chapter 36

The next morning it was back to school schedule, as it was Monday. When Harry and Ron went down into the entrance hall, they saw about twenty people milling around it, some of them eating toast, 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.

"Anyone put their name in yet?" Ron asked a third-year girl eagerly.

"All the Durmstrang lot," she replied. "But I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet."

"Bet some of them put it in last night after we'd all gone to bed," Harry said "Wouldn't want everyone watching. What if the Goblet just gobbed you right back out again?"

Not really caring to watch right now – "Food!" Ron said – they made their way to the Gryffindor table. The Great Hall had, overnight, been decorated for Halloween, a cloud of live bats was fluttering around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of carved pumpkins leered from every corner.

Harry and Ron had only just began eating when Fred and George sat down opposite them, both slumping down with a sigh.

"What's the matter with you guys?" Ron asked through a mouthful of toast and eggs. The twins just sighed again. Finally, after letting them pile some scrambled eggs on a piece of toast each, they responded.

"Lee had this 'great idea' -" George began.

"-to make an Aging Potion, ya know -" Fred continued as George took a bite of his toast.

"-to fool the Age Line Dumb-ly-dort made," they switched who was talking and who was eating.

"Not only did he keep us up half the night -"

"-with trying to convince us to join -"

"-him, he also woke us up early…" They finished together, having finished their toasts in three bites.

"And he won't be convinced it's a bad idea?" Harry asked, resigned, before forking a piece of fruit from his fruit bowl into his mouth.

"Nope, not at all…" George said. Fred was too busy being fed the next piece of fruit by Harry. "Aww… no fair," gained George the same treatment. Ron fake gaged in the background.

Just as they finished eating and were on their way to their separate classes – Harry and Ron having to go to the Astronomy tower –, Lee came jumping down the marble stairs.

"Done it!" Lee whisper yelled as he hurried over to Harry, Ron, George, and Fred. "Just taken it!"

"What?" Ron said, Harry would believe as more of a response to Lee's sudden entrance than to not knowing.

"The Aging Potion." Lee rubbed his hands together in glee, "Only needed a drop, don't wanna overshot it, do we!" Harry would call Lee's laughter a little manic.

"There is no way it's going to work," Ron whispered as Lee turned his back to them to face the Goblet. "Like how sure are we that Dumb-ly-dork would flunk on this?"

"He doesn't have a good track record, but that's mostly involving me," Harry said. "At least it won't hurt him… I hope."

Harry watched, fascinated, as Lee pulled a slip of parchment out of his pocket bearing the words Lee Jordan - 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 moment, nothing happened, but then there was a loud sizzling sound, and Lee was hurled out of the golden circle as though he had been thrown by an invisible shot-putter. He landed painfully, ten feet away on the cold stone floor, and to add insult to injury, there was a loud popping noise, and he sprouted a long white beard.

The entrance hall rang with laughter. Even Harry, Ron, Fred, and George joined in, once Lee had gotten to his feet and they knew he was fine.

"I did warn you," said a deep, amused voice, and everyone turned to see Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveyed Lee, his eyes twinkling. "I suggest you 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 accompanying Lee, who was howling with laughter now after seeing himself in a conjured mirror. Harry and Ron also chortling and started their walk to the astronomy tower.

As is usual when teenagers are together, not to mention how many resided in the castle, there are rumors. Usually, the rumors were many and often romantically inclined, but today there were only one topic: the Triwizard tournament.

"There's a rumor going around that Warrington got up early and put his name in," Dean told Harry during Herbology. "That big bloke from Slytherin who looks like a sloth."

"We can't have a Slytherin champion!" Hermione, standing next to Harry, exclaimed.

"And all the Hufflepuffs are talking about Diggory," said Seamus contemptuously. "But I wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks." No one got to say any more as Professor Sprout came over to their table.

Harry, Ron, George, Fred, and Hermione (for once not rushing to the library) were eating lunch. Lee, having been discharged from the hospital wing back to his usual beardless self, sat with them.

"Listen!" Hermione suddenly interrupted Lee's spile about wanting the beard back.

People were cheering out in the entrance hall. They all swiveled around in their seats and saw Angelina Johnson coming into the Hall, grinning in an embarrassed sort of way. A tall black girl who played Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Angelina came over to them, sat down, and said, "Well, I've done it! Just put my name in!"

"You're kidding!" said Ron, looking impressed.

