Let the Games Begin [Champions]

[Deleted]

Neville could feel the anticipation buzzing in the air. Hundreds of students were crowding the Great Hall, their eyes all reflecting the bright blue flames that they watched intently. He smiled slightly, in the darkness, and checked his watch.

Okay.

He stood up in the dim candlelight. “In one minute, the Goblet of Fire will choose the champions for the three schools. Now, no matter the outcome, I expect good graces from everyone. Your champion will need your support in the coming months, not your anger or jealousy. And I expect grace and kindness to the champions and students of the other schools as well. The point of this tournament is not to win—it is to make friends with witches and wizards from other countries, to help bring us all closer together. To those chosen, when I call your name, you will stand up, walk to the front of the Great Hall, and then turn and go through the door to the left. There you will wait for further instructions.”

Neville waved his hand, putting out every candle in the hall, so that the Goblet of Fire was the only light in the room. He turned and waited with the students.

Scarcely ten seconds passed, and then the Goblet's bright blue flames roared up, turning blood red and flinging out a parchment. It fluttered through the air for a moment before it got low enough for the Headmaster to catch it. He carefully unfolded the parchment to read the name...

“The champion for Beauxbatons is...Emile Felix Chevalier!”

The Goblet released names in one-minute incremenets, giving the young Beaxbatons plenty of time to walk up and enter the side chamber before the flames flared deep red a second time.

Neville reached out to grab the second piece of parchment.

“The champion for Durmstrang is...Elias Reid Greyback!”

Neville was pleased to hear no outbreak of muttering at the name Greyback. Elias had several half-siblings who had come through Hogwarts, and they had done more than they realized to help clean the stain upon that name.

After the Durmstrang had made his way through to the side room, Neville waited for the final paper. At last, the flames flared up and tossed another parchment at him.

“The champion for Hogwarts is...Molly Annelise Weasley!”

Ah, Molly would make a strong champion. Neville had been her Head of House for a long time before Parvati had taken over the role, and he knew her well. She was the kind of person who liked to make friends with everyone and KEEP the friends she made. A perfect example of what the Triwizard tournament was really about, win or lose. And she would put up a fight as well.

Neville waited for her to make her way through to the side room before turning to address the rest of the students. “And there you have it, your champions. Now, I expect you all to—”

Neville froze and turned to look back at the Goblet, the dancing blue fires catching his eye. He narrowed his eyes and waited for a moment...and then the blue flames died away, extinguishing themselves until the next tournament.

He turned back to the students. “Sorry. Last time I had to deal with that thing, it spat out a fourth champion and caused all sorts of problems.”

“Now, as I was saying, I expect you all to keep in mind that the current security restrictions have not changed for the tournament. Curfews are to be respected at all times, Aurors are not to be bothered while on duty, and students are not to travel alone in the corridors. However, I want to let everyone know ahead of time—as my wife has informed me that two months is barely enough preparation time—that the Yule Ball will still be held this year, and will take place Christmas night. Students of fourth year and above may attend. Third year students and younger may only attend as dates of fourth years or higher. If you wish to stay for the ball, you will need to give your Head of House a signed form to stay at Hogwarts over that Christmas holiday.”

“Now, that's enough excitement for the night. If the school representatives and the Gryffindor Head of House will join me, we can go speak to our champions. The rest of you...dismissed!”

[This thread is ONLY for the three champions to post in, where they can respond and move to the side chamber. Anyone else wishing to post a response may create separate threads <3]

((Suzie addition: This thread will also play out the side chamber events. Parvati, Annabeth and Samuil will be added later.))


