-CHAPTER EIGHT-
~a strange turn of events~
THERE WAS A HUGE buzz of excitement in the air on the day of the thirtieth of October. Time seemed to slow down for every Hogwarts student as they impatiently waited for their classes to be finished so they could watch Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrive.
When the bell finally rang and the highly anticipated moment had come, everyone got up as quickly as they could and bolted to their Common Rooms to drop off their stuff before hurrying to the entrance hall.
The Heads of Houses were all trying to order their students into lines, but they weren't having much luck.
"Finnigan, fix your tie!" barked McGonagall. "Creevey, stop trying to push through!"
It took a while, but everyone had been led down the steps to the front of the castle. Viola glanced to her right and noticed a vacant spot next to Dean and Seamus that she could easily slide into, but she decided against it. Even though they always seemed friendly to her, she was worried that she had been forcing herself upon them too much recently. Not wanting to be annoying, she stayed in her spot.
Neville Longbottom was beside her, turning his head in every direction as though the students from the other two schools were about to appear out of thin air. Then again, she reminded herself, maybe they would.
Down the line to her left, Viola spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione having a light-hearted conversation, though their eyes were trained on different spots of the grounds, just like the other students, as they awaited the arrival of the guests.
Viola's eyes trained on Ron for a moment; he still seemed to be a little weary of her, though he had been considerable less cold in the Divination lesson where they had tried to outdo each other with their predictions. But, still, it's not like they were exactly friends, either.
Harry and Hermione had been less cold, though she couldn't say she was friends with them either. Her conversations with Harry were limited to some sarcastic remarks in Divination and some small talk with Hermione in their dormitory—though Hermione had asked Viola to join S.P.E.W, an organisation that she had created herself. Hermione had looked in a bad enough mood already that Viola agreed and handed over two Sickles.
"Hi, Neville," Viola said averting her gaze to the boy beside her and smiling at him.
"Oh, er—h-hi, Viola," he stammered, nervously fidgeting with the sleeve of his robe.
"So, are you excited for the tournament?" she asked. He wouldn't look at her; he kept glancing around the grounds, waiting for a sign of the other schools.
"Y-yeah, it should be, er, interesting."
"I wonder how Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are getting here," she said, taking her eyes off of him and joining in looking around the grounds. She tried her best to not let the fact that Neville was nervous affect her. Even though he had landed himself in what was known as the brave house, he could be a little jumpy sometimes. She knew he probably had some hidden bravery buried deep down, but it was sort of unsettling knowing that she was intimidating to him.
"Maybe— maybe brooms or something," Neville suggested, standing up on his toes to try and see over all the students.
"I was thinking more something along the lines of—"
"Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!" Dumbledore announced from the back of the crowd of students.
"Where?" Viola said, aloud, craning her neck to look all around.
"Over there, by the forest!" shouted a nearby third year. Viola squinted, trying to see past the shadows casted by the trees, but there was nothing.
"IS THAT A DRAGON-SIZED UNICORN!?" a sixth year with curly hair just behind Viola screamed and she jumped, wincing as she brought a hand to her ear.
But, as she looked up above the towering trees, she saw it: a giant, powder-blue shape was soaring over the trees, pulled by about a dozen huge horses, each adorned with wings that looked as though they would be about the same size as a car up close.
"Holy shit, that carriage is huge!" a brown-haired slytherin down the line said loudly.
Viola agreed with her: the carriage was massive. It steadily made its way towards the ground and the students at the front of the crowd stepped hastily back to avoid being crushed—but they moved back too quickly and a fourth year Hufflepuff, who had been in the middle of saying how beautiful the carriage was, stepped on her toe.
The girl whipped around—as Viola grit her teeth to stop from crying out; wow, that hurt—and immediately exclaimed, "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"
"Brilliant," Viola said, keeping the pain out of her voice.
After assuring the Hufflepuff for several minutes that she was, in fact, okay, the girl—Maya, Viola thought her name was—left her alone, by which time the door of the carriage had opened and the students and Headmistress—a woman who Viola could only describe as big—had all come out to the grass.
The Headmistress made her way through the crowd, beckoning her students to follow her and they disappeared into the castle after greeting Dumbledore.
"Are Durmstrang arriving like that, too?" Viola asked to no one in particular. She felt embarrassed as soon as the words left her mouth, but the Hufflepuff girl turned around again.
"If they are, I hope they have a pretty carriage aswell!"
The next few minutes were mostly silent apart from the noise of the large horses and the wind rustling the trees of the forest. The cold was beginning to get to Viola, despite the fact that she was wearing her robes, but the chilly wind was getting stronger the longer they remained outside.
