DEV HAD TIREDLY TRUDGED THROUGH HER CLASSES FOR THE DAY, almost entirely regretting their decision to drink the night before. While she hadn't exactly been anything more than tipsy, she still didn't feel great. She chose to blame it on the Firewhisky, rather than the broken heart she was nursing.

"Ready to head to the feast?" May questioned only moments after Dev threw her books down and slumped face first into her bed.

"I suppose," Dev mumbled into her pillow, eliciting a giggle from May. The sound caused Dev to raise her head and shoot a glare at her friend. "Is my misfortune amusing to you?"

"No," May paused, pulling the girl up by her arm. "But your theatrics are."

Dev and May walked to the great hall with their arms looped. They found their way to their usual seats at the Ravenclaw table, making smalltalk with the younger Ravenclaws to their right. Cho Chang was babbling excitedly at the prospect of being asked to the ball by a dashing older boy, but Dev didn't exactly tune in to hear who she was talking about. It seemed all anyone could talk about was the bloody ball. Dev picked idly at the food on her plate, mainly pushing it around with her fork.

"What's got you in such a rut?" Cho seemed to take notice of the girl's mood, cocking her head to the side.

Dev wasn't known around school as a downer. How could she be? Her and May's reputations had been linked entirely to the infamous Weasley twins. With that came the assumption that she was ever cheery and witty, and normally she was. She was the first to crack a joke in the Ravenclaw common room, or to make light of any bad situation. Sure, within the past year, there had been the occasional rumor of her being a bit too perceptive, coming with her many predictions in Divination, but otherwise, she was well-liked. No one was used to the Dev they were seeing that year.

"Nothing," Dev sighed, resting her head in her hands. "Just didn't sleep very well last night."

"Ah, out with the Weasley boys, we're ya?" Eddie Carmichael, a fifth year, chimed in. "I heard Filch caught them lurking around the halls, drunk as a skunk."

"That's not what happened," Dev defended with an eye roll. They hadn't drank much more than her, so she would hardly describe them as drunk. Nonetheless, she was thankful her and May had taken the half finished Firewhisky bottle with them, so the boys weren't caught with it.

"Well, you're lucky you didn't get caught too," Roger Davies leaned towards the girl, actually sounding worried for her safety.

Dev furrowed her brows at the boys words, curious as to why he'd care whether she were caught or not. As their food was taken away and Dumbledore stood at the front of the hall, she brushed the thoughts off and looked ahead.

"Sit down, please," Dumbledore's voice bellowed throughout the hall. Once he was certain he had everyone's attention, he continued. "Now, the moment you've all been waiting for. The champion selection!"

Dev found herself smiling. This was just what she needed to take her mind off of things. Not talks of a ball or boys in her house pestering with her questions; no. She needed this action, this tournament. While she previously had been less than excited, she now found herself warming up to the idea. It worked as a good distraction.

Dumbledore approached the goblet, and all of the students from all three schools waited with bated breath. Dev watched as the blue flames turned a dark red, concealing her gasps of awe. A piece of paper shot from the goblet and landed in Dumbledore's hand.

"The Durmstrang champion is Viktor Krum!"

Cheers erupted from where the many Durmstrang students sat, and Dev could just make out the image of the famous seeker as he made his way towards Hogwarts' headmaster.

"That's that prat who was eying Mione," May muttered in Dev's ear, eliciting a nod from the brunette.

The cheers didn't last for long as the next piece of paper shot from the flames, silencing everyone.

"The champion from Beuaxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"

More cheers erupted. A thin, beautiful blonde rose and made her way towards Dumbledore. Dev couldn't help but notice everything about the girl screamed grace and elegance.

Finally, the final paper shot through the air. This was the one Dev was actually excited for. She knew just about everyone in the year above her, or at least the ones with enough gull to enter. Her eyes lingered around her table, silently wondering if any of her housemates could be the next Triwizard champion.

"The Hogwarts Champion; Cedric Diggory!"

A cheer erupted from all houses, not just Hufflepuff. While the houses were often divided by quidditch and other rivalries, they knew that they were one under Hogwarts. This would be who they were cheering on for the next year.

"That's him!" Cho squealed, kicking Dev lightly under the table. Dev's mouth formed into an 'oh,' connecting the dots from their earlier conversation.

