7 Chapter 7

Chapter 7

EDWARD WRIGHT

"I can not believe you hid it from us for all this time. That is very uncool Wright. Very uncool,"

Amy Leighton said to me. Cedric who was sitting by her side nodded at that.

"Amy is right Edward. How could you keep this from us?" Elizabeth also teased me.

I just shook my head at that, explaining for the hundredth time.

"As I have explained previously. There was nothing to hide. We met a couple of years ago at the Dueling Championship. We met and talked and found our interests to be very similar, so we just kept in touch through letters. And that is all there is to it. We are just friends."

My word seemed to have the opposite effect on Amy, as her eyes lit up. She then pointed at me and spoke,

"THERE. Right there. 'Just friends' don't you know there is no such a thing as 'just friends! There are 'friends'"- at this, she pointed towards our group- "and then there are the other friends."

And she wiggled her eyes after that. I just made a face at that, like really.

"Then why didn't you tell us about her before? Why is it that this is the first time we are hearing about this and even now we have to force each nugget of information out of you."

Elizabeth said from the side.

"And what was I supposed to say? And I did mention her, you just don't remember it?" I retorted and Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at that.

"You mentioned her once. And after that, there was complete silence."

All of them were ganging up on me. So, I just gave up. I raised my hands in surrender.

"OK.OK. What do you want to know? She will be here in a couple of minutes, so you could just wait."

And Amy was now eyeing me greedily, she had the same expression as a dog eyeing a rib-eye steak.

"What about her name, height, age, family . . ." she trailed off.

"Woah! Woah! Woah! Pump the breaks. Sheesh! You are worse than a reporter."

Yet Amy kept staring at me. I tried to get out of the situation but it seems I was caught. So, I just relented

"Well, her name is Fleur Delacour. She won the Dueling Tournament this year. She is in her final year at Beauxbaton."

I could see Amy getting excited, and then the doors opened and the Headmaster went to welcome the students from Beauxbatons. I and Elizabeth also got up, Amy tried to speak but I cut her off,

"And you can ask her the rest yourself?"

Headmaster Dumbledore lead Madame Maxime to the stage and the students entered the Hall. I and Elizabeth went forwards to greet them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Elizabeth and this is Edward," and she began helping them settle down. While she was doing that my eyes were searching for a familiar face. I found Fay Dunbar waving at me, and I smiled and waved back.

Behind her stood probably the most gorgeous blonde I had ever seen. Fleur Delacour in her blue satin uniform looked as ravishing as a model. A supermodel to be exact. Were they even a thing yet? I waved at her and was about to meet her but was stopped by a pinch on the arm by Elizabeth.

She gave me a very scary smile and spoke in a quiet voice,

"Guide the boys to their tables. You can ogle your girlfriend later. I will seat her at our table."

I wanted to retort that, she was not my girlfriend. But Elizabeth white was still smiling. So, I got back to work.

"All right, as she mentioned I am Edward Wright. If you have any query. .. " And then I began guiding them to their table.

I saw Elizabeth approach Fay and Fleur greeting them and speaking to them in a hushed tone. Fay smiled widely as the conversation went on and then both Fay and Fleur began making their way toward our group.

I gave Fleur a small nod as she walked passed by me. She smiled and nodded back. Elizabeth 'hummed' and I straightened up once more.

As I turned to help the last batch of students. I saw the predatory eyes of Amy Leighton staring at me and she had a sinister smile on her face. And a single thought went through my head.

I am so screwed, then I saw Fay sit beside and alarms began ringing in my head.

I am very very screwed.

0000

AMY LEIGHTON

"And he has the nerve to say that they are 'just friends'" Cedric commented as he had a grin on his face.

Amy was eyeing the girls as well. And damn was she breath-taking. She saw Edward eyeing the girl, his dazed eyes and that goofy smile told her everything she needed to know. She just shook her head at that, Damn liar.

Then he went to converse with the boys and Elizabeth went ahead and greeted the girl. After some time, she was guiding her toward them. They reached to their side and then Elizabeth introduced them,

"This is Amy Leighton and Cedric Diggory." Both of them got up and shook hands with the two girls.

"Hi, it is nice to finally meet you." And the girl nodded to her.

"Nice to meet you as well," her English had only a hint of an accent. The blonde seemed a little flustered at her enthusiasm. She then shook hands with the brunette beside her,

"Fay Dunbar," she introduced herself, and then they all sat down. After some light conversation, she asked,

"So how do you find Hogwarts?" she asked the two girls as Dumbledore began introducing the students from Drumstrang.

The answer came from the silvery blonde's friend.

"Oh. It is very ancient. But in a good way. Just like Edward described it, the castle is 'gothic'," and Fleur simply nodded at that. Suddenly there were whispers in the Hall.

'Krum, it is Krum,' Fay turned and saw a familiar face in the Drumstrang students. The broad-shouldered teen with a crooked nose, who had taken the Quidditch world by storm stood beside a rather large man. A rather large man with yellowish teeth.

"He looks much better in the pictures," she heard the brunette say. And Amy found herself agreeing. Though she was interested in the celebrity from Drumstrang as well, she was much more interested in the silvery blonde in front of her. So, she began talking with them once more.

"So, how did you get to know Edwards?" she asked looking straight at the silvery blonde beauty. She could see many boys in the Hall preening to catch a glimpse of her. Many of them were drooling. Aghhh, Amy thought. Though none of them stand a chance.

"Oh. Hum. We just met at a dueling championship a couple of years ago. We fought against each other in the Quarterfinals and talked a bit after that. Then we just kept in touch."

