On Friday night, Caiti tied her Ravenclaw scarf around her neck and met Evelyn in the common room so they could head down to the Quidditch match together, Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor. "I really hope we win," said Evelyn. "Sean says Gryffindor's got a good team this year. He's nervous about it."

"They'll be alright," said Caiti. "They can hold their own."

"I'd just hate to see them come second again for the cup," Evelyn said.

Caiti nodded her agreement. It had practically killed Marlowe when Ravenclaw had lost their final game last year, putting them just behind the Gryffindor team. It had been a close race all year but a few flukes had thrown everything for them. He had moped for the entire end of term.
But then, Caiti, fresh from her breakup with Theo, had been moping too so they had been well paired.

The entrance hall was full of students from all four houses making their way out to the Quidditch pitch. They squeezed their way through the crowd and out the front doors, hoping to find good seats before everyone else could take them. Caiti noticed a good number of the foreign students seemed to be headed to the match as well. She had hardly seen them since they had come to the feast. She had nearly forgotten they were there.

"Wonder who they'll be cheering for?" Caiti said, watching a small group of Beauxbatons students cross the lawn.

"Maybe they'll sit near us and we can encourage Ravenclaw," said Evelyn.

They wedged themselves into seats at the front where enough room for the two of them remained. Caiti glanced around them, but no foreign students seemed to have taken seats nearby. She found herself looking around subconsciously for Theo and then remembered he was on the team now.

"Shoot," she whispered.

"What?" asked Evelyn.

"What happens if we win? Or if Theo gets the snitch?" Deep creases formed between Caiti's eyebrows.

Evelyn frowned. "What do you mean? If we win... we win."

"No, I mean, what am I supposed to do?" she asked. "Am I supposed to congratulate him or... or... just ignore him?"

"Congratulate him," said Evelyn easily. "Nothing to worry about."

"Easy for you to say," mumbled Caiti.

"All I'm saying is you've got every right to be nice to him. Breaking up doesn't mean you can't acknowledge each other. Besides, it's not as though you won't have other people to talk to."

"Like who?" said Caiti. "You and Sean'll be plenty occupied on your own."
Evelyn looked a little pink and Caiti did not think it was from the cold. "Like Marlowe," she said with a knowing look.

"Shut up," said Caiti. Evelyn gave her a pretentious little smile. "What's that supposed to mean anyway?" asked Caiti, looking at Evelyn as though she were something unpleasant, like a squashed flobberworm.

"If you don't already know," said Evelyn, "then you're on your own."

Caiti chose not to respond to this.

The stands were almost full now. There were only a few minutes until the game was scheduled to begin. 

"God, I'm nervous for tomorrow too," said Evelyn.

"Mm, yeah," said Caiti, nodding. Saturday night was to be the feast at which the champions were selected and announced. "What do you think'll happen?"

Evelyn shook her head. "I just don't know. It's so hard to say, isn't it?"

Caiti shrugged. "I mean you can't really ever know. But I just can't stop thinking it'll be Sean. Wish it were Marlowe though. He hasn't really let on, but I think he wants it more than he says."

"I think Sean wants it less than he says," said Evelyn, looking worried.

"I know," said Caiti, but she had no time to say more because the Gryffindor team had just emerged from the other side of the stadium, broomsticks under their arms. A few seconds later, Marlowe emerged, dressed in his blue Quidditch robes and headed for the center of the pitch where he would shake hands with the Gryffindor captain.

The rest of the team joined them, then Professor Keir, the flying coach, sent them rising up into the air and released the balls. At his whistle, the match began. Caiti watched Theo soar up above the rest of the match to keep a lookout for the snitch out of the way, but she tore her eyes away and found Marlowe instead. 

"And it's Gryffindor in possession of the Quaffle. Think that's Andrea Abernathy, but it's hard to tell. They do fly rapidly, don't they?" came a magically amplified voice from somewhere to their left. 

