I do not own Bleach or Harry Potter the both belong respectively to Tite Kubo and J.K. Rowling
"I don't believe it!" said Ron, in a stunned voice, as the Hogwarts students filed into the castle behind the party from Durmstrang. "Krum, Harry! Viktor Krum!"
"I see him, Ron" said Harry, laughing at his friend's behavior.
"For heaven's sake, Ron! He's only a Quidditch player" said Hermione.
"Only a Quidditch player?" Ron gasped, a look of disbelief on his face. "Hermione, he's one of the best Seekers in the world! I had no idea he was still in school!"
As they headed for the great hall, they saw Lee Jordan jumping up and down on the soles of his feet, trying to get a look at the back of Krum's head. Several sixth year girls were frantically searching their pockets as they walked.
Guess Ron's not the only fan Harry mused, chuckling at his fellow students' displays of celebrity worship.
They walked over to the Gryffindor table, Ron taking special care to sit on the side facing the table as Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students were still gathered around it, apparently unsure about where they should sit. While the students from Beauxbatons had chosen seats at the Ravenclaw table. looking around the great hall with glum expressions on their faces. Harry couldn't help but be reminded of Mrs. Malfoy, who wore a similar look on her face when confronted with her disownment from the Black Family.
"Over here! Come and sit over here!" Ron hissed. "Hermione, budge up, make a space…"
"What?" Hermione questioned as Ron suddenly looked like he swallowed a lemon.
"Too late" he said bitterly.
Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students had taken seats at the Slytherin table. Malfoy looked smug as Krum ended taking a seat near him and his goons. Hermione just rolled her eyes as Ron clenched his fists in frustration, as Draco leaned in to speak with Viktor.
"Yeah that's right, smarm up to him, Malfoy" Ron said scathingly. "I bet Krum can see right through you. Bet he gets people fawning over him all the time. Where do you reckon they're going to sleep? Harry…"
"Ron before you go any further let me say, we're not offering them our room" said Harry.
Hermione snorted as it looked like that was exactly what Ron was going to suggest.
"Besides they look a lot happier than the Beauxbatons lot" said Harry, glancing at the Ravenclaw table.
The Durmstrang students were pulling off their heavy furs and looking up at the starry black ceiling with interest; a couple of them were picking up the golden plates and goblets, apparently impressed.
Once all the students were seated the Hogwarts professors took their places at the staff table with the visiting Prof. Karkaroff and Madame Maxime taking sitting on either side of Dumbledore, who had remained standing, calling for silence.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and-most particularly-guests" he announced to the hall. "I take great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."
One of the Beauxbatons girls, clutching a muffler around her head gave an obviously sarcastic laugh.
"No one's making you stay" Hermione scowled, offended her attitude towards the castle.
"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast" said Dumbledore. "I now invite you to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"
With is announcement complete, Dumbledore then sat down to begin a conversation with his fellow Headmasters as the tables were magically provided with delicious looking food and beverages. While this was normal for any meal, it didn't take anyone long to notice there was a greater variety of dishes available than usual, many of which looked to be foreign.
"What's that?" asked Ron, pointing at a large dish of some sort of shellfish stew.
"Bouillabaisse" said Hermione.
"Bless you."
"No, it's French" she explained. "I had it on holiday the summer before last. It's very nice."
"I'll take your word for it" said Ron, helping himself to a serving of black pudding.
About twenty minutes into the feast, Hagrid walked into the room through a door behind the staff table. He slid into his seat at the end and waved to Harry, Ron, and Hermione with a very heavily bandaged hand.
"Skrewts doing alright, Hagrid?" Harry called.
"Thriving!" he called back happily.
"Yeah, I'll bet they are" Ron said quietly. "Looks like they've finally found a food they like: Hagrid's finger."
At that moment, a voice spoke up from behind Harry. "Excuse me, are you wanting the bouillabaisse?"
It was the same girl from Beauxbatons that was eyeing Harry on her way into the castle, the same girl who laughed during Dumbledore's speech.
Ron went purple. He stared at her, opened mouth but his voice refused to form words, only a faint gurgling noise.
"Yeah, have it" said Harry, handing the dish to the girl.
"You have finished with it?"
"Yeah" Ron said breathlessly. "Yeah, it was excellent."
