This chapter was going to be a lot longer but I've decided to split it into two so the start of the tournament/the goblet of fire part is not rushed. I can promise you many good things are about to come - and each chapter brings Fred a lot closer to his wish of winning over Vicki Hartwell! Plus a lot of you seem to be really keen for an update so I wanted to get this out.

Huge shout out to pumpkinpuzzler for the lovely review.

PS - I mention school uniform skirts getting rolled up a lot in this series. For those who were fortunate enough to not go to a school with a uniform - I'll explain what this means. Usually school skirts are made to be quite long. Some students would either stitch up the hem themselves, or get their parents to do it. For girls who aren't good at sewing/their parents can't sew either/their parents refused to let them shorten their skirts - you would have to roll your skirt up at the top in order to make the skirt shorter. Ahhh, secondary school memories.


The school week leading up to the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students was not fun for the Hogwarts students. They were all being pulled up by their teachers for the smallest things. Stephanie Fawcett had received detention for repeatedly being told to wash off her makeup and to roll down her skirt, but later on her skirt would once again be short and fresh make-up would be on her face. It had certainly scared Vicki into making sure her skirt was just below the knee and her make-up was minimal and barely noticeable.

Fred and George had also been restricted in their normal day-to-day activities. As well-known troublemakers it appeared teachers were breathing down their necks so they had been very quiet over the past week. Only Vicki knew the real reason why they hadn't been playing up – they were scheming about Bagman. They had all formed a plan on how they were going to make the most of his visit. Vicki was going to be used as bait to get him alone and then the twins would ambush him.

Between plotting, prefect duties and preparing for the international visit Vicki had been very busy that week. She was running on little sleep and had barely spent any time with Roger. However he too was very busy and he understood.

Therefore it was a peaceful feeling to Vicki when the 30th October rolled around. Although this was the day the other schools were arriving everything was in place and there was little work to be done. As both students and staff were excited yet a tad nervous about what the evening would bring most teachers only taught a light lesson, and eventually the last lesson rolled around. All students were finishing their last lesson half an hour early, however all the prefects were to miss their last lesson completely as they had more to do in preparation for what the night would bring.

On the Friday Vicki walked with Roger to their dormitories and quickly dumped her books before she made sure she was looking neat. She straightened her blazer, pulled down her skirt, combed her hair and added a school headband to her hair before she and Roger headed down to the Entrance Hall together.

Vicki was expecting to see the heads of houses present and her assumptions were correct but she was shocked when she saw Professor Dumbledore standing at the bottom of the staircase standing pleasantly with his hands behind his back. It wasn't rare to have Dumbledore's presence around the castle but he never came to things that were a mundane formality such as a quick prefect meeting before the other students came down. She thought Dumbledore would arrive when the other students did.

"Mr Davies, Miss Hartwell. Glad for you to have joined us." Dumbledore greeted them, no sarcasm in his voice whatsoever.

"Thank you sir." Roger bowed politely, but Vicki decided to make conversation.

"Are you excited for what tonight and the next few months hold for us?" Vicki asked him directly.

"Yes, I can certainly say I am very much excited." Dumbledore smiled towards her.

"Well, here's to making the most of the Triwizard tournament, right?" Vicki grinned, pretending to hold up an invisible cup.

Dumbledore could only chuckle at Victoria as Professor Flitwick had squeaked for both Vicki and Roger to head over to the Ravenclaw area for one last run-through of the arrival procedure before all of the students came down to join them.

After a half hour of last-minute preparations with the prefects, the rest of the school came down. Within minutes the Entrance Hall went from being quiet and peaceful to having hundreds of excited students chattering. The heads of houses were ordering their houses into lines based on what year they were in and the prefects were then taking each level from their house outside separately . Once Vicki had finally organised the seventh-year Ravenclaws she quickly took her place at the front – as the prefects were to stand at the very front in front of the first years, ready to greet the other schools.

From there it was silence. None of the students knew how the other schools were arriving to Hogwarts, not even the prefects. Aside from a few whispers no one was speaking their curiousities audibly. Vicki noticed all of the students were looking around in an excited manner, herself included.

From the back Vicki heard Dumbledore shout out, the first to speak "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

It took a few moments for anyone else to be able to notice it, but a very large horse-drawn carriage (which looked more like a house) appeared in the sky. A few students gasped and stepped back to make room, but the horses were able to manoeuvre their landing very loudly but safely and the carriage landed in front of the prefects.

There was complete silence from the Hogwarts students as a student in pale-blue robes exited the carriage before any of the Hogwarts prefects could offer help (most were rooted to their spot in amazement anyway) and the boy prepared some steps to lead up to the carriage. He quickly stepped back and moments later a very large woman exited the carriage. Vicki came to the conclusion within seconds that she had to have giant blood in her.

