Chapter 12 - lighting the fire
The three groups of students, about 50 each for Durmstrang and Beauxbatons and a mass of Hogwarts students that completely dwarfed them, started making their way to the castle, those unfamiliar with the grounds following a few of the Hogwarts students who had taken the lead. Hermione dashed off through the crowd and straight to the blue robes of the French school. "ALI!" The French girl was surprised to hear someone calling her name and turned just In time to get a face full of bushy hair as Hermione pulled the girl into a hug.
"Hein? Qu'est-ce qui se passe..." [What? What's going on?] it was then that the surprised girl realised who had grabbed her. "Hermione! What are you doing here?" The shock of seeing Hermione clear on her face.
"What am I doing here?! This is my school. What are you doing here? Why didn't you ever tell me that you're a witch?!"
Ali had finally separated enough from Hermione to look at the girl and with practised grace did the air kiss thing, the name of which was currently slipping Harry's mind. "I thought you were a mundane, I couldn't say anything. What about Dan and Emma? Oh what about Harry, is he a wizard?" If anything Ali sounded more excited than Hermione.
"Mum and dad are not magical, I'm muggle-born-"
"First-generation," Ali stated firmly.
"...what?" Hermione sounded confused for a second.
"Not muggle-born. First-generation. The term muggle is insulting. Don't internalise such things. You are a first-generation witch, born to mundane parents. Now you were telling me about Harry. Is he a wizard?"
"Yes, he's here somewhere. I was standing with him until I rushed to catch you." She admitted sheepishly as she scanned the crowd looking for him. She spotted him just as he was able to slip around a few of the Beauxbatons students who were rubbernecking the encounter of one of their own was having with a Hogwarts witch.
"Hey, Ali." The French girl swooped on Harry and he found himself once again in the air-kissing ritual. "So you're a witch. What about Steven and Sarah? Are they magical or are you muggle-born?" Harry asked. He had heard what Ali said about first-generation vs muggle-born, but the familiar phrase slipped out without him thinking.
Ali bristled a little bit at his phrasing before saying "First-generation, never say muggle-born. And papa is a mundane, not a muggle. Ma mère is a first-generation witch. She married mon père, a wizard not long out of school, and they had me. But mon père died of dragon pox." A sad look came over Ali's eyes. Despite how much he knew that she loved Steve and the role he played in her life. It was clear that she still missed her first father a lot. Harry could understand that, he missed his parents and he had almost no memory of them.
They continued their walk to the castle, a few people in blue robes directing questions at Ali, although it was in French so Harry didn't understand what they said. Not that it was hard to work out, they were asking about him and Hermione, probably wanting to know who they are, and how Ali knew them. As they walked up to the castle, Harry got to watch the foreign students react to the view. The Durmstrang students looked impressed with the castle, but the Beauxbatons teens seemed a little disappointed. Harry asked Ali about it.
"It's nothing Harry, it's just that Beauxbatons is, well...beautiful. Whereas your castle looks very...functional. Beauxbatons is a grand palace with wide sweeping gardens."
"That makes sense, Hogwarts was built when the magical world was practically at war with…mundanes. There was a lot less worry about needing to stay safe when Beauxbatons was built. They were able to focus more on elegance than the safety of the students from those outside its walls." Hermione explained. Harry noticed her pause, almost saying "muggles" but switching to "mundanes" for Ali's benefit. Harry knew he would have to ask Ali what her problem was with the word muggle.
They walked up the main stairs through the huge doors and into the entrance hall. Ali shivered and hugged herself. "Damn. I was hoping it would be warmer inside."
"The Great Hall is warmer but your robes are really too thin for Scotland. And it's only going get colder over the next few months." Hermione explained as Ali looked on in horror.
"It gets colder?" She almost looked ready to cry. Harry guessed that growing up in the south of France didn't give her much experience with the cold.
Harry cast a warming charm on her before saying. "The students are allowed to visit the nearby village tomorrow. Perhaps you should see if you can come as well. We can probably buy you a thick winter cloak that would match your school robes."
