DOUBLE UPLOAD ALERT! MAKE SURE YOU'VE READ THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER TOO!
Thanks for bearing with me! Let me know what you think by leaving a quick review or follow/favourite. I've edited all the chapters up to chapter 6 so far, I'm going to try and have chapter 10 edited and uploaded by the middle of June.
I'm also really happy to discuss what changes I'm going to make through PM, so drop me a review and I'll get back to you. I'm always up for different ideas.
Chapter 4: The Triwizard Tournament
It was pouring down outside, and Cho - like normal - had grabbed the only protection Selene had from the rain, a book. Selene had to jog, dodging from tree to tree. She was soaked through in mere seconds.
When Selene finally made it to the Entrance Hall, she slipped over on a large puddle, falling backwards into a group of Third Years, who thankfully just tittered and went on their way. They were quickly replaced with the tall, imposing figure of Professor McGonagall, who looked less than pleased to find a Ravenclaw Prefect spreadeagled on the floor.
"I shouldn't expect any less from you, Miss Malfoy," she said, pursing her lips together as she glanced upwards to the ceiling of the Entrance, waiting for Selene to stand up before continuing. "But, after all, it is the first day, so I won't take points from you... And it wasn't your fault."
"Already wet, aren't they?" Peeves appeared, grinning down at the Entrance Hall and throwing a water balloon at a few Second Years. "Little squirts!"
Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes. "Miss Chang, Miss Malfoy," she continued. "Please continue into the Great Hall, the less mess in here the better, I think- No, Peeves!"
The Transfiguration teacher rushed over to prevent a few Fourth Years from being bombed, and Cho grabbed Selene's arm, towing them out of the Entrance Hall before Peeves could cause any more damp accidents.
When they were out of the way, Selene pulled out her wand and cast a Drying Charm, which managed the water out of everything but their hair. Cho groaned, predictably, as she was rather attached to her (formerly) pristine hairstyle.
"It's going to be this frizzy all week," she predicted glumly, glancing over to her friend, and stifling a smile. "And I forgot to put my Frizz-Ease Hairspray in this morning. Um... Selene?"
"What?" Selene asked, casting another Drying Charm on her book, opening it to examine the state of the pages. "I got the water out of our robes, didn't I?"
Cho snorted, holding out a strand of her hair for inspection. "It looks like you've just been fucking in a bush," she said, with a smirk. "My hair is-" She fumbled in her bag, pulling out a small pocket mirror, examining her reflection. "...curly? Oh, this isn't good..."
"Thanks for the book, by the way." Selene said drily, completely ignoring Cho's complaint. "It really saved me from the rain."
"No problem," Cho grinned, as they took their normal seats on the Ravenclaw table. Marietta shifted up from a couple of seats down, shrieking when she saw Cho, although she quickly stifled it with a hand over her mouth.
"What happened?" she asked, aghast.
"A gigantic frog," Selene said dryly, fishing for a hair tie in her robe pocket, passing it over to Cho, who took it with a thankful smile. "How were your holidays?"
Cho and Marietta were two halves of the girliest girls in the entirety of Hogwarts, their obsession with makeup and clothes and hair making Selene an outsider in their group. But, when Selene had been sorted, they must have seen something in her - maybe her Pureblood background and rich father - and had welcomed her with open arms. Although that might have been their rooming situation.
"I can do something about this," Marietta said quickly, pulling out a small bottle, seemingly out of nowhere. Cho leaned forward in anticipation. "Magical Anti-Frizz. My mother got it from Italy."
Cho quickly grabbed the bottle, turning it over in her hands a couple of times. "Can I really use this?" she asked, brow furrowing as she looked through the ingredients. "Fluxweed… This must have been really expensive!"
"Don't worry about it," Marietta waved a hand. "I don't mind. It's to share. I have plenty more at home."
This was how it always had been, and how it always would be. Selene tuned out of the conversation, opening the (now mercifully dry) book and beginning to read.
When the First-Years began to flood in, Selene finally looked up, making a mental note of the page she had managed to reach, before she pocketed the book and watched all of them, trying to pick out the prospective Ravenclaws.
oOo
"A good crop this year," Cho remarked, over her lemon tart. "Do you reckon we'll be able to pull the House Cup this time around?"
Selene shrugged, half-absorbed in her book again. She would read anywhere, just about. The dinner table, under the desk in classes (although she had attempted to get rid of that habit), curled up in the comfy armchair in the corner of Ravenclaw Tower…
"Give me that!" Marietta wrestled the book out of Selene's grasp. "I thought you said that you were going to stop reading at mealtimes?"
Selene responded by sighing, taking the book back, and reluctantly pocketing it. "Okay, what are we talking about?" she asked.
