The Great Hall suddenly seemed a lot smaller now with all the students packed inside snugly. But even then there was not many other foreign pupils had arrived - just the ones over 17 as that was the age restriction for the tournament.
Beauxbatons Academy for Magic was sat with the Ravenclaws, straight posture and would jump up as soon as Madame Maxime (the headmistress) entered the room. It reminded Rachel of her time there, only a couple of years ago. She recognised a lot of the students especially Fleur Delaclour and her small posse of friends. It had been suggested to Rachel by Hermione that she should talk to Madam Maxime, which sounded like a good idea. Only, she would go with Kayla to see the old headmistress.
Durmstrang Institute sat proudly next to the Slytherins, much to Ron's horror. He could not bare the fact that his favourite Quidditch player was perched next to Draco Malfoy. Rachel rolled her eyes at his silly behaviour and repeated over and over that he could see him around school.
Dumbledore quietened the buzzing students as he spoke in a calm yet exhilarated manner. A large chest was placed in front of him that seemed rather boring and so was what was stood on top in all fairness. Rachel drew her eyes away from the strange cup and box to the table where she longed the food would hurry. A sudden chorus of 'oo's!' and whispers caught Rachel's attention as she rose her head up once more.
The once boring cup was now spouting blue flames, intriguing not only the pupils but the staff as well. It was the goblet of fire. Dumbledore explained the mysterious goblet to the awed children, your name as well as school was to placed onto a piece of parchment and put it into the goblet.
"This time tomorrow night." Dumbledore began to say. "The goblet will select three students, one from each school."
At this point the students began to look among the other schools and in hushed whispers, make their predictions on who would enter the Triwizard Tournament. He reiterated the point, no one under 17 may enter. Which, like last time, earned some upset remarks. However, unlike last time both of the Weasley twins remained quiet and smiled. Rachel looked up the table at them suspiciously. They glanced at her and smiled even more cockier.
"What are you planning?" She leant over to them, George laughed at her and went to explain but Fred butted in instead.
"We have made an ageing potion, it will be ready by tomorrow morning." Fred beamed, clearly proud of their achievement.
"Right." Rachel half smiled with a look of amusement at the fact she knew it would not work. "I can imagine that will go well." She continued sarcastically.
"Do not doubt me Rachel." Fred winked at her earning a small but laughing scoff off Rachel.
When the chatter had died down along with all announcements, a sudden banquet appeared onto the table; as if from thin air. Immediately the students fell into chatter once more but this time, as they helped themselves to food. To Rachel it seemed to be the nicest food they'd had Hogwarts, the house elves must have worked hard she thought.
Harry prodded gingerly at some type of food none of them had seen. Harry glanced at it with his face scrunched up slightly in unknown and Ron, as always, was oblivious to it.
"What is that?" Harry slowly said, he wasn't sure if she liked the look of it.
"Bouillabaisse." Hermione barely even looking at it.
"Bless you." said Ron making Rachel giggle.
Hermione rolled her eyes whilst setting her fork and knife down. She scoffed slightly before addressing Ron's imbecility.
"It's French." said Rachel. "I ate it a lot at Beauxbatons."
Hermione scorned at them all before returning to her meal. Rachel chuckled next to her, she always found it amusing when Hermione got annoyed or wound up. Especially if it was because of her. As the feast continued Rachel felt a presence behind her causing her to turn around.
"Iz zat you Rachel?" Fleur Delaclour said with a shocked face as Ron stared at her in awe.
"Fleur." Rachel said putting on a fake smile, she had never really liked her. "You entering?"
"Oui." She nodded. "Have you fineeshed wiz zat?" Fleur asked as she pointed to the bouillabaisse.
"Sure, take it." Rachel mumbled, grabbing it and handing it to her.
"Merci!" Fleur thanked before walking over to the Ravenclaw table where she had been sat before.
Rachel turned back around and stared at Harry, then to Ron and back again. Ron was sat there, staring awestruck at where Fleur had walked.
"Hello?" Harry waved his hand in front of his face, Ron turned around and suddenly spilled out his complaints of Rachel not saying anything about knowing her.
"Ron mate." Rachel smirked. "She's a Veela. Or part Veela at least."
Ron nearly fainted at those words, why though was out of Rachel's head.
*
The next day, everyone rammed themselves into the great hall and threw their names into the goblet. Many of the older students seemed to be doing it mainly by peer pressure. Cedric Diggory had already entered and flashed a small smile in Rachel's direction. She couldn't help but blush.
They had actually been talking a bit, through the hallways. It was surprising to Rachel that Cedric really was interested in getting to know her. They were quite friendly and often talked about all sorts of things.
