CHAPTER 94: THE DELEGATIONS & THE GOBLET

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I am a fool,

and what's worse

a fool

who derives pleasure

from being a fool.

~

by Tamara Knight

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In the morning at the end of September, Ed and Hermione were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, doing what they call a 'morning session'. The place was deserted, as it was too early in the morning for Gryffindor.

Hermione now wore the glasses that Alan gave her, and she used it ever since, she usually used it for taking photos of book references, and recording how to make potions to study later on. Her friends were a bit surprised at the glasses, but quickly got used to it.

Suddenly, Harry walked down the spiral staircase, his face pale, and in his hand was a piece of paper. Sensing Harry's presence, the two quickly separated, and tidied themselves, so Harry wouldn't suspect anything.

"Where are you going Harry?" Hermione questioned him, her face a bit red, and he was startled.

"Hermione! Bloody hell..." He said. "What are you doing this early in the morning?"

"I could ask you the same question..." Hermione blushed a bit, but continued.

"Well, I was going to go to the owlery to send a letter to Sirius..." Harry mumbled.

"Why?" Hermione questioned. "Your scar hurting again?"

"How do you- right… Ed..." Harry narrowed his eyes, staring at Ed.

"You got Hedwig right? Why go to the owlery?"

"Erm… Sirius told me that… he says that Dumbledore gave him a task… so we need to be secretive about it..."

This time, Ed was the one who's narrowing his eyes. "Really..."

Harry was a bit nervous. "Erm… can I go now?"

Hermione sighed. "Let me see the letter first."

"What? No! That's my privacy, Hermione."

"But-"

"Hermione, it's his privacy." Ed reminded, which made Hermione give up.

"Fine..."

"Right, see you at breakfast." Harry then walked off from the common room, leaving the couple alone.

"It's interesting that Dumbledore asked Sirius to do something..." Ed murmured. "What could it be..."

"Horcrux?" Hermione suggested. "I mean… You told him about it, right?"

"That's a possibility..." Ed murmured. "We need to get the Resurrection stone… but as far as I know, only Dumbledore knows the location of the ring..."

"Well, can you just ask him or something?"

"I'll try it… but I don't know if he will give it to me..."

"At least try first." Hermione shrugged.

"Alright, I'll try it later."

---

In the afternoon of the day, Ed and Hermione had DADA class, they were walking to the class as always, and sat in the back of the class, as Ed was staying away from Megan Jones.

When the class started, Moody announced that he will use an Imperius curse on them, Hermione wanted to protest, but Ed stopped her.

"Right, Aldrich, you first!" he announced.

Ed just casually walked to the front of the class, ignoring the stares that was anticipating the event that would unfold when Moody cast the spell on Ed.

"Stand over there Aldrich." he commanded, and Ed did just that.

Before Moody cast the spell, Ed lowered his Occlumency shield; he wanted to know what Crouch Jr. was planning to do to him.

Moody then pointed his wand at Ed, and cast. "Imperio!"

Ed then was filled with bliss, he could feel the influence of the Imperius curse cast to him.

And then, a whisper can be heard on Ed's head.

What's the owl's weakness?

Where's the owl?

Who's the owl?

Ed almost laughed out loud in front of the students. "Really? The owl's weakness?" Ed questioned out loud while chuckling.

Moody froze, as well as the other Slytherins and the purebloods in the classroom.

Ed chuckled again. "Try again."

Ed then slowly returned to his seat, and Hermione was basically glaring at him with surprise and worry.

That was a big 'fuck you' to Crouch Jr… Ed was basically saying, 'I know you're not Moody, but I'll play with you for a while' in front of the whole class.

The other students looked at Ed with confusion, while Ed was just sitting beside Hermione casually.

Moody was glaring at Ed intently, his face looked a bit pale, and he quickly drank from his flask, coughing while he's at it.

"R-Right… next student." He announced.

After that, the class went normally, with Moody glaring at Ed here and there.

After DADA, Ed and Hermione got Transfiguration class.

