This week had been a little short of a living hell for Avery. Her best friends were still fighting, the teachers were assigning as much homework as they could cram in before the tournament started, and James had seemed especially high strung and intense during quidditch practices, probably due to the fact that both of his siblings were refusing to talk to him. It had made him especially irritable, causing him to harshly reprimand the team for every mistake they made.
So, usually, it would've been a great relief to have the end of lessons on Friday, except for the fact that today was the Choosing of the Champions Ceremony. So, Avery couldn't help but trudge to the Great Hall, contrasting greatly amongst the horde of students anxiously waiting to see what surprises the Cup has in store for the school.
Avery knew it wasn't normal to be this worried for James. I mean, sure everyone was vaguely worried, but confident he would get through the test and excited for the show he was sure to put on doing it. Still, Avery felt an enormous amount of dread as she saw the Goblet sitting on its pedestal, taunting her. The concern was for how it would affect Albus and Lily, of course, she reasoned, which wasn't completely false, seeing as the worry was already taking a toll on Lily. Though the siblings refused to talk to James, even Lily despite James using his ability as Quidditch Captain to issue orders, they would still sneak worried glances at him, as if they were expecting him to drop dead any minute. Avery could see Lily stiffen and Albus scowl as the Representative for Ministry went up to speak, his voice entirely to peppy and cheerful for Avery's liking, "Students, I am very glad to welcome you to the Fourth Annual Triwizard Tournament!" This was met with cheers of excitement and approval from many students. "Ah, yes, the quest for Eternal fame and Glory, only given to three carefully chosen students to represent their school as the best of the best. The Cleverest of the Clever, the Bravest of the Brave, the Strongest of the Strong, the Dreamers and Visionaries." He paused for a second before continuing," Let us begin to choose our Champions!"
The Flames of the Goblet suddenly turned red, sparks flying from the cup. A charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it. Professor Longbottom snatched it from the air and the entire room seemed to hold its breath, waiting to see who was chosen first.
"Tigerlily Jones, Salem's Institute for Witches."
Avery scanned around the hall for the Champion, and caught sight of the white-haired girl who had transfigured into a tiger during the arriving ceremony. She stood up calmly from the Hufflepuff table and glided up to the Front Table, looking so graceful and ethereal no one applauded until she stood still beside the Ministry Representative. After she came to a stop, everyone started cheering for the new competitor, especially the Americans and Hufflepuffs.
Everyone's attention was drawn away from her when the Goblet's flames once again turned red and another scrap of charred parchment fluttered down into Professor Longbottom's hand.
"Dimitri Aleksandrov, Durmstrang's Institute of Magic."
All the Durmstrang students started cheering loudly, joined by most of the Slytherins and Gryffindors, along with the other houses. Dimitri looked ecstatic, but still scanned the crowd until he found Avery and shot her an apologetic and sheepish look. Avery merely gave him an encouraging smile and nod and shaking her head at his fist pump. He finally made his way through the throng of Durmstrang students congratulating him and stood at the front to stand by Tigerlily. He grinned at her and held his hand out to her, which she shook with an almost out-of-place friendly and bright grin on her face.
The minute the Headmaster read the name of the Hogwarts champion, everything went silent for Avery. It was like her head had tuned out her sense of hearing, almost like a radio, in order to deny what she knew was inevitable. When her hearing refocused, all she could hear the deafening roar of Gryffindors as they cheered and shouted in joy. Several students were clapping James Potter on the back and pumping their fist in the air in victory. Avery was hardly surprised, the thought had been haunting her the past week, after all. What did surprise her was once James had taken his place next to the other Champions, Tigerlily, Dimitri, and James all simultaneously cried out in pain, and fell to the ground, golden light erupting from their torsos. Gasps rang through the hall, from students and teachers alike, as rays of light emanated from their arms, slowly spiraling down to their hands in intricate patterns. When the light died down, all three champions had black ink-like marks trailing down their arms, each one different from the other. The ministry Representative then said," Champions, we congratulate you for being worthy enough for the honor of competing in this tournament. You have now been claimed by the Goblet of Fire and are magically obligated to see this contest through to the end." At this, Headmaster Longbottom looked uneasy, as did most of the teachers. Avery even spotted one of them mouthing the word 'claimed' as if in shock. Nevertheless, the Representative carried on, "I suggest you best prepare yourselves, for we will be leaving right about...now." As he finished his sentence, all the champions and judges vanished in a blink of an eye.
It took Avery, along with everyone else, a full minute to process what had happened.
"Wait, what?" Fred asked. It seemed everyone in the Great Hall, including the remainder of the teachers, were just as confused as he was.
