The days after the first trial seemed to drone on as Nicole woke up in her dorm nearly three days later. Magnolia was lying on her bed, humming a tune while writing in a diary. Nicole swore she saw her friend drawing love hearts all over the page like she was trying to attract someone to her. She knew that Magnolia used this form of affirmation before to get boys to like her at Ilvermorny, but she didn't know who Magnolia could be writing about.
"Oh, Niki! You're awake!" Magnolia exclaimed while sitting up on the corner of her bed to face her friend.
"Yeah, I feel much better after resting. Madam Pomfrey is genuinely a saint," Nicole replied," I still am worried about what to do with this stupid egg. I bet some of the other Champions have already figured it out by now. You know I hate getting behind."
"Well, It's not really your fault that a dragon knocked you out for three days is it? Don't be so hard on yourself! If you couldn't do the Tournament, you wouldn't have gotten picked," Magnolia reassured Nicole.
"I guess you're right Mags. What I really need is a nice warm bath to wash off the three days of sleep I just had."
"You're in luck! While I was attending classes the other day, I ran into Myrtle and she told me that the bathroom where we first met was called the Prefect Bathroom not the perfect bathroom but that no one really goes in there. We could sneak in if you want." Magnolia said.
As she turns around to face Nicole, her friend has already morphed into a Prefect student named Penelope Clearwater.
"Who have you tuned into now?" Magnolia asked, looking the girl up and down.
"Penelope Clearwater, she's a Ravenclaw Prefect. It's just in case we get caught alright?" Nicole laughed while examining herself in the mirror.
"Yeah yeah, you know you love randomly tuning into people and scaring the shit out of me."
The pair of witches snuck out of the Room Of Requirement, egg in hand, and started to head to the bathroom where Myrtle instructed them to go. They approached the same large door they were at at the beginning of the year and walked in. Nicole immediately changed back into herself but she decided it was safe enough that she didn't have to cover her scars. Just as the two girls dipped into the water they suddenly heard a splash come from one of the toilets in the corner. It was Myrtle! The ghostly tween popped out of the toilet and headed straight for Magnolia and Nicole.
"That was some entrance, Myrtle. Do you have access to all the bathrooms at Hogwarts?" Nicole asked the ghost curiously.
"The bathrooms, the sinks, the pipes. Pretty much any place that has a water source," Myrtle informed, "I heard you had a nasty tumble during the first trial Nicole, I did try to warn you that they were brutal."
"Duly noted. I wasn't expecting a full-on dragon for the very first task."
"Oooo, you have one of those egg things too!" Myrtle exclaimed, "Cedric came in yesterday to take a bath and he too brought a golden egg with him.
"We just wanted to relax but Niki is very concerned about figuring out the clue in the egg. She made us bring it along." Magnolia joked while sliding deeper into the hot water.
"Oh whatever, I admit I'm worried I'll not figure it out in time but I thought a clear head would help me to open it," Nicole says looking up at Myrtle who was pretending to swim overtop of them.
"Well, Cedric put the egg in the water.That might be a good place to start.," Myrtle teased.
When Nicole heard this, she immediately grabbed the egg and pulled Magnolia's head out of the water. The girls both decided to open the latch on top of the egg at the same time and with that, they dived under.
"Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground, and while you're searching ponder this: we've taken what you'll sorely miss, an hour-long you'll have to look and recover what we took, but past an hour- the prospect's black too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
"What the hell does that mean?" Magnolia said, breathing heavily after being under the water for almost a minute.
"It must be about a body of water if we had to open it under the water. But the rest I'm not so sure about. Myrtle, what is the lake called that surrounds Hogwarts?" Nicole asks.
"The Black Lake of course. I hang out with the Mer-People down there all the time."
"Of course! Mer-People! Myrtle, you're brilliant! But what could that possibly take?" Nicole wondered out loud.
"Thank you, Myrtle! You've saved our asses once again. However, judging from the look on Niki's face, we should probably go so she can figure out the riddle." Magnolia groaned getting out of the nice bath.
"I've already got an idea Mags. Bye, Myrtle! Thank you again!" Nicole shouted, rushing her friend out of the bathroom.
**Defense Against The Dark Arts**
"I'm glad to see you and Miss Watt have decided to join us for classes today Miss Le- Reynolds." Professor Moody says turning away from the girls and walking towards the front of the dark classroom.
"Today we are learning about Boggarts so everyone form a line. NOW!" Moody continued.
"But Professor, we learned about that last year with Mr. Lupin." A student in the back of the class spoke up.
"I don't care what you did last year! Boggarts are my favorite subject and besides, you probably were not taught about them correctly! Five points from Hufflepuff for speaking out of turn!"
The entire class took to Moody's instructions clearly as he explained what a Boggart was and how to get rid of it.
"We will start first with our new students because apparently the Hogwarts students already know everything about Boggarts! Miss Watt, you're first." Moody ordered while pulling Magnolia up to the front of the line.
"Once you have your Boggart in front of you, use the spell Riddikulus, it'll turn your worst fear into something funny," Moody informed the class while turning the latch on what seemed to be a closet in front of the class. "Wand at the ready.."
