Needing You

Chapter 3

Hogwarts never fails to impress Talia, every year it looks just as magical as the last. Talia was sitting at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall, making some light conversation with Hannah and Susan, then everyone in the room was quiet as Professor Dumbledore stood to say something.

"Now we're all settled in and sorted, I'd like to make an announcement. This castle will not only be your home this year but home to some very special guests as well. You see Hogwarts has been chosen...", he's then interrupted by Filch who's running to him to whisper something. And then Dumbledore continues, "So Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event. The Triwizard tournament. Now for those of you who do not know, the Triwizard tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school a single contestant is selected to compete. Now let me be clear, if chosen you stand alone. And trust me when I say these contests are not for the faint hearted, but more of that later. For now please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of magic and their headmistress Madam Maxime."

The girls from Beauxbatons academy enter the great hall, all looking beautiful and elegant while doing so, with their headmistress walking in with them. What a tall woman she was, Talia felt her neck tense up from looking up for so long, staring in awe then quickly looked down, massaging her neck and trying to not look rude for staring for so long. Dumbledore then introduced the boys from Durmstrang before they marched in, all looking quite intimidating. Talia recognised one of the boys and felt Hannah lean towards her ear whispering "Is that Viktor Krum! My god he's so dreamy, look how big his arms are-"

"Hannah I can see you drooling from here, calm down would you" Justin interrupts her from her little moment. The group looked back up at the boys and saw some of them breathing fire.

"Blimey, surely that's a health hazard" Susan gasped at the display.

"Bit over the top isn't it" Ernest said, while nudging Justin, trying to get him to agree.

After everyone had come in, the students started to eat the food that was displayed on the table in front of them. Talia was watching Ernest in awe as she saw him stuff his face so much that she almost didn't notice the pair of eyes that were on her, trying to be subtle. She almost didn't notice, she glanced past Ernest seeing the eyes staring back at her. Malfoy didn't realise he was looking at her, he just wanted to drone out Pansy's voice somehow so he concentrated on something else, which turned out to be Talia. She didn't really know what to do, so she smiled and gave him a little wave which caught him off guard. He sat up and looked anywhere else but at her, he turned to Goyle, smacking the back of his head claiming he was hogging all of the parsnips to himself.

Talia directed her attention back to her food, when Dumbledore introduced Mad-Eye Moody who explained that only students older than seventeen could participate in the Triwizard tournament. This caused an uproar, students shouting about how unfair it was.

"Oh come on that's absolute crap, what's wrong with you guys" Ernest shouted, his friends agreeing, apart from Talia. She thought there must be a good reason for the age restrictions, it sounded very dangerous so maybe an age restriction would be a good idea. She looked down the hufflepuff table, catching her brother's attention, he shrugged his shoulders at her.

"Silence!" Dumbledore demanded, and continued to explain how the Goblet of Fire worked, which Talia assumed was the large Goblet with fire inside of it.

~~~

After the commotion in the Great Hall all the students left to go up to their rooms. Talia was making her way with Hannah and Susan who were her roommates when she almost tripped up on something. When she looked up she saw that it was none other than Malfoy who also tripped as Talia accidentally stood on his shoe.

"Watch where you're going" he sneered at her while checking his shoes. Hannah and Susan kept walking to avoid any sort of confrontation from Malfoy, but Talia stayed back to apologise to him.

"Oh my, I'm really sorry I wasn't looking where I was going!" she said while giving him a smile. He looked back up at her, the look of disgust still on his face while he was shaking his head at her.

"My father bought me these shoes recently, I don't want them to get ruined because a stupid hufflepuff can see where she's bloody going" he snapped at her, stepping towards her. Talia stood still not knowing how to react, looks like he's given up on being civil with her this year. The boy really has no patience doesn't he?

"Who are you calling a 'stupid hufflepuff'" Talia felt a hand on her shoulder, she relaxed knowing her brother had come to her rescue.

"Oh I don't have time for this" Malfoy stated and huffed, he turned around and made his way to his room.

Talia didn't understand why she just stood still. When he used to speak to her like that she would laugh and ignore him knowing he just wanted some sort of attention, but she didn't know how to react to him at that moment. Maybe because she didn't expect it?

"What was that about?" her brother asked, pushing her so she'd start walking again. "I thought he didn't bother you after second year?".

"I don't know, maybe it was a one year deal and it expired or something?" Talia joked, earning a shove from Cedric as he tried to stifle a laugh.

As they neared the Hufflepuff common room Talia asked "You thinking about joining the Triwizard tournament?".

Cedric merely shrugged his shoulders after he said the password to the common room. "I mean the guys think I should but I don't really know. What do you think?"

"Well if you put your name in it doesn't mean you'll definitely be chosen. But if you are chosen then I have to deal with you bragging about being chosen and I really can't deal with that" Talia responded which caused Cedric to shove her head before he bid her goodnight and the two went to their rooms.