I would definitely be a Death Eater. After Voldemort is finally defeated, I'll just say I was under the Imperius Curse!And live out my days with a burning desire for revenge and probably murder Harry Potter and gosh this is getting dark...

~~~~

Saturday morning, I woke up to relative quiet compared to usual. Which was strange, because I was sure a sound had woken me up.

My initial thought was that I'd slept late and everyone had gone down already, and I'd heard a door slamming closed, but when I opened my eyes I saw Rose sitting in her bed, reading. Well, actually, she was pretending to read, I realized. Her eyes weren't moving like they should have been if she was reading lines of text, and she was gripping the book much too tightly than could possibly be comfortable.

I sat up and looked around. Everyone else seemed to be going about their morning routine rather mechanically. Wren was sitting on her bed, looking stunned. She either didn't notice me or didn't want to, so I glanced over at Colette. She was brushing her hair, and sending glares over at Lacy and Iris every few moments. The two girls were getting ready a little faster than normal, and Iris looked rather uncomfortable under Colette's gaze. Lacy, on the other hand, looked a little angry. She quickly put two elastics in her hair, then waited silently for Iris to finish braiding her own. Within two minutes, they were walking out the door, and no one had said a word.

"What happened?" I asked, the second the door had closed behind them.

"Oh, nothing big. Lacy just threw a hairbrush at the floor to attain silence." Colette shrugged, though she looked murderous. I remembered being on her bad side, two years ago. It had never been fun. "That's probably what woke you up."

"Why did she want silence?"

"Well, Colette was arguing with her, because she was being a bit of a prat," Rose said, finally setting her book down. "Originally, she just said the dorm was too small for so many people, and... Well... We all knew what she meant."

"So I suggested she take her pretty little self somewhere else," Colette said, shrugging. "Perhaps not as politely as that, but—"

"You told her to go jump off a bridge," Rose said disapprovingly.

"Did I?" Colette seemed mildly surprised. "I was a bit tired. Sounds about right, though." She turned back to me, her angry air returning. "Anyway, Lacy decided to take offense at that, and so I gave her a few more polite suggestions, and she threw Iris's hairbrush on the ground like the toddler she is."

Rose sighed. "Both of you should be more empathetic. Colette, you're going to get yourself expelled telling people to jump off bridges."

"Jump off bridges onto brooms, obviously, what did you think I meant?" Colette stood up. "I'm going downstairs. Anyone care to join me?"

I hadn't gotten out of bed yet, and Wren hadn't either, so Rose was the only one to take her up on the offer. As they left the room, still bickering, I turned to Wren. "Are you all right?"

She nodded. "I'm okay. Please stop getting mad at Lacy, though... It's... It's not her fault, it's—"

"Not yours either, if that's what you're about to say," I said, frowning. "Wren, you were eleven. You were under the Imperius Curse the first few times, and after that you were terrified. It's not your fault. And Lacy just needs to understand that."

Wren didn't answer, so we got ready in silence. I kept trying to think of topics for conversation, but to no avail. Whenever I opened my mouth to say something, I caught sight of Lacy's bed and my thoughts instantly flew back to my frustration. Why couldn't she see what was right in front of her? I didn't blame Colette at all for what she'd said. I might've said the same thing, as long as I was sure Wren was out of earshot.

~~~~

It was quite a disappointment to not have Quidditch trials that day. I still hadn't found out why the Quidditch Cup had been cancelled, so I decided to set off in search of James after breakfast. Surely he'd know, or would help me find Fred (because Fred would have gone straight to Pouri, I was sure). Rose had started interrogating Colette about Beauxbatons again, so I only had Albus and Wren following me when I headed back towards the common room from the Great Hall.

"So, what should we do today?" Albus asked as we walked up the marble stairs.

"Homework," Wren said, frowning at him.

"It's the first Saturday of the year!" Albus exclaimed. "I'm not doing homework today!"

"But there's an essay in Transfiguration, and two in Charms—"

"And we'll be getting a lot more homework as the year goes on, so we should enjoy our freedom," I said, putting one arm around each of my friends' shoulders.

Wren tensed up and pulled away instantly, then just as quickly whispered, "Sorry," and looked down at the floor. I shot a worried glance at Albus. For a few seconds, everything had felt normal. I'd forgotten everything except what was right in front of me, namely a Saturday morning devoted to enjoyment and the lack of Quidditch this year.

"Well," Albus said slowly, "Let's just find James, then." So we set off in silence.

