Chapter Text
September 1st
“Anything from the trolley, dearies?”
“Oh! One of everything please!”
For the first time in her life, Kainé found the Hogwarts Express relaxing. She was in a cabin with Nier, Yonah, and Emil. Her friends. It felt weird to say, this time last year she was in a car by herself because everyone refused to stay with her. Now, the compartment was filled with life. Yonah was playing I, Spy with Nier and Emil, while Weiss was doing everything in his power to bore her.
They split up Emil’s candy purchase among them, giving Kainé the chance to try most of the sweets for the first time. She really liked the Dragon Claws, and she discovered Chocolate frogs are easy to control when you stab them in the chest right away.
"So… how does it feel to be Seventh year?" Emil asked through a stuffed mouth. It was a valid question, one Kainé hadn't really considered. She'd spent years waiting to leave. Did she still want to?
"It's surreal. I'm going to miss seeing Yonah every day. That's been the best part." Nier replied. Right, he was a Seventh year too.
"Yeah, I'm ready to leave this shithole." Kainé said after a pause. She stared out the window, avoiding their gaze. Emil took a beat before steering the conversation elsewhere, but Kainé zoned out. Did she really mean it? Sure she hated Hogwarts, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to leave anymore.
---
Kainé never realized how much the Welcoming Feast sucked. It was, alongside the Closing Feast, the only time everyone was required to stay with their houses. Since Emil and Yonah were Ravenclaws, and Nier was a Hufflepuff, Kainé was alone at the Gryffindor table. Like she had been the past six years. But this time it was different.
The Headmaster droned on and on as he always did, rambling about dumb shit for the first years. Just to make sure none of them die. Not like Kainé followed any of the rules anyway. The end of his speech was different this year, though.
"We are pleased to announce the return of the Triwizard Tournament." Cheers erupted from most tables, and a buzz of excitement descended upon the Great Hall. Kainé's wizard father died when she was little, and didn't know much about the Wizarding world because of it. She thought she'd learned basically all there was to know over her six years, but clearly there were still gaps in her knowledge.
"Hey, book" Kainé called to Weiss, still floating next to her in the Great Hall. "What's this tournament thing?"
"You seriously don't know, hussy?" Weiss replied. He got a stare from Kainé, and he sighed. "Every few years Hogwarts joins a tournament with two other schools. Each school chooses a champion and they compete in three challenges, for glory and honor. There is also a lavish ball worthy of the highest of society."
"Eh, sounds lame." Kainé dismissed it with a wave of a hand. She didn’t have any connection to this wizard crap, if it wouldn’t affect her or her friends, why should she care?
---
October 8th
“Doesn’t get much better than this, does it?” Nier asked.
Kainé sat at the dock of Black Lake with Nier, Yonah, Emil, and Weiss. Nier was fishing to little success, while Kainé just kept her feet in the water. Yonah and Emil were on the other side of the dock, discussing homework. Where weekends last year were filled with brawls and bullying, this year, it apparently was for spending time with her friends.
“I suppose it doesn’t, even if you suck ass at fishing.”
“Hey, I’ll catch one eventually.” Nier protested.
“You’ve said that every weekend.” Kainé said with a laugh.
“And one weekend, it will be true!”
Just then, they heard yelling from the shore of the lake. A young, young girl, was crying out in an inhuman wail, while bullies - Slytherins - stood around her. Go figure. Before Nier could say anything, Kainé was sprinting over there to stop the fight.
The girl in question was small, with long black hair, a white bow, Slytherin robes, and a bright red bag around her shoulder.
“Get the fuck off of her!” Kainé yelled, punching the lead bully in the face, who had pinned the girl down. The bully just smiled, got up, and spat blood out of his mouth.
“That’s quite the right hook you got there, Sunshine. Have we met before?” He sneered at her. Kainé’s eyes went wide, as the face became familiar.
“Wait a second! You’re-”
“Haha! I remember now, Sunshine! Time to make your life a living hell again!” The bully swung back at her, getting one good hit near her eye. Blood quickly started to blur her vision, but she didn’t let it stop her. She countered his next punch, and got in a few more hits before he fell to the ground. She stood over him for a second, before she knew it, she was hit by a “Stupify” and fell back. The bully scurried away, cackling all the while. Nier and the others arrived as Kainé stood back up.
“Even with a year more of life and experience, you still choose to be a brute, don’t you hussy?” Weiss mused.
