TWELVE

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Slughorn's lesson became more and more interesting as time went by. He always had the initiative to do different things during his class.

It's interesting, really.

That day, Slughorn instructed the students to be in a group of four consisting two Ravenclaw students and two Slytherin students.

It happened that Primrose sat with Stretton again and Bletchley approached to be in the same group as them. Primrose noticed the looks on both of their faces.

They look like they're going to hex each other.

And the three Slytherin girls were glaring at her but she had decided to ignore them instead of making faces to them.

Primrose glanced at Tom who was still sitting at his seat. She approached him with a smile, "Would you like to join our group? We need one more person."

Tom looked around to see the other groups before looking at Bletchley and Stretton. He closed his notebook and put it in between his armpit, "Sure."

As the two approached the other two, Bletchley greeted Tom, "Riddle."

Tom nodded once, "Bletchley."

Primrose smiled but deep inside it's a little overwhelming for her, to be surrounded by three very good looking men. She clasped her hands together, "Now we're settled with four. What's next?"

That's when Slughorn started to speak, "On my table, I have a few lists of potions in my hat. One of the representatives must come in front and draw one paper from it. Whatever potion that you get, you have to make it. Come on!"

Primrose glanced at three of them, "Should I go?" Stretton shook his head, "It's alright. I'll do it."

He went in front and drew a piece of paper from the hat. He glanced at the paper with a frown while approaching them.

"What do we got?" She asked. Stretton showed the paper to the rest, "Beautification Potion."

Bletchley chuckled, "I guess it's for you, Prim."

Primrose stared at him with wide eyes, "You're saying I'm ugly???"

His face turned horrid, "N-no! That's not what I meant, I—"

She laughed, "Just messing with you. Though maybe I really need that."

Stretton rolled his eyes, "No you do not."

Smooth.

Primrose was just about to open her textbook but Bletchley already took hers and searched for the ingredients, "Found it."

Primrose scanned through the ingredients and frowned in disgust, "The ingredients are disgusting."

"When have they not?" Bletchley asked and Primrose agreed, "True."

"At least they don't have leeches in it." Bletchley said and she glared at him, "I have not forgotten that you were teasing me with it."

"That's the point." He said. Primrose frowned, "What's the point?"

"Nothing."

"I'll get the ingredients." Stretton said and Primrose stopped him by pulling his arm gently, "No you already went in front just now. I'll go."

Bletchley scanned the ingredients and smiled to her, "I'll get them."

"Oh, thank you." She said. When Bletchley came back with the ingredients, Primrose's jaw dropped although her face was showing a frown, "People remove fairy wings for this potion? That's so mean."

Bletchley shrugged, "It's not painful and removing them won't give any harm to them. But they'll be annoyed. Like really annoyed."

"How do people get the ideas to mix these kinds of ingredients to make potions? Like, how do they know certain ingredients give certain effect? Especially leeches." Primrose asked.

"I have no idea." Stretton said. Then he and Primrose turned to Bletchley for answers but he shook his head too, "I don't know."

Then the three of them looked at Tom. He raised his eyebrows, kind of clueless at first but then he shrugged when he realised what they were talking about.

"Let's just say that it's an experiment..." Primrose said and they nodded in agreement. Primrose looked at Tom, "Is it okay if I read and you stir?"

Tom nodded once.

Primrose read the instructions, "Stretton, can you grind the fairy wings? Dont put them in just yet. Just put them in the jars first. Also it says here pluck seven petals of a fresh rose—is the rose fresh though?"

"Yes. Professor Slughorn changes the ingredients daily to keep them fresh." Tom said and Primrose nodded, "I see. Oh! Stretton, chop the lady's mantle as well, thank you!"

Stretton smiled, "No problem, Prim."

"Bletchley, you put the ingredients in while Tom stir, is that okay?" Primrose didn't even wait for his answer when she continued, "Good. Now add the fairy wings into the cauldron. Stir slowly and while stirring, add mountain dew."

When Bletchley added the mountain dew into the cauldron, Primrose instructed Tom to stir it vigorously. After all of the ingredients had been put, Primrose pointed her wand over the cauldron and waved it to finish the potion.

"Well, we're done. Well done, guys!" She grinned, earning a soft chuckle from both of the boys.

Well of course, except for Tom Riddle.

"Now that everybody's done with their potions, I would like to have one representative to drink your potion." Slughorn said, grinning from ear to ear.

Primrose sighed and scratched her own left eyebrow, "Oh not this again."

"Well, we all know who's drinking." Bletchley said, looking at her. She was about to retort when she realised that both Stretton and Tom were looking at her too. She shook her head vigorously, "No. Why me?"

