Pure Immortality
Let The Magic Begin.
Chapter Four:
The Goblet of Fire
The fourth year starts just like how the previous ones. Amethyst never bites and tell, but it seems like in the way Dumbledore glances at her this year, he knows what she did last winter.
Some figures in pointed hoods carrying flaming torches were walking across the campsite, chanting ominous noises. The crowd was panicked and rushing all over. Harry Potter was trampled until unconscious.
Amethyst was there when it happened. She came to the Quidditch World Cup to watch over them from afar.
Tim passed. The crowds had all gone. A man walked through the rubble, kicking at things. He casted a spell which causes a bright flash and a large ghostly skull formed in the sku with a snake crawling as its tongue. The man grins evilly, clearly demented. Harry stirred and witnessed the man standing there. He ran. The familiar voices of Ron and Hermione were calling for him when the man ran near the bended tent, where Amethyst was hiding.
The moment only lasted for a second before she rushed in the speed of light, avoiding the eyes. She had no time to check if he saw her nor not, because the chance of being seen was too high to be risk. Then again, coming there was also a risk. Who would have knew what kind of impact it would cause her in the future. Certainly not Amethyst herself, that was.
Four pegaguses were flying through the air, pulling a carriage coming in to land at Hogwarts. The students are cheering, with an exceptional of Draco and Amethyst.
"What are those for?" he snorts, looking at Hagrid who is jumping down to avoid being crashed by the vehicle.
"The carriage are carrying witches," she answers him, looking at the scene as well.
A large ship emerges from under the water and approaches too.
"And that one carries wizards."
"How do you know?" he turns his head to her.
"Let's just call it," she does the same, a smile plastered on her lips, "a hunch."
They all gather around in the Great Hall, Dumbledore having a speech to welcome everyone in the room yet again.
"Now we're all settled in and sorted, I'd like to make an announcement. This castle will not only be your home this year, but home to some very special guests as well. You see, Hogwarts has been chosen─"
The sound of the doors being harshly open interjects Dumbledore form his speech. Everyone watches as Flinch runs up the aisle limping in a comical way. He whispers something to Dumbledore and leaves in the same fashion. But Amethyst already knows who are waiting at the other side of the doors.
"So Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event: The Tri-Wizard tournament," Dumbledore continues, causing everyone to cheers. Draco casts a glance at Amethyst, but she just stares at her hands, as if there is something really interesting with her red painted nails. "Now for those of you who do not know, the Tri-Wizard tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school, a single contestant is selected to compete. Now let me be clear, if chosen, you stand alone. And trust me when I say: these contests are not for the faint hearted," he says in a dead serious tone, though his expressions does not stay hard for long. "But more of that later. For now, please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of magic and their headmistress, Madam Maxi me."
A group of girls dressed in blue dance up the aisle and release butterflies into the air. They bow and everyone applauds, no exception for Amethyst.
Next, a series of older boys walk up the aisle brandishing by staffs, twirling them around and periodically stabbing them into the ground with a spark effect.
Dumbledore gives a personal greet to the headmaster and headmistress before he continues his explanation.
"Your attention please! I would like to say a few words. Eternal glory, that is what awaits the student who wins the Tri-Wizard tournament. But to do this, that student must survive three tasks. Three extremely dangerous tasks. For this reason, the ministry has seen fit to impose a new rule. To explain all this we have the head of the department of international magic cooperation, Mister Bartimus Crouch."
He casts magic over a box, which melds into a goblet containing blue flame.
"The goblet of fire. Anyone wishing to submit themselves for the tournament merely write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour on Thursday night. Do not do so lightly. If chosen, there's no turning back. As from this moment, the Tri-Wizard tournament has begun."
∞°•₰Ω₰•°∞
"Sit down, please. And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, the champions' selection!"
Students have gathered in the same room where the Goblet of Fire is placed. Everyone are so anxious to see who will be chosen from their school. Among all the excited students, there is Amethyst. She sits beside Draco, who looks pretty preoccupant with the scene as well. She crosses her legs elegantly, sipping a cup of tea at hand calming, her action obviously standing out even when no one pays attention to her. The guests from other schools however, never met someone as uncarried by the situation such as her.
