la chiave del tuo cuore {cedric diggory}

♛ CHAMPIONS ♛

It was the evening of the 31st of October. Once again, Aurora, Blanca, Fleur and Gabrielle were sat at the blue-tie, or Ravenclaw table. Blanca was chattering excitedly to a pretty girl by the name of Cho Chang, while Fleur was giving herself a pep talk in rapid French. Everyone who had entered their name into the Goblet of Fire were nervously waiting for the Hallowe'en feast to be over. Well, most of them. Aurora sat at the Ravenclaw table eating bouillabaisse without a care in the world. Most of the champion hopefuls had not even touched their food. "Comment pouvez-vous manger à un moment pareil ?" (How can you eat a time like this?) Fleur hissed. "N'êtes-vous pas un peu nerveux ?" (Aren't you the slightest bit nervous?) Aurora simply sent her sister an infuriating smirk. "Nope." she casually popped the 'p' and tried to conceal her laughter as Fleur's face contorted with rage. Aurora's gaze swept around the room. She first noticed the Weasley twins, who sported matching scowls. She snorted slightly as they noticed her staring and flipped her a rather rude finger. She presumed they were still a bit bitter about the whole Goblet of Fire thing.

She then noticed Hermione, the ginger boy from the night before who she presumed was another Weasley, and none other than Harry Potter staring at her. She raised one perfectly arched eyebrow at the trio, and sent them a little wave. All three of them looked away, cheeks flushed in embarrassment. This caused the girl to snicker.

Aurora then accidentally met the gaze of one Cedric Diggory. The girl immediately realised that he had already been staring at her. She wanted to laugh at him, but the sound died in her throat. She found herself unable to tear her gaze away from the boy. Even from a distance she could see how startlingly blue his eyes were, with little flecks of gold around the edges. Cedric found himself in a similar situation, completely transfixed by her deep brown orbs. No winks or flirtatious smiles were exchanged this time. They just stared deeply into each other's eyes.

The trance was broken by Fleur frantically shaking Aurora's arm. "D'une seconde à l'autre, Rora, et nous serons les champions du Tri-Wizard !" (Any second now Rora, and we will be Tri-Wizard Champions!) Aurora quickly shook her herself out of her daze and forced a smile back at the excited French girl, who did not seem to notice her disorientation. How could she be so stupid? No boy could ever make Aurora Black go weak at the knees. The girl prided herself on it. So why had she suddenly become so lost in Cedric Diggory's eyes? Yes, the boy was handsome, but so were many others. What made him so different?

Aurora became vaguely aware of Dumbledore tapping on the side of his glass to gain everyone's attention. As the hall gradually became silent, Aurora banished all thoughts of Cedric Diggory from her mind. She could not- would not allow herself to become distracted by a boy. The girl straightened up in her seat and stared straight ahead with a blank expression on her face. Dumbledore cleared his throat and began to speak. "Any minute now, the Goblet will have made its decision, and we shall know who our six Tri-Wizard Champions are." The Hall was silent. Everyone waited with bated breaths, not daring to make a sound.

Suddenly, the brilliant blue flames of the Goblet turned scarlet, and a piece of parchment was expelled from the wooden cup.

"The first Durmstrang Champion is..." Dumbledore paused for dramatic effect, which annoyed Aurora to no end. "Viktor Krum!" he shouted. The reaction was instantaneous. The Durmstrang students all clapped the stocky boy on the back, while all the Quidditch fans in the room cheered loudly. The Beauxbatons girls clapped politely as Krum shook Dumbledore's hand and left the room. No sooner had the door shut behind him did the flames from the Goblet turn that vibrant scarlet again. Another piece of parchment was expelled into the air. Dumbledore caught it, and began to unfold the paper painfully slowly. "The first Beauxbatons Champion is..." Aurora's heart began to beat slightly faster in her chest, though she willed it not to. "Aurora Black!" Dumbledore announced. Only the Beauxbatons students, Dante, Draco and Ariadne cheered. The rest of the hall was deathly quiet. Aurora expected as much. No one wanted to be associated with the daughter of a mass murderer. The girl slowly rose from her seat. Her confident demeanour did not once slip, even when she heard the frightened whispers that were rippling around the hall. "Black? As in Sirius Black?" she heard a Hufflepuff hiss as she walked past. "What the hell are they doing letting a Black into Hogwarts for crying out loud? That family is bad news!" a Gryffindor with a whiny voice said, loud enough for the whole hall to hear. Aurora simply ignored her. Only when she spotted Hermione did her stony gaze soften slightly. The younger girl was staring at Aurora in shock, but there was no hint of fear on her face. The Beauxbatons girl did not have time to dwell on this though, for she had reached the front of the hall, where she was faced with the judgemental stares of the Hogwarts professors. Dumbledore gripped her hand tightly before shaking it. "Congratulations Miss Black." he murmured in a low voice. "It's just through here." he gestured to the door Krum had just exited through. As she made her way to the exit, she could have sworn she heard Dumbledore whisper, "Good luck Aurora." before the door slammed shut behind her.