Raven (Fred x oc)

41. Une Surprise

"So when are the foreign people getting here?" Lee asked.

"Thirtieth," I replied, not looking up from my book.

"That's right before Halloween," Katie remarked. Notices had gone up yesterday, a week before they were to come. When the day finally arrived, we all stood bundled up in the cold, waiting for them to all come in.

"It's so cold," I grumbled, huddling by Fred as we waited.

"Aha!" Dumbledore cried. "Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

"Where?" some of the students cried.

"There!" a girl called, pointing over the forest. My eyes widened slightly as I saw the large cartridge sort of thing drawn by large, winged horses. A pale boy in pale blue robes left the cartridge once it landed, letting out a set of golden steps. From the opening appeared the largest woman I had ever seen, clearly part giant. Dumbledore broke into applause, the rest of us following.

"My dear, Madame Maxime!" Dumbledore called. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-dorr," she replied in a deep voice. "I 'ope I find you well?"

"In excellent form, I thank you," he replied.

"My pupils," she began, gesturing to the students behind her in pale blue robes. I didn't hear more as my eyes landed on the last person I expected to see.

"Dominique," I whispered, staring at the pale, brown-haired girl standing near the carriage.

"What?" Fred replied, trying to follow my gaze. "You know one of them?"

"Dominique," I repeated. "S-She spent a year in England before going back to France. We went to school together. I thought she was a muggle." My gaze followed her as she went with the rest of her classmates inside to warm up. "We were best friends. We even wrote back and forth for a long time. We lost contact about third year." I could barely pay attention as the students from Durmstrang arrived and had no reaction when Viktor Krum was ushered in.

We all headed into the Great Hall and I instantly ran over to the Ravenclaw table where Dominique was sitting. "Dominique?" I said. Her eyes widened as she turned to look at me.

"Valerie!" she cried, hugging me tightly with a small laugh. "I haven't seen you in so long! Wait, you're a witch?"

"I didn't know you were either," I laughed. "Oh my gosh, I missed you."

"Do you sit at this table?" she asked.

"No," I admitted. "Do you want to sit with me and my friends?" She nodded eagerly and I showed her to where the others were sitting. "Guys this is Dominique, my friend from before Hogwarts. Domi, this is Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell, George Weasley, and my boyfriend, Fred Weasley."

"A pleasure to meet you all," she replied, sitting next to me.

Switching to French because I knew it was easier for her, I asked, "So what have you done since we spoke last?" We had a delightful conversation throughout dinner with much laughter and talk with both of us speaking rapid French back and forth.

Turning to the others, Domi asked in English, "Are any of you going to enter the tournament?"

"I'm thinking about it," Angelina replied with a small smile.

"Me too," I admitted. "I might not, but we'll see."

"We want to, but we're not quite old enough," George grumbled.

The next morning, I woke up early and quickly got dressed. Looking up, I saw Angelina was up as well. Carefully I wrote out my name and school on a slip of parchment and left the room with Angelina. "You too, huh?" she remarked, holding up a slip of people.

"Just didn't want to be seen by everyone," I replied.

"Me neither," she said. "I feel kind of bad for Fred and George. I know they really wanted to enter."

"Yeah," I sighed. "That's why I haven't said much about my entering around them."

"So Dominique seemed nice," she said as we reached the entrance hall.

"She is," I replied. "I haven't seen her in a while, but I missed her." She nodded. Stepping towards the Goblet of Fire, I dropped in the paper just after Angelina did. Suddenly we heard cheering. Turning around, we saw a group of Gryffindors cheering. Smiling shyly, Angelina glanced over at me as we headed into the Great Hall.

"Well we've just done it," Angelina said, sitting down by Harry, Ron, and Hermione as I sat next to her. "We just put our names in."

"You're kidding," Ron said, looking impressed.

"Are you seventeen then?" Harry asked, looking to us both.

"Course they are," Ron said. "Can't see a beard, can you?"

"I had my birthday last week," Angelina explained.

"Mine was earlier this month," I said shyly.

"Really? You didn't tell me," Harry said.

Shrugging, I replied, "I don't really make a big deal about my birthday."

"Well, I'm glad someone from Gryffindor's entering," Hermione said. "I really hope one of you gets it."

"Thanks, Hermione," Angelina replied as I smiled appreciatively.

"Yeah, better one of you than Pretty-Boy Diggory," Seamus scoffed.

"Seamus, that's not nice," I sighed. "On the field, hate him all you want, but we're off the field."

"Come on, you can't seriously say you want Diggory to win," Dean replied.

"Can't say that I don't," I countered. "Like I said, off the field I have no grievances with him. He's chill." Grabbing my stuff, I added, "I'll see you all later." As it was a Saturday, we didn't have any classes. As usual, I stayed up late last night and finished all my work so I was free for the next two days. Grabbing my broom from my dorm, I headed out to the Quidditch pitch. Just because there wasn't Quidditch this year didn't mean I couldn't fly around.

I mounted my broom and look off into the air. I did a large loop in the air, momentarily flying upside down. After an hour or so of flying, I landed only for a voice to speak behind me. "You fly well," they said in a deep voice and a thick, Bulgarian accent. Turning, I was surprised to see Viktor Krum.

"So do you," I replied. "I saw the World Cup. It was some good flying, although personally I was paying more attention to the chasers." He nodded. Grabbing my broom, I said, "Well, see ya." After I had returned my broom, I visited the kitchens and made a package of bread and a couple chicken legs. Carefully I flew out the window and began to fly for the Forest where I hoped Dad would be. Landing unsteadily, I changed back and picked up the bag of food.

"Dad!" I called. "You out here?"

"Right here," he said, walking through the trees. As I handed over the bag, he said, "Thank you."

"Where's Buckbeak?" I asked.

"A cave where I've been staying," he explained.

"Oh," I replied. "Well, I can try and bring you guys food once a week, but it's hard. The only way I can get it out of the castle is as a raven and I can't carry much like that."

"Only do what you can manage," he insisted. "I can survive."