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saiilorstars · 1 month

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Ch. 38: The Bitter War

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist:@ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989 @caplanbuckybarnes

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

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Romina and Arden had just come up the dungeons stairs to head for breakfast when they heard the high-pitched voice of Pansy Parkinson calling after them.

Arden sighed wearily. "It's too early to deal with her."

Romina waved her off, assuring her it would be fine, as she turned around to face Pansy. "Morning, Parkinson," she greeted with a sweet smile. "Sleep well?"

"You switched rooms!" Pansy got straight to business. "You and King switched with the Carrol twins!"

"Good job, Pansy," Arden said slowly, and clapped for the girl. "You figured it out!"

"I'm telling Snape," Pansy said with a smug smirk. "What a perfect way to start the school year! Both of you in detention."

"You can go ahead and tell him but it's not going to do anything," Romina shrugged her shoulders. "See, I read up on the rules with the help of my friend Hermione, and nowhere is it listed that students can't switch dorms. The only rule is that all boys and girls must sleep in separate dorms. Which we are. Aren't we, Arden?"

"Oh yeah," Arden nodded. "Carolinha and Daphne are quiet sleepers, unlike you and Millicent. And the twins had no problem switching with us either, so..."

Pansy was unconvinced. "You're making it up! I'm still telling Snape!"

"Go for it, I'm sure he would love to be bothered by something as petty—and rule abiding—as dorm switching." Romina patted Pansy's shoulder. "You were right, this is the perfect way to start the school year." Whatever trace of the sweet smile Romina had vanished. "Because I learned my lesson, Parkinson. I am not taking your bullshit anymore. Sure, you might get under my skin every once in a while but I'll be damned if I let you ridicule me in front of the school again."

Pansy couldn't fume any more than she already was. "We'll see," she said as a last resort to keep her standing...somewhat.

"Goodbye!" Romina waved and turned with Arden, both striding off for the Great Hall.

"How great did that feel?" Arden asked Romina as they headed for their table.

"So good!" Romina laughed.

When the two girls finally reached their table, they noticed that the Durmstrang boys had for some reason chosen their table as their permanent choice for the rest of the year.

"Not that it's much of a sacrifice, you know," Daphne said with a dreamy sigh, her spoon making languid circles in her porridge bowl.

"Ditto," Arden said, her eyebrows raised as she "studied" one of the Durmstrang boys closest to them.

"I kinda wish the Beauxbatons had been here, honestly," Romina said, surprising the girls. "They look more approachable."

"Really? You'd rather them after dinner last night?" Carolinha mused. "You weren't exactly approachable either."

Romina knew exactly what they were talking about and preferred to shove a spoonful of porridge into her mouth.

"Can't help but notice you're short one charmed headband," Arden said, humming innocently.

"You'll be one mouth short if you keep talking," Romina muttered. She had practically threatened Draco with what he would die of if he didn't take the headband back last night. "I meant because my grandmother went to Beauxbatons Academy. I'd like to start picking up on my French side, you know. Besides, these boys were idiots last night anyways."

"She's got a point there," Carolinha said, glancing towards the entrance to see her brother coming in along with Draco, Theodore and Blaise. "I bet they're missing like half the brain, you know?"

They snickered until they were joined by those missing half their brains.

"What's so funny?" Angel eyed his sister curiously as he slid in beside her.

"Oh, nothing," Carolinha waved him off. "Just talking."

"Oswell," Draco regarded as he sat down opposite her next to Carolinha.

"Morning," Romina greeted then, because he had given her an odd look for that greeting, she added, "I'm mad, not rude. I can be civil."

"They're still here," Blaise remarked when he saw the Durmstrang boys at the edge of their table.

"What? Were you wishing for the Beauxbatons too?" Daphne called. "Can always try to go find a spot at the Ravenclaws' table."

As they had breakfast, the owls poured into the room. Romina was surprised when she had an owl that didn't belong to her. It wasn't a stranger, however. She took the folded letter from the warm brown owl with a soft 'thanks' and started opening it.

"Who's that from?" Daphne startled Romina. She was leaning on Romina to see the letter.

"God—Daphne! Could you be a little nosier!?" Romina shifted slightly. Daphne shrugged and continued to eat breakfast.

"Anything good?" Arden asked Romina once she skimmed the letter.

"It's from my grandmother," Romina smiled broadly, clearing her throat to read (to the best of her ability):

'Ma douce Romina, I am ecstatic to know that Hogwarts will be playing host to the Beauxbaton Academy. Madam Maxime was an incredible headmistress during my time. Superbe. I have already written to her about mes petits-enfants who attend Hogwarts. Say bonjour to her for me, please! And also take care. We are aware of how dangerous the Tri-wizard tournament can be so please, don't attempt to go around the rules to enter.

Take care,

Grand-mère Abigail.

P.S. Do not worry about your dress robes, I have already spoken to your aunt and uncle about it. I will send them to you later in the year, along with Rolf's.

"No way—the Abigail Gejel wrote to you!?" Daphne snatched the parchment out of Romina's hands, leaving her stunned in place for a second. "You're so lucky, Romina!"

Romina snapped out of her moment to snatch her letter back. "It's Abigail Scamander, for your information! Gejel is her maiden name! And she's my grandmother, of course she would write to me! Though…" she gave the letter another perusing, "I don't really understand what she meant by 'dress robes'."

"You could have just asked," Draco said, "But you're too stubborn."

"Oh, not this again!" She frowned. "If you're just dying to tell me, go for it!"

"No, no, you're upset." He raised his hands in front of him. "But it must be getting annoying that everyone knows what's going on except for you."

"I still don't know," Arden reminded him.

He looked at her as if he was considering telling her just to spite Romina. At the last moment, however, he decided against it. "And if anybody else decides to spill—Angel—" he made a point of stating the brunette's name, "—you'll take it up with me."

Angel sighed. "Come off it, Malfoy. Don't you think it's going too far?"

"Not at all," Draco said plainly, He pointedly ignored Romina's flaming glare on him. "If it's the game Oswell wants to play, then game on."

"Oh God, not another competition," Arden shook her head. "You guys are way too competitive, you know that?"

"Fine," Romina decided, pushing herself up from her seat to leave. She'd lost most of her appetite anyways. "Just remember, we still have Care of Magical Creatures class together and I've learned a few things about creatures this summer from the expert, aka my grandfather Newt Scamander. Look him up."

Unfazed, Draco responded, "Yeah, and we're still Potions partners. I'd watch what you touch."

"Unbelievable," Arden mumbled to the others. They were more startled than anything else. Where did the sudden drive to be competitive with each other come from?

~ 0 ~

Romina was very much disappointed to find out Hermione dropped Muggle Studies. It left the little trio that she, Hermione and Rolf had created in the class as a duo instead.

"I don't blame her, though, I thought she was taking a workload," Rolf remarked in a quiet whisper during class. "I don't know how she managed to handle all of her classes."

"You don't even want to know," Romina said, eyebrows raised at the reminder of all the classes Hermione had been taking the previous year. She was glad that Hermione was de-stressing this year with the normal amount of classes.

"So did you get a letter from grandma too?" asked Rolf, ducking his head suddenly when the professor happened to look their way.

"The one where she said we should talk to Maxime? Yeah. Are you going to do it?"

Rolf's snort was answer enough. "What do I have to talk about with that woman? Not like my interests are going to match with hers."

Romina had to cover her mouth before her giggles became too loud. Sitting in the back didn't always shield them from getting caught.

"Are you going to talk to her?" Rolf asked a moment later. The professor had started talking about their plans for the first term, something about a project.

"Dunno," Romina shrugged. "I'm actually a little afraid that she'll know more about grandma than I will, and of course she will."

"That's not your fault, Romina," Rolf reminded, sending his cousin a soft smile. "And the important part is that you're with us now."

"But still, what if she asks me stuff and I have to tell her who I am—my name."

"Romina, when are you going to drop the stuff with your name?"

Romina pursed her lips. "It's a work in progress, trust me."

"Fair enough. Talk to her if you'd like, but grandma Abby won't be mad if you don't do it."

That, Romina knew was true. She focused on the class, the first time since it began, in hopes of calming her nerves. There were plenty of things to think about suddenly, and not all were good.

"Alright," the professor said, clapping her hands together, "This project—does anybody have any suggestions or—"

Romina's hand shot up in the air, so fast that she almost left her chair in the process. "Oh I do! I do! Professor—I've got ideas!"

Rolf looked at his cousin, deadpanning her, "Maybe it won't feel like Hermione really left the class..."

Romina's head snapped in his direction, brows furrowed and lips curled into a frown.

~ 0 ~

"Bubotubers," Professor Sprout announced to the fourth years as soon as class began. She was so excited which deeply contrasted the rest of the class when she said they would be squeezing to extract pus.

Carolinha's nose crinkled at the plants in front of her and Romina. On the other side of the table, Arden and Angel were looking more or less the same. Daphne was already refusing to do such a thing.

"These things are already so ugly, you're telling me they have pus inside them?" Carolinha could've whined if Pansy hadn't beaten her to it.

"Ew! I don't want to touch them, much less squeeze them!" she exclaimed.

Romina hated that she actually agreed with Pansy. The plants were gross, for a lack of a better word. They were thick, black and kind of sluggy. Each time they squirmed, they gave sight of their shiny swellings that were indeed full of liquid.

"The pus is extremely valuable so don't waste," Sprout warned them, "You'll collect it in those bottles in front of you. Wear you dragon-hide gloves, please. It can do funny things to the skin when undiluted."

