Chapter 12:

Insert Witty Breakfast Chapter Title Here

The Funny Farm came down in time the next morning to see the Durmstrang students come into the castle from their ship. "I suppose they're going to submit their names to the goblet," Dean said as the students in their blood red robes all pulled out scraps of parchment and queued up.

"Really, Einstein?" Katelyn said.

"Atanastov, you first," said Karkaroff. A reedy-looking boy slouched up and dropped his paper into the goblet.

"Balgarski. Chervenkov. Christova. Dimitrof. Hlutev. Ignatieva. Kjucukov. Kounova. Krum. Levski. Poliakaff. Vulchanova."

The Durmstrang students went up one at a time and put their slips into the flaming cup as Katelyn watched longingly. "I wish we could enter," she said with a sigh.

Seamus raised his eyebrow. "Why?"

"Let's see…" Katelyn replied thoughtfully. "Eternal glory, no. Riches and fame, no. Adrenaline rushes and insanely dangerous challenges, heck, yes!" She pumped her fist in the air and proceeded to moonwalk.

Rachel shook her head. "You're insane," she said as Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined the group.

"Who's insane?" Hermione asked.

"Katelyn," everyone answered in union.

"Ah."

"Anyone put their name in yet?" Ron asked.

"All the Durmstrang lot," answered a third-year who was passing by. "But I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet."

"Bet some of them put it in last night after we'd all gone to bed," Harry mused. "I would've if it had been me. Wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. What if the goblet just gobbed you right back out again?"

"Agreed," Dean said.

People were filing slowly into the Entrance Hall when a triumphant laugh rang out from the staircase. Fred, George, and Lee were hurrying towards them, manic grins spread across their faces.

Seamus and Rachel both grinned and opened their mouths, but Katelyn slapped her hands over their faces just in time. "If you two even think about teasing me about a 'fancy' you think I have, bad things are going to happen."

Seamus and Rachel shared twin mischievous looks.

"Done it," Fred whispered, coming over. "Just taken it."

"What?" Ron asked.

"The Aging Potion, dung brains," Fred answered casually.

"One drop each," George went on. "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," Lee said with an excited grin.

Hermione looked doubtful. "I'm not sure this is going to work, you know," she said. "I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this…"

"Ready?" said Fred to George and Lee, ignoring Hermione completely. She looked slightly miffed. "C'mon, then—I'll go first—"

Fred stepped forward and halted right on the glowing line for a moment before stepping in—George shouted and jumped in after him—but then there was a hiss, a pop, and they were both hurled out of the circle and across the room. Two fine white beards now graced their cheeks.

"Fancy them now?" Seamus couldn't help but say, and Katelyn let out a snarl and leapt at both him and Rachel, who had had the gall to laugh at Seamus' joke. The two scattered, leaving Katelyn panting and contemplating just which of them she wanted to kill most. She apparently decided on Seamus, since Rachel was a Beater, and so scurried after him.

"C'mon, you two," Hannah said to Dean and Tanya, and together they went in to breakfast.

"I wonder who's going to enter for Hogwarts," Tanya mused as they loaded their plates with sausages and other breakfast goodies.

"There's a rumor going around that Warrington got up early to put his name in," Dean replied, nodding to Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they joined the table. "Y'know, that big bloke from Slytherin who looks like a sloth."

Seamus and Rachel joined them just then, both flushed, out of breath, and having a great time running from Katelyn. "We can't have a Slytherin champion!" Harry exclaimed as Hermione waved frantically to Rachel and Seamus, trying to tell them without saying anything that Katelyn had just spotted them.

"Amen to that!" Hannah said, and Harry looked gratified.

"And all the Hufflepuffs are talking about Diggory," Seamus said, not noticing either Hermione's frenetic pantomiming nor Katelyn's flaring nostrils. "But I wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks."

"Seamus!"

"What?"

"Look out!"

The two split again as Katelyn charged at them with a fierce roar. She watched them run pell-mell from the Great Hall, their robes flying and sending classmates scattering from their path, with a slightly crazed look. "Eurgh. I get so sick of that sometimes."

"What?"

"What do you mean, what?" Katelyn growled. "Them, that's what. I—"

Hermione held up a hand. "Listen!"

"People are cheering," Tanya said intelligently. "I wonder what's going on…"

The answer to Tanya's question entered the Great Hall just then—Angelina Johnson, surrounded by a crowd of people, came in grinning. "Well," she said breathlessly, coming up to them, "I've done it! Just put my name in!"

Ron looked impressed. "You're kidding!"

"Who's kidding?" Seamus asked, as he and Rachel edged their way back to the table, now that Katelyn seemed to have calmed down a bit.

Hermione ignored them. "Well, I'm glad someone from Gryffindor's entering," she said. "I really hope you get it, Angelina!"

Seamus made the connection, and quickly masked his look of realization with one of dry annoyance. "Better you than Pretty-Boy Diggory," he said, earning himself angry looks (and one rude gesture) from several passing Hufflepuffs. Rachel thwapped him upside the head before he could retaliate in a negative manner.

Several quiet minutes passed, in which Harry, Ron, and Hermione, fearing for their sanity, made their escape from the Funny Farm's end of the table, and Seamus managed to chuck a breakfast roll at the back of Ernie Macmillian's head in retribution for the rude gesture he'd gotten earlier.

Just as Rachel was showing Seamus the correct way to retaliate ("See, Seamus? If you make this neat figure eight while saying the spell, Ernie will glue himself to the table!"), a girl in a Beauxbatons uniform tapped Seamus on the shoulder.

"May I seet 'ere?" she asked, motioning to the spot between him and Rachel.

Rachel's eyes flashed dangerously, and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Uh…y-yeah…wee?" he replied weakly.

