The school year progressed. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Moody announced that he would be putting the Imperius Curse on each of them in turn, to demonstrate its power and to see whether they could resist its effects. Alex was the only one to resist when the curse was put on him. Moody was impressed by this and insisted on putting Alex through his paces four times in a row, until he could throw off the curse entirely.
In the rest of their classes, the fourth years noticed a definite increase in the amount of work they were required to do that term. The reason became clear when Professor McGonagall brought up the subject of their O.W.L.s after the class gave a particularly loud groan at the amount of Transfiguration homework she had assigned. Though Dean protested that they didn't take the O.W.L.s until fifth year, she reminded them that they needed all the preparation they could get, pointing out that Hermione was the only person that had managed to turn a hedgehog into a satisfactory pincushion.
Meanwhile, Professor Binns had them writing weekly essays on the goblin rebellions of the eighteenth century. Professor Snape was forcing them to research antidotes. This wasn't so bad for the Gryffindor quintet, as they had learned quite a bit on the subject thanks to Ana and Granny Ilsa, but their classmates weren't so lucky. Professor Flitwick had asked them to read three extra books in preparation for their lesson on Summoning Charms.
Even Hagrid was adding to their workload. The Blast-Ended Skrewts were growing at a remarkable pace given that nobody had yet discovered what they ate. Hagrid was delighted, and as part of their "project", suggested that they come down to his hut on alternate evenings to observe the skrewts and make notes on their extraordinary behavior. When Theodore Nott said he wouldn't, Hagrid had growled, "Yeh'll do wha' yer told, or I'll be takin' a leaf outta Professor Moody's book...I hear yeh made a good ferret, Nott."
The Gryffindors roared with laughter, and Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis hid snickers behind their hands. Even Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy smirked at Nott, who flushed with anger, but didn't say anything, no doubt due to the painful memory. The quintet returned to the castle at the end of the lesson in high spirits; seeing Hagrid put down Nott was particularly satisfying.
When they arrived at the entrance hall, they found themselves unable to proceed owing to the large crowd of students congregated there, all milling around a large sign that had been erected at the foot of the marble staircase. Ron, the tallest of the five, stood on tiptoe to see over the heads in front of them and read the sign aloud to the other four, which was about the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arriving at six o'clock on Friday, the 30th of October for the Triwizard Tournament.
"Only a week away!" said Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff, emerging from the crowd, his eyes gleaming. "I wonder if Cedric knows? Think I'll go and tell him..."
"I take it that means Cedric Diggory is planning on entering the tournament?" asked Beth, looking surprised. "Oh yeah, his seventeenth birthday was this month, so he'd be old enough to enter."
"I'm not sure how I feel about that," said Ron. "He's a good enough bloke, but I'd prefer someone in Gryffindor be the Hogwarts Champion."
"Maybe Angelina will enter and get selected," said Alex hopefully. "Her birthday's this week, remember? And since she's in sixth year, that means she's turning seventeen. Or Fred, George, and Lee could figure out a way to hoodwink the judge and one of them gets selected."
"Well, we'll see," said Neville. "At least Cormac McLaggen isn't old enough to enter, and hasn't any idea of how to bluff his way into entering. Can you imagine how insufferable he'd be if he became Hogwarts champion? Well, more insufferable than he already is, that is."
The appearance of the sign in the entrance hall had a marked effect upon the inhabitants of the castle. During the following week, there seemed to be only one topic of conversation, no matter where Alex went: the Triwizard Tournament. Rumors were flying from student to student like highly contagious germs; who was going to try for Hogwarts champion, what the tournament would involve, how the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang differed from themselves. Also, the castle was going through an extra-thorough cleaning, and members of the staff seemed oddly tense.
Alex was more focused on not getting involved in the tournament. He knew that Professor Dumbledore had taken steps to try and prevent Alex's name from being entered and his being forced to participate. Not that he had any desire to enter in the first place, but there was another thing, which prevented him from entering himself. In the evening after the Welcoming Feast for the guests, Alex, Beth, and their cousins would be Flooing home, for Jonas's Bar Mitzvah ceremony would be taking place the next day. Alex wouldn't be present at Hogwarts all throughout the time people could enter their names, and would only be returning in time for the Halloween feast and the announcement of the three school champions.