"How is this not a crime?" Romina blurted, causing a streak of snickers amongst the others.

Sprout was one of the most lenient professors, definitely light-hearted with her own humor, so she cracked a smile. "Miss Oswell, there are worse things to do, trust me."

"Yes, but...couldn't we just learn, I don't know, the theoretical side of it?"

Sprout chuckled. "You can always write me an essay to turn in by the next class time. Is that appealing?"

Romina shook her head. "No, not really."

"Grab your gloves, Miss Oswell."

"Yes, ma'am." Romina dejectedly reached for her gloves and met Arden's snickering face. "Shut up, Arden."

"At least she tried getting us out of this," Angel shuddered as he slipped the gloves on.

"Ready, Carol?" Romina checked on the squeaking brunette beside her. Carolinha looked ready to pass out as she watched Daphne and Theodore squeeze the pus out of their plant. Romina sighed. "Guess not."

Her gaze fell on Arden and Angel who were having enough trouble finding their balance. Romina loved Arden but she was too brusque sometimes and that simply wasn't in Angel's character.

"Arden, not so hard!"

"Just hold the dang bottle!"

Romina laughed shortly and only because a stream of pus squirted right past her face. Startled, she stumbled back a step with wide blinking eyes.

"Oh my God!" Carolinha screeched when the pus splattered on the table in front of her.

"Oops," Pansy said, smiling far too sweetly for anybody to believe her.

Romina's surprise immediately vanished to be replaced with anger. "Parkinson!"

"It was an accident," Pansy said, raising her gloved hands. "Isn't that right Millicent?"

"Course," Millicent nodded.

"Don't get upset, Oswell, she was just getting a headstart for you," Draco remarked. He seemed to be doing good on his plant, though Romina wondered how long it would last since Crabb's hands were massive for the little bottle.

Romina scowled. "Siding with Parkinson now? Why am I not surprised?"

Pansy certainly was and she basked in it. Her heavy giggles were irritating enough, but to handle that for the rest of the class period? That was just cruel.

"Romina—eek!—could you not squeeze so hard?" Carolinha squeaked when some of the pus landed near her foot.

Romina was gripping the poor plant between her gloved hands. "I'm—agh!—not!" She groaned. She was also definitely not listening to Pansy gushing over whatever the hell Draco was doing either. Her back was to them for the very same reason.

"I'm actually concerned for the plant at this point," Arden said.

"Shut up!" Romina promptly snapped and squeezed the plant at the same time.

Carolinha whimpered. "R-Romina, how about we switch places? Angel—you want to take my place?"

Angel shook his head. "No, no, I'm good this time around."

Arden snorted. "Wuss." Later on, she would offer Carolinha to switch places. She had a better handle on Romina anyways.

When class was over, Romina, not quite discreetly, chucked her gloves in Pansy's direction. When Pansy shrieked, Romina sent her the same sweet smile Pansy had before. "Oops, honest mistake."

Arden quickly got Romina out of there before Pansy decided to retaliate. Neither girl should be anywhere near dangerous undiluted Bubotuber pus.

~ 0 ~

For some reason, the professors of that day had decided to start out with odd and potentially scary creatures for the first lessons. For Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid had chosen Blast-Ended Skrewts.

"Why does everything have slime today!?" Romina shuddered. She stared at the lobster-like creatures in the cages. They didn't have the shells, though, which took away a good part of the lobster-esque appearance. The legs sprouting from every angle and the lack of head also helped with that.

"And it smells bad too," Arden said, her nose scrunched.

"What did you guys do today?" Harry sent the pair of girls bemused looks.

"What, you mean Herbology wasn't enough for you today?" Romina said, still shuddering from the ungodly amount of pus they had seen.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, it was funny watching Ron squeeze it out. But why are you in such a foul mood today?"

"Oh, don't get her started, Harry, please," Arden said quickly and ushered them forwards.

Hermione was calling for Hagrid ahead of them. "What are we waiting for, Hagrid?"

"For the rest of the class o' course!" Hagrid exclaimed. His eyes swept over the Gryffindor class and Romina and Arden. "Yo'r early!"

"No, Carolinha refused to go anywhere without changing first," Arden said. "And then went double for Daphne."

"Um, excuse me?" they heard Angel's call. The rest of the class was finally arriving. "Professor, what are those?" Angel pointed a finger at the cages.

Hagrid was happy to repeat and finally begin the lesson. "On'y jus' hatched! So yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yourselves! Though we'd make a bit of a project of it!"

"And why on Earth would we want to raise them?" demanded Draco from behind. He was just as disgusted as the rest of the class.

Romina sighed beside Arden. At Arden's glance, Romina confided a secret. "I hate that I agree with him." Arden shook her head but smiled silently. The creatures weren't appealing in the slightest.

"I mean, what do they do? What is the point of them?" Draco insisted.

"Tha's next lesson, Malfoy!" Hagrid said, "Yer jus' feedin' 'em today! Yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things! I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer—I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake. Just try 'em out with a bit of each."

"Why?" Pansy groaned.

"Oh just pipe down and do it, Parkinson!" Arden snapped. She had no desire to do it but if Pansy hated it then she would gladly do it.

"They're just creatures, guys," Rolf said. He was about the only one out of the entire class eager to discover what the creatures would like to eat. "Don't hurt 'em and they won't hurt you."

"Rom, tell your cousin we still don't want to do it," Harry stepped beside Romina. She chuckled.

"I don't think he'll listen to my words right now. This is nothing compared to what our grandfather has told us."

"Would you like to take it first, then?" Harry stepped back purposely, gesturing towards the cages. Rolf was already reaching inside the cages to take out a skrewt.

Romina scrunched her face. "Not really. I vote we let Ron go first."

"What!?" screeched the redhead. "I don't want to do it!"

Hermione tutted at them. "C'mon, Hagrid looks really excited. We don't want to disappoint."

Indeed Hagrid did look very excited. He watched as each of his students took a skrewt out of the cage and attempted to feed them.

Dean Thomas yelped at one point, angrily waving his burned thumb. "Its end exploded!"

"Ah yea, that can happen when they blast off," Hagrid said. Behind him, Angel and Arden exchanged wide eyed glances then took a careful step away from their skrewts.

"Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?" Lavender Brown asked, sounding far too much like Pansy at that moment. Romina almost felt sorry for even thinking about it.

"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," Hagrid explained rather excitedly, "I reckon they're the males. The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies. I think they might be ter suck blood."

"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," Draco said with a loud huff to attract several gazes, including Romina's, "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting and bite all at once?"

"Gonna call your father to have them killed too?" Romina snapped. Beside her, Harry was really wishing that, for once, nobody said anything to Draco. He didn't want to see Hagrid carrying yet more bad weight because of Draco.

Draco gave a bob of his head. "Wouldn't be a bad idea."

"Right," Romina rolled her eyes, "Cos you and your dad agree on everything, don't you? Such hard headed people."

Draco snorted at her. "And you're stubborn."

"That's the same thing, genius!"

Harry felt a light tug on his arm and found Arden standing some inches behind him. She made a motion for him to scoot back with her.

"That's been going all day," she informed him, discreetly pointing over to Romina and Draco who, in their bickering, had taken several steps towards each other.

"I've never seen Rom so animated, so...big on hating…" Harry remarked. Part of him was guilty for feeling relief. It wasn't very long ago that he had stupidly asked Romina if there was ever anything between her and Malfoy. Stupid indeed. "What's she so mad about anyways?"

"Oh no, I'm not getting into that." Arden raised her hands in front of her. "Rom would kill me. You can ask Hermione though. She probably already figured it out."

Harry's brow furrowed. "Hermione?" He frowned. What could Hermione possibly know that happened between Romina and Draco?

~ 0 ~

"Romina, what is that?" Carolinha had noticed the oddly shaped box peeking out from under Romina's bed. She and Daphne had been watching their newest roommates finish unpacking and settling in their dormitory.

Romina stopped rummaging through her small accessory box to see what Carolinha was pointing at. "Huh? Oh, that's my violin case!"

"You brought that here?" Arden snorted from her bed. She slammed her trunk shut and walked over to Romina to see for herself.

"Yeah, I figured I might have some time to practice," Romina shrugged. "Plus, it was getting kinda dusty back home. I don't want it to stop working because I don't use it."

"You actually play that?" Daphne crawled to the foot of her bed to get a better look at the box.

Romina stepped back and bent down to pull the box out completely. "Of course. One of my more calm habits." She unblocked the box and popped it open to reveal a deep mahogany violin. "Keeps me relaxed."

"Looks pretty," Carolinha remarked. "I've seen those be played but I think I wouldn't get it. I'm too impatient for that kind of stuff."

"Same—I'd rather see someone else play it," Daphne said.

"Maybe you could play something later," Arden suggested, clapping a hand over Romina's shoulder.

"What?" Romina laughed, her face flushed with embarrassment. "No, no, nobody wants to hear—"

"We do!" Carolinha and Daphne said, both of them even raising a hand high in the air.

Arden held a thumbs up at them. "The lake seems like a good place!"

"You guys really want to hear me?" Romina made a face. "I'm not...I mean I've learned it the muggle way, remember?"

"So?" Carolinha and Daphne asked.

"Stop doing that," Romina pointed at the pair. "And what I mean is, all the songs that I know, the tunes—it's from muggles. As in classical muggle music, pop muggle music...all that stuff."