Despite this, students continued to walk with stern looks on their faces. It was obvious by this who wanted to enter and win.
Except for Fred and George.
They came in running, laughing and smiling whilst shaking a small bottle of liquid in their hands.
"Whey we did it!" George ran up to Rachel who stared unamused at her boyfriend. There was a reason why she was not in the mood to see him so happy and bouncy.
"Cooked it up just this morning didn't we?" Fred beamed.
Behind them all, a loud scoff was heard. Hermione was perched on the bench holding her book in both hands and an annoyed face too.
"It's not going to work." She sang teasingly but full well knowing she was right.
"Oh yeah?" George slid onto the bench next to Hermione. "Why's that Granger?"
"This is an age line. Dumbledore drew it himself." Hermione rose an eyebrow, staring at the twins.
"So?" Fred smirked not seeing the problem.
"So." Hermione scoffed shutting her book and leaning forward to look at the twins more closely. "Dumbledore is not going to be fooled by a dodge of an ageing potion that is so pathetically dimwitted!"
"Ah but that's what is so brilliant about it!" Fred stood up.
"Because it is so pathetically dimwitted." George winked at her.
Rachel stood a little away from Hermione and rolled her eyes. She had fallen out with George a little and it seemed he was doing everything to either annoy her or he was just being a complete arse.
"Ready Fred?"
"Ready George."
"Bottoms up!" The twins chorused together as they took a swig of the potion and jumped into the age line.
It seemed to work and they began to cheer along with everyone else including Rachel who stood with an annoyed yet amused look. But all was not well as the twins placed their names in the goblet. They were thrown backwards and hit the ground incredibly hard, causing a gasp to erupt by the small crowd.
Groggily, they sat up and to their horror discovered a large beard upon the faces making them laugh. That's one thing Rachel loved about Fred and George; they just didn't care! They were so casual about it and that's just what made them so amazing. As they got to their feet admiring one another's beards, Dumbledore arrived in the room.
"Ah." He said cooly. "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."
With that he left, causing a small erupt of laughter from everyone watching. Fred helped George up and as they left the room after Dumbledore, Rachel could hear them muttering to each other:
"You look older."
The hall fell silent causing Rachel to turn, as she did so she saw Viktor Krum walk in. His face was firm and decisive as he walked in clutching the paper with his name on. He did not seem nervous, in fact he didn't look emotional at all. As his piece of paper disappeared into the flames he turned and caught Hermione's eye; who had been watching intently. He flashed a small smile and she returned one. It was probably the most emotion Rachel had seen him show.
"Wahey." She winked as she sat next to Hermione.
"What?" Hermione blushed as she tried to look at her book.
"Oh come off it Herms, we all saw." Rachel laughed.
Hermione smiled, still looking away from Rachel. She stood up and looked at the book worm as she giggled under her breath. Hermione, Rachel figured out, had a small crush on Krum.
Later that night, after the Weasley twins were allowed to leave Madame Pompfrey, Rachel walked in a huff. Again she had caught George flirting with Angelina. It annoyed her to the bone.
"Hey come on Rach I was only messing around." George caught up with her.
"So how come you're allowed to flirt with Angelina and I can't even talk to Cedric Diggory with out you moaning your bloody head off." Rachel crossed her arms in annoyance.
George groaned and rolled his eyes at her. This was constantly happening, they were always arguing over this that and the other. Rachel got irritated easily and George was extremely hypocritical. It was a constant conflict no matter how much they tried to make it work.
"But he's so much older than you."
"That is the lamest excuse George." Rachel said, loosing her temper. "We're not even really dating, it's just fake."
"Look, I was only joking with Angelina. Just messing around." He tried reasoning.
"Right." Rachel said calmly which made George go weary. "That's perfectly fine. I won't stop you going all over other girls and I will not even glance at another boy. It's win win for you."
"Rach, stop it, you're pissing me off." George rose his eyebrows.
"Why? You do this all the time to me! I can't piss you off or do anything your 'allowed' to do." Rachel hissed. "You're brother likes her and you're flirting with her in the hallways? Ugh, George, screw this."
As she left him, she heard George curse under his breath and walk the opposite way. Rachel sighed unhappily. She feared what would happen if this kept happening. It wasn't working between them. The last thing she wanted was to ruin their friendship because of a fake relationship. As she leant against the wall, she closed her eyes and sunk to the floor; trying to contain her emotions.
However, she wasn't at peace for long when she felt another presence by her. She tried brushing it off but looked up when she heard a small cough. Her eyes met with Cedric's as he smiled in a curious way.