As the older Hufflepuff made his way to Dumbledore, Dev couldn't deny he was attractive. Her entire time at Hogwarts she had been so enamored by her best friend that she didn't often give other boys the time of day. Sure, there was the occasional short-lived relationships or one time dates to Hogsmeade, but she had never given much thought to any boy that didn't have floppy red hair, light freckles she was sure she had memorized, named Fred.

"He's cute," Dev nodded to Cho, her voice coming out in a whisper. Cho nodded enthusiastically, clapping her hands for the boy as he made his way to the front of the hall.

"Excellent! We now have our three champions!" Dumbledore announced. "But in the end, only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champions. This vessel of victory. The Triwizard cup!"

Dumbledore spun around, pointing his wand and unveiling the cup. Students cheered at its site, standing and clapping their hands.

"Talk about theatrics," Dev whispered to May, referencing the girl's comment from earlier. May giggled but continued on clapping. "If I'm going to risk my life I want a little more than a cup."

"Oh, but you do get more!" May joked. "You also get to be on a card in a chocolate frog box! What an honor!"

Dev rolled her eyes at the girl's sarcasm, joining in on her giggling. Perhaps they were cynical, but none of what was being presented to them seemed worthy to die for. No, if Dev was going to die for something, she wanted it be something she deemed much more important.

The cheering was slowly silenced as the flames in the cup began to dance around. At first, Dev assumed it was apart of Dumbledore's show, but the confused look on his face and the other teacher's made her realize they too did not know what was happening. Slowly, Dumbledore made his way back towards the goblet, watching as the flames once again turned red. Another piece of paper shot through the air, eliciting gasps from the crowd. At first, Dumbledore seemed to mumble something Dev couldn't quite make out, before his voice grew.

"Harry Potter?" When no one moved, Dumbledore repeated the name, even louder than before.

Dev watched as the lanky boy slowly made his way towards the headmaster. The room was so silent, she was certain you'd be able to hear a pin drop. Dumbledore placed the piece of paper with his name on it into his hand, and he slowly began to make his way towards the other champions. Then, the whispers began.

"He's a cheat!"

"He's not even 17 yet!"

As all of the headmasters and a few of the teachers scrambled out of the room after him, the great hall descended into chaos. Various screams came out about the fairness of the situation, or what they deemed as Potter's need to always make things about him. The Ravenclaw table was divided on where they stood, some admiring his wit for outsmarting Dumbledore while other's grumbled at his special treatment.

"Reckon he did it?" May tore Dev from her thoughts. "Put his name in, I mean."

"I don't know," Dev spoke truthfully. "Harry doesn't really seem the type. I mean, what would he gain from going against Dumbledore and entering?"

"Well, if he wins, he'd get that nice fancy cup up there," May teased.

"I'm serious," Dev laughed. "I mean, what does a boy with his reputation really have to prove?"

May simply shrugged in response. The teachers who had remained behind were now trying to calm the students, urging the prefects to usher the houses back to their common rooms. Dev and May stood and began walking in line with the other Ravenclaws, until Dev felt a pull on her arm.

"Quite the show, wasn't it?" Fred spoke instantly, a grin on his face. "Wish Harry would've told us before he did it, then we could have entered in too."

"You don't seriously think he entered himself, do you?" Dev and May paused, letting the other Ravenclaws pass them by. She almost missed the way Roger glared at the twins as he passed the group by.

"How else would his name get called?" George posed with a shrug.

"Miss Bane, Miss Kimura, follow along!" Flitwick urged as he came out of the great hall. Dev and May sighed and offered a goodbye to the twins before turning and following after their house.

"You didn't, er—see, anything about this happening, did you?" May whispered as they walked at the back of the group.

Dev's eyes grew wide, shushing the girl despite knowing no one could hear them anyways. Once she was certain no one was listening in, she leaned and began whispering back.

"No! Don't you think I would have said something if I did?"

May shot Dev a pointed look causing the girl to sigh and wring her hands. If she had seen something that could have lead her to this assumption, she probably wouldn't have said anything. She was always so deadset on keeping the specifics of her bigger visions a secret, hoping that by not acknowledging them, they would simply go away. Thus far, it hadn't worked.

Not to mention, there were the never ending nightmares and visions she had endured all summer, ones she had yet to clue May in on. None of it had made any sense to her, so what good would it do to worry her friend with them?

"Tomorrow, during our free period, we're talking about this," May stated, more as a demand than a request. "For real this time."

