14| NOT ALL NEED AN ENCHANTMENT TO BE ENCHANTED
"It's Krum! Gemini!"
Gemini put her face in her hands.
It had been less than a minute since they'd settled down on the Slytherin table for dinner and Draco was already obsessing over Viktor Krum. He kept shooting clandestine eager looks at Krum — who, along with his fellow Durmstrang companions, was still standing, apparently unsure of where to sit. Draco was hoping precariously that he would join the Slytherins.
All Gemini knew of him was that he was a famous Quidditch player. That too, she had found out only this summer at the World Cup. As such, she was most uninterested in the rather grim-looking celebrity.
Yet, while her eyes were locked on her reflection in her shining golden plate, most of the delegates were looking at her. The Durmstrang students walked over to their table; the Beauxbatons students were already seated at the Ravenclaw table.
"They're coming here!" Draco whispered to her. He was sitting right in front of her, his face towards the Durmstrang students while Gemini had her back to them.
"Gee, I didn't have a clue," Gemini said monotonously, removing her hands from her face and placing her chin on one palm now.
Crabbe and Goyle, who were sitting on Draco's other side wore expressions a mixture of smug and thrilled as Krum sat down beside Gemini. The other Durmstrang students sat closely around him as the Slytherins avidly made space for them.
Gemini didn't even glance up at Krum, while Draco leaned forward and introduced himself with a smirk.
"Viktor Krum," Krum grunted back in a thick accent. He pulled off his heavy fur coat to reveal robes of a deep blood red, and his companions followed his lead.
Unlike Daphne and Pansy, who were waiting for Krum to notice them, Gemini was facing away from him, looking at Dumbledore instead, who was entering the hall at last along with the staff, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime. When their headmistress appeared, the pupils from Beauxbatons leapt to their feet. A few of the Hogwarts students, including Draco, laughed.
The Beauxbatons party appeared quite unembarrassed, however, and did not resume their seats until Madame Maxime had sat down on Dumbledore's left-hand side.
"Don't laugh at them," Gemini told Draco. "they're well-mannered. It's part of their culture. Something you should learn from, might I add."
The Durmstrang students seemed to find this amusing, considering Gemini hadn't said a word since they'd joined the Slytherins and they had been inquisitive to see what she was like.
Draco shot her a glare.
"You always do that, don't you?" Blaise smirked from her other side, impassively twirling a lock of her hair.
Gemini grinned back innocently. "Do what?"
"How do you know about their 'culture'?" Draco asked probingly.
"I read a lot. You know that." Gemini answered easily, pushing away Blaise's hand.
"You read about cultures?"
"And poisons," Gemini stared straight into his eyes with a wicked look. "I could give you a demonstration of their working."
Blaise cleared his throat as Krum shot Gemini an entertained look. "There'll be no poisoning anyone tonight," he said, looking pointedly at Gemini.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and — most particularly — guests," said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students. A respectful silence fell over the Great Hall. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."
The Durmstrang students did seem to be enjoying Hogwarts. Some of them were still looking at the starry black ceiling with expressions of interest and were allegedly impressed with the golden crockery. The Beauxbatons students, however, didn't look very happy. One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh at Dumbledore's words.
Gemini's eyes found her. "Veela" was the first word that popped into her head. It was self-evident — she had silvery-blond hair and an eerily pretty face.
She seemed to have stared at her too long, because the next thing she knew, the girl's deep blue eyes were looking into her very own grey ones, which were glimmering silver under the light. She looked startled by Gemini, whose beauty seemed to stun someone as attractive as herself.
Gemini's lips curled into a smirk before she could help herself and just like that, she broke their eye contact.
"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," said Dumbledore. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!" He sat down and Karkaroff leaned forward at once, engaging him in conversation.
Gemini looked at the man with distaste, then disregarded him, focusing on the food filling the empty platters. Her eyes were examining some new dishes when one specifically caught her eye.
"Bouillabaisse!" she cheered.
"Boo — what?" said Draco across from her.
