The New Trio and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 15: Thunderbolts and Lightning

Notes: Here you go, we're finally up to the first task! I hope you all like where I've gone so far.

Enjoy!

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The twenty-fourth of November came all too soon for Viktor and Cedric's liking, as Harry and his friends witnessed when they entered the Great Hall to find the two alternating between frantically quizzing each other on lightning-related mythology and magical creatures, and glaring up at the ceiling, which showed a weak November sun and wispy clouds.

Margaux Bernard was sitting alone at the visiting school table, and she seemed to only be concentrating on eating a healthy breakfast and occasionally sneering in Viktor and Cedric's direction, obviously believing them to be fools who were beneath her for leaving their preparation to the last minute.

"So," said George, sitting next to Vikor, "how are you two holding up?"

Viktor thunked his head on George's shoulder and groaned. Harry mentally cooed at how adorable they looked together. "Not very vell, George. I haven't been this nervous since my first professional Quidditch match! The vorst thing, though, is that Bagman and Avery did not tell us very much about vot vos to come, only that it vill test our knowledge and logic. Vrom vot Dumbledore said the night bevore ve vere picked, the 'knowledge' part refers to knowing about mythology vrom different parts of the world."

Cedric nodded in agreement, his cheek currently resting on his propped up hand. "So we scoured the library for lightning mythology, for lightning casting and deflecting spells, and magical creatures that have some sort of connection to the element, but there are so many myths and creatures, though! True, some of them sound and look way too dangerous to have in a tournament for seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds, but you never know with the Wizarding world."

"Okay, well, what sorts of creatures have you got on your list?" asked Hermione.

"From Asia we have the thunderclap dragon from Mongolia and the raiju and kitsune from Japan," started Cedric, leafing through a sheaf of parchment. "Then five giant and six cyclops subspecies-all of which have some sort of connection to lightning, thunder, or storms-and the thunderbird."

"Don't vorget the storm crow vrom some native North American tribe. Ve have at least one creature vrom each major continent, except ve couldn't vind anything on African or South American myths or creatures," grumbled Viktor. "It seems counterproductive to have champions go through so much useless research vhen vot ve need is not in the library, so ve do not think they vill have anything vrom there."

"Good thinking," said Draco, trying to bolster their downed confidences. "Besides, don't forget that you entered the Tournament of your own free wills; you should have expected some hard work this year since you got the chance of having your end-of-year exams automatically passed."

"I didn't quite understand that," admitted Neville. "I mean, Cedric's okay, since he's in sixth-year, but what about NEWTs for the seventh-years? Wouldn't just getting a pass not be good enough for some jobs?"

"Da," agreed Viktor. "That vould be the case if seventh-years only had one set of end-of-year exams, but they don't. There are the mock NEWTs vhich take place a month bevore NEWTs, and the vormer only count vor the school marks. The NEWTs are valid throughout Europe, and hold a lot more influence than school marks, vhich are only valid vor your country. So, you automatically pass the mocks, but you still need to take the NEWTs so that you can get a job anyvhere in Europe you vant. If you vant to vork outside of Europe, you need to apply to the ICW, vhere you can take the International NEWTs."

Neville blinked at the large amount of information that Viktor had uttered, almost sounding like he'd just memorised an informational pamphlet. "Oh, okay then."