Susie applauded energetically to Calvin's performance.

"Bravo." She managed to breath out as Calvin and Hobbes both made respectable, little bows. "Ah… Sounds like you two were a real hit!"

"I guess." Calvin said as he slid back into his seat. "Though not everyone was particularly pleased with our little scene."

"Like who?"

"Well Padma Pattil, I know for a fact, was actually good at Divinations. And she thought our making fun of it was in ill humor. (Or maybe she took offense at the horoscope that was predicted for her.)"

"Oh? What was her sign?"

"I dunno, never bothered to find out. But anyway you slice it, she just needs to learn to let things go! Like her experience at the Yule Ball, I think she might still be brooding about that." Susie cocked her head at him.

"What's the 'Yule Ball'?"

"Huh? Oh, the Yule Ball is part of this big, superfluous event that took place in our third year called the TriWizard Tournament!"

"Oh, do tell me about that. It sounds quite interesting."

"You wanna hear about that, huh?" Calvin scratched his head. "Well, okay." He paused as if contemplating where to begin. "The TriWizard Tournament is an age old competition between three wizarding schools –"

"Wait, there's more than just Hogwarts?" Susie interjected. Calvin and Hobbes both looked at her.

"Well yeah." Calvin answered. "There's billions of people on this earth and millions of them are wizards. And they're all spread out over all the continents. There's no way Hogwarts could teach them all!"

"Oh."

"So, the TriWizard Tournament is held between the three European wizarding schools –"

"Actually, I think Durmstrang is located somewhere in Russia, which is part of Asia." Hobbes butted in.

"Wha-a-a-atever!" Calvin said, discontentedly rolling his eyes. "so yeah, Durmstrang is one of the schools, and the other is the French academy, Beauxbatons. So they both brought groups of their students down to Hogwarts to participate in this event.

"When everyone had gathered together, Dumbledore presented us all to the Goblet of Fire. –"

"What's that?"

"It's this big, wooden cup that has blue fire in it. It's what anyone who wanted to enter the contest had to put their names into."

"Did you try to put your name in?" Susie asked. Calvin gave a swift scoff.

"Oh sure! Me, a measly thirteen year old, try to get into a dangerous, life-threatening competition. People have died in this event, for crying out loud! I'm not one to risk my neck if I don't have to!"

"Yeah? What about all those sledding disasters!"

"Quiet Hobbes,…"

"Hmmm, I guess the Sorting Hat was right when it said you weren't brave enough for Gryffindore." Susie mused.

"Oh? Well, maybe it is my lack of Gryffindore courage; OR it could be my Ravenclaw wisdom influencing me. And anyway, they ruled that only people upwards of seventeen years of age could place their names in the goblet."

"Ha! When have you ever held regards for rules!" Susie chuckled. Calvin paused slightly.

"Since I wasn't a whiny six year old anymore. (And considering what happened to Fred and George…)"

"What happened to Fred and George?" Susie became curious.

"This happened." Calvin flicked his wand, and in seconds, a small, white rectangle came fluttering to his outstretched hand. "Mind you, they were only sixteen when this was taken." He said as he tossed the photograph to Susie.

Susie unfolded the photo and instantly burst into laughter when she saw the image of the two boys sporting long, white beards with matching hair.

"So you see why I opted not to?" Calvin remarked. "The white thing isn't really my style."

"But you've got to admit," Hobbes added. "Fred and George can actually pull it off."

"Rather. So then, on a later night, it was announced who the champions would be."

"Ooh, this is a good part!" Hobbes started bouncing excitedly. "Tell her what happened! Tell her about –"

"I'M GETTING TO IT!" Calvin blurted out. "So anyway, the goblet decided which person would represent each school. It was really cool, 'cause the flames turned red and shot up these big tongues of fire and spat out the papers that had the names on 'em and… Anyway, the Beauxbatons champion was this Fleur Delacour." He said with a slight waver of something awful in his voice.

"Did you not like this Delacour person?" Susie asked, tentatively. Calvin shuttered.

"I don't know what, but there's something about her that makes guys just want to stop and stare at her. It creeped me out, so just tried to avoid her. And, uh… the Durmstrang champion was one Victor Krum. Some heavily built, fancy shmancy, Quidditch star."

"Quidditch?" Susie asked, interested.

"Ah Quidditch, it's the wizards national sport." Calvin said. "Played on broomsticks." He added.