Dumbledore approaches the blue flame and it glows red. A name comes out and he catches the piece of paper when it falls down. Everyone looks on anxiously for him to announce the name out loud.
"The Durmstrang champion is...Viktor Krum!"
The Durmstrang crowd cheers. Another name comes out and Dumbledore catches the parchment.
"The champion from Beauxbatons...Fleur Delacour."
The Beauxbatons girls cheer as Fleur walks up. Another name comes out and this time, it is, "The Hogwarts champion... Cedric Diggory."
Hogwarts pupils cheer as Cedric takes the stage.
"Excellent! We now have our three champions! But in the end, only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champion, this vessel of victory, the Tri-Wizard Cup!"
People cheer, but the goblet glows red once more, angrily it seems, and another name flies out. Dumbledore takes it and reads...
"Harry Potter," the name comes our barely as a whisper. Then, he calls the name again. "Harry Potter?"
When Harry attempts to sit down, Dumbledore screams his name louder. His friend, Hermione, pushes him forward. He walks up. Dumbledore gives him the paper. Voices in the crowd shout out.
"He's a cheat! He's not even seventeen yet!"
Once Harry disappears behind the stage, everyone thinks that the surprise finally ends. But the goblet glows red once more, this time even angrier than the last. Dumbledore catches another paper, this time raising both of his eyebrows rather than looking as if he just saw a ghost when he read Harry's.
"Amethyst Proteria."
The hot tea that she is still drinking from the cup now bursts out from her mouth, spraying to the ground. All Hogwarts' eyes are on her instantly while she attempts to calm her coughs down, putting the cup aside. Anyone who is paying attention would have notice that the tea she was drinking previously was not tea at all, but actually blood.
She just managed to put a spell on it, so that anyone who looks at it will think that it is just tea. But the liquid is red, and her shock shakes the spell effect down. Amethyst whips her lips carefully with her back hand, walking up to leave a stunned Draco behind.
No one ever dares to insult her this time, which is worst. The growing tense is building up as her eyes locked with Dumbledore's ─ both clearly not expecting this. Her ruby pendant is radiating from her chest as she steps up the stage and gets into the trophy room.
Once Amethyst joins the rest of the champions, Dumbledore bursts in and grabs Harry, questioning him aimlessly. Voices of protests are echoing outside, though the owners are obviously adults'. The other champions can only watch the scene from aside. And then there is Amethyst, her presence and virtue being completely abounded as the teachers' voice their concern about Harry.
She is almost tempted to say, "I am here, too, you know. Your other unexpected contestant," but hold her tongue. Though the humor is quite exquisite to her, she can not help but to have her body tremble with held laughter. Cedric, who is standing the nearest to her, casts her a concerning glance, thinking that she is crying.
∞°•₰Ω₰•°∞
After Dumbledore's conversation with Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall in the darkened tower room, Amethyst visits him again in the same chamber.
"So I guess I am the rather piece of meat, huh?" she jokes darkly through his sadden expression. He tempts a smile, though she can still see through the grieving eyes inside.
"You've heard?"
"From each uttered word and down to the punctuations." She walks closer to the shimmering water he is staring at. "You do realize that your reaction back then was rather suspicious, right? I mean, you almost exploded when it came to Mister Potter, yet you merely casted me a glance. What would the others think? Thankfully they are all too preoccupant with Mister Potter that they barely noticed me. Look what this world has gone into now. It was like everyone already knew that I won't die already."
"...Well, I guess I was a little exaggerating back then," he admits, not lifting his gaze from the water.
"None of me in there, I believe?"
"No one will know when the time will arrive when they need a memory."
"So I am part of the collection as well?"
"Only for the shake of safetiness."
∞°•₰Ω₰•°∞
The day after that eventous night, reporters come for interviews and photographs, though in Amethyst opinion, it is not necessary.
