"Gaia! Gaia!" Desiree Walsh whisper-yelled from behind Gaia as she repeatedly slapped the girl's shoulder.
"Ow, ow! What?" Gaia grumbled, turning around to face her.
Gaia hadn't even noticed Desiree make her way from the other end of the table (which was surprising considering how much the girl was squealing).
"It's Krum! It's Victor Krum!" Desiree squealed as she motioned to the Slytherin table.
Gaia raised an eyebrow as she turned more and let her eyes roam the crowd of Slytherins for the said man. Her eyes stopped on a figure that most of the Slytherins surrounded – Krum.
"Oh." Gaia blinked once before turning her attention back to Desiree. Then, she gasped and her head whipped back to the Slytherin table, "Dear Rowena! It's Victor Krum!"
Gaia suddenly shrunk into her seat, her hair immediately flooding with violet, when she realized that her voice came out a lot louder than she meant to, multiple students near her vicinity turning to look at her. Though the Hogwarts students were more than used to her tendency to accidentally announce her thoughts – on accident – in the Great Hall, multiple Beauxbatons pupils looked at her with raised eyebrows.
Across from her, Kaleb burst out into laughter, wheezing slightly as he hid his face in his arms which were folded on the table.
"Oh Rowena, you're embarrassing," Kaleb managed to wheeze out, making Gaia's hair turn a darker violet.
"Bloody he- Shut up!" Gaia hissed through her teeth, glancing at the foreign students and seeing that they had turned away from her.
"I see your loud mouth never changed," Louis teased.
"I will hit you I swear-" Gaia threatened.
"Oh, I'm so scared," Louis mockingly gasped, laughing as he dodged Gaia's hand.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, ghosts – and most especially, our guests. Welcome to Hogwarts! I hope you'll find your stay in our home a comfortable and enjoyable experience." Professor Dumbledore's voice cut through the sound of students conversing, "We will officially open the tournament at the end of the feast. For now, enjoy!"
As per usual, the plates lined at the middle of the table filled themselves up with food, though there were some dishes that Gaia didn't recognize.
"Woah," Michael commented, leaning forward to take a look at the unfamiliar dishes.
Each student piled their plates with a combination of their favorites and new dishes that they dared to try. At one point, Gaia spotted a Beauxbatons lady spit out some of her food, probably one of the British dishes – how the girl managed to do so and still look pretty, she had absolutely no idea.
As the feast progressed, Gaia found herself glancing towards the Gryffindor table more than once, her eyes always landing on a pair of red-haired twins.
"Who do you keep looking at?" Louis questioned suddenly, turning to find the object of Gaia's attention.
"No one!" Gaia rushed as she turned back around and slouched slightly.
"Right..." Louis said before turning to Gaia's friends, "Hey, why does Gaia look there?"
Kaleb's eyebrows furrowed at the unfamiliar word as his eyes followed the direction Louis was pointing in. When his eyes landed on the Gryffindor table, a grin stretched onto his face.
"Kaleb, I swear on- "
"She's looking at her boyfriend," Kaleb teased in a sing-song voice.
"Boyfriend!?" Louis exclaimed, "Does auntie even know about this?"
"Kaleb, shut up! No, he's not my boyfriend. Kaleb's just being stupid," Gaia grumbled.
"Hey! I may not speak Spanish, but you've said stupid enough times now for me to know what it means," Kaleb huffed.
"Well, you are." Gaia stuck out her tongue slightly.
Gaia turned to Michael who was bent over in laughter, while Louis stared at her amusedly.
"What?" she asked cautiously.
"Not your boyfriend, huh?" Louis grinned.
"What're you talking about?" Gaia asked.
"I don't think your hair agrees with you."
✧✧✧
From across the Great Hall, Fred Weasley pressed his lips into a thin line as he watched Gaia's hair suddenly flood with pink as she seemed to continuously hit the shoulder of the Beauxbatons boy beside her.
"Stare harder, mate. I don't think you've burnt a whole into the back of her head yet." George grinned as he shoveled food into his mouth.
"I'm not staring, git," Fred grumbled as he turned to the, still full, plate in front of him.
He glanced back up, his chest tightening as he witnessed the boy swing an arm over Gaia's shoulders, the latter leaning into the boy.
"D'you think McGonagall would be fine if we went over there?" Fred suddenly asked.
"What, so you can attack the lad?" George said.
"What? No!"
I'm still debating it, Fred thought.
"Right," George dragged out before standing up, pulling his brother up with him.