When the school went down to breakfast on the morning of the thirtieth of October, they found that the Great Hall had been decorated overnight. Enormous silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts House. Behind the teachers' table, the largest banner of all bore the Hogwarts coat of arms.
The Gryffindor quintet sat down beside Fred and George, who were sitting apart from everyone else and conversing in low voices. When they saw the quintet, they explained that Ludo Bagman wouldn't see them in person and their previous two letters had been more-or-less ignored.
"I know for a fact that he's going to be at Hogwarts to open the tournament, along with Mr. Crouch," said Alex. "Maybe you can get him to one side and talk to him. It's not like he can avoid you guys forever."
"True," said George, exchanging looks with his twin. "Thanks for your suggestion, Alex."
There was a pleasant feeling of anticipation in the air that day. Nobody was very attentive in lessons, being much more interested in the arrival that evening of the people from, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. As lessons ended half an hour early that day, the Gryffindor and Slytherin fourth-years had Potions class cut short. When the bell rang early, the quintet hurried up to Gryffindor tower, deposited their bags and books as they had been instructed, pulled on their cloaks, and rushed back downstairs into the entrance hall.
The Heads of Houses were ordering their students into lines. Once everyone was lined up, they filed down the steps and lined up in front of the castle. It was a cold, clear evening; dusk was falling and a pale, transparent-looking moon was already shining over the Forbidden Forest.
The Beauxbatons delegation arrived first, in a gigantic, powder-blue carriage, the size of a large house and pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses. Their headmistress, Madame Maxime, was a large woman about the size of Hagrid. Alex wondered if she could possibly have giant blood in her, as he had the same suspicion about Hagrid. With her were about a dozen boys and girls in their late teens, all dressed in blue robes that appeared to be made of fine silk. They had no cloaks on, so they were shivering with cold, considering that it was late October in northern Scotland and they were from France, where it was warmer at this time of the year.
Madame Maxime, after asking Professor Dumbledore to tell Hagrid that the horses only drink single-malt whiskey, led her students inside the castle to warm up. A few minutes later, the Durmstrang delegation arrived, in a ship that emerged out of the lake. Their Headmaster was Professor Karkaroff, and his students were wearing cloaks of some kind of shaggy, matted fur over their robes. One of them was Viktor Krum.
Ever since Ivan had mentioned that Krum was in his last year of school at Durmstrang and could possibly be part of the delegation for the Triwizard Tournament, Alex had hoped that it would happen. However, apparently not everyone at Hogwarts had realized this, for most of the other students were very surprised or awed to see Krum, and several sixth-year girls frantically searched their pockets as they walked, apparently hoping to get his autograph. When apparently none of them had a quill on them and one girl asked if Krum would sign her hat in lipstick, they started squabbling over the lipstick.
Hermione and Beth rolled their eyes, and Alex said, "I get that Krum's famous and all, and I wouldn't mind getting his autograph myself. But acting like an idiot or fawning fan isn't going to impress him. He's probably used to, and annoyed, by people going gaga over him."
Inside the Great Hall, the Beauxbatons students had chosen seats at the Ravenclaw table. The Durmstrang students, after a moment of hesitation, chose the Slytherin table. Nott looked smug at this and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Ivan cut him off with a frown. From the looks of things, Ivan then smiled at the Durmstrang students and struck up a conversation about Quidditch with Krum.
The three Heads were the last ones to enter the Hall and take their seats. Professor Dumbledore welcomed the guests and invited everyone to eat, drink, and make themselves at home. The plates in front of them filled with food as usual. The house-elves in the kitchen seemed to have pulled out all the stops; there was a greater variety of fishes in front of them than Alex had ever seen, including several dishes that were definitely foreign.
