Lemon Grass and Sleep

THE THREE CHAMPIONS (WITH DLC)

The room was deadly quiet, the air so still I could practically hear the seventh years waiting with baited breath to see whose names would jump from the goblet to be read aloud. Dumbledore had spent a long while explaining the judges, the tasks, bunches of balogna like that up until this point.

It was finally time to choose the champions.

The blue fire emitting from the goblet rose steadily, announcing silently to the room that it was ready to choose from each school. Dumbledore took a step forward, preparing to catch the papers.

First, a ripped piece of dark parchment launched into the air, snatched by Dumbledore with a surprising amount of precision.

"Viktor Krum."

The Durmstrang students erupted in cheers and roars for their peer, patting him on the back violently and slamming their fists onto the table.

"They sure look happy," Halla sighed, smiling at me with a sleepy grin.

"That's a bit of an understatement," I mumbled in return as they died down.

The goblet's flames once again grew, as if it could feel the attention focusing back onto it. After a soft pause, it tossed a flittering white doily into the air. It caught a lot of air, swinging to and fro in the air before landing in Dumbledore's palm.

"Fleur Delacour."

In contrast to the Durmstrangs, the Beauxbatons might as well have been at a garden party. While there were a few excited squeals, the girls devolved into excited claps and buzzed words of congratulations upon a particularly pretty girl with long, blonde hair. In a way, she reminded me of Glinda.

"And now, for the final champion," Dumbledore spoke dryly, watching the goblet with expectant eyes as the flames once again built up in preparation to send another name into the air.

A carefully folded piece of parchment barely fell out of the cup, and Dumbledore was careful to grab it before it landed on the floor. Unfolded, he cleared his throat before announcing the final name.

"Cedric Diggory."

There was a long pause of silence as everyone in Hufflepuff seemed to sit in shock at the name, before we all burst into chaos as we rushed to congratulate one of our very own.

Cedric looked just as shocked as the rest of us, an uncontrollable face-splitting smile sitting on his face.

"Oh, this is just marvelous," Halla commented beside me.

"I would say it is, yes," I looked over to lock eyes with Fred, who gave me a weak smile.

Although I felt bad, I practically beamed back as Jeremy shook me and cheered along with the rest of the table. With adrenaline still coursing through our veins, the three schools all went quiet again as Dumbledore approached his podium.

"Although this is a tournament where we all compete against each other, support all of our champions as we go through this event of-"

An interruption from the goblet caused him to cease his speech. The flames angrily spit and jumped around in the goblet as it shook a bit.

A fourth piece of parchment roared into the air, and sizzled with hot embers as it landed on the floor softly. Dumbledore approached the fizzling parchment hesitantly, bending over and picking it up gingerly. He stared at the paper for a minute, as if processing what he was reading.

"Harry Potter."

The great hall was once again completely silent, no uproarious applause or excitement, just hundreds of heads turning to look at the small Gryffindor boy who was stuck staring at Dumbledore as if he'd just been read a death sentence.