"It never ceases to amaze me: we love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own." - Marcus Aurelius
Chapter Twenty - The Goblet of Fire
On the night of October thirtieth, the students were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Ankaa was excited too, but her mood had also dampened slightly when Blaise came and took a seat beside her. He was late, and Pansy had eagerly moved aside to let her sit beside him.
"Don't look too excited," Blaise hissed. "I don't want to stand next to you either."
"And here I thought I was your favourite person," Ankaa sniffed, dramatically wiping at her eyes. "You've hurt me, Zabini."
For a split second, Blaise looked hurt himself. Just as quickly, however, he schooled his expression into the indifferent mask Ankaa was used to seeing on him for the past few weeks.
"You're really running for the bitch of the year, aren't you?" Blaise jeered. From his other side, Pansy leaned forward and sniggered.
"As defending champion, does that make you nervous?" Ankaa retorted.
She had expected Blaise to be civil with her, after all, she had let him off easy. He had only been in the Hospital Wing for a day. She could have shot hex after hex at him until he lay in a crumpled heap on the floor, but she controlled herself, giving him the benefit of the doubt that his conduct was a one-time thing.
"Please welcome the students from Beauxbatons, and their Headmistress, Madame Maxine!" Dumbledore announced with an eager smile.
The door flew open and a group of students walked forward. They were wearing blue uniforms that looked soft to the touch. The girls in the group started running forward and did some spiel where some butterflies flew from their hands. Real fancy.
With a roll of her eyes, Ankaa noticed how most of the boys were way too concentrated on the girls. There were boys in the Beauxbatons delegation as well, and they were, in her opinion, just as good looking (but girls seemed to have a lot more tact to these sort of things than boys did). Ankaa looked at the Gryffindor table, and Fred caught her eye. Just like in her vision, he gave her a conspiratorial wink and nodded his heads towards the girls with a wink. Ankaa just rolled her eyes with a smile.
Such a dork.
"And now, the proud students of Durmstrang!"
A group of rugged looking boys walked through the doorway next. They pounded their staffs against the floor, before breaking out into a run towards the front of the room. They performed some sort of gymnastic routine before blowing fire from their wands, that circled around and scattered the moment their Headmaster walked through with a few more students behind him.
"Dumbledore!" The man called heartily once he neared the Hogwarts Headmaster. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"
"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied, shaking hands with the man.
Ankaa watched with a smirk as Karkaroff glanced behind him at his students beckoned one of them forward. Raising a brow, she found Ronald on the Gryffindor table. It was quite fascinating to watch his reaction. He had previously been staring at everyone with the same vacant, dull stare he seemed to have on during lectures in classrooms. The moment he spotted Victor Krum, his jaw dropped and he turned to Potter.
"Harry! Harry, it's Krum!"
Snorting, Ankaa elbowed Draco slightly and nodded her head towards Weasley. "I think he's in love," she snickered.
Draco, following her gaze, took in Weasley's reaction and laughed. "I bet you ten galleons he'll ask Krum for his autograph."
The next day, when Ankaa made her way down to breakfast, she was stopped by a commotion in the Entrance Hall. Many of the students were up early, despite it being a Saturday, and were milling about the Goblet of Fire, waiting to see who put their name in.
Ankaa spotted Annabelle Roker, one of her friends from Hufflepuff, now a second year, sitting with her group of friends by the side. She was laughing at something someone had said before she spotted Ankaa walking her way. Annabelle waved excitedly, moving so she could make some space for the older girl.
"That's alright," Ankaa smiled, "I won't be staying long. I just wanted to know if someone had put their name in yet?"
Annabelle nodded, "All of the Durmstrang students did, and some of them from Beauxbatons. I don't think anyone's done it from Hogwarts yet. Someone said Warrington from Slytherin may have gotten up early to put his name in, but I guess you'd know more about that than me."
Ankaa only nodded. "Thanks, Annabelle," She waved once more before heading into the Great Hall to grab some breakfast. She had intended to just grab some toast and go back and sit in the Entrance Hall, but she spotted her brother sitting with Florence Lacomb at the Ravenclaw table.
"Did you put your name in yet?" Ankaa asked, taking a seat before the couple.
Florence gave her a wide smile. Ceph only shook his head.
"I wanted you to be there when I did," He smiled. "Eat up and you can watch me put my name in."
Florence smiled indulgently at him. "I told him you wouldn't have minded," She shrugged, "But he insisted."
