Author's Note:
I do not own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does! I only own Emily Blanchett, Delilah Hopkins and any other Elementals! I also own Merlin Towers, and anything that comes along with it:D
Chapter 8! Here it is. Hope you enjoy it, please read and review!
Chapter 8
Champions
"..Emily, how do you do that charm again?"
Emily rolled her eyes as she faced Delilah, taking out her 13" Holly wand and explained, "You just flick your wand at the opponent, while saying 'Aguamenti'."
She watched as Delilah tried it again, but failed miserably.
Emily sighed. "You pronounced it wrongly. Emphasize on the AH, and the MEN. So it's AH-gua-MEN-ti."
Delilah flicked her wand, and like Emily had explained, she finally cast the spell right. "Augamenti!" As simple as that, a stream of clear water erupted from her wand and flew towards Emily. Quickly, Emily cast another spell while tapping herself with her wand. "Impervius!"
The stream of water quickly approached Emily, but as soon as it touched her body, it was repelled away and lay in a puddle on the floor, and Emily made the water evaporate with a quick brush of her hand.
The rest of the group was either busy doing homework, practicing charms, reading, or just fooling around. In this case, Emily and Delilah were practicing charms, Hermione, Jack and Jeslyn were reading, and the rest of the lot which consisted of Harry, Ron, Cressebella and Jonathan, were just fooling around.
"Eternal glory, be brilliant wouldn't it?" Ron suddenly muttered. "In three years from now we'll be old enough to be chosen."
Harry hesitated for awhile. "Yeah.. Well, rather you than me."
Suddenly, the entire group of them stopped their actions, as Fred and George came into the Goblet Room, cheering, with two goblets in their hands.
"Thank you, thank you!" George's voice filled the room. "Well, lads, we've done it."
"Cooked it up this morning." Fred added.
Suddenly, the voice of a certain Hermione interrupted the two happy twins.
"It's not going to work."
Fred turned to look at Hermione, and watched as he raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah?" He began. "And why's that, Granger?"
Hermione put down her book and walked forward. "You see this?" She started, pointing to a floating, misty white line that circled the Goblet of Fire. "This, is an age line. Dumbledore drew it himself."
"So?" Fred retorted.
"So a genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by something pathetically dimwitted such as an age potion!" Hermione exclaimed.
George spoke up. "That's why it's so brilliant!"
Turning away from Hermione, the twins faced each other. Hermione let out a huff, now a little irritated, turned around and went back to her seat.
"Ready, Fred?"
"Ready, George?"
The two gulped down the potions that they were holding up and when they jumped past the age line, they started to cheer. Putting their names into the Goblet of Fire, the twins gave each other a high-five. However, their happiness was short lived - the flame from the Goblet fired up, and immediately, the twins were thrown across the room, onto the floor. When the two of them got up, they sported a full head of very fashionable grey hair and beards.
"You said.." George began.
"But you said.." Fred said, at the same time.
The two collapsed on the floor as Fred and George began to fight. They rolled around, punching each other and grabbing each other's now grayed hair.
Emily watched the exchange, and along with the rest of the group, she started to laugh. However, when realizing that the rest of the crowd's noise was starting to die down, Emily stopped laughing and looked towards the entrance, where the rest of the crowd was looking.
Viktor Krum had entered the room.
The entire audience in the Goblet Room watched slowly, as he placed his name in the Goblet. Then he turned around, and looked in the direction of the nine of them.
"If I'm not mistaken, he's looking at Hermione!" Delilah hissed, and Emily couldn't help but notice Hermione's flushed face and her smile.
Emily grinned, and then whispered back to Delilah, "I guess Hermione has a crush, then!"
They both erupted in soft giggles, and suddenly realizing that it was time for dinner, the two of them stuffed their wands into the pockets, took up their Charm books and followed them out of the Goblet Room - never realizing that a certain member among them had slipped his name into the Goblet of Fire.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hmm, just a reminder.. All the Major's ages are 17, making then Seventh Years now. It's easier and less confusing. And Hermione's a Prefect, not Head Girl, thanks to a fellow reader who pointed it out :D )
"Settle down, settle down!" Dumbledore ordered, and the Great Hall slowly came to a silence.
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for!" Dumbledore started to say. "The Champion's selection!"
The Great Hall erupted in claps and cheers. Of course, with four schools present, the Hall was filled to the brim - literally. However, after a few minutes of clapping and endless cheering, the noise died down with a raise of Dumbledore's hand.
Dumbledore proceeded to walk to the middle of the room, where the Goblet stood. It was placed on top of a tall podium, and with it's blue flames licking blindly at the air, everybody's gaze followed Dumbledore's every move - and lifting his hand again, the Goblet's blue flames turned a shocking, angry red.. And the first strip of paper flew out.