"Wh- Hey!" Fred stumbled slightly as George let go of him.
"Well, come on then!" George started walking towards the Ravenclaw table, Fred trailing closely behind.
"Why!?"
"To visit our dearest friend at her table, of course!" George grinned.
"And for what reason!?" Fred hissed through his teeth.
"Honestly brother... We don't need one! As if we've ever had a specific reason before."
✧✧✧
"Gaia!"
Gaia yelped as a pair of hands landed on her shoulders. She turned around to be met by George, Fred close behind him, and a grin spread onto her face.
"We missed you, you know! You weren't at our table," George said.
"Yeah, Professor Flitwick insisted that I sit here tonight," Gaia explained.
"Well, that's rubbish."
Gaia laughed and shook her head in amusement. She titled her head to look behind George and saw Fred standing behind him, hands in his pockets as he looked away from her general direction.
"Freddie? What's got you so quiet?" Gaia questioned, making the boy snap his head towards her.
"What?" Fred blinked.
"You're uncharacteristically quiet." Gaia giggled, "Is something wrong?"
"Actua-"
"No!" Fred cut off his brother, glaring for a moment before grinning at the Ravenclaw, "No, there's nothing wrong. Just thinking about something."
Gaia narrowed her eyes in confusion as she continued to stare at Fred before shrugging, "If you say so."
"Hey, who's he?" George asked, motioning to Louis.
"Oh!" Gaia's face brightened, suddenly remembering the boy beside her as she hooked an arm around his neck, effectively stealing his attention from Jewel, "This is-"
"Right, settle down now! Please head back to your own seats for an announcement," Professor Dumbledore's voice cut her off, making all students look towards him.
"You two should probably go back to your tables now," Gaia suggested.
"Yeah, good idea. We'll see you tomorrow, Gaia!" George grinned as he turned to walk back to the Gryffindor table, Fred walking right beside him.
✧✧✧
"You're actually, seriously going for it?" Gaia asked the next morning as she walked into the Great Hall with Malia, Ryker, and Aisha.
In his hand, Ryker was holding a small piece of parchment with his name scribbled onto it. They stepped up to the burning goblet in the middle, which has been introduced the night before, and Ryker stepped over the age line. He stopped before turning back to his friends again, a look of uncertainty suddenly crossing his features.
"What? Don't tell me your chickening out now, Lion," Malia teased, though Gaia could tell it was meant to be a motivator for Ryker.
"Me, chicken? At least I'm actually old enough to join," Ryker grinned, relaxing as he turned back around and dropped the piece of parchment into the fire.
"Just please make sure you don't die in the stupid thing, please?" Aisha smiled as Ryker walked back up to them and threw and arm around her shoulder.
"Please, a lil' ol' tournament wouldn't be enough to even hurt me!"
"Watch it, Ryker. We don't know how dangerous it's gonna be," Gaia reminded as they sat down near the big doors of the hall.
"Right. If it weren't dangerous, they wouldn't have put an age limit," Malia said.
"I heard a few people have already gone to the hospital wing because they tried to use aging spells and potions," Aisha said.
"That's just downright idiotic," Gaia scoffed, "Dumbledore himself put down the age line! Do they really think a little spell could fool it?"
"Hey, even the headmaster isn't perfect." Ryker shrugged.
"But his spells are close enough to perfect," Malia countered, leaning back towards the wall.
"Don't you think your overestimating him even just a tiny bit?" Ryker asked.
"Nope," all three girls answered together, their heads snapping towards the door at the sound of laughter.
Gaia raised an eyebrow as she watched Fred, George, and Lee enter the Great Hall, wide grins on their faces. When Fred's eyes met hers, she furrowed her eyebrows at the glint in his eyes.
"Oh no, what've they done now?" Gaia asked no one in particular.
"What makes you think they even did something?" Malia asked as all four of them watched the trio of Gryffindors making their way towards them.
"It's the look, Mali." Ryker grinned, crossing his arms in amusement.
"Gai-"
"Before you say anything, I want to remind you that I am a prefect and I am actually obligated to snitch on you, so choose your next words wisely," Gaia cut Fred off.
"But," George dragged, "You love us too much to actually even snitch on us!"
Gaia narrowed her eyes but made no comment on his statement (and for the record, she does love them too much to snitch on them).
"We drank an aging potion!" Lee whisper-yelled excitedly.
"An agi-" Gaia cut herself off to lower her voice, "An aging potion... Are you mad? It doesn't work!"
