𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗦

𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘞𝘏𝘐𝘛𝘌 𝘍𝘌𝘙𝘙𝘌𝘛

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Some nights passed and Alina still wasn't sure Halloween's events were real. Something didn't sit right with her. Cedric and Harry have been both picked by the Goblet of Fire to compete in Hogwarts' name in the Triwizard Tournament, but how did this happen? The rules were clear, every school was allowed to have only one champion.

And other than that, Harry wasn't even eligible to sign up for the tournament and she knew for a fact he didn't put his name in there. He couldn't have. If Fred and George couldn't find a way to trick the Goblet of Fire, neither could Harry, and that meant there was somebody else who did this for him. Somebody who wanted him to compete.

But even so, how could that person be sure his name would indeed come out of the goblet? And why four names instead of three? She didn't like this, not one bit, and to think that she had not one, but two friends signed up in this odd competition? It didn't let her rest.

And it surely didn't help her apetite either. At breakfast, Alina chose coffee instead of her usual cup of pumpkin juice. She didn't get much sleep last night and she needed a little pick-me-up to get through this day. Although this morning's feast was just as rich as always, nothing seemed appealing to her today. She ate a few of her butter toffees from Honeydukes, but that was about it.

"So.." Alina said, taking another sip of her coffee before looking at Ron and Hermione, "did any of you see Harry this morning?"

Hermione's eyes widened, it was as if she was trying to warn her about something, but it was too late.

"I couldn't care less!" Ron was quick to comment and scoff. "He's probably bragging about the Triwizard Tournament somewhere around the hallways."

Oh. So that was the problem. Usually, Alina would nag him for acting stupid and childish, but today, she didn't have the energy to do so. The only gesture she made was to nod her head once. "I see.."

"Anyway, how's it going with the Transfigurations homework, Alina? Are you done with it yet?" said Hermione, trying to change the subject.

"You mean the essay?" Alina sighed. "Not really, I still need to do some research. It's.. not going very well, actually. I wanted to finish it last night, but I didn't feel like doing any homework after dinner."

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Ron cut her off before she could even say a word. "You were shocked about Harry too, weren't you?" he asked, clearly still bothered by what happened. "If you ask me, I'm Team Cedric all the way! So are you, right?"

"Ron, I think we were all shocked to hear about Harry being the fourth champion. I'm sure Harry was just as shocked. I'm not sure what exactly happened, or how it happened, but it came as a surprise to everyone. I mean, have you seen Dumbledore's face right before he read out Harry's name? He didn't know about it either," she said. "I'm not in any team, don't be stupid. First of all, they're both my friends. And second.. I really didn't want any of them there."

"I don't believe it!" Ron defended himself. "Harry must have lied to us! He found some way to put his name into the Goblet of Fire and not tell anyone about it, he's a liar and a cheater!"

Alina closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "Look, my head is about to burst open. I'm sorry, but I really can't do this. I think you're giving Harry too much credit for something he didn't do, but I'm not going to argue with you on that. I'll go take some fresh air and I'll see you in class, alright?"

"I'll save you a seat.." Hermione said, looking a little worried.

"Thank you, Hermione." Alina smiled right before she rose from her seat.

She took one more butter toffee and shoved it in her mouth before she left. Absentmindedly, he walked out of the Great Hall with her hands in her pockets and headed towards the first exit to the courtyard. She hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings until somebody stepped right in front of her and handed her something.

Alina frowned at took a closer look at the circular thing in her hand. It was a yellow badge that had Cedric's face and name on it. At first, nothing seemed to be wrong with it, but after looking at it for a few moments, it turned green and instead of Cedric's name, the badge read Potter Stinks. Upon seeing this, Alina rolled her eyes and looked up at the Hufflepuff boy who gave her that.

"Shove it up your ass, will you?" she said, clicking her tongue as she threw him the badge back.

"Why do you sound so defensive, van Blumenthal? Aren't you supporting Cedric too?" the boy asked, earning a round of obnoxious oohs and aahs from all the Hufflepuffs nearby.

It didn't take much until she noticed Cedric was there too. The amused look on his face was pissing her off. She walked up to him and took the badge he was playing with, holding it up close to his face while giving him a death stare. Today was not a good day for anyone to try and get on Alina van Blumenthal's nerves. Not even for Cedric Diggory.

