Chapter 6: The Other Tributes
The ground floor of the Prep Center was where the tributes were taken once they were dressed and ready to go. When Harry arrived with Madam Malkin, he immediately spotted Lavender, Gilderoy, Hagrid, McGonagall, and a large woman who Harry assumed must be Lavender's stylist. He made a beeline for them, avoiding the other tributes and their teams on his way.
"Ah, Harry, there you are!" Gilderoy exclaimed excitedly. "Right well then it looks like we're all here."
Lavender was dressed similarly to Harry, though while Harry felt that he was dressed more like a birch leaf, Lavender was dressed more like an elm leaf. Harry doubted that the citizens of the Capitol would know the difference, but he wondered whether the stylists were aware of the discrepancy.
While they were waiting, Harry took a moment to glance around at the other tributes. The tributes from district 10 looked small and afraid, dressed in their oversized cow costumes. Over by the front, the district 2 tributes were terrifying, dressed in armor and chain mail like the soldiers of the ancient past. Not too far away, Harry noticed the tributes from district 9, dressed as stalks of wheat, standing in their chariot wrapped up in each other like nobody else mattered. Harry looked away, suddenly feeling like he was intruding on a private moment between the two of them.
The music started and everyone started to scramble around. The tributes from the first four districts were herded into their chariots and the procession began with district 1.
"Alright now focus," McGonagall said as Harry and Lavender climbed into the district 7 chariot. "Your goal is to gain sponsors, so try to make yourselves noticeable. I don't know how you're going to do that dressed as leaves, but you're going to have to try."
"Excuse me?" Lavender's stylist, Hepzibah Smith, demanded, hands on her hips. "We put a lot of time and effort into these costumes and I don't appreciate…" Harry stopped listening while the stylists argued with McGonagall about the costumes they'd designed.
While they were arguing, Hagrid sidled over and beckoned Harry and Lavender closer.
"Try to have fun, alrigh'?" he asked. "If the crowd sees yeh havin' fun, they'll like you more'n if yer standin' still as statues."
Harry nodded and he and Lavender straightened up as their horses began to move, trotting towards the huge double doors that lead out onto the parade track that would lead to the City Circle. As they passed through, Harry was momentarily disoriented as he took in the crowds of people in the stands on either side of him, screaming and clapping and waving.
Remembering Hagrid's advice to have fun, Harry broke out a smile and began to wave back to the people, unsure whether they were noticing him or not, but not really worrying about it for the time being. Next to him, Lavender was motionless, clearly extremely nervous. Harry knocked his elbow against hers and motioned that she should try waving too, so she nervously raised her hand and began to move it back and forth. Soon, she too had embraced Hagrid's 'have fun' mantra, and the both of them rode into the City Circle with smiles on their faces.
When all the chariots had arrived and come to a stop, President Fudge rose to say the traditional opening speech.
"Welcome all, to the 53rd annual Hunger Games. To our brave tributes, may the odds be ever in your favor," Fudge said.
While Fudge spoke, Harry glanced over at Lavender and noticed that her arm was shaking – maybe she wasn't as strong as he'd come to think she was. Soon, the president's speech was over, and after doing another loop of the City Circle, the horses led the tributes into the ground floor of the Tribute's Center.
"Well done!" Gilderoy exclaimed as the district 7 team hurried to surround their chariot. "Amazing job, well done!"
Madam Malkin helped Harry down from the chariot. "You wore that costume well," she said, nodding her approval.
Once they were free of the horses, Gilderoy led them all to an elevator, which they all piled into. It was a tight fit, especially given how big and bulky Harry and Lavender's costumes were. Harry was pretty sure that he was pressing Hagrid into the side of the elevator, but there was nowhere to move to anyway.
Gilderoy pressed the seven button and the doors closed, the elevator humming to life and rising up to the seventh floor. Harry figured that each district must stay on the floor corresponding to their district number.
When the doors open, everyone tumbled out of the elevator and it almost immediately zoomed away, probably to pick up another group of people headed to another floor.
"So this is where you'll be staying for the next few days," Gilderoy said, taking on the persona of tour guide. The whole floor was extremely spacious – an open floor plan with lots of windows overlooking the city. "Over here, you have the dining room," he said, gesturing to a raised platform on which there sat a table laden with food, comfortable-looking chairs all around it. "And over here you have the living room," he said, gesturing to a cluster of couches and armchairs and a television. "And down here," he added, leading them to a hallway, leading down to the only portion of the floor not encompassed by the open plan and the wall-to-wall windows, "is where you'll find your bedrooms."
Once the tour was over, Madam Malkin and Hepzibah excused themselves and Harry wandered down the hallway to find his room while Lavender examined the table in the 'dining room'. It wasn't hard to find his room; there was a plaque on the door with his name on it, all shiny and new, like it had been put there earlier that day. Feeling both physically exhausted and emotionally spent, Harry pushed the door open and collapsed onto his bed, not even bothering to kick off his shoes, let alone remove his costume, before falling asleep.
