06 | H O G W A R T S

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you don't know my heart
the way you know my face.

   "OH GREAT GOODNESS, Harry James Potter, finally shut your mouth", Ember groaned, rolling her eyes so hard it really did hurt

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"OH GREAT GOODNESS, Harry James Potter, finally shut your mouth", Ember groaned, rolling her eyes so hard it really did hurt. The Hogwarts Express had left King's Cross merely ten minutes ago, and Harry couldn't stop complaining. It was Malfoy here, Malfoy there, and every three seconds he was wondering why in the name of great Albus Dumbledore a git like Malfoy would help Ember. "See, next time I just tell him to leave me to die, so you don't have to break your head over such stupid nonsense."

"I'm just wondering", Harry said in an annoyed voice. "It's Malfoy! And it probably were his parents behind those masks."

"So that has to mean he isn't allowed to help me? Don't get me wrong, I myself don't really get why he did this, but can we just be glad for a second that he did? At least it was you not paying enough attention where I was."

Okay, that hit very very low. Harry's face turned into a grimace, and Ember was well aware that he would never forgive himself that his sister got hurt. The moment the words left her lips she regretted them.

"Okay, sorry, I didn't mean ... Can we just change the subject, please?", Ember said, watching Harry shrug as he turned towards the window. "Fine", she muttered.

Ron and Hermione obviously felt uncomfortable watching the twins fight. Their eyes wandered from Ember to Harry, before they exchanged a helpless gaze.

"Uhm", Hermione broke the silence after a while. "What do you think did Ron's mother and Bill mean when they said this year would be exciting?"

"Oh, I don't know", Ember snorted. "A massmurderer on the run? Dementors? A giant snake? Maybe a possessed teacher!"

"After a werewolf, a vampire would probably be a thing", Ron laughed, but Harry remained staring out of the window, and somehow this brought Ember's blood near boiling.

She excused herself, leaving the bitter tense in her compartment behind to take a stroll through the train. She met a lot of familiar faces, and finally the two she had been looking for. With a wide grin she pulled the door open, and the two boys' heads immediately turned around to face the intruder.

"Aww, she missed us, George", Fred told his brother in a childish voice.

"Who could blame her?", George replied, getting up to grab Ember's wrist and pulled her in. "Close the door, you let out all the awesomeness."

"Clear case of hubris", Ember chuckled, sitting down next to George. "Where's Lee?"

"Did you come here for Lee?", Fred snorted, cocking an eyebrow.

"I was just wondering. Isn't he the third twin?"

"That would be called triplets, Emmie", George said in a stern voice, that caused her to laugh.

Lee joined them short after, and Ember stayed in their compartment until they were close to Hogwarts and it was time to change into their school robes. When she returned to her own compartment, Harry still refused to look at her, so when they finally arrived in the castle, Ember was glad as their ways parted. While Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys walked over to the Gryffindor table, Ember took a seat at the Hufflepuff's, right next to Cedric, who as usual held it free for her.

"What's up? You look concerned", Cedric asked, an eyebrow raised as he looked at her out of his grey eyes.

"Harry", Ember just said in a plain voice. "Let's not talk about this now ..."

The feast alone was a perfect reason to be a witch. It amazed Ember ever since her very first day here, and feeling close to starving after the long train ride, she couldn't even decide what to shove first into her mouth. Forgotten was the Dursleys' ridiculous diet, as she took the first bite, listening to the chatters of her housemates.

"I wish I could eat like Ember and not turn into a two-legged pig", a friend of Cedric, Heidi Macavoy, said, frustrated shaking her short blonde hair.

"Oh, someday I probably will", Ember laughed. "But today I won't care."

After the plates had emptied themselves, Dumbledore welcomed them warmingly back. But his first announcement wasn't that heartwarming, and Cedric seemed close to a mental breakdown as the headmaster told them that the Quidditch House Cup was cancelled this year. He was about to explain why - Ember threw a glance at Harry and the Weasley twins, who didn't look any less shocked than Cedric - when the gate to the Great Hall was pushed open, and entering was the strangest man Ember had seen in her whole life. Uncle Vernon included.

His face looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. But it was the man's eyes that made him frightening. One was small, black and beady, the other one was big and bright blue, spinning ceaselessly.

Professor Dumbledore introduced the man as Alastor Moody, and Ember remembered to have heared this name before. It was Amos Diggory who had talked about him - well, Mr Diggory's head that had been sitting in the middle of the flames in the Weasleys' fireplace.

Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"As I was saying," he said, smiling at the sea of students before him, all of whom were still gazing transfixed at Mad-Eye Moody, "we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

In the split of a second everyone seemed to have forgotten about the strange man sipping on a hip flask, completely ignoring the pumpkin juice in front of him. Excitement spread through the crowd of students like fire, even though Ember didn't get why, until Dumbledore explained. But her own excitement was short termed as words like death rate were mentioned. And after a few more words of Dumbledore, the excitement swapped over into anger, when the headmaster announced, that only students off age would be allowed to participate.

"That's great!", Cedric chuckled. "I'll turn seventeen on October first."

"You don't really think about getting your name in, do you?", Ember vaguely asked, already being well aware of the answer.

"Why, of course!"

"Did you get that death rate thing?"

"Emmie", Cedric softly spoke, ruffling her hair. "Nothing will happen to me. And just because I'll go for it, doesn't mean they will choose me. Everything will be fine."

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