"That's alright," Ankaa smiled at her brother. "He knows I'm special."
"Yeah," Ceph smiled, "A special pain in my—"
"Ceph!" Florence gasped, shocked. But when the siblings laughed at one another, throwing various pieces of food at one another, she only rolled her eyes.
The three chatted for a while as Ankaa finished up her food. Finally, when she was done, Ceph got up and led the way back to the Entrance Hall.
"Ready?" Ankaa asked, raising a brow at him.
Ceph turned his head and smiled down at her, "As ready as I'll ever be."
Ankaa watched as he walked forward confidently, and crossed the age line. She watched his hand reach towards the Goblet, and soon enough, he had tipped the piece of parchment with his name into the Goblet of Fire. The Goblet burned a bright blue for a moment before returning back to normal. Various students around the Hall clapped, encouraging Ceph's entry.
"All done," Ceph bounced on the balls of his feet. "I have to admit though, it was a bit anticlimactic."
Florence laughed, threading her arm through Ceph's. "You're saying that now," she jested, "But wait until the Tournament."
Ceph wrinkled his nose, "Oh, right." Looking down at his sister, he asked, "So, what are your plans for today?"
Ankaa only held up one of the books she had borrowed from the library. "In my future today, I see myself reading The Art of the Inner Eye, A Comprehensive Guide to Foresight by Sylvia Yorham," Ankaa closed her eyes and mocked, "I see great turmoil in my future, as the position of Mars indicates I shall receive paper cut after paper cut."
Ceph and Florence laughed.
"Well, good luck with that," Ceph leaned forward to peck her forehead before leaving. "I'll see you later!"
Ankaa only waved as she flipped through her book. She sat by the stairs and read through a chapter of her book. None of the information was new to her, but Ankaa had hoped that by reading enough about it, she would be able to do something at least. Just as she turned the page, a shadow fell across her book.
Looking up, she frowned when she saw Potter, Granger, and Weasley standing before her.
"Hey," Potter greeted with a subtle nod and smile.
Ankaa only nodded, placing her finger between the pages and closing the book. Ronald, who usually didn't greet her, was far too excited about the Tournament. Forgetting his animosity towards the Slytherin girl, he looked around eagerly and asked, "Anyone put their name in yet?"
"Apparently all of the Durmstrang lot did," Ankaa answered with a shrug. "Some of the Beauxbatons and Ceph only just put his name in. I think he's the only one from Hogwarts to do it, so far."
"What!" Ronald choked on his spit. Glancing at her, he seemed to have realized who he was talking to.
"Got a problem, Weasley?" Ankaa was giving him a look as if she was just waiting for him to say something about a Slytherin entering so she could whip out her wand and turn him into a cricket.
Ronald swallowed quickly. "N-No," He stuttered, "I just… expected a lot more people, y'know?"
Ankaa just hummed, keeping her narrow-eyed stare focused on him. Unnerved, Ronald swallowed loudly and looked to Harry and Hermione for help. Hermione only snickered and shook her head.
Harry chuckled as well. "Don't worry Ron," He consoled his friend, "I bet some of them put their names in last night after we'd gone to bed. I would've done it if I had entered… Wouldn't want everyone watching. What if the Goblet just gobbed you right back out again?"
Someone laughed behind Ankaa, and she turned around to see Fred, George, and Lee Jordan all clamouring down the stairs with wide, ecstatic smiles on their faces.
"Done it," Fred proclaimed in a triumphant whisper to the Fourth years as he held up a glass bottle of a potion of some kind. "Cooked it up just this morning."
"Well that can't be good," Ankaa muttered, glancing between the three sixth years. "Not that I don't believe in your abilities," She reassured Fred quickly, "But I really don't think it'll work."
"Wait," Ronald held up a hand, "What's going? What did you cook up?"
"An Ageing Potion, dungbrains," said Fred.
"A little bit each," said George, as he rubbed his hands in glee. "We only need to be a few months older."
"We're going to split the thousand galleons between the three of us," said Lee Jordan, grinning broadly.
Ankaa snorted. "Great idea," She smiled up at them. "If you can even enter the Tournament."
"She's right," Hermione nodded, looking between the three older Gryffindor students. "Dumbledore designed it Age line himself. A genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by an Ageing Potion."
"Don't try and stop us!" Fred claimed, holding up a hand dramatically.
"Literally no one is trying to do that," Ankaa said.
Harry added, "We're all looking forward to what Dumbledore's got in store for you."
