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Lady Mouldywart · 07-01-2012, 09:39 PM

Thank you everyone

*squishes you* I'm glad it was worth the wait!

Luna_Midnight · 07-05-2012, 10:00 PM

*new reader*
Loved the tryouts chapter cant wait for more

Lady Mouldywart · 07-06-2012, 07:07 PM

Welcome to the fic Luna Midnight

Thanks for reading! Here's chapter thirteen (quite early this time)

-----

Chapter 13 - Off to Hogwarts

The four other students waiting in the antechamber were all older than Amara and mostly unfamiliar to her. A boy and a girl sat waiting on a bench, listening to the tryouts ensue. They nodded at Amara as she entered, then went back to staring at the wands in their hands. Viktor Krum, who’d been one of the first volunteers, sulked in a corner, hands folded, eyes down, while a tall, dark-skinned boy paced the room, glancing repeatedly at his watch. As soon as Amara had stepped inside, he promptly went up to her.

‘How many left?’ he asked in a deep voice, raising his eyebrows slightly.

‘Er – about half, I think,’ Amara said.

‘So we have mo’ than hour to wait?’

‘Less, maybe,’ Amara vaguely replied, trying to focus on Walberg’s commentating as someone else mounted their broom and took off. From what Walberg was saying about their flying, Amara hoped that it wasn’t Karina, even though she’d been right behind her in line. Amara sidled up to the bench and sat down next to the girl.

After ten minutes, Walberg’s commentating had become too discrepant to listen to and Amara had given up after hearing him exclaim how he’d caught sight of an ‘unusually magnificent Hræsvelgr’, with a ‘tail of green-tinged splendour’, which then reminded him of his late great-aunt’s favourite green-apple shampoo, and so on. It wasn’t after ten more minutes that the door to the antechamber opened again, and in stepped Karina, looking dead beat with her singeing robes and her face smeared with ash.

‘You made it!’ Amara grinned, going over and hugging Karina in relief. ‘I’ve been on tenterhooks just waiting.’

‘It was the Dementor,’ Karina half-whispered. ‘I hadn’t done so well in the first task so I tried harder with the Patronus – and I actually did see something!’

‘An actual animal?’

‘It looked a bit like a yellow-bellied marmot.’

Amara had to smile at how serious Karina sounded. ‘A yellow-bellied marmot? Nah, that can’t be right. But wow, Karina, that’s great for a first try. How was the puzzle?’

‘Slice of pudding.’

‘Piece of cake, yeah. Wasn’t hard at all.’

They sat down on the bench and talked quietly, every now and then pausing to listen to how the tryouts were going. About ten more students joined them after, entering the antechamber one by one every few minutes, until a final whistle sounded, and the tryouts ended.

*

‘I still can’t understand why we’re still having lessons – it’s barely three hours until we leave!’

‘You heard Karkaroff, he’s even hired a bunch of extra teachers to keep us busy at Hogwarts.’

Karina exhaled noisily as she sat down at her usual desk in Dark Arts. ‘And there I was hoping they’d at least let us share classes at Hogwarts.’

Amara nodded in sympathy, sitting down next to Karina and leafing through random pages of her battered copy of The Dark Arts and Their Uses, as Karina went on hissing in her ear about the unjust school system and how overworked she felt.

Amara couldn’t say she disagreed, but to be honest, she was just glad to be leaving the place, at least for a year. She wasn't complaining.

Her essay on Horcruxes floated towards her from the teacher’s desk and she saw a thin, black ‘5’ stamped at the top. Shrugging, she folded the parchment and put it in her bag. She barely ever got more than that, anyway, and she couldn’t say she cared for the subject, although it was interesting.

Interesting, how a wizard would choose to kill in order to lengthen his own life, or enjoy inflicting pain, or cast an Unforgivable Curse, at that.

As soon as the bell rang, Amara headed upstairs for Occlumency while Karina went to the West Wing for Divination. Through the windows in the corridor, she could already see the Durmstrang ship in the Lake Russvatnet across, waiting to carry them off.

Professor Vert was correcting essays when Amara arrived in the circular, carpeted area that was her office. Since only three students studied Occlumency in Amara’s year, class took place here, on the fourth floor.

‘Evening, Amara,’ the Professor said, not looking up from her work as Amara sat down. ‘I see you’re troubled about how your Quidditch team is doing lately, what with their Keeper off to Hogwarts now.’

‘Did you see the tryouts, then?’

‘Oh, no, I’m afraid I’ve been a bit busy.’

‘Trying to replace Kysley as Deputy?’ Amara smirked.

‘Did I just think that?’ Professor Vert said in a tone of playful surprise, looking up. ‘I’ve been trying to keep that secret,’ she whispered, ‘but good job on finding that out. You’re becoming quite the Legilimens lately.’ She smiled slightly and returned to her work.

Amara enjoyed having these little mind-reading chitchats with her Occlumency teacher, whenever she was early for class. They knew a lot of things about each other that no one else did, which was unavoidable after spending the last three years trying to read each other’s thoughts. Amara frequently wondered how Professor Vert was able to bear knowing all those secrets about so many of her students.

