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CHAPTER 3

Of course Fred and George Weasley were stupid enough to try and put their name in the cup but the moment they jumped in, George a second after his twin, they were spat out again, a simple aging charm making their hair and beards grow, white and grey in colour on top of that. Professor Dumbledore had come in and sent them to the infirmary after complimenting them on their magnificent beards.

We spent most of the day hanging around the Great Hall as the foreign students were sitting there together. Everybody was a bit nervous to mix still so it was an awkward get together of separate groups where the Beauxbatons students sat together, the Durmstrang students sat together and the Hogwarts students were all sitting in little groups spread out through the hall giving them pointed stares and looking away in the most obvious way when the stare was returned.

Adrian Pucey and Mathilda were flirting with each other and we had to awkwardly endure it. We had sat down at the Ravenclaw table that afternoon, a pack of Exploding Snap playing cards in our hands, hoping to kill some time before the Feast that evening. It wasn't twenty minutes later though that Adrian Pucey had come in, together with his friends and Quidditch team members Terrence Higgs and Cassius Warrington and although I saw that Pucey was about to take a place at the end of the Slytherin table, he saw (presumably) Mathilda sitting with us and decided against it. Instead he led his friends to our spot and sat down with us. Aurora and I shot each other half panicked glances at the thought of older boys from Slytherin keeping us company. Adrian sat next to Mathilda, constantly touching her when he could get away with it, her shoulder, her leg, pushing her hair behind her ear and they'd constantly make weirdly romantically loaded comment to each other that left the rest of us feeling a bit uncomfortable.

I had to give it to Warrington and Higgs though because even though they rolled their eyes a number of times, they were loyal to their friend and stayed seated, making polite conversation with us as we let our friends get to know each other a little better in our peripheral vision. When it was almost dinner time and Marietta and Cho came sit with us, Adrian Pucey, Warrington and Higgs waved us goodbye and sat with Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick, the two bulky Slytherin Beaters at their own table.

Marietta threw us a questioning glance but we shrugged, signifying that she'd be informed later. 'Who do you think will be the Hogwarts Champion?' Cho asked all of us with an excited glint in her eyes. 'Well, the Hufflepuffs are all talking about that boyfriend of yours.' Said Mathilda. Cho ignored the salty tone to her voice. 'Yeah, Cedric entered too. But the odds of it being him aren't that big at all! I heard Cassius Warrington entered his name!' She said, trying to distract the attention away from Cedric Diggory, the subject making her blush fiercely.

'Warrington? Really?' I asked. 'Yeah, he supposedly got up really early so none would see him do it.' Marietta agreed with Cho. 'We were just chatting with him and he didn't mention it.' Aurora said. 'He probably doesn't want the embarrassment of not getting selected, that's why he's keeping it a bit secret.' Cho offered and we all thought that was plausible. 'And Angelina Johnson, from Gryffindor, she has also entered.' Said Marietta after a few seconds. 'I saw her put her name in myself.' She said.

It wasn't long until the entire Great Hall had filled to the brim with students again and Dumbledore took the stage.

Although the Feast was as extravagant as the one the night before, no one was really interested in eating anything. Everyone was craning their necks to see if the cup that was put on a pedestal at the far end of the Hall, right in front of the staff table, was making any kind of movement. It of course didn't and when I looked at professor Dumbledore I saw him chuckle at the sight of hundreds of teenagers trying to get a better look at something utterly inactive.

When the last crumbs disappeared of our plates and they were once again a spotless golden, professor Dumbledore stood up from his throne at the middle of the table and walked around to stand next to the goblet. He gave a few instructions to those whose name would be called in a minute but then trained his eyes on the flames as well, with a quick wave of his wand blowing out all the candles in the Hall except for those inside the now quite eerie looking pumpkins.

Everyone stared at the cold blue flames, waiting for something to happen and when it finally did a gasp went through the Hall. The flames turned red, sparks flew and one big lick of fire spew out a partially burned piece of parchment. Dumbledore caught it as it was fluttered down, pushing his glasses a bit further up his nose before reading out the words, his arm outstretched so he could it read it in the once again white-blue light.

'The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum.' And at that the Durmstrang students applauded and Viktor Krum, who had been sitting at the Slytherin table, stood up and walked off to the door to the right of the staff table as the champions were instructed under the cheers of the entire Hall. I heard the Durmstrang headmaster cheer perhaps louder than everyone else.

The process repeated a second time and it was revealed that for Beauxbatons the champion was Fleur Delacour. We looked down the table and saw that the beautiful girl with the almost silvery blonde hair stood up. Shouts (that sounded suspiciously much like predominantly male shouts) cheered her on as she coolly bounced down the pathway between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff table. 'She just must be part Veela.' Muttered Mathilda to me. 'The others aren't taking it too well.' Aurora pointed out to us as she nodded her head towards the other end of the table where the remainder of Beauxbatons students were sitting. She was right; two other girls were sobbing with their faces on their arms.

Once again the flames turned red and spit out a piece of parchment. Dumbledore let the suspense live on for a few seconds more but then read out the name of the Hogwarts champion.

