Chapter 15 - The Triwizard Tournament

A/N: Feel free to skip this ramble... (2025: I swear I meant this with all the peace and love for my colouring queen ❤️)

One time I was watching this youtube video about a Harry Potter colouring book (only because I was thinking of buying it but I ended up coming to my senses and admitting I would probably only colour a quarter of a single page and lose patience, especially after realising my art was a lot more shit than what I was seeing on pinterest) and the girl was like "Here I've coloured Hedwig. I really enjoyed this page because Hedwig is my all-time favourite character of the Harry Potter series" ahahahahaha of ALL the interesting, complex, incredible characters... Ginny, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Dobby, Fred and George (oh and Snape obviously) you love that fucking owl THE MOST?! 😂😂😂 I mean of course we all love Hedwig but all-time favourite character? All she does the whole series is give Harry some pecks and deliver a letter! I just found that super cute and hilarious. Anyway, there was a point to this story... oh yeah, who's your favourite character (apart from Sevy) and are there any characters you would want to feature more in this story?

Okay that's enough of that... back to the story!

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"ASH!!! There you are!!"

Maive charged through the doorway and jumped onto the bed, wrapping Asha in a rib-crushing embrace. Suddenly Asha's four-poster was piled with all four of her roommates - Maive Cosgrove, Victoria Cotton, Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones - all taking turns to hug her and proclaim how much they missed her.

"Eh, I guess I've missed you guys a bit too," Asha joked.

"Why weren't you on the train? We were worried!" exclaimed Victoria, dramatic as always. Asha looked sheepish.

"I missed the train. Sprout had to apparate me," she lied.

"I knew it!" cried Maive, "You all owe Matt and me ten Fizzing Whizzbees!"

Asha laughed as the other three swore.

"Dammit, Ash! We put our faith in you and look where it got us!" shouted Susan in mock anger.

Asha watched the giggling faces of her fellow Hufflepuffs and gave a genuine smile. She had to admit, it was nice to have some light-hearted company again.

"You seem really good, Ash. I have to confess, we were all a bit worried about you at the end of third year," said Hannah. Maive gave her a scolding look.

Asha smiled apologetically and said, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that," (there was an inevitable chorus of 'don't be sorry!'), "I think I was just stressed about exams and stuff - having a break's fixed me up though!" All the girls beamed.

"Hey, Matt, Justin and Earnie are out in the common room - they'll be stoked to see you too!" said Maive, grabbing Asha by the hand and pulling her to the door. Maive was no doubt looking forward to declaring she and Matt had won the bet.

That night at the start of year feast, Dumbledore announced some very exciting news: Hogwarts was going to be hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year. As a result, many hours later, Asha lay in bed, unable to sleep. The more she thought about it, the more she was desperate to compete. Even her usually unwavering desire not to be noticed was cast aside by the idea of the Tournament. It sounded incredible. And it would be a perfect chance for her to get to use all the advanced and somewhat dangerous magic she had been learning. Maybe the champions would have to duel each other! But, to many students' dismay, only those over the age of seventeen were allowed to compete. Asha was only fourteen. So that was that, and she was left cursing the rules and praying that the Tournament might be held again in her seventh year.

With classes starting back up, life became relatively busy again. It seemed that Asha and Snape had come to an unspoken agreement to never speak of their time together over the break. Though Snape now held higher expectations of her in class, and as a result of determination and practice, Asha was becoming much more adept at maintaining focus and discipline during potion brewing. She had shot to the top of the class, though still behind Hermione Granger of course. One thing that remained unchanged was the quality of Asha's homework essays, which still lacked any form of passion or precision.

On Wednesday morning of the second week of term, Asha was eating breakfast in the Great Hall, chatting with a crowd of Hufflepuffs when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Looking around, she saw a blond-haired first year girl holding out a small scroll, looking nervous. Perhaps the story of Asha punching Professor Binn's cupboard had already become a legend among the new students. Asha smiled kindly and took the scroll, thanking the timid girl.

"What's that, Ash?" asked Matt, who was sitting opposite her.

"Er, not sure. A letter I guess, probably from a teacher," she said, shrugging. Matt and the surrounding Hufflepuffs curiously waited for Asha to open it, but she quickly tucked the parchment into the inside pocket of her robes and returned to her bacon and eggs.

By the time fifth period rolled around, Asha still hadn't found a moment alone to open the letter and curiosity was eating at her. Her mind kept drifting and as a result, she added the peppermint to her Calming Draught a little too late. Regardless of this mistake, Asha still managed to finish the potion before most of the class.

Everyone in her vicinity was still focussing hard on their cauldrons, and the room was clouded with steam and the sound of bubbling liquid. Unable to resist any longer, Asha discretely reached into her robes and pulled out the little scroll. She gave one last furtive glance around the room to check no one was looking. Luckily, Snape was three tables ahead, currently in the middle of berating poor Earnie. She unrolled the parchment.

Dear Miss Winters,

I would like to catch up with you this Thursday evening. My office is located on the third floor of the Headmaster's Tower. As you may remember, the entrance is concealed by a gargoyle who will allow you access when given the password. Kindly come along at eight p.m. I hope you are enjoying your first couple of weeks back at school.

Yours Sincerely,

Professor Dumbledore

P.S. I am a big fan of Cockroach Cluster.

Asha's stomach clenched and she subtly returned the letter to her pocket. Unfortunately, it was what she had been expecting. She took a deep breath. There was no point in worrying, either way, she was going to have to face him. Looking up, she was startled to see Snape eyeing her suspiciously. She quickly dropped her gaze and pretended to stir her potion.

