The next day was the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. Everyone from each school woke up early, changed into warm clothes because it was freezing outside, and quickly ate breakfast. Then everyone went to a stadium.
The sky was a bright baby blue full of fluffy white clouds that looked like cotton candy.
Riley was worried. She hadn't seen Harry that morning because he and Hermione were going over the summoning spell 'Accio' together.
"I'm worried about Harry," Riley told Amira and Hazel who were next to her. The three of them had huge furry coats on. It was freezing in Scotland and the girls were shivering.
"He'll be fine, Riles," Hazel reassured her and put her arm around her.
"Yeah didn't he fight that basilisk when he was twelve?" Amira asked her teeth chattering. The large gray furry coat she was wearing wasn't enough to fight back the cold.
"Aw come here," Riley cooed and hugged Amira close.
"Hello ladies," Fred Weasley said. He had a gray beanie covering his head and wore a Gryffindor sweatshirt.
"Would you like to bet on who is going to win?" George Weasley had a matching gray beanie but wore a dark blue sweatshirt with a W on it. In addition, he flaunted a red and yellow Gryffindor scarf.
"No, why would we do that?" Amira asked her head still tucked under Riley's chin.
"To earn some quick galleons have you heard about our plan to open up a joke shop?" Fred asked the three.
"No oh my god, that's so cool!" Riley yelled excitedly.
"Riles, stop screaming!" Hazel scolded which made the Weasley twins chuckle.
"That's a very kind thing to say, Riley," Fred reached down and pinched her cheek.
"OW, maybe I won't spend a single penny either," Riley rubbed her right cheek which had turned a bright pink color.
"Freddie, apologize to the girl we need all the galleons we can get," George crossed his arms while continuing to hold his basket full of galleons.
"I'm SO sorry, Riles," Fred said with mock sadness. The redhead reached down and embraced Riley. She gladly hugged him back and had a little smile on her face.
"So, are you going to place your bets?" George asked grinning at Hazel.
"No, I don't think we will, right girls?" Hazel questioned the other girls.
"I think I'll pass," Amira giggled.
"Same," Riley answered.
"Alright, you ladies aren't much fun, also Hazel your welcome to sit with me if you'd like," George winked at Hazel which caused Fred to punch him playfully. Hazel's cheeks turned red and she had an embarrassed smile on her face.
After he left Riley and Amira squealed which caused Hazel to look at them strangely.
"Are you two okay?" the black-haired beauty asked her two friends.
"Um did you not see the look on his face? He totally wanted you to sit next to him!" Riley screamed.
"And...?" Hazel asked in confusion.
"He probably likes you!" Amira said her dark brown eyes sparkling.
Hazel's cheeks had a small pink tint to them.
"George Weasley does not like me. I'm so ugly and boring," she looked down.
"Shut the fuck up!" Amira said which caused Riley and Hazel's jaws to drop. The girl who wore the headscarf rarely cursed.
"Hazel Marie Lockwood! You are BEAUTIFUL, George would be an idiot NOT to love you. And you are NOT boring at all," Amira told them which made Hazel smile.
"Well Mimi summed it up pretty well I have nothing else to add," Riley said.
"I love you guys," Hazel gave them each a brief hug.
"So do you find George attractive?" Amira asked wiggling her eyebrows.
"Yeah...I mean he is pretty cute," the brown-skinned girl giggled.
Riley and Mimi squealed.
"AHHHH you guys would look so cute together!" Mimi gushed.
"You guys know who I like of course, Harry," Riley sighed dreamily as she thought of the green-eyed boy.
"You've got it bad don't you," Amira laughed.
"YUP!" Riley said.
"Do YOU like anyone, Mimi?" Hazel nudged her friend.
"Nope sorry I'm too busy for boys but that Leonardo DiCaprio sure is a dreamboat," Amira sighed dreamily.
The three girls giggled.
"Also do you guys know where Noah is?" Riley asked.
Hazel and Amira shrugged their shoulders.
"I heard from Seamus that he wasn't going to come to this," Mimi said shaking her head.
"Why is he so problematic?" Riley shook her head.
