October 1994, 4th year
Lynea stared in dismay at the large sign that had been erected in the Entrance Hall.
"He did that on purpose, didn't he?"
The sign told them that the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would arrive on the 30th of October. Lessons would end early – which unfortunately meant Potions ending early – and then the impartial judge that was to choose the champions would be revealed during the feast. It was not mentioned directly, but fairly obvious that the revelation of the champions would take place on Halloween, on Samhain, because of course it would.
"Maybe the other schools will insist on upholding the traditions?" Harry said. "They do celebrate Samhain as well, right?"
"One can hope," Pansy said primly. "But we all know why our lovely headmaster chose that date. For the drama, of course, and to make sure we would be sufficiently distracted and kept busy and not even think about celebrating Samhain – because Merlin forbid we observed any traditions that weren't Muggle."
"Let's wait and see," Harry said placatingly. "Nothing has been decided about the 31st, yet."
"Not officially," Pansy sniffed. "Well, this has not been nice, but I have to go and check my sources for new juicy rumours or I'm going to be sulking for the rest of the week. I'm sure Golden Boy Diggory is going to enter, but this will surely have sparked some other competition."
The next moment, she had disappeared into the crowd. Lynea decided she had endured the loudness and the closeness long enough and weaved through the assembled students to the edge of the hall from where she might be able to get to the stairs that led to the dungeons.
"Cedric is participating?" Harry asked, having followed her. "I didn't know about that."
Lynea frowned at how put out he sounded.
"Oh, yes," Blaise said, emerging from the crowd, looking rather smug. "The Hufflepuffs have been talking about it for weeks. Annabel actually threw me out of her bed when I implied I might have slept with him, because I 'dared to taint his reputation' or something."
Harry gaped at him like a fish.
"You did sleep with him, though," Lynea said and Harry made an odd choking sound. "And it was on mutual agreement, wasn't it?"
Blaise inclined his head, smirking at the way Harry's face was reddening. "It was very much mutual, he sure deserves his title as the Golden Boy of Hogwarts. Although he does not like to be called that in bed." He wriggled his eyebrows at Harry. "What about you, darling? Would you liked to be called a Golden Boy, Harry?"
Harry spluttered some incoherent words.
"Thought so," Blaise said, still smirking and turned his attention to Lynea.
"No, thank you," Lynea said to both his spoken and implied question.
Blaise shook his head with a dramatically disappointed sigh. "That's too bad, but not unexpected. Well then, I guess I will see if I can find Eddie and see what the Ravenclaws are gossiping about. I'm sure Pansy would be thrilled if I gained some privileged inside information her sources are unwilling to reveal."
"Are you that good?" Lynea asked dryly, even though she already knew the answer to that.
Blaise winked at her and then tapped the side of his nose. "If you want to know, all you need to do is ask, darling."
Lynea only snorted as she waved him off and then started inching along the wall towards the stairs, a red-faced Harry close on her heels. Draco, Vincent and Gregory joined them on the way and at the top of the stairs, they found Theodore and Daphne watching the crowd in apprehension.
"What has you so flustered, Harry?" Draco asked.
Since Harry didn't manage to string any coherent words together to form a sentence, Lynea answered for him, "Blaise made some innuendos and poor, innocent Harry couldn't handle it." She tilted her head. "And I suppose his crush on Diggory didn't help."
"Hey!" Harry exclaimed, having found his voice again, although he still looked rather flustered. "I do not have a crush on Cedric Diggory."
Draco eyed him sceptically. "As if anyone would believe you. You crush is so obvious, Harry." He huffed. "Really, everyone knows, there is no use in denying it."
"As obvious as your crush, Draco?" Daphne said in a teasing voice.
"Draco has a crush?" Harry asked immediately.
"I do not!" Draco returned indignantly.
