CHAPTER TEN
❛Are you stupid?❜
The third-year boys dorm had been more quiet than usual for quite some time. Ever since Hope Lupin-Black had decided to sleep in her boyfriend's dorm, leaving one bed empty in the dorm she usually slept in. The morning after Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived to Hogwarts, Hope Lupin-Black walked a walk of shame.
It never crossed her mind how she ended up in the Hufflepuff Common Room, though her only assumption was Cedric had taken her there while she was drunk. But once she woke up, she went straight to her bed in the boy's dorm.
As Hope walked up the stairs, she didn't even think why it didn't turn into a slide, but she didn't dare question. But as she opened the door, she was met by a girlish scream from Seamus Finnegan as he was in the middle of changing.
"Hope, you can't just walk in here like that!" exclaimed Seamus, holding a blanket over himself. "I don't have a shirt on."
Dean Thomas looked at him from across the room with narrowed eyes. "It isn't like there's anything to see, Seamus."
"Don't mind me." she laughed, walking right by him and laying down on her bed. "Go on, you can get on your shirt now."
Neville Longbottom walked out of the bathroom and eyed her hungover appearance. "What are you doing here, anyways?"
"Do I need a reason to visit my favorite third-years?"
"Not exactly, but we haven't seen you in a while." answered Dean, putting on a Gryffindor sweater. "You've been distant, plus you're always with George."
Seamus wiggled his eyebrows and began to sing loudly. "Hope and George sitting in a tree K-I-S-S--"
"Don't be so loud, I have a headache." she held up her hand, covering her face with a pillow. "But, can you be a doll and hand me my pink top."
Neville nodded walking over to her trunk, only to see a single jean skirt along with other items. "You need some organization. But I'm not seeing it."
"It should be right on top--"
"Wait," Seamus interrupted, placing his finger to his lips. "The pink sweater? That you wear on Valentine's day every year?"
Dean narrowed his brown eyes and laughed. "It's weird that you know that."
"We've roomed with her for almost four years, she's easy to guess." defended Seamus, slipping on a red shirt. "But, I put that out with the dirty laundry, Hope."
Hope groaned loudly, putting her hands on her face. "Seamus, that was my one clean shirt. What am I supposed to do now? Walk around shirtless?"
"I bet a lot would like to see that--"
"Can I borrow one of yours?" she looked over to her friend with a hopeful expression. "I'll give it back, I promise."
Seamus glared his eyes as he threw her his Gryffindor jumper, which she just gave him a thankful expression. But Neville just furrowed his eyebrows. "Where did you sleep last night?"
"Uh, I think Hufflepuff Common Room." she answered, throwing on the jumper and jean skirt in the corner. "That's where I woke up anyways."
As she turned around, Dean looked at her with raised eyebrows. "That skirt is, uh, short. Do you want a pair of our jeans?"
"In what universe would your jeans fit me? You three are giants."
"Not Seamus."
The Finnegan boy whipped around with a hand placed to his heart. "You know, I am two inches taller than her."
Hope just looked down at her barely legs and groaned aloud. "I would ask the girls, but they hate me. And the rest are down at breakfast."
"On the plus side, George will like it. Probably will fall to his knees." snickered the Irish boy, winking playfully. "And not for the reason you think--"
Dean smacked the back of Seamus' head with his hand. "Don't be gross."
"I'm being honest, Dean. According to Lee, they get it on."
The Lupin-Black girl continued to eye her outfit, trying to pull the skirt down so it wasn't as short. "Someone kill me please?"
"Don't you worry, George will take it off later--" he paused as Hope hit him in the back of the head next. "That hurt, you know."
"It was intended to."
Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, and Seamus Finnegan walked with Hope Lupin-Black down by the Black Lake, cracking jokes and snacking on the many snacks from Hogsmeade. As they sat by a tree, three Beauxbatons students approached them.
"Hope Lupin-Black." called out a voice, which Hope turned to see Violette Bisset followed by two others. "It's good to see your living this morning."
Hope smiled to her newly found friend, laughing softly. "Barely, Violette, barely."
"I can see why, you downed a whole bottle of firewhiskey." she replied, pulling two cigarettes from her pocket. "Want one?"
Neville's green eyes widened as Hope nodded, lighting it with Violette's lighter. "These must be the friends you were telling me about."
"Yes, this is Pierre Mercier," she pointed to a shorter blond boy who stood next to a tall brown-haired girl. "And this is Celine Picard."
Hope smiled, waving to the two before motioning to her friends. "This is Dean, Seamus, and Neville. They're like brothers and friends put into one."
"Celine, Pierre, she's like the English version of me." boasted Violette, smiling to her friend. "And she can handle the American smokes."