The girl gave Harry another strange look before picking up the dish and carrying it carefully back to the Ravenclaw table. Ron was still gawking at the girl as if he'd never seen one before. Harry couldn't help but laugh, the sound of which seemed to jog Ron back to his senses.
"She's a veela" he said hoarsely.
"Of course she isn't!" Hermione snapped. "I don't see anyone else gaping at her like an idiot!"
"You sure about that?" said Harry.
As the girl crossed the hall, many boys turned their heads, some even turned temporarily speechless like Ron.
"I'm telling you, that's not a normal girl!" said Ron, leaning sideways so he could keep a clear view of the girl. "They don't make them like that at Hogwarts."
On his part, Harry was curious as to why the girl had looked at him like that. Seeing no harm in it, he decided to call up the Spirit Ribbons and just like Ron had suspected, the girl had a golden ribbon.
"Guess Ron's right" said Harry, mentally thanking Nakatsukasa for keeping him from acting like a fool again. Though he now suspected that the part Veela could instinctually tell that he himself wasn't entirely human either.
"Yes well if he can put his eyes back in his head, he'll be able to see who's just arrived" said Hermione, pointing at the staff table where Ludo Bagman and Mr. Crouch had taken seats next to Karkaroff and Maxime respectively.
"What're they doing here?"
"They organized the Triwizard Tournament, didn't they? It makes sense they'd want to see it start."
Once the golden plates were wiped clean, Dumbledore stood to address the hall once more.
"The moment has come" he said, smiling at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to begin. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the cask-"
"The what?" Harry muttered. But Ron and Hermione just shrugged, neither of them hearing anything about a cask.
"- Just to clarify the procedure that we'll be following this year. But first, let me introduce for those that don't know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Games and Sports.
Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament and they will be joining myself, Prof. Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions efforts."
At the mention of the word 'champions', the attentiveness of the of listening students seemed to sharpen. Perhaps Dumbledore noticed their sudden stillness, for he smiled as he said, "The casket, please Mr. Filch."
Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the hall approached Dumbledore, carrying a large, extremely old looking, wooden chest encrusted with jewels. A murmur or excited interest rose from the watching students.
"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman" Dumbledore continued, as the chest was carefully placed on the table before him. "And they've made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year. They will test the champions in many different ways: their magical prowess, their powers of deduction, and of course their ability to cope with danger."
At this last word, the hall fell so silent that you couldn't even hear anyone breathing.
"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the participating schools" Dumbledore went on calmly. "They will be marked on how well they perform each of the tasks and the champion with the highest score after all three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be selected by an impartial selector: The Goblet of Fire."
Tapping his wand three times on the cask, slowly opening its lid, Dumbledore reached inside and pulled out a large, roughly carved wooden cup. It would've been entirely unremarkable if not for the dancing blue flames inside it.
"Anyone wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet. Aspiring champions have 24 hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three chosen it has judged worthy to represent their schools."
Dumbledore then went on to explain that the Goblet of Fire would be placed in the entrance hall, protected by an Age Line, to keep out underage students. Finishing with a warning that entering your name in the goblet establishes a binding magical contract, so only those truly prepared should enter. His announcement complete he then called for everyone to head to bed.
As the students began to leave the hall the Weasley Twins were of course already plotting how to enter the tournament.
"An Age Line" said Fred, a glint in his eyes. "Well that should be fooled by an Aging potion shouldn't it? and once your names in that goblet, it can't tell whether you're seventeen or not!"
"But I don't think anyone under seventeen will stand a chance" said Hermione. "We just haven't learned enough."
"Speak for yourself" said George. "You'll try and get in, won't you, Harry?"
"No way" said Harry. "I'm perfectly happy to let someone else get the attention." Not to mention soul reaping is a time consuming job. "What about you, Ron?"
"Where is he?" Ron muttered, apparently not listening to a word of the conversation. Instead he was looking through the crowd for any sign of Krum. "Dumbledore didn't say where the Durmstrang people are sleeping, did he?"
As they passed the Slytherin table, Ron got his answer; Karkaroff had just walked over to his students.
"Back to the ship" he said. "Viktor, how are you feeling? Did you eat enough? Should I send for some mulled wine from the kitchens?"
