Avery whirled around to see not only Fred, but George standing behind her. Both of them were wearing perfectly blank expressions, their eyes trained on her. She looked back and forth between them, not sure what to say. A large part of her wanted to tell them she didn't have time to talk to them and walk back to the common room with Cedric. Another small, but persistent part of her, was very curious what they wanted with her. While she waged an internal debate, Cedric said hello to the twins, who only nodded curtly in response.

"So," said Fred, as he turned his head away from Cedric back towards Avery, "can we have a word? It's a bit urgent."

"Uh," Avery stammered, now looking between the twins and Cedric, still not sure what to say. Cedric made her choice for her.

"I'll see you back in the common room, Avery. Don't be long. It's nearly curfew," he said, before bidding the twins goodnight and walking away, either too polite or oblivious to note the loathing that was rolling off them in waves in his direction.

Avery rounded on them and asked "well? What's so urgent?"

"Not here," George breathed, grasping her arm just above the elbow and steering her out of the Great Hall along with the other students. George pulled her up the stairs to the second floor and into a vacant classroom, Fred following closely behind them, and snapped the door closed.

"Well?" Avery asked, folding her arms and taking a seat on one of the desks. She fixed Fred with a benign stare. Was he finally going to apologize? To make amends? She looked around the room briefly and realized they were in the very same dusty classroom that the twins had first dragged her into and confronted her after their detention together one year ago.

Fred stared back at her. But there was no remorse in his hazel eyes. In fact, he was looking at her as if he hardly knew her. As if they had never been friends, never kissed. As if she were a stranger he found mildly intriguing, but wasn't sure he wanted to commit the energy it would take to engage her.

"We need a favor," he said, and no flicker of emotion crossed his face. He continued to look at her with mild interest, and his twin shifted awkwardly beside him.

"We want to enter the triwizard tournament, but we don't turn 17 until April. We were hoping you might help us enter our names," George continued, looking a little apologetic at Fred's candor.

"You've got to be joking," Avery snarled, uncrossing her arms and standing. She could feel the hot anger coming to a boil in the pit of her stomach and radiating through her chest. Fred had done his best to ignore her all year, and he had the audacity to demand a favor from her?

"You owe us," Fred snarled back, the emotion finally breaking through and marring his features. He looked almost as angry as Avery felt. Color was rising in his cheeks, his eyes were narrowing, and his mouth was becoming a thin line. He was menacing in that moment.

"Merlin's saggy y-front," Avery spat, her face growing pink as well. "If anyone owes any- anyone anything, it's you who owes me an apology!" She said this rather too quickly, her tongue tripping over the alliteration.

"You destroyed our work-!"

"I worked just as hard on those snackboxes as either of you did! I cared just as much-"

"DUNG! If you cared half as much as we did, it wouldn't have been so easy for you to wreck-!"

"It wasn't easy! Okay? I screwed up!" Avery exclaimed, her eyes brimming with furious tears. George had all but disappeared into her peripheral vision. She looked at Fred, who looked both angry and aghast simultaneously.

"You... You what?" he started, his voice marginally softer than it had been. It was as if he were testing to see if her admission had been a trap- still on his guard, but gingerly prodding at it to see if a snare would enclose him.

"I messed up," Avery choked, now focusing on the stone floor rather than his face. "I realized almost as soon as I had done it that it wasn't right… But I was so upset," she paused for a moment to wipe her face quickly and take a deep breathe so she could regain her composure. "I couldn't… I acted rashly and by the time I'd realized what I'd done, it was too late. I'm sorry for that."

A silence hung in the room around them, as none of them seemed to know what to say next. Avery kept her eyes fixed on a piece of Droobles Best Blowing Gum that had been chewed and pressed into the stone floor and forgotten. It was George who what seemed like ages later.

"It's alright, Avery. It was a mistake. We've all made mistakes-"

"I'm not excusing what you did," Avery spoke over George, looking at Fred squarely in the eye again. "George and I have made amends. I've apologized for what I've done. But you haven't said anything, and you don't get to sit their silently and let George apologize for you."

Fred's jaw, which had been set, slackened slightly. Indeed, his whole body suddenly became less rigid and more relaxed, as if he had been tense for ages and was finally too exhausted to keep up his defenses. His eyes darted between his twin and Avery for a moment, before his eyes settled on hers.

"I'm sorry for ruining your chances at Quidditch. I knew it meant a lot to you."

