Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(83) Third Task

Mrs. Weasley was definitely a talker, as Florence had gotten to stay at the visitor's lounge for atleast an hour and a half, before the redheaded woman had slowly started to minimize her chattiness, Florence seizing the opportunity to bid her good bye, Molly insisting that she came over at the burrow during the summer, as she had a very lovely time with her.

The Third task was going to start in a few hours, which Florence had spent roaming the entire castle in search of her two friends, who were hiding at the Hufflepuff commons to see and talk to Cedric before his big moment. Florence was rather surprised to see the passage to the commons wide open, and a full blown party in the Hufflepuff commons, a large banner draped across a bunch of Professor Sprout's hanging plants saying 'Cedric Diggory, Champion of our hearts', which was, admittedly, a very hufflepuff thing to do. There were a mix of other students from different houses, but not everyone was present. She inferred that the other half (possibly excluding Slytherins, were somewhere supporting Harry, as Fred and George had rushed off suddenly.

Nicolai was sipping from a suspicious looking cup, chatting away with Cedric and Cho, who had their fingers intertwined, while Alexander was tense beside her, clearly trying to avoid the two Hufflepuff girls who were staring at him intently.

"Florence," Alexander breathed out in relief as soon as he spotted her friend, "Jillian is by that corner, and Olivia's been looking like she wants to bury me since I got here. Please tell Nicolai that we have to go."

"You're just making it out to be awkward when it's really not, Xan," replied Nicolai, overhearing his desperate plea, "And I'll have you know that Jillian's not staring at you, but me."

"I wasn't even assuming that she was staring at me," Xander scoffed, "Just—can we go?"

"Can we stay for a couple of minutes, though?" protested Florence as she collapsed onto one of the couches, " I just spent the past hours asking around to almost anybody if they had seen you. I'm tired, and thirsty." she eyed the cup in Nicolai's hand. Raising her brows, she turned to Cedric questioningly, "I didn't know you Hufflepuffs had the resources to serve booze in a party."

Cedric simply chuckled, "No, it's Professor Sprout's famous lemon juice recipe." he smiled, Florence snatching the cup out of Nicolai's hand at that, chugging down the remaining contents, before letting out a noise of satisfaction, "That is good."

"Rude," remarked Nicolai, who, to Xander's delight, had started to gather her jumper onto her arms, "Well, Diggory, my clique and I better get going to the Tournament grounds. We need good seats when we cheer for Hogwarts' victory."

"Thank you, Nicolai, Florence and Alexander. It means a lot that you guys came."

"I'll see you at the grounds," Florence told Cho, giving her a brief hug before trailing out of the Hufflepuff commons with her friends.

The venue for the third task no longer looked like the infamous Quidditch Pitch that Florence had spent most of her years playing in, but now a thick, high-rising maze that stretched as far as her eyes could see stood in its place. Even Xander, who had stood on his toes, could not see where it ended as they took a seat on the second row of one of the stands that was set up at the entrance point of the maze.

The Beauxbatons students were punctual as usual, sitting at their designated area in their light blue school robes. Alanna was able to spot Florence from the fast-growing crowd, giving her a small wave before averting her attention back to the front. The space between each person began to narrow down as more Hogwarts students arrived, and by the time the tournament would start, the whole venue was packed with people. Some even had to sit on the grass below the stands, two of them being the Weasley twins who looked as if they wanted to be there willingly, the two of them draping the Gryffindor flag on their shoulders. Cho arrived moments later, sitting beside Florence as she beamed with complete pride as Cedric smiled at her direction.