FicWad

Chapter Seventeen: Out of the Goblet

The next few weeks were business as usual pretty much for everyone. The situation in New York with the gang activity that was beginning to escalate even more, as many casualties were caught in the crossfire from the factions of New York all attempting to get their hands on a piece of the Shredder's former empire. Ginny's ninjitsu training was going rather well and Harry was pleased at the progress she was making underneath his watchful eye. Hailey seemed to get on Snape's nerves due to her mere presence in his Potions class at times and Hufflepuff lost an insane number of points, which gave Harry hours of amusement.

"I think Snape doesn't like people who are not intimidated by his presence," suggested Harry to Theodore and Daphne as they were heading towards Defense Against the Dark Arts class on that day.

"Yes, I'm beginning to see why you thought she would be sorted into Slytherin but the other teachers seem rather annoyed that Snape is badmouthing her," said Daphne.

"I know why," said Harry. "She seems to be interesting in all other classes except for Potions and is rather well behaved in those classes. She seems to be a problem when in the presence of Snape. She's rather average in most classes, nothing extraordinary but competent enough. Still Potions is a problem or it could be Snape for all I know. Of course, I advised her to cool it but she doesn't seem to want to listen to me."

"She’s going to end up catching Snape in the wrong mood at the wrong time, I just know it," said Theodore. "But enough on this subject, did you hear the rumor that Moody was going to put the Imperius Curse on us during class today to see if we can throw it off?"

"I really don't believe that, after all it is illegal but..." said Daphne before trailing off.

"Personally, I wouldn't put anything past Moody, he raises his wand in the air at the tiniest of sudden noises and looks like he's about to jinx everything in site," said Theodore.

"This is how I'll be in forty years if people keep trying to kill me," said Harry darkly. "That's of course if I live forty more years."

Daphne and Theodore exchanged uncomfortable glances; they weren't quite sure how to respond to what Harry said so they just proceeded onto class without too many more words.

As it turned out, Moody was planning on doing what he was rumored to, as in he was going to put each class member under the Imperius Curse and see if they can throw it off. Most class members were smart enough not to vocalize any complaints. Of course, Malfoy never kept his mouth shut when the urge to talk struck him.

"This is lunacy, an illegal curse, I have half the mind to tell my father you are doing this," said Malfoy in a pompous voice as if the mere threat of his father would stop Moody.

"Your father will do nothing, as he doesn't have a leg to stand on to preach against using the Unforgivables," growled Moody. "Since you seem to be so vocal, Mr. Malfoy, I'd think you'd want to go first."

"No, you bug-eyed insane son of a..." started Malfoy but he never finished.

"Imperio," said Moody lazily, putting the curse on Malfoy. As far as he was concerned, the spawn of Death Eaters who bought their way out of Azkaban had no rights and had no choice in the matter of him putting the curse on them. "Okay, Malfoy, lean to the left."

Malfoy leaned to the left on command from Moody obediently.

"Okay, now lean to the right," said Moody in a low voice watching as Malfoy obeyed his command. It appeared that the boy was rather weak willed and was prone to follow the words of other, more powerful people. "Stand up, sit down, stand up, do a somersault, leap into the air three times, and do ten jumping jacks before sitting down."

Harry attempted to hide his amusement as Malfoy did what Moody commanded him to do, while looking like a total idiot as he did so. When Malfoy finished, Moody cancelled the spell.

"Ha, you see, you couldn't put me under the curse because my will was too..." said Malfoy before Moody blasted Malfoy with a red jet of light from his wand, causing Malfoy to fall to the floor, stunned.

"Constant Vigilance!" yelled Moody before turning to the rest of the class, putting them through the control under the Imperius curse one by one.

Harry watched as Moody made his fellow Slytherins make fools of themselves, but none of them could seem to throw off the Imperius Curse. Then, Moody turned to face Harry.

"Potter, your turn," said Moody before pointing his wand at Harry before Harry could brace himself after he rose to his feet. "Imperio!"

Harry felt his mind go blissfully blank as Moody looked at Harry.

"Jump onto the desk, Potter," said Moody in a commanding but muffled tone of voice.

Harry wondered why he would want to do that, after all, he decide he didn't have to obey what Moody said.

"Jump onto the desk, Potter," repeated Moody a bit more forcefully.

