12 Chapter 12

Chapter 12

FLEUR DELACOUR

Fleur Delacour shifted in the bed. But her body stopped as she bumped into another body. Her eyes opened as she shook her head as she tried to focus on the form lying beside her. Her mind seemed to catch up with her, as she suddenly recalled all the events from last night. Heat rose up in her cheeks as she recalled her behavior. Honestly, what had she been thinking?

Perhaps it was a blessing that one of them had been quite within his element as Edward had not given in despite her overreach. Fleur frowned as she recalled her lack of control yesterday night. She had never felt like that. What was even going on with her? Her mind was still thinking of these things when she felt Edward shift as he began to rub his eyes. His hair was disheveled, shirt loose and wrinkled as it showed his well-toned form underneath.

She blushed slightly as she saw him put on his glasses. His mouth had a huge smile as he spotted her form. He smiled and put his arm around her, and Fleur did not move as she felt him hug her slightly.

"Well, last night was something," he commented and Fleur wanted to bury her head in a ditch somewhere, her face heated up as Edward just laughed slightly before he kissed her head.

"Well, it was nice to see a new side of my girlfriend," her heart warmed up slightly at his words. She punched him slightly as she separated from him. Trying to straighten her uniform she got out of the bed.

"Well, you are never going to see it again if I don't get back to my carriage before everyone wakes up." She said as she scanned the room. The room had a small window to the side that showed the Huge Hogwarts grounds. While the rest of the room was quite simple and cozy with a single bed and a couple of chairs. Yet there was no door. No door.

She frowned as she turned to face Edward who had gotten out as well and was buttoning up his shirt.

"Where is the door? I need to get back!" she asked in a panicky tone. Edward just smirked at her, irritating her as he made his way toward her.

"Don't worry princess, I will get back to your carriage," and he closed his eyes. And Fleur felt the room shift. The window closed up and a door began to appear on one of the walls. She stared at Edward as he just opened his eyes as if the whole room had not just changed magically. He was just smirking at her.

"Don't worry, I will tell you all about it some other time," he relented when she had continued to stare. She nodded as they began to walk toward the door. She opened it slightly and found herself looking out of the castle's first-floor corridor. The Beauxbaton carriage was visible through the window in front of her.

She looked at Edward once more,

"You are telling me everything about this," she said her curiosity erupting as she thought about the sheer complexity of magic that controlled the room. Edward nodded and he just raised a brow at her and Fleur looked to the sides as she walked out of the room, rushing towards the carriage.

She reached the carriage with Edward right behind her, she opened the door and was immediately greeted by someone waiting for her. Her heart stopped momentarily, yet relief came back to her once she recognized the person waiting for her.

"Where were you the whole night, Fleur? I had to make a thousand excuses for the students and the professors." She said worriedly and guilt rose in Fleur's heart as she listened to her friend's words.

"I am sorry," Fleur said with a light tone, feeling guilty yet if she had been looking up she would have caught the huge smirk on her friend's face.

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HERMIONE GRANGER

Hermione was making her way towards the Quidditch stadiums with the rest of the school. Today was the day of the exhibition match. The whole school was buzzing with excitement for the match. Fleur Delacour was a youth champion and Edward's accolades were no less. This promised to be an exciting matchup, unlike the whole debacle with Professor Lockhart.

She saw their new DADA professor talking with one of the seniors from Hufflepuff. Hermione had seen her with Edward. Honesty, Professor Tons as she likes to be called had been quite good. The professor focused more on the practical side of magic like professor Lupin but she was still better than the other Professors they had had previously.

She walked towards them.

"Hi professor," she greeted the professor. The professor looked towards her and smiled. Her purple hair morphs into a lighter shade of pink. The metamorphmagus ability still retains its fascination with Hermione even after all this time.

"Ahh, it is a delight to see you, Hermione." She said as she motioned for Amy Leighton, Hermione remembered the name, to carry on. She then continued while staring at her.

"By any chance have you seen Susan from Hufflepuff, she and her friends wanted me to help me guide them through the duel." And Hermione frowned as she heard those words. But before she could reply.

"Professor Tonks," she heard the voice of one of her classmates. And she saw the red-haired Susan Bones appear with two other girls. They walked towards them briskly and the girl apologized as soon as she reached Professor Tonks.

"We are sorry for being late Professor, but the corridor was blocked by Peeves so we had to take up the other route," she explained.

"It is ok. Now that all of you are here we can take the seats," but Hermione spoke up.

"But professor what are you going to be teaching them?" she asked the professor.

"Oh, I am just going to discuss the spells and the tactics used. These students were interested in dueling so I thought I would tell them about a couple of things about it," she added and Hermione felt her excitement rise as she heard those words. Perhaps the professor had seen her eager expression as she asked her before she could speak up.

