Ness, wasn't a stranger to holiday buzz or an upcoming event, so he was used to growing weary of someone talking about the many what ifs or who will, questions and the restlessness that loomed on everyone's shoulders as they prepared to represent themselves to the visiting school.

Teachers were snapping a bit more at small mistakes, dropping school names into their scolding before resuming the lessons, Filch came down much harder on anyone tracking muddy footprints or litter bugs as he scoured every inch of the school for prank items.

It was a huge relief for everyone when Hogsmeade weekend rolled around, allowing years 3 and up to run outside and spend their allowance on candy and knickknacks. Even Ness was relived to distract himself for a bit. His lax personality and tendencies to blow something up had made him number one enemy to his stressed teachers.

He'd even gotten in trouble with Professor Trawelany after he accidentally dozed off in the perfume heavy classroom.

"Man… It feels so weird to freely walk out of the school grounds." Ness noted as they lagged behind the crowd of excited students as requested by Selvis who had ditched his school robes for a long black trench coat his mother had sent him and a hunter green paper boy's cap.

"Especially since we're following the rules." Ginny noted.

"Following the-," Selvis started to ask when he stopped himself, "Oh right, Shrieking Shack."

"It was very interesting." Luna mused, "I wonder how he's doing."

"Pretty good. I've seen small stories about him being deemed innocent and hints of the manhunt being called off in the news." Ginny said, "Even Dad was pretty unsure about bringing Black in. Saying that everyone agreed that it might be safer to search every lead before they make a final decision."

"If, they can make one." Selvis said with a small huff, "After all, the picture of Peter Petigrew being alive isn't much, and the Ministry hates to admit they make mistakes."

A thick silence fell over them as they remembered poor Winky, who had been fired to protect Mr. Crouch's reputation. She had been the next item on the Daily Prophet's chopping block after the World Cup incident had lost steam and anger.

"I wonder how she's doing." Luna mused as they entered Hogsmeade and headed for the sweet shop.

"Devastated, probably suicidal." Selvis offered, "House elves take being fired very hard."

Ness cringed as Ginny gasped and looked at them with wide eyes, "You don't think she killed herself! Do you?!"

Selvis shrugged and pushed the door open, flinching at the heavy aroma of freshly baked sweets and sugar floating in the air, pulling them in to try some of the magical candy.

"She'll be fine, Ginny." Ness soothed as they hurried inside to warm up their hands and faces which had been relentlessly nipped by the chilly October air, "For now, let's focus on a much more pressing matter."

They gave him a look then groaned as Ness announced, "A problem that concerns us not acting like jubilant third years!"

"I like being a stick in a mud." Selvis retorted, then he paused and gasped, "Is that a Tricky stick? I've been looking for those things for ages now!" and rushed over to a display of trick wands and long sticks of licorice.

Luna happily glided over to an assortment of cloud mints, proclaiming that you'll feel as light as a cloud when you bit into one of the puffy ball of sky blue cotton candy while Ginny searched a row of chocolates leaving Ness to wander around and study the trick items.

Which were just full of ice rodents and toys that you can trick your friends into eating, a disgusting idea which prompted Ness to browse the lollipops with Luna who was buying a dozen vampire sweets to honor Halloween.

"Don't remind me of that awful American holiday." Selvis groaned as Luna and Ness joined him at the cash register to pay for their sweets, "I don't think I can stand another minute of a teacher breathing down my neck let alone acting perfect for those snobs."

"You don't know that their snobs." Luna softly chided earning a snort from Selvis as he received his change and purchases and stepped out of the line, "Alright, they're not snobs but I'm quite sure that their headmasters are jealous pricks." He hastily added, "And no, not like me." When Luna and Ness shot him a look of 'who's a prick?'

"Just think of it logically, Hogwarts, best school in all of Europe being picked for the Triwizard cups isn't going to reflect well on their own school status." Selvis said, "Especially with all the rumors surrounding Durmstrang about their headmaster."

