Ch. 12

Six Weeks Later

The arrival of the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had sent a surge of energy through the students of Hogwarts. Even Percy felt it, though it was mostly due to the dramatic and choreographed entrances both made upon their arrival.

That, and the fact that apart of the group of Durmstrang students had been a person whom was well known by all of Hogwarts and likely the magical world after the World Cup of Quidditch.

Viktor Krum, the star seeker of the Bulgarian National Team, stepped through the doors of the great hall last and Percy thought Ron was about to faint in disbelief.

Listening to Ron swoon over the famous wizard the rest of the night was almost nauseating by lights out and neither Percy, Harry or Hermione seemed disappointed at the chance to escape hearing Ron list off another Krum stat or fact.

Adding to the excitement from that night had been the revealing of the Goblet of Fire, the magical impartial judge which would be responsible for choosing the champion from each school.

"Do not do so lightly! If chosen, there's no turning back. As from this moment, the Triwizard Tournament had begun!"

Dumbledore's words hung over the school as an ominous warning. As Hermione had explained it, being chosen as a champion was like a magical contract, something that could not be undone. It gave Percy a sobering feeling of deja vu, sounding eerily similar to an oath on the River Styx, which he knew first hand was not something to be toyed with.

But he had no plans to enter his name in the Goblet of Fire and was relieved knowing Harry wouldn't be either. For once in his life, he was going to sit on the sideline and watch someone else be the center of attention risking their lives.

That, by itself, was reason to celebrate, though he obviously did not share his relief about being able to it.

He gradually became more accustomed to the everyday life of being a student at Hogwarts. Soon, it nearly started to feel like the norm, daily classes almost boring. As insane as that was, considering the past four years of his life, learning how to do magic was a little on the boring side.

And it was a little slice of Elysium to him.

No monsters showing up to kill him on a regular basis, no drama from the gods or other immortal beings; just waking up every morning and knowing exactly what he was going to be doing that day.

His ability to do magic continued to improve little by little each week as well. Spending afternoons with Hermione training was starting to pay off. She was relentless as a teacher, making him nearly master each spell and each lesson before she'd move on to the next. But to his surprise, he found learning magic came almost naturally to him, once his mind stopped resisting the whole premise, even subconsciously. Unlike his lessons back at Goode and all the other schools he'd bounced around during his childhood, his ADHD didn't make learning magic and spells a nearly impossible task. It was as if magic were immune to his usual struggles with learning and comprehension. He had a growing list of spells memorized and could use them with increasing effectiveness.

Starting two weeks earlier, Hermione had added a new aspect to their lessons.

Dueling.

Each day, for the last thirty to forty minutes of their lessons, she would have them duel, forcing Percy to use magic in more real life situations.

When she'd first suggested it, Percy had thought this would be something he excelled at. I mean, he had been dueling since he was twelve, just not using magic.

Thirty seconds into their first duel, his confidence was utterly destroyed with a simple flick of Hermione's wand. She blasted him straight across the room, the feeling of her spell hitting him in the chest reminding him of getting slammed in the chest with a Laistrygonian club.

When he finally managed to get back to his feet, he barely raised his wand before he felt the familiar sensation of his entire body going rigid before he collapsed onto the ground with a loud crash. After a moment of silently lauding over his incapacitated body, Hermione reversed the spell and slowed down, giving commands and shouting instructions before lobbing spells at him; just as she did now.

"Block!" Hermione shouted before pointing her wand at him, "Stupefy!"

"Protego," Percy muttered, holding his wand in front of him defensively. The burst of red light stopped mere inches from his wand and was deflected aside before vanishing.

"Again!" Hermione lobbed another stunning spell at him. Percy successfully blocked the spell but wasn't ready when the next came with no warning, hitting him in the chest and knocking him off his feet.

"Argh!" He growled in frustration and jumped back up. Hermione raised her wand again but Percy beat her to it.

"Expelliarmus!"

Hermione jumped back and barely blocked the spell, casting the shield charm without speaking. She arched an eyebrow in surprise then narrowed her eyes and fired another jinx only for Percy to jump aside.

"Stupefy!" Percy shouted only for his spell to be swatted aside effortlessly once again.

"That's good," she said with a tone of disapproval, "but we're working on blocking spells, stop losing focus!"

"This is defense," he grumbled. "If you're defending yourself, you can't keep blasting me off my feet."

"I'm sorry," she said with a little smirk, "am I hurting you?"

Percy glared at her but he didn't answer. The honest answer was, a little bit. His ass felt like it was a giant bruise, the result of landing on it at least a dozen times over the last forty minutes.

