"Hermione?" A voice brought her from her thoughts.
"Hmm?" She looked at the voice, and it was Jake who spoke.
"Are you alright?" He had his head tilted as he looked at her.
"Yeah, I'm okay," she gave him her best fake smile she could muster.
"Yeah, that's right, smarm up to him, Malfoy," they heard Ron say scathingly, "I bet Krum can see right through him, though... bet he gets people fawning over him all the time... Where d'you reckon they're going to sleep? We could offer him space in our Dormitory-"
"The fuck we are!" Jake said hotly, "I am not sharing my Dormitory room with that fuck," he pointed in the direction of Krum.
"They look a lot happier than the Beauxbatons lot," Harry said, ignoring their exchange about Krum.
The Durmstrang students were pulling off their heavy furs and looking up at the starry black ceiling with expressions of interest; a couple of them were picking up the golden plates and goblets and examining them, apparently impressed.
Up at the staff table, Filch was seen adding chairs. He was wearing his moldy old tailcoat in honor of the occasion. Jake saw that he had added four chairs instead of just two, "But there's only two extra people," Harry apparently noticed as well, "why's Filch putting out four chairs, who else is coming?"
"Eh?" Ron asked vaguely, still fawning over Krum.
"My guess is that because the Tournament is being handled differently this year, two Ministry Officials are coming to Hogwarts as well to make sure things go smoothly," Jake answered him.
"And I'd say it'll be Crouch Sr. and Bagman," Hermione piggybacked on what Jake said, "remember, Dumbledore did say that the Department of International Magical Cooperation and the Department of Magical Games and Sports decided it was time for another attempt, and they are the Head's of those Departments."
When all the students had entered the Hall and settled down at their House tables, the staff entered, filing up to the top table and taking their seats. Last in line were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime. When their Headmistress appeared, all of the students from Beauxbatons all stood quickly to their feet. A few Hogwarts students laughed, but the Beauxbatons part appeared quite unembarrassed, however, and did not resume their seats until Madame Maxime had sat down on Dumbledore's left-hand side, "Respect for their Headmistress, not sure what there is to laugh about," Jake voiced his opinion, which Hermione couldn't disagree with. Dumbledore himself remained standing, and a silence fell over the Great Hall.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and - most particularly - guests," Dumbledore said, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."
One of the Beauxbaton girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh. Jake had seen the very girl who did it as well, and was disappointed; he had thought she was the prettiest girl from Beauxbatons.
"No one's making you stay!" Hermione whispered, bristling at her.
"I imagine her Headmistress is..." Jake said even quieter to where only Hermione could hear him.
"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," Dumbledore said, still beaming, "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"
Dumbledore sat down and the plates in front of them filled up with some of the most bizarre looking foods Jake had ever seen, "Must be food from all over Europe."
"What's that ?" Ron asked, pointing at a large dish of some sort of shellfish stew that stood beside a large steak and kidney pudding.
"Bouillabaisse," Hermione said, smiling at being able to answer his question.
"Bless you," Ron said, which actually got a laugh from Jake.
"It's French , Ronald," Hermione said with a scowl, "I had it on Holiday this past summer when my parents and I went to France. It's actually very nice."
"I'll take your word for it," Ron said, helping himself to black pudding.
The Great Hall seemed somehow much more crowded than usual, even though there were just under thirty additional students; Jake concluded that it was because of their uniforms, how they varied so differently from Hogwarts Robes, it just seemed like there were more than what the Great Hall could hold.
"Skrewts doing all right, Hagrid?" He heard Harry call over to Hagrid as he sidled behind them along the wall.
"Thrivin'," he called happily back over to him.
"Yeah, I'll bet they are," Ron said quietly, "it looks like they've finally found a food they like, doesn't it? Hagrid's fingers."
At that moment, a voice obviously French, trying to speak clear English, interrupted them, "Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"
Jake looked up and saw that it was the girl who had given the derisive laugh in the middle of Dumbledore's speech. She had finally removed her muffler, and it was revealed that a beautiful, long sheet of silvery-blonde hair fell almost to her waist. She had large, deep blue eyes, and very white, even teeth. It was noticeable against her snow white skin when her cheeks blushed. Hermione noticed it was because she looked right at Jake. She decided this girl would perish in a very painful death.
