The Tournament
The Great Hall was filled with a constant murmur of voices. Breakfast was full attendance and definitely sounded like it,not a single soul being quiet. It was the day of the first task. Everyone was talking about it, except for one person.
"Ominis, are you not going to eat breakfast?" Sebastian asked his friend who sat beside him. It was a full-course breakfast with easy-over eggs that Ominis enjoyed any other day they had them, but today was different.
"I can't bear to eat anything right now," he responded. "If I do, I know I'll throw it back up."
The entire morning felt tense between the three boys. Ominis got out of bed and dressed before the other two even woke up, and stayed in the common room in his usual corner by the windows until it was breakfast time. Enoch was the one who found him there, and quickly realised conversation was futile when Ominis refused to speak.
“It’s just nerves,” Sebastian had whispered to Enoch when they left the common room just a few minutes ago. “Gets the better of him.”
"You have to eat something," Enoch said, gingerly piling food onto his own plate. "Can't fight a beast on an empty stomach."
"Don't say that to me." Ominis shrunk in his seat, his face looking paler than it had ever been. "I'm trying not to think about it."
"There's no use running from your problems now," Sebastian said. "And don't be so scared, I feel as though you had ample amount of practice. You should be more than prepared."
Sebastian was right, not a day went by where they didn't pay a visit to the vivarium. They had tried everything they could to get Ominis the experience he needed to handle a beast. He practised running from the graphorn, casting different spells at it, getting used to its reflex time, and even riding it. The first time they successfully got Ominis to try and ride the graphorn, it bucked Ominis off and sent him flying, ultimately making him pay a visit to the matron in the infirmary.
But Ominis was getting better as each day passed. Sebastian had full confidence his friend would handle his own just fine during the competition.
Enoch was just a tad bit worried. He had faith in Ominis, sure, but training with other students and an already tamed beast was nothing compared to the real deal. Enoch was unsure of how the test would really be. He only imagined how worried Ominis could be.
"Ominis?"
All three boys looked at the person standing behind Ominis and Sebastian. By then they realised it was Imelda Reyes, their housemate in the same year. She ignored the other two and stared straight at Ominis, appearing as though she had to force herself to talk to him.
"Imelda?" Sebastian asked, a bit shocked that she had come up to them considering not many people ever really got along with her due to her cocky nature. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to give Ominis something." She shot a glare at Sebastian.
"Give me what?" Ominis asked nervously.
"Hold out your hand."
Hesitantly, Ominis extended his hand out towards Imelda’s voice. She dropped a small object into his palms.
"What... is this?" Ominis began to inspect the curious item with his fingers. Sebastian and Enoch craned their heads over to get a look at it, in which they noticed it was some kind of necklace, a silver chain adorned with a small, green-coloured gemstone.
"It's a good-luck charm. I wear it when I'm playing Quidditch. Haven't really had much use for it lately, so I figure I wouldn't miss it too much if you used it for a while."
Ominis continued to fiddle with the peculiar necklace in his hands, examining the rough stone with his fingers.
"This isn't any trick, is it?" Sebastian asked, eyeing Imelda. He had a strong, protective mask over his face, not letting it falter one bit. Even Enoch felt a bit intimidated by it as he watched his friend.
Imelda rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "What's the purpose of that? Don't we all want him to win?"
Sebastian was still glaring at her when Ominis responded. "Thank you, Imelda. I'll keep it on me during the task today."
With the approval, Imelda silently nodded and walked off, leaving the boys with the supposed good-luck charm.
"Let me have a look at it, Ominis," Sebastian said while Ominis handed the necklace over. "I want to see if it's cursed in any way."
"Do you really think she would do that?" Enoch asked. "She seemed sincere enough, and she was right. There's no purpose. She's our housemate." As much as Enoch knew Imelda had a bad reputation in wanting to be better than everyone else, he didn't ever suspect her as someone to sabotage another. He had grown to like her, in a way. She knew what she wanted, and she intended to get it. He could admire that. It reminded him of his own close friend.
"I wouldn't take any chances," Sebastian replied, holding the necklace close to his face to get a better look at it. "I say we're the only ones Ominis can really trust. I mean, think about Prewett."
"Prewett's a Gryffindor, Imelda's one of us."
"You can never trust someone enough. Just like you can't trust your own blood."