McGonagall gave them more work, making a lot of students protest, but she quickly refuted saying that 'it will benefit you when you take your O.W.Ls', Hermione happily accepted it of course, while Ed was a bit put off by the amount of work he needs to do.

Binns gave them the task of making an essay of Goblin Rebellion of the Eighteenth century.

Snape gave the students the task of researching poison antidotes, and he threatened all of the students that he would poison one of them to see if they actually research it.

The day went by, and suddenly, an announcement was posted near the foot of the marble staircase.

Hermione and Ed were just coming back from finishing their work in their library when they saw the announcement.

TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT

THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUXBATONS AND DURMSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER. LESSONS WILL END HALF AN HOUR EARLY. STUDENTS WILL RETURN THEIR BAGS AND BOOKS TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORE THE WELCOMING FEAST.

Ed whistled a bit as he saw the announcement. Hermione noticed this and said. "Excited to see Fleur?" she said, teasing him.

Ed raised his eyebrow in amusement. "You're not serious are you?"

Hermione giggled. "I'm excited to see Fleur too."

"I don't know if I should be worried." Ed murmured. "Anyway, we need to decide who will replace Cedric."

Hermione frowned. "Who do you think?"

"I don't know, that's what we need to discuss it." Ed shrugged.

"Maybe we'll discuss it when we're gathered." Hermione murmured. "Let's go to the tower, I'm tired." She then grabbed Ed's hand and dragged him into the Gryffindor tower, ending the day.

---

30th of October, 1994. It is now the evening of Friday the 30th, and almost everyone was standing in the entrance hall. It was cold, really cold, and Hermione was standing really close to Ed for warmth.

Then, the heads of houses arrived at the entrance hall to order the students into lines.

"Weasley, straighten your hair." McGonagall snapped at Ron. "Miss Patil, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair."

Parvati scowled, and she removed her large ornamental butterfly from the end of her plait.

McGonagall then also straightened up and said. "Follow me please."

The students then were led into the front of the castle. The moon was shining already over the forbidden forest, the cold wind was breezing, hitting the students, making them shiver from the coldness.

"How'd you reckon they're coming? The train?" Ron asked the group. He then looked at Ed. "You've been to one of the schools right? You know something?"

"They're using a carriage I think." Ed answered.

"Carriage? Crossing the sea using a carriage?" Dean Thomas questioned.

"A flying carriage Dean." Ed rolled his eyes. "Pulled by an Abraxan."

"Abraxan?" Dean questioned again.

"Relative to pegasus." Ed said, making the Gryffindor whisper about the information they just heard.

"And the Durmstrang?" Harry questioned.

Ed shrugged. "Probably a ship."

"How? I mean… we have the black lake… but it isn't connected to the sea is it?"

Ed shrugged again. "Beats me."

Then, suddenly Dumbledore spoke:

"Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

"Where?" Many students murmur.

"Look! Up in the sky!" yelled a sixth year, pointing over the forest.

"It's a bird!" a,male muggle-born shouted.

"It's a plane!" a female muggle-born shouted.

"It's superman!" Ed now is the one who shouted, making the muggleborns chuckle at the superman intro.

Hermione elbowed him in amusement. While the Slytherins stare at the one who shouted with disgust.

Then, the carriage quickly landed in front of them. The carriage was gigantic, as were the horses.

The carriage door then opened, and a boy with a pale blue robes exited the carriage, he was carrying a set of golden steps, and placed it at the edge of the carriage door.

After that, Madam Maxime came out of the carriage, she was dressed beautifully, and she was scanning the students of Hogwarts rather intently.

Dumbledore then started to clap, the students following the lead, a lot of the students were curious about Madam Maxime, as she is very tall.

Ed then saw that Dumbledore was signaling something to him, Ed sighed, as he knew what Dumbledore was implying.

"Dumbledore called me, I'll see you inside." Ed whispered to Hermione and kissed her right cheek, he then left her without waiting for an answer. He passed through the crowd of the students and successfully arrived at Dumbledore's location.