Then something clicked. There was a question she should ask her Occlumens teacher; something she should’ve asked years before, in fact.

‘Professor?’

‘Yes?’

‘That woman – the one with the Cruciatus Curse... d’you – d’you have any idea who she is?’

The Occlumens paused for a fraction of a second, her hand midway from dipping her quill in the ink well. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know, Amara.’

‘Lestrange? Is that her name?’

Professor Vert looked up again, glasses slightly lopsided. ‘Goodness, Amara – you’re good, I’ll admit it, but it’s unnerving, sometimes, how you...’ she trailed off, staring inquisitively at Amara, who deftly avoided eye contact. Vert sighed and picked up the now corrected essays, placing them underneath a book to keep them from flying out of the open window.

‘Occlumens are usually burdened with a lot of secrets about others, Amara,’ she said, knitting her fingers and resting her elbows on her desk, ‘and by Legilimency one can easily get facts from another, if one is determined enough and the other is caught off guard, or is simply not a very good Occlumens. However, some secrets are best kept and left undiscovered – to everyone’s advantage.

‘And precisely what today’s lesson will be about,’ she said, sitting up and clapping once, so that a page from a book was projected on the right wall, as the other two students arrived and seated themselves on the remaining two chairs.

*

Aboard the ship, Amara found it hard to feel much contempt towards Durmstrang. Yes, the cold bit into her skin as usual and crept up her hands like wildfire, and the school was as it had always been; a dark, towering castle she could never describe as safe or kind, but as their spells hit the Lake Russvatnet and vanished the last traces of ice on the surface as they made to leave, Amara felt cheerful as she’d never felt before.

The rest of the school had come to see them depart as the ship plunged deep into the lake and made towards Hogwarts. Amara stood on the deck, next to Karina, shooting a few more jets of light towards the lake, before going down to the ship hold with the rest of the students.

‘This is it, then,’ Karina grinned, barely keeping herself from jumping up and down in front of everyone.

‘We’re off to ghosts and forests and moving staircases...’

‘...and most importantly, British boys,’ Karina added, laughing.

The ship slowly sank as fifteen students set to work and steered the ship beneath, as over them, the surface froze again, encasing them in water.

-----

Thanks for reading

Luna_Midnight · 07-06-2012, 08:08 PM

I loved it-like the others! Loved Karina and the British Boys part.
I have a friend named Karina and she would say that too!

XenoLongbottom · 07-07-2012, 12:29 AM

That was great! "It was a slice of pudding." That was brilliant! Can't wait for them to get to Hogwarts.

(also, thank you for posting so quickly).

Lady Mouldywart · 07-07-2012, 07:41 AM

Luna - Glad you liked it! That's cool how you know someone like Karina!

Stay tuned for more soon *tv voice* Btw d'you mind me asking what your name is? Or what I should call you?

Sara - Thanks again for reading, Sar! Next chap will prob be long, since they'll be at Hogwarts and stuff...and I've got a lot to write about that

narnia_potter · 07-08-2012, 01:24 AM

Loved, loved, loved it!
It's no surprise she and Karina made it

Never knew she was such a good Occlumens and that was a fantastic scene and chat. I must say that Vert now goes under the list of teachers I like at Durmstrang.
Yay! They're finally off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz (whoops wrong story

I couldn't resist

)! But really, they're off to see Hogwarts! (And British boys as Karina puts it

) Loved that

Great job!
-Rachel

Droo · 07-08-2012, 04:48 AM

Very good chapter update! Keep it up!

Lady Mouldywart · 07-08-2012, 07:51 PM

Rachel - Thankyou, as always! I liked writing the Occlumency part too, Prof Vert just came out of nowhere the way she is, and she turned out to be a pretty cool charrie

Anyway, thanks again, I'll be posting soon!

Droo - Hiya! Thanks for reading & taking the time to comment

Luna_Midnight · 07-09-2012, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Mouldywart

Luna - Glad you liked it! That's cool how you know someone like Karina!

Stay tuned for more soon *tv voice* Btw d'you mind me asking what your name is? Or what I should call you?

Sara - Thanks again for reading, Sar! Next chap will prob be long, since they'll be at Hogwarts and stuff...and I've got a lot to write about that

Oh yeah my name is Alyssa! Yeah it makes me think of her when I read the Karina parts.

Lady Mouldywart · 07-09-2012, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luna_Midnight

Oh yeah my name is Alyssa! Yeah it makes me think of her when I read the Karina parts.

I'm Di

Yeah, there'll be a lot more Karina stuff in the next chapter - writing it right now actually

Alex_Potter · 07-10-2012, 06:21 PM

British Boys = le smexy twins

Cant wait xx

Lady Mouldywart · 07-18-2012, 10:36 PM

**Thankyou everyone for reading

Long chapter ahead - with quite a bit of dialogue... Also, a tiny part of it was taken from GoF, like part of Dumbledore's speech... and if you read GoF you might find Stan is actually "mentioned"

... but I tried to keep that to a minimum. I don't want to plagiarise or anything. Anyway, read, enjoy, & comment

**

-----

Chapter 14 - Hogwarts

The view of the lake water slowly changed from deep blue to turquoise to a dark sea green as Amara watched from her bunk bed opposite the porthole.

