Queen of the Night: Years 4-5

by awalkerlifeforme

Tara Nox has had an interesting childhood. Lately things have taken a darker turn. From eerie presents and notes from a mystery sender to dreams of Voldemort's return, Tara knows something big is coming. When a competition between the three elite wizarding schools takes a strange turn, Tara finds herself, her best friends, and her boyfriend getting sucked into a dangerous scheme.

18. The Five Champions

When I was eight-years-old and still living back in Florida, I had been notable with all my neighbors for climbing the oak trees in our backyard. It had driven my parents nuts as they knew I didn't have the best coordination in the world. One time I had climbed up the highest oak tree at the edge of our property almost thirty feet into the air. Once I'd reached near the top of the tree I had swung my leg over a thin branch just about four branches from the top of the tree. I hadn't weighed more than sixty pounds and had been confident the branch could hold my weight.

Unfortunately, it was one of the few times I was wrong. The branch had given almost no warning before snapping clean off at the trunk. The branch had snapped, taking me with it. I didn't remember exactly what had happened but I remembered gasping rather than screaming as I hadn't been expecting it. It hadn't taken more than two seconds for me to go plummeting off the branch and straight into the hard ground below. I hadn't broken any bones but the wind had been knocked straight out of my lungs.

There was a bit of a lapse in my memory from the moment I'd hit the ground. All I could remember was laying there on the ground, staring up at the cloudless blue sky which had suddenly turned starry. My vision had faded in and out for a few minutes as my body turned to mush under me. I couldn't force my limbs to get moving. The worst part was trying to get in the breath it felt like I so desperately needed. It wouldn't fill my lungs so I had just laid there, immobilized, for almost ten minutes, trying harder than I ever had to suck the air back into my lungs.

That was how I felt right now. Stunned and unable to breathe. It wasn't a feeling I had ever wanted to have again. At least the last time I'd felt this way the feeling had gone away within five minutes. This time I knew it would linger far longer than five minutes. I was vaguely aware that Harry reached over and took my hand, threading our fingers together. I sat there on the wooden bench stiffly, well aware that every head in the Great Hall had turned to look at the two of us. He looked as stunned as I was. I felt numb. I was surely dreaming. There was no way I had heard correctly.

The more I thought about it, the sillier the situation became. No, there was absolutely no way that the Goblet of Fire had called not just one extra name, but two. Mine and Harry's. Naturally. How stupid of me to think that it had called us. It must have said something else. Or, perhaps it was a bad joke being played by Dumbledore as Harry and I seemed to always be at the center of attention. That would make sense. Yes, in just a moment Dumbledore would smile, yell 'surprise' and the Great Hall would erupt in laughter. But that moment never came.

It felt like hours passed where we sat and stared down at the tiled floor. I couldn't bring myself to look up and face the now hundreds of heads that were undoubtedly turned in my direction. Unlike with Fleur, Viktor, and Cedric, there was no applause now. A buzzing, as though of angry bees, was starting to fill the Hall; some students were standing up to get a better look at Harry and me as we sat, frozen, in our seats. My hand started tightening over his as I felt the redness creeping over my face and spread down my chest.

Up at the top table, Professor McGonagall had gotten to her feet and swept past Ludo Bagman and Professor Karkaroff to whisper urgently to Professor Dumbledore, who bent his ear toward her, frowning slightly. All I could hope was that she was telling Dumbledore that this was all ludicrous and to tell the students that it was just a poorly played prank that wouldn't be taken seriously. As they spoke I turned and looked Harry in the eyes. I could see in his what I knew was in mine; panic, dread, and a lot of confusion.

Both Harry and I turned to Ron and Hermione; beyond them, I saw the long Gryffindor table all watching us, open-mouthed. Why did it look like neither Hermione nor Ron completely believed us as both Harry and I began shaking our heads? I turned and looked down at the rest of the Gryffindor table. They were all staring at us. I looked to Fred and George, both of whom looked dumbfounded. I'd never seen the twins look so confused. No one looked like they believed me even though I was shaking my head. Why didn't they look like they believed me?

It was a long time since I'd been as nervous as I was right now. I slunk down in my chair as I looked around the rest of the room. The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students looked shocked as they followed the gazes of the Hogwarts students since they didn't know who Harry and I were. Cho Chang was shooting me a nasty scowl. Malfoy looked genuinely lost for words. I didn't know why, but I met his eyes and shook my head at him. The Hufflepuff students - namely Cedric's friends - were looking at me like I never had seen them before. Their gazes looked almost... hateful.

"I didn't put my name in," Harry whispered blankly to Ron and Hermione. "You know I didn't."

It was enough to finally kick me into gear. "You know neither one of us would ever do that. I didn't want this!" I hissed.

Both of them stared just as blankly back. Were they really not going to believe us? Harry and I exchanged a long look. I knew we were both thinking the same thing. How had this happened? We were silently communicating about the fact that we would have never entered ourselves into the tournament - and we certainly wouldn't have put each other's name on the slip if we had. If by some strange chance one of us had decided to try and get into the tournament we would have only named ourselves, not the other.

"What do we do?" I whispered desperately to Harry.

There had to be something we could do. Maybe turn and sprint out of the Great Hall as fast as I could and never turn back. Harry didn't seem able to force the words out of his mouth. He just shook his head at me again. I wished I could just fall through the floor. I didn't want to look into anyone's eyes right now. How could I possibly explain this one to my parents? They always seemed willing to believe the worst in me, so would they believe I had entered myself? At the top table, Professor Dumbledore had straightened up, nodding to Professor McGonagall.

"Harry Potter! Tara Nox!" Dumbledore called again. "Harry! Tara! Up here, if you please!"

"Uh, no. No, thank you," I mumbled, trying to dive under the table.

"Go on," Hermione whispered, giving both Harry and me a slight push. "Harry, Tara, for heaven's sake, just go."

"You go!" I snapped, shoving her back. "No! I didn't put my name in there!"

Harry had begun rising weakly to his feet but I remained planted in my chair. "Tara, go!" Hermione said, trying to pry me off the bench.

"I'm not going without you," Harry growled.

Harry reached down and took the edges of my robes in his hand and dragged me off the wooden bench with him. Ultimately, I had to jump up and follow him or else I would have ended up on the floor. I could feel my palm begin to sweat as Harry released my robes. I attempted to take a few steps back to stand a bit apart from Harry and maybe run off. Hermione ended up having to nudge my back to get me to start walking. It was extremely clumsy as I trod on the hem of my robes, stumbling slightly. Together we set off up the gap between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables.

I looked up to Dumbledore's chair at the top of the room and kept my gaze fixed there. That was the only thing I could focus on without feeling like I was going to faint. It felt like an immensely long walk; the top table didn't seem to be getting any nearer at all and I could feel hundreds and hundreds of eyes upon me. It was as though each was a searchlight. The buzzing grew louder and louder as we walked. After what seemed like an hour, we were right in front of Dumbledore and I felt the stares of all the teachers upon me.

"Well... through the door, you two," Dumbledore told us. He wasn't smiling.

I'd never so much wanted to run for my life. I wanted to call my Firebolt to me so I could fly off. Not just to the Astronomy Tower. That wasn't far enough away. I wanted to fly all the way back to Florida so I never had to face any of these people again. Merlin, I was about to have to face Cedric. What would he think of this thing? He would trust me. He was my boyfriend, he had to. I jumped as Harry pressed a hand on my back and gently nudged me along. My legs felt like jelly as I tried to think of a way out of this. There would be one. There had to be.

Harry and I moved off along the teachers' table. Hagrid was seated right at the end. I could barely bring myself to look him in the eyes. He did not wink at either one of us, or wave, or give any of his usual signs of greeting. He looked completely astonished and stared at Harry and me as we passed as everyone else had. We went through the door out of the Great Hall and I found myself in a smaller room, lined with paintings of witches and wizards. A handsome fire was roaring in the fireplace opposite us.

My stomach churned as the door closed gently behind us. There was something unnerving about the sound of the thunk of the door as if it had closed on one chapter and we would never be allowed back to our old lives. The faces in the portraits turned to look at us as we entered, standing dumbly in the middle of the room. I saw a wizened witch flit out of the frame of her picture and into the one next to it, which contained a wizard with a walrus mustache. The wizened witch started whispering in his ear. I swallowed thickly.

Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacour, and Cedric Diggory - my idiot boyfriend that I didn't want to be around right now - were grouped around the fire. They looked strangely impressive, silhouetted against the flames. Krum, hunched up and brooding, was leaning against the mantelpiece, slightly apart from the other two. Cedric was standing with his hands behind his back, staring into the fire. I wished he would never turn around. I didn't know what I would say to him. Fleur Delacour looked around when Harry and I walked in and threw back her sheet of long, silvery hair.

"What is it?" Fleur asked us. "Do zey want us back in ze Hall?"

Had the situation been any different I would have laughed. She thought we had come to deliver a message. It had almost comical. I didn't know how to explain what had just happened. We just stood there, looking at the three champions. It struck me how very tall all of them were compared to us. Cedric finally turned back from the fireplace to stare at Harry and me. His gaze rested on my eyes. I looked at him for a long time, desperately wishing we were back in the Astronomy Tower this morning before all of this had happened. Cedric took a cautious step toward me.

He was only stopped by the look on my face. "Tara? Is everything okay?" Cedric asked nervously.

"What?" I said dumbly.

"Tara. What's going on?" Cedric asked.

It was one of the few times that I couldn't even begin to explain what had happened. All I knew was that my name had somehow come out of the Goblet of Fire and now... I wasn't sure. All I knew was that there was no way I would be coming out of this unscathed. Get yelled at for one. I opened my mouth a few times to try and explain what had happened but all that came out was stupid stammering. There was a sudden sound of scurrying feet behind us and Ludo Bagman entered the room. He took Harry and me both by the arms and led us forward.