Harry saw Viktor shake his head as he pulled his furs back on. He watched as one of the Durmstrang boys tried to ask for some wine but Karkaroff quickly shot him down, it was clear the man's paternal persona was meant solely for Krum.
Karkaroff turned and led his students towards the doors, reaching them at the exact same time as Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Harry stopped to let him walk through first.
"Thank you" Karkaroff said carelessly, glancing at him. The Durmstrang Headmaster froze as he turned back to Harry, staring at him in disbelief, his eyes fixed upon his lightning bolt scar.
"Yeah that's Harry Potter" said a growling voice from behind them.
Karkaroff spun around to find Mad-Eye Moody standing there, leaning heavily on his staff, eyes glaring unblinkingly at the Durmstrang Headmaster.
The color drained from Karkaroff's face as a terrible look of fury and fear came over him.
"You!" he cried, staring at Mad-Eye as though unsure he was really seeing him.
"Me" Mad-Eye said grimly. "And unless you've got something to say to Potter, Karkaroff, you might want to move. You're blocking the doorway."
It was true. Half the students in the hall were now waiting behind them, looking over one another's shoulders to see what was causing the holdup.
Without another word, Karkaroff swept his students away with him. Moody watched him until he was out of sight, his magical eye fixed upon his back, a look of intense hatred upon his mutilated face.
That night, Harry in Soul Reaper form was working his way through the Hogwarts ghosts, sending those close to becoming Hollows off to the Soul Society. It was beginning to look like a quiet night when suddenly he sensed a strange spiritual pressure.
Following the spiritual pressure led Harry to outside the Durmstrang ship where he spotted a ghost hanging around one of the windows. Upon closer inspection he saw the spirit actually had a chain linking it to the ship.
A Bound Spirit Harry realized, remembering his first encounter with such a spirit after he first gained his powers.
Approaching the spirit cautiously Harry could make out details of the ghost. The Spirit was female looking about in their mid to late teens, had messy blond hair, glasses, and was wearing a Quidditch Jersey. As he got closer he could hear the ghost speaking to herself.
"He's amazing. He' so amazing. I just want him to notice me. He'll see no one appreciates his talent more than me."
"Um, hello?" said Harry, careful not to anger the spirit so close to the Durmstrang students.
But the ghost girl didn't seem to hear him, instead her attention was fixed entirely on whatever was in the window. Curious Harry peaked past the spirit to see that she was spying on a sleeping Viktor Krum.
So that's who's amazing. Wait a minute. Taking a second look at the Bound Spirit's chain, Harry noticed that the chain actually reached through the hull of the Durmstrang ship, and was in fact binding the spirit to Krum. Taking a closer look at the Quidditch player the Substitute Soul Reaper could see that he was decidedly much paler than he appeared at dinner.
"Ok, that's enough."
Grabbing the ghost by the shoulder, Harry tried to pull it away from the window only to be blasted back by a burst of spirit energy. Now aware of his presence the ghost turned to the Substitute Soul Reaper, her face twisted with rage.
"You! You were with them!" she snarled, large cracks starting to spread across her face. "I won't let you take him away from me!"
Harry's jaw dropped as he now realized that the spirit had bound itself to Krum because she was a fan. Based on her behavior she had a really bad case of celebrity worship; Harry couldn't help but compare it to Ron's and his fellow Hogwarts students' own behavior regarding the Quidditch player.
Ron would kill me if I let anything happen to Krum. Drawing his zanpakutō, Harry watched as the spirit's rage shattered the chain binding her to Krum, causing her body to explode violently.
Remembering the last time, he fought a Bound Spirit, Harry braced himself as a powerful wind blew through heralding the arrival of the newly formed Hollow.
The monster in question appeared on the deck of the Durmstrang ship; The torso of the Hollow was human like in appearance and clearly female, with her Hollow whole located in the center of her chest, while the lower half of its body was that of a serpent.
"Krum…Krum…. Krum" the Hollow repeated, still bound by her obsession with the Quidditch star.
Ron's feelings aside there was no way, Harry was going to let the crazed fan turned Hollow continue to feed off of Krum. Nakatsukasa in hand, the Substitute Soul Reaper charged the Hollow aiming the blade at her head. But the beast was quick, bending her body around the reaper's blade as she slithered past him.