A blonde girl from Beauxbatons, who looked as if she was veela or part-veela, came over to the Gryffindor table to ask if she could have the bouillabaisse, a kind of shellfish stew. Ron went purple and stared up at her, unable to reply and only made a faint gurgling noise. Alex was the one to answer, saying, "Yeah, have at it," as he pushed the dish toward the girl.
Ludo Bagman and Mr. Crouch turned up halfway through the feast. Fred and George eyed the former, then began whispering to each other.
After dessert had ended, Professor Dumbledore stood up again. He introduced Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman, for the benefit of those who didn't know them, and explained that they would be joining the three Heads on the panel of judges. He continued on about the three tasks before revealing the Goblet of Fire, which would be the impartial selector that chose the champions. Anybody wishing to enter would have to write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet. The following night, it would return the name of the three it had judged most worthy to represent their schools. As a deterrent to underage students, an Age Line would be drawn around the Goblet of Fire once it was placed in the entrance hall, and nobody under the age of seventeen would be able to cross the line.
Once everyone had been dismissed, Beth and Alex bid their friends a good-night and sought out their cousins. Ivan grinned at them and said, "Viktor is quite nice, and I liked the other Durmstrang students too. He was quite interested to hear that I played Quidditch too, though he was a bit disappointed to find out that I didn't play for the Slytherin team. I had to explain that the previous captain of the team, Flint, didn't like me all that much, regardless of how much talent I had at being a Beater. I mentioned that my siblings and cousins all liked and played Quidditch too."
"You told him about us?" asked Alex, eyes wide.
Ivan nodded. "I told him that you were a Seeker for the Gryffindor team and that you could be a professional someday, if you wanted to. Viktor remembered seeing me at the Top Box at the World Cup, and vaguely remembered you after I had described you."
Alex was excited to hear that, but before he could get too worked up, Vera said, "The crowd's thinned out now. We'd better go over to Professor McGonagall so she can take us to her office to use her Floo."
Professor McGonagall took the group to her office, where they Flooed over to Aunt Sarah and Uncle Niko's home. The living room had been set up with sleeping bags and cots so that it was like a slumber party for the teens. Aunt Sarah greeted them all and told her nieces and nephews that their formal clothes had been brought over by their parents for them to put on the next morning. Jonas was whisked off by his father for some last-minute advice and a run through of the ceremony, and when he returned, everyone got ready for bed.
The Weasleys and Rosenbergs, plus Hermione, Neville, Jonas's friends and Professor Snape, who had been invited to attend the Bar Mitzvah ceremony, Flooed over after breakfast. Ron confided that Fred and George, plus their friend Lee, had each taken a drop of Aging Potion to get past the Age Line. The twins had stepped over the line first, but both were hurled out, with them sprouting identical long white beards. According to Professor Dumbledore, who looked amused by it all, two other students had also attempted the same thing, and Fred and George had to go to Madam Pomfrey to get their beards removed. Because of that, they had missed breakfast entirely, or they'd have been late, though Ginny had snagged them some toast and butter to quickly eat before they all Flooed over.
Hermione added that Angelina Johnson had entered her name. Alex was pleased to hear that and hoped that she would get selected. At that point, Jonas came in the living room. He was wearing a prayer shawl called a tallit over his suit, and strapped to his forehead and arm was a set of small black boxes called tefillin, which contained scrolls of parchment inscribed with various verses from the Torah. He looked nervous, but calmed down when Ivan said, "Relax, Jonas. My Bar Mitzvah ceremony went well and I'm sure yours will too."
"Is everyone ready?" asked Aunt Sarah. "Then let's go." They all piled into the cars that she had rented for the day and drove down to the synagogue in the town, where the ceremony was being held.
The rabbi conducted the service, and at the end of it, Jonas got up and read from the Torah, in a loud, clear voice. Other than his immediate family, the Rosenbergs, and members of the synagogue, none of those present knew Hebrew, but he didn't stumble over any of the words or appear to make a mistake. When he finished, the rabbi blessed him and concluded the prayer service, and after that, various members of the family and his friends got up to give short speeches congratulating Jonas and talking about how wonderful he was.