"Now Hazel go join George," she pushed Hazel out of her seat and into the aisle. Hazel stuck up the middle finger at both girls but then joined Fred and George.
....
Harry Potter paced around nervously in the waiting tent. He was terrified of battling the dragons. He wore a red and black jersey with Potter on the back.
Suddenly he heard a loud "psst" coming from the tent door.
"Pssst! Harry? Is that you?" a concerned Hermione Granger asked.
"Yeah," Harry whispered his head on the tent door. He could feel Hermione's head on the other side of the door.
"How are you feeling? OK? The key is to concentrate. After that you just have to..." the intelligent girl started.
"Battle a dragon," Harry smiled.
Hermione whimpered and then grabbed Harry and hugged him. Before Harry could hug her back the two heard the sound of a camera and saw a large flash.
The two broke apart and Rita Skeeter appeared in front of them flashing a wide grin.
"Young love! Ohh how.. stirring. If everything goes, unfortunately, today you might make the front page!" the journalist exclaimed happily which made Hermione glare daggers at the horrible woman.
Victor Krum and Maddie Carrelli walked up to her and crossed their arms.
"You have no business here. This tent is for champions and friends," Krum told her his Bulgarian accent thick with contempt.
"Yeah, and it's clear that Harry and Hermione are just friends so just leave them alone!" Maddie told her off.
"No matter. We've got what we wanted," Rita smiled evilly as she and her cameraman exited the waiting tent.
When she left Dumbledore entered the tent.
"Good day, champions. Gather around, please. Now you've waited, you've wondered and at last, the moment has arrived. The moment only five of you can fully appreciate," Dumbledore looked at each of the champions that now gathered in a circle around the Hogwarts headmaster.
As Dumbledore gave each of the champions a smile he noticed Hermione who clung to Harry's arm.
"What are you doing here Miss Granger?" the Hogwarts headmaster's eyes twinkled with amusement.
"Oh um... Sorry, I'll just go," she looked at Harry one more time before leaving.
"Barty the bag," Dumbledore asked the man with the bowler hat and the thick mustache.
"Champions, in a circle around me. Miss Delacour over here, Mr. Krum, and Potter over here. Ms. Carrelli and Mr. Diggory stay where you are. Right. Miss Delacour, if you will..." Barty motioned for Fleur to put her hand in the bag.
She took out a small bright green dragon. The Beaxbatons headmistress put her hands on Fleur's shoulders.
"The Welsh green, Mr. Krum,"
Krum put his hand in the bag and pulled out another dragon.
"The Chinese Fireball oooh," Barty smiled at Krum who looked at the Durmstrang headmaster.
"Ms. Carrelli," he told Maddie who stuck her hand in the bag and pulled out a metallic gray dragon with ruby-red eyes.
"The Ukrainian Ironbelly," he told Maddie who examined the small dragon and pet it.
Cedric put his hand in the bag next and yanked a blueish-gray dragon out.
"The Swedish short-snout. Which leaves..."
"The horntail," Harry whispered.
"What's that boy?" Barty asked Harry.
"Nothing," Harry replied and stuck his hand in the back, and dragged the spiky Hungarian Horntail out.
"The Hungarian horntail. These represent very real dragons, each of which has been given a golden egg to protect. Your objective is simple, collect the egg. This you must do, for each egg, contains a clue without which you cannot hope to proceed to the next task. Any questions?" Barty asked the five who shook their heads.
"Very well. Good luck champions. Mr. Diggory at the sound of the cannon..." Dumbledore started but was interrupted by the loud cannon booming.
Dumbledore patted Cedric's back.
Hearing the chants of Diggory, Cedric put on a brave face and entered the arena.
....
All the champions had gone except for Harry who was waiting patiently in the waiting tent. He was extremely nervous and twiddled with his thumbs.
"Three of our champions have now faced their dragons and so each one of them will proceed to the next task. And now our fifth and final contestant!" Dumbledore said over the loudspeaker.
Harry got up and sucked in a breath as he entered the rocky arena.