Dean Thomas furrowed his eyebrows as Hope inhaled the smoke as if she was a natural. "Smokes?"
"Ze cigarettes, Lettie is addicted to zem." Pierre answered, his French accent much thicker than Violette's. "Can't talk 'er out of zem."
Neville rolled his eyes and nodded in agreeance. "Hope is the same way, aren't you?"
"'Ope," Pierre grabbed Hope's left hand and smiled. "You're much cuter than what Lettie said you were."
"Is that so?"
"It is."
Hope forced a smile, taking a drag from her cigarette. "You're very sweet, Pierre. You'd get along amazingly with my boyfriend."
Violette Bisset and Celine Picard burst out laughing as Pierre just bit his lip. "Damn, she got you there, Mercier."
"We must get going, Lettie. We need to see ze library." Celine pointed out, glancing at her watch. "But, we 'ave to 'angout soon, 'Ope. 'Ave a girls day or something."
The Lupin-Black girl nodded and smiled. "Absolutely, I'll bring my friend Ginny. You'd love her, genuinely."
"Awesome. We'll plan later. Nice meeting you boys!"
Seamus Finnegan blushed a dark shade of pink, nodding quickly. "Uh, same. Same."
"Au revoir!"
As the three students of Beauxbatons walked away, Neville smacked the cigarette out of Hope's hand and onto the grass. Which caused Hope to stare at him with widened eyes, looking from the grass to her friend.
"What the hell--"
"Don't you what the hell me, Hope." Neville looked at her with a look of betrayal. "You promised a lot of people--"
Hope held up her finger, playfully rolling her grey eyes. "Nev, we say things we don't fully mean. This is good for me."
"No, no, no. This is killing you--"
"Drop it."
Dean just placed his arm around Hope's shoulders. "Come on, we should watch some people enter their name."
"They'll be plenty of cute girls." smirked Seamus, placing his arm around Neville's shoulders. "We can rate them on a scale of one to ten--"
Hope smacked the back of his head and glared. "That's a douche thing to do, Seamus. There isn't a scale rating."
"What would you rate Hope, Seamus?" questioned Dean, smirking as Seamus turned a bright shade of pink once more.
"Yeah, what would I be rated?"
Seamus Finnegan looked down and bit his lip, debating which answer would be better. "Solid ten, I mean she's Hope."
"What does, she's Hope, mean?" questioned Dean, causing Seamus' eyes to go wide. "Tell us, Seamus."
"Uh, well, uh," he started to say, pausing to think. "You're awesome, Hope, you know. You take nothing from no one, but aren't bitchy. And you're still sweet and kind, even though you throw punches like it's nothing."
Hope smiled, and gave Seamus a small hug. "You're a solid ten, too, Seamus."
The Halloween Feast was usually a big deal at Hogwarts, but as they had just had a feast the night before, no one was excited. Fred, George, Lee, and Henry had arrived back from the Hospital Wing telling Seamus, Dean, Neville, Hope, and Ginny about what they had tried to do.
"I'm sorry, you and Fred did what?" asked Hope, chuckling as she turned to her boyfriend. "Are you stupid?"
Henry just simply nodded, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. "Yes, yes they are."
"We thought it would work, Hope." defended Fred, motioning with his chicken leg. "Aging potion, it just made so much sense."
Ginny groaned and ran her hand through her hair. "I'm related to idiots-- Merlin, I sound like Percy."
"Percy wasn't wrong though." Hope spoke playfully, smiling to her boyfriend as he just stuck out his tongue.
"Like an arrow through my heart." Ginny said, motioning that she too was related to Percy. "Straight through."
Hope shook her head, taking a bite of a roll. "Not you, Gin. You know I love you."
"I love you too, J."
George just looked from his sister to his girlfriend, slightly confused. "Ginny, she's mine you know."
"You say that now--"
Fred suddenly held a look of confusion as he looked to Hope. "Where did you go last night? You left last night, like super late."
"Yeah, Hope, where did you sleep?"
Hope's grey eyes glared at Neville as she changed the topic. "Why in Merlin would you think an aging potion would work?"
Lee looked at her with wide eyes, as if she were stupid. "It's logic, Hope, logic."
"I tried to talk them out of it, but they insisted--"
Henry was cut off by Fred who looked bamboozled. "You encouraged us, Hammond. Go down there and try, what's the worst that could happen."
"Did I?" Henry spoke with widened eyes, smirking innocently. "I did tell you it was stupid when you first brought it up though."
Hope held a look of great fear as she continued to munch away at her fudge flies that she brought along. "Is anyone else scared of who the goblet will choose?"