There were three other girls in the room apart from Amara and Karina; all of whom were fast asleep, their snores sounding over the creaking of the ship as the currents worked on all sides of the hull and bent it to one side then to another. Fizzy was curled up in a ball at the end of Amara’s bed, spitting and hissing quietly even in slumber. It almost felt like a crib inside the room, but Amara couldn’t sleep; she’d spent the last two hours staring at the shoals of fish rushing past the porthole, the sunrays filtering through the water making their fins glitter. The light was slowly getting an orange hue as the sun started to set.

Every now and then Amara glanced at the twelve-handed alarm clock in her left hand, which currently read half past five. They’d been on duty from three in the morning, steering the ship and checking that everything was in order, and had only gone to bed late in the afternoon. It was now nearing dusk, and they’d soon be arriving at Hogwarts.

Amara tried closing her eyes again, hoping to get a few minutes of sleep even though they were less than an hour away – but just then something had to make a resounding BOOM and jolt her up out of the bed.

‘What the...’ Amara said, as the other four woke up with a start. She tiptoed across to the hatch leading out into the corridor and turned the wheel, peering outside.

‘Høy!’

A slightly overexcited Stan was standing outside, already dressed in uniform. Amara sighed and rubbed her eyes.

‘What do you want, Stan? Can’t you knock more quietly?’

‘Strict orders from Headmaster,’ he said loudly. ‘All students to report outside the captain’s cabin in fifteen minutes in full Durmstrang uniform.’

‘Yeah, thanks,’ Amara said, keeping her voice as quiet as possible. ‘Well, see you then.’

She closed the hatch and went to fetch her red Durmstrang uniform from her trunk as the others started changing with much grumbling. The colour of the lake had turned black suddenly and the only light coming in was from the grimy bulbs outside the porthole.

Soon they were making their way to the captain’s cabin, their uniforms feeling uncomfortably muggy in the warmer climate. The burning torches hanging on the walls weren’t strong enough to light their way so they took out their wands, muttering ‘Lumos’, as a shadow flitted across the wall.

A girl gasped, then let out a small scream. A large tentacle was waving at them outside the porthole.

‘It’s a Kraken!’ she said, making the other two scream as well.

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Karina said, peering through a porthole. ‘It’s just the Giant Squid, isn't it, Amara?’

‘Harmless, really,’ Amara added, moving on. The other three lingered a little longer before following them. They were the last ones to arrive outside the captain’s cabin, where Karkaroff waited, wearing his usual yellow-toothed smile.

‘Everyone here, at last? We will disembark in a few minutes, and I want to make clear a few things before we do. As you already know, the Goblet of Fire chooses the champions, and I will see to it that all of you enter your names into it by morning. There are no exceptions.

‘As I have already said, lessons and exams will still take place on the ship, and lastly, you are prohibited to speak about the whereabouts of Durmstrang Institute or its secrets to anyone. Are we clear?’

There was a unanimously dull agreement.

‘Get this ship up, then.’

A boy, who’d taken in stride the task of being captain all through the journey, quickly made to the captain’s cabin along with a few others, while the rest conjured up chairs to sit on while they waited. Slowly, the ship started to rise, accelerating as the pressure on it decreased.

There was an ear-shattering splash as the ship rose above the surface, shaking off the water from its sails as everything seemed to half in weight and everyone struggled not to fall off their chairs. Amara got up and opened a porthole as the ship glided a bit further.

‘Aah, that’s better,’ Karina said, getting up too and looking outside the porthole. ‘It was getting mouldy in here.’

‘Yeah, I’m definitely not taking the ship back,’ said Amara.

‘Why? Oh – yeah, since you live here. You could Apparate, I guess.’

‘Anything but that,’ Amara said. She’d barely scraped a pass in Apparating in their fifth year, and frankly, she hated it. ‘I could take the Hogwarts train.’

‘They have a train?’ Karina said, bumping her head on the edge of the porthole as she turned her head around.

‘Yeah, I never told you?’

‘I thought they Apparated or flew, like us,’ said Karina, rubbing her head.

‘Nah, they’re classier than that.’

‘Ooh, look!’ Karina said suddenly, pointing at something in the distance. ‘Is that the Forbidden Forest? Can we go there?’

‘It’s forbidden, Kar,’ Amara said. ‘But yeah, sure we can.’

‘Fred and George have been there, ja?’

Amara nodded, her hands folded as she stared out the porthole too.

‘Sounds good to me, then,’ Karina grinned, as if that settled the matter.

They felt the ship thud against the edge of the lake and a clunk as a plank landed on the ground. They couldn’t see the castle yet; it was on the other side, hidden away from the tiny view the portholes allowed.

‘Line up, we’re getting off,’ came the voice of their Headmaster from the door to the captain’s cabin. ‘Make yourselves look adequate,’ he added, looking at Stan, who had buttoned his cloak the wrong way.