Ron, however, went purple. He stared up at her, opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out except for a faint gurgling noise.
Jake stood up, the bouillabaisse in hand, and handed it over to her, "It's yours."
Hermione saw the girl look up at him, craning her neck much like she had to usually do.
"Y-You 'ave finished wiz it?" The Beauxbatons girl said, the slight stutter not escaping Hermione at all.
"Yeah," Ron said breathlessly, "Yeah, it was excellent."
"Don't mind him, he doesn't know how to act properly around beautiful women," Jake said boldly.
Hermione's heart shattered into a million pieces. She felt tears wanting to form in her eyes. She looked around and saw many other girls glaring at the Beauxbatons girl.
"Zat is very kind of you to say. Zank you for zis," she said, smiling kindly to him, and walked carefully back to the Ravenclaw table with the dish in hand.
Jake sat back down, acting like absolutely nothing happened. Hermione couldn't believe him at that moment, acting like he didn't just destroy her already fragile soul with one sentence.
"She's a Veela !" Ron said hoarsely to Harry.
Hermione tried to compose herself, but her voice was a little shaky when she responded, "Well, if she is, she's obviously not a Full Veela. Every guy but Jake would be drooling over her. Instead, it's just you and a few other boys."
"Ron never was of Strong mind," Jake said casually as he continued eating.
"They don't make them like that at Hogwarts," Ron said, ignoring Jake's jab.
"They make them okay at Hogwarts," Harry said without thinking.
"I disagree with you both. Plenty of girls that go to Hogwarts are stunning to look at," Jake said, feeling Hermione's eyes on him. He refused to look at her, though, afraid of how badly he'd feel at seeing her face, or having to explain what he meant, which he didn't really want to. Of course, he thought Hermione was the most beautiful girl at the school, but he was afraid of hurting her emotionally. He knew of her feelings for him since the end of last year when she kissed him, but he just couldn't bring himself to admit to her his own feelings for her. The prospect of being with Hermione was of course high and it seemed like something that could only be wonderful. Therein lay the problem, there was such a thing as something that was too good to last, and he hated to feel that way about it, but he figured that was what was in store for him and Hermione. He was afraid that what they would have would just be too good to last, and he couldn't put Hermione through that, not if he had a say in the matter.
"Look who's arrived," Hermione said, pointing up to the staff table. He looked and saw that her earlier prediction had in fact been correct; Ludo Bagman and Bartemius Crouch Sr. had arrived and were now sitting down at the staff table.
"I guess you were right, Hermione," Harry said.
"Never second-guess Hermione," Jake said with a smirk. She felt her face burning from his words.
When the second course arrived, there was an insurmountable number of Desserts most of them had never seen or heard of. Ron ended up pushing one of the odd looking Desserts over to his right a few inches so that it was in view of the Ravenclaw table, but the girl that was believed to be a Veela didn't come back to the table. Instead, another Beauxbatons girl from the Ravenclaw table walked up to the table, "Excuse me," she said in rougher English than the first girl. Jake looked up and saw she was looking right at him, "A-Are you feeneeshed wiz zat?" She asked, her long platinum blonde hair resting on both her shoulders, giving her a glowing, graceful appearance.
He gave a half-smile and nodded, "It's yours if you want it," he said kindly and Ron lifted it up to hand to her.
Hermione noticed that the girl reluctantly took it, a slightly disgusted look on her face as she accepted it from Ron, and the girl deliberately turned back to Jake, "Zank you," and walked back to the Ravenclaw table. Hermione watched as she began talking with the other Beauxbatons girls around her and they each giggled, glancing back over to them, specifically Jake, but he was busy eating some kind of dessert Hermione didn't recognize, so he didn't see them looking at him.
Once the golden plates and goblets had been emptied, Dumbledore stood up again. A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall again. A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall now. Jake sat there in anticipation, waiting to see what their Headmaster had to say about the Tournament, "The moment has come," he said, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces, "the Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket-"
"The what?" Hermione heard Harry ask.