Caiti snorted. "Didn't know Bill was commentating again. This'll be interesting," she told Evelyn. Bill was a Gryffindor in her year who she had had a running joke war with ever since they had first sat next to each other in Muggle Studies in their third year. They had never been more than friendly acquaintances but she appreciated his sense of humor and generally upbeat personality. Once last year he had filled in for a seventh year who had commentated the Quidditch matches all along and apparently, he had done well enough to merit the position permanently now his predecessor had graduated.

"And she's heading for Ravenclaw keeper Sean O'Connell, she's ready to shoot and... oh, missed it by inches!" said Bill, his voice magically amplified over the noise of the crowd. 

Caiti and Evelyn screamed loudly, clapping their gloved hands together, hard. Caiti saw Marlowe, grinning, take a heavy hit at a nearby bludger, smacking it towards a chaser who was already hoping to steal the Quaffle.

"Yes, a nice save there from O'Connell who's just passed the quaffle to his teammate Marcie who passes again. That's newcomer Eddie Kirkland if I'm not mistaken. And he's heading for the other side of the pitch – nice dodge of that well-aimed bludger from Gryffindor beater Peter Brown. And the scoring begins with ten-zero to Ravenclaw. That's ten-zero to Ravenclaw. Kirkland with the first goal of the day."

Caiti clapped loudly. She glanced up to where Theo was still zigzagging above his teammates, peering down through squinted eyes for the snitch, and then at Marlowe, flying by Eddie with his arm outstretched for a high five. Things were looking good.

But despite the Ravenclaw team's strong start, Gryffindor was good. Not long after Eddie Kirkland's goal, a bludger came soaring at Marcie Pritchard, who had just stolen the quaffle mid pass from the opposing team, knocking it out of her hands. A tiny blonde girl who could not have been older than second year had been flying a ways underneath Marcie and now shot up and caught the quaffle before anyone else realized what had happened. She zoomed away to the other side of the goal posts and threw the quaffle so hard and fast that even though Sean managed to get a piece of it, it still whizzed through his outstretched hands and into the center hoop. The crowd of red and gold roared.

"Shoot!" said Caiti, smacking her thighs in frustration.

"That's ten-ten, Eleanor Knight, tying up the game. Show 'em who's boss! Er- I mean, a nice strategy there from Gryffindor!" said Bill over the magically magnified megaphone

Marlowe whizzed by Sean and shouted something at him that Caiti couldn't quite make out over the October wind. She saw her brother give a sharp nod, face set.

Theo had abandoned his post high above the stadium and had soared below the rest of the match instead. She saw him glancing up often, keeping tabs on the Gryffindor seeker who had remained above the game to keep a lookout. Over his head, Marcie, Elodie, and Eddie were flying in a tight triangle, holding their positions as they maneuvered bludgers and other players like a flock of birds. Eddie, at the center of the little group held the quaffle tightly. They approached the hoops where the keeper was ready for them. 

Out of nowhere, Eddie and Marcie shot off towards the right hoop, and the keeper followed, missing the fact that Eddie had, at the last second, handed the quaffle to Elodie who now had a free shot at the other two hoops. As she extended her arm backward to chuck it through the goal, one of the chasers from the other team shot towards her, tilted forward on their broom for speed, but just before he reached her, Clara hit a bludger at the boy which he saw out of the corner of his eye and had to change course to avoid.

The quaffle soared through the hoop.

Caiti and Evelyn stood up with the rest of their house to applaud this superb bit of chasing. Caiti's heart was pounding. This was going to be an excruciating match if someone did not catch the snitch soon. Their chasers were so well matched, the beaters so in sync with the needs of their team, and the keeper's eyes always darting around after the quaffle.

"And Ravenclaw retaliates with a nice play – you can see those brains coming to good use with a tactic like that! Ravenclaw back in the lead! That's twenty-ten to Ravenclaw! And Gryffindor back in possession." Bill shouted over the Ravenclaw supporters' cheers.

Caiti laughed as she sat back down.

