The very next morning I got up early and went down to breakfast with a slip of parchment in my hand, clutched tightly with excitement. On it in swirling, dark green ink, was my full name and school. I had no idea if anyone had already put their name in, the castle was still quiet as I wandered down ahead of anyone else though as I arrived, I saw all of the Durmstrang boys were lined up and putting their name into the Goblet. Seeing that I had to wait, I joined the back of the line where the students in front of me glanced back, gave a look of scrutiny then pointedly ignored me. By the time my turn came, other students had started to arrive. There were a number of Slytherin students, most notably Malfoy who seemed to have purposefully stood close to Krum, but there were others there too.

When my turn came, I had only just passed over the golden line circling the Goblet when Gryffindor all cheered loudly as they started coming down from the common room, as if to emphasise their support and approval. So with a smile, I dropped my name into the fire and it gave a small burst, swallowing up the parchment before the flames settled once more. Drawing in a deep breath as much chest expanded with victory, I stepped aside just as Harry, Ron and Hermione came down so I waved them over. "Did you do it? Did you put your name in?"

"Just now. I think I was one of the first for Hogwarts, I don't know if anyone went back last night." I said to them as we all gathered together out of the way for others to pass us. Just then I heard the recognisable laughter of my three favourite fellow troublemakers. Fred, George and Lee were coming down the stairs and hurried over us in order to whisper.

"Done it." Fred whispered as I arched a suspicious eyebrow at the three of them. "Just taken it." Well they certainly hadn't hung around.

"What?"

"The ageing potion, dung-brains." Rolling his eyes at his brother, Fred ruffled my hair in a common morning greeting as I grunted back.

"One drop each. We only need to be a few months older."

"We're going to split the thousand galleons between the three of us if one of us wins." Lee announced, making me look at him with false hurt.

"Just the three of you? Ugh! What betrayal! Stab me right in the heart why don't you Lee…no, don't try and console me, I am done for…my friends have forsaken me…I have been deceived!" Throwing an arm back over my head as I flopped backwards dramatically, trusting either Fred or George to catch me before I could smack my head on the floor and make a real prat of myself. Thankfully they did, throwing me back upright as Lee snorted with a grin. "But all the same, good luck boys."

"It's alright for some, you don't even need a potion!" Lee pointed out which only made me feel rather smug. Turning around in order to watch my friends attempt to put their names in the Goblet, I prepared for a good laugh as the others did the same. Ron looked particularly eager, hoping that if his brothers succeeded, then perhaps he would too. Fred went first, holding his slip of parchment securely as he breathed in then stepped across the line, hesitating for a moment to see if anything would happen.

George quickly followed, both of them starting to grin until all at once, there was a loud snapping sound and both of them were thrown out of the circle and across the entrance hall, at least a good ten feet. I gave a strangled cry of alarm, wand quickly appearing in my hand before I pointed it at them in order to catch their fall, an invisible like cushion seemingly appearing underneath them before they dropped the last foot or so. "You idiots!" I thundered, the alarm giving way to anger before that too settled and I laughed. "Serves you right, you…" But as they sat up, I realised that the both of them had suddenly grown extensive long white beards, making my jaw drop before Lee and I both cracked up. We had to cling onto one another in order to keep from falling over, finding it utterly hilarious as everyone else also shared a giggle and a cackle at the twins' expense who thankfully also saw the humour of the situation.

"I did warn you." Said an amused voice and Dumbledore himself appeared, smiling as he did so. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett of Ravenclaw, and Mr Summers of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything as fine as yours." That just made an already golden moment turn into a flawless diamond. I couldn't bring myself to accompany Fred and George, practically crying from my laughter and I didn't want them to get annoyed with me over it and lose out on the humour of it all.

Instead I joined the trio to breakfast who moved towards a couple of their friends in the same year as them, who were eagerly listing off all the people who could enter, though when they saw me they both grinned boyishly. "Good luck Mia! We're all for a Gryffindor champion." The one called Seamus said to me as I sat down.

"Thank you, keep your fingers crossed." I smiled back before starting to help myself to toast and listened to them as they continued to talk.

