* * *
THAT NIGHT, ELARA HAD ONE OF HER WEIRDEST DREAMS. she was running through a maze of sorts, towards a light in the distance. she didn't know why she was running, but she felt has if she just had to get to it. when she reached the glowing blue light, she realized it was the goblet of fire. she reached out to touch it, but before she could, the scene flashed. she was in the great hall, watching as dumbledore stood, shocked, at the goblet.
the goblet of fire was turning red. sparks were flying out of it. a long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment. as dumbledore reached out for it, elara heard a call.
it resembled one of a siren. shivers shot down her spine. elara looked around to find the source of the noise, but no one seemed to have acknowledged it. dumbledore was staring at the piece of parchment with an unreadable expression.
"harry potter," he called.
the call sounded again.
elara shot up out of her bed, panting. her hair had fallen out of its top knot and she had to push it back behind her ear. she frantically reached for her journal on her bedside table and begun to write frantically inside it.
she was paranoid. harry had been chosen as the second hogwarts champion, and now this undeniable siren call was sounding.
elara elected not to tell anyone. today was supposed to be exciting and fun. there was no need to put a damper on the festivities. she woke aspen up so they could watch students put their names into the goblet of fire.
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.
harry, ron, and hermione arrived shortly after.
"anyone put their name in yet?" ron asked a third-year girl eagerly.
"all the durmstrang lot," she replied. "but i haven't seen anyone from hogwarts yet."
they watched as a beauxbatons girl, who looked more like a veela than fleur did, enter the hall and join her group of friends in the corner.
"bet some of them put it in last night after we'd all gone to bed," said harry. "i would've if it had been me . . . wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. what if the goblet just gobbed you right back out again?"
elara gave harry a pointed look. he shrugged, and elara turned away. she was still on edge since the dream. someone laughed behind elara. turning, she saw fred, george, aurora and lee jordan hurrying down the staircase, all three of them looking extremely excited.
"done it," fred said in a triumphant whisper to harry, ron, elara, and hermione. "just taken it."
"what?" said ron.
"the aging potion, dung brains," said fred.
"one drop each," said george, rubbing his hands together with glee. "we only need to be a few months older."
"but rori, you're already seventeen," said ron, staring at the beauxbatons girl who had just put her name in the cup.
"i brewed the potion for them, but i'm gonna enter legally," said aurora, nudging george with her elbow.
"we're going to split the thousand galleons between the four 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, aurora, and lee ignored her.
"ready?" fred said to the other three, quivering with excitement.
"c'mon, then — i'll go first —" said aurora.
elara watched, fascinated, as aurora pulled a slip of parchment out of her pocket bearing the words aurora brightwind — hogwarts. aurora easily stepped over the line and had to stand on her toes in order to reach the brim of the cup. blue flames rose out of the goblet as she entered her name, and the hogwarts students cheered.
fred went next. he 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 elara 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 gotten to their feet and taken a good look at each other's beards. no one laughed as hard as aurora, as she had fallen onto a bench and banged her fist against the wooden seat.
"i did warn you," said a deep, amused voice, and everyone turned to see professor dumbledore coming out of the great hall. he surveyed 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 wing, accompanied by lee and aurora, who were howling with laughter, and harry, ron, elara, and hermione, also chortling, went in to breakfast.
the decorations in the great hall had changed this morning. as it was halloween, a cloud of live bats was fluttering around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of carved pumpkins leered from every corner. harry led the way over to dean, seamus, and aspen, who were discussing those hogwarts students of seventeen or over who might be entering.
"there's a rumor going around that warrington got up early and put his name in," dean told harry. "that big bloke from slytherin who looks like a sloth."
harry, who had played quidditch against warrington, shook his head in disgust.
"we can't have a slytherin champion!"
"and all the hufflepuffs are talking about diggory," said seamus contemptuously. "but i wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks."
elara and aspen scoffed. cedric tutored aspen in transfiguration.
"listen!" said hermione suddenly.
people were cheering out in the entrance hall. they all swiveled around in their seats and saw angelina johnson coming into the hall, grinning in an embarrassed sort of way. a tall black girl who played chaser on the gryffindor quidditch team, angelina came over to them, sat down, and said, "well, i've done it! just put my name in!"
"you're kidding!" said ron, looking impressed.