The silence was broken by Lee Jordan: "The lake!" he yelled. "Look at the lake!"
The surface of the lake, which was usually smooth, was beginning to bubble and a sound like a bath tub draining started up once the water in the centre began to swirl. From the midst of the whirlpool rose a ghostly ship, looking more like a wreck than an actual working ship.
It emerged completely and bobbed along to the bank, someone on board dropping down an anchor.
The people on board began disembarking. From what she could see, their silhouettes outlined from the light of the portholes were big and burly. When they got closer, she saw that a lot of it was from their thick uniforms made from fur, though they still looked as though they had some muscle under all the layers.
The Headmaster was easily distinguishable by his silver robes. "Dumbledore!" he called, making his way up the slope, his students following suit. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"
"Blooming, thank you!" said Dumbledore and the two moved closer to the castle, out of earshot of Viola.
As the Durmstrang students made their way closer to the entrance hall, Viola thought she was going to faint for a split second. She had to do a double take because, right there, making his way up the grassy slope, was none other than Viktor Krum, the famous Quidditch player, whom she had seen play only about two months ago.
There was an outbreak of murmurs around her as the rest of the students seemed to realise that it was him. Several girls were sporting dreamy looks, chatting excitedly to their friends and strategising how they were going to get his autograph.
A group of boys not too far from her were wondering if they could ask him to show their team some moves—they were bound to win the house Quidditch championships next year if they had gotten some moves from Krum, they were saying.
It was at times like this when Viola wished she had a friend. She wanted to ask someone how they were going to get his autograph, but as the Hogwarts students filed back into the castle, all she could do was listen to others talk about it amongst themselves.
~•~
After everyone had settled back into the Great Hall—the Durmstrangs choosing seats at the Slytherin table and the Beauxbatons at the Ravenclaw—Dumbledore got to his feet at the head of the Hall.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and— most particularly— guests," he said, smiling merrily at them all. "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 officially be opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"
The golden plates lining the tables all filled with food as usual. Although, there were some foods that Viola had never seen before; she assumed they were what the people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang usually ate.
"Wonder if Krum is gonna get picked," said Seamus. Viola had landed a seat beside him and Dean. It was one of the only ones available and she didn't much fancy sitting beside an over-excited first year, so she bit her tongue and sat beside them, despite her mind telling her they wouldn't want her to.
"He might," Viola said. "We don't know who the judge is yet, but who knows, they might be influenced by the fame."
"I wonder when we'll find out who the judge is," said Dean. "It has to be soon, doesn't it? Dumbledore said the tournament will be starting in October and it's already the thirtieth. The judging must be happening tonight, right?"
"I wonder who in Hogwarts will be chosen," said Seamus, sighing. "I still haven't got any idea how to enter, so I hope it's a Gryffindor."
"I don't really care who it is as long as it's not one of the bad Slytherins," said Viola. "Most of them would be alright, but if, say, Warrington got picked, I'd have to root for one of the other schools."
"Imagine if Malfoy somehow managed to get picked," sniggered Dean.
"I'd personally hope for another death in this tournament, then," said Seamus.
"Real angel, you are," said Viola through a mouthful of potatoes, nodding at Seamus.
"Well, he is a bit of a git," reasoned Dean. "But it's not like he'll be getting in anyway."
"Just wish there was some way for us to get in," Seamus said wistfully. "Haven't got any ideas, have you, Viola?"
"No," she said sadly, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. "I was thinking maybe some kind of potion, but we wouldn't have the ingredients and I don't really fancy stealing from Snape's private stores."
About halfway through dinner, two new people arrived: Ludo Bagman and Mr. Crouch, both of whom Viola had met at the Quidditch Cup. Thought it wasn't exactly a pleasant meeting and she winced slightly as the remembered the circumstances.
After dinner and dessert were both finished, and the goblets and plates had vanished, with each person feeling considerably more full than before, Dumbledore got to his feet once again.
"The moment has come," he announced. "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. Bartermius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."
There was a round of applause after he announced each name, though it was a lot louder for Bagman. Viola only clapped for Crouch to be polite—she definitely wasn't his biggest fan since the last time they had been in the same vicinity, he had accused her of conjuring the Dark Mark.
"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament, and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."
The already quiet Hall seemed to get even quieter once the word "champions" was mentioned.
"The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch," said Dumbledore, smiling at the students' attentiveness.
Filch approached Dumbledore, carrying a large wooden chest that was decorated with glistening jewels. The Hall began to erupt in murmurs at the sight of it. Viola remained quiet, desperate for Dumbledore to continue.