"Extraordinary!" Bagman muttered, squeezing both of our arms. "Absolutely extraordinary! Gentlemen... lady," he added, approaching the fireside and addressing the other three. "May I introduce - incredible though it may seem - the fourth and fifth Triwizard champions?"

Harry and I looked just as surprised as the others did. "Umm... excuse me?" I asked quietly.

Viktor Krum straightened up. His surly face darkened as he surveyed us. Cedric looked nonplussed. He looked from Bagman to Harry to me and back again as though sure he must have misheard what Bagman had said. It took a while for his gaze to settle on me as I stared at him. I tried to shake my head and explain myself but I couldn't force any words out. Cedric looked like he wanted to walk toward me but he managed to stop himself from moving. After all, I was currently being held hostage along with Harry by Bagman.

Fleur Delacour, however, tossed her hair, smiling, and said, "Oh, vairy funny joke, Meester Bagman."

"Joke?" Bagman repeated, bewildered. "No, no, not at all! Harry and Tara's names just came out of the Goblet of Fire!"

Suddenly, I wished I hadn't eaten as much as I had at the feast. I had a feeling that it would soon be all over the floor. I was sick with anticipation as to what was about to happen. Bagman seemed perfectly thrilled with our names having come out of the Goblet of Fire. The professors had seemed both nervous and slightly suspicious. Krum's thick eyebrows had contracted slightly. Cedric was still looking politely bewildered. Fleur frowned. My gaze turned back to Cedric. I had always been good at reading him but right now his face was a mask.

"But -" I started.

"But evidently zair 'as been a mistake," Fleur said contemptuously to Bagman, cutting off my argument. "'Ey cannot compete. 'Ey are too young."

"Yeah, no shit," I barked without thinking.

Fleur shot me a nasty scowl as the others in the room turned to me in shock. "Language, Miss Nox," Bagman reprimanded.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Well, it is amazing," Bagman said, rubbing his smooth chin and smiling down at Harry and me. "But, as you know, the age restriction was only imposed this year as an extra safety measure. And as their name's have come out of the goblet... I mean, I don't think there can be any ducking out at this stage. It's down in the rules, you two are obliged. Harry and Tara will just have to do the best they -"

A long stream of profanities was prepared to come out of my mouth, so it was a good thing that the door behind us opened again and a large group of people came in. Professor Dumbledore followed closely by Mr. Crouch, Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape. Not good. Definitely not good. We were about to be raked over the coals based on what had just happened. I heard the buzzing of the hundreds of students on the other side of the wall before Professor McGonagall closed the door.

It was a good thing. The angry chatter from the Great Hall was contributing to my growing sickness. "Madame Maxime!" Fleur gasped at once, striding over to her headmistress. "Zey are saying zat zees little kids are to compete also!"

Somewhere under my numb disbelief, I felt a ripple of anger. Little kids? I wasn't a little kid! I was barely younger than her. I'd always heard that the Beauxbatons girls were annoying and pretentious and now I knew that those rumors were correct. I shot a scowl at Fleur before turning to Harry. Judging by the redness that was flooding his cheeks, I assumed he was as annoyed by her assessment of us as I was. Cedric and Viktor were still staring at us with blank faces.

Ultimately, I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer. "Little kids? I'm two years younger than you, princess. Get over yourself," I snarled.

Fleur looked shocked that I had stood up for myself. "Nox," Professor McGonagall chided. "Mind your manners."

Manners? Why was I the one who had to mind my manners when the French girl was the one being rude? Not to mention, I was the one who had been dragged in here against my will. I wanted to continue arguing but decided to fall silent. Madame Maxime - who looked even angrier about the situation than Fleur did - had drawn herself up to her full, and considerable, height. The top of her handsome head brushed the candle-filled chandelier, and her gigantic black-satin bosom swelled.

"What is ze meaning of zis, Dumbly-dorr?" she said imperiously.

How the hell was he supposed to know what had happened? "I'd rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore," Professor Karkaroff put in. He was wearing a steely smile and his blue eyes were like chips of ice. "Three Hogwarts champions? I don't remember anyone telling me the host school is allowed three champions - or have I not read the rules carefully enough?"

Karkaroff gave a short and nasty laugh. I swallowed thickly as I watched the people in the room. Both Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked furious with Harry, Dumbledore, and me. I had a feeling Madame Maxime would have liked to step on us. Karkaroff probably would have liked to send a nasty curse our way. Fleur looked absolutely beside herself while Viktor remained steely-faced. Cedric hadn't once looked away from me, but I was having a hard time meeting his eyes while I still didn't have an explanation for what was happening.

So, I turned to Harry and whispered, "Glad we didn't go to either one of their schools."

Harry nodded blankly. "Three champions, Dumbledore? That's the entire tournament. We may as well not even be participating," Karkaroff told Dumbledore nastily.

"Well, we'll both gladly give up our spots and the tournament can be back down to three," I offered happily, popping up on my toes. "Right, Harry?"

Harry simply nodded, still apparently unable to speak. "They can't back out of the tournament now," Bagman said.

"I never wanted to get into the tournament!" I shouted. Everyone in the room jumped at the sudden increase in volume as I whipped around to Harry. "Would you help me instead of standing there like a dumb mute!"

It was useless. He was still silent. "C'est impossible," Madame Maxime said, whose enormous hand with its many superb opals was resting upon Fleur's shoulder. "Ogwarts cannot 'ave three champions. It is most unjust."

"Agreed. We'll be leaving now," I said, grabbing Harry's hand and turning to the door.

"Hold it, Nox!" Bagman yelled after us.

"We were under the impression that your Age Line would keep out younger contestants, Dumbledore," Karkaroff said, his steely smile still in place, though his eyes were colder than ever.

"It did, moron. Someone else - someone of age - submitted our names," I snapped.

"Nox!" Professor McGonagall yelled.

Karkaroff didn't look happy at all with my comment. "Watch your tone, girl," he snarled.

"Take your own advice," I replied.

It didn't impress me that a fully grown man was making a scene out of a few careless insults from a fifteen-year-old girl. Karkaroff began advancing on me. "Why you insolent little -"

"Enough!" Professor McGonagall snapped, stopping the fight before it could begin. I'd barely noticed that both Harry and Cedric began stepping toward us to diffuse the fight before Professor McGonagall could. "Both of you!"

No one said anything in the brief silence that followed, though Karkaroff did send me a hateful glare. It was a long time before he finally looked away from me and toward Dumbledore. "We weren't expecting to have three champions from each school. Otherwise, we would, of course, have brought along a wider selection of candidates from our own schools," he said.

"It's no one's fault but Potter's and Nox's, Karkaroff," Snape said softly. His black eyes were alight with malice.

Was he kidding? Okay, maybe I was insane for thinking the Hogwarts staff might believe us. "What?" I said dumbly.

"Don't go blaming Dumbledore for Potter and Nox's determination to break rules," Snape continued, completely ignoring me. "They have been crossing lines ever since they arrived here -"

"Thank you, Severus," Dumbledore said firmly.

Both Harry and I let out a deep breath. At least it appeared that someone was going to stick up for us. Snape went quiet at Dumbledore's insistence, though his eyes still glinted malevolently through his curtain of greasy black hair. Professor Dumbledore was now looking down at Harry and me as we looked right back at him. I was trying to discern the expression of the eyes behind the half-moon spectacles. He didn't exactly look thrilled with us but he also didn't look like he was ready to condemn us as the others did.

"Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Harry?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"No," Harry said.

"Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Tara?" Dumbledore asked me, just as calmly.

"No," I said.

Dumbledore gave us both a long look. It made me extremely nervous. I could tell he believed that we hadn't put our names into the Goblet of Fire but there was still something deep in his eyes. Not quite a suspicion but not quite a belief either. After a moment, I glanced over at Harry, who was still looking at me. We nodded at each other, silently affirming to each other that we wouldn't sell the other out. I was very aware of everybody watching us closely as we waited for someone to speak next. Snape made a soft noise of impatient disbelief in the shadows.

"Did either one of you put the other's name in?" Dumbledore asked.

"No," Harry and I said together.

"Did you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?" Professor Dumbledore continued, ignoring Snape.

"No," we both said vehemently.

"Ah, but of course zey are lying!" Madame Maxime cried. Snape was now shaking his head, his lip curling.

"We are not!" I barked.

"Are ze two of you not togezzur?" Madam Maxime asked.

It took me a moment to realize that she was addressing me. She motioned between Cedric and myself, obviously insinuating that he had entered my name just because we were dating. "What about it?" I asked sharply.

Just because we were dating, it didn't mean that Cedric would put my name forward. I would have never asked him and he would never have done it even if I had. "Madam Maxine, you're not suggesting that Cedric Diggory put forward Tara's name just because they're seeing each other," Professor McGonagall said, thankfully jumping to my defense.

"It makes sense," Karkaroff argued.

"No, it doesn't!" I yelled before anyone else got the chance to speak. "I wanted him to be the champion, why would I have asked him to submit my name?" I gave Cedric a brief glance but he still didn't speak. He looked too surprised to speak. "It wasn't just my name that was submitted, after all. Harry's name was on that slip, too! Why would Cedric have done that?"

"To make it less obvious who was at fault," Karkaroff replied.

Was he joking? He was such a moron. "Merlin, I really hope you're just the headmaster and not an actual teacher. Your students will be doomed if you're the one teaching them," I said under my breath.

"Nox, one more comment like that and I'll give you detention for a month," Professor McGonagall said.

Like I wasn't in enough trouble... But, if someone was going to get in trouble, I supposed that it should have been me rather than Cedric. He hadn't done anything to deserve this. "Please, Professor, Cedric had nothing to do with this," I said, walking up to her. "You know he didn't."

"She is protecting him," Madam Maxine said.