Amara and Karina stood near the end of the line, their scarlet uniforms contrasting with their black cloaks and the falling dusk. Their boots knocked against the wood as they marched outside and down the plank, a breeze coming to meet them.

A thousand Hogwarts students were filed in rows a short distance away, waiting for them to arrive, their colourful House shawls and scarves glowing in the orange light emitting from the Entrance Hall. A few lights from the upper floors seemed to have been left on, the forest trees waved their branches in greeting up ahead, the lake water spilled over the bank behind them.

Apparently the students from Beauxbatons had already arrived; a great powder-blue carriage was parked not too far away, its steeds grazing and pawing at the grass beneath.

Karkaroff marched them up to where a tall, thin man with twinkling eyes stood, his silver beard so long it was tucked inside his belt.

‘Dumbledore!’ Karkaroff told him heartily. ‘How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?’

‘What’s gotten into him?’ Karina whispered in Amara’s ear.

‘Must be the change of air.’

Amara was peering over the top of Stan’s head, trying to catch sight of a strand of bright red hair... Sure enough, Ginny stood in the third row. She waved and grinned at Amara, who grinned back. The row behind her, a little to her left, stood Ron, who was totally unaware that Amara was there, and instead was gawping at Viktor Krum’s head. Fred and George were jumping up and down in the sixth row, waving frantically at them like a pair of ten-year olds.

Karkaroff was leading them into the Entrance Hall now, and they were ushered into the Great Hall soon after. They, along with the other Durmstrang students, stood there, unsure where to sit, as Hogwarts students joined them.

‘Hey – Amara!’ the familiar voice of Ginny came from the door. She was walking with a group of girls, who she told to go on before going over to where Amara and Karina stood.

‘Ginny,’ Amara grinned, grabbing her in a hug. ‘You remember Karina, right?’

‘Of course. How are you?’ she said rather politely, hugging Karina too.

‘Good, thanks,’ Karina replied.

‘So, you’re entering!’ Ginny said. ‘I heard there’s going to be an age limit, but they haven’t told us anything yet.’

‘It’s seventeen, if I remember right,’ Amara said, and noticed that Ginny’s eyes had suddenly widened. ‘Why?’

‘Well,’ Ginny giggled. ‘Fred and George were thinking of entering. Imagine the look on their faces when—’

‘What about us?’ someone said behind Amara. She turned around; sure enough, the twins stood at the door, grinning identically and standing a few inches taller than everyone else.

‘Nothing,’ Ginny said quickly, barely hiding her smile. ‘I think you’ll know soon enough, anyway. See you around.’

‘Know what soon enough? Hey!’ Fred called after her, but she just waved dismissively and went to sit down at the Gryffindor table. Shrugging, Fred and George walked towards Amara and Karina, who were the last Durmstrang students who hadn’t sat down yet.

‘Coming?’ George said, indicating the Gryffindor table. ‘Unless you’d rather sit with the Slytherins.’

‘Why’s that so bad?’ Karina asked as they crossed the Great Hall to the Gryffindor table.

‘Snotty gits, the whole lot of them,’ Fred said. ‘Pity Quidditch got cancelled now that—’

‘What?’ Amara cut in, jerking around so fast that her hair nearly smacked Karina in the face. ‘Cancelled?’

‘Yeah, and I was really looking forward to kicking some Slytherin—’

‘But we can still use the pitch?’

‘Sure,’ George said. ‘Just no actual Quidditch Cup this year.’

‘Makes a nice change, though, doesn’t it?’ said Karina, taking off her cloak as she sat down, heaving a huge sigh. ‘I’m starving,’ she added. ‘Where’s all the food at?’

‘Got to wait until Dumbledore says the magic words,’ Fred said, sitting next to George, opposite Karina.

‘Think they’ll have that tickle tart you told me about, Amara?’

‘Treacle tart?’ Amara said.

‘Yeah, that, and some kleppfisk would be good too.’

George grinned slightly. ‘Honestly, you’re worse than Ron at the start of term.’

The staff had finally taken their seats at the top table, all except Dumbledore, who remained standing as the Hall fell silent, except for a few Beauxbatons students, who were complaining quietly about the uncushioned benches. Fred and George eyed them peculiarly.

‘Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and – most particularly – guests,’ he said, his eyes twinkling at all the students in red and blue. ‘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 Tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink and make yourselves at home!’

The golden plates were suddenly piled with all food imaginable: roast beef, cottage pie, corn, pork chops, chicken, mashed potatoes, about ten types of sauces; Karina filled her plate with Smørbrød, a kind of open sandwich with beef, olives and tomatoes, Amara fancied some Kavarma, a Bulgarian stew she liked having back at Durmstrang, but threw sausages, eggs, and a piece of shepherd’s pie into the pile. There were some dishes Amara couldn’t recognise, which she guessed were French (and which the Beauxbatons students criticised earnestly since they were ‘pas professionnel’ and not cooked well enough), but after finishing her shepherd’s pie she was so full she barely managed to cram down some crepes before putting her fork down. Karina was still trying out a variety of British and French cuisines though, long after Amara had finished eating and some of Fred and George’s classmates had come over, interested in their foreign friends. Most were surprised when they realised Amara wasn’t foreign at all, but didn’t remark too much about it.

