In her fatigue the previous night, Hermione had instinctively fallen back to her usual routine and mindlessly returned to her bed. While this would normally not be an issue, this meant that she woke up the morning of November 1st in her dormitory with the other Slytherin girls, and Tracey pounced on her at once.
"Hermione! You're back! Listen: I am so sorry. Let me apologize—"
Hermione felt rather like a tree to a koala, like a monkey was wrapping around her with preternaturally long arms and legs, determined to cling to her and never let go. Hermione squirmed to try and shove Tracey off of her, who was babbling and chattering at her rapidly.
"—mostly jealous, because Blaise knew and I didn't, and that hurt, and I never actually thought you were perverted or a danger, I was just mad, and I'm sorry, I really really am sorry and I didn't mean any of it—"
"Tracey, get off," Hermione said sharply, finally wriggling free and rolling off her bed to escape. "I'll listen, but get off me, alright? I'm not ready for hugs and the like."
"Right. Right." Tracey fell back, and as Hermione stood up and sat back down on her bed, she could see that Tracey's eyes were red.
Hermione took a deep breath, deeply regretting her forgetfulness in returning here the previous night. "Right. What did you want to say?"
The apology poured out of Tracey, raw and earnest; she was sorry, she never meant any of it, she'd just felt hurt and left out not knowing something so key about Hermione so she'd lashed out trying to hurt her, she knew she shouldn't have, she was sorry, she'd do anything to make it better—
Hermione closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten.
The idea that Tracey hadn't actually meant the awful things she said and that she'd just said them because she was angry and wanted to hurt Hermione — that almost felt worse than if she'd actually been a bigot. It definitely made her crueler and more malicious instead of just ignorant, and Hermione tried her best to keep her temper from flaring. Lashing out at Tracey might make her feel better, but it wasn't likely to resolve anything, and was very likely to make things worse.
"You say you'll do anything to make it up to me?" Hermione said finally.
Tracey looked eager and all-too-hopeful at Hermione finally responding. "Yes!"
"Fine," Hermione said shortly, folding her arms. "Make Daphne fine with it too."
Tracey blinked. "Daphne?"
"You got Daphne and Millie all into a tizzy with this nonsense," Hermione said curtly. "So fix it."
Tracey seemed thrown by this, and she looked over at Daphne, who was very carefully not looking over at Hermione. Millie was watching them both unashamedly, and when Hermione met her eyes, she shrugged, blasé, and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You brought an assault on me and my character where I'm supposed to sleep," Hermione told Tracey flatly. "Now Daphne doesn't feel safe when I'm in the room, and that's entirely your fault."
Tracey gnawed her lip. "Snape said—"
"I don't care what Snape said — you need to fix this," Hermione snapped. "Got it?"
Tracey fell back, before nodding, subdued.
"Okay," she vowed. "I will."
Hermione wondered Tracey fixing things was even possible.
Once she'd been dragged out of the closet into the light in front of her dormmates, it was hardly like they could just shove her back in.
At breakfast, Hermione was pleasantly surprised when Viktor sat down next to her.
"You still want to sit next to me?" she asked. "Even with all the fourth champion nonsense?"
Viktor's expression darkened a bit.
"Not your fault," he said shortly. "Karkaroff thinks your friend entered himself, but I listen. No one endanger their friends that way, with magic tied together."
Hermione heaved a sigh. "Thanks."
"Is nothing," Viktor said, his lips quirking in a crooked sort of smile. "I not want upset witch which can set army of ghosts on me. I am not so stupid."
"I can't set an army of ghosts on you—!"
Viktor laughed, picking up a platter and offering her the bacon.
As expected, all the gossip that morning was all about Harry Potter and the scandal of a fourth champion. The Slytherins overall seemed to disbelieve the claim that Harry hadn't entered himself, while the Durmstrang students were more inclined to believe something nefarious was at play.
"Good way to kill young boy," Alexei said, nodding with his mouth full. "Viktor can cast big magic. Little boy cannot."
Even though Hermione knew it to be true, it stressed her out to hear it put quite so plainly, and she found her appetite gone.
The mail finally arrived with a flutter of owl wings, and Hermione snatched her copy of the Daily Prophet, eager to see what Rita had done.
.
TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT SCANDAL THREATENS STUDENT SAFETY!
Four champions mistakenly chosen – one underage!
Ministry and Dumbledore refuse to take action!
By Rita Skeeter
.
The champions for the Triwizard Tournament were chosen at Hogwarts yesterday, with a nasty twist: a fourth champion, an underage student who did not enter himself, had his name come out of the Goblet of Fire. That student? One Harry Potter – the Boy who Lived.
"Underage students weren't supposed to be able to enter," said Ludo Bagman, one of the organizers of the tournament. "Dumbledore put down an Age Line, and people younger than 17 weren't able to cross it to enter in their names."
Last night, the Goblet of Fire issued the names of the champions to compete. They are:
Durmstrang: Viktor Krum
Beauxbatons: Fleur Delacour
Hogwarts: Cedric Diggory
Harry Potter's name came out of the goblet last, a nasty surprise to all, but perhaps most of all to Harry Potter, who was also mourning the anniversary of his parents' death. And with this unfortunate selection from the goblet, now he might face his own.
"The Goblet of Fire is an extraordinarily powerful magical object," said Alastor Moody, retired Auror and current professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. "In order for Potter's name to come out, someone had to hoodwink it into thinking there were four schools competing, not three. A child couldn't do that kind of magic. Not a chance. No, somebody did this as a threat."