The girl laughed. "J'mapelle Kimberly, et toi?"

"Um…what?"

Katelyn laughed. "She said 'My name is Kimberly, and you?'"

"Oh…uh…I'm Seamus." Said Irishman's ears turned ruby red.

Kimberly looked over Seamus' shoulder. "Bonjour, Julien," she said with a smile as a Beauxbatons boy approached and kissed her on the cheek.

"You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend!" Katelyn said loudly, gaining herself several odd looks from passersby.

"I guess I should drop the ruse," Kimberly said in an American accent, laughing. "I'm Kim, Katelyn's twin!"

Seamus groaned and dropped his head to Rachel's shoulder. Rachel didn't look too happy about being used as a handkerchief by the boy who'd just discovered that Katelyn's non-biological-twin was not available in the dating department, but she sighed and patted his back all the same.

"Twin?" Tanya shrieked. "Twin? Oh, catch me, I feel faint!"

Hannah reached over the table and took Tanya's wrist just as she began to tilt backwards off the bench. "I'm trying to be more careful around fainting people," she explained when Tanya sagged forward into her oatmeal and had to be rescued by Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw who happened to be walking past. "I don't want to be crushed again!"

Dean looked ashamed.

"She's right, you know," Katelyn said in what she evidently thought was a soothing manner. "No offense, Dean, but you are kind of on the tall side…"

"Ahem," Rachel cut in. "I'm tall! Are you insinuating that something's wrong with tall people?"

"Yes," Katelyn replied.

Chaos ensued. Terry Boot said "A little help would be nice!" as it appeared Tanya really had passed out, Kim flicked Seamus on the back of the head and cried for him to help Terry, Seamus attempted to wake Tanya with a spray of water from his wand, but a Slytherin walking past tripped over Terry's foot and slid into Dean, who tipped over a large flask of pumpkin juice with his elbow, successfully drenching Katelyn's front, who slammed into Seamus' back as she attempted to avoid the spill just as he said "Aguamenti!", bumping his wand arm, and sending the water from his wand gushing all over Rachel and Julien. Julien tripped sideways and landed flat on his back, barely avoiding being crushed by one of his own classmates, who was only able to stop the carnage by making sure no one else came near.

Silence reigned for a long moment as everyone struggled to make sense of what just happened. Finally, Rachel pushed her sopping wet hair out of her eyes and said, "'I'm French! Why do you sink I have zees outrageous accent, you silly king!' 'Well, what are you doing in England?' 'Mind your own business!'" When no one seemed to get the joke, she cleared her throat. "Fine. But it'll make sense to you someday, mark my words."

Seamus began laughing.

And once he began, no one could help but join in, even Rachel, who looked significantly chilled, and Julien, who was prostrate on the floor and probably couldn't even understand English.

When everyone had recovered, Rachel siphoned the water from hers and Julien's robes with her wand, then set Katelyn and Kim to bringing Tanya back around after cleaning the pumpkin juice from Katelyn's white shirt. ("Make sure you tell her you aren't really twins, you two! All we need is another fainting goat around here.") She and Hannah were just finishing up fixing broken plates and cleaning tablecloths when Hannah tilted her head.

"Did it just get quieter in here?"

The female end of the Funny Farm looked up just as every boy in the Great Hall went ga-ga. A pretty girl from Beauxbatons had just flounced in, shaking her sheets of white-blonde hair as she took a seat. Every boy in her vicinity seemed to have gotten a shot of Novocain: their mouths hung open, their eyes glazed over, and Katelyn swore she saw drool on more than one chin.

"Eugh."

Every girl in the Great Hall said this in unison (some louder than others). Kim looked amused. "Oh, yeah. Not surprised. That's Fleur Delacour. Part veela, I think—all the guys go for her. You kind of get used to it after a while. After all, there's only one of her and hundreds of them! She's got the Hogwarts males, too, looks like."

"Oh, no, no," Hannah said confidently. "Not our boys. Not Dean and Seamus. They know better than to—DEAN! SEAMUS!"

Said males were just as googly-eyed as the rest, their tongues almost hanging out as they watched…her. It wasn't until Hannah hauled off and hit Dean that they came to their senses. "What was that for?" Dean exclaimed, rubbing his now sore arm.

Hannah opened her mouth, then evidently realized what she had done and turned red. "Er…nothing."

Rachel shook Seamus briskly, as he was still slightly dazed-looking. "Earth to Finnigan, earth to Finnigan," she said irritably. "Pay attention to m—us please."

"Mus?" he asked with a blank look on his face.

"Us," Rachel repeated, blushing. "Pay attention to us, not her."

"Who's 'her?'"

Rachel blinked, then gave a gratified grin.

"Nice cover-up," Dean muttered to Seamus as everyone left the Great Hall.

"I know," Seamus replied. "I've had practice."

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(A/N: I'm back! Woohoo! My vacation was totally great! We went to Gettysburg, the National Civil War Museum, D.C., Sharpsburg, Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestowne, and Lexington, KY! SO cool[Except for the parts that weren't Civil War, of course. I took tons of pictures, so PM me if you want a link to the place where I'll have them posted…let's just say Gettysburg is gorgeous at sunset. But I'm glad to be back, too, especially since my carpal tunnel is gone! Thanks for your concern, everyone, by the way…I felt very loved. And look, it's paid off!

On a side note…I finished "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" the other day. IT WAS SO GOOD! Well, maybe not the best one [seemed a little rushed, and the ending was a little contrived but I won't say anything more, in case I accidentally spill the plot! Let's just say it completely screwed up all the ideas I had for the sequels to this story…but that's okay! New, fresh ones have already taken their places!)