"Don't drag him into this!" I yelled, turning back to her. "He had nothing to do with it."

It looked like another large fight was about to begin, so I was glad that Professor McGonagall stepped in again. "Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, we have known Cedric Diggory for years. I don't believe I'm alone in believing he had nothing to do with this unfortunate situation," she told them. It didn't look like they believed her, so she turned back to Cedric. "Mr. Diggory, did you have anything to do with Nox's and Potter's names ending up in the goblet?"

"No, ma'am," Cedric said, finally speaking.

"Diggory had nothing to do with this. It wasn't Potter or Nox either. They could not have crossed the Age Line," Professor McGonagall told the others sharply. "I am sure we are all agreed on that -"

"Dumbly-dorr must 'ave made a mistake wiz ze line," Madame Maxime said, shrugging.

"The greatest wizard of all time make a mistake on something as simple as an Age Line? He's not you," I said quietly.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed Dumbledore's own eyes twinkling. Even Professor McGonagall said nothing about my rude comment that time. Her lips twitched upward. "It is possible, of course," Dumbledore said politely.

"Dumbledore, you know perfectly well you did not make a mistake!" Professor McGonagall said angrily. "Really, what nonsense! Neither Harry nor Tara could have crossed the line themselves, and as Professor Dumbledore believes that they did not persuade an older student to do it for them, I'm sure that should be good enough for everybody else!"

She shot a very angry look at Professor Snape. I could have laughed but I wasn't genuinely surprised that he wanted to make us sound like the guilty parties. I would have actually been more surprised if Snape had stuck up for us. I shot Harry a quick look, silently questioning whether or not he was going to say anything to try and defend us but he still seemed to be stuck in a state of shock. I didn't really blame him but I would have liked some help in trying not to make ourselves sound too guilty.

"You really think we did this?" I asked the others. No one replied. I turned back to Dumbledore and motioned for the slip he was still holding. "I'll prove we didn't. Let me see the writing on the slip!"

"Why should ve?" Madam Maxime asked me sharply.

"Because three people in this room are extremely familiar with mine and Harry's handwriting!" I snapped, motioning around to Professor's Snape, Dumbledore, and McGonagall. "They'll know that it's not our writing."

"Handwriting can be changed," Professor Karkaroff said.

No matter what we said, I knew Professor Karkaroff wouldn't believe us. "Tara, I've already observed the handwriting on the slip," Dumbledore said, waving me back. "I can confirm that it is not yours or Harry's."

"Mr. Crouch... Mr. Bagman," Karkaroff said, his voice unctuous once more, "you are our - er - objective judges. Surely you will agree that this is most irregular?"

That was the one thing we could agree on. There wasn't the slightest precedent for something like this. As far as I was aware, this had never happened before. Bagman wiped his round, boyish face with his handkerchief and looked at Mr. Crouch, who was standing outside the circle of the firelight, his face half-hidden in shadow. He looked slightly eerie, the half-darkness making him look much older, giving him an almost skull-like appearance. When he spoke, however, it was in his usual curt voice.

"We must follow the rules, and the rules state clearly that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament."

Meaning we would have to be champions in the Triwizard Tournament. "Excuse me?" I asked stiffly.

"Well, Barty knows the rule book back to front," Bagman told us, beaming and turning back to Karkaroff and Madame Maxime, as though the matter was now closed.

"I insist upon resubmitting the names of the rest of my students," Karkaroff said boldly. He had dropped his unctuous tone and his smile now. His face wore a very ugly look indeed. "You will set up the Goblet of Fire once more and we will continue adding names until each school has three champions. It's only fair, Dumbledore."

That was stupid. That was a waste of time and would add way too many champions to the tournament. "Or... you could let us out?" I offered, motioning between Harry and myself. "All's well that ends well."

"But Karkaroff, it doesn't work like that," Bagman told him. "The Goblet of Fire's just gone out - it won't reignite until the start of the next tournament -"

"- in which Durmstrang will most certainly not be competing!" Karkaroff exploded.

"No one will miss you," I muttered.

"Nox!" Professor McGonagall barked.

"After all our meetings and negotiations and compromises, I little expected something of this nature to occur! I have half a mind to leave now!" Karkaroff continued, ignoring me again.

"Empty threat, Karkaroff," a dark voice growled from near the door. "You can't leave your champion now. He's got to compete. They've all got to compete. Binding magical contract, like Dumbledore said. Convenient, eh?"

Moody had just entered the room. I hadn't been this excited to see him since I'd met him a few weeks ago. He had always unnerved me but it now seemed that we had another ally in arguing our innocence. That was good enough for me. Although I would have enjoyed seeing Karkaroff leave Hogwarts. Moody limped toward the fire, and with every right step he took, there was a loud clunk. The room fell into an awkward silence as Karkaroff and Moody exchanged a nasty look. I wasn't sure what it was, but there was a big history between the two of them.

"Convenient?" Karkaroff repeated. "I'm afraid I don't understand you, Moody."

Now that was interesting. I could tell Karkaroff was trying to sound disdainful, as though what Moody was saying was barely worth his notice, but his hands gave him away; they had balled themselves into fists. I gave Harry a look out of the corner of my eyes and was glad to see that he was looking back at me. He gave a slight nod indicating that he was seeing the same thing I was. This wasn't just a normal dislike between two people with different personalities; they genuinely hated each other.

"Don't you?" Moody said quietly. "It's very simple, Karkaroff. Someone put Potter and Nox's names in that goblet knowing they'd have to compete if it came out."

"Wait a minute!" I shouted, breaking the awkward air in the room. "Have to compete?"

"The Goblet of Fire is a binding contract, Tara," Bagman said, giving me a look that wasn't completely earnest. "Whether or not you were necessarily the one who submitted your name, if a name is drawn, that person is bound to compete."

That was the stupidest thing I had heard in my entire life. Did no one think the selection process through? "So, someone of age could theoretically throw in an infant's name and they'd be forced to compete?" I suggested, hoping someone could see the flaw in the plan. Unfortunately, there was nothing more than an awkward silence as everyone avoided looking at me. Likely because they knew I was right. "What moron came up with that idea?"

"Evidently, someone 'oo wished to give 'Ogwarts two bites at ze apple!" Madame Maxime said.

"We don't want this, genius!" I barked at her.

"Nox!" Professor McGonagall chided again.

I ignored her and turned to Harry, shooting him an angry scowl. "Stop standing there like you've lost your tongue and help me!" I snarled.

But Harry remained silent. "I quite agree, Madame Maxime," Karkaroff said, bowing to her. "I shall be lodging complaints with the Ministry of Magic and the International Confederation of Wizards -"

"If anyone's got a reason to complain, it's Potter and Nox, but... funny thing... as much as I hear Nox complaining, I don't hear Potter saying a word..." Moody growled.

"Why should 'e complain?" Fleur Delacour burst out, stamping her foot like a petulant child. "E 'as ze chance to compete, 'asn't 'e? We 'ave all been 'oping to be chosen for weeks and weeks! Ze honor for our schools!"

She was joking, wasn't she? I didn't need the honor for the school. I was happy to give that task to Cedric. "Get over yourself. If Harry and I really wanted we could wipe the floor with you for this competition. I don't see you having battled a basilisk or come face-to-face with Voldemort when you were eleven," I told her.

"Tara," Professor McGonagall said quietly.

She wasn't the only person giving me a nervous look. I jumped at her voice, not having been used to hearing Professor McGonagall call me by my first name. I realized the mistake of my last comment a moment too late. I should have been looking apologetic right now, not argumentative. And I definitely shouldn't have been using Voldemort's name in front of so many people who were terrified of him. In fact, Harry and Dumbledore were the only two who looked unbothered by my careless use of his name.

"I'm sorry, but it's the truth," I said, dropping my voice in an attempt to be respectful. "We didn't want to be in this competition."

"She is lying!" Fleur barked.

"Are you kidding? I was trying to be nice," I hissed.

"A thousand Galleons in prize money - zis is a chance many would die for!"

Please. My father had been a professional Quidditch player and now both of my parents worked for the Ministry. We had more money than we needed. "Maybe someone's hoping Potter and Nox are going to die for it," Moody said, with the merest trace of a growl.

An extremely tense silence followed those words. That wasn't a possibility I had been thinking about before as I was so caught up in the moment, but I certainly was now. It hadn't occurred to me why someone would want to do something like that to me or who might have even been the culprit. But something that could have seemed like a practical joke gone wrong now had a valid point. What if someone was trying to get the two of us killed? They wouldn't have been the first. But if they were, who was it?

Ludo Bagman, who was looking very anxious indeed, bounced nervously up and down on his feet and said, "Moody, old man... what a thing to say!"

It wasn't a pretty thing to say but it was a suggestion worthwhile to look at. "But he's not wrong. We all know people have tried to kill us before," I said quietly. "We know exactly who's done that."

Another tense silence settled over the room. "You mean to suggest You-Know-Who submitted your names to kill you?" Karkaroff asked me disbelievingly.

I shook my head. "No, I'm just saying we've been on people's hit lists before."

Voldemort was gone. But it didn't mean some of his followers weren't still after us. "We all know Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn't discovered six plots to murder him before lunchtime," Karkaroff said loudly, treating the situation as if it were the silliest joke he'd ever heard. "Apparently he is now teaching his students to fear assassination too. An odd quality in a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dumbledore, but no doubt you had your reasons."

"Imagining things, am I?" Moody growled dangerously at Karkaroff. "Seeing things, eh? It was a skilled witch or wizard who put those kid's names in that goblet..."

"Ah, what evidence is zere of zat?" Madame Maxime asked, throwing up her huge hands.

Suddenly, my anger got the best of me. "Because we've already said we didn't do it, you fucking moron!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"Nox!" Professor McGonagall yelled.

