Last First Kiss {HP Next Generation}

Chapter Fifty Five

Wearing a bright smile on her face, Hope welcomed the wandmaker that was going to check their wands during the Wand Weighing Ceremony.

"Hi Dean!" She waved happily at the man as he arrived. The man smiled in her direction with a wink as the competitors gathered around with their wands. As she stood beside her cousins, Hope admired all the wands that were set out in front on the table. All different types of woods, varying in colors and length.

Waiting patiently as Dean went through the wands, trying them out to see if they were functioning properly before the first task, Hope listened as he called out several different spells to make sure each wand was working just right. Eventually, when he came upon hers, Dean gave her a smile.

"How has this wand been treating you, Hope?" He asked her.

"Best wand yet." Hope chuckled.

"Well, it's been your only wand-"

"I know, but you did a great job picking it out for me." She told him. "It's served me well, especially with the mischievous part."

"I thought it would." Dean laughed. 

Henry was standing among the other students including Teddy and Elliot as they awaited for the champions that were gathered in the tent for the Wand Weighing Ceremony.  He was surprised to see both boys there, especially since they had been the least supportive out of everyone when it came to the girls competing. However, as he stood beside them, the older boys didn't much of anything. Instead, they stood with grumpy looks and their arms folded across their chests.

Henry on the other hand, was just excited and ready to cheer on Hope and the girls, hoping they would bring victory to Hogwarts. As he stood there, he felt his pocket of his trousers move about, making him jump.

"What in the-"

He looked down and saw that his wand was lit up, bringing a smile to his face as he glanced over in the direction of the tent.

Turning to his friends, he cleared his throat to gain the attention of the two. 

"Look, I know you both are upset, whether it's with Stella," he looked at Teddy and then turned to Elliot, " or Eliza, right now, you could put all that aside and just be supportive. We've all been friends since we were babies, I think our friendship is far more important  that letting something like this get in the way. Besides, your niece is competing Teddy, and you're the one who's always trying to be protective of her, so at least put a smile on your face for Hope's sake. Because if you two don't stop pouting, I'm going to punch you both in the face."

Fergus arrived just as Henry made the threat to punch someone in the face and quickly put his hands up in surrender.

"I didn't do anything!"

"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to these two gits." Henry said pointing to Teddy and Elliot.

"Oh." Fergus lowered his hands, "Well that's better. Are they getting ready?"

Henry held his wand in his hand. "It's almost starting."

Remus sat with Nixie and Sirius among the other professors, the grown man was biting away at his nails in a nervous manner as the First Task of the Tournament was upon them. He had dreaded the moment since the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament, because somehow he knew that his family would be involved. Between Teddy and Hope, one of them was bound to get in trouble with the tournament, and it fell upon the shoulders of his granddaughter.

He remembered his daughter coming to him, Nixie and Sirius before the start of the tournament, before Hope was to compete. While Fred was all too thrilled for his daughter being able to live out a dream that he hadn't been able to during his time in Hogwarts, Eleanor did not share the same enthusiasm. Judging by the amount of knitwear she had sent all of them, Eleanor was more nervous than anyone. Being one of the first to witness Cedric's "death" when the tournament was held at Hogwarts during her school time, she didn't want to even think of her daughter getting hurt.

She begged for the three to look after Hope and if it looked like it was going to be too much to just remove her. She didn't care of the consequences  of breaking the rules of the tournament, if anyone had a problem with Hope's removal, they were free to get in contact with Eleanor and she would definitely be up to dealing with them. 

Hope had reassured her family that she wasn't going to be reckless during the tournament. That she would do everything in her ability to remain safe but that hadn't settled her grandfather's nerves one bit. 

Especially when he learned what the First Task was.

"Scattered through the Forbidden Forest are gold pieces, hidden in plenty of locations. The Champions have one hour to collect as many authentic gold pieces as possible and exit the forest before time is up in order for the pieces to be counted. But beware, among the gold, is also leprechaun gold which will not count towards the final count as it will vanish long before that."

Professor McGonagall looked to the nine students that stood before her, ready to compete. Her eyes fell upon the Hogwarts students as the Weasley girls exchanged wide eyed glances. There was no upper advantage to the Hogwarts students to enter the Forbidden Forest as students weren't permitted to enter, it was during that time that McGonagall certainly hoped that the girls had followed their parents in the way of disregarding the rules.

The Ilvermorny team was always discussing their tactics and the Durmstrang students looked ready to barge right into the forest and dominate the competition. 

Hope looked at her Headmistress before offering the woman a reassuring smile since McGonagall looked quite nervous. 

"Don't worry about us, Professor, it's them you should worried about." She nodded her head in the direction of the other teams.

Professor McGonagall pressed her lips together to conceal her smile. 

'I don't doubt that at all, Miss Weasley."