08 | B O Y S

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I know the night will turn to grey.     
       I know the stars will fade away.

   THE EXCITEMENT THAT took place beneath the thick walls of Hogwarts castle found its climax, when finally the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived the day before Halloween. But Embers excitement remained on a low level.

   For sure she'd had her fights with Harry every now and then. But this time was different. He didn't come up with any attempts to make up with her, and after a while she got too stubborn to try as well.

   As Ember was a Hufflepuff, and Harry a Gryffindor, the times they actually shared a room with each other remained on those Herbology lessons and the meals in the Great Hall.

   "How can you for two full months not talk to your own brother?", Hannah Abbott asked, as they watched Harry, Ron and Hermione walking up to the castle, while Ember, Hannah and Susan took the long way down the hill to Hagrid's hut for their last lesson before the two foreign schools would arrive.

   "It's not like we don't talk at all", Ember muttered, kicking a pebble and watching it roll down the slope.

   Susan scoffed. "Oh yes, these stif hellos in the hallways or those forced heys whenever you come too close during Herbology are the most intense conversations I ever witnessed."

   "Just shut up, if you don't want me to feed you to Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts", Ember snorted, but Susan just laughed.

   "I wanna see you try."

   The lesson was as horrible as usual. Still nobody could find out what those beasts were eating — or if they even got mouths. But somehow they had to eat anything at all, because they were growing in an alarming speed. While having the size of a toad to the beginning of the year, they now were as big as a full grown cat; and every week they got taller. And unfortunately Ember's Skrewt seemed to grow the fastest of them all. She'd named him Paul; of course just by herself, never in front of others. They'd probably think she'd lost her mind to give this ugly creature something as a name.

   "How's it going, Ember?" A huge shadow had covered everything in between three meters around her, and as she looked up, she found Hagrid smiling down at her.

   "Oh, I —" She stopped and shrugged, before she giggled. "To be honest, I don't know. I seem to get along pretty fine with this one here, even though I still haven't found out what to feed him. But he's growing and he didn't blow me up for three weeks straight now."

   "He?", Hagrid chuckled. "Most of ya friends here wou'dn't define the Skrewts as something else than it."

   "Erm. Yes." Her cheeks heathened up, as she looked down at the Skrewt. "I kinda ... named him Paul."

   Hagrid let out a ray of thunderous laughter, patting Ember's back and she almost sank to her knees.

   "You remind me a lo' of Charlie Weasley, da kno'?", Hagrid then said. "He even befriended with some flubberworms. "Guess Charlie w'd love those little rascals. But I didn't wanna know about ya Skrewt." The smile was leaving his face, being replaced by sorrow in his dark eyes. "What's wrong with you an' Harry?"

   Ember's smile dropped as well. "He's a defiant little git, that's what's wrong", she growled, staring back at Hagrid, seeing the corners of his mouth twitching. "And I won't give in this time. It's either him admitting that he's overreacting, or no one at all."

   "You're clearly your mother's daughter", Hagrid chugged. "But on the other hand, Harry's clearly your father's son, so it will be you to make the first step in the end, I promise ya."

   "Not this time", Ember muttered, her eyebrows furrowed, and maybe in that moment she patted Paul a bit too harsh, because that little shit decided to explode right under the girl's hand.

   The lesson ended with an amused Hagrid, a laughing Susan, a concerned Hannah, a messed up Paul, and a fuming Ruby with her hand in a thick bandage.

   "No. Nuh-oh. Under no circumstances. Never." Ember crossed her arms in front of her chest and wildly shook her head, while the grins of the Weasley twins grew wider and wider. "I won't help you to get your arses into this tournament!"

   "But you're full of beautiful evil ideas!", George exclaimed.

   "A devilish genius!", Fred added.

   "And you are not of age, and I won't help you breaking the rules this time", Ember replied, pinning her index fingers in both the twins' chests. "This is dangerous, and it's stupid, and I won't help you getting yourself to risk your necks."

   "Oh c'mon, Emmie, it's just a couple of months", Fred plead, pouting his lip.

   "And it's not like you have to do the work for us, we just need an idea!", George told her, as she still shook her head slowly.

   "Nope", she coldly replied. "It's bad enough Cedric has his name in, I don't need anyone else I care for  wanting to balance on the edge of death for full nine months. I —"

   But she was cut off by someone jumping against the twins backs, wild black locks framing a face grinning wild with excitement. Lee Jordan had a triumphant glistening in his eyes that Ember didn't like. The twins on the other hand seemed to love it.

   "One word", Lee said, clapping his hands together. "Aging potion."

   "That's two words, you little shit, and I dare you", Ember growled, stepping closer to the twins. "This is absolutely unnecessary, it is dangerous, and it is pathetic."

   "What on earth is pathetic with an aging potion?", Lee snorted, grinning at her.

   "It's pathetic that you really think the greatest wizard alive, Albus Dumbledore, can be tricked with something as simple as an aging potion", she replied, rolling her eyes. "This won't work. And if you do that thing wrong —"

   "Oh Emmie", Fred said, laying an arm around her shoulder and she blushed. "Emmie, Emmie, Emmie. You shouldn't break your pretty head. See, if we win —"

   "— and become famous —", George said.

   "— and rich —", Lee added.

   "— we won't forget about you, kiddo", Fred finally ended.

   "Yep, we'll always remember that Ember Lilian Potter refused to help us, when we needed her the most", George smirked, and now his arm two was laid around her shoulder, as the two boys accompanied by Lee lead her down the corridor, and she could do nothing but silently curse their bloody arses.

a/n: still can't decide whether to have her participate the tournament or not

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a/n: still can't decide whether to have her participate the tournament or not. I have two versions for this story. ;D what do you think? shall Ember be a champion or not? it's up to you now! :)

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