Harry didn't move, it was a rather stupid thing to do, he had nothing to gain by jumping on that desk and the blank effect was gone. It appeared that Harry had thrown off the Imperius Curse completely but Moody didn't seem to notice and Harry really didn't want it getting back to anyone that he could throw off the Imperius Curse so easily. He would save that surprise for later. So to throw Moody off, Harry attacked like if he was fighting with the urge jumping, causing his knees to buckle slightly.

"Jump, now!" yelled Moody as Harry decided to act like he as jumping and kept himself from jumping at the same time. Harry sprawled onto the floor.

Moody stood onto the floor, looking rather intrigued at Harry. Harry wondered if Moody had caught onto his little game.

"Look at that, Potter fought it and with a little determination he came pretty damn close to beating it," growled Moody. "Excellent focus Potter, we'll try that again, but I have a feeling that any Dark Wizard who may ambush you might have a little trouble putting you under the Imperius Curse."

Later that day, Hermione, Daphne, Theodore, Ginny, and Harry were sitting in the library, doing homework and quietly talking about what happened so far that day.

"Moody's a bit paranoid, the way he's talking, you'd think that Dark wizards would come out from behind every corner," said Theodore.

"At least with me, I don't think, I know," said Harry.

"Harry, what's been with you lately," said Ginny, shaking her head. "You've been negative about everything and..."

"It's this scar, it's driving me insane stinging at odd hours," said Harry quietly. "Last time it did this, it meant Voldemort was around the area."

"He's banished in Albania, exiled and powerless," said Hermione. "I mean, I'd worry more about his old diary when he was a student then him and that thing was destroyed."

Harry and Ginny exchanged a dark look, as they knew that diary was not destroyed, just the hold Tom had on Ginny using the diary. Lily had told them that much when she explained how Voldemort's Horcruxes really worked but if they were to tell Hermione what the truth was, it would lead to some really awkward questions and something that could lead to the fact that Lily Potter wasn't as dead as the world thought her to be. If Dumbledore got his hands on that information, it could spell certain doom.

"Never mind all this, the Triwizard Tournament is coming up," said Daphne. "A week from Friday, all of the delegates from the other schools will come."

"Yes, it should be an enlightening experience," said Hermione. "First time in five hundred years the tournament has been played even through the tasks have been severely lessened in brutality, so the chance for casualties should be low."

"They might be lessened in brutality but that still doesn't erase the fact there could be causalities," said Ginny. "After all, a wise person once told me that any task can be potentially dangerous if one does not go in properly prepared."

"Harry was that wise person, I take it," said Hermione.

"Of course, who else would come up with advice that was both cynical and helpful at the same time," said Ginny.

Harry just sat back, working on the Defense Against the Dark Arts essay on the force of willpower and how it pertains to the Imperius Curse that Moody assigned them. For once, Harry wouldn't be thrown into the line of fire and he could sit back to watch someone else risk their lives. This would be the year Harry had hoped to have since he arrived at Hogwarts. Let someone else have the fame and glory this year as Harry was just going to sit back and enjoy the spectacle.

"Harry, are you there?" asked Ginny.

"Yes, just thinking about what it would be like to just be a normal student and letting someone else have the fame and glory," said Harry.

"Harry, you seem to be the only person in the school that doesn't want to enter the tournament if they could," said Daphne.

"For good reason, Harry doesn't need the fame," said Hermione. "Even through I think he could win the tournament with his experience with worming his way out of near death experiences."

Harry just nodded, looking up something in his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. Hermione was right; Harry did have all too much experience in attempting to keep from getting himself killed. Whether it was the Foot, various Death Eaters, or Voldemort himself, Harry had barely escaped with his life more times then he could count.

The fact remained that any person could look up spells and practice them; it was another thing all together to apply what was learned and make it out alive. Tempting fate was something Harry would never do, as his luck would eventually run out sooner or later.

The next week or so went by so fast that Harry was nearly certain that someone may have set the clocks to go extra fast but it was worth it as the entire school was abuzz for the arrival of their guests from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Class got out an entire hour early so the school could prepare themselves to greet their foreign guests.

The Heads of House ushered all their students into the Great Hall. Malfoy and his associates in the Slytherin house looked as if they wanted to impress the foreign delegation. Snape ushered the group to the front, making sure Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were kept far apart as possible as Malfoy had the tendency to provoke Potter and Snape decided he wanted to avoid any blood shed tonight.

