All eyes were on Professor McGonagall as she made her way to the podium, the atmosphere in the Great Hall one of barely restrained anticipation. The Hallowe’en Feast was finished and now every official representative, tournament judge, teacher, and student was eagerly awaiting the Goblet of Fire’s decision.
McGonagall extinguished the candles lighting the Great Hall as Dumbledore had done four years ago, and the Goblet shone magnificently in the dim light emanating from Hagrid’s giant carved pumpkins.
“The Goblet of Fire will inform us momentarily of our three champions,” the headmistress announced. “If Mr. Diggory would join me, please?”
A few of the assembled craned their necks to watch Amos Diggory make his way to McGonagall’s side. Harry noticed that Mr. Diggory seemed as nervous as Ginny who was staring at the table and nibbling frantically at her cuticles. Harry took one of her hands in his and gave it a squeeze. “Cedric’s father,” McGonagall was saying, “has graciously agreed to be with us this evening to announce the names of the champions. When they are called, the chosen three shall meet with the tournament officials and judges in the room beyond the door to my right ...”
No sooner had she gestured to the door, than the flames within the Goblet jumped higher and changed from blue-white to red. There were gasps of surprise as a single flame leapt out, delivering a small piece of parchment to Professor McGonagall. She caught it and passed it to Mr. Diggory who cleared his throat and called out loudly, “The champion for Beauxbatons is Giselle Banquise!”
Madame Maxime and her students applauded enthusiastically, though genteelly, as a young woman, slim and dark-haired with an athletic build, rose from the Ravenclaw table and made her way past the staff table and into the smaller chamber beyond. Harry noted that the remaining women took their disappointment much better than in the past - at least no one had burst into tears this time.
Mere seconds after Miss Banquise had left the Hall, the Goblet blazed red again. “The Durmstrang champion,” announced Mr. Diggory, “is Ivan Averyanov!”
The reaction of the young men from Durmstrang was much louder and wilder than that of the Beaxubatons representatives, and included much whooping, cat calls, and pounding on the Slytherin table. Harry glanced at the staff table and was pleased to see that the new Durmstrang headmaster, Boris Afanasev, while applauding heartily, looked much less overbearing and disagreeable than his predecessor.
After Ivan had followed Giselle into the next room, the Great Hall was completely silent as all turned back to the Goblet to await the name of the Hogwarts champion. Diggory snatched the third and final piece of paper as it burst from the Goblet. Seeing the name upon it, his face registered his surprise before he smiled to himself and his eyes searched the Gryffindor table. Watching this, Harry was sure whose name would be announced. However, he was unprepared for the surge of pride that swelled in his chest as Mr. Diggory declared, “For Hogwarts - Ginny Weasley!”
So many things happened at once that Harry could barely take them all in: Hermione gasped, Ron thumped his palm on the table, Seamus yelled in triumph, as the rest of Gryffindors exploded in celebration. Ginny stood slowly, her expression a strange mixture of shock and self-satisfaction, and Harry grabbed her hand again. Searching her eyes, he tried desperately to find the words to say all he needed to say. Not coming up with any at all, he stood as well and kissed her, hard, for a few moments before releasing her hand, and she was gone.
As he watched her make her way across the Hall, Harry could see Hagrid at the staff table, clapping wildly, his enormous dustbin-lid-sized hands smacking together over and over. Oblongata was beaming from ear to ear, obviously thrilled that a member of her house had been chosen to represent the school. McGonagall was only just smiling, but Harry could see the tremendous pride in her eyes as she guided Ginny to the side room to receive her instructions with the other champions of the Cedric Diggory Memorial Interschool Tournament.
Although they couldn’t see the portrait hole through all the jubilant Gryffindors in the way, Hermione, Ron, and Harry knew that Ginny had entered when the noise level in the common room, already eardrum bursting, suddenly rose significantly to a mighty roar.
