CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: QUITTING
The three champions sat around a fireplace, Viktor Krum reminding Buffy of a brooding Angel as the tall Quidditch Player stared into the flames. Fleur Delacours suddenly tossed her silver hair over her shoulder and looked towards the opening door.
"What is it?" the girl whom Ron was convinced was a Veela asked. "Do zey want us back in ze Hall?"
Buffy turned, shocked to see her cousin standing in the doorway, looking pale, his hands shaking. Buffy walked over to him and pulled him into the room, sitting him down in a chair beside the fireplace.
"What happened?" she whispered.
Harry swallowed hard. "My name just got spat out of the Goblet," Harry explained succinctly.
Buffy's eyes widened. Her first thought was to ask Harry if he'd put his name in, but…thinking of everything she knew of Harry, she knew that he hadn't. It wasn't like him to try and bend the rules to get what he wanted. He wasn't stupid enough to try enter the Tournament when he was underage.
Ludo Bagman came bounding into the room.
"Extraordinary! Absolutely extraordinary! Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce – incredible though it may seem – the fourth Triwizard champion."
Fleur Delacour thought it to be a joke, Viktor Krum had stayed silent, but his eyebrows had scrunched together, and Buffy was worried would this would mean for her younger cousin. He looked absolutely terrified.
The door opened again and a large group of people came in; Professor Dumbledore, Mr Crouch, Professors Karkaroff, McGonagall, a scowling Snape, and Madame Maxime.
The Professors discussed Harry's fate while Harry just watched in silent disbelief. Buffy stood behind him, her hand on his shoulder in silent support. Harry was grateful for the gesture and felt himself relax somewhat at her comforting presence.
Dumbledore soon turned his attention away from the arguing Heads of the other schools and looked towards Harry.
"Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Harry?" the Headmaster asked.
"No," he replied.
"Did you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?" Dumbledore questioned.
"No," Harry replied vehemently.
"Ah, but of course 'e is lying!" Madame Maxime cried.
"My cousin is not a liar!" Buffy yelled, straightening to her full height, the very air around her becoming slightly charged with magic as she shifted into Slayer mode, ready to do some serious danger to anyone who badmouthed her cousin.
"That will do, Miss Summers," Dumbledore said gently, very aware of the havoc the girl could wreak if she chose to.
Professor Karkaroff threw a slight temper tantrum, demanding that the Goblet be reset and all of the names resubmitted so that the two other schools could have two champions. Unfortunately for him, hit didn't work that way.
Karkaroff was completely unhappy with the situation. "I have half a mind to leave now!"
"Empty threat Karkaroff. You can't leave your champion now. He's got to compete. They've all got to compete. Binding magical contract, like Dumbledore said. Convenient, eh?" Moody said as he limped into the chamber. "Someone put Potter's name into the Goblet knowing he'd have to compete if it came out. Maybe someone's hoping Potter is going to die for it."
Silence reigned in the chamber, and Buffy's grip on Harry's shoulder was almost painful, but the boy said nothing.
The Professors argued for a few more moments until Dumbledore calmly asked the other Heads of Schools to offer a solution. No one spoke. Madame Maxime glared, Karkaroff looked livid and Snape was still scowling, not that that was anything new.
Barty Crouch stepped forward into the firelight. Both Buffy and Harry noticed how ill the man was looking. The cousins exchanged a glance and shrugged, neither of them brave enough to say anything to the Minister about it.
"Now, the first task is designed to test your daring, so we are not going to be telling you what it is. Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard…very important. The first task will take place on November the twenty-fourth, in front of the other students and the panel of judges. The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the Tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the Tournament, the champions will be exempted from end-of-year tests."
"Sweet," Buffy whispered, unable to refrain. Dumbledore smiled a little, and Harry half-grinned.
Karkaroff left Krum out, Maxime led Fleur out, and Dumbledore turned to the two Hogwarts students.
"Harry, Buffy, I suggest you both go up to bed. I am sure the Gryffindors are waiting to celebrate with you, and it would be a shame to deprive them of this excellent excuse to make a great deal of noise."
