Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor am I attempting to make any personal gain from this story.

Harry Slithers-in: Goblet of Fire: Chapter 12: Announcing the Champions

Harry, along with many of his fellow Hogwarts students stared in amazement.

"Viktor Krum is still at school?" an unnamed student said loudly enough to draw a rebuke from Professor McGonagall.

"Be quiet; and stop staring at him," she snapped.

Many other students were also commenting. It seemed several girls were hunting for quills and parchment and Harry clearly heard one girl say, "I wonder if he'll sign my scarf with my lipstick." Daphne, Tracey and some others tried to suppress their laughter; not entirely successfully, though.

After the Durmstrang group had entered the castle the Hogwarts students were allowed to do the same, heading to their respective house tables. Harry noticed the Beauxbatons students had already taken seats at the Ravenclaw table but the Durmstrang students were still milling about. He could see students at all the tables trying to entice the Durmstrang students to join them. Eventually they settled at the Slytherin table where Malfoy immediately tried to engage Krum in conversation. Apparently, however, Krum's English wasn't the best. Harry was surprised he could even speak English and couldn't help wondering where and how he had learnt it.

Once everyone was settled Dumbledore stood to address the Hall. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Ghosts and especially our guests," he began, smiling broadly. "It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Hogwarts. I trust your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

At this point one of the Beauxbatons girls gave what was clearly laugh of derision.

"You can always go home, you know," Pansy sniped from nearby. Harry thought several students at the other tables were in agreement with her.

"The tournament officially begins at the end of the feast," Dumbledore continued, ignoring the interruption, "I now invite you to eat, drink and make yourselves at home."

As soon as Dumbledore sat down Karkaroff engaged him in conversation.

The dishes filled with food as usual but this time Harry noticed there were several dishes he was not familiar with. Obviously the house elves were going the extra mile to make their foreign guests feel at home. One particular dish he was not familiar with stood right next to the roast beef platter he was intending to serve himself from. He asked, "What is this one?"

"It's called 'Bouillabaisse,'" Daphne said. "It's really quite tasty, if you like shellfish."

Harry decided to try a small portion but soon decided he preferred steak.

As the meal progressed he noticed the Durmstrang students had removed the heavy robes they had arrived in, revealing robes that were a deep, blood-red colour. The Beauxbatons students wore robes of pale blue silk. Even though there were only around two dozen more students the different colours gave Harry the feeling the Great hall was much more crowded than usual. He also noticed the Beauxbatons students in particular preferred the food they were familiar with, even to the extent of visiting other tables to try and get more of it. The Durmstrang students, in contrast, were happily eating whatever they could get.

Mid way through the meal Hagrid sidled into the Hall through the side entrance behind the staff table. Harry noticed Hagrid's fingers were bandaged and commented on it. Draco Malfoy replied it seemed the Skrewts had finally found a food they liked – Hagrid's fingers. This reminded Harry that a recent Care of Magical Creatures lesson had centred on finding what they ate. Once again he was happy he wasn't taking that subject.

As he was looking at the staff table Harry noticed two empty seats. As he was watching two men entered through the same door Hagrid entered through. He recognised one of them as Ludo Bagman, the commentator from the World Cup final. The other man was new to him. Before he could ask you it was, though, Draco answered the question. "Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman. I assume they are here because it's their two departments that have been putting in all the hard work to get the Tri-Wizard Tournament reinstated."

The desserts now arrived. As with the main courses there were a number of dishes Harry wasn't familiar with. This time, though, he settled for what he already knew he liked choosing treacle tart and cream gateau. As had happened before the Durmstrang students were happy with whatever they could get while the Beauxbatons students seemed to concentrate on what they were familiar with.

After everybody had finished eating Dumbledore stood up again. Harry could feel the rising levels of tension in the hall as they all waited expectantly for the Headmaster to begin.

"The time has come," he said, looking at the faces of all the students before him. "The Tri-Wizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation, before we bring in the casket, just to clarify the procedure we will be following this year. But firstly, let me introduce, for those of you who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch; Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation, (there was a brief smattering of applause) and Mr. Ludo Bagman; Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

There was a much louder round of applause for Bagman, perhaps because of his fame as a former star Beater for the England national Quidditch team, or simply because he looked much more likable. He acknowledged the applause with a wave. Crouch, however, did not smile or wave to the Hall.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly for several months on arrangements for the Tri-Wizard tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff and Madam Maxime on the judging panel for the tournament."

The Hall had gone very still and Dumbledore, perhaps having noted this, asked Filch to bring in the casket. That done Dumbledore resumed speaking. "The rules for the tasks have been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman and they have made all necessary arrangements for each of the three challenges. These will occur one in each term and will test the champions in different ways: magical prowess, daring, powers of deduction and their ability to cope with danger."

The silence in the hall was absolute. Nobody even seemed to be breathing.

"As you know there is one champion from each school. They will be marked on how well they perform each task and the competitor with the highest total after the last task will be declared the champion and the winner of the Tri-Wizard tournament, and the 5000 Galleon prize money. These champions will be chosen by…"

Dumbledore tapped the casket three times with his wand. It creaked open and he reached inside it, and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup full of dancing, blue-white flames. "The Goblet of Fire," he announced loudly. He closed the lid and placed the Goblet on top.

