Fred kept up the act of giving her roses after lessons, most of the Professors found it to be sweet but Snape hated it,
"She doesn't need to receive flowers after every lesson Weasley, I don't believe she requires that much proof of your love" Snape seethed, Fred had gone to make a comment but didn't after Sophia shook her head,
**
"Soph!" Hermione shouted, shaking the blonde awake, she groaned and rolled over.
"Five more minutes..." she whispered, she screamed as she felt her best friend shove her out the bed. "Hey!"
"You're going to make us late! Even Eileen's up before you" Hermione folded her arms in annoyance. Sophia groaned again from the floor, looking up at her best friend. Hermione yanked her off the floor and then proceeded to throw her uniform at her. "Come on!"
"You're just going to watch me change?" Sophia folded her arms.
"You've lost your right to privacy by being this late, besides it's Jazz who's in love with you not me" Sophia sighed and nodded.
"Yes, yes. I know" she mumbled and hurriedly put her uniform on.
"Now come on!" Hermione proceeded to drag her out the dorms, out the common room and toward the defence against the dark arts classroom. They were the first ones there.
"Morning sleepyhead" Harry smirked as he sat on her other side upon his arrival at the classroom,
"Don't" she warned, burying her head in her arms on the desk, "I'm still asleep" Harry and Ron laughed from next to her and Hermione whacked her arm, forcing her to sit up. Hermione then proceeded to shove her textbook infront of her. "Huh, I was wondering where that had gotten to"
"I carry all your books because you'd either forget them or lose them" Hermione snapped, already reading ahead.
"This why I love you" she rested her head on Hermiones shoulder, the brunette offered her a small smile in return.
"You can put those away" Moody commanded, pointing at their textbooks. "You won't need them" Sophia and Ron shared an excited smile as they went to pack their books away.
Moody went on about he was only staying for a year which sent a shockwave through the class before the topic of illegal curses came up.
"The imperius curse?" Ron said, Sophia felt her eyes widen slightly. The curse her father had used to escape imprisonment, the one she'd been learning how to fight just incase her father decided to use it on her so she followed his ideals. Moody gave a demonstration which everyone but Sophia laughed at, she tried to ignore it. She could tell this lesson wouldn't be anything but awful for her. Moody had asked for another curse.
"Cruciatus curse..." Neville had said in no more than a whisper, her eyes widened even more. It was illegal? She knew it was horrible, but illegal? Moody enlarged the spider before casting it on him. Sophia felt her eyes widen in horror, tears welled in her eyes and Hermione gripped onto her hand tightly. She could mask her emotions, but the sudden nature of this event was leaving her incapable of doing so. Nausea rose in her stomach.
"Stop it!" Hermione shouted, Harry turned his gaze to Neville, then her. He grabbed onto her other hand as the curse stopped. Finally, after Hermione's next answer, he demonstrated the killing curse.
Sophia had zoned out, Hermione had let go of her hand but Harry still held on, she could tell he was hurting. He was learning how his parents had died, she didn't know how he was still able to be here. If she was learning about how Sirius 'died', if he was dead that is, she would've ran out.
"These are the unforgivable curses. The use of any of these on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban" Moody explained, Sophia snapped into focus. Her eyes widened, confusion spread across her face, Moody didn't acknowledge her confusion and kept talking, Hermione noticed though.
After the lesson, Sophia hurried off down the corridor. Her friends ran after her,
"Soph..." Hermione sighed and held onto her hand.
"What's going on?" Ron asked, looking at her with concern, Harry's face mirrored his.
"I uh.. Just have to go see McGonagall...I'll be back later..." she smiled slightly and hurried off.
"What's up with her" she heard Ron ask from behind her,
"It's not my place to say...we should check on Neville too" the three walked off.
The blonde hurried over to her Head of House's office, she had been given a copy of McGonagall's timetable incase she needed to speak to her.
"Professor?" Sophia asked, knocking on the door.
