Obliviate My Heart {Book 2}

18. The Five Champions

A/N so clearly there is a huge divide in ships with you guys.... Well. Enjoy chapter eighteen!

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"No." I croaked. It seemed to be the only thing I was capable of saying.

"Aurora, up here, please." Dumbledore said, his voice sharper than I had ever heard it before.

Shaking, I got to my feet. Every eye in the hall was on me. I looked to Gennie for re-assurance. She wouldn't look at me, she was just staring at the table. My heart leaped practically into my neck. Didn't she believe me?

Every step seemed like a mile, but eventually, I made it to the front of the hall. Dumbledore assessed me coldly. He thrust the sheet with my name forward. "I suppose you should join the other champions."

Blinking back tears, I took the parchment from him. I looked once more at the hall's occupants. I couldn't do this. Nearly all of my friends at Gryffindor were looking away. Then I saw Draco's faint smile at Slytherin, and I felt some muscles relax.

He believed me. Carrying his smile like a talisman, I headed to the door at the back of the hall. I found myself in a small room, with hundreds of portraits lining the walls.

Viktor and Cedric were stood by the fire, and Harry was stood awkwardly in the centre of the room, looking out of place. Fleur was pacing, and she looked up at my arrival.

"What is it?" she said. "Do zey want us back in ze Hall?"

She thought I had come to deliver a message. "N-no," I whispered, tears starting to glisten in my eyes. "They say, they say that I'm the fifth champion."

As soon as the words left my mouth, a hysterical sob escaped my mouth. I couldn't hold it in any longer, tears began to stream down my face. Viktor and Cedric looked at me piting, but weren't sure what to do.

Harry hovered, looking concerned, yet awkward.

Surprisingly, it was the apparently shallow Fleur Delacour who came to comfort me. She put an arm around me, and put me close to her. "Do not cry!" She said. "It ez a high honor! Besides, you are getting tears on my robes!"

On the surface, it sounded something shallow. But her tone reminded me of Lacey when she comforted me, and I found myself laughing and crying at the same time.

There was a sound of scurrying feet behind him, and Ludo Bagman entered the room. He took Harry by the arm and led him forward.

"Extraordinary!" he muttered, squeezing Harry's arm. "Absolutely extraordinary! Gentlemen. . . lady," he added, approaching the fireside and addressing the other three. He seemed to ignore me.

"May I introduce - incredible though it may seem - the fourth Triwizard champion?" He noticed me lent against Fleur's side. "Oh, and of course the fifth champion as well!"

"Oh, vairy funny joke, Meester Bagman." Fleur said, tossing her silvery hair back. "Zis boy said ze same thing! And zis girl is in hysterics, she is not a champion!"

I didn't protest. I wasn't a champion.

"Joke?" Bagman repeated, bewildered. "No, no, not at all! Harry and Aurora's names just came out of the Goblet of Fire!"

Fleur frowned.

"But evidently zair 'as been a mistake," she said contemptuously to Bagman. "Ze cannot compete. 'Ze is too young."

"Well. . . it is amazing," said Bagman, rubbing his smooth chin and smiling down at Harry and me. "But, as you know, the age restriction was only imposed this year as an extra safety measure. And as their name's come out of the goblet.. . I mean, I don't think there can be any ducking out at this stage. . . . It's down in the rules, you're obliged. . . they will just have to do the best they --"