Author's Note: Sir Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series and many other books, died yesterday. He was one of my favorite authors and brought laughter and joy to everyone who read his books. While I know that petitioning Death to bring him back will not work, I wish it could, and meanwhile, I dedicate this chapter to him.

While it was true that the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs supported Alex (other than a few people being idiots), the same couldn't be said for most of the Slytherins. People like Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson hissed at him the hallways, saying things like Alex wouldn't last more than ten minutes in the first task or that they hoped the Dark Lord would get him (since the theory that the escaped Death Eaters had something to do with it had spread throughout the school). When Jonas and his friends had tried to stand up for Alex, the older Slytherins told them to shut up, saying a group of second-years didn't know what they were talking about and they were a disgrace to Slytherin. Ivan had then sprung to the defense of his brother, which resulted in a duel between him and Weasley twins fighting back against two Slytherin sixth years and a seventh year. Professors Snape and McGonagall had been the ones to break up the fight, and all of the culprits had been given a detention and lost fifty points for their houses.

At Potions class, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe, and Goyle were wearing badges that read, "Support Cedric Diggory, The Real Hogwarts Champion". When they were pressed, the badges changed to read, "Alexander Romanov Stinks." The Gryffindors were angry at this, but there was nothing they could do about it, and Professor Snape and the other Slytherins mostly ignored the badges.

Professor Snape had just finished telling the class that they were to brew the antidotes that they had prepared recipes for when there was a knock on the door. Colin Creevy came in, saying that he needed to take Alex upstairs.

"Mr. Romanov has another hour of Potions to complete," Professor Snape said coldly. "He will come upstairs when this class is finished."

"Sir - sir, Mr. Bagman wants him," Colin said nervously. "All the champions have got to go, I think they want to take photographs..."

Alex stifled a groan, for the last thing he wanted was publicity, even if all the champions had to do this. Unlike Viktor Krum, Alex was not used to any kind of fame and publicity (unless one counted the Gryffindors making a big deal about his Quidditch skills and the fuss over his stopping Quirrell from getting the Philosopher's Stone). After all, he didn't want the wizarding world at large to know that he was really Harry Potter.

"Very well, very well," Snape snapped. "I suppose he's needed for the rest of the lesson?" Colin nodded, so Snape told Alex to grab his bag and leave.

Colin led the way upstairs to a fairly small classroom, talking excitedly about how amazing it was for Alex to be champion. Once there, Colin wished him luck and left. Alex entered the room to see that most of the desks had been pushed away to the back of the room, leaving a large space in the middle. Three of the desks, however, had been placed end-to-end in the front of the blackboard and covered with a long length of velvet. Five chairs had been set behind the velvet-covered desks, and Ludo Bagman was sitting in one of them, talking to a witch in magenta robes.

Viktor, Cedric, and Fleur were standing in a corner and talking, and when they saw Alex, beckoned him over. "According to Mr. Bagman, there's going to be a wand weighing ceremony, once the rest of the judges arrive," Cedric said. "Then there's going to be a photo shoot for the Daily Prophet."

"Wand weighing ceremony?" Alex repeated, somewhat nervously.

"An expert is going to check zat our wands are fully functional and 'ave no problems," Fleur explained. "You do not want to find out zat your wand was not working well in ze middle of one of ze tasks."

At that point, the witch in the magenta robes came over. "You're Rita Skeeter, aren't you?" asked Alex, remembering his Uncle Niko's description of the reporter.

"Yes, I am," she said, smiling. "I'm doing a piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet and I wondered if I could have a little word with you beforehand, in private. You're the youngest champion, after all, and it would add a bit of color."

"I'm not allowed to give interviews to the press without an adult present," Alex said flatly. "However, the other champions are of age, so you could interview them. And if you really must ask me a couple of questions, Ms. Skeeter, then you can do it here, in their presence."

A look of disappointment crossed Rita Skeeter's face, but it was quickly hidden. "All right then," she said brightly, flashing another smile. "Shall we get started?" She pulled out a roll of parchment and a quill from her crocodile-skin bag. "Alexander Romanov, let's start with you. So, what made you decide to enter the Triwizard Tournament?"

"I didn't," Alex replied. "I don't know how my name got in the Goblet of Fire. I certainly never put it in there."

Rita Skeeter raised one heavily penciled eyebrow. "Come now, Alexander, there's no need to be scared of getting into trouble. We all know you shouldn't really have entered at all. But don't worry about that. Our readers love a rebel."