He saw something was off about her, so he excused himself and took her by the hand, leading her to a more private place, next to a giant oak tree, so that they could have a conversation without any prying eyes. "You alright, Ali?"

"How old are you? Five?" Alina asked, shoving the badge back to his chest and scoffing. "No, I'm not."

"Calm down, it's just a joke," Cedric said, furrowing his brows as he grabbed the bag and put it in his pocket. "A joke, you know? You used to have a sense of humor. It's not like I have anything against Potter. Besides, I didn't even made these."

"I don't find it funny at all. I would have expected such petty behavior from Malfoy, not you."

"Well, actually, he was the one who made them—"

Cedric stopped before he could finish the sentence. Looking at her, he could tell that she didn't feel like talking about Malfoy right now. And, truth to be told, neither did he. Just because he did something funny for once didn't mean that he was going to close his eyes at Draco's mean behavior from now on. At least not when it was directed towards her.

"Actually, nevermind. What's up with you? You don't look well today."

"I don't even want to know, alright? Keep them out of my sight," she said, hoping to put an end to this topic. "It's nothing, I just can't get much sleep lately. I'm too worried to close my eyes."

"Worried?" he asked, unsure whether he heard her right or not. "What for?"

"I told you I don't like this, Cedric. The Goblet of Fire, the Triwizard Tournament, the four champions, none of it. I have a bad feeling about this."

Cedric sighed and took a step closer to her, then wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer to him, gently resting his chin on top of her head.

"I don't want you to worry about me, Ali. I think you're just looking too much into this.. I'll be alright, I promise. If anything, I should be the worried one. I might get so busy with training and all that, I think I won't be able to keep an eye on you that often this year. And you know I don't like leaving you unsupervised, you're a magnet for trouble."

"Don't try to turn this into something about me. It's not about me, and I have a lot of reasons to be worried."

"Mm, there's too much going on in that pretty little head of yours," Cedric murmured, still holding her in his arms in an attempt to comfort her. "It's going to be a long year if you keep thinking this way. Look at the bright side, will you? I'll make history and bring eternal glory to Hogwarts and to my family, isn't that great?"

"How do you even know you're going to win, Cedric?" She didn't mean to sound harsh, but she simply couldn't understand why he seemed so relaxed about this, like it wasn't even a big deal. He acted like he already won even if the tournament was yet to begin. "You cross Harry off the list because you think there's no way he can beat you. Okay, fair, if that's what you think, but what about Fleur Delacour? Or Viktor Krum? What about the challenges you still know nothing about? It's not just about your competitors, it's so much more than that."

"If I worry too much about it, then I won't be able to act on instinct anymore, and you know I get lucky when I do that. So don't worry about me, alright? The first step to win something is to dream about it, and I think I'm doing pretty good at that so far."

"You're not listening to me, Cedric. You prefer to believe in this fantasy you made up in your head instead of seeing these red flags that are right in front of you—"

Alina didn't get to finish her sentence before Harry Potter showed up and cut her off.

"Hey, uh—sorry to interrupt, but may I have a word with you, Cedric?" Harry asked, then added, "It's pretty urgent."

"He's all yours," Alina said, taking a step away from her friend.

That conversation wasn't going anywhere, Cedric wasn't willing to listen. Maybe looking so careless was his way of coping with the pressure and the stress. Anyway, judging by the look on Harry's face, what he had to say was more important than what Alina and Cedric were talking about.

She needed to clear her head and this talk with Cedric didn't help much. If anything, it only made her headache worse. Looking around, she noticed there were many students who wore the same stupid badges she saw before and she couldn't help but wonder how could anyone ever find this amusing, even a little bit.

She wasn't sure why everybody seemed to be ignoring what happened last night, they were all acting as if it was absolutely normal. As if nobody noticed the teachers looking surprised, concerned even, when the fourth name came out of the Goblet of Fire. This wasn't even only about Cedric taking part in this competition, it was about the odd malfunctioning of the goblet that was said to be an almighty impartial judge. It was clear as the day that it didn't work out according to plan.

She thought about speaking to her parents about this, and maybe she would bring it up on the Christmas break, but she didn't want to worry them for nothing. Maybe Cedric was right and she was just overthinking about this. Maybe it was just her imagination.