Lynea tuned them out for the rest of the walk to their common room and instead enjoyed the comfortable silence that surrounded Theodore, Vincent and Gregory. She didn't mind all the talks about sex and crushes or even romance, but she didn't much care for them, either. There were more important things taking up places in her time and in her mind.
The general student body could only talk about the Triwizard Tournament for the rest of the week – possible candidates for the Hogwarts champion were especially popular, but also discussions about the actual tasks of the tournament and speculations about the foreign students.
Pansy soaked it all up like a sponge and was practically glowing more and more each day, happily sharing the latest news of the rumour mill with her fellow Slytherins, while Blaise occasionally added whatever his latest partners had told him. (Draco joked, once, that at the rate he was going, Blaise would soon have slept with the whole school and Blaise in return, with a dangerous glint in his eyes, asked whether that was a challenge. Draco never brought it up again.)
The students weren't the only ones affected by the whole event, though. The teachers seemed more on edge and focused on making everything and everyone appear perfectly immaculate. On the fateful day, the Great Hall was lavishly decorated in silk banners representing each house and one bearing the Hogwarts crest behind the teachers' table.
And it was finally time.
The students assembled in lines, while their respective Head of House looked them over and corrected any untidiness and pointed out even a single hair out of place. Harry was told to straighten his necktie, Vincent and Gregory had to be helped even tying theirs and Millicent kept grumbling about how restricting it felt. Lynea wondered what they all had against ties, while Snape berated her for not wearing her cloak (it was still too warm for that, in her opinion) and Pansy was told off for using her favourite black lipstick.
It was a fine evening outside and the students managed to wait in silence for nearly twenty full seconds, before the first whispers broke out. This time, they were speculating about the means of arrival the other two schools might use.
Beauxbatons was the first to arrive – in a flying carriage, pulled by majestic golden Abraxans, landing with a loud crash that made Neville accidentally jump on Miles Bletchley's foot. The Slytherin thankfully did not make a fuss, but only because he was distracted by the large woman that emerged from the carriage.
Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons, was as tall as Hagrid and dressed in elegant black robes that complimented her olive skin. Her students were all clad in fine, blue robes that were definitely too thin for late autumn in Scotland and might even have made Lynea shiver. They looked unsurprisingly unhappy.
Headmaster Dumbledore greeted Madame Maxime cordially and assured her that her horses would be taken care of, while the Hogwarts students searched the sky for another carriage. Durmstrang, however, did not arrive via air travel. Durmstrang used a boat. A boat that emerged from under the water of the Great Lake.
In stark contrast to the students of Beauxbatons, the ones from Durmstrang wore thick cloaks made of matted fur and their headmaster, whom Lynea was sure had once been a Death Eater, paled in comparison to both Madame Maxime and Headmaster Dumbledore. He really wasn't all that remarkable.
"Merlin's balls!" someone exclaimed somewhere behind Lynea.
Harry leaned around her to look at Draco with wide eyes. "It's Viktor Krum!"
"Viktor Krum?" Lynea asked quietly, not being able to help herself.
Both Harry and Draco stared at her incredulously and a hand fell heavily on her shoulder. Lynea turned her head to look at Blaise, who thankfully removed his hand right away.
"Oh Lynea, darling," Blaise said, sounding almost disappointed. "Viktor Krum is one of the best and youngest professional Quidditch Seekers in the world."
"Ah," Lynea said noncommittally, more surprised at the fact that Blaise of all people knew that – who was just as interested in Quidditch as she was, so not in the slightest – than learning some famous seeker had just entered their castle.
There were several people frantically searching for quill and parchment, wondering whether they could get an autograph from Krum, and Lynea could only shake her head as she entered the Great Hall with her housemates and sat down at the Slytherin table.
The Beauxbatons students (to Hermione's delight and that of every single one of her housemates) settled among the Ravenclaws, while the Durmstrang students, after some indecision, came over to the Slytherins, taking off their cloaks to reveal deep red robes. This prompted several snakes to throw smug looks across the hall to the Gryffindors, who couldn't do more than grumble and glower at them.