"You could at least pay a little attention," Cho said, just as the plates vanished, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet. "We were talking about whether we could win the House Cup this year. Gryffindor have won it way too many times-"
"So!" Dumbledore said, beaming around at them. "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, whilst I give out a few notices."
Selene silently crossed her legs over, resting her head on her hands and looking over at the Headmaster.
"Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs..."
Selene barely paid any attention, focusing instead on watching the Professors, wondering vaguely what they did on their holidays - Professor McGonagall was still looking rather rattled after the incident in the Entrance Hall. Maybe she had gone on a nice holiday to Barbados. She was looking rather tan. Snape, on the other hand, was still as pale as ever. It was like he'd holidayed in a Muggle freezer.
"...the inter-house Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."
"What?" Roger Davies called out, a sound echoed by most members of all four Quidditch Teams. Selene smirked slightly, recalling what she'd been told by her father, only that morning.
She was not completely aware of the rules of the Tournament, or indeed the reason why it had been stopped, but Selene was pretty sure that she wasn't going to enter. It sounded far too exciting. And she didn't really want the whole of Hogwarts to realise just how crap at fighting things she was.
There was a deafening rumble of thunder, and Selene jumped. She would have fallen backwards yet again if it hadn't been for Cho's swift intervention. The doors of the Great Hall banged open, and the room turned as one towards the latecomer.
A man stood in the doorway - a man that made Selene's stomach lurch unpleasantly. She knew who he was, alright, and by the looks of things most people did as well. Cho stifled a gasp as the man pulled his hood off his face, and Marietta clutched the table for support.
As the man began to limp towards Dumbledore, his right leg clunking every time it hit the flagstones, there was a flash of lightning that threw the man's facial features into illumination. As he passed Selene, his normal, dark eye flickered to her for a meaningful second, before snapping to the front again. His larger eye rolled around as he moved past, exposing white rather than electric blue, and Selene could tell that he was staring at her.
The ex-Auror Alastor Moody reached Professor Dumbledore and stretched out a scarred hand. Then he stomped over to the empty seat, shaking out his mane of dark grey hair and pulling a plate of sausages towards him.
"Is that who I think it is?" Cho asked breathlessly, her brown eyes as round as saucers.
Selene only nodded, concentrating fully on keeping from vomiting, quite inexplicably.
"May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," Dumbledore said brightly, into the silence. "Professor Moody."
Selene brought her hands together to clap, but quickly changed her mind when Moody's blue eye whirled to the side, resting on her for a measured moment.
Why did he keep staring at her?
"Now- as I was saying," Dumbledore continued, and everyone's gazes snapped to him once again. "Hogwarts has the honour of hosting a very special event this year, one 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."
"You're JOKING!" someone said loudly, and the tension in the room suddenly broke. Selene laughed, shaking her head, beginning to tease the corner of her book out of her pocket before Marietta slapped her hand away.
"I am not joking, Mr Weasley," Dumbledore chuckled. "Although, now you mention it, I did hear and excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag and a leprechaun who all go into a bar-"
"That's impossible," Cho cut in, as McGonagall cleared her throat to cut Dumbledore off. "Hags and Trolls are notoriously elusive, and Leprechauns have been banned from all Wizard-built buildings since the 1400's."
"I know- didn't the Leprechauns at the World Cup have to get special permission?" Selene asked, her attention wandering.
"The Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore began. "Was first established some seven hundred years ago, as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry - Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the Tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young wizards and witches of different nationalities - until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the Tournament was discontinued."
Selene shuddered, wishing a little that the Wizarding World could come up with something a little safer for once, like a nice chess game. She had been in the Hogwarts Chess Club since her fourth year, and had improved tremendously.
"I'm not going to enter," Cho said, in a low voice. "No system is foolproof." she added.
Not even the mention of the glory (the prize money meant nothing to Selene, as she came from a family that could bathe in a thousand Galleons if they wished) could persuade Selene to enter. She was happy being under the radar, keeping herself to herself.
But her brother was sure to want to enter. Glory appealed to his very nature, and if he had a chance of getting in he would definitely try.
"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," Dumbledore was saying, and Selene raised an eyebrow. "The Heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age - that is to say, seventeen years of age or older - will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration."
"Thank goodness," Selene exhaled, thinking of her brother. She glanced over to where Draco was sitting, just to check on him, and smiled fondly as she saw him, obviously complaining to Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.
"You weren't thinking of entering, were you?" Cho asked, smirking at Selene's annoyed expression. "Just kidding, sorry. Don't stab me with the butter knife. This is a brand new robe!"
Selene just shook her head, turning back to Professor Dumbledore in time to hear the latter half of his next, short speech.
"And now, it is late, and I know how important it is for you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"