"Why didn't you tell me what you'd done? When you stopped me by the whomping willow?" Avery asked, breathlessly. She had convinced herself she was never going to get an apology out of Fred, and now that she had she was desperate for his answers to the questions she had blurted out to George a month ago.

"The damage had been done, and you were so upset… I didn't think it would improve or change anything if you knew," Fred explained.

"That's a lie! You knew it would change everything if I knew. It would change me being your friend, helping you with your joke shop," Avery said, a bitter edge to her voice, her throat burning, the tears threatening to pool in her eyes once more. Fred sighed infinitesimally before giving her a solemn nod.

"Yeah, that too. I was being selfish."

"Was our friendship real? Was… Was any of it real?"

"Of course it was!" Fred said without hesitation. His eyes flickered between her and his twin again, and she wondered if he would've been more comfortable having this conversation out of George's earshot. "That's why I was afraid of ruining it with the truth. I'm honestly very sorry, Avery."

Avery heaved a deep breath and looked between the twins again. She decided quickly nt to push her luck for anything more from them tonight.

"Well. What is it that you need, then?"

"You'll help us submit our names?" Fred asked, looking elated.

"I can try, but I don't understand what you possibly think could fool Dumbledore's age line or how I could help with it."

"Easy!" George said, stepping over to Avery and putting an arm around her, looking relieved that they were all back on speaking terms again. "Transform yourself into someone older and drop our names in."

Avery rolled her eyes dramatically. "Don't tell me you actually thought that would work," she scoffed. The twins looked a bit taken aback at this, George even allowing his arm to drop from her shoulder.

"Why wouldn't it?"

"Because! I can make myself look any way I want, but I can't actually age myself. Honestly, it's ridiculous how many times this week I've had to explain that."

The twins looked at each other. They seemed to be silently communicating somehow, because when they both looked back at her, they said her in unison "just give it a go."

Avery crossed her arms and looked at them, incredulous. "You want me to change myself into an old lady and try to submit your names? After all the logic I've just used explaining why I can't?"

"Not an old lady-" Fred began.

"On old man," George concluded. He had crossed to a cabinet and opened it, drawing out a bundle of fabric, and tossed it to Avery. She caught it easily and unfurled the bundle, almost immediately recognizing it as a set of Dumbledore's very distinct midnight blue robes, adorned with silver stars.

"You… You want me to impersonate our headmaster to illegally enter your names in a potentially deadly competition?" Avery squeaked disbelievingly.

"Exactly," George said with what Avery assumed was supposed to be a reassuring wink.

"And if I'm caught? I'd be expelled for sure!"

"Who is going to scold Dumbledore for being out of bed at this hour? You couldn't disguise yourself as anyone safer! No one is going to question the headmaster!" Fred chortled, clapping Avery on the shoulder. She gave him a sharp look, and he seemed to regret the physical contact instantly. He retreated a few steps and checked his watch. "It's past curfew. He'll have set the cup up already and everyone else will be in bed. Just give it a try for us, please. If it doesn't work, we have a back up plan."

"Oh good, because you not getting into the tournament is, of course, my number one concern about this hare-brained scheme."

Regardless of her sarcasm, Avery sat Dumbledore's robes on a desk and began to unfasten her cloak. She ushered the twins from the room and changed into the headmaster's robes and focused hard on what she could recall of Dumbledore's features- his long silver hair and beard, his crooked nose, his twinkling blue eyes- and transformed to the best of her ability. She checked her reflection as best she could in a piece of glass on the cabinet where the robes had been hidden, and decided her transformation would have to do. She opened the door and the twins rushed back inside. George let out a low, wolf whistle.

"Honestly Avery, you're never been better looking," he said with a grin.

"Eat dung."

"It's so strange hearing your voice come out of Dumbledore's mouth," Fred commented, looking a bit revolted, before handing her four bits of parchment. George and Fred's names were on the first two. The third bore Lee Jordan's name. The last, she was surprised to see, bore her own name.

"What's this?" Avery asked, her now-silver brow furrowed.

"Well, Lee really wants to enter. And we thought you might as well," George replied with a shrug.

"Look, I'm not even sure this goblet is going to let me submit one name, let alone four," Avery told them, her eyes shuffling from one freckled face to the other. She tried to hand back the slip with her own name, but the twins backed away folding their arms.

"Just do what you can," George replied. Avery rolled her eyes and turned away from them, heading out of the classroom and down the stairs with the four slips in her hand.

