just for you (years 3-5)

chapter 31

the morning of the thirtieth the teacher's are tougher than ever, constantly telling us to straighten our ties, fix our hair, etc. in classes, they're tough as well, although none of us are able to pay attention with all of the anticipation. as draco and i leave defense of the darks arts, we head down to the dungeons to put away our things, having only 30 minutes before 18:00. with the rest of our friends in classes, we take a small corner in the common room with two arm chairs to ourselves, not feeling like mingling with the upperclassmen.

"how do you reckon they're arriving?" i say, putting my feet up onto draco's chair across from me. he makes a face, but still moves over to give my legs room.

"probably by portkey, it would be easiest" he shrugs

"i'm thinking the must be doing something much grander" i look out of the glass to our right, which sees into the black lake, "wizards love to show off"

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when the bell rings at 18:00, we're all led out of the common room by one of the prefects up to the entrance hall, where our heads of houses are placing us into lines. we all file outside and line back up outside of the castle, all of us scanning the grounds at once to see if they'll appear.

"aha!" i hear professor dumbledore call from behind us, "unless i am very much mistaken, the delegation from beauxbatons approaches!"

"where?" i say, looking out over the grass. draco tugs on my sleeve and points skyward. i follow his finger up to the sky, seeing a carriage as large as a house pulled by a dozen winged horses soaring towards us. the first few rows of us back up frantically as it comes in for a bumpy landing, coming to a halt right in front of the crowd.

the durmstrang entrance is no less impressive. they arrive via a large ship, which emerges spectacularly from the black lake. a plank lowers onto the shore, and the students walk down towards us. as we go back into the great hall, trailing behind the beauxbatons and durmstrang students, all of the girls in the grade whisper to each others, trying to find a quill or lipstick to get one of the durmstrang students autograph, viktor krum. krum is a famous quidditch player, but most of the girls are just fawning over his looks. as we go back in to the great hall, the boys of durmstrang stand awestruck, while the beauxbatons girls look less than pleased, shivering from their journey and immediately taking seats at the ravenclaw table.

to draco's delight, the durmstrang boys all take seats at the slytherin table. the entire night, he's sat with a smug look on his face, chatting it up with the other students. i make a couple acquittances, although none of the boys are quite my type, lots of them even more full of themselves than draco, i would much rather have talked with the girls from beauxbatons. as the evening winds down, dumbledore announces that at the end of the dinner, the tournament will be opened. for registration, i suppose? they still haven't told us how to do that. midway through the feast, barty crouch, the head of the department of international magical cooperation, and ludo bagman, head of the department of magical games and sports, arrive, and are announced to be part of the panel of judges. soon after, the explanation of the games begin.

students, above the age of 17, have 24 hours to place their name in the goblet of fire. at the end of the 24 hours, the goblet will pick three names, one from each of the competing schools, to be entered in the tournament. once your name is picked by the goblet, there's no going back.

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the next day, saturday, i wake up earlier than the rest of my friends, so i head down to breakfast by myself. i see harry, ron and hermione, along with around 20 other students all milling around the goblet, which had been placed on the stool where the sorting hat normal sits. a thin golden line is traced in a circle around in, an age line, preventing anyone under 17 from entering.

"anyone put their name in yet?" ron asks eagerly just as i approach the group

"all the durmstrang lot" i reply, "did it after dinner when the other houses left. i haven't seen anyone from hogwarts go up yet"

"i would've done that, had it been me" harry says, "wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. what if the goblet just gobbed you right back out again?"

we hear laughter from behind us, and all turn our heads to see fred, george, and lee jordan hurrying down the stairs, all three of them incredibly excited.

"done it" fred says triumphantly, whispering to all of us, "just taken it"

"taken what?" i say

"aging potion" hermione says disapprovingly, "it's not going to work, you know"

the twins and lee ignore her.

"ready?" fred says, "c'mon then- i'll go first" he slips a piece of parchment with his name on it out of his pocket. he walks right up to the edge of the line, waits a moment, and then steps over.

"what's going on?" i look over my shoulder to see draco standing there

"twins are trying to fool the age line" i reply

"glad i've come to see the show" he scoffs, placing his arm on top of my shoulder and leaning against me. i flush slightly, but keep my head forward, looking at the twins. both of them have crossed the line now, having placed there names in the cup. they're still within the circle, cheering triumphantly. but the glee is short lived. the twins are thrown out of the circle by some invisible force, thrown high above us and landing ten feet away on the stone floor. both of them have sprouted identical long white beards. everyone laughs along loudly, even fred and george.

"i did warn you" says professor dumbledore, now standing in the entranceway, "i suggest you both go up to madam pomfrey. she is already tending to miss fawcett, of ravenclaw, and mr. summers, of hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. though i must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours"

during breakfast, a boy from slytherin, and angelina johnson (chaser for gryffindor), place their names in the cup. just when we think the excitement for the morning is over, cedric comes running in, shoved along by a group of his friends towards the front of the hall, all of them laughing loudly and chanting his name.

"wouldn't have thought he'd want to risk his good looks" draco mumbles, scowling at the group and then looking back at his food. i chuckle slightly, amused by his annoyance, and then looking back up at cedric.

"he's really entering?" daphne says to me

"looks like it" i nod nervously as he pushed across the line, reaching up and dropping his slip of parchment into the goblet, "i haven't had the chance to speak to him about it yet"

the hufflepuff table cheers as cedric goes to take a seat. i must still be staring at him, because he meets my eyes and waves slightly, before being pulled down by his friends into a massive group hug. i sigh nervously and look back to my friends, all of which look indifferent to cedric's entering.... except draco, who looks downright furious.

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hey everyone! since today's labor day i'm having some family over (small amount dw, not tryna get rona), and might not have time to write another chapter today. if i can't get it out by tonight, chapter 32 will be out tmrw morning! also this chapter is more just furthering the plot so sorry there's not much draco content lol but this is setup for later stuff yk?

vote/comment/share ! :)

p.s. thank you for 10k reads