Dark

Chapter 9

Eleanor
I had headed out of my dormitory early, hoping to sneak up to the library fairly unnoticed. Since Draco and I had come to our truce, he had been showing a surprising amount of interest in my reading. It was best that no one knew about the book, though. So my plan for the day was to avoid Draco’s prying gaze by settling myself into the library. He didn’t seem to be there often, so I had hoped to go undisturbed.
Those plans were immediately dashed as I reached the Entrance Hall, however.
In the center of the hall sat a pedestal, topped by the Goblet of Fire itself. There was a wavering blue line circling the area, hovering just a few inches off the ground. It wasn’t the appearance of the cup that had surprised me, it was the sheer number of students just sitting and standing in the Entrance Hall watching people submit their names.
As I tried to push my way through the crowd I heard the Weasley twins mention something about an Aging Potion. I stopped to see what in the world they were up to now but my interest was lost the moment I realized that Draco was now standing next to me. He looked down at the book in my hands and I hugged it closer to my chest, hiding the cover.
“So, what’s with this book anyway, Potter?” He asked, narrowing his eyes at me.
“It’s just a book, Malfoy. Am I not allowed to read, now?” I asked him, trying to keep my voice calm.
“You take that book everywhere with you. You even have your head buried in it every time you’re in the Great Hall. Do you ever bother to eat anything?” Malfoy said.
He was unreadable then. He was still staring me down, trying to intimidate me as he did so many other students. Yet his last question seemed strange. Had he really been watching me enough to know about my eating habits? Was he truly concerned, or was he just trying to find another way to piss me off now that he couldn’t openly insult me in the hallways and in class thanks to our truce?
At that same moment I noticed that Viktor Krum had just submitted his name to the Goblet. He had been speaking to Malfoy and I just last night at the Slytherin table, so I could use him as a simple excuse to leave.
“Like I said, Malfoy, It’s just a book. And because I don’t need to eat as much as the rest of you doesn’t mean that I don’t eat.” I said, glaring back at him. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have someone to talk to and somewhere to be.”
With that I stalked away from Malfoy and caught up to Viktor just as he was heading out the doors back toward the Durmstrang ship.
“Viktor!” I called after him.
I seemed to have surprised him, at least he looked surprised when he turned around and saw me standing their waving at him. He probably didn’t remember me from the previous night.
“Good luck tonight!” I told him, giving him a final wave and dashing up the marble staircase.
I took a quick look behind me before rounding the corner at the top of the stairs to make sure that Malfoy hadn’t followed me. Thankfully he hadn’t attempted to tag along, instead he was glaring toward the front doors of the castle.

Harry
As a line of Beauxbatons students were submitting their names to the Goblet, I couldn’t help but notice Eleanor rushing up the marble staircase. She was clutching a book close to her and looked somewhat paranoid, like she thought someone was going to follow her. She had been acting strange about that book for weeks now. I had seen her carrying it everywhere, but I had no idea what it was she was reading. It wasn’t any of the fourth year text books, and I had certainly never seen that particular book anywhere before.
With that mystery still unsolved, my attention was drawn back to Ron and Hermione.
“Where are they sleeping, then?” Ron was asking as we turned toward the front doors of the castle.
As we made our way across the lawns towards Hagrid’s hut, his question was answered. The large powder blue coach that the Beauxbaton’s delegation had arrived in was stationed not far from Hagrid’s front door. Some of the students who had just entered their names into the Goblet were walking back up the golden steps of the coach as we neared the cabin.
I knocked on Hagrid’s door and immediately heard Fang’s booming barks.
“’Bout time!” Hagrid said as he flung the door open. “Thought you lot’d forgotten where I live!”
“We’ve been really busy, Hag –“ Hermione had started to say.
She had been thrown off however by Hagrid’s appearance. He was wearing a hairy brown suit, the same one he had previously worn for Buckbeak’s trial in London the previous year. He had matched the suit with a horrible checkered yellow-and-orange tie. The strangest part of his appearance though was that his hair was sloppily slicked back by what appeared to be axel grease.