"Suddenly she's a comedian," he scowled before an idea popped into his head and his expression changed to one of focus.

"Stupefy!" He fired the spell at her, surprising her as she had to duck to avoid being hit. Before she could retaliate, Percy's next words surprised her enough to make her freeze for just a second.

"Aqua Eructo!" Before she could react, a jet of water shot from his wand and hit her square in the chest, sending her crashing backwards, coughing and spluttering as water went up her nose and into her lungs.

Watching her choking, Percy immediately pulled his wand away, extinguishing the burst of water. Hermione slowly coughed up the unwelcome water in her lungs and then sat up, staring at him with wide eyes.

Percy had the good mind to look apologetic, though it didn't seem to have any affect on his young teacher.

"Sorry," he frowned. "I didn't... I mean..."

"What was that?" She cut him off, her tone a combination of confusion, surprise and annoyance.

"What..."

"The spell!" She snapped. "Where did you learn that spell?"

"Oh," Percy's eyes widened, "the spell book. You told me to read it. I don't know why I thought of it that spell, it was just kind of instinct, I guess."

Hermione got back to her feet, completely soaked from her head to her feet, her normally bushy brown hair was straightened though it was sticking to the sides of her face. Percy suddenly felt a nervous shiver run through his body. He wasn't sure what to expect; he'd never gotten the upper hand in one of their duels and didn't know if she was going to be angry or impressed. Her face revealed nothing, her brown eyes staring at him intensely. Despite the high likelihood of pain forthcoming, he couldn't help but smile a little at his handiwork.

She remained silent and Percy could almost see the gears turning in her mind through her calculating brown eyes. It was a look he'd seen so many times before and one that quickly wiped away his smirk and replaced it with one that was unreadable. His mind racing with a myriad of emotions; sorrow and pain but also happiness and longing.

His changed expression seemed to make her uncomfortable because her cheeks turned pink before she shook her head and broke the awkward silence.

"Well," she said trying to sound stern, "that's good, I suppose. I mean, that is good, obviously. It's surprising, I didn't think you actually listened when I suggested you study the book of spells on your own."

"Yeah," Percy cleared his throat. "Well I guess even I can surprise you, now and again."

"Hmm, yes." She murmured softly before whipping her wand out, "Stupefy!"

Percy had no chance. The spell hit him like a runaway freight train, lifting him right off his feet and sending him crashing backwards across the room before landing with a loud thump and letting out a grunt of pain.

"Don't expect to surprise me again," she grumbled before pointing her wand at herself, "Tergeo!" The water from her robes was siphoned into the glowing tip of her wand. She slowly dragged it up and down her body until her clothes were completely dried.

"That's enough for today," she said wringing water out of her hair, "it's nearly time for dinner and the selection ceremony."

Percy labored back to his feet, trying to catch his breath from that spell knocking the wind out of him, "You're the boss. And for the record, that was a cheap shot."

She arched an eyebrow at him, the hint of a smile creeping into the corners of her mouth, "Yes, well, Professor Dumbledore wanted you to be trained for real life situations. There's no such thing as a cheap shot if someone's trying to attack you for real. Take it as a lesson learned."

Percy rolled his eyes, tucking away his wand as he walked towards the door, "Maybe a lesson in someone being a sore loser." He muttered under his breath. Hermione heard him but said nothing as she she followed him out of the room with a smirk tugging at her lips.

-X-

Percy pushed his plate away from him, as if putting a few more inches between him and his food were necessary to stop himself from stuffing another bite of the delicious pumpkin pie into his mouth.

All around the Great Hall, several other male students from both Hogwarts and the visiting Durmstrang, seemed to be suffering similar regrets about the amount they'd eaten from the vast feast.

With the meal winding down, Dumbledore rose from his seat and walked to the raised podium at the front of the hall. The entire room went quiet as soon as he did. Everyone had been waiting for this.

"Well," Dumbledore boomed. "I trust you have all had your fill by now." He waved his hand and the tables instantly cleared, leaving a couple of students sitting with empty hands that had seconds before held forks with their next mouthfuls of pie. The look of amusement on his face showed Dumbledore did not miss their shocked faces.

"I know this is the moment many of you have been waiting weeks for!" Dumbledore said with excitement, "I believe the Goblet of Fire is ready to make it's selections!"

The Goblet of Fire, which had been moved, slowly floated back towards the center of the hall, in front of the faculty table before coming to a slow stop. From the side of the room, two men in robes walked towards the goblet. One Percy recognized as Ludo Bagman, the chubby guy built like a brick house. The same wizard who'd lost a wager to Percy, Fred and George at the World Cup. According to George, they'd been lucky to get their money as rumor had it that Ludo owed a lot of people money and had been dodging them as best he could since the tournament.