"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch placed the casket on the table in front of 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."
Every single student was paying complete attention, hanging on to Dumbledore's every word.
"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the 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."
Several words of confusion were shared as Dumbledore took out his wand and tapped the casket three times. The lid opened and Dumbledore reached inside to pull out a large wooden cup. But the amazing thing about it was the flames that danced around inside it, sending flickers of blue light over the wood in unpredictable patterns.
"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as a champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet. 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."
Dumbledore seemed to notice the looks of excitement on some of the younger students' faces at the reveal of the judge, for he continued:
"To ensure than no underage student yields to temptation, 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."
Several faces fell, but Viola spotted Fred and George Weasley down the table grinning at each other.
"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 obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."
The chatter immediately started up once Dumbledore finished speaking.
"The Goblet of Fire!" said Seamus as they began making their way out of the entrance hall and back to their common room with the other students. "So once you get past the Age Line, it won't be able to tell what age you are. If we'd known that sooner, we could've worked something out!"
"Well, that's why they didn't tell us earlier," said Dean. "They probably didn't want to give younger students an opportunity to trick it into letting them enter."
Viola fleetingly wondered what would happen if someone under seventeen did manage to get in. Dumbledore had said submitting your name meant constituting a binding magical contract, but would it be the same if an underage student got it? And what about the reaction of everyone else? She suspected the teachers would be angry, but most of the students would probably swarm the underage champion, impressed by their skill on tricking Dumbledore's Age Line.
Not for the first time, Viola could see her name being read aloud by Dumbledore. She imagined all of the students wanting to talk to her, for once barely having a lonely moment in her day. Everywhere she went in the castle, someone would want to talk to her, ask her about the tasks, about how she had managed to confuse the line into letting her in.
But, she reminded herself, no one under seventeen could get in. The line was drawn by Dumbledore himself and he was bound to have made it so powerful that it would be impossible for someone under seventeen to even get one of their fingernails over it.
~•~
The next morning, Viola woke earlier than usual to go down to breakfast. Most people had gone to examine the Goblet of Fire, though most decided to lose out on an extra hour of sleep to try and catch who would be entering their names.
The Great Hall was decorated for Halloween: several pumpkins were hovering in the air, holding candles inside. A group of bats flew overhead as Viola entered.
Fay Dunbar was sitting alone at the Gryffindor table, eating some eggs and staring at the goblet that was resting in the entrance hall. She jolted when Viola sat down across from her, as if she had been a trance.
"Hi, Fay. Has anyone put their name in yet?" Viola asked, buttering some toast.
"Morning. I heard someone say all the Durmstrangs put theirs in. Haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet, though. No idea about Beauxbatons either."
"Some people probably put them in after everyone cleared out last night. They probably knew people would get up early to try and see who's submitting their names."
"Yeah," said Fay, sighing and gazing at the goblet once again. "Wish we could enter. Eternal glory and a thousand galleons. Sounds nice, doesn't it?"
People interested in you, Viola wanted to add, but refrained from doing so. Her family was rather well-off, but the money would be nice and the eternal glory would be cool, but having people think that you're interesting? That was definitely the icing on the cake for her.
"Yeah," she said, realising she had been too lost in her thoughts that she had forgotten to respond. "Can't wait to see who does get it, though."
Just then, Fred, George and Lee Jordan came running into the entrance hall, all laughing triumphantly. They stopped by Harry, Ron and Hermione, exchanged a few words and then each of them pulled out a slip of paper.
Viola finished with her breakfast and walked out into the hall to catch what was going on.
Fred— or, at least, Viola thought it was Fred— went right up to the line and waited for a second. Then, he stepped over it.
Viola couldn't believe it had worked—what had they done to trick it?
George leapt after Fred with a roar of glee, but a second later, they were hurled out of the line and landed hard on the stone floor. As if that wasn't bad enough, there was a loud pop and both began to grow long white beards.
Everyone in the hall roared with laughter— even Fred and George after they had exchanged a few angry words and looked at each other's beards.
"I did warn you," said an amused voice. Dumbledore had walked into the entrance hall, with a twinkling look in his eyes. "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."
As Fred and George walked off to the Hospital Wing, Lee Jordan following after them, though having difficulty since he was hunched over with laughter, Angelina Johnson, a girl on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, walked up to the goblet. She looked a little embarrassed, though was smiling broadly as she stepped over the line and put her name into the goblet.
"It's great that someone from Gryffindor's entering," said Fay, smiling at Angelina, who was walking into the Great Hall.