"You do know that they hate me right?" Ed said to the old man beside him, still clapping.

"Only the students, not Madam Maxime." Dumbledore said.

Ed sighed again, and clapped, following Dumbledore.

Madame Maxime then relaxed, and gave the students a gracious smile, she walked forward to Dumbledore, extending her hand to him.

"My Dear Madame Maxime," Dumbledore said. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbledore," said Madame Maxime in a thick accent. "I hope I find you well?"

"In excellent form, I thank you," said Dumbledore.

Madame Maxime then turned to Ed, and also smiled. "Mr. Aldrich, you've grown since I met you."

"All thanks to puberty Madame Maxime." Ed smiled as he kissed her hand.

She nodded, and turned back to the carriage. "My pupils," said the tall woman, waving her hand.

After she said that, a dozen boys and girls, all dressed in pale blue dress, came out of the carriage. They were all in their late teens, and now they were standing behind Madame Maxime, shivering as they only wore thin robes.

A few wore wrapped scarves and shawls around their heads. And Ed noticed that one of the ones who wore scarves was smirking at him, he was sure that it was Fleur, and he felt shivers when he saw her smile, not liking this already.

The rest though… was throwing glares at Ed, no need to explain it again why…

"Has Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked.

"He should be here any moment," said Dumbledore. "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?"

"Warm up, I think," said Madame Maxime. "But the horses —"

"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them," said Dumbledore, "the moment he has returned from dealing with a slight situation that has arisen with some of his other — er — charges."

"My steeds require — er — forceful handling," said Madame Maxime,

looking as though she doubted whether any Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts could be up to the job. "They are very strong. . . ." she said as she looked at the gigantic Abraxan.

"I assure you that Hagrid will be well up to the job," said Dumbledore, smiling.

"Very well," said Madame Maxime, bowing slightly. "Will you please inform this Hagrid that the horses drink only single-malt whiskey?"

When Ed heard this, he cringed a bit… all that good whiskey… wasted on a horse...

"It will be attended to," said Dumbledore, also bowing.

"Come," said Madame Maxime imperiously to her students, and the

Hogwarts crowd parted to allow her and her students to pass up the stone steps.

"Can I go now? Nobody in Durmstrang knows me."

"Oh I assure you Ed, they know you." Dumbledore stated. "But, you can go to Miss Granger now."

Ed just hummed, and he walked back to where Hermione was standing.

"You didn't tell us that the headmistress was that big Ed." Seamus said to the silver eyed boy.

"Is that really important?" Ed questioned.

"Well, no..." Seamus murmured. "But did your 'friend' come? I couldn't see all of them."

"Oh she came alright." Ed sighed.

"Well, which one?"

"The one with the scarf of course." Ed said. "Just don't get too obsessive when you see her..."

"Is a Veela that bad?" Questioned Harry.

"You felt it yourself in the World Cup." Ed shrugged. "She's a bit weaker, but it's still Veela."

Harry hummed, and then, Lee Jordan suddenly shouted. "The lake! Look at the lake!"

Everyone's attention turned to the lake, and they saw that a ship was resurfacing, they began to glide toward the bank. A few moments later, the anchor was dropped, and a plank was being lowered onto the bank.

People were disembarking, and at the head of the group, a man that was wearing furs of a different sort: sleek and silver, like his hair.

"Dumbledore!" he called heartily as he walked up the slope. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied.

The two then hugged in front of the students, and Karkaroff even patted Dumbledore's back.

"Dear old Hogwarts," he said, looking up at the castle and smiling. "How good it is to be here, how good. . . . Viktor, come along, into the warmth . . . you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold. . . ."

"Harry—" Ron murmured Excitedly.

"Oh fuck no..." Ed groaned at Ron's fanboying.

"It's Viktor Krum! I don't believe it! It's Viktor Krum."

"For Merlin's sake Ron, he's only a Quidditch Player." Hermione snorted.

"That was able to ask you to dance in an alternate universe." Ed whispered to her, which made her pinch him at the waist, not amused.