Once that was done, family and friends headed over to the rented hall, where the seudat mitzvah, or celebratory meal, was being held. Jonas received various presents, with all monetary gifts consisting of eighteen Galleons or multiples of it, as the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word "chai", or 'life', was eighteen. The atmosphere was quite cheerful, and Jonas was very pleased at having gotten through the ceremony with no mishaps and that he was now an adult in Jewish society.
After eating, it finally occurred to Alex that it was also the anniversary of his biological parents' deaths (he had been too busy thinking about his cousin's Bar Mitzvah and praying that he wouldn't get entered into the Triwizard Tournament to think about it before). He moved to sit by himself in a private corner to think over his parents' sacrifice. A couple of minutes later, Sirius and Remus spotted him and walked over.
"What's up, Alex?" asked Remus. "Why are you by yourself here?"
"I just remembered that it was the day Lily and James Potter died," Alex responded. "I sat down here so I could think about them."
Sirius dragged two chairs over and he and Remus sat down. "I know how you feel. Well, somewhat, anyway. They were our best friends and we had seven years at Hogwarts with them, plus two years after. You just had the one year, and you don't remember anything about them other than their deaths."
"Don't forget that Alex grew up with a loving family and didn't know about his biological parents until his eleventh birthday," Remus added.
"That's the problem," said Alex. "If I had grown up knowing that I was an orphan, then I'd be mourning parents that I never knew and wishing that I had been raised by them. If they had died when I was old enough to remember them, I'd miss them and wish I had more time with them. But the truth is, I'd be more upset if something happened to my adoptive parents and I'd mourn them more than I do my biological parents. As it is, their death is like how I see what happened to Neville's parents. I'm sorry that it happened to them, I wish it never happened, and I'm sorry that Neville has to deal with it."
"That's understandable," said Sirius. "But I'm sure that if Lily and James were here, they'd tell you not to be so hung up on it. If they couldn't raise you, at least you grew up with a loving family that treated you no differently from their own flesh-and-blood. That's a million times better than knowing that you were an orphan, seen as a 'charity case', and being raised by indifferent or abusive relatives or guardians."
"I suppose," said Alex. Something else then occurred to him. "Did you hear about Professor Moody turning Theodore Nott into a ferret?"
Remus nodded and Sirius burst out laughing, saying, "David wrote about it to me. He figured I could use a good laugh."
"But you don't know why Nott tried to attack me," Alex said. "He insulted Ron's mother, so I decided to snap back that Nott's mother was dead and said that her death was to get away from Theodore. I also said that Mr. Nott was happy to be arrested if it meant getting away from his son. I said it to insult Theodore, and told him so, but in retrospect, I shouldn't have said what I did about Mrs. Nott. I mean, my own parents are dead."
Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but Remus spoke first. "Alex, you're not the first person to snap back at someone's insult about another's mother with a similar insult. Yes, in retrospect bringing up Mrs. Nott's death wasn't the right thing to do, even if you were using it as a way to insult Theodore. But what would you like to do about it now? You're not going to apologize to him, even if he would accept it, since he's blaming you for all his troubles. Your parents would just tell you to think first before you insult someone. And do you want to tell Professor McGonagall and have her do something?"
"She took off five points from Gryffindor right after the incident, saying that it might teach me to think first before I snapped back at people that provoked me. She didn't know what I said, though, just that Hermione said I snapped back at Nott when Professor McGonagall had her explain what happened. If she had known, I bet I would have lost more than five points, or have been given a detention."
"Look, Alex, you've realized that bringing up the fact that Nott's mother was dead wasn't the right thing to do," said Sirius. "Though I personally don't care about it, since Nott is an awful person and being horrible to you and your friends. In any case, I think your realization is enough for you, and in the future, you'll just think first before insulting people that provoke you."
"I guess," Alex said with a sigh. "Er, since it is the anniversary of my biological parents' deaths, would you two mind telling me a story about them?"