Ali looked torn for a second before she nodded. "I will ask Madame Maxime, but we probably can go. We were told about Hogsmeade and how it was one of the only magical-only places in Europe. "
They continued towards the great Hall Madame Maxime and headmaster Karkaroff were standing either side of the door directing their students as they passed. Ali walked up to her headmistress and they started talking.
"On est avec les Serdaigles, ceux avec la bannière bleue. [We are sitting with the Ravenclaws, the one with the blue banner.]"
"Est-ce que je peux m'asseoir autre part? Je viens d'apprendre que ma demi-belle-cousine est une sorcière. [Is it possible i can sit elsewhere? I just found out that my sort of step-cousin is a witch.]"
"Votre quoi? [Sort of step-cousin?]"
"Mon beau-père est anglais et il a un ami qu'il considère comme son frère. Ils se sont rencontrés à l'université, puis il voulait devenir un chef cuisinier et est allé en France. Je pensais qu'ils étaient normaux mais en fait, Hermione est une sorcière de première génération. [My step-dad is English, he has a friend who is like a brother. They met in university before my step-dad decided to become a chef and move to France, but his friend-brother's family are all mundane, or at least I thought they were, but turns out that his daughter Hermione is a first generation witch.]"
"Et vous ne le saviez pas? [And you didn't know?]"
"On évitait d'en parler à cause des règles de sécurité. [We both kept it from each other because of the secrecy laws.]"
"Bien. Tu peux aller t'asseoir avec ton amie. [Very well, you may sit with your friend.]"
"Merci madame. Une autre chose, Hermione a mentionné que les étudiants de Hogwarts avaient le droit d'aller au village d'à côté ce weekend, et ils m'ont invitée. [Thank you madam. There was one more thing. Hermione mentioned that the Hogwarts students were being allowed to go to the local village this weekend. They invited me to go with them.]"
"Pas de problème. J'allais justement vous dire demain que vous aviez aussi le droit d'y aller. [That won't be a problem. I was going to tell you and the others tonight that you were allowed to go tomorrow anyway.]"
Harry hadn't understood what the two women were saying but Hermione understood enough that she was able to give Harry the just of it. So he was expecting it when Ali turned and joined them instead of following the mix of Ravenclaws and Beauxbatons students headed to the eagles' dining table.
"Madame Maxime said it was ok for me to sit with you" Ali smiled, glad that she would get to spend most of the year with Hermione instead of trying to cram everything into a short summer vacation. Harry led them to the table and they sat down with the other Gryffindor fourth years. There were a few looks from the other Gryffindors wondering why one of the foreign witches was sitting with them, rather than at the Ravenclaw table with the rest of her school. Harry and Hermione had a third year student slide further down the table to make room for the three of them before pulling off their cloaks. Hermione didn't even think before she pulled off her hair band and took her seat.
Harry watched as Ali stared at the back of Hermione's head. In an instant he realised that Hermione, so used to being in Hogwarts where there was no point in hiding her feline features, had just revealed them for the first time to Ali. "Hermione. What, what has happened to you?
Hermione turned back to Ali, confused for a moment until she realised that Ali was looking at her ears. "Oh, I forgot about telling you the real story about what's happened to me in school." Ali looked at Hermione with a look of hurt on her face. "I thought you were a mug-sorry, mundane. I couldn't tell you about everything. Sit down and I'll tell you everything."
And so Hermione did. She told Ali about the troll, Fluffy and Quirrell, but was interrupted by the headmaster before she could start explaining her second year at Hogwarts. Dumbledore warmly welcomed their guests, not only the students and head teachers of the visiting schools but also a few Ministry personnel there to oversee the start of the tournament. There were two Heads of Ministry departments, 'Magical Games and Sports' and 'International Magical Cooperation'. The first was headed by a man called Ludo Bagman, whom Harry thought was the guy who did the commentary at the World Cup, but as he had only listened to it on the Wizarding Wireless he couldn't be sure, while the second was led by a man named Bartemius Crouch. There was also the Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge and the hateful pink-clad witch whom Fudge had brought with him to the school the year before.
