Disclaimer:

I do not own Harry Potter or Maximum Ride.


Chapter Seven
The Fifth Champion

I ran into where the people hoping to become the next champion. Fang had convinced me to come, so I did, but who was missing. Yep, Fang himself. I rolled my eyes and sighed, then sat down by the entrance. Two boys with flaming red hair, and another boy suddenly dashed in, laughing. "Done it." he whispered to the black-haired boy, another flaming red-head, and the bushy-haired girl. I was so glad that I had raptor hearing, this was going to get good.

"What?" asked the younger red-head.

"The Aging Potion, dung brains." one of the older identical brothers said.

"One drop each, we only need to be a few months older." the other brother said.

The other boy muttered, "We're going to split the thousand galleons between the three of us if one of us wins." He was giving off a large grin that made me uncomfortable.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know. I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this." the bushy-haired girl warned.

"Hey! Hermione!" I called, knowing that was her name. Though I like to refer to her as, 'That Bushy-Haired Girl' on most occasions. The girl and boys turned to look at me. "Just shut your trap and let them do it!" The girl looked at me, her eyes low and angered. I smiled back at her, and she looked away. The younger red-head looked at me, staring that strange smile. "And red-head, stop staring at me, you freak." I gave a low chuckle, I was calling him that freak...

The boy looked away, but I could still see he was catching glances at me. One of the older boys nudged him playfully. "Oh, looks like ickle Ronny has found himself a girl."

"Oh, shut up Fred." Ron muttered.

"I can't wait to tell mum. She's going to be so pleased." the other boy laughed.

"Come on George." he smiled, and walked into the circle that circled the cup, and he dropped a piece of paper into the flames. George followed quickly. Suddenly, the boys were shot out of the circle to the floor, and then they started to grow long white beards. I laughed, almost rolling around. Then something was next to me. I went tense and looked up. The Dumbledork fellow was standing with us now.

He told them to go to the nurse's office to get rid of the 'fine' beards that they were growing. He smiled, and walked away, I could tell that he was chuckling on the inside, it was hilarious anyways.

Bushy hair walked up to me after a minute and said, "What was that about?! Why did you yell at me like that?!" Her hands hung sternly on her hips, and her face was cold. The red-head and black-haired boy followed, looking at each other. The red-head, Ron, was holding back a snicker.

I stood up tall, I had a good two to three inches over her head, she looked up at me, our brown eyes locked. "Look, girly, you know what. You go back to your little friends. You know why I did it, because you are way to stuck up, and you need to take risks."

"Oh, like you know anything about that." she said, her eyes growing colder.

"If you heard about my life, you wouldn't believe it. I bet you'll never guess what I grew up in for the first ten years of my life."

"Well it couldn't have been worse then living with the Dursleys." the boy with a scar muttered to Ron.

"And what are the Dursleys?" I asked.

"They're his legal guardians, they take care of him over summer holidays." Hermione said, her arms were now crossed across her chest.

"And how bad are they?" I asked sighing.

"Hm, locked me in a cupboard for ten years, lived with a bully for a cousin, and I was starved.." the boy said.

"Ha!" I said loudly. That was nothing compared to what I'd been through. "Get back to me when you have something that can make me feel sympathetic. That's nothing to what I had grown up around. I grew up, looking at-" I stopped. I wouldn't tell them my life, the more they knew, the more they could be in danger. The more the flock could be in danger. "I can't tell you how I grew up. Good bye." I said, and walked out of the room.

"I wonder what that was about?" Ron's voice whispered when he thought I couldn't hear anymore.

"Maybe she had a hard life. But I still don't think that she should have said that." Hermione whispered.

"Yeah, but why wouldn't she tell us?" the black-haired boy asked.

"Who knows." Ron said.


Fang and I sat at the edge of the Gryffindor table. There was a loud muttering, everybody was talking about who they wished would go into TriWizard Tournament. So far I only knew some girl who played some ball game was in it for Gryffindor.

Fang was glaring at me. I had told him earlier about how I almost revealed the secret. "What? They were urging me on. You know how well my steal lips work." I laughed.

Fang sighed, and I looked away, where Dumbledorf was beginning to talk. "I believe that the goblet needs another minute to decide who will be our champions. If chosen, please walk into the chamber beside the staff table and there you will receive your next instructions." Seconds later the goblet shot out red sparks, and a piece of paper fluttered out.