"You can't say that before we've even tried it!" Fred countered.
"Yeah, but other students have, and they ended up at the hospital wing," Aisha said.
"They weren't us." George grinned.
"It's brilliant, really! I still don't really believe that these two actually brewed it by themselves," Lee said as he pointed to the twins.
"I'll have you know; I am an excellent Potions teacher." Gaia grinned, "Taught them that one – last year, I think?"
"Year before that actually, but close enough," Fred said.
"It isn't going to work."
Gaia turned her head to see Hermione had probably heard their conversation about the aging potion.
Fred, George, and Lee exchanged looks before facing Hermione with smug grins.
"And why's that?" Fred asked as he stepped closer to the younger Gryffindor.
"Dumbledore drew the age line himself! I'm sure he's thought of something as dim-witted as an aging potion," Hermione explained as she pointed to the age line encircling the goblet.
"That's why it's so brilliant!" Fred grinned.
"Because it's so pathetically dim-witted!" George continued with his own grin.
As much as Gaia tried to deny it, she felt her excitement building up as the trio walked up to the age line, each boy practically buzzing with excitement. She held her breath, watching as Fred jumped over the line with all eyes on him.
"I-it's working?" Malia gaped.
George cheered and jumped over the line as well. Gaia looked on with wide eyes, bewildered by how a little age potion actually outsmarted Professor Dumbledore's age line.
"Oh Rowena, it's actually working!" Gaia gasped.
But then there was a sizzling sound and a pop as the twins were thrown out of the age line by an invisible force. Gaia stood up and quickly made her way towards them, stopping at the last second. Her mouth dropped wide open as she stared at the twin's condition – their very old condition. She burst out into laughter and hunched over.
"I did warn you," Professor Dumbledore said, the crowd of students parting to make a way for him, "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours."
Fred and George, accompanied by Lee, set off to head to the hospital wing – the twins still arguing about whose fault it was while Lee stood to the side and laughed at their misfortune.
✧✧✧
Gaia sat at the Gryffindor table later that night, Professor Flitwick finally letting her do so.
"It is almost time for the selection of the champions. Now, when the champions' names are called, I ask that they come up to the top of the hall and go through to the next chamber," Professor Dumbledore pointed to the way, "where they will be receiving the next instructions."
Then, waved his wand and the fires of the torches along the walls dimmed down, creating an ominous atmosphere in the hall.
"Always been one for dramatics," Fred whispered from Gaia's right.
Gaia giggled slightly, though her eyes never left the goblet, which was now the brightest thing in the room. She bit on her lip slightly, furrowing her eyebrows as everyone waited for something to happen.
Suddenly, the fire of the goblet turned red and sparks began to fly from it. Everyone gasped in both fright and amazement before a piece of parchment shot out from the flame. Professor Dumbledore caught the parchment as the flames turned back to its blue-white color.
"The champion for Durmstrang," Professor Dumbledore read in a loud voice, "will be Viktor Krum!"
The room filled with applause as Viktor Krum stood from where he was seated, at the Slytherin table, with the other Durmstrang students. He walked up to the front, following Professor Dumbledore's directions and disappearing into the next chamber.
Then, the fire turned red once more, spewing out another piece of parchment.
"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"
A girl from Beauxbatons stood up and seemed to glide through the tables to the front with how elegant she seemed. Gaia had to choke back her laughter when she spotted 2 other students sobbing quite dramatically.
"Now that's next level dramatic," George joked.
The fire turned red once again, spewing out the last piece of parchment that would contain the champions' names.
"The Hogwarts champion," Professor Dumbledore paused slightly, "is Cedric Diggory!"
Gaia cheered along with the Hufflepuff table, every Hufflepuff had got onto their feet, as Cedric pushed through them to head off to where Viktor and Fleur went.
"Excellent!" Professor Dumbledore said cheerily as the noise started to die down, "We now have out three champions. I am sure each and every one of you will give every ounce of your support to your champions. By doing so- "
To Gaia's, and everyone else's, surprise, the fire turned red again and sparks were flying out once more. For some reason, Gaia felt as though it was different from the last three times it turned red, and it seemed she wasn't the only one who thought so.
The entire hall was silent as another piece of parchment flew out of the goblet. As if by instinct, Professor Dumbledore reached out in the air and snatched up the parchment. The silence was deafening as the Hogwarts headmaster continued to stare at the parchment.
Then, he cleared his throat and looked up.
"Harry Potter."