It had been a few weeks since the announcement of the Triwizard Champions before Headmaster Gagwilde approached Jane to tell her where to go for the first task.
"It's on the 14th of November at 12 O'clock, third floor, second door on the right. There should be and entrance chamber, stay there until instructed to enter the next room," he had said. Jane nodded in understanding. "And Jane?" he called after her as she turned to walk away, "Good luck. We're all counting on you for another Hogwarts victory."
Jane forced a confident grin but was afraid it came out as more of a grimace.
On the fourteenth of November, Jane dressed anxiously in her school robes, which were the most practical ones she had, sturdy leather shoes and didn't wear a corset. This was a little rebellious, but she figured that she always wore it so loose anyway that nobody would notice. She also cleaned her glasses and wore her hair up in a practical ponytail instead of her usual braid. Jane wasn't really sure why suddenly she cared so much how she looked, or had the creeping feeling that she had to be prepared. Maybe it was just the nerves.
At 12 O'clock she staggered up the third-floor staircase with the other champions, waved on half-heartedly by her fellow Hogwarts students. Somehow the information had leaked that the first task was on the fourteenth and noon, so naturally most of the students from each school were there. Pyotr had said 'Hello' gruffly when they arrived, which Jane appreciated as she had heard from rumors that hearing his voice was a rare occurrence.
They awkwardly entered the chamber through the second door on the right and sat down in the stiff chairs provided. The Beuxbatons champion, Marcelle, kept curling her beautiful sleek dark hair around her wand and nervously tightening her already suffocating corset, and Pyotr was running his hand through his short-cut, almost black hair and fiddling with the long ebony eyelashes framing his deep brown eyes. Jane kept fidgeting nervously and pushing her glasses back up her nose, which they were sliding down with the amount of cold sweat that was breaking out all over her body.
At some point an Imp came in with three glasses of water, which they all drank in one, their throats dry with nerves. To Jane the water tasted funny, but the others didn't seem to react to it at all, so maybe it was just the norm here. If anything, drinking so much just made her throat dryer.
After about fifteen minutes of silence, Jane resorted to chanting comforting words to herself under her breath. "It'll be fine, you'll be okay, nobody's going to die. You'll be OKAY." But in reality, she was thinking quite different. This is horrible, what have you done? You never should have entered, this is insane, she thought to herself, no matter how much she tried to shut down her restless mind.
The silence had become awkward, and Jane was about to say something just to break it when Headmaster Aleksandrov walked out of the adjacent room.
"Welcome," he said, clearly holding back some excitement, "To the First Task. You may enter the room behind me now, and my fellow heads and I will explain the task ahead."
They all got up from their seats and followed him towards the open door, trying to get a peek inside. Jane had the uneasy feeling she was walking to her doom, like a lamb to the slaughter.