He saw Riley and Amira who had joined Hazel, the Weasley twins, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. They were all cheering for him. Fred and George were the loudest of course. Harry also heard booing from the Slytherins primarily from Draco, Millicent, and Pansy and Draco's goons Crabbe and Goyle.
Harry diverted his attention to the golden egg that sat in the middle of the arena.
As he made a run for it the Hungarian Horntail tried to smash Harry with its spiky tail. When he tried to run for the egg again the dragon used its tail to throw Harry backward. The boy who lived was forced to retreat behind a rock as the dragon flamed behind him. Harry stumbled and fell around the arena.
Riley winced. Harry already had multiple wounds on him.
"Go Harry come on you can do it!" she screamed.
"HARRY YOUR WAND!" Hermione yelled. When Harry didn't notice Riley joined and so did everyone else catching Harry's attention as he fumbled to get his wand out of his pocket.
"Accio firebolt!" he cast the spell with his wand.
The dragon breathed fire so Harry once again had to retreat behind the large rock. He saw his trusty broom flying over the dragon's head. Harry riskily jumped landing on his broom and flew off into the sky.
Riley stared at Amira next to her who had her hands near her face, whispering something.
"Amira what are you doing?" she asked.
"Praying of course!"
"Oh, Mimi he'll be fine,"
"Hey, an extra prayer always goes a long way!" Amira expressed as just that moment the Hungarian Horntail broke out of its chains and burst through the crowd chasing after Harry.
"Yeah go dragon!" Fred yelled as George whooped.
"Stop it he could get seriously hurt!" Amira's eyes were full of concern.
"We need that prayer more than ever now," Riley nudged her friend as the girl beside her lifted her hands up.
The crowd was mostly silent for a while as no one saw the boy who lived or the giant Hungarian Horntail.
Riley chewed on her nails in anticipation.
"You shouldn't do that Riles he'll probably be okay," Hazel murmured.
"Yeah ok," the blonde replied.
"Two seconds ago you were literally making fun of me for praying for him and now look at you!" Amira smiled cheekily as the dirty blonde rolled her eyes.
"Oh, I'm so worried about him!" Hermione said, her gloved fingers grazing her cheeks.
"I bet he'll be alright Mione," Ron reassured her.
"So now you care?" Riley sneered at him.
"I've always cared, Harry is my best mate!" Ron replied with an offended look plastered on his face.
At that moment the crowd looked up at the sky because they heard a whooshing sound. Harry was riding his broomstick toward the arena.
The Gryffindors and the three Ilvermorny students cheered loudly as Harry went down and scooped up the golden egg.
....
The Gryffindor common room was filled with butterbeer and finger foods as they were all celebrating Harry's win that night.
Riley, Hazel, and Amira were also there chugging on Butterbeer. In celebration, Amira had cooked up multiple batches of cookies and also baked chicken nuggets which everyone went crazy over.
None of the British students had ever had chicken nuggets and were amazed by how delicious they were.
"Bless you Amira!" Ginny had squealed, her mouth full of peanut butter cookies.
Harry was currently sitting on Fred and George's shoulders. There was a crowd around him passing around the golden egg Harry had retrieved.
Riley smirked at the chosen one. He had a wide grin on his face.
"We knew you wouldn't die, Harry," George said looking up at Harry.
"Lose a leg," Fred said.
"Or an arm," George beamed at Hazel who smiled back at him.
"Aww," Amira whispered so only the three of them could hear.
Riley made kissing noises which caused Hazel to slap her head.
"Pack it in altogether!" Fred continued.
"NEVER!" The twins screamed in unison.
Seamus Finnigan gave the golden egg a kiss and then handed it over to Harry.
"Go on Harry, what's the clue?" he asked the boy who lived.
Harry grinned from ear to ear, "Who wants me to open it? You want me to open it?" he asked the crowd. The crowd screamed.
He opened the egg and a horrific screech came out of it causing everyone to shut their ears and Fred and George to drop Harry.
"What on Earth is that!" Riley screamed covering her ears.
Harry closed it immediately.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron appeared in the doorway with a bewildered expression on his face.
