Lily Luna Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 5: The Goblet of Fire

"If Illvermorny, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang were here, that only meant one thing. Another Triwizard Tournament."

About a half hour later, Lily, Caroline, Hugo, Lorcan, and Daisy were all sitting together at the Gryffindor table, trying to take in everything around them, and just waiting for their theory to be proven true. They noticed that some people they had never seen before sitting at the staff table. Lily assumed they were the headmasters and headmistress of Illvermorny, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. And, what even made her theory more true was the Beauxbatons students sitting at the Ravenclaw table, the Durmstrang students sitting at the Slytherin table, and the Illvermorny students sitting at the Hufflepuff table. Lily was just waiting.

"ATTENTION EVERYONE!" McGonagall shouted at the more crowded than usual Great Hall, while banging a spoon against her goblet. At this, all the students turned and faced McGonagall, to hear her announcement.

"Okay, welcome students and staff to Hogwarts for another school year! As some of you may have noticed, we have guests joining us this school year. Welcome the students and staff of Illvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and Durmstrang Institute. Now, the reason why we have guests this year, is because, it is my pleasure to say, that after 30 years, Hogwarts will be hosting the famous Triwizard Tournament again." McGonagall started, but was interrupted by applauses.

"Now, now, now, before we celebrate the welcoming of our fellow Wizarding schools, there will be some new changes to the tournament for safety reasons." McGonagall continued, but now the room was dead silent. Everyone's, including Lily and Hugo's, mind tracked to a memory of hearing a Triwizard champion, Cedric Diggory, tragically passing away during the third task due to an attack by Voldemort. Lily and Hugo especially knew this because Lily's father and Hugo's uncle, was of course a Triwizard champion also. Lily had remembered that Harry had told the story multiple times. Lily knew her father had been through so much in his past, and in the graveyard where Cedric was murdered, was one of those things that scared him. This was why he was so stressed. He was probably worried that something like that was going to happen again. Especially because he was the one who would be completely responsible for safety.

"Some of these changes are and will include; the participation of Illvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to make our allies stronger, extra safety and protection provided by the Great Britain Ministry of Magic team of Auror's, led by Head Auror Harry Potter." McGonagall stated, but she paused after that last part because all the eyes in the Great Hall landed on Lily and Hugo. Especially Lily. But, Lily was eager to know more.

"And, instead of individual champions, each school will have a team of two Triwizard Champions. This way, each team can have each other not just for safety reasons, but to also successfully achieve extremely challenging, and dangerous, magical tasks using a strategy of teamwork. Of course, you NEED to be 17 years old to enter. Absolutely no exceptions. We have already made sure that there will be no possible way for underaged witches and wizards to enter. And, if you do choose to enter, know that you are entering a extremely dangerous, and challenging tournament. When or if you do, you must write yourself and your other team member on a slip of parchment, and place it into the Goblet of Fire. Exactly one week from today, the Goblet of Fire will select the teams by letting your piece of parchment listing the names of the members of your team, back out. Also, if you are selected to be a champion, you are excused from all exams this year, including N.E.W.T's. And, if you win, there is a prize of 10,000 Galleons, for each member of the wining team."  McGonagall continued to explain, and then stepped back to reveal the magical, full of mystique and enchantedly blue flames, Goblet of Fire.

Everyone's eyes were now landed on the Goblet. Lily was amazed by it. She had only heard her dad talk about it, it was way cooler than he explained now that she was seeing it in person. As she stared into the blue flames, some strong thoughts were running through her head. She was 17. Her birthday had just passed last spring. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Wait! What was she thinking! Her father almost died in this! Actually, someone actually did! But, then again, this would probably be the safest Triwizard Tournament ever. With her dad and his team patrolling everything, there was no way something like that could happen again. Lily's best class was DADA, and she really had niche for curses and hexes, and not to mention she was pretty athletic too. She figured you would need to be pretty athletic and strong to do something like this. And, what was the best part, she wouldn't have to do N.E.W.T's! Well, she would be stressed anyway if she did follow through with this, but, if there was any possible way to get out of N.E.W.T's, she would take it. And, the 10,000 Galleon prize money would be really nice too. No! She couldn't! Not with everything that her dad had went through. Besides, she needed a partner. She knew that none of her friends would want to do this with her though. But, she wanted to do it.