"You do realize that all of you take longer than a woman to get ready, right?" Tracey groaned as she sat on Blaise's bed. The feast would start in fifteen minutes and Blaise, Draco, and Harry were each in front of their bedside mirrors fixing themselves up.
"Just because you had a two hour head start doesn't mean we take long," Blaise muttered as he ran a brush over his short black hair. Draco hummed in agreement and both turned to Harry expectantly.
Harry snorted and shrugged, "I was in the library and lost track of time. I have a real excuse. Don't drag me into this."
Malfoy scowled and applied more gel to his hair, making sure a strand wasn't out of place. "Well, unlike you two, Blaise and I are old enough to enter the tournament and if we get chosen we are going to look good. We can't have a Slytherin champion looking like a Weasley spawn."
"You mean Hogwarts champion," Harry corrected as he pulled his robe on over his muggle uniform. He then walked across the room to Draco and picked up the container of gel.
"I suppose," Draco answered as he sneered and swiped his hand at Harry, receiving a punch on the arm for his effort.
"You have enough crap in your hair already, Malfoy." Harry smirked and ran gel covered fingers through his hair making it a bit messy then threw the container back.
"Will you guys stop bickering and hurry up."
"Well, I'm ready," Harry stated as he opened the door.
Blaise brushed a piece of invisible lent of his shoulder and followed.
"Malfoy?"
"I'm coming." He spent a moment more in the mirror then got out after Tracey.
The four entered the Great Hall with just enough time to eat a quick dinner before the Goblet of Fire was once again set out. The lights in the Hall were extinguished, leaving only the stars on the ceiling and the flames from the goblet to see from.
"It should be but a minute before the Goblet is ready ," Dumbledore announced as he put himself in front of it. "Once the champion's name has been called they will walk up and go to the next chamber." He pointed to the door behind the staff table. "There you will receive your instructions."
The Goblet began to shoot out sparks as he finished. Everyone tensed up as he hovered over the wooden cup. Suddenly a piece of tattered parchment shot out and was quickly snatched out of the air by Dumbledore.
"The champion for Drumstrang will be...Victor Krum."
The students broke into applause for the Quidditch star as he shuffled to the staff table and disappeared through the door.
The Goblet repeated its previous actions and another piece of parchment soon shot out.
"The champion for the school of Beauxbaton will be Fleur Delacour."
The Hall once again broke out into applause with the exception of a few of the Beauxbaton girls who were sobbing.
A few moments after the beauty was gone the Goblet began shooting sparks for the third time. All the Hogwarts students seemed to hold their breath as Dumbledore snatched the final piece of parchment from the air.
"The Hogwarts champion will be...Cedric Diggory!"
"A Hufflepuff!" Draco exclaimed in disgust. Most of the Slytherin table seemed to share his opinion, but the cheering from the Hufflepuff table made up for their lack of response as the blond young man strode to the front.
"This is a disgrace to Hogwarts!" Draco exclaimed quietly as Dumbledore continued to talk. "How the hell was a bloody Hufflepuff chosen?"
"Malfoy-"
"He must have had someone tamper with the cup. There is no way a Hufflepuff could be better than-"
"Malfoy, look at the Goblet!"
Draco scowled, but reluctantly stopped at Harry's demand and looked back up to the front. It was once again emitting sparks and the headmaster had stopped talking and was looking at it, seemingly baffled. A piece of parchment shot into the air and Dumbledore caught it without much thought, then held it up to his face to read.
"Harry Potter!"
Harry looked at the headmaster in confusion. He wasn't even old enough to compete. Plus there was already a Hogwarts champion. How could another be called?
"Harry Potter."
Blaise nudged him from his side. "Get up there, Harry."
Harry stood up and began to walk to the front, looking around at the rest of the students' expressions. The Hufflepuffs and most of the Gryffindors looked outraged, which was expected. The Ravenclaws looked confused, which was a rare sight to see. Most of the Slytherins were smirking at the Hufflepuffs, although there were a few that looked irritated. As he neared the doors he took a look at the teachers. He was surprised to see Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch there also, who he hadn't been able to spot before the lights had gone out. Ludo Bagman looked excited and Crouch looked upset. All the teachers looked angry, including Vanessa, but Harry wasn't sure if the anger was directed at him or not.
The young vampireentered the antechamber and silently closed the door behind him. The three other champions were staring into the fire, oblivious to his presence. Fleur sat in a red chair, Diggory stood a few feet away with his hands behind his back, and Krum stood hunched over apart from the two. Harry walked over and stood behind Fleur's chair, giving a polite nod to Krum who was first to notice him.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm not quite sure myself," Harry answered, causing Fleur to jump because of the sudden voice above her.