"There's a rumour going around, Warrington got up early and put his name in. That big bloke from Slytherin who looks like a sloth." Harry shuddered at the thought of Warrington, or rather any Slytherin being a Hogwarts champion. They'd never let it be forgotten.

"And all the Hufflepuffs are talking about Diggory, but I wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks." I recalled Diggory vaguely from the Quidditch World Cup. We hadn't seen either him or his father after parting ways to different campsites. I wonder what happened over his way with those Death Eaters? Apparently his dad had been the one to accuse that house-elf of Crouch's to have used Harry's wand to conjure the Dark Mark. It had been his department, after all.

Just then Angelina came in after a round of applause, signifying that she'd just put her name in the Goblet as well so when she came over, I smiled and bumped fists with her as we wished each other luck. The discussion continued through breakfast, though Ron kept on throwing furtive glances over his shoulder towards the Slytherin table where Krum was sat, being heckled by Malfoy who clearly thought he was some kind of big shot now. Every now and then Ron would grumble, irritating me until finally, I slammed my spoon down from my cereal. "Oh for heaven's sake!" The loud clatter drew several eyes as I stood up and strode across the hall, making Harry and Ron gape at me as I went right up to Viktor Krum fearlessly whilst fully aware of the numerous pairs of eyes now following me, Malfoy's included as he peered at me with that unattractive sneer of his.

"What do you think you're doing over here, Black? This is the elitist table. No mudbloods, blood-traitors or vermin allowed." Malfoy informed me, looking rather pleased with himself and glanced to Krum as if to see if he approved, but the seeker looked just as surly and heavy-browed as ever and acted as if he had not heard or even understood Malfoy's insult.

"Shut up, Draco." I told him shortly, flicking my wand at him and before he knew it, his mouth had sealed shut, jaw locked in place. Now I looked at Krum and, with a pleasant smile, said hello to him. "I apologise for interrupting your breakfast, but my friend over there is a huge fan of yours." Now Krum's expression changed, brows rising slightly as several of the other Durmstrang students also looked up in shock to hear their own language.

"You speak Bulgarian?"

"I chose to learn a few languages and have been taking classes since my third year. I decided to go through them alphabetically, though some I picked up quicker than others, and Bulgarian was on the list. I had the pleasure of speaking to your Minister of Magic at the Quidditch World Cup. It came in useful there. Are you all enjoying Hogwarts well enough?" There came a rapid and eager flurry of responses and before I knew it, I was being pulled down to sit with them. It was rather…odd, sitting at the Slytherin table and I was fully aware of the fact that every single Slytherin was glaring at me, particularly the girls as we had all started talking about quidditch, my original purpose in coming over here now completely forgotten.

Krum seemed like a rather gentle person after talking to him for a while. Quiet, but he had a clear love for the sport and had become interested when I mentioned that I was a chaser for my team and that we'd won the Quidditch Cup last year. "Of course we would be competing again this year, but because of the tournament it has been cancelled."

"Have you put your name forward?"

"Yes, I was right behind you lot, actually."

"How did you learn to speak our language so well?"

"Plenty of study, practice, a few memory potions and a splash of luck. I found a rather good language course one summer and was allowed to continue it through my schooling. They have a rather knowledgeable language professor here, though no one really takes the class. What's it like at your school? Apart from cold, that is." There was a little laugh at that and soon, we were all in deep conversation. Some of the boys were clearly impressed that I could hold a conversation with them, though occasionally I stumbled or messed up, but someone would kindly correct me or help me work through the correct pronunciation until I got it right.

All the while, Ron had been watching with rather wide eyes and when I caught him looking, I grinned at him. In the time I had been talking, the Beauxbatons had all put their own names in the Goblet and, seeing as time was getting on, I got up from the table and told the Durmstrang students to come find me if there was ever a problem. Satisfied that I had put the Slytherins in a foul mood for the rest of the day, I went on up to the hospital wing in order to check and Fred and George to see the status of their beard, wishing all the while that I had had a camera to hand at the time.