A Trial to See

Chapter Six

Isabelle's Pov

The next morning I woke up at nine. It was very unusual for me to not wake up at dawn but with what had happened at the world cup last night and all the work I put into it was understandable. I got dressed in some street clothes and went down to the Dining Hall to meet my fellow classmates who are going with us to Hogwarts. It wasn't really crowded since most of the students aren't at school yet. I had sat down at my usual spot it was at the end of a table close by the dining Hall doors, so Nyxie wouldn't need to walk so far to bring me breakfast. As she set the plate down I gladly thanked her. I quickly dug into the food since I didn't eat dinner last night. So, I picked up the piece of toast along with some scrambled eggs and ate it and I moaned with how wonderful it tasted. I mean I do love the coaches and the quidditch team, but no one was good at cooking and I was too busy practicing to even help with preparing the meals.

I spent most of the day relaxing trying to recuperate from all the playing I did last night but I would gladly do it again if it meant going back to the Quidditch World Cup. It didn't matter for me that I was famous for my age or what I did, I was just in the moment and it was so wonderful. Few days went by we were getting ready by practicing our entrance dance. Since I didn't have a lick of Veela in me I had to stay out and watch the other girls' practice and use their Veela magic. it was quite beautiful, and I knew it was going to insnare the boys of Durmstrang and Hogwarts, but it wouldn't work on girls. You see, a Veelas magic only works on men to entrance them with their beauty but since I grew famous in the past year Madame Maxim wanted me to go with them this year. So, I had to stay back with her, and they put me in this horrendous silver leotard with an awful neckpiece and all that Madam wanted me to do backflips down the whole aisle and at the very end let out a magic puff of blue butterflies free. I mean it did give me something to practice on, but it was not going to look pretty like the other girls.

We were all prepared and by October 29th we were led to the carriages being pulled by beautiful Abraxian horses. It was going to take us some time to get to Hogwarts in Scotland and we were trying hard to not get caught by the muggles. So, we decided to give us a longer period of time and take the right slowly. It was quite late at night when we were going so most of us slept but I decided to take out a window seat in the carriage and watched the clouds roll by along with the speckles of stars in the beautiful moon. I knew I should have gone to bed taking a nap or something, but I was too excited to get back in touch with Viktor Krum and possibly the Weasley family. Took us around 14 hours to get there and people started waking up right at six in the morning, we were still over the ocean, so they started chatting. One of the girls, Fleur Delacour, didn't like me, so she excluded me from her friend group and decided to talk ill about me.

"I don't understand why Madame would even bring a brute of a girl like her to represent the school. She's going to ruin the school's name with what she does in her free time." Fleur said knowing that I could hear her along with most of the student body in the carriage They continued to chat about mundane things after she saw that her words didn't phase me. The amount of chatter rose as we got closer to Hogwarts.

I kept looking outside the window their words used to hurt me, but I figured she was just jealous of what I have been able to do such a short amount of time. Madame Maxime ended up getting our attention and was telling us about where to go and what to do when we get to Hogwarts. Everybody was nervous and excited the chatting quieted down as we all turned our attention to outside the windows. Seeing the streams of students watching us through the corridors it was so amazing to see. I still couldn't believe I was going to be living in the Hogwarts Castle for a whole year learning about things that I've always wanted to learn like care of magical creatures and defense against the dark arts. I mean Beauxbaton has of a version of magical care for magical creatures and defense against the dark arts but it just wasn't the same as Hogwarts. They weren't afraid of their students getting seriously hurt and if they did, they had the right people to help them out they had great professors and such great learning.

The carriage landed quite abruptly but we were all safe. The doors open in everybody was trying to force their way out as gracefully as they could. They were just excited to get out and stretched their legs out of the cramped carriage, but I just sat there waiting. As Fleur got out, she gave me this nasty glare, but I just shrugged it off. I was the last student to get up and exit the carriage, I smiled as I was just excited to breathe in the cool October air and Madame Maxime was right behind me.

"I thought you would be the first one. You know being excited about a new adventure." She said with her thick accent as I looked up to her with a bright smile

"I just wanted the rest of the student body to be able to see for themselves what Hogwarts was. I was most definitely willing to wait." I responded walking beside her as we were going into the entranceway of Hogwarts right before the Great Hall

We ended up waiting in one of Hogwarts courtyards, getting last-minute practice in and for me changing into my costume, as the Hogwarts student body was settling down into the dining hall. It was really interesting to read up on their dining hall and how the ceiling was bewitched to look like the sky with floating candles in clusters. We all got ready and into our lines and were escorted to the hall outside of the dining hall. The girls of Beauxbaton were getting in their places for their dance and the boys that came were off to the side as they didn't join in the dance.

I was in the very back with our headmistress and was stretching when I saw that the Durmstrang boys are coming behind us. Even though I wasn't in the best-designed outfit I saw that most of the boys from Durmstrang were looking at me not so appropriately. They were also whispers going on about how I was the world's youngest quidditch player to win a World Cup. I combed through the male students I finally saw Viktor Krum in the back with his headmaster. I caught his eye and gave him the biggest smile I could and a little wave before the doors open and I had to turn back. It didn't take us that long to get to the front of the Great Hall, took us about five minutes at the most, and at the end when I got to the front of the Hall I got up and let out illusions of blue butterflies from my hands.

We had all dispersed to the tables that we were assigned to which were the Ravenclaw and the Slytherin house tables but most student body ended up sitting at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. I stood behind the Slytherin table as I was going to go get changed back into my regular uniform when the Durmstrang boys did their entrance. They were clad in their thick furred uniform and each with a staff that sparked when it hit the cobblestone floors. I was entranced as I watched Viktor walk down the aisle and when he looked towards me I saw the smile in his eyes knowing that we would be seeing each other more this year even though he had to keep a stone face during the entrance. Once they were finished, they separated, the boys went to the Slytherin tables as the girls went to the Hufflepuff tables. I had quickly skipped out of the Great Hall to the closest bathroom and changed. I slipped back into the Great Hall and sat right next to Krum. Headmaster Dumbledore took the podium and started to speak.

He ended up talking about the history of the tri-wizard tournament and how now there's an age restriction and the whole hall went up in rage. I shrugged it off since I was just fifteen. Besides I'd rather do another international quidditch match than risk my life doing some unknown trials. By the end of dinner, I was yawning constantly. The food was delicious and it was great to talk to Viktor and his friends. As the student body was sent off for bed I followed Viktor and his friends down to the Slytherin dorms. I felt the most comfortable with them rather than the students I came with.

"When are you going to workout Belle?" Viktor asked slinging his arm around my neck

"I wake up around dawn so probably then until breakfast. Gotta stay number one am I right?" I said cheekily as another yawn slipped out of my mouth

"Did you even take a break after winning? I know that you have to stay physically fit for work as well but you've put yourself under so much stress this past month." Viktor mumbled with a hint of worry as we got to the stairs that led to the dorms.

"Oh yeah, I took today off. This year I'm working, doing classes, as well as brushing up on my quidditch skills. So stop worrying about me and go have fun with your friends Vik. You'll see me tomorrow anyway." I responded slowly walking up the set of stairs to the labeled room I was going to be in for the rest of the year

I quietly walked into the room and took the bed next to the underwater window. Speckles of bioluminescent organisms splattered the underwater landscape of the vas lake. I quickly got changed into my black sleeping shorts and my oversized quidditch jersey and slipped under the covers. I quickly fell into dreamland as I watched outside the window.