"I knew they would bring Krum," Draco says proudly.
"Would you like a Noddy badge?" I ask jokingly as I smirk at Draco, which in turn swats me on the arm.
"Let me have this moment please," Draco chuckles as we recross the entrance hall with the rest of the Hogwarts students, heading for the Great Hall.
I can see Lee Jordan, the twins' friend, jumping up and down on the soles of his feet to get a better look at the back of Krum's head. Several sixth-year girls are frantically searching their pockets as they walk.
The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students and teachers all step aside to the one side of the entrance hall as they allow us to enter the Great Hall.
We walk over to the Slytherin table and sit down. The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students waiting to be signalled in by Dumbledore.
Dumbledore begins to speak, the Great Hall falling into silence, "now that we're all settled in. As you all know Hogwarts has been chosen to host the legendary event of the Triwizard tournament and we will be competing against two other schools...
"So, without further ado, please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and their headmistress Madame Maxime."
On this cue the ladies all come marching in with their headmistress following behind. As they get to the middle of the Great Hall, they curtsy to the right side and sigh with a high pitch as they smile. They continue to march on a few steps forward and now curtsy to the left side with the same smile and sigh.
Straight afterwards they begin to trot to the front of the Hall as little blue magical butterflies fly out from around them. They trot into formation as the last lady joins them in the front with another much younger looking girl that does a series of gymnastic flips.
They bow as the Hall erupts into applause, mainly from all the boys.
"Well that was a bit excessive," I snort as Tracey rolls her eyes.
I look over to see Draco looking at them with stars in his eyes and when I gaze over to the twins, they too have the same expression.
I nudge Draco with my elbow. "Would you like to join them up there?"
He shakes his head slightly as if coming out of a daze. "What, no, of course not."
The students from Beauxbatons taking their seats at the Ravenclaw table and looking around the Great Hall with glum expressions.
Dumbledore speaks again, "and now our friends from the north. Please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang and their high master Igor Karkaroff."
Our heads all turn back to the doorway as the students from Durmstrang come marching in while banging their canes on the floor as they walk, with each bang a series of sparks ignite on the bottom of their canes.
They too stop halfway into the hall to do a series of twirls with their canes whilst still banging them on the floor. A few of the students begin to run to the front of the hall also doing a set of gymnastic flips as the rest continue walking on. Krum and Karkaroff following in from the back.
As Krum and Karkaroff reach the front; two of the Durmstrang students go onto their one knee and blow on the end of their wands, bringing about a beautiful formation of two birds using fiendfyre.
"Now there's a man," Tracey and I chime.
"Uhm excuse me," says Draco from beside me, sounding very offended but also agreeing with us knowing that Viktor Krum is quite the man everyone chalks him up to be.
Viktor Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students settle themselves at our table. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle can't help but look very smug about it.
Draco bends forward and extends a hand towards Krum. "Draco Malfoy, it's nice to finally meet you."
And boy anyone can see the huge grin on Draco's face, which is delighted at the fact that he is meeting one of his inspirations for Quidditch.
"Nice to meet you." Krum shakes Draco's hand with a smile.
The Durmstrang students are pulling off their heavy furs and looking up at the starry black ceiling with expressions of interest; a couple of them are picking up the golden plates and goblets and examining them, apparently impressed.
Up at the staff table, Karkaroff and Madame Maxime have taken their seats. Leaving still two vacant seats, one on either side of Dumbledore.
Once the guests all settle down at their tables Dumbledore speaks again, "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable. The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink and make yourselves at home!"
The plates in front of us fill with food as usual. The house-elves in the kitchen seem to have pulled out all the stops; there is greater variety of dishes in front of us, including several that are definitely foreign.
"What is this fishy stew?" Tracey asks as she gestures towards the shellfish stew which is standing beside a large steak-and-kidney pie.
Draco fully immersed in a conversation with Viktor Krum.
"Bouillabaisse. My sister and I had it on holiday summer before last. It's actually quite nice, you should try it."
"Don't mind if I do," responds Tracey as she takes a large helping.
The Great Hall seems somehow much more crowded than usual, even though there are barely twenty additional students here; perhaps it is because of their differently colored uniforms which stand out so clearly against our black Hogwarts robes. Now that the Durmstrang students have removed their furs, they can be seen wearing robes of deep bloodred.