"Ah Sophia, please sit" McGonagall smiled and walked over to a cabinet, "biscuit?" she nodded in response and the elder witch handed it to her before sitting opposite her. 'What can I help you with Sophia?" she always called her by her first name, she knew how much she hated her family name.
"I umm.. We had a lesson about the unforgivable curses and I was just... do you really go to Azkaban for using them?" the woman before her nodded,
"They're unforgivable for a reason Sophia"
"Right, of course. Is there anyway Leo and Roxie could be excused from that lesson? I know Roxie has it tomorrow... and I umm...I don't think she or he... they... well"
"Sophia... I can't excuse them without a reason..." she looked up at her professor, tears beginning to form.
"Please professor... they don't need to see that... please"
"Alright... I'll speak to their Heads of House" Sophia felt a smile form on her face,
"Thank you, professor!" she replied,
"Sophia... if you do need to tell me something, you can" she nodded before leaving, sighing, she headed straight for the hall, wanting to just be with her friends.
"Goldie!" Sophia turned around in the deserted corridor, everyone was already at lunch, but Fred was hurrying toward her, "there you are, been looking everywhere for you" he placed a rose behind her ear, her eyes widened slightly, the events of the day catching up to her, "woah, what's wrong?" He asked, looking worried, she didn't say anything, she just ran into his chest and hugged him tight, her tears spilling out. He instantly hugged her back, "whatever it is, it'll be okay.... Promise" he walked them over to a window seat and sat down, "do you wanna tell me what it is?"
"Moody he-uh he demonstrated the unforgivable curses..." he looked almost confused until she looked up into his eyes, then he realised, once again they pulled her into a close hug.
"I'm so sorry" he whispered, holding her close.
**
Sophia had been walking between classes, she'd had to speak to Flitwick, so told her friends to go ahead without her.
"Hey Soph" she turned to see Cedric running over to her, a smile on his face.
"Hey Ced" she smiled back, he began walking with her, even though he didn't know where she was going.
"Let me grab those for you" he gestured to the books she'd forgotten to stuff into her bag, when she seemed hesitant he'd added, "please"
Reluctantly, she handed him her books,
"Where to?" He asked, still smiling.
"Potions" he let out a sigh,
"That's unfortunate" he attempted to offer her a comforting smile, "how was your summer?" He attempted to lighten the mood,
"Oh you know the World Cup was good.... Until my dad decided to try being a death eater again.... And home wasn't the worst... until my parents decided to try and marry me off....but then I managed to make it to the Weasley's, so that was good" he looked at her shocked, moving her books to one arm and putting his other one around her.
"I'm sorry....and your parents are trying to marry you off? Surely they can't do that" he seemed annoyed,
"Well it won't work, but they sure can try" she responded, glad to be talking to someone properly about it,
"Who is it? If you don't mind me asking...." She looked up at him,
"Ced, I tell you basically everything of course I don't mind you asking, Tiberius Yaxley" he looked disgusted and mimicked vomiting which made Sophia laugh,
"He is one of the foulest people I've ever had the displeasure of meeting" Sophia continued to smile as she looked up at him,
"And that's why I don't intend to marry him" by this point they'd reached Snape's classroom, "I'll see you later"
"See you around Soph" he smiled and handed her her books before walking off to his own lesson,
**
Sophia, Harry and Ron spent a few hours making up lies for their divination homework that night, they actually rather enjoyed it, coming up with some grim predictions for their lives. Sophia finished before the boys so she started reading a magazine and staring longingly at Fred before Hermione rushed in, she'd started SPEW. Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Sophia agreed that the House Elves were treated incredibly unfairly, she'd witnessed the abuse her parents and elder siblings inflicted on theirs, but she also knew that all of this was deep rooted in society and changing the elves minds about how they worked wouldn't be easy. But before they could reply to Hermione's idea, Hedwig was at the window, with a letter from Sirius. Apparently there were signs, strange signs. Sophia had no idea what these were but Sirius seemed worried about them, Harry then said that he was going to stop Sirius coming back before going off to bed.
