Thursday November 24th, 1994, continued

"Come on, Ru," Jacinth whined, "there's no way Durmstrang is going to have a party after coming in last."

"You don't know that," Rusalka huffed, "Brodny says they're planning a party."

"I hate to say it, but he has a point," said Amy. "Brodny talked about a party before the First Task."

"See," said Jacinth, "even Flinton agrees with me. Let's just head back to the common room. We can celebrate there."

"Or join the Puffs in their room," Adrian suggested.

Jacinth's expression went flat. "You must be joking."

"Hell no. They have both champions, and after Potter's big parseltongue show, Hufflepuff is the place to be tonight."

"...Hmph. Whatever."

Out from the crowd, a voice called out "MELISSA!" The small group stopped as Lev weaved through the crowd towards them. When he reached them, Lev quickly slung an arm over her shoulders. "Good, I catch you. Listen, zat place for my birssday, can ve all hide in zair? Ze Headmaster vill skin us alive ven he sees us after all zis."

Melissa blinked slowly. "Sure?"

Beside them, Adrian looked on with confusion. "Why is he mad at you? Krum's the one who got the low score."

"Yes, but Viktor is Mister Perfect", answered Lev, with jazz hands emphasizing Krum's favouritism, "so ze Headmaster vill blame us, instead, for not helping enough." He looked back down towards Melissa. "So zat was 'yes', yes? Good, I vill tell ze ozzers!"

His hurried voice made Melissa chuckle. "You should tell Krum, too. I'm sure he'll want to hide from your Headmaster, also." Lev nodded and ran off, and an idea sparked in Melissa's mind, "Oh! I guess there's going to be a party, after all. I'll get the room ready! You all, I need you to tell the others and get them to bring some stuff with them..."

The Durmstrang teens arrived on the seventh floor looking for a place to flee. What they found, instead, was a full on party atmosphere. A record player was in one corner playing a round of music from the Weird Sisters. At another corner was a spread of tables and chairs, where snacks and drinks were slowly popping into existence thanks to the Hogwarts house elves. In the remaining front half was an area fit for a dance floor; while in the back half there was a small swimming pool as well as a hot tub in front of a changing area.

Brodny whistled loudly. "So that's why Rusalka told us to bring swimming wear. Impressive!"

"That was not there before," Astrid said slowly. She looked at Melissa with a question in her eyes.

Melissa merely smiled and shrugged as she said, "Trust me, you all need it after today."

"Yes we do!" someone shouted. One of the boys broke into a run towards the hot tub, and people laughed as he jumped in, clothes and all.

Melissa giggled at the sight, "Well that's one way to get a party started! Come on, everyone!"

Word of parties had spread over the course of the night. Some ventured downwards to the Hufflepuff Common Room, others ventured upwards towards the Room of Requirement, while a small few held parties in their own common rooms. Those small groups aside, the rest of the parties were full of mixes and minglings; which is how Melissa came upon a group sitting with both Krum and Delacour as they looked over their eggs.

"Have you opened them yet?!"

"Non," Fleur said, to Melissa's surprise. "Ze leetle pains do not open!"

That answer confused her. "Really?" Doesn't it just open and scream at you in Mermish?

"It is a puzzle, see," Viktor explained. With hands on the top and bottom, he twisted his hands. With it, the egg twisted in rings of opposing directions.

"Oh!"

"Ve must find a pattern to open dem," Viktor continued, "but it is tricky. Deez lines, dey must match togedder around whole egg."

With confusion, Melissa stepped closer. From afar, the eggs simply looked scaly; but, on closer inspection, the eggs were decorated with swirls and lines and curls of intricate patterns. That said, it was clear from Krum's twistings that the egg was divided into multiple lateral rings, leaving the lines disjointed in multiple places.

"Huh. Weird." So much for the pool being useful. "That's pretty cool actually. Good luck with figuring it out." She left soon after, feeling fairly certain she won't be of much help with their eggs and wanting to continue enjoying the party. After all, there's a hot tub with my name on it!

Prior to the party starting, she had left her swimsuit in the changeroom, so she beelined over to it and made quick work on being water-ready. Stepping outside, she headed over to the hot tub, only to hesitate on seeing it over-crowded.