The stairway was dark, except for the glow emanating from the Goblet of Fire below in the entrance hall. Peering about for anyone who might be patrolling the corridors, she carefully made her way towards the steps as quietly as she could, her wand clutched in one hand, the bits of paper clutched in the other. She paused midway to the stairs and strained her ears- she could have sworn she had heard a sort of clunking sound. She looked about, but saw no one in the corridor with her. She turned back toward the goblet and saw what was quite possibly the strangest thing she had ever seen at Hogwarts- a floating, disembodied hand making its way across the entrance hall.

But it was not transparent, as though that of a ghost. It was quite far away, and it was dark, so Avery could not make out much detail, but it was certainly a very real, fleshy hand. Frozen to the spot, Avery stared as the hand floated closer and closer to the goblet of fire. She realized it was holding a slip of parchment- it was submitting a name into the tournament.

The hand hovered momentarily over the mouth of the goblet before releasing the scrap of paper. A tongue of flame whipped out of the Goblet and snatched the piece of parchment, retreating into the goblet with it. The hand then disappeared. Avery looked about for a moment or two, trying to figure out where it could have possibly gone. She backed her way over to a nearby suit of armor and peered around from behind it. Was someone out, prowling the corridors? Would she be seen? Would she be caught? And what could possibly explain a floating human hand submitting a name to the triwizard tournament? Suddenly, Avery realized.

Someone must have an invisibility cloak! And they were using it to submit their name to the tournament!

She had never heard of anyone in school having an invisibility cloak- they were quite rare- but it seemed to be the only explanation. The only other way of becoming invisible that she knew of was a disillusionment charm, and that covered the entire body, including the hands. It also didn't make the person completely invisible- more like they were camouflaged, so she would've been able to see at least the outline of whoever was down there if that had been their method of disguise.

Reasoning that whoever was down there with the cloak had to be a student and would, as the twins had suggested, be unlikely to question Dumbledore's appearance or actions when they themselves were trying not to be caught, Avery made her way slowly and quietly down the stairs. She kept looking about furtively, hoping to spot whoever had been there before her. However, she saw no one. Anxious to get back to the twins who were waiting in the empty classroom, Avery reached the bottom of the stairs and hurried forward. The goblet was sitting on a stool in the middle of a large golden circle drawn on the floor. She paused for a moment, sure that the line would be impossible to pass. However, she stepped across it without impediment. After each of her feet came into contact with the stone floor inside the golden circle, it was only a few seconds before Avery heard a sizzling sound and was thrown from the circle, landing painfully on her backside ten feet away. There was a popping sound, and Avery half wondered if she had broken something.

Gasping, muttering curses, Avery pushed herself into a standing position and decided she probably hadn't broken anything. Upon impact, she had dropped her wand and the bits of parchment. She stooped to pick up her wand first, and then the names she had failed to submit. And then she heard it. A clunking sound traveling down the corridor off of the entrance hall. Moody must be out patrolling the corridors. He was drawing closer to her with every thudding step. She snatched the parchment. She dashed back up the stairs, anxiety gripping her inside as she flew far faster than her current appearance suggested she could. Without hazarding a glance backwards, she dashed as fast as she could back to the abandoned classroom and launched herself inside it, throwing the door closed behind her.

Fred and George, who seemed to have been passing the time pouring over a bit of parchment, looked up at her with looked of mixed concern and anticipation.

"Are you alright? Did you get the names in?"

Panting hard, Avery explained what had happened from beginning to end.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, handing them back their slips of parchment. "Maybe you could find out who has the invisibility cloak and ask them to submit your names for you."

George took the bits of parchment from her outstretched hand. "But… I don't understand. Whoever was under the cloak wasn't thrown out of the circle, so they must've been of age, right? Why did they bother hiding under the cloak?"

"Dunno," said Avery, with a shrug. "Maybe they didn't want to be embarrassed if they didn't get picked or something. Didn't want anyone to see them submit their name, so they did it after hours and under the cloak to be sure they didn't get caught."

George furrowed his brow at this, but did not respond. He looked down at the bits of paper in his hands. "Hang on. Where's your name?" he asked, looking back up at her.

Avery stared down at his hands, which held three pieces of parchment, none of which bore her name. Avery clapped her hands to her mouth.

"I must've dropped it! What if Moody finds it? What if he saw me?!"

"I'm sure it's fine," Fred told her soothingly, holding his hands out, as though trying to calm a wild animal. "I'm sure he didn't find it. And even if he did, there is nothing he can do to prove you were out of bed at night. You were perfectly well disguised."

