- CHAPTER TWO -
We are the champions
Harry was woken up by a flash of light. He blinked as his eyes adapted to the light but noticed that his view was blocked by a mane of bushy brown hair. Hermione had fallen asleep on top of him and was hugging him like a giant teddy bear.
He checked and was relieved that his hands were at no inappropriate places. Then, slowly, he sat up and looked around.
He was greeted by what seemed to be half of Gryffindor House gathered around the couch on which he and Hermione had been sleeping. Almost all of his housemates wore stupid grins and were whispering to each other. At the front stood Colin Creevey, holding up his camera.
"Good morning, Harry! Why are you sleeping with Hermione in the common room?" the ever-excited boy shouted cheerfully, to the raucous laughter of the assembled Gryffindors.
Harry groaned, his cheeks heating up in embarrassment. At the same time, he felt Hermione stir on his chest.
"Hm-mmh-hmmmm?" the girl muttered groggily as her eyes fluttered open.
"Eloquent as ever. Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Harry whispered and placed a chaste kiss on his girlfriend's lips. "Looks like we have an audience."
"What?" Hermione said and looked up, now becoming fully awake. She flushed crimson as she noticed their company, but Harry noted that it suited her fine and wondered how far downward her blush extended.
He was brought out of his reverie when a small girl with curly black hair stepped towards him with tears in her eyes and an angry expression on her face.
"Harry, how could you!? I thought we had something special!" the girl shouted and gave him a light pat on his left cheek. Though, Harry suspected that maybe it was supposed to be a slap, but the girl was probably in her first or second year and rather small at that.
"And you are?" Harry asked in confusion, which caused the girl to break out in tears.
Another small girl with blond hair tugged the wailing girl away. "Sorry, sorry, please ignore Romilda here," she said with an apologetic look.
Harry shook his head with amusement and then turned his attention towards the assembled crowd. "Well, what are you guys gawking at? Never seen two people falling asleep in the common room before? Go find yourselves your own girlfriend instead of ogling mine!"
Most of the students dispersed with that, some even offered their polite congratulations before they left, and the Weasley twins chased away the rest of their classmates and the Quidditch team. Harry hoped that the twins did this because they felt indebted to them, but he strongly suspected that they just wanted to be able to tease the new couple mercilessly without interference.
Hermione groaned as she caught the eyes of the smirking Fred and George.
"Teasing counts as pranking!" she yelled just as George opened his mouth, clearly in the vain hope of reminding the twins of the agreement of the previous evening.
"Nah, I really don't think it does," Fred said after a pause.
"We were worried when you didn't arrive in the common room after us, you know," George took over.
"But we are happy to see that you weren't caught by Snape, but were simply otherwise occupied for a while," Fred finished, wiggling his eyebrows at the blushing couple.
Hermione sighed. "I guess we deserve this for falling asleep in the common room." But then she smirked. "But actually, we didn't follow you because we were busy improving your prank on the tournament."
"Oh, do tell," George said, visibly intrigued.
"Nope, you'll have to wait until the evening like everyone else," Harry informed the twins. "That's what you get for teasing us."
He got up from the couch and helped up Hermione as well. "Now, if you excuse us, we have to freshen up a bit."
With that, Harry and Hermione turned and went up the stairs to their respective dormitory.
#
Hermione had just entered her dorm when she was accosted by a squealing Lavender and Parvati.
"Ooohhh, you have to tell us everything!" Lavender demanded, hyperventilating. "How was it? Is he good? How big is he?"
Lavender held up her index fingers close to each other and then slowly moved them apart. As the distance between her fingers got wider, so got the girls' eyes.
"NO WAY!" Parvati exclaimed when Lavender's fingers were more than a foot apart.
"STOP IT!" Hermione shouted with annoyance. "We only cuddled and fell asleep. And you're the last persons I would tell anything if anything had happened, anyway."
"Ooohhh, so you're admitting it! You did it!" Lavender shrieked.