"What kind of rumors?" Ness questioned.

"Death Eater stuff." Selvis replied with a small shrug, "I don't know, I was too busy trying to figure out why we needed dress robes."

"Oh… Those things." Ness grumbled, remembering the agonizing light grey robes Ms. Weasly picked up for him while they enjoyed their summer.

"Mum made me get one with lace." Selvis grumbled as they walked out of the store he tossed a look at Ginny and almost sneered as he asked, "What about you Weasly? Did your mum give you a hand me down?"

"No, I actually got a new one." Ginny retorted, then she wrinkled her nose slightly, "But it's this annoying pearl pink color with red ribbons on it."

"Cheapest one in the store?"

"At least it's not lace." Ginny shot back, causing Selvis to glue his mouth shut for a bit and sulk.

"You two make such a cute couple." Ness teased earning a laugh from Luna and twin cries out outrage from Ginny and Selvis, "Well whatever we need those bloody robes for I hope it's not important!" Selvis snapped, sounding more flustered and embarrassed than angry, "Because I will not be caught dead in that ridiculous outfit!"

"Me either." Ness said with a shudder, "I'd rather wear a tuxedo!" then he groaned as Selvis, Ginny and Luna shot him a blank look. "Fancy muggle clothing." He deadpanned, "It's like a dress robe only you look like a penguin."

"What's a penguin?" Luna asked, causing Ness to throw his hands up in disbelief until he saw Luna's teasing smile.

"Hey Selvis, I know how you feel about me teasing you." Ness said after he playfully shoved Luna toward a small pile of leaves.

"Finally!" Selvis exclaimed, "Now come on! I want to see if they have a bookstore in this tiny little village."

"They should," Ginny offered, "Unless they're a tourist attraction."

Ness was about to nod in agreement when he noticed a small group of robed women who didn't go to their school and corrected himself, "Or, it could be both a tourist trap and a village."

"Hopefully more a village than a trap." Selvis grumbled as they broke away from the main square where most of their peers were and wandered down a subdued street, complete with hanging pumpkin lanterns and small apartments.

While they searched, they chatted about news happening around their houses, something they rarely got to do since they usually had more pressing matters. Ness found it relaxing to talk about Fred and George's plans of entering the Triwizard tournament and Hermione's program to protect the house elves.

Something Selvis found hilarious when Ginny informed him it was called S.P.E.W-Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, and had to lean against a faded storefront to catch his breath as Luna merely frowned, stating that the elfish welfare was perfectly fine at the moment despite some minor changes being needed and that Hermione shouldn't disrupt the elves lives for something they didn't care about.

"That place looks promising." Ginny noted as they slowly came to the end of the road, pointing toward a small cottage that had posters and a book display in the window.

"About time, I was afraid this backwards village was a complete tourist trap." Selvis huffed, "Hopefully they'll have what I need."

"Which is…?" Ness questioned as they entered the bookstore, enjoying the musty smell of old books and sneezing at how much dust covered the bookshelves and floor.

"I'm interested in the history of the Triwizard cup." Selvis explained, "And about those other schools. The Hogwarts library has a couple books but the bookworms already got their hands on them."

"A.K.A Hermione Granger." Ness joked as he recalled Hermione walking away from the library with a stack of books in her hands.

"And the Ravenclaws." Luna added, "A lot of the girls are trying to learn as much as they can so they can impress the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students."

"Or how to make a love potion." Selvis grumbled, "Now come on, I want to get back before dinner."

"Sure, but… what are we looking for exactly?" Ginny asked, picking up a book labeled "The Wild in You." And wrinkling her nose as the dust that floated off the book.

"Erm…" Selvis paused and gave a sheepish frown, "I, have no clue."

"We should look for history and European culture." Ness offered, "Hogwarts is practically a living historic monument, which means that Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would be too."

"Good point." Selvis said with a nod, "Now let's just hope this bookstore has its books divided into genres."

