*Disclaimer*
I do not own J.K. Rowling’s amazing stories and characters. I am merely using them for my own amusement and hopefully yours.
************************************
The Great Hall burst into a roar of conversation. Some were yelling their excitement while others were screaming disapproval. Hugo was cheering while Lily looked as if she didn’t know what all the excitement was about. Rose was muttering under her breath. Albus caught the words “dangerous”, “Cedric Diggory”, and “out of their minds”. Over at the Ravenclaw table, the Scamander twins were yelling about Quidditch being cancelled. Professor Longbottom allowed this to carry on for all of five seconds before he stepped in.
“Quiet down! Quiet down! What happened to Cedric Diggory during the last tournament was indeed very tragic. But Voldemort is now dead, so we are confident that the same situation will not repeat itself. Although, we are keeping the rule intact that you must be seventeen to enter. It is merely a precaution in case something does go wrong.
“Now, as for Quidditch, that is the surprise that we have planned for you. You see, the Quidditch season will not be cancelled this year, although it will be a bit different than what you’re used to. Instead of having our four houses play against each other, Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons will each put together a team of the seven best Quidditch players their school has to offer. Then, throughout the course of the year, they will play each other in the first ever interscholastic Quidditch competition!” Several people cheered at this. “You will be notified as to when try-outs will be held.
“Going back to the Triwizard Tournament, for those of you who do not know, the Triwizard Tournament is a competition between three schools: Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons. For each school, a single champion is chosen to compete and represent their school. Each champion will participate in three very dangerous tasks. They will be tests of strength, bravery, and, of course, magical skill. It is a very exciting and suspenseful competition. I’m sure all of you will enjoy watching it. Now, I’m sure that you are all tired. First years, prefects will show you to your common rooms. Everyone else, I expect you know where to go. Off to bed!”
With that, Rose immediately stood up and shouted, “First years over here!” Louis, the other Gryffindor prefect, soon joined her in rounding up the new students. Hugo gave an exaggerated yawn.
“We should get out of here fast. Don’t want to get stuck in staircase traffic,” he told the other two. Albus and Lily both agreed, and the three of them stood up and exited the hall. They navigated their way around the grand staircase, jumping trick steps and avoiding large masses of slow-moving students, and before they knew it, they were standing in front of the very familiar portrait of the Fat Lady.
“Password?” she asked.
“Ah,” Hugo sighed. “I forgot to ask Rose what the password was.”
“Don’t worry,” Albus said, stepping forward. “She told me. Gurdyroot.” The portrait swung forward to admit them, revealing a large room decorated in red and gold. Albus, Lily, and Hugo stepped in smiling, glad to be back in the familiar room.
“Well, goodnight,” Lily murmured, and she walked away towards the girls’ dormitories. Albus and Hugo headed for the boys’. Hugo reached his first.
“See you in the morning,” he muttered.
“G‘night,” Albus grunted in response. He then proceeded to head up to his own dormitory. It was empty. Albus quickly changed, then hopped into bed. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. That night, he dreamt he won the Triwizard Tournament.
********************************
Rose Weasley awoke with a start. There was sunlight shining into her eyes and blinding her. What time was it?
She jumped out of bed and almost fell flat on her face. What a great start to the day that would have been. At least it would give her an excuse if she was late for class. That would be even worse considering she was a prefect.
Throwing on some clean robes and snatching her bag out from under her bed, Rose hurriedly got ready and bolted out of the room. She almost tripped again on her way down the stairs, but was relieved to see her cousin Roxanne lounging in the common room.
“Hey, Roxy,” she said. “I’m not late am I?”
“Not at all,” Roxanne replied. “You only missed everyone else by a few minutes. They all headed down for breakfast.” Rose nodded her thanks and left the common room, this time walking at a more leisurely pace. Everyone must have gone down to breakfast because there were few people in the hallways. Most were just first years who were lost. Rose kindly told them where to go. She became irritated though when she was forced to confiscate a fanged Frisbee form a group of second and third year boys.
“To early in the year to be causing trouble,” she muttered to herself as she walked away.
The grand staircase was also fairly empty when Rose reached it. She began to make her way down when she paused. The sound of voices talking and possibly yelling reached her, but it was too loud to be coming from the Great Hall. She quickened her pace and almost forgot to jump a trick step. It was when she reached the vestibule in front of the Great Hall that she learned what the ruckus was.
A large group of people formed a circle around two students who were brutally attacking each other. Some of the students in the crowd were laughing while others yelled “Fight!” Rose was shocked that no teachers were intervening as she pushed her way through the crowd. Once she had made it to the edges of the fray she didn’t know whether she was shocked or unsurprised. The two combatants were none other than Albus and Scorpius Malfoy.
