I froze. My eyes were glued on that piece of paper. Ursula reached across the table. She tapped my arm. She motioned for me to get up. I did. What did I do now? Headmaster McGonagall called my name again, louder. I began to walk toward the door. All heads turned to face me. I heard whispering left and right. I wished I could join them just in case one of them knew how this had happened.
I looked at Madame Maxime. She was staring at me. I walked into the back room. Ginny Weasley looked at me suspiciously. Oscar was totally confused. After a few minutes Headmaster McGonagall walked into the room. Madame Maxime and Headmaster Karkaroff were with her. They were all staring at me.
"How did this happen?" Karkaroff demanded.
"I don't know," I said.
"Someone else must have entered her name," Headmaster McGonagall said. "That is what happened with Harry Potter. However, his was a trap. Why would someone enter your name?"
"She has no family besides her grandmother and uncle," Madame Maxime said. "Her mother is dead and her father is unknown. Do you think it could possibly have something to do with him?"
"Ms. Lynx's father is…" Headmaster McGonagall looked at me. "It could not be him, I know that for sure."
Everything was pushed to the back of my mind after that. "You know who my father is?"
"That is not something to be discussed right now. We must figure out who entered your name."
"Does it really matter?" Ginny Weasley asked. "She is in the tournament now. She can't back out."
"But she is too young."
"Harry was 'too young' also, and he almost won."
"He was helped by an imposter."
"But not anymore than any of the other champions."
"I agree with Ms. Weasley," Oscar said. "I believe Rory should just move forward in the competition like the rest of us."
"I also agree," Karkaroff said.
"Me too," Madame Maxime said.
"Very well, then," Headmaster McGonagall said.
After as I was heading back to the carriage I was in complete shock. I was walking alone because Madame Maxime still had some business to attend to back at the castle. I was reaching for the carriage door handle when it opened. Daniel stepped out. Our hour long Quidditch practice session had actually been very fun. The Puking Pastels work wonders.
"Want to go for a walk?" he asked, closing the carriage door.
"Anything that will delay having to face the people who actually entered their names," I replied.
Daniel put his hands in his sweatshirt pocket as we walked. "So, you're the Beaxbaton champion?"
"Yes. Listen, I didn't ask someone else to put my name in or trick anyone into doing it! I had no interest at all! When she called my name I didn't believe it at first and-"
"Calm down. I believe you. Do you have any idea who could have put your name in?"
"No. I mean, I originally guessed my uncle, but he was always too protective of me."
"Any other guesses?"
"No. They said this has happened before, but it was a trick for Harry Potter."
"Oh, yeah, I remember that."
"Then Madame Maxime suggested it might have been a trick by my father. Maybe he was trying to reach me."
"Who's your dad?"
I looked down at the ground.
"Oh."
"Hang on a second." I paused so I could take off my shoes. I carried them in my hand as we walked a little more. "What's it like working in the kitchen?"
"Boring, sometimes. My dad keeps it interesting, though. I just wish I could actually go to a school rather than just have Professor la Urque tutor me."
"Professor la Urque is your tutor?"
"Yes. He has been since I was eleven. Since he can only work with me a couple hours a day he tutors me during the summer too."
"I think they should allow you to go to the classes. I went to the classes at Durmstrang."
"Yes, but you of all people should know Durmstrang and Beaxbaton are very different."
"Have you ever considered going to another school?"
He shrugged. "My parents think I'm going to become a great chef like them and that going to a magic school won't help me."
"But what do you want to do?"
"I want to be an Auror."
"Do you really think you could track down and capture all those big, bad witches?"
"Yes, I do think I could track down and capture all those big, bad witches. How about you? Or have you not given any thought to what you want to do?"
"I have given it thought. I think being a teacher would be nice."
"What kind of teacher?"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts, probably."
"I could picture you as more of a History of Magic teacher. You know, boring subject, boring teacher."
"I am not boring!"
"Fine, I won't hurt your feelings and I'll say you aren't."
I smacked him on the back of the head. He started to chase me. I tripped and rolled down a small hill. I jumped right back up. I started sprinting again. It was not until the bottom of my dress caught onto a thorn bush that I stopped to look around. I was surrounded by trees and almost complete darkness. A little bit of the moonlight was getting through the trees. I got my dress hem off the bush. I spun in a circle. I was in the Forbidden Forest.
"Daniel!" I called.
"Rory?" someone called back. It was Daniel.
I got an idea. "Walk toward my voice!"