The other man Percy didn't recognize. He was a short, thin man with mostly grey hair, just a little of the original dark left at the top. His hair was short and very neatly parted. He had a toothbrush mustache and wore impeccably clean black robes with a shiny pair of black dress shoes that shined even in the dim light of the room. As Percy looked closer, he could also see that despite his pristine wardrobe, the man looked a little haggard. His skin looked papery and he had dark bags under his eyes, making him look like he was ill.

"Barty Crouch," Ron nodded towards him, "Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. That's who Percy," he paused, "my brother Percy, works for." Ron didn't sound overly fond of the man.

Harry and Percy both gave him questioning looks.

"Percy never shuts up about Mr. Crouch," he said impersonating his older brother when he said Mr. Crouch's name. "Acts like the bloke is the Minister of Magic... Sounds like a nutter if you ask me..."

Before Ron could go on any further about his older brother and Mr. Crouch, Dumbledore raised his hands to get everyone's attention. He was now flanked by the headmasters of each of the visiting school as well as Mr. Crouch and Ludo Bagman. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as tense and expectant as anyone. Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at various students. Mr. Crouch, however, looked quite uninterested, almost bored.

"Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the front of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber," Dumbledore 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 around the room were extinguished, plunging them all into a state of semi-darkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes. Everyone watched and waited.

The flames inside the Goblet suddenly turned red and sparks began to fly from it. A moment later, a tongue of flame shot into the air and a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it making the whole room gasp.

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, "Viktor Krum!"

A storm of applause and cheering swept through the Hall. Percy saw Viktor Krum rise from the Slytherin table, and slouch up towards Dumbledore before he turned right and 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!"

"That's no surprise," Ron commented, still man-crushing hard over the Bulgarian Seeker.

The clapping and cheering quickly died down as the fire turned fiery red again and a second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"

A girl rose gracefully to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair and walked up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. Percy had noticed her during the arrivals of their visitors weeks ago. Well, to be fair, everyone had noticed her. She was breathtaking. But that wasn't the only thing that had caught Percy's eye. This girl had a very familiar look to her. She looked, at least partially, like a Nymph.

All Nymphs were beautiful but she might have been the most beautiful he'd seen. From what he'd heard, she was apparently part Veela. While he hadn't gotten much of an explanation as to what that meant, he knew that had to be some kind of Nymph, even if nobody knew it.

Once Fleur Delacour, too, had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence bristling with excitement. The Hogwarts champion was next...

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 then paused. He stared at the piece of paper, as if he was convinced he wasn't reading it right. It wasn't until Ludo Bagman cleared his throat that Dumbledore seemed to regain his wits. He looked down and his eyes immediately went to the Gryffindor table.

"Percy Jackson."

Unlike the last two announcements, this one was met by silence with the exception of a little polite clapping from the foreign students who stopped once they realized no one was else clapping.

A heavy silence hung over the room, no one seeming to be sure of what to do.

"Percy Jackson!" Dumbledore said loudly, none of the excitement from the last two selections in his voice.

Percy's face was drained off all blood as he sat unmoving in his seat. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on him. Harry, Ron and Hermione all stared wide-eyed at him. Hermione was the first of come to her senses and she jabbed Percy in the ribs, jolting him out of his trance. He rose to his feet but made no move to leave his spot.

"Go," Hermione hissed, grabbing his wrist and tugging him towards the staff table.

Percy turned and found Dumbledore looking completely baffled at him. He numbly walked to the front, barely hearing the growing shouts of protest from other students.

"He's only been here like a month!"

"Unfair! We want a redo!"

"I wasn't done with my pie!"

When he reached Dumbledore, he stopped and shook his head, "Wait, this is wrong. I didn't.."

"Go, Perseus." Dumbledore said sternly, his eyes flicking towards the door behind him.

"But..."

"Go!" Dumbledore hissed.

Percy wanted to argue but the shouts of protest and jeers behind him spurred his feet to move as he slowly stalked towards the door. He reached for the handle when the murmurs of discontent behind him suddenly vanished. The entire room let out a collective gasp as the Goblet turned bright red again and something small shout out of the fire, reaching several feet up before slowly stopping. A small piece of paper floated down, wisps of smoke rising from the edges.

Dumbledore caught it and held it in front of him. If possible, his face went a paler shade than Percy's had. The entire room waited with bated breath.

As if it were with his dying breath, Dumbledore read the name on the piece of parchment.

"Harry Potter."

A.N: I'll try to update a little faster with the next chapter but hey, life's a bitch. Let me know what you thought.