~The Big Five at Hogwarts: The Triwizard Tournament~ *Sequel*

Chapter 3

Rapunzel

I am just beginning to shade in my drawing, sitting on a plush yellow armchair when a person-shaped shadow blocks my vision. There usually aren't many students in the common room this time of evening, so it makes me jump a little.

"Um, do you mind moving?" I ask them without looking up."You're blocking my light."

"Actually, I'm pretty okay with the view from up here, Blondie," a young man's voice says. I glare angrily up at a guy with chestnut hair framing a handsome face. He's wearing a brown Durmstrang uniform, but has an American accent. What could he possibly want?

"How did you get in here? This is Hufflepuff's common room." I eye his uniform.

"Oh. Uh..a friend let me in."

I'm not expecting him to budge, so I stand up with my sketchbooks, walk two feet to the right, and sit on a couch, not once retracting my glare. But I realize after a second that I have nothing to shade with. "Looking for this?" One of his calloused hands waves my charcoal pencil in the air. My eyes narrow. However, I'm curious as I snatch the pencil scrap back, leaving a dark smudge on his thumb.

"How'd you do that?"

"Sorry. That's a trade secret." He smirks. Oh great, a pickpocket. Finally, I simply go back to my drawing pad.

He doesn't leave.

"Are you still here? It's almost curfew." I look up.

"I am. I'm just fascinated to see what you're so engrossed in." I inch my arm forward to cover up the drawing. "Plus I kind of had to get away from some old buddies."

"The ones who let you in?"

"Sure."

"And why is that?" I can't help but ask.

"Let's just say I owe 'em something."

Several seconds of silence pass as he glances over his shoulder.

"Why aren't you Russian?" I blurt out.

"Huh?" A dark eyebrow lifts.

"Well, Durmstrang is a Russian school, isn't it? So...why are you American?" I feel myself blush. "Sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's fine." his grin fades. "I just move around a lot, that's all."

"Oh. I see." Even though I don't. "You know, it might be a little less creepy if you told me your name."

"Everyone calls me Flynn."

"Well, I'm Rapunzel."

"Geez, that's a mouthful!" He answers, crossing his arms that I may or may not have noticed are very muscular. "I think I'll stick with Blondie." I return to my cautious shading until the bell tolls loudly, signaling curfew.

"I've got to go." I grab my discarded shoes and rush towards the girls' dorms.

"So I'll see you around, Blondie?" He calls after me.

"Don't call me that!" I stumble to yank on my stockings and slippers.

"I thought you Pufflehuffs were supposed to be friendly!"

"Not when you can't pronounce our title!" I grin and disappear inside.

  After I've gotten into my lavender pajamas, I lie on my bed with Pascal on my shoulder, whispering my worries about how well the Triwizard Tournament could possibly go. The girls who share the room get dressed around me.

"It's time to get studying, Rapunzel," a Hufflepuff prefect, Eep, chides. "Your N.E.W.T. test is coming up at the end of the year." I sigh, remembering the stress-inducing standardized test that every seventh-year has to take.

"Everything okay? You seem distracted." Jane, my Hufflepuff friend, comes over and asks. I give her a shrug-smile. "Is it about that Durmstrang guy I saw you talking to earlier? He's dreeaamy."

"Who? Flynn?" I ask. "Oh no. Not in a million years. I'm just worried about the Tournament." Even as I say it, I can't get those burning hazel eyes out of my mind. But Jane seems satisfied enough.

Patti Shermin, however, giggles in the bed behind me.

You got that right," she snorts. "No guy like that would ever go for a Mudblood like you."

I wonder how a girl like that got into the House of friendship and loyalty while I write my nightly letter to my mother and set the scroll on the nightstand. Finally, Pascal curls up next to me, turning blue.