Both Harriet and Hermione woke early, and they were surprised to find Ron and Neville up and waiting for them in the common room. Ron was usually more of a late sleeper, but even he couldn't ignore the excitement from the night before. They made their way down to breakfast and were just in time to watch some of the Beauxbaton students put their name into the cup. They were followed shortly by the Durmstrang students led by Karkaroff and Krum. Krum led the procession of boys up to the cup and dropped in his name. The crowd clapped and Krum surprisingly shot a glance their way.

Harriet felt an arm rest along her shoulders and looked over to see the grinning face of one of the twins. It was George as from this angle she could see a small mole on his left ear. Fred had his arm draped around Hermione on the other side of the table.

"Hullo you lot, tis a fine day is it not?" said George.

"Yes, positively swell! isn't it Fred?" asked Fred.

"You're Fred," Harriet stated while pointing at the twin across from her. "And what are you two up to this morning," she asked raising an amused eyebrow.

"Us? Up to something?" Cried George in faux outrage.

"Harriet darling, you accuse us so shamelessly!" Fred cried.

She had noticed that the twins were being a bit more secretive this past month. While they were usually the life of the party, they had become more became recluse during certain times.

"Then she is doing the right thing," quipped Ron from her other side.

"Ronnikins, ye of little faith. If you must know we are about to enter the tournament." George grinned from beside her.

"Oh, and how do you plan to get past the age line?" Hermione asked with a heavy dollop of scepticism.

"Why Hermione I am so glad you asked?" Fred said.

"Indeed, we have brewed this little potion right here!" George continued.

"a few drops of this ageing potion—"

"- and we will be home free."

"It's not going to work," Hermione smirked. "Dumbledore created that age line himself. There is no way your getting by it."

"Again, such little faith, oh brother mine!" Fred cried.

"Yes, they are certainly full of doubt!" George echoed.

"Well, shall we—"

"- prove them wrong?"

The stood up then with cocky grins in place. Harriet just smiled and wished them luck, already looking forward to the spectacle.

They made a ruckus as they ran up to the cup while high fiving the Gryffindors. Most of the hall was grinning and cheering and the twins were encouraging it by waving their arms and getting the crowd involved. Finally, they got to the front and took out their vials again.

"Bottoms up!" They called and tipped the contents back into their mouths. They waited a few seconds before linking arms and stepping through the line. For a moment, there was nothing and Harriet fleetingly thought that they would make it. Then there was a loud bang and both the twins were thrown backwards and landed hard on their ass. When they finally made it to a standing position, they were both sprouting rather spectacular white beards. They rivalled Dumbledore's in their remarkable length, and the entire hall burst into laughter.

"Well now, that is an impressive look if I do say so myself," called Dumbledore from where he had just entered the hall. He was grinning in an amused way. "Although, I am afraid I will become terribly jealous if you tried to steal my look, head along to Madam Pomfrey to get them removed. She has already had to remove a couple today."

The twins grinned and saluted Dumbledore as they went to follow his orders. Terribly jealous indeed, Harriet thought as the twins left. She doubted that anyone could steal Dumbledore's look even if they wanted too.

Breakfast continued, and suddenly there was a cheer from the Hufflepuff table. Cedric Diggory had entered the hall, smiled bashfully and made his way to the front. Harriet felt herself blush as she watched the tall seeker make his way forward. She had had a bit of a crush on him since third year when she had met him for the first time following the disastrous dementor game. He had been an incredibly good sport and tried to call the catch off, but he had won fair and square.

He passed by her and caught her eye. He shot a grin but kept moving forward. She felt her insides turn to mush and her heart felt twitchy, but she did everything to seem casual and composed. It must have worked because both Ron and Hermione weren't looking at her weirdly.

"Ugh, I really hope our champion isn't a puff." Said Ron rudely from beside her.

"Cedric is a good candidate, he has very good marks and is a prefect." Hermione argued logically.

"You're just saying that cause he's handsome," Ron said narrowing his eyes at her. Hermione just scoffed. She was about to answer but was halted when the Gryffindor table let out a cheer around them. Strolling down the centre aisle was Angela Johnson. She was smiling and had a confident gait all the way up to the cup. As she dropped her name in, Gryffindor let out another cheer.