With ten minutes of the class remaining, Snape prowled around inspecting their Calming Draughts. When he reached Asha's table she swore she saw his eyes linger on the pocket of her robes before staring into her cauldron.

"Disappointing, Winters," he sighed disapprovingly, vanishing her potion before moving on.

Thursday night seemed to arrive far too quickly. Asha grasped the brass Griffin door knocker, braced herself, and knocked three times.

"Enter," came a familiar, friendly voice and Asha did as she was told.

The headmaster's office was intriguing; strange silver instruments, ancient books and portraits of previous headmasters lined the circular walls. But Asha barely noticed these, as her eyes were immediately drawn to a large, crimson feathered bird with a flowing golden tail.

"Good evening, Asha," said Dumbledore warmly.

"Oh, er-" Asha pulled her gaze from the beautiful creature, "Good evening, sir".

The Headmaster was sitting behind his desk looking relaxed and cheerful.

"Ah, I see you've noticed Fawkes," he smiled. Asha slowly approached the bird, who was sitting on a perch beside Dumbledore's desk. It turned it's head sideways and looked at Asha through a swirling black eye that reminded her a lot of Snape's.

"Is it a phoenix?" Asha asked, her voice full of awe.

"He is, yes," said Dumbledore, "have you read of them?"

Asha nodded, still looking at Fawkes.

"Can I...?" Asha raised a hand.

"Yes, of course," beamed Dumbledore, "he seems to like you."

Asha slowly outstretched her fingers. Fawkes raised his head so she could stroke his chest. His feathers were softer than she could have imagined and hot to the touch. She suddenly felt a surge of emotion grip her chest and she quickly snatched her hand away as if it had been burned. Realising how strange this would've looked, she tried to recover herself by quickly using the same hand to tuck a strand of long, dark hair behind her ear and cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Er, he's beautiful," she stammered as the emotion mercifully receded. Dumbledore was peering at her over his half-moon spectacles, not looking at all surprised.

"Take a seat if you will, Asha," he said kindly, motioning to the armchair in front of his desk. Asha sat. "How did you find your stay at Hogwarts over the break? Not too lonely I hope?"

Asha hadn't found herself lonely in the slightest. Well, a more accurate way of putting it would be that the lack of human interaction did not worsen her loneliness. Ever since her twin brother, Cole, had died, she had felt a deeply engrained, ever-present loneliness, despite how many people surrounded her. But she had grown so used to it, it was now just a part of who she was.

"It was great, thank you. And no, I actually enjoyed the peace and quiet. Once again, thank you so much for letting me stay, sir," she said.

"Oh, it was no problem at all, Asha. In fact, I am very pleased you felt able to contact me and let me know of the problems you were facing," said Dumbledore. Asha nodded warily, knowing where the conversation was headed. "I must admit one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you was to discuss more about this, er... I believe you described it as an itch?"

"Yes," she replied. 

Dumbledore looked at her expectantly and Asha reluctantly elaborated. "But a really bad itch." She had decided beforehand to be honest with Dumbledore. "It sort of felt like ..." she shifted uncomfortably and looked at the desk instead of his x-raying eyes. "An addiction? Sometimes it felt like the magic was building up inside of me and if I didn't use the energy soon, I was going to, I dunno... explode?" She laughed nervously, knowing it sounded crazy.

Dumbledore's expression didn't change. He simply nodded. "I see."

For a while, he sat in deep thought. After several uncomfortable minutes, Asha spoke up. "Is... is there something wrong with me?" It was a question she had been wanting to ask for many years, and it showed in her strained voice. 

Dumbledore smiled kindly. "Wrong with you? Absolutely not. I think..." the headmaster paused. "...you are simply an extremely capable witch, Asha. Perhaps you have more magic in your veins than most, but this is not at all a bad thing. I believe you have the potential to do wonderful things, Asha. Wonderful things for good."

Asha kept her expression polite, but inside, she was thinking, Where the fuck is this all coming from!? Everyone knew Dumbledore was a bit eccentric; her only guess was that perhaps he made a habit of trying to inspire and instil self-belief in all his students whenever possible. 

Then she remembered something.

"Professor Dumbledore, I've actually been wanting to talk to you about something."

"Yes, Asha?" he prompted, though there was a knowing look in his piercing blue eyes.

"Well..." she hadn't planned how to best approach this so she just blundered on, "...the thing is, I'm actually quite, er, advanced at magic. Not just in my classes - for my age I mean. But no one really knows that because I don't like to advertise it."

"Yes, Professor Snape has mentioned some instances of your impressive wandwork to me," said Dumbledore genially. Asha flinched at the idea that Snape had reported to the Headmaster about her. Dumbledore continued, "But I get the feeling you are not telling me this simply for commendation. Am I right?"

"I was just wondering if maybe you could give me an exception and let me enter the Triwizard Tournament, sir." Asha sat straight and held eye contact, trying to show Dumbledore she was serious.

"I do not doubt your capability, Asha. In fact, I am inclined to believe you would be well up for the task. But I'm afraid that it is simply not possible. You see, the Tournament was revived based on the promise that heavy restrictions would be put in place to ensure the safety of the contestants. And it would also not be in the spirit of fairness to make an exception for you. I'm sure you understand."

"I do, I thought you might say that," Asha smiled, not wanting to reveal how disappointed she felt.

"Well, I think for now you should do your best not to dwell on the struggles you faced this summer. We will re-broach the subject when next summer rolls around I think."

"Yes, thank you, sir." Asha was relieved their meeting was coming to a close without too many invasive questions.

They said their farewells, Dumbledore wishing Asha the all best the best for her fourth year. She was heading to the door when he spoke again.

"Oh, and Asha, if anything else starts to trouble you during the year, anything at all, my office is always open. I am always happy to talk to you."