"are you seventeen, then?" asked harry.
" 'course she is, can't see a beard, can you?" said ron.
"i had my birthday last week," said angelina.
"well, i'm glad someone else from gryffindor's entering," said hermione.
"i really hope you get it, angelina!" said elara.
"thanks, lara," said angelina, smiling at her.
"yeah, better you than pretty-boy diggory," said seamus, causing several hufflepuffs passing their table to scowl heavily at him.
aspen rolled her eyes.
"what're we going to do today, then?" ron asked harry, elara, and hermione when they had finished breakfast and were leaving the great hall.
"we haven't been down to visit hagrid yet," said harry.
"as long as he doesn't ask us to donate a few fingers to the skrewts, that sounds like fun," said elara.
a look of great excitement suddenly dawned on hermione's face.
"i've just realized — i haven't asked hagrid to join s.p.e.w. yet!" she said brightly. "wait for me, will you, while i nip upstairs and get the badges?"
"what is it with her?" said ron, exasperated, as hermione ran away up the marble staircase.
"hey, ron," said elara suddenly. "it's your friend, fleur . . ."
the students from beauxbatons were coming through the front doors from the grounds, among them, fleur and the veela-girl that was in the hall earlier. those gathered around the goblet of fire stood back to let them pass, watching eagerly.
madame Maxime entered the hall behind her students and organized them into a line. one by one, the beauxbatons students stepped across the age line and dropped their slips of parchment into the blue-white flames. as each name entered the fire, it turned briefly red and emitted sparks.
"what d'you reckon'll happen to the ones who aren't chosen?" ron muttered to harry and elara as the fleur dropped her parchment into the goblet of fire. "reckon they'll go back to school, or hang around to watch the tournament?"
"dunno," said harry as they watched the other veela-girl drop in her name. "hang around, i suppose. . . . madame maxime's staying to judge, isn't she?"
fleur gave a small wave to elara.
when all the beauxbatons students had submitted their names, madame maxime led them back out of the hall and out onto the grounds again.
"where are they sleeping, then?" said ron, moving toward the front doors and staring after them.
"jesus, ron," elara said, exasperated.
a loud rattling noise behind them announced hermione's reappearance with the box of s.p.e.w. badges.
"oh good, hurry up," said ron, and he jumped down the stone steps, keeping his eyes on the back of fleur and the other veela-girl, who was now halfway across the lawn with madame maxime.
as they neared hagrid's cabin on the edge of the forbidden forest, the mystery of the beauxbatons' sleeping quarters was solved. the gigantic powder-blue carriage in which they had arrived had been parked two hundred yards from hagrid's front door, and the students were climbing back inside it. the elephantine flying horses that had pulled the carriage were now grazing in a makeshift paddock alongside it.
elara knocked on hagrid's door, and fang's booming barks answered instantly
"'bout time!" said hagrid, when he'd flung open the door. "thought you lot'd forgotten where i live!"
"we've been really busy, hag —" hermione started to say, but then she stopped dead, looking up at hagrid, apparently lost for words.
hagrid was wearing his best (and very horrible) hairy brown suit, plus a checked yellow-and-orange tie. this wasn't the worst of it, though; he had evidently tried to tame his hair, using large quantities of what appeared to be axle grease. it was now slicked down into two bunches — perhaps he had tried a ponytail like bill's, but found he had too much hair. the look didn't really suit hagrid at all. for a moment, hermione goggled at him, then, obviously deciding not to comment, she said, "erm — where are the skrewts?"
"out by the pumpkin patch," said hagrid happily. "they're gettin' massive, mus' be nearly three foot long now. on'y trouble is, they've started killin' each other."
"oh no, really?" said elara, shooting a repressive look at ron, who, staring at hagrid's odd hairstyle, had just opened his mouth to say something about it.
"yeah," said hagrid sadly. " 's' okay, though, i've got 'em in separate boxes now. still got abou' twenty."
"well, that's lucky," said ron. hagrid missed the sarcasm.
hagrid's cabin comprised a single room, in one corner of which was a gigantic bed covered in a patchwork quilt. a similarly enormous wooden table and chairs stood in front of the fire beneath the quantity of cured hams and dead birds hanging from the ceiling. they sat down at the table while hagrid started to make tea, and were soon immersed in yet more discussion of the triwizard tournament. hagrid seemed quite as excited about it as they were.
