"Girls in Common"

September 1994, 1 month later

Circi had stayed in St Mungo's Hospital for two nights. Within an hour of her being assigned a room and her foot being treated, Lucius had been notified and arrived promptly with Narcissa.

As the night drew on and visiting hours had been closed for a while now, Narcissa took Draco and Carmen home while Lucius was allowed to stay overnight. Tucked away in the hospital bed, Circi looked unusually peaceful. The white bedsheet was drawn up around her neck and her hair was knotted but his image of her being filthy and badly hurt was all but diminished.

As he usually did when looking over her, he felt guilty. But this time he felt extra guilty considering he had not been there to get his children out of danger.

While she did not stir, he couldn't resist rearranging her pillow every now and then or tucking her blanket in more so. He finally took the small stuffed toy of a unicorn she had begged him for on an adventure through Diagon Alley when she was three-years-old and tucked it under the blanket by the crook of her neck. Her head turned, pressing her cheek into it and Lucius soon fell asleep in his chair beside her bed.

By the time she was permitted to go home, the homework Circi had yet to complete was sitting on the desk in the study she and Draco shared. There were two days until they were due to head back to Hogwarts.

Despite the dull ache in her foot, Circi dragged herself around with a cane less extravagant than her father's and spent her days in the study doing homework and the night with her leg raised on a pile of pillows as she slept. The final days passed slowly but Circi no longer needed the support of the cane on the day of returning to Hogwarts.

She was limping noticeably, sure, and she moved slowly but that was all forgotten upon seeing Leslie. She greeted him with a hug.

There was a silent agreement between the two of them not to discuss the quidditch world cup and they spent the train journey passing liquorice snaps and trading the cards they found in their chocolate frogs. Halfway through the journey the Ravenclaw girl, Francis, was how Leslie introduced her unaware the two had met before, joined them. She had been eager to see Leslie but when she saw Circi her smile dropped.

She had turned to leave the carriage but Circi lunged and caught her arm. Mumbling and apology, she avoided eye contact and gingerly sat back down. It wasn't much but it comforted Francis enough to join them. This worked out better in their favour as she had two of the one card both Slytherins had been searching for. Unexpectedly, Circi enjoyed the journey and was grateful for her help when it came to climbing onto the self-drawn carriages they could now ride on.

Francis was quiet and often watched the floor when she spoke, her ginger hair clipped back with a plastic purple butterfly making it impossible for her to hide her face. Leslie often answered for her whenever Circi asked a question. Whether it was through some overt narcissism or they had somehow become great friends without her noticing, she wasn't sure, but she soon learned that Francis was a near-expert on magical creatures already. As a muggleborn who would have known nothing a little over a year ago, Circi was impressed. It intrigued her how animated Francis became on the subject of Buckbeak the Hippogriff, her passion embarrassed Circi's treatment of the situation the year before.

In the end, she was glad to be seated with the rest of the Slytherins at dinner. Otherwise she would be sure to spill all of her insecurities to the girl.

Dumbledore's announcement began as usual but he soon introduced something new for the year: the Triwizard tournament. It had been cancelled years ago after a student died and its return confused many of the students.

The second part of this announcement was that the students from Beauxbatons in France and Durmstrang, a wizarding academy whose location is relatively unknown. Beauxbatons entered first, the girls and boys were equally graceful. She noticed Leslie watching them with a close eye and nudged him. He shook his head, seemingly coming out of a trance and glared at her.

"What? It's not my fault they're all so beautiful." She looks back at the group as they take their seat on the extra benches behind the Hufflepuff bench at the far end of the hall, now noticing their headmistress to be a giantess.

"They are but you seem to be charmed by them." He rolled his eyes and looked to the doors to the Great Hall. heavy footsteps approached and the doors flew open. The first two boys of Durmstrang came in with a cartwheel, their red robes waving through the air and tempting the students as a ringmaster does a bull. Their headmaster followed with a stern face and, behind him, was a crowd of straight faced boys and girls in red and black looking menacing and attractive. Leading the group was Viktor Krum, a broad boy who Circi recognised to be the seeker for the Bulgarian team at the world cup. Next to him was a dark-skinned girl with her hair tied back in a thousand braids.

Leslie accidentally spilt pumpkin juice on his trousers when he noticed they were headed to the benches set up behind their bench.

As the girl and Krum sat behind Leslie, Circi bit her lip and tried not to laugh at the panic on his face. With the guests seated, Dumbledore resumed his speech. The eternal flame was revealed to them and the rules were explained.

The nominee must put their own name into the fire and each competitor must be seventeen years of age.

Plenty students stirred at this and the Weasley twins even went as far as to boo the headmaster. Circi looked around the table at the people she knew were seventeen. Carmen was due to turn seventeen in two months but the tournament would surely have started by then and this gave her comfort. But she could see Carmen grinning across the hall where she was passing notes enchanted into planes across the hall to her friends in her year and seventh year.

Dumbledore called for silence, ensured them that no exceptions would be made and bid them to eat their dinner.

As they ate, Leslie was particularly careful not to spill anything else on himself. At one point, the girl with the grades turned and tapped him on the shoulder. She acquired after the bread rolls on their table in a thick accent Circi could not place although it sounded as like the accents of the Bulgarian fans at the world cup.

