"Last day"
Albus groaned quietly at the voice next to his year, his sleep-filled mind too foggy to make out who was speaking.
"Five... more minutes..." he grumbled, pulling the covers over himself, but someone breathed against his ear anyway, making him tremble.
"Last day Albus..."
"For what…" he mumbled, sleepily, rubbing his tired eyes. He had no idea who was talking to him, if it was morning already or not, all he knew was that he was tired, and as he tried to reach for his glasses, the breath sounded again against his ear.
"Put your name in the goblet Albus… It is the last day… You can't miss it…"
"Last… goblet?" he asked, finally reaching his glasses and putting them over his eyes. He pushed the covers away and looked around, confused, seeing his curtains closed and no one around him.
What kind of weird dream state was he in?
Groaning, he put his glasses back over the small table next to his bed and pressed his face into the pillow, deciding to sleep some more.
And thus he went back into a blissful sleep, hugging his pillow and letting dreams take over him once more.
The next time, he woke up with the sound of a door closing, and yawned loudly, rubbing his eyes and slowly pushing himself up in a sitting position, turned towards the headboard. Looking around, he noticed the sun was already entering the room, and suddenly panicked, looking around for a clock.
What time was it?!
"Late" came the answer, making him jump off his bed and end up on the ground, groaning after hitting his head. He was tangled on the sheets, but soon put himself together and rushed away from his bed, looking around for the origin of the voice.
He found none other than Gellert Grindelwald sitting on Elphias' bed, reading a book with the calmest expression on his face.
"Gellert!" Albus squeaked out, pulling the curtains to cover his body, despite of him wearing a full set of pyjamas. "What are you doing here?! At this time?! How did you get inside?!"
"One of your friends let me in. Dougue?" Gellert said, tilting his head and then shaking it. "No matter. I was waiting for you, but decided against waking you up. After all, that would be very impolite."
"Well and now I'm late!" Albus complained, and finally Gellert looked up at him, a playful smile on his lips.
"Perhaps. But I had no places to go, so I feel perfectly fine spending some more time reading."
"You should also be attending to classes Gellert! Just because you aren't at your school in this moment, it doesn't mean you should slack off" Albus huffed and crossed his arms, letting go from the curtain. "Now could you please excuse yourself so I could get dressed?"
"This is a boys dorm room, why should I need to leave so you can get dressed?" Gellert asked, tilting his head in curiosity. "It isn't like I haven't seen all you have in myself."
That comment alone was enough to leave Albus' face as red as his hair, but the smirk that came after made him even more embarrassed, his whole face burning as if he had been under the sun for five hours straight. He turned around quickly, picking up his wand and shaking it so the clothes he would normally wear appeared in front of him, and slowly he began changing with no other comment towards the Durmstrang student.
It had never felt so weird, to change in front of someone like it did at that exact moment.
Despite all awkwardness and embarrassment from his part, he quickly got himself dressed in his Gryffindor robes and turned back to Gellert, taking a deep breath and then cleaning his throat. The boy looked up from his book again, and seeing the older ready, jumped off the bed and smiled.
"Ready?"
"I've been ready for the last one hour and a half Albus."
"Then we shall go."
Albus turned around, hair and robe drifting up at the movement, and walked out with Gellert right behind him, holding his book tight against his chest, both heading to the main hall to get some breakfast.
"So Albus, have you decided?" Gellert asked suddenly while they worked on some potions essay in the library, later that same morning. Albus frowned, and slowly looked up at him, confused.
"Decided on what?"
"Today is the last day to put your name in the goblet" Gellert said, crossing his legs and raising an eyebrow. "Have you decided if you will put your name in it or not?"
"I… honestly no, I haven't" Albus said, furrowing his eyebrows and looking back at his book. "I mean… I think I had a dream with it, but… I don't know, it's too risky."
"Albus, I've told you before, there is nothing risky about doing a tournament" Gellert rolled his eyes, and then moved closer. "And besides, you might not even be chosen! Imagine how many people in Hogwarts that have already put their names in the goblet? Durmstrang and Beauxbatons have the tradition to choose who will volunteer beforehand, but Hogwarts usually allows their students to go for it, so imagine! Fifth, sixth and seventh years have already put their names. What are the odds of you being chosen?" Gellert chuckled, and Albus frowned, becoming more and more bothered by what the boy was saying. "However if you put your name, you will already have the glory to say that you were brave enough to try it. Even if you're not chosen. Think about that."
Albus looked at Gellert and the boy gave him a little smirk and a wink, before turning back to his book and writing something down in his parchment.
Albus, however, got that stuck in his head. And no matter how much he tried to focus on the essay, his mind kept ringing the same bell.
If he didn't even try, weren't his worries become cowardness?
Even Aberforth had told him to do it. So why shouldn't he?
Determined, he made his decision. However, he would wait until he was alone to put his name in the goblet.
He wouldn't tell anyone, but at least he would prove to himself that he was not a coward.
On the next day, all schools and students were gathered in the main hall, and the goblet was brought to the front, ready to spit out the names of the students that would be taking part of the Triwizard Tournament that year.