Gemini served herself a bowl of some sort of shellfish stew and answered Draco's query. "Boo-yah-base," she enunciated in a perfect French accent. "Bouillabaisse — it's a French delicacy."
Draco's brows elevated at her response. "I'll keep to my chicken, thanks."
Gemini gave him a one-sided smile. "You should try it, it's good." And it really was good, just not as good as they made it in France — so Gemini thought. "Bon appétit!" she added before indulging in the stew.
Blaise too, tried some of the bouillabaisse, having had it before. Krum frowned at the stew but helped himself generously to other dishes.
"You seem chipper," said Blaise.
"You seem keen to know why." Gemini retorted, tuning out the conversation Draco had started with Krum. She distinctly heard the words 'snitch' and 'Wronski feint' and knew that the two were on a whole other page.
"Maybe because I am. Would you care for some salad?" Blaise was offering her a plate of fresh green vegetables, which she couldn't refuse.
"Stalking my dinner routine?" she said, putting some cabbage and tomatoes on her plate.
"Perceiving — there's a difference," he answered.
Krum's voice suddenly reached Gemini's ears. "They seem to be vary good friends." he was telling Draco.
Draco snorted ungracefully. "They're not friends."
"Wonder who they're talking about?" Gemini asked Blaise, inclining her head towards him.
"Us," he said. "You weren't listening, were you?" he grinned at Gemini's meekly bemused expression.
"I thought they were discussing Quidditch or something. How do you know?" she tilted her head to one side inquisitively.
"I've been parallelly listening to them. I play Quidditch too, you see," he said mockingly.
"You practise Quidditch. There's a difference." teased Gemini, automatically thinking of the number of times Draco had dragged her to Quidditch matches and rehearsals to cheer for him and Blaise (she never did).
"Gemini?" Draco called to her.
"Yeah?" she said.
"Won't you introduce yourself to our guests?" he placed both elbows on the table and waited for dessert as he spoke.
Gemini did not expect him to call her out like that. But she should have. She sighed, then put on a smile and turned to Krum. "Gemini Delmar." she introduced herself, extending a hand. "Part-time model and the next Newt Scamander."
Draco snorted yet again — into his goblet of pumpkin juice this time.
Krum, with a flustered look, took her hand and gave it a firm shake, which Gemini returned. Her hand was soft but rough — he observed — if that was possible. "I am Viktor —"
"Krum, I know." Gemini waved him off. "Happy now, Mr. Ferret?" she smiled caustically at Draco.
Blaise gave a cough of amusement as he placed his dining tools down.
"Ferret? I do not understand," said Krum, casting a flustered look at them as a deep scarlet colour crept up Draco's neck.
"Rubbish," Draco answered before Gemini could.
She gave Draco a malicious smile as their plates were swiped clean and replaced promptly with desserts of more variety than they had seen before. Gemini reached for a white French blancmange first and put the delicate sweet onto her plate. Then she picked up two muffins from a platter Blaise tentatively offered her.
It had been a while since she'd had this combination of desserts.
She sighed contentedly as she scooped a small portion of the blancmange and a muffin with her fork and ate it. She savoured the nauseously sweet, milky taste of the blancmange (with a hint of almonds in it) and the mildly sweet muffins, which reduced the nauseating effect.
"You are vary beautiful." Krum blurted out after a moment and Gemini stopped midway through a bite of her muffin.
She swallowed the morsel properly before speaking. "Thanks," she said shortly.
─────────
"I'm telling you, that's not a normal girl!" said Ron.
Harry couldn't argue.
The Beauxbatons girl — the same one who'd laughed during Dumbledore's speech — had left a few minutes ago with a bowl of bouillabaisse. She had removed her muffler now to reveal a long sheet of silvery-blonde that hair fell almost to her waist. She had large, deep blue eyes, and very white, even teeth.
Ron was persistent that the girl was a veela. He leaned sideways to keep a clear view of her as dessert arrived. "They don't make them like that at Hogwarts!"
