Cross was sitting in the great hall with the rest of the students, along with the students of other schools. He was sitting on a bench, since the tables were pushed to the side.
Dumbledore stood in the middle of the room and said "Now the moment you've all been waiting for! The champion selection!" he waved and the fires dimmed to little flames as he walked towards the Goblet of Fire.
The fire turned red and shot out a piece of paper. Dumbledore caught it and said "The Durmstrand Champion is.. Viktor Krum!" the Durmstrang students cheered and Viktor stood up, looking at Cross with a smirk as he walked to the front of the hall.
The fire turned red again and another papers came out, Dumbledore caught it and said "The Beauxbatons champion is Fleur Delacour!" the Beauxbatons students clapped and Fleur got up, smiling lightly, glancing in Cross' direction before walking towards the front.
The Goblet turned red again before the whole Goblet trembled and another paper burst out, spiraling into the air wildly before floating towards Dumbledore. The students were confused and Dumbledore caught the paper before looking at it silently.
Cross was reading and Dumbledore looked at him for a split second before saying "The Hogwarts champion... is Cross Greengrass." his expression was solemn and all the students turned to Cross with dumbfounded expressions, some students stood up and complained "This is bullshit! He's not even 17! He must've cheated!"
The students started a ruckus and Dumbledore shouted "SILENCE!" Cross looked at Dumbledore with a bored expression as he said "Pick someone else. I'm not competing. I didn't even put my name in it."
Dumbledore was silent, while Igor and Maxime said "Then we pick another one." Bartimus stod up and said "Impossible! The Goblet has a magical binding contract to those who are chosen!" Cross kept a blank expression, but his eyes sneered as he said "I will not participate."
Krum sneered and spoke in Russian "Why not? Scared? I thought you were going to embarrass me?" Cross returned "Quiet. Unlike your head, mine isn't filled with muscles." Krum laughed and said "If you're scared just say so!"
Cross was silent and Fleur smiled lightly as she spoke in French "I can protect you, if you desire, Cross~" Cross clicked his tongue and replied in French "Enough! You're petty charms will not work on me. Filthy Veela." Fleur smiled brightly and kept her silence.
Dumbledore's eyes flashed as he said "You must." Cross stood up and sneered as he said wildly "Fine! You want to play?! Then we'll play!" he got off the bench and walked to the front as he said "It's too late to regret now."
He sneered in Krum's direction as he said in English for everyone to hear "You want embarrassment? Then I'll embarrass you. Greatest Seeker in the world my ass." his ears twitched and he cracked his fingers as he added "You're nothing in front of me."
The whole great hall sucked in a cold breath of air. Draco clapped and the entirety of Hogwarts broke into raucous cheers.
Krum grinded his teeth and glared at Cross as he said "You will regret your words, pretty boy." Cross snorted and dug out his ear with his finger as he said "What was that, fish boy? I don't understand retard." Krum clenched his fists and grinded his teeth, that were slowly turning sharp.
Cross goaded with a crazy grin "You want to do it here?" as he took out his wand. Krum grinned, revealing a row of sharp teeth as he pulled out his wand and said "I don't mind at all!" Igor smacked Krum in the head with his staff, while Moody hit Cross with his.
Igor shouted "Enough! Wait for the tournament!" Moody just looked at Cross silently before hobbling away. Cross put away his wand and sneered, Fleur moved to his side and whispered "An Elf hiding in the Humans.. Very interesting."
Cross gave her a glance and said "If you let anyone else know.." he leaned in close and his voice was cold as ice as he said "There won't be a Veela left to tell the tale. I assume you want your sister to be safe?"
Fleur trembled and a strange blush appeared on her face as she said "O-Of course!" her thighs rubbed against each other and Cross sneered "Get away from me, disgusting creature." Fleur went to the side and her face still had a deep blush across her face.
Cross snorted and stood in the middle of Krum and Fleur as he looked at the rest of the students, now all the males were glaring at him while the females were looking at him angrily. The Durmstrang students were angry while the Beauxbaton students had infatuated looks on their faces.
Cross ignored them all and started reading his book in front of everyone. Moody, standing by the side. laughed, McGonagall said "My word...". Hermione looked concerned while Luna had a faint smile on her face, but her fists were tightly clenched as she glared at Cross angrily, shifting from Fleur to him occasionally.
Dumbledore said "Excellent! We have our three champions, albeit with minor changes, but please remember once you are chosen.. There is no turning back! Also, there can only be one who will go down in history! Only one will hoist this vessel of Victory! The Triwizard Cup!"
As he pointed to the sheet covering something, the sheet flew up and displayed a light blue glowing trophy.
The Goblet of Fire started to flare up and turn red as it spat out one last paper. Dumbledore caught it and said "Harry Potter..." he looked up and shouted "Harry Potter!" Harry got up and slowly walked towards Dumbledore.
Dumbledore looked at harry as his eyes flashed and he handed him a piece of paper with his name on it. Harry took it and slowly walked to the front, while everyone looked at him, nobody said anything but they were confused.
