Ch 6

"WHO THE FUCK IS JAKE GREMORY!?" Malfoy shouted, his face red with anger at not being selected. He spent the last 10 minutes running (an activity he rarely ever did) to the goblet to make it in time, and it was all for nothing!

Professor McGonagall quickly intervened. "Language, Mr. Malfoy! That'll be 20 points from Slytherin," she reprimanded before turning to the rest of the students. "And for the record, Jake is a transfer student from America who has just joined us in this fine institution today."

"Are you serious!?" a pug-faced girl from Slytherin exclaimed.

"This Yankee has barely been in our school one day, and he's literally going to represent us internationally as our champion. That's not fair, and my father will be hearing about this!" Draco Malfoy yelled.

"Hey," Harry spoke up across the hall. "I just met Jake, and he seems like a pretty decent bloke... I'm sure he'll do great in this tournament and represent our school well!"

"That's right! - Yeah, for sure," a bunch of Gryffindors at the table added in.

Hermione let out a sigh. "I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know any magic, though," she said to herself in defeat.

Jake, who had finished cheering for himself next to the Gryffindor table, just laughed out loud. "Don't worry, Hermione. I told you, I know three whole spells, and they're pretty cool ones too!" He exclaimed for the whole hall to hear.

"Oh my God, Hogwarts is going to lose for sure!" A seventh-year girl from Ravenclaw yelled out.

"Yeah, we're pretty boned, alright," a Gryffindor seventh-year added with a laugh. "But Jake's a cool guy, so maybe he'll pull it off, you know, maybe? Who knows?"

"Why wasn't Cedric selected? He's the best student at this whole school! He should have been our champion. It's not fair," an Asian girl from Ravenclaw yelled out. "And Cedric is definitely more handsome than the American, even if he has beautiful red hair, gorgeous blue eyes, and a face to die for. Oh, damn it, I don't think Cedric is as handsome as him after all," she said with reluctance, her crush on the Hufflepuff boy obvious to everyone.

Cedric himself sitting at the hufflepuff table just shrunk himself down in his seat to avoid that embarrassing declaration. 'The girl is pretty cute though so maybe…' He thought to himself.

Jake ignored all the people trying to put him down and felt on top of the world. Today, he had learned three super cool magic spells, and pretty soon, he was going to have a thousand Galleons, which was supposed to be worth around 10,000 British pounds. He didn't really know the conversion rate for money back in the '90s, but he knew it was a lot! And that's all that mattered. With that thought, he headed to the back room to meet up with the other champions.

Jake closed the door behind him as he entered the Champion's room. Inside, he could see the hot French girl and the well-built Bulgarian athlete, along with their respective school teachers. Jake waved at them as he approached. "How's it going, fellow champions?" he said.

"Dah," Victor spoke with a Bulgarian accent. "Now that we are all here, it's time to get this show on the road, yes."

"Wii, I'm ready to hear what we will be facing first so I can soundly defeat both of you and prove to the whole world that we Veela are just as skilled as everyone else," Fleur spoke in French, which Jake somehow understood. Now that he thought about it, he also understood Victor, who wasn't speaking English either. That had to be one of his new devil powers. Could he understand any language? That would be freaking awesome if it were true!

The door opened behind him, and to his surprise,the door swung open, revealing his new friend Harry Potter entering the room. "Oh hey, Harry, what's up?" Jake asked, noticing that Harry seemed a bit frazzled.

"I promise I didn't do it, Jake," Harry explained, clearly upset.

"Huh? You didn't do what?" Jake asked, puzzled by Harry's statement.

"I didn't enter the tournament!" Harry replied, his voice filled with frustration.

"Oh, okay. I mean, that's fine, man. Nobody was forcing you to enter," Jake replied, still a bit confused about the situation. The other two champions in the room, along with their teachers, also seemed puzzled about why the famous "Boy Who Lived" was present. "So, did you need something, or... I don't know, why are you here anyway, Harry?" Jake asked, seeking clarification.

Before Harry could answer, the door was slammed open, and Dumbledore, accompanied by an entourage of professors and tournament officials, barged into the room. "Harry, did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" Dumbledore grabbed the poor boy and shook him, his voice filled with accusation. Jake couldn't help but think that Dumbledore was being a bit rude, shaking a shocked and scared kid like that.

"No, sir, I didn't," Harry replied quickly, his voice trembling.

Snape, who stood next to Dumbledore, scowled. "Of course, the boy is lying. He just wanted to continue being an attention-seeking brat, like he does every year," he spat out with disdain.

"The rules are clear," one of the tournament officials chimed in. "The boy must compete, or he will forever lose his magic," he said dramatically.

