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Chapter 4-5: The Champion Selection

"Ally why are you dragging me down here to watch people put their names in a cup?" asked Draco.

"Ally? Where'd that name come from?" asked Pansy as Desiree and Draco sat in front of her.

"It's a nickname," said Desiree.

"Oh, make sense," said Pansy.

"I still don't get why you forced me to come down here," said Draco.

"Don't you see? You get to do your favorite activity, judge people," laughed Desiree.

"Ah it's all making sense now," said Draco sarcastically as he laughed.

Just as Desiree was going to say something back her attention was caught by someone else entering the Great Hall. It was Cedric being edged on by his friends towards the Goblet. As he threw his name into the Goblet he turned and gave a smile to Desiree. She gave a kind smile back, though she felt worry building inside of her with each second.

"Does he really think he's going to be selected?" asked Draco slyly.

Desiree turned her head to face him, "Be nice."

It seemed just as Draco was going to say something else everyone's attention was brought to the entrance of the hall.

"Haha, yes!" Fred and George shouted as they ran into the great hall. Everyone turned their attention to the twins as they continued all the way to the middle of the large group of students.

"Well, lads. We've done it." said Fred with a smile.

"Cooked it up just this morning." said George with the same smile on his face.

"I hope they don't really think an Aging Potion is going to work," said Desiree.

"Why won't it?" asked Blaise from behind her.

"Just listen to Hermione, she's telling them right now," said Desiree as she pointed to Hermione not too far from them.

"You see this?" asked Hermione as she pointed to the circle drawn around the goblet. "This is an age line. Dumbledore drew it himself."

"So?" asked Fred.

"So? A genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by a dodge as pathetically dim-witted as an Aging Potion."

"But that's why it's so brilliant." said Fred.

"Because it's so pathetically dim-witted." smiled George as the two twins stood up.

"They're really going to do it," laughed Desiree with a sense of astonishment.

"Ready Fred?" asked George.

"Ready George." said Fred.

"Bottoms up." said Fred and George in unison as they drank the Aging Potions.

Desiree watched as the two boys quickly jumped over the age line and into the circle. Cheers began to grow in the great hall at the fact that they had managed to cross it successfully. It wasn't but a few seconds after the two boys dropped their names into the goblet the flames began to dance around the circle, throwing the two of them out and over the crowd of students. Desiree sat with her eyes wide and her mouth open as she, along with all of the other children in the Great Hall, watched as Fred and George became transformed into old men.

"You said!" said George.

"You said!" said Fred, thus starting a little fight between the two brothers.

The students in the great hall began chanting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Desiree laughed as she watched the two boys fight. She looked over to Draco who was obviously trying to conceal a laugh.

"You know can laugh right?" she smiled as she nudged Draco's side.

"What?" asked Draco.

"Come on, you know this is funny. Just loosen up a little," she smiled again.

"Yeah, I suppose it is quite funny," Draco said as he let out a slight chuckle.

Desiree threw a few more glances to Draco, who was actually subtly laughing now, as the fight carried on. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the sight of the brawl until Igor Karkaroff walked into the Great Hall with Victor Krum. Desiree then watched as Krum dropped his name into the goblet. It was strange, Desiree thought her eyes were deceiving her as she watched as his gaze seemed to linger on Hermione a bit.

* * *

Just a few days later, Desiree sat with the rest of the Hogwarts students as well as the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students in the Great Hall for the selection of the three champions. She felt a pit of worry buried within her for much of the day, just thinking of Cedric being chosen.

Sit down please." said Dumbledore to the mass of students. "Now the moment you've all been waiting for, the champion selection." said Dumbledore as he dimmed the lights of the great hall. Then, the first paper flew out of the goblet. "The Durmstrang champions is...Victor Krum." Cheers began to grow from the Durmstrang section as Victor made his way over to Dumbledore. After Victor made his way to the other room the goblet spat out another paper. "The champion of Beauxbatons is...Fleur Delacour." Once again cheers began to ring out from the Beauxbatons section as Fleur walked over to Dumbledore. Once everyone settled back down the final champions name flew out of the goblet. "The Hogwarts champion is...Cedric Diggory." An eruption of cheers began to sound from all of the Hogwarts students as Cedric stood up from the Hufflepuff table. Desiree felt her worry now seem to boil over, it must have been clear to her friends.

"Hey, are you alright? You look like you've gone all pale," said Pansy as she grabbed hold of Desiree's shoulder. Draco quickly turned his head to look at Desiree

"Yeah," she paused, "I'll be fine. Just worried is all."

"I'm sure he's going to be fine. The goblet wouldn't have chosen him if he wasn't fit to compete," said Pansy.

"She's right," Draco paused, "The goblet only chooses worthy champions."

Emma, who was sitting next to Draco, seemed to cast a dirty look to Desiree as Draco said this to her. Desiree looked to Draco with a thankful smile, it seemed that his words calmed her more than Pansy's. Maybe, she thought, because Draco had made it clear he hadn't liked Cedric much before.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore shouted, "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 Triwizard Cup!"

Just as the Triwizard Cup was unveiled everyone's attention was brought to the Goblet of Fire, as it's flames began to dance once more. Dumbledore quickly walked over and grabbed the piece of paper that had just been spat out of the Goblet.

"Is that even possible? I mean the goblet's already given three names," said Blaise.

"This is the first time I've ever heard of such an incident," whispered Desiree.

"Harry Potter?" said Dumbledore quietly. "Harry Potter?!" he said again.

"No, no." said Hagrid from the front of the great hall.

"Harry Potter!" shouted Dumbledore.

The hall grew so quiet that Desiree was able to hear Hermione's whisper from across the hall.

"Go on Harry." Hermione paused, "Harry for goodness sake" she said as she hoisted Harry up onto his feet.

The only other time Desiree had heard silence like this was during the Unforgivable Curses lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was soon broken by many students shouting sly remarks.

"Of course Pottah's found a way to compete," snarled Draco.

"Draco you couldn't possibly believe he's done this," said Desiree.

"Ally you know you can't put it passed him. I mean how else would his name have been entered?" asked Pansy.

Draco looked to Desiree as Pansy called her Ally, almost as though he was silently asking if she was alright with Pansy calling her Ally. She gave a subtle nod indicating she was alright with it before Draco seemed to relax a bit more.