An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Forty-Two

A/N: I know in the books Angelina and Fred go to the Ball together, but since Fred isn't dying in this series and it's canon that Angelina and George get married, I'm changing it a little so Angelina and George are the ones going to the Ball together 😄

****************

After dinner that night (and after sending the fateful owl to Oliver), nobody could stop talking about who was taking who to the ball. Angelina, Alicia, and I talked for hours before going to bed, and I hadn't seen Angelina this excited since we won our final Quidditch match last year.

Cedric still hadn't officially asked me, and I hadn't asked him, but since we were dating I didn't think there was much to worry about in that department. That left me completely free to focus on the rest of my friends and their plans.

This was going to be fun.

I woke up the morning after the announcement to go on my morning run like always, but when I got there an entire crowd of people was gathered by the lake. Viktor was there too, standing a bit apart from everyone else, and as I got closer I realized what was going on.

Everyone gathered around the lake were big fans with crushes on Viktor, and now that the ball had been announced they'd all taken their stalking up a notch.

"Hey!" I called, walking straight past the crowd of girls and up to Viktor. "Your fanclub is ruining my morning peace."

"They are ruining mine too."

"Alright, then how about we ditch them?"

"Easier said than done."

"Not if you put a little of that crazy Quidditch-player-snowball-ninja agility to good use."

Viktor stopped his stretching and looked at me, suddenly more interested than irritated.

"Vat did you have in mind?"

"You ever run an obstacle course before?"

I didn't have a plan all the way formed as Viktor and I finished stretching, but that didn't matter. The plan was to take an unnecessarily complicated path around the grounds, running until we lost the people chasing us. When Nat and Clint had put me through my paces with this stuff over the summer, they had dangerous bad guys in mind, but Vik and I could use the same principles to escape rabid fans.

"These people are about to get the workout of their lives if they decide to follow us," I mused as Viktor and I finished our stretches.

"Good."

With that, he took off running. I grinned and followed, already excited for where this was going. We started on our normal path around the lake, just faster than usual, but instead of turning back towards the castle at the far end of the lake, we kept going.

"Any idea who you're gonna ask to the ball?" I asked between breaths as we took off towards the forest, near where the first task was held.

"I do not know." I couldn't tell if it was a lie or if he was speaking differently because of the running, but something seemed off about that statement. "You are going with Diggory?"

"Yup! Are you gonna ask Milena?"

"No, she is going with Andrei."

"Hm. Who then? Come on, you must have some idea."

"We have not lost them yet," Viktor said, blatantly ignoring my question and glancing back at the crowd of girls behind us. They were keeping up remarkably well, and I was a little impressed. That would have to change soon.