The Goblet started spewing fire once more until there was nearly an entire wall of flames of all sorts of colours. After a few seconds, the colours started to form and shape in until it showed the Room of Requirement in all its randomly assorted glory.
"The Champions will have to manage to keep a clear head to successfully complete this challenge. Let's have a look at our competitors." The screen split into three sections, each displaying a close up of a Champion, all of them listening intently to the representative.
"Champions, on behalf of the Ministry, I would like to congratulate you for being chosen by the Goblet as the bravest, strongest, and cleverest people on your school to compete. You will need those skills to complete this challenge. Your goal is to find your clue for the next task in the Room Of Requirement. I must warn you, finding your clue will be much easier than retrieving it. You may begin."
The Champions wandered away from the doorway, hesitantly at first, unsure of what to expect. "Oh, in forgot to mention, there is an hour time limit, so I would advise you to not dawdle. Best of luck." At this, the three students seemed to get into gear and split up. Avery couldn't tear her eyes from James' screen. He seemed to have finally cleared his head a bit to be able to come up with the idea of summoning a broom to fly faster, which came flying to his hand a few seconds after he cast the spell from one of the many piles of stuff. He flew through the maze of objects, checking every corner for something that seemed a like potential hiding place for a clue.
About twenty minutes into the task, Avery's arm was nearly torn off by Lily," Avery, look! Dimitri's found it!"
Avery was about to ask how Lily knew when she saw Dimitri in front of an elaborate box with edged with odd gold symbols. Subtlety at its finest. Then things got even weirder as the box opened and a short, squat old man climb out of the box.
"Soo, the challenge is to fight an old man for the clue to the next task?" Fred asked.
Rose rolled her eyes," You're an absolute ninny, it's a boggart. We see it in its original form because we're not in the same room as it while Dimitri sees what he fears most. Where were you for 3rd year?"
Dimitri stood in shock for a few seconds before casting offensive spells. However, instead of weakening the boggart, it only caused it to cackle in delight and seemed to gain strength from his panic, drawing closer with each step. After about five minutes, Dimitri started to away on his feet. The boggart took advantage of this and drew closer, causing Dimitri to panic even more and back up into one of the piles of objects, seeming like a caged animal desperate to escape.
"My god," Lily said quietly from her seat, voice filled with horror, "They don't know anything, do they? They don't even know what they're up against."
"What?!" Fred said indignantly from his seat, "Most graduated wizards can barely hold their own even while knowing what they're fighting! That's rubbish!"
"Well, looks like Tigerlily and James are up." Roxanne said as she pointed to the pool. On the screen below Dimitri's was Tigerlily was currently facing her boggart, however, she was using defensive spells and shouting incoherently while the boggart seemed to dart around her in a blur. Every few seconds, she would let out a shriek of absolute terror that caused the boggart to grow in size, almost being at her height. Avery felt a pang of worry for the two before turning her attention to the bottom screen just in time to see James open the box and the boggart clamber out. His reaction was identical to the others, temporarily becoming frozen in fear that is until he started casting his spells, "Vulnera! Samentar!"
Jessica turned to Avery, "Why in the magical world is he healing his fear?"
"I...have no idea."
When the forty minute mark had passed, Dimitri seemed to come to a realization,"Riddukulus!" He shouted before laughing in relief as the boggart retreated to its box. He started to warily approach the box and draw out whatever was in it, until the pool of water turned an inkish black.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait for James to get his to see what's in the box." Rose said, dejectedly. The boggart was creeping closer and closer to James and seemed to be telling him something. With each step, James cringed and cast more healing spells, the wear and strain becoming evident on his face. When the boggart came within a foot of him, James covered his ears as if he heard an agonizing noise and croaked out, his voice breaking, "No, you promised they wouldn't get hurt!"
Avery couldn't stand to watch anymore. She stood up and rushed to the Head Table, "There is no possible way this is ethical, YOU'RE TORTURING THEM, WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!" She could feel the entire Great Hall looked at her, but she didn't care.
Professor Lovegood looked at her pitifully, "I'm sorry, Ms. Winchester, but there is nothing we can do."
Avery was going to argue on when she heard the Gryffindor table start cheering. She twirled around to the screen where James's boggart was shrieking in pain and going back into the box. And just as he was about to reach in to the box and retrieve the clue, there was an earsplitting screech. So, of course, he withdrew from the box and took off.
James's and Tigerlily's screen joined as one as he got closer to Tigerlily. She was still trying to use defensive spells, but had obviously weakened since Avery saw her, not even having the energy to shriek, but still looking absolutely horrified. James started talking to her in an eerily calm voice," Tigerlily, he's not real it's a boggart. He's not here, he can't hurt you. You know the spell, just use it."
