Melody Riddle and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 8: Vision of a Dark Mark

"You oughta make the front page for that!" Draco said excitedly as we made our way back to the tent in the large crowd with boisterous singing on either side of us. Vincent and Greg already followed their parents back to their own tent.

"Oh, please," I said, rolling my eyes. "I only fixed his nose. It's not that big a deal!"

"Melody, he'll probably trust you if he gets hurt again!" he said.

"What's the point of gaining his trust if I'm not going to be around him?" I asked.

"He'll be around Hogwarts this year. Did you know he goes to Durmstrang?" he asked.

"No, I didn't know that... but what does that have to do with him being at Hogwarts? What for, anyway?"

"The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons schools will be coming to Hogwarts for the year..." he gave a dramatic pause, as though building up to a fantastic reveal.

I waited for the rest of his sentence another minute until I concluded that he wanted me to ask, "Okay.... Why?"

"They're going to host the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts this year! I thought you'd know!"

"As far as I knew, there was supposed to be a surprise for students. Since you just revealed it to me, it does sorta make sense..." I said softly.

The Triwizard Tournament hadn't been done for years because of the large number of deaths that occurred. I had read a bit about them; there were three different tasks for one student from each participating school to face. Whoever won got a thousand Galleons in prize money, and the Triwizard Cup for their school.

"Well, I can't wait for this year! Hopefully it will take up so much time that we don't have to do schoolwork."

"Really?" I asked in exasperation. "What is the point of going to school this year if we aren't going to learn anything, Draco?"

"We'll be learning a lot just by watching the three wizards go through the challenges! We'll know what not to do in a similar situation."

I rolled my eyes.

"And we're expected to attend every challenge so don't even think about skipping out!"

"As if anyone would even notice that I'm not there," I snapped. "I could be completely exempt from everything."

"Snape would most certainly notice."

"Oh, please," I said with a barely suppressed sigh. "He could let it slide."

"And let you miss all the fun?" Draco grinned. "No way!"

Once we got back to the tent, Draco took out his Nimbus 2001 and flew around for quite a while, trying to look like Viktor Krum. He wasn't as nimble on his broom as Viktor had been, however, but I amusedly watched him fly around.

The moment he got bored enough to dismount, I was in front of him with the cards splayed out in my hands. "Ready for a few rounds?"

"Yes, please play with us!" a Nine of Spades pleaded.

"I order you to play!" a King of Diamonds demanded.

Draco's lips thinned at the sight of them, "I don't know... I've never really liked cards. They get annoying."

A Queen of Hearts gasped in dismay, "How dare you? Off with his head!"

I couldn't help but laugh at the outburst, that and Draco's pointed look between me and the cards. "Think of it this way — they're rather entertaining. They can't do anything, really, besides talk a lot of crap."