"Melissa?"

She turned at the sound of her name, spotting Lev staring at her with wide eyes. She gave him a short wave. "Hey. Enjoying the party?"

"Yes," he said slowly, his expression unchanged. "You, uh, svimming?"

She looked between the crowded hot tub and the semi-occupied swimming pool. Well I did make it a heated pool… "Yeah, might as well. The hot tub's a little full right now."

"Ah." Something snapped in his expression, and with sudden quickness he said, "I vill join you!"

She gave him a grin. "Sounds good! I'll see you there."

Lev sped off somewhere, likely to find his swimwear, while Melissa followed her new destination and dove into the pool. She embraced the warmth happily, turning on her back and letting herself float gently along. God bless heated pools! They're no hot tub, but they're certainly a decadence in their own right!

Minutes into her relaxation, someone cannonballed into the pool beside her. The sudden splash of water made her head shake, and she broke out of the backfloat to see who had jumped in. Out from under the surface popped up Lev, his hair plastered over his face. He moved it back with an embarrassed smile. Then an odd expression fixed on his face.

"Zis vater, it's varm!"

"Hell yeah it is!"

"But, vy?"

"Uh, because it's amazing?"

"It's veerd" he countered. "Relaxing vater is to be one cold and one hot, for taking turns. Two hot vaters don't make sense."

"Oh, for saunas, right?" On seeing his nod, she added. "Don't you guys jump into freezing water for that stuff?"

"Yes," he nodded, "is ze best!"

"You are so Russian," Melissa said with a laugh. "I can't imagine ever jumping into freezing cold water."

"Ha! Give me until next time you come to ze ship. I'll zrow you off."

Melissa fell into an open-mouth gasp. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Yes I vood," he said gleefully, coming in closer. "I grab you like zis," he wrapped his arms around her hips and hoisted her up, much to her squealing protest, "and ZROW YOU into ze vater!"

"AH! No!" She kicked her legs fruitlessly while her voice alternated between shouts and laughter, "Don't! Stop! Let go!"

"Hmm... okay!"

Just like that, he tossed her back into the pool. She resurfaced with thrashing splashes, sputtering all the while. A moment later she rounded on him with a jabbing finger, "You're mean!"

Lev snickered at her whining. "Yes, but it's fun." He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in closer.

"You're not throwing me again!"

"Heh, okay, okay. No more zrowing," he promised. His arms shifted to be around her upper back instead. "Zis better?"

She sighed with relief. "Much better." She reopened her eyes from the sigh, finding herself nearly nose-to nose with him. Her mind froze, taking in their closeness. "Umm… Hi."

He gave a bemused smile. "Hi?"

They said nothing, just staring at each other. Her body wasn't even moving to tread, finding them secure as he held her. Well this is nice …and awkward. Are we about to-

"Y-AHH!" A sudden scream from the pool's edge broke them from their staring contest. They had barely a moment to take that in as a flailing body landed beside them. Back on the ledge, Brodny and his friends, Rurik and Yaroslav, were laughing uproariously. Meanwhile, out from the water Rusalka emerged, shouting Russian obscenities at all three boys for tossing her in.

All three boys took turns jumping in, making efforts to make the biggest splash possible, getting Rusalka, Lev, and Melissa hit in the process. This somehow turned into a wave war between both groups of three. Laughter and insults were hurled right along with the water. Then, once they were tired of that game, they divided into teams of two for a game of chicken. Spectators shouted encouragement as the teams wrestled each other into the water, and turns were taken as more people joined in the games. Cheers continued into the night, with their worries and cares fading into nothingness.

Friday November 25th, 1994

The daily mail brought a recap of yesterday's events. "Triwizard Teens Fight Dragons in First Task," Amy read aloud. "Congratulations, Dom, your mom finally made the front page."

"Oh 'ha ha'," he mocked in response.

"Ooo," Melissa crooned, "double-front page! Harry Potter, a Parselmouth! …although, probably not a good thing to have that mentioned in the news."

"Especially if it mentions Finch-Fletchley using dark magic to give him that ability," Amy commented. She peered over Melissa's shoulder to look at that article. "Does it?"

