A/N

The response to the prologue has been amazing. You guys don't understand how motivational your reviews make me. But WHEW, you have to admit the revision prologue was sooooo much better than the original. I mean, my hands were SHAKING while I wrote it. Super proud of myself. Anyway, I'm on a writing spree. Look at me posting chapter 1 only 18 hours after the prologue :* wow. Thank you guys so much, i love you.

Kisses

~ Bella

:ADWD:

October 31, 1994.

The day had come and gone, leaving behind the soft prominent rays the sun had so generously provided, and replacing them with obedient shadows thrice the size of their earlier daytime appearance. Hermione sat under the old willow tree that gloriously loomed over the black lake, a book in her lap, as her slender fingers expertly brushed across the worn-out pages of Charles Baudelaire's " Les Fleurs du Mal ".

She quietly admired the delicate calligraphy that danced across the pages of her worn-out book in swirls of midnight ink, as the crisp autumn wind tousled her buoyant brown curls. She sat there in silence, before looking up pointedly in the direction of the sound of familiar footsteps.

Hermione closed her book and stood up, smiling at the welcomed presence of her bestfriend.

" You've been out here for hours," she watched him as he bent down to grab her school bag, green eyes sparkling in amusement.

Hermione looked down at her watch and rolled her eyes playfully, " It's only half past six, Harry." She pointed out as she gripped the rough bark of the willow tree, using it as an anchor to pull herself up from the ground before dusting her uniform off, and following Harry up the small trail back towards the castle." I was beginning to think you wouldn't come get me at all." She laughed as Harry smiled sheepishly.

" Sorry," he rubbed the back of his neck guiltily before stepping around a dangerously sharp-cornered boulder that stood in the middle of their path. " I didn't think you wanted to be bothered."

Hermione smiled softly at her bestfriend, there wasn't ever a time Harry Potter put himself before someone else. He looked back at her with a warm smile, noting the way her eyes darted back and forth between the harsh outline of their beloved school and the small winding path before them. He knew what she was thinking.

" Turns out Ron's fallen inlove with Viktor Krum," Harry said sarcastically and laughed as Hermione's face twisted into a disgusted scowl," He hasn't left the quidditch pitch all day, watching Viktor seems to be his new hobby."

Hermione rolled her eyes," And to think he still can't manage to get an autograph, " they both chuckled at their friend's antics before silence gained dominance once again. Ron really was something else.

They continued to walk down the small path in silence, eager feet crushing the fallen leaves that littered the floor in monochromes of red and orange. Suddenly In the distance, the toll of a large bell echoed across the grounds, Hermione stopped walking and looked up in alarm.

" Harry, at what time exactly does the feast start?" She asked him, eyeing the way he shifted from one foot to the other.

" Well..what time is it now?" He frowned as she looked down at her watch.

" A quarter to seven," she replied nervously, anxiety increasing by the second. She hated being late.

" Oh..well then uh..5 minutes ago I believe." Hermione's eyes widened in shock.

" FIVE MINUTES? " she shrieked, grasping at her curly locks of chocolate. Harry looked at her in alarm, scared of getting too close for fear she'll punch him in frustration. She did that a lot.

" Hermione— " his attempt to calm her nerves was quickly cut short by the feeling of her slender hand grabbing his wrist as she started to sprint ahead, dragging both her bestfriend and precious books behind her.

" Harry, we're going to be LATE." and with that Gryffindor's Princess and The chosen one sprinted down the winding path, across the luscious grass of the school grounds, and towards the great castle of Hogwarts.

:ADWD:

The Great Hall was decorated exquisitely for the feast prepared. Four large oak tables rested in the middle of the room, each representing a different house. Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, laden with extravagantly prepared delicacies you could find nowhere else. Normally, Hermione would've taken the time to admire the enchanted decor. But tonight was the night the champions were selected.

The two Gryffindors had arrived just on time, despite Hermione's agitation, seeing as the hall was abuzz with nervous excitement. Pairs upon pairs of curious eyes stared at goblet of fire and it's cerulean blue flames in wonder. And, judging by the series of impatient expressions on their classmates faces, Hermione & Harry weren't the only ones eager to find out the selected champions of the Triwizard tournament.

Hermione swiftly walked towards the Gryffindor table with Harry right on her heels, before squeezing in between Ron and Ginny.