It didn't, which made the entire search much more frustrating as they sorted through rows upon rows of musty books and shot glares at the empty cash register.

It had been a blessing when Luna emerged from the cobweb infested back of the store holding a book labeled Europe's School for Young Wizards and a Triwizard Of the Ages.

"I hate this place." Selvis declared as the cashier finally showed up and allowed Selvis to pay for his books.

"Agreed." Ness coughed as he dusted his hat off, "But, at least we can head back for dinner."

"Is that before or after we take a bath?" Ginny questioned, "We look like dust monsters."

Selvis groaned while Luna hummed, "I'm fine with looking like a dust monster." Earning another groan as they made their way to Main Street to head back to the castle for dinner. Tossing theories around about how the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students would arrive, Ginny suggested that they come in a fancy carriage representing their school colors.

Selvis haughtily said they'd use winged animals from their homeland and ride in style, Luna suggested cloud animals earning baffled looks from everyone while Ness merely said, "An Airplane." And a couple looks of 'really?' once they realized he was joking.

Earning a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from the girls while Selvis shook his head, "Muggles are boring." He argued, "Who needs an airplane when you have a broom!"

"More like a death trap." Ness grumbled as they went their separate ways to clean up and head for dinner. Of course, nothing could have fully prepared them for how the two schools arrived.

On October 30th, day before Halloween everyone was on edge awaiting the big arrival and the entry process for the Triwizad Cup. Theories of how the two schools would arrive and how students would sign up were flying fast and furious through the air, classes were shorter as the students focused more and more about their looks and theories and the teachers were completely winded up now.

Forcing clumsy and low ranking students to be on guard unless they wanted a detention as they waited for classes to officially end so they could rush up or down to their common rooms to do last minute cleanup of their looks.

"This is so awkward." Ness grumbled as the final bell allowed the Gryffindor's to rush upstairs to dump their school supplies and pull on cloaks and wizard hats (Something Ness had been dreading to wear for the entire school year.) and rush back to the grand entrance hall to be sorted into lines.

"Shush." Ginny murmured as she listened to the Head of Houses give out orders and snapped at students with crooked hats and hair accessories. By the time the Head of House were satisfied with their house appearance it was nearly six and everyone was shivering with anticipation as they looked around, glanced at their watches and whispered to their friends.

"How do you reckon they'll get here?" Ness heard Ron whispered, resisting the urge to turn around and look as Ron continued, "By train?"

Hermione gave a small sniff at Ron for breaking the tense silence before whispering, "Doubt it."

"Maybe by broom then?" Harry offered causing Ness to grumble, "There suicidal if they do come on brooms." And Ginny to roll her eyes before she continued whispering to a girl Ness didn't recognized.

"Port key then?" Ron suggested, "Or maybe they'll Apperate here." Earning a soft scolding from Hermione who told him that you couldn't apperate in or out of the school grounds.

"Unless you're a PSI user like I am." Ness thought as he heard Harry softly start to say, "Didn't Ness apperate…?" before he stopped himself and clammed up.

The hushed whispers quickly died down as the anticipation turned into worry and impatience as they scanned the forest grounds and the skies. Were they late? Lost? Or were they in trouble with no way to call for help.

Or-,

"Ah, here come the delegation from Beauxbatons!" Dumbledore announced from the far back of the orderly line pointing toward the sky beyond the Forbidden Forest and toward a looming shadow that was rapidly approaching the castle.

"It's a dragon!" a first year yelled as Luna yelled, "A shadow carriage!"

Only to be hastily corrected by a sixth year who shouted, "No! It's a flying house!" only to be proven wrong as a team of four golden giant horses carrying a carriage the size of a house landed on the castle ground with a loud thud that caused the entire row of students to tremble and take leery steps back as the carriage came to a jolting halt.