"What a charismatic quintet. Hello!" the woman in colorful dress says. She walks over to them as the photographer finished taking a formal picture of them. She walks over and shakes each of their hands. "I am Rita Skeeter. I write for the Daily Prophet, but of course you know that, don't you? It is you we don't know. You're the news. What lies beneath those luscious eyes?" She suddenly grabs the side of Amethyst's face, almost squeezing her eyes out with the strong force. "What quirks lurk beneath those rosy cheeks?" The woman, Rita, cares the side of Fleur's cheek before slapping it rather audibly. Amethyst mouths an, "Ouch," to her fellow female contestant. Then the reporter walks towards Cedric. "What mysteries do the muscles mask?" She runs her hands on him. "Does courage lie beneath those curls?" She crawls her fingers through his hair, before placing her between Cedric and Harry. "In short, what makes a champion tick." Rita walks back to their front. "Me, myself and I want to know. Not to mention my rabid readers. So, who's feeling up to sharing? Mmm? Shall we start with the youngest. Lovely."
"Actually, I am the youngest─" Well, according to the record in Hogwarts, that is, for the truth is among all of them that she is the oldest. But she has appearances to keep, and Rita already takes Harry by the hand way from the group.
∞°•₰Ω₰•°∞
Next day noon, Amethyst is approach by Harry and Cedric, two duo that are unlikely to chatter. Draco is sitting right beside her, and the boy glares deathly at the scarred one.
"We need to talk," Potter simply says to her, clearly avoiding Malfoy's blaze.
Closing the thick white book on her lap, she throws Draco a calming look before getting up from the bench they are occupying. "Let's."
The three walk further from the crowd around them before Harry spill the beans.
"Dragons. That's the first task. They've got one for each of us."
"I know!" Amethyst exclaims melodramatically.
Harry stares at her, while Cedric looks at them, rather bewilded. "Are you serious? And Fleur and Krum. Do they...?"
"Yes," Harry answers. "Wait, how did you know?" he asks Amethyst.
"Well, I was walking around the Forbidden Forest one night. I know that it is forbidden and all, but my familiars need a good night walk. You know just how demanding certains familiars can be, especially when you have five of them. You are lucky for not having a pet such a Jax. He is cute and cuddly and all when he is small, but in his real adult wolf form, there is nothing more I would like to do than throw my lunch up every time I have to ride behind his back."
So that is why they almost never see her come to the Great Hall to eat...the boys think.
"Anyway, I heard noises coming from the deeper area and decided to check it out. Who would have thought that they are keeping dragons in cages?"
"Right," Cedric mumbles. Then to Harry, he says, "Hey listen, about the badges. I've asked them not to wear them."
"Don't worry about it," he shrugs him off before the group dismisses.
Harry meets up with his friend, Ron, but they are still in term of disagreement. That is when Draco decides to cause a scene, shouting from upside a tree he managed to climb.
"Why so tense, Potter? My father and I have a bet, you see. I don't think you're gonna last ten minutes in this tournament. He disagrees. He thinks you won't last FIVE."
Shaking furiously, Harry marches towards him and the tree. "I don't give a man what you or your father thinks, Malfoy. He's vile and cruel, and you're just pathetic."
Harry walks away and Draco angrily tries casting a spell on the boy. Amethyst is about to stop him when Professor Moody appears and points his wand at Draco quickly, turning him into a ferret.
"I'll teach you to cast when someone's back is turned," the professor says.
Amethyst is just simply too stunned to react in anyway has the professor bolding pushing Draco at that instant.
Professor Moody is making Draco, who is now a ferret, hovers around. He sends it up the trouser lef og one of Draco's friends. The boy squirms and looks uncomfortable. Everyone else is laughing, while Amethyst just freezes like a statue. Mad-Eye winks to Harry and he laughs. Eventually, it comes back out and Professor McGonagall turns Draco back to normal.
"My father will hear about this!" Draco hisses at them.
"Is that a threat?" Mad-Eye hisses back at him.
Gulping, Draco runs away, but Professor Moody is still shouting after him.
"I could tell you stories about your father that would curl even your greasy hair, boy! It doesn't end here!"
Professor McGonagall scolds her fellow teacher, stopping him in the process. Finally, Amethyst breaks from the icy state she was being in and heads to the direction where Draco vanished from the scene.