" What took you so long?," Ron asked with a mouthful of mashed potatoes and sweet peas. Hermione noticed Ginny scowl in disgust at her brother's lack of manners.

" Ron," the ginger hissed in anger, " don't talk with your mouth full. It's revolting." She threw an apologetic glance at Hermione, seemingly feeling responsible for her brother's dense actions.

" We were down by the lake and lost track of time. But..Someone" —she glared accusingly at Harry who, once again, smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck— ," forgot to come get me ON TIME."

" Oh..what were you doing by the lake?" Hermione frowned at his accusing tone, the others had sensed it too, seeing as Harry shifted nervously beside her and Ginny stared at Ron incredulously. Everyone knew the black lake was the one place, other than the library, that Hermione went to clear her head.

She opened her mouth to respond but quickly closed it as the candlelight dimmed and the excited conversations throughout the hall turned into a low murmur. The selections were about to start.

The golden trio stared intently at the front of the room as they watched Dumbledore get to his feet and walk ever so slowly toward the goblet that burned with sapphire flames.

" Ah, the moment you've all been waiting for. The goblet is almost ready to make it's decision. It will take a minute or two, for it to prepare itself." The headmaster's eyes sparkled in the dimly lit hall, the eagerness and excitement of his students amusing him to no end.

At this point, an absolute stillness fell across the hall as curious eyes stared at azure flames. No one moved unless they had to, everyone's breath seemed to die in their throats, refusing to let out a single tendril of air. Save for the excitement, the silence was almost suffocating.

Ron shifted impatiently in his seat, while Ginny picked at her fingernails, looking back and forth between the bright flames and her small fingers.

A mix of startled gasps erupted around the room as the goblet's azure flames suddenly burst into a shade blood red-orange, sparks flying out in different directions. Hermione sat up in her seat, all attention fixated on the charred piece of parchment that shot from the tongue of flames and into Dumbledore's hand.

" Before we begin, " he started, ignoring the collective groan that echoed through the hall from both staff and students," if your' name is called, I ask if you would please make your way up the hall, past the staff table and through the door leading to the next chamber" - he pointed a wrinkled finger at a large oak door located behind the staff table- " you will be receiving your first instructions there."

Hermione eagerly watched Dumbledore open the small piece of charred parchment. He opened his mouth to read the selected name, but quickly shut it with a frown on his face before beckoning over Barty Crouch snr, the head of the ministry's magic department, and Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magic games and Sports.

The silence in the hall was broken by the buzz of confused murmur that spread across the four house tables, as the 3 adults discussed merlin knows what before the Goblet of fire.

The conversation quickly came to an end as Crouch and Bagman sat back down, and Dumbledore cleared his throat to speak once again.

" Ladies and Gentlemen, there seems to have been a slight change of rules." He began, staring out at the crowd of students watching and waiting for his next words." there are two names on this parchment" - a collective murmur rippled through each of the houses - " so it has been decided that we will be doing..teams."

Hermione, Ginny, Ron and Harry all looked at each other in bewilderment, as excited conversation erupted throughout the hall. Talk of who was going to be placed with who quickly became the topic of discussion, albeit dying back down to a low murmur once again as Dumbledore waved his wand and the candles blew out, the spitting flames from the goblet of fire bright enough to light up the whole room.

" Once again, when your names are called, I ask if you would please make your way to the other chamber with your teammate." He said as he began to unfurl the charred parchment for the second time that night.

" The selected tournament team for Durmstrang," Everyone held their breath as his voice rang loud and clear," consists of Viktor Krum and Dimitar Adonov."

Ron whooped and stood up in his seat as a storm of applause erupted from the students and spread through the hall, along with a series of whistles and cheers.

" Bravo, Viktor Bravo!" boomed Karkaroff from his seat at the professors table. Hermione felt a twinge of sympathy for the other boy who got called, who was nothing but in the shadow of Viktor's spotlight. Viktor Krum walked proudly to the front of the hall, past the staff table and disappeared through the large oak door that led to the second chamber, Dimitar not too far behind him.

The hall quieted down once again as wonderful sparks of orange erupted from the goblet, as another charred piece of parchment shot up from the flames before being caught gracefully between Dumbledore's fingers.

" The Tournament team for Beauxbatons", said Dumbledore," Fleur Delacour and Elöise Dejarnette."