The three of them were sitting together by one of the fires, as far away from the others as they could get. During the long wait for Ginny’s arrival, many of their housemates had tried to lead them into the crowd and the celebration, but after getting rebuffed repeatedly, the other Gryffindors had given up and the trio had been left thankfully alone. They didn’t speak to one another, too wrapped up in their own thoughts and emotions. This proved too much for Hermione, however, and she soon asked the others what they were feeling. Getting only muttered monosyllabic grunts in reply, Hermione rolled her eyes.
“Honestly!” she cried. “You two are hopeless. It’s obvious what you’re feeling.”
“Yeah?” Ron challenged, tearing his eyes away from where he knew the portrait hole to be. “Tell us, then.”
Hermione drew a deep breath and announced, matter-of-factly, “You’re frightened and worried that Ginny being chosen as champion will put her in danger and she’ll get hurt. At the same time, you are pleased and proud that not only a Gryffindor, but a Gryffindor that you know and love, has been chosen to represent Hogwarts.”
Harry smiled to himself at her spot-on analysis, thrilled that he hadn’t had to try and articulate any of it.
Ron burst out, “How do you do that?”
Before Hermione could reply, they heard a quiet, “Hey.” Turning, they saw Ginny standing there, her hand raised in a slight wave.
“How was it?” Ron demanded.
Ginny exhaled heavily, one hand rubbing her temple. “All a bit of a blur, really.”
Hermione was watching the hand on the temple. “You all right?”
Ginny gave her a slight smile. “Tired. And I have a headache. Probably from holding my breath through most of it ...” She seemed to sense the unspoken questions from the others. “We were introduced to the judges and they told us about the first task. We don’t know what it will be yet, but it’s to take place in the Forbidden Forest. In less than a month.”
“November twenty-fourth,” Harry said, speaking for the first time.
Ginny nodded. “That’s right.”
Harry’s heart began to pound. “So soon,” he muttered. “That’ll go quickly.”
November flew by, as Harry had predicted. In what seemed like no time, the third week arrived and found Harry, Ron, Seamus, Neville, and Dean joining the seventh year Gryffindors for NEWT level Transfiguration.
“You’ve all had much practise,” Assistant Professor Granger was saying, “and become proficient with Transfiguring every day objects into other things, and back again. Now, not all matter can be conjured or produced from nothing. Does anyone know how many exceptions there are?” She looked hopefully at the group of students. Before she’d even finished her question, though, Ron’s hand had shot into the air. Her lips twitched at the corners as she glanced around the classroom. To Ginny and Harry’s immense enjoyment, Ron began frantically waving his arm.
“All right, Mr. Weasley,” Hermione conceded eventually. “How many?”
“Five,” he answered promptly. “According to Gamp, you cannot conjure things like food or money.”
“Quite right,” Hermione agreed, with a proud smile. “Take ten points for Gryffindor.” Her glance took in the whole class once more. “Let’s start with food. Although one cannot conjure it from nothing, we can Transfigure it if we have even a small amount. Can anyone tell us what we are able to do with it?”
Again, Ron’s arm shot towards the ceiling, to the amusement of the other students, who chuckled.
Harry leaned over to whisper to Ginny and Neville who were next to him, “Remind you of anyone you know?”
“Very well, Ron,” Hermione said, laughing with the rest.
With a smug grin, Ron recited, counting off the points on his fingers, “You can Summon it if you know where it is, you can transform it, and you can increase the quantity if you’ve already got some.”
Hermione was beaming. “Exactly!” she told him. “Take another ten points!” she added, to cheers from the class.
“Now,” Miss Granger continued, taking an apple from McGonagall’s desk. “Let’s begin with increasing ...”
Despite welcome snatches of levity in some of the lessons, the last days before the Tournament’s first task barrelled along. Harry felt a sickening anxiety which seemed to increase by the hour, a sense of ill-defined dread, deep in his gut.
With complete disregard for his uneasiness, the sun rose at precisely 8:11 on the morning of the twenty-fourth, dawning right on schedule. Its meagre warmth did little to dispel the frosty chill in the air.
