As the Sister of Harry Potter

I looked up at the staff table while we waited. Not only were Karkaroff and Maxime there, but so were Bagman and Crouch from the Ministry. ‘What the hell are they doing here?’

Finally, Dumbledore stood and began.

"Finally, the time has come. But, before we bring out the casket, I have some things to say. First of all, I would like to introduce Misters Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch from the Ministry of Magic. They, among others, have worked very hard to make the tournament possible, and along with Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, and myself, shall be judging the tournament.” Polite applause sounded, and then the silence returned. “There will be three tasks spread throughout the year to test the three champions magical prowess, their daring, their powers of deduction, and their ability to cope with danger. And, to select these three champions, I would like to present our impartial judge: The Goblet of Fire.”

He waved his wand, and the casket beside him dissolved, leaving a large wooden goblet, which lit itself with a blue flame.

"If you wish to enter, write your name and school on a slip of parchment and put it in the Goblet before tomorrow night. I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet to ensure that no one under seventeen submits their name. But trust me when I say it, this contest is not for the faint-hearted. For once your name is chosen, there's no going back." Dumbledore sat down, and the feast began.

-

The next day was a Saturday, and the weather was terrible. Hermione, Launa and I were in the Great Hall to get out of the rain. The house tables had been replaced with lots of benches, and the Goblet of Fire was in the center of the hall, the blue Age Line glowing around it ominously. Hermione was reading an Ancient Runes book. Launa was making some sort of new potion, and had bewitched four or five books to float around her, muttering softly while she worked. I was watching people put their names in the Goblet. Sure, I felt like a creeper, but was there anything better to do?

A group of Hufflepuff boys came in out of the rain. I recognized a few, like Colin Parker and Jared Hood. And then there was that stupid, bloody Cedric Diggory.

"Come on Ced! Put it in!" a few of them encouraged. I rolled my eyes. Was seriously going to enter? They shoved Cedric towards the Goblet, who then stepped forward and put his name in. A bunch of people clapped. It seemed to be a popular pastime today, sitting in the Great Hall and watching everyone submit their names.

He turned to go back to his friends. But when he saw me, he paused and winked at me. Then he jumped back to his friends. Gah, he really had the guts to enter this tournament? He wouldn’t last five minutes in it.

About a minute later, Fred and George ran into the hall, closely followed by Lee and Ophilia, all of them grinning. I was wondering where they had disappeared off to so fast this morning.

"Yes!" the Twins said.

"Yes what?" I asked. They came up to Hermione, Launa and I, glee filling their eyes to the brim. This could not be good.

"Just took it," said Fred. "Aging Potion."

"Cooked it up this morning."

I rolled my eyes at them.

"It's not going to work," said Hermione and Launa at the same time.

"Oh? And why's that, Granger, Lupin?" asked George.

"You see this? This is the Age Line. Dumbledore drew it himself." said Hermione, tracing the glowing line around the Goblet with her finger.

"So?" said Fred.

"So!" said Launa, looking up from her work. "It is not going to be fooled by somtink as pezetic as an Aging Potion!"

“And so the Potions Master speaks,” said Fred dramatically

"But that's why it's so brilliant," said George.

"Because it's so pathetic!" finished Fred, breaking his dramatic stance. Ophilia giggled. They shook up the vials of potion.

"Ready Fred?"

"Ready George!"

"Bottoms up!" they both said, and they chugged their potions. Then they jumped over the Age Line. Nothing seemed to happen.

"Yes...." they said. People around us were stunned momentarily, including myself. Had it actually worked?

But then, something happened, (I'm not quite sure what) there was a zapping noise, and Fred and George were thrown away from the Goblet and onto the floor. When they sat up, we all saw they had identical long white beards.

"You said!"

"You said!" they yelled, and started rolling on the floor, punching each other. I stood up with a bunch of other people, pumping out fists into the air.

"FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!"

Gits. They deserved it. Plus, this was a hilarious side effect.

Hermione rolled her eyes. Ophilia was clutching her side, laughing. Lee was also laughing, but he went with the twins to the hospital wing. Ophilia crawled onto the bench next to me.

“Did you ha-ha-have any idea that would happen?” she asked, wheezing a bit.

I shook my head and laughed too, taking my seat once more. “No, but that was bloody brilliant. No one gets past old Dumbledore, not even them.”