"You will all act in a sophisticated respectable manner that is fitting of the Slytherin house," said Snape in a warning, dangerous tone of voice. "If not, you will be joining me in detention as a guinea pig for some experimental potions that I have been delegated for testing."

Harry wondered if Snape could really do that but he didn't want to act up in order to find out.

"It's almost as if he doesn't trust us," said Isabelle Martinez in a low voice, shaking her head as she was talking to Ginny.

Dumbledore walked up to the front of the Great Hall before throwing open the doors. The Headmaster anticipated this event for weeks, as if everything went according to plan, this would enforce Dumbledore's image as the leader of the light. Due to his measures to secure the Goblet of Fire so no underage students could enter, Dumbledore knew that no one who shouldn't enter would attempt to. Three students, one from each school would fight for the honor of their school and Dumbledore was the one to make it possible. The Headmaster felt that nothing could possibly go wrong and no underage students would enter the tournament.

"Students and staff, if I'm not mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons arrives right now," said Dumbledore, gazing up at the sky to see the carriage flying containing the Beauxbatons potential champions for the tournament sailing through the sky, pulled through the air by winged horses.

The students looked on excitedly as the carriage touched down, with the horses pawing at the ground and looking around gazing at their new surroundings. The carriage opened, revealing perhaps the largest woman Harry had ever seen. She appeared to be about the size of Hagrid but it struck Harry interesting that there was another human being that vast in the world. She looked around, surveying the sights before walking up towards the school with a dozen seventeen year olds, who were surveying the school looking as if they were unimpressed and it was not good enough for them.

"Madam Maxime it is an honor," said Dumbledore, bowing at the woman.

"Thank you Dumbly-dore," said Madam Maxime in a French accent before gesturing carelessly behind her shoulder. "My pupils."

The students walked into the Great Hall, once again rather looking unimpressed at the scenery of the Great Hall.

"My horses will need to be well cared for of course," said Maxime. "I assure you they require forceful handling."

"Our Gamekeeper Hagrid should be able to meet their needs," said Dumbledore.

"Well tell zis Hagrid that my horses will only drink single malt whiskey," said Maxime, looking as if she didn't think anyone at Hogwarts would be up to the task of catering to her precious horses.

"He will be informed of this, as soon as he returns with tending with some of his other creatures," said Dumbledore. "Although if I may say so, these are a bit more difficult to handle then winged horses."

"Blast Ended Skrewts," muttered Harry. The accursed things were growing slightly and they seemed to become more destructive as they aged.

"Horses that drink malt whiskey, I wonder how they fly straight," said Ginny.

"It must have been a bumpy ride here at any rate," added Harry.

"Where is Karkaroff anyway?" asked Maxime to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore paused for a few seconds before gazing out towards the lake.

"If I'm not mistake, he's arriving right now," said Dumbledore.

Everyone looked where the Headmaster had his eyes fixed and a large mast rose up after the lake, floating towards the land. A ship was rising out of the water before stopping right next to the land. In an instant, a middle aged man with a goatee exited the ship, followed by a dozen rather unpleasant looking seventeen and eighteen year old students.

"Ah, Hogwarts, it is excellent to be back," said the man before walking towards the school followed by his students. "Dumbledore, I do say, it's a pleasure."

"Hello, Professor Karkaroff, I trust your journey went rather well," said Dumbledore.

"Rather fine thanks, Viktor do step into the warmth, it is rather dreadful out there," said Karkaroff to one of his students. "Viktor's had a bit of a head cold you see and..."

The students at Hogwarts gasped as they saw who was entering the Great Hall.

"It's Viktor Krum," said one of the students in a hushed excited voice.

"Did you see that catch at the Quidditch World Cup?" asked another voice rhetorically. "Amazing."

"I wonder if he's single," said a female voice.

"Do you think I can get his autograph?" whispered Ron Weasley in a hushed voice sounding like an overexcited fan boy. "I didn't have a clue as he

The majority of the Hogwarts students gawked at Krum as if he was something on display at a zoo. Harry at least had the courtesy to look away, as he knew what it was like to be fawned over by people who didn't care who you were but how famous you were.