Fred, George, and Lee ignored them.
"Ready?" Fred asked the other two, his voice quivering in excitement. "All right then," He knocked back some of the potion before passing it onto George, who did the same and passed it onto Lee.
"I'll go first," said Fred.
Fred pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket. Holding the chit in his hand, he walked right up to the edge of the Age Line. With the eyes of everyone in the Entrance Hall on him, Fred took a deep breath and stepped over the line.
Harry turned to Ankaa, wide-eyed, believing it had worked. Ankaa only smiled and shook her head, pointing back at Fred, who had now been joined by George. There was a loud sizzling sound, and both twins were launched out of the golden circle and ten feet away. With a loud pop, both of them spotted identical, long, white beards.
The Entrance Hall boomed with laughter. The twins, once they had a chance to get up and get a good look at one another, joined in.
With a roll of her eyes, Ankaa picked up her book and headed out. Behind her, the twins and Lee Jordan left the Entrance Hall as well, chortling and guffawing loudly.
"You two really do sound like old, jolly men." Ankaa turned, looking them up and down once.
"Did you just check me out?" Fred asked, raising a brow.
"Got a thing for older men, do you?" George smirked, stroking his beard.
"And you've got a thing for teenage girls, do you, you old geezer?" Ankaa brushed her long hair off her shoulder, "And so what if I like older guys?"
Lee laughed. Stringing an arm around her shoulder, he proclaimed, "I like this one!"
"Your approval means everything to me, Jordan," Ankaa said, in the most monotone voice she could muster. She was pulled away from Lee and between the twins.
"She said she likes older men, Lee." Fred shook his finger in front of his friend's face. "You're much too young for our girl."
"Besides, she says she's already got one, hasn't she?" George nodded at her, still running his hands through his new beard. "I wonder who it is, Freddie."
"How ever shall I live!" Lee cried, placing his hand over his eyes. "Oh, cruel world!"
With a laugh, Ankaa pushed the twins away. "Go to Madam Pomfrey and get those ridiculous beards off, will you?"
Fred waggled his eyebrows and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer. It was odd, to say the least. She felt happier than she had ever been, to be this close to him, to joke around with him. She was happy he was being... well, flirtatious, but at the same time he had Dumbledore's beard and that just felt so, so wrong.
"Will you braid our beards for us?" Fred asked, grinning at her.
"I'll chop your head off," Ankaa huffed, hitting him repeatedly with her book.
"Feisty," Fred winked with a laugh. "I like it!"
Finally, the twins were dragged by a laughing Lee Jordan. As Ankaa headed towards the library, she smiled. Leave it to Fred and George to find the best in every situation. Their spirits weren't the least bit dampened by the fact that they couldn't get into the Tournament.
Ankaa was still smiling when she got to the library. She headed towards the back, where she usually found lots of empty tables. She spotted Blaise sitting on the table where she usually sat. Ankaa made her way towards him.
"Go away," Blaise commanded as soon as Ankaa got close enough.
Ankaa rolled her eyes and settled herself in the chair in front of him, so she was facing the window. She placed her book in front of her, opening it to the right where she left off. Ankaa looked out the window for a moment, with a small smile.
"Nice day, isn't it?"
"It was until you came along." Blaise retorted, giving her a sardonic smile.
Ankaa sighed. She could already feel her good mood from her encounter with the Weasley Twins being chased away. "Come on, Blaise," She said, exasperated. "It's been weeks. Don't you think you've had enough of this childish dispute?"
"Childish?" Blaise's eyes were ablaze (the irony) and he glared at her. "You were the one that gave me the Toffee. I was in the Hospital Wing for an entire day! That's is what I get for being worried about you."
"It's not so much as you were worried about me as it was the way you went about dealing with it," Ankaa shrugged casually.
"You don't seem sorry at all," Blaise noted. He was staring at her incredulously.
"I have no reason to be," Ankaa admitted. "You were the one that started it, Zabini. You shouldn't have brought Weasley into it just because I rejected you. If you're my friend, you need to learn to behave like one. "
"Give potentially fatal toffees to all your friends, do you?" Blaise spat.
"Just the overly idiotic ones." Ankaa smiled. "I'll get you another normal chocolate, don't fret."
"I don't trust you."
"I don't trust you either."
There was a beat of silence. Blaise raised a brow. "Aren't you going to apologize?"
"For what?" Ankaa's eyebrows furrowed.
