warmth - cedric diggory

chapter fifteen

athena rosewood sat next to cedric diggory in the great hall. her now, official, boyfriend. the thought of that made her heart smile so largely she felt as if it were to burst.

"attention students! attention!" all of a sudden, professor dumbledore was standing up from the front of the great hall. his hands were raised above his head as the room fell into a comfortable silence.

"now that we are all settled in and sorted, i'd like to make an announcement." the hair on the back of athena's neck started to rise. one would always get nervous when announcements like this were made.

she glanced at the gryffindor table, seeing ron, harry, and hermione glued to the professor at the front. did harry accidentally release a troll or piss off a dragon? it was always something with him, athena thought. but she knew it wasn't his fault.

"this castle will not only be your home this year but home to some very special guests as well. you see, hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event." immediately, athena knew what he was speaking of. the trizward tournament that they had just been speaking of.

athena was suddenly full of worry and excitement. worry, for whoever decided to join the tournament but excitement for seeing new schools and people.

"the triwizard tournament." dumbledore said confidently as the room started buzzing with chatter. he began to spoke about how 1 student was picked from each school to participate in the games.

"and let me be clear, if chosen, you stand alone. trust me when i say, these contests are not for the faint-hearted." athena could feel her stomach suddenly drop and twist and turn. the thought of death around the school freaked her out.

what if one of her friends had been stupid enough to be chosen? she couldn't even bear the thought. she told herself they weren't stupid enough to put their name in the goblet of fire, or at least she really hoped not.

"only the stupidest students would dare to participate. it's basically a death wish." her hufflepuff friend had spoken up, her voice in a small whisper. athena glanced at her and slowly shook her head.

"bloody hell, why would they want their students to do this sort of thing?" athena continued to shake her head as she spoke, glancing at edmund. edmund wore a smile on his face and one could see that he was simply up to no good in that head of his.

"sounds like a proper competition to prove that you are the best." edmund was laughing as he spoke, a goofy grin over his face. cedric turned around and beamed at edmund, they slap the hands of each other with laughter and agreement.

athena quickly glimpsed at cedric with a blank face. he wasn't idiot enough to throw his name in the goblet of fire, surely. surely he was only fueling up edmund and his ego. surely.

"for now, please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the beauxbatons academy of magic and their headmistress madame maxime!" dumbledore was smiling as he spoke these words and suddenly, the great hall doors opened, revealing a group of ladies who were suddenly walking down the hall.

they were all stunning, elegant, sophisticated women. they all wore matching light navy uniforms with coordinating hats and suiting skirts. they skipped down the hall in unison, catching the eye of any boy who was in the room.

"bloody hell." athena could hear ron speaking from the gryffindor table and she couldn't help but giggle at his shocked face. as they continued to skip, they suddenly all sighed in unison and released blue and white butterflies out of their hands.

athena looked at cedric only to find him not glancing at the beautiful young ladies before him, but laughing at edmund and the startled look on his face. edmund's cheeks had fully gone red at the sight of the new girls.

behind all the girls, a tall woman followed behind them. she was extremely great in height but she looked like the nicest woman you would ever meet. she had short brown hair and some sort of fur hanging from around her neck. everyone at the hufflepuff table just stared in shock.

all the girls bowed in unison, earning a generous applaud from all the impressed students in the room. a few students, including edmund wood and harry potter, stood up and started yelling.

"and now our friends from the north. please greet the proud sons of durmstrang and their headmaster, igor karkaroff." dumbledore ran to the front once again to announce the last school to be staying at the school.

athena flinched as a group of boys charged proudly through the doors, the sticks in their hands made a loud echo throughout the room. they all wore brown matching outfits, some of them even wore a fur around themselves.

the boys performed some sort of act by twirling their cane-like things around and then suddenly, they were running to the front of the hall. the whole school gasped as they began to do flips or some sort of parkour.

"ced, look! it's viktor krum!" edmund was almost yelling over the noise the students had started. athena quickly whipped her head around at the same time cedric did, glancing at one of the boys from the school.

athena didn't really know who viktor krum is but he definitely looked like a masculine man. she knew she had heard the name before somewhere, she thinks that he is a well-known quidditch player. cedric and edmund had begun to slightly fangirl to each other, causing athena to laugh.

the boys from durmstrang blew fire from their wands, making a bird-like form out of it, causing all the students to gasp again. as their headmaster hugged professor dumbledore, everyone in the hall begun to cheer once again.

athena was excited to see all these new faces and new people, hogwarts never really got to do things like this. every year athena got to see new faces, but not from different areas of the world like this. she was very interested in seeing what their lives were like and what these people were like.