star shopping ✰ d.m.

CHAPTER FOUR

As soon as Arabella came home early the next day, she went straight to Ginny's room where she had been sleeping all holiday and immediately wrote to Seamus and Dean to ask if they were okay and safe. She considered writing to Draco but knew that his father was most likely involved in what had happened and decided against it.

The week between then and when they went back to school was highly stressful. Even though she had gotten responses from both Seamus and Dean telling her that they had left as soon as the riot started and that they and Seamus's mother were all okay, Arabella still found herself baking almost every day to calm her nerves. It seemed that she would bake a new batch of cookies during the day and then her father would eat half of them when he came home from work in the evenings. This didn't surprise her; if she, a 14-year-old girl, were stressed during this time, a qualified wizard working for the Ministry of Magic would be worse off.

September the 1st finally came, and Molly, Bill, and Charlie saw them off. They teased that something interesting would be happening during the school year, but refused to tell them what, and they were all left wondering when the train pulled away from the station.

Similar to the previous year, Arabella was walking through the corridor, searching for Seamus and Dean when she was pulled into an empty compartment. Her brain making the connection was the only reason she didn't react negatively, and when she turned to face Draco, there was a smile on her face.

"I feel like I'm having deja-vu," she said. "You're not about to ask me to help you with your studies again, are you?"

Draco chuckled. "No," he answered. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You know, with everything that happened at the World Cup..."

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It was probably just somebody's idea of a sick joke, anyway."

"Yeah, totally." He didn't look her in the eye as he said it.

"Hey, do you happen to know anything about what's happening this year? My mum and my brothers were saying something about it but they wouldn't tell us what."

"It's called the Triwizard Tournament. It hasn't happened in hundreds of years, but it's taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"I think I've read about it. Haven't people died in that tournament?"

"Yeah, but they changed the rules. Unfortunately." Arabella raised her eyebrows at him. "I'm kidding."

Just then, Arabella saw Seamus and Dean pass the compartment. "I'm sorry, but, uh..." She pointed past Draco to her friends.

"Oh, yeah, sure. See you at school."

"See you at school."

She left the compartment and shouted to the boys. They joined her and found an empty compartment together.

"You two aren't going to believe what's happening this year-" Arabella started.

"That seems to be a running theme," Seamus said.

"Yeah. I mean, first year we became friends with you, second year the Chamber of Secrets was opened," Dean listed off, "last year some nutter escaped from Azkaban, and now this year there's something else."