Pheonix

The Goblet of Fire

As the next day was Saturday, most students would normally have breakfasted late. Asura and Brook, however, were not alone in rising much earlier than they usually did on weekends. When they went up into the entrance hall, they saw about twenty people milling around it, some of them eating toast, all examining the Goblet of Fire. It had been placed in the centre of the hall on the stool that normally bore the Sorting Hat. A thin golden line had been traced on the floor, forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction.

"Anyone put their name in yet?" Brook asked a third-year girl in a dull tone.

"All the Durmstrang lot," she replied. "But I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet. "

"I might do it ya know, " Asura said offhandedly.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I might enter my name in, what's the worse that can happen?"

It's not like I haven't done it before

"You could die."

"I'm well aware of that, but what are the chances my name is actually going to get picked. Like Seriously, there are so many people entering the chances aren't very high."

"Fine, but if you get killed in going to kill you, " Brook sighed.

"Great, do you have parchment?"

Brook reluctantly handed her a piece of parchment and Asura neatly wrote her name and school on it.

Slowly, she walked up to the goblet, eyes piercing her body as people began to notice her presence and what exactly she was doing. She was the first from Hogwarts to put her name in.

Cheers erupted from the room and Asura felt unbelievably happy for some reason. Pride reaching her every limb. A smile graced her face.

Then she heard Fred and George.

"The Aging Potion, dung brains," said Fred.

Asura shook her head, she had no doubt that they would actually do it.

"That's not going to work, " she giggled once she was close by.

"Well it's not like you would do it for us now, is it?"

"I've already put mine in, " she said smugly.

"Wait, really?" Harry exclaimed.

"Yeah, I thought 'why not?' So I put my name in?"

"You could die!"

"Nah, I've not died before."

"Well, of course, you haven't, you've only had one life, " said Hermione.

"That's what you think dear, " she tapped her nose knowingly and stalked off.

----------------------------

The Halloween feast seemed to take much longer than usual. Perhaps because it was their second feast in two days, Asura didn't seem to fancy the extravagantly prepared food as much as she would have normally. Like everyone else in the Hall, judging by the constantly craning necks, the impatient expressions on every face, the fidgeting, and then standing up to see whether Dumbledore had finished eating yet, Asura simply wanted the plates to clear, and to hear who had been selected as champions.

At long last, the golden plates returned to their original spotless state; there was a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the Hall, which died away almost instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as tense and expectant as anyone. Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at various students. Mr Crouch, however, looked quite uninterested, almost bored.

"Who do you think it's going to be?"

"I honestly don't have a clue hun."

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them to please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along with the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" - he indicated the door behind the staff table - "where they will be receiving their first instructions. "

He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes. Everyone watched, waiting. . . . A few people kept checking their watches. . .

"Come on..." Brook whispered in anticipation.

The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it - the whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white.

"The champion for Durmstrang," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum. "

"What a surprise, " Draco rolled his eyes.

"Why are you so gloomy today?" Asura asked concerned.

"Because of you. What if you actually get chosen? You trip over your own two feet at the best of times."

She reached and grabbed his hand, " I'll be fine, I promise. And if I'm not, remember it's for a good reason."

Draco still looked concerned so she kept her grip on his hand.

The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"

And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion," he called, "is Asura!"

There was cheering, deafening noise, but all seemed in slow motion for Asura. She made I contact with Draco and Brook as they both gave her forced small smiles. Then she looked at everyone else and they're happiness