The next morning, Eleanor was more than surprised to see the number of students that had gathered in the Great Hall so early. Normally, on weekends, the Great Hall was rather empty until the late mornings or closer to noontime as many students would take to sleeping in. However, it was quite the sight to see Marnie out of her bed before Eleanor had even opened her eyes fully. And before Eleanor's feet even touched the floor, Marnie was rushing her to get up so they could head to breakfast sooner. Eleanor was going to ask her if she was feeling ill or something along the lines until they reached the Great Hall and understood why they had arrived early.

Some of the students from Beauxbatons were gathered in the Great Hall, enjoying their breakfast, as well as some of the students from Durmstrang. And Marnie wasted no time in pointing out several of the boys from each school that she considered being handsome. When Cedric finally showed up, even he looked surprised to see Marnie wide awake at the table as he sat down next to Eleanor.

"Good morning," he greeted them, "Marnie, I'm surprised to see you up so early, what's the occasion?"

"She's been ranking some of the boys from the other school on a scale of one to ten on who she wants to date," Eleanor explained, "although we're only going based on appearances right now since she hasn't said a word to any of them."

"I've never been met with such a tough decision," Marnie sighed, placing her chin in her hand, "do I want one of those pretty boys from Beauxbatons, or do I want one of those burly boys from Durmstrang? If I could just combine them..."

Cedric stared at the two of them before looking away. "Well, I made my decision, if you wanted to know, I'm going to enter my name in the goblet."

Eleanor frowned nervously, noting that the Goblet of Fire had been moved during the night, placed in the Entrance Hall. Already, she had witnessed several older students approach it, some of them entering their names, while others seemed tempted before choosing to walk away. She had hoped that Cedric would reconsider his decision, but it was hard to drown out all the voices that continued to encourage him.

"Are you sure you want to enter it, Queenie?" Eleanor asked him. "I know it sounds tempting, but really, a thousand galleons isn't all that much if you think about it? And how far can you go with eternal glory? It doesn't sound like something you can put on a job application; you know?"

For a moment, it appeared as though he was reconsidering it, his gaze falling over to where Marnie was straining her neck to see one of the Beauxbatons boys.

"What do you think, Marnie?"

She peered over at the two of them before making a face. "Since when do you ask for my opinion?" she questioned him in confusion. "You two are the ones who make good decisions out of this group, not me. I'm not going to tell you what to do, if you want to do it, then do it. Hey, Ellie...I'm looking at a solid eight right now...he's got that stoic thing going on, looks a little constipated so I can't score him a ten. I wonder what he looks like when he smiles..."

Cedric remained quiet for the most part until Cho arrived at the Great Hall and excused himself to go sit with her at the Ravenclaw table, rather than simply inviting Cho to join them at their table. As soon as he was out of earshot, Eleanor turned her body to face Marnie, before nudging her best friend's arm.

"Marnie, you of all people in this castle, know that the wizarding world can be incredibly incompetent, especially with how the Ministry handles things. I've heard you complain about it for years, and now that there's this big tournament that's been known to cause multiple deaths, and you have nothing to say about it? Cedric was looking at you as possibly the determining factor. You should have said something!"

"I did say something, Ellie," Marnie said, turning her gaze away from her boy browsing, "I said the truth, it's not my decision to make for him. It's his decision. You told him why you were nervous, all I would do is reiterate the same thing just in a harsher and blunt way. It makes no difference. He clearly wants to join the tournament. Cedric likes being in the limelight, it's his thing. He doesn't have Quidditch to fall back on this year, so it'll give him something to do."

Noting the frown that remained prominent on Eleanor's face, Marnie groaned before gently stomping her feet under the table.

"No, stop making sad faces at me! Regardless of whether he enters the competition or not, he's going to be fine, Ellie. Cedric might have a pretty face, but don't forget, the boy is built like an ox. Whatever they throw at him, he'll manage. Besides, we all know that ego of his supports him very well. He'll be fine. Now, back to my earlier observation, the boy at twelve o'clock, do we agree that he's an eight?"

