It was an outrage and a show. Karksakoff and Maxime were angry that a young boy had made it past the line. Edmund saw the anger in Harry, the exact same look that Edmund's mother would have on her face when she was angry. He saw his uncle Severus' falter from the usual poker face. The date of when Edmund's aunt and uncle had passed away, both Harry and his uncle were struggling with it. "Harry would never willingly put his name in the cup." Edmund couldn't help the snark, "Neither did I, but here we both are."

The show was that all heads of their schools were so angry that their faces were turning red. The empty threats of pulling out their champions, but it fell on deaf ears as they all knew, after you were chosen, it was a binding contract. Fleur then spoke up, asking why they should be complaining, a young boy would be competing, someone who isn't experienced or the apprentice.

Edmund leant against the cold stones of the wall and looked at Mr. Crouch. "The first task is designed to assess your daring nature. We won't be telling you what you're facing because, courage. Courage in the face of the unknown is bravery." The man snapped out of his own head, "First task will happen on November 24th, the audience will be the students and our panel of judges." Crouch's eyes turned to look at Edmund and Krum, "Champions are not permitted to ask or accept help from any teacher to complete the task in the tournament. Champions will face the first task with only their wands. Information about the second task will be given after completion of the first." Edmund nodded, "All champions are exempted from the end-of-year tests due to the demanding nature of the tournament."

Edmund straightened his back and frowned as he looked over at Dumbledore, who just gave the apprentice a sober nod. Edmund bit the inside of his cheek and shook his head, he likes having to study, to earn his grades. It made him proof to everyone that he can be smart as well.

They discussed some nightly drinks but they all rejected the offer and headed towards bed. "I suggest you two head up to bed, I'm sure your housemates are waiting to celebrate your selection as champion, it would be a shame to let their excuse of making a mess and noise go." Edmund cringed as the thought of how loud every house would be.

They walked back out through the door and it was eerily silent, the Great Hall was abandoned and the pumpkins were flickering. Edmund's posture was as tense as the silence where Harry and him walked through. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"It would have been nice to have known." Harry said quietly. "We're entitled to our secrets." At that moment Edmund saw his mother in Harry as something she had said before floated around in his head.

"May our secrets stay secrets but may our loved ones always know the depth of our love for them." Edmund quoted her quietly. The two looked at one another and at that moment there was an understanding that it wasn't malicious and that they'd never willingly be put against one another.

Harry nodded and they stood before the staircases where they would split up. Edmund clenched his jaw, "I know that we both don't want to do this, but there is no backing out of this, Harry. Together we survive."

Harry nodded. "Enjoy your party." The Gryffindor said.

Edmund gave him a small smile, "Knowing us, everyone is invited." Edmund put a hand on the doorknob that led to the basement. "Try to enjoy it, while we can and before we have to fight for our lives." They nodded at one another.

The hallway to the Hufflepuff basement was getting colder and colder the more Edmund walked through the hallway. He could already hear the faint music that sounded behind the big door. The faint pulse of his heart aligned with the booming music.

The door opened and Edmund looked up at the person who opened the door. "Edmund! You're late!" Draco exclaimed with a big smile on his face and pulled Edmund inside. "Our champion is here!" He exclaimed loudly and a roar of cheering came, then the pats on his shoulders as he walked over to his friends.

He had a cheeky smile on his face, "Nice party." Edmund laughed.

Many people walked up to him to congratulate him for being chosen as a champion, every time he'd just thank them and move on. There wasn't much talking but more dancing and at a sudden moment a flag of Hufflepuff was pushed into his hands.

He held it up and a cheer came, but then he looked over at Padma and Draco clapping politely, he reached over to the Hogwarts flag and held it up. 'Champion of Hogwarts' and 'Hogwart's champion.' was shouted through the whole room. Butterbeers were pushed into his hands along with a few snacks after that.

