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โ–ฌโ–ฌโ–ฌ five; the champion selection.
โ‹†.๏ฝก.:* โ˜†:**:.



UP TO THIS SATURDAY Lauren had been taking distance from her friends and used the excuse that she wanted to focus on getting her grades up this year. Surely, she got away with it without waking any suspiciousness but she couldn't help but feel as if the trio was constantly trying to watch out for her. Not like they were curious but as if they were worried that she was going to do something bad. It was a weird tension, but that wasn't really why she wanted to be by herself this week.

Lately, her nightmares had started to attack her in daylight as well, in the form of visions that flashed through her open eyes or as whispers in her ear during a quiet class.

"Can I trust you?" The voice of a woman spoke, her brown wet curls stuck to her face because of the heavy rain. In her arms, she held something wrapped in a blanket, but Lauren couldn't see any details, and everything was blurry. It was like she was a ghost watching a scene live.

"Always. What's the matter?" His voice was strong and deep even if he were whispering, it reminded Lauren a lot of Dumbledore. He was dressed in thick dark blue clothing and the big hood was covering his entire face.

"I need you to do me a favour. Make sure my little girl get somewhere safe while I'm away," the woman lifted a piece of the blanket up the slightest and showed the hooded man a crying baby. She couldn't have been older than a few months.

"How long will you be gone?" He asked while the woman gently placed the screaming baby in his arms.

"I'm might never come back. Of all people, you should understand that whatever is to happen can't be predicted." It was a long pause, but the harshly wind blowing around them made it sound so loud. "To protect her from what will take me, she can't know the truth. You must promise me, no matter what, she will never be told anything about the truth."

And that's where the dream ended, and then it repeated. And it wasn't scary, but the noises, the baby's cries, the blood on the woman's face and the fear in her eyes touched Lauren's heart in a way she wasn't comfortable with. And it felt so real.

Another vision that had entered her mind in the early morning a few hours earlier then this moment she had also seen the same woman being attacked by green and blue flashes, and she was screaming and crying. And it just repeated like the other dream, like they were connected but it was all in a big mess. It was like someone was playing them over and over again to try to figure out which order they should be put in.

And everything was still playing in the back of Lauren's head when she entered the Great Hall and took a seat beside Harry. She was so caught up in trying to block them out that she didn't notice the Slytherin student staring at her with a small smile, she didn't notice how nervous her brother was, she didn't even notice how Hermione was constantly trying to get her attention.

"What?" Lauren mumbled looking up.

"Who are you and what have you done to Lauren Diggory?" Ron asked expecting Hermione to pinch him, but she seemed to agree.

The ginger looked at her friend with furrowed eyebrows, "You seem ill, Lauren. Maybe we should go to Madame Pomfrey later?"

Lauren shook her head and straightened her back, "Thanks for noting my pale skin, but it's genetic. I'm fine."

"Maybe she's possessed," chuckled Ron, but it clearly wasn't funny for anyone. Harry shared worried glances with Hermione, which Lauren ignored and just thought about what the Weasley brother said. Maybe she was possessed, maybe an evil spirit was the reason for her nightmares?

"Sit down, please." Dumbledore stood in the middle of the hall with students and professors taking their seats by tables around him. "Now, the moment you've all been waiting for. . . The champion selection."

Professor Dumbledore pointed his hand towards one of the firepots hanging on the walls, and as his hand formed as if he was grabbing it, it died. And so he swept his hand slowly from where he stood and all the fires died as his hand passed them. It left many amazed, but Lauren knew that tricks like those were not even close to what Albus was capable of.

He then walked up to the goblet and touched it with both his hands before backing away slowly, and held one arm up in the air as if he was waiting for something to land in it.

The fire in the goblet remained blueโ€”but not many seconds later I changed into red. And it was like a small explosion happened inside it, and out from it came a piece of paper flying and the red fire shifted into blue once again.

Dumbledore cached it in his right hand and quickly opened it to read. "The Durmstrang champion is. . . Viktor Krum!" Everyone cheered as the rather smiling boy stood up and hugged his friends before walking up to Dumbledore. They shook hands and Dumbledore pointed towards the door at the end of the hall which Viktor was now walking through and the cheering died out.

Once again the goblet's blue fire turned red and shot out another piece of paper that Dumbledore cached as the fire turned blue again. "The champion for Beauxbatons. . . is Fleur Delacour."

The blue dressed girl with a blonde short ponytail stood up and smiled at her friends and then walked towards Dumbledore with everyone in the hall cheering just as they did to Krum. They shook hands and then she walked away into the same directions as the boy before her.