As she moved past Harry, the Hollow countered spitting acid at the Substitute's face. Instinctually Harry brought his hand up to block the attack, hissing in pain as it burned his skin. Now unable to grip his sword with both hands, Harry made a one-armed swing at the Hollow but the creature's body, just managing to make a shallow cut along her tail before she escaped inside the ship.
"Just great" Harry groaned, as he followed after the Hollow below deck.
The inside of the ship was like the outside, dark and uninviting, looking as if it was salvaged from a graveyard. With the dim lighting limited Harry's vision but if there was one good thing about Bound Spirit's it was that they were predictable; there was only one place the Hollow was sure to go.
So it was no surprise when he found the Hollow looming over Krum's bed moments away from taking his soul. Determined not to let that happen, Harry dived at the monster managing to drive his sword through her tail as she tried to slink past him.
"Sorry but my friend's a big fan and he'd kill me if I let you take Krum's soul" said Harry, pulling his sword out make another swing at the Hollow's head.
But despite the injury the Hollow still proved to be a difficult target, twisting around Harry's strike and wrapping the Substitute Soul Reaper's body in her tail, in an attempt to squeeze the life out of him.
"Hadō #1: Shō!" directing the kidō at himself Harry sent both himself and the Hollow crashing through the wall out into the ship's hallway, freeing himself in the process.
As he faced off against the Hollow, Harry knew he needed to put an end to the beast's slippery movements. Channeling his spirit energy, crackling golden built around his good hand as he prepared his second kidō spell, when suddenly a beam of light passed over his head striking the Hollow.
Harry groaned in frustration as the spell did nothing more than annoy the Hollow. That was the thing with spiritual being, on the rare occasion you could injure them with a significant amount of force but more often than not a none spiritual charged attack would do nothing more than annoy them.
Glancing over his shoulder, Harry saw that Karkaroff and the Durmstrang students had been woken by the sound of the battle.
Just great. Better end before they make this any worse.
Spotting the object of her obsession amongst the crowd of students, the Hollow made a move for Krum only for Harry to intercept "Bakudō # 4: Hainawa!" throwing his hand forward, he released a golden chain of pure energy, trapping the Hollow.
The Hollow struggled to against the binding spell, it was only a matter of time before she broke free, thankfully it lasted just long enough for Harry to stab his zanpakutō through her head.
With the Hollow dealt with, Harry sheathed his sword and turned to the still present visitors from Durmstrang. Karkaroff's face was red with rage at the damage done to his ship and was about to demand an explanation when Harry decided to bring the incident to a close, flashing the entire hall with his combat pass' memory replacer; leaving them asleep in the hall and allowing their minds to fill in the blanks.
The next morning Harry entertained Ron, and Hermione with the tale of the previous night's Bound Spirit, getting a laugh from the muggleborn witch while the Weasley boy scowled at the comparison.
"Guess it's a good thing you didn't get that autograph" Hermione laughed. "We'd hate to feed your Krum obsession."
"Bloody hell. Alright I get it!" said Ron, now blushing that famous Weasley red, embarrassed by the comparison between himself at the obsessed fan.
"Just goes to show, hero worship is unhealthy."
"I thought we learned that after we saw you with Lockhart" said Harry, now getting a laugh from Ron as Hermione muttered something that sound like "I wasn't that bad."
Feeling curious about the Goblet of Fire, the trio entered the entrance hall, finding about twenty people gathered around it, watching for possible champions. The goblet itself had been positioned in the center of the hall on what was usually the Sorting Hat's stool, surrounded by a thick golden circle.
"Hey, guys" Ginny called, greeting them from where she was speaking with a fellow third year girl.
"Anyone put their name in yet?" Ron asked eagerly.
"All the Durmstrang lot" the third year girl replied. "But we haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet."
The sound of laughter alerted them to the arrival of Fred and George joined by their friend Lee, who were rushing down the staircase, all three of them looking extremely excited.
"Done it" Fred said triumphantly, whispering to Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione. "Just taken it."
"What?" asked Ron.
"The Aging Potion, dung brains"
"One drop each" said George, rubbing his hands together with glee. "We only need to be a few months older."
