HOAX | George Weasley

XVI

November came and went, and with it, the first task of the Triwizard Tournament: Dragons.

The fear that she felt when she first saw those creatures, she got goosebumps just thinking about it. Cassie still made sure to thank whichever was responsible for not allowing her name to come forward, she did feel bad for Harry though. Poor boy, all alone fighting against wizards who were much older and skilled than him. She was rooting for him, of course, not that she had anything against Cedric, but she had to stick with her house always.

She felt an elbow sharp on her side and turned to look at Grace, asking for answers with a look. "You keep staring at the boy. It's creepy."

"I am not." she said, offended. "He just happens to be in my line of sight. Plus, I told you already, I've developed a strong maternal feeling."

Grace sighed. "I'm not going to dignify that with an answer, just admit that you're glad it's him and not you."

"That's not—!"

"Ms.Price! Do you have something to share? Or can I continue?" Prof. McGonagall's voice rumbled in the classroom, everyone stopping and turning to look at her.

"No, Professor. I'm sorry." her face had heated up and she suddenly wished for the earth to swallow her.

She heard giggles and the sound led her to her twin friends, trying not to laugh just a few steps behind Harry. To make matters worse, the whole house of Gryffindor was there. Well, from the fourth year up at least. Apparently Prof. McGonagall had an announcement as Head of Gryffindor house and had asked every single student from the year four to the year seven to gather in this, fairly big, classroom.

She was standing on the right side of the classroom with Grace, Olivia, Angelina, Alicia and all the other girls while the boys were standing on the left side of the classroom. It was, undoubtedly, strange. She feared that nothing good could come out of this.

Prof. McGonagall cleared her throat. "The Yule Ball is approaching — a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialise with our foreign guests. Now, the Ball will be open only to fourth years and above—" Well, that explained something at least. " —although you may invite a younger student if you wish."

"Dress robes will be worn," Professor McGonagall continued, "and the Ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall." After that Cassie couldn't really hear the rest of her speech since a group of fifth year girls had practically started screaming next to her.

Olivia seemed eager to join them while Grace looked like she was having the worst day of her life. "A Ball? Seriously? That is exactly why I'm not coming home this Christmas, to avoid a stupid dance my parents are attending."

"Seems like the universe wants you to go to one." Olivia said, placing her arm on Grace's side. The later one gave her a dirty look. "The universe can go fu—"

"Okay! Teacher present!" Cassie interjected, pointing to McGonagall's direction, because even though it looked like she couldn't hear them, that woman heard everything.

"Whatever, I'm not going." Grace crossed her arms.

"Oh, c'mon, It will be fun!" Cassie tried to change her mind, which she knew was probably futile. When Grace made up her mind about something, there was no convincing her otherwise.

"We have very different definitions of 'fun', for example, you think that spending time with the hellish twins is fun, i think its torture. We are not the same."

"Liar, I saw you spend more than ten minutes with George without screaming or inflicting pain on him, that's something."

Grace smiled at her, "That's because we were trash talking about Roger."