A bit too close for their liking as the giant golden horse peered down at them, their wings rustling as the carriage door decorated with three gold wands with stars for tips flew open and a boy wearing a powder blue robe the same color as the carriage hurried out and pulled out a golden step for the riders to disembark on.

A loud ripple of surprised gasps over took the students as a giant shoe, at least the size of a small child gracefully stepped out and a woman half the size of the carriage came out. Dressed completely in black satin that made her olive colored skin and hair which was tightly pulled into a bun glow as she placed a hand on her jeweled encrusted necklace.

It wasn't until Dumbledore started to clap that the students fell out of their trance and hastily did the same.

"It's wonderful to see you Madam Maxine." Dumbledore greeted his smile never faltering as the woman—Madam Maxine nodded in acknowledgement before replying in a heavy French accent, "And it is wonderful to see you to, Misour Dumbledore." She studied the crowd in front of her, "Ah, but where is Karkaroff?" Maxine suddenly asked as her students began trooping out of the carriage one by one and stood behind their head mistress.

"He should be here momentarily." Dumbledore said with a thoughtful hum, "But until then, why don't you and your students wait inside? We have food and refreshments waiting."

"We can wait," Maxine said, "After all, the trip here wasn't so bad."

"If you insist," Dumbledore started when something caught his eye, "Ah! And here comes Durmstrang." He announced, gesturing toward the lake where supposedly the giant octopus lived as the water boiled and bubbled until a modern giant pirate ship exploded out of the water.

Earning loud gasps of surprise and awe from the Hogwarts and Beauxton students as the ship with a horrific symbol of a two headed golden bird resting on a blood colored skull of a bull on the main sail as it floated toward land and lowered a gangplank. Allowing a man dressed in stark crimson robes marched out, stomping a staff like cane as a group of blandly dressed students marched out, they were mostly boys with stark expressions and hard features as they marched in front of the school entrance.

Ness stifled a gasp as he briefly spotted Victor Krum in the crowd, his posture pose and his face more or less blank as a couple Beauxtion girls noticed him and giggled in surprise.

He vaguely heard excited whispers of, "I didn't know he was still in school!" and, "No way, Victor Krum?!" as they politely clapped for the headmaster of Durmstrang as he stepped forward, nodding his head in greeting at Madam Maxine and Dumbledore who returned the nod with a warm smile, "Karkaroff! Good to see you." Dumbledore said, "How was your trip?"

"A bit cumbersome, the waves were rough and the clouds were dark." Kacroff said, his heavy Russian accent laced with irritation as he spoke, "But, we're here, none the less."

"Wonderful to hear," Dumbledore said his smile never wavering as he turned toward the door as the rest of Kacroff's students filed out of the boat, "Dinner is served inside, along with room for everyone, so if you would kindly follow us."

With a buzz of excitement and questions of where the visitors were going to sleep, the students followed Dumbledore inside the Great Hall and sat down, silently praying that Victor Krum- who Ness noticed appeared to be treated much better than his peers after Kacroff asked Dumbledore for some beer for Krum's upset stomach and smacked another student for asking if he could have some as well—would sit at their house table.

"Come on, come on!" Ron practically begged as he shoved Harry aside to make room for Victor Krum as every Hogwarts student sat at their respected tables and made room for their guests, "Sit here, sit here! Hermione budge over a bit-,"

"Too late." Hermione interrupted as Victor and his classmates headed over to the Slytherin table, earning muffled groans of dismay from the Qudditch fans and a quiet, "Yes!" from Ness, who didn't want to have to filter out Qudditch questions as he ate.

"I blame you for this." Ginny grumbled giving Ness a pointed look as a pretty girl with platinum blonde hair took Victor's spot, causing the groans to suddenly stop as they studied their newcomer from Beauxbation.

"Selvis will thank me later." Ness casually replied as food appeared and everyone started to eat, happily talking about the differences about their school and meals or just talking about general news.

It wasn't too long until Ness was dragged into a conversation thanks to Ginny and a third year Beauxtion girl by the name of Adaliz Noble who were talking about the possible judges.

