"Have you seen them? I haven't seen them since last night." Joise asked Marina as they walked down the stairs, past the Goblet of Fire and into the great hall for breakfast. "I don't know, I haven't even seen Lee this morning. So he's either sleeping in or with those two." The two girls sat down, Josie stacking a piece of toast with eggs and bacon before sandwiching another on top of it. "You're in a hurry." Marina laughed, spreading her own toast with jam. "I have a funny feeling we need to get back out there soon." She replied, downing a glass of orange juice at double her usual speed.
"Why do you think that?" "Because it's the twins." "Fair enough." The two of them stood up and headed towards the crowd gathering around the Goblet, eating their breakfast as they watched first years rough house around the age line. Josie had just finished her makeshift sandwich when there came a ruckus from the staircase, familiar laughter floating down the stairwell. "Oh no." "This is going to end so well." Marina sighed sarcastically. They watched as the twins almost jumped from the staircase and stepped towards the goblet, grinning as they gloated to their younger brother. "We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins." Lee grinned, almost bouncing out of his shoes.
"Oh no, I didn't know he'd gotten dragged into this too." "It is Lee." Josie laughed, though her humor was short lived. Every muscle in her body stiffened as Fred stepped forward, moving forward herself to get closer to them. She had a very bad feeling about this. No one breathed as Fred stepped through the age line, every eye trained on him as they waited. Josie breathed a sigh of relief as nothing happened, George excitedly jumping forward as the brothers beamed at each other in brief triumph. "No!" Her voice rang out, hardly audible over the loud sizzling that attacked her ears. Both twins went flying backwards, and Josie had never known she was able to move so fast as she dropped her bag and ran to their sides.
It wasn't until she was at their sides that she noticed they were laughing, pointing at the long white beards that had grown from each of their faces. It took a moment of wide eyed staring for her to join in, snorting into her palms at how ridiculous they looked. As scared as she was that they were badly hurt, it was hilarious seeing them like this. "I did warn you." All heads turned to see Professor Dumbledore walking out of the Great Hall, shaking his head at the twins who were still shaking with chuckles. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though, I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours." "Come on, best go with them." Marina appeared beside Josie, holding her bag. "You two are a headache." Josie sighed as the twins helped each other up, the group of five heading upstairs to the hospital wing, the laughter of the three boys floating down behind them.
"There's a reason I let you two go first." Lee smiled, earning a swing at the back of his head and a loud crack. "You're just a chicken." Marina laughed as he rubbed the spot where Fred's hand had made contact. "I heard Angelina is putting her name in." Marina continued as they climbed the stairs, turning the corridor. "Oh bloody hell, she is old enough isn't she?" Lee whined. "Good on her, I hope she gets it. Be better than any of the other jokers I've heard are entering." George added. "You mean like you?" Josie grinned, earning a playful glare as he leaned down to kiss her. "No, no way. Not until you get that fixed." She cried as she ducked out of his way, shoving both the twins towards the large double doors. "C'mon Josie, haven't we been punished enough?" "No."
By the time the twins were successfully de-bearded the school had begun to collect in the great hall once again. Marina had dragged Josie back to their dorm, bribing her with free sweets on the next Hogsmead trip if Josie allowed her to do her makeup to pass the time. The both of them reappeared with matching red lipstick and soft gold eyelids, Josie becoming increasingly paranoid of the possibility of lipstick on her teeth as they talked. "Someone looks nice." Joise's head turned to find Charlie grinning at her, arms linked with another girl. "Thank you, so do you. You always look so nice." Josie replied, turning herself in her seat to look up at the younger girl. "I try, thank you." "You don't need to try, you're a fucking babe." Marina commented.
Josie's eyes widened at her input, shooting the other Gryffindor girl a look. She had never said anything like that to the Slytherin girl; in fact she often seemed to have a general dislike for Slytherin students. Luckily the only one who showed any negativity to the comment was Charlie's friend, who stood in open mouthed shock as she stared at Marina in distaste. Charlie on the other hand crumpled into laughter, hands delicately covering her face as she shook her head. "I'll take the compliment." She replied, sticking out her hand. "I'm Charlie, Charlie Camson." "I know." Marina replied, earning another chuckle. "This is my best friend Moira Mordred. Apparently we've got to be going back to the snobs; I don't think the socket of my arm can take any more of her tugging." With that she was whisked away by her friend, the curly haired girl who had been wailing about her lipstick the night before.
"What was that about?" Lee asked as the three boys sat down across from them. "I was wondering the same thing." Josie replied, looking at Marina. "What? I heard some good things, plus she gave that bitch Seraphina a bald spot so she can't be all bad." "I'm glad you're coming around." "Who was that?" George asked, wrapping an arm around Josie before kissing her cheek. "Charlie Camson, Slytherin fourth year." Marina replied. "Camson? Does her dad work for the ministry?" "Her mother does, she and her family were with me at the World Cup." "That's who that is?" Fred asked, craning his neck to look over at the Slytherin table. "That's her." "Remind me not to include her in any pranks on Slytherin."
