The Golden Mare - Cedric Diggory

The Champions

The next few days at Hogwarts flew by as Aurora's course load began to pile up. She spent much of the time studying in the library with Hermione, and when they felt like it, Harry and Ron.

By Thursday night, she was anxious to hear who would be picked to compete in the TriWizard tournament. That will help get my mind off my studies for a bit, she thought.

Aurora was sandwiched between Harry and Ron. The dining hall was buzzing as everyone discussed their predictions of who the champions would be.

"I bet it'll be Angelina Johnson. She's incredible at Quidditch!" Harry said.

"Well, whoever it is, I hope they're from Gryffindor." Ron responded.

The room suddenly got silent as Dumbledore walked up to the goblet, which was standing in the front of the dining hall.

"Good evening, students. As you all know, tonight the champions of the TriWizard tournament will be selected. This is a binding contract, so there will be no going back if your name is chosen."

Dumbledore slowly walked up to the goblet. He reached his hand over it and waved it there for a moment. Abruptly, the goblet turned red, as a piece of parchment shot into the air.

"The champion from Durmstrang is... Viktor Krum!"

Cheers erupted from the Durmstrang table, along with Harry and Ron, and many other fans from Hogwarts.

"No surprise there!" Ron yelled.

After Viktor had been congratulated and had exited the hall, the goblet turned red once again. Sparks began to erupt from inside the cup. A second piece of parchment was ejected into the air. Dumbledore grasped the parchment in his hand.

"The champion from Beauxbatons is... Fluer Delacour!"

Applause arose from the Beauxbatons table. Although noticeably, a few girls began to sob.

"Wow, she's... gorgeous." Ron mumbled as he starred after Fluer, who was walking down the aisle to leave the room.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course she is. She's part veela."

"What's a veela?" Aurora asked.

"Oh, they're these magical creatures who seduce men-" Hermione was cut off as the Goblet again began to turn red.

A third piece of parchment erupted from the goblet. Ron anxiously grabbed onto Harry.

"Please be from Gryffindor, please be from Gryffindor..." He murmured.

"And the champion from Hogwarts is... Cedric Diggory!" Dumbledore announced.

Aurora heard Ron shout, "No!" As she turned her head to the Hufflepuff table. Everyone was clapping and cheering him on. He was wearing a wide smile that complimented his cheek bones. Aurora felt a flutter in her heart as she looked at him.

What if he gets hurt?

However, underneath that, she was happy for him, and couldn't wait to discuss it with him at Transfiguration class.

As the cheering began to die down, Dumbledore spoke from the front of the hall again. "Now, we have our three champions! I will count on each and every one of you to offer your support to these champions-"

Dumbledore broke from as something very strange began to happen to the Goblet. It turned red once again as sparks flew out. A fourth piece of parchment suddenly shot up.

The entire dining hall was silent as Dumbledore cautiously walked up to the paper. As he grabbed a hold of the parchment and read the name to himself, Aurora noticed that he swallowed nervously.