James was up in the common room, playing wizard's chess with Roxanne. I plopped down next to Roxanne on the couch, and watched the game for a minute. James was very close to checkmate, Albus whispered, though I couldn't see it. After a minute or so, watching the two stare at the board grew boring, and I asked, "Hey, James, any idea why there's no Quidditch this year?"

"Queen to E6," he said, then glanced up at me. "You're kidding, right? It's all anyone's been talking about."

I rolled my eyes. "Not many people have been talking to me lately, so no, I'm not kidding. What's going on?"

"Knight to C6." Roxanne grinned. "Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament!"

I stared blankly at my friends' faces. Albus and Wren both looked shocked, and a little excited (or frightened), but I had no idea what a Triwizard Tournament was. "Um... Okay... And what does that mean?"

"You don't know what the Triwizard Tournament is?" Al asked disbelievingly.

"Not a clue."

"Queen to C6, check," James said, then shook his head at me. "You really ought to do some more reading, Astra."

"Oh, that's good, coming from you." I rolled my eyes. "What is it, then?"

"It's a tournament between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. Happens every five years." Albus shrugged. "It's really dangerous, Dad said."

"Last time it happened at Hogwarts, someone died," Roxanne said dramatically, before directing her last pawn in between her king and James's queen. "But the last champion was from Hogwarts, too, so it's all right. Some Hufflepuff, but I don't remember his name."

"Oh, yeah! Cedric Diggory died!" James exclaimed. "He's the one Cedric Rogers is named after, I think. Voldemort killed him, Roxanne. And Voldemort's gone, so who could kill anyone this time?"

"Well..." I glanced at Wren, who was staring at James skeptically. "There might be someone..."

James glanced at Wren, then his eyes grew wide. "Oh. Right. Him. But you don't have to worry about that, Wren," he said, grinning and throwing an arm around her shoulders, which seemed to alarm her, "because Dad'll make sure everything is perfectly safe. He's head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, now."

Wren slipped out of his reach. "I know. Just..." She shook her head. "Sorry."

"Don't be." James had lost his smile. "We understand. It's hard."

Roxanne patted Wren's hand from across the table. "Hey, I just wanted to say I believe you, about, you know, everything." She smiled. "I think you're pretty brave coming back here, too. Don't give up, okay?"

Wren smiled slightly. "Thank you." As far as I knew, Roxanne was the first person outside our immediate group of friends who had actually told Wren that, flat out, and she seemed to really appreciate it.

"Wait, if Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament, that means the other students are coming here, right?" Albus said, after a short pause. "Do you think Colette will know any of them?"

"They'll be three years older than her," James reminded him, frowning at the chess board. "They probably wouldn't know her. I mean, how many first years do you know? Just Hugo, and Elcie Malfoy."

"I wonder who the Hogwarts champion will be?" Roxanne said, grinning at James's frustration. "Hope it's a Gryffindor."

"Maybe it'll be Molly!" Albus said excitedly. "She's of age!"

"Yeah, but she's also Molly..." Roxanne laughed. "I bet Uncle Percy's been sending her stuff all year about how unsafe it is."

"What do the champions have to do?" I asked.

"They compete in three tasks, very dangerous tasks," James said, then moved his knight to a position where it could take out Roxane's pawn. "That's why you have to be of age, because the Ministry thinks you have to have at least six years of magical learning to survive. Think it'll be Drake Wood?"

Roxanne was glaring at the chessboard, so she didn't answer. Albus and I glanced across the common room to where my teammate from the Gryffindor team was lounging in one of the armchairs by the fire, surrounded by several other seventh years. He was a very good Keeper, and though I didn't know him very well off the pitch, he seemed nice and brave, and everything a Gryffindor should be. And that was probably everything it would take to win a Triwizard Tournament, if it was as dangerous as they said. I hoped he'd be the champion.

While Roxanne agonized about how to keep James from a checkmate, Albus, Wren, and I walked down to the library. I didn't have any intentions to do any studying, mind you, but we hadn't had a chance to go yet that year, and we didn't have much else to do. Albus was telling us all about how the students from the other schools wouldn't come until Halloween, and how Pouri would probably be officially announcing it any day now, and how his aunt Fleur had been the Beauxbatons champion the year his dad had had his name entered by a Death Eater. It was all slightly confusing, because Albus was talking quickly and excitedly, but it was cute watching him. Albus didn't get to show off his knowledge on subjects very often, with Wren, Rose, and Colette always around in the past, but Wren didn't know much about Triwizard Tournaments and I knew even less.

