"how many nights does it take to count the stars? that's the time it would take to fix my heart".
a cedric diggory story.
Emelie Fawley is a sixth year at Hogwarts. All of her years in the school had been the same while she hanged out with her fri...
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It was common knowledge that Halloween at Hogwarts was absolutely magical. This year, though, it was beyond magical; it was majestic. Pumpkins floated in the air amidst all the candles, the Hogwarts ghosts were frolicking around in the air, and there were banners with the rival school's logo along with the Hogwarts logo.
Walking inside the Great Hall tonight brought more than just hunger, it brought anticipation as tonight the champions would be announced. Rumours had been going around that Viktor Krum would be the Durmstrang champion and various other rumours about certain Hogwarts students being chosen as champions were spreading.
"The oddest one out is that Marcus Flint will be the Hogwarts champion", Ron had told them while they were getting ready. Emelie had thought that such wouldn't happen but it wasn't most definitely impossible.
She took her seat in the Great Hall as usual while the rest of the students followed in. The anticipation in the room was so thick you could almost feel it.
After several minutes of quiet chatter, all the alumni along with Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were seated which was Dumbledore's cue to start talking.
"Welcome to all and happy Halloween! Tonight is an extremely special night for the entirety of the school because the champions will be announced. A friendly reminder that once you enter the tournament there will be no backing out and also that there can only be one champion chosen per school so I ask for you not to take it personally if you are not chosen.
"Now, I shall begin with the Beauxbatons champion". Dumbledore walked over to the Goblet of Fire which had not moved an inch since this morning. The flames flickered when Dumbledore got close and a slip of paper flew from the blue hue that emitted from the goblet into his hand.
"Fleur Delacour!". All of the Beauxbatons students got up, clapping and shoving Fleur forward. She moved with such elegance that it seemed as if everyone was mesmerized by her.
Ron was clapping the hardest at the Gryffindor table, making Hermione's natural expression turn bitter. Fleur shook Dumbledore's hand, then proceeded to go inside a room at the very back of the Great Hall, farther left from the staff table.
Dumbledore once again plucked the piece of paper that was jumping out of the flames in the goblet. "The Durmstrang champion...... Viktor Krum!".
Emelie didn't know why but she'd somehow expected that. This time everyone clapped and his Durmstrang friends made quite a bit of noise, thumping his back in congratulations. While Viktor was walking in between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff table, he caught Hermione's eye, Emelie noticed, and winked at her. Hermione's face turned bright red, causing Emelie to eye her suspiciously. Hopefully no one saw that.
For the last time, Dumbledore cleared his throat as Viktor went in the back room to join Fleur, then plucked the last name that escaped out the mouth of flames.
"The Hogwarts champion.... Cedric Diggory!".
Emelie was wide eyed and alert all of a sudden as she let it sink in. Cedric was the champion. She could see all his friends pushing him towards Dumbledore, everyone equally congratulating him while he walked over to the goblet with that sly smile that made Emelie's stomach roar. Emelie found herself clapping harder than anyone else which earned her a look of approval from Hermione.
Dumbledore shook Cedric's hand, guiding him towards the hidden back door. When he came back, just as he opened his mouth to speak, he stopped abruptly, turning around as the goblet's flames turned blue once more. How could that be possible? Emelie asked herself, there's only three champions allowed.
Before anyone could further process what was happening, another slip of paper popped out the now blue flames. Dumbledore unfolded it, his eyes growing wide, something anyone would rarely see.
"Harry Potter", he called out, waving the slip of paper in the air. Emelie froze. Meanwhile everyone twisted their heads around to face Harry. He seemed to have gone rigid. Emelie felt as if Dumbledore had never called his name; like it was all a bad fever dream.
She immediately took the blame and told herself it was her fault. She knew Harry hadn't out his name in so it felt weird to her to hear Harry's name being called which made herself feel even more guilty because she'd failed to protect him like Sirius had said.
"Harry, come up here please", Dumbledore announciated, noticing Harry seemed frozen. Ron and Hermione looked baffled yet they pushed him towards Dumbledore. He walked limply, everyone's stare fixated on him.
"Mr. Potter please go back there in the room with everyone else", Dumbledore stated, "The rest of you please begin eating".
Dumbledore and Harry then disappeared behind the door and even though there was food on their plates, every single Gryffindor could hardly eat, especially Emelie.
She felt nauseous, like any moment the food from lunch could rise up from her stomach onto the floor. She toyed with the food on her plate, pushing it around with her fork. Fred nudged her.
"Are you alright?", he asked, his tone rather serious. Emelie nodded her head but Hermione thought otherwise.
"How could she be?! Our friend just got called to be part of the Triwizard tournament when he didn't even put his -". Hermione got cut off by the sound of loud voices coming from the door from which the four champions had disappeared. Emelie gulped loudly. She bitterly shoved a piece of lamb chop down her throat but even that didn't make her feel better; it made her feel much worse.
The feast continued like that, the four champions hidden back with Dumbledore and a couple of other people, everyone hardly touching their food, the Halloween aura suddenly gone from a night that was supposed to be spectacular
