Gwen found herself walking through the halls of the castle, happy to have a free period after yet another somewhat uncomfortable DADA class. She knew a lot of people in the wizarding world had great amounts of respect for Alastor Moody, both of her fathers reassured her as much, but the man still unnerved her.
According to Nicholas, his interest in her could simply stem from the fact that he knew her parents and simply wanted to know if she were as good a wizard as they were, but it felt like more to Gwen. She couldn't be sure why. So, she simply told herself it was because she wasn't a fan of attention of any kind. She was just overreacting to that.
Still, overreacting or not, Gwen was happy to get away from the man. And happy to get some time to herself to finally do what she'd spent the weekend planning. She'd let them multiply, she'd let them spread around the castle like wildfire, and they did. So much so that she could see the blasted things wherever she looked as she made her way through crowds of students. And she intended to get her hands on one.
However, the sound of a 'Oooh'-ing crowd had her pausing in the halls and looking out to the courtyard where she easily spotted the cause for the noise. Brows furrowed, she abandoned the direction she was going in and made her way over to the edges of where a group of Hufflepuffs gathered together, watching the two champions converse after Harry had pulled Cedric to the side.
Curiously, she watched them talk from a distance, wondering what it may be about. She doubted Harry would go to Cedric about the badges, even if the Hufflepuff champion had tried to make people stop wearing them on multiple occasions now. Maybe it was something else Tournament related, something she didn't know yet. With the first task only a day away, it wouldn't be too surprising.
"Want a badge? Anyone want a badge? Remember Potter stinks!" A student walking by her with a box of badges that seemed to be floating around after a mass production weekend had Gwen quickly reaching for his shoulder.
"I'd like one please." She said, forcing a smile on her face as she took the badge the Slytherin boy handed her. Looking down at its face, she watched as the words twisted and warped, shifting from "Support Cedric" to "Potter stinks". And only rolled her eyes at the stupidity of it all, once she was sure the Slytherin could no longer see her.
"Come with me." A hand suddenly pulling on her arm had Gwen yelping in surprise but following after her friend no less. He dragged her over to one of the more abandoned corners of the courtyard, only then turning to look at her with the wide eyed look that seemed to be glued to his face. "Dragons. The first task is dragons." Cedric whispered in shock.
For a moment, Gwen was surprised by the revelation too, but the more it sunk in, the more it made sense. "Of course." She gasped out, smacking herself on the forehead as she realized she should have come to the conclusion sooner.
"I'm sorry... you say that as if it's the most obvious thing." Cedric's brows furrowed as he looked down at her.
"Well, it kind of is." She said. "Think about it, Charlie Weasley works at the dragon sanctuary in Romania, and now he's come for a visit. Not for Christmas, not for the holidays, just a random week in November? And why did the Weasleys invite you too? Because I'd tell you anyway." She quoted, pointing out all the little signs and clues that had been sitting in front of them already.
"I'm supposed to fight a dragon." Cedric breathed out, still somewhat stunned by the information and to focused on the end result to bother with observing the clues which no longer mattered now that he had the answer.
"We can do some planning after classes are done for the day. Practice a few spells: Stupefy, Glacius, Reducio. I mean, tiny dragon equals tiny threat, right?." Gwen let her mind run a mile a minute as she thought of any other spells which might be useful in a fight against a dragon.
"You know, it's Harry who told me." Cedric pointed out, making Gwen stop using her mind as a textbook for a short moment as she smiled.
"That's sweet of him." She commented.
"Yes... So why do you have one of those?" Cedric pointed down to her hand in which she still held the badge that she'd forgotten to hide once he dragged her away.
"Oh! No reason!" She said, quickly stuffing it in her pocket. "But I do have to get to class now. So, I'll see you later. Bye!" She called out, already rushing away from him and into the halls, preventing Cedric from pointing out the fact that he knew her schedule.
However, now that she was free and clear, with the badge safely stored away in her pocket, Gwen was ready to use her free hour wisely. And she knew just the hiding place to do it. So, with newly determined steps, she started to make her way through the halls again, headed to one specific direction in mind. What she hadn't noticed was a pair of eyes following her curiously from the moment they saw her getting a badge.
