Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

113

The day soon arrived when the schools of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were to arrive. They hurried down to the courtyard to find a large carriage with tons of large golden winged horses standing at the end. Out of the carriages were students all dressed in a pale blue silk uniforms. They stood right beside the carriages, shivering like wet kittens caught in the snow, like they were waiting for their orders. Suddenly a woman, who looked as if she was about the same size (or even taller) as Hagrid came walking out of the first carriage. 

"My dear Madame Maxime," Dumbledore said while he walked over towards her and extended his hand to her, "Welcome to Hogwarts." 

"Dumbledore," said Madame Maxime as she took hold of his hand, "I trust you are well?" 

"In excellent form, I thank you." 

"And these are my pupils," she said as she waved her hands out to them, "Has Karkaroff arrived yet?" 

"He should be here any moment. Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside to keep warm?" Dumbledore asked her. 

"I think best for my pupils if we wait inside-- but the horses--" Madame Maxime said with a look of concern. 

"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them." Dumbledore assured her. 

"My steeds will require-- for a lack of a better word-- forceful handling due to their strength... and they only drink single-malt whiskey." Madame Maxime stated to him. 

"I assure you, Hagrid will be well for the job." Dumbledore assured her while escorting her and her pupils inside the castle. It wasn't long until they saw from the lake, a huge ship coming out from the surface of the lake. They watched as the students of Durmstrang came marching in perfect order into the courtyard. 

"DUMBLEDORE! How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?" the obvious person in charge of the Durmstrang students called out to Dumbledore. 

"Wonderful, Professor Karkaroff." Dumbledore replied as they hurried along inside. Hermione could overhear Ron telling Harry that it was Krum who was walking right behind Karkaroff. Hermione rolled her eyes as they made their way towards the Great Hall. She had to roll her eyes a couple of times to find Ron disappointed to find the Durmstrang students sitting down at the Slytherin table and the Beauxbatons made their way to the Ravenclaw table. Hermione could see some of them were acting as if it was freezing in the Great Hall. 

"Good Evening," Dumbledore started to welcome them all there before them having a feast. While they were eating, Hermione had to stop herself from rolling her eyes every few seconds when Ron changed the subject from Krum to the Beauxbatons girl, that had came over to ask for some bouillabaisse, was a veela. Hermione could see Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman had came and were sitting with Karkaroff and Madame Maxime. Soon the golden plates had been wiped Dumbledore stood up again. 

"The moment has come. The Triwizard Tournament, which consist of three tasks that are spaced throughout the school year, is about to start. Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the tournament and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts." Dumbledore told them, "Three champions compete in the tournament. One from each school... and they will be chosen by an impartial selector: The Goblet of Fire." 

Dumbledore soon waved his wand as suddenly the sheet came flooding off the strange structure she hadn't noticed before. From underneath, they found a large silvery-blue cup with sapphire-white flames flickering from within. 

"Anyone wishing to submit themselves must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet. They have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, the goblet will return the names of three that it has seen worthy to represent their schools... and anyone under seventeen thinking about trying something should know I will be putting an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire." 

"Anyone under seventeen trying to get into this nightmare of a tournament is a fool," Hermione mumbled to herself. 

No one wasted time and had began putting their names in the fire. Hermione sat at one of the tables trying to eat her lunch as she watched the countless underaged fools trying to slip pass the Age Line. Even Dumbledore had a laugh when Fred and George tried but ended up with long white beards. 

Finally, the time came. Everyone was in the Great Hall, waiting for the news of who was going to be in the Tournament. Dumbeldore was finishing explaining what to do if your name was called to come up and head into the next chamber. Then it happened. The flames became brighter and roared louder. Soon it turned a scarlet red then something shot out of the cup and flew around. Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment. 

"The champion for Durmstrang... Viktor Krum!" he called out. Everyone began cheering as Vikor Krum stood up and made his way up to the next chamber. The room soon drowned in silence as the next piece of parchment spat out and Dumbledore caught it again. 

"The champion for Beauxbatons... is Fleur Delacour!" 

A girl stood up from her crowd and gracefully made her way towards the front. Then the last one came spitting out of the fire. 

"The Hogwarts champion... Cedric Diggory!" 

Cedric stood up from his table and hurried from the crowds of Hufflepuffs and made his way to the front as well. 

"Well done, well done..." Dumbledore started when suddenly the Goblet of Fire turned a dark red again then spat something out. Dumbledore grabbed the parchment, staring in disbelief and confusion as he read off...

"Harry Potter!" 

Everyone stayed stunned... Hermione turned to see Harry was just as terrified as everyone was upset and confused. 

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore called again. Hermione motioned for Harry to get up. He soon climbed to his feet and slowly and nervously made his way to the front. He hadn't even left the room when suddenly the Goblet of Fire turned red again and then spat another parchment. Dumbledore grabbed it and this time... his hands were now shaking as he read off the name...

"Hermione Granger..."