Defence Against the Dark Arts became more demanding, Sophia wasn't too fond of the lessons, and Moody didn't seem too fond of her, she guessed it was because of her father.
Apparently, they'd be trying to fight the Imperius Curse today. Sophia knew she could, she'd been training for this. In turn, everyone attempted, and everyone failed to resist the curse. Then it was Sophia's turn,
Spin around
The voice in her head said, Sophia took in a deep breath and drowned out the voice, thinking of her own instructions, stand still, and blasting a song in her mind to drown the words out. After about a minute, Moody stared at her impressed,
"Very well done!" He seemed almost annoyed, "you fought it" Harry went next and ended up face planting the desk, Moody seemed way happier that Harry nearly fought it.
Sophia had to stay behind after class,
"I trust your father taught you to do that" her eyes widened, how dare he.
"No, I taught myself" she snapped folding her arms, he eyed her suspiciously,
"Never seen a Malfoy not in Slytherin" he changed the subject,
"Yeah I was the first, decided to change history" she glared at the man in front of her,
"Nasty man that Lucius Malfoy..."
"You're telling me..." she scoffed, he looked at her almost confused, "if I was anything like my family, do you think my best friends would be a Weasley, a muggleborn and Harry Potter?" And with that she stormed out and made her way to Transfiguration, if she was quick she wouldn't be late.
"Goldie!" Fred ran up behind her and handed her another rose, "are you still mad at me?" His eyes softened,
"Do you still plan on entering the tournament?" He smiled slightly,
"I'll see you with another flower later" he winked which made Sophia go bright red before she hurried off to lesson.
"Sorry professor" Sophia said as she rushed in and took her seat next to Hermione, McGonagall looked at the rose in Sophia's hand and smiled slightly,
"It's alright Sophia"
McGonagall then started lecturing them about their O.W.Ls. Sophia was not looking forward to those, they weren't even for another year so she didn't know what the point in mentioning them was.
Fred kept up his promise in between each lesson, Sophia was finding each lesson more boring than the next,
Hagrid had decided they needed to come down on alternate evenings to observe the Skrewts, as no one had yet discovered what they ate,
"I will not!" Her brother stated, sounded disgusted at the prospect, "I see enough of these foul things in lessons thanks"
"Yeh'll do wha yer told" he growled, "or I'll be takin a leaf outta Professor Moodys book, heard yeh made a fine ferret" Sophia and all the Gryffindors roared with laughter and Draco shut up,
They returned to the castle in a good mood, the look on her brothers face still etched in her mind, but once they reached the entrance hall they found themselves stuck in a huge crowd,
"And this is why I hate being short" Sophia huffed and folded her arms, she was easily the shortest of the four. With Hermione only being a smidge taller than her.
Ron told them that the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would be arriving at six on the 30th of October, they'd get to leave lessons half an hour earlier.
They all celebrated getting to leave potions early,
Ernie MacMillan came rushing over, he seemed to be speaking to all of them but kept staring at Sophia,
"Only a week away now" he looked overly excited, "I wonder if Cedric knows... I'll go tell him!" He ran off, flushing red as Sophia looked at him.
"Cedric?" Ron questioned, Sophia rolled her eyes.
"Diggory... you know the guy Soph used to date?"
