Gerard Way and the Triwizard Tournament

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Professor McGonagall, that's not what it says," Professor Lester said as he glanced over McGonagall's shoulder so he could read the paper.

"Well, whoever wrote this clearly has terrible handwriting, so I simply presumed that it was Frank," McGonagall said.

Professor Lester took the slip of paper. "The first letter is G. There isn't a G anywhere in Frank's name." He studied the paper some more. "I think it says Gerard Way."

He handed the paper back to McGonagall, who looked at it again and nodded. "The Hogwarts champion will be...Gerard Way!"

The rest of the Gryffindor table cheered as I stood up and walked up towards the front of the Great Hall. I couldn't help but notice that Frank seemed a little disappointed, but he was cheering along with the rest of them.

Thoughts were racing through my mind. What had made the Goblet of Fire think that I was worthy enough to compete in the Triwizard Tournament? Why hadn't it chosen Frank? Was my handwriting really that bad? I entered the next room and found that Laurette and Annalise were already there.

"Hi Gerard," Laurette said.

McGonagall then entered the room. She told us that the first task would be on November 24th, and we had until then to figure out what it was and to prepare for it. I had no idea how I was going to do that, but Annalise was already deep in thought. Honestly, Annalise scared me a bit. Who knew what they were teaching her at Durmstrang?

She also revealed that we would get the details of the second task after the first task, and we were all exempt from the end-of-year exams. I was excited about that.

After McGonagall was done talking, I went back to the Gryffindor Common Room. "Password?" the Fat Lady asked.

"Sweet Revenge," I said, and the common room opened up.

"Hey look, it's the Hogwarts champion!" somebody screamed.

Ray gave me a big hug. "Congratulations Gee," he said.

"Thanks Ray," I said.

"I'm so glad we have a Gryffindor champion," Hayley said. "Imagine what would happen if Darren Travers was the champion!"

"That would be a disaster," I said as someone handed me a Butterbeer.

"I know, right?" Hayley said. "You'll make a great champion, Gee."

I grinned. "Thanks Hayley. Hey, where's Frank?"

"I have no idea," Hayley said. "Honestly, I wouldn't worry about him too much. He's fine."

"You're probably right," I said. I decided that I needed to relax a little. After this, I would be spending all of my time on the Tournament. I should socialize with the other Gryffindors while I have the chance.

I looked around the room once again. Most of the Gryffindor students were drinking Butterbeer while talking amongst themselves. Two third years had gotten caught up in an intense game of wizard chess, and one of the sixth years had turned on some loud music. Pete was trying to reapply his eyeliner, and Joe was playing some random notes on his guitar. Hayley and Ray started talking to a big group of seventh years, so I joined them.

The party did die down eventually. The younger students left the party first, and we wanted to make sure that they got some sleep, so we went to bed too. It had been an exhausting day for all of us.

The next day, we were in Potions class. We weren't doing any actual brewing that day though. Professor Slughorn was just talking about blended antidotes. Most of these problems could be solved by just shoving a Bezoar down their throats, but Professor Slughorn felt the need to talk about antidotes instead.

"When brewing blended antidotes, don't forget about Golpalott's Third Law," Slughorn reminded us. "The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separate components. That means that one additional ingredient needs to be added for the potion to work. We'll discuss this more tomorrow. Class dismissed."

"Ray, next period is a free period for you, right?" I asked Ray. I needed to talk to him about something that had been bugging me for the entire school year.

"Yes," Ray said.

"Great, me too," I said. We headed into the empty classroom next door. "You know Ray, I've always wanted to start a rock band," I said.

"Really? Me too!" Ray exclaimed.

"Do you want to start a band together?" I asked.

"Yeah, but we might need a few more people," Ray mentioned.

I shrugged. "We'll figure that out later," I said.

Ray took out his wand. "Accio guitar!" he shouted. Ray's guitar flew through the air and landed in the empty classroom. "Now we can practice," he said.

The two of us played for a while. Ray was actually an amazing guitarist. With his guitar playing and my vocals, I decided that our little band could go far.

That was until someone interrupted us. "Hey, this is sounding pretty good," Mikey said. "Can I join?"

We both stopped playing for a second. "Mikey, can you even play any instruments?" I asked.

"No, but I can learn," Mikey said.

"Let me know when you do that, and we'll reconsider. Until then, no, you can't play with us," I said.

"But Gee, I know I can learn. You'll see," Mikey argued.

I took out my wand. "Silencio!" I exclaimed, pointing my wand at Mikey. He tried to keep talking, but he couldn't. The spell had temporarily shut him up. Mikey eventually left.

"That was kind of harsh, Gee," Ray said.

"He asked for it," I said.

Ray and I continued to play. There may have been magic all around us, but the greatest magic of all was what happened when I played music with my best friend. For once in my life, I had truly found something that I loved.