"Then it'll make things more interesting," Carolinha shrugged, "Angel and I have never heard muggle music before."

"Well, alright, I guess. When we have free time, then," Romina said. She closed the lid and locked it.

"Locking it?" Arden snorted as she headed back to her bed. "Afraid I'll go picking it or something?"

"Not you, Pansy," Romina said ever so casually, and it was. She'd come back to school with the mentality that she should never be surprised with anything that Pansy does. She shouldn't underestimate Pansy at all.

"But she's in a different dorm," Carolinha said, "You really think she'd come picking through your stuff all the way here?"

This time, both Romina and Arden snorted.

"You have met Pansy Parkinson, right?" Arden asked, flopping down on her bed. "She already did it once."

"She's not that bad…" Daphne said, keeping true to her mediator kind of ways.

"Have you forgotten everything she did last year to Rom?" Arden pointed over to Romina who'd taken a seat on her bed again. She still had one last small box to go through before she was officially done unpacking.

"Of course not," Daphne puffed. "I just don't like the constant arguing between people I know. And I've known Pansy my whole life. She's never acted like that with anyone, I swear."

"Then I must be exceptionally special in her eyes," Romina said bitterly. Heavy silence fell in the room. Romina made herself busy with her last accessories but there was no doubt that she was thinking about the series of troubles she'd gone through because of Pansy.

"Why don't we go get dinner?" asked Arden, feeling like the silence was just growing more and more uncomfortable. "I'm sure that Angel's saving us seats. Rom?"

Romina nodded. She put a planet-shaped pin in her hair to keep it off her face. She then slipped her box under her bed as well and followed the girls out of the dorm.

"What do you guys think we're going to do for Transfiguration this year?" Daphne asked on their way up to the main corridor. "I heard McGonagall is going to go all out for our O.W.L.'s"

"What?" Arden scrunched her face. "But we won't take those until next year!"

"But we should still start preparing early," Romina said, prompting Arden to scoff.

"Oh please, you're like a genius in that class so you'll be totally fine!"

Their entry to the Great Hall would take a bit longer than they had anticipated. There was a great big crowd right outside of the entrance and in the center was the whole reason why. Draco had the latest Daily Prophet in his position and it apparently featured Ron's father. Ron, Harry and Hermione were amongst the group listening.

Mr. Weasley had apparently ensued a fight with the muggle policemen, resulting in the several modified memories to cover up what Mad-Eye-Moody had swore was a true emergency. It was all a false alarm and it'd basically blown up in their faces.

"Well that's just terrible," Arden mumbled to the girls, "Why aren't they bothering Mad-Eye Moody about this? He's the one who raised the alarm, after all."

"Doesn't matter, Rita Skeeter always looks for a story to tell even if it's from the wrong angle," Daphne remarked.

"Who's Rita Skeeter?" Arden asked.

"The worst reporter in the wizarding world," Carolinha sighed. "She's a liar, manipulative, and unfortunately for some reason, people still hang onto her every word."

"Not much of a mystery why," Romina muttered. "People thrive on rumors."

"This looks bad..." Carolinha said as the tension ahead grew worse.

"MOVE IT!" Romina's sudden roar had most of the crowd flinching, all except for Arden and Harry who'd heard it many times before. "GO!" The crowd started rushing inside the Great Hall, most of them anyways. Romina pushed her way through the remaining people, including Harry. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" She stopped in front of Draco.

"Hey, I just read what was on the article," he said, raising his hands in defense. Behind them, they heard Ron snort and mutter 'Fat chance!'.

Romina snatched the paper from him, rolling it up fast to then smack him over the head with it. "You're not actually dumb but I guess today you're striving to prove me wrong!"

Draco was momentarily stunned, his eyes wide. "Did you just…?" Romina raised an eyebrow at him, confirming his unfinished question. "You're off your rocker, Oswell!" He huffed, snatching the rolled up paper from her.

"Not as much as you are! Rita Skeeter of all people? Seriously?" Romina pushed past him into the Great Hall. She wasn't very hungry anymore but it beat staying where she was. She went directly for the Slytherins' table and plopped down beside Angel, startling him in the process.

"Uh, hey Romina," he greeted kindly as was his usual style, "You okay?"

"Peachy." Romina started grabbing different meals, though her hand stopped halfway to a bowl with something creamy inside. "Is that fish stew?"

"Yeah, the Beauxbatons are already eyeing it," Angel said, making a nod towards the Ravenclaw table. Several blue robed students were glancing their way. "I'm just waiting for them to come get the thing. It stinks."

Romina agreed. She gathered more things on her plate and began eating at once. Little by little, the rest of their group started joining them. From the corner of her eye, Romina saw Draco take a seat further down the table with Crabb, Goyle and (unfortunately) Pansy.

That's fine. She met Arden's face which was smiling for some reason. "What?"

"You smacked Draco Malfoy in public with a rolled up Daily Prophet and got away with it."

Angel nearly choked on his pumpkin juice. "You did what?"

"Ron sends his eternal gratitude," Arden went on, reaching for some mashed potatoes, "I think he'll be building you a shrine now."

They all laughed.

"You need to control your temper before you get into actual trouble, though," Daphne warned, "Draco has his own temper too and you know what he's like with Harry. I wouldn't want to see that become your problem too."

"Oh, he's not doing that with me," Romina said with absolute certainty.

Angel eyed her curiously. "And how do you know?"

Romina stopped to think. She didn't know why she said it so surely but she just knew. Maybe it was their past coming into play. "I just...do," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, maybe it's not him you need to worry about," Carolinha said, earning Romina's strange glance. "Pansy's giving you the stink eye."

Romina looked past Carolinha down the table to meet Pansy's death glare. No doubt she'd learned about the incident. "They're a bit cozy," she remarked suddenly.

"She's a piranha looking for opportunities and you're handing them to her on a silver platter," Arden said.

Romina snorted. "Bloody how?"

For her own safety, Arden kept quiet and switched topics instead.

~ 0 ~

Later in the week, Romina managed to find some time alone with Harry to talk. They'd been slightly missing each other in school for whatever reason, even when they shared some of their classes. They walked along the bridge in the afternoon.

"Is Ron's Dad really okay, though?" Romina was wondering. She didn't have the nerve to ask Ron directly. After the fiasco with the article, Romina assumed he wanted to forget and move on.

"Yeah, yeah, just a big misunderstanding," Harry said. Like Romina, he didn't really discuss the matter with Ron.

"Arden made a good point, she said why wasn't Moody getting his spotlight for starting the problem in the first place."

Harry half smiled. That sounded like Arden. "I don't think the Ministry wants to further the issue. They want whatever that woman wrote to die along with the problem."

"Makes sense," Romina shrugged. "Kinda like Hollywood, huh?"

Harry laughed. "Yeah, like that." He side-glanced Romina with another smile. "I missed you, you know."

"I know, me too," she sighed. "I thought we were going to be able to hang out during summer but I guess that didn't happen much, right?"

Harry shook his head. "You got a new family and...I got the Dursleys'."

Romina patted his shoulders. "You are always welcome to move in with me."

Harry laughed at the idea. "That ought to give your aunt and uncle a heart attack or something."

"At the very least, it would take some of the attention off of me," Romina said, bringing a hand to her chest. "Because after the World Cup incident, they watched me like a hawk. Speaking of, how are we doing with you and your scar?"

Harry shrugged. "Hasn't hurt anymore."

"And did you actually write to Sirius?"

"I did…"

Romina stopped walking to eye her friend suspiciously. "Why am I getting the feeling there's a 'but' coming?" Harry pursed his lips and turned his head away. Romina swore he mumbled something else. "What was that?"

With a sigh, Harry repeated himself and louder. "I may have written a second letter telling him I made a mistake and my scar hadn't really hurt."

Romina's eyes widened. "Harry Potter!"

"I had to, Rom! He was flying north to be near me!"

"So!?"

"So?" Harry frowned. "Did you forget that the Ministry is still looking for him? I don't want him to get caught because he was trying to be near me! It doesn't even matter though, he didn't believe me."

"Good," Romina said, ignoring his incredulous face. "He's learned who you are, that'll be good for the future."

"Romima!"

Romina shook her head. "Harry, I'm really sorry for how this is going to sound but...Sirius is the only adult in your family who actually cares for you!" She winced at her own words. That really did sound terrible. It was even more terrible that it was true. "Please don't under-appreciate the fact."

"I'm not, I'm really not," promised Harry. "I know my reality and that's why I didn't want Sirius coming anywhere near here."

"But he is and the best thing you can do, the fair thing, is to be honest with him."

Harry gave a small nod of his head. "Yeah, I know. Don't really have much of a choice, do I? Seeing as he didn't even believe me anyways."

Romina laughed. "He knows you enough."

"C'mon, we should get going. We have our first session of potions today." Harry reluctantly turned back, and so did Romina. "It should be interesting with Snape given how sure he is that I helped Sirius escape."

"Harry, you did help him escape," Romina reminded him.

"Ha, ha," Harry bobbed his head. "So did you. I wonder what your head of House would say about it?"

"Hasn't said anything about it, actually."

Harry snorted. "Wonder why, Slytherin. You know you guys are immune to his wrath."

Romina chuckled. "C'mon Harry, neither of us will be immune if we're late! Let's go!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards the castle.

~0~

Upon entering Snape's class, the professor immediately threw a hard look in Harry's direction. Harry was sure that both Ron and Hermione had received the same looks too.