Hermione watched as two very beautiful girls, one with golden locks and features resembling a Veela, and the other with Long chocolate curls and drops of caramel freckles spread over the bridge of her nose and the flush of her cheeks, stood up and elegantly walked down the aisle towards the second chamber.

She looked over at the table the champions had come from, and scowled at the not to pleased looks of their remaining classmates. To say they were disappointed was a bit of an understatement, finding most of them were in tears, upset with the fact they hadn't been chosen.

When both girls had vanished into the chamber, silence reigned once again. You could almost suffocate on excitement that hummed through the air, next where the Hogwarts champions. Everyone held their breath as the flames turned blood red once again, and brought forth the last and final piece of paper.

Dumbledore held the parchment between his fingers, eyes dancing with amusement, before unfurling the paper to read out the names of the chosen champions.

" The tournament team for Hogwarts," hermione could practically hear the crossing fingers of her fellow classmates," Cedric Diggory and—" he quickly cut himself off with a frown before muttering something unintelligible. Hermione could feel the excitement emanating from the Hufflepuff table. But they kept quiet until the second name was called.

" Champions Cedric Diggory...and Harry Potter."

Hermione's heart dropped as she slowly turned to look at her bestfriend. Harry was staring at Dumbledore, his green eyes had widened to extraordinary proportions. The silence was unbearable, save for the scrape of a bench dragging across the floor as Cedric Diggory proudly stood up and walked down the aisle. No one clapped, no one moved, no one breathed.

The echoed footsteps of the Hufflepuff champion bounced off the walls of the great hall. Hermione soon became aware of the situation and reached over to pinch her bestfriend.

" Harry," she hissed softly as she, once again, pinched the arm closest to her," Harry for goodness sake." She was getting ready to nudge him out of his spot on the bench, before he met her gaze in silent understanding and stood up with a shaky breath to walk down the aisle.

Harry walked down toward the front of the hall as the students started to talk in a low angry murmur, thoughts ran through his head at lightning speed.

What did I do to deserve this? He thought miserably. Just as he disappeared through the large oak door, he looked back to see Hermione watching him with a sad expression and Ron looking in the opposite direction, a scowl marring his features.

The Gryffindor table was awfully quiet and Hermione shivered at the tension that clogged the air.

" I thought it would be Angelina," said Lee Jordan, earning him a well deserved punch from Seamus Finnegan.

" Shut up Jordan," Ron snarled in annoyance, ignoring the bewildered expression Hermione shot him from her spot next to Ginny.

Suddenly, Dumbledore clapped his hands in false delight. Quieting the angry students but not quite cutting the tension that still lingered in the air.

" Excellent, We now have our selected Tournament teams, and I am counting upon all of you to show a tremendous amount of support for—"

For the fourth time that evening, crimson sparks flew through the air and ejected yet another piece of charred parchment.

Throughout the hall no one moved a muscle and breathing seemed to no longer be a necessity. Hermione looked over at Ginny whose eyes were wide and hands were, once again, fiercely picking at the chipped nails on her fingers.

Ron, who still had a scowl dressed on his freckled face, was peering curiously towards the front of the room. Hermione's brown eyes darted around the great hall, taking in the mixed looks of fear, curiosity and utter confusion, as her heart hammered in her chest.

Her hands shook as she wiped her now sweaty palms on the soft dark fabric of her skirt. Was just a normal year of school too much to ask? Her heart beat erratically in her chest, the feeling almost unbearable, as Dumbledore began to unfold the parchment with an unreadable expression.

His passive expression was soon replaced with shock as he stared at the piece of parchment before reading it aloud.

" Hogwarts second and final tournament team," the headmaster started before closing his eyes to hide the sadness and hesitation.

" Champions Draco Malfoy...and Hermione Granger."

:ADWD:

A/N

Hi yeah that was super long and ik there's not a lot of Draco this chapter buuuut I Thought I'd start this off with some Hermione x Harry moments bc their friendship gives me life. You'll see draco more and more in the upcoming chapters anyway. I didn't have enough of HarryxHermione moments in the OG so I hope the first half made up for it. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Any theories? Or ideas? PM me or leave reviews. I'll be trying to update regularly, if not every other day then just every Wednesday. The next couple chapters might be a bit slow, but..I'll try not to drag chapters on bc then it becomes boring. But let me know, shorter chapters? or long ones?

Leave reviews, what was your favorite part of the chapter? What do you want to happen next?

Kisses

~ Bella