Not really in the mood to be ranking boys, Eleanor was rather delighted when Fred arrived in the Great Hall a few minutes later. He looked rather excited as he ran in with George and Lee in tow. But after a second of looking around, he spotted her and made his way over to where Eleanor and Marnie were seated.

"Do you mind if I borrow her for a minute?" Fred asked Marnie, only to have her push Eleanor up to her feet.

Fred took Eleanor by the hand gently and started leading her out of the Great Hall to the Entrance Hall where George and Lee were waiting.

"What's going on?" she asked. "Why do you look so excited? Oh, no, you didn't release the whizzing mice again, did you- "

"Relax, love," he said with a grin as other students, including Harry, Hermione, and Ron gathered around them as they neared the Goblet of Fire. "We've done it. Just taken it actually."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Ageing Potion," he said proudly, squeezing her hand slightly. Immediately, using her free hand, Eleanor clapped her hand over her face.

"One drop each," George continued as he rubbed his hands together, "We only need to be a few months older."

"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins," Lee informed the lot.

And while Ron and Harry looked on in fascination, it seemed Hermione and Eleanor shared in the sentiments, regarding the outcome of the twins' attempt.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know," Hermione tried to warn them. "I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this."

"Don't waste your time trying to stop them, Hermione," Eleanor told her as Fred released her hand, "just let them do it. It's the only way they'll learn."

"Ready?" Fred said, practically hopping around in place, unable to contain his excitement. "C'mon, then – I'll go first –'

Fred pulled a slip of parchment out of his pocket, bearing the words 'Fred Weasley – Hogwarts'. Fred walked right up to the edge of the line, and stood there, rocking on his toes like a diver preparing for a fifty-foot drop. Then, with the eyes of every person in the Entrance Hall upon him, he took a great breath and stepped over the line.

For a split second, it looked as though it had worked – George certainly thought so, for he let out a yell of triumph and leapt after Fred – but next moment, there was a loud sizzling sound, and both twins were hurled out of the golden circle as though they had been thrown by an invisible shot-putter. They landed painfully, ten feet away on the cold stone floor, and to add insult to injury, there was a loud popping noise, and both of them sprouted identical long white beards.

Instantly, everyone in the Entrance Hall roared with laughter, at the mere sight of the twins. And once they initially got over the shock of seeing each other, the twins joined in on the laughter as well.

"'I did warn you," Professor Dumbledore's voice rang out as he emerged from the Great Hall, "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little, too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours."

While neither of the twins were injured, Eleanor still accompanied them to the Hospital Wing, along with Lee. She sat beside Fred, holding onto his hand while Madam Pomfrey muttered something about her healing talents going to waste, as she spent a good deal of her morning ridding stubborn teenagers of their beards. And while the twins had gotten a good laugh out of their plan backfiring, reality did eventually set in when they realised, they didn't stand a chance at the thousand galleon prize.

"I guess we won't be able to pay you back as soon as we planned," he told her as the beard started to retreat. "Sorry, Ellie."

Eleanor shook her head. "How many times do I have to tell you that you don't have to repay me? I didn't give those ten galleons with the expectation of getting them back. It was an investment, but it was also a gamble initially. If Ludo is here, we should be going after him to get back what belongs to you."

She knew that ten galleons probably wasn't a lot to some within the school and it didn't really hurt her to lose out on money that hadn't really been hers, to begin with. Her mother would pull money from the bank before the start of the term, giving Eleanor an allowance, something she didn't really have to earn. And Eleanor had never grown up in a home where finances were considered a struggle. So, while ten galleons wasn't much to her, she could understand how it could be a lot to them.

The twins had told her about the handy downs passed down through the brothers, and how their parents couldn't afford to do a lot of things, even if they wanted to do them. Often a lot of their experiences, such as a trip to Egypt or tickets to the Quidditch World Cup, came to them in the form of luck.

Thinking that almost everything could be solved with magic when she was younger, Eleanor was finally able to open her eyes to the reality that magic could not solve anything. Or if it could, those in charge didn't allow it to be so. Seeing her father struggle with his lycanthropy, simply because he couldn't afford the wolfsbane, was a cruel reminder that even with magic, money was still more powerful.

"What do you three plan on doing after here?" she asked, as the beards were nearly gone. "I figured it's a nice enough day outside."