"What are you doing down here?" He laughed slightly but he stopped when he noticed her distress. "Are you alright?"
"If you mean that I've fallen out with George again and I am completely pissed off then yeah. I am great." She mumbled looking away.
Cedric sighed sympathetically and sat next to her on the cold floor.
"Why?" He asked. "What happened this time?"
"The same as always." Rachel mumbled into her knees. "I caught him with Angelina Johnson."
"Oh." Cedric said nodding.
Rachel had told him several times the arguments George and her had had. It felt good to open up to Cedric, Rachel thought. He tended to have good advice and was just a good listener. However it was a vicious cycle, George got annoyed at Rachel for talking to Cedric. Cho Chang - Cedric's potential girlfriend - got annoyed at Cedric for talking to Rachel. It was always happening and it just did Rachel's head in.
"It's not fair." Rachel said looking up. "I can't even talk to you or be seen with you without George getting angry. Yet I'm expected to let him flirt with Johnson, someone his brother fancies."
"He'll regret it one day." Cedric nodded.
"Yeah. Maybe." Rachel looked to Cedric. "Merlin, I thought this fake relationship would work. I guess not?"
Cedric calmly replied with a slight philosophical twist. Explaining not everything lasts and for some reason it soothed Rachel. Rachel sighed and said goodbye to Cedric and rushed back to the common room, hoping to avoid George. She couldn't be bothered with an argument tonight.
*
After school, the excitement was almost unbearable. The names were to be called out of the Goblet very shortly and everyone was gathered around the tables ; talking ridiculously loud. Rachel and her friends were forced into the top corner where they could barely see what was happening at the front.
None the less the chatter soon died down along with the lights as Dumbledore stepped in front of everyone. He smiled deeply and stepped in front of the Goblet with everyone staring at it intently. The blue flames sudden shone red as Rachel grasped Hermione's hand in excitement. A sudden piece of paper shot into the air, floating for a second before falling into the grip of Dumbledore's hand.
"The champion for Durmstrang is... Viktor Krum!" He exclaimed and a deep chorus of cheers sounded from the group of Durmstrang pupils.
The lad stood up and walked proudly over to Dumbledore. He pointed Krum into the direction of a small room at the end of the hall. Rachel glanced at Harry and smiled, she was already winning their small bet.
Another piece of paper shot out of the goblet and like before floated gently into Dumbledore's hand. He cleared his throat and held the piece of paper in front of his eyes.
"The champion for Beauxbatons... Miss Fleur Delaclour!"
A polite and high pitched applause arose from the French students and also slight cry from those who did not get selected. Fleur stood up looking rather full of herself and glided over to Dumbledore. She shook his hand and walked to the room that Krum was in.
The tension in the air was so thick it could have been sliced with a knife. The Hogwarts students, those of age particularly, leant forward in their seats grasping their hands. The final piece of paper soared up into the sky and the breath of every other student hitched in their throat as Dumbledore began to read from it.
"The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!"
The hall erupted into cheers but more from the Hufflepuff's than anyone else. He too, like Fleur and Krum, stood up smiling like mad began to walk to the front of the hall. Rachel began to cheer for him and clapped her hands like crazy.
"Excellent we now have our three champions!" Dumbledore too clapped but suddenly fell silent as everyone looked towards the goblet.
Instead of simmering down, it seemed to be lighting itself again. Like with the other three students, it shot a piece of paper into the air. Everyone cautiously looked at it, nobody knew what was happening; including Dumbledore.
"What the hell?" Rachel whispered under her breath as she watched Dumbledore's fingers grasp the paper.
Shock spread across his face as be mouthed a name, not many pupils heard it. But then he repeated himself again.
"Harry Potter."
Throwing a look of pure anger and confusion, Rachel stared at her brother who sank in his chair. Lots of the pupils looked at him too. Mainly out of horror that a fourteen year old boy had put his name into goblet that was protected by Dumbledore himself.
"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore yelled angrily, his eyes scanning the hall and then locking onto the boy himself.
"Harry, oh for goodness sake Harry." Hermione hissed at Harry, pulling him to his feet and pushing him forward.
As Rachel watched her brother awkwardly walk forward amongst the shouts of annoyed students, she couldn't help but feel slightly disheartened that her brother would not tell her something like that. But once he had disappeared and the crowd began to disperse, Rachel began to already receive hate for it.
"Your brothers a cheat."
"You Potter's certainly love the attention don't you?"
It was already mounting up and the anger bubbled inside of Rachel already. All she could really think was: "Why would Harry do this?" It was ridiculous, pathetic and blood boiling. And it was sure to continue.
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