Draco immediately leaned forward to address Krum in his best impression of his father – very posh and polite and self-important and all. Harry snorted and then managed to inadvertently catch the attention of several other Durmstrang students, which in turn prompted Krum to focus on him and soon Harry had nearly all of them roped into a discussion about their schools and Quidditch and pompous brats that meant no harm. Lynea watched in fascination and Theodore subtly shuffled closer, so he could listen more intently.
Once all the students had found a place to sit, the staff entered the hall. The students from Beauxbatons rose and waited for Madame Maxime to sit down, before resuming their seats, steadfastly ignoring the rude snickers some of the Hogwarts students made at that.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and – most particularly – guests," Dumbledore said solemnly, his eyes twinkling more than ever as he made his introductory speech, before declaring the feast open.
Lynea was not the only one delighted to see that there were new additions to the usual food. Dishes common to France and Bulgaria, but also Norway and Sweden and several other countries had been added to the boring British cuisine and with the Durmstrang students at their table the whole feast was indefinitely livelier and more interesting. There was a slight commotion when a girl from the Beauxbatons delegation walked over to the Gryffindors to retrieve some dish and several heads, most of them boys, turned to follow her every move.
"Part Veela?" Lynea asked no one in particular.
Theodore shook his head slightly and the dazed look in his eyes cleared. "Probably."
"Definitely," Blaise said, directing one of his more insufferable smirks to Draco and Harry, who both seemed rather unaffected.
Unlike Pansy, who was nearly drooling at this point and had to be smacked on the shoulder by Tracey before she returned to reality.
"Oh, she's sitting next to Cho," Harry said in an odd voice.
Draco narrowed his eyes. "What, do you have a crush on her, too, now?"
Harry flushed. "I don't know what you mean."
"I believe the judges have just arrived," Daphne said, pointing at the teachers' table.
"Bagman and Crouch, huh," Harry said. "I guess we should have seen that coming, the way they acted at the World Cup."
"Oh, Harry," Draco said with a mocking sneer. "Poor, simple-minded Harry. I already told you those two would be part of the judges. But you never listen to me." He tsked and shook his head in disappointment.
Harry pursed his lips and decided not to dignify that with an answer. Lynea was just glad they had returned to their usual banter. Having Draco throw furtive glances at Harry and Harry deliberately not looking at Draco became quite exhausting right on the first day and was near unbearably when lasting for nearly an entire month.
Once pudding had been served and everyone was sufficiently sated, Dumbledore came to his feet again to make another, more lengthy speech about the tournament, introducing Bartemius Crouch and Ludo Bagman and then explaining how the champions would be selected. Then he took out his wand and tapped the casket that their caretaker, Mr Filch, had brought in to reveal a large, wooden cup filled with bright blue flames. Lynea looked over to the Ravenclaw table and saw Hermione's transfixed stare. Hermione's favourite spell was still conjuring Bluebell Flames.
"Tomorrow night, Halloween," Dumbledore was saying, "the Goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools."
Lynea heaved an inaudible sigh. And there was the confirmation that the old man had definitely chosen this date on purpose. Although, to his credit, he had probably done it more for the added drama and cancelling the Samhain celebrations would just be an added bonus.
Or not.
"We will, of course, still celebrate the proper traditions," one of the Durmstang students said with a heavy accent Lynea had never heard before. "Headmaster Karkaroff has assured us that it will be no problem with the selection of the champions."
Lynea hoped they would be allowed to join. Witnessing other traditions, especially Samhain ones, would be such a unique chance.
"We prefer our magically traditions, as well," Draco said. "It is only Headmaster Dumbledore who does not seem to understand that."
"Is that so?" the Durmstrang student said curiously.
There was not enough time for them to discuss all their problems with Dumbledore and previous Samhain nights, because the feast was now over and the prefects had started ushering the students out of the hall so they could all go to bed.
