I'll preface this by saying I think that the Triwizard Tournament should NEVER have been resurrected. However, given that it was, I have an issue with the rules regarding who was allowed to enter. This chapter addresses that.
"Eager as many of you will undoubtedly be to represent Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament, " said Dumbledore matter of factly, "The organizers of the Triwizard Tournament have agreed to implement a new rule this year so as to exclude participants who are not prepared for the challenges and dangers that the Triwizard Tournament entails. Only students in sixth year and above. The organizers of the Triwizard Tournament are in agreement that students in fifth year and below would not be capable of coping with the Triwizard Tasks. "
"Fuck that," said Draco Malfoy at the Slytherin table, "I mean, a first year pureblood would make a better Hogwarts Champion than a seventh year mudblood."
"Mr. Malfoy," interjected Flitwick sharply, "We do NOT use that offensive "m" word. Twenty points from Slytherin and detention with me tonight."
That shut Draco up.
"The Goblet of Fire," explained Dumbledore calmly, "Has now been preprogrammed to know which students are in which years. If Laura Madley tries to put her name in the Goblet of Fire, the Goblet of Fire will know that she is a first year and spit her parchment back out the nanosecond she puts it in. The same holds true for any student below sixth year. Only students in sixth year and above may put forth their names for the Triwizard Tournament."
"This makes sense," piped up Luna Lovegood from the Ravenclaw table, "I'm glad this is being based on year rather than age."
"Doing it by age wouldn't be fair," interjected Katie Bell from the Gryffindor Table, "For example, if you made the rule that only students aged seventeen or older, then Cedric Diggory and Angelina Johnson would be able to put their names in the Goblet of Fire if they wanted to whereas Fred Weasley and George Weasley wouldn't be able to. That would be bullshit and be completely unfair to Fred and George."
'Bingo!" chorused Fred and George, both of them smiling at Katie.
"Well," barked Ernie MacMillan from the Hufflepuff table in a loud carrying voice, "I'd compare it to the Hogsmeade rules. Note how the rules about going to Hogsmeade are based on year and not age and how that makes it far fairer. This is the same idea."
"Exactly," agreed Elanor Branstone from the Hufflepuff table, "My BFF is Laura Madley. Her birthday is April 22nd whereas mine is September 26th, a date that falls before the first Hogsmeade visit of any year. If the rule about Hogsmeade was that you had to be fourteen to go, there would be several instances in our third year where I would be allowed to go to Hogsmeade and Laura would not just because of where her birthday happens to fall on the calendar and that would be COMPLETELY unfair to Laura. Laura and I are really looking forward to going to Hogsmeade together for the first time in two years' time when the first visit of our third year happens. A year based concept is indisputably superior to an age based concept and the same thing applies here."
"That's a fantastic analogy, Miss Branstone," beamed Dumbledore, "Making it year based makes it fairest to all. I should also inform you all that during the time in which the Goblet of Fire is available for eligible students to enter their names into it, a teacher who is not a head of a house will watch over it. The teachers who are not heads of house will take shifts supervising the Goblet of Fire to ensure no inappropriate name comes out of it. You see, the teacher who is standing guard over the Goblet of Fire will be checking your slips of parchment to make sure that the name on the parchment is your own name. You will need to show your slip of parchment to the teacher before being allowed to proceed with putting the parchment into the Goblet of Fire."
"In other words, " recognized Tracey Davis from the Slytherin table, "No pranks and no unsavory influence."
"Exactly, Miss Davis," confirmed Dumbledore, "Each eligible student will make his or her own choice about whether to put his or her name into the Goblet of Fire."
This chapter was one of my own ideas. I have always thought the rules about who was allowed to put their names in the Goblet of Fire should have been year based rather than age based as I never thought it was fair that Angelina could choose to enter while Fred and George couldn't when Angelina is in the same year/class as Fred and George.
A shout out to the following members who have added Things That Should Have Happened in Canon to their favorites and/or follows lists since the last update:
ConquestWarFamineandDeath
Much love from Arizona for all the support. Love you all-Michael. :)
:)