"We're going to split the thousand galleons between the three of us if one of us wins" said Lee, grinning broadly.
"I'm not sure this is going to work" Hermione cautioned. "I'm sure Dumbledore would've thought of this."
Fred, George, and Lee ignored her.
"Ready?" Fred asked the other two, quivering with excitement. "Come on, then- I'll go first."
"This should be good" said Ginny, watching as her twin brothers placed their names inside the goblet.
After nothing happened Harry and the others were beginning to think that it had worked; the twins certainly thought so as they leapt into the air, letting out cries of victory. But suddenly there was a loud sizzling sound, and both twins were hurled out of the golden circle, landing painfully ten feet away on the cold stone floor, both of them now sporting identical long white beards.
The entrance hall rang with laughter. Even the Weasley Twins joined in, once they'd gotten back on their feet and had a good look at each other.
"I did warn you" said an amused Dumbledore, coming out of the great hall. His eyes twinkled as he took in Fred and George's newly grown facial hair. "I suggest you both go to Madam Pomfrey. She is already attending to Ms. Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards are as fine as yours"
Fred and George took off for the hospital wing, accompanied by the still laughing Lee. Dumbledore's eyes then lost their twinkle as they focused on Harry, it looked as if the headmaster wanted to say something but the boy wouldn't hear it. Instead Harry just turned and walked outside without a word, followed closely by his friends.
"You ok, Harry?" asked Ginny, once she Ron, and Hermione had caught up to boy-who-lived.
"Yeah" Harry sighed, taking a calming breath. "Let's go visit Hagrid. We haven't been to see him for a while."
It wasn't exactly the subtlest way to change the subject but his friends had chosen to go along with it and for that Harry was grateful.
As they neared Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest they spotted the Beauxbatons' carriage not far from their friend's front door.
"Don't look now, but Ron's got his stupid face on again" said Ginny, pointing to her brother who was currently staring at the Veela girl as she entering the carriage alongside her fellow students.
"Guess now we know where they're staying" said Harry.
"Great now let's go before Ron finds a new obsession" said Hermione, dragging the Weasley boy the rest of the way by the arm.
Harry knocked on Hagrid's door, and Fang's booming barks answered immediately.
"Bout time" said Hagrid, flinging his door open. "Thought you lot had forgotten where I live!"
"Sorry, we've been really busy, Hag…." Hermione stopped dead, looking up at Hagrid, apparently lost for words.
Hagrid was wearing his best (and very horrible) hairy brown suit, together with a checkered yellow and orange tie, to complete the outfit. This wasn't the worst of it, though; he had evidently tried to tame his hair, using a large amount of what appeared to be axle grease. It was now bunched up into what looked like an attempt at a ponytail, but it seemed he had too much hair. The look really didn't suit Hagrid at all.
"Um…where are the skrewts?" Hermione asked, obviously deciding not to comment on Hagrid's appearance.
"Out by the pumpkin patch" the half giant said happily. "They're getting massive, must be nearly three feet long now. Only trouble is, they've started killing each other."
"Oh no, really?" said Ginny, speaking up before Ron, who looked like he was about to say something, could comment on Hagrid's odd hair.
"Yeah" Hagrid sighed. "It's ok, though, I've got them in separate boxes now. Still got about twenty."
"Well, that's lucky" Ron said sarcastically.
Completely missing Ron's sarcasm, Hagrid let them inside his cabin, letting them take seats at his table. Hagrid soon served them tea and the conversation quickly turned to the Triwizard Tournament. Hagrid seemed as excited about it as they were.
"Just you wait" he grinned. "You just wait. You're going to see some stuff you've never seen before. First task-ah, but I'm not supposed to say."
"Go on, Hagrid!" the children urged, but Hagrid wouldn't budge.
"Don't want to spoil it for you. But it's going to be spectacular, I'll tell you that. Them champions are going to have their work cut out. Never thought I'd live to see the Triwizard Tournament played again!"
They ended up having lunch with Hagrid, though they didn't eat much. They did enjoy trying to make Hagrid tell them what the tasks in the tournament were going to be, speculating which entrants were likely to be selected as champions, and wondering whether or not Fred and George were beardless yet. And of course Hagrid mentioned how he'd spent the morning helping to repair the damages to the Durmstrang ship after Harry's battle the previous night. Apparently they all thought the hole in Krum's wall was due to wood rot. Harry didn't even want to know how Karkaroff's mind tried to explain passing out in the middle of the hallway with his students. Though Ron came up with some interesting ideas.