Hermione noticed her extended silence and lamely changed subject, “Erm – where are the skrewts?”
“Out by the pumpkin patch,” Hagrid said happily. “They’re getting’ massive, mus’ be nearly three foot long now. On’y trouble is, they’ve started killin’ each other.”
Hagrid continued on about the skrewts for a while, much to our disappointment. No on in the class seemed too keen on them, and they had become more unmanageable as they had started to grow. Apart from Ron, Hermione, and myself, the only other person in class that didn’t seem to complain in front of Hagrid was Eleanor. Eventually we made our way into Hagrid’s hut, taking seats at the large wooden table that took up nearly half of the cabin.
“You wait,” Hagrid said with a wide grin. “You jus wait. Yer going ter see some stuff yeh’ve never seen before. Firs’ task…ah, but I’m not supposed ter say.”
“Go on, Hagrid!” Ron and I urged him.
Instead he just shook his head at us, “I don’ want ter spoil it fer yeh. But it’s gonna be spectacular, I’ll tell yeh that. Them champions’re going to have their work cut out. Never thought I’d live ter see the Triwizard Tournament played again!”
It wasn’t until later in the day that our visit took an awkward turn.
“I’ve bin meanin’ to ask, how’s Eleanor?” Hagrid asked as he turned towards me again.
“Er, fine.” I said quietly, averting my eyes.
I hadn’t spoken with Eleanor since our last confrontation, much to Hermione’s annoyance. I had felt terrible for what I had said to her, but as time moved on she had started to spend a lot of time with Malfoy. Each time I saw them together my guilty feelings lessened. To think that someone who could be my sister was not only a Slytherin but was friends with Malfoy was too much. So I had resolved myself to ignoring her as much as possible.
“Well, she seems like a good kid. Always nice in class.” Hagrid mentioned, not having taken notice of the tension that had built up between Ron, Hermione and I.
By the time we decided to head back up to the castle there was a light rain falling.
“I’ll come with yeh,” Hagrid said. “Jus’ give us a sec.”
It wasn’t until the smell reached us that we realized what Hagrid was doing. He had been putting on some sort of cologne. The three of us were holding back retching coughs as Hagrid met us at his door.
“Hagrid, what’s that?” Ron asked.
“Eh? Don’ yeh like it?”
“Is that aftershave?” Hermione asked in a choked voice.
“Er – eau de cologne,” Hagrid answered, beginning to blush. “I’ll go take it off, hang on…”
Hagrid moved around the side of his cabin and a moment later there was a large splashing sound.
“Eau de cologne?” Hermione turned to me and Ron.
As Hagrid made his way back to us he looked up. We followed his gaze to see that Madame Maxine was exiting the oversized carriage, followed by a flock of blue robed students. Hagrid changed direction and immediately trotted off after her. We watched in shock for a moment before Hermione broke the silence.
“He’s going up to the castle with her! I thought he was waiting for us!” She said indignantly.
“He fancies her!” Ron chuckled. “Well, if they end up having children, they’ll be setting a world record – bet any baby of theirs would weigh about a ton.”

Eleanor
The Great Hall was overflowing with students as everyone attempted to squeeze into seats at the four house tables. I took a seat across from Malfoy and directly next to Tracey. Further down the table, the Durmstrang lot had taken seats. They were oddly boisterous, the excitement of the night clearly having taken them over. In fact, the majority of the Hall was filled with loud voices and smiling faces.
This was my first Halloween feast in the castle. I had heard from other students that the Halloween feast was often filled with decorations and special treats for the students. I had been interested to see what the experience was really like, and I wasn’t disappointed. The food was even more magnificent than usual, and a number of pastries lined the tables. This was one of the few times I was willing to leave my books and homework in my dormitory and I fully enjoyed the food that surrounded me.
