all too well - Theodore Nott

chapter 7

"Selene!" Someone yelled down the hallway Selene was about to turn away from. She studied the hall, looking for who called her name, her eyes landing on Pansy, who was running towards her. Selene stopped outside of the defense against the dark arts classroom that she was about to go into, waiting for Pansy to catch up. Once she did, she paused to catch her breath, holding her side, her cheeks pink. She then looked around and pulled Selene into an alcove out of sight from the main hall.
She looked awkward. "I wanted to warn you," she said, looking around nervously.
"Warn me?" Selene asked, incredibly confused.
Pansy nodded, biting her lip and twisting her hands together. "Mad-eye's class today." She trailed off, eyes flicking around the alcove except at Selene. "It is intense."
"Intense how?"
"It's about the unforgivable curses. He does them. On a spider. Longbottom freaked out, and I know with your grandma."
She trailed off again, and Selene was grateful that she did not finish the sentence, "I'll be fine."
"I know."
Selene turned to leave but paused and looked back at her cousin and said, "Thank you."
"Oh yeah. I mean, half of you are still respectable."
Selene snorted and shook her head. "Bye, Pansy."

Selene sat with Annie beside her as students put their names in the Goblet of Fire. Annie was sketching the goblet, muttering about lighting, while Selene studied a book she had gotten from the library about healing spells for her face. Selene flicked a page in her book and pursed her lips, her eyes flickering around the spells.
"Oh, this one sounds promising," Selene sat up, finger slamming into the paper. "It will heal a welt, cut, or blister. Oh shit. It says it might give you a rash. Why do these spells have side effects?"
Selene fell back on the bench-like thing on the outer ring of the circle. She closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of people cheering when one of their friends put their name in the goblet.
"Um, excuse me." A quiet Russian voice broke the consistent background noise.
Selene continued to lay there, hoping he was talking to someone besides her. She felt Annie punch her leg.
"He is talking to you, dick head."
Selene pushed herself up to see a boy with close-cut hair and a Durmstrang uniform on his broad shoulders. "How can I help you?" Selene smiled
"My name is Alexi Petrov; I go to Durmstarng."
"I never would've guessed," Selene smiled, looking at the Durmstrang emblem on his uniform.
He pointed at the Durmstrang crest on his uniform and said, "Says so right here."
"Yeah, I know," Selene laughed before shaking her head. "It was a joke. Never mind. Do you need something, Alexi?"
"I wanted to apologize." He stumbled over the last word, which made sense because English wasn't his first language, "did that to your face."
"Oh," Selene said, reaching up to touch her cheek and wincing. "That's okay."
"I feel bad," He said this, hesitating before he spoke to translate his words.
"Don't; I actually loved it. Very eye-opening. That extra spinning you did afterward was actually amazing. I was thinking about leaving you a tip."
"You gave me the tip?" He asked, confused.
"A tip, not the tip, Alexi. We're talking about money, not a penis."
"I'm confused," he said, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Never mind," she smiled. "Seriously though, I am fine."
"Let me make it up." He said, smiling, "Take you to your town. Hogsmeade?"
"This weekend?" He nodded enthusiastically, and Selene smiled and said, "Sure."
"Did you just get asked out on a date?" Annie asked, not looking up from her drawing.
"I don't think so. I think it was more of an 'I'm sorry for almost decapitating you' trip and less of a date trip."
"I think it's a date."
Selene shook her head but just grabbed her book and continued reading.