Harry's eyes found Cho, who happened to be sitting only a few places away from the girl with silvery hair. "They make them okay at Hogwarts," he said without thinking. But then his eyes looked past the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables and landed on Gemini. "or better." he mumbled to himself. He saw Krum talking to Gemini and suddenly didn't like the famed Quidditch player as much.
Lately, Harry had found himself utterly conflicted. He found it utterly unfair and unjustified that he should end up being torn in two directions at once — that too, over girls! There was sweet, polite Cho, who shared his Quidditch interests and was overall the one he stood a better chance with (he blushed at the thought, this was still all very new to him). And then there was Gemini. Wild, brilliant — a breath of fresh air from unknown lands. He could wax poetic about her for hours on end if he had been any good at it. She was glaring as sunlight when opening one's eyes for the first time. It was impossible to miss her unless she meant for someone to. But then, she was also precarious as the moon, a Rubik's Cube with no matching colours to fit. He would make no proclamations, but he thought he might — might have (not fallen in love) been attracted to her at first sight at the sorting ceremony.
"When you've both put your eyes back in," said Hermione briskly, "you'll be able to see who's just arrived."
Harry jolted from his daydream with an embarrassed cough at Hermione's clipped tone. She was pointing up at the staff table. The two remaining empty seats had just been filled. Ludo Bagman was now sitting on Professor Karkaroff's other side, while Mr. Crouch, Percy's boss, was next to Madame Maxime.
"What are they doing here?" said Harry in surprise.
"They organized the Triwizard Tournament, didn't they?" said Hermione. "I suppose they wanted to be here to see it start."
Ron, who was examining an odd sort of pale blancmange closely, moved it carefully a few inches to his right so that it would be clearly visible from the Ravenclaw table. The girl who looked like a veela appeared to have eaten enough, however, and did not come over to get it.
Hermione tutted at him.
Once the golden plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up again. A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall now. Harry felt a slight thrill of excitement, wondering what was coming. Several seats down from them, Fred and George were leaning forward, staring at Dumbledore with great concentration.
"The moment has come," said Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket —"
"The what?" Harry muttered.
Ron shrugged.
"— just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation" — there was a smattering of polite applause — "and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."
There was a much louder round of applause for Bagman than for Crouch, perhaps because of his fame as a Beater, or simply because he looked so much more likable.
Harry saw Gemini slouch on the Slytherin table in response; she was drumming her fingers against the resonating wood instead of clapping. Her dark hair spilled over her shoulders from the ponytail she'd made and she appeared to be bored out of her mind. Harry wondered what she'd look like with her hair open — she never unravelled it.
"The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch." Dumbledore's booming voice filled his ears.
Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old.
"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways... their magical prowess — their daring — their powers of deduction — and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."
At this last word, the Hall was filled with a silence so absolute that nobody seemed to be breathing.
"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."
Down the hall, on the Slytherin table, Draco was silently freaking out.
"How mysterious..." said Gemini, wiggling her fingers at him.
Tapping the surface of the casket three times, Dumbledore pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup as the lid swung open. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames.
Gemini perked up. Twig squeaked in her ear. He thought the cup was pretty.
Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall.
"Galleon would prefer the casket," Gemini told Twig, holding him between her fingers now. He was resting in her rather cold hand, curling from time to time around her fingers.
Krum shot her an odd look, thinking Gemini was speaking to herself because Twig appeared to be nothing but a magical branch to him.
"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete."
Gemini noticed Krum straighten up beside her. The determination in his eyes was, if anything, a clear indication that he was going to put his name in the goblet.
"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," Dumbledore continued, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line."
Gemini started playing with Twig.
"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."
Gemini was one of the first ones to stand up. This action drew a lot of unwanted attention to her. As she stepped over her seat and started to make her way towards the doors with the crowd, an anonymous Durmstrang student joined her side.
"Hello, beautiful," he greeted her smugly.
Gemini completely ignored him.
"Back to the ship, then," came Karkaroff's unctuous voice. He was gathering the Durmstrang students and leading them out of the Great Hall.
But the student accompanying her didn't respond to his headmaster's call. "Vot is your name?" he asked Gemini.
