The Red Rose That Has Green Thorns

Walking to the Entrance Hall seemed to take longer than when the ancient Professor Slughorn had taught potions in the dungeons. The Potions classroom was now closer than ever to the Entrance Hall - and the Great Hall - but it seemed to take forever to get there. Nerves that I had never felt so badly bubbled up in my gut, and I was so anxious to find out whether Scorpius and I had been chosen or not that I was afraid I might not be able to eat, thus breaking my normally calm façade.

“What do you two think of that decision?” Professor Platt asked us as the sounds of students descending the stairs reached our ears. “Of making Amortentia, I mean.”

“It should be fun,” I said, turning to grin at her. Act as if nothing is wrong, I told myself firmly. “I’ve been itching to know what it would smell like to me since Mum told me all about it from her sixth year.”

“Yeah, I think it’ll be a good experience,” Scorpius said, “at the very least, it will be interesting. And a bit of a challenge.”

“Not for you two, I’m sure.” Professor Platt grinned. “I’ve heard such good things about the two of you. How you never seem to have too much trouble with the coursework and how you’re the child prodigies of the generation. Well, not so much children anymore,” she laughed here, patting my shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll do just fine.”

“Thank you,” Scorpius and I told her in unison, just as a mew sounded and I turned to see my kitten bounding toward me.

“Nira!” I said, taking a scolding tone. “What are you doing out of the Head dorms?”

She just mewed again, and I sighed and picked her up to stroke her.

The other two just laughed at me as we came into view of the Entrance Hall and the open doors to the Great Hall. I put Nira down when we got into the Entrance Hall and told her firmly to go back to the Head dormitory, and she bounded away up the stairs.

“I hope she doesn’t go chasing owls in the owlery,” Professor Platt mused aloud. I met Scorpius’ eye and we started laughing.

“That wouldn’t be good,” I finally said, catching my breath.

“Not at all,” Scorpius agreed, “but I can picture her doing that.”

It was on that tone that we entered the Great Hall, which was nearly already full of students and nervous chatter, excited shouts, and pale seventh years. It wasn’t that scary…although I was a bit nervous myself. I don’t think I went pale, but it was still a bit nerve-racking. The noise in the Great Hall was louder even than it had been before the Quidditch Exhibition teams were announced. Perhaps because the Triwizard Tournament was quite a bit bigger than all of that, but I digress.

Headmaster Collins showed no signs of standing up to talk to us yet, and so the voices of the students remained loud. Scorpius and I, after branching away from the thankful Potions professor, managed to find seats by Joe and Andy. Demitri was nowhere to be seen until Andy pointed him out, down near the end with his partner. Her name was Samantha LeCarre, it seemed. Andy’s partner was across from me, a dark skinned boy with cheerful eyes and curly black hair. He introduced himself as Carl Young. Joe’s partner was also by him, across from Scorpius. Her name was Chandra Rein, we soon found out.

There was a sudden hush throughout the room, and we all turned our heads to the top table, where Professor Collins had stood up.

“Welcome,” he said, in a loud and booming voice. “Welcome. As you all know, tonight is a very important occasion. Tonight, you will learn who your Champions are. Who the students championing your school, from your houses, perhaps, are.”

Cheering. Screaming. Applause. This was louder than it had been at the Exhibition team announcements, too.

“First, however,” Professor Collins boomed above the rest of the noise, “we eat!”

He held his arms open wide, and the food appeared. It was the fanciest feast we’d had since the other students had first arrived a week ago. There were so many foreign dishes and delicious aromas that my stomach decided, even though my pit of nervousness, that it could stomach some.

“You may begin!” Professor Collins said, and all over the Great Hall, students leaned over each other to get to what they wanted most, as if it would disappear. Well, it would at the end of the feast, or if other people took it all, but the platters would refill themselves. Or seem to. I knew it was the house elves.

The first thing I helped myself to was a hearty helping of bouillabaisse, and a nice hot roll. I finished that before adding anything else to my plate, not wanting to mix the savory fish soup with anything else, like the fried chicken breast I put on my plate next. I put mashed potatoes and gravy and a healthy helping of corn on the plate with my chicken, and began to eat that.

“I notice that you like ze bouillabaisse,” Carl, Andy’s partner, said to me from across the table. “Would you care to try anozzer French dish?” he motioned to a delicious looking platter a little farther down the table. “If you would like to try eet, I was about to get eet,” he explained.