"-just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation," Dumbledore said, and there was a smattering of polite applause, "and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports." There ended up being a much louder round of applause for Bagman than Crouch, and Jake remembered that he used to be on a Quidditch Team, so it was either that, or because he looked more friendly and likable than Crouch Sr did. "Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts." At the word 'champions' the attentiveness of everyone in the hall seemed to sharpen. Dumbledore seemed to notice their sudden stillness, for he smiled and said, "The Casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."
Argus Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looked several centuries old, and a murmur of excited interest arose from the watching students.
"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," Dumbledore said as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways... their magical prowess - their daring - their powers of deduction - and, of course, their ability to cope with danger." Dumbledore glanced around at every student, and Jake could only imagine their faces, "As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," he went on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: The Goblet of Fire!"
Dumbledore took out his wand and tapped three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open; Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames.
Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on the top of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall, "Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," Dumbledore continued, "aspiring Champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the Goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The Goblet will be placed in the Entrance Hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.
"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the Entrance Hall. Nobody under the age of Seventeen will be able to cross the line," he said, taking a moment to glance around at them, "Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the Goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all!"
"An Age Line!" Fred said, his eyes glinting, as they all made their way across the hall to the doors into the Entrance Hall, "Well, that should be fooled by an Aging Potion, shouldn't it? And once your name's in that goblet, you're laughing - it can't tell whether you're Seventeen or not!"
"A foolish way of thinking," Jake said, getting stuck behind some Third Years as they cut across in front of him, so Fred didn't hear what he said. He heard Hermione say something, but she ended up getting out of earshot as he tried to get back up to them, but it seemed like anyone and everyone was just cutting in front of him for no reason. He gave it a brief thought, and if he wanted to, he could just part everyone and walk casually like nothing was wrong, but he didn't want to be feared, not by his fellow Hogwarts Students at least.
As he was trying to push his way through the crowd, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw the girl who had come up to the Gryffindor Table and had asked for the Dessert, " 'ello, I was wondering eef I could talk to you before you go to bed for ze night?"
"Uh... sure," he followed her over to the side, standing against the wall and out of the way of the crowd, "What's up?"
She turned and her cheeks were noticeably pink, "I was wondering eef I could ask you for your name?"
"Jake, Jake Kidd. What's yours?" He asked her.
"Madeleine Bouchard. Eet ees very nice to meet you, Jereemiah," she said his name in a weird way, "Zank you for letting me 'ave ze Plum Clafouti earlier."
"Is that what that was? I've not had any French desserts, so I was not aware of what it was," he said with a slight chuckle.
"Madeleine! Il est temps de partir!" Madame Maxime hollered over to her.
"Juste une minute!" She said, and it wasn't hard for Jake to understand what she had said, "Real queeck, before I go, may I ask 'ow old you are?"
"I'm Fourteen. How about you?"
"I'm going to be Sixteen at ze end of November," she smiled and quickly looked back at her fellow Beauxbatons before she turned back, gave him a quick peck on the cheek and hurried off.
Jake stood there, dumbfounded, as that was not at all what he expected to happen. It wasn't until McGonagall walked up to him that he was broken from his daze, "Kidd, might I ask what you are still doing in the Great Hall?"
"Uh... j-just going to bed... Professor..." he didn't even look at McGonagall, unable to tear his eyes away from the doors leading out to the Entrance Hall. He slowly began to walk and made his way back to Gryffindor Tower. 'Maybe this is what I need? Someone to help take my mind off of Hermione...' The thought made him melancholic as he approached the Fat Lady's Portrait, " Cor fortium ," he said and she opened, letting him walk inside the Tower. To his surprise, no one was in there, 'Maybe they all went to bed to get an early rise? That's what I'm going to do, so it makes sense they all will too, even if it is Saturday tomorrow.' He climbed the stairs to the Boys Dormitories and entered the Dorm Room for the Fourth Years, and got ready for bed. His fellow Fourth Years were already asleep. He climbed into bed when he finished getting ready, downed one of his Sleeping Draughts, and rested his head on his pillow, falling asleep seconds later.
