Jane was lying on her side in the fold down bed in her carriage, waiting for the comforting sound of Caroline's deep snores, indicating she had dropped of to sleep. When she heard Caroline breathing even out and she begun to snuffle, Jane gently and quietly slid out of bed, already dressed in dark, warm clothes, and no corset. She fingered the piece of parchment in her pocket, rereading the words she had written earlier. Jane Haversham-Smythe, Hogwarts. It said. The ink was already fading from how many times she'd nervously run her fingers over the writing, and the S was smudged.
She crept out of the carriage, careful not to wake Caroline next to her, and slowly pushed open the door, flinching as it creaked. Holding her breath, she heaved a sigh of relief as she heard her roommate's gentle snoring. Jane jumped out of the carriage, and slowly slunk towards the turret that was the entrance to the school, ducking under cart windows and extinguishing her wand whenever she heard someone shifting in their bed.
After what seemed like and eternity of tiptoeing to Jane, she finally reached the giant oak front doors of the Durmstrang fortress.
"Alohomora!" She whispered, and the door opened slowly with an agonizingly long creak. Looking around to make sure nobody noticed, Jane slipped inside the huge round entrance hall. In the middle was the Goblet of Fire, its bright blue flames burning innocently, casting ominous shadows around the dark room. Jane silently walked to the Goblet, and reached up to put her name in, when she heard footsteps.
Turning quickly and pointing her wand in to the shadows, she listened warily for the sound again. Hearing nothing, she turned and very slowly put her name in to the Goblet.
She heard footsteps again, clicking across the cold marble floor.
"Who's there?" she said, panicked. A boy stepped out of the shadows, wearing Durmstrang robes and holding a piece of parchment. Jane relaxed but didn't lower her wand.
Pyotr was surprised to see the nerdy girl he'd noticed at dinner entering her name. He wondered why she wanted to enter. Does she need the money? Is it just for fun?
Jane laughed nervously. "You scared me,"
Pyotr just nodded in greeting and walked calmly past to put his name in the goblet.
"Why are you entering?" he asked her, with his slightly Russian accent.
Jane wondered if she should answer, but in the end decided to tell the truth.
"My sister…my sister's a squib," she muttered nervously. "My parents are really cruel to her for it, and I need the money to escape and raise her myself, away from them. What about you?"
"Personal reasons," Pyotr answered bluntly. Jane nodded in understanding. "Okay."
He was surprised. The girl did have an honorable reason for entering. He might actually have some sympathy for her when she didn't get picked.
"Well, nice meeting you," Jane casually walked towards the doors.
"Wait!" Pyotr shouted quietly after her. "Please don't tell anyone I entered,"
Jane looked at him strangely for a second, then agreed. "Alright. But you can't tell anyone you saw me put my name in either,"
Pyotr nodded. "Goodbye."
They both exited the hall from opposite ends. Jane crept back to her carriage, changed clothes silently and snuck back in to bed. She wondered whether that guy, whoever he was, would keep his promise and not tell anyone she entered in the Tournament. She knew she would stay silent about him. Jane didn't break promises. She was slightly nervous for if they both got chosen as champions though.
He was ginormous! She thought. He must have been around seven feet! He would excel at any physical challenge. And he seemed so unfeeling too, I bet he could curse anyone without thinking twice. Jane knew that no matter how much knowledge she had stored up, she wouldn't be able to beat anyone at some kind of race, or fighting someone or something without magic.
In fact, if I wasn't entered my money would be on him. And she didn't even know his name. How sad. She wondered why he was entering, he had refused to say. She could understand if he didn't want to though, they had only just met, and she was a total stranger to him.
Jane yawned, exhausted from the flight over and her little nighttime stroll. She fell in to a gentle slumber, lulled to sleep by the sound of Caroline's even snores, with millions of questions still circling around her head.