"For putting me in the Hospital Wing!" Blaise cried, throwing his hands up in frustration. He glanced around quickly, just waiting for Madam Pince to swoop in. When, after a moment, there was no sound, he continued, "My tongue was four feet long before Pomfrey figured out how to get rid of it."
"I have no reason to be sorry for that," Ankaa said, shaking her head once again. "It's you who should apologize to me."
"I'm sorry—"
"That's better."
"—that you're the most unfeeling, cold-hearted and twisted girl I've had the misfortune of falling in love with," He breathed, clenching the side of the table.
There was a surprised pause before Ankaa muttered, "You don't love me, Zabini."
"I do," He nodded vehemently, "And you have no right to tell me otherwise. But let me tell you something. Do you really think someone like Weasley will ever, ever, think of loving someone like you? You're a vengeful little girl who throws tantrums when things don't go her way, who manipulates people for fun to get her way, and who verbally abuses others on a whim. Do you really think he'll pick you over Angelina? You must be denser than I thought.
When you told me you didn't like me, I had made it perfectly clear that I would still be civil, hadn't I? Even if I couldn't have you as—well, you know—I still wanted you in my life, I still wanted you as a friend. And I would never have mentioned your interest in Weasley, but you went ahead and gave me an untested Toffee that could have killed me—"
"You're being dramatic."
"No, I'm not!" Blaise cried. There was no semblance of politeness or order any more. If Madam Pince had heard, which she probably had, she was probably on her way. But Zabini wasn't done, so he continued, "You and Weasley are on two different sides, Ankaa. People like you and him don't belong together. He could never love someone like you."
"What is going on here!" Madam Pince had finally found them. "This is a library! Leave, both of you! This instant!"
Ankaa didn't want to leave. She wanted to pull out her wand and throw every spell she knew at Zabini's face. Instead, Ankaa took a deep breath and stood. She turned to Madam Pince and muttered a quick apology before leaving the library.
Ankaa spent the rest of the day on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She was glad none of the other girls were in the dormitory, they were probably out enjoying the beautiful day. When Ankaa had returned, she had felt a horrible sadness settle onto her. She had not felt that feeling before. It was almost like she had been betrayed, but it was a little more brutal than that. Her nose was tingling, and she kept sniffling to try and get rid of the feeling.
Her chest felt tight for a moment too, and she took deep, shuddering breaths to calm herself down.
She was about to cry. Or at least, that's what it felt like.
But the tears never came. She stayed in bed, staring up at her ceiling with dry eyes. Why couldn't she cry? She was certainly feeling emotional.
Blinking up at the ceiling, she noticed how quiet everything was around her. Maybe that's why she wasn't crying, she realized. What was the point of crying when there was no one to comfort you? But even then, Ankaa supposed she could have cried. People cry all the time, without having their friends around. But at least those people know how to console themselves. Ankaa couldn't even give herself comfort, so really, there was no point in crying.
Blaise was probably right though. Compared to the great Angelina Johnson, what was Ankaa Ryther?
But I'm my own person, Ankaa told herself, albeit halfheartedly. It didn't matter that she wasn't as giggly and jovial as Angelina all the time. At least she wasn't pretending to be anyone but herself. Then again, the question remained, could Fred ever even think of liking someone like her? Someone so brutally honest and intimidating...
With a sigh, she got up. Just as she did, Parkinson came up into the dormitory.
"There you are!" She exhaled with a smile, "Come on, we'll be choosing our champions soon!"
"Yeah," Ankaa mumbled, rolling out of bed. She walked with Pansy down to the Great Hall. Pansy was chattering on about something she had read in Witch Weekly recently, and Ankaa only nodded when Pansy looked at her, as if not to discourage her. When they got to the Great Hall, Pansy glanced around at the Slytherin Table, trying to spot Draco. Once she did, Pansy took a hold of Ankaa's hand and pulled her along, "There they are!"
"Er—actually, Pansy," Ankaa pulled her hand free of Pansy's grip. "I'll sit with my brother for today. I'll see you guys later."
"Oh, okay."
When Ankaa sat beside Ceph, he immediately noticed something was wrong. He scrutinized her for a moment before raising a brow. "Who do I need to threaten?" He asked.
Ankaa laughed. "No one," She patted his hand with a smile. "I've got it all under control, thanks."
