Izara’s POV

I was so done with school, and it was only the first few days. Double concussions, meeting Jackson’s friends, embarrassing myself in front of everyone? I was done.

I trudged down the corridor towards the Slytherin dorms. Luckily, nothing bad other than me tripping down the stairs had happened. One good thing happened; I was going to meet Youngjae today, and he was going to teach me how to make a patronus. But first, I had to change into more casual clothes and meet in the dining hall for dinner.

    Most people just kept their robes on for dinner, but not I. I found them slightly uncomfortable when trying to sit on benches. Of course, I had grown up wearing muggle clothes, but no one else in Slytherin could really relate. As far as I knew, they were all purebloods or at least had grown up as witches and wizards. So, naturally, I was the only one in the Slytherin dorms.

    The walk down the corridor was eerily quiet. My footsteps left loud echoes through the empty halls. Everyone else had already started dinner, so people remained scarce. I mean, who would voluntarily miss dinner?

    The halls seemed to get bigger and grow darker, but that didn’t add much to my anxiety. I wasn’t scared of the dark. The only anxiety I had was finding a place to sit where there weren’t other people. As I walked down the halls, I mentally marked where benches and other places I could sit were so that in the event of an emergency, I could leave and sit in silence.

    The Dungeons were the same as I had left them in the morning; dark and gloomy. I thought Salazar Slytherin must have gotten the bad end of the deal when the four creators of Hogwarts came together. The dulled silver furnishings had tarnished over the years, the deep green of the forest splattered here and there sporadically but only minimally. Probably the most fearsome of all features was the two large glass windows that lit the room. The common room had no artificial light; the only light was natural light illuminating the room from under hundreds of feet of water. The two windows looked out into an expanse of green water that lit the room effectively but also terrifyingly. It certainly didn’t help that I was scared of deep water. Luckily, the lake Kraken wasn’t peeking in on unsuspecting Slytherins today, and I could walk to my dorms in semi-peace.

    As fast as I could, I tore off my robes and donned a grey sweatshirt and navy blue sweatpants, sprinted out of my dorms, then ran back down and out of the common room trying not to look at the huge intimidating glass windows.

    The corridors were even darker now. As I ran, the braziers in alcoves lit behind me, leaving a trail of fire through the halls until I reached two huge doors that let out a small crack of blinding light.

    As expected, the doors opened to reveal that everyone had settled down. No one noticed me enter. As I looked around, on the right side of the hall I saw Jackson, Bambam, Yugyeom, and Jaebum at the Gryffindor table all laughing obnoxiously and enjoying themselves together. I felt a bit lonely and jealous looking at their smiling faces. At the Ravenclaw table in between the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs, I saw Mark and Jinyoung calmly chatting happily, also enjoying themselves just like everyone else in the hall. Lastly, I looked to the Hufflepuff table where I found Youngjae. I was hoping to find him in a similar state to my own, unhappy and wanting company. However, he was chatting with an African girl and a Caucasian guy, so he too was occupied and happy.

    I exhaled and turned to the Slytherin table. It was the least full line of tables, as it was the most unpopular house. Luckily, there was a large gap near the middle where I could sit and not disturb anyone else.

    I sat down and examined the dishes on the table. Everyone in the hall had moved on to dessert, so there was nothing savory left. I groaned and massaged my stomach, flinching at the thought of eating treats. I didn’t like sweets that much. I wished I was back in Japan with a nice bowl of miso soup, with udon noodles, bubble tea, and fresh sakana. I looked down the tables to see if there was anything remotely Asian. There wasn’t.

    I grabbed the empty plate in front of me and piled some treacle pudding on it. I knew it was going to be to sweet for me, but I liked molasses. I spooned up some of the black sauce and it off the spoon, repeating the process about three times until I couldn’t stand any more sugar. For the next few minutes, I picked at the pudding on my plate and stared across the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables to watch Jackson and his friends enjoy their meal. As I jabbed my spoon into the treat, I let myself become abstract to my surroundings and drifted off into thought.

    I nearly jumped a foot in the air when someone suddenly hugged me from behind.

    “HOLY-” I yelped, before turning around and seeing a grinning Miriam.

    “Oh, hi, Miriam,” I greeted.

    “You’re not gonna believe what I heard from Jaebum earlier,” she said. My brows furrowed.

    “What?” I asked. I didn’t know if I wanted to know what she knew.

    “This year is going to be a big year,” she said. My confusion grew.

    “What do you mean?” What did she mean by big?

    “This year-” Miriam began, but then a clicking noise interrupted her. The dining hall fell into silence and Miriam hurriedly sat beside me.

    “Are you allowed to sit here?” I muttered quietly, just under the tone of the whispers across the hall.

    “What? You don’t want me here?” Miriam asked.

    “No, I just-” we were interrupted again as the headmaster, Minerva McGonagall, stood and addressed the Great Hall.

    “Good evening, students,” she began. I read her face. She seemed to be hiding something.

    “I would like to invite you all to listen to what I have to say,” she said, directing her words to Jackson and Bambam who were still being obnoxious at the Gryffindor table. Jaebum frowned and hit them both on the heads with a textbook. I hid my face in my hands, embarrassed.

    “This year is going to be a special year,” Minerva continued.

“I told you!” Miriam whispered. I nodded.

    “This year, we are very lucky to be hosting a very special event that brings schools from different countries together,” McGonagall informed. Miriam was shaking in excitement.

    “Hogwarts hasn't hosted this event since three years before the Battle of Hogwarts.” Her words drew many whispers out of the crowd. Miriam grinned next to me.

    “That was when Harry Potter went here,” she said. I just pretended to know what she was talking about and nodded again.

    “Yes, students, this year we will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament,” McGonagall said. There was a collective gasp, and the chatter rose exponentially.

    My eyes widened. I had heard about it in Magical History class, but I did know that the last holding was at Beauxbatons years ago, and the one before that at Durmstrang.

    “Students fifth year and above may participate and enter your names into the Goblet of Fire. Yes, the rules have changed, but considering several accidents that have occurred, we have made extra precautions that should allow more people to participate,” she continued. I saw Jackson and a few others look very excited about the age change.

    “However, the age limit for the Yule Ball remains the same. Only those in fourth year and above may participate, unless invited by another year,” she continued. There was a collective groan from the younger girls. I just sat there awkwardly. I wasn’t really thinking about attending, especially since that required a date. I didn’t think anyone would ask me out.

    “That will be all for today. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang should be arriving within the next week, treat them with respect as they have treated us in the past,” the Headmaster stated. There were some murmurings through the hall as she sat down.

    I looked at the destroyed pudding on my plate.

    “Jaebum is going to enter,” I heard Miriam dimly say. I nodded.

    “Jackson probably will, too,” she continued. “And Mark. I don’t think Jinyoung will, but Yugyeom might try to get around the rules,” she said. I just nodded again.

    To be honest, I was a little excited. I just had a really bad gut feeling about what was going to happen. I was trying to ignore it, because who wouldn’t want to see Jackson get pummeled live if he got picked? Somehow, I knew that it wouldn’t turn out the way I wanted. Deaths had happened before.

    I shoved it to the back of my mind as I watched Miriam excitedly talk about the Yule ball. I grinned at her and kept nodding as she talked about getting a date, even though she was a year below. I couldn’t help but laugh at her zeal.

    When the Great Hall started to drain out students, Miriam and I got up and parted ways.