A Hogwarts Legend: Chaos Begins [4] (SLOW UPDATES)

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Three - "I wish common sense was more common."

As the next day is Saturday, most students normally have breakfast late. Harry, Ron, Hermione and I, however, are not alone in rising much earlier than we usually do at weekends.

Elinor and Maya love sleep more than they love drama.

When we go down into the Entrance Hall, we see about twenty people milling around it, some of them eating toast, all examining the Goblet of Fire. It's been placed in the centre of the hall on the stool that normally bares the Sorting Hat. A thin golden line has been traced on the floor, forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction.

"Anyone put their name in yet?" I ask a third-year girl eagerly.

"All the Durmstrang lot," she replies. "But I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet."

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

Someone laughs behind us. Turning, I see Fred, George and Lee Jordan hurrying down the staircase, all three of them looking extremely excited.

"Done it," Fred says in a triumphant whisper to Harry, Ron, Hermione and I. "Just taken it."

"What?" says Ron.

"The Ageing Potion, dungbrains," says Fred.

"One drop each," says George, rubbing his hands together with glee. "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," says Lee, grinning broadly.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know," says Hermione warningly. "I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this."

Fred, George and Lee ignore her.

Rude.

"Ready?" Fred says to the other two, quivering with excitement. "C'mon, then - I'll go first -"

I watch as Fred pulls a slip of parchment out of his pocket, bearing the words 'Fred Weasley - Hogwarts'. Fred walks right up to the edge of the line, and stands there, rocking on his toes like a diver preparing for a fifty-foot drop. Then, with the eyes of every person in the Entrance Hall upon him, he takes a great breath and steps over the line.

For a split second, I think that it's worked - George certainly thinks so, for he lets out a yell of triumph and leaps after Fred - but next moment, there's a loud sizzling sound, and both twins are hurled out of the golden circle as though they've been thrown by an invisible shot-putter. They land painfully, ten feet away on the cold stone floor, and to add insult to injury, there's a loud popping noise, and both of them sprout identical, long white beards.

"I did warn you," says a deep, amused voice, and everyone turns to see Professor Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveys Fred and George, his eyes twinkling. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little, too. Though I must say, neither of those beards is anything like as fine as yours."

Fred and George set off for the hospital wing, accompanied by Lee, who's howling with laughter, and Harry, Ron, Hermione and I, also laughing, go in to breakfast.

The decorations in the Great Hall have changed this morning. As it's Halloween, a cloud of live bats is fluttering around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of carved pumpkins leer from every corner. Harry leads the way over to Dean and Seamus, who are discussing those Hogwarts students of seventeen or over who might be entering.