After a few more minutes of reassuring words and Avery taking deep, steadying breaths, they decided it would be best to head back to their respective common rooms. The twins bade her goodnight and set off for Gryffindor tower. Avery transformed (only after Fred reminded her she wasn't herself and that she should leave the robes in the cabinet) and snuck back down the stairs, her heart racing with every step. She did not see the slip of parchment with her name anywhere on the floor as she darted across the entrance hall and into and into the corridor that housed her common room. She hurried to the end of the hall and tapped the barrels that would allow her to enter, and clambered inside.

As the next day was Saturday, most students would have normally slept in and breakfasted late. However, with the excitement of names being submitted that day and the champions being chosen that evening, Avery was not alone when she roused early and made for the entrance hall. There was about twenty people milling around the Goblet of Fire, some of them munching on toast as they chatted and waited to observe anyone who might decide to submit their name. Avery scanned the hall quickly, looking for Cedric. She wondered if he had submitted his name yet or not, when she overheard Ron Weasley asking a third year girl if she had seen anyone submit their name.

"All the Durmstrang lot," she replied. "But I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet. "

"Bet some of them put it in last night after we'd all gone to bed," said Harry Potter, who was standing between Ron and their friend Hermione Granger. "I would've if it had been me. . . wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. What if the goblet just gobbed you right back out again?"

Avery stared at him curiously. For a moment, she wondered if it had been Harry's hand that she had seen last night, floating across the entrance hall. Whoever had been under that cloak certainly hadn't wanted to be seen, either. But, before she could brood on this for too long, she heard a familiar laugh ring across the hall. She turned to see

Fred, George, and Lee Jordan hurrying down the staircase, all three of them looking extremely excited. They stopped right next to Harry and his friends, only a few feet away from Avery.

"Done it," Avery overheard Fred saying to the trio. "Just taken it."

"What?" asked Ron.

"The Aging Potion, dung brains," replied Fred. At this, he seemed to feel Avery's eyes on him. He looked up at her and smirked. Avery shook her head solemnly, rolling her eyes all the while.

"One drop each," said George, rubbing his hands together with glee. He seemed not to notice Avery's presence. "We only need to be a few months older. "

"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins," Lee explained, grinning broadly.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know," said Hermione warningly. "I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this. "

Privately, Avery agreed. But Fred, George, and Lee ignored Hermione, and Avery was anxious to see the twins fly through the air like she had done the previous evening and said nothing.

"Ready?" Fred said to Lee and George, all of them quivering with excitement. "C'mon, then - I'll go first -"

Avery watched, smirking, as Fred pulled a slip of parchment out of his pocket bearing the words Fred Weasley - Hogwarts. The very same she had tried to submit the night before. Fred walked right up to the edge of the line and stood there, rocking on his toes like he was trying to talk himself into taking the leap. Then, with the eyes of every person in the entrance hall anxiously upon him, he took a deep breath and stepped over the line with one foot.

For a split second, they seemed to think their plan had worked. George had whooped with triumph and leapt after Fred - but next moment, as soon as each of them had both feet planted on the stone within the circle, there was that loud sizzling sound. Both twins were suddenly hurled out of the golden circle as though they had been thrown by an invisible shot-putter. They landed as Avery had the night before, ten feet away on the cold stone floor. However, one thing seemed to happen that Avery herself had not experienced- there was a loud popping noise, and both of them sprouted identical long white beards.

The students around Avery erupted into laughter, and she couldn't help but join in. Fred and George got to their feet and took a good look at each other's beards. They began to laugh as well. Fred turned towards Avery and motioned to her, with a look that seemed to say "why didn't you tell us this happened?" Avery shrugged. She assumed that because she had already been disguised with a long, silvery beard, she just hadn't noticed.

"I did warn you," said a deep, amused voice, and everyone turned to see the real Professor Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveyed Fred and George, his eyes twinkling. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours. "

With one last look at Avery, Fred and George set off for the hospital wing, accompanied by Lee, who was howling with laughter. A few others broke off the crowd, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and made for the Great Hall. Avery decided to wait and see if anyone else planned on submitted their name.

After a few minutes, Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor tossed her name into the Goblet, cheered on by a large portion of students who were still milling about. Shortly after that, Avery felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see that Cedric seemed to have just made his way up to the entrance hall from their common room.

"Good morning!" She told him, beaming. He moved to stand directly beside her, smiling widely himself.

"And to you," he replied, looking around at the other students.