But looking back at the Quidditch World Cup events, she still felt something was off about all this. The masked men, the crazy crowds, the conjuration of the Dark Mark and now this. Now, the Goblet of Fire was malfunctioning. What were the odds of it being nothing but a peculiar coincidence? Merlin, she must be going crazy.

She couldn't recall when she started being like this, but it was unlike her to look so much into something. She was almost paranoid. But her gut was rarely wrong and this time, it told her there was something sketchy going on here. Even so, there wasn't anything she could do about it. It seemed like she was the only one who thought there was something odd going on, so unless she wanted everybody to think she was out of her mind, she'd better keep everything to herself.

It was easy for her to get lost in her thoughts since so many of them occupied her head right now, but she was drawn back to the reality when she heard the irritating voice of a snake. Looking up, she saw Draco Malfoy jumping off a tree while calling out Harry's name. It didn't come as a surprise to see one of those silly badges on his chest. According to what Cedric said, he was the one behind them. Alina wasn't going to get involved in this, but when she looked at Harry and saw how angry he was, she knew it wasn't going to end well.

She wasn't close enough to hear what exactly Draco said, she could only hear bits of it, but she didn't need more to know that he was behaving like a prick again. These days, Harry seemed to distance himself from everyone and Alina couldn't really blame him. He was in a delicate spot, he surely needed some time and space and if that was what he wanted, she was going to give him that. But that didn't mean she would sit by and watch as Draco Malfoy tried to humiliate him.

"Cut it off, Malfoy," Alina snarled. She managed to reach for Harry's sleeve and pull him back, stepping right in front of him. She crossed her arms against her chest and shot Draco a glare, a clear signal that she wasn't going to take any of his crap today.

"Mind your own business, van Blumenthal. Or wait, are you siding with this loser?" Draco started to laugh. "He doesn't stand a chance in the tournament! He's a joke!"

"Malfoy—" Harry wanted to cut in, but he was stopped by Alina right before he could say anything.

"Did I ask you anything?" She rolled her eyes. "If there's anyone here that can be called a loser and a joke, that would be you. Do you seriously have nothing better to do all day than to whine and come up with plots to make fun of Harry? Is your life that boring, Malfoy?"

"How dare you—"

"What are you going to do about it? Tell your father that I was mean to you?" She scoffed. "Go ahead. I'm not scared of him and I'm surely not scared of you, so take your entitled ass somewhere else, because I'm not willing to listen to any of your crap today."

Harry already started to back off, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a flick of Draco's wrist. He couldn't possibly think taking his wand out right under her eyes was a good idea, could he? Alina was an elite duelist, Draco Malfoy's shameless spells didn't frighten her one bit. With a swift movement, Alina drew out her own wand and she was about to disarm him, but a flick of light went right past her and before she could cast her own spell, Draco was nowhere to be seen.

Confusion spread all over her face as she saw a white furry ball standing in the Slytherin boy's place. At first, she wasn't sure what happened, but it didn't take long until she saw Professor Moody's silhouette. So he was the one who turned Draco Malfoy into a ferret, interesting. Looking down at him, she couldn't help but crack a smile. But when the ferret started to run in her direction and attempted to climb on her, Alina gently grabbed him and lifted him in the air.

"No way, Malfoy. Don't be a creep," she joked, then placed him in Crabbe's arms. "Here, your friend's gonna take good care of you."

Right after Alina dropped the ferret in Crabbe's arms, Draco started to squirm and squeal.

"What a ferret in distress," Alina commented, then placed one of her hands over Harry's shoulder. "Let's go, Harry. Soon enough, he's going to accuse us of animal cruelty or something. Not that I would mind letting Kaiser play with him a little bit," she joked, right before walking out of there.

"You want to go with me?" Harry asked, lifting both of his eyebrows in surprise.

"Don't be silly." Alina sighed. She was sure these past days have been tough for her and it was clear that his anger had been building up, but it hurt to hear he was doubting her. They were friends, he was supposed to know she'd have his back forever. But then, she remembered Ron's petty behavior she witnessed this morning, and it all made sense. "I do, now can we go? My head is going to explode if I hear any more of Malfoy's ferret squeals."

The day barely went by. Time didn't fly as it usually did, and much to her disappointment, she had to spend the rest of her day in the library, working on her Transfigurations assignment. Still, it was better than doing Potions homework. She would take Transfigurations over Potions every day. She didn't manage to finish her paper, but she surely took some useful notes and she was ready for tomorrow's class. Luckily, she still had a week left until the deadline for her assignment, and if she worked on it like this every day, she would get it done in time. The last thing she wanted was to disappoint Professor McGonagall.