"Viktor," a deep voice said, "how are you feeling? Did you eat enough? Should I send for some mulled wine from the kitchens?"
Lynea twisted around and found Headmaster Karkaroff standing just behind them, his attention focused solely on Krum, who only shook his head as he put his furs back on.
"Professor, I would like some wine," one of the other students said in a hopeful voice.
"I wasn't offering it to you, Poliakoff," Karkaroff snapped.
He looked like he was going to comment on the way Poliakoff had stained his robes with food, when his eyes fell on Harry, sitting next to his student, and he froze. Karkaroff's eyes travelled up to Harry's famous scar, hidden partially behind his unruly black hair. His students, who had already overcome their surprise when the feast had begun and introductions had been made, watched their headmaster in silence. For a while, it seemed as if no one was going to move. Then a drawling voice pulled them out of their strange reverie.
"Yes, Karkaroff, that is indeed Harry Potter," Professor Snape said in an almost bored tone.
Karkaroff jumped slightly and then turned around. "Snape," he said shortly.
Snape gave him a nasty smile, but any kind of confrontation was prevented by Krum, who declared that he was tired and wanted to return to the ship. Karkaroff immediately went back into the 'worried headmaster' role and hurried Krum out of the hall, the others following close behind.
Professor Snape stared after him for a moment and then snapped at his Slytherins to move along. They didn't take it personally, sometimes their Head of House was just snappish like that.
o
"Yes, thank you. I appreciate it," Lynea said to the ghost and then stepped back into the common room.
All the Slytherins gathered there looked at her in interest.
"How did it go? What did they say?" a sixth-year student asked.
"They managed to convince him," Lynea answered and everyone in the room heaved a collective sigh of relief. "Madame Maxime was particularly insistent that their traditions had absolutely nothing to do with any Dark Arts and quite insulted that Dumbledore dared to even suggest that. Headmaster Karkaroff even argued on our behalf – apparently some of his students told him how Dumbledore had treated Samhain these past years. There is no way he can forbid us to observe our traditions this year, not if he wants to stay in the good graces of the other schools. Which is kind of the point of this whole tournament."
A few people nodded and murmured to themselves and soon they were all minding their own business again, so Lynea joined her friends in their usual place in front of one of the fireplaces. Harry, Pansy and Blaise were absent, because Harry had wanted to visit Hagrid and Pansy had seized the chance to get outside and take a look at the carriage and the ship. No one knew where Blaise had gone off to, which was not ideal because Slytherins shouldn't wander the halls alone, but also completely his own fault.
"I wonder whether Dumbledore truly believes that," Tracey mused. "It would at least explain why he is trying to push the Samhain traditions out far more insistently than any of the other sabbats."
"But where would he have gotten that notion?" Daphne said.
Vincent huffed. "The mudbloods and Muggle lovers poisoned him, obviously."
Several people immediately hissed low warnings at him and Lynea noted that Draco was among them.
"I prefer to think of him having a somewhat understandable reason," Tracey said, deciding to ignore Vincent's comment. "If he believes the Samhain traditions are evil, then there is a chance he might change his mind. If it's something else, we will never stand a chance."
"I'm surprised you are defending our traditions so fervently, Tracey," Daphne said in a neutral tone.
Tracey shrugged. "I have grown up with a foot in both worlds, haven't I? And I came to appreciate the customs and traditions of the magical world more and more since I came to Hogwarts. I think magical traditions belong in the magical world and Muggle traditions in the Muggle world. Celebrating both is fine, but mixing them up is not."
Draco nodded. "That is a very good opinion, which I strongly support."
Several people looked at him in open shock, but Draco ignored them in favour of carefully watching Lynea's reaction. Lynea paid him no mind him and encouraged Tracey to elaborate a bit more on what she had said. The conversation moved on shortly after that and soon it was time for them to go to dinner, to the Halloween Feast, and wait patiently until it was time for the reveal of the three champions.