"Not sure, I only just got it." She glanced over both articles briefly. At the bottom of the main article, her eyes caught two bolded sections. One was to continue reading about the task challenges, and another provided a reference to another article.

See 'Triwizard Romance' on page 7

Huh.

She gave the front page to Amy to read, while interest compelled her to flip over to page seven. There, she was met with a photograph of Fleur giving Cedric a kiss on the cheek, before jumping away to glare at the camera. Judging by the miniature dragon writhing in Cedric's hand, the photograph was clearly taken inside of the Champion's Tent. That said, it was still a surprise that this photo-op happened at all. Melissa perused the article with humoured interest. It was written by Rita Skeeter, which meant that not only were the Champions names written wrong, but it was written with a dual slant of 'this a sweet teen romance, but also has this quarter-veela sunk her claws into the Hogwarts Champion to take advantage of him during the tournament?'

Her eyes moved beyond the paper towards the other tables. It didn't look like Fleur had gotten to that article yet. Weirdly, she was in deep conversation with Luna, of all people. There was movement in Luna's hands, she was showing off something- ah, that's Scales-Like-A-Magpie. She must have asked Luna to tell her about the parseltongue stuff. That's neat.

Switching her attention to the Hufflepuff table, she found Sierra ribbing Cedric with a wide grin, while a seventh year boy was giving him a pat on the back. Cedric, meanwhile, looked flushed. Oh yeah, he totally knows about it. HA!

Further down the table, the fourth year Puffs looked… a mixture of excited or subdued. Then again, with a front page like today's, she isn't all that surprised. She really ought to read it to get a gauge of what's going on with them. "Hey Ames, let's trade when you're done. You gotta see what Skeeter wrote about Cedric!"

Tuesday November 29th, 1994

Squeak! cried the mouse.

Eep! cringed Lucy.

Squeak! Squeak! the mouse sniffed into the air. With a paw, it groomed its face nervously as people peered down on it from its open-air container.

"Well, it's official," Melissa mused under her breath.

"What is?" Sierra asked.

"These guys are adorable, and I'm going to fail this class."

Sierra gave a snort, while Lucy looked at Melissa with a horror-stricken expression. "Really?! You can read that from the mice?"

"What? No! The opposite." She gave a sad pout towards the mice, saying, "You can't expect me to look at these little cuties and think they're only around as bad omens. That's just cruel!"

"It's what Professor Trelawney said," Lucy countered.

"Well it's still cruel, and she likes doom predictions anyways so of course she'd think that."

Sierra snickered under her breath, meanwhile Lucy managed to look less alarmed, although she was still nervous being around the mice.

She wasn't the only person to feel that way, as became apparent when one of the Beauxbatons girls shrieked and flung her arms away from a mouse box. Unfortunately, in the process of freaking out over the mice, she whacked the container away from her and straight into Fleur Delacour. Fleur herself shrieked in shock as the container flipped over right into her lap. She jumped out of her seat, hopping about and trying desperately to get the mice off of her.

A Veela hopping about, however, had the unfortunate side effect of grabbing every boy's attention. Terry, Roger, and Jacinth were practically drooling at the sight of her, and their Beauxbaton and Durmstrang counterparts were no better. It took only moments for coupled witches to catch onto what was happening. Poor Patricia was positively crushed over Julien's dopey grin. Leonora, with some level of restraint, merely huffed and rolled her eyes at Armand's reaction. On the opposite side of the spectrum, both Linnea and Rusalka smacked their boyfriends to snap them out of the trance.

It was a whole hullabaloo before the mice were flung off and subsequently re-captured for the lesson. Nevertheless, the damage was done, and there was an awkward tension for the remainder of the class.

"You're unbelievable!" Rusalka huffed quietly as she marched towards the ladder.

"It's not my fault," Jacinth grumbled. "The stupid half-breed bewitched me, you know that."

He may have said it quietly, but there was enough tense silence in the room to carry his voice forward.

"What did you say!" Fleur cried.

"Don't blame her," Rusalka snapped, "Staring is one thing, but you had a hand down your robes! That's beyond indecent!"

Despite having two witches on his case, he focused and flushed angrily at Rusalka. "Oh, I'm the indecent one?" he asked rhetorically. "Last I checked, I'm not the one riding on a half-naked guy's shoulders while other guys fondle her like some whore!"

