black and white ✰ g.w.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Olivia's friends attended Thursday night's feast in high spirits; Olivia herself, though, not so much. Although she hadn't said anything, she was still very worried about what all could go wrong.

She had written to her grandfather about her bad feeling of Professor Moody and when she got her response, she instantly regretted it. David had basically told her that Moody usually seemed off to people and that she had probably signed up for too many classes again and it was getting to her. She had crumpled up the letter and thrown it away and had been in a sour mood for the rest of the day.

It seemed something had happened between Fred and Angelina, because they were no longer being awkward. In fact, Angelina was being awfully giggly as she held his hand.

"Is it something they ate? I don't get it," Olivia said quietly to Alicia. She had been stuck sitting in between her and George.

Alicia rolled her eyes. "Just because you have a heart of stone, Olivia," she said.

"I wish."

Alicia raised her eyebrows. "Is there something you would like to say?"

Olivia looked at George and then back at Alicia. "Yes, but now isn't the time."

Alicia didn't need telling; the glance at George had given her away. She stared at Olivia with a look of shock. "No way. You...?"

"Licia-"

"This is so exciting!"

Thankfully, Professor Dumbledore ended the conversation by telling all of the students to sit down. Knowing this meant that the champions would be selected at any moment, the Great Hall fell silent.

"Now the moment you've all been waiting for: the champion selection!" Dumbledore announced. He waved his hand and all of the torches and candles in the room burnt out. The Great Hall now had a blue glow to it, as the Goblet of Fire was the only light source left. Dumbledore approached the Goblet and moments later, it's flames turned scarlet and emitted a charred slip of parchment. "The Durmstrang champion is Viktor Krum!"

Everyone applauded Viktor, Olivia gladly joining in as she was very fond of him. Alicia, of course, knew this and nudged her.

After Viktor had entered the chamber in which the Triwizard champions were instructed to go, the flames turned scarlet again and another piece of burned parchment fluttered into Dumbledore's hand.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," he read, "is Fleur Delacour."

A very pretty blonde girl got up from the Beauxbatons table, shook hands with Dumbledore, and left for the chamber. Olivia chose to ignore all of the boys ogling at her.

Yet again, the Goblet's flames turned scarlet and Dumbledore grabbed the charred parchment from the air. "The Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory."

Slightly disappointed that it wasn't Angelina, Olivia and her friends were less enthusiastic when clapping for Cedric.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore exclaimed. "We now have our three champions. But in the end, only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champions, this vessel of victory, the Triwizard Cup."

Mr. Crouch uncovered the Triwizard Cup, and Olivia joined in the applause. It came to a sudden end, however, when the flames inside the Goblet of Fire turned scarlet again.

"Is this supposed to happen?" Alicia asked. Olivia shushed her without taking her eyes off the Goblet.

Another paper flew out of the flames, and Dumbledore, obviously confused, grabbed it. He muttered something that Olivia couldn't hear, but then said louder, "Harry Potter?" while looking about the Great Hall for the boy.

"What?" Olivia breathed, looking around at Harry with everyone else. He looked incredibly shocked, and that was all Olivia needed to see. She looked down at the table, her brows furrowed and her mind racing. Something very wrong was going on here.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore yelled.

Olivia didn't look up but she could assume that Harry was making his way to the chamber, because the whispering was starting.

"He's a cheat!" someone yelled.

"He's not even 17 yet!" said someone else.

"Oh, shut it!" Arabella yelled from somewhere close. Olivia heard Hermione shush her.

As she heard the chamber door open and close, Olivia put her face in her hands. This is exactly the kind of thing she was afraid would happen.

[word count: 718]
[written: 5/8/20]
[published: 6/8/20]