"I agree with Hermione about Cedric, but it would be really great to have Angela as the Champion," Harriet said smiling. Hermione and Ron just nodded while clapping along with the rest.

The rest of the day passed slowly. It was a Saturday, so they had no classes to pass the time until the feast and they were forced to do some of their homework. Well, Hermione forced the reluctant Ron and Harriet. The whole school was in a state of anticipation and it somehow made the clocks move slower. Harriet and Ron did have fun when she helped him with his divination homework. They were filling in his planet chart and making completely bogus predictions. Poor Ron was going to have a horrible month ahead of him according to the positions of Uranus and Pluto.

Finally, it was time for the feast. The Great hall had been decorated for Halloween. The decorations seemed even more impressive than previous years, as Hogwarts wanted to impress. The giant pumpkins with their carved faces would yell "boo!" to anyone walking by. Live bats flew through the air and black and orange candles floated all over the Halls. Shadowed shapes of cats and ghosts danced between patches of light along the walls.

The great hall itself was decorated in great silk streamers of orange and black, and smaller carved pumpkins floated in the air going around and eating the many candles floating above. They would light up and flash their spooky faces then let the candle go and try to eat another one.

The tension mounted throughout the entire feast. Attention was not held by the food as it normally would have been. It seemed that two feasts in a row were a bit too much. All the staff were in attendance along with the ministry officials. Everyone was casting looks to Dumbledore throughout the meal. Dumbledore for his part ate sedately and made conversation with Madam Maxine who was also finished and eyeing Dumbledore's plate.

Finally, Dumbledore cast an eye around the room and swept his arm. The platters that had been on the table disappeared and he stood up and began to walk around the staff table to where the cup sat on its casket pedestal. The silence was instantaneous, and Harriet felt the excitement swirling in her stomach.

"Now it is time to choose the champions. I believe that the cup is almost ready." Dumbledore stated as he had come to rest beside the cup.

It took a minute, a minute of intense anticipation from the entire hall. Finally, the fire in the cup turned red and a second later it spouted a plume of flames. From the fire emerged a single piece of paper. It fluttered down into Dumbledore's hand and he took a moment to unfold it.

"The Champion from Beauxbaton is… Fleur Delacour!" Dumbledore called. The Hogwarts student clapped and whistled as the beautiful blond from before stood up from the Ravenclaw table.

"Oh, the rest don't look happy," Hermione whispered in her ear. And it was true the rest of the Beauxbaton students looked extremely disappointed. Some were even crying. As Fleur made her way forward, Dumbledore shook her hand and directed her to a side door at the end of the staff table.

When Fleur had disappeared, everyone had settled down and were whispering to each other. The whispering ceased however when the flames again turned red.

Again, a piece of paper floated down through the air and Dumbledore caught it easily.

"The Champion from Durmstrang… Victor Krum!" Dumbledore called.

The hall was deafening as they cheered for the Quidditch star. He made his duck footed way to the front of the hall, looking slightly less gloomy than normal. He too disappeared after shaking Dumbledore's hand.

There was another moment of silence as everyone waited for the final champion. Harriet was secretly hoping that it would be Cedric.

Finally, the fire spouted again, and the piece of paper floated down.

"And the Champion of Hogwarts will be … Cedric Diggory!" Hufflepuff and many others had risen to their feet, shouting loudly and cheering for Cedric. Cedric himself was glowing as he received pats on the back and congratulations. He made his way to the front with a deafening cheer. Professor Sprout, Harriet noticed, looked positively beside herself with happiness.

Cedric soon disappeared into the door and the hall calmed down to listen to Dumbledore again.

"Yes, excellent, excellent. Now that we have our Champions, they will be-" Professor Dumbledore trailed off because he, like many others in the hall, noticed that the cup had turned red again. Whispers started and everyone watched in shock as the cup spat out another piece of paper. Madam Maxine, Karkaroff and Bartimus Crouch had risen to a standing position as Dumbledore caught the paper with a tight frown on his face. Very slowly he unfolded the paper and looked down at it with his frown deepening. The entire hall was silent again.