"Did you ever get into that?"

"Come on Susie, you know how I feel about sports. I'd just rather do my own thing. I didn't even watch the school matches. (Except when Ravenclaw played. I figured I should at least show some support for my house team.)"

"Oh, did you ever have a broom then?"

"Nah, too normal."

"Isn't this a bit off topic?" Hobbes butted in.

"Oh right, where were we?"

"Hogwarts champion." Hobbes reminded him.

"Right. The Hogwarts champion was Cedric Diggory. And (this is where it got interesting.) A fourth paper shot out from the goblet!"

"… And I'm guessing that doesn't usually happen." Asked Susie.

"Apparently not. Just about all of everyone was taken aback by it."

"Well go on then, whose name was on the paper." Goaded an excited Susie. Calvin paused for a dramatic effect.

"… Harry Potter!"

Susie sat dumbfounded, unsure of what to make of this startling information. "And he wasn't seventeen, was he?"

"Just a year above me." Calvin answered. "So, he'd be about fourteen or so."

"Wow… How did he get his name into the goblet, then?"

"Well that's the question of the night, i'n it? Nobody seemed to know exactly how it happened. In the end, they had to let him compete in the three challenges."

"huh," Susie grunted. "So what were these challenges? What were they like?"

"Well…"


The sun gleamed brightly on the great stone arena as students and teachers swarmed into the many stands that surrounded the pit.

"Aha! Perfect seats." Calvin exclaimed as Hobbes and he stole away two empty chairs that were positioned close to the front.

"So… that's a big pit." Hobbes observed "Lotta rocks, wonder what they're gonna have to do?"

"I dunno," Calvin said "probably have to create a stone bridge in under a minute, or turn them into statues or something like tha – HOLY SUGAR BOMBS!"

Hobbes directed his attention to where Calvin was looking. To his amazement – and horror – he witnessed no fewer then ten wizards leading an enormous blue-gray dragon (With quite a bit of difficulty) into the stony pit. His mouth dropped open.

"… That? They're gonna have to fight that!"

"And you know what the odd thing is?" Calvin said, regaining his composure. "A couple of months ago, I thought I actually wanted to get in this thing."

"They're going to die, aren't they?" Hobbes asked, unable to take his sight off of the monster that was thrashing madly against its handlers.

"Yep." Calvin responded.


After a few seemingly short minutes, a whistle sounded and a very unwell looking Cedric entered the arena. He was met with several cheers and excitement from the crowd, along with a boisterous shout of "KILL HIM!" from Calvin.

"Calvin," Hobbes said. "you do know that dragon is female, right?"

"I was talking to the dragon, Hobbes." Answered Calvin, in a sarcastic manner. Hobbes laughed, but still held a bit of concern that his friend wasn't being sarcastic.

"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow." Came Ludo Bagman's commentary as one of the Swedish Short-Snout's clawed forearms came within mere inches of Diggory. Spectators gasped and cheered as Cedric made a daring leap over the dragons tail and rolling as he hit the ground.

"He's taking risks, this one!"

"He's nuts is what he is!" Calvin added in his own commentary.

"Shhh."

"Well he is! Really, I'm surprised he's survived this long."

"Oh, check that out." Hobbes pointed down to Cedric. Calvin looked to see one of the boulders in the pit was pulsating and shifting; changing its shape.

"Clever move" Bagman said as the dog that had once been a rock began leading the dragon away from Cedric. "Pity it didn't work!" Bagman added when the giant reptile changed its mind as Cedric got too close to reaching the golden egg. But that didn't dampen Cedric's determination – even if he was on fire – he still managed to get the egg.

The roar from the crowd of spectators was deafening.


After Diggory, a Welsh Green was lead into the arena. It was time for Fleur Delacour to take her turn.

"Oh,… this is gonna be Sa–Weet!" Calvin mused, thinking about classic fairy tales dragons and damsels in distress.

"Oh I'm not sure that was wise." Bagman commented when Fleur had managed to situate herself between the dragon's shoulder blades. She began to wave her wand around from behind the dragons head.

"Hey, look at that!" Calvin shouted "Look Hobbes, she's putting it to sleep! See, it's getting all drowsy and its head is drooping and tipping over and – Hobbes? Hobbes!" Calvin repeatedly nudged his friend who had been slowly dropping over. "Wake up, ya throw rug!"