"Of course not!" exclaimed Remus, and he and Sirius proceeded to tell the story of how Lily Evans finally agreed to go on a date with James Potter, and what happened on the date (since Sirius had decided to spy on it in his dog form, to James's annoyance when he found out).
At four thirty, the celebration ended and everyone returned to the house to change out of their formal clothes. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley Flooed home, and at half past five, the students and Professor Snape Flooed back to Hogwarts, specifically the latter's office. He then escorted them to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast and announcement of the school champions.
When they entered the candlelit Great Hall it was almost full. The Goblet of Fire had been moved; it was now standing in front of Dumbledore's empty chair at the teacher's table. The Halloween feast seemed to take much longer than usual. Due to a combination of it being the second feast in two days and all the food at the seudat mitzvah, Alex didn't fancy the extravagantly prepared food as much as he normally would have. Like everyone else in the Hall, judging by the constantly craning necks, the impatient expressions on every face, the fidgeting, and the standing up to see whether Dumbledore had finished eating yet, Alex simply wanted the plates to clear, and hear who had been selected as champions.
At long last, the golden plates returned to their original spotless state; there was a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the Hall, which died almost instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as tense and expectant as anyone. Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at various students. Mr. Crouch, however, looked quite uninterested, almost bored.
"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" - he indicated the door behind the staff table - "where they will be receiving their first instructions."
He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semi-darkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful to the eyes. Everyone watched, waiting...A few people kept checking their watches.
"Any second," Lee Jordan whispered, two seats away from Alex.
The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it - the whole room gasped. Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white. "The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum."
There was a great storm of applause and cheering, which died down a minute later. Everyone's attention focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.
"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!" The girl that resembled a veela got gracefull to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery-blonde hair, and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.
The third piece of parchment shot out and Dumbledore called, "The Hogwarts Champion is Cedric Diggory!"
Alex was a mixture of relieved over the fact that his name hadn't been called out, disappointment that it wasn't a Gryffindor, and happiness that at least the Hogwarts champion was a nice and fair person and not a Slytherin. Meanwhile, at the next table, every single Hufflepuff had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping, as Cedric made his way past them, grinning broadly, and headed off toward the chamber behind the teachers' table. Indeed, the applause for Cedric went on so long that it was some time before Dumbledore could make himself heard again.
"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died down. "Well, we now have out three champions. I am sure I can count on upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champions on, you will contribute in a very real -"
But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him. The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. With a sense of dread, Alex watched as a long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.
Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then he cleared his throat and read out - "Alexander Romanov." Alex let out a groan and turned to stare wide-eyed at his sister.
There was no applause. A buzzing, as though of angry bees, was starting to fill the Hall; some students were standing to get a better look at Alex, as he sat, frozen, in his seat. Up at the top table, Professor McGonagall had gotten to her feet and swept past Ludo Bagman and Professor Karkaroff to whisper urgently to Professor Dumbledore, who bent his ear toward her, frowning slightly.
"NO!" shouted a voice from the Slytherin table. "THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" Everyone's heads turned to see Jonas, who was now standing on top of his seat. "Alex's name can't have come out of the goblet! He didn't even enter!" Seeing incredulous looks, Jonas added, "It's not possible! My cousin wasn't here to enter his name. Look, my Bar Mitzvah ceremony was today. For those who don't know, it's a ceremony that Jewish boys have at thirteen, signifying that they're now an adult in Jewish society. Last night, right after the Feast, Professor McGonagall escorted me, my brother and sister, and my cousins to her office so that we could Floo home. All of today we were at the ceremony and the celebration after, and didn't return to Hogwarts until just before the feast."
Ivan stood up as well. "And there's no way for Alex to have Flooed back to Hogwarts in the middle of the night. My parents have a spell on their fireplace that tells them if someone is Flooing after nine at night. Even if he somehow bypassed that, the only fireplaces at Hogwarts he could Floo to are in the offices of the Headmaster and Heads of Houses, and they'd know if someone was using theirs."
