Disclaimer: I can't remember exactly what characters I do own and
which I don't, so I'll say this: All copyrighted, trademarked or otherwise
owned property is property of it's respective owner and no ownership is
implied on the author's part. Enjoy!
A/N: I skipped the part where Dumbledore explains that the GoF is the impartial judge; I'm sorry! I'll fix that when I go over the story again, but I only plan to do that once I finish.
Also, I finally figured out how to bold, italic, and underline. I'd tried the tags before but I didn't save to HTML-- if I wasn't quite so stupid, maybe I would have had proper italics and bolds already. I'll continue going like I am for now, but when my big planned revamping of the story comes around... you just wait and see ^_^.
~~Chapter Fifteen: The Fourth Champion~~
The day finally came when the Champions of the Triwizard Tournament would be chosen. Although he had initially not considered this anything special, Kevin found himself revising his opinion when the other students explained what a unique occurrence this was at Hogwarts.
Of all the people at the school, the most nervous seemed to be the Beauxbatons students. Kevin was disappointed by the fact that only one Ravenclaw had entered his name in the Goblet of Fire.
Stewart and Kevin were often seen in the Ravenclaw common room, discussing what the three tasks might be and what would happen if certain people were the champions. Lyra often joined in, offering solutions to possible tasks they thought of. She certainly knew a lot of spells.
Krysten, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly busy with her school work. She was always studying, writing, and reading; she barely greeting Kevin or Lyra in the halls anymore.
Evelyn and Kevin talked when they could, but opportunities to chat were few and far between.
Inevitably, the day one week after the delegations had arrived came. You couldn't just feel the excitement, you could taste it-- the younger students were whispering to each other about who might become champions, while the older ones who had entered their name into the Goblet of Fire were all failing to act like they didn't care who turned out to be the Champion.
Kevin looked up the hall; Dumbledore seemed to be enjoying his meal just as if it was a normal day, but Madame Maxime and Professor Karkaroff on either side of him weren't even eating. It was rather amusing watching them in contrast to Dumbledore.
Finally, the plates were magically cleared. Lyra whispered something to Kevin, but he couldn't hear over the sudden large amount of noise in the hall. Then Dumbledore stood up-- and all the noise died down. This was finally it.
"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make it's decision," Dumbledore intoned to the expectant students. "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 top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the chamber, where they will be receiving their first instructions." At this, there was a low buzz and whispers were traded between students, which again died down quickly.
Dumbledore waved his wand in an arc, and every candle excepting the jack-o- lanterns was suddenly extinguished. The Goblet of Fire, standing on the staff table in front of Dumbledore, was now almost painful to look at, its bright blue and white flames licking around the edges of the goblet and occasionally shooting up in a little burst.
Suddenly, the flames in the goblet turned red. Bright sparks shot out from the goblet, as if inside the fire a burning log had just snapped in two. And then, carried on a tongue of bright flame, a piece of blackened parchment shot out of the goblet. Dumbledore caught it expertly in his hand and held it over the flames to be able to read it.
"The champion for Durmstrang," He read in a deep, loud voice, "will be Viktor Krum."
The entire hall burst into applause at this. The name rung a bell somewhere to Kevin, but he couldn't place the name no matter how much he thought. Still, he clapped along with everyone else for the several minutes until it died down again. His hands were already aching. Viktor Krum got up and slouched over to the door Dumbledore has indicated.
The entire hall waited in tense silence again. The flames turned red... and another piece of parchment shot out. Dumbledore caught it just like the one before.
"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"
Kevin clapped even louder, and only a few seats over from him Fleur Delacour stood up and walked up the hall. The only people who didn't clap were the other Beauxbatons students, who all seemed to be extremely stricken by the news. One of them was sobbing so hard she could be clearly heard over the clapping.
Sobs and laughter finally stopped again. The flames once again turned red... and, like before, another scrap of parchment was propelled out of the goblet on a tongue of flame. This was the Hogwarts champion-- everyone is the school was silent and still as if they were all petrified. Kevin waited in nervous silence, looking up the hall towards Dumbledore.