"Harriet Potter." Dumbledore said while looking up and meeting her eyes.

There were no cheers. All the excitement that Harriet had felt was swept away and replaced with a thick sense of shock and foreboding. The hall had turned to look at her and she felt the weight of all their stares. She turned to Hermione and Ron.

Ron had a strange look on his face. He was pale and weirdly expressionless. Hermione just looked panicked. Harriet slowly shook her head at them. "I didn't…" she whispered.

"Harriet!" Dumbledore commanding tone called from the front. Her gaze was swept back up to the front, and Dumbledore's heavy stare. She felt Hermione grab her arm and haul her up. When she didn't move forward, she also felt Hermione nudge her. She stumbled and somehow managed to keep her feet under her.

The feeling of walking up to the front was how she imagined a lamb for laughter felt like. She felt incredibly numb as she walked past Dumbledore who did not offer to shake her hand. McGonagall's face was white, and Snape looked apoplectic. Strangely, Ludo Bagman was looking shocked but intrigued.

As she fumbled with the latch of the door she heard the whispers like a hiss begin to rise from behind her. She made her way inside and closed the door on the angry sound. She walked down a short hallway that led to a circular room with some comfy couches and a roaring fireplace. The other champions were standing around chatting. Or at least, Fleur and Cedric were. Krum wasn't exactly participating. They turned to look at her as she entered, and Harriet was struck by how tall and strong they all looked. She had never felt shorter or weaker in her life and the feeling churned her stomach. Of all the things to be thinking she focused rather desperately on how much she wished she hadn't eaten that second treacle tart.

"Harriet?" Cedric asked, and the churning sensation worsened.

"Well, did zey ask you to come git us?" Fleur asked flipping her hair and looking down her nose.

She opened her mouth to answer, but then the door behind them banged open.

"This is brilliant! Absolutely brilliant I tell you!" Ludo Bagman called, as he strode forward and grabbed her with one arm around the shoulder. She was pressed rather uncomfortably to his side.

"May I present the fourth Champion!" he said while indicating her. The others were now looking at her in surprise.

"But no! dis is preposterous!" Madam Maxine had called from behind. Harriet noticed that she was strolling in with a furious Karkaroff following behind her. Dumbledore was just ahead of them and Crouch, Snape, McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, and Moody followed in behind.

"What iz ze meaning of this Dumblydore?" Madam Maxine called while placing a hand on Fleur's shoulder.

"I vould also like to know vat is happening?" steamed Karkaroff standing beside Krum. "Ve vere promised that dis vould be a fair competition."

Everyone seemed to be trying to talk at once and Harriet managed to extract herself from Mr Bagman. "Zees little girl iz going to compete?" Fleur asked. "Professor Sprout, what is going on?" Cedric asked. "Oh, this will be an interesting competition," from the happy bagman. "You can't be serious?" McGonagall's indignant voice called. "Potter cannot be rewarded for such blatant disrespect of the rules," called Snape.

Dumbledore held up his hand and the room quieted.

"Madam Maxine, Professor Karkaroff, I assure you that this is a surprise for us all," Dumbledore said softly, but his voice still seemed to still the room.

"Harriet," Dumbledore spoke now directly to her, very solemnly. "Did you put your name in the cup? Did you ask someone older to put your name in for you?"

The disappointment in his voice made her throat clog. "N-no," she said quietly, fighting the welling of emotions and thoughts.

"But of course, she iz lying!" Maxine spoke strongly, dwarfing Harriet's choked voice. "You promised us zat zee age line would keep out ze younger students, Dumblydore."

"I suppose there is a possibility that it was the age line." Dumbledore conceded.

"That is nonsense and you know it Dumbledore. That age line was perfect, and we all saw you do it." McGonagall intervened, glaring slightly at the much taller woman.

"Well, zis iz most unjust, 'Ogwarts cannot have two champions." Madame Maxine continued.

"I'm afraid that the contract is binding Madam Maxine, Harriet is obligated to compete, or she forfeits her magic." Bagman placated happily.

"Then I demand that ve draw another champion as vell." Karkaroff called from the corner.