"Ivanov!" Karkaroff shouted.
Gemini paused in her steps for a millisecond as she realised that Karkaroff was looking in their direction. The Durmstrang student beside her — Ivanov — jumped and rushed to his party while Gemini picked up her pace and started to hurry out of the Hall unnoticed by any other delegates.
She was on par with the Gryffindors now. She could hear Karkaroff questioning Krum about his well-being.
"Viktor, how are you feeling? Did you eat enough? Should I send for some mulled wine from the kitchens?" he was saying.
Krum shook his head as he pulled his furs back on.
"Professor, I vood like some vine," said one of the other Durmstrang boys hopefully.
"I wasn't offering it to you, Poliakoff," snapped Karkaroff, his warmly paternal air vanishing in an instant. "I notice you have dribbled food all down the front of your robes again, disgusting boy —"
Gemini was almost out of the Hall now, she was just passing the Durmstrang students, hiding behind their huge frames when —
"Damn it, Potter, move." said Gemini.
The bespectacled boy turned around to find her right behind him. He shifted quickly, allowing her to step past him, but Karkaroff just happened to mobilise his students at the exact moment.
Gemini stopped in her tracks, and Harry, who was following her wide-eyed, stopped behind her. Karkaroff carelessly thanked them. But after taking another step, he froze and turned around. "For the love of —" Gemini started, but shut up almost immediately.
Karkaroff's eyes landed on her and Harry. But Gemini didn't attempt to hide any longer (she couldn't even if she wanted to — she was in plain sight). Instead, she looked right at him with her ever-sharp gaze, and did what she did best — she smiled.
He stared back at her, stupefied, before his eyes wandered to Harry, staring at him with a more disbelieving look. Behind their headmaster, the students from Durmstrang came to a halt too. Karkaroff's eyes moved slowly up Harry's face and fixed upon his scar. The Durmstrang students were staring curiously at Harry too. Comprehension dawned on a few of their faces. The boy with food all down his front nudged the girl next to him and pointed openly at Harry's forehead.
"Yeah, that's Harry Potter," said a growling voice from behind them.
Moody didn't acknowledge Gemini, however. "I didn't know I was invisible," she muttered. "Am I?" she asked Harry suddenly.
Harry was so distracted by the smell of her perfume that he barely caught her offhanded question. "N-no," he answered, internally smacking himself for stammering and blushing. But she smelled so good.
"Thanks," said Gemini, inattentively patting his shoulder.
Harry could justify his red cheeks now. Her hand lingered on his shoulder for just a bit longer before she drew it away, but it was enough to send a tingling sensation whizzing through every part of his body.
Karkaroff paled as he spun around to find Moody glaring at him unblinkingly. A terrible look of mingled fury and fear came over him.
"You!" he said, staring at Moody as though unsure he was really seeing him.
"Me," said Moody grimly.
Gemini mocked them, "And me!"
Harry coughed to disguise his laugh. Moody and Karkaroff looked at her — Karkaroff fuming while Moody gave her his same disfigured smile. She smiled back brightly.
"And unless you've got anything to say to Potter, Karkaroff, you might want to move." Moody growled at Karkaroff again. "You're blocking the doorway."
"Burn," Gemini whispered to Harry. She just couldn't stop herself from commenting, it was an inborn habit.
Harry bit his lower lip harshly to hold back his laughter.
What Moody said was true; half the students in the Hall were now waiting behind them, looking over one another's shoulders to see what was causing the holdup. Without another word, Professor Karkaroff swept his students away with him. Moody watched him until he was out of sight, his magical eye fixed upon his back, a look of intense dislike upon his mutilated face.
Gemini didn't waste a second in moving ahead in direction of the Slytherin common room.
Harry was still a bit dizzy from her perfume, which dawdled after her. But the fact that she left him without another word was what stung him. The way she'd talked to him had messed him up in more ways than he cared to admit. He was already having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that to Gemini he was just another random person. And as Hermione jostled him from behind and started teasing him, he came to the conclusion that this interaction had only made it worse.