"I think the Headmasters of each school will pick the champion." Ginny theorized, causing Adaliz to frown slightly and shake her head no, "That would be unfair to the other students." She pointed out, her accent turning the into ze's, "I think it'll be the Minister who picks the three champions."

"He's supposed to come?" Ness asked, "I thought it would be someone else, like from the games department."

"Like Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman?" Adaliz questioned, then she frowned and wrinkled her nose in disgust, "Although, after how those Death Eaters got into the Tournament to wreak havoc, I doubt it. They'll be lucky to still have a job."

"I heard everything got pushed onto the lower ranking wizards of the Ministry." Ness said, knowing full well that the only bad thing that would happen to Crouch and questionable Bagman would a pay cut from their salary.

"Anything." Ginny loudly stated, causing them to look at her, "The judge, if it's not going to be a Ministry official, who do you think it will be?"

"Maybe an item like the Hat?" Ness offered when Adaliz frowned once more shutting down the theory with, "Madam Maxine informed us that the judge would be arriving tomorrow, indicating that it would be a person coming, not a thing."

"Maybe Hogwarts doesn't have their own object judge?" Ness tried, "Maybe they rent the 'judge' from the Ministry when the Triwizard cup rolls around."

"That would make sense," Ginny mused, "And it would explain how all three schools can host the Triwizard Cup without complications."

"I wonder what the Triwizard Cup will be like." Adaliz wondered aloud, "My mother said that her great grandmother got a chance to be in it, and that she faced a horrendous Earth Troll for one of the challenges."

Ness bit his lip to resist making an internet troll joke as Ginny gave her own thoughts on the trails, "It'll probably focus on wit, spell casting and bravery, three core strengths a wizard needs."

"Bravery sounds more like a Gryffindor thing than a wizard thing." Ness pointed out, "Maybe instead of bravery it'll be something else."

"Like courage!" Adaliz offered.

"Still a form of bravery." Ginny said, causing the French girl to frown slightly and think of something else. Before she could, the food disappeared and Dumbledore stood up, attracting everyone's attention as they quieted down.

"Now I'm sure you are all excited to meet our judge and begin the sign-up process." Dumbledore started before he grew vaguely serious, "But, as a friendly reminder those under the set age of the tournament shall not be allowed to enter, and we'll have a strict age line to ensure that no one under 18 can participate."

There were a couple groans from everyone 17 and under but they Dumbledore waved them away with a cheerful smile, "Now, with this in mind, you are all dismissed! Good night and pleasant dreams!"

"He much bubblier than Karkaroff or Madam Maxine." Adaliz noted as she got up to head back outside with her fellow Beauxbations, apparently, they would have their classes and sleeping arrangements in their magical carriages while Durmstrang slept in their boat.

"And crazier." Ness said before he followed his fellow Gryffindors to their common room, wide awake as theories about how to get past the age line to enter the sign-up area flew around the air.

Of course, no one was prepared for their 'judge'.

"Is that a burning lamp?" Ness asked as they walked into the Great Hall on Halloween morning, the tables had been shoved aside to allow a burning green goblet of fire with a giant powder white circle around it to be right in front of the room.

"Is… That the sign-up process?" Ginny asked as Ron, Harry and Hermione sat beside them, unable to tear their eyes away from the oddly colored flames spewing from the goblet.

"Has to be." Ron stated, "It has an age line and everything."

"I guess the judge is late today." Harry said, although he sounded a little unsure as everyone slowly started to eat breakfast, sneaking glances at the goblet every now and then as they ate. Even the Beauxton and Durmstrang students seemed confused as they came in for breakfast and to sign up before classes started.

"Do you know what it is?" Adaliz asked as she joined the Gryffindor table, no one had an answer, except Ness who sarcastically said, "Clearly not a burning torch." Which earned him an annoyed glare from Ginny and a crisp, "It's a goblet, probably the sign-up item." From Hermione.