"I don't, and we didn't!" Hermione said indignantly.
"That's exactly what you would say if you had done it," Parvati said with a triumphant look.
"I- I- AAArrrggghhh," Hermione screamed in frustration and fled into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
#
Harry and Hermione met in the common room half an hour later and left for the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Were your dorm mates as nosey and irritating as mine?" Hermione asked Harry with an annoyed look as they made their way towards the ground floor.
"I don't think any boy could ever be as nosey and irritating as Lavender and Parvati when they're in one of their moods," Harry replied, chuckling. "And no, the boys didn't bother me at all. Seamus and Dean are already at breakfast, Neville simply told me that he wished us well, and Ron is still sleeping, luckily, it's Saturday after all..."
Harry got a slightly pained expression at the last part of his statement, and Hermione also started to look worried.
"Ron..." she sighed. "He won't be very happy with us..."
Harry shook his head. "No, he won't be. I don't know what will bother him more: Us entering your name into the Goblet but not his, or us two getting together. But both of those things and at the same time... yeah, it will be bad."
"Wait, why would us becoming a couple bother him?" Hermione wondered.
Harry looked at her in surprise. "You know that he has a small crush on you, don't you?"
"What?" Hermione exclaimed disbelievingly.
"Well, he has a weird way of showing it," she stated after a pause.
"He has a weird way of doing most things," Harry qualified.
"Fair enough," Hermione conceded. "Well, anyway, I really don't think that we can be expected to not offend Ronald Weasley's delicate sensibilities indefinitely. If he can't be happy for us, he really isn't much of a friend at all."
Harry could only nod in agreement, but Hermione wasn't finished yet. "And if he really believes that he would have any chance at winning the tournament, he's even dumber than one of his chess pieces. Honestly, he does realise that competing in the tournament will require an obscene amount of studying, right?"
"No, I don't think he does," Harry agreed, but then his eyes widened in horror, and he stared at his girlfriend with a frightful expression.
"We will be doing an obscene amount of studying to prepare you for the tournament, won't we?" he said with a hollow voice.
"Yes, we will," Hermione answered cheerfully and with a slightly vicious grin. "And because this whole operation was your idea to begin with, you will help me every step on the way."
Harry couldn't really argue against that, but his formerly bright mood had definitely taken a few hits by now.
#
During breakfast, Harry noticed that Hermione's mood had also become more sombre. "Let's take a stroll around the lake," he suggested when they were done eating. "Then we can have some privacy to discuss recent and future events". Hermione readily agreed.
"What is it you're worried about?" Harry inquired as he and Hermione were walking along the lakeside, holding hands.
"You know, the more I think about it, the more I realise that entering my and the other names into the Goblet was a pretty bad mistake," Hermione said. "For a start, I'm only a fourth-year student. The other champions will know much more spells than me, and they'll be magically stronger, too. More importantly, while the Headmaster said that the tournament would be safer than in the past, it might still be rather dangerous. Especially for someone younger. My parents will be furious at me for entering! And what if I get seriously hurt? What- what then?"
Hermione was becoming frantic, and Harry hugged her to offer some comfort. "Hermione, please calm down!" he whispered in her ear.
"Okay, maybe we were was a bit reckless yesterday," he admitted. "I guess we're Gryffindors for a reason." Hermione gave him a small smile, but it seemed rather strained.
Harry continued, "But please don't worry too much, Hermione. It's a friendly tournament for school children. Or for of-age students, but students, still. What's the worst they might let you do? It's not as if you'll have to fight a dragon or something."
They both chuckled at that.
"Besides, you are forgetting the most important fact," Harry said after a pause. At his girlfriend's questioning look, he elaborated, "And that is: Wizards. Are. Stupid. That will be the cornerstone of your winning strategy. You will win the tournament by finding easy and obvious solutions that the organisers overlooked because they, like everybody else in the magical world, possess not an ounce of logic or common sense."
