FINITE | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [4]

𝘅𝘅𝘃𝗶 | 𝗮𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

The next day was Saturday, and usually, most students would have had their breakfast later on. Gwen, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, were not alone in rising much earlier today than on usual weekends.

When they went down to the entrance hall, there were about twenty people milling around it, some of them eating toast, all examining the Goblet of Fire. It had been placed in the centre of the hall on the stool that the Sorting Hat would usually occupy. A thin golden line traced the floor, forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction.

'Anyone put their name in yet?' Ron asked a third year girl.

'All the Durmstrang lor,' she replied. 'But I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet.'

'Bet some of them put it in last night after we'd all gone to bed,' said Harry. 'I would've if it had been me... wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. What if the goblet just gobbed you right back out again?'

Gwen heard a familiar ring of laughter behind her, and she turned to see Fred, George, and Lee Jordan hurrying down the marble staircase.

'Done it!' Fred whispered triumphantly to Gwen, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. 'Just taken it.'

'What?' said Ron.

'The Aging Potions, dung brains,' said Fred.

'One drop each,' said George, rubbing his hands together excitedly. 'We only need to be a few months older.'

'We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins,' said Lee, grinning broadly.

'I'm not sure this will work,' Hermione said warningly, but Fred, George, and Lee ignored her.

'I already tried to tell them,' Gwen told her. 'I wanna see if this actually works.'

'Ready?' Fred said to the other two. 'C'mon, then, I'll go first--'

Gwen watched as Fred pulled a slip of parchment out of his pocket bearing the words Fred Weasley, Hogwarts. He walked right up to the edge of the line and stood there, rocking on the balls of his feet. Then, with the eyes of every single person in the entrance hall upon him, he took a deep breath and stepped over the line.

For a second, nothing happened, and Gwen actually thought that it had worked. George seemed to think so too, for he let out a yell of triumph and jumped into the circle too; but the next second, there was a loud sizzling noise, and both twins were hurled out of the golden circle as though they were being yanked backwards by the collars. Gwen clapped her hand to her mouth as they landed painfully, ten feet away, on the stone cold floor. Then, to add insult to injury, there was a loud cracking noise, and both of them sprouted long, white beards.

The entrance hall burst into laughter. Even Fred and George joined in, once they had gotten to their feet and taken a good look at each other's beards.