next to Ron, perched on the wooden benches where the Goblet of Fire stood proudly emitting blue flames. Her hand was rested on her chin out of boredom; she had been waiting for Fred and George to appear for twenty minutes now.

It seemed to be an endless cycle of people - walking up to the Cup, entering their name, and being clapped until they were out of the room again. With every person that came, Bella got increasingly more bored.

Enthusiastic yells suddenly woke the girl from her tired trance, looking up to see Cedric Diggory being pushed over the age line. His hair was sodden from the rain, with his Hufflepuff robes hanging messily over his loose tie. He dropped the parchment into the cyan flame before a sea of his friends surrounded him with shouts and cheers of joy.

Ron stared at Cedric, muttering a small greeting with a feeble hand wave, though he was ignored entirely. Arabella giggled at the ginger boy's disappointed face, yet secretly felt a little sorry for him. They may not have been siblings by blood, but Bella certainly felt that the Weasleys - despite how much she adored her parents and her younger sister - were more like a family than her own.

"Three years from now, we'll be old enough to be chosen." Ron said to nobody in particular.

"Yeah, right." A female voice scoffed, belonging to Erin Martell. The brunette stood in front of Arabella, who had rose from her seat at her roommate's arrival, wearing a disapproved scowl.

"Where's Zoe?" Bella asked, suddenly remembering the mental note she made, reminding herself to ask Erin of her other roommate's disappearance. "I noticed she wasn't in Professor Moody's class earlier."

Erin rolled her eyes, beginning to divert her attention dismissively to the bracelet that was fastened upon her wrist, and the moonstone charm that hung from it. "Oh, she said she wasn't feeling too great and decided to skip class. When I left her she was tucked in bed in our dorm."

Arabella raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Are you sure she wasn't lying to you?"

"Why would my best friend lie to me?"

"I just think she must be up to something, that's all."

Harmonious shouts echoed throughout the room, and Arabella instantly recognised the voices as Fred and George. They ran in clutching small bottles of a greenish substance, which the redhead guessed was the Aging Potion they had so eagerly told her about. As he passed, they both high-fived her, smiling and laughing with delight. "We did it! Cooked it up just this morning!"

She watched as they jumped upon the stands, kneeling down beside Hermione Granger where she shut her textbook angrily. "It's not going to work." She teased.

"Oh, yeah? And why is that, Granger?" Fred replied as Bella walked up to her best friends, resting a hand onto the shoulder of a kneeled-down Fred.

"Dumbledore drew that age line himself. A genius like him couldn't possibly be fooled by something so pathetically dim-witted as an Aging Potion."

"But that's why it's so brilliant." Fred winked.

"Because it's so pathetically dim-witted." Finished George.

They took a long, simultaneous drink of the Aging Potion, swallowing hard and swiftly jumping into the age line. They waited a moment, anticipating its possible effects, though when nothing happened they were left with broad smiles. People around them cheered. Bella had joined Ron and Harry's side, where they were watching intently and standing just behind the age line.

"Ready?"

The twins placed their parchments carefully into the flame, high-fiving yet again when nothing happened for a matter of seconds. Cheers erupted with cacophonies of clapping, until they turned into surprised gasps when the flames grew vibrant and wild. Fred and George were sent flying backwards, onto the stone floor where they groaned in pain. Arabella walked over, concern written on her face. "Are you okay?"

Her worried expression soon turned into an amused smile when their red hair turned white, along with their thick grey beards and undoubtedly bushy eyebrows.

They jumped upon each other in anger, rolling around and shouting profanities at each other. A crowd of students gathered, laughing and encouraging the boys to fight, until loud footsteps came from behind them and the noise subdued instantly to complete silence.

Viktor Krum entered the room with his Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, trailing behind him intimidatingly. He said nothing, only walked up to where the Cup shone with blue hues. He entered his name on the parchment, sharing a glance with Bella as he walked away. Arabella was intrigued by him, to say the least. They had barely spoke a word to each other, only had a small conversation, yet his presence was so oddly noticeable. Krum was the most mysterious person she had ever met - more mysterious than Mad-Eye, in fact - but his manners were so undoubtedly fascinating.

●

When Bella returned to her dormitory that night - or rather, evening, she found Zoe sat on the wooden floor where she was lost in thought. "You're back, Zoe. Where did you go?" She questioned as she grabbed her Ravenclaw sweater from her suitcase, which she had not yet fully unpacked due to her obvious laziness.

"Why is it any of your business?" She snapped.

Arabella found herself a little dumb-founded. "Because I'm your roommate, so whether you want to tell me or not I would like to know." She pulled on her sweater over a plain grey t-shirt, because it was extremely comfortable and it kept her very warm. Considering she would have to go down to the Great Hall to sit and listen to another one of Dumbledore's speeches soon, she wanted to make sure that she was as relaxed as possible - not forced to sit in her robes like she had been in the past.

Zoe's eye twitched, making the redhead wonder when she had picked up that habit; she had never noticed it before. "I'm not telling you, Flannery. Not now, not ever."

Bella raised her hands in defeat. "Does Erin know?"