Gathering up some of her Gryffindor courage, Rose threw herself into the feud, attempting to wrestle her cousin and his enemy apart. Hugo suddenly showed up next to her and helped to yank Albus away from Scorpius who readily backed away with a slight smirk. It was clear who had won the scuffle. While Albus’ nose was swollen and bleeding, and it was clear he had taken several blows to the face, all that Scorpius had was a cut lip. His smirk became more prominent as Albus kept trying to break away from the two people holding him back so he could attack again.
“Albus! Al! Stop!” Hugo was shouting.
“ALBUS! KNOCK! IT! OFF!” Rose shrieked. It wasn’t until Hugo shook him violently that Albus stopped struggling. He glared at Rose, then pushed through the crowd and stalked off.
“Make sure he gets to the hospital wing,” Rose told Hugo. “Curse him if you have to. I’ll be up in a bit.” Hugo nodded and ran off calling Albus’ name. Rose turned to Scorpius who was still standing there looking faintly amused. “And you,” she growled. “You leave him alone.”
“He started it,” Scorpius argued.
“I don’t care who started it,” Rose snapped. “This feud has been going on for too long. End it. Now get out of here, Malfoy.” Scorpius grinned.
“Yes, your highness,” he said. He then gave a deep bow and left. Rose rolled her eyes and turned to the crowd.
“Hey! Show’s over!” she yelled. A few people groaned, but the crowd otherwise dispersed. Rose headed for the hospital wing.
When she entered, the first thing she saw was Albus sitting in a chair while Madame Pomfrey tended to his wounds. Hugo was lounging in a chair nearby. A wave of relief washed over her. She thought that Albus might give Hugo a hard time about going to the hospital wing.
Once the nurse was finished fixing him up, Rose confronted him.
“What. Was. That,” she snarled. Albus ignored her. “Al, this needs to stop. You promised your parents that you wouldn’t get into fights with him anymore. They’re sick off it. I’m sick of it-”
“I’m sick of it,” Hugo added.
“What I promised my parents is none of your business,” Albus snapped. “You’re not involved in any of this.”
“I’m your cousin! That automatically makes me involved! Besides, your parents weren’t the only ones who hated Scorpius’ father! My mum and dad weren’t too fond of him either! But you don’t see me and Hugo starting fights!” Albus ignored this.
“It’s my problem. Leave me alone.” And with that, he got up and left.
*************************************
The rest of the day passed without much event. Albus was now stubbornly avoiding Rose and Hugo, instead choosing to spend his time with Fred and Louis. They sat in a corner of the common room, laughing and telling jokes. Albus seemed to be in a better mood. Rose, however, was not.
“Calm down,” Hugo told his sister for the third time after she viciously turned a page in her charms book, almost tearing it completely out.
“He’s just so frustrating!” Rose hissed in reply. “He’s been doing this since our first year here! When is he going to grow up?!”
“It’s not just his fault. Scorpius-”
“Never starts the fights, and you know it!”
“But he doesn’t mind throwing insults at us in the hallways,” Hugo pointed out.
“Not us. Just Albus. Hm . . . I wonder why?” she added sarcastically.
Lily, who had been quietly reading a book, looked up skeptically and said, “Why are you so set on defending Scorpius? He may not necessarily start the fights, but he does participate in them.” Rose scowled at her.
“There wouldn’t be any fights to begin with if Albus hadn’t started them! This is all his fault! And that’s why I’ll defend Scorpius!”
“Uh-huh,” Lily murmured, and she averted her attention back to her book.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rose snapped, but Lily just ignored her. Rose rolled her eyes and fell silent.
Slowly, the common room emptied and Hugo bade them goodnight.
“We should go to bed, too,” Lily suggested with a yawn.
“Yeah,” Rose replied. “I’ll need all the rest I can get. Who knows what fights I’ll have to break up tomorrow?”
Harry Potter: The Next Generation by seeker15
Chapter Notes: A new concept is introduced to the Triwizard Tournament. Rose struggles with Albus' tendency to get into fights with a not-so-surprising opponent.
Chapter Endnotes: It took me a while, but this chapter is finally up! And for anyone who didn't pick up on this, the chapter is called "Montagues and Capulets" because I kept thinking of Romeo and Juliet when I was writing this. The feuds are somewhat similar. That's just a random fun fact . . . Anyway, I'll try to update asap, but it might be the same waiting length as last time. Please just stick with me here! And please, please, PLEASE review!!! Thanks for reading!!! :^)