After looking for him, she finally finds him in the Slytherin common room. When he sees her, he turns his back on her coldly and runs toward his room. Amethyst knows that no girl is allowed in the boys' dormitory, as how the other way around. But she ignores the rule and storms right behind him.
"I told you to not act so rudely in front of the public. Look where it got you to," she says to him.
"Leave me alone!" he yells through grinned teeth. He is facing the window, his back on her.
"I'm not finish yet. If you want you make someone looks bad, you have to be patient and wait for the right moment. Not challenging him where everyone can hear you."
With that, Draco turns to her. This time listening.
Amethyst smiles at him a little, taking steps and stops in front of him. She reaches out for his collars and repairs them effortlessly. She grabs a comb and starts tidying his messy platinum blonde hair. Instead of combing with the usual style he has, she combs half of his hair to one side, while the other half to the other opposing direction. The style suits him better. Then she puts down the comb and works out his uniform, fixing it.
"You do realize that you can just use your wand," he points out.
"Sometimes the old fashion way has its advantage as well," she simply replies.
"So what are you going to do tomorrow? The first task starts the day after today, you know."
Amethyst has asked about the tournament to Albus as well, that night at the darkened tower room. He looked so concerned about Potter, thought sadly there is nothing she could do to her old friend. The Unbreakable Vow has limited her movement. She also asked him the very same question Draco here just asked to her that evening.
"What am I going to do with the tournament?" Her soft voice echoes through the caliginous room.
Dumbledore turns to her, the knit between his grey eyebrows never leaves his facial expression. "You compete, of course. Just do your best on the task."
"Do my best? You do realize that it means I will win if I do my best?" She folds her arms under her chest. "What I mean to ask is what do you want me to do. Do you want me to win, or to lose?"
He only stares at her, his expression turns blank. Eventually, he says, "It is up to you, Your Majesty."
Amethyst turns her gaze from his uniform to his silver eyes.
"I know, and I will do my best."
∞°•₰Ω₰•°∞
They all sit in the waiting tent, minutes before Dumbledore explains the instruction to them. Hermione Granger suddenly enters the tent and she hugs Harry. A bright camera flashes with Rita Skeeter, the journalist, approaches. She comments about something to the two, but Viktor Krum interjects.
"No matter. We've got what we wanted," she says, leaving the tent. And that is when Dumbledore enters.
"Champions," Barty calls out, "in a circle around me. Miss Proteria, stands here, Miss Delacour over here, Mister Krum, and Potter over here." He places them in a circle. "Right. Miss Delacour, if you will..."
They all take turns in picking a small dragon from a bag in Barty's hand. Amethyst gets the last second choice before Harry's. The dragon feels heavy in her palm for some reasons, and darker too. She takes her hand out of the bag and unfolds it, finding a jet black dragon in a hollow's form.
"The Atlantic Black-op-abyss. Which leaves..."
"The horntail..." Harry whispers, feeling rather downcast for both of them.
If Amethyst hadn't know any better too, she would have thought that somebody is going after their lives ─ thought she is technically not alive.
The contestants take turn to enter the arena, until it leaves only Amethyst and a nervous looking Harry. From the outside, they can hear Professor Dumbledore's voice loud and clear.
"Three of our champions have now faced their dragons. And so, each one of them will proceed to the next task. And now our fourth contestant."
Harry stands up from his chair, still looking nervous. From behind, a hand is placed on his shoulder. He turns to look at Amethyst.
"Don't worry. I made a bet that you will make it, and I hardly do wrong."
He smiles a weak smile at her before entering the rocky arena outside the tent.
An hour or so passes before it comes down to Amethyst's turn. She steps outside the tent when Dumbledore gives the cue.
She knows where exactly the dragon is even before she steps out. Her predatory senses alarm her like a reflex. But going against her nature, she ignores giving out the knowledge through her facial expression. She stands there, looking calm and collected. The golden egg is right in front of her. She can just use a simple spell and float the thing to her. But she knows that this task will be more than simple. That is why she goes against her first plan and launches her second one. Using a transfiguration spell, she turns her wand into the Death's Scythe.