Gellert had preferred to stay with his Durmstrang classmates instead of sitting with Albus, who was next to his own friends, not too far away from where his brother sat. Aberforth looked at him as the headmaster's speech began, sending him a wink, and Albus just smiled back with a single nod, silently telling him to pay attention.
Although, he himself couldn't afford paying attention to the speech.
The nerves were getting into him. His palms were cold and sweaty, and he felt like standing up and moving around. He couldn't even breathe right. His heart was beating so quickly he had to take deep breaths to make sure he wouldn't get sick in the middle of the speech.
Last night, ten minutes before the clock ticked midnight, he had walked up to the goblet's room and thrown his name inside it. And now, there was a chance that he would be chosen to be Hogwart's champion.
How insane would that be?
"And now" the headmaster said, suddenly, and Albus snapped his head up, looking intensely to the old man, his heart in his throat "it is time to announce this year's champions for each school!"
The room went out in cheers, but Albus felt like standing up and running off into the distance.
What had he done?
"First, we shall see who will be the champion for the Beauxbatons' Academy" Hogwarts' headmaster said, approaching the goblet and waving his wand. The fire in the goblet grew three times its normal size, and spelled out a little paper that slowly flew to the headmaster's hand. The silence in the hall was such that Albus could hear the beating of his heart in his ear. "The Beauxbatons' champion this year is… Jeanne Couture!"
The room went out in cheers and screams, and the girl stood up from the Hufflepuff table, doing a little bow. Albus recognized her immediately. It was the girl from Astrology, the one that had read his tea cup. She walked up to the stand, and stood there as the headmaster cleaned his throat, silencing the room.
"Now, the Durmstrang champion" he said, and waved his wand again. This time the fire burned green, and spilled out another paper. He took it, opened it, and smiled. "The Durmstrang Champion this year is… Gellert Grindelwald!"
The room began to cheer, just like before, but a slam on the Slytherin table was heard, and just as Gellert stood up, a boy two times his size also stood, slamming his foot on the floor, silencing the cheers in the room.
"No! This is wrong! I was supposed to be the champion!" the bigger boy screamed, from the other side of the table where Gellert sat, while the Durmstrang headmaster stood up, rushing towards them. The rest of the room was silent, watching the discussion.
"The goblet chose me, Rosko" Gellert responded, coldly, and Rosko growled back at him. "There is nothing I can do"
"You weren't supposed to enter your name! Durmstrang chooses their champions previously!" Rosko replied, extremely angry, but Gellert just shrugged.
"No one told me I shouldn't" was his witty response, to which Rosko took out his wand. The Durmstrang headmaster barely had time to react as the first spell was spoken, but was the second that actually hit its target.
Rosko's wand went flying off his hand before the spell he had said could be casted, and all eyes turned to the centre of the hall, including Rosko's and Gellert's, who seemed as surprised as anyone else.
And Albus, well, he was the one being stared at, with his wand firmly pointed to the Durmstrang boy.
"In Hogwarts, we do not resolve our disagreements by dwelling, mister Rosko, and you should have known that" Albus said, loud enough for all hall to hear, and with a flick of his wand, Rosko's wand was in his hands. "Besides, I am a prefect and that is my companion you were casting a spell against, and I cannot tolerate such acts"
The silence remained for a few seconds, before the room filled up with cheers, specially from the Gryffindor table. Durmstrang's headmaster rushed towards Rosko and Albus sent his wand to the man as he pulled his student out of the hall, and suddenly Aberforth was jumping on his back, yelling how awesome his brother was for all Hogwarts to hear.
But Albus was too busy locking eyes with Gellert, whose eyes shone in amazement and delight.
Albus couldn't help but smile.
A few minutes after the turmoil, everyone was back at their seats and Gellert was on the stand next to Jeanne. The headmaster quieted everyone again, and approached the goblet, lifting his wand.
"And now, Hogwarts' chosen champion" he said, and waved his wand. It burnt yellow, then blue, then green and finally red, and the piece of paper came out of it, flying towards his hands. He opened it up, stared at it for a long time, and then opened a pleased smile as he lifted his head. "Albus Dumbledore!"
Gryffindor's table went insane with cheers and screams and cries. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw followed suit, while Slytherin was a bit quieter, but also cheering on. Albus, however, did not react, still sitting down with his eyes wide.
"Albus! It's you!" Elphias said next to him, and suddenly Aberforth appeared again, hugging him tight.
"Brother! I knew you would be chosen! I knew it!" he exclaimed, pulling away and tugging on his hand. "Come on! You need to take your place on the stand!"
Albus nodded slowly, still silent, and stood up, walking towards the stand with Aberforth's guidance. Everything seemed to fuzzy. He let go from his brother's hand when he reached the front of the hall and got up on the stand, next to Gellert and Jeanne. He looked towards all the tables screaming his name and stood still, barely breathing.
"These are the Triwizard Tournament Champions!" Hogwarts' Headmaster said, loud and clear, and everyone cheered once more. Albus did not react for a long time, but suddenly he felt a hand brushing his and turned to the side, seeing Gellert smiling towards him and nodding to the crowd of students.
Albus looked over and smiled at all those people screaming his name.
He was a Triwizard Champion.