"I can't believe Dad never told us what was happening," Albus said as we walked through the large doors. "I mean, he did have a lot on his mind—"

Madam Pince shushed Al with a nasty glare as we walked past her desk, and he sighed and stopped talking until we'd neared the other end of the huge library. There weren't many people around; most students were outside, enjoying the nice day. Out the window I could see some people flying around the Quidditch pitch, and for a moment wished I could leave Wren and Albus there and go join them. Of course, that was a silly idea, because what sort of friend would I be if I did that?

"It was right here," Albus said suddenly.

"What was?"

"This was where Wren gave Nico antlers that one time, remember?"

"Right!" I grinned. Nico and Ciara had been taunting me, saying I was being called the Star of Gryffindor and didn't deserve it, because I was a prat. Wren had defended me. "That was brilliant!"

Wren smiled. "He deserved it."

Albus frowned. "I almost wish he was still like he was first year. He's almost scary now. Tried to blow Astra up once."

"He only hit the wall," I said quickly, trying to reassure Wren, who looked startled. "It's not like he's actually hurt anyone, anyway."

"Least he hasn't tackled anyone in the middle of a Hogsmeade visit and tried to beat them up," Albus agreed, smirking at me.

Wren looked even more startled now. "What? Who...?"

"Astra did that," Albus explained. "She and Ciara had to be partners in Potions for the rest of term because of that."

"Worst two months of my life." I rolled my eyes, grinning army two friends. "Bad enough I have to be related to her, but do you really have to bring that up?"

Albus opened his mouth, probably to elaborate on what a terrible team we were, when a voice behind us said, "Why, hate being reminded of what a hypocrite you turned out to be?"

We slowly turned to see Ciara, flanked by Nico and Adalyn, glaring at me in an infuriatingly superior way. I crossed my arms, scowling. "No, I hate being reminded of how long I had to work with someone who's such a bloody idiot."

Ciara shook her head. "Whatever you say, dear cousin." She tilted her head, and as she did, her gaze turned to Wren, who took a step closer to me. "Oh, how wonderful. I'd been wondering when we'd get to meet again."

"Leave her alone," I warned, as Albus placed his hand on his wand, threateningly.

Ciara took no notice of us. "You know, Wren, it's funny, but I heard that you were never accused of using the Imperius Curse on anyone." She slowly started walked towards us. "I distinctly remember someone putting me under, though. I think... Oh yes, you wanted me to kill your sweet friends, Potter and my cousin."

Wren stared at her. She didn't seem to have any idea what Ciara was talking about, but I did. James and I had gone out one night to scare Ciara and Nico, only have Ciara turned on us. The three of us had barely escaped. I'd completely forgotten about that, but obviously Ciara hadn't. Wren shouldn't have, either, if she'd performed the spell. However, she slowly shook her head. "What?"

Ciara was close enough now that two quick steps brought her close enough to get right in Wren's face. "Don't play dumb with me, Predatel. It had to have been you, and if you're going to lie about this—"

"I-I'm not! Ciara, I don't—"

Ciara was reaching for her wand, and I quickly grabbed her arm. "Don't even think about it."

Ciara took a moment to glare at me, then turned her attention back to Wren. "Are you trying to tell me you don't remember it? Putting me under the Imperius Curse? Telling me to kill your best friends?"

Wren's eyes widened—I must've told her what happened and she seemed to be remembering it—then she quickly shook her head. "Oh, Merlin, no, I didn't do that, I only heard about after, r-really—"

"Let go of me!" Albus exclaimed. Nico had snuck around behind him and pulled both his arms behind his back in a rather painful-looking position. As I glanced over at them, Adalyn grabbed my arms in the same way. For a smaller kid, she was pretty strong, though if I hadn't been distracted she probably wouldn't have been able to do it. As it was, she grabbed my wand and quickly locked my arms in that position with a spell.

Ciara smiled, now free from my restraining grasp. "Much better. Now, where were we? Oh, yes." She narrowed her eyes at Wren, who took a small step backward, looking tinier than normal. "You think it'll help you at all to lie about that?"