Halfway through the feast the two remaining seats are filled; Ludo Bagman is now sitting on Professor Karkaroff's other side while Mr. Crouch, Percy Weasley's boss, is sitting next to Madame Maxime.
"I'm looking to become a Quidditch player for an international team," Draco grins from beside me addressing Krum.
"Oh, he is a brilliant player. He should show you sometime while you here," I add in, making Draco blush all shades of pink.
He laughs it off, trying to hide the fact that he almost looks like a tomato, "Nyx is boasting way too much. I'm not that good, but I hope to be one day."
"Vich team do you vant to play vor?" asks Krum.
Draco and Krum remain in a locked conversation for the rest of the feast as Tracey and I admire the Durmstrang guests.
Once the golden plates have been wiped clean after dessert, Dumbledore stands up again. A pleasant sort of tension seems to fill the Hall now.
"The moment has come," says Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket. Just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year.
"But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation –" there is a smattering of polite applause "– and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."
There is a much louder round of applause for Bagman than for Crouch. He acknowledges it with a jovial wave of his hand. Bartemius Crouch did not smile or wave when his name was announced.
"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continues, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."
At the mention of the word 'champions' the attentiveness of the listening students seems to sharpen. Perhaps Dumbledore notices our sudden stillness, for he smiles and says, "the casket then if you please, Mr. Filch."
Filch, who has been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approaches Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looks extremely old. A murmur of excited interest rises from students all around.
"The instructions for the task the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," says Dumbledore as Filch places the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways... Their magical prowess... Their daring... Their powers of deduction... And of course, their ability to cope with danger."
At the last word, the Hall is filled with a silence so absolute that nobody seems to be breathing.
"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore goes on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."
Dumbledore now takes out his wand and taps three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaks slowly open. Dumbledore reaches inside it and pulls out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable if not for the dancing blue-white flames.
Dumbledore closes the casket and places the goblet carefully on top of it, where it will be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall.
"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," says 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," says 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."
I chuckle to myself, knowing that the twins are going to try anyway. They are very excited for it; I told them their best chance would be an aging potion, but I did mention to them that I still think it won't work. However, they going to try anyway like usual.
"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 obligated to see the tournament through to the end... Now I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."
As we all get up and make our way to our common rooms George and Fred pull me one side in the entrance hall, away from everyone else.
"Will the aging potion be ready for tomorrow?" whispers Fred.
"Yes, by tomorrow morning you will be able to enter your names. But I still don't think –" I begin.
"We're going to try anyways, so don't even bother trying to talk us out of it," beams George.
As the next day is Saturday, most students would normally have breakfast late. However, most of us are up a lot earlier than usual this particular morning. While everyone heads down to the entrance hall, I head towards the Gryffindor common room, where George and Fred said I must meet them outside.
"Morning gents," I say as George, Fred, and Lee Jordan climb out of the portrait hole, looking confident as ever.
"Morning," they chime.
"The potion ready?" asks Fred.
"I told you it will be." I nod and take out a phial from my pocket and hand it to Fred. "One drop each should do the trick since you're almost seventeen in any case."
Each of them takes a drop from the phial before handing it back to me.
"Alright, let's get going before it's too late," adds Lee.
When we enter the entrance hall, we see about twenty people milling around it, some eating where others are examining the Goblet of Fire. It has been placed in the center of the hall on the stool that normally bore the Sorting Hat. A thin golden line has been traced on the floor, forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction.
Approaching Harry, Ron, and Hermione we overhear Harry say, "what if the goblet just gobbed you right back out again?"
Fred laughs as we hurry down the staircase, all three of the boys still looking very excited.
"Done it," says Fred in a triumphant whisper to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Just taken it."
"What?" says Ron.
"The Aging Potion, dung brains. Nyx made it for us," says Fred.
Ron glares over at me.
"One drop each," says George, rubbing his hands together with glee. "We only need to be a few months older."
"I wouldn't trust drinking any potion that she makes," comments Ron as if I'm not even standing there.
"You forget that my Potion marks skyrockets over yours, right?" I respond in a snarky tone.
"That's only because Snape favors you Slytherin lot."