"Anybody who wished to submit their name for consideration must write their name and their school clearly on a piece of parchment and drop it in the Goblet," Dumbledore continued. "You will have 24 hours from now in which to do so. The champions will be announced tomorrow evening after the Halloween feast. The Goblet will be placed in the Entrance Hall where everybody will have free access to it: provided, of course, you are 17 or older. To ensure no underage student attempts to place themselves into consideration I will be placing an age line around the Goblet once it has been placed in the Entrance Hall.

"Finally, I must impress upon you all that this tournament is not to be taken lightly. Once a champion has been selected he or she is obliged to see the Tournament through to the end. Placing your name in the Goblet constitutes a binding magical contract. Once you are selected you cannot change your mind or back out. Please ensure, therefore, you whole-heartedly want to play, before you enter. Now then, time for bed. Good night to you all."

That night there was much speculation as to who the Hogwarts champion would be. As with the last time the topic was discussed only the names of Slytherin students were mentioned, with Montague and Warrington were clearly the favourites. Harry didn't join in this discussion, partly because it didn't really interest him but mainly because he thought it unlikely it would be a Slytherin anyway. The most likely candidate, he thought, would be Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff.

Next day was a Hogsmeade visit. Harry and Tracey had arranged to meet with Sirius at Madam Rosmerta's at noon. The last time they had spoken via the mirrors Sirius had said they were ready for the next step in trialling the new mirror format meaning, instead of just two mirrors tied to each other or all mirror holders being able to participate in all conversations, it was now possible to select specific people while allowing two other people to hold a separate conversation at the same time using their mirrors.

They entered the bar just before midday and found Sirius sitting at a table with Remus Lupin. After getting drinks they sat down with them and Sirius gave Tracey a mirror. Remus had one as well.

"Today we are going to use the mirror phones to hold separate conversations," Sirius explained. "If everything goes as we think you two should be able have a conversation at the same time Remus and I are having a separate one. To activate the mirror say the name of the person you want to speak to."

Harry said, "Tracey Davis." Immediately Harry's voice could be heard coming from Tracey's mirror.

"Hello, Harry." Tracey replied. Remus and Sirius checked their mirrors and confirmed neither of them could hear what was being said.

"Good so far," Sirius said. "You two keep talking while I call Remus." Sirius then spoke into his mirror, "Remus Lupin."

Lupin replied and for the next several seconds the two conversations proceeded without interruption. Once all were finished Sirius said, "That's perfect. All we need to do now is register the idea and our enterprise is up and running. Madam Bones is helping with that so it is only a matter of time before we can make them available to the general wizarding public. The mirrors are all numbered, by the way. Mine is number 1; Harry's is number 2; Remus has number 3; Arthur Weasley has number 4 and Tracey, yours is number 5. I gave one to Arthur Weasley because he has been a real help with some of the development we have been doing lately."

"Thank you, Sirius," Tracey said. Now I can talk to any of you whenever I want to."

"That is the point of the exercise," Remus said. "I best be getting back home. It's good to see the two of you again."

"Remember I want to know who the champions are; and be careful around Karkaroff. He is a former Death-eater and I don't trust him."

"We'll be in touch," Harry said as he and Tracey got up from the table. "See you later."

"Bye, Sirius, Professor Lupin," Tracey added as they left.

That evening nobody seemed all that interested in the Halloween feast. Clearly most people were waiting for the announcement of the champions who would be competing in the Tri-Wizard Cup. Once Crouch and Bagman arrived and had taken their seats at the staff table Dumbledore stood to address the hall.

"The Goblet is about to be brought into the hall," he announced. Shortly thereafter we will know who the lucky students who will be competing for the Cup are."

Filch carried the Goblet to the staff table and placed it in front of Dumbledore. The light in the hall were lowered until the flames from the Goblet shine like a beacon. Suddenly the flames turned red and sparks were emitted. Then a single piece of parchment flew out. Dumbledore caught it and read it before saying, "The Champion for Durmstrang is Viktor Krum."

Krum got up from the table and walked toward the staff table accompanied by loud applause. Karkaroff could be clearly heard shouting, "Bravo, Viktor," as Krum walked through the door into an adjoining chamber.

Once the applause had died down and people had refocussed on the Goblet it again burned bright red and another piece of parchment shot into the air. Dumbledore announced, "The Champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour."

Fleur Delacour turned out to be the girl who had laughed the previous evening during Dumbledore's speech. For a moment, however, Harry didn't care about that. He was more interested in the gorgeous blonde now approaching the staff table. Then he blinked and shook his head. He realised the feeling was the same as he had received from the Veela at the World Cup. "That girl isn't human," he said.

"She must be part human," Tracey corrected, "Otherwise she wouldn't allowed to learn magic. I think is probably part Veela, though." They watched as she entered the same chamber Krum had entered previously.

Tensions were now at their highest level. Soon the Goblet burned red again and another piece of parchment shot out. Dumbledore called, "The champion for Hogwarts is Cedric Diggory."

The Hufflepuff table exploded in cheers while at the Slytherin table many loud groans could be heard. Harry personally didn't care but he knew many of his housemates did. Harry clapped politely as Cedric joined the other champions in the next chamber.

Dumbledore started speaking again but suddenly the Goblet burned red for a 4th time, and another piece of parchment shot out. Dumbledore caught it and stared at it for several seconds before saying, "Harry Potter."