"Coming to sit with us, then?" Harry mumbled to Romina as they took slow steps towards the seats. They'd managed to get to class with minutes to spare.

"To be frank, I'm not sure," Romina said, eyes falling on the empty seat beside Draco. Harry recognized the look on her face; she was calculating.

"Rom? C'mon," Harry pulled her arm forwards, "He's not worth it." As much as he would love to see to what extent Romina could get away with in the eyes of her head of House, he would rather not see it happen because of Malfoy.

Romina easily got out of Harry's grip. "Give me a second, I want to see something." She stopped walking altogether, forcing Harry to stop as well.

"See what?" Harry dreaded to know. Romina half smirked as she backtracked. Harry sighed. Romina was kind until someone poked her wrong side, then she was mischievous. He genuinely worried for her. "Rom, he can hurt you," he hissed.

Romina's expression was a clear indication of what she believed. "He's not going to hurt me," she waved him off. She turned on her heels and walked back to what used to be (or, depending on the situation, what could still be) her seat.

Whether or not Draco had been watching wasn't clear for her. He was scribbling over a piece of parchment. "Gotta say, thought you'd take a seat beside Potter. Or Angel for that matter."

"What? So my seat is still open then?" Romina looked around the classroom. "I thought you'd be saving it for Parkinson." Pansy had yet to show up to the class.

Draco snorted. He finally put down his things and looked up at her, his expression sour. "She's terrible at Potions. I'm not sacrificing my grades for her."

Romina's eyebrows raised. "Mm, so that means you're willing to do other stuff for her."

"Why's that any concern to you? Last time I heard, Angel's willing to do a lot for you. You know he's not talking to me because of you?"

"How is that my fault?"

"Really?" Draco tilted his head at her. Romina rolled her eyes and sat down beside him. "When are you finally going to tell him to get lost?"

"I'm not talking about that with you," she promptly said, eyes looking directly ahead. She could feel Harry's eyes burning on her. Clearly he didn't like where she'd chosen to sit.

When class finally started, Snape was even less than pleasant with the class. He left the assignment pretty early into the session, making it clear that he had very little faith they would be able to produce exactly what he asked for.

Romina put all her attention on the ingredients they needed and the best way to introduce them to the mixture.

"You're being ridiculous you know," Draco remarked halfway through class. Granted it had been a quiet remark so only they were in on the conversation.

Romina was looking over the passage of their concoction; she had very little interest in what it would even be in the end. "Me? Seriously?"

"Who's the one who's been violent?" Draco pointedly reminded her. "You've punched me and smacked me."

"I did not 'smack', I...lightly tapped." Romina flinched at Draco's hard snort.

"What? And I suppose the punch was a tap as well?"

"Mm, no, that was a punch." Romina looked up with a wide smile. "And you had that coming."

"Then I guess you have things coming too."

"What, you'll hit me back?"

"I don't 'hit', Oswell. That's beneath me. I have...other means of retaliation." Draco handed her the missing piece of her herb.

"What?" Romina took the herb into her fingers. "Couple jinxes?"

Draco shook his head. "No."

Romina rolled her eyes and dumped the piece into the cauldron. As soon as it landed, the contents gurgled and squirted against Romina's hand. She hissed at the contact, drawing her hand back and shaking it until the burning sensation died down. She met Draco's smirking, very pleased, face and immediately scowled. "You're a jerk!"

"I've heard worse," Draco shrugged.

Romina took in a deep breath. Yelling in Snape's class would automatically earn her detention, even if she was a Slytherin. And besides, being stuck in detention meant she couldn't possibly get Draco back. It was a lose, lose situation. She would hold her tongue for the rest of the class, but that didn't mean she let Draco go completely.

Maybe her elbow slipped on his side.

And, apparently, maybe his foot happened to be near her ankle when she got up.

With a growl, she slammed her book over his hand. (Snape may have yelled at Dean Thomas in front of them for that one).

"Maybe I will take Parkinson over you as a partner," Draco spat on their way out of class. "She's got to be less annoying than you at this point."

Romina scoffed. "Please. You just want someone who gushes at everything you do!"

"Potions is where I excel," he said smugly. The worst part was that he was right. He was a genius in Potions; Romina had always praised him for it. "It would be nice to hear someone give me credit."

"I'm sure she'll have no problem with that," Romina said with a huff and marched on.

~ 0 ~

When Hermione plopped down in the seat opposite to Romina in the library, the latter flinched but kept on writing. "You've got homework already?" Hermione asked quietly.

"That is why I'm in the library, Hermione," Romina replied in the same hushed tone. She looked up briefly to send a smile to the brunette. "That why you're here already? During dinner I should add."

Hermione bobbed her head. "Not...exactly. Let's just say I'm doing some research."

Romina chuckled very lightly. She couldn't afford another warning from Madame Pince. Arden had been with her earlier and they hadn't exactly been the quietest.

"What about you? You're here doing an essay during dinner?" Hermione asked curiously. "We didn't see you at your table."

"How could you—the Durmstrang kids are huge," Romina's remark caused a mutual snicker. "Girls and boys."

"Least you don't get the stink eye from the Beauxbatons, some of them are quite judgy," Hermione said, scrunching her face.

"Maybe it's cos they're older. They are 17, remember?"

Hermione shrugged. "Who knows. So, what's the essay you're working on?"

"Snape's," Romina muttered. "Liking him a little less today."

"Welcome to the club."

Romina half smiled. "Anyways, I'm almost done with it if you wanted help on whatever you're researching."

"You're not eating tonight, then?" Hermione asked, a look of concern crossing her face.

"Not very hungry." Romina reached for a book. "Besides, this essay's a little trickier than I thought. Ironic considering it's about the calming draught."

"What's that on your fingers?" Hermione's eyes had widened when she spotted the faint red tint on Romina's right hand fingers.

"Huh?" Romina followed Hermione's gaze to her hand. "Oh," she set her book down on the table, "Funny little trick from Draco in the last class. Gave me a bigger slice of an herb to put into the cauldron—that git. But it doesn't hurt. I'm sure it'll go away soon."

"That's terrible," Hermione said, reaching over for Romina's hand. "Romina, maybe you should drop it."

"Drop what?"

Hermione's expression sharpened. "I know what this is all about. I haven't told Harry or Ron, if you're wondering, but I can't just stand on the side knowing the whole reason you're going head to head with Draco is because of what he said about me. If anything, it's my battle and I'm not interested in fighting it so you shouldn't be either."

"No," Romina shook her head. "Hermione, it's not your fault."

"It is," Hermione bit on her bottom lip, "I'm afraid of what could happen if this escalates. It's all well for Harry, Ron and myself. We're not in the same House as Malfoy. We just go up to the Tower and we're done with him, but you? He could hurt you."

Romina groaned. "How many times do I have to say that he won't!?" She and Hermione both flinched when Madame Pince shushed them from her desk.

"How can you be so sure?" Hermione asked when the coast was clear.

"Because…" Romina shrugged several times as nothing else came to mind.

"Well?"

"Because I just know, okay? I just do."

Hermione wasn't sure whether to be concerned over the war she knew she helped start or rather be concerned over Romina's certainty.

A/N:

They are actual teenagers in this chapter I swear xD.

P.S. As always, I have Fanfic/Wattpad accounts under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)

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saiilorstars · 5 months

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Ch. 36: Worldwide Mayhem

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

Story Masterlist��// Romina’s Masterlist

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Romina wasn't ashamed to say that she liked the act of revenge...but she also hated karma. Because karma now made it so that instead of getting letters from Draco constantly begging her to change her mind about their bet, he was now sending her letters of him boasting about his triumph over her. She owed him a favor and he was making sure that she remembered. Romina hated his guts and wished she could see him again just to smack him. She didn't stay silent, no way. She responded to each of his letters with her own comebacks and promises that she would get him back for all this mess.

Arden saw some of those letters one afternoon in Romina's bedroom. Romina was going around packing a few things in a suitcase while Arden laid on the former's bed reading the letters like they were hers.

"You guys are so competitive, truly not well for your health," she remarked.

Romina scoffed. "Stop reading those, they're not yours."

"Au contraire, mon cheri," Arden said, raising her head for a moment to flash a smirk at Romina. "Like my French?" Romina rolled her eyes and returned to her closet.

Figured I should learn some since you're French now."

"Technically speaking, I've always been French, I just didn't know about it. Now would you please put those letters away? If aunt Sage or uncle Lyonel see them, they'll find out about everything."

Arden figured Romina was right and folded the letters again. "So what have you been telling them since these letters started showing up so often now?" She slid the envelopes underneath Romina's pillows.

"Nothing specific. Lots of people write to me so it's not like they suspect anything." Romina came back to the suitcase on the foot of her bed and slipped in another pair of jeans. "The only owl they recognize are my grandparents', Rolf's and the Weasley's."

"Ooh, better for us, I guess. We'd be dead if they figured out what we made Draco do. But I guess the punishment came with it, huh?" Arden let out a dramatic sigh. "We can never tell anyone about it. Harry would've loved it."

Romina nodded but, unlike Arden, she wasn't that sad they couldn't tell Harry about it. Harry would have had a field day with the idea of Draco being forced to spend an hour in the muggle world. It was just best to keep the animosity between him and Draco as low as possible.

"So, when are you leaving then?" Arden said as she peeked inside Romina's suitcase. "Are you and Harry going together to Ron's?"

"Er, no," Romina gave a shake of her head. She left her packing and walked over to her window that gave a view into the street. She couldn't of course get a good sight of Harry's house but she still tried. "Ron's dad is coming to pick him up at the Dursleys'."