I roll my eyes as Lee grins broadly and speaks, ignoring Ron, "we're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins."
"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know," says Hermione warningly. "I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this. Didn't you tell them Nyx?"
"Of course, I did. You know they don't listen," I answer.
Fred, George, and Lee ignore my sister.
"Ready?" says Fred to the other two, quivering with excitement. "C'mon, then – I'll go first –"
Fred pulls a slip of parchment out of his pocket bearing the words 'Fred Weasley – Hogwarts'.
I spot Tracey standing near the entrance hall doorway. Draco standing a little further away with Crabbe and Goyle.
I walk over to Tracey as Fred walks right up to the edge of the line and stands 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 takes a great breath and steps over the line.
"Looks like it worked," Tracey says next to me, sounding surprised.
"I don't doubt my potion making skills, but I also don't doubt Dumbledore's magic. Give it a moment," I reply, peering over at George and Lee.
George certainly doesn't wait, thinking it has succeeded he lets out a yell of triumph giving me the thumbs up and leaps in after Fred.
But the next moment, there is a loud sizzling sound, and both twins are hurled out of the golden circle as though they have been thrown by an invisible shot-putter. They land painfully on the cold stone floor, right by mine and Tracey's feet. And to add insult to injury, there is a loud popping noise and both of them sprout identical long white beards.
The entrance hall rings with laughter, Draco and his goons doubling over from all the giggles. Tracey and I clutching our stomachs with laughter too.
Fred and George point at each other. "You said!"
They then peer up at me, pointing. "No, you said!
My laughter doesn't seize as they get to their feet and join in on the laughter surrounding the hall.
"You were warned," says a deep, amused voice and we all turn to see Professor Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveys 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, accompanied by Lee, after they thank me for trying. Lee who is still howling with laughter.
Tracey and I head into the Great Hall for breakfast. Draco and them trailing behind us.
The decorations have changed this morning. As it is Halloween, a cloud of live bats are fluttering around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of carved pumpkins leer from every corner.
We sit down at the table as Draco comments chuckling, "can't believe your friends with those fools."
"Hey, those fools keep me entertained," I laugh, grabbing a croissant from the assortment of foods.
Draco leans in and whispers into my ear, "don't I keep you entertained?"
He straightens up again with a playful smirk on his face, which certainly is making my heart palpitate in a weird rhythm.
"Of course, I never said you don't," I joke back.
Tracey not knowing what we are on about, raises an eyebrow as she asks, "so who all entered their names from our House?"
She is addressing Draco, so I assume he was here a lot earlier than her.
"I know Warrington put his name in early this morning. Bole mentioned he might put his name in," answers Draco. "All the Durmstrang students put their names in as well, I hope Krum gets chosen though."
"That's obvious," I chuckle.
People begin cheering out in the entrance hall. We look over to see Angelina Johnson, a Gryffindor, coming into the Hall and grinning.
"We certainly can't have a Gryffindor champion!" Tracey scoffs.
"I hope Krum becomes Champion," adds Draco.
"Do I sense another over eager Krum fan?" I smirk at Draco who in turn playfully sticks his tongue out at me.
As we continue eating our breakfast the students from Beauxbatons come through the front doors from the grounds. Those gathered around the Goblet of Fire stands back to let them pass, watching eagerly.
Madame Maxime enters the hall behind her students and organizes them into a line. One by one, the Beauxbatons students step across the Age Line and drop their slips of parchment into the blue-white flames. As each name enters the fire, it briefly turns red and emits sparks.
"What are you doing today? I'm going straight back to the common room and lounging in front of the fire... Oh wait I actually have some homework to finish," sighs Tracey.
"I'll maybe head into the forest, sketch a bit," I answer.
"I don't' know how you can spend even a minute in that place."
Truth is I'm going to the Thestral paddock, but Tracey doesn't know about them, no student does expect Draco and Luna of course; well that I know of.
"Nyx!" I hear my name being called out ahead as I make my way back towards the castle. Evening has fallen and it is surprisingly dark outside.
I look up to see Hermione, Ron, and Harry. They have drawn their cloaks more closely around themselves as they wait for me up on one of the sloping lawns.
I hear Ron sigh disapprovingly as I draw near.
"What were you doing coming from the forest?" she asks taken aback.