"The Hogwarts Champion," Dumbledore read, pausing for effect at that point, "is... Cedric Diggory!"
The entire school burst into applause. Kevin had seen Cedric now and then, and heard about him; he seemed to be a kind of Harry Potter among the Hufflepuffs, and he had always been polite to Kevin. Many Ravenclaws stood up, and all the Hufflepuffs did, giving Cedric Diggory a-- well deserved, in Kevin's opinion-- standing ovation. Cedric seemed embarrassed, but very happy, as the walked up the hall towards the teacher's table.
"Excellent!" Dumbledore called out to the hall. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon you all, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champions on, you will contribute in a very real--"
Suddenly, Dumbledore stopped speaking. Kevin looked around in confusion, and then back up to the staff table-- and it was quite obvious then why Dumbledore has stopped. The flames in the Goblet of Fire had turned red. A fourth time.
Although Kevin had been expecting it, he still widened his eyes in surprise when a fourth piece of parchment flew out of the goblet. The entire hall seemed to gasp as one.
Dumbledore reached out and caught in one hand as quickly as he had all the others, but the confusion was plain on his face. He stared at the parchment for a long, long while, before saying two words to the shocked hall:
"Harry Potter."
A stunned silence filled the hall. Kevin blinked several times, and looked over to Lyra; she looked as confused as he did; no, as the rest of the entire hall did. Everyone seemed to be speaking; a few jeers could be heard from the Slytherin and Hufflepuff tables. Over the hall, Kevin could just barely see Harry Potter stand up and begin walking ever so slowly towards the staff table.
"What's going on?" Stewart asked loudly. Kevin could hear voices all around him... "...as if he doesn't have enough publicity already..." "...he looks stunned..." "was Cedric not good enough after all?"... Just about every possible opinion on the matter was being voiced at the Ravenclaw table alone. Kevin had already decided to reserve his opinion until he knew what was happening.
Potter was in the room behind the staff table now, and Dumbledore stood up and announced grimly to the hall, "Prefects, please lead all students to their common rooms. Guests will kindly retire to their respective area and wait for their Headmasters."
That was that, of course. The angry buzz that filled the hall was ignored by the teachers as the Prefects tried to get the crowd of unwilling students to leave the hall. Reluctantly, Kevin got up and trudged along with the other Ravenclaws towards their common room, brooding. Lyra and Stewart were talking in hushed voices just a little bit off, and Lyra gestured for Kevin to join them.
"What d'you think, Kevin?" Lyra asked as they walked.
"Don't know. It's bloody odd. I don't think anyone was expecting it!"
"Exactly," Stewart muttered. "I got a good look at Potter's face. He was shocked!"
Lyra sighed. "It's annoying, not knowing, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Kevin and Stewart agreed in unison.
They didn't talk any more until they reached the common room. Instantly, the talking began getting louder. -So many opinions, so little to go on-, Kevin thought to himself. -And in the mean time, this is getting annoying.-
Kevin shut his ears to the talking around him. He absolutely hated large, loud crowds. The noise was too much...
Kevin shouldered past the people in the chalk full common room and swung the door to the men's bathrooms open, closing it firmly behind him. Thankfully, the door had some kind of noise-proof enchantment on it, for all sounds from the common room were entirely blotted out, instantly.
Blissful quiet. Odin's eye, how he hated loud crowds. He couldn't lock himself up in the bathroom forever, of course. But maybe he could wait until the noise died down. Sighing, he leaned against one of the sinks and frowned at himself in the mirror.
"What a nightmare," He said in a hushed tone. "Perhaps people will stop talking tomorrow. I don't think I'll get any sleep tonight."
-You shouldn't be talking to yourself,- He chided mentally.
"Why not? I argue to myself in my head all the time. Nothing wrong with hearing it."
Kevin shrugged, and walked out. The situation had clearly escalated; from listening only a minute, he could tell there were three sides to the argument now-- Pro-Potter, Anti-Potter, and then the intelligent ones who stayed neutral and reserved their opinions. He spotted Lyra among the latter group. She obviously shared Kevin's opinion about the argument, and gave him a rueful shrug before turning back to watch.