"The Durmstrang champion is.."
Looking anxiously, Emily turned to Delilah, who was sitting next to her, and muttered, "I bet it'll be Viktor Krum."
"..Viktor Krum!" Dumbledore seemed to echo Emily's words, and with that, Viktor stood up from the Slytherin table and walked proudly towards Dumbledore. The Durmstrang students cheered loudly, as they watched their champion take his place next to Dumbledore, and then walk into a room hidden behind the Hall.
The second strip of paper seemed to be thrown out of the Goblet, and then fluttered gracefully down into the palms of Dumbledore.
"The champion from Beauxbatons.."
Smiling, Emily turned to Delilah again, and murmured, "I think it'll be Fleur. After all, she's the only one that I know of, that has the ability to do her chores manually with as much grace as when she's walking. My mum used to love her!"
Delilah seemed to consider what had just been said, and replied flatly, "I dislike her. She reminds me of a huge live sized Barbie doll."
Emily chuckled.
"..Fleur Delacour!"
Eyes wide, Delilah turned towards Emily and quickly exclaimed over the sharp cheers of the Beauxbatons girls, "Emily, I think you should consider taking Divination!"
Emily laughed. "I don't think so! I hate Divination, and I think it's a waste of my time!" She insisted.
"Whatever you say, Em." Delilah began, laughing. "..Care to try and guess the Hogwarts champion?"
Emily frowned for awhile, thinking hard. She knew she had little time to think, because the next slip of paper could fly out very soon.
"I think it'll be Harry Potter."
Delilah frowned, thinking. "But Harry can't be the champion; he's underage!"
Hearing the response, Emily 'ooh'ed and nodded her head. "Yeah, I guess so."
They turned their attention back to Dumbledore, watching the burning goblet and it's fury flames. The blue flames burned a bright red, and Dumbledore got ready to announce the Hogwarts champion.
"The Hogwarts champion.."
The air in the Hall seemed to be especially tense, since three-quarters of the Hall seemed to be filled with Hogwarts students. A few hundred eyes seemed to follow the flames, as it spit out the last slip of paper, and the few hundred eyes followed the slip as it fell gracefully into Dumbledore's hands.
"..Cedric Diggory!"
A huge burst of cheers and screams erupted from the entire Hall, as all eyes swiveled to the Hufflepuff table, and watched the Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, walk his way up to the stage, shaking Dumbledore's hands, and escaping with the rest of the other two champions, into a back room.
Delilah nudged Emily. "I guess you won't be taking Divination anymore!"
Emily laughed. "I never wanted to take Divination in the first place, Dee!"
"And now... For the last, and final champion.."
Emily felt a sense of urgency inside her. She felt special, because this student would bring their school to eternal glory. Her insides were nervous - almost as nervous as when she had performed the entrance act.
"The Merlin Tower's champion is.."
Everyone seemed to be tense, especially those around Emily. She could feel Delilah's hot gaze behind her, and as she glanced quickly around her, the other Majors also seemed to be nervous. Cressebella was holding on tight to Jonathan's hands, Jeslyn was muttering softly under her breath, and even the proud Holly seemed to have a concentrated look on her face. The one that looked the most calm though, was Jack.
"..Jack Matthews!"
"What?!" Emily cried out. She could distinctively hear Cressebella squeak, and Jeslyn's soft gasp. Jonathan's jaw was locked, and Delilah sucked in a huge amount of air, making a sharp noise. And the entire six other Majors turned to stare at Jack.
"Since when did you put your name in, Jack?" Holly seemed to be the only one not affected by these news.
Jack stood up slowly, measuring the Majors' hot gazes. "When you all weren't looking." He said, calmly.
Watching as Jack made his way up to the stage, shaking Dumbledore's hands and entering the small room behind, Emily couldn't help but let her thoughts ring through her head. Eternal glory... Not for the weak hearted..
"Excellent!" Dumbledore's voice boomed over the loud cheering of the students. "We now have our four champions! But in the end, only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champions, this vessel of victory, the Tri-Wizard Cup!"
As the students continued to cheer, nobody noticed the blue fire turn the deepest shades of red quickly, and erupted in a huge roar. Bit by bit, people started to notice that something was wrong, and the Hall quickly shushed down and everyone started to point.
"I wonder what's wrong with the Goblet." Hermione muttered. "Aren't the four champions already chosen?"
Nothing could have bothered Emily and the other six Majors at this point in time. They were still in shock from the slight betrayal. "I can't believe Jack!" Delilah hissed under her breath. "Doesn't he know that we'll all be worried about him, about this Tournament simply because it's life-threatening?"
