Chapter Text
Something is off
It was a cold night, showing signs of a big storm coming, when everyone arrived at the school. Most of the students had chills run through their spines as they got past the gate and the hallways. The freshmen excitedly gathered in front of the great hall, waiting for McGonagall to arrive and accompany them. Students from the other years were already inside, chatting with each other, sharing their summer stories. For Harry and his friends it was their fourth year, and for Morissa it was her sixth. She was in slytherin, so she doesn’t really knew Harry’s gang, but she did know Draco Malfoy . The blondie and she knew each other really well, one could say they were friends , well at least it seemed like it. Their families were really close to each other, mostly because they both were pureblood, and both had some relations to the Dark Lord .
She wasn’t a fan of all this death eater thing, nor lets dominate the world plan they were heading - she didn’t know about Draco - but they couldn’t do any better while their families were controlling everything and both of their fathers had high positions in politics.
Morissa sat beside her friends who were sharing stories about what they did in the summer. Morissa tried to listen to what they were swaying but she felt as if someone was watching her. She looked up and at the end of the slytherin table two red headed boys were looking at her while whispering to each other. She raised one of her eyebrows which made them smile and wave at her. The Weasley twins … She didn’t really talked to them, if you don’t count when they were arguing about their pranks which were towards her in the house mostly, they made her hair blue, her books invisible… otherwise they were hanging out with their friends mostly from gryffindor, so it seemed like they were planning something… again .
- Morissa, are you listening? - turned to her Ethan.
- What?
- I said, We are going down to Roxmorts at the weekend, wanna join?
- Oh, yes. - replied, as the freshmen came inside the hall.
This year ravenclaw gained the most students as well as slytherin.
After the dinner, Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat.
- Well, as we all made our hunger stop, I would like to say some words. - he began and everyone looked at him.
- First of all, myself and the professors are welcoming the first year at our school and wish them a successful school year. - some of the students cheered and clapped.- Then Mr. Filch our caretaker asked me to say that this years forbidden object list gained some new pieces, you can find the whole list next to his office, please give it some attention. - he smiled and continued - As every year the forest next to the school is still forbidden, it is dangerous to go there so I would like to ask everybody to avoid it. - he looked at Harry with a stern look. - It is also forbidden for the first and second year and for everyone without a signed permission to sneak out to Roxmorts. Also I sadly inform everyone that this year's quidditch championship will be missed. - as he said everyone groaned and showed their disappointment. - The reason is in October we will participate in a contest which will last until the end of the year, and the professors and myself won't have any time to organise any other events and I am sure that the event will make up for the loss. - he looked around and as he was about to continue a loud thunder shook the hall and the halls door burst open.
A man in black coat limped through the hall while questioning looks accompanied him. A lightning shone at him, revealing his greyish hair and his scarred frightening face. Half of his nose was missing but this wasn’t the most strange thing about his look. It was his eyes, one of his eyes was small and black, the other was big and steelblue. This eye never once blinked but zigzagged back. He grunted as he reached Dumbledore, shook his hand and sat down at the end of the professors table and started eating.
- I am glad to introduce everyone to our new defense against the dark arts professor, Alastor Moody. - nobody cheered besides Hagrid and Dumbledore, everyone else looked at him frightened and started whispering. Morissa doesn’t really know who this man was, she certainly heard his name, he was an auror, but otherwise she knew nothing. Well at the last dinner party at the Malfoys someone mentioned his name but only for a second… but it’s not unusual since they loved to speak ill of someone.
- As I was saying - started Dumbledore once more - our school will be the venue of a really interesting contest, which hasn’t been held since a century. I am happy to announce that Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament .
- ARE YOU KIDDING??? - shouted Fred and George in union.
- I am not kidding, but I did hear a really funny joke the other day.. A leprechaun, a witch and a troll went to a bar… - he was lost in his thoughts when McGonagall coughed.
- Oh, where was I? The Triwizard Tournament… I think a lot of you don't know what it is about, who knows I am sorry for the short explanation. The first Tournament was held about seven hundred years ago, and the three best European wizarding schools participated, Hogwarts, Beauxbaton and Durmstang. The school will have one - one champion who represents them through three magical tasks. The school took turns in hosting the events which were held five years apart, to strengthen the relationship with each other. But the tragedies multiplied in the past so we had to end the contest for a while. There were some experiments to relive the tradition but none of them were successful. But the ministry thinks it's time to try again. The other schools will arrive in October, and we will choose the champions at Halloween, we will choose with an impartial judge. The winner will receive monetary reward as well as glory. I know a lot of you will want to participate but there will be an age limit to enter, so only those students can be a part of who are seventeen years old, this will be necessary because the tasks will be hard and dangerous and you will have to have a certain amount of knowledge to win. I will make sure no one under the age limit can enter the contest. - he looked at the Weasley twins with a stern look.
