Discoveries
CHAPTER III: DISCOVERIES
By the time the last bell had ended, every student on the campus has already settled down in their classes, including the other schools as well. Liv is currently on a run to get to her Herbology class, after last night she had overslept, missing breakfast, and almost couldn't find her robe.
'Bloody Ocean! Where are you when I needed it!' Liv is mad thinking about how her friend would always wake her up at an ungodly hour but not today, especially when she has a 'Herbology' quiz.
"Sorry I'm late, professional Longbottom." Liv apologized, walking into the class.
"It's alright Olivia, take a seat." Professor Longbottom smiles at her before continuing with the lesson.
By lunchtime, Liv headed quietly to the library, avoiding the Great Hall cause she knew everyone would be there right now to put their name in the flame. Opening the wooden double door, she sighed in relief because the room was empty except for a couple of Gryffindor girls chatting around.
Liv seated alone, finishing up her potion essay that was due tomorrow. Before she knew it, Liv was completely lost in her works. She was finally managed to catch up on all her homework, especially that lengthy list of 'Transfiguration' spells. Thank Merlin for the afternoon off! By sundown, Liv was just about to wrap up her stuff before a figure sat down directly to her
"Hey, I have been looking everywhere for you." Said the ravenette.
Blue eyes met golden ones as Preston send a gentle smile.
"I wasn't really hungry and besides crowded scenes aren't my thing." Liv continues to pack up her items.
"Well they are picking the champion tonight so I think you probably shouldn't miss that...especially with two of your buddies entering." He said, somewhat trying to contain the excitement inside his raspy voice.
"What?" Liv eyebrows fused. "Two?"
Preston broke out in a small laugh. His eyes got brighter as Liv got more curious.
"Ocean put her name in too!" Announced Preston. Barely able to hold it together anymore.
Liv widened her eyes in surprise. Never would she imagine the perfect textbook soft girl Ocean Ollivander would be so interested in such a dangerous game. For context, Ocean is the girl that would sometimes remind the teacher about the homework and scolded her friends for getting a bad grade.
"I can't believe it..." She dumbfounded.
"Yeah, ok. You can scold her about it later, we need to get to the Great Hall first." Preston moves in to pick up Liv's stack of textbooks.
"The Hall? Now? Why?" She raises a question but still processes to follow Preston, gathering her remaining belongs.
"For the assembly? And dinner? How long do you think you were in there?" He laughs softly.
Liv only rolls her eyes as a response.
The duo makes it to the Hall just in time as Justin and his friends also arrived at the oak doors.
"Hey, Liv! I've been looking for you." Said Justin. Again with that bright goofy grin on his face.
"Hi, Justin." Liv politely greets back.
Behind Justin were two boys around the same age. One has tan skin, ginger hair, and jade-like eyes. The other was taller than Justin and the ginger hair boy, he has chocolate skin, Bambi like eyes, and he was rocking that beautiful beaded dreadlocks do.
"This is my friends, Aki and Hagan." The blondie introduced.
"Hi, I'm Liv. Nice to meet you."
Hagan coldly nodded his head
"Nice meeting you too!" While Aki was much more friendly.
He then offered a hand to Preston
"And I'm Justin, nice to meet you."
The ravenette took his hand, giving it a firm shake before politely respond
"Preston Anderson, a pleasure to meet you."
It was a steady introduction.
"By the way, would you guys like to seat with us for dinner?" Offered Liv.
"Yeah, join us. The more the merrier right?" Preston flashes a smile.
"Wouldn't that bothers your other friends?" Aki asked.
"No way mate, us Ravenclaw are way more chill comparing to the other houses." Preston smile.
They walk into the Hall right as Headmistress McGonagall starts her speech. Spotted by Ocean and Charity, Liv and Preston guided the Alfea trio towards where the two girls were sitting. Sitting down, Liv introduced the two girls to the Alfean. With Ocean graciously greeting back despite being quite surprised to meet the three Alfea boys. And with Charity? Not so much, she was certainly not good at putting on a cool face. As Charity continues to shutter her way into conversations, so did the other kid, the group immediately hit it off with one another. And true to Preston's words, none of the other Ravenclaw seem to be bothered or interested with the three oddly out-of-place students sitting with them, they were all occupied with their conversations, even though the other houses and schools did occasionally stole glances. Almost forgot to mention how Liv absolutely scolded Ocean for putting her name in without telling her even the slightest bit.