"That's right we put our brains to good use," said Evelyn determinedly. Her eyes were on Sean who was now anticipating a shot from Gryffindor. Caiti's eyes, however, had gone to Marlowe who had stopped flying and hung in midair. She followed his gaze just in time to catch Theo shooting upward. He blasted right through a pack of chasers as though it were nothing, eyes on something she could not see. The Gryffindor seeker cottoned on too and took off after him, but Theo had an impressive start.

"What's this?" said Bill. "It looks like the seekers have spotted something... and... sure enough! That's Ravenclaw seeker Theodore Burney with the snitch. Final score of a hundred and seventy to ten!" shouted Bill. The end of the game had come so suddenly that Caiti was not alone in taking a few extra seconds to realize what had happened. Soon though, a hum bubbled up in the crowd, growing into a deafening roar. The Ravenclaw team had all flown up to Theo who still had the snitch clutched in his right fist, held high in the air. They all surrounded him cheering loudly and grinning. The Gryffindors flew sadly back to the ground, the seeker shaking his head in frustration.

Caiti shoved her way through the crowd, Evelyn at her heels, hoping to find their friends when they landed before the crowd took them over. Sure enough, they had barely a head start on the rest of their house who was pouring onto the field.

The team made their way awkwardly to the crowd in a pack, faces rosy with delight. The second Marlowe was off his broom, Caiti hurtled towards him, hugging him tight. "You were amazing!" she grinned as she stepped back from him. He just looked at her, mouth partly open, eyes still smiling, as though he was at a complete loss for words in his joy. After a minute he said, almost breathless, "There were scouts here. I saw them in the stands."

Sure enough, she saw a few very athletic looking wizards approaching behind Marlowe's back.

"Turn around," she said hastily, giving him an excited nudge.

Marlowe turned and glanced back at her with a look of pure delight and eager anticipation on his face, happier than a kid at Christmas.

Caiti fell back from him, knowing he would tell her everything later. She thought she'd find Sean and Evelyn again, and it turned out they weren't hard to find. Just a short ways behind her, Evelyn was kissing Sean on the cheek, and he was grinning, rather pink in the face. Caiti decided not to intrude, and turned instead to find Theo approaching her. He was grinning from ear to ear and people kept patting him on the back and shaking his hand as he made his way to her. He acknowledged each of them with thanks but did not stop on his course.

"Hey," he said when he was standing in front of her.

Caiti did not know what to say. She stood there for a full thirty seconds in silence, watching his grin fall slightly before she remembered what Evelyn had said. Breaking up did not mean she could not be kind.

"Congratulations," she said hoisting her own smile back up on her face. "You were really great." She hoped her voice sounded genuine. She did mean what she said.

"Thanks," he said, looking relieved. "I uh... I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it."

"Well you did," she said, and then without hesitating, she hugged him too, although it was much briefer than with Marlowe.

Just after this, someone else grabbed his attention, saving Caiti from having to deal with the fact that the way she fit into Theo's arms was still much, much too familiar.

---

There was a great celebration in the common room that night and Caiti had to wait a long time to hear what news Marlowe had. She had tried to ask once early on, but they had been surrounded by people at the time and he had shook his head.

Finally, the common room had cleared out of most of the younger students. A good handful of people still remained, but it was easy enough now for Marlowe to slip away. He beckoned each of his three friends to follow him and they slipped up the stairs to the study area together where it would be more private.

"So," said Caiti anxiously, "What happened?"

The other two looked confusedly between them. They had not seen the scouts approaching Marlowe.

He explained how he had seen them in the crowds and how they had turned up to talk to him after the match. "And then," he said, "They asked if I was the captain and said they were impressed at the way I'd coached the team and at the skill of the players working together." 

He was speaking very fast as though the words had been bridged on the tip of his tongue for so long, bursting to come out, that now they were on their way they could not help spilling, pouring out with abandon. "Said they could always use a head like mine for anticipating what might happen and how to use it in your favor. And then," he paused, sucking in a deep breath. His chest swelled. "They said they'd like to come back to the other games this year, and if we continue to play like that, then they'll... they'll put in a word for me when I try-out, help me get on the team." He was positively beaming.