The silence was broken by Dumbledore who began to clap loudly and it didn't take long for the rest of the school to join in. Vicki heard cheering and whistling behind her and she snapped back to see it coming from the Weasley twins. They weren't able to see her from where they were standing so she didn't bother trying to wave and gave her attention back to the front.

After Dumbledore exchanged pleasantries with the headmistress of Beauxbatons, she had decided to wait inside with her students to get out of the cold. The headmistress indicated for her students to follow her inside and the Hogwarts students parted to allow them through. Vicki glanced towards Kelly and Paul the head boy and head girl and noticed they were stuck looking at the students in amazement. Knowing the teachers would be cross should the prefects not give a proper welcome to their guests she quickly formed a plan to break the ice and make the welcome a little warmer for their guests.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said to each student who passed as she extended her hand "It's such a pleasure to have your company here this year."

Vicki giggled as a few of the boys kissed her hand on their way past. She was nervous at Roger's reaction as he had shown signs of jealousy this year but she found his attention was on one of the girls who was walking into the Entrance Hall with a shawl over her head.

"I didn't see much of her face but those were the deepest blue eyes I've ever seen!" Roger exclaimed to Paul the Head Boy, who nodded to agree with Roger.

Vicki just shrugged as she went back to waiting for the other school to arrive. Vicki and Roger always spoke about people they found attractive, in fact it wasn't uncommon for Vicki to be the one to bring up the topic of a very good-looking girl, and always found herself agreeing with Roger when he thought someone was attractive. Vicki was a strong, secure girl who was fine with this arrangement. It was just when Roger took this policy too far when it became a problem which had just happened once: at the World Cup.

Soon the chattering died down and once again the entire school fell silent – the whispers had even disappeared but this could be due to the fact the Beauxbatons horses were snorting loudly and were muffling any chances of quiet conversations.

A loud rumbling sound began to ring out around them. It was shaking the surroundings and seemed to be bouncing off everything and therefore it was impossible to pinpoint the place the noise was coming from: it felt like it was coming from everywhere. It reminded Vicki of the sound a large car with a powerful motor will make from a distance.

"The lake! Look at the lake!" Lee Jordan yelled suddenly.

The entire school quickly shifted their eyes to the lake and saw a magnificent ship rise and gently finish its journey along the banks, an anchor being dropped and a plank coming down onto the bank.

The students began to disembark but stayed near their ship. Only their headmaster was brave enough to move forward and called out to Dumbledore like an old friend.

One student walked with the headmaster and many gasps were heard from the Hogwarts student when they were able to see the identity of this person. Vicki could only grin. Things were about to get really interesting this year with a world famous Quiddich player in their midst's.

After their headmaster had safely disembarked the ship and greeted Dumbledore the other students began to depart the ship one by one. Following Vicki's lead with the Beauxbatons students from before all of the prefects shook hands with the Durmstrang students and welcomed them to the school – although it was a bit rushed as most prefects wanted to end the formalities quickly so they could goggle at Krum as everyone began to go inside now all of the guests had arrived.

Vicki slowly made her way inside, staying behind the swarm of people who were attempting to get a good look at Krum. As she had never been heavily into Quiddich (she always told people she was an academic not a sporty type) she didn't give two hoots that Krum was present in their school. She felt she was in the minority as all of her friends, including Stephanie, Roger and even Cedric were preoccupied with trying to get a good look at him.

"Are you going to ask him for a signature?" Fred teased Vicki as she noticed both twins appeared next to her grinning.

"No!" Vicki scoffed loudly, offended that they would mistake her for a giggling fan girl "I'm more interested in laughing at these chumps following him. It's going to be funny watching these pathetic stalkers this year, I can't wait."

Fred had to suppress a loud groan as both he and his twin escorted Vicki into the hall, placing a hand each on her shoulders and helping her make a path as they shoved their way through the crowd gathered around the Durmstrang students.

They all made their separate ways upon their safe yet delayed entry to the Great Hall. The twins took their seat at the Gryffindor table whilst Vicki sat down at the Ravenclaw table. Fred noticed that Vicki called over the dozen Beauxbatons students that had congregated awkwardly at the entrance to the Great Hall, their presence almost forgotten by all due to the excitement of Krum's entrance. The Beauxbatons students eagerly sat at the Ravenclaw table and Vicki began to chat with them all.

"What was that weird noise you hid before? That was strange." George snorted as he made fun of his brother, although he did so fairly quietly as the tables around them began to fill and Fred's crush on Vicki was kept fairly low key.

"Ah, I may as well tell you, even though you'll laugh about the fact I've gone soft." Fred sighed but sent a small smile to his twin.

George mirrored Fred's small smile. He knew exactly what Fred was about to discuss. He understood just how head over heels his twin was for Victoria Hartwell and made a mental note to not be too harsh on Fred's feelings. He would only poke fun to cheer Fred up.