Hermione couldn't help but laugh at that. When she had calmed down again, she hugged her boyfriend tightly. "Thank you, Harry," she whispered. "And you know, that might even work."
But then she bit her bottom lip and once more got a worried look. "But what about Minister Fudge and the others? People will be furious. The Minister will be furious. Haven't we broken all sorts of laws?" she said with a frightened voice.
Harry just laughed. "How would they even find out that it was us? That would require some kind of investigation to be carried out. Things being thoroughly investigated at Hogwarts – come on, pull the other one! If there can be a Basilisk roaming through the halls and petrifying students without a proper investigation happening, they won't start investigating a harmless prank like this."
After a while, Hermione nodded reluctantly. "I guess you are right," she muttered.
Harry noticed that she wasn't fully convinced yet and tried to placate her further. "Even if we were found out somehow, nothing would happen. If Fudge really gets selected, he can hardly back out without losing face. He can hardly say it's too difficult or too dangerous for him but not for children, right? And Crabbe and Goyle is an internal school matter and thus falls under the purview of Albus You-get-a-second-chance, You-get-a-second-chance, Everybody-gets-a-second-chance Dumbledore. At worst we get some points deducted and a detention. As for Wormtail and Voldy, they really ought to give us Orders of Merlin for that."
Hermione snorted and shook her head in amusement. "You really are incorrigible."
She gave Harry a peck on the lips. "Thanks for cheering me up, let's get back to the castle."
#
As they were walking back towards the school, Harry and Hermione spotted the one person that they had hoped to avoid for a little while longer.
"Wait!" Ron shouted as he ran towards them.
"Finally, I've found you!" the redhead panted when he had caught up with the couple. "You know, there are the weirdest rumours about you two! Everyone says that you two are boyfriend and girlfriend now. Can you believe it?" He guffawed.
"Well," Hermione said and turned towards Harry. She leaned in for a deep kiss that Harry happily reciprocated.
"I guess even the Hogwarts rumour mill has to be right once in a while," the brunette said with a smile once they had separated.
Ron was gaping at the couple with wide eyes, his ears quickly reddening. "Wh- what- when- how did this happen?" he exclaimed.
Harry guessed it would be best to just rip off the band-aid and answered, "I asked Hermione to be my girlfriend yesterday evening after we entered her name, the names of the twins and some other names into the Goblet of Fire."
Ron's jaw dropped even further. After a while, he seemed to have processed what had been said, and his eyes narrowed. "And did you think of putting in my name, too?" he inquired.
"No, we are sorry, Ron, but we didn't think that would have been a good idea," Hermione answered carefully. That, of course, was quite a stretch of the truth at best – they hadn't given the youngest Weasley brother any thought at all last night, but they weren't about to tell him that.
"I... see..." Ron said, his eyes flashing with anger. "I see how it is. Never mind me, then," he said coldly and glared at them. "Don't ever talk to me again, traitors."
With that, he turned around and stalked away.
"Huh," Hermione said, visibly pleased. "That works for me."
She then turned towards Harry with a concerned look. "I know he was your first real friend in the magical world. I'm sorry that you have lost that, even though I probably won't miss him."
"It's all right. It's not your fault, nor is it ours, really," Harry said with downcast voice. "I doubt that I could have stayed friends with him much longer, anyway, seeing how he always treats you..." He sighed and gave his girlfriend a guilty look. "For which I'm very sorry, by the way. I really should have stood up for you much more, I- I-"
"Don't worry about it, it's all right," Hermione interrupted with a soft voice and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "Though I do appreciate the sentiment. Come on, let's get back inside now."
#
The couple spent the rest of the day finishing their homework in the library, where they could avoid Ron with absolute certainty and were safe from other students harassing them, too. They also planned what their reaction should be when the selection of the champions would descend into chaos later, and what they would say when they would be questioned. As the dinner and the subsequent selection ceremony neared, they got increasingly nervous. Only after an extended visit to a Hogwarts broom closet were they calm enough to join the feast in the Great Hall.