And then, the fire shot out the last piece of paper in the air and landed in the hands of Hogwarts' Headmaster. "The Hogwarts champion. . . Cedric Diggory!" The students cheered louder than before and his friends hugged him tight. His sister beamed widely along with the others and caught his eyes. He blew her a kiss before running up to Dumbledore and receiving a warm hug and a pat on the shoulder before being directed down to the room where the other champions waited for him.

"Excellent! We now have our three champions. But in the end, only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champions. . ." While he spoke Barty Crouch placed a covered object on the tablet by the Professors. ". . . This vessel of victory. . . the Triwizard Cup!"  As Dumbledore pointed its way the blanket to relieve the blue shiny cup and everyone in the hall cheered loudly but got interrupted by the goblet turning into red once more (which it, of course, wasn't supposed to do).

Everyone became dead silence as it shot out another piece of paper and turned back to blue. Dumbledore held the paper in his hand and looked at the other Professors before reading it, and he hesitated before speaking quietly, "Harry Potter. . . Harry Potter?!" He then shouted angrily and looked around until his sharp eyes landed on the confused raven-haired boy.

The raven boys wide eyes immediately looked beside him to find any comfort in Lauren, but she just shook her head as she didn't understand. He then looked at the smart girl for an explanation, but she was speechless. He didn't put his name in there, she could tell by the look on his face and the fact that he wasn't like that. He wasn't going to cheat, not like Fred and George tried to.

"No, no," he mumbled and shook his head and sank deep into his seat but Lauren pushed his side.

"Go on, Harry," she said with concern, regretting that she had to be the one forcing him to step forward. He walked forward in confusion and was shaking inside as he walked past Dumbledore, he couldn't read his face. He seemed angry.

Lauren turned to Hermione and Ron as Harry had gone through the doors which the three kids before him had, and the Professors with Barty Crouch followed after and whispered loudly. All the students began talking, and even if they intended to be quiet the hall was crowded with dull noises.

"What the bloody hell?!" Lauren snapped.

While Hermione and Lauren were worried and confused, most of the other students seemed angryโ€”which made the Diggory girl even more upset. Hermione sighed, "he didn't put his name in there. I know it."

"Yes, I know. But why would his name come out of it now, and there were already three champions. . ."

"He probably asked someone to do it. Guess he's so desperate for eternal glory," Ron mumbled but loud enough so the girls could hear. They both snapped their heads towards him, but before they could confront him he walked out with Seamus followed by a few other boys.


โ€”


Students had been dismissed from the Great Hall awhile ago and most of the students were already in the dorms getting ready for the night. But not Lauren. Herself and Hermione were still sitting by one of the tables. They had dropped the topic of Harry and how he had been chosen for this and instead landed in a silence, but it didn't last too long.

"Anyways," Hermione started nervously. "About what you said at the trainโ€”"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Lauren snapped back, and then realized her rudeness and apologized quietly but enough so Hermione could hear it.

"We're best friends, we aren't supposed to keep secrets from each other you know." She placed her hand on Lauren's which was tapping anxiously on the table. "Did something happen during the summer?"

"There's more than one thing wrong," the brunette said weakly and held back the tears already building up.

"Tell me one of them, maybe I could help?" Lauren looked down at the table, what could Hermione possibly do to help her?

She thought for a moment, maybe she should tell Hermione. After all, Harry also have bad dreams and visions, Lauren's not alone in that. And she knew for a fact that she isn't the only girl in history who has parents constantly fighting. "I really don't want anyone to know about this. You have to promise not to tell anyone, not even Harry."

Granger nodded, "I won't tell anyone."

"It's my parents. . ." The red-haired girl sat silent for a minute and just looked into Lauren's glancing eyes.

"Are they arguing?"

A tear fell down the girl's cheek as she sighed, "fighting, every night. Breaking things. . ." Hermione quickly walked around the table and sat down beside her sobbing friend and wrapped her into a tight hug and stroke her long blonde hair. "I think that's why Ced is doing this. Risking his life, to see if it would solve the problem."

"You should've told me, written me a letter or something, you could've stayed with me a few months. And don't worry about Cedric, he's gonna be just fine."

"Thank you, Mione."

"I think we should go to bed, we're gonna have a grumpy Ron to deal with tomorrow." The girls chuckled as they stood up to walk back to the common rooms. Outside the doors, Draco Malfoy had been quick enough to hide behind a pillar before the girls could notice how he had been standing just outside listening in on their private conversation.

He didn't intend to be rude, he actually did because he was worried about his long-secret friend. She had become distant and didn't cause mischief with the twins like she used to, and he had noticed. But she didn't talk to him about it and practically ran away whenever he started asking how she was.

When he entered the empty common room again he felt sad. It made him anxious knowing that Lauren was suffering and there was nothing he could do to take the pain away.



โ–ฌโ–ฌ author's note โ–ฌโ–ฌ

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[ last updated: 22/11/20 ]
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