Incendio

Chapter 6: Belle Fyre

Harry insisted to Samantha that he hadn't intended to cheat. Hagrid had tricked him into coming. He begged her not to say anything or publish anything as they stumbled through the forest together to get back to Hogwarts.

She laughed and said, "Of course I won't tell. If Beauxbatons can cheat, so can Hogwarts."

"I wasn't cheating." Harry insisted.

Samantha snarked back, "And I'm brilliant at potions. See, I can be oblivious too."

Harry insisted, "Karkaroff was out here too. I tripped him on accident."

Samantha laughed. "See, everyone cheats. It's a long standing tradition of the Tournament. I read that in a history book while doing research for the paper."

Without warning, Harry Potter had disappeared. She was very jealous of his invisibility cloak. She thought real invisibility cloaks didn't exist anymore, her mother had told her they only existed as heirlooms now.

She kept her exchange with Harry a secret for the next few days. It seemed that every Champion was prepared for the task, even Cedric who Samantha had figured would be the one really above cheating. Samantha cheered as loud as she could for both Cedric and Harry as they battled the dragons during the first task. Ginny had nearly squeezed her hand so hard it had fallen asleep. As they left, she noticed the dragon keepers and Kai Jones waved to her slightly.

She partied with the rest of Gryffindor house as they celebrated Harry's great victory. An excitement hung over the whole school for several weeks and only increased when she received a paper from McGonagall that she was to publish in the Gazette the first week of December.

Finding out about the Yule Ball made Samantha more excited than when she found out she was to be Editor-In-Chief. Despite her occasional unkempt appearance, she loved dressing up and she adored dancing.

She imagined what her dress robes would look like and she wondered if she'd even be able to make her hair look as nice as it would need to be. Samantha's mother had already written that she would be bringing her and her brother's custom dress robes to their Hogsmeade trip the Saturday before the Ball. It had been one week since the announcement, and two weeks since she'd known about it.

She had at one point hoped that one of the boys she knew would ask to be her date, but unfortunately no one had yet. She knew she could be an overwhelming and loud person at times. She also knew she could be intimidating. She'd settled on the idea that she'd be comfortable going alone or she'd cave and invite Colin, mostly out of pity since he was too young to go on his own.

She nervously passed from her Transfiguration Class to a free period where she planned to spend her time in the Library writing her next article. She noticed her Beauxbatons friend, Nicolas outside the library. He had made a few more trips to the castle as of recent. They'd really gotten to know each other fairly well. He'd even started calling her by her first name.

She quickly fixed her pig tails and smoothed out her skirt before deciding to say hello.

"Samantha" Nicolas greeted her as she walked to him.

"What errand brings you back to the castle this time?" She asked smiling widely.

"Well, an errand of my own this time, I was hoping very much to run into you today." He admitted with a laugh.

"Really?" Samantha asked curiously.

He explained, "I have honestly never met a girl as interesting as you. I don't know many who would be brave enough to interview a real dragon keeper."

Samantha pulled a stray hair behind her ear and laughed. It wasn't every day anyone really called her interesting as a compliment.

"So, will you be attending the ball?" His voice cracked a bit as he asked.