Emily continued to be stunned. Life-threatening.. The words continued to ring in her head, despite the quickly changing surroundings. Jack, Delilah and Emily had been best friends for a very long time, and Jack would have known that Delilah, and especially Emily, would not have wanted him to participate. To put it in a simpler way, neither of the Majors would have wanted each other to participate. Simply because it was a harsh competition, and neither of the Majors wanted to lose each other. Especially Jack, Emily thought.
"Is something wrong with the Goblet?" Ron asked blindly.
"Is it.. Malfunctioning?" Emily heard someone else question loudly.
Emily snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the Goblet.
"It isn't malfunctioning.." She heard herself whisper. The Goblet looks exactly like when it's...Oh, God. "It's giving out another name."
True enough, the Goblet fired up again, and in the shades of the angry red flames, another name shot out.
The Hall was quiet.
Dumbledore's face was unreadable, as he caught the slip of paper easily, and read it. A frown crossed his face.
"Harry Potter." Dumbledore announced.
The entire Hall burst out in sharp whispers. For the second time in less than 5 minutes, Emily, along with the rest of the table, found themselves staring at the boy who had just been talking to them minutes ago.
"Harry..?" She heard Ginny's voice, soft and questioning.
Harry Potter did not seem to know what to do. He stood, rooted in his seat, as people started to throw accusations at him.
"Harry Potter?" Dumbledore said again, this time in a questioning tone.
She seemed to hear Hagrid's voice float towards them, in a soft mutter. "No..." He began to murmer. "No..."
"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore's voice was a roar this time.
The Hall was in an uprage. People held accusing looks, and loud shouts began to shout across the Hall.
Despite everything, Hermione quickly pulled Harry out of his seat. "Go on, Harry!" She began hastily. When Harry did not seem to budge a single inch, Hermione sighed, "Harry, for goodness sake!"
Harry hastily got out of his seat, and slowly walked up onto the stage. Dumbledore passed him the small slip of paper. And truly enough, there was his name, scribbled in an unrecognizable scrawl.
As Harry started to walk past the Headmaster and into the back room, Emily heard a sharp and distinct voice over the noise in the Hall. "He's a cheat!" The voice began. "He's not even seventeen yet!"
When Harry escaped to the back room, the Hall simmered down to accusational murmurs.
Dumbledore turned to face the gazes of the students. "Now that all the champions have been chosen, dinner will be served." With a clap of his hands, the bronze and silver platters placed on the table began to be filled with food.
Many students stared at the food for awhile, still shocked by the news that Harry Potter actually had gotten chosen. However, the news settled down and inch by inch, people started to eat their dinner and the news faded away slightly, although still lingering in the air like a stale and foul smell.
The six Majors, Hermione, Ron and Ginny stared at their empty plates, two places among them empty. They couldn't stomach the fact that one of the friends somewhat betrayed them, and the other was in huge trouble and doubt at the moment.
"I don't feel hungry." Cressebella muttered, in a soft voice.
Emily sighed. "Me neither."
Hermione and Ron stayed quiet, but eyeing Ron for awhile, Emily seemed to notice that Ron was eyeing the food hungrily, but Hermione was just staring quietly at her empty platter.
There was a period of silence, where nobody seemed to know what to say.
"Do you all want to go back to the Common Room, where it's much quieter?" It was a relief when Hermione broke the mourning silence.
The entire group nodded their heads quietly, almost as if still digesting the information. Emily looked up, and at the corner of her eye was a starving Ron. She smiled softly; Ron was really comical. His eyes were huge and was eyeing the turkey hungrily, obviously wanting to eat and not go back to the Common Room.
Hermione nodded her head. "Let's go, then."
Everyone prepared to leave their place and stood up to leave, but Ron made a whining sound a the back of his throat, hesitated for awhile, and then grabbed a few muffins and nodded his head determinedly, now prepared to go back to the Common Room. Emily doubted that a few muffins would sustain Ron's hunger, but she then figured out that Ron, being always forever hungry, could find his own food somehow.
As the group of them walked back to the Common Room, one question rang through everyone's minds: How? It just wasn't possible..
Suddenly, Emily felt a nudge in her side. She turned, and found that Delilah wanted to ask her a question.
"What?" Emily questioned.
"..I guess you can take Divination now." Delilah pointed out.
Emily was confused. What, Divination?
"..you know," Delilah began. "Because you guessed that Viktor Krum would get chosen, and he did, and then next was Fleur.. And she did.. And then next, you guessed Harry Potter, and he got chosen too."
Emily smiled wirily. She didn't know what to say. Was Delilah trying to cheer her up?
"Hey, don't worry." Delilah saw Emily's small look and tried to comfort her. After all, Delilah was always the one that was comforting Emily. "Jack knows what he's doing."
Emily nodded her head silently, almost as if trying to convince herself.
I hope so.