‘Is it true you have yetis guarding the main gates?’ asked Alicia Spinnet, a Chaser on Gryffindor’s Quidditch team. ‘And someone told me you train dragons?’

Karina chortled. ‘No yetis, no dragons. We do have a Kraken in one of the lakes, though.’

‘A Kraken?’ Lee Jordan said, eyebrows rising and disappearing in his dreadlocks. ‘I thought those didn’t exist.’

‘They almost died out a few centuries ago,’ Amara said, eyeing the twins, who were sneaking toffees into puddings for some reason. ‘Giants kept killing them. I reckon only a couple are left.’

‘Woah,’ Angelina Johnson said. ‘I mean, we have vampires and Acromantula in the forest, but a Kraken...’

‘So how’s Quidditch there?’ Alicia asked earnestly. All of them were sitting with their hands folded on the table and were listening intently.

‘Well,’ Amara said, poking at her plate of cherry cake, 'we’re used to bad conditions, I guess, but that just makes the game more exciting.’

Karina nodded, gulping down a mouthful of ice cream. ‘Ja, we never cancel a match, even if there’s a blizzard or a hailstorm.’

‘So it shouldn’t be a problem over here, eh?’ George said, his hands now empty of toffees. Fred turned to Alicia. ‘Think we can book the pitch for tomorrow?’

‘Think so,’ Alicia replied, reaching for some crème brûlee. ‘The other teams are slacking a bit, without the Cup and everything.’

‘I wouldn’t try that if I were you, Alicia,’ Fred said, sweeping the plate of crème brûlee away and piling all sorts of French cuisine onto it. ‘Special order for the Ravenclaw table,’ he indicated the Beauxbatons students.

‘Just testing some new Skiving Snackboxes,’ George explained, getting up while balancing trays on both hands.

The two mingled with a number of students who were making their way out of the Hall, walked past the Hufflepuff table and towards the blue-robed students on the Ravenclaw table.

‘I hope those aren’t Nosebleed Nougats,’ Alicia said, who, along with the others, were watching Fred and George presenting the Beauxbatons students graciously with dessert. ‘I tried one once, trying to avoid detention,’ she told Amara and Karina. ‘I ended up in the Hospital Wing for a week before they could find a counterspell.’

‘Don’t worry, they’re just Puking Pastilles,’ George said as the two returned to the Gryffindor table.

‘New variety,’ Fred added. ‘Lasts for a few minutes, just enough to get you out of class.’

But the Beauxbatons students seemed to be well fed and weren’t touching any of the food left on the table. Fred and George looked rather disappointed.

‘You could advertise for testers,’ Lee suggested.

‘We don’t feel particularly murderous yet,' Fred said. ‘Best test them on ourselves for now - and the Slytherin lot, of course.’

The Hall had fallen silent and the food had disappeared suddenly; a shiver of anticipation ran through everyone as Dumbledore stood up to speak. Fred and George were staring at him attentively opposite Amara and Karina, who glanced at each other knowingly.

‘The moment has come,’ Dumbledore smiled. ‘The Triwizard Tournament is about to start...’

He went on to introduce the judges to everyone, and then a casket was brought from the antechamber, holding the Goblet of Fire.

‘...To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, 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...’

Fred, George, and Lee jerked their heads around at Amara and Karina, who couldn’t help but feel a little guilty at the looks of indignation and surprise on their faces. The others were deep in conversation by now, discussing their odds of getting chosen.

‘You knew about the age limit!’ Lee accused them.

‘Well,’ Karina started, looking at Amara for backup, who shook her head. ‘We... might have - uh - heard about it...’

This only made Lee fume more.

George recovered first. ‘Well,’ he said, clearing his throat. ‘We can easily sort that out. A charm or a potion could do the trick.’

‘An Ageing Potion?’ Amara suggested, one eyebrow raised.

‘Yeah – that!’ Fred said, then paused and turned to George. ‘Er – but we've never brewed it before, right?’

‘I don’t know how much it will work, though,’ Karina said doubtfully.

‘Rubbish, it will,’ Fred said, getting up. ‘Just wait and see. Tomorrow morning, our names will be in.’

And the two sped off towards the doors leading out to the Entrance Hall. Amara sighed, the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile, and looked over at the other Durmstrang students.

‘We should go, Kar, they’re leaving for the ship.’

Grabbing their cloaks, they crossed the Great Hall and levelled up with the Slytherin table, where Karkaroff was ushering the Durmstrang students to go while fussing around Krum, who seemed to have caught a cold.

‘...Viktor, how are you feeling? Did you eat enough? Should I send for some mulled wine from the kitchens?’

‘Professor, I vood like some vine,’ Stan was saying.

‘I wasn’t offering it to you, Poliakoff,’ Karkaroff snapped.

‘D’you think Fred and George will really do it?’ Karina told Amara. ‘It’s a bit impossible, nei?’

‘I dunno. Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past them.’

Something seemed to be blocking the door because they had stopped moving, and so had about thirty other students. Amara and Karina looked over the heads of the students, trying to see what was causing the delay.

