An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

I woke up for my run the next morning like normal, and thankfully no one else was up. It was Sunday, and everyone was probably exhausted from all the celebrating last night.

Everything started to sink in a little more as I made my way around the lake. The anger at Crouch and the unfairness of Harry's situation still stung, but the excitement was starting to set in too. I was officially a Hogwarts champion! I was going to be representing my school, competing in all kinds of dangerous tasks, and I got to do it all with Cedric, the best boyfriend and partner I could've asked for.

This year was going to rock!

I went inside in a far better mood than I'd been in last night, practically walking on air as I headed down to the Great Hall after taking a shower. I met Cedric, and we decided to take our breakfast outside so we could eat together.

It was a little cold, since it was now early November, but it wasn't anything too bad.

We spent the rest of the morning walking around outside together. The original plan was to talk some strategy, but since we didn't really know what we were going to be facing, there wasn't much to be said. So, instead, we talked about school and our friends and the excitement we were both feeling.

"You know Harry didn't put his name in, right?" I said part way through our walk.

"I... I mean, I don't know... are you sure Alexa? It seems pretty incredible that someone else would do that for him, without talking to him at all."

"Ced, you're the one that told me about all the crazy stuff that's happened to that kid. A mass murderer broke into the castle last year specifically to come after him. There are people out there who actually want to kill Harry, and now he's gotta do this Tournament without any of the safety measures to help protect him. I don't know, I think Moody might be onto something about someone having bad intentions. And at the very least, I know Harry wanted a break this year."

Cedric sighed a long, heavy sigh. "I didn't really think about that. I guess it does make sense. It's just odd, you know? That it's him every year? I wish it was just you and I doing this, bringing glory to our Houses and Hogwarts, and not Harry again."

"I'm sure he feels the exact same way."

Cedric nodded, and although we moved on to other topics I'm pretty sure he'd come to agree with what I was saying. Harry had more adventure in three years than most people got in a lifetime. Speaking from experience, after a bunch of stuff like that? Sometimes all you wanted was a break.

Hell, that was a big part of the reason I decided to come to Hogwarts. For a break.

Cedric and I headed in for lunch, and I managed to duck my Gryffindor friends afterwards to go call my family. I was officially a Triwizard champion now, which meant sharing the news with everyone back home. I debated sending a Howler, but I knew everyone would have about a million questions, so I decided a live conversation would be better.

I snuck off to a deserted corridor, then had Ana dial up my dad. It was barely 9am in New York, so some of my family members definitely weren't awake yet, but the ones that were could fill everybody else in later.

"Alexa!" My dad picked up with a big smile, looking incredibly happy to see me. "How's school, sweetheart? Is everything okay? Do I need to come back and scare the hell out of that Headmaster again?"

I laughed. "No, Dad, I'm all good here. Actually, I have exciting news! Can you get everybody that's awake to come over? I don't want to have to explain it a bunch of times."

"Yeah, hold on." My dad turned his head to the side, speaking to Jarvis now instead of me. "Jarvis, magnify through all rooms in the Tower: AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!"