Riley glared at him because of the harsh silent treatment he gave Harry.
"Alright everyone, go back to your knitting. This is gonna be uncomfortable enough without all you nosy sods listening in," Fred told everyone as he and George, and Hazel talked in a corner.
Riley and Amira eavesdropped on Harry and Ron's conversation because they were both extremely nosy. They sat next to Hermione who was also watching the two.
"I reckon you'd have to be barking mad to put your own name in the goblet of fire," Ron walked up to the chosen one.
"Caught on, have you. Took you long enough," Harry crossed his arms.
"Wasn't just me who thought you'd done it. Everyone was saying it behind your back," the younger Weasley looked around at everyone who pretended they weren't listening.
"Brilliant. That makes me feel loads better," Harry rolled his eyes.
"At least I warned you about the dragons," Ron scratched the back of his long red hair awkwardly.
"Hagrid warned me about the dragons," Harry looked confused.
Riley had a bored expression on her face although staring at Harry's face while Hermione and Amira listened intently to the two's conversation.
"Oh no no, I did. Don't you remember? I told Hermione to tell you that Seamus told me that Parvati told Dean that Hagrid was looking for you. Seamus never actually told me anything, so it was really me all along. I thought you'd be alright, you know after you figured that out," Ron rambled.
"Who could possibly figure that out? That's completely mental," Harry laughed.
"Yeah, it is, isn't it? Suppose I was a bit distraught," and the two boys laughed.
Hermione shook her head.
"Boys," she breathed as Amira nodded.
....
It was a few weeks after that when December finally came. It was freezing and the Americans who weren't accustomed to this weather wore five layers.
"Massachusetts was never this cold," Riley shivered as she snuggled against Amira's wool sweater.
She saw Noah glance her way slightly and right when she caught him he looked away. He was sitting on the far side of the table with Seamus, Dean, and Neville. Hazel was sitting with George alone.
Noah still hadn't apologized to her and it had almost been a month.
Riley would never admit it but he missed his presence a lot.
Riley turned her attention back to Harry who was staring at Cho Chang while drinking pumpkin juice.
When the Ravenclaw turned around and looked at him juice spilled from his mouth which caused the Ravenclaws to laugh except for Cho who shushed them.
Riley held a hurt expression on her face and took out her Walkman.
She was jealous of Cho Chang. She was beautiful. Why would Harry not like her? She was stunning and polite while Riley wasn't.
She turned on her favorite song at the moment 'Gimme!Gimme!Gimme!' by ABBA.
"Wanna listen with me?" she asked Amira quietly which made Amira look at her with sympathy. She had seen the exchange with Harry and Cho as well.
"Yeah of course," she said and put one of the earbuds in.
Hermione looked extremely angry as she held the Daily Prophet in her hand.
"Look at this! I can't believe she's done it again! Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl seems to be developing a taste for famous wizards. Her latest prey sources report is none other than the Bulgarian bon-bon Viktor Krum. No word yet on how Harry Potter's taking this latest emotional blow!"
Harry looked at her blankly for a moment before returning to his breakfast.
"Just ignore it, Hermione, she's an awful woman!" Amira put her arm around Hermione.
"Thank you, Mimi," Hermione smiled at the Muslim girl.
"A parcel for you Mr. Weasley," said a young boy who walked up to Ron smiling.
"Thank you, Nigel," Ron told the boy patting his back.
Nigel stayed and gazed at Harry with a smile.
"Not now Nigel. Later. Go on," Ron pushed Nigel away.
Riley gave him a look of confusion. "What was that all about?" she asked Ron who was opening up his package.
"I told him I'd get him Harry's autograph. Oh, look mum's sent me something. Mum sent me a dress?" he looked at what seemed to be a dress in confusion.
"Well, it does match your eyes. Is there a bonnet? AHA!" Harry carried the white bonnet which made Riley and Amira laugh.
"Ginny these must be for you," he told the youngest Weasley who grimaced.
"I'm not wearing that it's ghastly," Ginny said in disgust.
Hermione laughed.
"What are you on about?" Ron asked her, clearly unamused.