Honestly, Harry could see no real reason for the Minister for Magic himself to be here. He seemed to just be taking the opportunity to enjoy a perk of the job and have a nice dinner on someone else's coin. The two department heads though, were a study in contrast. The head of International Magical Cooperation was thin, neatly groomed and held himself stiffly with a stern expression. The head of Magical Games and Sports, however, was portly, with robes untucked and completely relaxed with a huge grin on his face.
Dumbledore finished his welcome speech and suddenly the tables were full of food. The kitchens had outdone themselves; the tables were full of things like steak and chicken, like normal, but there were also things Harry had never seen at Hogwarts, at least not in the Great Hall. Some like bouillabaisse he recognised as French, but the dishes he did not recognise he assumed were other European foods he was ignorant of.
Hermione jumped back into an explanation to Ali, telling her about the petrifications and the polyjuice. Harry filled Hermione's plate with some of the fish stew while Ali took the bouillabaisse one. Harry also selected a meat dish for himself that he hadn't seen before. Once Hermione was finished with their second year she told Ali everything that had happened last year, from Harry using accidental magic to aerate to her home to Bellatrix, and even how she found her Patronus form. During the tale Ali was shocked, scared, pissed off, and amazed. She went from hugging Hermione in parts to ready to storm off and kill someone in other parts.
"So let me get this straight. You made polyjuice potion, but instead of using human hair you used the hair of a kneazle? God, Hermione, how can you be so brilliant one moment and mess up so much the next? Do you realise the amount of prejudice you will face for not being a 'pure human' on top of what you're already going to get for being first-generation? Especially In this country." The anger was clear in her voice when she said "pure human", she obviously hated people who held beliefs like that. She pulled Hermione into a tight hug.
"I am still just human." Hermione said a little put out. "It's just permanent spell damage. And honestly I got lucky, I think they are kind of cute."
"I'm talking about perception, Hermione. People are going to see the ears and tail and make assumptions." She pulled Hermione tighter against her, obviously worried about the girl whom she considered family.
Things quickly calmed down and the conversation moved to other topics; first up was how Hermione had hidden her feline traits over the summer. Harry explained about the accessories he had made for Hermione to function in the mundane world. Ali was impressed with his skill and said it was impressive for someone with little more than a year of classes in runes. She even asked for a hairband that had the same ability to change colour and pattern, and Harry agreed to make one for her.
They talked about the difference between Hogwarts and Beauxbatons and how their schools approached teaching magic. Ali filled Hermione in on her plans to become a healer and told Hermione how her studies were progressing. They were enjoying the conversation so much they almost didn't realize when the main part of the feast melted away and was replaced with desserts. Like the main feast, the desserts were just as varied with items Harry had never seen at Hogwarts before, yet his favourite of treacle tart was an option so Harry picked that. Soon the delicately crafted concoctions of sugar were gone as well and Dumbledore rose to speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is finally time." He motioned with a hand and the large double doors that separated the Great Hall from the entrance hall opened, revealing Percy Weasley holding a wooden chest. The chest was old and covered with faded runs that had once stood proudly on its surface but had been rubbed away with the passage of years. Percy walked directly to the headmaster and presented him with the chest before leaving. Dumbledore turned the chest to face the students as he opened it. As the box opened, the inside was bathed in a flickering azure light. Dumbledore reached into the chest and withdrew an old wooden cup.
"This is the Goblet of Fire, an ancient magical artefact that was created for the first Triwizard Tournament. Any student who wishes to compete in the tournament must use a blood quill to put their name on a sheet of parchment and add that parchment to the goblet. By entering a piece of parchment with your magical signature embedded within, you enter a binding magical contract. Once you do, should your name come from the goblet on the third day during our Halloween feast you will be bound to compete. There will be three challenging tasks designed to test the three champions. Tasks that carry with them great risks that only the strongest among us can hope to overcome and gain the prize offered to the victor: ten thousand Galleons prize money, international fame and eternal glory.
I will remind the students of Hogwarts only those who have completed their Ordinary Wizarding Levels will be permitted to submit their names to the goblet. I will personally be making sure that no one who was born on or after September 1st 1978 will be able to approach the goblet. The goblet, a blood quill and a box of booklets containing the tournament rules will be set up in the entrance hall tonight and will remain there until the start of the Halloween feast. That leaves you with about 70 hours in which to decide on if you wish to enter. Don't make this decision lightly: remember, if your name comes from the goblet you are bound to compete. Now that that is out of the way I will just say one last welcome to Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and good night." With that the headmaster turned to the minister and the other employees and started to chat, but Harry was too far away to hear what he was saying.