Harry and Hermione sat down at the Gryffindor table next to each other and opposite of Fred and George. They tried to make small talk during the meal, but all four of them had difficulties containing their excitement. The twins repeatedly begged the couple for hints on how they had 'improved the prank', but Harry and Hermione didn't budge.
At last, the food vanished, and all the attention turned towards the head table and the Goblet of Fire on a pedestal in front of it. Bright blue flames flickered out of the wooden cup, and the excited murmur in the Great Hall rose every time the flames flashed upwards.
Dumbledore stood and walked towards the Goblet. The other tournament judges also rose and assembled behind Dumbledore. The expectant and tense look of Headmaster Karkaroff and Madame Maxime was contrasted by the cheerful expression of Ludo Bagman.
The Headmaster made some announcements, but Harry ignored the old wizard when he noticed that Moody also got up from the head table and moved to stand next to Bartemius Crouch. Harry remembered what he had seen on the Marauder's Map the night before and threw up a little in his mouth at the thought of those two spending the last night together. Crouch resembled an overweight Hitler, and Moody was his usual self, looking as if he was competing (and winning) in a look-alike contest for a pile of two hundred pounds of ground meat. Harry was just glad that apparently, the two men didn't want their relationship to be known and were refraining from any public displays of affection. They were hardly even acknowledging each other as they silently stood next to each other.
Harry's attention was drawn away from the unlikely couple and back towards the Goblet when its flames turned from blue to red. A moment later, the flames shot high into the air, a charred slip of parchment fluttered out of the wooden cup, and the flames turned back to blue.
Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and cleared his throat as he read it.
"The champion for Durmstrang," he announced with a solemn voice, "will be Viktor Krum."
The students applauded as the Bulgarian Quidditch star rose from the Slytherin table and slowly walked to the antechamber behind the head table. Especially Krum's female fan-club cheered for him, but no one cheered louder or more enthusiastically than Ronald Weasley, who sat with Dean and Seamus.
A few moments later, the Goblet's flames turned from blue to red again, and Dumbledore caught another slip of parchment.
"The champion for Beauxbatons," he proclaimed, "is Fleur Delacour!"
The pretty girl stood up gracefully and walked up towards the head table. Hermione was visibly pleased when her boyfriend's eyes were not glued to the girl's derriere as she disappeared into the antechamber, unlike the eyes of pretty much all other male (and quite a few female) students in the Great Hall.
Then, silence fell again as the students waited for the announcement of the Hogwarts champion.
Soon, the flames turned red once more, and another parchment was ejected from the Goblet and immediately caught by the Headmaster.
"The Hogwarts champion," he called, "is... Cedric Diggory!"
There were tumultuous cheers at the Hufflepuff table while Cedric got up and quickly walked into the antechamber. The frustrated groans at the other House tables soon gave way to polite applause.
Dumbledore was about to close the ceremony when the Goblet flared red again. There were shocked gasps all across the hall as another slip parchment flew out of the Goblet. The Headmaster reached for the parchment as it glided towards the ground. He read it and frowned in confusion.
After a long pause, the Headmaster sighed. "Fred Weasley," he called out, "very well, please step forward!"
There was a shocked silence in the Great Hall, but then the students at the Gryffindor table started to cheer loudly as Fred stood up and jumped onto the table, theatrically bowing to his housemates.
With all the attention drawn to the redhead, almost no one noticed that the flames of the Goblet had turned red again. Only when the flames rose, and the Goblet spat out another piece of parchment, at least a small part of the student body turned their eyes back to Dumbledore, who caught the parchment.
There was a flash of annoyance in the Headmaster's eyes as he read the parchment, and he sighed again. "And your brother, yes, I should have expected it. George Weasley, if you please," he said with exasperation.
