The next morning I say goodbye to Sis and Auntie as Cedric, Flitwick and I grab onto our portkey. This portkey was specially made by the chairman himself because of the incident coming in.

The world spins around us as we fly into the air. Like any well-made portkey, we reach Hogwarts in a few seconds slowly falling to the ground softly.

I sigh as I look up at the familiar castle. It has only been a week but it has felt like forever. A stressful week to say the least…

Flitwick happily waves his wand causing the bags to float behind him, "Alright boys, I know you are both probably still excited but things will be returning to normal until the next rounds. That means you have to go to class tomorrow." He has a wide happy grin as he speaks.

Cedric and I nod as he walks up the bridge entrance first while we look at each other for a second before following him up. Once we get up the main stairs we can see students gathered in the courtyard doing random things. Mostly studying.

I say goodbye to Cedric and Flitwick before I walk through the main entrance and head up the stairs to the Gryffindor dorms. I walk up to the painting of the Fat Lady who gives me a bright smile as I approach.

"Password?" she asks, singing the word.

"Wampus Baubles," I say with a sigh.

Her smile drops "Incorrect."

My face falls in return as I drop my bag "Oh come on, you know me."

She holds her nose high looking down at me "But do you know the password?"

"Not at the moment? No," I say with an annoyed scowl.

She scoffs "Then how do I know you aren't a fake? You are not allowed in without the password."

"Ugh." I pick up my bag and turn around. Lunch started an hour ago so I just go there.

Walking into the great hall I see Hermione, Daphne, Katie, and one I have only heard of recently Fay Dunbar. I walk up behind Hermione and tap her shoulder.

She turns around with a confused face but it brightens when she sees me "SOREN!" She quickly stands up and gives me a hug.

I hug her back "Hey Hermione."

She pulls back as she looks at my bag before I can say anything else "Why do you have your luggage in the Great hall?" She asks, confused.

I hold up a finger gesturing for her to wait for a second, I look at Daphne as she looks like she wants to say something "Hello Daphne."

"Welcome back, Soren." She says with a small smile.

I look back at Hermione "That's what I'm here about. I can't get into the dorm without the password to put my stuff back."

"It's 'Bogtail' right now," Fay says out loud.

Katie smacks her shoulder "You're not supposed to say it out loud like that."

Fay shrugs "Daphne won't tell, right?" She asks with a grin.

Daphne quickly shakes her head. "See?" Fay says grinning back at Katie.

I just smile at their interaction "So where are Ron and Harry?" I ask Hermione.

She sits back down "Harry is at practice, Ron is still on with his 'boys group' things. Dean, Seamus, and Neville are with him in the common room."

I laugh a bit "That sounds awful."

Daphne and Hermione both chuckle "Doesn't it" Hermione chirps.

I wave a hand "I'm going to go settle back in, I'll see you later."

The girls nod and wave at me as I walk away. Once I get back to the entrance the portrait swings open revealing exactly as Hermione had said. Sitting around a small table four boys were taking turns playing wizards chess.

They all turn to me notified by the portrait swinging open "Hey" I say putting a hand up to them.

"Soren!" Ron and Dean say first.

"Who's winning?" I ask walking up behind Neville who is the one currently playing against Ron.

"Who cares about that. How did the duels go?" Seamus asks scooting over on the couch so I can sit.

I sat down next to him "Well, I beat my first opponent really bad. Then the second one I beat so bad he dropped out of the tournament." I obviously avoid all the bad things that happened.

"As expected of the resident reverse bully?" Ron says with a big proud smile.

"Reverse bully?" I ask in a confused tone.

"Yeah, since you are always saving people and stopping bullies." He says with a smug grin.

"You mean like a hero?" I ask questioningly. The others seem confused by what he means as well.

"Well, no need to get big-headed is there?" He asks, looking offended.

"What? But you- Nevermind. I'm going to put my stuff away. Once I get back you guys wanna go eat?" I ask looking between Neville and Dean since they have been quiet.

Neville shrugs "Sure." Dean says.

"Eh, but the girls are at lunch now," Ron says as Seamus looks away.

"What's wrong with the girls?" I ask.

Ron looks confused "They are girls?"

I look at Seamus "Talk some sense into him please."

"I agree with him," Seamus says with a bitter tone.

My face falls "I'm surrounded by idiots. When does Harry get out of practice?" I ask Ron.

"Uh, 12 I think." He says looking at the clock on the mantle above the fireplace.

"We can go then I guess. But that won't give us much time to eat." I say looking at Dean.

Dean shrugs "I don't mind going without these two."

I look at Neville "I don't mind either." He looks warily at Seamus and Ron as he answers.

"Traitors!" Ron exclaims.

I just smirk "Cool, we will go to lunch once I put everything away." I turn around quickly not letting them refute and go up to the dorms to sort out my clothes again.

We end up getting to lunch around 11:30 to catch the girls for a few minutes with Harry joining us not long later. It was nice to sit and talk to them again, almost dying is stressful after all.

****

The next day I had to work extra hard to catch up. Although I did the homework beforehand and already had a vague idea of what was covered doesn't mean I learned anything. Potions class was easy since I'm pretty good at figuring out the reactions between different ingredients.

The difference in fractions based on if a solid was granulated, liquified, or sliced was pretty easy since I took chemistry in my old life. But magic ingredients can act weird sometimes so I often have to reference the books.

Herbology was fine since we are still covering plants with relation to mandrakes. Defense Against The Dark Arts was the worst, I didn't miss any spells other than Diffindo which I can already cast. The thing that sucked was Lockfart's stupid quiz about his trip to Africa.

I feel like everything about his trip to Africa was just fabricated. I find it too hard to believe this idiot of a man managed to fend off a Nundu by himself to defend a village. I feel like he would be more likely to run away than to fight it.

Finally, Charms was pretty easy as I had missed literally nothing. It was pretty fantastic. But once class ended Flitwick grabbed me at the door with a solemn face and said "I need a moment of your time."

Walking into his office he sat down quietly as he took a deep breath. "I have some bad news to tell you…"

I am taken aback by the seriousness in his tone "Yes?"

"Your final opponent from the duel tournament was found dead in his hotel room murdered. The Tournament has been delayed until further notice and you are under investigation." Flitwick says with a calm expression.