"I–I'm awake, I'm just resting my, my WHOA." Calvin saw the dragon completely topple over as Fleur was almost shaken off of it.

"Oh… nearly!"

However, Fleur did manage to get safely to the ground and began making her way to the nest to get her golden egg.

"Careful now." Said Bagman

She was getting closer. Inch by inch, step by step she got closer to the eggs. Only when a tremendous sound came from her dragon, did she pause. The great rumble she heard was an inhale of dragon snoring; and the exhale brought with it jets of flame from the monsters nostrils. This would not be something to worry about had the flames not shot out in Fleur's general direction. But unfortunately, they did and Fleur's skirt was caught alight. But it was nothing a bit of water wouldn't help as she extinguished the fire with her wand.

"Good lord, I thought she'd had it then!" Exclaimed Bagman.

"I hardly think that's funny!" Hobbes said to his friend who was cracking up beside him.


A second round of cheers sounded when Fleur had gotten her egg. And Fleur left the arena looking quite relieved (and quite shaken.)

"Ooh, now that one's a beauty." Said Hobbes, referring to the regal looking red dragon that was being brought into the arena.

"Yeah, see how much of a beauty it is when it gets cheezed off!" Grumbled Calvin.

A third whistle blew and the heavily built Victor Krum entered the fray.

Calvin couldn't help but be awed by the way that Krum had boldly strode up to his dragon, showing no sign of fear or weakness of any kind.

"Very daring" Yelled Bagman as Krum shot the beast with a spell Calvin couldn't identify which hit her square in the eye. The dragon emitted a terrible, blood curdling, shrieking roar.

"That's some nerve he's showing" Said Bagman, but Calvin wasn't quite listening. He was more interested in the dragon which was now ambling backwards in a drunken like manner. And with a great crunch, one of the scaly feet had landed where it shouldn't have.

"Hope 'ol Krummy likes his eggs scrambled, huh?" Said Calvin to Hobbes.

"And – yes, he's got the egg!"


"So then; three down, one to go." Hobbes mused.

"Yeah, wonder what other lizard they have in store for – Oh… my… goodness!"

Calvin stared in wild wonder at the last dragon to be brought in. A beast that looked like it had come straight out of a nightmare. He knew it from his books as the Hungarian Horn Tail. It had looked fascinating on the large screen in the room of requirement, but to see its living, breathing form only a few feet away inspired a very different emotion.

"That is one nasty looking bugger." Was all he could say.

"Yeah, who spit in her soup?" Hobbes replied. "Isn't this Potter guy the youngest of the champions?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"And he has to go up against that monstrosity?"

"Yeah," Calvin stroked his chin. "You'd think there'd be rules against that sort of thing."

The whistle sounded off again and everyone's attention was turned to the black haired young man who had stepped into the pit.

"That's him?" Calvin gave a whispered yell. "That's the clown that everyone keeps whispering about?"

"Always thought he'd be taller." Hobbes said.

Only a few seconds into the fight, Harry had pointed his wand into the air and cast a spell. Shortly afterwards, a broomstick came flying over surprised heads as it made its way to its summoner who mounted it and took off.

"Can he do that?" Hobbes said in Calvin's ear.

"Apparently… they haven't tried to stop him. Why's everybody gasping? What happened?"

"Ooh, he got cut! See his shoulder, there!"

Calvin looked at the champion mounted on his broom. He noticed a long red scratch on his shoulder. Undaunted, Harry still flew about getting closer and closer to the dragon. But not too close. He flew left and right, to and fro, dodging teeth and flames alike until finally, the dragon rose off its feet to attack the nuisance, giving Harry a brief window of opportunity to fly in and grab the egg.

"Well, that was unexpectedly quick." Calvin said, a little disappointedly.

"And not a single person died." Said Hobbes.

"Yeah,… well there's still two more challenges to go."


"Well don't stop, Calvin." Susie said. "What were the next challenges like?"

"Well the next challenge didn't take place until the next year. So –"

"So wait, wouldn't the Yule Ball have come before that?"

"Yes."

"Oh! Tell me about that! What was it like?"


"Why are we doing this, again?" Hobbes grumbled as he trudged down the corridor behind Calvin.

"Because…" Calvin said back to him "I want to see what all the hype's about."

"You could have just asked somebody to go to the ball."

"Third year, Hobbes! You have to be fourth year to go without being asked, remember?"

"Well, you certainly could have made more of an effort to get somebody to ask you to go!"