"It is… a bit much in my opinion." Adaliz said with a small frown of disapproval.

"At least it's not singing." Ness offered, then he paused and looked at the goblet in horror, "It's not going to sing, right?!"

"I think we're safe from that." Harry said with a small chuckle.

"Besides, why on earth would it sing?" Ron asked, "That'd be just dumb."

"I'm sorry, but were you or were you not sorted by a dying sorting hat that sang?" Ness retorted, "Which, in hum—Muggle terms, is disturbing and dumb."

"You have a singing hat?" Adaliz asked, "Does it sing at dinner as well? Or just for the 'sorting'?"

"If it did, then it would have been burned long ago." Ness grumbled.

"Sadly, we don't have any wood nymphs serenading us at dinner." Hermione answered, although she didn't look to upset by this fact, probably because she was wondering if they were treated fairly.

"You guys have wood nymphs?" Ginny asked.

Adaliz nodded and added, "As well as never melting ice statues that sparkle under the torchlight for Christmas, sometimes the students can submit designs for how the statues look."

"Fancy." Ness whistled as Ginny glanced up at their Halloween decor, which seemed less amazing now compared to the Beauxtons' decor.

"So, how did you sleep Adaliz?" Ginny asked, picking at her food as she divided her attention on Adaliz and the Teacher's table which was full of hearty chatter compared to the subdued whispers coming from their students.

"I barely got any sleep." Adaliz admitted, "All the seniors were fretting about the sign-up process and possible tests, not that I blame them, it's been ages since the last Triwizard Tournament."

"Who hosted the last one?" Hermione asked, looking a little intrigued.

"I believe it was Durmstrang." Adaliz mused, "I can't be sure since I remember that was also the year where the Beauxtons had a bitter defeat."

"To which school?"

"I believe it was Durmstrang." Adaliz grumpily answered, shooting a glare at the Slytherin table, where most of the Durmstrang students were.

"So, they have a win streak and a world-famous sports player." Ness commented, "Interesting."

"And Malfoy's busy rubbing elbows with them." Ron practically growled, "Lucky git."

Adaliz wrinkled her nose slightly in disgust, "I don't see what's so great about having a Qudditch player sitting with you, I'd much rather talk to a world-famous Molo player than a Qudditch one."

"Looks like you lucked out Harry," Ness teased before he asked, "And what the heck is Molo?"

"It's muggle polo, but with Pegasuses." Adaliz explained, her eyes lighting up, "It's quite intense! Just last year, captain Julia Sanfrecix of the Bluebirds had an epic battle against Champions De Dentelle leader Anderia Flare!"

"Champions of de what?" Ron and Ness questioned, prompting to Hermione to answer, "It's French for Lace champions."

"You know French?" Adaliz asked, looking surprised.

"Bits and pieces, my parents like to travel." Hermione explained before she asked, "Now how exactly do you play Polo on Pegasuses? It seems really dangerous."

"It is, but we've trained long and hard before we're allowed on the field." Adaliz started, causing Ness to tune her out and focus on the tables around them.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time discussing how different their schools were and about the upcoming tournament, the Ravenclaws were having a hearty debate with some beautiful girls and boys from Beauxtons over history while the Hufflepuffs were doing their best to make the Durmstrang students feel at home as they talked about their favorite activities and hobbies.

Even the Slytherin students seemed cheerful as they made connections and joked, probably about the other houses but they earned hearty laughter none the less.

But the hearty mood was quickly dampened (Well, slightly dampened) when Dumbledore stood up and tapped the side of his glass, causing everyone to slowly stop talking and face forward.

"Good morning!" Dumbledore chirped, "As you can see, our judge has arrived!"