"That's incredible! Congratulations, Marlowe!" said Evelyn.

"What team was it?" asked Sean, while Caiti, mouth open in joyful incredulity, raised her hand for a high five. Marlowe smacked her hand happily, clasping their fingers at the top. He squeezed her hand and let go, looking back at Sean.

"The Ballycastle Bats!" he said.

"Wow," breathed Sean. The Ballycastle Bats, as they all knew perfectly well, were the second best team in the league, second only to the Montrose Magpies. Though the O'Connell siblings had grown up supporters of the Kenmare Kestrals, Caiti knew both boys had long admired the Bats for their superb ability. Caiti thought briefly, that she would be perfectly happy to switch to supporting a new team if her best friend were a part of it.

"Well," she said, "Sean you hadn't better let in anymore goals, alright? And Marlowe, you better be the best captain this school has ever seen. You're not losing this chance."

Marlowe nodded at her, a determined, hard glint in his eyes. "That's right," he said.

---

In the excitement of the Quidditch match, which lasted late into the next morning, though it was nothing of the previous night's celebration, Sean had forgotten to feel nervous about what was to happen on Saturday evening. It was not until he was sat in the Great Hall at lunch that he looked up towards the staff table absent-mindedly, caught sight of the Goblet of Fire, and remembered.

Of course. The selection of the champions.

That was why everyone was still buzzing excitedly all morning. It wasn't quidditch they were thinking of. It was the tournament.

He felt butterflies stir in his stomach, nothing so pleasant as the ones he had felt the night before when Evelyn had kissed him on the cheek. These were acidic. He lost his appetite all at once and sat there staring blankly at the goblet of fire for a long time, slouched in his seat, until Evelyn waved a hand in front of his face and said, "Stop gaping. Not much longer to wait." He forced a smile, but said nothing.

Contrary to Evelyn's suggestion, he did have long to wait. The afternoon dragged by as though someone had cast an impediment jinx on it. Neither he nor Marlowe were able to get much work done with the heads focused on the Goblet of Fire. Caiti had scrawled out an entire essay, two feet long, on the use of nonverbal spells before Sean had translated even one of the six runes he'd been assigned.

Finally, though, the evening did arrive, and Sean, with the feeling of a six hundred pound weight dropped in his stomach, slugged his way to dinner with his friends, feeling somehow outside himself and horribly aware of his own fragile substance all at once.

The noise in the great hall that evening was louder than he could ever remember it, but Sean barely said a word. Marlowe more than made up for his silence, however, talking a mile a minute about all the possible tasks he could think of and trying to guess, by looking around the great hall, who the other school's champions would be.

Everyone seemed to be eating at top-speed, shoveling food into their mouths as fast as they could in the hopes of arriving at the part of the night they were all anxious for more quickly. Across the table, Caiti kept glancing back and forth between Marlowe, himself, and the Goblet of Fire. Marlowe was drumming his fingers on his knees, and frowning, his perfectly clean plate sitting in front of him, forgotten.

Sean wished the meal would drag on longer. He kept scooping up bites of food, only to tip his fork back over and let it all fall off again, over and over. He could not eat. His stomach was twisted into too many knots. Evelyn nudged him and said, quietly so no one else would hear, "You okay?"

Sean looked up at her. He nodded, but could not bring himself to say anything.

She gave him a weak smile, perhaps knowing that she could no longer even offer him the consolation that he did not have to do it if he didn't want to. His name was in the cup – if it came back out, he was stuck.

She seemed to have read his mind, as usual, because she scooted closer and put her arm around him. "No matter what," she said, "You'll be fine. And I'm proud of you."

Sean could not look at her.

Too soon, the headmaster stood, making his way towards the Goblet of Fire. Evelyn dropped her arm from around him as they all turned to look.