Shortly after everyone has settled in, McGonagall step up and delivered her speech
"...and now, it's time to pick our champions!" The woman in green approaches the 'Goblet of Fire' as it spits out the first name.
The Hall was quickly filled with silence beside the sound of excitement heartbeat coming from inside of everyone.
"From Beauxbatons Academy, the champion is Hailey Chapelle!" She announced as the crowd broke into applause.
From where the Beauxbatons were, a girl in powder blue uniform stands up with her silky black ponytail moving gracefully with her movements as she approached the podium. Chapelle was congratulated by all the professors before headed to another room.
The Hall quiets down once again as the Goblet spits out a second piece of paper. McGonagall catches it mid-air
"From Durmstrang Institute, Benedict Weber!"
Cheers once again broke out in the room, the most obvious cheer coming from Headmaster Stefan himself. Weber was jumping up and down as he heads to the other room, his steps are motivated by the praise of his schoolmate.
Another name came out of the flaming Goblet, capturing everybody's attention immediately again. The Hogwarts Headmistress catches it and cracks a smile as she read from the paper
"And from Hogwarts..."
As the name of theirs school was announced, the friend group holds their breath. A nervous aura once again falls upon the Hall. Before she even knows it, Liv was squeezing Ocean and Preston's hands. It was only a few seconds but somehow it feels like minutes. Then the crowd broke into cheers, Liv's ears went numb, she couldn't hear anything until Preston jump up from his seat and scream in joy.
Preston is the champion of Hogwarts. As she realized what was happening, Liv also started to smile, clapping loudly and shouting congratulations over the sound of hundreds of other students who were also screaming and shouting in thrill.
Right after Preston went to join the other two champions, the last name was announced.
"And lastly, from Alfea College, Justin McQueen!"
"Congrats man!" Aki slapped Justin back.
"Best don't screw up now." Hagan's grin was almost visible.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Thank guys." Justin chuckle.
After all the champions were picked out, all of the teachers went to join the 4 students in the other room as everyone else in the Hall proceed with their dinner.
"I'm sorry you didn't get pick," Liv said.
Ocean looks up from her dish, disappointment in her facial expression.
"It's ok. Preston may not be the brightest but he is a hard-head kid so I believe he'll get the job done." Ocean let out a sigh.
After the meal, students were sent back to their dorms. While the other was heading towards the stairs case, Liv pulled at Ocean and Charity wrists
"Hey, I'm going to wait for Preston, you coming?" She asked.
Looking at the two girls, Liv can tell Charity wouldn't mind waiting with her but since Ocean was sort of upset, they decided to head back first. Waving at the two girls, Liv headed to the 'Trophy room' where she knew the meeting is probably about to end by now.
"Liv! Wait up!" She instantly stopped in her tracks. It was one of Justin's friends, Aki, calling out for her.
"Hey, you were gonna go wait for that fellow of yours right? Mind if I join you?"
"Of course." She smiles softly.
The way to the 'Trophy room' was very quiet as there was only Liv and Preston but somehow the silence didn't seem to bother either of them.
"How long have you been a student of Hogwarts Liv?" Aki broke the silence all of a sudden, completely caught the blonde girl off guard.
"I'm a fourth-year student. What about you Aki? How long have you been studying at Alfea?" She said.
Aki started to count on the tip of his fingers, jokingly pretending to count as if it was rocket science causing Liv to let out a low laugh. The sight of the shorter girl also cause Aki to crack a grin at his stupid own joke
"If I must say, it has been like forever. My grandma enrolled me into Alfea when I was around 6 or 7. The place is just like a second home to me now." He smiles.
Liv nodded at the answer. "I know how it feels, spending so much time with the others here made me feel like staying with a big family too. It's nice." She smiles.
Aki then asked Liv about her favorite subject, Liv then asked him about his life at Alfea then they talk about their favorite food then movies then they started to talk about family as they wait outside for Justin and Preston
"You telling me you have never met your mother!? Like actual birth mother!?" He slightly raised his voice.
Liv tried so hard not to cringe, keeping as cool of a face as possible. "Unfortunately no. She was always too busy to care but she sends money to help out Nubia so I guess that's great..." Liv's voice was low, fazing out of her owns story.