“Shut it book. A girl was in trouble.” She said, taking the hand Nier offered to get up, and made her way to the girl. She was still on the ground, shaking in fear. “You alright?”
The girl whimpered, not truly replying. Yonah walked over to the girl, they must have been about the same height.
“What’s your name?” Yonah asked, in her gentlest voice. The girl seemed reluctant at first, but Yonah reached out for her hand, and the girl let her take it. After a moment, she opened her mouth, but no words came out, just noise. She slowly reached into her bag, got out a pen and paper, and wrote a single word: Louise.
“That’s a really pretty name!” Emil declared, hunched down near Yonah. “It’s nice to meet you Louise.”
Louise stood up, bowed as a thank you. She looked conflicted for a second, then scurried off, looking embarrassed. Kainé punched the ground in frustration, slowly regaining motor functions.
“Damn it, I can’t believe it was the same bastard as before.”
“What are you talking about?” Nier asked.
“So last year, before we met, my fights with the Slytherins all started when that bastard grabbed my ass in the Great Hall. I practically tore his nose off as retaliation, and it's how I became the enemy of the Slytherins.” Nier stood there, pondering. Yonah gave Kainé a small hug, which she returned.
“I had a class with that guy, I think his name was Tyrann? He really is the worst, I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
“Whatever. Not my problem anyway. Just blows that it’s someone else’s.” Kainé spat out the blood that had made its way to her mouth.
---
October 30th
It was finally time for the grand feast in the Great Hall celebrating Beauxbatons and Durmstrang’s arrival. All that meant to Kainé was that she got to skip Potions for the day. To accommodate for the two extra schools, despite being a formal feast, Kainé was able to squeeze in with her friends, who all joined her in her far corner of the Gryffindor table. The first course was served before either school arrived, causing a cloud to hang over the night. Everyone was fidgety, waiting for these new schools.
"What do you think the other schools will be like?" Emil asked. Yonah instantly beamed with excitement at the question.
"I don't know! I've never met someone from outside England before." Yonah replied.
"Yonah, I'm sure you'll make friends with one of them." Nier said, patting her head softly.
"You think?" Yonah replied excitedly.
Midway through the feast, just as tensions began to rise, the doors burst open,and women dressed in long, elegant blue coats and hats stormed through the door.
“It’s Beauxbatons!” Yonah yelled with excitement.
“The hell is ‘Bow-bat-ons?’” Kainé asked with a hint of disdain.
“It’s an all girls school in France, hussy.” Weiss replied. “One of the highest regarded schools all around the world. You would do well to know about other schools.”
“Why would I do that? They’d just hate me too.”
A group of five girls lead the class, with a short, platinum blonde girl at the head, with almost red eyes. Behind them was a tall and beautiful girl, who looked as standoff-ish as Kainé herself, with an eyepatch covering an eye. Kainé could tell something was up with her. But what.
"The fuck's their deal?" Kainé blurted out, which got a look from Nier.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Something's up with those five girls in the front. Look like a bunch of assholes."
"Now that you say it, yeah. They seem scary.” Nier shivered slightly.
“Kainé? Do you not like The Intoners?” Yonah perked up, meekly.
“Who are ‘The Intoners’?” Since it was directed at Yonah, Kainé found herself holding back a curse word.
“They’re a magical girl group! I love their records, they have such pretty voices. I can’t believe they’re Beauxbatons students!”
“Oh right, I have seen their pictures.” Nier realized. “Maybe you’ll be friends with them, Yonah!” Yonah gasped.
“Do you think I could be?” Yonah asked, eyes sparkling.
“Of course you can.” Nier said, patting her on the shoulder.
At the very end of the line followed two girls who almost looked like sisters, taller than the first group of five, with white hair, and even matching beauty marks on their faces. All in all, it was an intimidating group, most of them just reminded Kainé of her bullies. The ladies of Beauxbatons put on a little show, dancing up and down the aisles, and took their seats at one end of the hall.
Not soon after, the other school, Durmstrang, stormed into the Great Hall. They were less theatrical, more serious. Kainé figured it's what happens when you get a bunch of dicks all in a school together. One kid grabbed everyone’s attention, including Nier’s. He was tall, with stringy black hair, and sullen eyes, baring into everyone’s souls.
“Holy crap, that’s Caim!” Nier shouted after a gasp, grabbing Kainé’s shoulders.
“Who the hell is Caim?” She asked, rolling her eyes.