Josie rolled her eyes, turning her head towards the rest of the students. "Heard Diggory put his name in." Alicia said as she sat down, the hall slowly filling with students. "I hope its Angelina." Fred commented. "She'd definitely be a tough one to beat." Marina added. Not really being too swayed in anyone's favor to win, Josie kept herself out of the conversation by watching the crowd and loading her plate with food. She hadn't eaten much in the day due to being pre-occupied with the twins and Marina, and all she cared about the cup was whoever did get picked didn't get too hurt.
Soon enough the tense air around her became too much, Josie turning to look towards the head of the room along with everyone else. The plates cleared as they all finished their meal, every person in the room surging with excitement and immediately going silent as Dumbledore stood. The twins craned their necks, Josie herself feeling a bit anxious as she leaned back around Fred to get a better look at the adults seated at the table. Madame Maxine was tense, already strong features sharper as she clenched her jaw. She couldn't see any other of her friends, the hall packed with the massive number of students from across borders.
"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," All ears turned towards their headmaster. "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 next chamber where they will be receiving their first instructions." "Not much time for celebration, eh?" Fred muttered, turning to look at Josie over his shoulder. She only nodded, taking George's hand behind her and watching as Dumbledore swept his wand across the hall, the lights dimming around them. The light from the Goblet of Fire was the only thing keeping the room lit, its blue ethereal glow sending shivers down Josie's spine. "Any second," Lee muttered across from her, her eyes barely glancing his way before their attention was snatched by the spectacle in front of her.
Turning red, the flames within the goblet sparked into the air, George's hand becoming trapped in her tight grip as Josie jumped as a spire of flame spouted from its rim. A single charred piece of paper floated through the air among the flames, caught by Dumbledore as the flames receded. "The champion for Durmstrang," She glanced towards the Durmstrang students at Slytherin table, barely catching a glimpse of Charlie and the girl she knew now as Moira glancing around them at the foreign students. "Will be Viktor Krum." Josie had to cover her ears to block out the explosion around her, every student breaking into applause and the Weasleys, plus one Jordan, all yelling approval in unison. She barely caught Krum disappearing into the doorway as the crowd died down. "You Quidditch lot are going to deafen me." She muttered, earning a chuckle from both Fred and George.
It went silent again soon after, Josie finally feeling the tension set into her. It was either Hogwarts or Beauxbatons next, and she had a feeling she knew who was going to be chosen from her prior school. Bursting crimson again, the goblet shot the next piece of parchment into the air to be caught by her current headmaster. "The champion from Beauxbatons," Josie stopped breathing. "is Fleur Delacour!" "It's her, Ron!" Josie couldn't help but roll her eyes as the boys around her craned their necks, shoving her elbows into the twin's sides as they watched her prior school mate shake out her hair and sweep to the front of the room. "What?" "Stop that." She said stiffly. "Alright but we're just saying-" "You need to break out your old uniform." She couldn't help but smile at their flirting, shaking her head at the two boys on her sides.
"Merlin, someone's disappointed." Marina commented, nodding to the Beauxbatons students who had begun to cry. "It's a lot of pressure, I'm sure they were all convinced they had to be the ones to be picked." Josie replied. The room once again fell silent, and every Hogwarts student was at full attention. Angelina was gripping Alicia's hand down the table from her, the two girls tense. Everyone jumped when once again the flames shot the final name into the air, and no-one breathed as it fluttered into Dumbledore's hand. "The Hogwarts champion," "C'mon, say it." Lee muttered across from her, saying what everyone was surely thinking.
"is Cedric Diggory!" Hufflepuff absolutely exploded, the rest of the school either breaking into applause or groaning in disappointment. Josie clapped with them, spying the semi-familiar face of Henri's boyfriend Arya grinning widely as he shook Diggory's hand as he passed. The applause took forever to die down, and Josie couldn't help but giggle at the blatant difference between the three schools behavior. As soon as the excitement died down, Dumbledore took his chance to speak. "Excellent! We now have out three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster." "Place your bets mates; this is going to be good." Fred commented to the few around them, earning a wide grin from Lee and a hard eye roll from an obviously disappointed Angelina.
"By cheering your champions on, you will be contributing in a very real-"He stopped, and it didn't take Josie long to figure out why. "Boys, look." She whispered, placing her hands on the twin's shoulders to pull them from their hushed scheming around her. In front of all of them, the Goblet of Fire was turning red once again, sparks shooting widely from its rim. They all watched in awe as another, final piece of parchment shot from its depths, and Josie immediately felt uneasy. As he had three times before, Dumbledore reached for the paper to catch it between his fingers. Not a breath was taken as everyone waited as he read the paper, watching in suspicion of what was to happen next. All heads turned as he finally spoke, a hush falling over Gryffindor table and dread sinking into Josie's stomach at Dumbledore's words.
"Harry Potter."