joelle | d.m

14 | little jellybean

November, 1994.

"Are you joking?" Joey was thunderstruck.

"No..." Crouch's brows drew together, bewildered. "I don't joke, Miss Honrada. I'm being very serious."

"But— But that's in twenty-four days," she blurted out in disbelief. "What does this first task consist of?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Crouch dismissively shook his head. "Each task will be judged by important people, so keep that in mind," he added before going to talk to Madam Maxime.

Joey was pulled out of class the day after the selection of champions to go to Dumbledore's office. The other two champions were here as well, along with their headmaster and headmistress.

"Right, you're telling me I'm supposed to prepare for a task that I have no clue about?" Joey muttered to herself. "Fucking ridiculous. Do they even hear themselves?"

"We'll find out soon," Viktor answered her question, which was rhetorical, since everyone else was speaking amongst each other. "I'm Viktor Krum."

"So I've heard." She blanked at him.

"You're Joelle," he stated.

"Nobody calls me Joelle. It's Joey," she replied flatly.

"It's nice to meet you, Joey." He bowed down and flashed her a smile.

"You too." She shot him a tight-lipped smile, not really in the mood for friendly talk.

"Madam Maxime and Igor Karkaroff, this is Garrick Ollivander." Dumbledore entered the room with the wandmaker from Diagon Alley. "The wand-maker in Diagon Alley and a good friend of my own."

They shook hands and introduced themselves. Even Fleur and Viktor shook hands with Ollivander.

"Miss Honrada," Ollivander greeted with a wistful expression. "It's good to see you again."

"You too, sir." She offered a smile of her own in greeting, as he was the man who helped with choosing her wand six years ago.

"I've asked Garrick Ollivander to come here and ensure your wands are all in good shape for the first task," Dumbledore explained with a warm smile.

"We'll start with you." Ollivander went to Fleur and she handed her wand to him.

The man checked each of the champions' wands to ensure they were in proper shape—and they all were. By the time they were done with this, classes were over.

Joey left the office and went to the library to do homework. She hadn't spoken to any of her friends since their little argument the night before. She had gone back to the dorm and wordlessly gotten ready and skipped breakfast. It wasn't like her roommates made an effort to talk to her either.

This was strange for them to be fighting. The four of them never fought. Rarely so. If there was ever an argument, it would be between Devonte and Imani. Never serious arguments either—but stupid ones.

On top of Angel's surprise letter and early release, Joey had the stress of the Triwizard Tournament on her mind as well. She wasn't going to stress about her friends because it was pointless. She didn't put her name in there and she knew it. She didn't care to explain herself anymore—especially to friends who didn't believe her.

There was a good chunk of students who loathed Joey for being selected. The ones who were mad were pure-blooded. She found herself getting nasty stares from them as they whispered to each other.

They were acting as though she put her own damn name in there, but she didn't. They didn't know it though. Fred and George were rapturous that she got chosen. She was a Gryffindor, which was why they were so glad.