“He’s only the starting Seeker on the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! He’s a legend. I didn’t realize he went to school at Durmstrang!” Nier kept a dumb smile on his face after finishing his sentence.
“Huh, sounds like a real fuckboy.”
“And over there, that’s his Beater Nowe, his chief supporter on the pitch. I can’t believe they’re both here!”
The only one Kainé really noticed was a small boy with white hair, he presented young but she had a feeling he was older than he seemed. His eyes darted back and forth, taking in everything he could see. He had a smile on, but she had a feeling it was fake.
After they took their seats, the headmaster unveiled the Goblet of Fire, an impressive, well, goblet. With fire in it. Apparently any student interested would put their names in the goblet, and it would be selected for them. Great, even entering would be done in public.
---
October 31st
"Come on Kainé, you should enter! It'll be fun." Nier had been egging Kainé on pretty much nonstop since the night before. They were sitting in the library, technically studying for their NEWTs, but within a few minutes the conversation dovetailed to this.
"Bullshit. Nothing at this school is any fun."
"Am I not fun?" Nier asked, a little wounded.
"Nope." Kainé replied bluntly. Nier chuckled a bit, taking her reply in stride.
"Let me try this. Kainé, you're a total badass. You've beaten me in a duel more times than I can count. I think if you showed your competitive side here, people might like you more."
“Look, Nier, I appreciate it, but you know that’s a load of shit. Everyone’s just going to be a dick to me whether I win or lose. No point in sticking my neck out there just to have everyone shit on me. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. So I just won’t.” Nier sighed, he seemed unhappy with her answer, but he didn’t press it. He never did, she realized.
---
That night, the students from all three schools gathered for the Halloween feast, but everyone was abuzz about the Goblet of Fire. It had closed an hour earlier, and Kainé could hear every student discussing who they thought it was going to be. She barely knew the names of her own classmates, let alone from other schools. Hell if she knew who was going to get chosen. Kainé settled into the very back corner of the Great Hall, with Nier to her side, and Emil and Yonah across from her. Kainé watched as Beauxbatons and Durmstrang filed into their tables, normally occupied by Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Caim sat at the front of his table, with Rowe flanking him. Most of the Durmstrang boys crowded towards him. Occasionally a girl from Hogwarts or Beauxbatons would approach him, he’d sign whatever they had, then ignore them.
At the Beauxbatons table, the five assholes - The Intoners, apparently - sat at the very front as well, with the leader lookin’ girl grabbing a chair just to sit at the actual head. The eyepatched girl sat not far from them, with a dark haired nerd in pigtails sitting across from her. The two other white haired girls sat further back, with the long haired one of the pair taking the mirror of Kainé’s spot, back to the far wall.
Just like every Halloween, the food was incredible. Lavish sweets and drinks adorned the Great Hall, with pumpkins and bats replacing the usual candles. It was usually Kainé’s favorite night just because of the darkness, but now sharing food with her friends, she realized it had other merits too.
After the first course of dinner, the Headmaster stood up, and clinked his glass, getting everyone’s attention.
“Students! There is no need to further delay. Let us find out who will represent each school at the Triwizard Tournament!” He moved towards the Goblet, and put his wand to it. “First, the representative from Beauxbatons!”
A flame burst from the top of the goblet. A single piece of parchment flew out of it, did a lap around the front of the Hall, before falling into the Headmaster’s hand.
“Representing Beauxbatons will be: Zero!”
The Beauxbatons girls all turned towards one girl in the middle of the table. The one with an eyepatch. She - Zero - barely acknowledged the feat, mostly turning away from the Intoners, who were staring daggers at her.
“And now, the representative from Durmstrang.” The same process repeated, and the Headmaster once again caught the flaming piece of parchment. “The representative is: 9S!”
The squirrely boy Kainé noticed stood up, giving a little wave. Nier seemed devastated, almost in tears as he stared at Caim from across the way. Caim seemed angry too, slamming his fist and storming out of the Great Hall.
“Finally, our own representative from Hogwarts.” Goblet, flame, parchment. Kainé barely could focus on anything though, once she heard the Headmaster say: “Kainé.”
“Kainé? What’s he talking about?” Nier asked with a dumbfounded, almost disappointed look.
“The hell do I know! I didn’t put my fucking name in!” She yelled at all her friends.
“I… I think they want you to stand, Kainé.” Emil offered weakly. She did, reluctantly. She could hear boos from the Slytherins, and mostly confused noises from everyone else.
"Everyone, cheer for our three champions!"
Kainé nearly fainted.