*******
The next morning, Jake awoke a little later than his friends did, not bothering to go on a run that morning, which he'd resume the following morning, but Hermione was at least kind enough to be in the Common Room waiting on him, "Sleep in a little later than usual on the weekend?" She asked cheekily as he came down the stairs.
"Eh, it doesn't happen often, but yes" he said, smirking a little, standing over her as she marked her place in her book.
She put the book in her bag, which she left on the couch and stood up, "What happened to you last night? One moment you were behind me leaving the Great Hall, the next you're nowhere to be found."
"Oh, I got stuck behind waves of fellow Hogwarts students, and one of the Beauxbatons girls tapped my shoulder and I talked to her for a moment before her Headmistress made her return to the Carriage," he said, like there was absolutely nothing wrong with what he said.
Hermione felt her anger spike dangerously, "What?"
"Yeah, we just chatted, got to know each other's name and age-" he stopped talking when Hermione stopped following.
"What?" She asked as her eye twitched a little.
"Uh... th-that was all..." Jake said, daring to not say that Madeleine pecked him on the cheek, or else he feared Hermione would hunt her down and actually harm her.
She felt her anger subside for the time being, but barely, "What was her name?"
"Madeleine."
"Madeleine?" She inquired further.
"Just Madeleine. She didn't tell me her last name," he lied. He felt horrible for lying, but Hermione honestly had no reason to know her last name.
She stared at him for a moment, "Okay," was all she said and they continued down to the Entrance Hall.
When they arrived, Fred, George, and Lee were all bragging about their Aging Potion, "You three do realize it won't work, right?" Jake rhetorically asked them as he stepped down the last step.
They merely ignored him, though. Fred pulled out a slip of parchment which must've bared his name and school on it. He stepped over the line after a moment's hesitation. Jake had a feeling it didn't actually work, but Fred seemed to think so, and also jumped over the line. They were just about to dunk their names into Goblet when a loud sizzling sound could be heard. Next second, the twins were hurled out of the golden circle as though they had both been hit with a powerful Stupefy spell. They landed painfully, ten feet away on the cold stone floor, and to add insult to injury, there was a loud popping noise, and both of them sprouted identical long white beards.
The Entrance Hall rang with howling laughter. Even Fred and George joined in, once they had gotten to their feet and had taken a good look at each other's beards, "I did warn you," the deep, amused voice of Professor Dumbledore rang out. He had just exited the Great Hall, surveyed Fred and George, and his eyes were twinkling as usual, "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though, I must say, neither of their beards looked anything as fine as yours."
One thing Jake especially liked about Dumbledore was his ability to be humorous as he was chastising you. They both set off for the Hospital Wing, with Lee trailing behind them, laughing all the way. The four of them entered the Great Hall, still chuckling to themselves.
The Decorations in the Great Hall had changed this morning. As it was Halloween, a cloud of live bats fluttered around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of expertly carved pumpkins leered from every corner, silently judging everyone. Harry had led them over to Seamus and Dean, who were discussing those Hogwarts students of seventeen or over who might be entering.
"There's a rumor going around that Warrington got up early and put his name in," Jake overheard Dean telling Harry, "That big bloke from Slytherin who looks like a Sloth."
"If Hogwarts is represented by a Slytherin Champion, I'm walking out," Jake said, grabbing a light breakfast.
"I've heard from Hannah that all the Hufflepuffs are talking about Diggory," Seamus said contemptuously, "but I wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks."
"Jake and I made a bet. He bet that Diggory would be the Champion, and I bet that Diggory wouldn't be the Champion," Ron said, smiling cheekily.
"You wot?" Seamus asked, looking at Jake.
"Listen!" Hermione said suddenly.
People were cheering out in the Entrance Hall. They all swiveled around in their seats and saw Angelina Johnson coming into the Hall, grinning in an embarrassed sort of way. Angelina was a tall, cute black girl who was Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Angelina walked over to them and sat down looking exhilarated, "Well, I've done it. I've just put my name into the Goblet."