A little while later after the Durmstrang lot had put theirs in, it was just Ophilia and I. Launa had left because she needed to do some research in the Library, and Hermione left because it was “too noisy.” Ophilia had just finished recounting the events of this morning when Sarlanda joined us.

“Hello, have you seen the Twins? I just caught a glimpse of them in Hospital, what happened?”

Just the thought of it nearly set Ophilia off again in a torrent of giggles. “They tried to cross the Age Line, and they ended up with beards instead.”

Sarlanda snorted and shook her head. “They never listen, do they? Well, who else from Hogwarts has entered?”

“A couple, I didn’t know many of them, only Angelina Johnson from seventh year and that right git Cedric Diggory,” I growled.

Sarlanda had trouble controlling her laughter at that one. “Diggory entered? You have got to be kidding me, he makes Draco look like a gladiator.”

“Yeah, I know. He’s mental. Oh, and Brittany Chang entered. But that’s everyone I recognized.”

“Well, Chang might live through it, but I hope she doesn’t get picked. She’s no kindly princess, that’s for sure.”

-

That evening, everyone was sitting on the benches after dinner, waiting for the names to be chosen from the Goblet. The tension in the Hall was astounding. No one talked, hardly daring to even breath. I sat in the back with my fingers crossed in my lap. Angelina just had to be the Hogwarts champion, she just had to.

Finally, the flames turned red, and a slip of parchment shot out of it.

Dumbledore caught it.

"The Durmstrang champion is... Viktor Krum!"

The hall was filled with cheers, and Krum stood from the Durmstrang crowd. No surprise there, really. He walked into the spare room off the Great Hall. The tension seemed to reset itself the second he was out of sight. Now, a fancy piece of parchment fluttered from the Goblet. This was most definitely the Beauxbatons champion.

"The Beauxbatons champion is… Fleur Delacour!” The Veela-looking girl Ron fancied stood up and followed after Krum, smiling nervously. A lot more boys than girls cheered for her.

The third and final bit of parchment flew out, and Dumbledore paused before reading it out to us. ‘Gah, kill us with tension, why don’t you?’ I thought angrily. "This is it..." I whispered to Harry, who was sitting directly in front of me. He nodded.

"And the Hogwarts champion is… Cedric Diggory!”

The Great Hall seemed to erupt as the entirety of Hufflepuff house jumped to their feet screaming. Stacey Fires was among those jumping up and down on the benches as Diggory got to his feet, grinning, and went to join Fleur and Krum in the spare room. My jaw had dropped, and I’m pretty sure my heart had stopped beating for a moment. Diggory had won? Had Dumbledore read the parchment right? There was no way this was really happening!

“What?” I heard George hiss. “Him? Honestly?”

I agreed completely.

"Excellent! We now have your three champions! I would also like to say-"

But what Dumbledore would have liked to say, we never found out. The Goblet's fire had turned red again and spewed another piece of parchment. Dumbledore snatched it from the air, frowning deeply.

"Harry Potter..." he mumbled. Harry kind of half stood, then sat back down again.

"Harry Potter!" shouted Dumbledore, sounding (to me, at least) rather enraged. Harry didn't move.

"Oh Harry, for goodness sake..." said Hermione, shoving him upright and forward. As he did, I slithered down under my bench and transformed into a cat, rather painfully this time because I was sort of in a rush. I had to know what was going on, and make sure Harry was alright. I stuck close to the wall as he started down the center aisle, and beat him into the side room. I kept to the shadows and darted under the nearest couch, praying none of the other champions had seen me. I peak out from under the couch fringe and found I could only see one of Harry’s feet. Great.

Suddenly, lots of footsteps and voices all burst into the room at once, all arguing. It was all absolute gibberish until I saw Dumbledore’s purple boots came up to Harry.

"Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?"

"No sir."

"Did you ask an older student to do it for you?"

"N-No sir!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes sir!" said Harry, sounding alarmed. What the bloody hell was Dumbledore playing at?

"But of course 'e is lying!" roared Maxime. She sounded the angriest out of all the voices. I resisted the urge to hiss at her.

"Not likely," said the grungy, slightly creepy voice of Moody, whom I recognized by his trademark step-and-clunk, "It would take an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to hoodwink the Goblet of Fire, magic far beyond a forth year." The room went silent. Moody did have a certain effect on people.

"Barty?" Dumbledore finally asked.

"The rules are clear," responded Crouch. "There is no going back. As of now, Potter is a Triwizard Champion."