There was a gasp in the room, followed immediately by a, "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?! FLIPENDO!"

Spellfire shot out of Rusalka wand like a whip. Jacinth dodged it- the spell hitting Terry in the process- and fired off a spell of his own in Rusalka's direction. She dodged it, and another teen got hit. From there, pandemonium exploded as spellfire shot out in various directions. Professor Trelawney called for people to stop, yet her soft voice was drowned out by the calls of spells.

Melissa tried to dodge and defend as needed. She wasn't sure if the fight would stop any time soon, so instead she played shield while Lucy and Sierra made for the trapdoor. Someone else had opened it before them, and Lucy hurried down the ladder.

Sierra stepped forward, only to duck with a shout as flames singed her hair. "Terry, that hit me, you ass!" Then, just to make a point, she fired a spell back his way, knocking him out cold.

A monstrous figure loomed out from the trapdoor, and Melissa backed away with dread.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Professor Moody shouted over the ramble.

Spellfire ceased immediately.

Nobody moved. Such was the fear invoked by Mad-Eye Moody.

"WELL?!"

Instead of words, Rusalka answered by breaking down into tears. Melissa, and everyone else for that matter, gaped in shock by the girl's sudden breakdown.

Professor Moody growled in annoyance. "Fine. First things first, everyone hurt goes to the hospital wing. The rest of you, stay here for questioning."

Melissa didn't need to be told twice. With Hollywood-level acting, she took hold of Sierra for support and limped over to the ladder. She waited at the end of the tower, though, as Rusalka was guided out by Fleur and Linnea. She had tears down her face, and was hyperventilating and shaking along with it.

"Take her to the hospital wing," Linnea said simply. "I'm going to find Brodny. He needs to know about this."

"Alright," said Fleur. Linnea stormed down the tower. It was only as she left, however, that Fleur stopped and looked entirely lost.

"Here," said Melissa, taking Ru's other side and foregoing her false limp. "I know the way."

Fleur gave a sigh of relief, "Zank you."

They all made it to the hospital wing, with the Matron tutting of the state of the group. She worked on those with obvious spell damage first. This allowed the others to move to one side and bring Rusalka to a bed to sit on. The poor girl was inconsolable, even as Brodny marched in with fury in his eyes.

"I heard vot happened," he gave a growl. "Stupid fucking boy- I'm going to break him!"

"NO!" Rusalka screeched.

Linnea huffed beside him. "I can hex off his balls for you."

"Heh, I will join you," Fleur said with a smirk.

"No! Don't hurt him!" Rusalka cried. "It's- it's not his fault."

"He called you a whore!" Brodny said angrily.

"And what was all that bullshit about boys fondling you?" Sierra asked.

"I-" Rusalka hiccoughed through her tears, looking very lost, "I think he means at the party, when we were all in the pool."

Melissa's expression flattened. "You mean when we were having a chicken fight?" The answer came as a nod. "Jesus fucking Christ, that was a game. It was nothing!"

"But- maybe he's right-"

"Oh HELL no!" This time it was Sierra who kicked in. "Ignatov, you didn't do anything wrong. You were playing a game with friends, and Wystan's being- you know what- I know what it is- he's being a jealous and insecure prat because he knows you can do better than him and sees those guys as a threat. The thing is, he's right in that you are better than him," she stepped forward and looked Rusalka directly in the eyes, "and I think, deep down, you know that too."

A spark of some sort appeared in Rusalka's eyes. A moment later, she broke back down into tears, crying harder than before. Minutes passed as she let her emotions out. In that time, a few others trickled into the infirmary, including Leonora and Armand as they brought in a banged-up Roger Davis. After that, they joined the others with sorrowful looks in Rusalka's direction.

As time wore on, Brodny spoke up with a hand on her shoulder. "Your friend is right. Your Jacinth, he is no good. You are powerful, you have a fire in you. Always have. I hate that this boy is making you feel like this. He needs to pay."

"F-f-fine," The word was forced out. "I'll make him pay. He thinks I'm a whore? Fine, I'll get together with a bunch of guys then. See what he thinks of that!"

People gasped, with Leonora crying out, "That's indecent!"