“I could taste it,” I replied, smiling.

“Would you like some, Scorpius?” Andy said, looking around me.

“Ah - no, but thank you. If I change my mind, I’ll steal some from Rose.”

Andy laughed her bell-like laugh, and Carl chuckled. “I shall be right back, zen.”

“Watch out for him,” Andy whispered suddenly in my ear once he was gone, “He eez a hopeless flirt. We are friends, he and I, but eet is only fair I warn you of his lesser side.”

“Thanks, Andy,” I whispered back as I watched him politely ask for some of the dish. “That’s why you asked Scorpius if he wanted any, isn’t it? So it wouldn’t seem like blatant flirtation?”

“Pretty much,” she grinned as Carl came back with the whole platter.

“They were all Hogwarts students,” he explained, gesturing at the area he’d gotten the platter from. “They handed me the whole platter.”

He dished out a generous helping to me, and then to Andy, before helping himself.

“Thank you,” I said, smiling at him.

“Eet eez nothing,” he smiled back.

“Y’know, I changed my mind,” I heard from my left, and Scorpius reached across me. “This looks excellent.”

I laughed, and he grinned at me as he dished himself up a spoonful.

The treacle tart and all the delicious puddings disappeared soon. I was sad to see them go, even though I’d put my spoon down several minutes before. I was kind of hoping it would postpone the Goblet’s choices just a little longer so I could get enough room to try another French or Bulgarian dessert.

“Rose,” whispered Scorpius from next to me.

“Yeah?” I turned to him, away from the top table - which is where everyone was looking, hoping to see Professor Collins produce the Goblet from under his cloak, or something as equally ridiculous.

“I know it’s not a high possibility that we’re chosen,” he said quickly, his eyes darting to the top table before meeting mine again, “but I’m still nervous!”

“Me, too,” I smiled at him. “We’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, I guess.” he said, looking down at his hands. They were shaking.

The hush flew through the crowd again, silence becoming quite apparent.

“Now, it is nearly time. Direct your attention to the doors, where the Goblet of Fire now approaches from.”

Sure enough, Professors Malin and Platt walked up toward the tables with the Goblet of Fire suspended in the air between them. Each had their wands out, and as they reached the end of our table, they made it float higher, above the prefects and foreign students, straight over the center of the table. They walked on either side of the table, keeping pace with each other and moving the Goblet along nicely. There was a small, highly decorated table at the front, kept by Durmstrang for the tournaments, that had their school colors adorning it. The Beauxbatons contribution to the Triwizard Tournaments was a lacy silk tablecloth that never stained, so the soot never bothered it. It was a shimmering blue. Then of course, came the Goblet, which was kept at Hogwarts, and had just been lowered, dead center, onto the little table. The three headmasters lined up in a row behind it, Professor Collins in the center.

“We wait,” he said, reverently, as the silence engulfed the room.

The silence was deep. We waited for one minute…two minutes…three…

A slightly shaky hand slipped into mine, and I turned to look at him. Scorpius grinned back at me, kind of shyly, but didn’t take his hand out of mine. I grinned back at him, squeezed his hand a bit, and we both turned our attention back to the flare of light that had lit the room.

The paper fluttered down to Madame Maxime.

“Ze Beauxbatons champions,” she called out melodiously, “are Carl Young and Andrea DuPré.”

“Good luck, Andy! Carl!” I said to them, grinningly, as they stood to go. Scorpius congratulated them as well.

They walked up the table on opposite sides, and were sent to wait in a room off to the side. I wondered if it was the same room that Uncle Harry had waited in all those years ago, but I cut the thoughts off as the Goblet flared up again.

Uncle Viktor caught this piece of paper.

“Ethan Jacques and Carmela Johansen,” he called out, “are the Durmstrang champions.”

There were cheers, even from Joe and his partner, who hadn’t been chosen. I didn’t know the two personally, but I’d talked with Carmela a time or two. She was fairly nice, if a little bit dim.

“We have only one pair left to be chosen,” Professor Collins’ voice sounded kind of eerie in the dimly lit Great Hall. “The team from Hogwarts has yet to come out of the Goblet. Shall it be you? Or one of your friends? Or your family? Let us find out.”

The light had flared up and a piece of singed parchment fluttered down into Professor Collins’ outstretched palm.

“The Hogwarts team will be…”