"Okay, powder sprinkled, connecting done. Won't take care of them all, but all from this batch certainly." Gwen muttered to herself, crossing out yet another step of her plan, all of which was carefully written out in her notebook which lay atop the window sill of an abandoned classroom.
When first thinking of a hiding place, she'd tried to find somewhere more isolated or obscure. But that meant sacrificing the view. And Gwen quite liked being able to look out at all the students milling around the Lake and enjoying the last rays of the cold sun.
"So..." A voice suddenly speaking up from the door had Gwen jumping about ten feet into the air in fright before she turned to the perpetrator with wide eyes. "Want to tell me now what you're up to?"
"You really don't give up, do you?" She asked with a shake of her head and a small glare in her eyes. He didn't have to give her a bloody heart attack just to get some answers! "No chance I can get you to leave, is there?"
"Not at all." George shook his head with an amused smile. At this point, he had a pretty good idea all on his own about what Gwen was doing, but a part of him still wouldn't believe it until he actually saw it happen. And he was very eager to see it happen.
"Fine. Take a seat there and enjoy the show." Gwen said, knowing she didn't have time to put up an argument. "And stay quiet, I need to concentrate." She added on, not wanting to risk being distracted and messing up the spell.
"I could help." George offered, coming to stand behind her and looking over her shoulder at her notes instead of doing as he was told. Gwen spun around to look at him, having to crane her neck since they stood so close together.
"Sit and shush, Weasley. Or you're getting kicked out." She said in a pointed tone that made George's smile only widen as he rose his hands into the air as a sign of surrender. Dragging a chair over to one of the windows, he made quite the production of sitting down and pretending to zip his mouth shut.
Certain that he'd do as he was told, Gwen finally turned back to her notes. Grabbing her wand off of the sill, she muttered out the correct pronunciation of the final spell she needed a few more times, just to be sure, before finally pointing the wand at the badge laid out in front of her.
She waved it in the correct way, said the right words, focused and concentrated. And then it was done. She could see the small zap of electricity bouncing through the badge in front of her, but as her expectant eyes looked out the window to all the students below them, nothing happened.
"Oh, come on." She grumbled out in disappointment, a frown coming over her face as she continued to look at all the untouched badges sported by the people she was watching. She could feel George join her side, and noticed him looking over the notes, probably to see which step went wrong, but before he could some to a conclusion a sudden cacophony of yelps and pained quips reached their ears.
And surely enough, with just a small delay, suddenly all of the badges were acting out. As their faces twisted from the Cedric supporting message to "Potter stinks" each badge zapped its wearer with a jolt of electricity. And soon enough, everyone was throwing them to the floor, even those who didn't yet experience the shock.
"Yes!" She threw her hands into the air triumphantly, watching her success transpire before she spun around on her heel. And then she finally stopped, facing George with a wide smile on her face. "I did it."
"You did it." He himself was smiling happily, and if she were bothering to search deeper into it, she would have noticed the small traces of pride in there too. "And I got to see it!" He added on, doing the same little happy motion as she had when the prank worked. "I can't believe you were trying to hide it from us. From me!"
His accusation had Gwen letting out a small laugh as she sent him an apologetic look. "Sorry. I just didn't want an audience if it failed." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. "But it didn't. And now no one will want to wear those stupid things anymore." She said proudly.
"Oh, Fred and Oli will be so jealous they didn't get to be here for it." George said with a small snicker that made Gwen herself laugh too as she glanced back out the window to the confused and angry students.
"Can you imagine them before they know though? They'll be so curious to find out who it is that's pranking on their turf." Gwen said in a joking manner, making George burst out laughing just at the thought of it.
"So maybe we don't tell them. Let them scramble around for at least an afternoon." He suggested evilly, making Gwen laugh in amusement at the idea. "Our little secret." He proposed, looking down at her with a smile which she couldn't help but return.
"Our little secret."