Amara’s eyes fell on a head of ash blonde hair which belonged to a pale boy with a pointed face, not much younger than her. His eyes were haughty and grey, and he was flanked by two large boys, who were helping him push aside first-years as they made towards the door.

‘Hey – Amara.’ Karina was tugging at her sleeve. ‘Come on, we’re going.’

The burning torches in the Entrance Hall were one by one being extinguished as the remaining students left for their Common Rooms. The Durmstrang ship stood waiting at the lake, which was glistening in the moonlight. They marched down to it and then made for their different rooms once they were inside.

‘Still wish they’d let us sleep in the castle,’ Karina said wistfully, as she changed into her pyjamas. ‘Look, I think that’s the Gryffindor Common Room, there,’ she pointed out the porthole next to her bed. ‘Ah, their fireplace is on.’

‘We could make one ourselves,’ Amara said, sitting up on her bed opposite Karina’s. ‘Have you got a jar?’

Karina searched in her trunk for a jar; she usually kept a few for when she came across some strange little creature she’d want to keep. She opened one and handed it to Amara, who reached for her uniform and dug inside the pockets for her wand.

Pointing her wand inside the jar, Amara whispered the incantation, ‘Caeruleus Inflamarae,’ and a ball of blue flames appeared inside it.

‘Nice one,’ Karina said, putting the lid back on and placing the makeshift fireplace in the middle of the room. She turned to her bed and plopped onto it. ‘That’s better,’ she said, smiling and closing her eyes.

‘’Night,’ said Amara.

‘God natt.’

Turning over and pulling her covers up to her chin, Amara thought about that boy she’d seen earlier. Yet another familiar face she couldn’t quite place.

Tomorrow, she’d try out the Hogwarts library first thing after entering her name into the Goblet, and search anyone linked with the surname Lestrange, which she’d been meaning to do since Professor Vert had let slip the name. But before that, some well-deserved sleep...

Just then something rapped against the porthole next to Karina’s bed, and Amara turned over and squinted at it, trying to make out what was making the noise.

-----

XenoLongbottom · 07-19-2012, 09:16 PM

Brilliant! I'm so happy she finally made it! Keep it up!

Droo · 07-20-2012, 02:15 AM

Love it!

Luna_Midnight · 07-20-2012, 02:56 AM

Love it it was amazing! Cant wait for more and was that a mini cliffhanger at the end?

Lady Mouldywart · 07-20-2012, 06:40 PM

Thankyou all!

And yep, Alyssa, it was a mini cliffhanger

AshCat14 · 07-22-2012, 08:02 PM

Amazing chapter! Haven't been around for a while and finally caught up- you're a superfantastic writer!

i solemnly swear.. · 07-31-2012, 01:55 PM

it just keeps getting better and better. i just LOVE it!

cant wait to see who or what is outside that door!! :O

Lady Mouldywart · 08-03-2012, 01:09 AM

You're all too sweet :3 Thankyou so much!

next chapter will be up very soon!

narnia_potter · 08-03-2012, 03:59 AM

Loved it!
They're finallly at Hogwarts!! I loved the image of Fred and George waving like ten-year-olds

Loved that! I knew they would sit with the Griffyndors.
I loved the whole thing! Can't wait for more
-Rachel

Lady Mouldywart · 08-05-2012, 08:36 PM

This one's quite long, and cheerful - enjoy it!

because chapter after next things could get pretty dark

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Chapter 15 - Beards, Books and Beanies

Taking care not to wake Karina, Amara tiptoed to the porthole and placed her palms against the foggy glass, peering outside.

A series of small pebbles were hitting the window one after the other. Amara slid it open, with a little difficulty since there was a layer of century-old dust and dirt keeping it closed. She stuck her head out, looking down at the rock-strewn side of the lake, but there was no one below, no sneaky first-years trying to be funny by chucking rocks at the windows, no lost Bowtruckles or Doxies seeking shelter in the wooden shell of the ship.

But just as she was about to close it again and lay back on her bed, a voice spoke from beneath, one she recognised as George's.

'Right window, finally,' he was saying, as Amara poked her head out again and saw a half-visible George standing a few feet away from the side of the ship as a Disillusionment Charm wore off him. 'Think I woke up half the ship already.'

'George? What're you doing here?'

'Well, see, Amara,' he said, shivering slightly and huffing into his hands to keep warm, 'That Ageing Potion isn’t going so well and we just thought—’

'You’re actually doing it?' Amara sighed.

'Hey, it was you who thought about it,’ George said indignantly. ‘Anyway, we just thought you and Karina could help us with it—’

‘Karina’ll kill me if I wake her up now, and anyway, I’m not that good at Potions either...’

‘You got an ELG in Potions, that's like NEWT level—'

'No, more like OWL, but – look, we'll brew it tomorrow, I need to get some sl—'

'But it needs half a day to brew right!' George hissed loudly. 'We've only got until tomorrow!'

Amara stared at the red-haired boy, wearing only his pyjamas under his cloak, still in his bed slippers, which were now soaked in lake water.

'OK, fine...' Amara said, running a hand through her hair. 'I'll be down in a minute.'