"Fake date" she interjected,
"That idiot couldn't be Hogwarts champion" Ron scoffed, Sophia whacked his arm,
"He's not an idiot! He's a lovely person, kind and sweet"
"You only fake dated him Soph, no need to sing his praises"
"He's my friend!" She folded her arms,
"Soph is right, you only don't like him because he beat you in Quidditch" Hermione stated, matter of factly, "he's a good student and a prefect"
"You only like him becasue he's handsome" Ron said scathingly, Hermione looked shocked,
"That is not true! Besides, even if Sophia only fake dated him, that still means he is entirely off limits" Ron and Harry shared a confused look,
"Girl code" Sophia explained,
Over the next week, the excitement in the school increased dramatically, teachers were becoming more frantic and Filch had been polishing everything profusely,
The Great Hall had been decorated with enormous silk banners when they entered it for breakfast on the morning of the thirtieth,
Sophia's eyes caught onto Fred, who was sitting with George talking in hushed voices, he looked over at her and winked as she walked in which made her go red, Ron then led them over,
"It's a bummer alright" George said, "but if he won't to talk to us in person we'll have to send him the letter after all, or we'll stuff it into his hand, he can't avoid us forever"
"Who's avoiding you?" Ron questioned as they sat down with the twins,
"Wish you would" Fred replied irritably, then he looked at Sophia and smiled, "hiya Goldie girl" she flushed red once more,
"What's a bummer?" Ron asked, ignoring the flirting between her and his brother.
"Having a nosy git like you for a brother" Fred snapped.
"You got any ideas on the tournament yet?" Harry asked, "thought anymore on trying to enter?" They sighed,
"I asked McGonagall how the champions are chosen but she wasn't telling" George answered bitterly, "she told me to shut up and get on with Transfiguring my raccoon"
"Wonder what the tasks are going to be" Ron thought, "you know, bet we could do it" he addressed the trio sitting around him, "we've done dangerous things before"
"Not infront of a panel of judges you haven't" Fred replied, "McGonagall says the champions get awarded points according to how well they've done the task"
"Who are the judges?" Sophia asked,
"Well, the heads of the participating schools are always on the panel" Hermione answered, "because all three of them were injured during the tournament of 1792 by a cockatrice the champions were supposed to be catch" apparently it was all in Hogwarts a History, Hermione then continued her anger about the treatment of House Elves, Sophia wanted to help but she knew the house elves wouldn't accept change, although Hermione didn't seem keen to listen to this. Nevertheless, Sophia paid the two sickles to join SPEW. George tried to explain to Hermione that the house elves were happy but she refused to hear it, then, Hedwig flew in. Sirius didn't believe Harry's lie.
At the end of the school day, they were all stood awaiting the arrival of the Champions, McGonagall had forced Sophia to wear her full proper uniform for once which had rather annoyed her. They discussed how the other students would be arriving, but couldn't quite deduce it.
"Aha! Unless I'm mistaken I believe the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!" Sophia couldn't see where,
"Over there" a sixth year shouted, pointing over the forest. It was a giant carriage of some sort, being pulled through the air by horses.
A giant woman stepped out of it and soon enough a group of students in blue satin uniforms followed,
Dumbledore called her Madame Maxime and the two exchanged a cordial greeting,
Then the Durmstrang students arrived, a boat emerged from the lake and Sophia's eyes widened in shock, then she recognised the name. Karkaroff, he'd been to her house for dinner many a time. She didn't even have time to process this before Viktor Krum was walking past her,
Ron and Harry shared excited smiles and talked about him, Sophia rolled her eyes. Yes, he was an excellent Quidditch player but he was just a person all the same.
They all then gathered into the hall, Ron still excitedly planning how he was going to get Krums autograph.
Viktor took a seat at the Slytherin table and Sophia could see the disappointment on Ron's face.
Filch put out four extra chairs which caused much confusion amongst group of friends. They had a display of foreign delicacies for dinner, Sophia thought they were lovely.
When Hagrid came in, they checked in with him about the Skrewts. Ron then became very taken with a girl sitting nearby, Sophia thought she was pretty but didn't understand the amount of attention she was getting.
The two remaining seats were filled by Ludo Bagman and Mr Crouch, Sophia rolled her eyes, she wasn't fond of either man. Apparently they organised the tournament.
Once the plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore began his speech. Fred was practically lying on Sophia in his attempt to lean closer to Dumbledore, not that she minded.
"The Triwizard Tournament is about to start, but I would like to say a few words before we bring in the casket"
"The what?" Harry and Sophia muttered in unison, earning them a shrug from Ron.