Magnolia stepped forward, not knowing what was about to come out of the closet. When the door opened two shadowy figures emerged. The shadows resembled a man and a woman, but the two figures were horrifically melded together. The creatures seemed to be stumbling towards Magnolia, trying to grab her. Before they got any closer she shouted, "Riddikulus!" The figures almost at once turned into two inflatable waving balloon people that rocked back and forth. The whole class erupted with laughter as Nicole walked to face her Boggart next.
As Nicole took a few steps forward, she could see her Boggart quite clearly. It was a mirror. Inside the mirror was Nicole herself, all her scars were uncovered and on display for all to see. She looked closer and saw in her reflection a woman's spindly hand resting on her shoulder. "Riddikulus!" Nicole shouted. The mirror that once stood before her swiftly took the shape of a funhouse mirror that contorted her body in ways that made the whole class laugh. She even thought she saw a smirk from Draco who was standing in the corner of the room.
The rest of the class continued with many laughs from the other student's Boggarts. Spiders turning into harmless blueberries. Snakes turning into a bowl of pasta. All was going well when Moody dismissed them, the two girls headed for their next class.
**Transfiguration**
When the girls walked into their classroom, they noticed all of the desks were pushed to the side. There was a large record player in the middle of the floor and Professor McGonagall was standing beside it with a grin on her face.
McGonagall stood in front of all the Gryffindors and the girls when she suddenly started the record on the record player. It was a simple melody with no words. Magnolia and Nicole exchanged looks, knowing exactly why the desks had been pushed to the side. The Professor explained to the class that because of the Triwizard Tournament, Hogwarts would also be hosting the Yule Ball. The other students in the class looked confused by this but when McGonagall told them that the Ball was going to be a dance, commotion filled the room. The girl's side was all aflutter while the boy's side of the room could be heard groaning. McGonagall finished her speech and instructed everyone to find a partner to start learning how to waltz.
Magnolia felt surprised when her friend, Neville walked right up to her and asked for her hand. She took it and they started to dance along with some other students. Out of the corner of her eye, Magnolia spotted Oliver Wood with some of his friends. She continued to watch him as she danced around the class with Neville, she even accidentally stepped on his feet a few times.
Nicole had no intention of getting up in front of the class to dance but when George Weasly came up to her, she didn't seem to mind anymore. She caught Magnolia's eye for a split second and Magnolia gave her an "I- told- you- so" look. Nicole brushed it off as she tried to help George remember the steps to the dance.
**Study Hall**
Nicole and Magnolia sat with Neville and his friend Luna, a Ravenclaw student, during their study hour so Neville could help Magnolia with Herbology and she could help him with Divination. Nicole was already ahead in all of her studies so she took this time to come up with a plan for the second task.
"If it isn't my favorite cheerleader!" a voice headed towards the table causing the group of four to look up from their work.
"Oli! What are you doing over here?" Magnolia teasingly asked the boy as he took a seat beside her.
"I just wanted to scoop you up before anyone else did. Would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me?"
"Oh really? Of course, I would!" Magnolia said excitedly.
"Great! I'll see you around then!" Oliver said before quickly turning back to his Quidditch friends.
"Oh my god did that actually just happen?! Niki, I can't believe my luck! That was the guy I was telling you about!" Magnolia squealed while shaking her friend's arm.
"That's him. I expected him to be a little more dreamy since you kept going on and on" Nicole mocked simply entertaining herself.
Nicole turned back to the riddle, but she caught Neville's eye which seemed to be disappointed. Before Nicole could give it much thought, a paper bird landed right on top of Nicole's parchment.
"What the?!" Nicole yelped.
Nicole looked up and scanned the room when she saw George Weasly winking at her from another table after smacking his brother in the arm to get his attention. Inside the bird was a note from George that plainly stated, "Yule Ball?" Nicole looked up again and gave him a quick, nonchalant nod agreeing to his request.
"Niki, did George just ask you to the Ball?! I told you he liked you and yet you never believe me!" Magnolia took the note in her hand and examined the bird.
"Whatever, he's better than other people that could have asked me," Nicole replied quietly. She once again glanced over at George who had happened to still be looking at her and gave him a smirk.
**The Room Of Requirement**
The girls walked back to The Room Of Requirement, chatting about Nicole's theories for the egg's mystery. As the door appeared in front of them, they walked in and saw two dresses hanging on their respective dressers. On Nicole's dresser hung a long dress that was dark blue on top and light blue on the bottom. Across the top of the dress hung golden stars that were tapered down the gown. On Magnolia's dresser hung a midnight blue gown with sleeves and a cape. The dress had sparkles all over it and the bottom billowed out into a flowy skirt.
"Wow look at these Niki!" Magnolia exclaimed.
"There's a note... 'For my girls. Have fun at the Ball, Dad.'" Nicole read the note aloud and the girls took a minute to examine the other's dress.
They had come to the conclusion that, even though Mr. Reynolds meant well, he mixed up the girl's styles. The witches immediately swapped dresses and wrote a note back home to Fredrick, thanking him for the lovely gifts.