"Did you enter your name yet?" Avery asked, looking up at him. She had opted to be a few inches shorter today, and as a result he towered over her even more than he normally did.

"Last night, actually. Didn't want everyone watching," he said, smiling down at her. For a moment, she was reminded of what Harry Potter had said and was further reassured that it hadn't been him under the cloak- clearly, not wanting to be seen submitting their name was on quite a few peoples minds.

"What did Fred and George want last night? I waited for you in the common room, but you were gone quite a while," Cedric asked. He said it casually enough, but Avery couldn't help but feel that Cedric was disappointed in her- she had promised him before that she wouldn't roam the castle late at night, and yet again she had broken that promise.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know you'd be waiting… They asked me to help them submit their names. They thought if I transformed myself into someone older I could get across the age line," Avery explained, her ears blazing. "I've had about thirty people ask me the same thing all week."

"Did you enter their names, then?" He asked. He was watching the students from Beauxbatons submit their names now, his smile fading slightly.

"No," Avery replied firmly. It wasn't exactly a lie. She hadn't been able to submit their names due to the age line. She pressed on, hoping to avoid further inquiry of her involvement. "They just tried an aging potion to get their names in. It wouldn't work, though. They got blown backward and sprouted beards that could rival Dumbledore's. You only just missed it."

"So, you're friends with them again, then?" Cedric said, his smile seeming to perk up a little at the idea of the twins having long silver beards.

"We… Well, we don't hate each other anymore. I suppose that's what took so long. We had a bit of a row, then sort of made amends. After all that they asked me and I told them… I couldn't do it," Avery said, careful to word her reply so it felt just truthful enough not to be a lie.

"Well, I'm glad you can get along again, then." Cedric exhaled and his smile reached his eyes again. "What are you doing with your Saturday?"

Avery shrugged in response. "Uh, this, I suppose. See who submits their names. Waste the time I could be doing homework..." Cedric chuckled.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"No!"

"Breakfast with me, then?"

Avery beamed, nodded her reply, and headed for the Great Hall. But to her surprise, Cedric did not take a seat at the Hufflepuff table. Instead, he pushed some fruit and pumpkin juice into her arms before buttering a handful of toast and taking a helping of napkins. He jerked his head back towards the entrance hall and she followed him through it and out the doors, onto the grounds.

Silently they made their way to the edge of the lake and under a tree. Cedric sat and Avery followed suit. Using some of the napkins a makeshift barrier between the food and the grass, they laid out the fruit, toast, and pumpkin juice, and began to help themselves.

Avery crossed legged and took a piece of toast and a handful of grapes wordlessly, focusing her attention on the lake. Smooth and undisturbed, the lake had an almost mirror-like quality as it reflected the distant trees of the forbidden forest and Hagrid's hut on its far side. Avery could just make out Harry, Ron, and Hermione entering the cabin, and the Fang the boarhound barking his delight. The Beauxbaton carriage sat near the cabin, and it's students also clambering back inside.

Avery bit into her toast and stole a glance at Cedric. He was leaning back on one elbow, his legs out before him, eating a green apple. He was also looking out over the lake wearing a hint of a smile.

"Bit of an unconventional breakfast," Avery commented, dying to speak to him, but not sure what else to say. Cedric turned to grin at her as she finished off her piece of toast.

"Didn't feel like having my hand shaken or being asked if I entered all morning. You don't mind, do you?"

"No! Of course not, it's lovely," Avery exclaimed nervously. "Wish I had thought of doing something like this sooner. It's nice to be out on the grounds."

"Exactly. It's a bit cold, but it's beautiful," he replied. Avery sat, smiling back, transfixed by his mouth. His full lips, his even, white teeth. After a few moments, just as she was about to look away for fear that she was making their breakfast awkward, Cedric reached out and took her chin in his thumb and forefinger. Avery flinched slightly in surprise, her eyes widening.

"Sorry," he chuckled, his hand hovering a few inches from her face now. "I was just admiring my smile. It looks much better on you."

Avery was absolutely scarlet at this point. She buried her face in her fruit-free hand and laughed nervously. "I am… mortified. Absolutely mortified. I'm sorry," she finally said, pulling her hand away from her face and resting it on her knee. But she was smiling even wider somehow. As though her anxiety had taken control of her facial features and was determined to stretch the corners of her mouth as far as possible.

"Don't apologize. It's a compliment," Cedric replied, unabashed. He finally dropped his hand out of the air between them and rested it on hers. Avery said nothing, as she couldn't stop beaming.

