stardust ⋮ george weasley

twenty-seven :

T W E N T Y - S E V E N

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Hogwarts was buzzing with excitement the day of Halloween, eagerly waiting to see which students would place their names in the Goblet of Fire. On a normal Saturday, students would usually be found in the library or somewhere on the grounds, hanging out with friends or catching up on their studies.

However, today it seemed as if nearly half the school sat in the Great Hall, eagerly taking note of who would be entering their names and beginning to place bets on who they thought would be chosen. All the tables had been pushed to the side to make room for the Goblet, which sat in the middle of the room at the center of a magically drawn Age Line, blue flames dancing at the rim as if it were tempting students to put their name in.

The small piece of paper containing Adeline's neatly-scribbled name felt like a weight in her hand as she walked to the Great Hall. Estelle, Melanie, and Ophelia walked beside her, the conversation seemingly going in every different direction. Estelle still seemed to be trying to talk Adeline out of it, while Ophelia and Melanie were egging her on.

"I'd just like to point out before you go in there that this tournament has a death toll–"

"And they promised there wouldn't be any deaths this time!"

"Do you think they told all those students last time that they'd die, Ophelia?"

Adeline stayed quiet, not even comprehending the debate going on behind her. The only thought going through her mind was Adeline asking herself, "Is what I'm doing absolutely crazy?"

The answer was a resounding "Yes." But the more Adeline thought about it, the more she didn't seem to care. Adeline had spent so much of her life so careful and cautious that the idea of taking a risk like this sounded almost exhilarating.

Up ahead of her, she could see Cedric Diggory place a piece of paper in the Goblet, earning a loud cheer from his friends who stood on the outskirts of the Age Line. Adeline almost wanted to turn to Estelle and tell her to stop panicking, as Cedric would almost certainly be chosen as the Hogwarts champion.

But instead, Adeline found herself distracted by the sounds of loud cheers coming from behind her. She didn't even get the chance to turn around before the Weasley Twins pushed past her, whooping as they held a small vial above their heads. Lee ran ahead of them, egging both the twins and crowd on.

"Well, lads, we've done it!" Fred cheered, high-fiving several of the students as he ran into the Great Hall.

"Cooked it up just this morning," George added, sneaking a glance at Adeline to see if she was watching. When he saw that she was distracted, George turned back to the eager crowd of applauding students.

Hermione, who had been reading her book but also listening in on the conversation, rolled her eyes knowingly. "It's not going to work!"

Fred and George exchanged a smug look before sitting on either side of Hermione. "Oh yeah?"

"And why's that, Granger?" George added, raising his eyebrow as he waited expectantly for an answer.

Hermione slammed her book shut, already starting to become a little annoyed at their pestering. "You see this?" She asked, pointing to the blue line drawn around the Goblet. "That's an Age Line. Dumbledore drew it himself."

"So?" Fred questioned.

"So," Hermione scoffed, becoming incredibly frustrated with the two twins beside her. "A genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by something as pathetically dim-witted as an Aging Potion."

Before either of the Twins could shoot back another witty reply, Hermione took notice of who was coming closer to the Goblet. "Adeline's entering? Oh, I do hope she gets chosen."

This caught both Fred and George's attention, but especially George's. It never even crossed his mind that Adeline might be there to put her name in herself and not just watch everyone else do so. He watched in quiet surprise as Adeline stepped past the Age Line, clearly nervous but still putting on a brave face as her friends cheered her on behind her. A small part of him wanted to reach out and stop her from putting her name in the Goblet, terrified at the thought of seeing her get hurt in what was advertised as such a dangerous event. But at the same time, George knew he couldn't stop her, especially since he was sitting there with an Aging Potion in his hand, trying to cheat in order to get a chance to put his name in.

Plus, based on what he's seen in classes over the years, George knew fully well that Adeline was just as capable as he was – almost definitely even more so – of competing in the Triwizard Tournament.

Adeline had successfully stepped past the Age Line, but was now staring up at the blue flames, her arm frozen at her side. All her doubts and fears had seemingly creeped back in her mind, telling Adeline to turn back around and walk away. She would never be able to win the Triwizard Tournament.

But with over half of Hogwarts watching, Adeline knew she couldn't turn back now. So instead she inhaled deeply, reached up on her tip toes, and placed her piece of paper into the fire. It wasn't until the blue flames were shooting high above the Goblet and the students watching began to applaud that Adeline found herself able to breath again. The few Ravenclaw students that were there clapped especially loudly, excited to see one of their own entering the Tournament.

Despite her shaky legs and her feeling like her knees were going to buckle in on themselves, Adeline managed to walk outside of the circle was just about to make her way the Great Hall when she felt a tug on her arm. "Come on," Melanie grinned as she pulled her back to the crowd of students. "I think you'll want to see this."

She was confused as to why Melanie was dragging her back until she saw Fred and George standing on one of the benches with their arms interlocked, holding their vials of potions in their hand. Adeline grinned and ran back over with Melanie, eager to see how their scheme was going to play out.

"Ready, Fred?"

"Ready, George."

"Bottoms up!"

George and Fred drank their potions and leaped off the bench and inside the circle. When nothing happened, the two whooped and high-fived each other. Noticing Adeline applauding and rolling her eyes affectionately at the twins antics, George's smile grew even wider as he turned to Fred. The two waited for a few seconds before simultaneously placing their pieces of paper inside the Goblet.

The blue flames came shooting once more, but it was more extreme than when Adeline had put her name in just before. Suddenly, Fred and George went flying out the circle, causing Adeline to jump back out of fear of one of them accidentally landing on her. At first, when the two hit the ground, Adeline was worried that one of them – or even both – might've been hurt from such a violent fall.

But when the large white beards started growing from their faces and their fiery red hair turned snow white, Adeline couldn't help but burst into laughter with the rest of the Great Hall.

Adeline knew that since she was a prefect, she should probably break the fight up. However, the fight was so entertaining that Adeline didn't really want it to end. The sight of Fred and George Weasley as old men fist-fighting on the ground was strangely hilarious to her, and Adeline couldn't even stop laughing, let alone cast a spell to break the two apart.

The arrival of Professor Dumbledore caused the fight to come to a screeching halt, and Adeline turned back to her friends and asked, "Are you guys ready to head out of here?"

"Actually, I think we should stay," Ophelia answered with a wide grin as she sat down with a thud on the wooden bench. "I want to see if the Goblet throws anyone else out like that."

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