*

'So, you snuck into the castle, past bedtime, and nearly got caught by a kerrtekker while breaking rules from both schools - vithout me?'

Karina fixed Amara with an accusing look as the two made their way out of the Great Hall to watch the last few students entering their names into the Goblet. Her cheeks were bulging with toast and she was wolfing down a bowl of porridge as she spoke, which was making her accent more obvious than usual.

'Trust me, you were better off asleep,' Amara yawned, examining a few inches of hair which had caught fire the other night after adding the wrong amount of porcupine quills over the fire. The two leant against the wall, having a clear view of the staircases and the Goblet standing in the centre of the Entrance Hall, circled by an Age Line ten feet around and surrounded by babbling students.

'Vhere are they, anivay?' Karina said, now munching on a sandwich she'd sneakily summoned away from a confused Slytherin. Her question was instantly answered as a loud pattering of feet on wood sounded across the hall, followed by gleeful laughs, and the twins came rushing down the staircase with their friend Lee, wearing wide grins.

They stopped to talk to Harry, Ron and Hermione, who'd just come down the staircase before them, and then, without waiting any further, Fred pulled out a piece of parchment from his pocket, all eyes in the Hall fixed on him, walked up to the line, and jumped over. George let out a triumphant yell and jumped in after him, but a second later they were both thrown out of the circle and had landed painfully a few feet away. Long, white beards had started to grow on their identically shocked faces, and soon the Hall was echoing with laughter, Fred and George joining in as they got to their feet and were ushered to the hospital wing by an amused Dumbledore.

Slightly teary-eyed with mirth, Amara and Karina caught up with Fred, George and Lee as they left the Hall.

'Some fine beards you grew there,' Karina chuckled, wiping her eyes as she steadied a howling Lee, who was having difficulty climbing up the stairs as he was doubled up and clutching his sides.

'Yeah, bummer it didn't work though,' Fred said, twirling his beard and grinning. 'That would've been some nice prize money if one of us won.'

'Still set on the joke shop, then?' Amara said, knowing the two had been searching for premises ever since their mother had confiscated a bunch of order lists for their products.

'Definitely,' George said as they reached the hospital wing, where an impatient-looking nurse was tending to a girl who was desperately trying to hide her own, two-foot long beard. 'Hey - there's an idea, we could do a range of Grow Your Own Beard products for the men's section. "Buy two and get double the price of one - even Dumbledore will be jealous".'

Amara laughed. 'Don't think anyone would buy them for personal use, though.'

'Are you insulting the beard?' George said, looking affronted at Amara as the nurse hastily pointed her wand at their beards and vanished them with a swish.

'No use getting all offended now, they’re gone,’ Lee grinned.

'Shame,' Fred said after they'd thanked the nurse and left. 'I was getting quite attached to it... So,' he added, clapping his hands. 'Who's up for some Quidditch, eh?'

*

The library was quite empty when Amara arrived a few hours later; a few lone students were sitting in corners, reading or finishing some due essays in the light of several lit lamps hanging from the ceiling. An elderly woman was dusting books and glowering down at a boy who was leafing through an encyclopedia in quite an ungracious manner, and, guessing that she was the librarian, Amara went up to her and asked in a low voice where she could find books on known dark wizards. The woman gave her a curious look before answering, then indicated a group of shelves in the back without a word. Muttering a thanks, Amara hurried to the back, ran her hand over a few of the books, then picked a leather-bound one which looked like it had never been opened, titled Wizarding Convicts, and searched the index for Lestrange. But it seemed only witches and wizards who were convicted before 1970 were listed, and there were certainly no Lestranges in there.

Grabbing a few books at random and setting them down at an empty table, Amara spent the next fifteen minutes trying to find the name in a passing sentence, until, finally, she came across something:

Amongst those put to trial and found guilty of allegiance to He Who Must Not Be Named were Antonin Dolohov, responsible for participating in the murders of Gibeon and Fabian Prewitt and in the torture of several Muggles; Bartemius Crouch Jr, Rodolphus Lestrange and Bellatrix Lestrange, all guilty of torturing Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom into derangement

That’s horrible... Amara thought, staring at the page and wondering if these people... these Lestranges couldn’t possibly be—

‘There you are.’

Closing the book tight, Amara swivelled around to see a slightly breathless Karina, wearing what looked like a purple Puffskein-shaped beanie and her collection of lucky charms and bracelets.

‘Karina... wh—?’

‘What are you reading?’ she asked, genuinely interested, while Amara hastily levitated the books back into place and grasped Karina’s arm, walking away from the section.

‘Nothing, just - checking something,’ Amara said nonchalantly, steering them towards the door. ‘Listen, er - weren’t we going to the forest tonight?’

‘Yes, that’s why I was looking for you,’ Karina said, slightly wide-eyed, hair poking out from beneath her beanie. ‘We were going after the feast. You said you forgot something at the ship and you've been ages—'

'I just remembered something I had to check,' Amara said in a low tone, because the librarian was pointedly scowling at them. 'It's not snowing tonight, is it?' she added, wondering about Karina's outfit.