"A few words from Hogwart's champion!" Cedric had gotten the whole room to be quiet at a certain point, nevermind the quiet whispers. Edmund blinked as every head was turned to them and he looked down at the students who celebrated his rapture.

"As you all know, we've won the Inter-House cup twice in a row." A cheer came from the Hufflepuffs, disgruntled rare grunts came from Slytherins. Edmund held up his cup, "Let all of us get the Triwizard Tournament Cup!" He shouted out and the room bursted out in a deafening roar. Before Edmund was lifted by his quidditch team, "Go to bed, first years!" He shouted.

—

Edmund couldn't ignore how Ron was glaring holes into the back of his head. It was even worse than before, normally the Weasley would talk or whisper behind his back, but now he's glaring at him and saying snarky things into his face. "Why didn't you tell me that you're Dumbledore's apprentice?" A voice that he could recognize from anywhere.

Edmund turned to look at her, "I wasn't supposed to go around telling anyone." He told Hermione with an apologetic tone. "Just like how I wasn't supposed to tell people that I'm a Black."

"Right." She put her plate down by his side. They were the only ones up that early, Ron only came out for a quick snack. She watched the ginger walk out of the Great Hall. "He's angry at Harry."

"He's angry at whoever annoys him in the slightest." Edmund snorted and Hermione frowned. "You still like him like that?" He asked quietly.

"I can't just, stop liking someone." She said and Edmund could see the flash of guilt on her face. "He can be really sweet."

"Only when he feels like it." Edmund said and drank from his goblet. He wanted to talk about how he heard from Padma that Lavender and Ron were going out on a date. How they were actually starting to not be shy anymore. "He probably wants food before Harry wakes up." Edmund muttered.

"Most likely."

Edmund looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. "You're looking quite rough." He teased with a smile on his face. Padma's hair was less neat than usual, and her clothes were slightly wrinkled.

"Had a lovely night though." She said cheerfully as she sat down by their table. "What got the carrot looking so angry?" Padma grimaced as she motioned over to Hermione. "Honestly, don't think I've ever seen him smile."

"Unless he's around Lavender." Edmund snorted, "Good for them though." He said and poured a cup of water for Padma and him.

"So when were you going to tell us that you're Dumbledore's apprentice?" Padma hummed as she bit out of a piece of toast. "Were you always in his office every Friday and Saturday? Or were you just visiting some lady friend of yours?"

Edmund raised an eyebrow at Padma. The Ravenclaw observed him more than he had thought. He would notice her eyes glancing over to him every few times but Edmund didn't think she'd be watching his actions. "Yes." He said, "I was in his office. Friday evenings are for practical magic and Saturdays are for theory lessons."

"Now we have that question answered." Susan said as she sat down. Edmund looked at the Great Hall entrance and saw a bunch of students streaming in, the older ones all had some bags under their eyes. "What is the first task going to be?"

"First task is a task of bravery or courage. Crouch wasn't that clear but, all I got were the words, daring, courage, unknown." Edmund listed off and shrugged at the confused faces, "It's on the 24th."

"You only have less than a month?" Hermione frowned. "That isn't enough time to prepare."

"It wouldn't be if he wasn't Dumbledore's apprentice." Neville pointed out. "I'm sure Professor Dumbledore had taught him a lot." Edmund gave his housemate a small smile and nodded, his eyes glancing over to the Gryffindor table.

"I'm just worried about Harry." He muttered, "With Ron being angry at him, he doesn't really have anyone except for you, Hermione. Maybe a few of his Gryffindor housemates, but that is really it." He picked at his food, "I'm thinking of trying to study with him."

Hermione snorted, "You know how he is with studying."

"He studies when Ron isn't around." Edmund looked up at her. "I'm sure he'll realise that we need to study and know more than the spells that our grade is taught."

Hermione just reached over and put a hand over his. "He's going to need you."

Edmund raised his eyebrows, just slightly as a feeling washed over him. "I know." He said and noticed Susan glancing over to him. He retracted his hand from under hers and cleared his throat. "I'm going to Dumbledore's office, I have a class with him."