"Well that's what he thinks, isn't it?"

"Zat's because 'e eez an idiot," Fleur huffed.

"Exactly," Melissa nodded. "Plus, there are better ways to get revenge than that."

"Hmph," Rusalka gave a dejected huff. "What do I do, then?"

"Don't go out with a bunch of guys, go out with a guy," she suggested. "Someone buff and good-looking who will really fuck with his ego but Wystan will be too afraid to mess with. Then, when the Yule Ball happens-"

"What?" Sierra asked.

"-The Triwizard dance party," she said slowly. Did word not spread about that? "Anyways, when the Ball happens, you show up arm-in-arm with this guy looking like a total bombshell-"

"A what?"

Seriously, people! "A bombshell. A woman so stunningly beautiful and glamorous that every man in the room stops and stares. We're gonna make you look so good that you'll even make Fleur envious." She stopped, catching herself in the obvious jab. Others, meanwhile, chuckled at that remark. Strangely, even Fleur seemed to enjoy the remark. She looked to Fleur, who further surprised Melissa with a nod of approval. Bolstered, she continued. "You're going to look so Circe-graced gorgeous, and have such a fun time that you won't even look in his direction; and when he sees all this, he's going to regret ever treating you the way he has."

"And that's…" Rusalka looked up and around the group. "You think that's the right idea?"

Linnea gave a half-shrug, "Personally, I still think we should hex his balls off for good measure."

That response got people laughing.

"Better than what you and I were thinking," Brodny said darkly, "Especially your plan of many boys."

She cringed in reflexive embarrassment. "Right. Yes, that would have been an awful idea. …Okay. We'll go with Mel's idea." She frowned, "But who do I ask?"

"What about Krum?" Sierra asked.

"Nah, that'd never work," Melissa waved off, "he's got a thing for bookworms. Besides, we need a guy that's buff and handsome."

"Should I tell him you said that?" Brodny asked teasingly.

Melissa winced, "Please don't."

At that moment, the Matron walked over to the group. "All right, Miss Ignatov, do you know what spells were you hit with?"

Rusalka was slow to answer. "Actually, Madam Pomfrey, I was only here for a calming draught, but," she looked to the others and absorbed their supportive energy, "I think I'm okay, now."

The Matron blinked, taking on her expression, tear-streaked face, and those around her; then graced the girl with a comforting smile. "Alright, dear. I'm glad that you're feeling better. Now, if no one else is hurt, it's best you all take your leave. Lunch is still in progress." The group gave a nod, glad to take their leave now that their friend was on her way to feeling better.

Before they fully left, Rusalka took Melissa by the wrist and spoke quietly. "Thanks again, Melissa. I-" she looked away for a moment, "before we go, can you do something for me?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"I can't- I'm terrified of what he'll say when he finds out, so can you-?" She turned Melissa's wrist upwards, and deposited a silvery object into her hand. When Melissa saw what the object was, her eyes went wide. "It's cowardly, I know, but it's the right thing to do, and-"

"Don't worry about it." She closed her fist around the item, "I'll handle things from here. Go on with the others, I'll catch up."

Rusalka sagged in relief. "Thank you."

"Hey, it's what friends are for."

That response was met with a quick hug, before the teen scampered off after the others.

Friends …with Rusalka Ignatov. Never thought I'd reach that stage on a real front.

She looked back towards the other hospital beds. On spotting Jacinth bandaged up and seething in his bed, Melissa rolled her shoulders. Guess it's time to put that reality into action.

She walked up to him slowly, taking time so that the others had more time to escape. When enough time was wasted, she clicked her tongue loudly. "Hey, Wystan, Ru asked me to pass on a message to you."

He looked up at her with a glare. Heartbeats passed before he finally said, "Well?! What is it?!"

She brought her fist high over his lap. In dramatic silence a silver bracelet of jacinths and aquamarines fell onto his lap. His eyes widened at the sight, and he looked up at her, aghast.

"The message is: Piss off, Jacinth! It's over between us!"

The words startled him into strangled rage. There was even further silence as those in hearing distance stopped to stare at the altercation. In that silence, Melissa spun on her heel and walked out, leaving the angry ex and their spectators in her wake.