Before the air could get any heavier, Aki break the silence once again
"Hey Liv, I been meaning to ask if you don't mind. What happened to your right arm?" Aki tried to steer the conversation away from the untold sorrow. He gestures towards the white scar half-hidden under Liv's robe sleeve.
"The scar? Oh yeah, not at all. I got it before attending Hogwarts, I was clawed by a....big hawk while hiking with my aunt. It leaves a pretty nasty scar but it looks cool, right? Kinda like a..."
"Lightning Storm." Aki cut her off mid-sentence.
"That's an interesting way to put it." Liv cock an eyebrow looking deeper at her 'battle wound' and so did Aki, almost like memorizing it.
Before anyone can say anything else, the room door opened with a loud 'bang!' starting the two students. People started stepping out, Justin and Preston seemed to be quite occupied with their chitchat to notice Liv and Aki standing outside
"Hey, Prince Charming! Over here!" Justin was caught by Aki's calling. The blonde turns around and grin as he spotted them.
"Hi boys, how was the meeting?" Liv asked.
"It was excellent, very maturing if that's what you asking." Preston replied sarcastically, still grinning like a madman. The excitement adrenaline still hasn't run off yet, Liv sees.
She rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant, you 'Clotpole'. What did you talk about?"
"Just boring safety guide and the rules, nothing really important anyway." Preston said lazily. Letting out a loud yawn.
Liv hit him slightly on his forearm, her lips pouting a little bit. She turns to the two taller boys and they were talking, no, more like whispering to each other. Aki must have said something cause Justin's eyes shot wide open. His mouth is open but he seems speechless.
"You're certain? Liv is the one?" The sound of her name being mentioned capture her attention. She tried to listen more closely but her good ears were no match for Preston's rambling. Liv also failed to notice Justin's eyes glancing at her barely exposed arm. Studying her 'scar'.
"We have to tell Matt as soon as possible, Liv needs to bring in..." An unconscious wave of panic flash through her mind.
'Bring in?'
"You guy ready to head back yet? I don't want Flitwick to send his stupid cat to attack us." Preston interrupted everybody.
Liv nodded as they wave goodnight the Justin and Aki. heading back to the dorm, Liv was still thinking about what Aki and Justin could be meaning. 'Bring in?' What are they planning? What do they want? 'The one'? She once again lay awake as everyone else is sleeping soundly. Liv tosses and turns but the anxiousness don't seem to be going anywhere soon. The thought of Alfea college could be a potential threat to the Wizarding World like Voldemort once was just gave Liv chill. Using her strength to put all these negative thinkings aside, she finally managed to catch some sleep, completely unaware of the dangers that are coming...
"She is the one. I can't be wrong this time." Aki said with a stern voice.
"There have to be more evidence for this to work." Matthew rubbed his eyes tiredly. He has been having this convention with Justin and Aki for hours now.
"Matt come on! How many people in the world could bear a scar that is identical to mine?" Justin said.
"Give her a chance, let Liv stand the challenge because if we keep being picky, the prophecy would never be complete." The blonde boy continues. His eyes filled with hope. "I just have a very good feeling about her, she would help us save the Universe..." Justin said with no hesitation.
"But..." Matt started.
"Just let them." The older fairy was cut off by the redhead leaning on the desk. Hagan's arms crossed firmly.
Matt, Aki, and Justin turn their attention to Hagan, who has been mostly quiet for the past hours.
"If they have such high hope for a person they barely know, just let them. It's worth a shot, right? It is not like Justin's genealogy is just gonna fall out of the sky." Hagan said with a straight face, clearly getting tired of this ongoing "discussion".
"Besides, we made it this far was all thanks to Justin and his weird sixth sense anyway so may as well go along with what he got now."
The other three stood silent for a second before Matt finally approve their decision and said that he will bring their plan up to Headmistress Faragonda.
As they went to bed, Justin also once again found himself sleepless. Sure, with the prophecy probably being set into motion, Justin can be pretty sure that he will start to feel like a small bit of weight had been lifted off his chest but...why does he feel kinda guilty. It wasn't easy for Justin to adjust to all the crazy events that had happened to him in the past months so it definitely won't be easy to Liv, who is about to have her entire world flipped upside down.