Gerard Way and the Triwizard Tournament

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Life would be so much easier if I was a Metamorphmagus. Using magic to change my hair color is a lot easier than using Muggle methods, but it would be even better if I could just change hair colors whenever I wanted to. As it was, I was standing in front of the mirror in the boys' bathroom, trying to fix my tie, which I had accidentally turned yellow.

I used the Colour-Change Charm to turn the tie red. Close enough. At least everyone would know that I was in Gryffindor for now, and I could ask one of the professors for a new tie later. I pointed my wand at my hair, and said "Colovaria." My previously red hair turned blonde, and I admired the new look in the mirror. It was a little dark, so I did the spell again, and my hair lightened. Perfect. I had to meet Frank in the library in five minutes, so I ran out of the bathroom and up the stairs, hoping that I wouldn't get lost on the way.

I arrived in the library, but Frank wasn't there. There were a few other students there, but I didn't recognize any of them. I browsed through the fiction section, found a book that looked somewhat interesting, and started reading.

A few minutes later, Frank showed up. "Gee!" he exclaimed. "I barely recognized you. You look great."

"Thanks," I said. "Where were you?"

"I was studying for Herbology with Jamia," Frank said.

I rolled my eyes. "You're always hanging out with Jamia," I said.

"So what?" Frank said. "She's my friend."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that you two were more than just friends," I said.

Frank laughed. "Gee, we're both as gay as the Fourth of July. Honestly, I think that Jamia is more interested in your ex-girlfriend Lindsey than me." Frank said Lindsey's name like some people might say "dragon pox." He never did like Lindsey, and I never quite understood why.

"You're gay?" I asked.

"Pretend that I didn't say that," Frank said. "You're just going to judge me for it."

"I would be a bit of a hypocrite if I did," I said. "I'm bi."

"I didn't know that," Frank said. "I'm pretty sure Ray, Hayley, Jamia, and McGonagall are the only other people who know that I'm gay."

"How does McGonagall know?" I asked.

"Remember Beverly and Calvin?" Frank asked. I nodded. Beverly and Calvin were the Head Girl and Head Boy from last year. They started dating at the beginning of the year, but they broke up in February. After the breakup, they could barely even talk to each other without fighting, and Hogwarts fell into chaos. "McGonagall didn't want that to happen again, so she picked Hayley and I because she knew that we wouldn't date."

"It could just be a coincidence," I said. "You are one of the top students at Hogwarts."

"So are you," Frank said.

"I'm not that good," I said. "I almost failed Transfiguration last year."

"You got an A. That's not almost failing," Frank said.

"Yes it is," I argued. "P is one grade below that, and getting a P means that you failed the class."

"At least you didn't get a Troll," Frank said.

"I don't think that's possible unless you're purposely trying to fail or you're actually a troll."

"Some of those Slytherin kids might actually be trolls," Frank said.

I laughed. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure Will Avery is a troll. He's certainly dumb enough for it."

"I thought Slytherins were supposed to be cunning and ambitious," Frank observed. "How did Will get in?"

"I don't even know," I said.

"I think he's started ditching class," Frank said. "I didn't see him during Defense Against the Dark Arts yesterday."

"We didn't even learn anything yesterday," I said. "It was just Professor Howell insisting that he didn't go to the Yule Ball with Professor Lester."

"At least Howell's entertaining, even if he doesn't teach us much," Frank said.

"That's true," I said.

"I just remembered something," Frank said. "I brought you something that you could use for the second task." Frank pulled out a small, slimy, grey-green plant and handed it to me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Gillyweed," Frank said. "It makes you grow gills so you can breathe underwater. I think Harry Potter used it during his second task, and he would have won if he hadn't rescued Fleur Delacour's sister."

"It does wear off, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, after about an hour," Frank said. He smiled and said, "You'll do great, Gee. You can win this."

"I'm not so sure," I said. "Annalise is probably going to beat me again."

"No she's not," Frank said. "I saw her in the library last week, and she clearly didn't have a good strategy for the second task. She was looking in the Potions section, and there aren't any potions that can help you breathe underwater."

I nodded. "Potions can do a lot of things, but not that. Thanks for the Gillyweed, by the way."

"No problem," Frank said. "I just really want Hogwarts to win the Triwizard Tournament."

"Me too," I said. More students were beginning to enter the library, and I saw two third years playing with some weird Muggle device that resembled my wireless radio. The device was playing some extremely annoying music that I didn't recognize.

"Ugh, Justin Blubber is so annoying," Frank complained. "I'm so glad that we don't have him in the wizarding world." He took out his wand and pointed it at the radio. "Reducto!" he exclaimed, and the radio blew up.

"Hey, that was our Muggle Studies project!" one of the students said.

"Yeah, it's not our fault that the Muggles can't listen to good music," the other added.

"Quiet down, students," Madam Pince said.

"Do Muggles really listen to stupid stuff like that?" I whispered to Frank.

Frank nodded. "Unfortunately, yes," he said. "Magic and music are two things that Muggles will never be able to master. All of the good 'Muggle' artists are actually wizards who became popular in the Muggle world as well. Not all Muggles have bad taste, but enough of them do that dumb pop songs like the one that they were just playing can become popular."

"It must have been awful growing up in the Muggle world," I said.

Frank shrugged. "It wasn't too bad," he said. "I'd choose the wizarding world over the Muggle world any day, but there are elements of the Muggle world that I miss sometimes, like the Internet or my family."

"What's the Internet?" I asked.

"Never mind," Frank said. "It's a Muggle thing." I almost wished that I had taken Muggle Studies, just so that I would know what Frank was talking about. "We should get back to class," Frank said. "It's almost time for Care of Magical Creatures."

"Did Hagrid say what we're doing in Care of Magical Creatures today?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think it's just more review for the NEWTs," Frank said. I wasn't even sure if I was taking the NEWTs at the end of the year. It was still possible to get a job using my OWL results.

Frank and I left the library and went out to Hagrid's hut. Frank was right. I really did have a shot at winning the Triwizard Tournament. Ten thousand Galleons and eternal glory suddenly didn't seem like such a far-fetched idea.