I tore off part of the bottom of my dress. I scraped my palm with some thorns. I wrapped the fabric from my dress around my palm. I threw it on the ground once it had a pretty impressive bloodstain on it. I tossed my hat ten feet ahead. I threw my coat even farther. I hid behind a tree. I screamed at the top of my lungs. I hid behind a tree. Daniel came running. He almost ran right into the thorn bush. He looked at the ground. He spotted the bloodstained fabric, the hat, and the coat. He ran up to the coat.
I stepped out from behind the tree. I tiptoed forward, careful to avoid any twigs or branches. I still had my shoes in my hand. I suddenly got cold. It must have been because I did not have my coat on. It really was not that heavy of a coat, though. I kept walking up behind Daniel. He did not hear me at all. I looked at my hand. It was still pretty bloody.
I tapped Daniel's shoulder with my bloody hand. He looked to the side. When he saw the bloody hand he jumped about ten feet in the air. I was sad he did not scream like a little girl. He spun, pointing his wand at me. I smirked. He put the wand away. He threw my coat at me. "Don't scare me like that," he said.
I put my coat back on. I was still freezing. "Why not? You don't even scream embarrassingly." I shivered. "Is it just me or is it really cold?"
"It is really cold. Come on."
I put my hat in my deep pocket and followed Daniel as he led the way out of the forest. The moonlight seemed to be fading as it got colder. I saw frost forming on some of the trees. It was forming very quickly. That was not normal. I stopped Daniel. His hand was freezing.
I began to have difficulty breathing as the air got colder. I felt the happiness draining from me. I could see a dark figure in the distance. I knew it was a Dementor. What was it doing in here? It got closer. My body felt numb. How do you get rid of a Dementor? The Patronus. I could form a Patronus, but it needed a happy thought. Right now, I had no happy thoughts. Right now, I was depressed…Dying…
Daniel pushed me behind him. "Expecto patronum!" he yelled. A blinding light flew out of his wand tip. A large eagle flew out of the light. It pierced the Dementor right through the middle before disappearing. Daniel turned to me. "We need to get out of here," he said. I nodded in agreement. I was still numb from the Dementor attack. Slowly I began to realize I was running.
I heard a weird sound to my left. It sounded almost like a horse cantering. I pulled Daniel back just as a centaur leaped in front of us. He glared down at us. "What business do you have in the forest of my family?" he asked in a deep voice.
"We have no business, which is why we're leaving," I said. Daniel stared at me with wide eyes. "Now, if you would excuse us…"
The centaur glared at me. "You may not speak to me like that! You will pay, young human."
I pulled my wand out. I pointed it at the centaur. "Listen, Seabiscuit, I just almost got the life sucked out of me, literally, by a Dementor. You should be thanking us for ridding you and your family's forest of something like that. Also, if I were you, I would be out tracking down any of the others that might be in here and not going off on us for leaving."
"Do not talk to me like I am your equal!"
"Fine. Chew on this, great one. Petrificus Totalus."
The centaur fell to the ground. I walked away proudly. That will teach him to learn the whole story before going all "I am superior to you, wand waver" on me. Daniel caught up with me. I managed to find my way out of the forest. We were silent the whole way back to the carriage. Outside I looked at my outfit. I really hoped no professors or prefects saw me like this.
"Why did you do that?" Daniel asked me.
"Do what?"
"You put a centaur in a freaking body bind! Do you have any idea how much trouble you'll get in?"
"I really don't care! Today I just found out I'm going to be a champion in one of the most dangerous tournaments of all time! Then I almost got the life sucked out of me by a Dementor! Forgive me if I take it out on a centaur!"
"Obviously you didn't take out all your anger."
I realized I had been yelling at him. "Sorry. And thank you, by the way, for the Dementor thing."
"I was kind of waiting for you to cast the Patronus spell. But, yet again," he smirked, "I had to save you."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess you're just so happy a Dementor can't bring you down."
"I guess so." He laughed. "I was wondering, who's your date for the Yule Ball?"
I was caught totally off guard by that question. "Um…I was thinking of just going alone, I guess."
"But you're a champion. Don't you have to have a date?"
"They didn't say that. I'm sure I don't have to."
"What if you find out that you have to?"
"Then, um, I'll just worry about it then."
He nodded. "Just wondering."
I went into the carriage. I ran to my room. No professors or prefects saw me. Ursula was sitting nervously on her trunk. When she saw me she jumped up. She almost hugged me but stopped. "What did you do?" she asked. I just told her to forget about it. I took a shower in our small bathroom and changed into my pajamas. I would have to put my coat and dress in the wash. I went to Trudy that night to ask her if she could fix my dress. Without even using magic she fixed the tear so it looked like nothing had happened.
"What did you do?" she asked.
"Nothing," I responded. "Just forget about it."
