Championship

"Christina Norton!" Someone called loudly as Chris, Ginny, Luna and Colin tried to made their way across the Hall to the doors into the entrance hall.

Chris spun around to see a tall, and handsome boy in Durmstrang robes.

"Shawn?" Chris said surprised.

"Great, honestly I didn't expect, you'll remember my name." Ha said grinning.

"Why not? You should know, I've very strong memory." Chris replied smiling. "But I didn't know you go to Durmstrang."

"Yeah. Didn't got the time to tell you that." He smiled. "Well aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"

Chris saw Ginny, Luna and Colin staring at him.

"Sure. Guys this is Shawn Nelson. Shawn this is Luna, Ginny and Colin. My friends."

They shook hands.

"Nice to meet you all." Shawn beamed at them.

"So, are you going to participate?" Chris asked.

"Nope. I'm still sixteen." He replied and noticed that Karkaroff was leaving with the other Durmstrang students. "I've to leave now. You see, we're staying at the ship. So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure. See you." Chris replied.

And he hurried after the other students.

Chris started to walk out with Ginny, Luna and Colin but soon stopped by the Durmstrang group at the door. No one was moving, Chris saw the Durmstrang people were staring at something or someone, including Karkaroff.

"What happened?" Ginny asked.

Chris looked through the crowd and saw the centre of attraction.

"Harry Potter happened." She said loudly.

Almost every Durmstrang student looked back at her.

"Yeah, that's Harry Potter," said a growling voice from behind them.

Professor Karkaroff spun around. Mad-Eye Moody was standing there, leaning heavily on his staff, his magical eye glaring unblink­ingly at the Durmstrang headmaster.

The color drained from Karkaroff's face as Chris watched. A terrible look of mingled fury and fear came over him.

"You!" he said, staring at Moody as though unsure he was really seeing him.

"Me," said Moody grimly. "And unless you've got anything to say to Potter, Karkaroff, you might want to move. You're blocking the doorway."

Without another word, Professor Karkaroff swept his students away with him. Moody watched him until he was out of sight, his magical eye fixed upon his back, a look of intense dislike upon his mutilated face.

"So who's that Shawn Nelson?" Ginny asked as they left the Entrance Hall.

"My mother's husband Richard Nelson's nephew. We met at my mother's furenal. He behaved very nicely with me and Dad. Even after the furenal, he tried to talk to me, just to be sure if I'm okay." Chris replied.

"I guess that's really nice of him." Luna said smiling.

"Actually he is. It's not everyday you see a purblood wizard behaving nicely with muggles or muggle-borns." Chris replied.

"I'll meet at the Gryffindor tower tomorrow." Luna said as she went towards the Ravenclaw dormitory.

Chris, Ginny and Colin walked towards the Gryffindor.

"By the way, Professor Moody is kind of a bit mad, isn't he?" Colin asked.

"Yeah kind of paranoid I guess. Why?" Chris said.

"Nothing special. It's just, I saw him, when I was returning with my camera. He was talking to himself with a different kind of voice." Colin replied. "I was scared a little but then I remembered what you said about him."

"He was talking to himself with a different kind of voice?" Chris repeated surprised.

"Yeah... why?" Colin asked nervously. "I thought it was normal due to his condition."

"Yeah I guess it's normal." Chris said though she didn't believed it; 'talking to himself with a different kind of voice is not a paranoia and if it is then Mad-Eye is getting dangerous.'

__________________________________

Next morning, Ginny dragged Chris and Colin early in the morning to watch who puts their name on the Goblet of Fire.

Luna was already waiting in the Gryffindor common room for them. When they went down into the entrance hall, they saw very few people milling around it, all ex­amining the Goblet of Fire. It had been placed in the center of the hall on the stool that normally bore the Sorting Hat. A thin golden line had been traced on the floor, forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction.

The decorations in the Great Hall had changed this morning. As it was Halloween, a cloud of live bats was fluttering around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of carved pumpkins leered from every corner.

Chris saw Shawn waving at them from the Slytherin table. Chris smiled but didn't go there as Chris noticed Jason eating his breakfast on that table. Astoria, Daphne and Theodore sitting beside him. Chris realized Jason had noticed, Shawn and Chris, then he looked away.

After their conversation Jason was completely ignoring Chris, so after few attempts, Chris didn't try to talk him either.

Chris sat with Ginny, Luna and Colin on the Ravenclaw table, which was almost empty. Shawn came to the Ravenclaw table and sat opposite to them.

"Good morning everyone. Why didn't you came to that table? Are you not allowed to leave your house table or something?" He asked helping himself with another toast.

"It's not like that. Actually this is not our house table either." Chris replied while eating. "We are Gryffindor. It's Ravenclaw table. Only Luna is Ravenclaw among us."

"Ravenclaw means the smart house, right?" He asked curiously looking at Luna.

"Yes. Kind of, it's a house of intelligent people but I think it's also applied to people who are different from others." Luna replied with her usual dreamy tone.

"That means unique kind of people?" Shawn asked and Luna nodded. "Then that's makes you a unique person too, isn't?"

As Shawn said, Luna smiled brightly. Chris raised her eyebrows on Shawn.

