HBWnovel Chapter 15: The Goblet of Fire
Chapter 15: The Goblet of Fire
Chapter 15: The Goblet of Fire
31st October 1994, Hogwarts
(POV Nathan)
It's been a few months since Nathan defeated Salazar Slytherin's basilisk and to be honest, it was weird. Ever since his adventure, his mother didn't leave him alone for a second. She wouldn't let him go to Diagon Alley with his friends and she even wouldn't let anyone visit him other than Tracey for some reason. Nathan knew what he did was dangerous and impulsive, but he had to do it otherwise Ginny would have died.
A month after his punishment, his mother started his training. Well, calling it training would be understating things. She started teaching him dueling but it basically consisted of her kicking his ass and then telling me what he did wrong. He improved, yes, but he was also magically exhausted every night with bruises all over his body.
He had yet to land a single hit on his mother. And while his mother was one of the most inventive duelers he had ever seen, using countless charms in ways he'd never heard of before, it was really frustrating. He couldn't even prank his sister as a way to relax. He had barely any magic left after training and when he did prank her, she froze his bits off. He didn't know when she got so good at ice magic.
He asked his father to ask his mother to take it easy on him but he refused, stating it would help him in the long run. He understood why his mother was this ruthless considering she almost lost her second child, but come on, this is taking it too far. He however offered to teach him the animagus transformation providing he doesn't do anything without his father's presence in case something bad happens. Nathan now has a Mandrake leaf in his mouth for the first part of the transformation. He even used a sticking charm to prevent him from accidentally spitting it out. His father told him he was gonna be at Hogwarts with the potion when he actually starts transforming but he wouldn't tell him why. Something about ruining the surprise.
But the worst thing was his occlumency practice where his mother had access to pretty much his every memory. Those were the most petrifying moments in his life. And he had to do it every night. Funnily enough, his embarrassment caused him to study extra hard in occlumency, which is improving at a very impressive rate.
After days of begging and pleading, he was finally able to convince them to take him and Hermione to the World Cup finals. Sometime Nathan wondered if there was some sort of cosmic god who liked to mess with him because the death eaters attacked after the celebrations. Strangely, someone stole Ron's wand to cast the dark mark. The wand was found with Barty Crouch's elf. Crouch immediately gave the elf clothes which cause Hermione to go on an elf liberation crusade.
Speaking of Ron, he came by to apologize for his behavior last year. An apology that immediately went out the windows when pretty much ordered me to stop hanging out with Tracey, calling her a slimy snake and a Slytherin whore. Considering he was the one who betrayed his trust Nathan pretty much stopped talking to him.
That's not what made the summer vacation weird. After the world cup fiasco, mum and dad went to a meeting with Dumbledore and they came back with smiles on their faces. They have been unusually happy ever since, his mother even started to go easier on him during sparring.
His mother started to clean up Jasmine's room. She even bought dresses to put in Jasmine's closet. Nathan swears he heard her muttering about getting her baby back. He thought they had a lead on Jasmine's location but since Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus were also worried, it started to freak him and Rose out.
The flames inside the goblet turned red again suddenly. Sparks began to fly from it. In 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," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum." "No surprises there!" he heard Ron yelling at the end of the table, as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall. Nathan saw Viktor Krum rise from the Slytherin table and slouch up toward Dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.
"Bravo, Viktor!" boomed Karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. "Knew you had it in you! The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.
"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!" The girl got gracefully to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair, and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.
"Oh look, they're all disappointed," Hermione said over the noise, nodding toward the remainder of the Beauxbatons party that were for some reason sobbing.
When Fleur Delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it.
The Hogwarts champion next . . . 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," he called, "is Nathan Potter!"
Nathan's ears were ringing, he did not focus on the screaming and stamping around him, he smiled and got up but internally he was scared out of his mind. He saw his father and mother furiously speaking with Dumbledore about something. He did not put his name in the goblet. He didn't understand why that always happened to him, and on Halloween no less, he must have some curse on him or something. He slowly walked towards the chamber as he digests what happened and what type of dangers to expect this year.
"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died down. "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 " But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him. The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment. Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand
and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out "Jasmine Potter."
The goblet then spat out a giant fireball that turned around the goblet creating a vortex. Suddenly, the flames were reabsorbed by the goblet, leaving only a girl his age with hair as black as night and emerald eyes. She was wearing a dragonhide leather jacket with muggle jeans and a black shirt. He instinctively knew it was his sister. She takes a look around and then says, "Well, that was interesting."
Chaos ensues.