"Oh yeah, sure. I can just picture it… 'Hello, I'm just a measly third year but I really want to go to the Yule Ball. Would you ask me to go please'?"

"Not many girls would respond positively to that." Said a voice in front of them.

"Whoa!" Upon seeing this new apparition, Calvin leaped in the air, landing in Hobbes's arms. "Oh, it's you!"

Even before seeing her distinctive face, Calvin could see the holiday wreath around her waist where a belt would normally be, along with holly berries and leaves hanging from her ears and a spell of sorts that made snow fall above her head.

"Sheesh Luna, don't sneak up on people like that!" Said a flustered Calvin, after which, a disgruntled Hobbes promptly dropped him onto the floor.

"So you two are heading to the Yule Ball?" Luna asked as she helped Calvin onto his feet.

"Uh, well we…"

"We sure are!" Calvin said. "How 'bout you?"

"Oh no." She said. "Don't you know what all that dancing does to people?"

"… apparently not." Calvin answered.

"It causes unhealthy amounts of blood to flow to the brain, resulting in weakness of the muscles and other body parts to occur in their 60's instead of their 90's."

"--Nobody invited you either, huh?"

"… No."

"Well, we're not exactly going to the Ball." Hobbes put in.

"Oh, then just where are you going?"

"Well we're going to the, uh,… well we're –"

"We're going to spy on the Ball!" Calvin declared. "Wanna come?"


"So it looks like you got to go with a girl after all, huh?" Hobbes playfully elbowed Calvin while winking at him

"Can it, fur ball. I'm tying to get a good view." Calvin looked out from their hiding place in the upper part of the Great Hall. He gazed out at the sea of people below him, students and teachers alike, all anxiously awaiting for the ball to begin.

"What a nice pair of omniculars." Luna said to Calvin "Where did you get them?"

"Huh? Oh!--umm… a… Classified!"

"Hey, there's the champions." Hobbes relieved Calvin of the omniculars. "I must say, that Potter guy doesn't look particularly happy. He keeps looking over at Diggory's date. Say, isn't that Chang? She's in our house, isn't she? And whoa! Check out that arm candy Krum's got with him."

"Let me see." Calvin took the omniculars back. He looked through them at the girl in blue with light brown hair put up in a fancy bun who was sitting with the Durmstrang champion. "Oh yeah, look at her. Can you say 'Future trophy wife'?--Did I say something funny?" Calvin looked over to Luna who was clutching her sides in a fit of laughter.

"Future trophy wife!" She managed to gasp out. "Oh, that was wonderful, cause it's so,… so –" She burst forth laughing again. Calvin cast glances here and there and about, quite uncomfortable with this awkward situation.

"Okay Luna, so it was a little funny, but -- come now, you're making a scene here -- really, it wasn't that funny, it -- seriously Luna, you're gonna give away our position -- Luna! -- for crying out -- Luna! -- … Aquamenti!" A small jet of water shot from his wand tip, hitting Luna square in the face. The laughter quickly subsided and a dripping Luna stood to face Calvin.

"My, that was refreshing. Thank you."

"… You're… welcome." Calvin said in bewilderment.

"Aww, how come we never get to eat like that?" Hobbes was looking through the omniculars to the tables where the multitude was now eating.

"What are you talking about? We have feasts every flippin' day!"

"Yeah, but not like that. They're making special orders and it's all festive 'n stuff."

"Special orders, eh?" Calvin leaned forward a bit.

"What is that?" Luna asked.

"Nothing!" Calvin jolted, quickly hiding something behind his back.

"Yeah, what was that?" Hobbes prodded, looking behind Calvin's back.

"Oh, okay." Calvin revealed what appeared to be a long, fleshy cord. "It's some prototype for something Fred and George were working on, called… Extendable Ears or something."

"What's it do?" Luna took the rope and put it up to her ear. Suddenly, her eyes went wide and she dropped herself lower.

"Well?" Hobbes looked at her.

"Interesting. I can hear what people down below are saying."

"Spiffy! So, anything juicy?" Calvin rubbed his hands.

"They're only talking." Luna answered. "There's no juice involved."

"What? Oh, I mean are they saying anything worth hearing. Like anything scandalous, embarrassing, laughable, mockable or otherwise news worthy?"

"No, but the girl with Victor Krum is teaching him how to say her name."

"Oh, and what is it?"

"… Herm-own-ninny."