"Because they hoodwinked a very powerful magical object!" Moody yelled, thankfully taking the heat off of me as I knew I was about to hear it for my language. "It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the tournament. I'm guessing they submitted Potter's name under a fourth school, to make sure he was the only one in his category."

"As for Nox?" Professor McGonagall asked him.

Moody turned to me. "She was once enrolled in Ilvermorny, the American school, wasn't she?"

There was another tense silence that I was quickly growing used to. He was right. Whoever had put our names into the Goblet of Fire could have easily submitted my name under the school I had once attended. It made more and more sense the longer I thought about it. I was one of the only people in Hogwarts who had ever openly been enrolled in another school. The Goblet of Fire could have easily mistaken me for being an actual Ilvermorny student and picked me as the only choice for that school, regardless of my age.

"You seem to have given this a great deal of thought, Moody, and a very ingenious theory it is - though of course, I heard you recently got it into your head that one of your birthday presents contained a cunningly disguised basilisk egg, and smashed it to pieces before realizing it was a carriage clock," Karkaroff said coldly. "So you'll understand if we don't take you entirely seriously."

"There are those who'll turn innocent occasions to their advantage," Moody retorted in a menacing voice. "It's my job to think the way Dark wizards do, Karkaroff - as you ought to remember."

"Alastor!" Dumbledore said, a warning tone deep in his voice.

Everyone in the room jumped as Dumbledore had remained mostly silent through the discussion. Apparently, he was trying to stop Moody from saying anything more about Karkaroff, which I was desperately curious to know. I was one of the only people who didn't appear confused by Dumbledore's use of Moody's real name. The rest of them had been so used to hearing him called either 'Mad-Eye' of Moody. Moody fell silent, though still surveying Karkaroff with satisfaction as Karkaroff's face was burning.

"How this situation arose, we do not know," Dumbledore said quietly, speaking to everyone gathered in the room. "It seems to me, however, that we have no choice but to accept it. Cedric, Harry, and Tara have been chosen to compete in the Tournament. This, therefore, they will do."

"Do we get a say in this?" I asked Dumbledore nervously.

"Does it sound like we get a say in this?" Harry asked me.

This was not the time I wanted to hear him speak. "Now you choose to speak?" I asked him nastily.

Harry jumped and looked to the floor sheepishly. "Ah, but Dumbly-dorr -"

"My dear Madame Maxime, if you have an alternative, I would be delighted to hear it."

Dumbledore waited but Madame Maxime did not speak, she merely glared. Naturally, she wasn't happy. I had a feeling that she hated me more than anyone else in the room. The feeling was mutual. But she wasn't the only one who looked frustrated with what had happened. No one looked happy. Snape looked furious and Karkaroff looked livid. Fleur was miming Madame Maxime's look and Viktor still looked stunned. I couldn't bring myself to look at Cedric. It seemed that I was wrong. There was one person who was happy. Bagman looked rather excited.

"Well, shall we crack on, then?" Bagman said, rubbing his hands together and smiling around the room. "Oh, Tara! Your father will be thrilled to hear his daughter is in the Triwizard Tournament."

"Oh, Merlin," I gasped. Shit. I hadn't even thought of the way my parents would respond to me being in the Triwizard Tournament. "My dad's going to kill me. Will he be here?"

"For the tasks, of course!" Bagman said happily. "He helped organize the event."

Not good at all. Dad had finally gotten over being angry with me and now we were about to go right back to square one. I leaned over to Harry and lowered my voice. "He really is one sandwich short of a picnic. Dad's going to lose it when he hears about this," I told him.

"Maybe he won't until the task," Harry suggested.

"He'll hear all about who's been chosen! It'll be the talk at the Ministry in the morning," Bagman said obliviously.

There went that idea. "Great," I muttered.

"Got to give our champions their instructions, haven't we?" Bagman said happily. "Barty, want to do the honors?"

Oh, I was going to be sick. Mr. Crouch seemed to come out of a deep reverie. "Yes, instructions. Yes... the first task," Mr. Crouch said slowly.

Something was wrong with him. Not just by the way he was speaking but also by the way he looked. I hadn't noticed it, but as he moved forward into the firelight I saw it. Close up, I thought he looked ill. There were dark shadows beneath his eyes and a thin, papery look about his wrinkled skin that had not been there at the Quidditch World Cup. What the hell was wrong with him? Mr. Crouch had always seemed like the nervous and anal type, but I hadn't pegged him as the type that scared easily.

There was a brief silence where I desperately tried to ignore Fleur, who clearly hated me, Viktor, who had said nothing since I had walked into the room, and Harry, who had been beyond useless today. My gaze instead landed on Cedric, who still hadn't once looked away from me. Our eyes conveyed what our bodies couldn't. That I wanted to break down into tears and rest in his arms. That he wanted to stand at my side as I tried to comprehend what had just happened. But there was a flicker of something else. Mistrust, maybe?

I wasn't allowed to think for long before my attention was called away. "The first task is designed to test your daring so we are not going to be telling you what it is," Mr. Crouch told Harry, Cedric, Fleur, Viktor, and myself. "Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard. Very important. The first task will take place on November the twenty-fourth, in front of the other students and the panel of judges.

"The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the tournament, the champions are exempted from end-of-year tests."

"Well... one good thing came out of this, I suppose," I muttered.

Most of this was a huge mess. I was going to be blamed for somehow getting my name into the Goblet of Fire and no one was going to believe that I hadn't done it. My parents were going to be absolutely furious with me for getting myself a spot in the Triwizard Tournament. Cedric and I were going to have to talk this out once we were free. Going back to Gryffindor Tower would surely be a mob scene. This year that was supposed to be a chance for me to lay low was quickly turning into a wreck. Mr. Crouch turned to look at Dumbledore.

"I think that's all, is it, Albus?" he asked.

"I think so," Dumbledore said, who was looking at Mr. Crouch with mild concern.

But it appeared that the French ones weren't done with the situation yet. "You 'ave a couple competing in ze tournament? Won't zey be helping each other?" Fleur asked, motioning between Cedric and myself.

"Who?" Bagman asked curiously.

"Diggory and ze little girl," Fleur told him.

"How many years do you think you get in Azkaban for murdering an uptight pretentious French bitch?" I whispered to Harry.

"Nox!" Professor McGonagall yelled. "One more time -"

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Are the two of you together?" Bagman asked, motioning between us.

This was going somewhere bad very quickly. Cedric and I exchanged an awkward look with each other. Why had this suddenly become so nerve-wracking? Was this the time to lie or tell the truth. The truth, I supposed, since there were too many people here who could call out a lie. "Yeah," we said together.

"Oh, my..." Bagman muttered, his tanned skin paling slightly.

Now I was positive I was going to be sick. Something was seriously wrong. "Mr. Bagman? Is there a problem with that?" Cedric asked carefully.

Bagman shifted nervously. "Well, actually, there is a problem with that," he said. Cedric and I exchanged a tense look as Bagman continued. "It's not a rule we've ever had to put into use as it usually doesn't matter. The competitors in the Triwizard Tournament typically come from three schools in varying locations. They're people who have never met before and don't get much of a chance to communicate with each other before their names are drawn. They are practically strangers."

Okay, I wanted him to just get out whatever the problem was. I didn't need to hear him dance around the subject. "Mr. Bagman, I hate to be rude but can you please get to the point?" I said as politely as possible.

Bagman stammered slightly as he nodded. "Certainly. There is a bit of an unspoken rule that there can be no romantic entanglements between the champions," he said bluntly.

Maybe I hadn't needed it to be that blunt. Maybe he could have danced around the truth a little while longer as the truth certainly wasn't one I wanted to hear. The truth settled around the room heavily as we were all suddenly made aware of a rule no one had heard before. I was positive no one in the room knew of the rule. Now it was only being implemented because the stupid French girl couldn't keep her goddamn mouth shut. This probably wasn't what she was hoping for though, considering even she looked surprised at the change of pace.

Bagman was still shifting nervously as he tried to figure out how to explain this as my jaw was practically on the floor. "You see, normally with the champions not knowing one another before the tournament it's never been an issue before. The rule is put in place to ensure there is no cheating. No getting closer to the other champions to try and get some additional information. With only three champions from all different schools, each solely focused on the competition, the rule has never needed to be enforced. You see why we have it?" Bagman asked awkwardly.

But neither Cedric nor I were able to force any words out. Neither was anyone else. "Ludo, you can't be suggesting the kids stop seeing each other?" Professor McGonagall asked.

At least someone was trying to stick up for us. "I am, Minerva," Bagman told her.

Oh, no. Not good. This wasn't good at all. The air was extremely tense as everyone looked back and forth between each other, trying to figure out who was supposed to speak next. I stared down at the floor for a long time. Not only had I now somehow managed to land myself in the Triwizard Tournament, but I was also no longer allowed to be with my boyfriend. What the hell was happening to my life? Why did this always seem to happen to me? I gave Cedric a quick glance. He was already looking at me. We said nothing as we locked eyes.

"Ludo, I think that's taking things a step too far," Professor McGonagall said gently.

Maybe she was my new favorite professor. "It's the rules, unfortunately, Minerva," Mr. Crouch said. "There will be enough accusations of cheating in Hogwarts' favor this year. It will only be worse if two tributes appear to be working in tandem."

"Plus, having Mr. Diggory and Miss Nox together will only make it appear as though he assisted her in entering her name," Bagman added.

My mouth dropped open. Why the hell was someone else allowed to be in charge of my relationship? "Oh, it's only a year. The kids are young," Mr. Crouch said, waving off the concern seeping off Cedric and myself. I scowled at him. Just because we were young didn't mean we should break off our relationship without a care in the world. "What's the problem? They'll have the tournament to focus on anyway."

"That isn't the point!" Professor McGonagall yelled.

"I don't see Tara or Cedric saying anything in their defense," Bagman pointed out uselessly.

