Chapter 7: An Exciting Entrance
"Are you ready?" I called to Celeste and Lauran across the room. "We need to go."
"I'm ready. What do you think?" Celeste turned around and struck a pose.
"You look nice, you too Lauran. Now come on we've got to go!" I hurried down the stairs in my dress robes. It wasn't the same pair I had worn last year seeing as how those had gotten blood all over them. But let's not go into that.
"Where are we going?" Lauran called from somewhere behind my right shoulder.
"Down to the Entrance Hall, after that I don't know." I called back as we joined the flow of students all hurrying to the Entrance Hall.
"Follow me students! Please order yourselves by House and by year! Get in straight lines along the front path just outside the door, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw on the right with Hufflepuff and Slytherin on the left!" the shouting Professor was barely audible over the din.
Professor Delacour was frantically trying to arrange the overly excited students in some order. I decided she could use some help since hardly anyone could hear what she was saying. I stuck two fingers in my mouth and blew, hard! Everyone instantly shut-up.
"Listen up! The teachers want you to arrange yourselves on either side of the path outside the door, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw on the right with Hufflepuff and Slytherin facing them on the left. Line up by year and House. Get moving!" I said loudly so that my voice would carry throughout the Entrance Hall.
"Thank you Miss Potter, but we can take it from here." Professor Delacour started telling some first year Hufflepuffs to get a move on and get out the door so they weren't blocking the doors.
Shrugging I continued down into the Entrance Hall and out the front doors to the grounds outside and started getting some first years in their proper places. Then I joined my friends in the 2nd year Gryffindor line. I wondered how the other schools would choose to arrive this year. They always came in style; that much was sure.
It had to have been between twenty and thirty minutes after we had assembled when we saw it. Down in Hogsmeade there was a giant flash of light and a huge boom. Fairly soon a glowing carriage was seen to be traveling up the road at a remarkable pace. I'm sure it occurred to every single one of us that the carriage might be going too fast to stop properly. Sure enough it barreled around the school before rocketing back around the other side and coming to an abrupt halt smack dab in the middle of our lines of welcoming students.
The door on the carriage opened and a pair of sparkling steps unfolded. Out of the carriage stepped a very large lady, half giant by the looks of her, and an equally large man. I recongnized them right away as being Madame Maxime and Hagrid, who had gotten married shortly after things with Voldemort were wrapped up.
These two large persons were followed by an unimpressive group of students, at least compared to the two half giants. The large crowd of Hogwarts students ooh-ed and ah-ed quite effectively.
"Madame Maxime and Hagrid it is so nice to see you again. I suppose we should get your students inside. They're looking quite cold; those uniforms really aren't warm enough for Hogwarts weather." Professor Delacour hurried the medium sized group of students into the castle.
It couldn't have been five minutes later that people started pointing at something approaching on the horizon. We watched it grow larger and larger until finally…
"It's a boat! And it's sailing on the land!" An overly excited first-year was heard to yell.
"He's right you know." I commented to Celeste who was looking skeptical that a boat was really 'sailing on the land.'
The boat pulled into the lake and a boarding ramp was extended over the side. A lone figure got off the ship. He walked up to Professor Delacour and they whispered quietly for a few minutes before the school nurse was fetched and they headed back to the boat. The three got onto the boat and emerged a little later with a fourth figure and were being tailed by another dozen or so more people. The group of people passed and there was silence for an extended amount of time before…
"Blimey, that was Corinne Hodgepeckins, the Quidditch star!" A fifth-year student shouted.
"What the heck is she doing here?" Colby said, sounding half-awed half-doubtful.
"I'd say she attends Durmstrang." I replied coolly, "Come on, let's go inside. I'm going to freeze to death out here."
Turning on my heel I led the students of Hogwarts into the Great Hall where we joined the thirty students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, along with their headmasters.
"Wait a second, that's Viktor Krum. I didn't know he was Durmstrang's headmaster." I said to no one in particular.
"Please students, have a seat. I'm very excited to welcome our guests from our sister schools to Hogwarts. This is Madame Maxime and Monsieur Hagrid from Beauxbatons and Professor Krum from Durmstrang. Please, make our guests feel at home." The headmaster spoke in a loud, calm voice.
I looked around the room and noticed that the House tables had been replaced by many smaller tables. I found a table and beckoned over Celeste & Colby, Lauran & Dean, Logan, Greg, and, much to Greg's dislike, Morgan.
"Come on Colby, let's go dance." Celeste pulled Colby off onto the dance floor. Lauran and Dean followed them.
"Looks like we've been ditched," I commented to a sulky Greg as Logan agreed to dance with Morgan.
"I have, you haven't," Greg pointed to an approaching figure. "Looks like Wood hasn't forgotten about you."
"Great, you know who he came with right?" I asked Greg.
"Nobody?"
"No, he came with Amity Marcellus." I replied grinning triumphantly. "That means I don't have to worry about him being pig-headed."
Sure enough Wood walked right past us to meet Amity who had lost him in the crowd.
"Would you like to dance?" A tall, handsome boy that I didn't recognize asked me.
"Um, I don't want to leave Greg by himself." I replied trying to weasel my way out of dancing.