"What?" Arden made a face, confused. "Why?"

"Well, the Dursleys are already on the fence about all the magic stuff so aunt Sage and aunt Lyonel want to stay out of it. Better for me to quietly make my way to the Weasleys'."

"Guess that makes sense," shrugged Arden.

"So I'll be leaving tomorrow morning instead, stay with them for a few days and then come back home. Harry'll stay at the Burrow until school starts again."

"Oh, good for him," Arden nodded. "Make sure to tell me how it goes then."

"Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"Nah! Just have fun and definitely stay away from Pansy Parkinson if you see her."

Romina laughed.

~ 0 ~

It was too early. Way too damn early.

Why'd I even say I was coming? The same thoughts ran through Romina's head while she mindlessly ate her breakfast at the crack of dawn. You don't even like Quidditch that much! Why'd you say you were coming? She barely registered aunt Sage telling her to be on her best behavior before she was shuffled into the fireplace. It was just so early.

Yawning and with her eyes half shut, she stepped into the Weasley's overwhelming living room and right into another mess of people being woken up and yelled at by Mrs. Weasley. Apparently, a lot of the others were thinking like her in that it was too early to be doing anything. It also sounded like the twins were already up to something.

When Mrs. Weasley saw Romina standing in front of the fireplace half asleep, she greeted the girl with a tight hug and guided her to the kitchen where the others were.

"When'd you get here!?" Harry said excitedly.

"Uuh, couple...minutes ago..." Romina yawned and languidly sat down in an empty chair. "Remind me again why we have to be awake so early? I hate you for making me come."

Across the table, the twins scoffed and reminded her that she'd chosen to come.

"Shut up," Romina then said and thanked Mr. Weasley, who sat at the head of the table, for inviting her over. "I just don't like mornings...or dawn..." She said after, making the adults chuckle.

Since she had already eaten breakfast, she got to lay her head on the table and take a short nap while the others finished. She was rudely awoken when Mrs. Weasley started yelling at the twins again about some things she pulled out of them with her wand.

"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted indignantly as the little things, which looked a lot like candy to Romina, went flying straight into the trash bin.

"Oh a fine way to spend six months!" Mrs. Weasley snapped. "No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!"

"I'm confused, what were those?" Romina said, standing up as the others were doing the same around the table.

"We'll tell you later," Hermione said as she quickly pulled Romina with her.

They grabbed their rucksacks and headed out. Romina tugged her sweater closer around her because the air was still ever so cold. They had just made it over the crest of a hill when someone called for Mr. Weasley.

"Arthur! It's about time, son!"

"Amos!" Mr. Weasley greeted as he led the group towards another man waving at them. "This is Amos Diggory, everyone. He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric, right?"

"Hi," Cedric greeted them all with a kind smile. His eyes landed on Romina specifically, to which the girl smiled right back. She still remembered his kind words about her from the last time they'd spoken. Unlike the rest of the school, he didn't look at her name, just her.

"Long walk, Arthur?" Mr. Diggory asked as Mr. Weasley.

"Not too bad," said Mr. Weasley. "We live just on the other side of the village there. You?"

"Had to get up at two, didn't we, Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparition test. Still . . . not complaining . . . Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons — and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy. . . ." Mr. Diggory took a look at the crowd of teenagers around Mr. Weasley. "All these yours, Arthur?"

"Oh no, only the redheads," said Mr. Weasley, pointing out his children. "This is Hermione and Romina, friends of Ron's — and Harry, another friend—"

"Merlin's beard," Mr. Diggory's eyes widened as they landed on the brunette in question. "Harry? Harry Potter?"

"Er — yeah," said Harry, shifting on his feet. Oh, how he adored being the center of everyone's attention...

"Ced's talked about you, of course. Told us all about playing against you last year. . . . I said to him, I said — Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will. ... You beat Harry Potter!"

"Harry fell off his broom, Dad," said Cedric, who looked slightly embarrassed. "I told you...it was an accident..."

"Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you? Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman . . . but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to tell which one's the better flier!"

Cedric looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here right now.

"Think we should keep going or something," Romina cut into the conversation and tapped a finger against her non-existing watch on her wrist. It prompted the two grown men to keep leading them towards the portkey.

"Life saver," Cedric mumbled to her as he walked alongside her.

"You're welcome. You can pay me back later," she chuckled.

They eventually came to the spot of the portkey, which turned out to be an old boot.

"You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do—" Mr. Weasley started explaining to them as they gathered around it.

Even then, with all the focus in the world, their landings were less than graceful. A full cake of grass met most of their faces. But, at last, they were a massive field that stretched God knew how long. Tents by the thousands were already standing in place.

"You alright?" Cedric, who had landed on the ground perfectly like his father and Mr. Weasley, held a hand out to Romina on the ground.

"Oh yeah, no way better to start the day than with a face full of dirt..." Romina grabbed Cedric's hand and was promptly pulled up to her feet. "Does wonders for my skin. Muggles pay for that, you know."

Cedric chuckled. "No they don't."

"Yes, they do. It's called a mud mask."

Their conversation was cut short as they were once again shuffled towards some way by the adults. As they reached some cottage, the Diggorys parted ways with them. It was then that Hermione and Ginny came to flank Romina.

"Uuh, when and how did you manage to pull that?" Ginny's voice was sharp with curiosity as they watched the Diggorys' figures disappear in the distance.

"Excuse you, he's like 4 years older than you," Romina snorted. "Down, Ginny." The redhead rolled her eyes. "And it's not like that. Cedric's very nice and he was still like that while almost everyone else was making fun of me for my name."

"Yeah, but I bet it's always a pleasure to spend time with a guy like that," Hermione smirked. "You were walking very close to each other, and the whole time too!"

Romina rolled her eyes. "You couldn't be more wrong. He's cute but that's about it."

"Oh please," they heard one of the twins scoff up ahead.

"Don't start," Ginny warned them, "You're just mad that Cedric beat Harry in that Quidditch game at school."

"It wasn't a clear win and everybody knows it!" George said with a huff.

"Well, as long as you're not bitter about it," Romina muttered.

After meeting with some poor obliviated Muggle by the name of Mr. Roberts, they were set to find their rented tent in the fields. Everyone who was already there was clearly in the party mood. Music played loudly in the air, people flew back and forth above them on brooms, and there was a strong scent of various foods being prepared.

The inside of their tent turned out to be far bigger than what it appeared on the outside. It was a splash of color everywhere, almost like the entire rainbow had thrown up inside. Mismatched furniture adorned the area but it all looked incredibly comfortable.

"Girls. Choose a bunk and unpack," Mr. Weasley instructed them. "Ron, get out of the kitchen we're all hungry!"

The twins had made themselves comfortable at the kitchen table, feet propped up and arms behind their heads. "Yeah get out of the kitchen Ron!" They chorused together.

Mr. Weasley walked past them, motioning to their feet. "Feet off the table!"

"Feet off the table!" They repeated, pulling their feet off until their father left.

"I love magic," Harry remarked with a light chuckle.

"Harry!" Ron called as he made his way to the other side of the tent. "You can sleep over here!"

Harry nodded and made his way to the bunk to unpack what he had brought. From their spot, he and Ron could hear the endless giggles of the girls not too far from them.

"Listen to them," Ron said, crinkling his nose, "Bet they're going on about Diggory."

"Sheesh, Ron, didn't know you could be that jealous..." Romina had come out of their side to smirk at the ginger.

"It's not jealousy, it's annoyance," said Ron in a mutter.

"Don't know about what since Cedric's literally never done anything to you. Is there any dinner yet? I'm starving!" And with that, Romina headed into the kitchen.

In the next half hour, the rest of them came to join for some makeshift dinner. It was there that they decided to nitpick the latest news they had discovered, which, unfortunately, meant Romina had to answer a lot more questions about her new family.

"So does this mean you're going to get snooty now that you have more class, Aline?" Fred asked and before Romina knew it,George was at her side, feigning a dramatic bow.

Romina sighed heavily. "Knock it off!" She shoved George away from her and ignored their collective laugh."Shut it, both of you," Ginny told the twins and ordered them to sit down already.

"In reality, we're very happy for you, Romina," Hermione smiled at the girl. "It must be wonderful to have more family. You even have cousins now!"

"Yeah, Rolf is really great," Romina nodded. "I'm excited for this year. We get to see each other all the time and we might even make plans to visit each other at our homes. Rolf wants to see the neighborhood."

"Just keep him away from our block," warned Harry. "Dudley's a menace."

"Yeah, well, I'm a bigger one," Romina said promptly and with a wide smirk. "Besides, maybe with a little help from two certain entrepreneurs, I might get my hands on some enlargement toffees or something...?"

The twins smirked on the spot and declared that it would be their pleasure to assist her in any future plans she had.

~ 0 ~

Many things had happened by the next day's morning. For one, they had all met Ludo Bagman, aka the man who had given Mr. Weasley the extra tickets that allowed them to come. He wasn't very impressive, at least not to the girls who thought it was a waste of time placing bets and all on the outcome of the game. Since the twins had placed almost, if not all, their winnings, they promptly told the girls to mind their business. Ron's older brothers had come to join them by lunchtime. Bill and Charlie were very much cool and fascinating to the teenagers, save for Percy of course. He was still a stickler as ever.