"You mean the burning torch?" Ness joked, earning a couple chuckles which abruptly when Dumbledore nodded his head yes, "Yes Earthbound, this, is the Goblet of Fire." Dumbledore started, "The process is simple, you write your name and school on a slip of paper-,"

Right on cue, slips of paper and inked quills appeared in front of their plates, waiting to be used, "And drop them into the fire. At the end of tonight's feast, we'll announce the chosen champions. Now, any questions?"

Ness raised his hand,

"Yes, Earthbound?"

"Does the Goblet sing by any chance? Since I seriously do not want a repeat of singing four leaf clovers haunting me in my sle—ow! Ginny!"

"Nope! No questions!" Ginny finished, shooting Ness a glare as he rubbed his bruised shoulder, "It's an honest question." He grumbled as the tables exploded with laughter.

"You really hate singing objects." Adaliz giggled.

"Objects that aren't powered by batteries, shouldn't sing." Ness huffed as Dumbledore continued, "Now as a forewarning, those under the age limit shall be rejected to ensure that no one underage gets in. You may enter your name, starting now."

"I wonder what happens if you try to enter underage." Ness mused as those eligible hastily wrote their name and school down and stood up, forming a line and dropping their names into the glowing fire.

There were a couple ohs and awes as the fire roared and crackled, the green flames rising to dangerous levels before quickly simmering down.

"We're getting in," Fred whispered as a couple Hogwarts students, entered their names, one of them being Cedric Diggery from Hufflepuff, "Just you wait."

Hermione rolled her eyes as Ron and Harry leaned forward, intrigued, "How?" Ron asked, "I doubt you can fool an age line."

"You can't." Hermione unhelpfully added, earning a couple looks of disbelief from her friends.

"You'll see." George simply said, "At lunch, we're entering."

"Good luck." Ness said as the bell rang, signaling the start of school and classes. Everyone was once again, excited at who the champion would be as they worked, even Selvis seemed content with whoever the champion would be, although he hissed to Ness during potions that the champion would surely be a Slytherin as they worked on their Soothing Springs potion.

"If you say so." Ness whispered back before adding, "The Weasly twins plan on entering the tournament during lunch."

"Morons." Selvis snorted before they resumed working on their potions. And by the time lunch rolled around, Ness had to agree with Selvis. The age line wasn't going to be like those bouncers outside of clubs who would let minors in if they had a fake ID card or machines that didn't have facial recognition.

It would probably use magical statistics and search the users' wand to see what magic they used to determine the year and possible age.

So, when Fred and George proudly took a couple drops of some potion that would age them up to 18 and marched up the line, Ness was ready for failure.

"Made it!" George triumphantly announced as he and Fred stepped inside the circle with ease causing everyone who had known about the twins' plan beforehand to share looks of, "It actually worked!" while Hermione curtly said, "It'll fail, just watch."

"I don't know Hermione, they've gotten farther than most underage students." Ness pointed out,

"And there inside the circle." Ron added, "They can enter!"

"Looks like we were wrong." Harry simply said before he started to resume eating his lunch.

"So much for my five sickles." Ginny sighed as she watched the twins march up the goblet to put their names in and leave before the teachers realized that something was up.

The slips of paper didn't even touch the fire before the twins were suddenly sent backward with a loud pop and an explosion of smoke. Attracting everyone's attention as the twins sat up and looked at each other.

"They have beards!" Selvis exclaimed breaking the stunned silence as people studied the snow-white beards on the twins' face, "Really genuine beards!"

"Best. Punishment ever." Ness said fighting back a laugh as George recovered from the shock and flipped his beard over his shoulder like a rock star, earning light laughter which grew louder as Fred boasted, "My beard is probably even better than Dumbledore's!"

"I doubt it Mr. Weasly." Dumbledore chuckled, "Although, Milly Stepford had a remarkable beard earlier. I dare say it was even longer than mine."

"I wonder how many people have beards now." Ginny mused as Ron grumbled, "I thought it actually worked."

"Well, at least they got something for their troubles." Harry offered as the twins headed to the hospital wing to remove the beards before class started.