'It was in the Hall, after you left,' Karina said as they exited the library and made their way past the corridor, lit a dark blue from the twilight outside. She shifted her beanie nervously. 'I'm telling you, that's a bad omen - they've been trying to fix that ceiling all day, they said. So when it started snowing I summoned all my charms from my trunk to ward off the bad luck.'

Amara was just about to ask about the beanie, when Karina seemed to read her mind, cutting her off rather defensively. 'I had it charmed by a tribe leader from Ghana! It's ancient magic, but Fred and George keep making fun of it.'

'Oh,' Amara said, trying to take a fluffy, cross-eyed, pink-horned Puffskein beanie seriously. 'Er - well, that's just typical of them,' she tried saying scornfully.

'Yes, that's it, they don't even try to understand how useful this kind of magic can be. I mean, who knows how many times I've saved our necks with that Warder? Or how many tests we passed because we didn't say good luck to each other? You know that's bad luck, saying good luck to someone, don't you? And I only got my six ELGs with these lucky charms...'

She went on explaining the subtle importance of this branch of magic ('It's just the same thing with Divination, isn't it?), then diving into a speech about the latter subject, while Amara half-listened, that particular page from Followers of the Dark Path swimming into her thoughts...

'So, what are your chances of getting chosen, eh? Wouldn't get past a Kneazle, the both of you,' one of the twins was teasing.

Amara realised they were already sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, and the golden plates were already piled with food. The Hall had been decorated with a hundred pumpkins, carved by the students themselves into leering, glaring faces, live bats were fluttering above the noise, and the ceiling seemed to have been fixed, because all the snow had vanished.

'At least we could enter our names,' Karina was teasing back. 'But I'm betting on Pavlovitch,' she pointed her fork at a burly eighth-year sitting next to Viktor Krum at the Slytherin table.

'It's not all brawn, you know,' Lee said, matter-of-factly. 'Anyway, I just hope a Gryffindor gets chosen. You guys put your name in?' he asked Angelina and Alicia.

'Angelina did. I decided I'd better focus on my NEWTs this year...'

'Slacking, are you, Angelina? You know, you may be highly attractive, but girls can't work on looks alone.' Lee grinned and winked at Angelina, who gave him such a piercing gaze that he immediately shut up and turned back to his rice.

'Pot au feu, Amara?'

'What?' Amara looked up at George, who was holding a bowl of beef stew towards her. 'Oh, no, I'm OK.'

'Something bothering you?'

Amara smiled. 'Just the tournament, you know. Wondering who'll get chosen.'

'Thought you weren't that fussed on getting chosen.'

'I'm not, really,’ Amara admitted.

'...holds a crushed phoenix talon plucked on a Friday the thirteenth, it brings good health and avoids chaos,' Karina was earnestly telling Katie and Alicia, holding out one of her lockets. Amara turned her head when she heard this, wondering what new powers Karina’s lucky charms had acquired since the last time she’d worn them; now that she thought about it, wasn’t that particular locket the one full of Bubotuber Pus?

'I thought Friday the thirteenth brought bad luck?' Katie was saying, examining the locket over a jar of pumpkin juice.

'Not if you plucked a phoenix talon on the day,' Karina nodded persuasively.

'What happens if you add a chicken leg to it?' said Fred, grabbing the locket and opening it. 'Ugh, smells like gnome poo. What is this?'

'Give that back, Fred, you're spoiling the charm,' Alicia said.

'Not you too,' Fred groaned. 'Next thing you know, we'll be starting a cult.'

Karina snatched the locket back and secured it around her neck. 'You know, it's bad luck to meddle with a lucky charm,' she told him darkly, making Fred and everyone within earshot except for Katie and Alicia roll their eyes. 'Maybe you should take a closer look at your pumpkin juice before deciding otherwise,' she added. Fred glanced skeptically at his cup and did a double take, almost slopping it all over his robes.

'Amateur,' he said, dismissing Karina’s laughs, after realising the spiders in his drink were fake, plastic ones, but there was a sly look on his face that promised he would get back at her somehow. Someone was tapping on Amara's shoulder and she turned around, leaving Fred and Karina to their bantering, and nearly dropped her fork in surprise.

'Dita?'

'Hey, Amara,' the girl said, rather bashfully. 'Long time no see, huh?'

'Yeah... er - I was looking for you yesterday,' Amara said half-truthfully, making space and motioning for Dita to sit.

'I was in the hospital wing 'til this morning - bad bite from an Ashwinder,' said Dita, holding out a bandaged arm as she sat down and pulled a plate of pudding towards her, 'but it'll heal up all right.'

Amara nodded, feeling a bit awkward talking to her old friend, who, somehow, she'd rather lost contact with, and hadn't met for a few years; but Dita struck up a casual conversation about the Triwizard Tournament, and soon the others had joined in and Amara could quietly finish her lemon meringue pie, occasionally adding a comment here and there.

The plates were soon clean of food and the cups empty of liquids (and plastic spiders); the torches on the walls were dimmed as the chattering slowly diminished and a tense expectation filled the Hall, and Dumbledore finally sat up at the staff table to announce the champions.

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