“All spectators to their seats, please,” blared the magically-amplified voice of the Department of Magical Games and Sports head, Penelope Lainye, at precisely five minutes before nine o’clock. The sound echoed over the entire Quidditch Pitch to reach even the furthest end where the champions were standing anxiously in front of a large tent waiting for the task to get underway.
The small knot of friends and well-wishers surrounding the three champions began drifting away after the announcement. Ron and Hermione, with Harry at Ginny’s side, gave her one last hug before making their way to the stands. Harry was the last to leave, and he and Ginny were soon left alone when Giselle and Ivan entered the champions’ tent to await the call to begin.
“So, this is it!” Ginny said, with forced airiness, her attempted grin not managing to cover her nervousness.
“Yeah,” Harry agreed, his stomach churning horribly. He kissed her to avoid having to come up with more conversation. “Good luck!” he cried as he pulled away, his tone lighter than he felt. Ginny merely nodded and he turned away, his limbs suddenly heavy.
When he’d taken but a few steps, she stopped him. “Harry, wait!” she called, her voice shrill.
“Champions!” Ms Lainye’s voice carried over to them again. “It’s time. Join the judges at the table in the centre of the Pitch, please!”
The two other champions emerged from the tent and passed by Harry and Ginny without a glance.
Ginny was wringing her hands frantically as her eyes pleaded into Harry’s. “What am I doing?” she cried. “How could I be so stupid? I never should have put my name in. Mum was right. I should have withdrawn when I had the chan“”
Harry gripped her shoulders tightly. “Ginny, stop, listen to me. I’m afraid ... Of what you’ll have to face ... That you could get hurt. But the Goblet thought you were worthy to compete ... ” He cupped the side of her face in one hand. “And so do I.”
“Miss Weasley!” blared Ms Lainye again. “We’ll be needing you as well!”
“Thanks,” Ginny said softly, giving Harry one last kiss before she hurried off to join the others.
Harry had made it to the stands and dropped into an empty seat next to Ron and Hermione just as Penelope Lainye was beginning her announcement of the Tournament’s first task.
“ ... challenge the champions face,” she was saying, “will be a test of not only courage, but stamina and survival as well. Our three participants must demonstrate these skills in the Forbidden Forest. Each champion must spend no less than twenty-four and no more than thirty-six hours inside the Forest.
There were murmurs and sharp intakes of breath from the listening crowd. Harry exchanged nervous glances with his friends, the three of them knowing too well the dangers to be found within the Forest.
“Point values earned,” Lainye continued, “will be highest for that champion who comes closest to the upper time limit without exceeding it. No watches, clocks, or timepieces of any kind will be permitted to be carried into the Forest. In addition to the time constraints and general survival skills required, each champion is further expected to demonstrate his or her knowledge of magical creatures by emerging from the Forbidden Forest with one living, unharmed creature found within the Forest’s boundaries.” The crowd started whispering at this information and Lainye paused until they had quieted down again.
“Points will be awarded based on the size, Ministry of Magic classification category, and rarity of the creatures found.” Having addressed the crowd as much as the participants until this point, Lainye now turned to look directly at the champions. “You will be allowed to carry into the Forest only specific items, namely, the clothes you are wearing, your wand, and this allocation of food ...”
She indicated the table in front of her upon which had been placed a small canteen of water, bread roll, and a single apple. Harry and Ron exchanged a look of surprise. Hermione beamed, looking much relieved, and Harry knew she was confident that her recent Transfiguration lesson would not be wasted and that at least Ginny would not go hungry during her ordeal.
The relief was short-lived as within seconds, the judges had placed the water and food into small rucksacks, placed them on the participants’ backs, ensured all the champions had their wands with them, and the three of them were waving to the crowd and heading towards the boundary of the Forest.
Harry cheered and clapped with the rest, but he wondered if his stomach would ever settle back down to where it was supposed to be.
As Happily Ever After As They're Gonna Get by cjbaggins
Chapter Notes: The information regarding Gamp and the ways to Transfigure food are from Ms Rowling herself and can be found in DH.