"you wait," he said, grinning. "you jus' wait. yer going ter see some stuff yeh've never seen before. firs' task . . . ah, but i'm not supposed ter say."
"go on, hagrid!" harry, ron, elara, and hermione urged him, but he just shook his head, grinning.
"i don' want ter spoil it fer yeh," said hagrid. "but it's gonna be spectacular, i'll tell yeh that. them champions're going ter have their work cut out. never thought i'd live ter see the triwizard tournament played again!"
they ended up having lunch with hagrid, though they didn't eat much — hagrid had made what he said was a beef casserole, but after elara unearthed a large talon in hers, she, harry, ron, and hermione rather lost their appetites. however, they enjoyed themselves trying to make hagrid tell them what the tasks in the tournament were going to be, speculating which of the entrants were likely to be selected as champions, and wondering whether fred and george were beardless yet.
a light rain had started to fall by midafternoon; it was very cozy sitting by the fire, listening to the gentle patter of the drops on the window, watching hagrid darning his socks and arguing with hermione about house-elves — for he flatly refused to join s.p.e.w. when she showed him her badges.
"it'd be doin' 'em an unkindness, hermione," he said gravely, threading a massive bone needle with thick yellow yarn. "it's in their nature ter look after humans, that's what they like, see? yeh'd be makin' 'em unhappy ter take away their work, an' insultin' 'em if yeh tried ter pay 'em."
"but harry set dobby free, and he was over the moon about it!" said hermione. "and we heard he's asking for wages now!"
"yeah, well, yeh get weirdos in every breed. i'm not sayin' there isn't the odd elf who'd take freedom, but yeh'll never persuade most of 'em ter do it — no, nothin' doin', Hermione."
hermione looked very cross indeed and stuffed her box of badges back into her cloak pocket.
by half past five it was growing dark, and ron, harry, elara, and hermione decided it was time to get back up to the castle for the halloween feast — and, more important, the announcement of the school champions.
"i'll come with yeh," said hagrid, putting away his darning. "jus' give us a sec."
hagrid got up, went across to the chest of drawers beside his bed, and began searching for something inside it. they didn't pay too much attention until a truly horrible smell reached their nostrils. coughing, ron said, "hagrid, what's that?"
"eh?" said hagrid, turning around with a large bottle in his hand. "don' yeh like it?"
"is that aftershave?" said hermione in a slightly choked voice.
"er — eau de cologne," hagrid muttered. he was blushing. "maybe it's a bit much," he said gruffly. "i'll go take it off, hang on . . .
he stumped out of the cabin, and they saw him washing himself vigorously in the water barrel outside the window.
"eau de cologne?" said elara in amazement. "hagrid?"
"and what's with the hair and the suit?" said harry in an undertone.
"look!" said ron suddenly, pointing out of the window.
hagrid had just straightened up and turned 'round. if he had been blushing before, it was nothing to what he was doing now. getting to their feet very cautiously, so that hagrid wouldn't spot them, harry, ron, elara, and hermione peered through the window and saw that madame maxime and the beauxbatons students had just emerged from their carriage, clearly about to set off for the feast too. they couldn't hear what hagrid was saying, but he was talking to madame maxime with a rapt, misty-eyed expression elara had never seen before.
"he's going up to the castle with her!" said hermione indignantly. "i thought he was waiting for us!"
without so much as a backward glance at his cabin, hagrid was trudging off up the grounds with madame maxime, the beauxbatons students following in their wake, jogging to keep up with their enormous strides.
"he fancies her!" said ron incredulously. "well, if they end up having children, they'll be setting a world record — bet any baby of theirs would weigh about a ton."
they let themselves out of the cabin and shut the door behind them. it was surprisingly dark outside. drawing their cloaks more closely around themselves, they set off up the sloping lawns.
"ooh it's them, look!" hermione whispered.
the durmstrang party was walking up toward the castle from the lake. viktor krum was walking side by side with karkaroff, and the other durmstrang students were straggling along behind them. ron watched krum excitedly, but krum did not look around as he reached the front doors a little ahead of hermione, ron, elara, and harry and proceeded through them.
when they entered the candlelit great hall it was almost full. the goblet of fire had been moved; it was now standing in front of dumbledore's empty chair at the teachers' table. fred and george — clean-shaven again — seemed to have taken their disappointment fairly well.
