The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 13

"Definitely, I should go eat... bye! See you later Delilah," Lyra said before hurrying off.

Delilah raised an eyebrow.

"You know, I think you scare her."

Draco turned, blinking.

"Really? Why?"

Delilah laughed but didn't answer. She started walking with him towards their table.

"I hope we don't get a Gryffindor champion," Draco declared.

"Angelina wouldn't be too bad, but if it is some daft idiot like Kenneth Towler... there will be a long line of murderers waiting to get their chance at him."

Draco didn't respond. He just nodded, his face stuffed with two sandwiches.

The appearance of the sign in the entrance hall had a marked effect upon the inhabitants of the castle. During the following week, there seemed to be only one topic of conversation, no matter where Delilah went: the Triwizard Tournament. Rumors were flying from student to student like highly contagious germs: who was going to try for Hogwarts champion, what the tournament would involve, how the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang differed from themselves.

Delilah also noticed that the castle seemed to be undergoing an extra-thorough cleaning. Several grimy portraits had been scrubbed, much to the displeasure of their subjects, who sat huddled in their frames muttering darkly and wincing as they felt their raw pink faces. The suits of armor were suddenly gleaming and moving without squeaking, and Argus Filch, the caretaker, was behaving so ferociously to any students who forgot to wipe their shoes that he terrified a pair of first-year girls into hysterics.

Other members of the staff seemed oddly tense too.

"Crabbe, Goyle, please do not reveal in front of anyone from Durmstrang that you can't even do a simple switching spell!" McGonagall barked at the end of one particularly difficult lesson, during which Crabbe had accidentally transplanted his own nose onto a cactus and Goyle gave the cactus his hair.

When they went down to breakfast on the morning of the thirtieth of October, they found that the Great Hall had been decorated overnight. Enormous silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts House: red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, and green with a silver serpent for Slytherin. Behind the teachers' table, the largest banner of all bore the Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger, and snake united around a large letter H.

Oddly enough Draco and Blaise seemed to be sitting by themselves, talking about the tournament. Delilah led the way over to them.

"I bet Krum will be the Durmstrang champion, he's famous afterall," Blaise was saying.

"Krum is still in school? I knew he was young, but not that young!" Daphne exclaimed, sitting next to Blaise while Delilah sat beside Draco.

As she sat down, their arms brushed, making her heart miss a few beats. But... why? She had known the dork for a good few years.

"He's in his last year. Do either of you know how the champions are being chosen?" Draco inquired.

Delilah shook her head.

"No, I tried to ask Snape but he said no then muttered something about being murdered if he told," Daphne answered.

"What do you think the tasks will be?" Delilah asked.

"Something dangerous definitely, maybe with magical creatures. I think there also will be judges, but who?" Blaise questioned.

"Probably the heads of the schools and then two or three impartial judges," Delilah replied.