"I wasn't here to enter my name!" Alex snapped, getting frustrated with the reporter. "Halloween was also the day of my cousin's Bar Mitzvah! If you don't know, it's a ceremony that Jewish boys have when they're thirteen, marking the fact that they're now considered an adult in Jewish society. The night before, right after the Welcoming Feast for Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, my cousins, sister, and myself Flooed home from Professor McGonagall's office. The next day was the ceremony and the party celebrating it, and we didn't return to Hogwarts until just before the Halloween feast and the announcement of the champions."

Cedric chimed in, "What Alex says is true. I wasn't there, since I'm not a friend of his cousin Jonas, who had the Bar Mitzvah ceremony, but I am friends with their cousin Cara, and she told me all about it."

Rita Skeeter looked taken aback by all this, but then composed herself. "All right, then, you didn't enter, Alexander, and have no idea of how your name came out of the goblet. Now, how do you feel about the tasks ahead? Excited? Nervous?"

"Actually, shouldn't you be asking the other champions some questions and not just focus on me?" Alex asked. "That's what we agreed on."

A look of annoyance flashed across the reporter's face before she smiled brightly (and falsely) and said, "The last question was for all of you."

"I think ve are all somewhat nervous," said Viktor. "People have died in the tournament before, even if it is going to be safer this year."

Fleur and Alex nodded, and Cedric added, "But we're all excited, too. Winning the tournament will bring honor and glory to our schools, after all."

"Ah yes, champions have died in the past," said Rita Skeeter, looking up from her parchment. "Have any of you thought more about that?"

"I zink you could say zat," said Fleur. "None of us wish to die in ze tournament, so we 'ave decided to work togezer. Only one of us can win, of course, but if we work togezer, we can all survive ze tasks."

"And that way, ve can all be on a, vat is the term, equal footing," Viktor added.

"What do you have to say about this, Alexander?" inquired Rita Skeeter.

Not wanting to admit that it was his idea, since knowing her, she could easily twist it around, Alex simply answered, "I thought it was a good idea. We don't want to die, so working together in order that we can all survive the three tasks is great. I probably know a few things that the other champions don't, because of my heritage, and they know things I don't, since they're older than me."

"Your heritage?" asked Rita Skeeter, but before Alex could reply, the three Heads had arrived, along with Mr. Ollivander, who presumably was the expert that was going to check the wands.

The wand weighing ceremony started, with Mr. Ollivander examining all four wands and doing a spell with each. They were all pronounced in good working order. After that were the photographs. Since Madame Maxime cast everyone else into shadow when she stood and the photographer couldn't stand far back enough to get her head in the frame, she eventually had to sit while everyone stood around her. Karkaroff kept twirling his goatee around his finger to give it an extra curl, while Krum, who ought to have been used to this sort of thing, skulked, half-hidden, at the back of the group. The photographer seemed keenest to get Fleur at the front, but Rita Skeeter kept hurrying forward and dragging Alex into greater prominence. Then she insisted on separate shots of all the champions. At last, they were free to go.

On the way out, Viktor confided that he didn't particularly like having his photo taken or the fuss made over his fame. He didn't really mind it when fans liked Quidditch or played it themselves, which meant that they were focused on his Quidditch skill. What he minded were those fans that were less focused on his skills and more focused on the fact he was famous. Or as Alex put it, there was difference between being seen as a famous Quidditch player and as a famous Quidditch player.

"Exactly," said Viktor. "You understand vat I mean, Alex."

"I had most of the school making a big deal of me when I stopped one of the teachers, who apparently had the shade of the Dark Lord on the back of his head, from getting his hands on the Philosopher's Stone," Alex explained. "Never mind that my sister and our friends, plus my three older cousins, helped me. Though the school was impressed with what they did, since I was the one that actually did the stopping, everyone was even more impressed with me."

"I was probably the only student that was equally impressed with you all," Cedric said, remembering.

Fleur then wanted to know more about it, so Alex ended up explaining the incident as they all walked down to the Great Hall for dinner. When he finished, she said, "Zat was very impressive. Five first-year students were able to get past protections zat ze 'Ogwarts teachers put up, and zen you were able to stop zis Professor Quirrell and ze spirit of ze Dark Lord from getting ze Philosopher's Stone. If you could do zat zen, zen I zink you should be able to do well in ze tournament, and zat does not include ze fact zat we are helping each ozer wiz zis."

Viktor nodded. "I agree vith Fleur. You have skill and talent and will be able to hold your own in the tournament."

"I hope so," said Alex. "My friends are beckoning me over, so I'll talk to you guys later, okay?" He headed for the Gryffindor table.