"Are you seventeen, then?" asked Harry.

"Course she is, can't see a beard, can you?" said Ron.

"I had my birthday last week," said Angelina.

"Well, I'm glad someone from Gryffindor's entering," said Hermione. "I really hope you get it, Angelina!"

"Thanks, Hermione," said Angelina, smiling at her.

"Yeah, better you than Pretty-Boy Diggory," Seamus said to Angelina, having been sitting close enough to hear. What he said causing several Hufflepuffs passing their table to scowl heavily at him.

As they were leaving the Great Hall once again for classes the students from Beauxbatons came in though the front doors. It was obvious what they were there for, and those gathered around the Goblet of Fire stood back to let them pass, watching eagerly.

Madame Maxime entered the hall behind her students and organized them into a line. One by one, the Beauxbatons students stepped across the Age Line and dropped their slips of parchment into the blue-white flames. As each name entered the fire, it turned briefly red and emitted sparks.

They ended up standing there and watching as the boys and girls from Beauxbatons put their names in. "What d'you reckon'll happen to the ones who aren't chosen?" Ron muttered to Harry as the veela-girl dropped her parchment into the Goblet of Fire. "Reckon they'll go back to school, or hang around to watch the tournament?"

"Dunno," said Harry. "Hang around, I suppose... Madame Maxime's staying to judge, isn't she? And this was also supposed to be a 'social experience'," Harry pondered aloud.

When all the Beauxbatons students had submitted their names, Madame Maxime led them back out of the hall and out onto the grounds again.

Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Hermione, and Lee may have had to run to reach their respective classrooms in time.

Their last class was Double Transfiguration, where they continued to work on animal-to-object transfiguration. There were still some of the Gryffindors working on turning their hedgehog to a pincushion.

Since dinner was later than normally again, they had the time to leave their bags back at the Gryffindor Tower before making their way to the Great Hall.

When they entered the candlelit Great Hall, it was almost full. The Goblet of Fire had been moved; it was now standing in front of Dumbledore's empty chair at the teachers' table.

The Halloween feast seemed to take much longer than usual. Everyone in the Hall, judging by the constantly craning necks, the impatient expressions on every face, the fidgeting, and the standing up to see whether Dumbledore had finished eating yet, simply wanted to hear who had been selected as champions.

Harry and his group weren't nearly as excited, eating and chatting, but still, the suspense was rubbing off on them too.

"Not long now," Fred said.

"Soon we'll find out," George agreed.

"The curse," Ron said ominously.

Harry really had to laugh, not only were the three Weasley-Prewetts being ridiculous, but both Hermione and Lee, as well as anyone close enough the hear them, had the most bewildered expressions.

Before they could be questioned – which Hermione looked to be rearing up for –, the golden plates returned to their original spotless state; there was a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the Hall, which died away almost instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as tense and expectant as anyone. Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at various students. Mr. Crouch, however, looked quite uninterested, almost bored.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" - he indicated the door behind the staff table - "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes. Everyone watched, waiting... A few people kept checking their watches...

"Any second," Lee whispered, two seats away from Harry.

The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it - the whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white.

"The champion for Durmstrang," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum."

"No surprises there!" yelled Ron as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall. Harry saw Viktor Krum rise from the Slytherin table and slouch up toward Dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.

"Bravo, Viktor!" boomed Karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. "Knew you had it in you!"

The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"

"It's her, Ron!" Harry shouted as the girl who so resembled a Veela got gracefully out of her seat – again, beside Luna –, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair, and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.

"Oh look, they're all disappointed," Hermione said, an undertone of glee in her voice, over the noise, nodding toward the remainder of the Beauxbatons party. "Disappointed" was a bit of an understatement, Harry thought. Two of the girls who had not been selected had dissolved into tears and were sobbing with their heads on their arms. Luna was consoling the girl closest to her.

When Fleur Delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it. The Hogwarts champion next... Of course, with most of the hall being Hogwarts students, the suspense was kind of expected.

And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion," he called, "is Cedric Diggory!"

The table next to them erupted in the biggest cheer yet, every Hufflepuff was sprang out of their seats, screaming and stamping. The other Hogwarts houses joined in, but none as jubilant as the Hufflepuffs.

Harry's group had been in a quiet shock, making gigantic eyes at each other, as Cedric made his way past them, grinning broadly, and headed off towards the chamber behind the teacher's table.

"Oh fuck, the curse has lifted!"