"I am afraid that it does not work that way, Karkaroff." Mr Crouch spoke, he was grave, and Harriet noticed he looked a bit sickly. "The Goblet is unlit and will be so until a there is a winner. This is not a good situation, but I believe that Miss Potter must compete."

"So 'Ogwarts has an even greater chance of winning," Maxine scoffed angrily.

"And Potter has a greater chance of being killed." Moody's voice silenced the room with that uncomfortable statement. Everyone turned to look at the old Auror. "Potter was called out of the cup, and it would have taken a very powerful confundus charm to trick the cup into pulling two Hogwarts names. Not only that, but some dark magic for the cup to take a name not dropped by the bearer of that name. Someone wants her to compete, but I am not sure they want her to make it through the tournament in one piece."

The silence was heavy and only broken by the fires crackle.

Bagman then let out a nervous chuckle. "Come now, Moody, what a thing to say. I am sure no one wishes harm on Ms Potter."

"I can think of one or two people," Moody said quietly, his magical eye swivelling to Karkaroff for some reason.

"Alastor." Dumbledore's firm voice spoke in reprimand.

"Dumbledore, surely there is a way, she is much too young," McGonagall said quietly from beside Dumbledore.

There was a beat where Dumbledore seemed to take a deep breath through his nose, and everyone hung on his words. "I am afraid, that Harriet does not have a choice. She must compete."

To Harriet, that sentence was like the bang of a gavel, or more likely a nail in a coffin. The emotions and thoughts that she had been trying to stop from overtaking her mind could no longer be held back. All she could hear was blood in her ears and her eyes lost focus.

Vaguely she recognized that Bagman had pulled her forward into the centre of the room was now explaining some information to all the champions. It wasn't registered though, as Moody's conjecture seemed like a much more important point to focus on.

Okay so maybe someone was trying to kill her. Nothing new there. In fact, it always led back to Voldemort even if didn't make sense at the time. Like in second year with Riddles memories being the one to open the Chamber of Secrets. Her name being pulled from the cup was in line with the information that she already had and was just another event to add to the list of strange goings-on. Voldemort hadn't risen yet, so he wasn't strong enough to come after her himself. Maybe he sent someone to put her name in an extremely dangerous tournament and hoped she kicked the bucket.

It was surprisingly impersonal and did not fit in well with what she had experienced with the egotistical madman. But then again, he was an egotistical madman, so maybe a fourteen-year-old girl was not worth his time. This seemed like an easy way to off her while he rose to power. It also brought up the fact that there was someone in the castle that may be working for Voldemort or had worked for him in the past. The only servant she was sure of was Peter Pettigrew. Was he in the castle now? Had he snuck in like Sirius had last year? Snuck in like the rat he is? Or was there another player?

All of it seemed likely, and the more she went over it the more she realised she was missing a lot of information. She was working herself into a panic attack when her shoulder was grabbed and she was being directed out of the room. She looked up to see that Snape had the tight clamp on her shoulder and that almost everyone had left the room. McGonagall was the only one to follow them and she looked extremely worried.

When they had exited the room, Snape pushed her forward surprisingly gentle. She looked back at her two teachers and they both wore frowns.

"To bed Miss Potter," Snape stated firmly. McGonagall shot him a glare and stepped in front of her.

"Miss Potter are you alright?" she asked, gentler than Harriet had ever heard. Harriet had to take a minute to answer the question.

"I don't think so…" she answered truthfully. If anything, that made McGonagall worried frown deepen. Snape was also looking at her but with a stony mask in place. There was really nothing they could do though. So, she mumbled something about going to bed and turned on her heel.

At the entrance hall, she was surprised to see Cedric standing there, apparently waiting for her. She didn't know if she could handle what he would say to her.

"Well, that was something huh?" Cedric said softly.

"Mmmhmm" was really all she could manage.

"How did you do it?" he asked. He didn't look mad, but curious instead. Still, he didn't believe her and was asking how she had done it.

"I didn't put my name in." She managed to choke out. She could tell by his face that he didn't believe her. It was upsetting that he was even asking her, even if it was a silly crush.

