[✓] 𝐴𝑆𝑇𝐸𝑅𝐼𝑆𝑀 | 𝐂𝐄𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐂 𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐘

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘

𝐊𝐈𝐒𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐀𝐒
"𝐼 𝑚𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑒𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑."
—𝑀𝑒𝑙𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑟 𝐿𝑖𝑚
𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟔𝟐𝟗𝟒

⋆⋆⋆✧⋆⋆⋆

𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐀 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 of Halloween cooped up in the library, reading a book about a wizard who had somehow lost his magical ability and went on a quest to get them back. 

Usually, it would've only taken an hour or so to finish a book of this length, but she had to keep re-reading sentences because her mind would continuously drift off into worries. It had been two hours since she started this one, yet she was hardly halfway through. 

She couldn't bear spending her hours with the three boys; every glance at their faces was a reminder that they could be dead within the next few months. A brutal and overexaggerated thought, yes, but an honest one at that.

But when the time for the Halloween feast arrived, Liliana had no choice but to put the book back in its rightful spot on the shelf and make her way to the Great Hall.

The spookily decorated Great Hall was nearly full by the time she had gotten there, the students all eager to hear who had been chosen as the Champion of each school. The Goblet of Fire had been moved from the centre to being in front of Dumbledore's chair, able to be seen clearly from any angle.

Liliana's eyes spotted Cedric and the other three already sitting at their usual spots, all in deep discussion about something as she walked over to them. They looked towards her as she sat between Cedric and Devon, and their talks came to a halt.

They remained silent, their eyes all watching her carefully as she settled in her seat.

"I'm not going to yell at you guys," Liliana mumbled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as her eyes flickered between the three boys, who all gave sighs of relief.

"Good." Riley grinned. "I hope I get in. It'd be so much fun!"

"Shut up, you twat, you're going to make her yell at us," Wesley muttered to him, elbowing him in the ribs.

Riley groaned as he rubbed the spot he had been attacked at. "Yeah."

Suddenly, Dumbledore stood, causing a hush to fall over the room. "Well, the Goblet is almost ready to make its decision." He looked around at the anticipating students. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" —he pointed to the door that was behind the teachers' table— "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

He took his wand out and waved it; every candle except for the ones living inside the carved pumpkins had been extinguished. The room was now quite dark, the main source of light being from the fiery, bright blue fire that stood proudly from the top of the Goblet of Fire.

Everyone held their breath as they waited, checking their watches every other second. Liliana could feel all the boys tense around her, and fear piled up in her throat. She crossed her fingers under the table, praying that the Hogwarts Champion would simply be a student she didn't know or perhaps didn't care for.

Gasps erupted as the fire turned a burning red as sparks shot out from it. A moment later, a tongue of flame brought with it a burnt slip of parchment.

Dumbledore caught the slip and held it towards the light of the fire so that he could read it. Liliana held her breath as his voice echoed around the room.