THE RAVENCLAW PRINCESS

chapter 32 - the triwizard tournament

"It'll be a fucking miracle if I don't pitch myself off the Astronomy Tower by the end of the week," Lyra huffed.

After the Welcome Feast, Lyra and her friends sat in the Gryffindor common room to talk before the girls were to go up to the girls dorm for a sleepover before the beginning of term.

Without looking up from his game of chess with Neville, Mieko said, "you have to tolerate him for the whole year so you might as well try and be civil." At Lyra's muffled scream into a pillow, he added, "Lyra it won't benefit either of you to be cruel."

"Bloody hell, Mieko. I'm not Iliana. I can't be nice to people even if they're absolute arseholes." Lyra pointed out. "Don't look at me like that, Illie-"

"She has a point, Demir," Fred added, glancing at Iliana on the other armchair. Fred lounged with his head leaning against the arm of the armchair and his legs dangling over the other arm. "You offered to help Sayed even after we heard him say he thought girls aren't good enough to play quidditch."

"And we all know how incredibly wrong that is- I mean just look at Angelina and Lyra." Charlotte said from the spot in between the two girls on the couch.

Both Lyra and Angelina smiled appreciatively at Charlotte. Angelina said 'thank you' at the same time Iliana said, "obviously I don't agree with anything he said- you two are phenomenal players- I just think people can be good if you're good to them."

She finished with a hopeful smile on her face and despite not agreeing with her in the slightest (except the bit about her being a phenomenal Quidditch player), Lyra smiled back at Iliana and nodded.

Lee was sitting on the ground next to George who was dragging a string on the carpet for a fully engaged Crookshanks. "Forget about Pucey, Lyra. So, who's going to do the Triwiz Tournament?"

Lyra looked around at her friends. She wasn't old enough with her sixteenth birthday just passing last June, and she didn't think anyone else of the six of them was old enough. She saw a small smile play on Angelina's lips and grew immediately curious.

"None of us are old enough," Charlotte stated matter of factly.

"That's not going to stop us, will it George?" Fred asked mischievously.

George returned Fred's roguish grin. Before he could reply, Charlotte immediately began berating Fred for his scheming.

Lyra, though, found herself staring at the wicked smirk that had filled George's face. He looked back down at Crookshanks and continued playing with the string. His face was half covered by his long hair but Lyra could practically see the gears shifting behind his eyes as he began planning. George had gotten cuter over the summer.

"-don't you think, Lyra?"

Lyra's head quickly shifted to the source that had called her name, and at the confusion on her face Iliana repeated, "Cedric? Don't you think he'll put his name in?"

Lyra quickly gathered herself, "if he does Hogwarts has a good chance of winning."

"And if it's one of us?" George asked, frowning playfully.

She rolled her eyes, a smile on her lips. Charlotte frowned though, "it won't be, Dumbledore would plan against it."

Fred opened his mouth but Lyra beat him to it, "Dulce periculum, Char!"

"What does-"

"Danger is sweet," Mieko answered, a surprising smirk on his lips. "Imouto, factum fieri infectum non potest." ({japanese translation} younger sister, {latin translation} it is impossible for a deed to be undone.)

"What's-" Fred asked. Lyra threw her pillow at Mieko. He caught it just before it fell onto his and Neville's game. Lyra said, "oi! I'm only younger than you by two months. Besides, that's the point."

Having minimal context, George said the one latin phrase Lyra taught him that stuck. "Quid infantes sumus?" (What are we, babies?)

Lyra laughed and Iliana simply looked amused. Mieko rolled his eyes, looking directly at George, "yes, one hundred percent."

"Okay can someone speak English. What the bloody hell did you lot just say?" Charlotte looked back and forth frustratedly.

"Mieko is advising two of Hogwarts pranksters to not plan said pranks," Lyra said.

Fred pushed up from his lounging state to sit up straight, leaning forward on his knees. "You mean the two best-"

"The best Hogwarts prankster was my sister, Fred. I'm second, then George, then Peeves, and then you." Lyra finished, a smug smile on her face. Fred looked to his brother for support only to see his twin sharing the same smug smile as Lyra.

"My own brother," Fred stood dramatically and clutched his shirt over his heart. "The betrayal!"

Lee stood and rolled his eyes comically before moving to catch Fred who after clutching his heart, fell quite theatrically. Everyone burst into laughter at his dramatics and spent the rest of the time in the common room laughing and talking animatedly about the upcoming tournament.

"Alright summer's best glow ups, go!" Angelina said excitedly from her spot on her bed.

The girls went up to the Gryffindor girls' dorm after a while. Iliana was painting Angelina's nails on Angelina's bed. Hermione and Lyra were eating snacks from their late kitchen run on Charlotte's bed, and Ginny and Charlotte were sitting inside the pillow fort the girls had made earlier in the night.

"Well I know a certain Ravenclaw was eyeing a certain redhead twin today," Iliana winked suggestively.

A chorus of taunts and teasing ensued but Lyra simply rolled her eyes, "I was not eyeing George."

"I never said it was George," Iliana grinned wickedly.

Lyra's eyes widened at her slip and Charlotte giggled behind her hand.

Ginny asked curiously, "Lyra, do you fancy George?"

Lyra shook her head, "no, definitely not. It's just that he, like a lot of other people, got much cuter over the summer and I was just observing-"

"Funny how you weren't observing the only other person who looks exactly like him," Hermione said with a grin.

Lyra faltered for just a moment but she quickly found her bearings, "well I know someone who was giving Fred plenty of long glances."

Charlotte blushed even without Lyra explicitly stating her name. "I wasn't- he just would not shut up about any pranks throughout the feast so-"

Angelina decided to give her some reprieve, "okay but Lee and Mieko-"

"Their growth spurts!"

"I'm not complaining, that's for sure."

"Oh, forget about them, look at all of you! Has summer been good to my friends or what!" Lyra exclaimed.