Everyone settled down at their house tables. Hermione was not pleased that she had to join the Gryffindors tonight instead of her friends at the Slytherin table but McGonagall pretty much ordered her to promote house unity to their foreign guests. Hermione held her tongue and did not go into a diatribe about how dividing people into houses did more to hurt the unity of the Magical world as a whole.

The Durmstrang students sat down to eat with the Slytherins for the feast while the Beauxbatons students joined the Ravenclaws. Ron looked a bit agitated as he saw Malfoy attempt to strike up a conversation with Viktor Krum but Harry didn't pay too much attention to this as he looked at the old man, who had rose to his feet, addressing the students.

"Guests, welcome to Hogwarts, in a moment a feast to welcome will start but first a few words," said Dumbledore. "I hope to make your time at Hogwarts as comfortable as possible and hope that your time spent at this fine school here will be most satisfactory. While Hogwarts may be different from what you are used to, I'll do everything to make it a memorable experience. By the end of the tournament, I hope to leave a positive impression in your minds. Now without further ado, tuck in."

A variety of dishes appeared on the table, some of them foreign. Harry decided to treat himself to a good variety of the dishes available.

"Look," said Daphne, pointing towards the door.

"Crouch and Bagman, I wondering what they are doing here?" asked Theodore.

"They helped organize the tournament, so they are probably watching it kick off," said Harry before stopping. "Of course, five judges for the tournament so it would be those two along with the heads of each of the schools."

"Three British judges, kind of shifts the odds in the favor of Hogwarts doesn't it?" suggested Ginny.

"Maybe that's what Dumbledore wants but I think Crouch is a bit too conforming to rules to attempt to vote in a biased manner," replied Harry.

"True," said Ginny before a very peculiar sight reached her eyes. It seemed like nearly every boy in the Great Hall were gawking like idiots at something and Ginny followed her eyes to a girl with silvery blond hair that seemed to be the target of stares. "That's odd, it seems like the majority of the boys are gawking at the girl as if she was a Veela or something."

"What?" asked Harry. "That's impossible; she doesn't look anything like the Veela at the World Cup. I don't see anything out of the ordinary, do you Theodore?"

Theodore had his mouth hanging open with drool dripping from his mouth and Daphne was beginning to give him an irritated look.

"Hello, Theodore, anyone home," said Harry.

"I'll snap him out of it," said Daphne, picking up a pitcher of ice cold pumpkin juice before pouring it over Theodore's head.

"What in the bloody hell did you do that for?" asked Theodore, shaking his head as he was covered in pumpkin juice, looking like a drowned rat.

"You were gawking at that girl like a complete and utter tool, that's why," said Daphne.

"I was," said Theodore numbly. "Something seemed to come over me."

"That much was obvious, along with the complete vacancy of your brain," said Daphne. "While you were out, Ginny offered the theory that she was a Veela or something."

"That's completely ludicrous but..." said Harry before stopping.”Oh yeah, that's right, I'm immune to her powers, every other boy is effected, so it does make sense. I'll just shut up and crawling back underneath a rock."

"No, Harry, it's okay, you've always been right, there had to be some time when what you thought had to be off," said Ginny, waving her hand dismissively.

The feast continued for an hour before the plates vanished being replaced with desserts of all shapes and sizes. Then, after dessert finished, Dumbledore rose to his feet.

"First of all, for those of you who don't know them, allow me to introduce you to the Ministry judges that will be joining the three Heads of the competing schools in judging the champions of the Triwizard Tournament," said Dumbledore. "First, the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Bartemius Crouch."

There was a light polite applause but Crouch hardly acknowledged the crowd. He seemed stiff and rather rigid, not caring about what was happening around him but still Harry couldn't help but see that Crouch looked a bit more ill than he was when he first encountered him at the Quidditch World Cup.

"And, the Head of Magical Games and Sports, Ludo Bagman," said Dumbledore.

There was a more animated applause as many people also rose to their feet. Bagman was clearly the more popular of the two Ministry representatives due to his time in Professional Quidditch. Bagman rose to his feet, acknowledging the applause which went on for several minutes before settling down. Once Dumbledore was certain everyone was settled down, he turned to address the student body at Hogwarts once again.

"Now, without further ado, let the Triwizard Tournament officially go under way," said Dumbledore. "Mr. Filch, if you would, bring out the casket."

"The what?" asked Ron Weasley from the Gryffindor table.

"The casket my dear brother," said Fred.