"You're kidding?" Ron asked excitedly. He looked over to Jake, "With each Hogwarts person that puts their name in, my chances get better and better."
"All I'm saying is you better hope it's not Cedric," Jake said with a shrug.
"You want it to be Cedric?" Angelina asked, looking slightly hurt.
"Only because I made a bet with Ron. He didn't want it to be Cedric, so I bet him it would be. Mainly for fun, partially out of spite," he glanced over at the red-head, who was currently wide-eyed.
"What did I do?" Ron asked.
"I've still not completely forgiven you for last year," Jake glared at him with his single eye.
Ron slightly faltered and went to eat his breakfast.
"It's not that I don't want you to get it Angelina. Honestly I wish this Tournament wasn't being done at all, but since it is, I do hope you get it, even if it costs me Five Sickles," Jake said, looking back at her.
"Thanks, Jake," Angelina said, looking back at him with a smile.
After breakfast, the four of them wandered back into the Entrance Hall, "So... what were we doing today?" Ron asked them.
"We haven't been down to see Hagrid yet, have we?" Harry had brought up.
"As long as he doesn't ask me to donate any fingers to the Skrewts..." Ron said uneasily.
"Oh wait!" Hermione's face brightened, "Let me go back to my room and get the Badges, I haven't asked Hagrid yet if he wants one!" She sped off back to her room.
Jake couldn't help smiling, but his attention was torn from Hermione's disappearing figure and to the Castle's Main Doors. Madame Maxime and her Beauxbatons entourage were walking inside and Jake saw both Madeleine and the girl suspected of being a Veela. He thought it was weird that only the girls were walking in to put their names in the Goblet, he didn't see any of the boy students at all. The girls who were of age organized into a line and dropped their names in one by one. Madeleine, not being Seventeen, stood off to the side. She saw him and waved politely.
He waved back and heard snickering behind him. He turned to see Harry and Ron trying to straighten up and not laugh, but failing to follow through, "What?" Jake asked.
"Nothing," Harry said, waving his hands to try and let it go.
"Neither of you have any room to laugh, especially you, Weasley," Jake said, a slight edge of hostility in his voice.
After the last girl had put her name in the Goblet, Madame Maxime had them all go back out onto the grounds, Madeleine waving to Jake before she left. "Where do you suppose they are sleeping?" Ron asked.
"Their Carriage, where else?" Jake asked humorlessly.
"But how do they-"
"Magic, Weasley, magic," Jake closed his eye, his patience thinning with Ron by the second with how dense he was.
A loud rattling got their attention and they looked to see Hermione hurrying down the stairs, her box of S.P.E.W. badges in hand, "Thank you for waiting on me you two," she said to Harry and Ron.
"Come on, let's go and see Hagrid," Harry said and they all set forth to go and see the friendly giant of a man.
As they got nearer to Hagrid's Hut, the Beauxbatons girls also had gone in roughly the same direction, since their Carriage was parked about two-hundred yards away, "Told ya," Jake said, smirking at being right.
Harry knocked on Hagrid's door and it was a moment before he opened up, " 'Bout time!" Hagrid said when he flung the door open, "Thought you lot had forgotten where I live."
"Sorry, Hagrid, we've just been really bu-" Hermione had started to say, but she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Hagrid.
Hagrid was wearing a horrible looking hairy brown suit, plus a yellow and orange checkered tie. Unfortunately for Hermione, it only got worse the more she looked; he had apparently tried to time his mountain of hair with what appeared to be axle grease. It had been slicked down into two bunches. The look didn't suit Hagrid in the slightest, and Hermione just simply didn't comment on it at all.
"Er... wh-where are the Skrewts?" She changed the subject.
"Ou' by the pumpkin patch," he thumbed in its direction, "they're gettin' massive. Mus' be three feet long by now. On'y trouble is... they've started killin' each other."
"Oh no, really?" Hermione feigned disappointment. The other three pretended to be torn up about it as well.