They sat by the edge of the lake for quite some time, his hand on hers when he wasn't using it to gesture during conversation of help himself to pumpkin juice. Despite the fact that her stomach was fluttering, Avery had never found it easier to make conversation with him. They talked about everything, from lessons, to the tournament, quidditch, what they hoped to do after school, and even regaling each other a few anecdotes about when they had first shown their magical ability. By the time they were done chuckling over how Avery had accidentally assumed the appearance of her cousin as a toddler and their parents couldn't figure out who was who, a light rain had started to fall, and they decided they had better head back to the castle.

They walked together without speaking or touching, but Avery hadn't felt more untroubled or buoyant in quite a long time. It was finally clear to her that Cedric must have some romantic interest in her. That her feelings weren't one-sided. This small revelation was enough to make her glow with delight.

Almost as soon as they were in the entrance hall, Cedric was swarmed by other Hufflepuffs who wanted to offer their support and encouragement. They were exclaiming the names of others who had submitted their names throughout the day and giving odds on how good they thought Cedric's shot at being chosen was.

"Do you see why I wanted an unconventional breakfast?" her murmured to her, and she nodded vigorously.

"I certainly do. Go on and placate them… Maybe we can sit together? At dinner?"

"I'd love to," Cedric replied.

"I'll see you then," Avery smiled, before leaving him to his fans. She busied herself with her homework behind the curtains of her four-poster bed for a while. Although, with her stomach full of butterflies and her head full of images of their day together, Avery could hardly get much of anything done.

At about half past five, Avery readied herself for the Halloween feast. She left the common room and went up the stairs to the entrance hall to see the Goblet of Fire was gone. The Great Hall it was almost full, and the Goblet of Fire it was now standing in front of Dumbledore's empty chair at the teachers' table. On her way to her house table, she saw Fred and George seated at their own. They were both clean-shaven again, and judging by the lighthearted shrugs and smiles they gave her, seemed to have taken their disappointment fairly well. She waved to them before turning to look for Cedric.

He was sitting not far from where she was standing. He was talking with a few other boys in his year, but she noticed there was a vacant seat beside him, which he must have saved for her. She walked over and slipped in beside him. He turned to her and grinned.

"Finally- I've been fending off your seat for ages now."

"Good things are worth the wait, right?" She blurted out, instantly regretting the cliche. Cedric didn't seem to mind, however. He simply smiled and murmured his agreement.

The Halloween feast seemed to take much longer than usual. Like everyone else in the Hall (judging by the constantly craning necks, the impatient expressions on every face, the fidgeting, and the standing up to see whether Dumbledore had finished eating yet,) Avery was anxious for the plates to clear, and to hear who had been selected as champions.

When the golden plates finally returned to their original spotless state, Dumbledore got to his feet.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" - he indicated the door behind the staff table - "where they will be receiving their first instructions. "

He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes. Everyone watched, waiting.

"Any second," Ernie MacMillian whispered anxiously a few seats away from Avery.

The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it, and it seemed that the whole hall took a simultaneous breath.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white.

"The champion for Durmstrang," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum. "

There was a murmur of assent from her fellow Hufflepuffs ("who else would it have been from Durmstrang?") as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall. Viktor Krum rose from the Slytherin table and slouched up toward Dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.

"Bravo, Viktor!" boomed Karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. "Knew you had it in you!" Avery rolled her eyes at him.

The clapping and chatting died down quickly as the goblet turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"

A girl from the Beauxbaton, who was sitting at the Ravenclaw table got gracefully to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair, and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. When Fleur Delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it. The Hogwarts champion was next. In the dark, Avery nervously found Cedric's hand with hers and gave it a squeeze. He returned the gesture as he smiled up at Dumbledore, too filled with anticipation to take his eyes of the Headmaster.

The Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion," he called, "is Cedric Diggory!"

The uproar from the next table was incredible. Every single Hufflepuff had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping, Avery among them. She gave his hand one last squeeze before dropping it in order to clap as loudly as she could. It was impossible not to wear Cedric's smile in that moment- it was so captivating. She was sure if there were any other metamorphmagi at Hogwarts, they'd be wearing it, too. Cedric, with a quick glance her way, still grinning broadly, headed off toward the chamber behind the teachers' table. The applause for Cedric lasted so long after Cedric had exited the hall that it was some time before Dumbledore could make himself heard again.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real -"

But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him. The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.

Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out -

"Harry Potter. "