The moment she looked away, Kevin slipped right out the tapestry. He didn't think anyone had seen him, and he was sure nobody would miss him; Lyra already suspected, if not knew, of his wandering habits already, and rarely inquired about the chunks of time he just wasn't around. And Stewart, from the looks of it, had been very busy explaining to the room how Potter deserved a decent chance.
Kevin leaned against the tapestry in relief for a second. Since it was rock solid from the other side, no matter how deceivingly it rippled and swayed in the wind, he could do that, although it was odd to feel something solid ripple and sway under you. Laughing quietly, he took off down the hall.
Kevin was in the library before he knew it. He hadn't been thinking about where he was going, and, as always, his legs had lead him here. Because, a stubborn part of him reasoned, there's got to be an answer in one of these books.
Filch, the caretaker, was bound to be prowling around somewhere near, though. He always stuck near the library unless he was chasing that Poltergeist, Peeves.
Still, Kevin hardly stopped to listen as he entered the Restricted Section, and picked up where he had left off last time in searching. For what, he wasn't sure. Perhaps just a book that seemed interesting. After all, rules were meant to be broken, and there's no point in keeping something away if it's not interesting.
'Fifty uses for human blood'... Kevin raised an eyebrow and quickly moved on to the next one. 'Tarnished Souls'... 'Wine to Venom'... 'Delving a Wizard's Mind'... Kevin walked down the isle, checking every book on the shelf as he went. Nothing seemed particularly interesting. But wait-- what was that?
The word 'Familiars' on a tome on shelf lower than the one he was looking on had caught his eye. With much difficulty-- and sneezing-- he pulled the dusty book out of the spot where it had been jammed in between two others, and, his interest piqued, looked at the back and front. The book was called 'Familiars: A Manual'; it was very old, leather-bound, and at least as wide as Kevin's fist.
His interest piqued, Kevin walked back to the table he liked to study at and sat down, opening the book. He flipped past several title pages, introductions, and a preamble before finally getting to the book itself.
The text was small and dull, lacking both modern print quality and medieval illuminations (which were still to be found on some very old books in the library). Still, it was readable, and the content was quite interesting. Kevin found himself absorbed in minutes.
A/N: I skipped the part where Dumbledore explains that the GoF is the impartial judge; I'm sorry! I'll fix that when I go over the story again, but I only plan to do that once I finish.
Also, I finally figured out how to bold, italic, and underline. I'd tried the tags before but I didn't save to HTML-- if I wasn't quite so stupid, maybe I would have had proper italics and bolds already. I'll continue going like I am for now, but when my big planned revamping of the story comes around... you just wait and see ^_^.
~~Chapter Fifteen: The Fourth Champion~~
The day finally came when the Champions of the Triwizard Tournament would be chosen. Although he had initially not considered this anything special, Kevin found himself revising his opinion when the other students explained what a unique occurrence this was at Hogwarts.
Of all the people at the school, the most nervous seemed to be the Beauxbatons students. Kevin was disappointed by the fact that only one Ravenclaw had entered his name in the Goblet of Fire.
Stewart and Kevin were often seen in the Ravenclaw common room, discussing what the three tasks might be and what would happen if certain people were the champions. Lyra often joined in, offering solutions to possible tasks they thought of. She certainly knew a lot of spells.
Krysten, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly busy with her school work. She was always studying, writing, and reading; she barely greeting Kevin or Lyra in the halls anymore.
Evelyn and Kevin talked when they could, but opportunities to chat were few and far between.
Inevitably, the day one week after the delegations had arrived came. You couldn't just feel the excitement, you could taste it-- the younger students were whispering to each other about who might become champions, while the older ones who had entered their name into the Goblet of Fire were all failing to act like they didn't care who turned out to be the Champion.
Kevin looked up the hall; Dumbledore seemed to be enjoying his meal just as if it was a normal day, but Madame Maxime and Professor Karkaroff on either side of him weren't even eating. It was rather amusing watching them in contrast to Dumbledore.
Finally, the plates were magically cleared. Lyra whispered something to Kevin, but he couldn't hear over the sudden large amount of noise in the hall. Then Dumbledore stood up-- and all the noise died down. This was finally it.