"Viktor Krum is the Durmstrang champion!" the old man called. Claps rang out from over the Great Hall. I watched as the broad faced boy walked to the chamber. Some guy had such a loud voice he could yell from over the audience, about how proud he was of the boy.

Another piece of paper was shot out of the cup, and the old man caught it once more. "Fleur Delacour is the Beauxbatons champion!" another range of clapping went over the Great Hall. Every Hogwarts student sat, eagerly, trying to guess who was going to be their champion. The final paper fluttered out.

"And for Hogwarts. The final champion is Cedric Diggory!" I fell out of my seat and hard on my back. From behind us, I saw every Hufflepuff jumping up and screaming, stomping their feet. Even Nudge. The boy wrestled his way out of the arms of his house. The cheers lasted well after the boy had left the arena. I scrambled to my feet and back onto the seat. I could tell that Fang was holding back a chuckle.

As I listened to Dumbledore continue to talk, another piece of paper was had been thrust into the air. Dumbledore grabbed it, and after a long minute, he called out, "Harry Potter."

Gasps rang out, everybody looked around. Nobody stood forward, when the old man called the name again, the black-haired boy was getting up and walking forward. "I was arguing with him when I watched people toss their names into the goblet." I whispered. Fang nodded, but he seemed somewhere distant for some reason.

Nobody clapped for him, even after he was gone. Dumbledore was starting to walk into the chamber himself, when the goblet turned red once again.

"Look!" Somebody from the Ravenclaw table called. Suddenly, a scorched piece of paper fluttered out, Dumbledore walked slowly over to get it. Everybody was on the edge of their seats.

"Get ready Max." the voice whispered in a low grim voice. "This is why I didn't-"

'Shut up voice.'I thought back angrily, I really didn't want to listen to it right now. Dumbledore bent over and grabbed the piece of paper. I felt a chill run down my spine. He was frowning, he didn't look to happy. Finally, after so long without talking Dumbledore's voice finally echoed over the hall.

"Maximum Ride."

I wasn't afraid like the previous kid, I stood up the second my name ended, and walked up. People looked at me, I stared at the Hufflepuff table that was on my left. Nudge looked at me, her eyes wide. I tried to smile to comfort her, but I knew that I probably looked nervous. I was led into the back room, and sat down, hoping that nothing bad was about to happen.

I walked into the room, the other boy was being crowded. They looked over to me, and back to him, confused.

"If you're wondering. I have no idea what's happening either." I said, and leaned against the entrance. Suddenly, I heard the thud of footsteps, my arm was grabbed, and I was placed next to Harry.

"Harry, Maximum-" Dumbledore had us, we were crowded by a group of people, most of which I didn't know. Even though I was clastrophobic, nobody called me Maximum.

"My name is Max." I said, giving him a cold glare.

"Max then, did you two put your names in the goblet?"

"Honestly Dumbledore, I didn't care much about this thing in the first place. Why in the world would I put my name in that cup?" I said deathly cold.

"No sir." Harry replied, he sounded nervous.

"Did you ask any of the older students to put your name in the goblet."

"Uh, no duh." I said angrily.

"No sir." Harry said again.

"Great vocabulary scar-head." I muttered. He looked angrily at me. I must have hit a tender spot or something, but I didn't care.

"They should be kicked out of the competition. Look at them, they are underaged, they aren't allowed to compete."

"That's fine with me. I don't want to be in the compition."

"Me neither." Harry replied.

"Two words for each sentence. You're a genius!" I whispered under my breath.

"No, the rules are very clear, they must compete." some dude said.

"We should have another draw until there are two more from the other schools." said somebody else. I wasn't even paying attention now.

"No, the goblet is already out."

"Besides, it's to late. There is nothing we can do. From here on out Mr. Potter and Miss Ride are part of the TriWizard Tournament." I looked at the guy who said that.

"No! I won't go to the competions!" I said.

"That's to bad. You're part of the competition now. There's nothing we can do."

"Wait, just because a cup told you that we were chosen to be part of the thing, we have to do it. We don't even get a choice? Are you that stupid! We'll die! You even said that we might! This is my first year here, Harry here has a better chance of living then I do! I at least should be allowed to leave." I said. I couldn't do this. "If I die... I can't leave the flock!" I covered my mouth, I couldn't believe that I had just said that!

"Flock, what is ze flock?" the big french woman asked.

"Nothing. It's nothing." I said. How stupid could I be?

"I'm sorry Miss Ride, but this is how it has to be." Dumbledore sighed from under his breath.