George and Lee exchanged silent looks before George spoke. "Lee, didn't you want me to look at something for you?"

"Oh right, my tarantula has a cough," Lee said, "maybe next time, Ellie!"

Before Madam Pomfrey could dismiss him, George ran out of the Hospital Wing with Lee, leaving Fred with an amused grin, while Eleanor scrunched her face up in confusion. She was just about to say that she didn't believe spiders were capable of coughing because of their type of lungs, but Fred stopped her by standing up and offering to carry her out of the Hospital Wing.

Suddenly, she didn't care if Lee had lied about his pet tarantula as she jumped onto Fred's back and the two of them left.

Madam Pomfrey returned to check on the twins and the status of their beards, only to discover that the Hospital Wing was empty.

Once outside, Eleanor slid off Fred's back and walked alongside him as they walked near the edge of the lake. At first, neither one of them said anything, Eleanor's gaze was more focused on the Durmstrang ship that was anchored in the distance.

"You know," she said finally, "I'm glad that the Ageing Potion didn't work for you and George."

Fred turned to her with a bewildered look. "Well, that's not very nice! We worked really hard on that potion!"

With a laugh, Eleanor waved her hand to interrupt. "No, I didn't mean it like that! I'm sure you three worked extremely hard on that potion and I'm not doubting your skills either. You forget I know you two are very skilled in potions. What I meant was, I was really worried about one of you being able to enter, which would mean that you would be in danger. I wouldn't want you...or George to get hurt."

"You're really worried about this tournament, aren't you?"

Eleanor looked forward before nodding her head. "It's bad enough that Cedric is set on entering. I want to be a good friend and support him, but I wish he wouldn't do it. I know there's a chance that he won't get chosen and I'm counting on that. But if he does, all I'm going to do is worry about him. I think I get it from my mother, I'm a natural worrier. And after seeing how the Ministry has been handling things, I can't help but think that their efforts to make this tournament safer, isn't as good as they made it out to be. I mean, we all know Ludo Bagman is a scammer, and he's one of the people in charge."

"Well, it isn't only the Ministry that is in charge, you have the Heads of each school present too. I don't think they would allow their students to be put into danger."

"I could see that for Beauxbatons and maybe Durmstrang, but as Marnie would quickly point out, have you seen Hogwarts track record? We're not exactly known for our safety here, are we?"

Fred couldn't argue, but he didn't feel like arguing either. He was rather wrapped up in the idea that Eleanor had been worried about him entering the tournament, leaving him to feel slightly giddy. The two of them spent most of the day at the edge of the lake, sitting together and mostly talking. He learned in Eleanor's most recent letter from her mother that Remus had gone through another full moon transformation and the lack of wolfsbane potion had made it a rough event for him.

Thankfully, he wasn't alone to care for himself as Margaret and Lyall were there to help him the morning after.

Suddenly, Fred found himself quite glad that he hadn't joined the Tournament as Eleanor seemed to be stressed enough with worrying over her father's condition and Cedric possibly being selected as a champion. And as the two of them spent the majority of the day together, he realised that it wouldn't have been near as fun being part of a tournament because he probably wouldn't be able to spend as much time as he wanted with her.

As it neared the time for dinner, Eleanor pushed herself up and offered her hand to help him up. He took it, thinking nothing of it, only to have her use the moment of vulnerability to tickle him under the arm. Immediately, Fred let out a panicked laugh, only to fall back as he jerked his arm away from her hold.

"What the hell was that, Ellie?!"

She gave a shrug of her shoulders as she took a couple of steps away from him and towards the castle. "I was just curious to see if you were ticklish."

"I am not ticklish! You caught me off guard!" he said defensively, only to have Eleanor's fingers tickle the sides of his neck, making him practically giggle. "THAT'S IT, ELLIE! GET BACK HERE!"

Eleanor ran away from him, getting a head start, but Fred was quick to catch up with her, grabbing her from behind and wrapping his arms around her waist. She squealed with laughter as he tickled her and eventually, she found herself being carried over his shoulder, bringing a wide grin to her lips. Fred continued to carry her all the way up to the castle, trying to appear annoyed that she had discovered that he was ticklish.

