A Mermaid's Tears | Fred Weasley

Chapter 7

"It'll be the lips next!" Aliyah whispered as soon as they got inside the common room. "And then marriage and then babies!"

"Aliyah! Stop talking about our babies!"

"Who's having a baby?" Lola asked, her eyebrows raised. She sitting on the couch, waiting for the two girls to return along with Cedric, Artemisia, and Lance.

Artemisia saved her from answering by launching her into a hug, while Marceline awkwardly patted her back.

"We were so worried!" Artemisia said, pulling back from the hug. "You walked out not looking too good, and then Aliyah came back in and got Fred and oh we were so worried!" She exclaimed again.

"Well, I'm fine now, Arty," She said, giving her friends a reassuring smile. "You guys didn't have to wait for me."

"We wanted to make sure you were okay," Cedric told her.

"Thanks guys," she said, truly thankful that she had such caring friends. Her and the other girls went to the girls' dorms, while Cedric and Lance went to the boys.

Once again, Marceline found herself feeling absolutely exhausted, changing out of her clothes and into pajamas, easily falling asleep.

The day was buzzing with people talking about the Hogwarts champions. As there wasn't much else to do, Marceline, Aliyah, and Lola had gone down to watch people enter their names after breakfast.

A boy from Slytherin had entered their name the night before, and earlier that morning, a girl from Gryffindor named Angelina Johnson had entered.

Marceline watched as Cedric entered his name, and as he came and sat next to her, she frowned.

"If you're the champion, I'm not going to be able to sleep properly until this thing is over," She said, looking at him.

"Marcy, don't worry about me. Who knows if I'll even be the champion? Besides, I'll be fine even if I am," he said carelessly, obviously not worried about the tournament.

Marceline just shook her head. "I hope you're right."

The next people to enter their names, or try to enter their names, was Fred and George Weasley.

They had taken the aging potion, and right before Fred had dropped his name in, he shot her an apologetic smile. Suddenly, the twins were thrown back and right before Marcelines eyes, they grew a beard. Marceline started laughing, and the boys walked out to the hospital wing, with Lee Jordan roaring with laughter behind them/ 

"I'm going to go with them," Marceline told her friends, and took off after the twins.

She eventually caught up to them, and was still laughing.

"You're harder to tell about when you have beards." The boys turned around, but didn't say anything, seeing if she could still tell them apart. Eventually she determined which one was Fred and walked beside him.

"Please never grow a beard," She said, looking up at him and laughing some more.

"Do I not look good with a beard?" He asked, sounding offended.

"Not at all," Marceline said, continuing to smile.

"Who knows, I might look like this when we're old and married." Marceline blushed at the idea of being married to Fred, after all, they weren't even dating yet.

"Who knows, if you look like that, we might not be married," Marceline said, teasing him.

"Ouch," Fred said, putting a hand to his chest.

They reached the hospital wing and Madame Pomfrey handed them a potion.

"Drink this and you'll be able to go in five minutes," she told them, and shuffled over to another student who was lying in the hospital wing. Marceline watched as the beards faded and the twins were back to normal.

"Much better," she said, smiling at Fred.

The three of them walked back down to see more people enter their names, but hardly anyone else did.

"I suppose most people put them in last night, when everyone wasn't down here watching," Marceline said, getting bored of watching nobody do anything. Her friends had already left and, not knowing where they had gone, she spent the rest of the afternoon with Fred, George, and Lee. 

That evening, everyone was excited as they ate dinner quickly, ready to hear who the three champions would be. After the feast, Dumbledore got everyone's attention, and brought out the casket.

The first name he announced was Viktor Krum, the Durmstrang champion. For Beauxbatons, the champion was Fleur Delacour. Marceline watched as many of the other students cried and looked upset that they weren't chosen. Finally, it was time to announce the Hogwarts champion.

"Cedric Diggory!" Dumbledore called out, and Marceline felt her heart drop.

"Great," she muttered, reluctantly clapping along with everyone else as she watched her friend get up of the table. "No more sleep for me." She was happy for her friend but she was also insanely nervous, as she could not stop thinking about the death tolls Dumbledore had mentioned previously. 

"Excellent! Well we now have our three champions!" Dumbledore began. He began talking about supporting your champion, but became distracted as the fire in the goblet turned red again.

Another piece of parchment shot out, and Dumbledore reached out his hand and grabbed it.

"Harry Potter."

The entire room was silent, no one was clapping for him like they did the other champions. Everyone, including Harry, was looking shocked.

Marceline couldn't help feeling sorry for the boy. It seemed he couldn't catch a break. Ever since he had arrived at Hogwarts, there hadn't been a normal year, and he always seemed to be involved in the unusualness.

Harry finally seemed to come to his senses, with the help of his friend Hermione, and he made his way to where the other champions had gone. Dumbledore dismisses everyone else, sending them to bed, before making his way back to where the champions were.

"I wonder how he did it," Artemisia said, frowning.

"He looked pretty shocked when his name was called. I'm not sure if he did," Marceline said, also frowning and remember how shocked the boy looked.

"He was probably just confused as to why his name was being called when Hogwarts already had a champion," Lola chimed in. "I just want to know how he managed to get himself past the age line and get Hogwarts two champions."

Lance had a scowl on his face. "You would think that boy has had enough attention, but nope, we can't have a year without it revolving around the great and amazing Harry Potter."

Marceline listened to her friends complain about the boy all the way to the common room. While she understood where they were coming from, she also felt bad for him. While her friends clearly thought otherwise, she had thought it was obvious the the boy did not expect it, and that he would surely like a year of peace and quiet. 

However, peace and quiet did not go with name Harry Potter.