@emile
@jill6
@annelise

[Deleted]

F inally it was the day of the selection. The last month had been pure, utter torture waiting to find out who the champions for each school were going to be. Finding things to do to take his mind off of it had become harder and harder to do as the month stretched on. Every day was like a month on its own. But here it was, the day of reckoning, or at least it was for Émile. This was the last six years of school put on the line now, the ultimate test of whether or not he could be classified as one of the greatest wizards of the time. Arriving in the Great Hall with the rest of the Beauxbatons students, as instructed by their professors, Émile took a seat near the front of their table. He wanted to have a good view of the Goblet when it announced his name. He wanted to be the first one to know other than Hogwarts Headmaster. As the Hogwarts students and Durmstrang crowd filed into the hall as well, Émile started to mentally prepare himself for what could happen in a few minutes. It was either he won or lost. There was no in-between. He had complete faith that the goblet would spit out his name, but the last two months had given him a lot of free time to think about what might happen if he wasn’t the Beauxbatons champion, or if he did get picked but didn’t win the whole thing. They were dark, depressing thoughts for him. The usual gung-ho attitude that he had when doing his absolute best to win had all but dissipated over the last week, these thoughts of possibly not being the number one from his school constantly plaguing. Émile had tried to shake them off because they were a hindrance, but it was incredibly hard to do that. Luckily today was the day where those thoughts would either become a reality or all just a part of his imagination getting the best of him. After what seemed like forever, even amidst the lengthy two months they had all waited to learn about who the champions might be, the Hogwarts Headmaster stepped up to the goblet and delivered a speech. It had something to do about how the point of the tournament wasn’t to win. How stupid. Why did everyone else not seem to notice that there were obvious benefits that came with being the Triwizard Champion? You’d have to be a fool not to want to win the tournament outright. Sure, friends are great and all, but when it came to the tasks at hand, the champions were on their own. Connections they made outside would only help them out so much. He decided to only pay attention to the second half of the speech since that gave him instructions on where to go once he was declared the champion. The nervous looks on the faces of the rest of his classmates were enough to tell him that he had it in the bag. Eventually the Headmaster stepped up to the Goblet of Fire and waited. Just waited there for the first name to come out of it. The silence throughout the room was eerie. Émile knew everyone was thinking the exact same thing: who was going to be picked? Suddenly the goblet lit up in flames, changing colour, and one of the name slips shot into the Headmaster’s hands. Émile could feel his whole body tense up as he stared at the Headmaster, teeth and hands clenched down. The second he heard that it was the Beauxbatons champion was agonizing. And then it happened. The name. It was his. Of course it was, that was pretty obvious from the start since he was the only one truly qualified. Standing straight up almost in sync with his name being called out, Émile ignored everyone else in the hall, a huge grin across his face. This was the first step to winning the whole thing. Everything was exactly how he had planned it to be. Stepping away from the rest of the Beauxbatons students, he headed for the side chamber that the headmaster had mentioned at the beginning of the speech. In a short amount of time he’d be joined by the other two champions, his competitors, the ones who were going to lose to him by the time the Triwizard Tournament was over. 740 @jill6 & @annelise

credit to nat of adoxography.

[Deleted]

@annelise
<3

It was Halloween night. The night that the champions were going to be announced. Elias wasn't sure how to feel. Externally he seemed perfectly calm, internally...well, it was pretty much like a constant bomb going off. And what if he is chosen? What would he do? His mother would have a mental breakdown. Hell, he'd have a breakdown. Elias had never imagined in any of his days that he'd be up for something like this. But it was something that was important to him, and while it was important, it also looked fun. Regardless, he'd have to owl his mother as soon as possible., at least before the papers had been out.

As everyone filed into the Great Hall, Elias' eyes darted around glancing for a few people in particular. He couldn't see any of his siblings yet, but he'd make sure to look as soon as he sat down. However whom he did see was Maria. Sweet, little Maria. They hadn't spoken in...well, too long. No matter how hard it was to keep his eyes in front of him, he had to. Their argument was not something that Elias wanted to just forgive and forget. She would need to apologize. He had been very stern about it before, and he was going to be the same way now. Maria had gotten away with too many things in his life that he did not approve of, and Elias did not plan on letting it happen anymore.

