Yellow Days

1. The Champions

I, Evelyn Rhodes have always found myself in trouble. My parents always say I was destined to be in my year, because Harry Potter had the grade below me covered, and the infamous Fred and George Weasley had the grade above me covered. Put together, we made about 90% of all mischief in the castle.

I sat in the Fifth Years detention room while Professor McGonagall graded her students papers. I had been caught out of bed by Filch last night, all I wanted was a snack. I'm in Slytherin so the Kitchens aren't even far away from my dorm. Total rubbish. Luckily when Filch brought me to McGonagall, she decided the 'offense' as Filch called it, wasn't harmful enough to take house points. The catch was however, writing lines.

"I will not leave my common room after curfew." 100 times to make sure I didnt forget I guess.

My mother was one of McGonagalls favorite students, so she's known me since before I was a first year. That might be why she didn't take any points. Maybe it's because it's the third day of school and went easy on me, who knows with her.

I continued writing my 64th line when Dumbledore walked into the room and started talking quietly with McGonagall about something. My guess is the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He announced that our school would be participating this year alongside Durm-strange and Bee-baton on the first day of school and its all everyone's been talking about. If I'm not mistaken, we have until tomorrow to finish putting names into the goblet.

All I heard was the name Weasley and I knew Fred and George must have tried to put their names in. I remember them screaming "THATS RUBBISH" when Barty Crouch announced you had to be 17 to enter. I laughed to myself a little bit and kept writing.

"They tried to use an aging Potion?" McGonagall said in disbelief. "And then they wrestled with each other when it didn't work?" She said somehow in more awe than before. I busted out laughing because I couldn't wait to ask them about it.

"Miss Rhodes, how many lines have you got done?"
"I think seventy? I lost my count but it's about that."
"I will be speaking with the Weasley twins momentarily and that will need my full attention, you're excused." I nodded, gave her my paper, and went to the dining hall. I had already finished my potions homework, and Snape was the only Professor that gave us homework during the first week, so I had some time to myself.

I see Marcus Flint talking to a few other Quidditch players that I knew and decided to go talk to him. "Hey Flint, do you remember when Quidditch tryouts start? I'm so excited to see who's new!"

He looks pissed.

"Since we're hosting this stupid tournament, no sports are allowed this WHOLE year. It's absolute shite."
"What? How did I not know about this??"
"Dunno, but me and all the other team captains are furious and we've been lobbying to get it going again. All Dumbledore has said is that he was surprised rival team captains were getting along but he still wasn't going to let us play."
"That so stupid."
"Agreed, Draco's trying to get his dad to do something about it but we'll see."
"UGH, are will still going to be able to practice? Or play just for fun?"
"No clue. I'll bring it up the next time the captains meet with Dumbledore." He rolled his eyes at the name of our headmaster as he got up to leave. "I have Charms in a few minutes so Id better get going. See you around?"
"Yeah I guess so." We'll that made my day worse.

The next day, everyone is sitting in the Great Hall, waiting for the names to be picked when Dumbledore asks for everyone's attention. The room is decorated differently than usual, a darker, more blue tint in the lights perhaps.
"It's starting!" I tell my good friend Ally Black. She seemed equally excited as me.
Dumbledore walks towards the 'Goblet of Fire' which suddenly changed from a blue flame to a pink-red one. Next, it spit out a card.
"The Durmstrang champion is... Viktor Krum." Everyone went wild. Krum walks down to Dumbledore  from where he was sitting, and he's pointed in the direction of a room.

A moment later, after everyone had settled down a bit, the fire turned that same pink-red hue again, this time, Dumbledore announced Fleur Delacour as the Bow-baxton champion. Again, everyone went wild, only with noticeably more boys cheering her on. She was pointed to the same room Krum had entered.

Lastly, the fire changed colors, and for the Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory was chosen! I had been great friends with Cedric since he accidentally tripped me in the library during my first year, his second. Most wouldn't believe a Hufflepuff and Slytherin would make great friends, but we've grown quite close over the years. I made sure to yell extra loud in support of him. He got up from the Hufflepuff table, almost everyone from Hogwarts cheering him on, and joined the other champions in the room.

Dumbledore readys his next speech. He does have a flair for the dramatic doesn't he?
"Excellent! 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 Tri-Wizard cup!" He spins and points to the cup as the cover flies off it, revealing a glowing, blue, chalice. Total drama-queen, Dumbledore.

Only then, the fire begins to change once more. This time, the fire is far more violent and unnatural, it lashes out for a moment, before spitting out a fourth card. Everyone's silent for a moment. You could hear a pin drop.

"What's going on?" Ally whispers to me as students begin murmuring.
"Could it possibly be picking another name? How did one of the best wizards of all time manage to screw that up?" I reply. Dumbledore catches the fourth name card, briefly looks at it and stares in awe for a moment. He says something quietly but I'm too far away to hear until he repeats himself.
"Harry Potter."
Dumbledore continues to repeat Harrys name, growing louder until a reluctant Harry walks to him. He looks mortified to say the least.

A few kids begin to yell in protest against Harry, but he cautiously makes his way to the back room where the original three champions waited.

"How did he manage to get his name in?" Ally whispers, just as confused as everyone else in the room.
"I have no idea."

Dumbledore said a few more quick words, obviously wondering about Harry alongside the rest of the room, and then rushed to where the champions waited alongside many teachers.
I have got to talk to Cedric about this one.