When the plates had finally been cleaned of food, Dumbledore got to his feet. The hall immediately became silent and Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxine shifted anxiously in their seats at the staff table.
“Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision,” Dumbledore said, “I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions’ names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber” – he indicated a door behind the staff table with a small wave of his hand – “where they will be receiving their first instructions.”
Dumbledore took out his wand and moved it in a great wave, extinguishing all the candles in the hall other than those in the large carved pumpkins. As the light in the Hall was dimmed, the blue flames of the Goblet of Fire shone more brightly, drawing everyone’s attention to it.
The atmosphere was tense as we all sat, waiting to see what would happen next. Then the flames inside the Goblet turned from blue to red, sparks flew from the cup and a parchment was shot up into the air. The charred scrap fluttered down and Dumbledore caught it in an outstretched hand.
“The champion for Durmstrang,” Dumbledore read out, “will be Viktor Krum.”
The Hall erupted into applause. I clapped along with everyone else, not surprised by the cup’s choice.
“Bravo, Viktor!” Karkaroff boomed from the front of the Hall. “Knew you had it in you!”
After a few moments the clapping and chatting died down. I focused again on the cup, waiting for the blue flames to turn red once again. Would Hogwarts or Beauxbatons be next?
The red flames reappeared and a second parchment was thrown into the sky. Dumbledore caught it and unfolded it before reading, “The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!”
The staff and students clapped again, though I noticed it wasn’t quite as loud. While the Durmstrang students had clapped happily for Viktor, the students from Beauxbatons looked on with jealousy as Fleur made her way from the hall to follow Viktor into the side chamber.
When silence fell again we all looked to the Goblet. Only Hogwarts was left. The noticeable red flames erupted again and the final parchment flew into the air.
“Better be a Slytherin.” I heard Malfoy and a number of other students around me mutter.
“The Hogwarts champion,” Dumbledore called out, “is Cedric Diggory!”
There was a large amount of cheering and clapping again. I joined in but quickly realized that I was the only Slytherin student to have done so. I turned to see Malfoy glaring at me but refused to lower my hands. The least they could do was support a student from their own school after they clapped for Viktor so enthusiastically.
When Cedric had disappeared into the side chamber Dumbledore spoke again.
“Excellent! We now have our three champions. I am sure that I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real –“
Dumbledore suddenly broke off as the Goblet’s flames turned red for a fourth time. All eyes were turned to the cup. Another piece of charred parchment flew into the air and Dumbledore caught it as it floated back down. He stared at it for a moment, completely silent, his eyes wider than I had ever seen them behind his half-moon spectacles.
“The Potters…” he said, almost too quietly to hear.
I immediately noticed every head in the hall turning toward either Harry or me. My own head turned with them and my eyes immediately snapped onto Harry. He was staring up at Dumbledore, shock plastered to his features.
“What?!” I shouted as I turned my gaze back toward Dumbledore. What had Harry done? Why would he put his name in the tournament, and why would he put mine in with it?
“Harry and Eleanor Potter.” Dumbledore said, more loudly this time.
“That’s impossible!” I shouted again as I whipped my head back around toward Malfoy. I could tell that my eyes had gone wide, and I could feel the fear stretching across my own face. It was too much to take in though. Every ounce of composure I worked so hard to maintain each day had flown out the window.
“Potter, just go.” Malfoy said quietly.
I could feel Tracey’s hand on my back and she gently shoved me up and away from the table. As I looked back toward the Gryffindor table I saw Hermione doing the same to Harry. In a matter of mere seconds I had felt surprised, confused, and scared. Now I just felt angry. How could he have done this to me? How could he hate me so much that he would try to force me into a tournament that there is no way I can survive?
I glared at Harry as we both made our way to the front of the Hall. As he reached me I latched onto his arm, digging my nails into his sleeve. I practically dragged him the rest of the way to the side chamber and as we reached the doorway I shoved in ahead of me before entering and slamming the door.