"Because you've shocked them!" Professor McGonagall snapped, turning to face Dumbledore. "Albus, please."

Someone had to put a stop to this madness. It was just plain stupid. Dumbledore looked between Cedric and me as his sad eyes twinkled slightly. My stomach churned as my messy thoughts raced. I would have normally been thinking of how to work my way around the rule but I was so baffled by what had happened that I couldn't even pretend to know where to go from here. I was completely lost. I was vaguely aware of people talking about arguing in the background which I couldn't stand. This didn't need to be discussed with ten people in the room.

"Uh, if it's alright with everyone else, this isn't a conversation meant for ten people," I said weakly, cutting off all the chatter in the room. "It's a conversation meant for two. You haven't asked either one of us about it. It's none of your business."

"It is our business, Tara," Bagman argued. "We need to be sure there is no cheating between players -"

"There's obviously cheating already going on!" I shouted, earning a nasty look from him. I lowered my voice, afraid to make things even worse. "I get your point."

This time it was Cedric who stepped forward. "Mr. Bagman, we'll take it from here. We understand your point. I believe we agree the rest of this conversation should be had between us. Not with an audience," he said gently.

It was like listening to a little politician. He was much better at talking to an audience than I was. He knew how to be polite. "Cedric and Tara are correct," Dumbledore said. I relaxed slightly but still felt sick to my stomach. "You've made your feelings and the rules known, Barty. The rest is between them."

Bagman started stepping forward. "Oh, but -"

"You trust zat zeez two will end their relationship?" Madame Maxime interrupted.

"Of course, I do," Dumbledore said, sending her a gentle smile. Judging by the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes, he didn't think there was even a slight chance of us ending our relationship. "On that note, I believe it is time we all retire."

"Tara -" Harry started, reaching for my arm.

"Not now," I told him, feeling my dinner rise in my throat. "Please."

"Okay. I'm sorry," Harry said, backing away immediately.

"Yeah, me too," I mumbled.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay at Hogwarts tonight, Barty?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, Dumbledore, I must get back to the Ministry," Mr. Crouch said. "It is a very busy, very difficult time at the moment. I've left young Weatherby in charge. Very enthusiastic... a little overenthusiastic, if truth be told."

"Weasley, asshole," I growled.

"Excuse me?" Mr. Crouch asked, turning to me.

"You'll come and have a drink before you go, at least?" Dumbledore said, probably trying to save me any more trouble.

"Come on, Barry, I'm staying!" Bagman said brightly, disrupting the somber air. "It's all happening at Hogwarts now, you know, much more exciting here than at the office!"

"I think not, Ludo," Mr. Crouch said with a touch of his old impatience.

"Professor Karkaroff - Madame Maxime - a nightcap?" Dumbledore offered.

But Madame Maxime had already put her arm around Fleur's shoulders and was leading her swiftly out of the room. I was perfectly happy to see them go. If Fleur would have kept her damn mouth shut I would still be happy with my boyfriend, not about to have an extremely awkward and forced conversation with him. I could hear them both talking very fast in French as they went off into the Great Hall. Probably being quite rude toward the two of us. Karkaroff beckoned to Krum, and they, too, exited, though in silence.

"Harry, Cedric, and Tara; I suggest you go up to bed," Dumbledore said, smiling at all three of us. "I am sure Gryffindor and Hufflepuff are waiting to celebrate with you, and it would be a shame to deprive them of this excellent excuse to make a great deal of mess and noise."

"Thank you, Professor," I muttered.

Harry glanced at Cedric, who nodded, and then back to me. Without actually looking him in the eyes, I nodded too. The three of us all looked at each other and then left together. None of us spoke as we walked out of the room. I could feel my legs shaking underneath me but there was a numbness wracking through my body. I was in between Harry and Cedric, feeling immensely awkward. Harry looked as awkward as I felt. What were we supposed to do? Were we supposed to break up now? I thought about reaching out for him but ultimately decided against it.

As we were all walking so slowly, it took far longer than it should have to get out into the Great Hall. I wished the walk would never end because I didn't know how the conversation that was sure to follow was supposed to go. The Great Hall was deserted now; the candles had burned low, giving the jagged smiles of the pumpkins an eerie, flickering quality. I was a little surprised when Cedric and Harry stopped in the entrance hall. I remained a few steps back, giving the two boys a chance to speak to each other first.

"So," Cedric said with a slight smile. "We're playing against each other again!"

"I suppose," Harry said.

The conversation was even more awkward than I had anticipated it would be. I knew it would have been a good moment for me to step forward and say something but I had nothing to say right now. Nothing that I wanted to say with Harry in the room, anyway. The conversation we needed to have was private. I could tell by the look on Harry's face that he really couldn't think of anything to say. If he felt anything like I did, the inside of his head must have been in complete disarray, as though his brain had been ransacked. That was certainly what it felt like in mine.

"So... tell me..." Cedric said as we shifted further into the entrance hall, which was now lit only by torches in the absence of the Goblet of Fire. "How did you get your name in?"

My head snapped up from counting the cracks in the stone floor. I had been expecting Cedric to be the one person perhaps in the entire school - save Harry, Ron, and Hermione - to believe that I had nothing to do with putting my name in the Goblet of Fire. Apparently, my thoughts weren't correct. If Cedric thought that Harry had put his name in the Goblet of Fire, it also meant that he believed I had put my name in the Goblet of Fire. This day seemed to be getting better and better by the second.

"I didn't," Harry said, staring up at him. "I didn't put it in. I was telling the truth."

"Ah. Okay," Cedric said. I could tell Cedric didn't believe him. "Well... see you, then."

Harry looked at Cedric but didn't walk off. The comment from Cedric to Harry was dismissing Harry from the entrance hall so that Cedric and I could talk. "I'll... I'll wait for you at the staircase," Harry told me awkwardly.

"Thanks," I said quietly.

The last thing I wanted was to be left alone with Cedric right now, especially now that I knew he didn't believe we were innocent victims in this mess. Harry gave me a quick squeeze on the arm as he walked off, silently telling me to keep calm and a rational head about myself. I nodded at him as he turned the corner, leaving Cedric and me to talk to each other. For a moment, the two of us stood there and said nothing. We just stared at each other. The air was more awkward around us than it had been in a long time.

Eventually, Cedric was the one to make the first move as he reached out for me and placed his hand on my arm. "Hey, we'll figure it out," he said, smiling vaguely at me.

I had to try to not jump to conclusions first. So, I laughed awkwardly and said, "Maybe my dad really will get that one year of us being apart that he wanted so badly."

"I'm not so sure about that. If there's one thing I know about Tara Nox, it's that she knows how to bend the rules," Cedric said teasingly.

My heart sank down into my stomach. There was a vague smile on Cedric's face but it was easy to see that it didn't quite meet his eyes. I knew what it meant without a doubt. It was the one thing I had been so concerned with originally. He wouldn't come directly out and say it, but I knew that he didn't completely believe that I didn't put my name in the Goblet of Fire. I pulled out of his grasp and folded my arms over my chest, taking a step back from him. Cedric's face contorted in confusion as he watched my face turn to a scowl.

"That sounds kind of accusatory," I commented tonelessly.

The color drained from his face as he began shaking his head. "No, I - I didn't mean it like that."

Judging by the look on Cedric's face, he did. "You actually think that I put my name in there?" I asked sharply.

Cedric shook his head again. "No, I don't."

He was too nice of a guy to come out and say it, but I knew he didn't believe me. "Be honest with me. You even just asked Harry about it," I said, motioning beyond the entrance hall where Harry was waiting. "You do think that I did it."

Cedric sighed and reached up to run a hand over his face. "Tara, it's just hard to understand what else could have happened."

"Yeah, I know how you feel," I growled. "I didn't do it."

"I believe you."

There was a hint of hesitation in his voice that betrayed what he was really thinking. "Do you?" I asked.

A brief silence passed as Cedric let out a deep breath. "I want to believe you."

I smiled bitterly. "That's more like it."

I'd gotten the answer I wanted and it wasn't the one I liked. This day had been long and draining enough and I was sick of it. I turned to walk off when Cedric reached out and grabbed my arm. "Wait for a second, don't leave."

"What?" I snapped, turning back to him.

Cedric didn't look at all surprised by my snap. He probably knew how upset I was with his answer. "Let's talk about it. Maybe something happened. Maybe an older student did it as a joke? They heard you talking about how you would have liked to be in the tournament and entered you, thinking nothing would happen," he offered.

"Which is still blaming me for this," I said quietly.

"I'm not," Cedric argued.

He was. Whether or not he wanted to admit it, Cedric was blaming me for what had happened. I gave him a good once-over and realized that his eyes weren't as happy as they were earlier. He looked a little annoyed, actually. "You're mad that my name came out of the goblet," I said. Cedric started to shake his head when I spoke over him. "Now's really not the time for lies so if you have something to say, I'd recommend doing so now."

As much as I wanted to be kind to him right now, I was furious. My own boyfriend didn't even believe me. "Tara, I just want to know what happened," Cedric said gently.

"Shocking," I growled, tightening my arms over my chest almost as if to protect myself. "I do too. You've known me for years but yet you think I would do this?"

"I'm not accusing you," Cedric said.

"But you're angry," I added.

Cedric again shifted awkwardly. I had put him on the spot but I didn't care. "Not angry, per se. But a little annoyed, yes," Cedric said. Being annoyed was his own equivalent of being furious with me. "Tara, I've been looking forward to bringing some glory to Hufflepuff for weeks now. My dad has been looking forward to this for months now. Now your name has come out of the goblet and whether or not you want it, everyone is going to want to know how it happened. It'll be like my name was never pulled."