The four watched the fire silently for a while until the door was flung open and the headmasters plus Snape, McGonagall and Vanessa strode in.
"Vis is an outrage, Albus!" Madame Maxine as she stomped across the room and stood next to Fleur.
"I'm afraid I must agree," Headmaster Bellents said as he too stood next to his champion. "This is a major violation of the rules, Hogwarts having two champions. Someone has obviously tampered with the cup."
"It appears so," Dumbledore stated calmly.
Snape stepped forward and settled black eyes onto Harry. Harry frowned as he saw a hint of hatred in his eyes.
"There is no use dancing around it," the Potions professor drawled. "It was clearly Potter that did it. He would have to tamper with the cup to get his name in in the first place. He's only sixteen."
"What!" Harry exclaimed as he and Vanessa glared at the man.
"Don't play innocent. Even if not everyone realizes it, you are just sixteen and therefor too young to compete."
"How could a sixteen year old tamper with something that powerful?" Vanessa countered, forgetting that if he tried Harry probably could tamper with the Goblet enough to enter his name.
Harry watched the his professors and the headmasters and headmistress argue in confusion. How did his name end up in the cup? He hadn't asked anyone to enter it and he certainly didn't enter it himself. And why was Snape suddenly acting like he hated him? They didn't have any problems before.
He ran a hand through his hair and looked to Vanessa. He noticed her eyes were slowly becoming icier and quickly moved forward to get between her and Snape.
"Look, I know haw it looks, Professor, but I did not enter my name into that Goblet, nor did I ask anyone to." He turned his gaze from Snape to Dumbledore. "I had nothing to do with this."
Dumbledore nodded to him then turned Madame Maxine and Professor Bellents. Before he could say anything Ludo Bagman came through the door and immediately went to Harry followed by Barty Crouch.
"Mr. Potter! So nice to meet you! Oh, we're probably going to have to upgrade the challenges with you being a champion! Could you imagine the boy-who-lived having a problem with a few simple tasks? Of course not! I-"
"Ludo, surely you're not actually having this child compete," Snape cut in.
Bagman stopped shaking Harry's hand and turned towards the potions professor with a confused expression. "Of course he's going to compete. Don't you know anything about the Goblet of Fire? Once your name is dropped in there you've signed a contract. There is no backing out once it's in."
"I know that!" Snape snapped. "And I also know that its supposed to pick only one champion per school."
"Actually, Severus, it can pick any number of students from a school as long as all the headmasters and headmistresses involved allow it." Crouch said. "A few centuries ago the Goblet had constantly been used for tournaments within single schools, picking the strongest of its students and pitting them against each other for entertainment."
"Exactly!" exclaimed Bagman gleefully. "The charms on the cup must have been malfunctioning so it chose two Hogwarts champions. They both must compete."
"But ve boy is underage, he still broke ve rules," bellowed Madame Maxine whose grip tightened on an uncomfortable looking Fleur's shoulder.
"Oh, come on! It's Harry Potter! I'm sure he wouldn't break any rules like that. It was probably an older fan whoput his name in because they wanted to see him compete. I mean, who wouldn't want to see the mythical boy-who-lived battle the dangers of the Tri-Wizard tournament?"
When no one bothered to answer Dumbledore stepped into the middle of the room and looked at Harry. "It seems we have no choice but to let you compete Mr. Potter. I just hope you realize the danger involved in this tournament. No one would want you to get hurt."
"I'm sure I'll do okay."
"Well then," Dumbledore turned to address everyone. "I'm sure we all need a good nights rest after all this excitement" But first I believe these champions need to learn about their first task. Mr. Crouch?"
Barty Crouch cleared his throat and stepped forward. "The first task is to test your daring," he said to Victor, Fleur, Cedric, and Harry. "Therefor you will not know what it is. Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality. You are not allowed to seek any help from your teachers. You shall enter the first task with only your wand and will receive information to the second when you are done. You are to be excused from all final exams due to the demanding nature of the tournament."
Dumbledore clasped is hands together and looked to the four students once he finished. "Well I'm sure you all want to go and celebrate with your friends and houses. Just don't leave a mess to big for the house elves to clean up."