"That is not a problem; my friend will dance with him. Caroline, please come and dance with this boy. I am called Brian. You are Riley Potter, no?"
"No, I mean yes." I tried to pretend I wasn't confused, but it wasn't working very well.
"How is it here at Hogwarts? You like, no?" Brian spoke with a French accent and I struggled to understand what the heck he was saying.
"I love it here at Hogwarts; it's like a home to me." I replied as we started around the dance floor.
"It is very nice, a little drafty and cold, but it is nice."
The song ended and I returned to our table to find Greg glaring at me. Sighing I sat next to him.
"What's wrong now?" I asked him, exasperated.
"Why can't she dance with me?" Greg asked.
"Oh, did Caroline not dance with you?" I imitated Brian's queer accent.
"Oh, I danced with her, I'm talking about Morgan." Greg looked past where Wood and Amity were dancing happily to see Logan dancing with Morgan.
"I was right, you DO like her!" I exclaimed.
"No, no I don't! I just thought maybe she'd want to dance with me." Greg had turned that famous shade of Weasley blush pink.
"Ask her you dope. If you like her and want to dance with her just ask her, don't be an idiot."
I rolled my eyes and looked to where Wood was standing with Amity. An especially slow song had come on and they were dancing slowly, merely rocking back and forth. Then Wood leaned down and kissed her. I felt an extremely unwelcome feeling inside my chest. It was a feeling of jealousy, mixed with longing and regret. I shook my head as if to clear it and instantly the feeling was gone.
"Come on, if you want to dance with her then now's you chance. Go over there and cut-in." I shooed Greg away and sat looking at all the happy people dancing. I couldn't wait for the feast part of this.
"Do you want to dance?" Clark Kenton had come up behind me. "I saw you were dancing earlier with that guy from Beauxbatons. He's got a weird accent doesn't he?"
"Yeah," I said laughing, "Come on, let's dance. When do you think we'll eat? I'm starving."
We laughed and I took his arm and went off to dance. I thought I saw a flicker of anger and jealousy on Spencer Wood's face but I couldn't be sure. It only lasted an instant.
Chapter 8: He Said WHO?
"How many people do you think put their names in the Goblet last night?" I asked Celeste as we headed down to the Great Hall early the next morning.
"I don't know, but I did see the whole Beauxbatons lot doing that last night, including that Brian bloke that you danced with." Celeste couldn't help teasing me for that.
"Oy, what was I supposed to do? I hope a Gryffindor gets school champion though." We thought about this as we entered the noisy Great Hall.
The Goblet of Fire was standing in the front of the Hall on a pedestal with a rope around it. They had decided the best way to keep any students that were too young from entering was to put a teacher on guard at all times of the day and night. If you wanted to be School Champion you placed a piece of paper with your name and school on it in the Goblet. Tonight, when everyone was assembled for dinner, the Goblet would pick a Champion for each school to compete in the tournament. It was supposed to be fool proof.
"Who do you think is going to be Hogwarts Champion?" Lauran asked, "I think it's going to be Braden Flout."
"Hmm, that's as good a guess as any," I replied, sitting down for breakfast.
Braden Flout was a 6th year Ravenclaw who everyone admired. He was very handsome and most of the Hogwarts girls had crushes on him. He had an interest in Elena Bryant, an extremely popular 5th year Ravenclaw who every boy in the school had a crush of some degree on.
The day passed uneventfully. The whole school was buzzing about tonight and the first classes of the semester weren't very productive. Even the teachers talked excitedly about this person or that person, but one thing was agreed on by all, that being Braden Flout was the schools' favorite candidate. Lunch came and passed and the teachers in the afternoon gave up all attempts at holding class, except for Professor Delacour. And that's whose class I was in last.
"I know you are all excited, but we really must get down to business. We've already wasted one fine day of learning I'm not about to waste another. Please pull out you textbooks and find out how to turn a beetle into a button." Professor Delacor spoke in a no-nonsense voice.
The entire class hurried to do as she asked, even Amity and Wood who had been looking at each other and whispering quietly the whole time. I wanted to smack the two of them. I slammed my textbook on the desk and flipped through the pages. I already knew how to turn a beetle into a button, I had for ages, but if Professor Delacour wanted me to find out how to do so then I'd humor her.
"Miss Marcellus, stop that talking this instant and come up here to pass out these beetles. Don't be silly girl, they won't bite you. No everyone repeat the incantation after me, Transformous."
"Transformous," echoed the class.
"Very good, as soon as you get your beetle you may begin." Professor Delacour walked to her desk and sat down to watch the class.
"Transformous," I said lazily pointing my wand at the beetle which immediately changed into a shiny, black button.
"That's very good Miss Potter. Grab another beetle if you would and try to make a more interesting button this time." Professor Delacour called from across the room.
I grabbed another beetle and decided to try making a different kind of button this time. "Transformous," I said and the beetle turned into a pin on button that had 'I used to be a beetle' written neatly across it.
"Well, that's not quite what I had in mind, but it's very good all the same. You may leave early Miss Potter; I can see you don't need any more practice with beetles." Professor Delacour shooed me out of the door.
