Dumbledore was speaking but Tamblin paid no attention. The spacey girl (who had said nothing more to him since warning him against kissing her) had made a tiny bit of sense amongst her rambling. Lisa had seemed to be interested in him despite how distant he had always been toward her. Was it precisely that distance that she had liked? Would she now be uninterested? What if Cascata was the same?
Despite how very interesting the thing with Lisa had been he would much rather have that with Cascata. They just made sense together. He thought about the way Lisa had just kissed him. Why couldn't Cascata do that? It had been much easier to be kissed than to try and kiss someone. For a moment he marveled at Lisa's bravery. She had just done it and risked painful rejection. Maybe having had practice made it easier. That made a certain sense; if kissing badly wasn't a concern then you'd have one less worry, wouldn't you?
Tamblin sighed.
Hannah was right, he was over-thinking things. He needed to just let them happen instead of analyzing so much.
There was a bright red flash which distracted Tamblin from analyzing his tendency to over analyze. The flames from the Goblet of Fire had shot upward and changed from their normal blue to red momentarily. Borne on the flames was a piece of paper that Dumbledore caught and read aloud.
"The champion for Durmstrang… will be Viktor Krum."
The room broke out in loud applause and one of the Durmstrang students plodded up to the end of the hall and out through a door. Karkaroff was shouting praises. Tamblin considered the Durmstrang Headmaster. He was a valuable source of information to be sure, but he seemed treacherous.
The Goblet expelled another slip of parchment.
"The champion for Beauxbaton… is Fleur Delacour."
The Beauxbaton students were all seated at the head of the Ravenclaw table. One of their number stood up and headed toward the same door that Krum had left through. Tamblin thought it was the same one he'd noticed during the Beauxbaton arrival. He was tempted to withdraw a little so he could tell for sure but then he noticed that one of the Beauxbaton party was not wailing about being overlooked. Celestine, or maybe Celestia, was looking at him. The other twin seemed to be watching the Slytherin table. Their interest, at least, Tamblin was fairly confident he understood. Like Nott, they were his peers amongst his social class. They wanted to gauge him; his usefulness as an ally and his threat as an enemy.
Tamblin nodded toward the Giovanni twin and he, or she, smiled in return.
"The Hogwarts champion… is Cedric Diggory!"
The last syllable was lost as the entire Hufflepuff house began screaming, clapping, stomping, and, in a few cases, all three, as loudly as possible. The tall handsome Hufflepuff boy got up and followed his competitors through the door at the end of the hall. Tamblin looked over at Cascata but she was fixed on Diggory. All the Hufflepuffs were. Tamblin reflected that given the sense of inferiority and unfair treatment their house was stuck with, it was nice then they got to have the Hogwarts champion.
Dumbledore had just started to talk again when everybody stopped. The Goblet had turned red again and belched up one more piece of paper. Dumbledore, looking as surprised as everyone else, read this one too.
"Harry Potter."
Nobody seemed to know what to do. Across the teacher's table the faces were aghast, confused, concerned, or, in the case of Ludo Bagman from the ministry, smiling benignly. Amongst the students there was a similar range of emotion. Some seemed impressed that Potter had managed to enter despite the age restriction. The Hufflepuffs looked outraged that someone was stealing their thunder. The Potter boy himself stood up hesitantly and walked with a shocked expression up to Dumbledore and then off through the same door the first three contestants had left through. The droning of conversations filled the hall. As Dumbledore, Bagman, Crouch, McGonnogal, Moody, Snape, Maxime, and Karkaroff left through the door the discussions became much louder.
The remaining teachers at the table didn't seem to know what to do. Flitwick and Sprout conversed briefly. Flitwick stood up on top of the table and called for quiet without much success.
"Quie'h," Hagrid boomed.
The students all turned to look at the teachers table. Flitwick was standing just in front of where Hagrid sat and he looked a little the worse for wear for being so close when the big man yelled. His wispy hair had flown into disarray with much of it landing in his face and he took a moment to manage it before speaking.
"Thank you, Hagrid. Everyone! Please follow your House Prefects back to your common rooms. Beauxbaton students will please follow Madam Sprout who will lead you back to your carriage. Durmstrang students please follow me. I'm sure the details will all be sorted out in time for you to gossip about them at breakfast. Tut-tut, off you go now."
The students were very reluctant to go, but the Prefects began herding them toward the entrance hall. Tamblin looked for Cascata. She was deeply engrossed in discussion with her fellow Hufflepuffs. He saw Fletcher, one of the Ravenclaw prefects, leading the Ravenclaws out the door toward the Grand Staircase. Tamblin got up and followed before another Prefect could chide him for not moving fast enough.
Through the suit of armor and back in the Ravenclaw common room he found Lisa sitting in the same seat they had shared earlier. When she saw him looking she scooted over to one side and smiled. Tamblin went up to his dorm, his stomach sort of quivering.