I woke up for my run the next morning like normal, and thankfully no one else was up. It was Sunday, and everyone was probably exhausted from all the celebrating last night.
Everything started to sink in a little more as I made my way around the lake. The anger at Crouch and the unfairness of Harry's situation still stung, but the excitement was starting to set in too. I was officially a Hogwarts champion! I was going to be representing my school, competing in all kinds of dangerous tasks, and I got to do it all with Cedric, the best boyfriend and partner I could've asked for.
This year was going to rock!
I went inside in a far better mood than I'd been in last night, practically walking on air as I headed down to the Great Hall after taking a shower. I met Cedric, and we decided to take our breakfast outside so we could eat together.
It was a little cold, since it was now early November, but it wasn't anything too bad.
We spent the rest of the morning walking around outside together. The original plan was to talk some strategy, but since we didn't really know what we were going to be facing, there wasn't much to be said. So, instead, we talked about school and our friends and the excitement we were both feeling.
"You know Harry didn't put his name in, right?" I said part way through our walk.
"I... I mean, I don't know... are you sure Alexa? It seems pretty incredible that someone else would do that for him, without talking to him at all."
"Ced, you're the one that told me about all the crazy stuff that's happened to that kid. A mass murderer broke into the castle last year specifically to come after him. There are people out there who actually want to kill Harry, and now he's gotta do this Tournament without any of the safety measures to help protect him. I don't know, I think Moody might be onto something about someone having bad intentions. And at the very least, I know Harry wanted a break this year."
Cedric sighed a long, heavy sigh. "I didn't really think about that. I guess it does make sense. It's just odd, you know? That it's him every year? I wish it was just you and I doing this, bringing glory to our Houses and Hogwarts, and not Harry again."
"I'm sure he feels the exact same way."
Cedric nodded, and although we moved on to other topics I'm pretty sure he'd come to agree with what I was saying. Harry had more adventure in three years than most people got in a lifetime. Speaking from experience, after a bunch of stuff like that? Sometimes all you wanted was a break.
Hell, that was a big part of the reason I decided to come to Hogwarts. For a break.
Cedric and I headed in for lunch, and I managed to duck my Gryffindor friends afterwards to go call my family. I was officially a Triwizard champion now, which meant sharing the news with everyone back home. I debated sending a Howler, but I knew everyone would have about a million questions, so I decided a live conversation would be better.
I snuck off to a deserted corridor, then had Ana dial up my dad. It was barely 9am in New York, so some of my family members definitely weren't awake yet, but the ones that were could fill everybody else in later.
"Alexa!" My dad picked up with a big smile, looking incredibly happy to see me. "How's school, sweetheart? Is everything okay? Do I need to come back and scare the hell out of that Headmaster again?"
I laughed. "No, Dad, I'm all good here. Actually, I have exciting news! Can you get everybody that's awake to come over? I don't want to have to explain it a bunch of times."
"Yeah, hold on." My dad turned his head to the side, speaking to Jarvis now instead of me. "Jarvis, magnify through all rooms in the Tower: AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!"
I could hear the echo through the phone.
Less than twenty minutes later, every single member of the Avengers that lived in the Tower regularly was gathered together. They completely suited up, adrenaline pumping, because my dad had yelled like it was an emergency.
If I didn't have exciting news, they probably would've killed him.
I explained the Tournament as well as I could to my family, really doing my best to downplay the danger. As expected, they all had a bunch of questions, and it was at least an hour before I'd answered all of them. Finally though, my family was satisfied. They congratulated me, told me to be careful, and I rushed our goodbyes when they started asking about coming to watch. Eventually I'd have to deal with everybody wanting to come visit Hogwarts so badly, but I decided today was not that day.
My Gryffindor friends were waiting for me in the entrance hall when I finally emerged after my phone call, and they immediately herded me out the front doors like Angelina and Alicia promised they would. Facing their interrogation about Cedric was enough dealing with conversations I wanted to avoid for one day.
My friends interrogated me about the whole process of Cedric and I putting our names in the Goblet, but I kept the details to a minimum. Eventually, the interrogation morphed into just hanging out by the lake, watching the Durmstrang ship and theorizing about what the first task could possibly be.
"Bagman said the first task is the twenty-fourth," I said. "Do you realize what that means? It means that Tuesday, I'll be competing in a Tournament and doing something that might kill me, Wednesday I'll be having a virtual Friendsgiving with Jackson and people in New York, and then by Thursday I have to get our Friendsgiving together like last year!"
"It's going to be a busy week for you," Angelina laughed.
"Yeah, no kidding. Although, if the first task kills me, I won't have to worry about any of the other stuff."
My friends all laughed and shook their heads while I just grinned. After a little longer, we headed back up to the castle. The weather was still fairly nice, but it was early November. It was starting to get uncomfortably chilly in the evenings.
All throughout our time on the grounds and at dinner after, the twins seemed distracted. They'd been huddled up working on something in the Common Room a few nights last week too, and I was starting to get curious about what they could be doing.
I decided it was time to ask.
They wandered off to go sit with their heads together in a corner of the Common Room again, and this time I followed them over. They were whispering intently, but they stopped and looked up when I came over.
