~17~

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The Great Hall was filled to the brim with students from the three schools. Most were stood up and/or talking with others as Dumbledore quieted them down and ushered them back to their seats or a seat. Two of the house were on each side of the room, vertically, as there was a large space in the middle for the Goblet of Fire. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff on one side of the goblet with Slytherin and Raven claw on the other.

Astrid sat between Cedric and Daisy as she listened and watch Dumbledore talk, "Now the moment you have all been waiting for! The Champion selection!" He whipped around and his pointer finger guided around the room, each time he pointed to a lit fire, it extinguished immediately till the room was only lit with the flames from the goblet.

Once the headmaster was done he walked over to the goblet and shakily put before his hand on the outside of the cup. Both Astrid and Daisy were watching with great anticipation and wonder.

He pulled away and waited for something to happen. The room was eerily quiet as everyone was excited to see who got chosen. The goblet of once blue flames abruptly turned rose up into large magenta flames. It spit out a burnt place of small paper and returned back to blue. Dumbledore caught it and read it out loud, saying, "The Drumstrang champion is Viktor Krum!"

Said school erupted into cheers as Viktor stood up as the boys sitting closes to him congratulated him. He walked forward and shook Dumbledore's hand as the headmaster congratulated him himself before ushering him to take his place.

The goblet once again erupted into magenta flames as it spewed out a blue, ruffled around the edges, piece of burnt paper. Dumbledore caught it mid air. "The champion from Beauxbatons Academy is Fleur Delacour!"

The girls of her school clapped and cheered for her as Astrid watch a girl with long blonde hair that was put up into a ponytail and wearing a light periwinkle uniform. She stood up and shook Dumbledore hand, as Krum had before her, and then walked over to where the Bulgarian champion stood.

Once again the goblet spit out the last piece and , once again, Dumbledore caught it and turned it over in his fingers as he read it, "and The Hogwarts champion is, Cedric Diggory!"

TheGreat Hall erupted into cheers over all four houses as Cedric smiled over at his place by Astrid. She smiled and gave him a quick side hug, which he returned before getting up and walking up to the headmaster and hugging a few along the way. Once he took his place by the other two champions.

Dumbledore raised his head from his sides and said, "That's it! We now have our three champions! Only one will go down in history, only one will hoist this chalice of champions! This vessel of victory! The Tri-Wizard Cup!"

As Astrid looked at the glittering and glistening chalice, she noticed something. Professor Snape was looking at something in her peripheral vision. The goblet. Dumbledore must have noticed because he also turned around. The goblet has started up again. Blue flames swirled around the middle one as it began to spark up and grow bigger.

The goblet went from blue to magenta, as it had before, before spewing out two pieces of paper.

The papers twirled around each other like ballerina dancers in the air before Dumbledore caught them, one in each hand.

He read the one in his right hand first. Almost at a whisper, he said the first name, "Harry Potter.."

He said it again this time louder and seemingly more frantic, "Harry Potter!"

Astrid turned to the boy in question, he sat right in her view from the other table. He seemed to shrink in his chair. "No, no."
She turned away from him to the front where Hagrid was shaking his head as he said that. Dumbledore called out even louder this time. "HARRY POTTER!"

She watched as Hermione pulled him up out of his chair so he was standing up where the room could finally see him. The room was silent as Hermione pushed him toward the front. He walked slowly to the headmaster to collect his name slip. They looked at each other for a minute before Dumbledore handed him the paper. Everything was so tense and quiet.

As he walked down the middle row of the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables, insults and accusations were starting to be thrown.

"He's a cheat!"

"He isn't even 17 yet!"

He walked up the teachers stairs and as he got up there, Professor McGonagall gave him a pat on the shoulder. He walk down the stairs but the accusations didn't stop. The teachers shushed them as Dumbledore since had one paper. He cleared his throat and looked at the paper skeptically, like there had been some mistake.

"Astrid Lux." He voice was filled with doubt and disbelief as he read those two words. Everyone was in disbelief. She would never do this. The Hufflepuff angel? She could never.

As for Astrid, her heart stopped. She couldn't believe it. She didn't do it. She wouldn't do it! She doesn't like this whole tournament thing to begin with. She barely approved of Cedric entering this thing. She had heard horror stories about what had happened during this. Most, if not all people who entered the tri-Wizard tournament had gotten injured in someway. To say she was terrified was an understatement.

Professor McGonagall must have seen the look of horror on the young Hufflepuffs face, tears brimming on her lower lashes as she looked like she was having a silent panic attack. The older witch quickly made her way over to Astrid as Daisy was trying to calm her down but it didn't work. Her heterochromia eyes were fixated on something that was not in this world and her body seemed frozen.

McGonagall quickly pulled up the young girl and guided her down between the pathways in the table gaps, making her way past Dumbledore. The elderly man gave her a sympathetic look that she avoided.

The professor seemed to block her from the students harsh words, most of which were coming from the girls and Slytherins.

"I bet she got one of the older boys to put in her name."

"I wonder who she had to sleep with to do that!"

Walking down the stairs, Professor handed over the now shaking girl over to Harry who looked over to her with a shocked face. Looking at him, she finally let out a sob as he pulled her into a hug.

~His Hufflepuff~ Draco MalfoyWhere stories live. Discover now