Harry awoke to the sound of someone knocking on the door.
"Breakfast in fifteen minutes," an unfamiliar voice told him. Harry rolled over and groaned. He was stiff and sore from sleeping in his awkward costume, and now that the day had come, he regretted it. Today was his first day of training, and he needed to be as physically prepared as possible if he wanted to maximize his potential learning.
Dragging himself off the bed, he stripped out of his costume and stepped into the shower to wash away the sweat and grime of the day before. Though the tribute parade hadn't lasted long, his costume didn't really allow his skin to breathe, and the horses had been kicking up a great deal of dust.
Once he was clean, Harry opened his closet to find that it only contained one outfit – his training suit, he surmised: skin tight black pants with a red stripe running down both legs, and a grey short-sleeved shirt with the number seven displayed in red on the front and back. He tucked his shirt in at the waist, figuring it would be better for movement not to have the bottom of his shirt hanging out. His hair, as usual, was a mess. He wasn't sure what kind of product Angelina had put in it, but he decided if he made it out of the Games alive, he would have to ask her.
At breakfast, McGonagall advised Harry and Lavender to try to make some allies. Not the tributes from one and two – those would be the members of the Career pack, and it was unlikely that they would accept district 7 into their elite group. She suggested that they try to find some strong allies from the outlying districts. They didn't have to form a pack of their own necessarily, but a lot could happen in the arena, and it wouldn't hurt to have friends.
At quarter to ten, Hagrid and McGonagall escorted Harry and Lavender to the elevator. Hagrid pressed the button marked 'B' and retracted his hand as the doors closed. As the elevator sunk to the basement, Harry took a deep breath, steeling himself for what was to come.
"Ready to do this?" Harry asked, turning to Lavender.
"You know we're not a team, right?" Lavender replied, just as the elevator came to a stop. "Being from the same district – it means nothing." The doors opened and Lavender walked out, leaving Harry alone in the elevator. It wasn't that Harry really cared about Lavender in particular – sure she was from home, but he barely knew her. He just thought since they were both in the same position that they could work together, at least for a while. He'd been mistaken, he realized.
He stepped out of the elevator and walked into the middle of the room, where the other tributes were all gathering. It seemed the Career pack had already begun to form – the tributes from districts one and two were clustered together off to the side where they were talking in hushed voices. Everyone else stood either alone or with their district-mate, awaiting further instructions.
The instructors came out and explained what all the different stations were, indicating both the battle stations and survival skills stations. They suggested that everyone try each station, though admitted that it was up to them what they would do with their time. A bell rang, and everyone parted, heading for different stations.
Harry looked around, trying to decide where to go. He didn't have any skills that he knew of, so he figured he could probably benefit from every station. The Careers were taking over the battle stations, so Harry decided to start on the other end of the room – at the knot-tying station. Apparently though, Harry wasn't the only one with that idea. The boy from district 6 was there already.
"Hi," the boy said as Harry walked over. "Fred Prewett, district 6."
"Harry Potter," Harry replied, holding out his hand, "district 7."
Fred shook his hand and grinned. "How about these knots?" Fred asked gesturing to the wide variety of knots they could learn to tie. "Care to help me figure them out?"
"Sure," Harry replied, smiling back. Even though they would soon be enemies, Harry wouldn't mind making a friend.
At one o'clock, the bell rang again, signaling lunch. Harry and Fred had spent the whole morning joking around and tying knots. Harry found it easy to be around Fred – he was friendly and had a great sense of humor. He actually reminded Harry a lot of George, Ron's older brother.
Everyone filed into the cafeteria and took seats around the tables scattered around the room. The four Careers took over the table at the far end of the room, so Harry took the table closest to the doors, deciding that he wanted to be as far away from them as possible. Fred sat across from Harry and they were soon joined by the tributes from district 8, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, though she assured Harry that if he called he anything other than Tonks, he would be first on her kill list once the Games started.
"Capitol food really is wonderful," Remus said, holding up a piece of chocolate that was on his plate. "We don't have chocolate in district 8, and I think all this might almost be worth it, if only because I got to experience it before I die."
Harry noticed that Lavender seemed to have made her own friends. She was sitting with the tributes from district 11 as well as the girl from district 5. There were six tables of four, so once everyone had sat down, all the seats were filled.
After lunch, Fred returned to the knot-tying station, but Harry wanted to explore other skills, so he followed Remus and Tonks to the edible plants station.
"Did you really mean that?" Harry asked. "About the chocolate?"
"What, that it's good?" Remus asked.
"No, that it's worth going into the arena for," Harry clarified.
"Oh, that," Remus said. "Yeah, I guess I did."
"Is district 8 really that bad?" Harry asked.
"District 8's alright," Remus replied distantly. "I just…" he hesitated. "I don't fit in there."
"Yeah," Harry muttered, thinking of life with the Dursleys. "I know what that feels like."