PRONGSLET AND THE OLYMPIAN ALLIANCE

Chapter Twenty-One

[21]

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"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and – most particularly – guests,"Dumbledore began as all students and the new guests had settled into the Great Hall. He wore a smile on his face as he greeted all of them, leaving all eyes to focus forward. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

Milo couldn't help but look in the direction of the Beauxbaton students that seemed to be scoffing at the idea of comfortable and enjoyable when they were all currently freezing inside the castle. With the exception of the girl who dawned his Hogwarts robes and he could already tell that her peers envied her. He wished he had enough of his robes to give to all of them as they shivered and rubbed their hands together. But thankfully, the feast was starting up soon, which meant they could find a drink to warm themselves up.

"The Tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast, I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

There was plenty of food as usual, but the majority of the foods weren't the usual dishes that the students of Hogwarts normally ate. Plates ranging from Bouillabaisse to steak-and-kidney pudding decorated all four tables, along with warm and cold drinks for the choosing. Milo didn't find himself very hungry, mainly because he was too focused on their new guests. It was so odd to see the different uniforms and such, along with hearing the foreign languages, the native tongues of their visitors. 

"When you take a minute to stop staring down those girls," Cedric muttered, "you should eat something."

Milo turned his attention back to see that a plate had been made for him, a little bit of everything that was set out on the table was on his plate. He looked up at Cedric, fully ready to thank him until the boy's words fully registered in his head.

"Staring down those girls?" He repeated, quickly pushing the plate away from him. Max and Heidi frowned at the sight, exchanging quiet glances between each other. "I wasn't staring them down, I was looking at that one in particular."

Heidi sighed as Cedric's jaw became clenched and his face slightly red with Milo confessing right then and there that he had been looking at someone else.

"And the only reason why I was looking at her is that she's obviously part-Veela!" Milo huffed at him. "I was debating whether to go over there and ask how much. But seeing as breathing in the direction of our guests is going to get you riled up, I'll be sure to keep my eyes down on the table for the remainder of the evening."

However, if he planned on doing that, Milo certainly didn't plan on doing it sitting next to Cedric as he pushed himself up and made his way all the way to the end of the Hufflepuff table. Max and Heidi watched as Milo sat himself down and truly did only stare down at the table with a grumpy expression. Finally, Heidi had enough before turning her attention back to Cedric.