Harry, Hermione and Ali got up and started making their way to the entrance hall where they would say goodnight. Ali let out a groan and Harry smiled; the French witch had eaten with the best of the table, but when it came to dessert the French witch was only rivalled by Ron with how much of the chocolate cake she ate. They were just getting to the doorway when a rather attractive blonde girl dressed in the blue robes of Beauxbatons came rushing over to Ali.
"Excusez-moi Alison, j'espérais que tu me laisserais emprunter tes amis pendant quelques instants. J'ai besoin de parler à quelqu'un de cette… école mais je ne sais plus à quoi il ressemble. J'espérais que tes amis pourraient le pointer en dehors?" ["Excuse me Alison, I was hoping you would let me borrow your friends for a few moments. I need to talk to someone from this…school but I don't know what he looks like anymore. I was hoping your friends could point him out?"] The girl jabbered in French.
"You know it's rude to speak French when half the people in the group you are talking to don't speak French, Fleur." Ali admonished the girl. "But I'm sure they can help you find who you are looking for."
"Sorry I don't mean to be rude but I sound like an, how you say, air head in English." The girl stammered out an apology. She was half right, her English lacked confidence and her thick accent only made it worse, but she was perfectly understandable.
"You send better in English than I do in French." Harry joked.
Hermione bumped him with her hip before asking the girl. "Who are you looking for? Do you know what house or year he is in?"
The girl smiled at Hermione. I don't know what house but his name is Harry Potter and I think he would be a fourth year."
Harry went to reply but Hermione got there first. "And what do you want with Harry?"
Fleur eyed Hermione. "It is a matter between the House of Delacour and the House of Potter, it wouldn't be proper to discuss it with anyone but Mr. Potter."
"I am Harry Potter, and anything you have to say to me you can say to Hermione." Harry wasn't going to let some French woman he didn't know push Hermione away, it didn't matter how pretty the French witch was.
Fleur looked at Ali for her to confirm that Harry was actually who he said he was, and when she nodded Fleur turned back to Harry. "My apologies, Warlock Potter. I am Fleur Delacour, eldest daughter of the house of Delacour in France. But please call me Fleur."
"Please call me Harry, and this is Hermione." Harry said.
Hermione wrapped her arm around his and pulled herself closer to Harry. "It's a pleasure to meet you Fleur."
Fleur nodded to Hermione and returned to Harry. "My father asked that I approach you regarding some matters that have been left unresolved between our two houses since the passing of your parents. These matters have been left in limbo too long and we request the input of the House of Potter.
"What sort of things are there between our houses? This is the first I have heard of any dealings with another house."
A look of surprise passed over Fleur's face for a moment and she hesitated before she said, "There are a few matters. For example, we have been managing a property of yours in France and the money that was left with us to pay the property tax has run out. The property has a quantity of elf made wine that was produced in the last thirteen years by a couple of house elves that live there, but we don't have the right to sell the wine to cover the bill. I was hoping we could make an appointment to discuss everything in the next few days."
It surprised Harry to learn that he had a property in France. Not just a property, but he apparently had house elves. He thought about what Fleur had said and it sounded like her family had really gone out of their way to help where they could. Harry would definitely meet with the witch if he actually had a property in France, he had no doubt Hermione would love that. "My weekend is fully booked already, how does Tuesday work for you?"
"Tuesday is good for me. Unless I get chosen to participate in the tournament, but if I am we can reschedule."
They said goodbye to Fleur soon after that and wished Ali a good night. Normally on a Friday the two of them would configure the Room of Requirement for a date, but after the feast and with them having access to Hogsmeade the next day they decided that they would just go to bed.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry and Hermione waited in the entrance hall for Ali, and Harry was amusing himself by examining Dumbledore's age line. He casually tossed a bit of old torn parchment at the line to see what would happen. The parchment crossed the line for a second then flew back at Harry and hit him in the face. "Clean up your mess." Hermione admonished him before returning to reading the copy of the rules booklet she had picked up from the table that had appeared in the entrance hall overnight.