Harry glanced at Buffy who nodded, and they headed out together. When the door to the chamber had closed behind them, Buffy turned to her younger cousin as they continued to walk towards the Gryffindor Common Room.
"You okay?" she asked.
Harry swallowed hard and shrugged. "I don't know. I'm still trying to convince myself that this is some kind of dream, and I'm going to wake up at any second."
"This is really serious stuff Harry," Buffy said. "There's no way you can quit even if you wanted to. And not to be all alarmist or anything, but…Moody may have been right."
Harry sighed. "I know," he replied. He laughed a little, a bitter laugh that made Buffy frown slightly. "All day yesterday, we were joking about entering the Tournament, and now…here I am, the youngest champion in the Tournament, and now that I think about it, I don't really want to be in it."
"And it's a binding contract," Buffy said.
"Whoever put my name in must really have it in for me though," Harry said.
"Voldemort?" Buffy asked. "Or one of his Death-Eater people?"
Harry nodded, mulling over the possibilities in his mind. It had to have been someone within the Hogwarts grounds, and unfortunately, there were fifty new possibilities, and someone from Durmstrang was looking like the likeliest explanation. Except that Karkaroff had been seriously angry.
"I don't know who would have done it," he admitted. "And I can't quit, so…I don't know how I'm going to get through this."
As they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Buffy stopped Harry from entering, placing her hands on his shoulders and forcing him to look at her.
"Your friends will be behind you, every step of the way. You aren't alone. You've got friends, and you've got family," she reminded him. "We'll get you through this."
Harry breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a lot calmer than he had been a moment ago. He smiled genuinely at her and gave her a quick hug.
"Thanks," he said.
She grinned at him. "We'll just chalk this whole Tournament thing up to another family bonding experience. Now…behind this portrait is a room full of people who are going to want to yell and scream their congratulations. You ready?"
Harry grinned and nodded, thankful that his cousin was at his side. He didn't even want to consider what he'd have done without her.
"Balderdash," he said grinning towards the portrait of the Fat Lady. The portrait swung open on its hinges and the amount of noise inside the Common Room was deafening.
Both Harry and Buffy were tugged inside, all of the Gryffindors screaming, applauding and whistling.
"You should've told us you'd entered!" bellowed Fred at both of them.
Angelina swept Buffy into a hug. "If it couldn't be me, at least it's still a Gryffindor!"
When Angelina pulled back, Buffy felt a pair of arms slip around her waist from behind.
"Naughty Summers," George whispered, his mouth close enough to her ears that she could feel his breath tickling her neck. She shivered slightly and leant back against him. "You should have told us you were entering."
"I didn't wanna make a fool of myself if I didn't get chosen," she replied. "Plus I wanted to surprise you."
"You succeeded," he replied. Buffy was tugged out of George's embrace by a grinning Lee Jordan who had unearthed two Gryffindor flags and had draped them across Harry's shoulders, and was trying to do the same to Buffy.
Buffy could see Harry trying to deny that he'd put his name into the Goblet, but it was useless. No one wanted to know that he hadn't. They were too busy celebrating the double win for Gryffindor.
For nearly an hour and a half, the celebrations continued on strongly. The noise didn't seem to abate, and nearly every single Gryffindor student, from the First Years to the Seventh Years had come up to the two Hogwarts champions, shaken their hands or hugged them. Buffy had never been so overwhelmed in her life, and Harry wasn't faring much better.
Eventually, the crowd began to disperse and the champions were allowed to leave for their dorms. Buffy went up the stairs, Angelina, Alicia and Katie walking up behind her, the four of them still grinning widely. As they changed for bed and got under the covers, they were still grinning widely.
Inside the Fourth-Years boys dorms though, things weren't going so well for Harry. Ron had just closed the curtains around his four poster bed, leaving Harry staring at the at the dark red curtains that hid one of the few people that he'd been sure would believe that he hadn't put his name forward. He sighed and got ready for bed, knowing that the next few weeks leading up to the twenty-fourth of November would be the longest of his life.
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I apologise for the lack of updates. Uni has been absolutely crazy and this is my first free moment in a helluva long time. Much thanks for all yoru feedback, you guys rock!
Toodles.
K.