Dumbledore was moving towards the Goblet of Fire which was slowly flickering with a red flame.
He stopped right in front of it and spoke with a soft grandfatherly smile, "Any names called out of the Goblet will now be the names of the champions who will take part in the Triwizard Tournament. And once your name is called, I want you to walk along the staff table through the door at its end and into the next chamber please."
A spell-like silence fell after Dumbledore's words and everyone watched with excited eyes as the blue flames in the Goblet of Fire flickered to red for a few seconds before they spit out a burning paper into the air.
Dumbledore immediately caught the paper and flicked it a little for its flames to die out, after which he looked at it through his half-moon spectacles and spoke in a calm tone.
"The champion for Drumstrang is-"
The Drumstrang students on the Slytherin table all clenched their fists.
"-Victor Krum!"
Krum immediately stood up under the applause of all the students and teachers and walked calmly towards the door Dumbledore had pointed towards earlier with a smile on his face.
Once the applause died down and Krum was gone, the flames in the Goblet of Fire turned crimson red again and threw up a beautifully crafted paper into the air.
The beautiful paper spun as it landed in Dumbledore's hands and he flicked it a little to kill the flames on it.
"The champion from Beauxbatons is-"
The entire hall fell silent and Loki could feel all the girls at the Ravenclaw table tense up as they all straightened their backs. Even Fleur beside him stopped breathing.
"-Fleur Delacour!"
Fleur's satin hat nearly fell off her head as she stood up with a happy smile under the applause of everyone in the hall.
"Congratulations.", Loki whispered as Fleur stood up and looked at him with a smile and then nodded subtly, accepting his commendations.
Fleur walked along the staff table and accepted her short interruption from Madam Maxime who shook her hand and went her way into the side chamber.
The hall fell into silence again as the flames in the Goblet of Fire flickered red, a paper shot into the air once again and Dumbledore snatched it out of the air.
Except this time, when his eyes landed on the name he looked shocked.
Everyone in the hall was immediately gripped by tension.
'What happened?'
'From the way he's looking at it, it feels like he's won the lottery…'
"The Hogwarts champion is-" Dumbledore said and looked at everyone in the hall.
He then turned around and looked at Snape who had furrowed brows and was confused about what was going on.
"Harry Potter." Dumbledore's voice rang out in the Great Hall, spelling a silence that was simultaneously both tense and loud.
All heads turned towards the boy who was named, including Loki, who almost immediately cooked up a theory in his mind, 'So either 'Adam' or you-know-who planned for this to happen? Or both?'
Harry remained sitting in his seat for nearly thirty seconds before Hermione pushed him up from beside him.
"Harry Potter.", Dumbledore called again, making Harry confused and scared, it was as if the world had suddenly turned silent for him.
Harry robotically walked towards the teacher's table under the gaze of various teachers and students and soon slipped into the chamber adjacent to the Great Hall.
Dumbledore remained silent along with the people in the Great Hall before speaking calmly, "That was all, the champions need to be briefed and brought up to speed on the matters-"
WWOOSHHH
The sound caught everyone's attention and made them turn towards the Goblet once again. Everyone wondered if the Goblet wanted to say something regarding this confounding mess-up.
The flames in the Goblet of Fire suddenly turned red and rose to new heights, shooting out a new piece of paper from itself.
The paper floated down slowly and landed in Dumbledore's palm. He pressed the piece of paper a few times before its flames were extinguished. Then he lifted the paper into the light and read what was written in it out loud for everyone to hear.
"Loki."
The Great Hall fell silent once again, the second time in the last few minutes.
The silence this time was a puzzled one.
"Why did the Goblet spit out his name?"
"Haven't all the three champions been selected already?"
The Slytherin were wondering if they had to clap or not while the other Hogwarts students were just as confused.
Loki stood up with a frown on his face after Astoria poked him with her wand and walked towards Dumbledore who was looking at him with surprise.
"Is that my name Professor?" Loki asked in a soft voice.
Dumbledore looked at the paper and back up at Loki and nodded, "Yes, yes my dear boy, it is your name."
Loki took the paper from Dumbledore's hands to confirm if he was just pulling a prank but the burnt piece of paper truly had his name written on it.