Finally the Headmaster began to speak. His heart was beating out of his chest, but he clenched his teeth together to keep calm. His words actually kind of made Elias want to laugh out loud. Which, wouldn't have been smart, obviously as the whole room was silent and everyone would've heard him. Lately Elias' life with his siblings was anger and jealousy. Why would that change just because he might be chosen? That would honestly be the best thing, but in his mind, he would rather everyone realize that fighting was the worst route, and to just talk with one another would work as well.

His eyes shot up to look at the Goblet as a piece of paper flew out of it and the Headmaster caught it. Elias was not familiar with the boy, had seen him a few times around the castle, but other than that, had never spoken to him.

Elias felt like he was going to be sick as the Goblet burned red once more. He gulped when the paper flew up.

Elias Reid Greyback.

A fast breath of air was released from his mouth, and his jaw dropped open. Immediately before getting up, his eyes shot over to look at Jamie, Maxima, Adrian...Lily; she winked at him. Elias let a small smirk grace his face and he winked at her. Standing up and walking towards the front of the hall, he walked past Maria and let his hand brush her shoulder gently. Elias opened the side room to where Emile was, and he nodded to him quickly. His eyes shot towards the door as it began to squeak open again, knowing it was the Hogwarts champion who was about to enter.

[Deleted]

Anna was sitting in the Great Hall, surrounded by her friends. Irina was sitting next to her, squeezing her hand so tightly that Anna wondered if she realized what she was doing. On the other side of her was Andy, who was also holding her hand, but Anna was probably the one squeezing too hard on that side. She was so nervous and excited and basically just didn't know what to think. She wanted to be chosen, but she kept thinking to herself that it wouldn't happen. Other people were so much smarter and braver, why would the Goblet choose her? There really was no reason for it. So she tried not to get her hopes up too high.

Then Headmaster Longbottom stood up and started talking about how they should all get along after the Champion was chosen and support them, how the Tournament was about making friends. Anna nodded her head, but all she really wanted was for Professor Longbottom to start announcing the names. She was tired of waiting and now that the time was so close, she was even more anxious about it all.

Then he put out all the candles and the Goblet's flame turned blue and a piece of parchment flew out. Anna stared as it fell, her grip on both Irina and Andy's hands tightening as she waited .... she exhaled in disappointment when he said it was Beauxbatons champion. She wanted to look around the Hall and see how Oscar was taking the fact that it wasn't him, but she didn't know where he was sitting and the Great Hall was pitch black. So there was no point. She watched the boy leave the hall and then turned her attention back to the cup.

Its flames turned blue again and she tensed up once more anxiously. She actually growled a little when the next champion was announced from Durmstrang. Not that she had anything against him, but why did Hogwarts have to be last? She just wanted to know the results, was that really so hard? She watched him leave, took a deep breath and then looked toward the Goblet once more.

This time Anna wasn't squeezing anyone's hands. This time she knew it was Hogwart's turn and she found herself unable to respond in any way, other than holding her breath. She was so anxious and excited and trying to tell herself it wasn't going to happen, that there was no way she'd be chosen, but still hoping for it all the same. Then the piece of parchment flew out and Professor Longbottom said ... Molly Annelise Weasley. Anna still wasn't breathing. She could hardly believe she'd actually been chosen. This had to be her mind imagining things.

Across the table, Lily was standing on the bench, screaming her head off and it seemed like all hell broke loose on the Gryffindor table. That's what really brought Anna back to reality and she gasped in a breath. Her name was chosen. Her name was chosen. She turned to smile at her friends, squeezing both Andy and Irina's hands before she stood up. "Wish me luck," she muttered under her breath before walking toward the front of the room. She wasn't quite sure if her ears were working right or if she was just imagining all the noise, but she was now grinning from hear to ear, finally believing that her name really was the one that came out.

She turned and walked through the door to the left, smiling as she approached the other two champions. "Hey," she said, with an open smile at both of them. She wasn't feeling shy, per say, but she was so excited she couldn't force herself to say anything else.