"Yeah," Hagrid said sadly, " 'S' okay, though, I've got 'em in separate boxes now. Still got abou' twenty."
"Well, that's good," Ron said sarcastically, which completely went over Hagrid's head.
"Oh, Hagrid, before I forget," Hermione brought out the box of badges, "Would you like an S.P.E.W. badge?"
"A wha'?" Hagrid asked, looking at her, confused.
"A badge to show you're a member of the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare," Jake said.
Hermione then launched into an explanation about their club and all that, and Hagrid was a bit at odds about it, "I dunno, it'd be doin' 'em an unkindness..."
"They used to be free Eighteen Hundred years ago. Did you know that?" Jake asked him.
"No, I had no idea they were once free," Hagrid turned to Jake, having gotten his full attention.
"Wizardkind waged a war on them with the intent to enslave, and over the generations, they've been abused, mentally and physically, to know only one thing: Obey their Master," Jake had said, "Wizarding Laws haven't gotten any better, and it was centuries before the Law about House-Elves being freed with clothing was introduced. Sure, not all House-Elves are abused, but ones like Dobby were. Getting House-Elf abuse brought to the light is our first goal. If they themselves see how badly some of them have it, without thinking that those Elves are just bad House-Elves, then we can move on to Phase Two, get them to understand they were once a Free Race."
Jake's words seemed to have deeply affected Hagrid, because next thing they all knew, he was asking Hermione how much they cost, and he had bought four of them. Hermione's face had brightened considerably, and she beamed at Jake, for it was his words that convinced Hagrid to buy four badges.
By half past five it was growing dark, and Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Jake decided it was time to get back up to the castle for the Halloween feast - and, more importantly, the announcement of the school champions.
"I'll come with yeh, eh, jus' a sec," Hagrid said, and he went over to the chest of drawers beside his bed, and began searching for something inside it. They didn't pay too much attention until a truly horrible smell reached their nostrils. Cough, Ron asked, "Hagrid, what's that?"
"Eh?" Hagrid asked, turning around with a large bottle in his hand, "Don' yeh like it?"
"No," Jake said bluntly, holding his hand up to his nose, "it smells horrible." He wasn't one to usually be affected by absolutely putrid smells, but whatever Hagrid was using, it almost made him gag.
"Is that aftershave?" Hermione asked in a slightly choked voice.
"Er - eau de cologne," Hagrid muttered. He was turning red in the face, "maybe a bit much," he said gruffly. "I'll go take it off, hang on..."
He stumbled out of the cabin, and they saw him washing himself vigorously in the water barrel outside the window.
"Eau de Cologne?" Hermione muttered to herself, " Hagrid ?"
"And what's with the hair and the suit?" Harry asked in an undertone.
"I think I see the reason, look," Jake said and they all followed his gaze out the window. Hagrid had also just straightened up and turned around. If he had been blushing before, it was nothing to what he was doing now. Jake decided to go ahead and get back up to the Castle, realizing that dinner would be starting soon. He kept looking at the Beauxbatons as they walked out of their Carriage. Even with the growing darkness, he caught sight of Madeleine as she seemed to glide across the grounds.
Jake's three friends must have picked up on what he did, as they were following him out of the Hut after a moment, "Hagrid fancies Madame Maxime?" Harry asked, looking ever so slightly repulsed.
"It would appear so..." Hermione said, not sure what else to say about it.
As they made their way up to the Castle, Ron got their attention, "Look, the Durmstrang lot are heading up to the Castle as well!" Ron watched Krum excitedly.
The four of them reached the doors at the same time as the Durmstrang students, and their Headmaster, with Krum leading the way. Jake reached the door first and proceeded to walk through, only for Krum to cut in front of him, "Excuse me? Who the fu - argh," he lurched forward and to his right, holding his ribcage. He looked to his right and saw Hermione, she had elbowed him aggressively hard, "What was that for?"
"There is no need to cause a scene and disrupt the Tournament proceedings, no matter how much I didn't want to stop you," Hermione said, looking regretfully at him.