George joined his brother on the table, and the cheers of the Gryffindors grew even louder, while at the other tables, students were muttering angrily.
"Messrs Weasley, please come forward and join us," Dumbledore demanded impatiently. "I hope you know what you have gotten yourselves into."
The twins stepped down from the table but froze when they noticed that the fire of the Goblet was red again.
The flames blazed, and another piece of parchment shot upwards, only to be forcefully fetched out of the air by the Headmaster a moment later.
There was another long silence during which Dumbledore looked on the parchment disbelievingly, until he called out with a strained voice, "Hermione Granger." A vein was pulsating at his brow.
Harry saw Hermione's face flush red as all eyes in the Great Hall turned towards her. The dead silence was interrupted by the twins bursting into laughter. The Gryffindor table, with the exception of Ron, started cheering once more as the twins helped Hermione up from where she sat. Standing at either side of her, they both put an arm around Hermione's shoulders, still laughing merrily.
Harry also rose to support his girlfriend. When he was at her side, he leaned towards the twins. "This is only the beginning," he said to them over the noise in the hall but still quiet enough to not be overheard by others. "Things should get even more interesting, but please stay cool and don't give us away."
The twins grinned in response and nodded their heads excitedly.
By now, the other judges and most of the professors had congregated around Dumbledore.
"What in Merlin's name is going on, Dumbledore?" Crouch asked angrily.
"All zese students 'ave to be excluded from ze tournament immediately," Madame Maxime demanded, and Karkaroff nodded in agreement.
"They should be expelled for this," Snape, who had also joined them, spat.
Any reply Dumbledore might have given was forestalled by the Goblet of Fire turning from blue to red again. Another piece of parchment was ejected and seized by Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore, this has to stop!" Crouch shouted when the flames of the Goblet didn't even revert to their usual blue colour but remained crimson red. The judges and professors watched helplessly as one more slip of parchment flew upwards a few moments later. It, too, was caught by Dumbledore.
The Headmaster looked upon the two parchments and Harry noticed a nervous tick in Dumbledore's left eye as he read the names.
"Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, please step forward," the Headmaster growled out.
No one seemed more surprised by this than the two Slytherin boys in question, but after a few moments, they stood up to the growing applause of their House. Only Draco Malfoy was seemingly enraged for being upstaged by his own minions.
Like Harry, Hermione, Fred, and George, the two Slytherin boys didn't come forward but only stood next to their House table to watch the unfolding chaos at the front of the Great Hall.
"Six Hogwarts champions? I won't haff it! Change it, Dumbledore, or Durmstrang will withdraw from the tournament!" Karkaroff yelled.
"Let's not be hasty, this could be very exciting," Bagman interjected.
"Non, zis is-," Madame Maxime began, but she stopped when she noticed the Goblet. There was a collective groan of the judges as the flames of the Goblet turned red again.
"Headmaster, you have to do something," Professor McGonagall pleaded, but the old man seemed to be just as much at a loss as everyone else.
Another slip of parchment rose in the air and was grabbed by Dumbledore. There was a tense silence as the Headmaster turned the parchment towards him and read it. His eyes grew wide before they narrowed in anger while his complexion turned almost as crimson as the Goblet's flames. The vein at his brow seemed ready to burst.
"Well, who is it?" Bagman asked cheerfully when Dumbledore remained silent for over a minute. "Which student shall we ask to join us now? Ravenclaw is missing a representative, still."
He laughed out at his own joke, while the other judges looked at him with disapproval.
"It's not a student," Dumbledore finally replied with gritted teeth, crumpling the piece of parchment in his fist.
"Not a student?" McGonagall asked aghast.
"But zat's not possible," Madame Maxime exclaimed.
"Who is it, then?" Crouch demanded to know.
Dumbledore took a few calming breaths and then revealed with a low voice, "Cornelius Fudge."
"WHAT?" all the judges, most of the professors and the student body shouted. Fred and George stared at Harry and Hermione with boundless admiration.