Enoch decided to let the subject go and focus on the plate in front of him. He knew Sebastian was just being protective, and he had his heart in the right place. Enoch was starting to get used to the act of just letting Sebastian do what he wanted as long as it didn’t hurt anybody. It was easier for him to manage.
The grounds outside the castle were bustling — and not just students and staff. Journalists, reporters, wizards and witches from other schools, even people from the ministry were swarming the area.
Tents full of refreshments and random wizards trying to make a sale formed some kind of makeshift alley leading to the Quidditch pitch. If anything, Hogwarts was making the Triwizard Tournament into a big, capitalistic fun-grounds.
"How much for one of these?" Sebastian asked an eccentric looking wizard with greying hair at a booth. The items on the man's table were various joke items: popping fireworks that sputter around the air, tiny, dancing gnome figures that sing, bubbles that can make any shape you want, and more. Sebastian had picked up a little wooden piece that Enoch thought looked just like a smoking pipe. When Sebastian put it up to his mouth, it started sending colourful sparks out the end that made loud pops.
"Five galleons!" The booth attendant practically yelled, flashing crazy-like eyes at the two boys.
"Five galleons?" Sebastian asked. "You do know you're perched at a school, right? For children?"
"I have to make a living like everyone else, boy. Don't like it, step away from my tent."
"Unbelievable," Sebastian muttered under his breath as they walked away from the booth. "I ought to set his tent on fire."
Enoch chuckled. “Are you suddenly feeling righteous?”
Sebastian stopped and looked at Enoch, causing Enoch to stop with him in the middle of the moving crowd. "I just think some people really need a reality check, is all."
Enoch rolled his eyes, about to continue walking before Sebastian's gaze caught something behind Enoch.
"What is it?" Enoch turned around and looked into the crowd, trying to see whatever it was Sebastian was looking at. But without a word, Sebastian took off. "Wait, Sebastian!" Enoch hurried to follow behind.
Enoch got to his friend in time to see him grab the arm of a smaller person in the crowd. Upon them turning in response to being suddenly stopped, Enoch's eyes grew wide at the discovery of who it was.
"Anne?" Sebastian asked, baffled.
Anne looked back up at her brother with an expression that looked like she got caught doing something she shouldn't. Her eyes were still as sunken in, skin still as pale as it was since they saw her back in August. She looked weak.
"I don't want to talk to you," she replied, keeping her voice steady. Her worried look shifted to a serious one as she pulled her arm out of his grasp.
"Please, Anne," he begged. She stared back at him with a tense jaw, staring into his soul. "How... why are you here?" Sebastian's voice stayed low, almost calm, even though Enoch knew he was far from it.
"Ominis invited me. However, I came here under the assumption you wouldn't find me.” She lowered her voice, barely above the noise of the surrounding crowd. “I don't want to talk to you, Sebastian."
Sebastian's jaw tensed, and Enoch could almost feel his heartache. Anne was serious. She gave one last hard look before turning away and hurrying off. Sebastian just stood there, staring at where she had just stood.
"Sebastian?" Enoch said, looking worriedly at his friend. He had no idea just how hard it must be being in Sebastian's shoes, wanting to be with your family so bad when they don't want to be with you. Every instance Enoch bore witness to was horrible.
Once again, Sebastian took off without a word, rushing through the crowd. Enoch just let out a frustrated sigh and tried to keep up.
They reached a large, white tent nearest to the outside of the pitch. Sebastian had peered inside before entering, allowing Enoch to catch up. Once he had entered Enoch followed him inside, and one quick look around the tent he knew why they were there. And he knew it was not going to be good.
"Ominis!" Sebastian yelled, walking up to the boy who had just been sitting on a cot, tying fabric to his sleeve. He had already changed out of his dress robes and into some kind of gear for the tournament that made him look a lot smaller than usual.
"Sebastian?" Ominis responded, standing up and facing towards the boys walking up to him. "What are you doing here?"
"Why didn't you tell me Anne was coming?" Sebastian asked angrily.
Ominis looked shocked, confused, and then solemn all in a few seconds. "I... I just invited her to watch. She told me not to tell you."
"She told you not to tell me? You know how much I've been trying to get my sister to talk to me and you decide to not tell me she's coming?"
"I couldn't just say no to her."
"Why not?" Sebastian yelled. "She's my sister!"