My stomach churned at the look on his face. I hadn't meant for him to end up having his thunder taken. "Cedric, I didn't want this," I said, trying to calm down and not let his slight suspicion hurt my feelings. "I wanted you to get the glory you know I feel like you deserve." Unfortunately, my bitter attitude returned full-force immediately. "I don't know why I thought I would get some sympathy from you."

Cedric didn't appreciate my last comment. "Didn't you say you would have entered if the age restriction hadn't been imposed?"

"But it was and I didn't break that rule," I replied.

We both let out a deep breath. I could feel the tightening at the back of my throat, indicating that tears were about to fall. I didn't want to get emotional over something I had no control of, so I sniffled slightly and forced myself to calm down. But it was difficult. I was finally realizing after so many years of being friends and in a relationship with Cedric that he didn't always see the best in me as I had originally thought. I wasn't sure why I was surprised. I was always doing stupid things like this. It was no wonder that he was suspicious of me.

"I'm mad at the situation, Tara, not you," Cedric said gently.

The situation. Yes, of course. We were both furious about the situation. It wasn't just the whole idea of me entering myself or someone having entered me into the Triwizard Tournament. There was a much bigger problem here that we were going to have to deal with. Now the two of us were being forced into breaking up. I thought about it for a moment. It seemed to physically pain me to think about breaking up with him. I wondered for a brief moment if he felt the same way. Judging by the look on his face, he did.

This wasn't something that had happened overnight. It wasn't like the two of us had just started dating a few weeks ago. We had been together for about a year now. We had danced around our feelings for so long and been too afraid to admit to each other that we did have feelings that were more than friendly. We had kept it a secret at first and had dealt with so many rumors. My parents had found out and forced us apart. It had taken us so long to get to a good place and now the relationship was about to come undone at the seams.

"I've never heard that rule before," I said, swallowing thickly.

Cedric shook his head. "Neither have I. What they said makes sense," Cedric said. I shook my head at him. It was ridiculous. "As the champions normally wouldn't know one another before the competition begins it makes no sense for the rule to ever be utilized."

"Are you upset about it?" I asked carefully.

Cedric laughed humorlessly. "Believe it or not, I am a little upset to have to give up my girlfriend."

I huffed. "Give up," I repeated.

Cedric shook his head, realizing too late that what he said hadn't sat well with me. "Wait a second, that didn't come out right."

"Tell me what you meant," I snapped.

"Publicly, I suppose," Cedric said, running his hands through his hair.

We stared at each other in the eye for a long time. Neither one of us made any move to touch or comfort the other. I wondered in the back of my mind what would happen if we just refused to break up with each other. I wasn't sure if there would be anything to do other than disqualify us both, which I knew would devastate Cedric. It would be a terrible idea, but I wanted to know what he was thinking. I was already upset that he didn't believe my innocence, but I did want to know if he had any idea of what we were supposed to do next.

"What do we do?" I asked quietly.

"Nothing," Cedric said, shaking his head. "We lay low."

But that was exactly what they would be expecting us to do. "You think they wouldn't see through it?" I asked him. Cedric gave me a stunned and annoyed look that somehow bothered me. "What?"

"You're going to give up that easily?" Cedric asked. His lips turned up in a small smile. "That's not the Tara I know."

"In case you hadn't noticed, I've fought a couple of battles today and lost them all. I'm sick of it," I said, feeling the energy drain straight out of my body.

"What battles have you lost today?" Cedric asked. I didn't respond. "You don't want to be in the Triwizard Tournament but you're not allowed out of it. That's the only battle I think you've lost today."

"Really? I'm seeing a second one."

"Me?" Cedric asked. I replied with a silent scowl. "Explain, please."

"What is there to explain?" I asked, throwing my hands up in frustration. I didn't know how I could explain the mess of emotions that were running through my head. "I didn't put my name in the Goblet of Fire and no matter what you say, I know you think I did. Or you think I had something to do with it. Everyone will."

"I'm sorry, I just can't come up with another reason."

"Funny. Neither can I." We stared at each other for a while as I ran my hand over my face. I was exhausted and annoyed and speaking with him right now would just make things worse. "You know what? Forget this. I'm going to bed."

Cedric jumped after me. "Tara, wait a second."

"No, thank you," I said, pushing past him.

"This is it?" Cedric called after me. "You're just going to give up?"

Was he joking? I whipped back around to Cedric angrily but it didn't seem to surprise him. "I'm not giving up! The last thing I want is to give up on... on this," I said, motioning back and forth between us. "But what else am I supposed to do? We're not allowed to be together. Might as well get used to it. And, you know, do I really want to be with someone who doesn't believe me?"

"I do believe you," Cedric said.

Liar. "Okay, someone who's mad at me."

"I'm not mad."

Why was he always like this? Why wouldn't he just fight with me? We needed to get it out. "Oh, for once in your life just admit it! You don't always have to act like the knight in shining armor!" I shouted. Cedric made no indication that my words were bothering him. "You're mad at me. Go ahead and say it."

Cedric shook his head. "Why? What will that do for either one of us?" I didn't respond. "Nothing, it will just hurt us both."

It was something about Cedric that I had always found so amazing. Even in the toughest of situations, he was always perfectly reasonable with his thoughts and actions. Tonight, I was the one who wasn't being reasonable. This wasn't his fault and I shouldn't have been taking my frustrations on him. But I was so angry with what had happened and I couldn't stand the fact that Cedric wasn't willing to fight with me. I couldn't help it. I would get riled up and I always wanted to scream. Right now, Cedric was the only person I could yell at.

"It doesn't matter!" I yelled. "I just - I'm so sick of you always being..."

"Being what?"

"God, I don't know. You just - You piss me off!"

"Because I refuse to get mad at you?"

"Yes!" I yelled unreasonably.

"That's ridiculous, Tara."

"I know! I don't need you to say it!"

"Calm down, you'll wake the whole castle if you keep yelling like that," Cedric said.

"Do you think I fucking care?"

"Tara -"

"Don't. Just please don't say anything. Just let me think," I told him sharply. Cedric fell silent without hesitation. We stood in silence for a few moments as I looked down at the ground. There was only one thing I needed to know. I only had one question. "I want an honest answer." Cedric nodded for me to continue. "Are you angry with me?"

"I'm upset over the situation," Cedric said.

"You're still dancing around the question. Are you angry with me?" I repeated.

Cedric was silent for what felt like ages. "Yes," he said, the guilt plain and clear in his voice. A shot of pain went through my chest. I had always known that he was angry, but I still hated to hear it from him. "But I don't want to be angry with you and I won't be forever. I'm just angry at the moment. This was supposed to be my day and it got sidetracked. I'll get over it."

I swallowed my hurt. "See? Was that so hard?"

"Was it worth hearing?" Cedric asked.

The look on Cedric's face only served to make me even angrier. I hated that little tilt of his head that made it look like he was making fun of me like he knew his answer would upset me. Of course, he was right from the very beginning. I hated knowing that he was upset with me for something I hadn't done. I couldn't even tell whether or not he genuinely believed me. I was reasonably sure he believed me, but that didn't make things any easier. I hadn't wanted to know the answer but I had kept forcing it. I couldn't help it but it was my fault.

Why hadn't I just stopped while things were bad but not terrible? I was frustrated with the situation and could feel the tears building in my eyes. I jumped slightly as I felt Cedric's hand rest on the back of my neck. My body felt as numb and useless as it did when I first heard Dumbledore call my name. He tugged me up against his chest where I was useless to do anything but stumble into him. My head was still aimed at the ground but I let him pull our faces close together so that I could just barely feel his lips brush against mine as he spoke.

"Come to the Astronomy Tower with me tonight," Cedric muttered, running his thumb down my spine.

"I think your friends want to celebrate," I replied, feeling our lips brush.

Cedric shook his head against mine. "I don't care. We can celebrate later. I'm not much in the mood to celebrate anyway."

"You heard what they wanted."

"I don't care. You're what I want."

Maybe he was telling me the truth. Maybe this wasn't the biggest deal in the world to him. Maybe he really would just be angry for a few days and get over it. Maybe I was being too dramatic about the entire thing. I felt Cedric's grip tighten against the back of my neck again as he stepped completely up against me, closing the gap. I felt the slightest bit of happiness at his offer and maybe a tinge of excitement. Maybe one night in the Astronomy Tower wouldn't kill us. I was about to fall into the kiss when a voice echoed behind us.

"Nox! Diggory!" Mr. Filch's voice called. Cedric and I shot apart and turned to look at him. "I believe you two are supposed to be in bed."

Our gazes soon turned back to each other. I stared at Cedric for a while, quickly realizing that this conversation was destined to go nowhere anyway. We would have been saying the same things over and over again. "Right you are," I told Filch, turning back to look at Cedric. "Goodnight, Cedric."

"Tara -"

"If you don't believe me, there's nothing left to say," I told him sharply, cutting off whatever he was about to say. "They got what they wanted. Goodnight."

Without giving myself a moment to think about what I was doing, I stomped off, refusing to look back. I could feel his eyes on the back of my head but I refused to turn back. I didn't want him to see that I was on the verge of tears. His footsteps followed behind me as I darted up the marble staircase. Instead of going up the marble staircase, Cedric headed for a door to its right. I met up with Harry at the top of the staircase and nodded for him to follow me, not speaking. I stood listening to Cedric going down the stone steps beyond the door, then, slowly, I started to climb the marble ones.

"I..." Harry trailed off, obviously unsure of what to say.

"I'm not talking about it. Not to you and not to any of the rest of them," I said sharply.

"Okay," Harry said, trying to be respectful and look away while I was brushing tears out of my eyes. "But I'm here to listen if you want to talk."

"Thank you," I whispered.