Hoping to enjoy some of the last nice weather of the year I went outside to walk around. I saw the Beauxbatons carriage near the forest and the Durmstrang ship anchored in the lake. I decided to avoid both of these and strolled towards what was once Hagrid's house. I noticed a light inside and figured that Maxime and Hagrid had probably set up camp inside. Sure enough Hagrid came out of the house a minute later.
"What're you doin' 'ere Riley? You're sposed tah be in class." Hagrid had spotted me right away.
"I got out early." I replied shrugging like it happened all the time which, in fact, it did.
"Ah, tha' sounds nice," Hagrid replied absently. "Tell yore father I said 'lo."
"Um, all right," I was suspicious but wasn't going to say anything more. "There's the bell I'm going back inside. I don't want to miss dinner."
"Nah, wouldn' want tha'." Hagrid said not paying attention at all as I walked off.
"Did you have fun?" Celeste asked sarcastically as I slid onto the bench beside her.
"No," I replied honestly.
The headmaster stood up as the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons filed in. He waited until the last one was seated then spoke, "Students of Hogwarts and honored guests. I am happy to announce that the time has come to see who the Champions will be. Before I turn it over to the Goblet of Fire I would like to say a few words. I am very proud of all of you and you would make me so much prouder if you would cheer as if one for your School's Champion. If there are no divisions among us, we will learn to act as one school. Now, if you will please Professor, I turn it over to the Goblet of Fire."
The Goblet was brought up from its pedestal to the Staff Table. Every eye in the Hall was on it, watching eagerly. It was placed on the table and everyone held his or her breath. Just when we decided it wasn't going to do anything at all, it glowed red. The whole Hall gasped as a single burnt looking piece of paper flew out of the Goblet and into the Headmaster's hand.
"The Beauxbatons Champion will be… Brian Hyman." The Headmaster called across the hall. There was cheering and whistling from most of the Beauxbatons students but a couple of girls were sobbing uncontrollably. The Hall fell silent as Brian was instructed to pass into the room behind the staff table. No sooner had the door closed then the Goblet was glowing red again.
"Ah, yes. The Durmstrang Champion is… Corinne Hodgepeckins." An extremely loud eruption of applause followed this statement as the famous Quidditch player followed Brian through the door. But the Hall fell completely silent as the Goblet turned a reddish color for the third and final time.
"Ah, finally the Hogwarts Champion is… Braden Flout!" The school sounded like it might explode. The Hall reverberated with hoots and hollers as Braden walked through the same door that Corinne and Brian had just passed through.
"Well, let me just say, let the feast begin." The Headmaster waved his arms and the House tables became laden with food.
I was just about to take a bite of the drumstick I had on my heavily laden plate when the Goblet glowed red. The noisy hall fell completely silent. People starred at it questioningly. The Goblet spit out a piece of paper that the Headmaster looked at for a minute then picked up, unfolded, and read aloud.
"Riley Potter. Hmm, peculiar, Miss Potter please follow the other Champions through the door. It appears as if Hogwarts will once again have two Champions."
"He said WHO?" I asked Celeste softly.
"He said you!" Celeste hissed as she gave me a sharp prod.
I slowly lowered my chicken and stood up. Nobody moved or made a sound. I got no applause and I walked silently through the indicated door. My blood ran cold. I was going to die trying to play this tournament. I was only a second-year. There was NO way I could survive this, let alone win it.
"Do they want us back out there?" Corinne Hodgepeckins asked curiously.
"No," was all I managed to say.
"Well then what are you doing here?" Braden Flout asked confusedly.
"My name came out of the Goblet." I replied. I thought they might be shocked but everyone started laughing.
"This is a joke, no? You are only a second-year, no? A little young for this tournament I am thinking." Brian said in a peculiar accent.
"It's no joke, but you don't have to believe me. I'm only a second-year." I glared around the room. Shock and realization registered on one face after the other.
"It's happening again? History is repeating itself?" Braden looked worried, "What do you reckon the chances are that I'll end up like Cedric Diggory?"
"No one is going to die," I said firmly. "Okay correction, none of you is going to die. I'm only a second-year; I'm never going to make it through the tournament."
They all laughed tensely. Then the door opened and we fell silent. The Headmasters and Headmistress of the schools proceeded into the room.
"Well this is an unexpected turn of events." Madame Maxime commented dryly.
"We have been in this situation before. Riley did you manage to get your name in the Goblet of Fire?" All eyes turned to me as the Headmaster of Hogwarts asked me this.
"No," I replied, "I can honestly say that I did not."
"Well, it seems we have a mystery, one that will be solved. But you four Champions have to compete now. Your names came out of the Goblet and there is no way out. We will get to the bottom of this. I wish you the best of luck and ask that you please join the other students at the feast. The other School Heads and I must discuss this turn of events." The Headmaster herded us out of the room and we all went back to our seats alone.
A/N: The lack of reviews is really starting to bum me out! I know I said I wasn't updating until I got a review and this time I won't this is your last chance! by all rights I should have left a cliffhanger! So, what areyou waititng for! REVIEW LIKE THE WIND!