"Just to clarify the procedure that will be followed this year, but firstly let me introduce Mr Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of Magical Cooperation. And Mr Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports" the applause for Bagman was louder, probably due to his previous Quidditch fame.
Apparently, Crouch and Bagman would be ok the judging panel, as they'd just worked so hard. Then Filch was instructed to bring in the casket. A great wooden chest that was encrusted with jewels was placed before Dumbledore.
"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr Crouch and Mr Bagman and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced there the school year. They will test the champions in many ways. Their magical prowess, their daring, their powers of deduction and their ability to cope with danger" everyone was silent, listening intently, "as you know, three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the participating schools. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector... The Goblet of Fire" everyone's eyes widened as a wooden cup full of dancing blue flames rose up from the crate. "Anybody wishing to submit themselves as a Champion must write their name and school clearly on a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet" Dumbledore explained, "the champions will be smocked tomorrow at dinner" he then explained how he'd be drawing an age line around the goblet to ensure no underage students could enter, and that everyone should take caution when deciding whether they should enter or not.
"An age line!" Fred called as they walked toward the entrance hall, his arm around Sophia's shoulders, which made her very happy, "that should be fooled by an ageing potion shouldn't it? And once your names in that goblet you're laughing! It can't tell if you're under seventeen" Sophia rolled her eyes,
"Come on Fred, seriously?" He smirked at her and nodded,
"You bet seriously" Sophia rolled her eyes and Ron started searching from Krum.
"Oh if it will make you shut up" Sophia grabbed his hand and dragged him across to the Quidditch star, Harry and Hermione hurriedly following.
"Sophia!" Viktor smiled upon seeing her,
"Hi Viktor, oh it's been such a long time" he bent down to give her a quick hug, Ron was staring shocked,
"It 'as" he replied, "ow are you?"
"Oh I'm great, but my friend here really wanted to have the chance to talk to you" Viktor's eyes moved to Ron who was red,
"Hallo" Ron waved and went scarlet,
"Come along!" Karkaroff commanded, ordering him away, then he noticed Sophia, "Miss Malfoy, it has been too long" he smiled, she rolled her eyes slightly but replied politely,
"It has" then his eyes locked onto Harry, after an interruption from Moody the group kept moving.
"YOU KNOW VIKTOR KRUM!" Ron exclaimed as they walked,
"Yeah" Sophia answered, casually.
"Oh my god! Soph you are my absolute favourite person!" Ron picked her up and hugged her which caused her to laugh,
"Thanks"
The next morning, they returned to the Entrance Hall. Apparently all the Durmstrang students had put their names in, but no one from Hogwarts had.
Just then, Fred, George and Lee came running down the stairs, smiling.
"Done it!" Fred whispered triumphantly,
"Done what?" Ron questioned, Fred rolled his eyes,
"The ageing potion dungbrains" Sophia glared up at him, "it'll be fine Goldie, promise" his wink made her go red
They took a few drops of the ageing potion before Fred wrote his name down and jumped over the age line. Sophia looked shocked as she thought he made it, George did too because he jumped over as well. Then, the two were hurled out of the circle and landed painfully ten feet away, and long grey beards grew on their faces. Everyone burst out laughing, including Sophia. Fred and George laughed too, then Fred set his eyes in her.
"What you laughing at?" He joked, she kept laughing,
"Oh that beard isn't really for me...think I'm finally over you" she answered in the same jokey tone, smiling he picked her up bridal style and swung her around in circles, they were both laughing their heads off and didn't notice Dumbledore arriving.
"I did warn you" Fred stopped spinning her as they saw Dumbledore standing there, he sounded amused. "I suggest you place Sophia down then you both should go see Madame Pomfrey who is already tending to Miss Fawcett of Ravenclaw and Mr Summers of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too, although I must say, neither of their beards were quite as fine as yours" Fred placed Sophia on the floor and winked at her before walking off,
The core four then set off into breakfast, still laughing. Apparently a few Slytherins had put there names in and Cedric was planning to. Angelina came in and told them she'd entered, Sophia thought she'd make an excellent champion.