"It is almost time," began Professor Osset, "to discover the identities of our three champions. An exciting moment this is, as you all know, I'm sure. And I want to say first that we are all so glad that so many of you put your name in the cup this year and that, though only one from each school may be chosen, each of you has your own unique abilities and talents. Please do not forget that. Each of you, I'm sure, would make a worthy champion, which makes me very glad that it is not my job to decide who will receive the honor of competing, but that of our impartial judge. 

"I have one last piece of instruction for our champions, whoever you might be – once chosen, if you would please make your way to the front of the room and through the side door next to which Professor Munslow is standing just now." Professor Munslow waved a cheery hand from over by the side chamber. "And now, as I'm sure you're all as anxious to hear what our judge has to say, we shall turn our attention over to it."

He turned to face the cup, folding his hands neatly in front of him.

The cup, as if it had heard the headmaster finish speaking, flared red.

Sean's heart was pounding in his chest, rattling against his ribs like it was trying to get out. At the sight of the first slip of paper, which flew out the top of the flame, unburnt, and landed lightly in Professor Osset's hand, he felt something in his stomach that he had not felt the whole week: desire.

He was not stupid enough to say that the thought of competing in the tournament did not terrify him, but he remembered, all of a sudden, what it felt like to want to do it anyway.

"The Beauxbatons champion is..." called out the headmaster in a ringing voice. The hall had gone completely silent, waiting with bated breath. "Oscar Durand!"

A pale boy with a long, pointed nose and a shock of dark hair stood from the Hufflepuff table looking smug. Everyone clapped, regardless of their school, though the Beauxbatons students certainly clapped the loudest.

"We could beat him," shouted Marlowe over the noise, grinning at Sean. "Looks a bit of a prat, doesn't he?"

Sean could not answer. He did not want Marlowe to be chosen. He did not want anyone else's name to be chosen. He wanted to hear his own name. When the applause had died down, he looked back at the cup, anxiously, hoping that Hogwarts would be next.

The cup flared red a second time and another slip of parchment landed in Professor Osset's hand. He unfolded it and read, "The Durmstrang champion is... Eline Halvorson."

This time a girl stood from the Slytherin table. She had a pretty face but was quite solid and stocky. She stood up, looking triumphant. All the Durmstang students stood, scattered around the room, pumping their fists in the air and shouting support for their champion. Eline marched her way up to the front, nodding to Professor Osset. Her head was held high as she entered the side room where Oscar Durand had appeared.

The Durmstrang students sat again and the air in the room became palpable and tense in a second. The next name was the Hogwarts champion. This was it. Without thinking, Sean grabbed Evelyn's hand under the table, squeezing hard. He did not look at her.

For the last time, the flames turned bright red, shot up a foot or so, and propelled out one last slip of paper. Sean deluded himself that it looked the same shape as the one he had dropped in himself, as though he could actually tell from this distance. Professor Osset grabbed the slip of parchment, unfolded it and – Sean swore his eyes flicked towards the Ravenclaw table before he read it – said, "The Hogwarts Champion is... Sean O'Connell!"

Sean stood quickly and clumsily, knocking over his glass in his haste. He felt shocked and elated at once, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. Every ounce of dread Sean had felt that week at the possibility of being champion drained out of him in an instant. Evelyn had thrown his arms around him and was saying something in his ear that he could not hear over the noise. The entire Ravenclaw table had risen to their feet, along with many of the members of other houses. Over Evelyn's shoulder, he saw the members of the staff beaming at him as they clapped.

Evelyn let go and gave him a little push, her eyes bright and shining. She looked beautiful. He wanted to kiss her. He could do it. Now would be an ideal moment. It would not be weird.

But she said, "Go!" still beaming at him, and he had no choice but to make his way up the aisle and towards the door Professor Munslow held open. His ears pounded in his head and he felt lighter than he had all week. The roar of the collected students did not die down until long after Sean had entered the side room, but when the door shut behind him, he could no longer hear it.

He stood just inside the door, stunned. The room, empty but for Elise and Oscar, was silent.

He had done it. He was champion.