"hope it's rori or angelina," said fred as harry, ron, elara, and hermione sat down.
"so do i!" said hermione breathlessly. "well, we'll soon know!"
the halloween feast seemed to take much longer than usual. perhaps because it was their second feast in two days, elara didn't seem to fancy the extravagantly prepared food as much as she would have normally. like everyone else in the hall, judging by the constantly craning necks, the impatient expressions on every face, the fidgeting, and the standing up to see whether dumbledore had finished eating yet, elara simply wanted the plates to clear, and to hear who had been selected as champions.
at long last, the golden plates returned to their original spotless state; there was a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the hall, which died away almost instantly as dumbledore got to his feet. on either side of him, professor karkaroff and madame maxime looked as tense and expectant as anyone. ludo bagman was beaming and winking at various students. mr. crouch, however, looked quite uninterested, almost bored.
"well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said 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 indicated the door behind the staff table — "where they will be receiving their first instructions."
he took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness. the goblet of fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes. everyone watched, waiting. . . . a few people kept checking their watches. . . .
"any second," lee jordan whispered, two seats away from elara.
the flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red again. sparks began to fly from it. next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it — the whole room gasped.
dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white.
"the champion for durmstrang," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be viktor krum."
"no surprises there!" yelled ron as a storm of applause and cheering swept the hall. harry saw viktor krum rise from the slytherin table and slouch up toward dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.
"bravo, viktor!" boomed karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. "knew you had it in you!
the clapping and chatting died down. now everyone's attention was focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. a second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.
"the champion for beauxbatons," said dumbledore, "is fleur delacour!"
"it's her, ron!" harry shouted as the girl who so resembled a veela got gracefully to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair, and swept up between the ravenclaw and hufflepuff tables.
"oh look, they're all disappointed," hermione said over the noise, nodding toward the remainder of the beauxbatons party.
"disappointed" was a bit of an understatement, elara thought. two of the girls who had not been selected had dissolved into tears and were sobbing with their heads on their arms.
when fleur delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it. the hogwarts champion next . . .
and the goblet of fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.
"the hogwarts champion," he called, "is cedric diggory!"
"no!" said ron loudly, but nobody heard him except for harry and elara; the uproar from the next table was too great. every single hufflepuff had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping, as cedric made his way past them, grinning broadly, and headed off toward the chamber behind the teachers' table. indeed, the applause for cedric went on so long that it was some time before dumbledore could make himself heard again.
"excellent!" dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died 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 stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him.
the fire in the goblet had just turned red again. sparks were flying out of it. along flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.
familiarity spread over elara as she remembered this from her dream. she was afraid of who's name was written down on the parchment. she wanted to look away, but she couldn't.
automatically, it seemed, dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. he held it out and stared at the name written upon it. there was a long pause, during which dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at dumbledore. and then dumbledore cleared his throat and read out —
"harry potter."
elara sat there, aware that every head in the great hall had turned to look at harry. she was stunned. she felt numb. she was surely dreaming again. this was just another dream.
there was no applause. a buzzing, as though of angry bees, was starting to fill the hall; some students were standing up to get a better look at harry as he sat, frozen, in his seat.
up at the top table, professor mcgonagall had got to her feet and swept past ludo bagman and professor karkaroff to whisper urgently to professor dumbledore, who bent his ear toward her, frowning slightly.
elara wore a blank stare as she fought with herself. harry promised he wouldn't. but then, it would take really powerful magic for the cup to spit another name out. that would be magic that no fourteen year old could do. but, harry had casted a corporeal patronus before, and that is really advanced magic.
"i didn't put my name in," harry said blankly. "you know i didn't."
elara looked at him. she didn't know what to say. the confirmation from harry was slightly relieving.
at the top table, professor dumbledore had straightened up, nodding to professor mcgonagall.
"harry potter!" he called again. "harry! up here, if you please!"
"go on," elara whispered, giving harry a slight push. harry got to his feet, trod on the hem of his robes, and stumbled slightly. he set off up the gap between the gryffindor and hufflepuff tables. hundreds and hundreds of eyes were on him, as though each were a searchlight. the whispered grew louder until he was right in front of dumbledore, and all the teachers were staring at him.
