(singing a song as I read some articles) Yeesh. Fallout all over. Well, back to imagination and writing. (continues singing as I magically summon the Disclaimers)

Disclaimers: As per usual, I don't own either book franchise.

Later that night, the kids were racing through the heavy rain and going inside to the Great Hall to watch every student willing to join the tournament put their names in.

Val watched as Cedric was pushed to the front and he put his name in, giving him a round of applause. "Good luck, Cedric!"

The elder Hufflepuff grinned at her, causing the Dhampir to blush profusely.

Ron and Harry walked over to her, the redhead speaking up. "Eternal glory, it'd be brilliant, wouldn't it? Three years from now when we're old enough to be chosen."

"Yeah, rather you boys than me." Val snarked at her friends.

"Probably a good thing too." A voice spoke up, causing the teens to turn and see the older blonde boy. "Those tasks are as deadly as anything you may come across. Not that I'd know anything about it, of course. I'm Joss McMillan, by the way. Henry's older cousin." He extended a hand out to them.

Harry accepted his hand. "Oh, yeah. Henry was telling us about you this summer while we were at the World Cup, mate. I'm Harry Potter, this is Ron Weasley," He motioned to Ron, who gave a friendly nod in turn before Harry pointed to Valerie. "And this is Valerie Tod."

"Just Val, please." Val shook Joss's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Joss." She got a closer look at his badge, noting the letters S.S. on it. "What does SS mean?"

Suddenly, the Weasley twins dashed in with raucous cheers to the applause of the onlookers, cutting off the conversation as Fred spoke. "Well lads, we did it!"

"Cooked it up just this morning!" George added.

Hermione spoke up with a singsong tone. "It's not going to work."

Val tuned out the banter between Hermione and the twins as she thought over the DADA class and how Professor Moody acted. She knew from her uncle's stories about the grizzled old teacher that he was cautious and severely wary. This impostor didn't seem to be either or, considering his usage of the Unforgivable Curses so willy-nilly.

Joss suddenly grabbed her and pulled her down as the twins flew over their heads from their failed attempt, both looking over to see the redheads now sporting hair as white as Dumbledore's.

Val burst into laughter and as the twins started to fight, she started chanting with the others: "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Suddenly the chants stopped as the others looked around to see Krum walk in, put his name into the Goblet, and give Hermione a single glance before he left.

Val raised an eyebrow, suspicious about Krum's look to Hermione, but she said nothing.

Finally, as the bell rang on the hour of the decision, the time had come. Everyone was gathered and seated, and the names had been submitted.

"Now the moment you've all been waiting for: The champion selection!" Dumbledore called out, moving his hand around before he slowly made his way to the Goblet.

Val held her breath nervously, the anticipation killing her.

Finally, the Goblet spat out the first name that Dumbledore read: "The Durmstrang champion is Viktor Krum!"

Everyone applauded for Krum, Val smiling a bit.

Next was the Beauxbatons representative. "The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"

Val applauded for her fellow female, grinning brightly. "Go, Fleur!"

Finally, the champion for the home team. "The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!"

Val cheered the loudest for Cedric, excited to see one of her friends in the competition. "YEAH!"

"Excellent!" Dumbledore cut them off. "We now have our three champions! But in the end, only one will go down in history."

Crouch carried in an unknown item as Dumbledore continued, "Only one will hoist this chalice of champions. This vessel of victory, the Triwizard Cup!"

The cover was pulled off with a flourish to reveal the bright crystal blue glowing cup as everyone cheered once again.

Val noticed Otis and Snape stepping forward with looks of surprise and confusion on their faces and frowned, looking over to see what they were looking at before her eyes widened. "What the?" She wasn't alone either; everyone else was looking in the same direction.

The Goblet was spitting out blue fire before it turned pink again, unleashing another piece of paper that Dumbledore caught and read the name on it before he looked around the room. "Valerie Tod?"

Val's heart nearly sank as she collapsed in her chair; that couldn't have been her name. How was that possible?

Harry looked at Val, sharing her disbelief. "There's no way you did it. I don't buy it." He got up and pulled her with him as he went up to the professor. "Sir, if I may look at that?"

Dumbledore nodded and passed the paper to Harry, who took it and pulled his wand out, tapping the small paper as he held up a slip with Val's writing on it.. "Revelio."

Instantly, the two signatures rose up and hovered in midair, slowly coming together as everyone watched and making a near perfect match.

Harry saw the discrepancy and pointed to it. "There. Val doesn't use her lettering with points. It's more curved."

Dumbledore took a close look and nodded before he looked at Val, his voice quiet. "Ms. Tod, if you'd please join the other champions down below for the moment, I need to have a discussion with the staff and Barty."

Val nodded nervously, but her legs wouldn't move from her still stunned shock.

Harry helped lead her out of the room and down to the other three champions. "There we go."

Cedric looked at Harry in confusion. "Harry, what's going on, mate?"

Harry took a breath before he explained the situation to the three, each of the older students looking at each other in confusion.

Fleur spoke up after Harry had finished. "Perhaps the Goblet had recognized her from a different school. She is an Ilvermorny transfer, is she not?"

Harry nodded to Fleur. "Yeah."

Krum spoke his thoughts. "I do not believe Valerie would have put her name in there. She is different, but she is smarter than to break the rules."

Cedric nodded and looked at Val. "Where do you usually go at night, Val?"

"The forest, to get some sustenance." Val said plainly.

"And she always joins us for the daytime classes and such." Harry added.

Cedric nodded before he saw the teachers coming down and went to Dumbledore and Crouch. "Well? What's the verdict?"

Mr. Crouch spoke after a second. "The rules are absolute. The Goblet of Fire constitutes a binding magical contract." He looked up at Cedric before he looked at Val. "Ms. Tod has no choice. She is… as of tonight… a Triwizard Champion."

Val gulped nervously as she felt the implications hit her like a freight train. She was a champion now.

Oh crap, she's in trouble now. Well, read and review as per usual.