Was anyone except Ron and Hermione going to believe us, or would they all think we'd put ourselves in for the tournament? Yet how could anyone think that when we were facing competitors who'd had three years' more magical education than we had and when we were now facing tasks that not only sounded very dangerous but which were to be performed in front of hundreds of people? Yes, I had thought about it and I had fantasized about it, but it had been a joke, really, an idle sort of dream. As I had told Cedric, I would have never really, seriously considered entering.

I'd wanted Cedric to have the spotlight he deserved. I didn't want to accidentally take it from him. He deserved to have the school talking about him in something I wasn't involved with. But someone had put me exactly where I didn't want to be. I might not have genuinely considered entering the tournament, but someone else had considered it. Someone else had wanted both of us in the tournament and had made sure we were entered. Why? To give us a treat? I didn't think so. Whoever did this knew that we would be in trouble and danger.

There had to have been a lot of thought go into this. What was someone thinking when they had slipped Harry's and my names into the Goblet of Fire. To see us make fools out of ourselves? Well, they were likely to get their wish. Neither one of us was useless with magic but we certainly weren't as seasoned as Cedric, Viktor, and Fleur were. It couldn't just be to embarrass us. They could have done that easily. We were always embarrassing ourselves. But to get us both killed? That was a frightening thought.

It wouldn't have been the first time someone had tried to kill us. It was the same thing I had reflected earlier when we had all been in the back room of the Great Hall earlier. We had been at the center of death plots before. Was this one of them? Was Moody just being his usual paranoid self? That was what I would have liked to believe, but it seemed so unlikely. This wasn't just a practical joke. Whoever had done this must have known there would be a lot of danger. Still, couldn't someone have put our names in the goblet as a trick or practical joke? Did anyone really want us dead?

Of course. We both would have been able to answer that at once. Yes, someone wanted Harry dead and me... well, I wasn't sure what they wanted with me. But they certainly wanted me with them. Someone had wanted Harry dead ever since he had been a year old. Lord Voldemort. He wanted us both. But how could Voldemort have ensured that our names had wound up in the Goblet of Fire? Voldemort was supposed to be far away, in some distant country, in hiding, and alone. He should have been feeble and powerless.

The last time we had genuinely seen Voldemort it had been in the back of Professor Quirrell's head and he had turned to ash the moment Harry had touched him. He had to still be like that. He had to be falling apart at the seams and unable to track us down. Yet in that dream both Harry and I had had, just before he had awoken with his scar hurting and my hand had felt like it was on fire, Voldemort had not been alone. He had been talking to Wormtail, plotting Harry's murder and my capture. Was it possible Wormtail had somehow done this?

"Who do you think did it?" Harry asked, finally shattering the silence.

"I wish I knew," I said quietly. "You know it wasn't me, right?"

"Of course!" Harry gasped, sounding horrified that I had even had to ask. "And you know it wasn't me, right?"

"Yeah."

We walked in silence for a while before Harry spoke again. "He'll figure it out, too," Harry said quietly.

"Too late," I muttered.

It seemed to be the end of our relationship. "Anyone with eyes can tell the two of you care about each other. Just give him some time to cool down," Harry suggested. I knew he was trying to be sweet and convince me that things would be okay with us, but I didn't want to hear it yet. So, I shot a scowl at him. Harry held his hands up in defense. "Okay, I'm sorry. I just thought you needed to hear it."

"I just want this horrible nightmare to be done with," I mumbled.

"So do I," Harry said.

But this nightmare didn't seem to be ending any time soon. This was a loop I was destined to be stuck in for at least a year. In one night, instead of supporting my boyfriend as the sole Hogwarts champion, I had now found myself as one of the competitors of the Triwizard Tournament alongside Harry - and we were both now likely going to be outcasts to the rest of the school. Not only that, but I had also now lost my boyfriend and it was partially my fault because I had pushed him away. The day had gone straight down the garbage chute.

It was shocking to find myself facing the Fat Lady already. I had barely noticed where my feet were carrying me. I had kind of been following Harry. It was also a surprise to see that the Fat Lady was not alone in her frame. The wizened witch who had flitted into her neighbor's painting when we had joined the champions downstairs was now sitting smugly beside the Fat Lady. She must have dashed through every picture lining seven staircases to reach here before us. Both she and the Fat Lady were looking down at us with the keenest interest.

"Well, well, well, Violet's just told me everything. You two have just been chosen as school champions, then?" the Fat Lady asked.

"Seems that way," I replied tonelessly.

"Balderdash," Harry said dully.

"It most certainly isn't!" the pale witch said indignantly.

"No, no, Vi, it's the password," the Fat Lady said soothingly, and she swung forward on her hinges to let us into the Common Room.

The blast of noise that met my ears when the portrait opened almost knocked me backward. I knew people would be up and curious to know what had happened but I wasn't expecting a full-grown party to be going on in the Common Room. I jumped, ready to turn and run to the Astronomy Tower and pray that Cedric was there waiting for me. Next thing I knew, we were being wrenched inside the Common Room by about a dozen pairs of hands and were facing the whole of Gryffindor House, all of whom were screaming, applauding, and whistling.

Nope! This wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to be alone to stew in my misery. "What the hell is this?" I asked blankly, suddenly realizing that Fred Weasley was at my side.

"You two should've told us you'd entered!" Fred bellowed; he looked half annoyed, half deeply impressed. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Not Fred too. I needed someone to believe us. "I didn't do it," I told him blandly.

"What are you talking about?" Fred asked me, shocked.

"I didn't enter my name. Neither did Harry," I explained.

It seemed that Harry and I were the only people who weren't excited. "What's wrong with you?" Fred asked, seemingly finally noticing that I wasn't as happy as I should have been. "This is exciting! You've got a chance to win the Triwizard Tournament!"

"Leave it alone, Fred," I said.

"What happened?" Fred asked.

"I got my name put in the fucking Goblet of Fire, which was exactly where I didn't want it!" I shouted, losing my already short temper.

"Tara -"

"How did you two do it without getting beards? Brilliant!" George roared, interrupting his twin.

"We didn't," Harry said. "We don't know how -"

But Angelina had now swooped down upon him; "Oh if it couldn't be me, at least it's two Gryffindor's -"

"How did Diggory react?" Alicia asked.

"I'm going to bed," I said.

"Was he angry?" Angelina asked.

The last thing I wanted to talk about right now was Cedric and wherever our relationship was standing. "Can we not talk about this right now? I'm not in the damn mood," I snarled at the girls.

"You'll be able to pay back Diggory for that last Quidditch match, Harry!" Katie Bell shrieked, another of the Gryffindor Chasers. She grabbed me around the shoulders, trying to keep me excited. "Oh, come on, Tara! Just give him a kiss and he'll get over it."

It was a cute idea but I wasn't in the mood for cute. "That's not the problem," I said.

"He can't resist you. We all know it," Alicia said.

"Drop it," I told her, moving their arms off of me and attempting to get through the crowd. "And, come on, get out of my way! I want to go upstairs."

"Oh, come on," Fred said, taking my arm. "Celebrate for a while."

"I've got nothing to celebrate," I said.

"What?" Fred asked.

"We've got food, Harry, come and have some, Tara -"

"I'm not hungry, I had enough at the feast," Harry said.

"Eating will just make me sick," I said.

But nobody wanted to hear that we weren't hungry. Nobody wanted to hear that we hadn't put our names in the Goblet of Fire. Not one single person seemed to have noticed that we weren't at all in the mood to celebrate. No matter how much we asked them to leave us alone or give us a chance to breathe, it didn't deter people from pulling us along with them. Lee Jordan had unearthed a Gryffindor banner from somewhere and he insisted on draping it around Harry like a cloak. Alicia, Katie, and Angelina had all draped me in their Gryffindor sweaters and scarves.

It was too much in one night. I couldn't deal with everything that had happened with the tournament and Cedric and now be in the middle of a party. Neither Harry nor I could get away; whenever we tried to sidle over to the staircase up to the dormitories, the crowd around us closed ranks, forcing another Butterbeer on us, stuffing fries and peanuts into our hands. Everyone wanted to know how we had done it. They were all fascinated to know how we had tricked Dumbledore's Age Line and managed to get our names into the goblet.

"We didn't," Harry said, over and over again, "We don't know how it happened."

But for all the notice anyone took, we might just as well not have answered at all. No one wanted to know that we were upset and no one cared that we weren't in the mood to celebrate. All they wanted to know was how we had done it. Fred kept a hand tight around my waist, making it impossible to get more than a few steps away. He was desperately curious to know how Cedric had reacted to my name being called and now being a champion in the Triwizard Tournament but there were too many people around for me to tell him the truth.

"I need to get out of here. I'm leaving," I said.

"Me too. I'm tired!" Harry bellowed finally, after nearly half an hour.

It was loud and angry enough to get people to realize that we weren't joking. We genuinely wanted to be away from this. "Get off me, Lee!" I barked as Lee grabbed my arm. "I've had it with this day."

"No, seriously, George I'm going to bed -"

"Tara -"

"We'll talk in the morning, all right?" I told Fred, pulling out of his arms again. "I can't deal with this anymore tonight."

"Okay," Fred said, looking very worried about me. He reached up and brushed the hair back as I forced out a pathetic smile that probably looked a lot more like a scowl. Fred grinned at me. "Hey, as pathetic as you can be, I'm still rooting for you."

I forced a weak laugh. "Thanks, Freddie."

We exchanged a brief hug as I turned away. I knew Harry didn't want to be near me as I hadn't exactly been polite since this had happened. I didn't blame him. I wanted more than anything to find Ron and Hermione and the bit of sanity that would come with them, but neither of them seemed to be in the Common Room. Insisting that we needed to sleep and almost flattening the little Creevey brothers as they attempted to waylay us at the foot of the stairs, we managed to shake everyone off and climb up to the dormitory as fast as we could.

We stood at the break between the boy's and girl's dormitory for a moment, looking at each other. "Want to come up for a bit?" Harry offered, motioning toward his dorm.