For once, Moody seems to have the right of it; the unfortunate fourth champion is firm on the fact that he did not submit his name to be chosen, so this could not be an unfortunate mistake.
"I didn't enter myself," Harry Potter told the Prophet. "It's ridiculously dangerous, and frankly, I don't need more fame or glory. Somebody put my name in the goblet without my consent."
Despite the scandal of a fourth champion being chosen, the Ministry refuses to take action, stating that though it is unfortunate, Potter will have to participate.
"Anybody whose name comes out of the Goblet of Fire is under a binding magical contract," said Barty Crouch Sr, another organizer of the tournament. "Although suboptimal, Potter will have to compete."
The binding magical contract of the Goblet of Fire depends on the participant having written down their name on a slip of paper, not on the participants submitting their names to the goblet themselves. As such, anybody who had an autograph of Harry Potter, or even one of his old school assignments with his name at the top, would have had the access necessary to force an unwelcome magical contract upon the young boy, who is only fourteen.
"I'm underage, and I'm part of a coven," Potter emphasized. "You're not supposed to have binding magical contracts if you're underage, anyway. And anything that's a binding magical contract – that doesn't affect just me. It affects my entire coven, and it puts all my friends' magic at risk."
Potter is part of the incredible coven that helped two witches conceive a child earlier this year. The fact this travesty of a tournament now jeopardizes the magic of these incredible witches and wizards is an affront to magic itself.
"It's a bit scary, yeah, but I'm sure Harry will do fine," said Bagman. "He's got his whole school behind him, and we've got a lot of safety precautions in place this year to make sure everyone comes out alive."
"I am not the Hogwarts champion," Potter said firmly, countering Bagman's statements. "The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory. The whole school should be supporting him."
The Ministry was less than receptive to the idea of taking action to get Potter out of the tournament, even if it might save his magic and his life, and Dumbledore has refused to intervene on behalf of his student as well.
"We are not going to cancel the tournament, nor are we going to attempt to coax the Goblet of Fire into lighting once again," said Crouch. "Frankly, getting it to light at all this time was nothing short of a major working. Potter will simply have to compete in the tournament."
No longer the Triwizard Tournament, but now a Tetrawizard tournament, the four champions will compete in an unknown task in late November to test their courage in the face of the unknown: the Durmstrang champion, the Beauxbatons champion, the Hogwarts champion, and the Reluctant champion, who did not want to be involved at all.
Look for profiles of all the champions coming soon.
.
Hermione set her newspaper down on the table, satisfied. For a last-second rush piece, Rita had done an excellent job.
"How did she get this so fast?" Daphne said, astonished. "This all just happened last night!"
"Night is long?" Goyle offered.
"Yeah," Crabbe agreed. "S'what, eight hours? Ten? It only takes me three to write an essay."
"There's more involved in writing a news article than in writing a Potions essay," Pansy said, exasperated. "She would have had to get a hold of Bagman and Crouch, for one. What did the reporter do? Bang on their doors at midnight?"
"Dunno," Goyle said, shrugging. "I didn't read the article. I was just saying."
"This is a good slant for Harry," Draco said, looking over the article himself. "I mean, as ridiculous as it is, it is a threat." He looked up at Hermione. "Do you have a plan?"
"Cheat," Hermione said, folding her arms. "Cheat as ruthlessly and mercilessly as possible."
Viktor laughed.
"Cheating is tradition of tournament," he told her, amused. "Karkaroff will to try and cheat also. Beauxbatons too."
"Oh," said Hermione, faltering a bit. "Well. Then we'll just cheat too."
"Would Dumbledore really cheat to help his champions?" Theo asked. "I get the feeling he wouldn't."
"Bully for Dumbledore," Hermione said savagely. "He didn't protect Harry or get him out of this farce. He can go boil his head."
"Our coven will protect Harry, one way or another," Blaise elaborated, glancing over at Hermione as she fumed. "I don't think we'll need greater support to help protect him, but it wouldn't hurt."
Draco and Theo nodded in understanding.
"New moon is in a couple days," Draco commented. "We going out?"
"We've got to, don't we?" Theo said. "I've got my project, but if Potter might need greater support…"
He trailed off, shrugging, and Viktor looked at them all curiously.
"You have mysterious plans?" he asked Hermione, puzzled. "This your plan to cheat?"
"Not really, and not directly," Hermione sighed. She offered Viktor a small smile. "It's for another project. We sneak off campus for it."
"May I come?" Viktor inquired. His eyes gleamed. "Advanced magic with you is fun."
"Ah, I don't think—" Hermione cut herself off, pausing. "Actually, you're of age, aren't you? Can you Apparate?"
"I can," Viktor agreed. "Need to know where I need to go, but I can."
Hermione glanced at the others. Draco looked excited at the prospect of them recruiting Viktor Krum to their group, while Blaise and Tracey just shrugged.
"Sure," Hermione agreed. "Why not?"
Viktor grinned.
"Is big outing, yes?" he said, nudging her. His eyes sparkled. "Not elaborate plan to date me alone in woods?"
"That was never—!"
Hermione's face flamed and she shoved Viktor, who laughed and didn't flinch. The other Slytherins looked at her incredulously, seemingly wondering if Viktor meant like a date date, or if this was a mistranslation misunderstanding of some sort.
"No problem," Viktor said cheerily. "I bring some others along also? Can have big group magic outing."
"The more, the merrier," Tracey chimed in. She eyed one of the Durmstrang boys hopefully. "Bring your friends. Those you trust. Or anyone interested, really."
Viktor sobered slightly.
"After ritual last night," he said, glancing sideways at Hermione, "I think everyone interested in seeing which else magic you do."