Cross had already went from Hogwarts and there could only be one chosen, so who was Harry competing for? Hogwarts 2?
Harry stood next to Cross and whispered "Strange isn't it?" Cross smiled and said "Actually it's not strange at all." Harry was confused but Cross didn't explain and kept his silence.
A while later
The four competitors were sent to a room under the great hall.
Cross was sitting in a chair, reading, as the rest stood around. Krum was grumbling, Fleur was blushing with a vacant expression, and Harry was fiddling with his fingers anxiously.
The four heard multiple voices coming down the stairs, Cross took a single glance before going back to reading. The other three looked over and Dumbledore stormed in, grabbing onto Harry and said calmly "HARRY DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE?!!??!?!?!?!?!?!"
Harry shook his head and said "No, Sir."
Maxime said "But of course he is lying!" Moody shouted "The hell he is! The Goblet is an extremely powerful Magical Object! Only an extremely strong Confundus Charm could have hoodwinked it! Magic way beyond the talents of a fourth year!"
Igor got in his face and said "You seem to have given this a lot of thought, Mad Eye!" Moody said dangerously "It used to be my job to think as Dark Wizards do, Karkarov. Perhaps you remember.." Igor's face turned ugly and Dumbledore said angrily "That's not helping, Alastor!"
He walked passed him and said "I'll leave this to you Barty."
Bartimus said "The rules are absolute, just like the case of Mr. Greengrass. The magical contract has already binded him. Mr. Potter has no choice, he is, as of tonight. A Triwizard Champion!"
Harry gulped and Cross rolled his eyes. A very beautiful play. Cross looked around the room at the teachers Snape, McGonagall, the man playing Moody, Dumbledore.. They were all here, now the question was, who put his and Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire?
Cross had an idea for Harry, but himself? He only had suspicions.
Dumbledore waved and said "That's enough for tonight. Everyone return to their dorms. Barty's decision is final." The 4 students left the room, going to their dorms to sleep.
Cross walked out of the room and there was a group of people standing there, seemingly waiting for them.
Cross looked up and said "What." The Beauxbaton girls blushed at his cold tone while the Durmstrang guys said in Russian "You will be crushed by Krum, pretty boy." Cross sneered and said "Oh yeah? Says who? You? A pussy, who didn't even put his name forward?"
Cross got in their faces and grinned as he said "Unlike you, even if I was forced into participating, I'm not crying about it. Why don't you go back home and play with your staves, leave the Tournament to the big boys."
The Durmstrang guys didn't say anything and Cross snorted with a sneer as he knocked shoulders with them, pushing past the group and walking away.
Some of the Beauxbaton girls fainted with red faces, while the Durmstrang guys clenched their fists.
The Hogwarts students watching were in awe, watching Cross walk away alone.
Cross turned the corner and his haughty expression smoothed out to a cold blank one. Luna was sitting on a bench and saw Cross coming, she smiled and said "A new performance? Have you considered acting? Muggles would love you."
Cross smiled softly and rubbed his nose as he said "You could tell?" Luna giggled and replied "Of course I could.." her smile turned fake as she said "Fleur, eh?" Cross was stunned and said "Well you see. She's a Veela, and I hate Veela. It just so happens that, that gets her going I guess."
Luna laughed and shook her head saying "So nervous?" Cross rubbed his nose again and said "You.. Really.." Luna smiled and held his hand as she said "So what's the plan now?" Cross got serious and said "Act as arrogant as possible. If I'm not low-key, I'll be as high-key as possible. Hopefully, I can lower whoever is behind this' guard and make them take bolder actions."
Cross paused for a moment before adding "Hopefully they think I've become arrogant because of my strength and underestimate me, if so then it's worth it. If not then, I'll still be ready for whatever plans they have next.."
Luna squeezed his hand and said "Still.. Isn't this too risky?" Cross shook his head and said "A necessary risk. I won't show all of my power during the Tournament, I'll keep a few things hidden.. Unless I'm forced into a corner, but I don't think that will happen."
He looked at Luna and smiled as he said "Worried?" Luna nodded gently and Cross felt warm inside, he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb as he said "Don't be. I have everything under control."
Luna nodded and smiled as she said softly "Just be careful." Cross grinned and said "When have I not been?" Luna rolled her eyes and smiled knowingly as she said "About to start a fight in the great hall with Viktor Krum?"
Cross coughed and said "Part of the act." Luna smiled sweetly and said "Sure it was..." Cross coughed again and looked away saying "Exactly, anyway shouldn't you go back to Ravenclaw?" Luna giggled and kissed his cheek before skipping away saying "Don't be jealous~"
Cross turned green and rubbed his cheek with a silly smile before walking towards the Slytherin house mumbling "As if I could be jealous of him..." he chuckled and added "Heh. If anything he should be jealous of me!" before disappearing from the halls, teleporting back to his room when he was in a safe spot.