Black Eyed Boy

4

The Great Hall was completely silent. Severus could hear nothing but the sound of his blood pumping. Insolent brat! How the bloody fuck did he get past the Age Line? All eyes were on the boy as he was petrified to his seat. Minerva urgently swept past Severus and the rest of the head table to whisper in Dumbledore's ear. The headmaster responded with a curt nod before straightening and calling the boy's name again.

Potter finally rose to his feet, tripping over his own robe as he trotted up to the head table. "Well... through the door, Harry". Severus took a little pleasure in the fact that literally everyone in the room was displeased. Finally, Minnie and the old man weren't proud of him for something. Harry hastily made his way into the room before Dumbledore dismissed everyone back to their dormitories. Most of the professors were asked to leave as well with the exception of Minerva, Severus, the two ministry officials, Moody, and the three headmasters.

Bagman scurried into the room a few moments before Severus and the others entered. The tension in the room made the air heavy. The three original champions were obviously angered that the underaged boy was not only picked by the goblet.. but actually being encouraged to participate. Severus was furious. He had vowed to protect the boy... How was he to do that during this bloody tournament? Witches and wizards have actually died in this fucking thing. The adults were now starting to argue.

"C'est impossible! Hogwarts cannot have two champions! It is unjust," complained Madame Maxime.

"We would've brought a wider selection of candidates from our own schools if we would've known your age line wouldn't have held Dumbledore," said Karkaroff, his steely smile still in place despite his eyes becoming colder than ever.

"It's no one's fault but Potter's, Karkaroff," Snape said softly. His black eyes were alight with malice. "Don't go blaming the headmaster for Potter's determination to break the rules. He has been crossing lines ever since he arrived here..."

"Thank you, Severus," said Dumbledore firmly, and Snape went quiet, though his eyes continued to glint malevolently. Dumbledore then turned to Harry, calmly asking "did you put your name into the goblet of fire, Harry?"

"No," said Harry. All the adults continued to watch him closely. Snape made a soft noise of impatient disbelief in the shadows.

Ignoring Snape, Dumbledore asked if Harry had an older student enter his name, to which he received another, adamant "no".

Maxime and Karkaroff started discussing amongst themselves about the Potter boy lying and being quite vocal about expressing their displeasure. Snape continued to curl his lip and shake his head in disbelief of the brat's ability to get whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Finally, it was the lioness herself who felt the need to come to the boy's defense. Severus curled his lip as she spoke up.

"He could not have crossed the Age Line," Minerva growled. "I am sure we all agree on that..." the witch was cut off by the French headmistress.

"Dumbledore must have made a mistake!"