Alright, I'm going to start this off by apologizing so hard. I know that I haven't updated this in FOREVER, but trust me when I say that I have the fricken attention span of a gold fish. Between Homestuck, family, my junior year of high school, the Hell of which is so ever graciously called chemistry, starting the Dark-Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon (currently on The Dream-Hunter), midterms/finals, fandom hopping all over the place, and writer's block, I haven't really been writing much.

And before ANYONE says it, my story Reflection does NOT count. All of that is pre written up until chapter 11 on my laptop. So, with that being said, there won't be much updating this summer to begin with. Once the 13th of this month hits, I'm pretty much going to MIA aside from role playing and stuff.

I don't own the story line (at least up to chapter four), RoxyStar05 does! And I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does!

[xXx]

Soon enough, everyone was told to sit down by Dumbledore - whom of which entered the hall in which the Goblet of Fire resided shortly after a backfired attempt by the Weasely twins to put their names into the aforementioned goblet. Once every sat down, the old wizard exclaimed, "Now the moment that you've all been waiting for... The champions' selections!" He lifted his arm and slowly, as he turned, the fire lit lights began to dim along the room, adding a sense of... well, curiousity and anxiety. Slowly, the old man approached the goblet, the blue flames within burning brightly and tinting the room in their own color. Hands trembling some, he placed his hands against its surface. Then he withdrew.

The flames turned colors, from blue to a rather vibrant fuschia, spitting out a small, delicate piece of paper. Dumbledore caught the singed paper gingerly in his hand. He read it before announcing, "The Durmstrang champion is... Viktor Krum!" With that, the Durmstrang students cheered and applauded for their classmate. Viktor stood, descending from where he sat to shake hands with the Hogwarts Headmaster. Soon, he was dismissed.

Shortly after, the goblet once more burned fuschia in color, spitting out another name from its depths. "The champion from Beauxbatons... is Fleur Delacour!" Dumbledore announced. Like with the Durmstrang school, the Beauxbaton students cheered for the girl. She stood and walked over to Dumbledore, shaking his hand and being dismissed to join Viktor.

The fire spouted one more time, giving the old wizard yet another champion to announce. "The Hogwarts champion... Cedric Diggory!" The Hogwarts students errupted into cheers and applause, louder than both schools prior. Cedrick did as the two others did, shaking hands with the headmaster before being dismissed.

Soon enough, it was time for the fourth champion to be called from the Fairy Tail Academy of Alternative Magic.

Everyone was tense, all except for Erza. The scarlet haired woman had no idea what had happened behind her back, but if anyone's name but her own was called, there was surely going to be Hell to pay.

The fire spat out what everyone thought was the last name, falling into Dumbledore's hand. Natsu's entire face drained of color. He knew exactly whose piece of paper that was because of the scent. Gajeel's hand on his shoulder meant that the other Dragonslayer knew who it belonged to as well.

"The Fairy Tail champion is... Natsu Dragneel!"

To say that Erza looked furious was putting it much too kindly.

The angry heat that rolled off of her was almost too much for the Fire Dragonslayer, and that was saying something since heat normally never bothered him.

With a confidence that the pinkette didn't exactly feel at that moment with Erza's heated glare that promised a firm talking-to later boring into the back of his skull, Natsu stood and walked up to Dumbledore. Nobody had cheered for the male. It was too risky to given what all of the Guild members knew.

Natsu joined the other three champions, letting out a shaky breath. That wasn't enough though. He somehow managed to find a paper bag and grabbed it, breathing in and out of it to try and calm his pounding lungs down. He couldn't breathe. He didn't think that he would actually get called out! He had only had placed his name in simply because he didn't like being told what to do by Erza! He wanted to make a point! He had thought that Erza would have been called and that he could tell her afterwards. But no. Fate had a funny way of being cruel.

He should have known this was going to happen, though, he thought grimly once his head cleared some. He didn't think ahead and now it was going to cost him... Big time.

Not too long after, though, Natsu heard an outraged roar and the sound of multiple people running down the stairs. He saw Harry Potter and a multitude of adults following after him...

Erza being among them.

Dumbledore rushed to Harry, grabbing his shoulders. "Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?" he demanded.

Erza joined Natsu's side, about to demand her own questions, but Natsu held up a hand, his eyes glued to the scene in front of him. The red head didn't look pleased, but she allowed him the silence he wanted to observe the scene in front of them. After all, it seemed to be a serious thing going on... Especially given the fact that all of the other schools were at a disadvantage given how Hogwarts now had not one but two champions representing them.

"No, sir!" Harry exclaimed in panic.

"Did you get one of the older students to do it for you?" Dumbledore questioned.

"No, sir!" Harry repeated.

"You're ab-so-lute-ly sure?" the older man questioned, stressing each syllable.

"Yes, sir!"

Dumbledore's hold on Harry relaxed some.

"But of course, he is lying!" declared the head mistress of the Beauxbatons Academy as she joined the room.

"The Hell he is!" snapped Mad-Eye Moody. "The Goblet of Fire is an exceptionally powerful object. Only an exceptionally powerful could have hoodwinked it! Way beyond the talents of a fourth year!"

"You seem to have given this a fair bit of thought!" growled the headmaster for the Durmstrang academy, confronting Moody face-to-face. "Mad-Eye."

"It's my job to think as mad wizards do, Karkaroff. Perhaps you remember."

"That doesn't help, Alastor," ground out Dumbledore, coming between them. He approached Barty Crouch. "Leave this to you, Barty."

The man seemed to think for a moment before swallowing. "The rules are absolute," he managed. "The Goblet of Fire constitutes a binding magical contract." He turned to Dumbledore. "Mr. Potter has no choice. He is, as of tonight..." He looked at Harry. "A Triwizard champion." The adults all looked at Harry, some with confusion, some with contempt.

Harry, however, looked ill and as though he wanted to be anywhere than where he was at that moment.

Erza grabbed Natsu's elbow roughly. "Come on," she whispered, finding that it was time for the both of them to leave. She could scold him later, even though now she knew that she couldn't change the fact of the matter. Barty had said it himself...

Like Viktor and Fleur and Cedric and Harry, Natsu was bound to the magical contract created by the Goblet of Fire.

And he had no choice but to compete.

[xXx]

Okay, to make up for how I have been slacking on this fanfiction, I shall try to update it once a week for a month (meaning that I'm going to try and spend some time trying to write three more updates before the 13th).

Read and Review please!

~Lenore