Harry did before returning to examine the age line. He wasn't going to try and cross it; he had already seen what the result of that was earlier today, when two Ravenclaws had tried to get around the protection with an ageing potion. The result had been a couple of beards that put Hagrid to shame and a trip to the hospital wing to have them removed.
Harry had also watched as some Hogwarts students walked through the line and added their names. At one point Harry felt a little left out as the entire Gryffindor quidditch team, minus Harry, had added their names to the blue flames.
Harry's interest in the line wasn't purely academic. While he had no interest in entering the tournament, he was worried that his name would come out anyway. The simple fact that the draw was on Halloween was enough to set his hairs on end. Since his arrival at the school, Halloween had always been the start of whatever was going to try and kill him this year. A troll let in by Voldemort's meat suit, a millennia old basilisk woken up and released from the Chamber of Secrets, and Bellatrix LeStrange's first attempt to kill him. Despite the fact that entrance needed a piece of parchment signed with a blood quill, being forced into a gladiatorial death game that he wasn't qualified for would just fit the pattern so well at this point that it was hard to relax.
While Harry was idly translating the runes that were visible in the line itself, the students from Durmstrang all arrived together and one by one each sighed a slip of parchment with the blood quill and entered into the goblet of fire before disappearing into the Great Hall for breakfast. It wasn't long until the Beauxbatons students arrived and proceeded to do the same as the Durmstrang students, though over half of the Beauxbatons students picked up a copy of the rules first and read it thoroughly before signing a slip of parchment. In the end, unlike the Durmstrang students five of the Beauxbatons students (two wizards and three witches) chose not to enter their names, at least not yet. They still had a few days to enter if they decided to.
Ali saw the two of them and waved them over as she walked towards the Great Hall. "Morning you two."
"Morning. Sleep well?" Hermione asked.
"Indeed," Ali replied as the three of them went to breakfast. Hermione was happy to see that croissants had apparently been added to the breakfast rotation and proceeded to devour three before grabbing an apple. Harry had a few pieces of toast and a couple of poached eggs, and Ali had decided to try the kippers.
Not long after breakfast, the three of them headed down to the village. Due to Ali's shivering they decided to pop into Gladrags' robes for all occasions, to get her a thick winter cloak before exploring the rest of the village. Ali, being Ali, had decided that a cloak wasn't enough and had bought herself a whole new outfit, including a pair of dragon leather boots that were not too dissimilar to a new pair Hermione had gotten herself in Diagon Alley over the summer.
Harry thought the boots were a good idea as the shoes that the Beauxbaton girls were wearing with their uniforms were not going to help them much when trying to get to breakfast after the snow set in, in just over a month. After Gladrags' they went to the sweetshop. Honeydukes was always packed on a Hogsmeade weekend and the extra hundred students from the continent only added to the overcrowding, the red and blue robes of the visitors standing out in the sea of black.
A few of the Beauxbatons students had stopped Ali and asked about her new cloak and boots, so she had directed them, with some help from Harry and Hermione, to the shop. If nothing else, it seemed that the Triwizard Tournament would be good for Hogsmeade's economy. Harry and Hermione showed Ali around the rest of the village, but nothing else piqued her interest until they arrived at Tomes and Scrolls, the Hogsmeade book store. The two women rushed in like they were five year olds being let loose in Honeydukes for the first time. Harry knew for Hermione it would be bittersweet because she had already put a large dent in her spending money during her last visit to the shop, and she wouldn't get any more until they went home for Christmas. Harry wished he could just buy all the books Hermione wanted for her, but he knew she would never accept.