She whimpered as she lifted her wand,"Ridd-riddu-" Suddenly, the boggart lost interest in Tigerlily and sprung after James, knocking him over and attacking him, causing Tigerlily to snap out of her trance,"RIDDUKULUS!" She shouted in a strong voice, before rushing to James's side. As the medics started to approach James, the screen changed to show the Ministry Representative.
"Get off the bloody screen, what happened to James?!" Fred yelled, infuriated.
"Congratulations to out Champions, they have performed with flying colours. I can assure you the Hogwarts champion is being attended to by Madame Pomfrey as we speak. With that said, we would like to award Durmstrang with 47 points for finishing within the time limit; Salem with 35 points; and Hogwarts with 45 points despite not retrieving the clue within the time limit for they defeated the obstacle and fought valiantly for their fellow champion. Once again, congratulations, and best of luck to you for the next task."
Lily immediately ran from the Table, closely followed by Albus and out the Great Hall. Avery started to go after her, but decided against it, wanting to leave the siblings a few hours to talk.
*A FEW HOURS LATER*
Under Jessica's encouragement, Avery had left to the Infirmary. Albus seemed to have left already, leaving only Lily, who seemed to be drifting off in her chair, exhaustion in every line on her face.
"Hey, Lils, you doing okay?"
Lily didn't look away from James's sleeping form but answered, "My brother is in the Triwizard tournament, which has already caused him to break several bones and go unconscious and he is now magically obligated to complete it. I have to say, I've been better. But worst of all, HE HAS A BLOODY TATTOO!" She exclaimed, "Mom is going to be livid when she finds out her seventeen year old son has a tattoo. Since when did they start branding their Champions anyhow, is what I want to know." Lily rambled.
"Hey, hey, it'll be all right," Avery interrupted, "How about you go and get some rest? You need a break out of this room; I'll watch the suicidal maniac for a bit." Lily gave Avery a look of appreciation. "Thanks, Avery, you're the best."
Avery looked down at the unconscious James, watching his chest raise and sink with every breath. "I am such a creep." Avery thought to herself. Nevertheless, she stilled reached over the bed to push aside the strand of hair that was covering his eye, causing James to stir out of his sleep. Avery quickly withdrew her hand as he looked around groggily.
He groaned, sleep slurring his voice, "Bloody hell, I'm dead aren't I?"
Avery rolled her eyes as she suppressed a laugh, "And why would you say that?"
"Because you have the face of an angel." He said, cheekily.
Avery felt as if her face was on fire," Leave it up to you to use possibly the worst pickup line first thing when you regain consciousness. I will give you points for effort, however, considering the fact that you are probably bleeding internally."
He barked out a laugh before he asked."So how'd I do? Everything's a bit of a blur."
"Well," Avery began, "You managed to not die a painful and horrendous death. Also, you managed not to pee yourself so, bonus."
"So, I take it I did pretty well?"
"Your timing may have been good, but you did however, almost get yourself killed in the first challenge."
"But I didn't."
Avery rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't exactly call that a brilliant success."
"Oh, come on, you know you're secretly impressed."
"In your dreams, Potter."
James groaned,"Dammit, I thought we were really getting past all that."
"What?" Avery asked, clueless.
"We're at a last-name basis again; I thought we had gotten over that." James whined childishly.
"Either way, James, you really need to focus on the Tournament. I mean it, NO DISTRACTIONS of any sort. Lily and Albus need you Po- James, this school is counting on you doing a smashing job you always do and come out alive so we can put the last Tournament behind us for good.
"You're right." James said suddenly, effectively breaking the silence, "Look, Ree, since I have the tournament as my first priority, so that means no unnecessary distractions, including Quidditch. And since you're ALMOST as good at Quidditch as I am,"
"Oh, please, Potter-" Avery protested
"I would really appreciate if you were to accept the position of co-captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team." James continued on as if Avery hadn't spoken.
"I am just as good as you, if not better. Just because you're the all-star Seeker, doesn't mean you're- wait, what?"
"Ree, I really need help. I have the Triwizard Tournament, finishing my last year at Hogwarts, and leading this team to worry about, and as irresponsible as it is, I will not turn my back on my team. But, I can't handle it all myself, and you're as smart, dedicated, and clever as they come. What do you say?"
*insert valid excuse here except there is none* I AM SO SORRY I will admit not updating was a pretty horrible thing to do and I can't say this ENOUGH I AM SO SORRY TO THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN EMAILING ME TRULY I LOVE YOU GUYS. Just school and life and meh. I feel absolutely terrible and am so sorry, I hope this atones a bit. Love ya -Alex