Archive of Our Own

Nevertheless, she couldn't consider herself fully prepared at her maximum potential, especially given the results of the first trial. She got third place. In any other contest, that would have sounded like an incredible outcome, but not in a Triwizards tournament.

Some of her fellow Slytherins came up with a fresh new hobby: mocking her for her failure. It was as if they felt more humiliated than her. Allie tried to laugh it off, to see everything in a positive light and remember that there were two more trials. She could still make it. She could still uphold to her reputation.

"Going somewhere?"

A couple of Slytherin students shoved past her in the corridors of the castle, giggling.

"To prepare for my second trial, smartass" she retorted, drained from all the incessant prying.

"Are you, now? You should just give up, at this point. You'd make a better impression."

She sighed. Why wouldn't they just leave her alone? "I don't have time for this."

"That ancient Goblet must be slowly rotting away, given it chose a loser like you over Sebastian."

Her blood boiled in her veins and she had to call all of her willpower not to pull out her wand and turn the student into a purple toad. To hell with the rules.

"Piss off, Wilburg."

The last person she expected to stand up for her hurried by her side, tall, arrogant and with her conventional sarcastic smile. Imelda.

"She was chosen for the most famous competition in Europe, but what have you accomplished this year? Aside from falling off your broom and breaking your bones, that is. I was there. I saw everything."

The guy seemed ready for a comeback, but his friend realized that there was no point in starting a fight, especially with Imelda, who was now smiling victorious. The two walked away frantically, when Allie subtly took out her wand and, with a swift movement, binded their ties together, which made them stumble shamefully to the ground.

"Thanks, Imelda, but you don't have to worry. I got everything under control."

Imelda grinned. "Well said, child-wonder. They're just jealous of your position and they know they couldn't have done better."

Couldn't they?

"Thank you", she simply smiled at her.

FEW DAYS BEFORE THE FIRST TRIAL

"You put your name in the Goblet?"

Allie, Ominis and Sebastian were eating in the Great Room, when Sebastian's question took Allie's attention away from her dinner.

"I did", she absently replied.

His eyes darkened for a moment, but it was so fast she thought she imagined it. "Congratulations. May the best of us be chosen, then."

"I guess we both earned this opportunity."

Sebastian giggled. "Now, now. We know who the real deal of Hogwarts is already."

Allie forced a smile. She's been doing it for a while now. Since the professors had announced the tournament. Since, from that very first moment, many eyes had focused on her. Some curious, others challenging, and many others... full of expectations.

She decided to change the subject. "If I may be honest, there's something much more frightening than the tournament."

Sebastian stopped his fork mid-air. "Which is?"

"The Yule Ball" Allie and Ominis said in unison.

The brunette giggled. "Come on, you two should get your priorities straight. It's just a ball."

"Last time I said that, I got hit by a bludger right in the spleen. Never trust a ball."

The joke caused her friends to laugh reluctantly.

Just rip the bandage right off.

"By the way," Allie began. "Are you two inviting someone?"

"I... was already invited, actually" Ominis stated.

She spurted out her juice. Sebastian's eyes blinked, and Allie guessed he wasn't aware of the news either.

"You two are incredibly rude" he said sternly.

Allie wiped her lips with a napkin. "No, don't misunderstand me, Ominis. I'm happy for you, it's just..."

"What she means is," Sebastian interceded, "We didn't expect for someone else to make the first step. Given your, well, reputation."

"Who was it?" Allie stretched across the table, trying to get closer to Ominis sitting opposite of her.
Ominis, sensing an all too compelling presence, leaned back.

"Poppy Sweeting."

Her jaw fell down to the floor. Sebastian whistled. "Well, who would have thought?"

Poppy and Ominis. Now that he mentioned it, the two made quite an unusual pair. Only someone like Poppy would have been so open-minded and nonchalant as to invite the Gaunt child to a formal event. Unusual, yes. But also kinda cute.

"Enough about me. Sebastian, care to share your current suitress' count?"

"Your confidence in my charm is rather touching, Ominis, however..." he stalled, crossing his hands on his chest, "I refused both. To be honest, I'm not even sure I'll go. Unless I'm chosen as champion, that is."

Allie's heart skipped a beat. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, it's a traditional and quite beautiful event, but I'd rather spend my time doing something more... productive."

"Like looking for a cure for Anne?"

She didn't want to say it. She didn't, because she knew how painful it was for Sebastian. But she was fed up and tired. Tired that Sebastian's life had to depend on his sister's. Allie liked Anne, no doubt, and her fate still weighed down on her every single day. But it was Anne herself that pleaded for Sebastian to forget his torment and live his own life, once and for all.

She'd hoped he'd learnt his lesson, at this point, and yet he still hadn't completely given up on a "cure". Something that, as they'd discovered together, was unfortunately non-existent. 

Sebastian's brows knitted. Ominis sensed the tense atmosphere and decided to intervene.

"Allie..."

"You know it's true", she immediately reprimanded. It was too late to stop, now. " You can't keep giving up on your life for someone's that can't be saved, Sebastian. You've already seen what it brought you."

Having said this, she eagerly got up from the table and disappeared beyond the imposing doors.
The other two, with downcast eyes, remained silent for a few minutes. It was Ominis who spoke first.

"You know she didn't mean it."

"Oh, I believe she meant every word of it."

---

Since that day, Sebastian and Allie hadn't spoken with each other. Not even after the extraction of her name, not even after the failure of the first trial. Ominis, bless his soul, was right at the center of two fires, but Allie wasn't surprised when he eventually took Sebastian's side this time. Maybe out of pity, or compassion, or simply because she'd been a prick.

Until the very last moment, she hoped that she would be chosen by the Goblet only out of spite. Just to upset him. Very mature, sure. But nothing new under the sun for a Slytherin. She knew she was right, after all.

Meanwhile, the day of the Yule Ball was approaching and, unsurprisingly, given her fame, there weren't just a few people who made Allie understand that they wanted to be invited, even with grotesque, unorthodox methods. Garreth, for example, had concocted some evil mixture which he poured into her cauldron during Potion class. It had the effect of a modest "YULE BALL?" written on the surface of the liquid, although for some reason the spelling came out wrong right after and became "BUGLE YALL?". Allie appreciated the effort, especially because she doubled over with laughter, but in the end it was a dude from Durmstrang that got her attention. A not too tall, blond and extremely emaciated individual, as if all strength had been drained from him by a Dementor.

The two met in the library, and for once Allie had a conversation with someone who didn't see her, the child-prodigy, but her.
They chatted about this and that and Allie learnt that Artùr, that was his name, hated this tournament nearly as much as she did. So, by reflex, she invited him to the ball. And Artùr accepted.

Later the same day Allie came to know from a housemate that Sebastian had been invited by the champion of Beauxbatons, Bernadine Vargas. A slender and athletic girl, with olive skin and pitch dark eyes. A face hard to forget.

"And he accepted?" Allie asked feigning disinterest, but giving herself away with an octave higher tone.

"I don't know" the guy replied irritably, "I just saw that they were talking and then they said goodbye. He was smiling though."

"Well, he's a rather cheerful type."

"No, I mean like, grinning from ear to ear."

Allie's heart stopped and a strong sense of nausea pervaded her mouth. She didn't understand. She had to be delighted that Sebastian was finally coming to his senses. He was going at the ball, and with the Beauxbatons champion, no less. It was going to be a great night for him. For once, he would abandon himself to his normal student life, without unnecessary burdens to think about.

Yet she was anything but pleased.