"Perhaps you need your ears cleaned out," continued George.

"We would be happy to assist you with that free of charge," said Fred.

"Of course the procedure is rather experimental and it could have certain side effects," said George.

"Like your ears swelling up to the size of dinner plates," said Fred with a bit of a smirk.

"No, I'll pass," said Ron shuddering out the very thought of being used as a test dummy for one of his twin brothers' inventions, before joining the rest of the school in watching Argus Filch wheel out a wooden box on wheels before sitting it in front of the head table.

"This perspective Triwizard Champions is the Goblet of Fire," said Dumbledore. "Each student will submit his or her name in the Goblet which will magically judge the qualifications of the student and then spit out the student who it feels is best qualified for the Triwizard Tournament. I must warn you against attempting to participate in this tournament if you are not of age. An age line will be drawn around the Goblet to prevent anyone who isn't at or over the age of seventeen from sticking any names in the Goblet. I trust all the selected champions will do your school proud. Any potential candidates have twenty four hours to put their names in the Goblet, good luck to you all."

Dumbledore sat down as the students excitedly talked to each other about the highly anticipated Triwizard Tournament.

Harry sighed; the old man was relying on an age line to protect the Goblet from unauthorized entries. It was almost as if he was begging that something awful was going to happen, as there could be any number of slightly more powerful wards to prevent underage people from entering and people who were over the age attempting to be cute, entering underage people into the Triwizard Tournament. Flashbacks appeared in Harry's mind to his first year and the Philosopher's Stone where Dumbledore recklessly endangered the whole school for his own gains by not even warding the door to the corridor where the Philosopher's Stone was and worse yet, replacing the real thing with a fake.

Harry hoped that the real reason this Tournament got reinstated wasn't part of a Dumbledore byproduct to attempt to manipulate Harry for his own gains. Personally, Harry wouldn't put it past the old man to do an elaborate set up in an attempt to control Harry. Dumbledore had of course done this in the past.

For the majority of the school, the next day was filled with people speculating on who entered into the Triwizard Tournament and who would be picked by the Goblet. Of course, Harry and Ginny were down in the Slytherin library as Harry was working on perfecting his wandless magic and Ginny had volunteered to be a test subject for his experiments.

"Okay, Ginny, brace yourself or at least try to," said Harry. "I'm going to hit you with a wandless stunning spell in about three seconds. STUPEFY!"

Nothing happened. Harry frowned as Ginny looked worried Harry was pushing himself too far and perhaps expecting too much out of himself. Even with the block removed, Harry did have his limitations.

"I'm going to try this again," said Harry, willing himself to believe that he had a wand in his hand. "STUPEFY!"

A light, weak jet of red light materialized in midair where Harry would be holding his wand and struck Ginny but the spell was too weak to stun someone as powerful in magic as Ginny was.

"Damn, I was so close right there," cursed Harry.

"Harry, maybe you should slow down, you’re overtaxing yourself..." said Ginny with concern in her voice.

"Voldemort could come back tomorrow for all I know and I could find myself without a wand," said Harry bringing his focus up, attempting to block everything else out of his mind. "Ready. STUPEFY!"

A jet of more profound red light flew from Harry's wand and struck Ginny, who went down on the cushions that Harry set up. Harry looked down as Ginny appeared to be completely stunned.

"Enervate," said Harry, using his wand this time. "Was that good Ginny?"

"Harry, that was pretty powerful, the second it hit me, I couldn't feel anything around me until you revived me," said Ginny. "What did you do anyway?"

"I blocked everything else out of my mind, making my mind completely blank," said Harry.

Ginny looked impressed, it seemed Harry done something that very few had done and that was mastered a wandless spell.

"One down, several hundred more to master," said Harry, sinking down on the floor looking tired. "Maybe I shouldn't have tried a stunning spell this soon wandlessly. It is seventh year material after all."

"Harry, just relax, if you could stun me wandlessly, I don't think you will have a problem with most of the most common spells," said Ginny.

"That's the problem, common spells won't beat Death Eaters, especially Voldemort" said Harry. "The war with Voldemort only ended because of the creative spell casting of my mother and the fact that Voldemort fired that killing curse at both of us."

"Harry, I know you'll be fine," said Ginny.

