An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Seventeen

A/N: Just a heads up to everybody, this story is going to go slightly more off canon in this chapter when it comes to the Triwizard Tournament. I know the books and movies both include one champion from each school, but this year in this book, Bagman and Crouch and all the Ministry wizards that put the tournament together decided, in the interest of added safety, while the tasks would be similar to the ones in the old days, completable by one wizard, this year they would change the rules to have each school work in pairs, so as to reduce the danger from the task without changing too much about the tournament. Hopefully this doesn't bother anybody too much, and I hope you guys enjoy the chapter 😉😄❤️

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"Jackson!" I yelled and ran over to him, wrapping him in a tackle hug as soon as I was close enough. I hugged him tight, then I pulled back and smacked him really hard in the arm. "You jerk! Are you in sixth year or not?"

"It's good to see you too Stark," he said instead of answering me. "You too, everybody else."

"Jackson Rappuccini, you were the cause of a mystery that haunted me for six months last year, don't you dare leave me without answers on this for another second!"

"Alright, alright. Calm the hell down, crazy. Yes, I'm in sixth year with you."

"Ha! Nice job!" I held up my hand for a high five, which Jackson reluctantly gave me. "Is Lupin still around?"

"No, he left this morning."

"Shoot. I wanted to see him again. Oh well," I turned my attention back to Jackson. He looked much better than the last time I'd seen him. For one thing, he didn't have twigs in his hair anymore. He wasn't as pale, and he was finally back to a healthy weight after the toll his modified obscurus took on him last year.

"Alright, well as much fun as it's been seeing you all again, I'm supposed to be in a different room waiting to get sorted. We'll catch up afterwards," said Jackson, pushing off the wall and past our group.

"You're gonna tell me all about your summer after dinner!" I called after him. He just waved me off.

"He seems like he's doing much better," mused Cedric as our group moved towards the Great Hall again.

"Yeah, he really does. And I'm glad he managed to make it into our year, as much as it would've been perfect karma for him to be stuck a year behind for keeping it a secret for so long."

"I can't believe he actually managed it!" Lee yelled. "I mean, five years in one summer? It's insane!"

"Well, fortunately, so is he." We laughed a little bit together, but had to part ways once we got into the Hall. I waved to Cedric, Adrian, and Myrah as I headed to the Gryffindor table with my Gryffindor friends.

We sat down near Ron, Harry, and Hermione, and I caught myself looking up and down the table for Percy before I remembered he graduated for good. It would be weird without last year's seventh years, but I knew we'd adjust.

"Man, I never imagined how good it would feel to be back here after a summer away," I mused. The rest of my friends nodded, looking around excitedly for the first years (and Jackson) to follow us through the doors.

"It's always a good feeling to sit down here again," Angelina agreed.

"It would feel better if we had food!" George declared impatiently. I couldn't argue with him.

"Can't they hurry up?" agreed Fred. "I'm starving!"

Right on cue, the doors to the Hall flew open. Professor McGonagall strode through, leading a pack of nervous-looking first years with a bored-looking Jackson in the middle of the pack. Since he was sixteen and not eleven, he towered over all of the other students walking with him. Honestly, it was a pretty funny image. He looked over and saw me smirking, and he gave me a ridiculous glare that just made me laugh harder.