Chapter 1: The Champions are Announced

Ever since Hogwarts had been announced as the host of the Triwizard Tournament, Hugo Weasley had dreamed of representing his school. It had happened in the perfect year, his seventh and final one, when he was already of age and therefore allowed to compete. He had placed his name in the Goblet of Fire himself.

Now, the champions from Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were going to be announced that night at dinner. Headmistress McGonagall at last called for quiet.

"We will now announce the names of the Champions," she announced. The Goblet of Fire lit up and spitted out three slips of parchment, which McGonagall caught.

"The Beauxbatons champion is Suzanne Clouseau!" A beautiful Veela French girl with blonde hair smiled and stood to wave.

"The Durmstrang champion is Aleks Krum!" The son of the former Quidditch superstar and former Champion himself pumped his fist as his mates cheered and pounded him on the back.

"The Hogwarts champion is Hugo Weasley!" Hugo looked stunned and elated all at once as his best friends, Grover Thomas and Sarah Finnegan mobbed him happily. He was the Hogwarts Champion…he couldn't believe it.

"MAKE WAY FOR THE HOGWARTS CHAMPION!" Grover called as he and Sarah led Hugo back up to the Gryffindor Common Room. As soon as they were inside, Hugo sent off letters to his sister, Rose and her boyfriend, Scorpius Malfoy, as well as his parents.

Their replies next morning were mixed. Rose and Scorpius were thrilled. Ron expressed congratulations to his son in a separate letter. His mother was furious. She had not wanted him to put his name forward in the first place. At least she hadn't expressed her feelings in a Howler.

"I don't get it," Hugo expressed as his friends wolfed down breakfast. "She never told me not to put my name in."

"Balmy, if you ask me," Grover concurred, even with food in his mouth. "Doesn't she realize that you were a shoo-in for the Championship anyway? I mean, you have both an aunt and an uncle who were former Champions. That's some serious street cred. The fact that you're also the son of 2/3's of the Golden Trio? That's even more street cred. Besides, it's not like either of you can do anything about it now. The rules are clear: you have to compete."

"Oh, hush, Grover," Sarah scolded. "I'm sure Mrs. Weasley has a perfectly good reason for why she's concerned. Still-" and here she turned to Hugo, "-maybe you should call your parents or something, feel them out, you know?"

Hugo nodded. "I'm swamped today, but I'll call them first thing tomorrow morning."

What he got the next morning was another note from his father. It read:

Hugh-

Your mum had a nightmare last night about you in the tournament. She's really worried about you. Aunt Fleur and Uncle Harry are going to be at Hogwarts later today to discuss some things. Perhaps they can explain better than I could.

I am really proud of you being your school's champion, even if Mum may not agree with me.

Lots of love,

Dad

As evening began to fall, Hugo received his aunt and uncle at the gates of Hogwarts. He took them back up to the Common Room, chatting animatedly on the way there.

"Why is Mum so angry, Uncle Harry?"

"She's not angry. It's just, you know, she loves you so much, it's hard for her to think of you in any danger."

"'Arry's right, petit. She is very scared for you. She was scared for ton oncle when he and I competed 30 years ago."

"Should she be scared?" Hugo asked; they had reached the Common Room now. "Should I be?"

Just then, Harry gave him an intense look. Hugo wondered if he had shown extreme naiveté. "You should be," his uncle nodded. The Chosen One turned to see Grover and Sarah watching the trio curiously.

"You two will need to excuse us. Fleur and I need to talk to him alone." Hugo motioned with his eyes to his friends, letting them know he would relay everything to them, as both slunk out of the room. Uncle, aunt and nephew sat on cushions.

"Hugo, I need you to listen to me very carefully," Harry said slowly. "The Triwizard Tournament is not some extreme Quidditch game. It's a competition that has great significance in our world - and also great consequences. The '94 tournament that your aunt and I were in was worse for reasons I'll explain in a minute, but you need to know that these tasks will not be easy for you. I will tell you now what your mum told me then: These tasks are designed to test you, in the most brutal way, almost cruel. They will challenge anything and everything you have learned here at Hogwarts."

Hugo was starting to feel scared now. Consequences, tests… his head was swimming.

"Ze von't just test your skeel," Fleur added. "Ze vill test your etheecs, your emotions, your mind. Eet can bring you to ze peek of pheesical performance or ze depths of emotional despair. Zere can be glory, but only at a cost, at ze end of ze tournament. And zere can only be one winner. "

Hugo now wanted to throw up. If he was hearing right, it sounded like psychological torture and physical hardship would be involved. Harry gave his nephew a shake.

"Hugo, listen to me. Fleur and I are not making this up. The danger is very real; people die in this tournament. You may not know this but in 1994, there were four champions, not three. Two were from Hogwarts. My counterpart, Cedric Diggory, was killed during the Third Task. Killed. He was murdered by Voldemort, who had just come back, but that's beside the point. We are not saying that Voldemort is suddenly going to show up from the dead again, but there are other threats that can break or destroy you."

"I'm not ready for this, Uncle Harry," Hugo croaked, close to tears now.

"You don't have a choice, son. Grover told you right: once your name is chosen, you must compete. I had to, even though there had never been four champions before. I was ostracized by a lot of people who thought I had gotten my name into the Goblet illegally, because I was underage - including your father. We didn't speak for weeks - damn near drove Hermione crazy - and it took my barely making it through the First Task for him to finally believe my side of the story."

By now, Hugo had stood up and was pacing around the room.

"I should never have put my name in the Goblet. No wonder Mum had a nightmare about me! I should call her right now and apologize-"

"No. I will talk to her, and 'Arry will too. But, zink about what we have said, mon neveu. You will do well. We believe in you." Fleur kissed his forehead, and slipped out of the portrait hole. Harry turned back to his nephew and godson.

"And even if Fleur can't get through to your mother, I will. I've never failed to before. Don't worry about anything on the home front. Just think about what you need to do." He hugged Hugo and then left, the boy thinking about what his family/mentors had just said.

A/N: petit = "sweetheart"; ton uncle = your uncle; mon neveu = my nephew.