"Only a Quidditch Player? Hermione, he's one of the best seekers in the world! I had no idea he was still at school!"

Ron was now jumping up and down like a monkey. "Oh I don't believe it, I haven't got a single quill on me. Anybody have a quill?"

"Here." Neville gave Ron a quill.

"Thanks Neville, I'll give it back to you later." Ron then dashed to Viktor, asking for a photograph.

Then, a bunch of girls walked past Hermione and Ed.

"D'you think he'd sign my hat in lipstick?" they murmured at each other.

Hermione sighed. "These girls..."

"I can sign your hat in lipstick if you want." Ed shrugged, which made Hermione elbow him at the stomach.

"Let's go inside." Hermione grabbed Ed's hand and dragged him towards the castle.

---

At the great hall, everyone was scrambling for a seat, Ed and Hermione quickly sat in the middle of the Gryffindor table, the spot can see the Ravenclaw and Slytherin table clearly.

Ed saw that the Beauxbatons students rushed to the Ravenclaw's table while throwing glares at Ed, which amused Ed. A lot of them have a sour expression when they see the decorations of Hogwarts. Ed also saw that three of the students, including Fleur, were still wearing their scarves.

Ron was shouting in besides Hermione to Krum, he shouted that the Durmstrang should sit in the Gryffindor long table, but Krum of course didn't hear him, and the Durmstrang still sat in the Slytherin table.

He grumbled as he saw this. "Yeah that's right, sit in that snake's den, you'll discover it soon enough." he hissed. "Where'd you reckon they're going to sleep? I wouldn't mind them sleeping in our dorm room..."

Ed groaned. "Ron, please don't, just shut the fuck up and sit."

Ron just snorted and stared at Ed while sitting. Then, Ed saw that Filch was bringing more chairs to the Professor's table.

"Why's Filch putting out more chairs? There's only two extras..." Harry asked.

"Probably Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman." Ed shrugged. "They're the ones who organize this after all."

Harry just hummed, and suddenly, the Headmasters entered the great hall. Once they saw this, the Beauxbatons students stood up in honor of Madame Maxime, which made a lot of the Hogwarts students snicker.

Once the Headmasters sat down, all the Beauxbatons also sat down. Dumbledore then made his usual speech.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and — most particularly — guests," said Dumbledore, "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

Ed heard a lot of the Beauxbatons girls muffled a laughter behind their scarves.

"I already hate these French girls..." Hermione whispered, throwing glares at the girls.

"That's Fleur." Ed pointed out.

"Really?" Hermione narrowed her gaze to one of the girls. "Oh yeah… it is… still... I don't like her attitude..."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Ed patted Hermione's back, which made her snort.

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," said Dumbledore. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

The food then appeared as usual, but a lot of the students noticed that there was a lot of strange food on the table.

"What's this?" Ron questioned, pointing at a some sort of shellfish stew.

Ed and Hermione then looked at each other, and Ed gave her a look that basically said, 'Go on, do your lines.'

Hermione just giggled and answered the boy.

"Bouillabaisse," said Hermione.

"Bless you,"

"It's French," She continued. "I had it during the summer holiday. Ed also makes it, it's quite good."

Ron raised his eyebrow. "Ed could cook this?"

Ed just hummed, and Ron shrugged. "I'll take your word that it's good, I'll help myself with something else." he said as he took a black pudding.

After that, Hagrid entered the great hall with a lot of scars in his body, a lot of people talked about it, and Hagrid passed Harry, which they talked a bit about the Skrewts that Hagrid's been taking care of.

Then, Ed saw two girls walking up to them, one of them is definitely Fleur, while the other is a really young girl, probably Gabrielle.

Ed frowned as soon as he saw Gabrielle.

The two girls then arrived and said. "Excuse me, can we sit here?" She said as she smirked at Ed.

Ed sighed. Ed saw that Harry, who was sitting opposite of him, blushed a bit, but quickly recovered himself. "Yeah, sure."

Harry made space for the two girls, and the girl sat down.

Those two then took off their scarves, and once the older girl took off her scarf, all hell breaks loose.