Professor Dumbledore nodded and added, "Also, the teachers took it shifts to guard the goblet, so we would have noticed if someone unauthorized tried to enter their name. Now, I do not know how Mr. Alexander Romanov's name somehow came out of the goblet, but everything will be sorted. In the meantime, could Mr. Romanov please come up here?"
Alex got to his feet, his face white. He saw Vera, over at the Ravenclaw table, pull out the family's two-way mirror from her pocket and begin to speak urgently to it. He nervously made his way between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables until he reached the staff table. Dumbledore, looking very solemn, directed him to go through the door to the next room.
The three champions were grouped around the fire in there. Fleur Delacour looked around when Alex walked in and threw back her sheet of long, silvery hair. "What is it?" she asked. "Do zey want us back in ze Hall?"
She had thought he had come to deliver a message. Alex didn't know how to explain what had just happened. He just stood there, looking at the three champions. It struck him how very tall all of them were.
After a couple of minutes, Ludo Bagman came in and introduced Alex as the fourth Triwizard champion. Viktor Krum straightened up and his surly face darkened as he surveyed Alex. Cedric looked nonplussed and looked from Bagman to Alex and back again as though sure he must have misheard. Fleur Delacour, however, tossed her hair, smiling, and said, "Oh, vairy funny joke, Meester Bagman."
"It's not a joke," said Alex flatly. "I don't know how it happened, but my name came out of the Goblet of Fire. There has to be some mistake, of course."
Fleur stared at him, and a look of surprise came onto Krum's face. Cedric gave Alex a questioning look, to which he responded with a shrug.
Ten minutes later, the door behind them opened and a large group of people came in: Professor Dumbledore, followed closely by Mr. Crouch, Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, and Alex's parents.
"How did my son's name come out of the goblet?" demanded Ana, her tone steely. "I thought there were safeguards in place to keep something like this from happening. Not only were the teachers patrolling the entrance hall in shifts all last night, but Alex wasn't even at Hogwarts due to attending his cousin's Bar Mitzvah."
"Well, obviously something got past us," said Professor McGonagall, sounding frustrated. "Well, probably not past Professor Moody, but it is possible that something got past me or one of the other teachers during our shifts."
"The point is, does this mean my son has to compete in the tournament?" asked Stephan. "He's smart and is a bit advanced for his age, but he's still too young for this! He obviously didn't enter himself, but does the binding magical contract apply to him if someone else did the entering?"
Mr. Crouch answered, "We must follow the rules, and the rules state clearly that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament."
Other than Bagman, nobody appeared happy with this. Karkaroff even insisted upon resubmitting the names of the rest of his students, stating that the Goblet of Fire must be set up once more until each school had two champions.
"But Karkaroff, it doesn't work like that," protested Bagman. "The Goblet of Fire's just gone out - it won't reignite until the start of the next tournament!"
At that point, Karkaroff threatened to have Durmstrang not compete, but Professor Moody limped into the room, pointing out that it was an empty threat, due to the binding magical contract. There was some more argument and Moody presented his theory as to how Alex's name had been entered, that someone had taken one of the teachers by surprise, Stunned him or her, then Confunded the goblet to think that four schools were competing and entered Alex's name under that fourth school. After that, the teacher would have had his or her memory wiped of the incident, or possibly Confuded, and been revived. That sounded quite likely, but Karkaroff dismissed it, citing Moody's habit of paranoia.
In the end, Dumbledore said that both Cedric and Alex had to compete, though he didn't like it either. With that, Mr. Crouch stepped forward and gave the instructions about the first task. When he finished, everyone left the room.
In the Great Hall, Cedric assured Alex that he was certain Alex couldn't have possibly entered his own name in the goblet and that he was sticking up for him. "Thanks, Cedric," said Alex with a smile. "Let's just hope the other Hufflepuffs think so too. Even with my cousins Jonas and Ivan standing up for me and explaining how impossible it is, there could still be students that think I somehow managed to enter, regardless."
"Well, Cara and I will set straight any of the Hufflepuffs that think that," said Cedric. "And I'm pretty sure Cara's friends will do the same. Good-night, Alex."
