"I wonder what's taking them so long..." muttered Ron.
"Weasley! Straighten your tie!" barked Professor McGonagall as she inspected her Gryffindors.
"It feels like we're in the army." chuckled Harry as Hermione fixed Ron's tie.
They – along with Sarah – were currently standing in the courtyard outside of the entrance hall, awaiting for the arrival of the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. They, along with the rest of Gryffindor, had arrived thirty minutes earlier. Professor McGonagall had told them the previous day that the other schools would arrive shortly after six in the evening. It was now 6:30PM and there were no traces of them.
"I can't see anything!" complained Sarah from Harry's left. Indeed, she was on her tiptoes, trying to see past the third-years standing in front of them. She was failing miserably.
Taking pity on her, he said "Do you want to climb on my back?"
Sarah looked back at him, surprised. Evidently, she hadn't expected that offer. "S-Sure." she stuttered. Smiling, Harry fell to one knee and put his hands on his back, opening them for her foots. Flushing slightly, Sarah climbed, grabbing his shoulders with her hands. Harry raised back. Ron and Hermione looked at their two friends with amusement.
Harry was thankful that Sarah was both light and small, as it did not put a lot of strain on him. He also thanked the increased exercises he had been doing since the beginning of the school year. Sarah gasped in amazement. "Wow!" she said. "I feel really tall!" She was now standing about two heads higher than everyone else.
"Got a good view up there?" Ron asked.
"Yes!" she said. Then, she let out a gasp. "I see something in the sky!" she cried loudly. Almost as one, the Hogwarts students' heads snapped in direction of the darkening sky. Far away, Harry could see something large approaching the castle.
"What do you reckon is that?" asked Ron.
"It must be something large to host both the students and staff but the classes as well." said Hermione. "I think it must be something like a giant carriage."
"But what is pulling it?" asked Harry. "Santa's reindeer?"
As it turns out, Hermione had been right. Harry's guess – which had been said as a joke – wasn't that far off the mark either. It was a large pale-blue carriage pulled by large winged horses – Abraxans. The carriage slowly dropped altitude like a plane on final approach before softly and elegantly touching down on the ground. The carriage stopped near the entrance of the courtyard.
One of the doors of the carriage opened, revealing a male student wearing a thin pale blue uniform made of silk. The student – after nervously unfolding a set of golden steps – opened the door fully and stood beside it while the tallest woman Harry had even seen walked out. She was taller than Hagrid by an entire head!
"Damn!" said Ron.
"She's enormous!" exclaimed Sarah rather loudly, making a few students around her snickers. Thankfully, her voice was not heard by the tall lady.
The giant woman walked toward the courtyard while male and female students – though mostly girls – followed in a double file. They were all wearing the same uniform to that of the student who had held the door open, though girls wore skirts instead of pants. They appeared to be quite cold as about half of them had scarves wrapped around their heads, partially covering their faces.
Dumbledore – who was in the front of the Hogwarts students – began to clap, pushing the rest of the students – excluding Harry who was still holding Sarah – to join in.
"My dear Madame Maxime!" he greeted. "Welcome to Hogwarts!"
"Dumbledore!" said Madame Maxime with a deep french accent. "I hope you are well?"
"I am in excellent form, thank you!" said the headmaster with his usual beaming smile.
"Behind me are my students – my pupils." she said with a wave of her enormous hand. Dumbledore nodded and showed them the way inside. Five minutes later, and after the Beauxbatons students had entered the castle, Dumbledore was back in front of his students, awaiting the arrival of Durmstrang. Once again, it was Sarah's sharp eyes who spotted them first.
"There!" she yelled. "The lake!"
The Hogwarts students all turned toward the Black Lake where a giant wooden pole with ropes attached to it raised through the water. As it continued to raise, a large sail came out of the water.
Harry blinked. "Is that a mast?" he asked.
"They came on a bloody frigate!" gasped Ron.
Indeed, a large three-mast ship rose from the water. The ship had a strange skeletal appearance, looking like a ghost ship straight out of a tale from the golden age of piracy. Once it had emerged completely from the lake, the ship slowly sailed toward the coast where it dropped anchor. A wooden plank was lowered from the main deck.
From where he was standing, Harry could see people disembarking, a single silhouette leading others toward the courtyard. While the leading figure appeared to be tall and thin, the others behind him appeared to be around the same build as Crabbe and Goyle.
All the students were wearing blood-red uniforms with cloaks of fur while the man leading them – who Harry assumed was their headmaster – was wearing brown robes and a feather hat.
"Dumbledore!" called the Durmstrang headmaster heartily, as if greeting an old friend. "How are you, my dear fellow?"
"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff." said Dumbledore. Harry heard a nearly unnoticeable strain in his voice, telling him that Dumbledore did not seem to hold as good of an opinion of Headmaster Karkaroff as he did Madame Maxime.