Over all it was pleasant visit through there was a light argument between Hermione and Hagrid, after he said she should forget about trying to get the house elves wages, saying that Dobby was the exception to the rule and that the majority would see payment as an insult.
By half past five it as growing dark, and Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione decided it was time to head up to the castle for the Halloween feast- and more importantly, the announcement of the school champions.
"I'll come with you" said Hagrid. "Just give us a sec."
Hagrid then searched the chest of drawers beside his bed. Harry and the others didn't pay this any mind until a truly horrible smell filled the room.
"Hagrid, what's that smell?" Harry coughed, his eyes tearing up from the stink.
"Eh, don't you like it?" he asked, turning around with a large bottle in his hand.
"Is that aftershave?" asked Hermione in a choked voice.
"Err-eau de cologne" Hagrid muttered, blushing. "Maybe it's a bit much. I'll take it off, hang on…"
He stomped out of the cabin, they could see him washing himself vigorously in the water barrel outside the window.
"Eau de cologne" Hermione said in amazement. "Hagrid?"
"And what's with the hair and suit" Harry questioned.
"Look!" said Ron, pointing out the window.
If Hagrid was blushing before, it was nothing compared to what he was doing now. Careful not to let themselves be spotted Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione peered through the window, watching as Hagrid spoke with Madame Maxime, who was leading her students to the castle. They couldn't hear what he was saying, but Hagrid was talking to Maxime with a rapt misty-eyed expression.
"He's going to the castle with her!" Hermione huffed. "I thought he was waiting for us!"
"Hagrid fancies her" Ginny realized, watching them leave with wide eyes.
"Well, if they end up having kids, they'll be setting a world record- bet any baby of theirs would weigh about a ton" said Ron.
"Let's just get going" said Harry.
The Halloween feast seemed to take longer than usual. Everyone was anxious to see who'd be the school champions.
At long last, the golden plates were cleared; the great hall fell silent as Dumbledore stood up. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as tense and expectant as anyone. Bagman was beaming and winking at various students. However, Crouch looked uninterested, almost bored.
"The Goblet of Fire is almost ready to make its decision" said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber- where they will be receiving their first instructions."
With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore extinguished the candles around the hall, leaving the goblet's flames as the only source of light. Those very same flames then suddenly changed from blue to red as sparks began to fly from it. The whole room gasped as tongue of flames shot into the air; a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it.
The Hogwarts Headmaster caught the parchment and held it at arm's length, reading it by the goblet's light.
"The champion for Durmstrang" he read, in a strong clear voice, "is Viktor Krum!"
"No surprises there!" Ron yelled, as a storm of applause flooded the hall.
Krum rose from the Slytherin table, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.
"Bravo, Viktor!" Karkaroff boomed, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. "Knew you had it in you!"
The cheering died down as the second piece of parchment flew into the air.
"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"
"It's her, Ron!" Harry shouted, as the Veela girl rose gracefully to her feet, shook back a sheet of silvery blonde hair, and swept between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.
"Look they're all disappointed" said Hermione, nodding toward the remainder of the Beauxbatons party.
"That's an understatement" said Ginny. Two of the girls who hadn't been selected had dissolved into tears, sobbing with their heads on their arms.
Once Fleur Delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell over the hall once again; everyone was eagerly waiting to see who'd be Hogwarts champion.
Once more the Goblet of Fire released a tongue of flames into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.
"The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!"
Harry was pretty sure he heard Ron say something, but it was drowned out by the cheers from the next table. Every single Hufflepuff had jumped to their feet, screaming and stomping, as Cedric made his way past them, a large grin on his face, and headed into the side chamber.
"Excellent!" Dumbledore cried happily, as the cheering finally quieted down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count on all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real…"
Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking as the Goblet of Fire unexpectedly released another piece of parchment.
Seemingly automatically, Dumbledore caught the parchment. There was a long pause as everyone watched the Hogwarts Headmaster read the slip in his hands. Clearing his throat Dumbledore read out "Harry Potter."