He eyed her carefully, his gaze softening towards her, "Okay..." he said. He didn't like it, but he appreciated her for it all the same. They finally made their way into the candlelit Great Hall, and it was marvelous like last year. It was almost full of students, all of them anticipating the end of the Feast for the Champion Selection. The Goblet of Fire itself had been moved from the Entrance Hall and now resided in front of Dumbledore's empty chair at the teachers table. Fred and George - clean-shaven again - seemed to have taken their disappointment fairly well.
"Hope it's Angelina," Fred said as they all sat near him.
"So do I!" Hermione said breathlessly, "we'll know soon, though!"
The Halloween feast soon commences, and everyone, even Jake, felt like it was taking longer than usual. None of them were used to two feasts two dinners in a row, but he still enjoyed a small variety of the foods. He knew the Feast always lasted an hour, so he was in no rush to see when Dumbledore finished eating.
During the feast, he glanced up and saw one of the girls at the Ravenclaw table quickly move back to her seat, having leaned over to apparently stare at him. From the quick glance, it didn't look like Madeleine, so he wondered just which Beauxbatons girl it was, and why.
After an egregious amount of waiting, the golden plates finally cleared to their spotless state; there was a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the Hall, which died away almost instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as tense and expectant as anyone. Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at various students. Bartemius Crouch, however, looked quite uninterested in the events about to take place.
"Well, the Goblet is almost ready to make its decision," Dumbledore said in a booming voice, "I estimate 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 indicated the door behind the staff table, "where they will be receiving their first instructions."
He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes.
"Any second..." Lee said absent-mindedly.
The flames inside the Goblet suddenly turned red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it - the whole room, save a few students, gasped.
Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white, "The Champion for Durmstrang is," he read in a strong, clear voice, "Viktor Krum!"
"No surprise there!" Ron yelled as a storm of applause swept through the hall. Krum rose from the Slytherin table and slouched up toward Dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.
"Whoever the Hogwarts Champion is better kick his ass in every Task," Jake said once the applause died down.
Everyone's attention refocused on the Goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of charred parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames, "The Champion for Beauxbatons is," Dumbledore paused only a moment, "Fleur Delacour!"
"It's her, Ron!" Harry had shouted as the girl suspected of being a Veela got to her feet gracefully, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair, and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. As she walked up to the door, Jake heard Hermione saying something, but what it was he didn't hear, as his attention was focused on Fleur. Just before she got to the door, she looked over towards the Gryffindor table, and he saw her give a wink. He had to assume it was for him, he couldn't think of another Gryffindor that had left an impression on her, if he even did at all. He wasn't affected by the Veela in her, that much was proven at the World Cup when those Full Veela were there, and he knew she wasn't a Full Veela, because only a few guys in the Great Hall had a hard time looking away from her.
One thing he would admit to himself, Fleur was definitely more attractive than Madeleine, but Madeleine was beautiful in her own right. And still yet, neither of them compared to the beauty and grace of the girl sitting right beside him, and that thought hurt to think about.
When Fleur had vanished, silence fell once again, but this time it was so stiff with excitement, you could almost taste it. The Goblet turned red for the final time; sparks shot out of it like a geyser; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.
"The Hogwarts Champion is," he paused again, "Cedric Diggory!"
"No!" Ron yelled, but only Harry and Jake had heard him. The applause and uproar from the next table was so great, that it was almost deafening.
When Cedric had finally left, and the silence was almost back in the Great Hall, Jake leaned over, "Five Sickles, Ron!" Ron looked at him with bulging eyes of shock written on them. He begrudgingly got the Five Sickles out and almost threw them at Jake, who casually pocketed his money. He figured he could find something at Hogsmeade to spend the Five Sickles on.
"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily after the tumultuous applause completely died down, "Well, we now have our three champions! I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. Bye cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real-"
Dumbledore had suddenly stopped talking, and it was obvious to everyone what had caused him to stop so abruptly. The fire in the Goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying, and a long flame shot out into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.
Dumbledore automatically grabbed the parchment with no hesitation. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the parchment, almost unbelieving of the words written on it. He suddenly cleared his throat and spoke loudly and clearly-
" Harry Potter !"