Chapter 5

The Goblet of Fire

The days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into a month and finally the 30th of October came. Severus had been suffering from the late night potions homework, falling asleep in class, and the terrible looks Professor Maxwell had been giving him. Alek was a wreck, though he wouldn't show that to anyone, including Severus. He knew Professor Maxwell had it in for the Potter children, some unknown reason maybe a grudge. But it didn't matter, not really, except Severus was at the butt end of that grudge and Alek hated his friend in pain. So he continued his icy stare throughout their classes, anger seething through his veins.

They had decided to skip over the greeting of the other students in favor of getting a good seat at the Slytherin table. As soon as they sat down, Severus slammed his head on the table and almost passed out.

"Severus, you haff been sleeping at out times all this veek. Ven vill you be finished vith James' homvurk?" Severus just groaned as he buried his head deeper into his arms on the desk. Alek took that as a 'Not-as-soon-as-I-would-like' answer and glared over to the Gryffindor table, which James was strangely missing from. He growled under his breath and turned back to Severus, his worry growing all the more. Sighing, he pulled out his wand and muttered the energy spell under his breath so that Severus would have enough gusto to actually eat something. Severus sat up a little and smiled over to Alek, muttering thank you as the rest of the school filed into the Great Hall. When all had settled in some sort of seat, Professor McGonagall held her hands up for silence and stood up.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, students of Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. We hope your stay here is both enlightening and rewarding and that the bonds of friendship between our three schools can grow and flourish." She paused for the polite applause and then cleared her throat again.

"Today is a historic day, where the three Wizarding schools once again unite to join in a time honored tradition of the TriWizard Tournament. To kick the ceremony off, I give you Montgomery Monimer, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation." A bright applause broke out as a young man with white-blonde hair stood up and bowed slightly. He looked a little too young to be head of anything, he had a boyish charm that surrounded him despite the huge title tacked to his name.
"Thank you, now I know you are all excited and ready to see exactly what will happen this year. First, though, we must lay out those guidelines that the Ministry and your Headmasters have agreed upon. First that no one under the age of 17 is allowed to enter the TriWizard Tournament. Second, the tasks are dangerous and have been known to cause serious injury or death to those in this tournament, so know what you are getting into. Third, one champion from each school will participate and the winner will receive eternal glory and the honor of having the next TriWizard Tournament at their school. Now since we've gotten that out of the way, Mr. Lupin."
He flung his hand back as a man with neon green hair and pure violet eyes rolled a large podium up, a box laying on top. When he reached the front, he pulled open the box and a gilded goblet sat with blue flames dancing from it.
"If you wish to enter, put your name in the Goblet of Fire. Clearly write which school you are from and your full name on a sheet of paper and just... poof!" Monimer said with a chuckle as Teddy walked to take a seat at the table next to Krum.

"The cup will be available all day tomorrow and the names will be drawn at the Halloween feast tomorrow evening. Until then!" He sat back down and Professor McGonagall simply said, "Tuck in," and the feast began. Food appeared on the table and he noticed all of his favorite foods; Tarator, Shkembe chorba, Bob chorba, Moussaka, Gyuvech, Sarma, Black pudding, Banitsa, Tikvenik, Zelnik, Sirene, Kashkaval, and of course a giant bowl of Tulumba.
"Severus! Look at all of this..." He trailed off as he filled his plate and began to eat. Everything tasted perfect and he could hardly hold back a sigh. The Durmstrang students looked over and suddenly one shouted in Bulgarian. "Aleksandar! Is that truly you?" Alek looked up and smiled.
"You devil! It has been far too long since we've seen each other!" He stood up and gave the boy a giant hug.

"Severus, this is Nicola Mladenov. Nicola, this is my best friend Severus." He smiled as Nicola bowed and gave a curt, "Hello" in Bulgarian. Alek went back to eating and talking with Nicola and Severus, switching between Bulgarian and English so both would understand. However, it seemed that Nicola was looking elsewhere in the Great Hall. Nicola was gazing over to the table decked in gold and red, where a girl with long red hair was sitting. He turned to his brother, Anastas, and nudged him. Alek looked over at the two and raised an eyebrow in questioning, but turned back to Severus.
"See that girl? Is she not pretty?"
"Vell, I like her friend. The von vith the black hair?" His brother pointed to the girl she was conversing with. "I vunder vu they are..." Nicola then turned to Alek and muttered in a low voice "Who is the pretty little red head? " Alek choked back his pumpkin juice and looked over at Nicola.
"Vat? You mean Rose Veasley?" Alek nodded towards the Gryffindor table and raised an eyebrow. "Vell, she is my running partner, ve run every morn so if you vant to talk vith her... She is also Severus' cousin." Nicola smiled to himself and began to hum a bit. Finally, he stood up and smiled at Alek.
"I think ve need more Tulumba." He winked and walked in the direction of the Gryffindor table, even though the Tulumba was still nearly full. Alek rolled his eyes and turned to Severus.
"I vould be careful on Rose and Nicola, while he is a good guy he has been know to be a... how you say... flirt? Mh, yes. He vill flirt." He raised an eyebrow to Severus and cracked a smiled. After a while of talking with Rose, Nicola walked back to the table, a broad smile playing across his face. He sat down and smiled at Aleksander and Anastas.
"And that, is how it is done." He said running his hand through his hair again. Alek was a little annoyed with Nicola and it was clear that Anastas was as well. Alek knew, though, that Nicola was a very good brother, especially after their mother had died when Anastas was very young. Nicola was around 18 years old with thick brown hair that flopped into his brown eyes continuously. He was well built and he played the Chaser on Krum's 'A' team for Bulgaria. Alek of course was the Seeker for the team and as always had never lost a game. Anastas was just like his older brother, and even at the age of 15 he was tall. He had brown hair as well but his eyes were bright blue like their mother's had been and he refused to play Quidditch until he could beat Alek in a one on one Seeker challenge. So in short, never.

Ignoring the two brothers now, he turned to Severus who had once again placed his head on the table top.

"Vould you like me to bring you avay from the noise? Ve can go to the common room and ignore the rabble." Alek furrowed his brow as he thought about James' part in all of this and decided he would exact his revenge soon. Speaking of revenge, he looked over to see Sasha. After the whole love potion thing, he had just plain ignored her which was difficult to do since they were on the same Quidditch team. But he had given her the purple flower of regret and broke up with her, yet she still thought they could be something... He shrugged and turned his attention back to Severus. Severus shook his head.

"It's fine. I'm just tired, but I'm fine." He'd just probably go right to bed once we do get back Alek thought, and his frown deepened.

"My girl is calling." He grinned and sauntered out of the Hall without saying good night to Alek or Anastas. Alek shrugged as Nicola left the table to chase after Rose.
"Ve should go to bed anyvay. You vill be able to sleep in tomorrow, maybe get a night of good rest, eh?" He stood up and grabbed his friend by the arm, helping him up. He didn't like seeing Severus so tired or vulnerable. He sighed and once again went to move for the door. Severus nodded.

"That sounds like a good idea." He didn't say much as they walked back to Slytherin, just yawned several times. Alek kept looking over at his friend, checking to make sure he was still following his lead to the common room and hadn't fallen into some stairwell. They walked into the room and Alek turned around to as Severus to study with him.

"I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow," he said once they got back. He then went right to bed. Alek sighed, he would just have to do the homework himself...