- I also hope everybody will show their love to our new guests while they are here, and will support our champion. - he looked at the students - And now, go to bed!
He went back to the table and started talking with Moody. The students slowly started to leave the hall and return to their houses.
*
- So you were with the Malfoys this summer? - asked Ethan.
- Yeah, it was really good… My father thinks we have to stay in touch since they are so good coworkers and things like that. - shrugged Morissa.
- At the end they will marry you with Draco. - laughed Sophie.
- I don’t think so, his mother hates me.
- She hates everyone. - said Sophie.
They all agreed with it, and sat down on a couch to chat for a while.
*
September was over really quickly and slowly everyone, even the first year, got used to the school and its vibe. Morissa and Ethan sat at the library writing their history homework, while Sophie helped some youngsters with their work.
- I’m hungry… - groaned Ethan - Do you wanna sneak to the kitchen?
- Go ahead, I want to finish this then I’ll go after you.
Ethan got his stuff and went down to the kitchen with Sophie, whose students left. Morissa stayed back with her books, finally concentrating on her homework. As October came everyone got even more excited about the tournament and they couldn’t focus on school work as much as they should. She just finished her last sentence when two red haired guy sat on each side of her.
- Hey Morissa. - they said at the same time.
- The Weasleys...what a surprise , what do you want?
- Oh don’t hate us. - said George
- Just be quick, I have other things to do.
- Right into the middle, I like it. - winked Fred
- So the thing is we want to prank Draco.
- No. - she said and started packing her books
- Pleeaseee! We know you don’t like him either.
- The year just started, don’t you ever just chill? But whatever, I don’t want to do it, so goodbye. - she said and left them behind.
*
Morissa headed back to the slytherin chambers when she ran into Zabini, who seemed quite annoyed.
-Hey! Are you okay?
- Okay?? No… I can't stand Draco's whining anymore but it's still waaay better than Pansy's…-he exclaimed
- What happened? - she asked.
- I don't even know, I'm not even listening most of the time… I'm pretty sure he was saying something about the Potter kid. - he raised his hands then said something about him being so patient and left.
She smiled to herself and entered the room, but someone bumped into her.
- Oh how no one here can act normal, I swear everyone is here just to annoy me. - fumed Draco, and ran out. Morissa rolled her eyes, put her books down and went out to find her friends.
As she walked out into the corridor, Professor Moody passed her, glancing nervously back and forth as if he was thinking hard about something.
- Good afternoon, professor. - she greeted him, and he grunted something back, then looked her over and seemed to smile. As he passed her, Morissa saw out of the corner of her eye that the man licked his lips, which looked eerily like the trademark of a certain man. But it couldn't be, he was in Azkaban, he must have just looked away as he thought about it and bumped into someone.
- Sorry- she muttered, still thinking about Moody.
- Hey are you okay?- said a familiar voice.
She felt him still holding her waist and looked at her with a worried look.
- What? Oh yeah. - nodded Morissq and tried to move away, but Fred was still holding her and she looked up at him questioningly.
- Um, I wanted to apologise if we hurt you last year.- he said, embarrassed and red-faced.
- Thanks.
She was looking at the boy who refused to let go of her.
- Oh sorry.- he said and immediately let her go, his face almost reaching the colour of his hair and then he quickly stormed off avoiding her gaze. That was weird, Morissa thought.
- What was that? - asked Kathy, a girl from Hufflepuff.
- I honestly don't know.- shrugged Morissa.
- Anyway, Ethan was already looking for you. He got into the kitchen and got some cake, so hurry up or he'll eat it.- she laughed and hurried off to find him.
They made it into the kitchen relatively quickly, where Ethan was stuffing himself with some kind of biscuit with incredible speed.
- Jesus Ethan, sometimes I wonder how you haven't drowned yet. Slow down! - Kathy blurted out, and Ethan nearly fell over. Holding his chest, she turned to them and handed them some jam sandwiches.
- Taste it, it's delicious - he said as he wiped the icing from his mouth.
- Hm...really good.- said Morissa.
Ethan spent most of the day in the infirmary after a quick meal, which gave Sophie a fit of laughter, and then went to visit her friend, while Anyia gave a little speech to make her pay more attention next time. Morissa went in to see the boy in the evening, who told him wearily what Madame Pomfrey had tried to poison him and then she left after a quarter of an hour when the nurse showed her out.
This year won't be any different then the last ones were…. She thought