Stretton replied, "Because it's a beautification potion."

Primrose laughed dryly in disbelieve, "Oh? So it's true, I'm ugly. That's what you're trying to say?"

"What? No!" Stretton raised his voice, defensive. Primrose exhaled heavily, clearly offended by Stretton and Bletchley, "Then why? Why does it has to be me?"

"Beautification potion is rather feminine, Prim." Bletchley said and she scoffed, "That's just sexist. Just because i'm a female that doesn't mean that I have to take feminine potion."

Silence.

Stretton and Bletchley looked at each other before turning their heads to Tom, who kept quiet, just watching the three bickering.

Primrose looked at Tom, not sure why she was hoping for a support but of course, he just stared at her back with no expression. Primrose sighed and took a vial of the potion, "Fine."

Here goes nothing.

She cringed after she swallowed the potion, "Fucking hell it's disgusting."

"How does it taste?" Bletchley asked. She sighed, "Very bitter. You won't like it."

"Well, let's get these cleaned up." Primrose was about to collect the fallen rose petals on the floor when Stretton beaten her to it, "I'll do it for you."

"Thank you, Stretton!" She smiled. He smiled back to her before collecting them. Then she wanted to clean up some droplets on the table due to the vigorous stirring. She pulled out her handkerchief from her pocket, but Bletchley already pulled out some of his toilet paper from his pocket, putting it on the table.

"I got you." He smiled. Primrose just blinked at him, "Oh... thank you."

Realising that she didn't have any work to do, she just sat on the chair, turning her head to Tom. It happened that he was looking at her, raising his eyebrows.

Primrose didn't know what that means but she shrugged anyway.

After a few moments, she realised that the whole class was staring at her. She frowned and turned to her group mates who were looking at her too.

"Has the potion kicked in?" She whispered to Bletchley. He just stared at her with his jaw dropped, "You are so beautiful."

Yep, already kicked in.

Primrose was curious on how she looked.  She turned to Lyra who was staring at her in awe too. She approached her and asked Lyra for her mirror since she always bring one with her. Lyra nodded while handing Primrose the mirror, her eyes never left her.

Primrose stared in the mirror with a frown. She turned to Bletchley and Stretton, "I look the same...?"

"So pretty..." Lyra whispered. Primrose looked at her wide eyes, "Um... thanks." She handed Lyra her mirror back before going back to her seat.

She waved her hand in front of Stretton, "Stretton? Hey! I look the same, stop staring at me."

Stretton shook his head slowly, "I can't... you're... gorgeous."  Primrose wrapped her face with her palms before sighing, "Right. Is this how it's going to be? People staring at me and complimenting me?"

She turned to Tom, waiting for him to answer her. His eyes widened a little when he realised that she was talking to him, "Um... I think so."

"Finally, someone who acts normally." She sighed. Then she continued, "But I do look the same though?"

Tom agreed, "You do. Probably just an enhancement to you since you're already beau—"

Primrose frowned, "Already what?"

Tom stayed quiet and as if luck was on his side, Slughorn's voice echoed, "Now, now. If you would turn away from Miss Quinton. I know she looks splendid but I need your attention now."

Primrose didn't know how long the potion would last but it almost felt like forever since she had been getting lots of attention at school.

Even her dorm mates kept on complimenting her non-stop, and telling her that the boys would swoon over her beauty.

Which was technically true at that moment.

So, she had decided to hide herself in the library. She had been reading but when her eyes were tired, she put away the book and rested her head onto the table.

God, I hate migraines.

"Are you alright, Quinton?"

Primrose glanced up with a pained expression but she gave him a small smile anyway, "Hi Riddle."

He sat across her and leaned to the chair, "You haven't answered my question." Primrose stood straight on the chair while massaging her forehead, "Right. Um—i'll be alright."

"Well I guess I should leave you alone." He said.

"You can stay if you want to. But I'm afraid I wouldn't be as much of a decent company for now since my head is throbbing." She said, burying her face in her arms again when she put her head on the table.

"I wanted to say sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to scare you with the snake." Tom said. Primrose hummed, "It's alright."

Silence.

As time goes by, Primrose was slowly drifting into a sleep. Surprisingly, she had not heard the moving of Riddle's chair—meaning that he had not left. Then she heard a subtle sound of a book being pulled away from her side.

Maybe he wants to check it out.

Her assumption was confirmed when she heard the sound of him flipping through the pages.

Primrose didn't know when she fell asleep but as she woke up, she realised that it's already dark. She noticed that the book she was reading was there, across the table at a place where Tom Riddle sat.

She looked around to find that she was alone. She took the book and got up, leaving the library. Primrose felt relieved as the headache was gone and now she felt as if she could function well again. She glanced up at the huge clock and it showed 7.02pm.