Ron went purple. He stared up at her, opened his mouth to say, but nothing came out except a faint gurgling noise.

"It's really cold isn't it?" Fleur said to Ed, still had that smirk on her face.

Ed sighed. "Stop it Fleur, you'll make the other Gryffindors even more stupid..." said Ed while looking at the drooling boys at the long table.

Fleur giggled. "Fine~"

Fleur then minimized her 'aura'. A lot of boys that are at the edge of the long table snapped out of it, while the ones near her were still affected by it, even though it somehow weakened a bit.

Ed then spoke again with a frown on his face. "Why did you bring Gabrielle?"

Fleur frowned. "It's my choice to bring her, it's none of your business. Madame Maxime will protect her, I'm sure of it."

"Too naive Fleur… Too naive..." Ed shook his head. Ed then turned to Gabrielle, who was shivering a bit.

Ed sighed, and he took off his cloak. He knelt down near the girl and said. "Gabrielle, right? We hadn't talked yet when we met at the World Cup." Ed said in French. "It must be cold for you... here."

Ed then gave the little girl his cloak, which she happily accepted. "Thank you." she thanked Ed with a smile.

Ed also smiled, and returned to his seat. "Speaking of the World Cup, how'd you get out?" Ed asked Fleur, in English this time, so Gabrielle won't really understand it.

Fleur grimaced. "Portkey, our parents quickly escaped with us."

Ed nodded. "That's good."

Ed then saw that a lot of the Ravenclaws also gave the Beauxbatons girls their cloaks, the boys didn't get it though…

"Why didn't you give the cloak to me?" Fleur teased.

"Gabrielle's the priority." Ed said. "You could ask literally any boy at this table."

She snorted, and took a few scoops of Bouillabaisse.

"What's with the attitude before Fleur?" Hermione suddenly questioned with a frown.

"What?" Fleur questioned back.

"You were laughing at Dumbledore's words."

"Oh." she giggled. "Hogwarts is so… un-elegant..."

"That doesn't mean you have the right to insult it." Hermione said. "It's rude."

"I can say whatever I want."

"Sure, I could also say that you're an attention whore." Ed casually said, which made the ones who heard it choke on their food. "But I didn't." Ed shrugged.

"You just said that," Fleur frowned.

"But I didn't." Ed said with a deadpan face.

Fleur frowned even more. "Fine, I'll watch what I'm saying next time..."

"Good." Ed nodded.

Suddenly, Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch entered the room hurriedly.

"Well, about time they show up..." Hermione commented.

After that, the rest of the students enjoyed their food until the desserts. There was also some unfamiliar food on the table, but the students didn't mind and just ate it.

After the plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up from his seat, and a lot of the students were anticipating what he would say.

The moment has come," said Dumbledore while smiling. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket —"

"The what?" Harry asked.

"Goblet of fire, it's for signing up." Ed informed.

"— just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation" — there was a smattering of polite applause — "and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

The students then gave them a round of applause again, but there was a much louder round of applause for Bagman than for Crouch, perhaps because of his fame as a Beater, or simply because he looked so much more likable.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."

Dumbledore smiled as he saw that the students were focused to him and said, "The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."

Filch then placed the casket in the middle of the room for all the students to see.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways . . . their magical prowess — their daring — their powers of deduction — and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."

At this last word, the Hall was filled with a silence so absolute that nobody seemed to be breathing.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore said calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore then tapped the casket, which revealed the Goblet of Fire.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," said Dumbledore, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet."

Dumbledore then scanned the entire surroundings, and he stopped at Ed, who was sitting calmly.

He then said, "Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

Everybody then stood up instantly, wanting to rest in their own dorm room, but not for Ed. "Hermione, tell the others to go to the classroom." Ed whispered to her.

Hermione nodded, and she ran off to Daphne, who was also walking towards her.

Ed saw Richard talking to Barty Crouch, probably for the tournament itself.

And after that, while the others talked about the tournament, Ed slipped out of the group, and towards the classroom.