"Dear old Hogwarts." said Karkaroff. "It's good to be back here... Come, Viktor! Come along, into the warmth..." he said, beckoning to one of his students. A young man with a military haircut and thick black eyebrows walked past. He recognized him almost immediately. It was Viktor Krum, the famous Bulgarian seeker.
"Harry–" started Ron but the aforementioned boy interrupted him.
"I know" he said.
"Who do you think will be the Hogwarts champion?" asked Ron as they ate.
Hogwarts was currently holding a feast to welcome the visiting schools. The selection of dishes to eat offered a larger variety than the previous feasts Harry had attended. Including the usual, dishes from France and Eastern Europe were available to eat. Harry himself had tried to eat a fish stew Hermione had identified as 'bouillabaisse' but he hadn't liked it. Sarah, on the other hand, loved it so much she was practically eating it from the bowl itself.
Harry thought about Ron's question. To his shame, he didn't really know anyone in the upper years, excluding the Quidditch players. Of those he knew and had entered, he believed only three stood to have a chance – Angelina Johnson, Cedric Diggory and Roger Davies.
He did not truly believe that the latter had a fair chance to be selected as champion. In his opinion, Roger Davies was too arrogant and proud to be a good Champion of Hogwarts. Harry also believed that Roger Davies was less courageous and brave than the other two and more likely to panic in the middle of a Task.
As much as he liked his teammate, Harry also did not truly believed Angelina would be chosen as the school champion. While she didn't have a big head, was courageous and was not lacking in skills or talent, Angelina was a Gryffindor. Unfortunately, Harry was forced to acknowledge that House Gryffindor would not offer a Champion that could unite the school. Because of the rivalry with the two Houses, Slytherin was almost guaranteed not to support any Gryffindor champions. Also, while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had not qualms with Gryffindor, having a Gryffindor champion would almost be seen as 'business as usual' and wouldn't offer as strong of a rally point for them.
For this reason, Harry believed that Cedric Diggory was the most likely student to represent Hogwarts and the United-Kingdom in the Triwizard Tournament. Not only did Cedric share many qualities with Angelina, but he was also more studious, more approachable and more likeable than Harry's Quidditch teammate. Also, Cedric being a Hufflepuff meant that no other Houses would have a problem supporting him.
"I think it will be Cedric Diggory." answered Harry.
"Diggory? Him?" said Ron, surprised. "Why not Angelina?" he asked. Harry then spent the next ten minutes explaining his reasoning.
"I agree with you, Harry." said Hermione once Harry had finished explaining himself. "Cedric is a powerful wizard – one that will be easy to support. He practically is the perfect champion."
"I guess I see your point." said Ron slightly disgruntled. "Still, I would prefer if it was a Gryffindor."
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but, before she could, they were interrupted by a voice coming from behind Harry. "Excuse me, are you wanting the bouillabaisse?"
Harry turned around to see who had asked. He was surprised when he recognized the witch standing in front of him. It was a very beautiful young woman with blue eyes and long silver hair. From the widening of her eyes, he wasn't the only one to have recognized the other.
"Harry?/Fleur?" they said at the same time. They smiled.
"How are you?" greeted Harry. "It's been a long time!"
"I am well." she answered with a smile. "Much better than last time."
Harry winced slightly. "Yeah, no doubts about that." he said.
"Don't feel bad." chastised Fleur. "It's because of you that I'm here, whole and happy. You saved me, remember?"
"It would be hard to forget." chuckled Harry.
"Well, ever since then, I've wanted to thank you in person. If I hadn't still been in shock at the time, I would have thanked you just as Gabrielle did."
Harry blinked. "What do you mean like Gabri–" but he was never able to finish as Fleur put her hands on both of his cheeks, moved forward and kissed him in front of the entire school. Harry was so shocked that he didn't kiss back right away but, when finally he came around after a few seconds, he gave back with the same vigour. Soon enough, Fleur's tongue invaded his mouth, making the lengthy kiss – which was more of a snog at this point – feel even better.
Everything seemed to stop around them as the beautiful Veela kissed Harry Potter on the lips. Around the Great Hall, many witches shoot glares at Fleur while boys looked at Harry with jealousy.
Fleur finally pulled back after nearly half a minute, leaving a very dazed Harry Potter in her wake. "Oh, that." he said weakly, his eyes not really seeing anything.
He heard a giggle. Had it been Fleur's? He wasn't sure. It had sounded like it had come from someone younger. He heard someone speak about dishes and bouillabaisse but he didn't really understand. It was kind of blurry. Something soft and slightly humid touched his cheek before that something moved away.
He wouldn't be able to tell how long he had sat there, lost in his mind. Unfortunately for him, it seemed like his usual luck reared its ugly head.
"Harry! There's a troll in the school! Someone is in danger!" yelled a voice. Everything came back into sharp focus as Harry snapped out of his daze.