"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make it's decision," Dumbledore intoned to the expectant students. "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 top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the chamber, where they will be receiving their first instructions." At this, there was a low buzz and whispers were traded between students, which again died down quickly.
Dumbledore waved his wand in an arc, and every candle excepting the jack-o- lanterns was suddenly extinguished. The Goblet of Fire, standing on the staff table in front of Dumbledore, was now almost painful to look at, its bright blue and white flames licking around the edges of the goblet and occasionally shooting up in a little burst.
Suddenly, the flames in the goblet turned red. Bright sparks shot out from the goblet, as if inside the fire a burning log had just snapped in two. And then, carried on a tongue of bright flame, a piece of blackened parchment shot out of the goblet. Dumbledore caught it expertly in his hand and held it over the flames to be able to read it.
"The champion for Durmstrang," He read in a deep, loud voice, "will be Viktor Krum."
The entire hall burst into applause at this. The name rung a bell somewhere to Kevin, but he couldn't place the name no matter how much he thought. Still, he clapped along with everyone else for the several minutes until it died down again. His hands were already aching. Viktor Krum got up and slouched over to the door Dumbledore has indicated.
The entire hall waited in tense silence again. The flames turned red... and another piece of parchment shot out. Dumbledore caught it just like the one before.
"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"
Kevin clapped even louder, and only a few seats over from him Fleur Delacour stood up and walked up the hall. The only people who didn't clap were the other Beauxbatons students, who all seemed to be extremely stricken by the news. One of them was sobbing so hard she could be clearly heard over the clapping.
Sobs and laughter finally stopped again. The flames once again turned red... and, like before, another scrap of parchment was propelled out of the goblet on a tongue of flame. This was the Hogwarts champion-- everyone is the school was silent and still as if they were all petrified. Kevin waited in nervous silence, looking up the hall towards Dumbledore.
"The Hogwarts Champion," Dumbledore read, pausing for effect at that point, "is... Cedric Diggory!"
The entire school burst into applause. Kevin had seen Cedric now and then, and heard about him; he seemed to be a kind of Harry Potter among the Hufflepuffs, and he had always been polite to Kevin. Many Ravenclaws stood up, and all the Hufflepuffs did, giving Cedric Diggory a-- well deserved, in Kevin's opinion-- standing ovation. Cedric seemed embarrassed, but very happy, as the walked up the hall towards the teacher's table.
"Excellent!" Dumbledore called out to the hall. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon you all, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champions on, you will contribute in a very real--"
Suddenly, Dumbledore stopped speaking. Kevin looked around in confusion, and then back up to the staff table-- and it was quite obvious then why Dumbledore has stopped. The flames in the Goblet of Fire had turned red. A fourth time.
Although Kevin had been expecting it, he still widened his eyes in surprise when a fourth piece of parchment flew out of the goblet. The entire hall seemed to gasp as one.
Dumbledore reached out and caught in one hand as quickly as he had all the others, but the confusion was plain on his face. He stared at the parchment for a long, long while, before saying two words to the shocked hall:
"Harry Potter."
A stunned silence filled the hall. Kevin blinked several times, and looked over to Lyra; she looked as confused as he did; no, as the rest of the entire hall did. Everyone seemed to be speaking; a few jeers could be heard from the Slytherin and Hufflepuff tables. Over the hall, Kevin could just barely see Harry Potter stand up and begin walking ever so slowly towards the staff table.
"What's going on?" Stewart asked loudly. Kevin could hear voices all around him... "...as if he doesn't have enough publicity already..." "...he looks stunned..." "was Cedric not good enough after all?"... Just about every possible opinion on the matter was being voiced at the Ravenclaw table alone. Kevin had already decided to reserve his opinion until he knew what was happening.
Potter was in the room behind the staff table now, and Dumbledore stood up and announced grimly to the hall, "Prefects, please lead all students to their common rooms. Guests will kindly retire to their respective area and wait for their Headmasters."