The four left the room together and stood still in the Great Hall for a moment looking at their competition. Harry caught Krum's eye and Krum shrugged disinterestedly at his questioning gaze. He didn't care that he was chosen. He did the same to Diggory and was met with an uncertain half-shrug. He didn't bother to do the same to Fleur as she was standing at his side close enough so he knew she didn't think he had done anything wrong.
Victor was first to turn and walk to the doors followed by the other three. They split as they reached the Entrance Hall, Fleur and Krum going outside to their carriage and ship, Diggory going down a staircase to the right of the main ones and Harry to the dungeons.
'What the hell is going on?' he thought as he walked through countless corridors. 'Something as powerful as the Goblet of Fire doesn't 'malfunction' that easily. Dumbledore must know that. Someone must want me to get hurt competing and they don't have the guts to do it themselves. Wait, that can't be it. If they're skilled enough to tamper with the cup they should be strong enough to give me a decent fight.' He groaned in frustration as he entered the common room.
To his surprise most of the house was in there. The Slytherin common room was quite large and filled with elegant, green couches and armchairs, tables, bookcases, and two fireplaces. It was odd to see it actually almost filled as Harry figured Salazar Slytherin designed it that way so his students could have their own space.
"Nice job, Eagle."
"Make sure you destroy the others."
"Good luck."
"Better not screw up."
"Show em' how Slytherins play."
Harry squeezed through the crowd of his house mates, nodding to the ones who addressed him. He found an empty seat on a couch not to far away from him and settled down there.
"Potter."
Harry looked at the dark haired boy on the couch across from him just as a large weight settled down on of his own. To his side he saw a large seventh year boy had taken the seat next to him.
"Yes?"
The boy across from him gave a small smile, then held out his hand. "Adrian Pucey. Seventh year, Slytherin chaser. You can call me Adrian."
"Pleasure," Harry responded as he took his hand.
"I'm sure. That there is Carter Warrington. Just call him Warrington. Also seventh year, Slytherin chaser. And this," he continued as a girl with dark red hair sat next to him, "Is Daphne Greengrass. Sixth year...and off-limits. So don't bother calling her anything."
"Alright," Harry said slowly. 'What does this guy want?'
"Nice job getting yourself into the tournament. I just wanted to offer you an olive branch on behalf of most of the seventh years. We talked about it while you were gone and decided although you are a sixth year, shouldn't even be in the tournament, and you are Harry Potter," He sneered at his name. "You are a Slytherin and Slytherins do not lose. We'll take care of the Krum, the little French girl, and that muggle-loving Hufflepuff. You just make sure you can live through the bloody task."
Harry bit the inside of his cheek and looked coldly at the smirking man in front of him.
"I think I'll do fine on my own."
Adrian's eyebrows furrowed, "It doesn't matter what you think you can do. Unless you know that you can drive your opponents into the ground we're going to make sure you don't embarrass our house."
"Look," Harry growled, standing up. "I don't need a bunch of thugs help to win a this. I'll do just fine without you."
Adrian's jaw clenched as he too stood up, followed by his companions. "Very well. But if you mess up in the first task we will resort to other measures whether you want us to or not."
The three turned and walked off to their respective dorms, Daphne turning and giving him a grin before disappearing around the bend of the stairs.
'What an arse,' Harry thought as he went to his own dorms, not feeling a need to stay in the common room.
All of his dorm mates were in there when he arrived. There was room for all six of them in the dorm with lights over each of their beds. He sat down heavily on his own and rubbed his head. 'I had come to Hogwarts to have a normal year. Not to enter the bloody Tri-Wizard tournament.' He pulled his curtains closed and turned onto his stomach. 'I don't need another damn year of training. I've been at it since I was six years old. I'm tired of it."
"You alright, Harry?"
Harry turned onto his side and opened his curtains enough to see Blaise laying down on the bed next to his with a book resting on his chest.
"I'm fine."
Blaise nodded and raised his book to his face for moment, before setting it down again.
"You were training when you were missing, right?" he said in a hushed tone. Harry simply hummed in response. "I hope you were," The corner of Blaise's mouth twitched. "Because if I lose all that money betting on you I'll have to kick you arse and that would probably mess up the whole buddy thing we have."
Harry snorted and pulled his curtains closed. 'I suppose it isn't that bad. No training schedules, no moving somewhere new every few months, and it's easy to get blood. And I do have Fleur, Blaise, Parvati, and Tracey. It could be worse.'
"Nox."
The light over Harry dimmed and he took of his robes, shoes and shirt. He slid under the sheets and pulled them close around himself. He squeezed his eyes shut.
He knew it could be a lot worse.