Ominis furrowed his brows. "She's still her own person, Sebastian. You don't control her."
"You don't get to say that. You can't act like you know what's best for her." Sebastian scoffed, and then paused. "It's all because you have some crush on my sister, isn't it?"
Ominis looked taken aback and didn't respond for a moment. "How..." His voice was low. "How did you know that?"
"It doesn't matter. Just because you fancy my sister doesn't give you any right to keep her from me.
"I'm not... I..."
"Sebastian," Enoch interjected, stepping between them. "Can you just leave this be for now? Ominis already has a lot on his plate. He doesn’t need this." He tried to sound stern as much as it was difficult to. It was always a losing game to try and get something through to Sebastian.
Sebastian let out an exaggerated sigh and backed away. "Forget it. No one ever listens to me anyway." He continued backing up until he was a good distance away from his friends, turning around and exiting the tent.
Enoch looked at Ominis solemnly. There was no use explaining to Sebastian that he didn’t own his sister, and that she really was her own person. He believed Ominis didn't do anything wrong. It's Anne that doesn't want to see Sebastian, why can't he just accept that? Why does Sebastian always have to blame everyone else?
"I'm sorry, Ominis," Enoch said. The small boy had his head down, standing as still as a tree. "I'm sure he means well. We all know Anne is a sore subject. He just got too flustered, I'm sure."
"It's fine." Ominis's voice was quiet, and if Enoch heard right then his voice was slightly quivering, too. "He's always like that."
Enoch stepped closer to Ominis. "Put that out of your mind for now. You've got to focus on the tournament, alright? We can deal with Sebastian later."
"The tournament... right." Ominis sighed, turning away.
"Hey, Ominis, don't worry so much. You've trained so hard for this moment. You've come so far." Ominis stayed quiet, refusing to face Enoch. "I'm going to go get Sebastian under control. We'll both be in the stands cheering you on, okay? Anne, too." Enoch put on a reassuring smile, realising afterwards it was useless. He still wanted to try and reassure Ominis the best he could. He needed all the confidence right now more than ever. And if Sebastian was too emotional to do it, Enoch wanted to take the reins. It was the least he could do for his friend.
The turnout was huge. There was not a single empty seat in the entire pitch. It honestly looked like a world Quidditch event, with how excited everyone looked as well. Enoch couldn't muster excitement like the rest of them. The worry inside of him was eating away worse than it had ever done. He could only imagine how Ominis was feeling down on the ground.
Out of the corner of Enoch's eyes Sebastian sat down in the seat next to his, obviously not in a good mood. Enoch turned and saw the worst scowl on his face.
"Where have you been?" Enoch questioned him above the noise of the crowd.
Sebastian didn't give an answer and instead crossed his arms, staring down at the field below. Enoch knew it was useless to continue questioning him, and just left it at that.
"May I have everyone's attention, please."
Up at the top of the stands stood Professor Black, along with Professor Weasley and who Enoch believed to be the Minister of Magic, from the newspaper articles he'd see from time to time. Professor Black had his wand to his neck that allowed his voice to be heard from miles away, and the biggest grin Enoch had ever seen him have.
"Hogwarts thanks you all for attending yet another Triwizard Tournament, graciously hosted by yours truly. We are very proud to showcase the three brilliant wizards of our schools: Hogwarts, Beauxbaton, and Durmstrang."
Cheers roared through the entire pitch. Enoch himself couldn’t keep a smile from forming on his face at the excitement. But when he glanced at his friend that sat beside him, he saw that Sebastian wasn’t looking at Professor Black at all, and instead was staring hard at the field below. Enoch couldn’t read the emotion on his face, but he hoped it was something that would go away after the match was over.
“The competition you will be witnessing today is a battle of wit and agility,” Professor Black continued on. “Each of our Triwizard champions will face a challenge of getting a large and aggressive beast into a cage prepared on the field you see below. They will be scored on time, method, and if they receive any injuries in the process. Each beast will be different, as our champions will be assigned at random. Our first competitor will be none other than Hogwarts’ own, Ominis Gaunt.”
Enoch glanced at Sebastian after hearing Ominis’s name. Sebastian looked white in the face, still staring down at the field. With a hard gulp, Enoch tried to calm his own nerves. It’s better to go first and get it over with, right?
“Let the Triwizard Tournament begin!”