˗ˋ 09

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CHAPTER NINE

-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH A BET IS MADE

. . .


Rosie didn't seem to be the only person freaking out over Viktor Krum. The twins dragged her past Ron, Harry and Hermione, the ginger-haired boy talking about him with a tone of disbelief and excitement. 

Various girls and boys alike were rushing round in attempts to find something for him to sign, and Rosie cringed when she heard various girls talking about body parts.

"Really Mary? A quill on there?" She said, and Mary replied with something not so tasteful. "I'm not talking about how I have none but a quill Mary! That's spiky and you'll get ink poisoning."

"Do I even want to know what you're talking about." Cedric asked, walking by Rosie, who had been abandoned by the twins because of her attempts to stop Viktor Krum being harrassed by girls.

"I think you probably got the gist of it. But how stupid do you have to be? A quill to any body part is lethal, but there? That's like having no brains at all." Rosie commented, and Cedric chuckled. 

"I wonder who will get in." Cedric mused, as the pair rejoined the flood of students trying to get to the hall. "Either of us would be the best choice."

"Way to toot your own horn." Rosie looked up at him, and Cedric gave her a look. "Listen, Diggory, anyone can enter. I'm pretty sure Beauxbatons and Durmstrang brought their best students, and I hate to say it, but there are better students than me here. So it might be most likely you, but someone other than me."

"With your potions knowledge? And how good you are at Quidditch and Transfiguration? Rosie, you idiot, you're taking eight? Nine? subjects. That's Percy Weasley level stuff, you know." Cedric replied, and Rosie made a face.

"I'm only taking so many because I have no idea what to do after all this. And even if I do get into the tournament and win it, what's that going to do for me? How is that going to get me a job." Rosie shrugged. 

"Besides, I'll be useless in a tournament. I'm only good at theory and applying the magic is practical situations. I could never win a tournament based on skill alone." Rosie smiled a little sadly.

"Woah, woah, woah." Cedric said, as they reached the door. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's learn about it first. And make a bet." Cedric finished, and the last words got Rosie's attention, just as he hoped. 

"A bet." Rosie repeated. "What sort of bet. And what would we get out of it." The pair stopped by the doors to the hall, as students surged past, trying to get to their seats. 

"We both enter the tournament. One of us will likely get picked. If I do, you help me with the theory part. If you get picked, I help you with the skills that you're so adamant on needing." Cedirc proposed and Rosie thought for a moment. 

"Fine. It's on." Rosie said, holding out her hand, and Cedric took it, firmly shaking it. "May the best win." She finished, and walked away from Cedric, who smiled slightly as he watched her go, shaking his head. 

"Where were you." Fred asked, eyeing the Hufflepuff boy as he sat down in his seat. Rosie just shrugged, not having time to reply as a silence fell over the hall.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and — most particularly — guests," said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable." 

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," The headmaster continued. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

Food appeared on the table, and the students and guests tucked in, eating their share until it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and the attention was once again turned to Dumbledore. 

Ludo Bagman and Mr Crouch had appeared at the table of staff, and Rosie shivered slightly, remembering the night of the World Cup. Dumbledore introduced the pair and their various roles in organising the tournament. 

Then, Filch approached Dumbeldore, carrying a chest that looked old, encrusted with jewels. Students peered to look at it, but nobody got a good enough look as it moved through the hall.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him. 

"And they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways... their magical prowess - their daring - their powers of deduction - and, of course, their ability to cope with danger." He continued.

Rosie looked over to the Hufflepuff table to try and see Cedric, ready to mouth the words ' I told you ' at him, only to find him already looking at her. So instead of mouthing anything, she blushed furiously, focusing back on Dumbledore.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "one from each of the participatings chools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore now took out his wand and tapped three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames. 

Everyone could only stare at the cup, some knowing that somehow that would help them enter. "Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. 

"Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete." Dumbledore said. 

He then explained how he would be drawing an age line around it, to restrict anyone underage entering. Fred and George glanced over at Rosie, thinking they could easily enter with a potion.

But Rosie wasn't look at them, she was staring at the goblet, the blue light reflecting in her eyes. That would be how she would enter. That would decide whether or not she would emerge a champion or not. 

The competition seemed dangerous, but it was a risk Rosie was willing to take. She would enter later that night, and tomorrow would find out whether or not she would be Hogwart's representative or not.

Why she had ever prayed for a quiet year, she didn't know.

✧ 


𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗻, cedric diggoryWhere stories live. Discover now