That was that, of course. The angry buzz that filled the hall was ignored by the teachers as the Prefects tried to get the crowd of unwilling students to leave the hall. Reluctantly, Kevin got up and trudged along with the other Ravenclaws towards their common room, brooding. Lyra and Stewart were talking in hushed voices just a little bit off, and Lyra gestured for Kevin to join them.
"What d'you think, Kevin?" Lyra asked as they walked.
"Don't know. It's bloody odd. I don't think anyone was expecting it!"
"Exactly," Stewart muttered. "I got a good look at Potter's face. He was shocked!"
Lyra sighed. "It's annoying, not knowing, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Kevin and Stewart agreed in unison.
They didn't talk any more until they reached the common room. Instantly, the talking began getting louder. -So many opinions, so little to go on-, Kevin thought to himself. -And in the mean time, this is getting annoying.-
Kevin shut his ears to the talking around him. He absolutely hated large, loud crowds. The noise was too much...
Kevin shouldered past the people in the chalk full common room and swung the door to the men's bathrooms open, closing it firmly behind him. Thankfully, the door had some kind of noise-proof enchantment on it, for all sounds from the common room were entirely blotted out, instantly.
Blissful quiet. Odin's eye, how he hated loud crowds. He couldn't lock himself up in the bathroom forever, of course. But maybe he could wait until the noise died down. Sighing, he leaned against one of the sinks and frowned at himself in the mirror.
"What a nightmare," He said in a hushed tone. "Perhaps people will stop talking tomorrow. I don't think I'll get any sleep tonight."
-You shouldn't be talking to yourself,- He chided mentally.
"Why not? I argue to myself in my head all the time. Nothing wrong with hearing it."
Kevin shrugged, and walked out. The situation had clearly escalated; from listening only a minute, he could tell there were three sides to the argument now-- Pro-Potter, Anti-Potter, and then the intelligent ones who stayed neutral and reserved their opinions. He spotted Lyra among the latter group. She obviously shared Kevin's opinion about the argument, and gave him a rueful shrug before turning back to watch.
The moment she looked away, Kevin slipped right out the tapestry. He didn't think anyone had seen him, and he was sure nobody would miss him; Lyra already suspected, if not knew, of his wandering habits already, and rarely inquired about the chunks of time he just wasn't around. And Stewart, from the looks of it, had been very busy explaining to the room how Potter deserved a decent chance.
Kevin leaned against the tapestry in relief for a second. Since it was rock solid from the other side, no matter how deceivingly it rippled and swayed in the wind, he could do that, although it was odd to feel something solid ripple and sway under you. Laughing quietly, he took off down the hall.
Kevin was in the library before he knew it. He hadn't been thinking about where he was going, and, as always, his legs had lead him here. Because, a stubborn part of him reasoned, there's got to be an answer in one of these books.
Filch, the caretaker, was bound to be prowling around somewhere near, though. He always stuck near the library unless he was chasing that Poltergeist, Peeves.
Still, Kevin hardly stopped to listen as he entered the Restricted Section, and picked up where he had left off last time in searching. For what, he wasn't sure. Perhaps just a book that seemed interesting. After all, rules were meant to be broken, and there's no point in keeping something away if it's not interesting.
'Fifty uses for human blood'... Kevin raised an eyebrow and quickly moved on to the next one. 'Tarnished Souls'... 'Wine to Venom'... 'Delving a Wizard's Mind'... Kevin walked down the isle, checking every book on the shelf as he went. Nothing seemed particularly interesting. But wait-- what was that?
The word 'Familiars' on a tome on shelf lower than the one he was looking on had caught his eye. With much difficulty-- and sneezing-- he pulled the dusty book out of the spot where it had been jammed in between two others, and, his interest piqued, looked at the back and front. The book was called 'Familiars: A Manual'; it was very old, leather-bound, and at least as wide as Kevin's fist.
His interest piqued, Kevin walked back to the table he liked to study at and sat down, opening the book. He flipped past several title pages, introductions, and a preamble before finally getting to the book itself.
The text was small and dull, lacking both modern print quality and medieval illuminations (which were still to be found on some very old books in the library). Still, it was readable, and the content was quite interesting. Kevin found himself absorbed in minutes.