"Perhaps you would like to join as well Miss Granger," the Professor asked and Hermione found herself nodding her head eagerly.

"Sure, I do not think one more person will change anything," and she began to walk towards the stands. And Hermione joined the group of girls, greeting them as she recognized them.

"Hi Susan, Hannah, and …" she did not know the name of the girl from Slytherin. Yet the girl shook her extended hand.

"Daphne, Daphne Greengrass," and Hermione recognized the name. She was the girl with the highest marks after her.

"It is good to see you!" Hermione spoke up and the girl just nodded her head. All three of them followed the lead of the professor.

"SO are you interested in dueling Hermione?" Susan asked her. The girl from Hufflepuff had shared herbology with them for quite some time and Hermione had often paired up with her in Charms as well.

"A bit. But it is a bit difficult to find out much about it at Hogwarts. The club in the second year had been quite a disaster." Hermione replied as she shook her head.

"Well, Professor Lockhart did not know the basics of dueling. The man was wholly incompetent. I have been a huge fan of it. Me and my aunt try and watch the finals every year. Honestly, this match is going to be awesome. Both of them have been crowned as champions once." The redhead said enthusiastically. Hermione just nodded along.

"You can ignore her, when it comes to dueling Susan is a pure nerd," her friend, Hannah said from the side with a giggle. Unlike Susan, she had brown chestnut hair that reached just above her shoulders. Susan huffed at her friend and Hermione found herself smiling as she saw the two of them interact.

"She has not stopped talking about this since it began. She initially had this huge crush on a specific senior,"—and Susan tried to stop her friend from speaking any further, but in vain—" and she cried for days when she found out that he was seeing her favorite dueling champion."

Susan was now bright red. As she tried to get strangle Hannah.

"Those are lies. I am telling you. ALL LIES!" she said emphatically. Both Hermione and daphne broke into laughter as they heard the emphatic explanation. They reached the seats in front. Professor Tonks, sitting in the center.

Dumbledore walked to the center of the specially arranged arena. The goalposts had been removed and the ground had been marked with a boundary. Hermione also noticed the wards surrounding them all.

"Today all you have gathered for the exhibition match between two young champions." Dumbledore's voice rippled through the stands.

"But before we move on toward the match, I would like to invite Mr. Garrick Ollivanders to conduct the Weighing of the Wands for the Tri-Wizard Tournament," and Hermione saw the shopkeeper from Ollivanders come out.

"Weighing of the wands?" she questioned the Professor.

"Well, it is a ceremony to check the wands of all the participants to make sure they comply with the rules and have not been tampered with in any way," Hermione nodded at the explanations.

"But why did they bring Mr. Ollivanders from Diagon Alley, aren't there any other experts," Hermione spoke up once more. But this time the answer did not come from the professor. It was Daphne that spoke up.

"The Ollivanders have been making wands for centuries. They are amongst the most respected wandmakers in the whole world. While some may tout Gregorovitch as a generational prodigy, the Ollivanders' name is famous the world over because of its reliability."

Hermione was impressed by the knowledge the girl had as she saw the three champions walk out. Each of them handed the old man their wand which he would spin and hand back with a nod.

"Why isn't this being projected?" Susan spoke up before Hermione could ask the same question.

"Well, it is said that a wand's composition can tell a lot about a person, and it is considered etiquette to limit the spread of such intimate knowledge. While many believe it to be false, there are still many people who don't like to tell others of their wand's composition." Professor Tonks explained once more.

"With the ceremony complete, it is time that we begin the event everyone has been waiting for. We have the honor of witnessing a duel with two Youth Champions." Dumbledore's voice reverberated across the stands once more.

"On one side we have this year's champion. Please give it up for, MISS FLEUR DELACOUR!" Hermione began clapping for the blonde foreign student that walked out. She was not wearing her uniform, instead, she was wearing something like a black ornamental shirt with similarly fashioned trousers. Besides her, she did not miss the shining eyes of Susan.

"And on the other side, we have last year's champion. Our very own MR. EDWARD WRIGHT!" and the stands erupted once more as Edward walked out once more. HE waved to the students in the stand, clad in formal robes that completely fitted him. His glasses shone as he made his way to the center of the stage. When he had turned towards their stand, she had not missed the dreamy conflicting expression on Susan's face.

"Professor Flitwick, a champion in his own time will be our referee and now I believe that I must leave the stage for our two contestants."

And with that, Headmaster Dumbledore walked off the stage. And Hermione was on the edge of her seat as the noise died down. The two people in the ring stared at each other. Both of them bowed to each other and took out their wands. And then she heard the voice of her charm's professor.

"BEGIN!"

On the other side of the castle, a rat made its way through the Hogwarts ground. It reached the edge of a huge lake called the Black Lake. The rat stopped at the edge for a moment before it disappeared into the lake. And even after the sun had set, it did not come out.

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