Hermione merely huffed in disagreement and resumed eating while Ness started to crack jokes, earning a death glare from Ginny after a bit.

"You are so insufferable." Ginny exclaimed as they headed to Ness's lease favorite class, "How come you realize that but Professor Moody doesn't?" Ness asked, "Do I have to interrupted his class to make hate me!?"

"Do you really want to get on Mad eyed Moody's bad side?" Ginny questioned, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"…Never mind."

"That's that I thought."

A couple grueling and boring classes later, the Halloween Feast began with charmed bats that would glow a spooky orange every now and then, cloudy weather reflected on the magical celling and outside, giving a horror movie feel and pumpkin themed food to really liven up the holiday.

Everyone was in a good yet understandable tense as they ate, drank and cracked jokes. Well, the cracking jokes part was mostly thanks to Ness since he remembered a handful of good Halloween jokes. Which apparently, only Adaliz, Hermione and Harry appreciated since they were muggle jokes.

"Hey guys, what's a ghost's favorite dance move?" Ness asked just as Nearly Headless Nick floated past, "The Ecto-slide!"

"Actually, I prefer the Dead Waltz." Nearly Headless Nick corrected, causing Ness to jump in surprise and shot him a glare of disbelief, "It's a joke Nick," Ness tried to explain.

"Not a very good one." Nearly Headless Nick replied before he went to talk to some Second Years.

"Why echo?" Ginny asked as Ness took a bite from his pumpkin pastry.

"Ecto." Harry corrected, "Muggles like to think that ghosts are made up of green glowing goo called ecto-plasma."

"But they aren't." Ron pointed out with a confused frown.

"They are for muggles." Ness replied, "After all, we don't get to chat to the ghosts on a daily basis."

"Really? Why not?" Adaliz asked, "Surely they have ghosts lingering around old buildings."

"Magical things don't exist for muggles Adaliz, we just think it's make pretend until we get physical proof." Ness explained, "Like how you guys don't understand the need for airplanes."

"Air…planes?"

"Or know what those are." Ness sighed as Ginny patted his shoulder in sympathy.

"Oh! They're about to announce the champions!" Hermione announced, causing everyone to face the teacher's table. Dumbledore had stood up, ending his chat with Madam Maxine and Krakroff as he moved for the goblet, "Now ladies and gentlemen." Dumbledore started, "As I'm sure you quiet now, our champion selection shall begin! When your name is called, you are to go into the hallway outside of the dining hall and wait for further instructions. First, from Beauxton,"

With a fiery explosion, a paper slip flew out of the fire and landed in Dumbledore's outstretched hand, "Flurr Decoure!" he announced earning cheers from the Beaubaxtons and oddly enough, from a lot of the guys as Flurr, a young woman with long platinum blonde hair gracefully stood up and beamed everyone a grin before she walked down the aisle and headed outside.

"And from Durmstrang," another explosion of fire, "Victor Krum!"

"Go Krum!" Ron cheered as everyone clapped for the Qudditch star player who stood up and gave everyone a curt nod before he went to join Flurr.

"Finally, Hogwarts—Cedric, Diggery!"

"You got this!" Ness yelled as Cedric stood up, looking a little flustered as his Quddtich team gave him hearty slaps on the backs and the entire Hufflepuff section screamed their heads off with joy. It took him a while to join Flurr and Krum but he made it, his face a bright red from all the attention he got.

"Now, the first event shall be on-," Dumbledore started when a fourth explosion of fire caused a slip of paper to appear, then a fifth, a sixth and finally, a seventh. Earning looks of confusion from everyone as Dumbledore clumsily caught them, his normally half closed eyes a little wide with surprise as he listed, "Harry Potter, Ness Earthbound, Adaliz Noble and Alexander Vadim."

Dun dun dun! More champions! Also, I hate Flur and Adaliz's school. T_T I keep forgetting how to spell it while I write, hence why there are so many variations of said school in this chapter.