A Wizards Fairytale

Chapter 6

It was Halloween. Hogwarts was buzzing with excitement as the students got ready for the picking of the three champions competing. Iris, to the surprise of her fellow classmates, did not put her name in the Goblet of Fire. In fact, she continued to give Aries a hard time about entering. Iris thought her favorite cousin was being a reckless idiot.

"People die in this tournament, Aries," she reminded him as they did homework outside with some of the other foreign students. "What will happen to Lena then, huh?" Aries smirked. His cousin did know what cards to play. Lena was probably the most important person in the world to him, and Iris knew it.

"I'm not going to die, Ris," Aries reassured her casually.

Iris rolled her eyes. "Yes, because I should definitely trust the judgment of a guy who has voluntarily entered a dragon reserve."

Aries shrugged. "Stop worrying. I haven't even been picked yet," he reminded her.

"You will be," Iris insisted. "I can sense it."

Aries raised an eyebrow. "What are you, a Seer now?" he teased, knowing his cousin's disdain for Divination. One of their great aunts claimed to be a Seer, but all she ever did was proclaim that her husband was finally going to die this year. Needless to say, the couple didn't get along well.

Iris scrunched her nose. She mock-glared at her cousin. There was a relaxed silence before she spoke again. "Aunt Zana wouldn't want you to do this," she pleaded.

The look Aries gave her was scary just because of its blankness. She had grown to be able to tune herself in to her cousin's emotions, to see what he was feeling even with that stupid emotionless mask on. Right now, however, she felt nothing. "If she was here," he said quietly, but loudly enough for her to hear, "I wouldn't have to." For Iris, this was the end of the argument. Aries turned back to his book, and Iris started to pray mentally, pleading with God to keep her cousin safe.

Everyone took their seats in the Great Hall. Iris, forced by one of her friends, sat with the Durmstrang students for once while Gabrielle and Jacques sat with Aries at the Beauxbaton table. Aries noticed both Lily Potter and Sirius Black giving him looks. He smirked inwardly. They were starting to catch on. Well, this would be fun...

Dumbledore stood up and started talking. After a few minutes of brattle, the Goblet glowed. "The Beauxbatons champion is..." he started. A piece of paper flew out of the Goblet and into Dumbledore's hands. "Aries Kalgarias!" Sirius and Lily exchanged a brief glance. This was going to be interesting.

The Beauxbaton table went crazy. Aries stood up, his face still cool and collected, and walked out towards the room. He caught his cousin's eye and winked. Iris smiled at him despite her initial worry. This was a good thing for Aries and their family.

"The Durmstrang champion is... Anastasia Holender!" Dumbledore shouted over the still cheering Beauxbaton students. A beautiful dark-haired girl with dark eyes walked towards the door Aries went out through, her chin up and a sly smile gracing her lips. The Durmstrang students cheered as well, though a bit more coarsely than the refined Beauxbaton students.

"The Hogwarts champion is... Draco Malfoy!" The Slytherin table started to cheer, but the rest of the Great Hall remained silent. None of the other houses would've picked Malfoy to represent them.

The Goblet's light went out, and Dumbledore moved towards the door to follow the champions out when something odd happened. The Goblet started glowing once again. It spit out another name. Dumbledore grabbed it and read it out loud. "Andrew Potter!"

Drew Potter froze in his seat. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Did his name come out of the Goblet of Fire? It couldn't have! He certainly didn't put in there. Sure, a few of his friends had been speculating about how to put their names in, but he knew better. Despite how great all the glory sounded, he knew it wasn't worth it. According to his dad and Hermione Granger, people had died in this tournament!