The roar of the Hufflepuff table was so loud that many others covered their ears. 'Cedric!?' Cho called out in shocked excitement. 'It's Cedric!' She screamed. We all cheered loudly, even Mathilda, laughing at Cho's utter surprise. She stood at the bench so she could look over the heads of the Hufflepuff's who had all stood up as well. Cedric Diggory was grinning broadly as his housemates screamed and shouted, stomping their feet just to make more noise. Before he disappeared through the door by the staff's table he looked around and spotted the waving Cho and he blew her a kiss that made Cho sigh happily as she flopped back on her seat.

It seemed to be over and Dumbledore had even started making his ending speech when suddenly the flames turned red for the fourth time and another piece of parchment was thrown out. Professor Dumbledore caught the paper and looked at it in wonderment. I had never seen Dumbledore look so befuddled before in his life. He looked back up and cleared his throat. 'Harry Potter.'

Everyone in the Hall turned towards the Gryffindor table to spot a shocked look at the face of Harry Potter. He looked pale, his eyes the size of galleons and his mouth wide open. He looked around, at his friends, saying something but they just stared at him. Professor McGonagall called him up and I looked to see that she had stood up to stand beside Dumbledore.

His friend, the bushy haired girl, pushed him in the arm and Potter stood up as if automatically, slowly moving to the staff's table as all the eyes in the Hall followed him. A buzz of whispers had erupted. When the fourteen year old had gone through the door the other champions had disappeared through, the hushed talking died down again in awaiting of Dumbledore's words.

'I suggest that everyone refrains from making any premature conclusions as you can leave for your common rooms now. Have a nice Halloween children!' He merely said and he, followed by the other school's headmasters, the Ministry representatives and the teachers, went through the same door as the others.

Everyone stood up to these words and dripped out of the Great Hall as they talked about all that happened just now.

'What a brat! Can't stand not to have the attention for once!' I heard a Hufflepuff seventh year say and many of his housemates agreed. 'Isn't he the centre of the universe on most days?' Another said, irritation clear in his voice. The Slytherins came from the other side of the Hall as we all had to go through the same door and they overheard the Hufflepuffs complaining. 'I'm telling you, that lunatic has been off his rocker the moment his parents dropped dead.' Lucian Bole said and his beater colleague agreed. 'He can't stand it when everything isn't all about him, can he?' He said and I don't think I ever saw the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins bond so well before.

Cho looked very confused as well. 'He can't have put his name in himself, right?' I asked Aurora softly as we squeezed through the crowd so we could climb the stairs up to the Ravenclaw tower. Aurora shook her head, but looked unconvinced. 'It had to have been a confundus charm, which doesn't get taught until seventh year, and it had to be a really powerful one at that to fool an ancient magical object like this.' She said nonetheless. 'But maybe he asked an older student to put it in for him.' Mathilda said and we had to agree that was possible. 'However that older student would still have to be able to cast a pretty powerful confundus.' Aurora argued. 'Besides, did you see his face? He was like a centaur under a Lumos.' Aurora asked and as I tried to remember his face it did seem like he wasn't expecting this anymore than any of us. 'Maybe just shocked it actually worked though.' Said Mathilda. 'Although I'll have to agree that it does sound like an ill-fated prank by a Slytherin.' Said Mathilda.

Over the next days it was clear though that the overall consensus was that Harry Potter had planned it all himself and that he was an attention seeking troll. Hufflepuff, who was normally on the best terms with Gryffindor was furious that the Gryffindor golden boy had stolen their champion's and their house's glory (glory of which they didn't get much to begin with). Slytherin's taunts had grown stronger, but considering that the Slytherins and Gryffindors had always been at odds with each other, it didn't feel so different. It seemed that the only ones happy with the situation was Gryffindor who had managed to get their own champion despite everything and they clapped Potter's shoulders and ruffled his hair and shouted comments of supports to contrast the constant Slyterhin insults and the occasional Hufflepuff hisses as they ran into him in the corridors. Ravenclaw was the only neutral party involved but as was clear in the common room, whether some people believed he had planned it himself and others thought it was a sick prank (Potter didn't seem happy at all when you saw him in the hallways, his head down and his hands in his pockets) from another house, the Ravenclaws in general were a bit sick of Gryffindor always wanting to be in the middle of everything. 'For once it had nothing to do with Gryffindor!' I heard a boy say in the common room. 'It seems like such a desperate move by Potter! It's just really pathetic.'

I started to feel sorry for Harry Potter though when the badges started popping up. A Slytherin initiative started producing badges with the text Support Cedric Diggory – the REAL Hogwarts champion! in red letters, which wasn't too bad, but when you pressed the bage, they turned into the words Potter stinks, in bright green. It was mostly the Slytherins wearing them with the latter text, but quite a few Hufflepuffs and some Ravenclaws had them with the first text as well. Hufflepuffs were in the end still too kind at heart to outright bully Potter like the Slytherins had been doing.