So she headed to the Great Hall to have dinner with the rest. As she entered, everyone was already dining. The teachers looked at her and Primrose just smiled shyly. Dahlia waved to her and she quickly went up to the girls.

"Where were you?" Dahlia asked. Primrose sighed, "I fell asleep in the library."

"Thank God you didn't wake later." Young said and the rest nodded. Stretton looked at her, "Are you alright?"

Primrose nodded, "Yeah, I'm alright now. I had a terrible headache so that's why."

"Good to know you're fine." He said and she nodded, "Thanks."

After everyone had finished eating, Professor Dippet went up front while McGonagall was trying to get the students's attention by slightly hitting the glass.

"Thank you for your attention. I would like to announce that tomorrow, we will be expecting guests from two different schools from different countries. One is Beauxbatons Academy of Magic from France and the other one is Durmstrang Institute of Magical Learning from Russia. I sincerely hope that we could give them the most cordial welcome." Dippet said with a big grin.

The students started to whisper, so did Dahlia and the rest of the girls, "I think it's the Triwizard Tournament."

Primrose swallowed hard, not knowing anything about what on Earth the headmaster and Dahlia were talking about.

"What's Triwizard Tournament?" Calista asked. Primrose mentally sighed in relief as she wasn't the only one who didn't have any idea about it.

"It's a tournament held every five years, between three largest wizarding school. Guess this year it'll be held here. But I'm not sure about it. Maybe we'll learn more tomorrow." Dahlia said.

"What is this tournament about though? What do we do?" Young asked. Dahlia shrugged, "I have no idea."

Primrose just listened to them talking, not having a single idea of what's going on and what's going to happen. She's completely clueless.

Well, this is going to be interesting.

_____

The next day, the students were seated at the Grand Hall, waiting in anticipation for the students from the two schools to arrive.

When the school caretaker announced their arrival, the students started to whisper as the headmaster walked on the stage with excitement, "Today, we are expecting guests from two of the largest wizarding schools in Europe. May I welcome, the first school from France—Beauxbatons!"

The door of the Grand Hall opened, revealing graceful girls in their blue knee-length dress and matching coloured hats. They jogged smoothly and stopped at the middle to bow dramatically with a soft sigh. Primrose frowned to that.

What was that...

Then the headmistress showed up. She was indeed an alluring woman. The way she walked was graceful but her facial expression was intimidating.

The girls of Beauxbatons danced and spun beautifully, ending it with a bow.

Everyone clapped and as the headmistress approached Professor Dippet. She greeted him, "Professor Dippet."

"Madame Badeaux."  He greeted back, motioning her to her sit behind him. Badeaux nodded and went to the table, sitting beside McGonagall.

The students then sat at the empty table in front of Ravenclaw's table and it was arranged in landscape, unlike the other tables that were arranged horizontally.

Dippet spoke up again, "Now, I invite the boys of Durmstrang!" The door opened and loud music was played by various instruments. The boys looked intimidating as they were marching inside the hall. Then, some of the students made an entrance by doing multiple backflips and a line of fire-breather.

What. An. Entrance.

The headmaster of Durmstrang walked in and surprisingly, he looked nothing like his students who were all tough and scary. The headmaster looked rather friendly. When he approached, he greeted Professor Dippet with a hug, "Hello Dippet."

"Hello Egorov."

The headmaster then took a seat beside Badeaux while the students headed straight to sit at the same table as the students of Beauxbatons.

"I introduce you all to the headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Madame Lisette Badeaux. And from Durmstrang Institure of Magical Learning, "Professor Sacha Egorov. For the international students, welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Everyone clapped their hands and stopped after a few seconds to allow the headmaster to continue speaking.

"The Triwizard Tournament was first established since seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry—Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be the most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities." He said.

Sounds interesting.

He then continued, "This tournament is designed to test magical ability, intelligence, and courage. Champions competed for the honour and glory of winning the Tournament, for the Triwizard Cup and a monetary prize. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector—the Goblet of Fire. And may I remind you all that... this tournament is notorious for being extremely dangerous. Many champions died while competing hence it was discontinued. But now, we have decided to revive it back, in hope that no deaths will occur."

Now that doesn't sound interesting.

"They let students die in this tournament?" Primrose asked and the girls shrugged.

"Starting at eight tonight until tomorrow night at the same time, students who are interested in joining the Triwizard Tournament may put your names into the Goblet of Fire." Professor Dippet said.

Primrose mentally shook her head, Well it ain't gon be me.


AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Thanks for reading! :D
Errors & Typos = Sorry :(

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