Zoe stared at her roommate with guilty eyes. "N-no. She's my best friend, but I can't even tell her." Her tone changed abruptly. What was once soft and light sounded harsh and angry. "Which gives me more reason not to tell you."

"Fine, I'll just try to find out for myself, then." Arabella heard many footsteps walking and endless chatter rang in her ears, signalling for her to make her way to the Great Hall like the rest of the students had begun to do. "I should go down now, if you decide to come too then please don't talk to me."

The door slammed behind her, and she quickly found herself morphing into an ocean of faces, blindly following slightly older and younger students until a figure grasped their legs around Bella's back. She was startled, though held onto their small frame, grinning when she recognised the yellow and black knee-high socks adorned on their pale legs. "Hey, Ellie." She greeted her second-year sibling, who giggled delightedly as she slipped off her older sister's back and instead walked beside her.

"Laura Madley told me that Professor Dumbledore's assembly is to do with the Triwizard Tournament. I hope he'll be announcing who's been picked."

Bella nodded in agreement, realising that the Tournament hadn't even entered her mind since earlier that evening when she watched Fred and George's peril. "I think you're right, El. I hadn't even given that a thought, to be honest."

Before her sister could reply, they found themselves in the Great Hall, losing each other between the differently-housed students who split off to sit at their designated tables. As Arabella placed herself between Deanna Quinn and Luna Lovegood, she attempted to find Eleanor but was unsuccessful - unable to distinguish her in the sea of Hufflepuffs where she had merged. "Who are you looking for?" Luna asked. Bella sometimes talked to the girl, only rarely, but when she did she found it oddly enjoyable.

"My sister. I was just curious to see where she was sitting."

Luna nodded contently, staring at the redhead with wide, oceanic blue eyes. "Oh." She said before turning back to face the fellow Ravenclaws sat opposite her, flashing them a small smile to which they didn't return.

"Now the moment you've all been waiting for; the Champions selection!" With the cast of Dumbledore's outstretched hand, all sources of light where dimmed, leaving everyone in the room looking like indistinguishable shadows. He walked ominously over to the golden Cup, the old man's wrinkled palms shaking as the flames turned crimson.

Shooting out of it came the small and fractured remains of parchment, with a name wrote upon it in large, careful lettering. "And the Durmstrang Champion is - Viktor Krum!" A broad smile was present on his face as he arose from the bench, surrounded by enthusiastic claps and praises from his many friends. He joined an empty table where the other Champions would sit, placing himself on the far right - the closest to the Ravenclaw table.

Immediately afterwards another piece of parchment emerged from the flames, this time forming impeccably neat writing, taking the form of cursive. "The Beauxbatons Champion is Fleur Delacour!" The females on the Beauxbatons table burst into cheers, overpowering the few males that attended the French school. Fleur floated gracefully over to the Champions table, perching on the seat directly beside Viktor, who seemed to be lost in thought.

The supposedly last parchment that flew into the grip of the Professor displayed messy scribbles - of which Arabella was unable to read, despite being only a few feet away. "The Hogwarts Champion is . . . Cedric Diggory!" The Hufflepuff table roared with delight, all houses of the school erupting with encouragement (apart from Draco Malfoy and his friends in Slytherin, as they were clearly too bitter to be proud for the boy). He made his way past Dumbledore, shaking his hand thoroughly as he greeted both Viktor and Fleur at the oak table.

"There we have our three Champions!" The Professor announced, his cloaked arms open wide. "But in the end, only one will go down in history. They will receive this token of victory; the Triwizard Cup!"

Barty Crouch Senior pulled the blanket off the mysterious object, revealing a glistening icy blue chalice that was twice - if not three times - the size of a normal goblet. Gasps and yells of awe were interrupted when Snape pushed his way past the Hogwarts teachers, his confused expression making everyone in the room begin to stare at what he was supposedly gawking at.

The flames spitting from the once-dimmed golden Cup began to disgorge wildly, turning from a calming muted blue to a deep red - one that reminded Bella of the colour of blood. Another burned parchment emitted from the intimidating flames, leaving the whole room in utter perplexity, with whispers spreading between tables like wildfire.

"Harry Potter," Dumbledore murmured. "Harry Potter?" All eyes turned towards the Chosen boy, who slumped awkwardly further into the bench with his back against the cold stone wall. He shared a worried glance with Arabella, who could only give him an encouraging yet sympathetic smile. "Harry Potter!" The authoritative man yelled angrily, and finally Harry was forced up to his feet by Hermione's hand pushing him forwards.

He stood in front of Dumbledore, neither of them saying a word. The older man forced the piece of smoking parchment into his grasp, before watching Harry as he walked past the students and towards the Champions table.

"He's a cheat!" A boy yelled, his deep voice filled with rage.

"He's not even seventeen yet!"

After receiving a glare from Snape and a reassuring hand on his shoulder from McGonagall, Harry suddenly felt extremely small - as if the weight of all the eyes staring was going to crush him.

I'm so sorry I've took so bloody long updating this! School has been weighing me down with homework I just haven't had time :(

Also what do you think is happening to Zoe?

There are some very subtle hints in this chapter, can you try to figure it out?