Edmund stood up and walked out of the door before he was blinded by a flash. "Colin, what did I say about that flash of yours?" Edmund blinked a few times to get the dark spots in his vision away.

"Do not use it." Colin looked up at him innocently, "But I needed to get ahead! I see everyone asking Krum and that girl from Beauxbatons give out signatures and photos!" Edmund raised his eyebrows at the boy. "Would you sign this?" The boy handed over the polaroid and Edmund reluctantly signed his signature. "Thank you!"

"It's no problem Collin." He hummed and looked around, "Say, where would these people be, if they do want a signature?"

"Oh they're coming here." Colin said and pointed to a group of people who were speed-walking, trying to be subtle in their formation. Edmund let out a breath and patted Colin's back before waving and walking away.

"By Colin! Nice talking to you." Edmund called out. When he rounded a corner he let out a breath as he walked into a girl. He helped the girl up and dusted off her shoulder, "I am so sorry Katie." Edmund said and looked around the corner, he let out a sound of surprise to see them nearing so closely already.

"Are you hiding?" She asked, amused.

"I'm not at that point yet." Edmund said and Katie giggled. "I'd rather think of it as fleeing with," He looked around the corridor, "No place to hide." The girl giggled even louder, as did the approaching footsteps.

"I can hide you." She said, "I don't want to be too forward or like, not harass you." Edmund nervously looked behind again before nodding, at this point he was desperate for a way out at that point. The girl pulled him behind a set of a knight's armour and wrapped her arms over his shoulder and pulled his head down. The next thing he knew was that he felt her lips against his, he had to admit that she was a great kisser.

They could hear the group of people walk by, some even say, 'get a closet, jeez' as they marched past them. Edmund had instinctively put his arms around her waist, his eyes fluttered when they pulled away from one another. After blinking for a few seconds he let go of her waist as if it was a hot pan. "I've got to be honest that I've been thinking of doing that for a while." She admitted and hesitantly leaned over to correct his collar and tie. "Just not in this scenario."

Edmund was quite dumbfounded as he cleared his throat and nodded. "Right." He said and looked at the corridor. "Thank you." He gave her a small smile after she had corrected his collar. "I owe you one."

She chuckled and Edmund didn't think he'd be attracted to it as much as he was at that moment. "A date or a drink?" She teased.

"A drink." He said hesitantly, she looked quite thirsty.

"We'll see how our drinks would go," She leant up and pressed a kiss against his cheek. "Don't make me wait too long, would you?" She whispered and smiled at him before walking off in the direction where the group of girls came from. Edmund watched her leave and turn around with a cheeky smile on her face. "You should wipe that lipstick." She called out before walking through some door.

Edmund's hand shot up to his lips as he wiped away the pigment on his lip. He was still baffled as he sneaked up to Dumbledore's office. He sat down and looked around the room, nothing was out of the ordinary except that he had noticed the smaller things. The shine of a golden necklace representing the Deathly Hallows.

"Edmund." Dumbledore greeted him as he entered his own office. "Glad to see that you've escaped from well, I guess you could consider them your fans." The man said amused, "I believe that one got to you." Edmund's hand once again shot up to his lips and started wiping. "I believe that you have some lipstick on your cheek, dear boy."

Edmund let out a breath and blushed as he wiped away where Katie had kissed his cheek. "Right." He cleared his throat, he was doing that a lot, and straightened his back. "What will we be discussing today, sir?"

"I believe that your uncle had gifted you a rather grand amount of Greek books. Should we discuss that?" Dumbledore said as he sat down.

Edmund perked up and nodded, a smile grew onto his face. "Well, of course I have read mythological books, even though they could be considered non-fiction." Professor Dumbledore nodded, agreeing with him.

"The truths of magic should not be restricted to the minds of muggles as they don't know of our world. They read it as myths when they have all happened before." Edmund nodded. "Little pieces of truth hide in lies."