"Well to answer your question, why we didn't join you there.." Chris said. "Slytherins believe in blood purity and all that stuff, and I and Colin both are muggle-borns... so...."

"Got it." Shawn said rolling his eyes. "I should've understood, the way they were talking last night."

"Also we're Gryffindors, so we've a rivalry against them for centuries." Ginny said casually.

"Of course you've. Almost half of them behave full of themselves." Shawn shrugged. "Leave it. I'm onto more cheerful topics today. So think any of you can give me tour around your school. I'm too curious to wait."

Though he asked everyone, Shawn's eyes were fixed on Luna. Ginny noticed that too and a mischievous smile crept into her face.

"Sorry, Colin and I are too busy." Ginny replied. "We're making posters for Colin's photography business."

"Oh yes and I'm helping with the money thing, so sorry I can't." Chris said hurriedly, after Ginny.

"Really?" Colin asked surprised.

Ginny slapped his hand, "but I guess Luna is free. Aren't you Luna?"

"Oh me? I thought I'll help Colin too." Luna replied.

"No need we got this. Shawn is a guest, you should give him tour of our school." Chris said smiling.

"That'll be great, if only you can Luna." Shawn said sincerely.

"... okay... but you know our castle is so big. I'm still not familiar with it entirely." Luna said.

"Oh it's fine. Then we can discover something new there." Shawn replied smiling.

Soon Shawn and Luna left and Colin started to take pictures of the Goblet of Fire. Chris noticed few Durmstrang students putting their names in it.

Chris and Ginny were sitting in a corner discussing about Colin's new business when someone tap on Ginny's head. They looked up to see Ron and Harry. Hermione was also there but standing a little far from them.

"Anyone put their name in yet?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Only saw the Durmstrang." Ginny replied. "Haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet."

"Bet some of them put it in last night after we'd all gone to bed," said Harry. "I would've if it had been me … wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. What if the goblet just gobbed you right back out again?"

"What?" Chris asked.

Someone laughed behind them. Turning, Chris saw Fred, George, and Lee Jordan hurrying down the staircase, all three of them look­ing extremely excited.

"Bet, they got an idea to enter the championship." Ginny commented.

"Done it," Fred said in a triumphant whisper. "Just taken it."

"What?" said Ron.

"The Aging Potion, dung brains," said Fred.

"One drop each," said George, rubbing his hands together with glee. "We only need to be a few months older."

"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins," said Lee, grinning broadly.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know," said Hermione warningly, joining them. "I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this."

"I agree with her. Boys it's not gonna work." Chris said.

"Oh C'mon Chris. Just wait and watch." George said grinning.

"Ready?" Fred said to the other two, quivering with excitement. "C'mon, then — I'll go first —"

Fred pulled a slip of parchment out of his pocket bearing the words Fred Weasley — Hogwarts. Fred walked right up to the edge of the line and stood there, rocking on his toes like a diver preparing for a fifty-foot drop. Then, with the eyes of every person in the entrance hall upon him, he took a great breath and stepped over the line.

For a split second, George cer­tainly thought it worked, for he let out a yell of triumph and leapt after Fred — but next moment, there was a loud sizzling sound, and both twins were hurled out of the golden circle as though they had been thrown by an invisible shot-putter. They landed painfully, ten feet away on the cold stone floor, and to add insult to injury, there was a loud popping noise, and both of them sprouted identical long white beards.

The entrance hall rang with laughter.

"This is gold." Chris laughed loudly.

Colin didn't waste a time and snapped few pictures quickly.

Even Fred and George joined laughing, once they had gotten to their feet and taken a good look at each other's beards.

"I did warn you," said a deep, amused voice, and everyone turned to see Professor Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveyed Fred and George, his eyes twinkling. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Faw­cett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours."

Fred and George set off for the hospital wing, accompanied by Lee, who was howling with laughter. Harry, Ron and Hermione went to the Great Hall.

"They're planning to enter for months now, Professor." Chris said still grinning.

"I know." Dumbledore chuckled. "Young brains, very creative."

"Who you think will be selected from our school?" Chris asked.

"No idea Christina. I believe in every student from Hogwarts." Dumbledore said smiling.

Chris shook her head, Dumbledore didn't have any idea? That's the worst lie.

As Dumbledore walked away, Angelina Johnson entered grinning, a parchment in her hand.

"Angelina are you entering?" Ginny asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I had my birthday last week, so thought why not?" said Angelina.

"All the best." Chris said.

Angelina nodded. Then stepped into the age circle, and dropped her name in that Goblet of Fire.

People around them applauded, cheered for her. Colin took a picture.

"Can I get that one?" Angelina asked Colin.

"Yeah sure." Colin replied. "Next week."

"And seven Sickles for one pictures Angelina." Chris said smiling.

"Alright." She said and went to the Great Hall.

"I never thought it'll actually work." Colin grinned.

The rest of the day went by making posters and advertising Colin's new business. Luna and Shawn came back during the lunch. After Lunch Shawn left to join the other Durmstrang students on their ship and Luna fill them about what happened at the tour.

"He like Quibbler a lot." Luna said slightly blushing. "He said, he finds my talk amusing."

Ginny and Chris giggled.

Soon as the evening drawn close, it was time to see the Champions.