Selene smiled at Luna across the Ravenclaw table in the flickering candlelight. They were sitting in the Great Hall, waiting for the champions to be chosen. Luna wasn't paying attention, though; instead, she was staring around Selene's head, looking for those bugs that you could only see with the glasses you get in her dad's magazine.
"Sit down, please," Dumbledore said, bringing Selene's attention to him in the front of the hall. "And now the moment you've all been waiting for: the champion's selection!"
The flame grows red as Dumbledore approaches. Then suddenly, a piece of paper floats out, and Dumbledore catches it in the air. The air was thick with tension as Dumbledore unfolded the piece of paper.
"The Durmstrang champion is..." Everyone was silent; the Durmstrang boy's heads tilted downwards as they waited. "Viktor Krum!"
The Durmstrang students erupted into cheers while the two other schools clapped politely. Viktor Krum got up and made his way forward. The flames glowed again, and the Beauxbaton name flew out of the goblet.
"The champion from Beauxbatons... Fleur Delacour"
The same response was given to Krum, and Fleur jumped up, her face split into a wide smile. Then the third name flew out, the Hogwarts one. It was like the whole Great Hall took a breath and held it. No one moved as Dumbledore read the paper.
"The Hogwarts champion..." A girl further down the table than me put her head in her hands and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the dreaded and anticipated words, "Cedric Diggory!"
The response to this statement was a lot louder than the others. Some of his friends jumped to their feet, screaming and slapping him on the back. Selene clapped and held her hands to her mouth to cheer. She did notice how his gaze kept returning to Cho, who sat down at the table with Selene. She wasn't opposed to them dating; she just had to stick to the girl code. Though Selene was sure Cas wouldn't mind at all.
"Excellent! We now have our three champions! But in the end, only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champions, this vessel of victory, the tri-wizard cup!"
Everyone began talking, discussing the champions. Luna asked Selene who they were, having not paid attention. She opened her mouth to respond when the goblet turned red again, causing everything to somehow freeze. Another piece of paper flew out, fluttering in the air.
Dumbledore caught it, confused. "Harry Potter. Harry Potter?"
Harry Potter? I looked around, and everyone else's face matched mine. He wasn't even seventeen. She looked over at Cas, who mouthed 'Weird' at her. Annie looked over at Selene too and shrugged.
After a moment, Harry got up and began to slowly walk towards the front, his face just as confused and shocked as everyone else's. Once Harry was gone and the feast had started, Luna randomly started talking, "His face was too shocked."
"Huh?" Selene asked, looking up from her food.
"People are saying Harry did it on purpose; he put his name in, but he looked too shocked."
"I agree," Selene said, taking a sip of water. "He didn't even get up at first. But you know people are going to say he did it on purpose, for attention and stuff. Oh, and the other schools are going to have a fit. Hogwarts suddenly has two chances of winning. Weird."
"Do you think they'll let him compete?" Emily asked, looking away from the conversation she was having with another first-year. "It would have to be dangerous for him to do it if someone put his name in there on purpose."
Selene shrugged. "Our safety isn't the school's main priority."

'
"What is this?" Annie asked, walking up to a second-year boy who had a big bag full of flashing pins.
"You can buy one for a dollar," he started to say.
"I'm just going to take one," Annie interrupted, picking one up.
"That's fine too." The boy nodded, staring up at Annie with love-sick eyes.
"I think you have an admirer, Annie," Cas said, smiling as we walked away.
"When do I not?" Annie responded, flipping the pin over in her hand.
It spun to show Potter and the words 'Potter stinks' on the front.
"That's so stupid," Annie said, throwing the badge into a trash bin. They passed, the metal clanging together.
"People need to grow up," Cas agreed, grimacing at the people walking by with the pins on their robes.
"I'm going to send this letter," Selene said, holding it up. "I love you two."
Cas blew a kiss in her direction as she walked away. She walked slowly across the lawn, relishing in the sunlight and the time alone. She made it halfway to the owlery before she ran into another human being. In books, when people have been in solidarity for a long time and they see another person, they are grateful and happy. That is not the case when the other person is Theodore Nott.
He was walking in the same direction but coming from a different part of the castle. He looked over at her and rolled his eyes. Selene hoped he knew that the feeling was mutual.
"That pin is really mature of you," she said, glaring at the Cedric pin.
He looked down at it like he had forgotten it was there. He unclipped it and slid it into his pocket. "My friend bought it for me."
"That does not mean you have to wear it." Selne said, brushing her hair back from her face. "So does that mean you're rooting for Harry?"
"I didn't realize you were on a first-name basis with him. And no, I am not rooting for him. Though I am sure you are,"
"I am not, actually. I am rooting for Fleur. Women support women. She is the only girl in this competition. A very pretty one. All people are going to see her as someone who needs as much support as she can get."
"So you're not even rooting for your school?"
"Nope."
"Your school pride is outstanding," he snorted.
"I am not rooting for them because one would be supporting the endangerment of an underage boy and the other would be supporting a guy who has done nothing to stop the harassment of a fourteen-year-old boy who didn't even want to be in this to begin with. If that's betraying my school, then I am deeply sorry."
"I'll just send my letter later." Theodore walked away, his hair blowing in the wind.

Selene made it back to the courtyard in record time. Cas and Annie were sitting on a stone bench on the far side. Cas seemed to be watching an argument between Harry and Draco.
She sat down next to Cas and asked, "What's going on?" She asked, her eyes briefly stopping on Nott, who was standing with the rest of Draco's friends but a little to the side. His eyes met Selene's, and she looked away.
"Hush," Cas said, waving her hand.
Harry said something to Malfoy and was walking away when Mad-eye stopped him. They exchanged a few words that they could not hear.
Selene turned to Cas, who was still watching, and said, "I don't think you're getting more drama today."
"No, I have a feeling that I will," Cas whispered, her eyes twinkling.
Selene turned back just in time to see Malfoy transform into a ferret.
Cas laughed so hard she fell over. Selene and Annie were grabbing each other's arms to keep from doubling over. It flew into Crab's pants, making him squirm.
"You can officially say that he has been in his friend's pants," Annie said, which sent Cas into another fit of hysteria.