~•~
For the rest of the afternoon, Viola got a head start on her homework. She was ahead on all her Charms work— it was easily her best subject— but the same couldn't be said for any of the others. She hadn't started any of her History of Magic essays, and had only made a half-hearted attempt at her Potions work. The large pile of Transfiguration homework made her want to cry whenever she looked at it, and since it was an exciting day, she decided to stick to something somewhat easy and came up with more stupid Divination predictions for her chart for Trelawney.
She spent the time moving between the library and the common room— sometimes the common room would get too nosiy and sometimes the library seats would get too uncomfortable (it didn't help that she was restless, waiting for the evening when the names would be chosen).
When it was finally time to go to the Great Hall, she left the library and dropped her work off in her dorm before hurrying along with the rest of the students to the Great Hall.
The feast seemed to last longer than any she had ever attended. She spent most of it talking excitedly with Seamus and Dean, who were also both too excited about the champions to care much about eating the delicious food.
After what seemed like hours of anticipation, the goblets and plates finally cleared away
Dumbledore got to his feet and Viola could feel her stomach squirming: this was definitely the most exciting thing she had witnessed in Hogwarts.
"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the chanpions' 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 gestured at the door behind the staff table— "where they will be receiving their instructions."
He waved his wand and all of the lights except for those inside the pumpkins went out. The Goblet of Fire was the main source of light, so the Hall was mostly tinged with blue from the flickering flames.
There were a few minutes in which everyone waited impatiently, muttering to each other, and then the blue flame finally turned red. A large flame shot up from the middle, spitting out a charred piece of parchment. Everyone gasped and Viola had a huge grin on her face from the excitement.
"The champion from Beauxbatons," announced Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"
A beautiful girl with silvery blonde hair got up from the Ravenclaw table and gracefully made her way up to the top of the Hall. She seemed to be basking in the applause and cheers— most of which were not coming from the other Beauxbatons students— as she had a proud smile on her face.
When she disappeared into the side chamber, the goblet turned red once again and sent another name flying.
"The champion from Durmstrang, will be Viktor Krum!"
There was a louder applause than when Fleur had been chosen. Viola couldn't say she was surprised that Krum was chosen.
The goblet turned red for a final time and spat out its third name.
"The Hogwarts champion," said Dumbledore, "is Cedric Diggory!"
Viola once again joined in with the applause. She had heard his name mentioned by some of the students while in the Common Room earlier. She couldn't deny that she was a bit disappointed the champion wasn't from Gryffindor, but at least Hufflepuff would get a bit of recognition for once, she thought.
Seamus seemed to think otherwise, muttering a bitter, "Pretty-Boy Diggory, of course."
Cedric also disappeared into the chamber along with the other two champions.
Viola thought it would be an interesting competition between the three champions: The famous Quidditch player, Krum, the graceful Fleur Delacour, whom Viola suspected must have something hidden up her sleeve if she was worthy enough to be chosen and Cedric Diggory, a brilliant Quidditch player, whom she had also heard mentioned throughout the school on different occasions for being a top student.
"Bravo, Viktor!" boomed Karkaroff. "Knew you had it in you!"
"Excellent!" exclaimed Dumbledore, once the last of the applause had died down. "Well, now we have our three champions. I am sure I can count on 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—"
Dumbledore stopped abruptly and everyone could see why: the goblet's flames had turned red again and yet another name had been sent into the air.
"What the hell?" Viola whispered.
Dumbledore caught it, held it out and stared at it for a few moments. He then cleared his throat.
"Harry Potter."
Every head in the Hall had somehow immediately found Harry. There was no reaction apart from a sort of buzzing. Some people were beginning to stand up to get a better look, but everyone froze when, once again, the goblet turned red.
Viola thought this was getting ridiculous. All the heads turned from Harry to the goblet again. A fifth piece of parchment shot out and Dumbledore caught it. For a moment Viola wondered if perhaps something was wrong with the goblet and it was malfunctioning, sending out every name that had been entered— though she had no idea how Harry had managed to get his name in— but that theory was immediately dismissed when Dumbledore read out the name on the parchment:
"Viola Jugson."
author's note:
dun dun duuuunnnn!!
i hope no one hates me for adding viola to the tournament, trust me when i say there is a reason that will be revealed!! as the small summary in the first part of this story says, she's more important in this whole ordeal than she originally thought ;)
anyways viola is gonna regret ever wanting to be a champion, poor girl. but aghhh i'm so excited for everyone to find out why she's been entered!! (anyone got any predictions? probably not, but please let me know if you do!!)