𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 - 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞

I. chapter five

November 24th

"Settle down, 'Mione. I'm sure he's fine," Ron scoffed after her as she stumbled down the crowded wooden stands, towards the champion's tent.

"You need to let it go, Ron," Rosalyn exclaimed with crossed arms, wriggling her toes in her magically warmed boots to combat the November cold, "Harry didn't put his name in the goblet. It's just so... Un-Harry like."

"It's not about him putting his name in the goblet," Ron answered defensively, shoving Ginny's shoulder when she snickered at him, "It's the glory. Harry this, Harry that. Why does anybody care? He's just him. Everyone treats him like he's so special."

"And you're just you," Ginny scoffed, pulling her purple hat further over the tips of her ears, "That's exactly it, Ron. Harry didn't ask for any of this. What's so difficult to comprehend?"

Ron didn't get a chance to answer.

"Bets! Place your bets!" The Weasley twins pranced around behind them, George purposefully screaming in Ron's ear, "Step up folks, who fancies a flutter in today's bloodbath?"

"Rosalyn, you've any idea who'll win today's dragon slaying contest?" Fred shouted over the crowd, resting his elbow on the crown of her head.

"I'll put my bets on Fleur," she answered with a sly smile, "I'm sure Ron will place his own on Krum, since he clearly has such a big crush on him."

Hermione returned as the group broke out in song, Ron covering his ears with glove covered hands. He was incredibly thankful when the first task began with the blow of a horn.

"That interviewer Harry was talking about took a picture of us, babbling on about some young love! It's absolutely ridiculous, how immature can you be at such an old age-"

"She's what, fifty years old?" Ginny wondered, picturing the strange looking blonde woman in her mind as Cedric captured his egg with a courageous sprint, Cho swooning from the stands right besides them.

"Serves her right. She has the attitude of a twelve year old," Hermione scowled, crossing her arms in anger, "How would she feel if someone wrote an incredulous, obviously fictional article about her? I'd love to see the look on her caked face when I-"

"Calm down, 'Mione," Ron laughed sarcastically, cheering alongside the others, perhaps a little too loudly as Fleur approached the podium, "She's just doing her job."

"Yeah, and she's awfully terrible at it."

The tension surrounding the group only grew higher when Harry entered the rocky stadium, a mix of boos and cheers erupting from the crowd. Rosalyn's eyes wandered to Draco.

She expected a smirk to sit across his lips in an evil grin, but he stared down with crossed arms, wondering. Wondering the same thing she was.

How on earth was Harry to beat this?

She twisted his ring between her fingers.

Rosalyn's breath hitched in her throat as he shuffled nervously further into the open arena, a sudden blast of fire spewing from the dragon's mouth.

Ginny gasped when a piece of his shirt burnt with flames, Harry patting it with his free hand as he hid behind a group of rigid, steaming rocks.

"Your wand, Harry! Your wand!" Hermione screamed the obvious at the top of her lungs, Harry finally remembering the magical brown wood still clutched in his right hand.

He stood and pointed his wand towards the clouds with a yell, "Accio Firebolt!"

It came racing from the castle walls and he jumped on top of it with narrowing time, just grasping the golden egg as the dragon's heated breath licked the back of his broom.

Suddenly he was flying towards the castle, away from it all when the dragon broke free from it's chains, out of the Ministry's custody and into the free air.

Rosalyn frowned as it flew away, after Harry.

She knew it'd be put down once the games were over. Her Father had spent years explaining the Ministry's rules regarding his work in the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau.

For the past decade it wasn't like he had his wife to tell, so Rosalyn learned it all.

"Where is he?" Hermione chewed her lip, practically bouncing on her toes. The crowd had grown anxious as nearly ten minutes passed with no sign of a boy on a broom, nor a dragon's wings flapping through the blue sky.

"Settle down, he's right there," Ron pointed to a dot in the clouds that slowly grew larger and larger, Harry now in sight as a trail of black smoke followed behind him.

He finished in third place.

—

—

The gryffindor common room was crowded with people when Rosalyn and Ginny entered, a group of those in red sweats hoisting Harry into the air in a circle some would compare to cult behavior.

He held the egg high within his hands, Rosalyn and Ginny shuffling towards the front of the group with tangled fingers so they wouldn't get lost.

"Open it, Harry!" Dean shouted with a smile, hushing the crowd as they placed him onto a table. Harry grinned, and pried the egg open.

Everyone stared on in awe, desperate to figure out it's mysteries when a high pitched cry emerged from the inside, streams of bright light echoing across the room.

Rosalyn covered her ears with a groan, staring at Ginny who's face was also covered in blatant annoyance. She nodded her head towards the stairs, and off they went, away from the terrible noise.

Running up the staircase, they made their way to their dormitory, beds adorned in homey gryffindor red and gold blankets and pillows.

Lorelei greeted them with small head bunts against their ankles, hopping onto Rosalyn's bed as she showered, Ginny afterwards, both now in their pajamas with mere lamp light to brighten the room.

"Episkey, I've been trying to master that one," Ginny exclaimed, running a finger over a page in her standard book of spells book, "Before you complain I'm learning things too advanced for me, it's helpful for quidditch injuries. Therefore, it benefits the both of us. Especially you."

Rosalyn shook her head with a laugh, pulling the covers up to her shoulders as Lorelei purred by her feet.

"So... You and Malfoy?"

The question had caught her off guard, making her eyes burst open with questioning.

"What's there to talk about? I told you, it was a few short interactions. That's all," Rosalyn muttered, ignoring the way heat creeped up her neck and onto her cheekbones at the mention of them as a whole.

Not two separate individuals.

"From the way you explained it to me," Ginny pondered, shoving her book into the top drawer of her nightstand, "It sounds like he thinks it's something a little bit — how do I put it... More?"

"You're psycho," Rosalyn chuckled nervously, placing his ring on her nightstand, "We aren't even friends. There's nothing to discuss."

She could practically feel Ginny's need to probe for answers from across the room, but she didn't speak further.

The lamp clicked off, and the room slept in silence.