They spent an hour in the bookshop. Ali bought herself five new books and Hermione had settled on getting herself one. Ali, seeing how morose Hermione was at only getting herself one book, had promised to let Hermione read her new books once she was done with them. After the warmth of the shop, Ali really didn't want to go back out in the cold and advocated for returning to the school where it was warmer. Harry and Hermione both had other ideas though, and after assuring their French friend that their destination would be warm and cosy, took Ali to the Three Broomsticks. The place was indeed warm and cosy, but also packed; the three of them were unable to get a table and instead sat at the bar, Harry and Hermione drinking warm butter beers while Ali (being of age) was drinking hot mulled wine.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry hated Halloween, yet this was probably the best Halloween he could ever remember. Mostly because his day had little to do with Halloween. Hermione had found the perfect way to distract him, sex. It wasn't exactly a plan; Hermione had gone into heat again and needed him. So the two of them had retreated to the Room of Requirement and spent the day alone. Hermione had decided to take the opportunity to see if she could time when they would be together so that it would be between classes if it was a regular Monday instead of the first day of half term. They were successful, so he and Hermione wouldn't need to miss class on one of Hermione's special days. They would probably need to skip lunch, but it wasn't as though missing one meal would hurt them.
Between bouts of trying to turn his girlfriend into a pile of quivering flesh with a very happy smile, Harry wondered about how he was so much better than he was this time last year. Or more precisely, why it was so bad last year. Sure, Halloween had never been happy but he didn't normally collapse into a weepy child. When he had told Hermione she had thought it was a combination of finally being away from the Dursleys permanently and the dementors pulling everything to the surface. The foul creatures had been placed all around the castle, and while the school wards had protected them from the worst of the effects, nothing could keep them out entirely.
They spent the whole day together without leaving the Room. Dobby had brought them a plate of ham and cheese sandwiches around lunch but apart from that, they were alone. At four-thirty, Hermione was starting to push Harry to get ready to leave for the Halloween feast and Harry (not looking forward to watching people celebrate the fall of Voldemort as it felt to him celebrating the end of Harry's family) was considering trying to persuade Hermione to skip the feast even if they got detentions. Detentions were probably a better option in Harry's opinion, but they were interrupted by a knock at the door.
The two of them stared at the door and the knocking sound filled the room again, and Hermione called "come in." Whether because the person on the outside of the door opened it, or some quality of the room opened it once one of the people inside wanted it to be open, but it did open and revealed the figure of Professor McGonagall.
"Well, at least the two of you are dressed and ready for the feast. I half expe…never mind. I came to get the two of you for the feast."
"How did you know where we were, Professor? I didn't think anyone saw us coming here." Hermione asked the professor.
"Miss Granger, you and Mr. Potter have been disappearing nearly every Friday night for over a year. Do you really think I didn't take the time to find out where you ran off to? If it wasn't for the fact that Madam Pomfrey has forbidden the teachers to interfere in your relationship, and that you, Miss Granger, have maintained your position as the top student in your year, and you, Mr. Potter, have actually improved, I would have interfered long ago." The stern professor told the two of them.
Hermione bit her lip and after steeling her nerves asked, "Did Madam Pomfrey say why she didn't want any of the teachers to interfere?"
"No, Miss Granger. When asked, she cited doctor-patient confidentiality. But I am a cat animagus, Miss Granger, so I can hazard a guess. As I have been telling you, you can't complete the transformation without a thorough understanding of the animal. Now come, we need to make our way down to the Great Hall. Mr Potter, I know you don't want to attend, and to be honest, I agree with you. But at least everyone will be focused on the tournament this year." Harry nodded, it was true that the vast majority of the focus would be on whose name was going to come from the cup and not on the anniversary of the end of the war.
They made their way down to the Great Hall and joined all of the students as they headed to the feast. The food was the same great quality it always was for Hogwarts feasts, again the only difference being food from all over Europe added to the standard Hogwarts fair. Harry, not particularly hungry, just added a couple of pieces of chicken and some small potatoes to his plate to pick at.
-ϟϟϟ-
The flames in the goblet flared up, almost costing Headmaster Dumbledore his eyebrows. The azure flame lept from the cup into the air, reshaping itself into a Triquetra that hung in the air. The Triquetra was one of the world's oldest runes; there were some examples that were over five thousand years old. It was so old that it was one of the hardest runes to use. There was one thing that all rune sets agreed on: the Triquetra meant three together as one. However, because it had been around so long it meant different things to lots of people, so exactly what three were one was very different. If you used it with Celtic runes you would get a different result than if you used something else, and if you mixed your rune alphabets the results were at best unpredictable.