"This is outrageous!" Crouch shouted when the hall had quieted down slightly. "I won't stand for the Ministry to be made a fool of!"
"The Minister will never consent to this!" McGonagall pointed out.
"Alas, the Minister won't have a choice in the matter," Dumbledore said, obviously very upset, too.
"So, you won't do a thing?" Crouch asked angrily.
"I can't," the Headmaster said, "The guilty party shall be punished, of course-"
"Potter, no doubt," Snape interjected.
"But as for the Minister," Dumbledore continued, "his name came out of the Goblet. Thus, he has to compete. The consequences if he refuses would be most dire. As it is, the only thing we can do is-" He stopped and briefly closed his eyes in desperation. The Goblet had turned red again.
"Bloody hell, doesn't anyone have a fire extinguisher or something?" a girl at the Hufflepuff table close to Harry exclaimed. A few Muggle-borns chuckled at that, but most of the students who had heard her only gave her blank looks.
Furiously, Dumbledore snatched the next piece of parchment immediately as it shot out of the Goblet. He looked at it and blanched. The nervous tick in his eye was back.
There was another long silence until the Headmaster spoke again, "Peter Pettigrew."
"Who?"
"Who's that?" most of the students wondered, and the murmur in the hall rose as the few students who were familiar with the name told the others of one of the heroes of the Wizarding War, who had been brutally murdered by the deranged mass murderer Sirius Black.
The judges and teachers were arguing among themselves in the meantime. None of them noticed the horrified look on the face of Professor Moody before he quickly schooled his features.
"Impossible, Pettigrew's dead!" Crouch yelled.
"Six Hogwarts students, the British Minister, and now a dead man?" Karkaroff seethed and proceeded to curse in his native Russian.
Snape, too, was apoplectic with rage. "POTTER!" he shouted and turned towards the Gryffindor table. "I'll see you expelled for this!"
"Maybe it would best to leave these discussions for later and get on with things," McGonagall said, trying to calm things down.
"Yes, Minerva," a shaken Dumbledore agreed, "That would- oh no!"
The flames of the Goblet were turning red again.
"SOMEBODY STOP THIS!" Crouch yelled and aimed his wand at the Goblet, but obviously, he had no idea what spell he could possibly cast.
The red flames rose much higher than before. Soon, the Goblet was engulfed in a wild storm of crimson fire, and the judges and professors had to take several steps back to stay clear of the flames.
"Aguamenti!" Karkaroff, who had also raised his wand, shouted in panic, trying to extinguish the flames with conjured water, but the water dissipated as soon as it reached the flames, which seemed unaffected by it.
The flames got brighter and brighter and rose higher and higher until there was a sudden loud bang and the flames vanished completely. Everybody blinked as their eyes recovered from looking at the bright fire.
When his vision cleared, Harry was shocked at the sight before him. The wooden cup that had been the Goblet of Fire was completely charred, and the bowl of the cup was cracked in several places. Harry instinctively knew that the Goblet of Fire would never ignite again.
But from high above the Goblet, one last piece of charred parchment was slowly gliding towards the ground.
As if in trance, Dumbledore haltingly strode back towards the remains of the Goblet just in time to fetch the parchment out of the air before it hit the floor.
He looked upon it and immediately blanched ghostly white. His knees almost gave way, and for a moment, he had to grab hold of the pedestal to remain standing upright.
No one dared to utter a single word as all eyes rested on the Headmaster, who for several long minutes only stared on the parchment in his hands. Even the teachers and the judges didn't dare to approach Dumbledore, who seemed to have aged a few decades in an instant. The expectant and knowing smirks of Harry and Hermione went unnoticed.
Finally, after five minutes, Dumbledore looked up from the parchment. He then opened and closed his mouth several times. When he finally spoke, he only whispered, but in the dead silence of the Great Hall, he was still heard by everyone.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle."