Ceph obviously didn't believe her but with the commencement of the feast, he was a little more preoccupied. Lucky for her, Ankaa got on quite well with Ceph's group of friends, and so conversation was no roadblock for her. Throughout the feast, everyone kept glancing excitedly at the Goblet of Fire that had been placed right before Dumbledore's chair. Higgs and Pucey were busy making bets on which house the champion would belong to, and Ankaa was highly tempted to make a ridiculously large bet in Ceph's name.
"Not sitting with Florence for this historic moment?" Ankaa smirked at Ceph quietly.
Shaking his head, he placed his goblet back down. He glanced towards the Ravenclaw table, where Florence was deep in conversation with another girl from Beauxbatons.
"No," Ceph smiled at Ankaa, "I wanted to be with you when it happened, seeing as you're the one that told me about it in the first place."
Ankaa rolled her eyes, "How sentimental... thanks."
Ceph laughed. "Not to worry little sister," Ceph said, "I'll be out of your hair soon enough."
"Gosh, I hope so." Ankaa laughed.
After a while, when everyone had finished eating, the golden plates were cleared of food. Everyone craned their necks, looking to the front of the Hall excitedly.
"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 to please come up to the front of the Hall and go into the next chamber—" He pointed to the door at the back, "—where they will receive their first instructions."
With one sweep of his wand, the candles around the Great Hall were dimmed. Ankaa bit her lip in anticipation. Reaching below the table, she took Ceph's hand and gave it a squeeze. Ceph only smiled at her in amusement before gently squeezing her hand as well.
"I really hope it's someone in Slytherin," Higgs grinned from the other side of the table. "It would be so wonderful to have a Slytherin Champion."
Ankaa smirked at him. "How about I join your betting pool, Terence?" She baited. "I bet thirty galleons that the champion will be from Slytherin and that it'll be Ceph."
Higgs' eyebrows were almost up to his hairline in surprise. Spluttering, he looked towards Ceph, who was staring at his sister in exasperation.
"What?" Ankaa laughed. "I'm just saying."
Rolling his eyes, Ceph advised his friend, "Ignore her. She's developing an unhealthy gambling addiction."
At the front of the room, the flames from the Goblet burned a brilliant red. A piece of paper shot into the air, and Dumbledore's hand reached up to grasp it. He placed it at arm's length, in the light of the, once again, blue-white flames of the Goblet.
"The champion for Durmstrang," Dumbledore read in a strong, clear voice, "will be Victor Krum."
The Hall broke out into loud applause. Ankaa spotted Krum get up from the other end of the Slytherin table and walk towards the front of the Hall. He shook hands with Dumbledore before walking along the Staff Table and disappearing through the door on the right.
The Goblet did the same once more. Another charred piece of paper flew into the air, and Dumbledore picked it gently out of the air.
"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour."
Ankaa watched in amusement as some of the other students burst into tears. Two of the girls from Beauxbatons, who had not been chosen, were clutching each other and sobbing grossly. Ankaa turned away from them and watched as even Delacour disappeared through the door. Ceph would be next...
Ankaa squeezed his hand tightly once more as she watched the Goblet throw another piece of paper towards the ceiling.
"The Hogwarts champion," Dumbledore called, "is Cepheus Rhyther!"
Ankaa was sure the other houses weren't happy, but the applause from the Slytherin table was enough to drown out any of the ill wishes. As Ceph got up and gracefully made his way over to Dumbledore, she noticed that even the other houses were cheering for him too. Ankaa watched with a wide smile as her brother shook hands with Dumbledore and he too, disappeared through the door on the right. The applause for Ceph was still ringing through the Hall, as the Slytherin students pounded their fists on the table in utter delight.
"Merlin's beard," Higgs sat back down in wonder. "You really would have won our bet."
Ankaa only smirked, "You doubted me?"
"Excellent!" Dumbledore cried happily over the applause, "We now have our three champions! By cheering for your champion, you will contribute in a very real—"
But Dumbledore stopped abruptly. Ankaa blinked in confusion first, before her eyes found the Goblet once more. Instead of the blue-white flame, it had turned red once again. Ankaa watched in true confusion as another piece of paper was launched out of the Goblet. Dumbledore reached for it. There was a long pause in which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hand, and every student stared at Dumbledore.
"D'you reckon there's been a mistake with one of the names?" One of the Slytherin students whispered to Ankaa.
"No," Ankaa mumbled, "The Goblet won't make a mistake."
Finally, Dumbledore glanced away from the slip and towards the Gryffindor Table. And instinctively, Ankaa just knew who the unfortunate soul was.
"Harry Potter."
Notes:
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