Snape and Lily's daughter

The champions

The next morning, Saturday, students normally eat breakfast later. Grace and her friends, however, were not the only ones to get up much earlier than they usually do on weekends. When they went down to the Hall, there were about twenty people there, including Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Grace noticed that the Goblet of Fire was in the center of the hall, on top of the stool where the Sorting Hat usually stands. A golden line was drawn on the floor.

"Anyone put their name in yet?" Grace asked.

"All the Durmstrang lot," one of the Patel twins replied. "But I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet."

"Bet some of them put it in last night after we'd all gone to bed," Astoria said. "I would've if it had been me... wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. What if the goblet just gobbed you right back out again?"

Grace heard laughter coming from behind her.

"Done it," Fred told Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Just taken it."

"What?" Ron asked.

"The Aging Potion, dung brains," Fred said.

"One drop each," George said. "We only need to be a few months older."

"I'm not sure this is going to work." Grace said.

"I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this." Hermione spoke.

Grace watched Fred pull a slip of parchment out of his pocket bearing the words Fred Weasley — Hogwarts. Fred walked right up to the edge of the line and stood there, he took a great breath and stepped over the line.

For a split second Grace thought it had worked, but next moment, there was a loud sizzling sound, and both twins were hurled out of the golden circle as though they had been thrown by an invisible shot-putter. They landed ten feet away on the cold stone floor, and to add insult to injury, there was a loud popping noise, and both of them sprouted identical long white beards.

Everyone in the hall started laughing.

"I did warn you," they all heard Dumbledore's voice. "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.

Fred and George set off for the hospital wing, accompanied by Lee, who was howling with laughter.

The Great Hall was decked out in Halloween decor. A cloud of living bats fluttered across the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of carved pumpkins giggled in the corner.

Grace sat at the Slytherin table with her friends, and other Slytherin students joined them.

"Warrington put his name in the Goblet earlier today." Pansy spoke.

Warrington was on the Slytherin Quidditch team like Grace.

"And all the Hufflepuffs are talking about Diggory," Daphne said. "But I wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks."

"Listen!" Grace said.

People were cheering out in the entrance hall. They all swiveled around in their seats and saw Angelina Johnson coming into the Hall.

"Gryffindor's Chaser!" Tracey Davis said.

"We can't have a Gryffindor champion!" Pansy said.

The students from Beauxbatons were coming through the front doors from the grounds. One by one, the Beauxbatons students stepped across the Age Line and dropped their slips of parchment into the blue-white flames.

That afternoon was one of much excitement and enthusiasm for all the students of the three schools. Grace and her friends spent the afternoon theorizing about who might be Hogwarts' chosen one, with the fourth and second year Slytherin students.

That night everyone was almost bursting with excitement. When Grace entered the Great Hall, it was all lit up by candles. The Goblet of Fire had been moved, and was now in front of Dumbledore's chair.

"Hope it's someone from Slytherin!" Ella said.

"Me too!" Melia and Megan said at the same time.

Grace was more anxious than usual, and she realized she was not the only one. Most of the students ate little or ate quickly so that they would soon know who had been chosen.

After quite a while the dishes were collected and quickly returned to their original clean state and everyone started talking around the hall. This stopped when Dumbledore stood up.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," he 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, where they will be receiving their first instructions."

He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it, at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall. Everyone waited anxiously.

"Any second," Blaise whispered.

The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it — the whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white.

"The champion for Durmstrang," he read. "will be Viktor Krum."

A storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall. Krum got up from the Slytherin table and walked over to Dumbledore, he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.

"Bravo, Viktor!" Karkaroff said. "Knew you had it in you!"

The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," Dumbledore said. "is Fleur Delacour!"

Grace realized she was the same girl who had laughed at Dumbledore the other day, and the same girl who had gone to the Slytherin table.

"Oh look, they're all disappointed," Selina said.

Some girls from Beauxbatons were crying because they had not been selected.

When Fleur Delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again. The Hogwarts champion next...

And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion," he called. "is Cedric Diggory!"

Every single Hufflepuff had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping. , the applause for Cedric went on so long that it was some time before Dumbledore could make himself heard again.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore called. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure 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 —"

But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking. The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. t. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.

Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. And when he saw the name written, his eyes widened. There was a long pause, and all the students stared at Dumbledore.

"Harry Potter."