"I've also inherited mom's Greek books." Edmund said as he sunk a bit into the seat. "My favourite is the book about dragons, one of the first observations written down." Dumbledore nodded and waved his hand, a couple of books floated from the bookshelves and dropped down.

"Your uncle had said that you rather liked those, he wishes to gift you these." Edmund could see by the cracks in the leather that it was read about a hundred times, as well as aged a hundred times.

Edmund perked up once again as he reached over to page through the books. "Oh wow," A shorter version was even written in mermish. "Impressive." He was in awe, some of the books were about a dragon's behaviour. He hadn't found a book on those before, but he had however learnt about it from Charlie, Ron's brother.

Edmund looked through one of the mermish books and wondered why. "They had expeditions for a new cave?" He wondered loudly as he read it. "I thought that they didn't have to move around a lot?"

"Sometimes, we are pushed out of our homes and we need to find a new place where we can belong." Dumbledore said and Edmund looked up at the man, recognizing the feeling. He found a place where he belonged, and he was sure that he would do anything to not be pushed out.

—

A few days had passed and Edmund was subjected to countless pictures with flash and pencils that were pushed into his face for a signature. It was tiring and Edmund couldn't even spend a moment in peace because there was always someone there. "Sir, I'm supposed to take Edmund Black and Harry Potter upstairs."

Snape grimaced and looked over at Edmund's direction, behind Harry and nodded. "Take them. Potter, make sure you remember our lesson, some goes for you, Black." The two boys shared a glance before standing up and heading over to Colin. Edmund rolled his eyes at Ron's behaviour as the boy kept staring up at the ceiling.

It was something important and Ron isn't supporting his friend. Edmund supposes that like any other Gryffindor, Ron wants the glory. "What is this for, Colin?" Edmund asked as he looked down to speak with the boy.

"The Daily Prophet, I think!" Colin answered with a pep in his step.

"Great, exactly what I need. More publicity." Harry grumbled and Edmund snorted at the dull mood of his brother. As an older brother he had been trying to keep Harry's spirits up, but it wasn't really working. They stopped by a door that led to a small classroom and Bagman sat on one of the five chairs.

"Hello, sir." Edmund nodded at Bagman who just saluted him back. The Hufflepuff looked around a bit more and saw Krum, as moody as ever just standing in a corner, Fleur was next to him, exchanging hushed words even though Krum doesn't look like he wants to talk. The girl noticed the door open and she smiled at Edmund, a slight glow shining off of her.

"Here the two of them are! Champion number three and four! Come on in, nothing to worry about." Harry silently snorted from next to Edmund. "It's just the wand weighing ceremony, the rest will be here in a second."

"Wand weighing?" Harry questioned.

"To check if our wands work, no problems." Edmund explained to his brother.

"They're your most important tool in the tasks ahead!" Bagman said cheerfully as always, "Our expert is upstairs with Dumbledore, after the ceremony, a little photoshoot with Rita Skeeter." Bagman motioned over to the witch and Edmund straightened his back at an instant. "She's doing a small piece on the tournament, for the Daily Prophet."

Edmund nudged Harry's arm, "Watch out with Skeeter, Harry." He whispered to the Gryffindor with glasses. "She's a nasty one." Harry looked surprised at Edmund before nodding, the boy wasn't used to Edmund having a strong opinion of someone.

"Not that small, Ludo. You're being modest." Bagman laughed at her joke, but her eyes were set on Harry and Edmund. "Is it possible I could have a word with Harry before we start the ceremony, the youngest champion, to add a little bit of colour?"

"Certainly!" Bagman seemed desperate for any sort of attention. "Unless there are any objections?"

"Yes." Edmund spoke up and kept his chin high as Bagman looked surprised that anyone would go against him. Rita Skeeter narrowed her eyes at Edmund. "We are already missing classes for this ceremony, I believe our time would be better spent doing that so we can return to our classes."

