~.~.~Parts 13-16~.~.~
•Y/n's POV•
The next morning soon came, the sun rose over the mountains of Hogwarts shining yellow and pinks over the castle. I stretched out of bed and slid into my Hufflepuff Robes, tied my tie and laced my shoes.
The common room was quiet this morning, everyone already sitting around the entrance hall to watch people submit their names into the tournament.
But there was one person sitting on the sofa next to the fireplace. His curly brown hair facing me, but I could instantly recognise the hair.
"Good morning Cedric!" I said when I approached the figure, making him jump slightly.
"Good morning Y/n, I felt like I was waiting ages for you!" Cedric replied, pretending to sound grumpy.
"Okay! I'm sorry. Let's get some breakfast and you can submit your name." I bargained. Cedric agreed and we quickly left the common room.
As the next day was Saturday, most students would normally have breakfasted late. Cedric and I, however, were not alone in rising much earlier than they usually did on weekends. When they went down into the entrance hall, they saw about twenty people milling around it, some of them eating toast, all examining the Goblet of Fire. It had been placed in the center of the hall on the stool that normally bore the Sorting Hat. A thin golden line had been traced on the floor, forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction.
"Anyone put their name in yet?" Cedric asked a third-year girl eagerly.
"All the Durmstrang lot," she replied. "But I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet."
"Bet some of them put it in last night after we'd all gone to bed," I said. "I would've if it had been me . . . wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. What if the goblet just gobbed you right back out again?"
"Go do it now, Cedric." I said eagerly.
"You think I should?" He asked, flipping his paper between his fingers.
"Come on Cedric! You can do it! I know you can." I smiled at him.
"Thank you Y/n, come with me." He said, standing up and grabbing my arm.
I stood up with him and we walked down to the goblet. He stepped into the age line, and with a deep breath he walked closer to the goblet and threw his name in. Everyone in the hall clapped, but I made sure I cheered the loudest.
"I did it Y/n! I did it!" Cedric smiled, running to hug me, lifting me up and spinning me around.
"I'm so proud of you Cedric!" I smiled widely at him. "I'm going to spend some time with Hermione, I'll see you in the common room later."
I went off to sit with the golden trio, who all greeted me with a warm smile.
Someone laughed behind me. Turning, I saw Fred, George, and Lee Jordan hurrying down the staircase, all three of them looking extremely excited.
"Done it," Fred said in a triumphantly to the entire hall. "Just taken it."
"What?" said Ron.
"The Aging Potion, dung brains," said Fred.
"One drop each," said George, rubbing his hands together with glee. "We only need to be a few months older."
"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins," said Lee, grinning broadly.
"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know," said Hermione and I warningly "I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this."
"Oh yeah?" Fred said, leaning next to me, making me uncomfortable.
"And why's that, Lestrange, Granger?" George asked who was leaning next to Hermione.
"You see this? This is an age line." Hermione said.
"Dumbledore drew it himself ." I added after.
"So?" Fred asked.
"So... a genus like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by a dodge as pathetically dimwitted as an aging potion." Hermione said, slamming her book down.
"But that's why it's so brilliant." Fred started.
"Because it's so pathetically dimwitted." George finished.
"Ready Fred?"
"Ready George?" Fred said to the other two, quivering with excitement.
"C'mon, then — I'll go first —"
Harry watched, fascinated, as Fred pulled a slip of parchment out of his pocket bearing the words Fred Weasley — Hogwarts.
Fred walked right up to the edge of the line and stood there, rocking on his toes like a diver preparing for a fifty-foot drop. Then, with the eyes of every person in the entrance hall upon him, he took a great breath and stepped over the line.
For a split second Harry thought it had worked — George certainly thought so, for he let out a yell of triumph and leapt after Fred — but next moment, there was a loud sizzling sound, and both twins were hurled out of the golden circle as though they had been thrown by an invisible shot-putter. They landed painfully, ten feet away on the cold stone floor, and to add insult to injury, there was a loud popping noise, and both of them sprouted identical long white beards.
The entrance hall rang with laughter. Even Fred and George joined in, once they had gotten to their feet and taken a good look at each other's beards.
"I did warn you," said a deep, amused voice, and everyone turned to see Professor Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveyed Fred and George, his eyes twinkling. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours."
Fred and George set off for the hospital wing, accompanied by Lee, who was howling with laughter, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I, also chortling, went in to breakfast.
The decorations in the Great Hall had changed this morning. As it was Halloween, a cloud of live bats was fluttering around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of carved pumpkins leered from every corner. Harry led the way over to Dean and Seamus, who were discussing those Hogwarts students of seventeen or over who might be entering.
"There's a rumor going around that Warrington got up early and put his name in," Dean told Harry. "That big bloke from Slytherin who looks like a sloth."
Harry, who had played Quidditch against Warrington, shook his head in disgust.
"We can't have a Slytherin champion!"
"And all the Hufflepuffs are talking about Diggory," said Seamus contemptuously. "But I wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks."
"Listen!" said Hermione suddenly.
People were cheering out in the entrance hall. They all swiveled around in their seats and saw Angelina Johnson coming into the Hall, grinning in an embarrassed sort of way. A tall black girl who played Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Angelina came over to them, sat down, and said, "Well, I've done it! Just put my name in!"
