she was enjoying the show that evening.

Angel simply wasn't amused at all.

The same could be said for Draco. He scowled at her. "No you didn't!"

"Oh, yes I did!" Romina laughed. "Can ask him if you'd like. We got to the World Cup together. I always said that he was kinda quiet and mysterious—I was right! He's so...agh!" Carolina and Daphne laughed with her, all their faces matching with pink.

Draco rolled his eyes heavily but caught Arden's eye. "What, King?" he spat her way.

Arden raised her hands in front of her, although with a smile that was just too wide for Draco's liking. "Oh nothing," she said, "I just feel like this year is going to be very interesting, you know?"

"Your attention please! I would like to say a few words," Dumbledore commanded the room again, "Eternal glory, that is what awaits the student who wins the tri-wizard tournament. But to do this that student must survive three tasks. Three extremely dangerous tasks. For this reason the ministry has seen fit to impose a new rule. To explain all this we have the head of the department of international magic cooperation Mister Bartimus Crouch."

At the mention of the man, Romina stiffened in her seat. Before Crouch actually took his spot at the head, rain leaked through the roof and caused an uproar at one of the tables. A short, strange man appeared by the entrance and quickly fixed it without much of an effort. He then made his way down the aisle all the way up to the head.

"Bloody hell, it's Mad-Eye Moody," Angel sucked in a sharp breath.

"Alastor Moody, Angel," Carolinha corrected. "He has a name."

"Who's he?" Arden frowned.

"A famous auror," Romina responded rather quietly, a sharp contrast to her attitude minutes ago. "Half the cells in Azkaban are full thanks to him. He…" She shook her head, silencing herself then.

Once Moody, for some reason, took a spot at the head, Crouch finally spoke to the room. "After much deliberation the ministry has concluded that for their own safety no student under the age of seventeen shall be allowed to put forth their name for the tri-wizard tournament. This decision is final."

Everyone booed. Loudly. Perhaps it was one of the rare moments the four Houses came together to agree on something.

"That's rubbish! You don't know what you're doing!" Romina swore that had been one of the Weasley twins who said shouted.

"Silence!" commanded Dumbledore. Attention slipped from him to a golden box that, once magic was cast onto it, melded into a golden goblet with blue fire flaming from it. "The goblet of fire. Anyone wishing to submit themselves for the tournament merely write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour on Thursday night. Do not do so lightly, if chosen there's no turning back. As from this moment the tri-wizard tournament has begun."

A/N:

they're so messy I love 'em ;)

P.S. As always, I have AO3/Wattpad accounts under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)