"A passion for school." Rita Skeeter said through narrowing eyes. "We'll have a talk after the ceremony, Harry." The witch nodded at Harry and Bagman uncomfortably cleared his throat. After a tense moment the door opened and the judges walked in, Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Mr. Crouch and Ludo Bagman. Dumbledore had a knowing glint in his eyes when he walked into the room, sensing the tensions.

"May I introduce Mr. Ollivander." Edmund politely clapped, "He will be checking your wands to ensure good conditions before the tournament." Edmund saw the surprise in Harry's eyes and he couldn't deny his own surprise. He knew that he had recognized the Ollivander emblem on Dumbledore's desk, he just didn't know what for.

"Mr. Black, could we have you first?" Edmund nodded and stepped up, he handed the wand back over to its maker.

"I recognized this one, interesting that it chose you." The man hummed and held it up. "But it explained itself the more you grew, Mr. Black." The man tilted his head as he looked back at the wand, "Vine wood," The voice of Ollivander repeated itself in his head from the moment Edmund first got his wand, 'Nearly always those wizards who seek a greater purpose, vision beyond the with hidden depth' "Unicorn Core." 'Consistent magic, difficult to turn to the Dark Arts. Faithful and strongly attached.' "14 ½ inches and quite bendy flexibility. A wonderful wand." Ollivander said shortly and handed it back.

Edmund took a hold of his wand again and gave the man a small smile as he returned to sit in the background. He watched as Ollivander looked at every champion's wand and cast a spell with it, before he knew it Dumbledore stood up from the judges' table. "Thank you all, you may go back to your lessons now, perhaps it would be quicker to go down to dinner, as they are about to end-"

"Photos, Dumbledore!" Bagman cried out, "All the judges and the champions, what do you think, Rita?"

Edmund let out a small disappointed breath. The photographs took a long time, there were so many problems with taking a photo that Edmund wondered if it even was worth it. It was clear that Rita wanted Harry on the cover because she kept taking Harry to the front, then came the individual photos of the champions.

He now knows that he would rather have Colin take his picture than Rita Skeeter. After individual photos they headed down to dinner where Edmund had to force Harry to sit and eat with his friends at the Hufflepuff table.

"You've got to eat." Edmund said as he scooped food onto Harry's plate. "Get some protein, grow more muscles and perhaps get taller." Susan sniffled a laugh and Harry punched Edmund's shoulder.

Edmund sat with his back to the Gryffindor table as he didn't bother with Ron's angry staring. If it continues for a few more days Edmund will be talking with Lavender about keeping her little boyfriend on a tighter leash, or at least sit somewhere away from Edmund as he was getting tired of being Ron's target for laser eye practice.

Edmund turned to look up at the owner of the hands on his shoulders. "Katie." He breathed out at the girl. Her hands were searing hot on his shoulders. "How have you been?"

She pursed his lips as she looked at the sitting Edmund, "Well a bit surprised, actually." Edmund looked confused at her, "That you'd keep me waiting for that long, I thought you were a gentleman."

Edmund's jaw dropped as he blinked a few more times, "Right, of course, I promised you a drink." He stammered out, "How about tomorrow in Hogsmeade?" A Saturday is a nice day. "We could go to the Three Broomsticks?"

"Good, I'm not a big fan of Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop." She smiled and he smiled back instinctively.

"Neither am I." Edmund admitted to her, "I'll pick you up by the front gates around-"

"Around four." Katie said and glanced over to his friends, "We'll probably stay a bit late." She told him. "No friends." She said a lot quieter.

"Of course not." Edmund swallowed the brick in his throat and clenched his jaw as she winked at him before sitting over at the Gryffindor table, along with her quidditch friends.

"What was that?" He could hear Susan say but he didn't bother answering her question as he watched Katie laugh with her friends.

"I think that was moving on, right Ed?" Harry questioned and stepped on his foot, getting his attention back to him and his friends.

"I don't kiss and tell." Edmund muttered with a grin and took a bite of his food.