"No, thanks. I think I'm going to head to bed. Night, Harry," I said. He nodded. "Tell Ron what happened, yeah?"

Harry nodded. "Of course. He probably wants to know anyway. So will Hermione."

"Yeah, I'll tell her what's going on," I confirmed.

"Goodnight, Tara," Harry said.

"Night," I whispered.

Maybe things would be better in the morning. There wasn't much of a chance that things could get worse. We shared a brief hug as Harry leaned down to press a kiss into my temple. I was furious with what had happened, but I had to admit that I was also glad someone else was caught up in this situation with me. We shared a brief smile as I headed to the girl's dorm and Harry headed to the boy's. To my great relief, I found Hermione lying on her bed in the otherwise empty dormitory, still fully dressed. She looked up when I slammed the door behind me.

"You weren't downstairs," I commented.

She looked nervous as she straightened up in bed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I knew you would be bombarded downstairs and I didn't want to be down there," Hermione said.

"Neither did I," I said, walking toward her.

I'd been planning on waltzing straight to her bed and collapsing on top of it with her, complaining about the situation with Cedric and being forced into the Triwizard Tournament. Hermione was grinning, but it was a very odd, strained sort of grin. I stopped dead in my tracks, suddenly becoming aware that I was still wearing the Gryffindor scarves and sweaters that the girls had tied around me. I hastened to take them off, but they were all knotted together. Hermione lay on the bed without moving, watching me struggle to remove them.

"You didn't hang out with Ron while you waited for us?" I asked her, trying to force the scarves off.

"Well... no," Hermione said awkwardly.

"What's going on?" I asked suspiciously.

"Ron isn't exactly happy, Tara," Hermione said carefully.

"Why?"

"Did you two enter yourselves?"

Not this. There was no way that Hermione and Ron didn't believe us. Was Harry having this same conversation with Ron right now? "Are you losing your goddamn mind?" I snapped. They were supposed to be our best friends. They were supposed to believe us. "Of course we didn't enter ourselves. We both thought about it but neither one of us would have acted on it. I'd have thought you and Ron would believe us, at least."

Hermione was shaking her head desperately. "Tara, we do. Ron's just jealous."

"Liar. You believe me about as much as Cedric did," I seethed. Why didn't anyone believe us? "And I don't really care that Ron is jealous."

"I believe you!" Hermione gasped, jumping up from the bed and running to me.

"Someone entered us," I told her.

"Do you know why?" Hermione asked.

"You'll probably just think it's a little too dramatic to say whoever it is, wants us dead," I said.

Hermione's face turned about as pale as I imagined it could go. "If you think there's real danger here, you should go talk to Professor Dumbledore about it," Hermione offered.

"I already did," I told her. Talking would do nothing. We were stuck as champions now and all I could do was complain about it. "The goblet is a legally binding contract. Even if your name comes out of it when you didn't enter, you're officially a champion. No going back. Whoever entered us knew that."

Hermione looked shocked to know that the Goblet of Fire was so easily deceived. "Did you get into trouble for it?" Hermione asked.

"No," I answered.

"That friend of the Fat Lady's, Violet, she's already told us all Dumbledore's letting you enter. A thousand Galleons prize money. And you don't have to do end-of-year tests either."

Was she kidding? That wasn't enough to make this easier on me. "You don't believe me," I commented.

"I do! I'm just - It's just so complicated."

"I know."

Complicated wasn't a good enough word to describe how I was feeling. I turned away from Hermione, gathering up my things to go to bed. "It's Ron who won't believe you," Hermione said.

I whipped around, dropping my pajamas to the ground. "What?" I snarled.

We all knew that Ron could be a complete tool sometimes, but was he really thick enough to believe that we had entered ourselves? "Tara... I'm sorry, but Ron thinks you and Harry somehow entered yourselves in the tournament. He spent all night trying to figure out how you'd done it before getting frustrated and going upstairs. He's probably cornering Harry right now," Hermione explained.

So, one more person who didn't believe that I was innocent. "Meaning he'll be cornering me in the morning," I said blankly, unwilling to believe that he thought we were guilty. "He's really stupid enough to think we did this?"

"He's jealous, Tara," Hermione reasoned.

"He's an idiot," I snapped.

Unfortunately, Hermione had always been able to see right through me. "What's going on?" she asked gently.

"What's going on?" I repeated, laughing humorlessly. There were so many things wrong that I couldn't even describe it. "That's a stupid question. What's going on is that someone entered my name into the Goblet of Fire and now I've been forced to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, and as interesting as I always thought it would have been, I didn't want to actually be a champion!"

"Tara, I believe you," Hermione said, rising to her feet and pressing a hand against my arm. "I know you couldn't break any spell Dumbledore put over the Goblet of Fire." I shook my head and let out a deep breath, forcing myself to keep my tears at bay. "What's really going on?"

"Nothing," I said, shaking my head. "I'm just pissed off."

"You can tell me," Hermione said comfortingly.

She was right. If there was anyone I could talk to about this, it was her. I let out another breath. Right now, it was just the two of us even though it was sure to get around school soon enough. "Apparently, there's a stipulation for the champions that no one has ever heard of," I admitted.

"And what's that?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Champions can't be involved romantically," I spat out.

Hermione looked as shocked as I had felt. "What?"

So, I took a deep breath and recounted what the others had told me about how Cedric and I couldn't be together while the Triwizard Tournament was being played over the next nine months. Hermione's jaw dropped to the floor as I told her about how the rule had never been employed as the champions had typically never met before they were chosen and there had been no reason for the rule to be mentioned. It was unfortunate that it did make sense as I told her that the main reason was so that no cheating took place.

We were silent for a while as I faced Hermione. She moved forward slowly, placing her arms around me. "Oh, Tara, I'm so sorry that happened," she said. I shrugged, even though my heart felt like it was shattered into a thousand pieces right now. "But we all know that you're one of the best people I know at bending the rules."

"Not this time," I said, swallowing thickly.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Cedric doesn't believe me that I didn't put my name in the Goblet of Fire," I said. Hermione looked baffled to hear that. "Why would I want to be with someone who doesn't believe me?"

"Tara, I doubt he doesn't believe you. Maybe he's a little frustrated that he's no longer the sole champion from Hogwarts but Cedric thinks the world of you," Hermione said.

"Not anymore," I muttered.

"That can't be true."

"It is. And it's my fault."

"How could it be your fault?" Hermione asked.

Because I'm an asshole and can't wait for people to explain themselves. I wasn't ready to explain myself to Hermione right now. I just wanted to see the inside of my eyelids. "You know what, I'll tell you in the morning. I'm not in the mood to talk about it," I told her. Hermione opened her mouth to speak when I spoke over her. "I'm going to bed, Hermione. I can't stay up any longer."

"Goodnight, Tara," Hermione said, resting a hand against my arm. "Things will get better."

Hermione watched me curiously for a moment. I could tell she wanted me to stay awake and explain everything that had happened, but I wasn't in the mood right now. I was bitter and angry and not good company. My friends were already hanging on by threads so there was no point in driving her away. I forgot about my pajamas and wrenched the hangings shut around my four-poster. As I laid on the sheets, I stared at the dark red velvet curtains, now hiding me from one of the few people I had been sure would believe me.

A/N: Next time... Tara deals with losing her boyfriend and becoming a martyr alongside Harry while coming face-to-face with Rita Skeeter. CALMLY, Michael Gambon. Oh, Fleur... You're so annoying in Goblet of Fire. At least she makes up for it in Deathly Hallows. I know Tara's reaction might not be expected, but she's afraid, a teenager, and short-tempered. I also thought it was important that she faces this alone for a while. Thank you for the hearts and sweet comments! Please let me know what you thought! Until next time -A

A QUICK NOTICE: One more reminder, for anyone who would like to keep closer tabs on my stories, I now have a Twitter account set up so I can stay in touch with my readers and keep you all up to date on when you can expect new updates. Here's the link! e

Ghostie1701: Thank you very much! I love writing the Tara and Cedric scenes. They're so much fun. It's interesting that you didn't expect to see Tara's name on the paper as I honestly thought people mostly expected it. You would have to bribe me a lot to make Tara save Draco lol. They're not there yet. As for Cedric, that's a surprise. Marcus will be absolutely beside himself with what's happened to his daughter. He'll be back soon, I promise! As for Cedric's potential death, well, best not to worry yourself yet. I hope you liked this one!

Vincent FGS91: Thank you! I know, I love my suspense! Tara just loves her new friends. I've got a plan for some bits of French to come in a few chapters down the road. Thank you very much, I'm feeling a lot better. I understand! I'm always busy. Hope you liked this one!

Marnie: Well, I'm thrilled you finally decided to review! I know Tara's reaction probably isn't expected but she's been nonchalant about the things that have happened to her over the years that she's finally at her breaking point. Tara is hurt right now and Cedric was shocked, but we'll see more on that in the next chapter. I planned for this to be pretty brief and hopefully a little surprising. Tara and Fleur will definitely not be friends at all early on but they'll work towards it as we get further in the story. I love Fred! He's such a beautiful soul. I like that you think he should be endgame as most people lean toward Draco or Cedric. He does understand Tara, probably better than anyone else does. I needed Tara to be badass! I was way too sick of the weak or quiet OC's. Tara and Harry were both a little shocked and not ready to process their thoughts in this chapter, but we'll get way more of them supporting each other in the next chapter. Good point on why Cedric may not believe her! I love long reviews, don't worry about it! She does take that attitude. She will! She just has to get over the shock first. Hope you enjoyed this one!

BearFangDK: Thank you! I hope you liked this one!

WiccanWoman00: That's an interesting theory! We'll have to wait and see, but I like it! Hope you enjoyed this one!

Dove Salvatore 21051: Sorry about the delay, but here's the new chapter! I hope you enjoyed it!