Hello! I'm excited! This is my first real attempt at a fanfic, so please be relatively nice. Not exactly sure what flames are, so I won't say anything against them. Once you read, you know what to do: click the little button, it's just waiting to be clicked!! Prologue "The Hogwarts champion is…Cedric Diggory!"

Harry stood up to cheer with the rest of the crowd, ignoring Ron's loud protests. He didn't understand why Ron was so disappointed; Diggory wasn't THAT bad, was he? Apparently not, since every person recognized as a Hufflepuff was on their feet, screaming louder than Harry had ever heard people scream. Hazily, Harry noted that Dumbledore was attempting to quiet everyone down. He stopped screaming, and gradually, the Great Hall became silent, listening with attentive, somewhat worried ears.

"Now we have our three champions," Dumbledore said loudly. "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…"

Dumbledore trailed off quite suddenly. Startled, Harry looked at the object that most of the people in the Hall were gaping at. The Goblet of Fire had spewed bright red flame, just as it had done when it had ejected the names of the three champions. A small piece of parchment rocketed up, halting in midair and slowly floating into Dumbledore's outstretched hand. Harry waited impatiently for him to stop staring at it, wondering who would possibly be the fourth Triwizard champion. What he did not expect to hear was the two words; words that he never imagined would seem unfamiliar to him.

"Harry Potter."

Chapter One

Completely and utterly assured that the entire world was conspiring against him now that he had made himself look like a prat in front of the whole school and Ron was (according to Hermione) jealous, Harry sank into depression. He had written to Sirius, and now even Hedwig was acting huffy due to the fact that Harry couldn't send her to deliver his letter. On top of everything, Harry's teenage mind had decided to beget a slight infatuation with the Ravenclaw Cho Chang, who everyone knew fancied both Harry and Cedric Diggory. He was absolutely terrified at the aspect that she would think that he had put his own name in the Goblet to get attention. I'm certainly getting attention, he thought bitterly, but not the kind I want.

Harry thought he was in love. There were things about Cho that invariably succeeded in making his heart pound like he had run twenty miles in two minutes: the way her long, silky black hair fell in rivers across her face, the way she wrinkled her nose when she was concentrating, the way she looked at him through the sides of her eyes, seeming to watch his every move. Her graceful walk: her round, rosy cheeks: her chocolaty mysterious eyes: her laugh, a clumsy sort of giggle that Harry found simply adorable. He knew she was a year older than he, and he didn't care one smidgen. Age cannot diminish love, Harry thought, then laughed to himself. My God, that was unbelievably sappy.