The Lost Daughter

Chapter Thirteen

On the afternoon of Halloween, the entire school was perched in the windowsills overlooking the mountains and Great Lake, hoping for a glimpse of the arrival of the other schools.

Durmstrang students arrived by ship and the Beauxbaton students came in a carriage flown by Abraxan winged horses. Everyone was mesmerized by the grandeur of the arrivals and buzzed about it as they waited in the Great Hall for the other school's students to enter.

Once Dumbledore had introduced the other schools and everyone was in their seats, the rules of the tournament were explained. Only students above the age of seventeen were allowed to compete in the tournament due to the dangerous nature of the tasks, and Fred and George bellowed in protest. Both were incorrigible knowing that they weren't eligible to compete for fame and glory. Elle and Angelina were the only two old enough in their Gryffindor friend group to put their names in for consideration.

Eligible students had a week to place their names in the Goblet of Fire for the chance to be chosen as their school's champion. Elle knew she wanted to put her name in; she believed she had the talent to do well and the Gryffindor inside her loved the idea of a challenge. Plus, there was prize money for the champion, and since she had none to her name other than what she made at her summer job, she could really use the money.

On the next Saturday morning, it was the second to last day students were allowed to submit their names, and Elle decided she was ready. She carefully wrote down "Elle Carter, Hogwarts" on a piece of parchment before heading to the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was very busy, as many other students had decided to enter their names that day as well. Elle saw Fred and George surrounded by their friends intensely discussing something. But in an attempt to keep her courage high, she walked past them and up to the goblet. She confidently threw in her name and became excited at the thought of being chosen. Many Gryffindors and other students cheered as her piece of parchment disappeared into the cup.

As she walked away from the goblet, she was greeted by Cedric.

"I didn't know you were entering, too!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, may the worthy student win," she said jokingly.

Fred watched from a distance as Elle and Cedric laughed about something. His blood boiled at the thought of Cedric liking Elle.

Angry from thinking about Cedric with Elle, Fred looked at George and said, "Let's do it now." Fred was no longer worried about the possible consequences, not that he was really that concerned to begin with. With a smirk, George nodded and grabbed their two vials. There were many excited whispers as the twins strutted up to the age line drawn by Professor Dumbledore.

"It's not going to work," Hermione sang in a know-it-all way as she watched the twins.

"And why not?" questioned George.

"Because that's an age line," said Hermione, motioning to the blue ring, "Something as pathetically dim-witted as an aging potion isn't going to fool a spell that Dumbledore did himself."

"But, Hermione, that's why it's going to work," retorted Fred.

"Because it's so pathetically dim-witted," George chimed in.

Then together the twins said, "Bottoms up," before jumping into the ring. At first, nothing happened and they cheered along with the crowd that had gathered. But only a few seconds of joy passed before the twins were thrown out of the ring by an invisible force. They fell hard on the ground, and were enraged to find out that their flaming red hair had turned white and they had grown long beards.

After laughing so hard that her stomach hurt, Elle walked over to where the twins had fallen. They had just finished wrestling over whose terrible idea it was to use a simple aging potion, and they laid exhausted on the floor of the Great Hall. Elle extended her hands to the twins and decided, "Come on boys, let's go to Madam Pomfrey." The twins glumly walked with her to the hospital wing, upset that they weren't going to be in the running for Hogwarts champion.

It wasn't long before the twins had their normal red hair and happy, go-lucky attitudes back. As the three of them made it back to the common room, they joined their friends around the fireplace. They spent the rest of their day trying to figure out which Hogwarts students were most likely to be chosen for the tournament.