I hold up my sketch pad; time had gotten away from me as I sketched the Thestrals and only noticed the time once the forest started darkening.
"Sketching," I reply.
"Were you alone?" she asks as we continue up the lawns.
I nod.
"Who would possibly want to go in there voluntarily?" Harry asks a rhetorical question.
The Durmstrang party is walking up toward the castle from the lake. Viktor Krum is walking side by side with Karkaroff and the other Durmstrang students are straggling along behind them, reaching the front doors a little ahead of us all.
When we enter the candlelit Great Hall, it is almost full. The Goblet of Fire has been moved; it is now standing in front of Dumbledore's empty chair at the teachers' table.
"See you later," mumbles my sister as they walk off to their House table.
I peer over at the Gryffindor table and look for George and Fred who are now sitting there, clean-shaven, it seems that they have taken their disappointment fairly well.
George spots me and gets up making his way to me.
"Nyx," he beams.
"George, hey. I see the beards are gone, thankfully."
"Don't lie, you liked my beard. Made me seem wiser," he mocks, puffing his chest out slightly.
"Oh yes I think I could definitely have gotten used to the old man beard," I giggle.
"Anyways," he chuckles along, "Fred and I wanted to thank you again for helping us out with the potion, even though it didn't work. Was still fun."
"Anytime for you two," I gleam.
We head to our respective tables afterwards and the Halloween feast seems to take much longer than usual. Everyone becomes fidgety as we wait for Dumbledore to finish eating.
At long last, the golden plates return to their original spotless state; there is a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the Hall, which dies away almost instantly as Dumbledore gets to his feet. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime look as tense and expectant as anyone. Ludo Bagman is beaming and winking at various students. Mr. Crouch, however, looks quite uninterested, almost bored.
"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," says 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 indicates the door behind the staff table "- where they will be receiving their first instructions."
He takes out his wand and gives a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins are extinguished, plunging us into a state of semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire now shines more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes. We all watch, waiting... A few people keep checking their watches.
The flames inside the goblet suddenly turn red again. Sparks begin to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shoots into the air, a charred piece of parchment flutters out of it, the whole room gasps.
Dumbledore catches the piece of parchment and holds it at arm's length, so that he can read it by the light of the flames, which has turned to blue-white.
"The champion for Durmstrang," he reads, in a strong clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum."
"I knew it!" beams Draco as a storm of applause and cheering sweeps the Hall.
Viktor Krum rises from our table and slouches up toward Dumbledore; he turns right, walks along the staff table and disappears through the door into the next chamber.
"Bravo, Viktor!" booms Karkaroff, so loudly that we all can hear him, even over all the applause.
The clapping and chatting dies down. Now everyone's attention is focused again on the goblet, which seconds later, turns red once more. A second piece of parchment shoots out of it, propelled by the flames.
"The champion for Beauxbatons," says Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"
The girl gets to her feet, shakes back her sheet of silvery blonde hair and sweeps between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.
When Fleur Delacour vanishes too into the side chamber, silence falls again, but this time it is a silence so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it. The Hogwarts champion next...
And the Goblet of Fire turns red once more; sparks shower out of it. The tongue of flame shoots high into the air and from its top Dumbledore pulls the third piece of parchment.
"The Hogwarts champion," he calls, "is Cedric Diggory!"
"Oh great, a Hufflepuff, kill me now," Draco mumbles which I can barely hear over the uproar from the Hufflepuff table. Every single Hufflepuff jumps to his or her feet, screaming and stamping, as Cedric makes his way past them, grinning broadly and heads off toward the chamber behind the teachers' table. Indeed, the applause for Cedric goes on so long that it is some time before Dumbledore can make himself heard again.
"Excellent!" Dumbledore calls happily as at last the tumult dies 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 stops speaking, and it is apparent to all of us what has distracted him.
The fire in the goblet has turned red again. Sparks are flying out of it. A long flame shoots suddenly into the air and borne upon it is another piece of parchment.
Automatically, it seems, Dumbledore reaches out a long hand seizing the parchment. He holds it out and stares at the name written upon it. There is a long pause, during which Dumbledore stares at the slip in his hands, and all of us stare at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore clears his throat and reads out –
"Harry Potter."
Year 4 - The Goblet of Fire ~ End