They had also met Barty Crouch, Percy's boss. Harry had quietly made the joke to the others that Mr. Crouch looked like his uncle Vernon in the suit he was in. Before Percy could get at any of them, Mr. Crouch had called him forward, albeit by the name of Weatherby, which then made all of them, but no one more than the twins, cackle.

Once it was finally time to go, the group got themselves ready and headed out. Every other wizard on site was heading in the same direction, making an absolute chaos. The closer they got to the stadium, the more excitement could be felt in the air. Wizards were laughing, joking, and cheering all around.

Romina was momentarily drawn to the pretty lights in the air that, if anyone asked her, resembled a lot like the twins' fireworks they had talked about earlier. She wondered if they had managed to sneak those in from home. In her distraction, she'd been bumped into by several of the other guests.

"Eughl, watch it!" she scowled at the rude group of teenage girls who, as pretty as they were, seemed like the biggest bunch of—

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?"

Romina recognized the voice before she turned around. She couldn't miss the bright blonde hair hair in the midst of the crowd. "Hey," she greeted Draco with a deadpanning look.

"Lost, Oswell?"

"I know exactly where I am, thank you very much. I'm at the World Cup, aren't I?"

Draco rolled his eyes but he still had a cocky little smile on his face. "I see we're still a little, uh, pressed about that thing that happened?"

"No, I'm totally fine. I was actually heading up with my friends—"

"What a coincidence, so was I," Draco said and a few seconds later, Romina heard someone else through the crowd.

"Malfoy, what the fuck? You left me behind and for what?" Theodore Nott was quite literally pushing his way through the crowd until he spotted Draco and Romina. "Oh, Oswell, what a surprise."

"Hi," Romina gave him a weak wave. She hadn't seen him at all through break but like the rest of the boys, he'd also grown several inches over the break. "Am I to expect Blaise and Angel too?"

"Nah, Angel's gone for Brazil and Blaise couldn't come," said Theodore. "Our families were invited by Cornelius Fudge," he gestured between himself and Draco.

"Congrats?" Romina said questioningly.

"Don't be sarcastic now, I'm not your enemy," Theodore said with a smug smirk.

Romina figured Draco must have already told everyone by know about their second bet.

"But trust me, I'm your biggest fan," Theodore said, bringing a hand over his chest. "Getting Malfoy over here to actually go to your muggle neighborhood was gold. Truly never letting that go."

And just like that, Romina liked Theodore again. "Well, it was one of my finest moments..."

Draco glared at them both. "Shut it," he ordered them. "Before my parents hear—"

But just like before, Romina couldn't not spot the same bright blondes in the crowd growing closer. "If you want things to stay quiet I suggest you stop talking," she told Draco quickly before his parents caught up with them. It wasn't just them, though. Romina spotted another man walking with them — tall and with a familiar complexion. It had to be Theodore's father.

"There you are," a woman whom Romina presumed was Draco's mother said to him and Theodore. "You got too far ahead."

"Sorry mother, we just saw a friend of ours," Draco said and motioned to Romina who, for some reason, was flushing. He gave her an odd look for it but didn't point it out.

"Hello," Romina greeted the woman, and the rest of the adults for that matter. "Romina Oswell, nice to meet you, ma'am." Her eyes flickered to Theodore's father and gave him an acknowledging nod.

"Yes, we've of course heard of you," Draco's mother smiled politely at the girl. "Narcissa Malfoy, my husband Lucius and our good friend Mr. Theodore Nott."

Romina's eyebrows raised at young Theodore and just as her lips quirked upwards, she felt the subtle nudge of Draco's elbow beside her. Better not make a comment, she reminded herself. At least not until we're alone. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Nice to see you again as well," said Mr. Malfoy, with a strange smile. "I heard you're associating yourself with a new family? We didn't know you were part of the Scamander family."

"Truthfully, neither did I," Romina said nervously. She wondered exactly how far this news was reaching.

"Well, a word of advice, I would be careful where you shop," Mr. Malfoy's strange smile grew wider. "The Scamander family is renowned for its heroic acts. Unfortunately, I don't believe they would be as understanding as we are."

"Definitely not," agreed Mr. Nott. "It's about agility, Miss Oswell. Something you have yet to master."

Romina couldn't help but gulp. She looked at Draco accusingly.

Mrs. Malfoy suggested they start heading up towards the stairs with the rest of the crowd. While the adults took the lead, the teenagers lingered a few feet behind them.

Romina could only wait so long before she threw her accusations out loud. "You git—you told?"

"Don't look at me Oswell," Draco was quick to say. "I didn't know you decided to make conversation with the actual owners of Borgin and Burkes! Who does that?"

Romina pursed her lips. That may have not been her best idea, she could see that now. "But you didn't have to tell!"

"I didn't!"

"Nobody had to," Theodore said, making Romina's head flip in his direction. "Our parents do trade with the owner. He's a chatty old man."

"So he's blabbing that I went in!?"

"Well, it's not like any of your crew ever go in there, right? Nobody's ever gonna know."

"Yeah, lighten up, Oswell," said Draco. "Everyone upheld their end of the deal. Enjoy the game already. Even from where you're probably gonna watch it. You know you could've just asked, right?"

Romina didn't care much for his smirk and picked up her pace. "I've actually got a great seat. And I should catch up; I've wasted enough of my time with the likes of you." With a huff and her nose in the air, she walked faster up ahead until she was lost in the crowd.

"Does she even know where she's going?" asked Theodore curiously. "I doubt she's ever been to something like this."

Draco shrugged. "Let her get lost."

"Oh, please," scoffed Theodore, "I'm sure there'll be somebody more than willing to help her find her way again." At Draco's questioning glance, Theodore just shrugged. "She looks different, don't you think?"

"I think she looks the bloody same," Draco said flatly. "Definitely the same type of annoying."

"Well, I think Angel would agree with me," Theodore said with a knowing laugh.

Draco did not laugh, nor did he say anything else on the matter.

~ 0 ~

When Romina caught up with the rest of her friends, they were already sitting down on the first row of the top box. Mr. Weasley expressed his concern for her lack of prescence when they had first arrived, and she apologized for getting distracted.

"Please just make sure to stick with one of us, alright?" he made her promise that she would for future moments.

She scooted towards the end where Harry, Hermione and Ron were. They were as concerned as Mr. Weasley had been, curious of where she'd gotten to. Romina glossed over it and soon noticed that there was another house elf sitting at the top of the box with her hands covering her face. It sure helped move things along because Hermione started raging again about how insensitive it was to force a house elf afraid of heights to sit on the highest box in the stadium. Winky, was the elf's name, and she was adamant that she was a good elf who followed orders, unlike one Dobby who, apparently, was demanding he be paid for his service. Romina thought it was funny but didn't dare say it out loud in front of Hermione.

The box was nearly filled, amongst them with the Minister of Magic himself Cornelius Fudge, and the Bulgarian minister as well (who didn't speak English). Romina soon saw problems when the Malfoys and Notts arrived at the same box. It seemed like Fudge was oblivious to the tension between Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy as he addressed them both in casual greetings.

It was a tense stand-off between them as Fudge showed them to their seats which, of course, happened to be behind theirs. Romina looked over her shoulder as both Draco and Theodore sat down behind her.

"This is going to be a long night," she murmured.

"I'll say, your big head's in the way," she heard Theodore remark behind her, followed by the distinctive sound of Draco snickering.

She shot them both a contemptuous look then flipped her head again to face the field. She felt Hermione's hand come over hers on her lap; she was offering Romina a kind smile. It definitely helped.

The game started promptly with Ludo Bagman's arrival. The whole stadium erupted at his introduction, making it a colorful array of flags throughout the whole place. ""And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce . . . the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

"I wonder what they've brought," Mr. Weasley wondered curiously and leaned forward in his seat. "Aaah!" He suddenly pulled off his glasses and gave them a good polish with his robes. "Veela!"

At his exclaim, the teenagers saw what seemed like a hundred of these "veela" glide out into the field. Most of them had never seen "veela" before but they turned out to be very pretty women with white-gold hair and shining skin. A sweet melody started playing with their entrance.

"Woah, what the fuck are you doing, Harry Potter?" Romina didn't hesitate to rip the brunette away from the wall of the box and right back into his seat. He seemed to be transfixed by the sight of the dancing veela.

"They're so pretty Rom..." He said much too eagerly.

Romina exchanged glances with Hermione and Ginny who seemed about the only ones out of their group not to be losing their minds. Ron looked ready to make a dive into the field as well. The twins had the same stupid dreamy grins on their faces. Romina looked back at Draco and Theodore and saw them leaned forward with similar dazed faces.

"Honestly!" Hermione shook her head at them all.

Romina decided to flip her hair over her shoulders in such a dramatic way that it slapped both Draco and Theodore in their faces. "Oops!"

"What was that for?" Theodore leaned back in his seat with the biggest scowl on his face.

"Oswell being dramatic, I'm sure," Draco said and matched Romina's glare with his own. "We were having a good time, you know."

"Oh, we know," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Idiots, all of you," she murmured and fixed herself in her seat. She was very glad when the veela left the field.

"And now, kindly put your wands in the air . . . for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

Fortunately, the Irish did not have any Veela as part of their introductions. They had lovely green and gold comets zooming around the stadium that hurtled towards the goal posts. A rainbow appared to connect them and soon disappeared, leaving a great shimmering shamrock in the sky.

"Excellent!" Ron cried as the shamrock rained gold coins down on them.