"Just keep telling me that Ginny, but in any event I might have to get a little creative in dealing with Voldemort should he come back to power," said Harry. "Mum said it would happen eventually, it's going to be down to Voldemort utilizing the right piece of dark magic to return himself to his body and she seemed to hint that I would have to face him, not getting a moment's piece until he was defeated for good."

"That might not happen for a while, hopefully years from now," said Ginny.

"I hope you're right Ginny," said Harry. "Still, this scar going off like an alarm bell every few days is not helping ease my nerves that he is slowly becoming more powerful. Don't ask me how I know this, it's just a feeling I have. After I've been nearly killed so many times, it's just something I feel."

Of course, any thoughts of Voldemort’s possible return to power were put out of Harry's mind, at least temporarily due the excitement of the Triwizard Tournament competitors. Harry and Ginny sat down at the Slytherin table, joining Daphne and Theodore.

"Fred and George attempted to enter the Tournament," said Daphne filling Harry and Ginny in on the humorous events of earlier. "They thought a mere Ageing Potion would fool the Age Line but they were wrong."

"What happened?" asked Harry, looking curious.

"They were tossed over the line, growing identical white beards," said Theodore. "It was quite amusing."

"Where have you two been all day anyway?" asked Daphne.

"Training," said Harry simply. "I've missed a rather memorable day it seems. Any predictions on who the Hogwarts champion will be?"

"Diggory seems to be the favorite," said Daphne. "Although the only other two who might stand an outside chance is Angelina Johnson and Warrington, but those three are the only Hogwarts students that I have seen attempt to place their names in the ring."

"It's probably going to be Diggory," said Harry. "He was the only one to beat me in Quidditch. True, I got smashed in the face by a Bludger and it was during my first year, but a loss was a loss."

"I wouldn't think he'd want to mangle his looks by competing in the Tournament," said Theodore. "He seems to have a lot more guts than he has brains."

"He is a prefect, you know, Theodore," said Daphne. "He has to have some kind of intelligence."

"I give you Marcus Flint as exhibit A why sometimes the most intelligent people are not chosen as prefects," said Harry.

Dumbledore rose to his feet, once again addressing the students in the crowd from both Hogwarts and otherwise.

"It is now the time you all been waiting for, the choosing of the champions of the Triwizard Tournament through the Goblet of Fire," said Dumbledore pointing to the magical object sitting right in front of the high table. "In a short time, the Goblet will magically decide what competitor will best serve his or her school. When the names of the champions are called, they are to report outside of the Great Hall for further instructions from Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch."

The Goblet began to spark, before springing to life and shooting a slip of paper out which Dumbledore expertly caught in his hand.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour," said Dumbledore as the girl with the silvery blond hair rose to her feet, looking a bit arrogant as she walked towards the corridor outside the Great Hall. The other representatives from Beauxbatons looked rather upset that they weren't picked and a couple of the girls started sobbing.

For the second time that night, the Goblet began to spark before shooting another piece of paper out that Dumbledore caught in his hand.

"The champion for Durmstrang is Viktor Krum," said Dumbledore.

"Bravo, Viktor, excellent, knew you had it in you," said Karkaroff, as if this was a forgone conclusion and truthfully from the minute Krum showed up, everyone had a shrewd suspicion he would be picked for the Tournament.

Krum walked up towards the corridor outside the Great Hall, joining Fleur and awaiting the third champion, the Hogwarts champion.

The Goblet sparked once again, before shooting the piece of paper out again. Dumbledore clasped it in his hand and read it.

"The Hogwarts Champion is Cedric Diggory," said Dumbledore as there were a few people who groaned but were drowned out by the applause from the Hufflepuff table.

Cedric joined Fleur and Krum in the corridor outside the Great Hall, as Dumbledore turned to speak to the students again.

"Our three champions have been selected and I am sure that you will give them your support when..." started Dumbledore but his attention was diverted by something rather strange.

Sparks flew from the Goblet of Fire for the fourth time that night and for some reason as the sparks were flying out; Harry felt a sense of impending doom that he couldn't explain.

A slip of paper shot out of the Goblet and Dumbledore fumbled with it in surprise before slowly unfolding it, frowning as he read it. He had to announce this student's name but Dumbledore wondered how this could have happened.

"Harry Potter," said Dumbledore in an emotionless tone of voice.

Harry looked shocked that his name came out of the Goblet of Fire. This couldn't possibly be happening. So much for having a normal year.