"I already think she's this amazing girl and so perfect for me. Then I find out she's one of the only girls in school to not fawn over Krum if not the only girl not to; in fact she's interested in laughing at those people this year. Can she just make this easier and do something unattractive for once to help me get over this crush." Fred sighed as he gave his explanation to George.

"Chin up, mate. There's quite the looker just two seats down from Vicki. Take a glance, you'll forget all about plain old icky Vicki." George pointed out as he nodded his head towards the Ravenclaw table.

Fred reluctantly took a look and it was immediately obvious who George was referring to. One of the Beauxbatons girls had taken off her head scarf and in its place was shiny platinum blonde hair, dazzling light eyes and the brightest white teeth that Fred had ever laid eyes on. She was very attractive and he would admit that, but he was still of the opinion that Vicki was better. Maybe this new mysterious girl's eyes were the wrong shade of blue and also that he preferred brunettes, or maybe he knew at the back of his mind that there was no chance in hell this Beauxbatons beauty would have a more attractive personality than Vicki. But she hardly made him forget about 'plain old icky Vicki', and he had to stop himself from snapping at George for referring to Vicki with such an unflattering line, realising George only said this to help him feel better.

Vicki began to chat with a few of the Beauxbatons students in an attempt to warmly welcome them to the school. Whilst these students were far from rude to Vicki they had many complaints and kept comparing Hogwarts to their own school in an unfavourable manner. Some of the Ravenclaws within earshot scoffed at the Beauxbatons students' insults towards the school but Vicki felt empathetic towards them. If Vicki stepped into Beauxbatons she would do the same – Hogwarts would always be number one in her eyes and it made sense students from other schools would be protective of their own institution.

Once students from all schools had been seated (The Durmstrang students had taken a seat at the Slytherin table – Graham Montague gave Vicki a thumbs up from the table which made her smile) Dumbledore opened the feast formally and the students began to tuck in. Vicki had only just finished filling her plate with food and had picked up her fork to eat when a figure from the Slytherin table approached her, and it wasn't Montague.

"Hartwell, you're officially back on prefect duties as of right now. You need to go to the outside to greet our special guests and escort them to the staff table." Kelly, the Head Girl informed Vicki.

"You're Head Girl, can't you do it?" Vicki whined loudly, wanting to get a chance to eat first and was not very happy with this proposal.

"You'd think so," Kelly said through gritted teeth as she was clearly feeling dejected about the arrangement herself "But Ludo Bagman specifically asked for you for reasons unknown, and they're granting his wish."

Vicki jumped up immediately upon hearing Kelly's words. Through all the excitement of the other two schools arriving and the beautiful feast prepared by the house elves in front of her she had completely forgotten about Bagman's letter and how he said he would be visiting the school this weekend. As much as Vicki wanted to eat the food, she owed Fred and George a huge favour for showing her the kitchens and how to access them. Her plan tonight was to figure out Bagman's movements for the weekend so the twins could properly confront him about their missing winnings from the bet at the World Cup. Hopefully she would be able to lure him somewhere alone tomorrow and conveniently have the twins run into them, she was praying it wouldn't be too long after she got Bagman alone as she didn't fancy spending large amounts of time in his company.

"Cheer up. You get to be Head Girl during the Triwizard Tournament – it's such a big responsibility but a great opportunity too. You're going to have so many doors open for you due to this. It's the first tournament in hundreds of years, and you are the host school's Head Girl. Some of us common prefects have to do the small, boring tasks such as greeting guests." Vicki smiled towards Kelly, who smiled back at Vicki and thanked her before taking her seat back at the Slytherin table, a large strut in her walk.

Vicki didn't say those words purely to cheer up Kelly – there was a selfish motive behind them. She wanted Kelly to forget all about how Bagman requested Vicki specifically – what better way to do that than to stroke a Slytherin's ego? Vicki had to be stealthy and sneaky in her approach of trapping Bagman, she couldn't have other people know of Bagman's soft spot for her. This information was for Fred and George Weasley only.

Vicki didn't bother to tell anyone seated at her table of where she was going. Stephanie was too busy trying to goggle at Krum to her disappointment and Roger was immersed deep in conversation with one of the Beauxbatons girls that Vicki had befriended – her name was Fleur. Vicki had however managed to catch the eye of both twins and she made a hand gesture to the door and hoped that they had understood what she was trying to say – she was on Bagman duty tonight. As no plans had been set in concrete for tonight with Bagman this was not pre-planned between the twins and Vicki – but she knew it was a great opportunity for her to put their plan in motion and she would speak to the twins after the feast.

Vicki bounded out of the Great Hall and into the Entrance Hall. Standing in the entrance she saw two figures – as she got nearer she noticed that Bagman was accompanied by Barty Crouch, another ministry wizard who she knew was behind the revival of the Triwizard Tournament. She felt relieved – the less time alone with Bagman the better.