"You're kidding!" said Ron, looking impressed.
"Are you seventeen, then?" asked Harry.
" 'Course she is, can't see a beard, can you?" said Ron.
"I had my birthday last week," said Angelina.
"Well, I'm glad someone from Gryffindor's entering," said Hermione. "I really hope you get it, Angelina!"
"Thanks, Hermione," said Angelina, smiling at her.
"Yeah, better you than Pretty-Boy Diggory," said Seamus, causing several Hufflepuffs (and me) passing their table to scowl heavily at him.
"What're you going to do today, then?" I asked Harry, Ron, and Hermione when they had finished breakfast and were leaving the Great Hall.
"We haven't been down to visit Hagrid yet," said Harry.
"Okay," said Ron, "just as long as he doesn't ask us to donate a few fingers to the skrewts."
A look of great excitement suddenly dawned on Hermione's face.
"I've just realized — I haven't asked Hagrid to join S.P.E.W. yet!" she said brightly. "Wait for me, will you, while I nip upstairs and get the badges?"
"What is it with her?" said Ron, exasperated, as Hermione ran away up the marble staircase.
"Hey, Ron," said Harry suddenly. "It's your friend . . ."
The students from Beauxbatons were coming through the front doors from the grounds, among them, the veela-girl. Those gathered around the Goblet of Fire stood back to let them pass, watching eagerly.
Madame Maxime entered the hall behind her students and organised them into a line. One by one, the Beauxbatons students stepped across the Age Line and dropped their slips of parchment into the blue-white flames. As each name entered the fire, it turned briefly red and emitted sparks.
"What d'you reckon'll happen to the ones who aren't chosen?" Ron muttered to Harry as the veela-girl dropped her parchment into the Goblet of Fire.
"Reckon they'll go back to school, or hang around to watch the tournament?"
"Dunno," said Harry. "Hang around, I suppose. . . . Madame Maxime's staying to judge, isn't she?"
When all the Beauxbatons students had submitted their names, Madame Maxime led them back out of the hall and out onto the grounds again.
"Where are they sleeping, then?" said Ron, moving toward the front doors and staring after them.
~.~.~That Evening~.~.~
When they entered the candlelit Great Hall it was almost full. The Goblet of Fire had been moved; it was now standing in front of Dumbledore's empty chair at the teachers' table. Fred and George — clean-shaven again — seemed to have taken their disappointment fairly well.
"Hope it's you," I said as Cedric and I sat down at the Hufflepuff table.
"So do I!" said another Hufflepuff breathlessly. "Well, we'll soon know!" The Halloween feast seemed to take much longer than usual.
Perhaps because it was their second feast in two days, Y/n didn't seem to fancy the extravagantly prepared food as much as he would have normally. Like everyone else in the Hall, judging by the constantly craning necks, the impatient expressions on every face, the fidgeting, and the standing up to see whether Dumbledore had finished eating yet, she simply wanted the plates to clear, and to hear who had been selected as champions.
At long last, the golden plates returned to their original spotless state; there was a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the Hall, which died away almost instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as tense and expectant as anyone. Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at various students. Mr. Crouch, however, looked quite uninterested, almost bored.
"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" — he indicated the door behind the staff table — "where they will be receiving their first instructions."
He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes. Everyone watched, waiting. . . . A few people kept checking their watches. . . .
"Any second," Someone whispered, two seats away from Y/n.
The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it — the whole room gasped.
Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white.
"The champion for Durmstrang," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum."
"No surprises there!" yelled Ron as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall. Y/n saw Viktor Krum rise from the Slytherin table and slouch up toward Dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.
"Bravo, Viktor!" boomed Karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. "Knew you had it in you!"
The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.
"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"
"It's her, Ron!" Harry shouted as the girl who so resembled a veela got gracefully to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair, and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.
"Oh look, they're all disappointed," Cedric said over the noise, nodding toward the remainder of the Beauxbatons party.
"Disappointed" was a bit of an understatement, she thought. Two of the girls who had not been selected had dissolved into tears and were sobbing with their heads on their arms.
When Fleur Delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excite- ment you could almost taste it. The Hogwarts champion next . . .
And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.
"Good luck Cedric!" I whispered to my best friend.
"The Hogwarts champion," he called, "is Cedric Diggory!"
"YES! CEDRIC!" I yelled loudly hugging him.
"Thank you Y/n/n, I'll tell you everything later!"
"No!" said Ron loudly, but nobody heard him except Harry; the uproar from the next table was too great. Every single Hufflepuff had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping, as Cedric made his way past them, grinning broadly, and headed off toward the chamber behind the teachers' table.
Indeed, the applause for Cedric went on so long that it was some time before Dumbledore could make himself heard again.
"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real —"
But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him.
The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another two pieces of parchment.
The silence was deafening, Y/n had a sick feeling in her stomach, she looked nervously up at Dumbledore who was reaching his arms up to catch the two slips that were slowly and gracefully falling in the air from the large, and golden goblet.
Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the names written upon them. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slips in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out —
"Harry Potter and Y/n Lestrange!"
Word Count: 2600
A/n: ITS WAS BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY! So I wrote a new chapter for you all! I hope you have enjoyed it, because I wanted to make sure that I had a new chapter out for my birthday before I go out! Have a great day :)
From
~Ella
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