Victoire Weasley

6. Three Champions and One Visit to the Prefects' Bathroom

     It seemed as if everyone wanted to see who was entering their name in the goblet, judging their chances of being chosen.  Even Kyra had bothered to get out of bed without any screaming or begging from my part.  We had to shove our way around a crowd that had formed around the Goblet of Fire until we reached Alroy who stood with his arms crossed.  "Hey, where's Darren?" I asked him.

     "In the library."

     It took me a minute to understand what he had said, "Sorry, what?  I thought you said the library." I grinned.

     "Oh, I'm not joking,--" Alroy said, looking dead serious,"--He's looking for a way to get past the age line.  It was the last idea on his list, but he's desperate enough."

     "Clearly," I said, still a little surprised.

     "Hey look, it's the Durmstrangs," Kyra said, elbowing me in the ribs.  The whole of the Durmstrang population had come at once and were lined up, ready to throw their names into the fire.  Aamor caught my gaze as he threw the little piece of parchment into the fire and smiled at me kindly.  The line cleared up and several Hogwarts students and Beauxbatons students entered to have their turn.  The crowd started getting smaller and I was about to leave to go to Defence Against the Dark Arts when Teddy entered and threw his name into the fire along with a few friends and the pretty auburn-haired girl.  "Yeah, Teddy!  Way to be a man!" One of his friends shouted from somewhere in the crowd--which got some angry glances from girls--followed by clapping.

     Teddy bowed dramatically.  I thought he hadn't seen me at all, but right before turning around, he grinned at me and sent me a wink.  "I saw that," Kyra whispered to me before pulling me off to our first class.

  *       *        *

     The next few days passed by slowly.  Many bets had already been placed on the possible Champions, and no one seemed to be able to stop talking about it.  Darren was frantic, today was the last day for him to try to trick the Goblet.  He had even found other, willing members to join him in his research.  As Alroy and I were walking up the stairs towards the Gryffindor Common room, we were met by a flustered Darren.  He raced down the stairs while waving a piece of paper in the air.  "I got it!  I got it!  I think..."

     "This should be good..." Alroy mumbled to me as Darren passed us, followed by two other Gryffindor students that I recognized from the sixth year.

     I shrugged at Alroy with a confused look and pulled him along after the three.  "Alright, so when I say go, you point at me and say the spell.  Then, move me so that I'm above the goblet, and I'll drop our names in.  Got it?" Darren said to the tall blonde sixth year, I think his name was Aaron.

     "Yeah, you sure about this?" Aaron asked.

     "Well, it's the only thing someone hasn't tried yet.  I don't even know if this spell is legit, but I'm willing to take the chances.  Now give me your names," Darren said, holding his hand out expectantly.

     "I can't look," Alroy said, chewing his lip, "This will never work."

      Darren walked up to the rim of the age line and crouched slightly, as if bracing himself for something terrible.  A crowd had started forming, curious to see what would happen.

     "Levi--Levicorpus." Aaron said, awkwardly pointing his wand at Darren.  It happened in less than a second.  It was as if an invisible rope had grabbed Darren's legs, sending him flying upside down.  The gasp from the crowd was drowned out by Darren's scream that filled the Entrance Hall.  Darren hung upside down for a few seconds, panting at the surprise.  Once he started turning red he ordered Aaron to slowly direct him so that he was hanging upside down above the goblet.