Chapter 7
Albus stood there with the other champions. "He can't compete," The Beauxbatons headmaster said.
"But the cup has picked him," Durmstang's headmaster said.
"I agree. He has to compete. He's Hogwarts' champion.
"But he's only a fourth year," Beauxbotons' headmaster said.
"We can't go against the cup," Hogwarts' headmaster said. "Albus, did you put your name into the cup?"
"N-no sir. I didn't. I don't know how this happened," Albus said.
"This might be a repeat to what happened last time we did this,"The headmaster of Beauxbotons suggested.
"There is no dark lord to ruin the tournament this time. We have no reason to believe something bad will happen this time," The Hogwarts' headmaster said."Clearly this was a joke, but Albus' name was called so he's our school's champion."
"I don't like this, but I'll go along with this," The Dumstang headmaster said.
"But I don't want to be the Hogwarts' champion!"Albus protested.
"I'm sorry son, but you don't have a choice in the matter," the Hogwarts' headmaster said.
"This isn't right!"Annette said "He's just a kid."
"I agree. You can't have a child doing this,"Victor said.
"It's too late for that. Albus is champion. The first task is in three weeks, make sure you're all ready. You can leave now," Hogwarts' Headmaster said.
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Albus ran right to Alek "They're going to make me complete. They're going to make me champion. I don't want to be champion for Hogwarts. I don't want anything to do with it, They told me I don't have a choice.I don't want to die."
Alek held Albus. "We'll train. We'll get you good enough to win this thing."
"I don't care about winning. I just don't want to die," Albus said.
"Well we should be able to do that," Alek said. He was still holding onto Albus when James came over to them.
"Albus, I'm so sorry. This is wrong. They shouldn't make you compete. You're too young. I'll help you train, if you want me to. I'm going to do anything I can to keep you alive."
"Thanks," Albus said softly. "It's so surreal. I still can't believe this happening. I just don't understand."
"I know it's wrong. But there's nothing we can do now," James said. "Between me and Alek, I'm sure we'll be able to get Alek ready for the tasks."
"We should try and figure out what the first task if we can," Alek said.
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A few days later, Alek and Albus were walking outside at night. There was the curfew, but he doubted they'd get in trouble. It was a nice night, Alek stopped when he heard some commotion. "Wait here."
Alek came back. "Cockatrices. That's what the first task. I saw them bringing Cockatrices out back there. We know what to train for it. We should go back to the castle. It's getting late. We'll work on fighting Cockatrices starting tomorrow."
"Okay. Cockatrices sounds scary though. Don't they you turn you to stone?" Albus asked.
"Yeah, but we won't let that happen,"Alek said. "We'll find a way to protect you from that."
"But- but if I'm not good enough?" Albus asked.
"Don't even think like that. You are good enough. James and I will train you the best we can. You're going to do fine. I promise everything will be fine. Just trust him."
"Okay. I'll train hard and be able to beast the Cockatrice," Albus said.
"Hey, at least you're not fighting a dragon like they did last time,"Alek said.
"Yeah a dragon would be hard to fight," Albus agreed. "But it's sill scary."
"It's supposed to be. It's not supposed to be easy," Alek said.
"But a Cockatrice? Should we look into more about it?" Alek asked.
"We'll ask your cousin Rose," Alek said.
"Yeah she's good at care of magical creatures,''Albus said.
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"A Cockatrice? That's horrible!" Rose said. "They say if they breath on you, look at you or you touch them. They're part dragons part roster. It's going to be hard to beat. The one surefire way to kill it is make it look at itself in the mirror. I wish I could give you more. Just don't touch it or let it look at you."
"I understand." Albus said. He tuned o Alek. "And you said it was safer than a dragon. It sounds worse."
"We'll still work things out. You'll come out on top," Alek saisd.
"Why don't you just acio a mirror?" Rose offered.
"That's a good idea," Alek said. "It's simple, but should work. We should still work on training in case that doesn't work,"
"Right," Albus said. "I don't want to die and it seems so easy to die to this thing."
"You won't die. I promise." Alek said. "We'll start working against tomorrow."
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Albus was panting, on his hands and knees. They had another tough training section. He was sweating. All of this training was exhausting him. "I-I need a break," Albus panted.
"We can take a short break, but you need to be strong enough to win any challenge," James said. "You5c need to be stronger than you are."
"If you push him too much he'll get sick," Alek said. He helped Albus up. "We can continue tomorrow. Come one Albus let's go eat something to eat."
"Okay," Albus said, having to lean on Alek to keep moving because of how tired he was.
"James pushes you too hard. I agree you need to get stronger, but not by pushing you so much," Alek said. "I'll help you more tomorrow."
"Albus!" Lily called, running over to them. "Rosa's been working with the house elves of learn how to cook. She just made her fist batch of stuff and wants people to try it. So you should come and try it with me."
"Can't you see Albus is tired? He's just going o grab something to eat and go to bed," Alek said.
"If it means a lot to Lily then I guess I can try Rosa's food," Albus said. '"Come one Alek, it shouldn't be a problem. We're going to eat anyway."
Alek sighed. "Fine. If you're sure you want to do that."
"Great! Follow me!" Lily grabbed Albus' hand and pulled him along. Albus winced a ltttle, so Alek pulled Albus away from Lily.
"He can walk on his own," Alek said.
The group got to Rosa with plates filled with food. "I got nervous and just made a lot of stuff. I wasn't sure what you'd want to eat."
Albus took some. After chewing it for a few moments, "It's good. You said the house elves showed you how to do this? That's cool."
Alek ate some. "It's not that bad."
"That means he likes is," Albus said with a laugh.
"Albus," Alek said, embarrassed.
"I'm glad you like it. I've been working so hard," Rosa said brightly.
"Alright, let's get you to bed," Alek said. It was clear Albus was going to fall over because of how tired he was. "Come on, I'll help you back to bed."
"That sounds," yawn. "Like a good idea."
"James pushes you too much," Alek said with a sigh He helped Albus back in his bed in Slytherin. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow we get to go Hogmeaid. How abou you take a break from training and I take you on a date?"
"That sounds fun," Albus said. He started to fall asleep. "I love you Alek."
"I love you too," Alek said softly, not wanting wake Albus up.