"I open at the close"

The Competitors.

Ember POV:

Today is the day. I walk into the great hall with my head held high, back straight, with a signature Weasley (Malfoy) smirk on my face, holding hands with Cedric Krum. Cedric and I approach the Goblet with pure confidence and share a look before dropping our names in. As soon as Freddy and Georgia realize I just did that they loose their shit. "DO YOU HAVE ANOTHER BLOODY DEATH WISH?" Freddy yells as Georgia grabs the front of my robes roughly and pulls me out of the hall. "Relax. It's not like I'll actually be chosen, If anything it will be Zeke who gets chosen." I say coolly, knowing that Freddy had no idea her boyfriend had put his name in the cup. "We will be back. This is far from over." Freddy growls as Georgia and her approach a scared shitless looking hufflepuff boy who over heard the entire conversation. 

As my sisters begin to lay into Zeke, I stalk back into the great hall and calmly take a seat next to Cedric. Just as I begin to say something to him a red envelope is dropped down in-front of Flicker. I cover my mouth to keep from laughing when I realize my third year baby sister had just received a howler from either Mum or Uncle Blaise.  I watch as she slowly reaches out and opens the howler... "FLICKER BLAIR ZABINI/GRANGER, I CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU!  OFF SNOGGING JORDAN FLINT UNDER THE BLEACHERS AT THE QUIDDITCH PITCH! YOU ARE IN A WORLD OF TROUBLE... AND YOU HAVE YOUR BROTHER TO THANK FOR THAT. Love you, Dad." When I hear the part about her snogging Jordan Flint I nearly choke in my juice... By the end of the howler I am snorting with laughter and Flicker is hiding her head in her hands from embarrassment. Zeke walks into the hall with a grin on his face... well, that is until Flicker yells, "THAT'S IT! I'M WRITING FRED AND TELLING HIM WHAT YOU AND FREDDY DID IN UNCLE PERCY'S OLD ROOM AT THE BURROW!" after that Zeke looks ready to shit himself. 

Finally being able to talk after recovering from laughing, I turn to Cedric and open my mouth to speak, but am cut off by Head Master announcing that they would now be announcing the Champions. "Good luck." I mutter to Cedric as I grab his hand under the table. Headmaster grabs the first of three pieces of Parchment to fly from the goblet and yells "VICTOIRE WEASLEY WILL BE OUR BEAUXBATONS CHAMPION." I gasp as I see my cousin kiss Teddy Luipn and make her way gracefully to the front of the hall. The next slip of parchment flies from the goblet and headmaster yells "CEDRIC KRUM, SHALL BE OUR DURMSTRANG CHAMPION!" I gasp loudly at this announcement. Cedric gets up to head to the front, but I grad his sleeve and spin him around to face me just before he leaves. Using every ounce of Gryffindor courage I have, I lift my hand to his cheek and guide his lips to mine. Once we break apart, he walks to the front of the hall grinning like a mad man. The entire hall falls silent as the third slip of paper shoots out of the goblet and slowly falls into Headmaster Longbottoms hand. "HOGWARTS CHAMPION IS EMBER WEASLEY!" He announces to the three schools who are shocked into science.

I can't move, I feel like I am paralyzed to my seat. I feel a warm hand be placed on my shoulder and look up into the eyes of Jordan Flint, my first friend. He has tears in his eyes as he slowly helps me from my seat and pulls me into a bone crushing hug, before pushing me in the direction of the other champions. I hear two identical voices begin raising hell from the Slytherin table. "THE BLOODY HELL SHE IS! SHE'S ONLY FOURTEEN! EMBER!" Freddy and Georgia eventually have to dragged from the hall alongside Damon who physically lunged at Headmaster Longbottom as he passed him to exit the hall. I look over at the Hufflepuff table and see Flicker whispering to Zeke harshly as she pulls her braids up into a bun. I close my eyes and realize how bad I've fucked up right about the time someone begins to fill us in on the first task. 

"For the first task, You will each have to face three dementors within a matter of six minuets and retrieve a glass bottle that contains your clue as to what the next task will be." I smirk when I realize that I already know how to defeat a dementor. The three of us are dismissed shortly after and are sent to our respective housing areas. As soon as I exit the great hall, I feel a hand on my wrist. I turn to see who has a hold of me, but am met with a warm pair of lips on my own... Cedric. Without a second thought I reach up with one hand and tangle my fingers in his hair, while using my other hand to pull his closer. Just as he moves to deepen the kiss we hear someone clear their throat. Cedric and I quickly jump away from each other and turn to find Freddy, Georgia, Flicker, Zeke, Jordan, James, Hermione Krum, and a pissed looking Damon. 

After a nearly hour and a half lecture from my sisters and Damon, I am finally allowed to go up to bed. Seeing as the first task is in two weeks I'm going to need to start training first thing in the morning... joyful isn't it? Two weeks of torment from my sisters and cousins about getting my skinny ass in shape... I can already tell this is going to be a GREAT year (not.). As soon as I get to my dorm I write a letter to Cedric, before falling into a peaceful sleep (That will no doubt be interrupted at five am tomorrow morning by the twins so I can go running).