"Huh, so did Harry also get selected by the Goblet to be a champion?" Jake interjected, interrupting the escalating tension in the room.

Dumbledore paused his interrogation of Harry and turned to Jake. He still held mixed feelings about having a half-devil student in his school, but now that Jake was the Hogwarts champion, there was nothing Dumbledore could do to make him leave... He let out a frustrated sigh, conceding, "That's correct, my boy. Harry was selected as the fourth Triwizard champion, and he has to compete."

"Okay," Jake replied apathetically. He didn't have a problem with Harry joining; he was determined to win regardless. Besides, if he lost to a fourteen-year-old, he wouldn't deserve to call himself an epic mage-er-wizard!

The teachers from the other schools expressed their discontent with the declaration. "I object to this!" The older French teacher spat out. "It's completely unfair that Hogwarts gets two champions."

"I also object. Let the boy lose his magic for trying to game the system!" The creepy-looking Bulgarian teacher added. Jake thought this all was a bit was unnecessary. Did they seriously consider Harry a threat to their school's champions!? The kid was like five feet nothing and looked like he barely weighed 100 pounds soaking wet!

Dumbledore and the other two teachers continued arguing, and Jake decided to intervene once more. "Why don't we just pick two more students, one from each school, to compete? Then we'll have six champions, and our schools will be even. Problem solved." He suggested, hoping to bring a logical resolution to the situation. It wasn't that hard of a solution, after all. But somehow, everyone in the room appeared stumped by his proposal.

Madame Maxime, the French headmistress, straightened herself out. "I'm fine with that suggestion," she said haughtily. "I'll pick out a second champion myself, and then our schools will be even." She glared at Dumbledore, challenging him to deny her with her gaze.

"Yes, that's acceptable," Dumbledore replied, his voice tinged with resignation. He was almost crying inside! He didn't understand why the Goblet had chosen another champion for his school either! Was the cup somehow affected by Jake's devil magic and shorted itself out, just like the age line he cast did? That was a few hundred year old magical artifact that broke at his school…it was priceless. And now because of Jake, Dumbledore was going to have to pay for it breaking! He knew that accepting a Gremory into the castle would lead to trouble…

Jake, unaware of Dumbledore's inner turmoil, turned to Harry, Victor, and Fleur, smirking at them. "Heh, the reason I made that suggestion is because it doesn't matter how many champions I have to compete against. That prize money is gonna be mine in the end," he said arrogantly.

Harry looked shocked by such a bold statement. He wished he had that kind of confidence... Fleur raised an eyebrow at being openly challenged, while Victor smirked back at Jake, determined to prove his own magical superiority. "Bring it on," he declared.

Jake's smile widened as he saw the other champions (excluding Harry) accept his challenge. This was exactly the kind of adventure he had been waiting for his whole life. There was no way he would back down now.

Finished with his declaration of war, Jake turned his attention to Ludo Bagman, the tournament official. "So, what do we have to do for the first challenge?" he asked, eager to test his newfound magical abilities.

Ludo, his excitement somewhat dampened with the pressures of the rapidly changing tournament, wiped his forehead, his mind racing to adapt to the unforeseen circumstances of adding 3 more champions. "Well, the first challenge was supposed to be a test of courage, where you would all face a ferocious monster. However, I'm not quite sure how we're going to be able to procure six of the beasts we originally planned for...renting 3 was already stretching the budget" he trailed off, his gaze fixed on the champions.

Fleur, showing a hint of nervousness, questioned, "So, what does that mean for us?"

"Don't worry too much about it," Ludo reassured them, his mind already formulating new alternate monster acquisition plans. "Just know that you will be facing a very strong magical creature or monster in open combat! I suggest you prepare yourselves." He finished ominously.

Poor Harry trembled like a chihuahua, and Jake couldn't help but notice his fear. Fleur, too, appeared somewhat nervous, while Victor's excitement remained undiminished.

Whispering to Harry, Jake said, "Hey, man, don't worry about the monsters. I'll teach you the three awesome spells I learned later, so you'll have no problem with them."

Victor and Fleur, who overheard Jake's remark, grew intrigued. Did this redheaded Hogwarts student truly possess three super powerful spells that could easily defeat monsters? They began to view him with a newfound level of respect.

Harry, however, was internally panicking. How could Jake have possibly learned three super awesome spells in such a short time? It had taken Harry three months just to master Expecto Patronum, and that spell that only worked on a few things like Dementors and Lethifolds... He felt for sure that he was destined for certain doom.

Jake, noticing Harry's skepticism, shrugged nonchalantly. He would show Harry his supposedly super awesome magic the next day. Then Harry would have no choice but to believe in him. After all, Jake was determined to become the champion of champions and claim that coveted prize money!