The closer the shamrock was to them, the more clearly they could see that it was actually comprised of leprechauns. Everyone around the stadium scrambled to pick up the golden coins being left behind, including Ron who gave Harry a fistful of them and cried about a christmas present or something.

"Here Oswell," Draco dropped some of the coins over Romina's shoulder. "Maybe you could buy yourself one of those little dried fruits you like so much. Or maybe you could buy one for your Weasley group. They might need it more."

Romina grabbed the coin and tossed it over her shoulder, hitting him in the face with it. She could hear Harry and Ron snickering beside her. "I think I only need one coin to make 'em laugh, so thanks. Theodore, you want one too?"

"I'm good, thanks," said Theodore with his hands in front of him.

"Smart." Romina then held up another coin for Draco to see and raised an eyebrow, silently asking if he wanted another one to his face.

His response was a deep glare.

Ludo started introducing the Bulgarian team now. Ron was very happy about his favorite player, Viktor Krum. He was over the moon really. After the Irish team was brought on, Ludo introduced the referee who then officially started the game.

Though Romina wasn't a huge fan of the sport, she knew a good game when she saw one. These players were clearly professionals as they literally zoomed by after the balls, dodging them and throwing them. They were fast.

The Irish made a goal first. The leprechauns happily rose into the air again and formed a glittering shamrock for their team.

Later, the Iris had made two more goals, leaving the Bulgarians to race to catch up. And soon, they scored their own goal too.

"Fingers in your ears!" Mr. Weasley warned the group as the veela started to dance in the air.

This time, most of the boys stayed bright as ever now that they knew the veelas' tricks. Romina laughed as Harry re-opened his eyes; she supposed it was a good way to ensure that he didn't fall under the veelas' charms.

The bulgarians stayed in control of the quaffle, but now it seemed like the teams' seekers had spotted the snitch. Krum and Lynch zoomed after it like they were diving. Hermione screamed that they were going to crash down on the field. Krum pulled out at the last second, but Lynch went straight down.

It's time-out!" yelled Bagman over the stadium, "as trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!"

It was a lot of back and forth for a while, with many more fast-paced tricks from both teams. It got to the point where the referee intervened, which then caused more problems that brought on both sides' mascots. A battle enraged between them involving not so kind words from the leprechauns and more charming dances from the veela.

Romina and Hermione, and Ginny, were not impressed by the sight.

When the game was finally started again, the teams were more furious than ever with their attempts to score. Romina was sure there was a lot more foul play now than anything else. The mascots started again, with the leprechauns forming one giant hand that was very keen on showiing its middle finger.

This time, Romina couldn't help but laugh.

The veelas lost it and went straight for the attack, throwing fire at the leprechauns. Their beautiful figures morphed into very nonhuman features with cruel-beaked bird heads and scaly wings bursting from their shoulders.

While Ministry wizards tried breaking apart the mascot fight below, the game was still going on above. Back and forth went the quaffle, scores being made on both sides. However, with more foul play, one bludge slamming right into Krum's face and breaking his nose. Even then, the game still went on. At some point, the irish seeker Lynch had spotted the snitch and took a nose dive for it. Krum went after him and somehow, Lynch managed to crash into the field yet again only this time since the Veela were still around, they stampeded around him. Krum took possession of the Snitch, but the Irish had still won the game.

"KRUM GETS THE SNITCH — BUT IRELAND WINS — good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!" Bagman said what most of them were thinking.

"What did he catch the Snitch for?" Ron said in the midst of his excited bouncing with applause. "He ended it when Ireland were a hundred and sixty points ahead, the idiot!"

"He knew they were never going to catch up!" Harry had to shout to be heard amongst the applause of the stadium. "The Irish Chasers were too good...he wanted to end it on his terms, that's all!"

"He was very brave, wasn't he?" Hermione leaned forward and watched Krum land to be surrounded by mediwizards. "He looks a terrible mess. . . ."

"This was the most chaotic game I have ever seen," Romina remarked with all the tude of someone unimpressed.

"It's the only game you've seen," came Draco's remark from behind.

Romina spun around that time and swiped some golden coins off the ground to chuck at his face. With all the buzz and excitement of cheers, nobody really noticed her antics. It wasn't until Bagman started re-introducing the teams that Romina gave up and turned back with her friends to continue clapping.

And of course, once the game was truly over, and Bagman was no longer talking to the stadium, Fred and George Weasley were scrambling to his seat with wiggling fingers and wide grins.

~ 0 ~

Later on in the evening, celebrations were still going strong in almost every part of the tents. In the Weasley Tent, the twins were dancing ridiculously in the middle while Ron went on about Krum to the others.

"There's no one like Krum. He's like a bird the way he rides the wind. He's more than an athlete, he's an artist!"

"Think you're in love Ron?" Ginny snickered when Ron hopped onto a chair to make his words better heard.

The twins started mocking him with their version of a song. "Viktor I love you! Viktor!" Even Harry joined in.

"When we're apart my heart beats only for youuu!"

Hermione and Romina shook their heads disapprovingly but nobody could take away their laughter, not when Ron looked so heated.

"Sounds like the irish have got their pride on," Fred remarked after a particularly loud burst from outside.

Mr. Weasley suddenly came running into the tent looking quite frantic. "Stop! Stop it. It's not the irish. We've gotta get out of here. Now!"

The group all looked at each other in concern and with a bit of fright. What could be happening at a time like this? The more they listened, the clearer things got. It no longer sounded like cheering and singing outside. Romina heard distinct sounds of horrific screaming.

Mr. Weasley was quick to get everyone out as he threw out a handful of instructions. "Stick together. Fred, George...Ginny is your responsibility!"

"But what's happening!?" Each of them would ask until they were shoved outside and could see for themselves.

The air was filled with smoke from ongoing fires. People were running all over the place, screaming, as one identifiable group in pointed hoods and flaming torches wrecked the place.

"What are they doing?" Romina was horrified when she saw four bodies in the air being controlled by the same group. She recognized the man as the same muggle they encountered yesterday — Mr. Roberts. With him was a woman and two small children, all with the same terrified faces.

Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie and Percy emerged behind them from the tent, wands at the ready. "We're going to help the Ministry!" Mr. Weasley told the teenagers. "You lot — get into the woods, and stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"

"Romina, let's go!" Hermione called frantically, trying to tug Romina's arm.

"But—it's a family!" Romina bit on her bottom lip so hard she drew blood in a matter of seconds. The family were muggles, so the hooded group had to be…

"ROMINA!" Hermione finally screamed and yanked Romina with her in a hasty run.

Romina swallowed hard and focused on the rhythm of her running. She couldn't afford to fall and get trampled on. But with so many people doing the same thing, she was bumped and crashed into so many times it was a miracle she hadn't already fallen. She grew alarmed when she no longer saw bright red hair ahead of her anymore.

"Hermione, where are the others!?" she shrieked.

Hermione seemed to be making the same realizations as her face grew more and more pale. "I don't know!"

"What about Harry and Ron? Where are they!?"

"I don't know!"

"Great! So we don't know anything!"

"I know one thing—we need to get out of here!"

Romina would give her that point. They ran into the closest opening of the forest they could find. At least there they would have a chance of hiding and thinking of where to find the others. Though with the darkness around them, it would be hard finding anybody.

"Crazy to think that right now I would really rather be feeding my grandfather's graphorn right now," Romina said to Hermione. With the darkness, she couldn't see the odd look Hermione was sending her.

"Why? So you can complain about it later on like before?" drawled a familiar voice behind the pair.

Romina could laugh at the dumb luck they had. "Oh for God's sake—Lumos!" Her wand illuminated the immediate area and when she, and Hermione, turned around they saw Draco and Theodore leaning against a tree opposite of them. "Bit calm there, aren't we?"

They were pretty much relaxed when there was literal chaos in the area. Draco shrugged, leaning off the tree. "Not sure you're making the right choice again, Oswell. Out of everybody you've ran off with, you chose her." He made a nod in Hermione's direction.

The brunette, in return, glared. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Have you taken a look out there, Granger? Those are Muggles. What do you think I meant?"

Romina peered around the tree. She swallowed hard. The field was much too crowded to identify anyone but she could definitely see the figures in the air. She felt sick to her stomach. "They're...they're death eaters, aren't they?" Her voice shook a bit.

"Yes," Theodore answered her, making her look back at them. "So the smart choice would be to ditch your little friend before you get caught up in this mess."

"Bet you're a little happy you didn't bring King along, though," Draco said, knowing that despite her heavy annoyance she knew that he had a point. He smirked.

Romina air strangled him with her free hand. "Where the hell are your parents?"

"I got a feeling I know where," she heard Hermione mumble.

"Lost them in the run," Draco said quite calmly. "What about you? Weasleys leave you to your own luck?"

"No," Hermione snapped. "We got split up but don't worry, we'll be finding them." She grabbed hold of Romina's arm, dragging the dark haired girl a few steps away when a strong explosion rocked them all on their feet.

"Might be a little hard, Hermione," Romina admitted.

"You're better off splitting up, Oswell!" Draco called to them.

"Shut it!" Romina snapped. She racked her mind for some good options which, admittedly, weren't very many. "Draco," she called suddenly, "Where were you guys going to go?"

"What?" Both he and Hermione sent her the exact same horrific looks.

Theodore looked between with bemusement. "We're not bringing you anywhere."

"Oh, be quiet, Nott," Romina waved him off, "And get real. You two were definitely going to go somewhere—where?"

Even Hermione wasn't all for Romina's plan. She would much rather take her chances in the forest. "Romina, we don't need them!"

