The Snake| Draco Malfoy

~Year 4~ Goblet of Fire

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment, and drop it into the Goblet," said Dumbledore.

"Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the Goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The Goblet will be placed in the Entrance Hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete. To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," said Dumbledore,

"I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the Entrance Hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line. Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this Tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the Tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the Goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are whole-heartedly prepared to play, before you drop your name into the Goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Goodnight to you all." We all slowly get up and exit the hall and start walking towards the common room.

"Who do you think will get chosen?" Lucille says next to me. I shrug.

"Probably Krum he's famous and probably some Gryffindor and popular Veela." I answer. She rolls her eyes.

"I doubt that." She says as we make our way to the common room.

As the next day was Saturday, most students would normally have breakfasted late. Me, Harper and Astoria, however, were not alone in rising much earlier than they usually did at weekends. Lucille had decided to have a lie in this week. 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. I had seen a few durmstrang boys enter along with a few girls from beauxbatons. We took our seats watching as people came to examine the goblet and a few entering.

"I haven't seen any from Hogwarts yet." Astoria says watching another Durmstrang enter.

"I think some entered last night." Harper says, there was a sudden laugh from the entrance.

"Done it," Fred said in a triumphant voice all attention had gone to him. "Just taken it."

"What?" said Ron.

"The Aging Potion, dungbrains," 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 warningly. "I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this." Fred, George and Lee ignored her.

"Ready?" Fred said to the other two, quivering with excitement. "C'mon, then – I'll go first –"

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, I 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 got to their feet, and taken a good look at each other's beards.