PRANKSTER [1] ↝ C. DIGGORY

twenty-nine

Clary and Vasantha entered the Gryffindor sixth year girls' dormitory to drop off their backpacks before the students from the guest schools arrived, the redheaded girl pushing open the door to reveal a whirlwind awaiting them in the room beyond. Angelina and Alicia were in front of the mirror at the far end of the room, both girls incredibly concerned about the way their hair looked that evening, and whether or not their robes seemed too drab for the occasion.

"What's the matter with you two?" Clary asked, dropping her bag on her bed and crossing her arms over her chest.

"The other schools are set to be here any minute," Alicia said, giving herself a final once over in the mirror before finally pulling herself away to head to the door. "You never know what types of boys are about to walk through those doors tonight."

"Oh, blimey," Vas groaned, setting down her own bag and reaching up to the top of her bed, where her Gryffindor scarf hung. "Ladies, don't worry about wearing your robes tonight. I can guarantee you, everyone else will be like we normally do, and they'll more than likely have uniforms on too. You'll both be fine."

"How great can these boys be, anyways?" Clary asked. "It's not like, like..." she racked her brain, trying to think of an example, "I don't know, it's not like Viktor Krum's going to walk through that door tonight. Relax."

The two Gryffindor girls finally regained their composure, thanking Clary and Vasantha before heading out the door to make their way outside to the courtyard to prepare for the grand arrival. In the two months since they'd arrived back at Hogwarts for the new school year, everyone was absolutely buzzing with anticipation for the arrival of the guest schools, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang Institute, for the upcoming Triwizard Tournament. Now that it was finally here, it was all anyone could talk about that day, resulting in some very disgruntled professors unable to get their lectures across in their classes.

"Do you think we underdressed?" Vasantha asked with a smirk as she and Clary descended the staircase into the common room, which contained a few other Gryffindors primping and preening themselves in preparation to meet the new students. In the corner of the room, Lavender Brown was helping a second year by the name of Romilda Vane braid her hair before the event, the two gossiping about makeup tips as the sixth year girls passed by on their way out of the common room.

Clary and Vasantha exited the castle, making their way through the chilly October air into the courtyard where everyone was waiting. As they made their way through the crowd looking for Fred, George, and Lee, they managed to catch snippets of conversations going on all around them, all of them consisting of who from Hogwarts they thought might be so lucky as to be chosen to compete in the tournament. 

"This is quite the occasion," Clary noted as the two girls finally reached their friends, her eyes briefly meeting Newt's from where he stood next to Cedric and a few other Hufflepuffs across the courtyard, though she didn't dare move her gaze to the Diggory boy, who she knew wasn't looking anywhere near her direction either. 

After her fateful night running into Cedric and Cho in the hallway, Clary had done her best to avoid Cedric; though, as the boy had already been avoiding her the best he could, she didn't have to try very hard. To Clary's knowledge, Cho herself wasn't aware of their situation, often giving Clary a friendly smile or a hello in passing. Clary wanted to hate the girl, and tried her hardest, though she couldn't help feeling sorry for the young Ravenclaw, as it wasn't her fault they had both fallen for the same guy and Clary was the one left to pick up the pieces. Newt had also tried his hardest to figure out what was going on in Cedric's mind, though he always managed to steer their conversation elsewhere without fail, and without responding to Newt's questions.