New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|35| Chapter Thirty-Five

T H I R T Y  F I V E

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The relationship between Rachel and Rowan was only becoming more and more complicated from Saffron's point of view but apparently, that only made it less complicated between the two of them. Being twins was one thing, but being twins who were slowly but surely being able to talk to each other in their minds, almost like having a muggle telephone placed inside of them, certainly was another very different thing. They had bonded over it more than Saffron had ever imagined.

Growing up, they had always been close. They had no choice but to me. Not a single day had gone by in their entire lives where they hadn't at least seen each other. Up until they went to Hogwarts, they had spent each and every day with each other and very few others for company, especially during Saffron's first year in Hogwarts. 

Saffron had anticipated them drifting apart and that anticipation came to fruition. The twins did lead as separate a life as each of them could during their first year. However, the Grey had brought them back together and they were getting on better than ever. To the extent that when Saffron was discussing Professor Moody's classes with them, the morning before Saffron was due to attend the class for the first time, they didn't clash whatsoever. That said, that might have been because their friend Emilia Kallantar (who Saffron had first met at the duelling club she went to back in her second year) was in their company.

"He said we were behind and I felt really defensive," Rowan said to Saffron with a frown on his face. He looked up at the staff table where Professor Moody was sat, with his own small flask with some unknown liquid in it. Saffron, the twins and Emilia were sat at the Ravenclaw table which lined up directly with where Moody was sat at the staff table. "Because he made it seem like it was Professor Lupin's fault when really it was Professor Lockhart, he didn't do anything with us,"

"Unless you count learning his entire biography off the entire time as something," Rachel joked, exchanging an amused glance with Emilia. "Honestly, you're kind of lucky you didn't have to go through any of it,"

Emilia was a victim of the Basilisk petrifications in her first year at school and missed out on the vast majority of it. Being Muggle-Born, it was a challenge for her to catch up but the school provided her with tutoring over the Summer to bring her up to speed.

"It sounds that way," Emilia grinned. "But I'm sure they're less stressful than what they're like now. I kept on thinking he was going to yell at me, especially when he stormed off after running out of whatever it is he's drinking,"

"Wait, what did he do?" said Saffron with a small laugh, looking back up at Moody. She looked away a second later though when she noticed his magical eye look at her.

"He went to take a drink and then left," Rowan said amusedly. "Because it was all gone we were guessing. He just went up to his office and was okay afterwards, maybe it's some sort of medication,"

"Probably for his anger," suggested Rachel. "Maybe I'm just judging him based on how he looks, but he definitely looks angry all the time,"

"Well, he was an Auror after all," said Saffron fairly. "I'm sure he's seen a lot of things that would make him that angry. Those scars didn't put themselves there," Saffron sighed. "So, are you all looking forward to the tournament?"

"I guess so," shrugged Rachel. "It just seems so far away. But I'm sure when it comes around it'll be interesting. Especially if Maya gets chosen,"

Saffron almost spat out her porridge. She did a double-take. Did those words really just come out of Rachel's mouth? It was completely nonsensical. Maya was sixteen, not seventeen. She wouldn't be able to enter the tournament, Dumbledore had made that abundantly clear to them all.

"She can't though," said Saffron matter-of-factly, thinking that it actually would be pretty cool if Maya ended up in the tournament. "She's not seventeen,"

"Yet," Rachel chided Saffron pointedly. "But remember what Dumbledore said, if you turn seventeen before Halloween, you can enter and Maya turns seventeen right before the deadline. So maybe she'll get picked, you never know,"

"Did she tell you she was going to try out?" Saffron asked Rachel in confusion, before throwing a puzzled expression in Rowan's direction. Maya was in Ravenclaw with him so she figured he would probably be well informed. Saffron had only seen Maya since they returned to school a few days ago and she greeted her with a simple hello. She hadn't even thought about the prospect of her sister attempting to enter the Triwizard Tournament. The part about the deadline had completely slipped her mind.

Rowan shook his head. "She didn't say it directly. I asked her if she was going to last night and she said she wasn't sure if she was the right person to do it. I mean... it's meant to be dangerous,"

"In the past though," Emilia said to Rowan. "Lisa Turpin was saying there's no way they'd bring the tournament back if they thought there was any chance of anyone dying. The challenges should be safe compared to last time,"

"That's true, but Maya would be one of the youngest in it if she got chosen," Rowan said nervously. "Maybe she wouldn't be ready,"

"If anyone would be ready, it would be Maya," Rachel proclaimed firmly. "She does well at everything she puts her mind to. I know I'd go for it if I could, the money is too tempting,"

The thought of the money made Saffron's throat go dry. Maya winning it would be incredible for them. The Mitchell siblings had never had any independence and certainly hadn't had any monetary independence. Even though Sirius had assured them to never worry about money, as his family most of whom were dead were very wealthy and he inherited a lot of their money, in addition to the compensation he was getting from the Ministry, they never wanted to ask that of him. A thousand galleons would be life-changing. But Saffron knew that even if Maya was to decide to go for it and miraculously became the Hogwarts champion, she'd have to beat out two other schools, which would be a tough ask.

"Yeah," said Saffron absently, envisioning what a thousand galleons would look like if put in front of her. She shook her head. "I won't bother Maya about it, she'd probably blame me for putting pressure on her to do it. You two should just stay out of it too, let her decide what she wants to do. Like you said Rach, she's shown she can do anything she puts her mind too, with her OWLs or lying--"

Rachel rolled her eyes, Rowan snorted and a curious look etched onto Emilia's face, as Saffron continued.

"She's shown she can do it all, so maybe she'll decide to do this too. I'm sure she'll let us know closer to the time whatever her decision is," Saffron sighed as she realised that the bell was about to ring out and she was about to endure a double period of Potions with Professor Snape and the Slytherins. Seeing that Hermione, Harry and Ron were about to leave the Gryffindor table, Saffron finished the last of her rasher sandwich and stood up, readying herself to join her friends. She kept her voice to a whisper so only the three third-years could hear. "I'll see youse soon, make sure to keep me updated if anything changes with the Grey,"

"Will do," Rowan grinned at her. "Enjoy Moody later on, it'll be an experience," 

"I'll try," Saffron nodded and set off out of the hall. 

After his dramatic entrance on the first day of the term and the whispering going around the school that he was unlike any other teacher they had ever had before, Saffron knew that Moody's class was going to be a drastic change from the norm at Hogwarts. She would just have to wait to find out whether that was a good thing or not.