Amy nodded at that, but before she could investigate more. The brunette just rolled her eyes and spoke in a very sinister voice.

"Oh, you removed all the interesting details." And Amy's eyes brightened at that. She had a gut feeling that she and this brunette, Fay, her brain supplied the name were going to be particularly good friends.

"Let me tell you," and she could see Fleur trying and failing to stop her friend.

"Both of them were like the youngest competitors there. Two young prodigies vying for the spot of the champion. It was unfortunate that they met in the Quarterfinals because their match was riveting. The whole arena was on its feet."

Fleur rolled her eyes at that and tried to stop her friend yet Amy was hanging on to each of her words.

"After the match, both of them began talking to each other. But the thing is they did not just talk for minutes. No, they sat down together for hours breaking down each of the duels, hunched in the corner of the arena. Oh, they were just so adorable,"

The silvery blonde's face had a light flush.

"We were just talking about the matches. Both of us just had similar interests," the silvery blonde added in a small voice, like that explained everything.

Fay nodded at that, and then the food was served. She saw. Edward moves towards them. Finally done with his duties.

He sat down next to Fleur and the atmosphere around the girl changed completely,

"Hello, Edward." The silvery blonde greeted the Headboy.

"Hi. I am sorry I could not talk earlier. It was just that I had to deal with this Headboy crap," he said immediately to the girl.

"Oh no, it is fine." And Fleur's voice was melodic as she replied to him.

And then the food was served, and all of them began to eat. Though one very specific thing Amy noted was that the both not love birds, couldn't keep themselves away from each other. She just stared at them and then hers and Fay Dunbar's eyes met and both of them just went. Can you really believe they are just friends? Beside them, Elizabeth had a similar expression.

After the announcement. Dumbledore took to the dais once more. His announcement regarding the exhibition duel surprised all of them.

"You won the championship this year!" Amy asked the drop-dead gorgeous.

Fleur seemed a little embarrassed but nodded her head at that. Then she spoke in a small voice,

"Yes, but Edward won last year, and he did not participate this year." But the love bird rose to the defense immediately.

"She is downplaying herself. She is just as if not more talented than me. She won because she deserved it, my participation has little bearing on her winning." Edward explained from the side.

Fleur preened up at his words. Then Dumbledore began explaining the rules of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

All the Hall went silent as the magical Goblet was brought to the front. Amy considered entering, before discarding the thought immediately. Then her eyes focused on the two idiots of their group. Both of them were just busy talking to each other completely ignoring Dumbledore and everyone around them.

0000

They were in their dorms now, and both she and Elizabeth were preparing to go to bed. Amy couldn't control herself so she asked Elizabeth.

"Sooo, what do you think of Fleur?"

Elizabeth was still preparing her bed when she replied.

"I think that she is very brilliant, she is also very smart and is extremely talented."

"Come on. You know that is not what I am talking about. What do you think about her and Eddy?" Amy asked her friend once more.

"Well, that is an even simpler question. We have all been duped by Edwards. Simple."

And Amy nodded at that and then asked in a very serious tone.

"But what about the rumors between you an..."

But she was cut off by Elizabeth who was now lying on the bed.

"As I have mentioned a thousand times, Edward and I are friends, very good friends and I would not want that to change it in any way. And it would never have worked between us. You know how my father is!" And there was sadness in her tone. Elizabeth's father was a businessman. To him, everything in life was a profit and loss statement. He had been trying to get Elizabeth to match with one of the rich pureblood heirs for quite some time. But was being stalled by Elizabeth.

"Well, now I can understand why he wouldn't look at a girl twice here at Hogwarts," Amy added.

"Hmmm, yeah. You can say whatever you want about Edward, but he does have some high standards." Elizabeth replied.

"Well, why do you think Edward has not made a move yet? You know properly ask her out or anything." Fay asked.

"Well, I do not know the exact reason but it probably had something to do with his living condition. He was an orphan with nothing to his name. And from what I know Fleur's family is quite famous in France's magical world. I remember my father mentioned a Delacour once. That he was planning to run for Minister there." Elizabeth replied. She had been thinking the same question as Amy. She had seen the way the boys had turned to look at Fleur and how their eyes gained a special haze around her.

"But I don't think he will wait anymore," she added. And Amy's head jerked towards her.

"Why?" Amy asked

"Because I think Edward thinks he is ready now. He told me about the place he bought and from what I saw of his account balance, he is quite loaded at the moment. Plus, I saw him getting irritated as the boys were drooling over Fleur. He will not wait anymore."

Elizabeth knew Edward. He liked to plan things thoroughly. And it seemed his romance had taken a similar approach. While this may seem unromantic by some fairytale standards. This was a practical approach.

"Well, I hope he wins her over, because I have never seen him smile like today. And Fleur seemed into him as well, she will be good for him. He deserves to be happy."

And Elizabeth nodded her head. Amy was right. Edward had struggled a lot in his life and had come out of it all without a single complaint. He deserved any happiness he got.

0000

In another corner of the country in a very decrypt building. A large snake was coiled around a shriveled-up small body. A plump man, with large front teeth, was kneeling.

"My Lord, it is done. I can go to Hogwarts and bring you the boy." The plump man spoke.

"No," a hiss came from the shriveled body settled in the chair. The green snake hissed at the plump man.

"This time, the boy will come to us." A soft and shriveling hiss was heard once more.

"How my lord?"

"You do not have to worry about that. You just have to do as I say."

The plump man bowed his head, receiving further instructions. He left the house hours later. His face had a small smile as he thought over his master's plan. Truly, he had chosen right all those years ago.

0000

You can support me and read ahead on a certain site.

Patre0n. com/drkest