Elizabeth Kane and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 10

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𝕸𝖞 𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖈𝖍 𝖜𝖆𝖘 twisting and turning at dinner. Snape had been. . . well I didn't really know what emotion had played out on his face. He'd kind've frozen, and then of course, I'd said there was nothing we could do about it if it was already hoodwinked and he turned kind've purple. Perhaps it was a medical condition. Shock could do that to people. Or maybe he just cared about me. . . no, I'm sure that wasn't the reason. Shock, definitely shock.

The other students were excited, talking about the possible house champions. I mean, if Cedric did get it and I was the second, well it was a double Hufflepuff win which would be nice. I wondered who the others were and why I had seen only my name coming out of the goblet. It was a bit funny, I'd never really seen a vision where I was involved. I only assumed that was because I saw the visions from my point of view.

The Halloween feast was just as good as yesterdays, but not as many people seemed to have enjoyed it. Maybe because two feasts in a row is not as good as one feast every couple of months. The Bulgarians seemed to enjoy themselves though. A few boys were sitting with Krum and I today. I didn't speak much, mostly listening to everything they had to say. Some of the stuff they talked about was fascinating enough that I momentarily forgot about the Cup.

Ron had asked me to get a signed autograph from Krum but I figured he could get it himself if he really, really wanted it.

When Dumbledore stood up, the Great Hall got silent very quickly. I looked up at the teachers table. Madam Maxime and Karkaroff were both tense. Karkaroff's eyes met mine- or maybe they were looking at the students behind me, I wasn't sure. Ludo looked extremely excited and was winking at various students in the crowd though I noticed he particularly avoided the Gryffindor table. Mr. Crouch had a stoic face on an looked utterly bored. I met Snape's eyes. I held them for a second before looking away. He looked how I felt- sick.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision. I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called," and here Dumbledore's eyes briefly flickered over to mine. So Snape had told him- good, "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 where they will be receiving their first instructions." Dumbledore motioned to a door behind the staff table.

He took out his wand and waved it. All the candles that floated in the air were extinguished and so were the flames in the lanterns on the walls. Only the candles in the pumpkins stayed lit. The Goblet of Fire was almost painful to look at- the blue white flames were extremely bright. My stomach grew even more nervous and I thought that I might just throw up.

I counted down the seconds in my head and when I reached 0, the flames inside the goblet turned red. Sparks began to fly from it and a tongue of flame shot into the air, a piece of parchment fluttered out of it. The whole room gasped but my mouth wouldn't open. I think it was glued shut. Despite being fairly certain my name would come out last- my stomach turned.

"The Champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum!" Dumbledore read. The Bulgarians cheered and I turned and looked at him and said, "Congratulations." with as big of a smile as I could manage. He smiled back and got up and slouched to the door that Dumbledore had indicated. Everyone could hear Karkaroff shouting, "Bravo Viktor! Knew you had it in you!"

The clapping and chatting died down and everyone's focus was on the Goblet once again. It turned red and shot up another flame and a second piece of parchment- a frilly thing, all folded up like a circular fan- came down and Dumbledore reached up and grabbed it.