ONLY LIGHT. harry potter

╰➢ age line

"Nicole's in love." Aurora added. She wouldn't let opportunities like this pass by. "In loooov—"

"Shut up. I need to go find Hermoine. Don't let me interrupt your date."

This time, it was Aurora and Cedric who turned bright red.

—

During Saturday, most students would normally have breakfasted late. Harry and Ron however, were not alone in rising much earlier than they usually did on weekends. Hermoine had forced Nicole to wake up way earlier than usual.

When they went down into the entrance hall, they saw about twenty people milling around it, some of them eating toast, all examining the Goblet of Fire. It had been placed in the center of the hall on the stool that normally bore the Sorting Hat. A thin golden line had been traced on the floor, forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction.

"I wonder what happens if you try to cross the age line?" Nicole asked, walking dangerously close to the line. Hermoine pulled her back in an instant, not wanting to see her friend get hurt.

"Cmon."

"Nic, no."

"Nic you might get hurt." This time, it was Harry who spoke. Nicole was really curious about things and they often led to her getting injured. What was to say that this would be different?

"Only one way to find out." Nicole smiled, shaking Hermoine's hand away. Some students from Dumstrang was watching her, while Dean was patting her back, encouraging her to step in the line.

"Nicole Yvaine Hwang, stop." Aurora stated, appearing out of thin air. The chance of Nicole listening to her was very small, but there was zero harm in trying to stop her.

Nicole shrugged, stepping inside the line. The once noisy hall went silence as they watched nothing happen to her.

For a split second Aurora thought it had worked and that nothing was going to happen to her. But next moment, there was a loud sizzling sound, and Nicole was hurled out of the golden circle as though she had been thrown by an invisible shot-putter.

Before she could land painfully on the floor, a pair of arms had caught her. It didn't make anything easier, because Ellis had also fallen down because of the impact.

"Merlin." Nicole mumbled, standing up quickly. The girl had met Ellis only a few (well, maybe not only a few) times that week, but she hadn't met him that day yet. "You didn't have to catch me like that. Look what happened. You fell for me."

A Slytherin cringed.

"Miss Tomato, I think you got it the wrong way."

"No I didn't." Nicole said, realizing that she in fact got it the wrong way. To hide her embarrassment, she helped Ellis stand up and get on his feet.

"She's getting real comfy with that Beauxbatons guy, isn't she?" Ron questioned, looking at Ellis and Nicole who were laughing at something. He had this sort of protective instinct on his friends, and the fact that Nicole seemed way livelier and happier since she started hanging out with Ellis irked him.

"He's pretty nice, you know." Hermoine defended him, looking over to her friend who seemed like she was saying something. Then, Nicole tapped his backed and spotted the trio that was staring at her.

"I told you that you shouldn't have went in the age line. Are you okay?" she asked in concern, looking at Nicole's arms to see if she had any injuries. Unlike everyone else, Nicole wasn't wearing her robes and and wasn't wearing her long black socks.