"They're not for Ginny they're for you!" she said which caused the whole Gryffindor table to erupt with laughter. "Dress robes!"
"Dress robes? for what?"
....
The next day all of the freshmen from Hogwarts and all of the freshmen from Ilvermorny were all put in a large room.
Professor McGonagall got up in the middle of the room helping the caretaker Filch with a record player.
"The yule ball has been a tradition of the tri-wizard tournament since its inception. On Christmas Eve night we and our guests gather in the great hall for well-mannered frivolity. As representatives of the host school, I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot forward, and I mean this literally because the yule ball is first and foremost... a dance!" she exclaimed.
All of the girls started talking amongst themselves in excitement. The boys all groaned in response.
"A dance, I love dances I always love to bust a move!" Riley squealed.
"Same, I hope George asks me to this," Hazel said.
"I doubt anyone would ask a mudblood like you," Pansy sneered.
"Yeah, and you're ugly too," Millicent added which made Riley get up and punch Pansy in the nose causing a waterfall of blood to come out of her nose. The pug-faced girl whimpered and then was taken by Millicent out of the classroom. Thankfully, Professor McGonagall did not notice the absence of the two Slytherins.
"Hogwarts has never had a dance before I wonder what it's like," Hermione wondered aloud.
"Dances are so much fun, trust me," Riley put her arm on Hermione's wrist.
"Silence! I will not have you in the course of a single evening besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons," the transfiguration teacher commanded.
"Now to dance is to let the body breathe, inside every girl a secret swan slumbers longing to burst forth and take flight," she looked at the girls.
Ron said something which caused Professor McGonagall to glare at him.
"Inside every boy, a lordly lion prepared to prance. Mr. Weasley, will you join me?" she grabbed Ron and pulled him up to dance.
"Now, place your right hand on my waist," the teacher instructed.
"What," Ron's eyes widened.
"My waist," she said and put Ron's hand on her waist.
Fred and George wolf-whistled while Draco Malfoy and his goons cackled.
"Now bend your arm. Mr. Filch..." she motioned for Filch to turn on the music which he did.
"One two three, one two three, one two three," Professor McGonagall hummed.
"Everybody come together," the professor said.
The girls got up immediately while only a few boys stepped up.
Dean took Hermione to dance and George took Hazel. Riley and Amira stood awkwardly waiting to be asked.
Someone tapped Riley's shoulder. She turned around and saw Noah Sanders.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked her with a sheepish smile, his green eyes looked terrified. His hand was extended.
Riley looked at Amira who was in shock but was then taken to dance by Neville Longbottom.
"You've got two minutes, Sanders," Riley told him as he took her hand and led her into the middle of the room.
As they swayed to the music Noah looked down at her.
"I'm really sorry Riley," he told her.
The blonde American didn't respond as she simply scoffed.
"I've been a huge jerk I feel so stupid not talking to my favorite person for a month. And I was wrong about Harry," he continued as he spun her making her gray pencil skirt fly.
"Yeah, you were," Riley agreed which made Noah put his head down in shame. Riley saw his forest green eyes water.
"But I forgive you," Riley stated simply, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly as she hummed to the classical music playing in the background.
"Really?" Noah grinned at her.
"Yeah, I've missed my best friend," she hugged him which he returned.
As the two continued to dance Riley pointed at Ron.
"He looks like he's having a great time," she laughed at Ron who was dancing with Professor McGonagall.
Ron's face was sour as he danced with Professor McGonagall.
"RON!" the teacher screamed as Ron trod over her feet.
"Well it's what he gets for making fun of Eloise Midgen's acne," Noah responded.
"Jerk," she said and then stuck up the middle finger at the redhead when Professor McGonagall's back was turned. Ron's jaw dropped.
As Riley and Noah laughed he put his head into her neck.
"Seriously I've missed you so much,"
....
Yay! That was Chapter 6. I failed a Spanish test today lol but I think everyone else failed too. I had three questions wrong and the rest right in this one section but it said 0/24 like what? Anyways I hope you have a great day!
xx Asiya