"Herm-own-ninny?" Hobbes looked questioningly. "Are you sure?"

"That's what he keeps saying."


Within a few moments, the floor was cleared and several instruments appeared on the stage where a group of wizards who had just entered the Great Hall walked up to.

"Hey," Said Calvin. "it's that wizard band the um, the a…" he snapped his fingers, trying to recall the name. "The… The Twisted Sisters! That's it!" Luna grinned at him.

"I believe they're called The Weird Sisters."

"Pfft! Weird Sisters!" Hobbes commented. "Why are they the weird sisters? They're all guys!"

"Sounds twisted to me." Calvin replied.

The bodies in the crowd began to pair up and fill the floor of the hall as the band began playing a slow tune. Luna swayed back and forth on her feet while she listened to the melody. Calvin merely sat listening to the music. It sounded okay as far as he was concerned, but he couldn't really get into it.

"Come on…" He moaned. "Play something with a beat to it!"

Seconds after the words left his mouth, the Weird Sisters struck up a new song that had not just a beat, but a rockin' beat! This left Calvin staring for a moment.

"Whoa… Hey, see if you can make them play the Hamster Dance next." Hobbes said to him. Calvin stared up at Hobbes who chuckled at his expression.

As the music shot up to where the three renegades were hiding, Calvin noticed Hobbes bouncing to the beat of the song. A few seconds more and he was a dancing fool. Had he been in the crowd below, he surely would have been the star of the scene; but he wasn't. Calvin watched his friend for a time before noticing that his own feet were moving. He quickly joined in with the tiger, bouncing, twisting, shaking and grooving to the music.

They eventually ran out of steam and decided to have a little rest. Luna gazed at them admirably.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?" She asked.

"From jumping on the parents bed!" Calvin answered.

"Dancing for Dummies." Said Hobbes.

"Seriously?" Calvin asked.

"Oh sure. Your mom's got it stashed in her closet, somewhere."

"Whoa wait a minute, you've actually read that?"

"Hey, back in the states, you were at school all the time. I had to do something to entertain myself."

"So you spent your time reading 'Dancing for Dummies'?"

"Yeah,… and memorized the Phantom of the Opera."

"The book or the musical?"

"… Both."


"Now aren't you glad you came?" Calvin asked Hobbes as the three of them sat around a table back in the Ravenclaw common room.

"Eh, it was okay." Hobbes took a swig from his butter beer.

"well, I had a great time." Luna said to Calvin. "Thank you for letting me come." She gave Calvin a friendly hug.

"Aw c'mon," Calvin started to blush. "It's Christmas after all. And what are friends for?" He raised his butter beer.

"Here, here." Hobbes added. They all clinked their bottles for a toast.

"Merry Christmas, guys."

They all heard the common room door open and in walked a figure with its head facing downward.

"Hey Pattil!" Calvin greeted. "How'd the dance go?--So until later then,… with the talking."

He watched as Padma skulked right past them and up to the girls dormitory.

"… Bah Humbug." He returned to his butter beer.


"So that was the Yule Ball. Sorry I couldn't really go into much more detail."

"It's okay." Susie answered. "So come on, there's still two more challenges."

"Right, so… what was the next challenge, again?"

"The lake."

"Oh riiiiiiiiight…"


Calvin stared intently at the waters smooth surface.

"So they're going to go into the lake. Doesn't sound like much fun for us."

"How's that?" Calvin asked Hobbes.

"Well, we're not going to be able to see what's going on. We'll just be sitting out here without knowing what they're doing."

"Well, I'm working on a solution to that if you'd shut your trap for a second--Ah ha!" He flicked his wand and a small, dark something shot out of the water to his outstretched hand.

"You're going to share that fish, right?" The sight of something edible caused Hobbes to completely forget what he was saying. He hungrily eyed the wriggling fish clutched in Calvin's hand.

"It's not for eating!" Calvin put his wand tip between the fishes eyes and mumbled something.

"Well what is it for, then?"

Calvin placed his wand between his own eyes and mumbled something again. He then tossed the fish back into the water where it hastily swam off. Hobbes watched it swim away until it was completely out of sight. He moaned, forlornly.

"Okay, it works. Good." Calvin had his eyes closed and seemed to be testing something. "C'mere, Hobbes." He gestured.

"What was that about?" Hobbes asked as Calvin placed his wand between his eyes now.

