Chapter 13

"Gerard!" I heard someone exclaim as I was walking down to the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast. "My deathday party is tonight. Are you coming?"

Of course, it was Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, better known as Nearly Headless Nick. "A deathday party?" I asked. I chuckled. "Have you heard the news that you're dead?" I sang.

"You didn't answer my question," Nick said.

"I can't come," I said. "I entered my name in for the Tournament and I need to see if I got in, even though I probably didn't. I'm really sorry Nick. I wish I could come."

Nearly Headless Nick sighed. "That's what Hayley Williams said too. Oh well. I'll go ask someone else." He floated away, and I entered the Great Hall and sat down with the other Gryffindors.

"Hey Gee," Ray said. "What's up?"

"Not much," I said. "Nick invited me to his deathday party."

"He invited me too," Ray said. "Obviously, we have the Triwizard Tournament to worry about."

Laurette came over to our table and sat down near us. "Bonjour," she said. "Are you ready for the Triwizard Tournament?"

"Yeah, I can't wait to see who's going to be champion," I said.

"Your little boyfriend sure seems to be set on becoming champion," Laurette said.

"Frank's not my..." I argued, but Frank interrupted me when he arrived at the table.

"Hey everyone," Frank said.

"Hi Frank," I said. I suddenly remembered that Frank's birthday was on Halloween. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks Gee," Frank said, smiling.

"When are they going to announce the champions?" Hayley asked. "I'm getting impatient."

"Soon, I think," Ray said.

Suddenly, food appeared on the table. We all took some, and started eating. As usual, it was delicious. At one point, I mentioned that I wrote a song that was better than the Sorting Hat's.

"You did?" Ray asked.

"Can we hear it?" Frank asked.

"Sure," I said. I was a little bit nervous about sharing the song with the rest of the table, but I started singing anyways.

Well they encourage your complete cooperation

Send you roses when they think you need to smile

I can't control myself because I don't know how

And they love me for it honestly I'll be here for a while

So give them blood, blood, gallons of the stuff

Give them all that they can drink and it will never be enough

So give them blood, blood, blood

Grab a glass because there's going to be a flood!

Frank laughed. "That's really good!" he exclaimed.

"You know, maybe when you're famous, you can make that a hidden track on one of your albums," Ray suggested.

"Can you just let him finish the song?" Hayley asked.

I finished the song. It seemed that everyone liked it. By the end, the rest of the table was even singing along.

"Five points from Gryffindor for being too loud again!" McGonagall exclaimed.

"No, ten points for Gryffindor for singing that awesome song!" Professor Lester said.

"Awesome! We still got five points!" Hayley exclaimed.

"Let's sing it again!" Frank shouted.

I shook my head. "We still have to sing Happy Birthday to Frank."

"Besides, there's no need to fuel Gerard's vampire obsession," Ray added.

We then began to sing Happy Birthday (or our version of it).

Happy Hogwarts birthday

Magic wizard birthday

Fun, wizard, happy birthday

Fun, fun, fun, fun

Magic flavored birthday cake

Wizard wishes you will make

Happy birthday, dance with everyone

2! 3! 4!

Birthday magic wand!

Party happy birthday!

Wizard party school!

Magic magic wizard magic party!

Gryffindor!

Party more!

Hufflepuff!

Wizard stuff!

Ravenclaw!

Hell naw!

I pretty sure that's everybody

Happy Hogwarts birthday

Wizard school party

Children eating cake inside their mouths

Hogwarts lesson Number 1:

Never not be having fun

Children eating cake inside their mouths!

We all started laughing hysterically. "I love that song!" Frank exclaimed.

"Me too," I said.

McGonagall then got up to speak. "Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," she said. "If you are selected as champion, please come to the staff table and then go through to the next chamber so we can give you further instructions."

I watched as the blue-white flames inside the goblet turned bright red. Sparks flew from it, and a slip of paper was ejected out of the goblet.

McGonagall caught the paper and read it. "The Durmstrang champion will be...Annalise Dahlberg!"

The Durmstrang students cheered as a tall blonde girl rose from the Slytherin table and walked towards McGonagall. She then disappeared into the next room.

The flames in the goblet again turned bright red, and another piece of paper came out. "The Beauxbatons champion will be...Laurette Desmarais!"

Laurette grinned and hopped up from our table. We all cheered. Laurette seemed like the sort of girl who deserved to be champion.

For the third time, the flames turned red, and we all held our breaths. This was the moment of truth. This time, they had to be announcing the Hogwarts champion.

A third piece of paper floated out of the Goblet of Fire. McGonagall caught it and read, "The Hogwarts champion will be...FRANK IERO!"