But it was getting late, and she knew she hit her limit for today. The library was also about to close very soon because of the curfew, it was time for her to call it a day and give it another try tomorrow. And for tonight, she had to try to get some sleep.

She grabbed her books and her papers and held them up to her chest, then she walked over to the bookshelves and started to put back everything she borrowed, one by one. The library was empty, there were no other students around her. They must have all went to sleep by now, she thought. Even Hermione left earlier than her and she was usually the one that closed the library. Not today, apparently. After she put the books back in the place she took them from, she walked out of the library and looked through the papers she wrote today, trying to sort them while making her way down the hallway.

She sighed as she realized they were no longer in the right order, it was going to take her a while to fix this. But that's what she got for being the least organized person alive. As she walked down the empty corridor, Alina started to read her papers again and tried to remember the order she wrote them in. A shadowy figure was walking in the opposite direction, but she was too frustrated and focused on her shuffled papers to notice that in time. Her steps only came to a halt after she collided with the other person who wasn't paying attention either, all of her papers flying out of her hands.

"Fuck me.." Alina cursed under her breath, earning an impressed look from the one who just knocked over her evening work. She quickly knelt to collect what belonged to her.

Before she could reach them, however, the papers started to float into the air as a result of the other person whispering an incantation. Her eyes followed them, gaze slowly lifting from the floor until it reached his face.

"How did I know it would be you without even looking up?" she asked, getting back on her feet and dusting her robe off. She held her hand out in the air, but the boy snatched them out of her reach. "Are you kidding me? I'm tired, Draco. I don't have time to play around with you."

"Temperamental, aren't we, van Blumenthal?" the Slytherin boy asked, a smug look on his face.

"Back to human form, aren't we?" she said, mocking his previous tone to get back at him. "But you're still a prick, I see."

"Tsk. Ordino." Draco clicked his tongue and wiggled his wand again, organizing her papers before handing them back to her. "Why were you wasting your time trying to sort them out yourself when you could have done this by using a simple incantation? Or do you not have basic magical knowledge?"

The Gryffindor felt like rolling her eyes into oblivion. "Just because there's a spell for everything, it doesn't mean we have to use magic all the time. I have to remember everything that's written on these, reading them again before sorting them out would have been good practice." In fact, Alina was too tired to even think about using a spell to do this. Her brain couldn't function properly after so many days of being restless.

"Then allow me to shuffle them back for you—"

"How about you leave my papers alone?" Alina rose both of her eyebrows as a warning and took her papers back, protectively holding them close to his chest. "Why are you out this late anyway? It's almost curfew."

Draco chuckled maliciously. "I could ask you the same question."

"I was studying in the library, couldn't you tell?" She scoffed. "You know what? I don't know why I even asked you in the first place. Or why I'm still here, wasting my time talking to you. Goodnight, Malfoy."

Before Alina could leave, Draco reached his hand to grab her by the sleeve and stop her. "Wait!"

"What is it now?" She groaned. "Please, make it quick. I'm fucking tired."

"Quite a dirty mouth you have, van Blumenthal. You kiss your mother with that mouth?" he joked.

"No, but I do kiss nice and well-behaved boys with it," Alina corrected him. "And I still don't see your point."

Upon hearing her witty comeback, Draco burst into laughter. "Good one, I liked that." He had to give it out to her, if only tonight. "There's almost an hour left before curfew, are you heading out to the Tower?"

"I was before you stopped me," she pointed out.

"Boring. Are you seriously going to end your evening in such an uneventful manner?"

"Since when do you care about how I end my days? Was your brain damaged when Moody turned you into a ferret or what?"

He hissed in disapproval. "I don't care. I was looking for a way to entertain my own day, and I happen to came across you. So, how about we take a walk together?"

"Oh, and here I was, thinking you've had enough entertainment for one day," Alina said sarcastically.

"Very well, have it your way then." Draco shrugged. "If you change your mind, you're free to follow me."

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icb we're already on the 9th chapter omg 😭

i started a harry potter twitter group chat and we're looking for more people to join so if you're interested, you can comment under this chapter with ur twitter @ and i'll add you asap

yours truly,
vega