"Okay, what the hell are you two up to?" I asked, deciding I didn't want to beat around the bush. They glanced between each other, like they weren't sure they wanted to tell me. "Look, if this is something to do with all the trick products you're making, I don't want to give people warning or anything like that—"
"We're debating blackmailing a Ministry Official," George broke in, keeping his voice low. I raised my eyebrows, then took a second to pull up a chair before leaning in with them.
"Okay then. Can I ask why?"
"Remember we made that bet with Bagman at the World Cup?" Fred started. "That Krum would catch the Snitch but Ireland would win?"
"Yeah..."
"Well we won, but Bagman paid us with Leprechaun gold. It disappeared a few hours after we left the World Cup."
"WHAT?" I realized I was shouting, and I glanced around the Common Room a few times before turning back to Fred and George and lowering my voice. "Sorry. But seriously, what the hell? I thought Crouch was the worst of the two of them, but turns out they're both awful!"
Fred and George nodded in agreement, then George spoke up again.
"We thought it was a mistake at first, but he's been avoiding us and he hasn't paid up. We've tried being nice a few times, but now we're trying to find another way that'll work."
"Well guys! You should've told me! I can take care of this in two seconds! I'll go confront him for you guys! I can do the sling portals and the glowing light and stuff, I can—"
"No, Alexa," Fred firmly interrupted. "It's our business, we'll take care of it."
"Besides, you've already got far too much going on this year," George agreed.
"Guys... come on, I want to help you!"
"Not a chance Alexa. We don't want help. We just told you because you're our friend."
"Yeah, so don't stick your nose in it and make us regret telling you."
I scoffed, flopping back in my seat and crossing my arms. I glared at the twins for a minute, but they didn't change their stances. Finally I gave in, rolling my eyes with a heavy sigh.
"Fine, whatever. If you ever decide you want my help, I'm here."
"We know."
"And we appreciate it."
"Now go work on your mountain of homework and leave us to our blackmail."
I laughed. "Alright, whatever guys. Don't get in any serious trouble, wizard laws are apparently total bullshit."
"We won't," the twins said in sync. Their matching grins didn't give me much confidence.
I wandered back over to the fire and spent the rest of the night working through physics homework with Lee. I was expecting him to quit the 'trying to learn muggle science' thing pretty early on, but despite starting with physics while having virtually no other background, he was still really enjoying it.
Jackson and I were getting closer to having another science bro every single day.
The next few days passed like normal. Cedric and I didn't get much done in the way of planning for the next task, but it was hard to plan when we had no idea what was coming. Jackson and I spent a little more time sparring, and I channeled my rage against Crouch and now Bagman to beat him in another full-on competition. He was getting better every day, but all that practice against Bucky, Steve, Nat, and Clint was keeping me a few steps ahead.
I woke up Wednesday morning for my run, feeling a little sore from hitting the mat and fighting Jackson. As a result, I was slightly grumpier than normal as I headed outside to the lake, facing one of the coldest mornings we'd had all year.
As I got closer to the lake, I caught sight of another figure on the lake's edge. Whoever it was started stretching like they were about to run, and as I got closer I realized it was none other than Viktor Krum.
"Hey!" I called, waving to him as I made my way down the sloping lawn. He looked up and, once he realized who I was, waved back. I spoke up again as I got within speaking distance. "What are you doing?"
"I am running. I need to train and keep fit for Quidditch."
"When do you usually run?" I couldn't believe I hadn't run into him yet. I mean, sure, they hadn't even been here a week, but I was out doing this at the same time every morning!
"In the evening. Why? Do you usually run now?"
"Yeah! Oh my gosh, Viktor, this is perfect. Cedric used to be my running buddy but he bailed on me after we started dating, which is totally fine, but now you can be my running budy!"
Viktor thought for a minute before responding. "Do you always run so early?"
"Yes but trust me, it's the best time for it. Besides, nothing compares to the peace of the grounds so early in the morning."
"Hmm..." He paused again, did a few more stretches, then looked back at me. "Fine. As long as you can keep up."
With that, he took off running.
I grinned. He had no reason to know anything about me, my family, or my training, but boy oh boy was he about to learn.
I sprinted to catch up to him, then started jogging just slightly faster than he was. He sped up to meet my pace, and after a few minutes I sped up again. When I glanced back, I saw Viktor was now the one grinning. He was a professional athlete, so he had no real trouble keeping up with me, but I'd surprised and impressed him, which was really my only goal.
We spent the next few laps jogging comfortably together, each of us occasionally turning one stretch of the shore into a race before going back to our normal pace. I was a little more tired than usual when we finished, but I'd also had more fun.
"You are fast," Viktor said, smiling with his hands on his hips as we slowed to a walk.
"So are you," I laughed. "So I take it this means I passed the running buddy test?"
"Da. With... what do you say? Flying colors?"
"Perfect." I grinned and gave Viktor a high-five, then started backing up towards the castle. "I'm gonna go take a shower, but I'll see you at breakfast?"
Viktor nodded, then turned and headed back to his ship as I waved.
"Same time tomorrow!" I yelled over my shoulder. I didn't need to look back to know he would be there.
I'd just gotten myself a new running buddy.