"I—"

"It can't have been her!" I exclaimed, though I didn't really know why. I tried to think back to that night. I knew Wren would never have agreed to do that. It wasn't what she'd been told to do, and she couldn't even do the Cruciatus Curse on James, let alone kill us. Suddenly, I remembered something. "Remember? We ran past the person who did it, right? And he was a lot bigger than we were. I... I suppose it must've been Sulcan. We already know he had experience with that spell..."

Ciara scowled at me, and I could tell she knew I was right. However, she said, "You just can't accept the truth. She tried to kill you, and you're so blind and stubborn—"

"Excuse you, 'blind and stubborn' my—"

"I'll have you know—"

"Flipendo!" Nico yelled, and several things happened at once.

Someone disarmed Nico almost immediately, and Wren instinctively blocked the spell that he'd sent at her almost as fast. Albus wriggled free of Nico's grasp as the other boy was distracted. The girl who had disarmed Nico now said a charm that unlocked my arms, and I turned to see our lovely Headgirl, Faith Lindsey, standing behind me, looking furious.

"What is going on?" she demanded, quickly crossing over to us. She placed a hand on Wren's arm, very gently, and I saw that my friend was trembling. "Are you all right?"

Wren nodded, very white in the face. Faith turned on Nico, her glare fiercer than any I'd ever seen on anyone other than a teacher. "What do you think you're doing, Jasper? Is this how you represent our House?"

"It was just a bit of fun," Nico said, glaring at Wren. "It's not like she's hurt."

Faith glanced at Albus. "Potter, right?" He nodded. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

Albus quickly explained everything, in a more unbiased way than I would have (for example, he, to my annoyance, failed to include the fact that these bullying gits were terrorizing my dear friend long before it came to spells and that they were absolutely bloody awful; though, on second thought, perhaps that's why I wasn't asked to share the story). Faith listen gravely, and when it was over, frowned at all of us. "Well, I think this is something Professor Lockley should handle."

I groaned. Sure, he liked me, but he also liked Ciara, much more than Wren. This probably wouldn't be good. As Faith marched all six of us down to the dungeons, I prayed Mr. Potter would show up and take over.

He didn't. To my surprise, though, Lockley was very impartial in the whole affair. One look at Wren, and he immediately conjured a comfortable chair for her and offered her a biscuit, which she accepted without a word. Then, he listened to Faith's surprisingly unbiased story (considering she was a Slytherin testifying against her own House, for the most part), promptly gave Nico detention for the next week, had him apologize to Wren, and took ten points from Slytherin. Ciara didn't get in any trouble, unfortunately, but neither did anyone else. It was the least angry I'd ever been leaving that office.

By that time, it was lunch, and I almost didn't notice the way people avoided us in the halls as we walked up to the Great Hall. Faith walked with us as far as the doors, making sure we were absolutely fine, and that she didn't need to go get Madam Pomfrey for Wren (who seemed much better now, really). If I hadn't liked her before, I did now (though, actually, I really had just been indifferent before, and she'd simply earned my complete respect).

"You okay?" Albus asked once we'd sat down.

Wren nodded, though she wouldn't meet our eyes. Albus and I shared a worried glance across the table.

I was going to ask if she wanted some mashed potatoes, when Marcus Dillam, a boy from James's year, walked up.

"Um, hello," he said, smiling sheepishly at me and Wren. "I just, well, I wanted to say I believe you, for what it's worth."

Wren glanced up at him, seeming surprised. "Thank you..."

Marcus smiled at me, then turned back to Wren and continued, seeming a bit more confident. "Everyone's being awful, but they'll come around."

"Thank you," Wren repeated, a smile appearing for a second. I grinned, and mouthed Thank you to Marcus as well. He grinned excitedly at me, then back at Wren, then made a faltering excuse about studying and left quickly.

"That was nice," Albus said, frowning after Marcus.

"Yeah, really!" I grinned. "See, Wren, I'm not crazy."

"Just because you're not alone doesn't mean you're not crazy," Wren said, smiling more broadly.

"Right, whatever you say," I said sarcastically, a wide smile spreading across my face. Maybe people were finally starting to listen to me.

~~~~

Question of the Day: On a scale of 1 to 10, how cliche is this Triwizard Tournament? I'm so sorry I went down this path, but I honestly didn't plan for it to be the fourth book (but the year is 2020, so when else could I do it?) and it will be quite different from the original! So sorry!

Vote and comment! Honestly, though, I'm going to own this thing! I won't apologize for the Triwizard Tournament anymore, and I'm really excited for it. I've got some exciting (and original!) things planned, so stay tuned!

~Ellie