Many students had lingered in the Entrance Hall all day to watch who would put their name into the Goblet of Fire and the excitement had not dimmed in the slightest as the day progressed. Of course, the delegations from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons had all put their names in – that was what they had come for, after all. The Weasley twins and their friend Lee Jordan had brewed an Ageing Potion to try and outsmart Dumbledore's age-line, but of course that had backfired. They had taken in their long, grey beards with humour, though. They hadn't even been the only ones to try such a stunt.
Pansy had gathered all the rumours surrounding the candidates from Hogwarts – among the few confirmed entries were Cassius Warrington of Slytherin, Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff and Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor. None of the rumoured Ravenclaws had confirmed their entry so far.
Reaching the Entrance Hall, the Slytherins were joined by Harry, Pansy and Blaise, who had come inside just behind Hagrid and Madame Maxime.
"He fancies her," Pansy said in lieu of greeting. "I thought I was going to go blind when I saw the atrocity of a suit he's wearing."
"At least he got rid of that cologne," Harry said, frowning.
"Two half-giants, how fitting," Draco muttered.
"Half-giants?" Harry asked and Draco shot him a look that made him duck his head sheepishly as they entered the Great Hall.
The usual ridiculous Halloween decorations had been put up and the Slytherins amused themselves with making fun of it together with the Durmstrang students, who had seemed quite put out, when they saw all the live bats and floating, carved pumpkins. The Beauxbatons students didn't seem very delighted with the decorations, either, but they hadn't seemed delighted about anything Hogwarts had to offer so far.
The Feast wasn't as impressive when you had two of them on consecutive days and even less so when everyone was waiting impatiently for what came after, but they chattered the time away with inane conversations until it was finally time.
Each time the fire in the Goblet turned red, a piece of charred parchment was spit out in a flurry of sparks and Dumbledore caught it out of the air to read the name written on it out loud to the waiting crowd.
"The champion for Durmstrang," he said, "will be Viktor Krum."
This came as no surprise at all and the Slytherins happily cheered for Krum as he stood up from their table and made his way to the teachers' table from where he disappeared into a side-chamber.
"The champion for Beauxbatons," Dumbledore said, "is Fleur Delacour!"
"The Veela girl," Blaise said. "Not surprising, either."
Unlike the remaining students of Durmstrang, the Beauxbatons students didn't take the selection very well. Two of them even broke out into tears right in front of everyone.
"The Hogwarts champion," Dumbledore called and all the Hogwarts students held their breaths, "is Cedric Diggory!"
All of Hufflepuff sprang to their feet and started cheering very, very loudly, screaming and stamping their feet. The commotion took quite some time to die down, because no one wanted to take that joy away from them. Hufflepuff deserved it.
"How can I be mad at that?" Draco grumbled. "Look at them – the only other time I ever saw them that happy was when they won the house cup last year and no one even knew how that had happened."
"Golden Boy Diggory," Blaise said with a dramatic sigh, "what a heart-throb."
Pansy snorted. "Maybe one day you will be able to steal that title from him. Once you have slept with the whole school and wrapped everyone around your little finger."
"Oh, please," Blaise said teasingly, "as if I would let this perfect chance slip through my fingers to get to know foreign – ah – customs." He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Darling, I simply have no time for all of Hogwarts at the moment."
"You know," Lynea said, ignoring the speech Dumbledore had started, "despite all the commotion this has been an unusually peaceful Samhain so far. No one was put in mortal peril who doesn't want to be."
"Oh, no," Draco said, looking in horror at the Goblet of Fire, "you just jinxed it."
Everyone turned to look at the Goblet, which had started spouting red fire and sparks again and watched in stunned silence as another, fourth piece of charred parchment sailed through the air. Dumbledore caught it almost automatically and stared at it for a long moment.
And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and said a name that made every single person in the Great Hall turn their heads towards the Slytherin table.
"Harry Potter."