Once he was gone, Ana and Stephan hugged their son. "I'm sorry that this happened to you," said Ana. "I guess you can't fight, fate, at least in this instance. But you will get through this, Alex. Your whole family is here for you and will help you, and so will your friends."
"Why do things like this happen to me?" Alex asked. "It's just not fair."
"You know why," said Stephan solemnly. "And life is unfair at times. You must be strong and brave, and if things get rough, turn to your friends or any of the family for help. We wish this had never happened, but since it has, we have to get through it."
Alex sighed. "I know. It's just-" He paused, unable to put what he was feeling into words.
"I think we understand," said Ana sympathetically. "Look, how about you think of this? Your grandparents weren't that much older than you when they were sent to the concentration camps. It was absolutely terrible there and they could have died, but they managed to pull through and survived. You're forced to compete in a dangerous tournament where previous champions have died in. If your grandparents can survive the death camps, then you can survive this tournament, and maybe even win this. All right?"
"I hope so," said Alex. "But Auschwitz was way worse than the Triwizard Tournament could ever be. Millions died there, while the tournament only killed less than a hundred champions."
"That's the point we're trying to make," said Stephan patiently. "Your grandparents survived the most notorious death camp that the Nazis set up, so you can survive a less dangerous tournament, Alex. Your survived facing Voldemort your first-year, after all, and you are a Gryffindor."
"I guess," Alex muttered, feeling slightly more cheerful at the points his parents were making. "I'm going to do the best I can in the tournament and survive this." His parents smiled at him and then walked with him to the Gryffindor common room, where Beth was waiting outside the Fat Lady's portrait.
"We had a talk with Alex and he's feeling better about things now," said Ana. "Beth, how are you holding up?"
"I'm really worried for Alex, but determined to help him get through the tournament, Mum," Beth responded. "Neville, Hermione, and Ron feel the same way. We won't let him die like what happened in previous tournaments."
"Good for you guys," said Stephan. "That's exactly what Alex needs, his family and friends by his side. We have to go now, since the rest of the family needs to know what's going on, but don't hesitate to contact us if you need us, all right? Good-night, Beth and Alex."
The two parents hugged their children and then left. Alex and Beth went inside the common room, where the rest of Gryffindor house was celebrating the fact that Alex was a school champion. However, Fred and George had somehow managed to keep everyone from pestering Alex about it, since they knew that his entry wasn't something that should be celebrated about, at least for him. Beth grabbed Hermione and the two girls went up to their dormitory. Fred distracted everyone else while George escorted Alex up the boys' staircase.
"Thanks, George," said Alex once he reached his dorm. "And tell Fred that I said thanks."
"It's nothing," said George, waving away the thanks. "Fred and I know that your becoming one of the champions isn't something you wanted. If you need any cheering up, let us know, okay? And we'll be happy to help if you need any advice on how to deal with the tasks. You're not dying on us."
"I'll do that," Alex promised, and he went inside his dormitory.
Ron and Neville were sitting on their beds, and got up when Alex entered. "We're sorry that you're forced to compete," said Neville. "What with the binding magical contract and all. Is there no way out of it, Alex?"
Alex shook his head. "Mr. Crouch said that the rules state that anyone whose name comes out of the Goblet of Fire has to compete, so I have to."
"In that case, we're going to help you get through this," said Ron fiercely. "You're not going to die like those previous champions did."
Alex couldn't help laughing, though it was rather strained. "You're the fifth person that's said that to me. My parents and Beth said pretty much the same thing, and George said the same when he offered his and Fred's help after escorting me upstairs."
"Well, you're not," said Ron defiantly. "You survived Tom Riddle as a baby and when he was on the back of Quirrell's head when we were in first year, so you can survive this tournament."
"All right, all right. It's great to know that my friends have such faith in me. I'm feeling rather tired now, so how about you just let me go to bed?"
Neville and Ron nodded and bid Alex a good-night. He returned it and then changed into his pajamas and clambered into bed, drawing shut the hangings around it so that Dean and Seamus wouldn't disturb him when they came up.