"Are you wearing cologne?" she asked him suddenly.

"What? No. Why are you asking me that?"

"Because I smell cologne," she told him, "I just got a whiff of it with that passing breeze. You didn't smell it? It's so strong!"

"I don't smell anything! What are you talking about?!"

In the Great Hall, Eleanor made her way to the Hufflepuff table, taking her usual place in between Marnie and Cedric.

"Where have you been all day?" Marnie asked her. "Fred asked to borrow you for a minute and then you were gone!"

"Oh, Marnie, I'm so sorry! I ended up going to the Hospital Wing with them after the Ageing Potion they made backfired on them. Then I spent the day with Fred outside and- "

"And you asked him out?"

"Er..."

Eleanor was saved as the food appeared on the table, she quickly grabbed a piece of bread and shoved it into her mouth to avoid any further discussion. She did listen as Cedric told them that he had entered his name, mentioning that Cho told him that she thought it was a good idea that he entered. And as Eleanor looked over in the direction of the Ravenclaw table, she saw that the majority of the Beauxbatons students still appeared to be cold.

"I don't understand why they didn't bring heavier robes," Eleanor said to Marnie.

"Another sign that the wizarding world is incompetent, Ellie," Marnie said, biting into a piece of chicken. "Reminds me of the time where my parents took us to the Bahamas on holiday. It's known to be really warm over there, but rather than checking the weather before we left, we packed all sorts of clothing meant for hot weather. And that year, a massive cold front came through, we only had shorts, our swimwear, and short-sleeved shirts. We were freezing the whole time. It would have been simple for them to look up the weather before coming here."

"You know what, I'll be right back."

Leaving the table, Eleanor left the Great Hall completely and made her way back to the Hufflepuff Common Room. She hurried to the dorms and opened up her trunk to find plenty of her knitted garments that she had made over the years. She selected a few jumpers, a couple of hats, and several scarfs that she was willing to let the Beauxbatons students borrow during their time at Hogwarts, since they were clearly not dressed for the occasion.

But as she made her way back into the Great Hall a little while later, only to see that dinner had been cleared away and Dumbledore was standing, preparing to announce the selected champions. She was about to sneak her way to the Hufflepuff table when she felt her arm being grabbed and she was dragged down to sit.

With a turn of her head, she found herself in Fred's lap, holding the garments in her own.

"What are you doing?" he whispered to her. "It's not the time to be cleaning out your wardrobe."

"The Beauxbatons students looked cold, I thought I could offer them warmer clothing!"

"Well, the Goblet is almost ready to make its decision," Dumbledore announced, "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber' – he indicated the door behind the staff table – 'where they will be receiving their first instructions."

He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them all into a state of semi-darkness.

The flames inside the Goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. The next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it – the whole room gasped. Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white.

"The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum."

Eleanor jumped as Durmstrang led the roaring cheer that echoed in the Great Hall as Viktor made his way up, earning a laugh from Fred at her reaction. But the cheering and clapping quickly died down again as the flames turned red once more.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"

While she expected some disappointed from those that hadn't been selected, Eleanor would have never expected the other students from Beauxbatons to start crying over the fact that their names hadn't been called.

And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip, Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!"

Her heart skipped a beat, but Eleanor couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with pride as Cedric's name was called. Of course, she didn't want him to be called, but seeing the bright grin on his face as Cedric stood up, she jumped up to her feet and began applauding him, along with every other Hufflepuff that was practically screaming in the Great Hall. Even Marnie was showing off her Hufflepuff pride and her immense joy for him as she was up on her feet as well, clapping her hands together.

It took a while for the hype to die down in the Great Hall, especially when it came to the Hufflepuff table, but when it finally did quiet down, Dumbledore was able to speak again.

"Excellent! Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real –"

Suddenly, Dumbledore stopped speaking altogether as the fire in the Goblet had turned red again, only different from the other times, it started to spark. And finally, a long flame shot out with another piece of parchment escaping. Reaching out, Dumbledore snatched the parchment from the air and read over the name. There was a long awkward pause as everyone seemed to be sitting on the edge of their seats.

Finally, he read the name.

"Harry Potter."