Dev nodded numbly, pushing the idea of actually coming to face with her visions away. She knew it was a long time coming, that she wouldn't be able to suffer the way she was forever. Still, she had hoped to just be a kid for a little bit longer.

"Dev, do you have a minute?" Roger stalled back from the rest of the group as they began approaching their common room.

May shot Dev a confused look, but Dev tried to hide her own confusion. She nodded at her best friend, signaling it was okay for her to go ahead, before standing with Roger.

"What's up?" She faked a cheery smile, pushing thoughts of visions, and planned talks about them, out of her head.

"I just wanted to say," He paused, glancing down at his hands. "Well, when this year started, I had planned to ask you on a date to Hogsmeade."

"You had planned?" Dev questioned the boy's use of the past-tense. She wasn't sure where his sudden interest in her was coming from, and could only imagine the way Fred and George would be laughing right now.

"Yeah, I uh, had. I mean I've been meaning to ask you since third year, but you're always with the Weasley twins, so I never bothered." He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his robes, raising his eyes to her.

Dev couldn't think of one conversation the two had had that didn't involve school work or apologizing for some prank the twins had pulled on him. To say she was shocked was an understatement, though she did her best to control her facial expressions.

"Well, me and the boys, we're just friends," Dev nodded, the memories of the previous night snapping back into her brain.

"I know," Roger shot his hands up defensively. "But still it's like, kind of intimidating, you know?"

Dev? Intimidating? That was the last word she'd ever use to describe herself. She was the girl who had sat alone her first year on the train. The girl with frizzy hair and a laugh that she'd describe as anything but attractive. The one who had grown into herself, sure, but that just made her comfortable around most people. She had always assumed most didn't view her as anything more than the friendly Ravenclaw girl with the dead parents, or the girl always sandwiched between the two Weasley brothers. In every romantic interaction she'd had, no matter how short-lived, she was always the one who had to make the first move. And they were usually just distractions from a certain red head.

"Well, um, I'm sorry?" She offered, unsure of what else to say.

"Don't worry about it, I guess, just what I'm asking is, if I were to ask you one weekend, would that be alright?"

Could she really say no?

"Yeah, Roger, that'd be fine," She offered him a warm smile. Sure, 'fine' probably wasn't the word he wanted to hear about their prospective date, but Dev really didn't know what else to say.

"Cool," He smiled back at her.

The two made their way towards the common room, Roger answering the riddle with a bit of arrogance before standing aside and letting her crawl in. She was reminded instantly why the twins always joked about him being a snotty know-it-all.

"What was that all about?" May whispered as Dev approached her on the couch, Roger taking off towards the boy's dormitories.

"Roger Davies," Dev paused, surveying those around. It was just May, Cho, and Marietta Edgecombe. She didn't mind if they heard. "Just asked me on a date to Hogsmeade, I think?"

"That's wonderful!" Cho squealed, leaning in with the other girls. May's face was the only of the three not etched with excitement.

"Well, what did you say?" Marietta wiggled her brows.

"I said fine, maybe? I think? It was all really quite confusing, he was talking in these potential situations, I don't know," Dev replied, a bit flustered by the interaction.

"Maybe he'll be your date to the Yule Ball!" Cho's eyes twinkled. Then, her excitement seemed to dim slightly. "Oh, but what will the twins do then? Surely, they were going to ask the both of you."

May and Dev shared a look, and suddenly Dev found herself not so turned off by the idea of a date with Roger. Sure, he was a know-it-all, and a bit annoying, but he was the Quidditch captain for Ravenclaw. And, he had amazing hair.

"I'm sure they'll manage," Dev shrugged, plopping down on the couch next to the girls.

The rest of the conversation droned on with talks of dresses and hairstyles and just how magical the night was aiming to be. Despite being months away, talking with girls like Cho and Marietta managed to get Dev's excitement for the ball riled back up. For the first time in what felt like ages, she finally felt like just a kid again.

author's note !

hello!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

I'm trying to work a steady balance between all of the stress and turmoil dev is working through while simultaneously lamenting that she is just a kid. So, it's not always going to be dark and gloom seriousness. Sometimes, she's just a girl getting asked on a date by a boy. I hope I'm portraying that well!

also, I've written way ahead for this book (normally I prewrite each chapter for a book, which essentially to me just means writing a general plot and a few lines as a guide. But, for this book I've like actually written ahead) & I'm so excitedddd

rose <3