"No, why?"
"Ced put his name in." she said softly, eyeing her best friend at the Hufflepuff table. "Said he wanted to go to Romania and see the Dragons, but it's terrifying."
Ginny placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Cedric might not even get chosen. But if he does, he'll do bloody amazing."
Neville nodded, giving her a comforting look. "And you can be his biggest supporter. You're his best friend."
"Still, there's this feeling." she spoke slowly, unable to explain the feeling she felt. "I wish he didn't enter, it's too risky."
"The Ministry will keep watch, don't worry." added Seamus, who munched away on crisps. "Just keep your thoughts positive."
In less than ten minutes, all of the plates were cleared and taken away. And that only meant one thing, the selecting of the champions was going to begin. Which only made the Lupin-Black girl's heart race out of her chest.
"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision." said Dumbeldore, who stood next to the tall goblet. "Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the hall, and go through into the next chamber. Where they will be receiving their first instructions."
The Goblet of Fire shined a bright shade of blue as it shot out a fiery piece of paper. Dumbeldore caught the paper with one hand and held it for a few seconds, keeping the entire Great Hall on the edge of their seats.
"The champion of Durmstrang will be," he paused, before smiling. "Viktor Krum."
Claps echoed through the hall as Viktor Krum walked up to his Headmaster. Hope nodded, clapping her hands lightly. "Viktor will do well."
"I thought you hated Viktor Krum."
Hope shrugged her shoulders, sending the boy a smile. "He's actually quite nice, and offered to discuss Quidditch with me. He's respectful, which is a good trait—"
"Don't get that proper tone, J." Ginny narrowed her eyes, obviously hating the tone. "You're not around family, you talk normal."
"Oh, shut up, Gin."
"There you go."
Once again, for the second time, the Goblet of Fire shot out a piece of paper when it turned blue. And for the second time, Dumbldore caught it in his hand with ease, as everyone waited to hear who would compete.
"The champion for Beauxbatons is," there was a pause, as he pointed to the Ravenclaw table. "Fleur Delacour."
Violette Bisset clapped the loudest, looking to Hope as they both yelled out. "Yeah, Fleur!"
Hope's stomach turned as she waited for the next name, the Hogwarts champion. As much as she loved her best friend, she didn't want him to be chosen. But as the third and final piece of paper shot out of the fire, Dumbledore's voice rang out.
"The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!"
Cedric Diggory stood up with a proud smile, taking the long way to the chamber. He stopped by the Gryffindor table and gave his best friend a hug, smiling wide.
"I told you, J, it's fate!"
Hope forced a smile, nodding quickly. "You'll do amazing, Ced, and I'll be your biggest supporter. I believe in you."
"We're one step closer to seeing the Dragons this summer!" he exclaimed, practically jumping up and down. "Real Dragons, J, real ones!"
"You need to go wherever Dumbledore said to go, Ced. We'll talk later."
Cedric nodded, unable to wipe the smile from his face. "Astronomy tower, tonight."
"Of course."
As Hope Lupin-Black sat down fully in her seat, one emotion read clear on her face. Terror. All of her friends just gave her a smile as she forced fudge flies down her throat two at a time.
"Oi, George." called out Seamus, smirking playfully. "What do you think of the skirt?"
"Uh--"
Hope smiled for the first time, laughing at her friend. "Seamus, I'm wearing your jumper. If you want it back, you quit."
"You can't steal my jumper--"
"Watch me."
Before Dumbledore had a chance to speak, the Goblet of Fire shot out one more name. Which caused the entire Great Hall to go silent. As Dumbledore caught it and read it over, he didn't say a word.
"There can't be another name--"
"There's three schools, three champions--"
"Who do you think it is?"
Dumbledore looked up and stared directly at the boy who was always the center of any inconvenience. "Harry Potter."
"Plot twist--"
"No it's not." answered Seamus, rolling his eyes. "This is Harry, who else would it be? Who else would get a free pass? Chosen boy himself."
Hope just ate a few more fudge flies and nodded. "Wish I could say you were wrong, but you're not."
i took forever writing this chapter! but i owe a huge thanks to Lunar_Mystify
who gave me a good idea for this chapter, i am very thankful! i hope i don't put too many funny parts in chapters, but they make me laugh. and it's like i feel like this is how teenagers will act.
now, if there is any information wrong, i apologize. i really do try and get capitalization correct and spelling correct. if there are any questions you have for this story or more characters you want to see or what you kind of want to happen i try to include most. now, there are a few that totally interfere with the plot but i love getting new ideas!
also, if anyone is looking for a song to listen to, i totally recommend 'two little lights by jackson guthy'