Leslie was shaking as he held the platter up for her. She grinned, much kinder than she had initially appeared and introduced herself as Maren. Shaking hands, the two turned their backs to each other and the meal continued.

"Don't look like that," Circi cringed, "she's five years older than us." Leslie shrugged, his smile unavailing.

Two hands clapped down on Circi's shoulders and her body jolted in shock. Mica released her shoulders and squeezed in next to them. Loudly greeting them and picking from the bowl of fruits meant for desert.

"Have you seen the girls at Beauxbatons?" She said to them as quietly as she could with wide eyes. Nodding enthusiastically, Leslie stuffed his face and agreed while also gesturing over his shoulder discreetly. "Really?" she raised an eyebrow, "aren't they a bit... much?" Leslie made a noise of protest.

Circi looked between them, eating silently and unsure what they were thinking.

"Besides," Mica shifted in her seat, eating a handful of raisins, "Beauxbatons have brought students from every year."

"But-" Leslie was persistent in gesturing over his shoulder to which Mica simply rolled her eyes and nudged Circi.

"How are you?" Circi shrugged, remaining silent and unwilling to move onto a different subject as her thoughts lingered on the new students.

Over the next month or so the eternal flame took residence in the great hall. The benches had been transformed into bleachers and Circi spent her spare time sitting watching the students walking up to the flame, holding up their name on a piece of paper, and backing away. Sometimes she sat with Mica and Leslie, who were still caught up on specific students.

On one day, Mica was braiding Circi's hair absentmindedly while the latter revised for a test McGonagall was due to give them.

They looked up as a noise stirred up in the room. The Weasley twins ran in brandishing their names on paper and two vials. Carmen sat on the other side of the room with Cedric and Bea, cheering them as other students surrounded them. While Mica paid them no attention, Circi watched as they brandished their aging potion, teased Hermione for doubting them and linked their arms to drink the potion.

They stepped over the age line dumbledore had drawn- a blue circle of smoke around the eternal flame- and rejoiced in oversmarting it. They tossed their names into the flame and Circi jeered with them until the flame started spitting and they were tossed out of the circle. Their faces began to sag and long white beards sprouted from their faces.

As the twins began to brawl each other, Leslie ran into the room dragging a baby-faced boy along behind him by the hand. They met Circi and Mica, sitting and unrelinquishing their hands.

"This is Manu!" He introduced the boy, who was the same age as them. In fact, as Leslie felt the need to inform, his birthday was the day after his own. "He's my boyfriend."

Circi raised her eyebrows but before either of them could say anything the room fell silent. Viktor Krum entered with Maren and headed straight for the flame. They deposited their names, high-fived a few people in their posse and left the room. Their mere presence descended the room into silence even after they left but Mica continued to braid and re-braid Circi's hair. The two of them continued in their mutual comfort, acknowledging the boys only briefly with a smile.

When it came to the day of the champions being announced, Circi had mastered braiding the ends of her hair. She tugged on the ends of her braids as Dumbledore spoke and glanced at Leslie, who was having a silent conversation with Many across the hall.

She sighed, anxious to talk to someone.

Dumbledore was now waiting for a name to be chosen. There would be three champions, one from each school.

The eternal flame flashed blue, spit a few embers and finally a charred piece of paper flew out. He snatched it from the air and read the name.

"The Beauxbatons champion is Fleur Delacour." The students looked around and witnessed a beautiful blonde girl stand and gracefully join Dumbledore on the podium. She was shown to a corridor at the back of the room and they waited now for the next two names. The Durmstrang champion was, unsurprisingly, Viktor Krum and the Hogwarts champion was Cedric Diggory.

Circi cheered especially loud for Cedric if only to support Carmen and her friends.

Dumbledore was closing the ceremony and they were preparing to move for dinner but the room darkened and the eternal flame turned blue again. It spat and danced, heating up the room. A name spat out, shocking the room into silence now that a fourth champion had been chosen.

Dumbledore read the paper, keeping his back to the room. He mumbled at first and then spun around.

"Harry Potter?" Everyone craned their neck, hoping to catch a glimpse of the boy's face. It was a fix, surely. He was only a fourth year, he was too young.

"Of course it's him," Leslie mumbled, his attention now on the Chosen One manoeuvring down the hall. With Harry now joining the other champions, Dumbledore quickly wrapped it up and left with the other headmasters and a few of the professors.

The students filled the hall with concerned voices, angry voices and silence. There were calls of cheating and a few Durmstrang students were particularly loud about their opinions on the matter until the ghost of Gryffindor house, Nearly-headless Nick, floated over and flipped his head sideways to reveal the botched beheading that had resulted in his death.

It silenced the students well enough.

Circi was whispering with Leslie, wondering how it could've happened.

"It has to be a trick," she said, "why would he willingly throw himself into danger like that? It's just dumb."

"He is dumb." Leslie mumbles. "And perhaps a liar, his friends clearly didn't know about it." He points to the Gryffindor table where Hermione was whispering animatedly among the Gryffindors around her. Circi concluded that Harry must have wanted this, there was no evidence in Hermione's face that she was under the impression he didn't want to participate- she simply looked confused as to how it happened.

"Look at them, he must have made an older student put his name in." She looked at Leslie, who nodded in agreement and excused himself from the table. He ran to the Beauxbatons bench and joined Manu. Of course, Circi thought, her company could only do so much for him.