"That little ictheoid is going to give us a fish eyes view of this competition."

"… Huh?"

"I put a spell on it. We just have to close our eyes and anything it sees, we'll see."

Somewhere behind them, a whistle sounded, followed by four loud splashes.

"Show time!" Calvin closed his eyes. Hobbes looked a little unsure, but shrugged and followed his lead.

"Whoa…" Calvin watched in amazement as the champions worked their various tactics to survive the lakes waters.

"Oh, now that's impressive." He mentioned regarding Krum's transformation. "Well… almost impressive." He added when the transformation only went halfway.

"Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water…" He chuckled as the shark-man swam away.

One seat over, Hobbes wasn't having quite the same enjoyment Calvin was.

"… I… think I may have a bad connection or something. I –"

"Wow, are you seeing this, Hobbes?"

"No, I'm seeing the inside of my eyelids." Hobbes snapped at him. "That's what I'm trying to tell you, it's not working!"

"Nonsense, it works fine!"

"Not for me, it's not."

"Whoa, was that a giant squid?"

"Calvin, I can't see anything!"

"What would a giant squid be doing in a fresh water loch?"

"Calvin –"

"Oh my!"

"It's not –"

"Beauty Queen just got snatched!"

"Calvin! I--aw, forget it." And with that, Hobbes crossed his arms and turned his back feeling quite put off. (Which subsided when a Ravenclaw girl asked if she could pet his soft fur.)


Through the fishes perspective, Calvin saw four people tied to a statue. All around this statue were several structures filled with merpeople.

Calvin thought to investigate the odd buildings and their inhabitants when something in the distance seemed to draw the mers attention. A dark shape was looming closer to the village and they were all intent on seeing this new arrival. Calvin could just barely make out the shape when the fish he was viewing through was jerked around. For a split second, Calvin saw the face of a rather wild looking mermaid; followed by the many pointed teeth in her mouth; and then darkness.

Calvin's eyes popped open accompanied by a startled yelp from his mouth. He turned around to see several pairs of eyes looking at him quizzically.

"There was a… um,… crab!" He sheepishly explained.

"What?" Vincent asked, stupidly.

"Not You!"

"Oh yeah… that's the spot…" Hobbes merrily kicked his back leg as the Ravenclaw girl scratched him behind his ear.

Calvin stared dumbfounded at his friends behavior. "… Incredible…" He glared.


"So in the end, Diggory came out with his hostage first. One minute after the hour limit. Fleur was snatched by water demons and ended up forfeiting. Krum was next and Potter ended up dead last."

"But," Hobbes added. "Dumbledore had a brief meeting with the chieftainess of the mers. Apparently, Potter was the first one to get there. He was last to surface because he wanted to make sure all four hostages made it to safety. So the judges tied him to first place with Diggory, due to his 'moral fiber', as Dumbledore put it."

"Hmph, 'moral fiber' my eye! I still say he was being dense!"

"Right, right." Susie butted in "So then, what was the last challenge?"

"Last challenge, ummm…" Calvin scratched his head suddenly sober as if recalling a painful memory. "The last challenge was a hedge maze."

"And they had to navigate their way through it, right?"

"I guess… 'Course, we were all seated outside of the maze, so we couldn't really see what was going on in there."

"Huh." Susie gazed at Calvin. "And there weren't any… birds or anything you could use for that spell you did during the second challenge?"

"No, not really. All I know is that both Fleur and Krum had to be rescued."

"Ah," She sighed. "But what about the other two? They came out all right, right?"

Calvin and Hobbes exchanged glances. "Uh, Susie… remember earlier when I said that people have died in this contest?"

Susie threw her hands to her mouth to cover her sudden gasp. "You, you don't mean…?"

"Yeah…" They both nodded sadly. "All of a sudden, Potter just appears at the front of the maze clutching Diggory's lifeless body."

"Oh my, you mean he… he, he" She made stabbing gestures to her chest to somehow express what she couldn't bring herself to say.

"I'd say probably not.

"At the end-of-year feast, Dumbledore made a bit of a commemoration for him. According to him, (And I guess he got the news from Potter) Diggory was murdered by Voldemort."

"But how…?"

"No one's really sure." Calvin shrugged. "But as you can probably guess, Ol' Ced was the first casualty of the war started anew."

"Oh… that's awful." Susie looked down, sadly.

"Yeah." Hobbes said "It's just like that old adage 'War is H–