"Right now, we need to take anything we can get," Romina said sharply and faced the boys again, more precisely Draco. "C'mon," she sighed, putting her hands together as she walked up to Draco, "For once, just stop being a jerk and help us out. We could die out here. Would you really let that happen?"

"Not you," Draco said with all the ease in the world.

Romina glared incredulously at him. "Oh, how special I feel right now! You idiot!" Without warning, she punched his arm with all her might.

Hermione blinked in surprise while Draco stumbled back, arm clutching what was sure to be bruised later on. Theodore's eyes widened as well but he downright laughed.

"Shut the fuck up, Nott!" Draco said lividly before his eyes landed on Romina. "Who the hell do you think you are—?"

Romina had enough and shoved him away from her. "I can't believe I ever thought you had a shred of decency! Don't you ever talk to me again!" She yelled furiously at him then ran back to where Hermione was, grabbing her hand, and continuing their run together.

Neither girl wanted to admit that they had no idea where they were going but they did agree (silently) that it was going to be better than the field. They held onto each other's hands as tightly as possible because the last thing they were going to do was lose each other amongst the chaos. They bumped into all sorts of people running as well, among those Beauxbaton students who didn't speak a drop of English. They even caught Ludo Bagman who, up until that moment, had no idea what was going on out in the campsite.

Eventually, fate took pity on them and they found—crashed face first—with Harry and Ron.

"What happened to you two!?" Harry hugged Romina tightly. "We were going mad trying to find you!"

"Yeah, where'd you get into!?" Ron was about to hug Hermione but for some reason he decided not to in the end.

"Got lost, that's all," Romina said quickly, making it clear to Hermione that they were going to leave out the small moment they had with Draco. That was fine with Hermione.

"Where are the twins and Ginny?" Hermione asked, looking around the immediate area. There was no one else but them.

"Got the foggiest," Ron said. "We're hoping we can find them when this dies down."

"How is this ever going to die down?" Romina made a gesture towards the noise of the field. "The entire Ministry is probably out there trying to get this—"

They stopped when a particular noise was just too close to them. Uneven steps were definitely close to their area. It turned out to be Winky who, despite wanting to escape the chaos, seemed to be struggling greatly to do so. It got Hermione riled up again about house elves again. They kept running, although Harry was a little slower on account of him trying to find his missing wand. They came to a small clearing that for the time being seemed safe. It was very shortlived as they thought they heard more steps.

"Who's there?" Harry called, bringing both Romina and Hermione behind him and Ron.

Nobody answered him directly. Instead, they all heard a loud scream ring through the clearing. "MORSMORDRE!"

A streak of green energy beamed to the sky. It seemed to glitter in the sky when it exploded to create a shape. They were like dancing emerald stars forming a serpent protruding from its mouth.

"What the hell…?" Romina gulped, taking a step back as if the serpent would come down for them at that very moment.

New screams erupted from the forest. Wherever it was that people had been hiding themselves was gone now.

"What? What is it!? What's going on now?" Harry looked around to make sure his friends were still with him. They were. And they were just as frightened as the others.

"Harry, it's the Dark Mark!" Hermione exclaimed. "You Know Who's sign!"

"RUN! RUN!" was all Ron's head could think of so it was the first thing that came out of his mouth. 'It didn't help that wizards were apparating only a short distance from them, each one with their wand out and aimed right at them.

Harry cried 'duck!' seconds before the wizards yelled 'stupifey!'.

Lights flashed above them, ricocheting from every angle—how none of them had yet to be struck by the lights was beyond Harry.

"STOP! That's my son!"

At the voice of Mr. Weasley, the firing stopped. The man emerged from group of wizards, looking worse for wear as he came up to group to make sure they were alright.

"Out of the way, Arthur," Barty Crouch strode up to them, wand still clasped in his hand. "Which one of you did it?" He demanded from them. "Which one of you conjured the Dark Mark?"

"You're joking!" Romina snapped out of her fear-induced trance. "We were running for our lives and you think we did that!?" She raised a finger high above her head to point at the sky. "You're out of your mind!"

"Do not lie!" Crouch said, eyes blazing with anger for the lack of the response he was searching for and for being spoken to like that by a young girl. "You've been discovered at the scene of the crime!"

"Where did the Mark come from, you four?" Mr. Weasley asked much gentler, and of course without the intention of blaming them.

"Over there!" Hermione pointed to their left. "There was someone behind the trees! They're the ones who shouted an-an incantation!"

Mr. Crouch still wasn't convinced. However, he was the only one because the group of wizards behind him didn't exactly believe four fourteen year old kids were responsible for the massive mark tainting their sky.

"You know who did it,' Romina spoke again, ignoring Mr. Weasley's look that practically begged her not to keep going. "We all do."

Crouch met her eye with nothing but disdain for her. "Oh, really?"

"I would know what that mark is—my parents had it. That's the mark of the Death Eaters. They're responsible for it, not some Hogwarts students." Romina folded her arms, mustering enough courage to keep staring at the man until he either agreed and let them go...

She would waver from a lot of things but not this. There were many pictures of Elora and Caplan around and in many of them they had the same mark tattooed on their arms. Whoever was behind all this was a Death Eater wearing the same damn mark.

The stand-off was interrupted by Cedric's father, Mr. Diggory, who in a matter of minutes managed to acquire a stunned "culprit" not too far from them. Of course when he returned with the culprit, things made even less sense. It was Winky, Mr. Crouch's house elf. And to top it off, she had a wand.

After being brought back, Mr. Diggory started questioning her.

"I — I — I is not doing it, sir!" Winky said. "I is not knowing how, sir!"

"You were found with a wand in your hand!" Mr. Diggory held the wand in question at her.

"Hey," frowned Harry as he recognized the wand, "That's mine!"

Everything stopped. All eyes turned on him.

"I dropped it!" Harry said.

"You dropped it?" Mr. Diggory said in disbelief. "Is this a confession? You threw it aside after you conjured the Mark?"

"Amos, think who you're talking to!" Mr. Weasley cut in angrily. "Is Harry Potter likely to conjure the Dark Mark?"

Thankfully, Mr. Diggory gathered his bearings and realized how unlikely that was. "Er — of course not. Sorry . . . carried away . . ."

"I didn't drop it there, anyway," Harry said, jerking his thumb behind them. "I missed it right after we got into the wood."

So," Mr. Diggory, turned to look at Winky again, "You found this wand, eh, elf ? And you picked it up and thought you'd have some fun with it, did you?"

"We're not really thinking the elf did it, are we?" Romina was not quiet at all with her scoff. "Look at her! She's scared out of her wits!"

"Winky's got a squeaky little voice, and the voice we heard doing the incantation was much deeper!" Hermione added for support. "It was a human voice."

"And a man too," Romina crossed her arms. "A grown man."

Mr. Diggory didn't look very impressed by the two girls. "Well, we'll soon see. There's a simple way of discovering the last spell a wand performed, elf, did you know that?"

"Oh, for the love of..." Romina shook her head, "Guess Cedric didn't get his smarts from his dad..." She mumbled under her breath.

Mr. Diggory performed the spell on Harry's wand and to everyone's shock, the same skull from the sky billowed out from Harry's wand like a ghost.

"I is not doing it!" Winky cried with absolute terror. "I is not, I is not, I is not knowing how! I is a good elf, I isn't using wands, I isn't knowing how!"

"You've been caught red-handed, elf !" Mr. Diggory roared. "Caught with the guilty wand in your hand!"

Winky cried about her innocence until Mr. Crouch stepped in and twisted the accusation. If Winky was the accused, then so was he and that could not be. Mr. Diggory had no choice but to let go of his accusation. Winky told the group where she had found Harry's wand which wasn't too far from them. They soon believed that whoever had used the wand had merely found it like Winky had and took advantage of it.

Mr. Crouch requested he be the one to punish Winky for her "crimes", which was not following his orders. "Winky has behaved tonight in a manner I would not have believed possible. I told her to remain in the tent. I told her to stay there while I went to sort out the trouble. And I find that she disobeyed me. This means clothes."

Winky started sobbing.

"But she was frightened!" Hermione said angrily at the same time Romina said, in a calmer manner, 'You're so delusional'.

While Mr. Crouch wasn't that bothered by Hermione's outburst, he threw a hard look in Romina's direction. "Watch your language, young lady."

"But she was literally stuck in the middle of an attack and you want to fire her?" Romina scowled. "If she had stayed back there, she would've been killed. So a dead house elf is better than this?"

"I have no use for a house-elf who disobeys me," he said coldly.

"Romina's right! You'd rather a dead house elf!" Hermione exclaimed. "Your elf 's scared of heights, and those wizards in masks were levitating people! You can't blame her for wanting to get out of their way!"

But Mr. Crouch was not swayed by either girl. In the end, Mr. Weasley stepped in to retrieve Harry's wand and get them all out of there. Though angry, Romina and Hermione followed them, leaving behind the sobbing elf and wizards. Romina gazed up at the dark sky and saw the remnants of the Dark Mark still present. She swallowed hard; she had done a great job not thinking about Elora and Caplan this summer. She should have known it would never last.

#ocapp #allaboutocs #ochub #fd: Harry potter #Draco Malfoy fics #Draco Malfoy imagines #Draco Malfoy x OC #dm fics #dm imagines #dm x oc #Harry Potter fics #Harry Potter imagines #hp fics #hp imagines #oc: Romina Oswell #fic: Legacies

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