Furthermore was life at Hogwarts returning to a relative normalcy. Classes went on as normal and although everyone was looking forward to the first task that was taking place not even a month later in late November, it the meantime it was a return to ordinary life. Cho and Cedric were spending a lot of time together. Many evenings Cho sat at the Hufflepuff table for dinner and sometimes Cedric even sat with us, which made us really popular with our (particularly female) housemates. Mathilda and Adrian Pucey continued their flirtations but Mathilda kept him at bay a bit. To us she explained that it was important to not make yourself too easy to boys. 'Besides, I'm waiting for the perfect moment.' She said, proving that behind her brass nature, she was a tiny bit of a romantic too. When I kept asking her about it though she got irritated and asked me how my crush on a certain redhead was doing and I quickly shut up.

Midway through the week I finally got a letter from my parents to tell me how they were doing and to ask me how I was doing. Dad had gone through the whole categorization of his bookshop by himself, he told me in his letter, as his part time employee had called in sick. My mum's note was a bit quicker I could tell but she gave me all her love and that she was busy with her job at the Daily Prophet and in the PS asked if I had any inside scoops on the whole Potter debacle.

With a smile on my face I wrote both my parents back, informing my mum that I in fact had no inside information whatsoever (and even if I did – I mean I did know Cedric Diggory's girlfriend – I wouldn't tell my mum because she'd use it and that would put me in an uncomfortable position!) and my dad that he should pay for the service at the publishing houses instead of going through this stress two times a year. I also proudly told them that I was being considered for a Ministry internship. I penned down I loved them and that I'd look forward to hearing from them again and then sent off the family owl who was met halfway out the window by my brother Aidan's barn owl.

'How's Aidan doing?' Asked Mathilda as I broke the seal on the letter. I narrowed my eyes at her. 'Don't you have Adrian now?' I asked her and she flipped her hair. 'It's good to keep your options open.' She said snobbishly but then she grinned to show me she was joking and I couldn't help but laugh as well. 'But really though, your brother is hot.' Mathilda said after a moment, making me groan. 'Who's hot?' Asked Marietta as she and Aurora sat opposite from us and poured themselves a glass of pumpkin juice. I saw that Cho was just sitting down next to Cedric one table down.

'Cecil's brother, Aidan.' Mathilda answered and to my embarrassment did Aurora and Marietta both nod in agreement. 'I don't want to hear this!' I complained but Mathilda was amused by my mild disgust. 'Seriously Cecilia, I pretty much became friends with you because I wanted to get to know your brother better.' She said and Aurora and Marietta burst out laughing. I made a face. 'It would've been funnier if you weren't in fact bugging me about introducing you two all year first year.' I said and Mathilda leaned her cheek on her palm as she dreamily said 'He was my very first real crush. And I swear it would've worked out too if he wasn't in sixth year!' She said and I decided to just leave it as I focussed on my letter.

Dear Cillyhead (his annoying but affectionate nickname for me),

Merlin, what a load has happened at Hogwarts I've read! Don't tell mum anything, yeah? Haha, she'll have a bit of a fit that her children are as useless to her job as always. How is school going now? I'm not asking about your academics because I'm sure they're fine as always (your O.W.L.'s will be ace this year), but how is it going with you and your friends? Any cute boys I should know about? (Yes – I felt uncomfortable asking the question as I'm sure you'll feel being asked it but I want to know anyway).

My new job is doing great. I don't intend to stay here and do glamour spells forever, but it's a good stepping stone to that advertisement job I've been hunting after. It helps that I helped out with Uncle Irving's advertisement for his Self-Cleaning parchment business – experience goes a long way here. However, for the moment it's just glamour spells mostly – building the advertisement pieces as they instruct us. Creatively not amazing work, but it's good for now. Besides, there's some really pretty looking secretaries working here too. This one girl, Nina, she always makes a point of it to bring me a cup of coffee every morning when I start. What do you think? Should your old brother bust out that reliable Wiggleswade charm? Or should I leave romance out of work? You tell me, you're the smart one between us.

I hope to hear from you soon sis, good luck with everything at Hogwarts!

Lots of love,

Aidan

'Boooh, I don't like Nina!' Called Mathilda and I looked up to see that she'd been reading the letter over my shoulder. 'Hey! Mind your own business!' I said. 'You should tell him about Fred Weasley though.' Mathilda said as she sat back down, unimpressed by my protests. 'What! Why would I do that?' I asked perplexed. 'Well, he did ask if you liked any boys and that way he can tell you the same thing as we always do; either talk to him already or forget about him.' She said. 'Don't you think so too Rory?' She asked Aurora but she didn't pay attention as she was talking to Marietta by now and she just waved her hand saying 'Sure Tilda.'

That evening, as I was lying in bed, I thought about Mathilda's words. Maybe she was right. I couldn't even look at him without blushing, so what was the point? But just "getting over him" seemed like something that was said way easier than it was done. Aidan had been in Gryffindor and had always been bold and confident and right now I wished, as I often wished, I could borrow some of that.

Way more exciting things are happening in next chapters so please stick around - I really needed to get the whole thing out of the way because I wanted it to follow cannon as faithfully as possible without it feeling like repitition. I hope it was alright!

As always: Review, mes chéries!