Loki frowned when he noticed an oddity in the piece of paper.
'What?'
'Why is it in my handwriting?'
"Please go and wait for us in the chamber like the other champions did." Dumbledore said kindly before addressing the students like he was before he was cut off by the Goblet turning red and spitting out Loki's name.
With some confusion, Loki held the piece of paper with his name and walked into the chamber under the slightly annoyed stare of Snape and McGonagall.
Before Loki entered the chamber his eyes met Hermione's, she looked worried and positively frightened.
Entering the chamber the first person to come up to Loki was Fleur.
"You're here to tell uz that this boy is here because of a mistake? Iz' he not?"
Loki looked at Harry who looked like he was bullied into this situation and just shook his head, "No, he was chosen by the Goblet."
Argghh!!
Fleur turned around and then walked up to Harry, "How z'id you put your name into z'he Goblet of Fire little boy?"
Harry looked a little annoyed at having been called a little boy but he responded to Fleur nonetheless, "I did not put my name into the Goblet of Fire. I don't know how it got there in the first place!"
Fleur rolled her eyes and then looked at Loki again, "And vuy are you here?"
Loki looked at all the other champions that had been chosen before him, the silent Victor Krum, the tense Harry and finally the hyperactive Fleur, "Because I'm the fourth champion."
Everyone in the room had the same reaction, they scrunched up their faces. Victor Krum was the first to speak and he said, "But it's the Triwizard Tournament. Three Wizard only. You are four? How?"
Loki shook his head with an audible sigh as he spoke calmly by shrugging his shoulders, "Dunno myself. The headmaster was giving his ending speech and the Goblet interrupted him by turning its flames red and spitting out my name."
"Bu-" Fleur was about to say something again when the door to the chambers burst open and in came a flying Dumbledore who glided right towards Harry and held his shoulders, shaking him as he asked in a panicked but bold voice and calmly, "Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire Harry?"
Positively frightened, Harry responded as best he could in the moment, "No headmaster! I did not!"
"The boy lies!" Kakaroff said, causing Harry to frown as he heard it, while the other champions remained silent.
"And what of this boy? Loki? Reasonably popular in the Wizarding Community because of his newspaper. The ever-annoying student in my class? Karma is it not? Having to take part in something that could get you killed?" Moody said pointing his staff at Loki with a mean-looking smile.
But Loki only smiled as he retorted back, "Glad I'm going to win a thousand galleons, Professor. You probably have never even seen such money."
Moody instantly frowned and stomped with his cane on the floor. He was about to say something else but Madam Maxime interrupted, "What iz' it that we do now Dumbleydore?"
Dumbledore turned to look at Barty Crouch who was standing with half his face covered in darkness as he stated in a tone of resignation, "The rules clearly state that once a champion's name is picked by the goblet he or she must participate in the competition. Not doing so will result, quite literally in death."
"But he iz' just a boy!" Fleur complained about Harry, greatly annoying him once more, causing Harry to point at Loki and say, "What about him?"
But Fleur shut him down when she said, "Loki is Loki."
Loki almost burst into laughter but held himself back.
"That would mean Hogwarts gets two champions!" Kakaroff suddenly said pushing the discussion towards a debate once more.
"Oh? And why do you think so?" Moody asked, "Perhaps the name of the boy here was put into Goblet because someone wanted to kill him? Wanted him dead to please their masters?!"
"Are you implying something Moody!?" Kakaroff said getting up close and personal with Moody.
Finally, Dumbledore spoke, "Moody.", Moody backed off and allowed Dumbledore to continue, "The rules and final and unless anyone has a better solution, I expect them to adhere to them."
"I have a better solution." Loki said raising his hand, causing everyone to turn towards him.
"I don't have any reason to take part in the competition anyway, so when you judge me why don't you give me the lowest marks ever? That way you won't have to worry about Hogwarts having two champions anymore."
Everyone's eyes widened slightly and they all nodded.
"Good. Good. You have a good nut in your head." Moody said clapping with his staff.
"Iz' there a rule agains' z'hat Mizta Crouch?" Madam Maxime asked, causing Barty Crouch to think for a second before shaking his head, "There isn't."
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