"well . . . through the door, harry," said dumbledore. he wasn't smiling.
harry moved off along the teachers' table. hagrid was seated right at the end. he did not wink at harry, or wave, or give any of his usual signs of greeting. he looked completely astonished and stared at harry as he passed like everyone else. harry went through the door out of the great hall.
as soon as the door closed, the great hall went into an uproar. people were talking loudly over each other. the hufflepuffs were seething, as they talked about harry. the gryffindors, however, were excited. they had a champion.
only a select few gryffindors were angry. ron was besides himself.
"of course, he put his name in. he always has to do the heroics," ron spat, glaring at the door harry walked out of.
"he said he didn't," said elara in a small voice.
ron ignored her.
dumbledore ordered them to go to bed, and everyone left, although reluctantly. ron was talking angrily with seamus. hermione seemed like she was in a trance. elara tied and untied her hair as she worried about what was to happen. she needed confirmation from harry, that he didn't put his name in, or didn't ask on older student to put his name in.
as the gryffindors entered the common room, no one seemed to want to go to sleep. not even aspen, who cherished sleep, made any movements to go to the dorms.
elara and hermione talked in hushed tones, ring over any and every theory as to how harry's name was in the goblet, and why the goblet put out a fourth name. all elara remembered was dumbledore mentioning that the reason why the trip-wizard tournament was cancelled before was because the death toll was so high.
the portrait swung forward, and as soon as everyone caught sight of harry's messy raven hair, they erupted into a blast of noise. a dozen pairs of hands wrenched harry into the common room, where everyone was either screaming, applauding, or whistling. ron made no movement to congratulate harry, while elara and hermione had taken to clapping.
ron left in a fit of anger, and hermione retired upstairs too. elara just had to know.
"you should've told us you'd entered!" bellowed fred; he looked half annoyed, half deeply impressed.
"how did you do it without getting a beard? brilliant!" roared george.
"i didn't," harry said. "i don't know how —"
but angelina and aurora had now swooped down upon him; "oh if it couldn't be us, at least it's a gryffindor —"
"you'll be able to pay back diggory for that last quidditch match, harry!" shrieked katie bell, another of the gryffindor chasers.
"we've got food, harry, come and have some —"
"i'm not hungry, i had enough at the feast —"
elara had finally been able to push through the crowd to get to harry. he looked as pale as death. she stuck to his side throughout the whole ordeal, afraid harry was going to pass out. elara was pushed away many times by the crowd, so much so that she had to hold onto harry's hand. she was a little mad, yes, but harry was her closest friend, and he looked like he was in no mood to celebrate.
but nobody wanted to hear that harry wasn't hungry; nobody wanted to hear that he hadn't put his name in the goblet; not one single person seemed to have noticed that he wasn't at all in the mood to celebrate. . . . lee jordan had unearthed a gryffindor banner from somewhere, and he insisted on draping it around harry like a cloak. harry couldn't get away; whenever elara tried to sneak him over to the staircase up to the dormitories, the crowd around harry closed ranks, forcing another butterbeer on him, stuffing crisps and peanuts into his hands. . . . everyone wanted to know how harry had done it, how he had tricked dumbledore's age line and managed to get his name into the goblet. . . .
"i didn't," harry said, over and over again, "i don't know how it happened."
but for all the notice anyone took, harry might just as well not have answered at all.
"i'm tired!" harry bellowed finally, after nearly half an hour. "no, seriously, george — i'm going to bed —"
elara had to almost flatten the creevey brothers to get harry up the stairs. as soon as they were out of sight, elara caught harry's wrist and forced him to turn around.
"i need confirmation. did you put your name in the goblet of fire?"
"no," said harry exasperatedly, "and i didn't ask an older student too, either."
elara went silent as she chewed on her lip, wracking her brain. harry had no reason to lie, and if he really did put his name in the goblet, he was a terribly good actor. but, harry was miserable at hiding how he was feeling, so unless he took some really good acting classes between last night and now, there was no way he actually put his name in.
"harry," elara began, her voice soft and timid. harry looked at her curiously, as she had never spoken like that before. "i think someone is trying to kill you."
* * *
AUTHOR'S NOTE
-- oh my baby elara
-- she's in love with harry and she
doesn't even know it
JANUARY 18, 2020