They decided to visit Hagrid and Hermione had run off to gather her SPEW things, as they left the hall they saw all the Beauxbatons students entering their names,
"Hey!" She looked at the direction of the voice and saw Cedric running over,
"Oh hey!" She smiled, Harry and Ron told her they'd meet her outside, "heard you're entering" she smiled slightly,
"Yeah, thought it could be fun, and it's honourable, right?" She laughed slightly and nodded, "plus, if I'm a champion there's no way Cho or anyone would reject me" Sophia laughed some more, the previous year her and Cedric had pretended to date in order to make Fred and Cho jealous. It had worked.
"Oh of course" he laughed slightly,
"I heard about the spinning around thing, and the roses thing" Sophia went red thinking about, "our plan certainly worked" she nodded,
"the tournament's dangerous though..." Sophia sighed, she'd been so focused on the dangers that could affect Fred she hadn't thought about what could happen to Cedric,
"I know but I think it's worth the risk, I want to make my dad proud, and bring honour to Hufflepuff" he stepped closer to her, "you're not worried about me are you?" He smirked, Sophia went ever so slightly pink,
"I'm worried about whoever ends up getting through, I don't particularly want to deal with anyone dying this year..." his face fell slightly,
"No ones gonna die, I don't think Dumbledore would let us compete in a deadly tournament" he rested his hands on her arms. Sophia didn't want anyone to enter, she didn't really want the tournament to take place.
"I guess so" she replied, his smile grew. "Good luck Ced" he smiled and pulled her closer, she hugged him back.
"Thank you" Cedric replied, and she went to join her friends on their trip to Hagrids. But when they arrived, her eyes widened.
Hagrid was wearing the most hideous hairy brown suit she'd ever seen, apparently was his best. The checkered yellow tie only ruined the outfit more, his hair was full of grease and slicked into bunches. They decided to not comment on it.
According to Hagrid, the Skrewts kept killing each other,
Hagrid nearly told them what the first task was before he stopped himself, apparently he'd seen one before, the four of them decided to stay for lunch with Hagrid.
Hagrid tried to explain to Hermione about the house elves liking work, and she actually seemed to listen,
By the time it was dark, they all decided to return to the castle for the feast and announcement of the Champions, although Hagrid had hurriedly put on something that smelled utterly disgusting. According to him, it was cologne. Hagrid then began walking into the castle with Madame Maxime.
"He fancies her!" Ron smiled, and then made a comment about their potential children,
"I think he might need some serious help though.... That outfit" she shivered, the others all laughed, "what! I like fashion!"
The Durmstrang students entered right before them, shoving their way past, Ron muttered something under his breath at this event. When they entered the hall, Sophia smiled broadly as she saw Fred and immediately walked to sit next to him,
"Glad the beards gone" he laughed and nodded in agreement,
"Yeah me too Goldie" they then began discussing who the Champion could be, "I hope it's Angelina, although anyone's better than that oaf Diggory" Sophia glared slightly,
"You're just saying that because you're still mad he dated..." George started but was cut off by an elbow in the ribs from Lee.
"But if it is Diggory he may die an agonising death which would be rather good" Sophia rolled her eyes at his comment, she knew he didn't mean it. He was still holding a grudge about the Quidditch match the previous year.
The feast took longer than usual, but finally, it was time for the Champions to be announced.
Viktor Krum for Durmstrang.
Fleur Delacour for Beauxbatons.
Cedric Diggory for Hogwarts.
The applause was huge and Sophia was part of it, Fred was scowling at him which only made Sophia smile, her plan really had worked,
Dumbledore began to speak again, but then the goblet turned red once more. It threw out another name. Sophia's eyes widened in horror.
"Harry Potter"