There was a sudden explosion of fire at the centre of the Triquetra that was glowing bright red. Harry thought the red ball of fire surrounded by the azure Triquetra looked amazing as it hung in the air. A comet of flame shot from the red fire, doing a quick circuit of the Great Hall then shooting at Headmaster Karkaroff. Just before it reached him the flames died away, revealing a scroll that the Headmaster caught easily enough.
With all the pomp and ceremony he could muster, Headmaster Karkaroff walked up to the platform and unrolled the scroll. Just as he was about to start reading it allowed his eyes widened in surprise. Karkaroff turned back to the other two school heads that were on the stage with him and called them over to him. Harry couldn't hear what they were saying, but the sense of impending doom that had lingered in him all day was now so heavy it threatened to crush him. Quickly, the heads seemed to come to a decision. Karkaroff returned to the centre of the stage, and without any of the pomp and ceremony that he had the first time around, read out the scroll.
"Demonstrating the power of Demstang, Viktor Krum! Aided by his comrades Leonid Poliakoff and Emilia Ivanova!"
The Great Hall erupted into noise as everyone, students, teachers and guests, all abruptly started asking questions to the people next to them. The most common question Harry heard was a variation of "I thought it was one champion per school?" Harry, however, was trying to hold back a panic attack. He knew it, he just knew it. As soon as he learnt that the draw was on Halloween, he knew his name was coming out of that flaming cup, and here was evidence that the cup had been Tampered with.
"If the three of you would please make your way to the trophy room through that door there. The other heads and I will join you and the other champions shortly."
The three Durmstrang students got up and left, and soon everyone's attention was drawn back to the Triquetra as the ball of red fire died and another explosion of light was replaced by a blue ball of fire. A second comet of fire leapt from the heart of the Triquetra and after a circuit of the great hall headed to Headmistress Maxime. She caught the scroll that emerged and walked to the center of the stage before unrolling the scroll of parchment and reading aloud.
"Standing for the pride of Beauxbatons: Alison Tucker! Aided by her friends Marie De Villiers and Alexandre De Villiers! If you three would also please join the competitors from Durmstrang."
The headmistress walked back to her seat, a lot less shock at the extra names the second time. This time Harry found himself splitting along with Hermione. It was great that Hermione's not-cousin had been selected for the tournament, but depending on whose name or names came out of the goblet for Hogwarts, Harry could have a hard time deciding whom to cheer for. He was focusing on that dilemma in the vain hope to hold back his panic attack.
The attention was back on the Triquetra as people waited for the ball of blue fire to die. They didn't have to wait long, in another explosion of light the blue ball of flame was replaced by a green one, and a third comet of fire leapt from the heart of the Triquetra. After one last circuit of the Great Hall, it headed to headmaster Dumbledore, who almost lazily caught the scroll before he stepped forward and read out
"Representing the honour of Hogwarts! Cedric Diggory! aided by his allies Roger Davies and Marcus Flint! If the three of you can please go keep our guests in the trophy room entertained, I will join you shortly."
Harry relaxed as the hall burst into a round of cheers. It looked like Gryffindor had really lost out, with each of the other Hogwarts houses having a representative in the tournament, but if that was the price they had to pay for Harry to have a quiet year then so be it. After all, he still had Quidditch to keep him occupied. "Maybe I can have a quiet year for once?" he muttered to no one in particular.
Almost as if the Triquetra had been waiting for Harry to say that line, the flames at its heart turned black and a fourth comet was flying around the room. After it had completed its circuit, it flew over at the staff table where the rest of the Hogwarts professors and the guests from the Ministry were seated. The scroll landed on the table directly in front of Professor McGonagall, who glanced at Dumbledore before standing and joining the three school heads on the smaller stage. After a quick read of the scroll herself, she read out in a shaky voice.
"Fighting for his life, Harry Potter! Aided by his half-breed whores Hermione Granger and Fleur Delacour!"
A/N
Dun dun dun! So what do you all think of my little twist on the tournament?
Congrats to honeypotts over on ao3 you guessed correctly that Allison's dad died of dragon box you get to reward yourself with a whole packet of cookies.