"What!? Where!?" he nearly yelled, his hand going to his lightsaber.
"Ron, that was mean!" came Hermione's voice as a whisper. Her comment confused him, at first. It was only upon seeing Ron, Sarah and her friend Natalie laugh that he realized he had been played. Hermione wasn't much better. While she tried to look like she was disapproving of her friends, the twitching corners of her lips were clear indicators that she wanted to laugh just as much.
Harry let out a sigh. "What happened?" he asked.
Ron, still laughing, gave a shrug. "You got snogged and you wouldn't snap out of it. I had to try something, mate!"
"Yeah – but I mean..."
"Fleur?" asked Hermione with a knowing smirk. Harry nodded. "Well, after she practically snogged you in front of everyone, she asked if we still have some bouillabaisse. Unfortunately for her, Sarah ate it all." she said, sending an amused look toward the small redhead.
"It was good!" protested Sarah, making Natalie laugh.
"Don't worry. Fleur seemed happy that a British girl loved the dish enough to eat an entire bowl." smiled Hermione.
"True. There aren't any left though." said the younger girl with a pout.
"Harry still has his he didn't finish. You can ask him if you can eat it."
Harry looked down at his plate. Like Hermione had said, there was a some of the French dish in his plate, along with a chicken breast and some gravy. Harry took his plate and a fork and transferred the bouillabaisse to Sarah's plate. "Sure, have the rest of it." said Harry. He then approached her and, making sure her friend couldn't overhear, whispered "You realize I'll train you harder tomorrow to burn all those excessive calories, right?"
Sarah froze. "Ah crap." she muttered. Harry chuckled.
The rest of the feast went rather quickly as Harry, Ron and Hermione walked. After all the sweets and deserts had vanished from the table, Dumbledore rose and went toward his podium.
The Headmaster first introduced the Ministry officials that had joined them for the feast. They were Ludo Bagman, Bartemius Crouch – who, Harry noticed, was being glared at by Professor Moody – and Ron's older brother Percy. Ron was rather confused at the sight of his older brother. Hermione had to remind him that he was Crouch's assistant. Dumbledore moved to the Tournament himself, first explaining that there would be a champion selected per school and that they would have to go through three tasks – the one with the highest total of points winning the Triwizard Cup. Then, he talked about what had truly interested Harry since the Tournament had been announced two months priors – the way the champions would be selected.
"Of course, each of our schools – Beauxbatons, Durmstrang and Hogwarts – will need a champion to represent them! The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire!" Dumbledore then tapped his wand three times on the casket in front of him – which had been brought by Filch during his speech – revealing a large wooden cup. The headmaster levitated the Goblet before closing the casket. Then, he gently placed the Goblet on it.
"Anybody who wish to enter the Tournament must write their name and respective school on a piece of parchment before dropping it in the Goblet of Fire." he said. "The aspiring champions have until tomorrow evening to submit their names, by which point the three champions will be chosen. To ensure that no underage student succumb to the temptation, an age line will be placed around the Goblet of Fire to stop anyone under the age of seventeen to submit their name.
"I must warn everyone here. Being chosen as champion constitute a binding, magical contract. You cannot change your mind once you are representing your school – as it will be too late. Therefore, you must make sure that you are wholeheartedly prepared to participate before you drop your name in the Goblet. Now, I think it is time for us to retire for our beds. Good night to you all!"
Harry glanced at his friends as they and the rest of the student body walked out of the Great Hall. While Ron seemed to have missed the important details, Hermione had not. She was looking at him anxiously. He could tell she wanted to talk but did not want to do so in front of everyone. Harry was grateful for that, he didn't want to either.
The walk back to Gryffindor tower was done in silence. Once they entered the common room, Harry and Hermione had to all but drag Ron toward an empty corner.
"What's wrong?" asked Ron quietly.
"I don't like it – the Goblet, I mean." answered Hermione.
"Why not?" said Ron.
"Think about it, Ron." said Harry. "First, it's a Goblet and it doesn't seem like there is anything protecting someone from being entered against their will. There is an age line – yes – but anyone older than seventeen could enter a younger student."
Hermione continued. "It's also the fact that it's a magical artifact. It's possible that someone could enchant the Goblet of Fire to select a specific name for the Tournament, instead of simply the best one to submit." Then, she whispered. "If someone really enter Harry's name like we fear, the Goblet could simply be forced to chose him."
"And, as far as we know, any adult can go and enter my name without problems." said Harry, repeating himself.
Ron looked contemplative. "I guess you're right." he said. "Unfortunately, there isn't really anything we can do, right?" he asked.
Hermione shook her head. "Unless the Goblet of Fire was enchanted by its creators to protect any unwilling participants – and even then, a skilled witch or wizard could overwrite it – there isn't anything we can do but hope for the best."
"So we wait." said Ron.
"So we wait." said Harry.