I'm Okay

Chapter 8

     It's morning now, and I'm sitting in the great hall, watching other people put their names in. I saw Cedric being pushed around by his friend to put his name in. Once they stopped the pushing, he walked past the age line and put his name in.

     While I was sitting down, I saw George and Fred's heads appear next to me.

     "You think it's going to work, Black?" Fred asked

     "No."

     "Why that's?"

     "Dumbledore drew the age line himself. Even if you think he didn't think of something so dimwitted as an aging potion, and by chance, he didn't, the line will blast you back and making the aging potion have a stronger effect. But, to put it simply, it won't work."

     "While you'll be singing our praises when it does work, won't you Vale?"

     I just shook my head no and saw all the weird looks we were getting. They walked away from me and toward the middle of the room again. Some Slytherins were still looking at me but finally turned their heads when the twins said bottoms up, crossed their arms, and drank the potion.

     I knew it wouldn't work because I felt how strong the age line was when I changed it to allow me in.

     "How did you know what's going to happen?"

      I turned my head quickly and saw Nott sitting next to me.

     "Lucky guess," I said quickly before watching the twins enter the line, and they both turned to look at me.

     "Told you." They said in unison.

     "Put your name in. Then I'll admit I was wrong."

     "You scared to be proven wrong?" Nott asked.

     "No. I'm not wrong. Watched."

     And as I predicted, they were thrown out of the circle when they tried to put their names in and started growing grey hair and wrinkles.

     I smiled before looking back down at my hands that were in my lap.

     "How did you guess that?" Nott asked while Blaise came to the other side of me.

     I just shrugged before watching everyone take their seats as the period to put your names in came to an end. I then listened to Dumbledore's speeches before he started picking names from the goblet after he made a big scene of touching it.

     Viktor Krum was picked first. Cheers erupted around the hall as he stood up and walked towards the teachers' table and into a room.

     The next name picked was Fleur Delacour. Her name was on a beautifully fouled piece of paper, and cheers again erupted around the hall. But it was quieter. She walked towards the same place Viktor had walked earlier.

     What should've been the last name drawn was Cedric Diggory. He had the most cheers around the great hall and finally walked the same way as the rest of the champions.

     Dumbledore was about to start another one of his speeches again, but he was interrupted by the goblet shooting another name out. I shifted a little, knowing I would have to stand up and walk the same way as everyone else.

     "Vale, Vale Black!" Dumbledore yelled. He was aggressive about it and also sounded a little disappointed, but I ignored that just like I ignored all of the whispers going around the great hall. No one cheered for me, just questions about how this happened and whatnot.

     Walking behind the door all of the other champions went through, I was met with many questions and complaints that were eventually settled when the Ministry officiant said, "There's nothing you can do about it. She'll compete in the tournament like everyone else."

     Once that was done, I got with the group, and we had our pictures taken. I didn't smile, though. I've never smiled for photos.

Word count: 629