He was one of those boys who were out of reach for her, he was older, handsome, prefect, great seeker, and very nice in general. It was easy for her to allow herself to have a crush on him even if nothing came of it. But it still hurt to hear him doubt her. If he was doubting her, then the majority of the school was going to think she was a cheat.

"Right…well guess we better get to bed. I'll uh… see you later." He said while scratching the back of his head awkwardly. He turned and made his way in the opposite direction of the Gryffindor tower, and she just watched him go after that awkward goodbye.

She very mechanically made her way up to the tower. The paintings were whispering beside her and were watching her as she trudged up the stairs. She was almost at the common room when she was stopped by the sight of Ron sitting on one of the steps.

"Ron," she breathed out. He looked up from where he had been slumped. A weird look on his face.

"Oh hello," He said. She walked up and stopped in front of him, wanting to tell him everything, wanting his opinion, but her thoughts were then interrupted.

"So… congratulations." He continued. She gave him a stunned look.

"What do you mean congratulations?" She asked.

Ron shrugged, "you got past the age line. They are letting you compete, right?"

"Yeah they are forcing me to compete, but I didn't get past the line Ron," she stated in with a huff, her annoyance brewing at no one believing her.

"Oh, really? What did you do then, get someone to drop your name in?" He asked.

"What! No, Ron, I didn't do that." She said shocked. "Listen, someone put my name in… someone wants me dead." She explained.

His eyebrows were in his hairline in his disbelief.

"Hmmm… you know you can tell me the truth. I'm not going to tell on you." Ron stated that weird look on his face again.

"I am Ron," she tried to plead with him.

He still looked a bit mental. "You don't have to lie to me you know? I get why you did it, a thousand galleons is great, and you will probably be good at this kind of tournament. I am not stupid you know; just wish you had asked me if I wanted to enter too."

"You say you aren't stupid, but you are doing a fine job of acting it right now!" she snapped at him.

He just stared at her, then stood up and walked away towards the common room. She felt the energy and anger drain out of her as she watched him walk away.

"Ron—wait, Ron!" But he just disappeared up the stairs, obviously too angry with her. She felt tears prick her eyes and slumped down on the step Ron had been seated on. She brought her knees up, gripped her shins and pressed her eyes into her kneecaps desperately willing herself not to cry.

She was focussing hard on breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. She hadn't cried in a long time, if she was a weepy girl in general, she would never have survived the Dursleys. Physical pain she could take, being the school pariah she could take, but losing Ron and Hermione would be more than she could bear.

She remembered back to the Chamber of secrets. It had been after Lockhart had backfired that obliviate spell and she had been separated from Ron by the rockslide.

"Ron, you keep trying to dig through, I'll go on." She had yelled.

"Harry it's way too dangerous!" Ron had yelled.

"Ginny may not have time Ron." She had called back. "Don't worry I'll bring your sister back!"

"Harriet… fine but please be careful. You… you are my sister as well, and I can't lose you too." Ron had called through the rocks.

Harriet suspected that Ron didn't know how much what he said was worth. She had always been family less, no one had ever cared, and then suddenly she wasn't so alone in the world. Ron walking away right now was like family deserting her. It hurt like a bitch.

She realised that she had been sitting for a very long time in the corridor and that she was extremely cold. Very slowly she got up and made her way to the portrait.

"There you are! Vi has told me everything, quite the little trick you pulled." The Fat Lady said pretentiously.

"Balderdash," Harriet stated quietly.

"Humph," the Fat Lady said put-out, but still swung forward. Those who were left in the common room, and there were quite a few as it was Saturday night, surged forward when they saw her. Instantly people were patting her on the back and calling out questions. She tried to say that she hadn't done it, but no one was really listening anyway. She moved as quickly as possible through the crowd and finally ran up the stairs to her dorm.

She got into the room and closed the door, turning her back and leaning against the heavy oak. Hermione was the only one in the room and had jumped up when the door swung open.

"I… I didn't do it, Hermione, I swear I didn't. Please, I don't want to do this, I'm being forced." She was really tired, and she just didn't have another explanation in her. She just couldn't go through another round of accusations and denials.

"I know Harry, I know. I believe you." Hermione said as she came forward and gave her a hug. The relief was so great that Harry really couldn't stop the tears this time.