[Deleted]

With the teachers, prefects, and Rose and Gaius escorting the students to their dorms for the night, Neville could finally turn his attention back to the champions. Tomorrow their names would be everywhere, on lips and in papers and over the radio. They would be interviewed by the Daily Prophet—though Neville had rather aggressively warned them that one of Hogwarts’ new enchantments incinerated Quick-Quotes Quills immediately if they activated—and their lives would, essentially, cease belonging only to them. He fully intended to minimize the impact as best he could, but they were overnight celebrities.

And that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Still, he wasn’t about to try and rain on their parade tonight. Well, he hoped. He did have a tendency to try and make people see the reality of things. Neville had seen too much to let people live a lie. He waved to the representatives of the three champions and headed towards the side room, stepping into it first. He looked at the three students and smiled. “Congratulations on entering the Triwizard Tournament. So, a short summary of things to know: you will be interviewed, most likely several times, over the course of the tournament. Your wands will be weighed and inspected by a licensed wandmaker sometime within the next two weeks. As this is a magically binding contract, you cannot, under any circumstances, back out of the competition. And, due to needing to focus on the tournament itself, you will be exempted from end-of-year exams.” There was a slightly apologetic look on his face as he glanced at Molly. If her father still hadn’t learned to relax, she was going to get a long lecture on not taking her exams when it was more or less out of her control.

“Now, as Headmaster of the host school, I would traditionally be considered the judge for Hogwarts and the representative for Miss Weasley. However, due to the current situation and the fact that I am also heading security for Hogwarts, I am afraid I am unable to perform that duty. The same problem befalls our other Headmasters as well, as I'm sure you know. So each Headmaster has chosen someone to act as their student's representative and their judge in the tournament.”

“Will the champions’ representatives please enter?”

[Here ist posting order]
@annabeth
@samuil
parvati patil macmillan
@emile
@jill6
@annelise

[Deleted]

Annabeth couldn't believe that she was here. She had been asked to represent her alma mater in order to coach the Champion for the Tri-Wizard tournament. She was absolutely thrilled. Her son Hayden would be staying at her home with her parents and her husband and she would be staying in the Beauxbatons carriage for the most part, occasionally staying at home and checking in. Her husband worked for the Minister and was often at the school because he had been given the duty to check in on the tournament, so that would be really nice as well.

The main reason she was excited, though, was because her depression had been getting the best of her lately and she needed a change, something drastic and important. When she got the letter she was unbelievably grateful, and accepted right away. So, now here she was. Waiting to step out and reveal herself to the champion as a mentor and companion. She hoped it was one of her brothers, but didn't get her hopes up.

When she heard the Hogwarts Headmaster call for them to come out, Annabeth stepped into the room, her eyes bright and her smile wide. She was wearing dark maroon robes and white three inch heels. She gave the room a small bow before her eyes settled on the boy in the Beauxbaton garb. "Bonjour," she said, laying on the French heavy. She would soon fall into her accent just as heavy as when she was younger with all this kids around and she was perfectly fine with that.

"I am Annabeth Leonato, representative for Beauxbatons. 'Appy to be ere."

@samuil you're nexxt

[parvati patil macmillan]

Parvati hadn’t once hesitated in her decision to agree to serve as the representative for whichever student would be chosen as Hogwarts’ champion in the Triwizard Tournament. She understood completely Neville’s concern about adding that responsibility on top of the ever-growing pile of things for which he was responsible on a daily basis as headmaster. Since she wasn’t in a role that required her to teach classes, Parvati was of the opinion that it wouldn’t be fair for her to place that on the shoulders of one of the other members of staff who would have to plan lessons, too. Counseling sessions, fortunately, could be rearranged as necessary.

Learning that Molly Annelise “Anna” Weasley, one of her Gryffindors, would be representing Hogwarts was both exciting and daunting for Parvati. She had Anna’s success and safety in her hands, and she was thankful that Anna was from a family who was tied to the Order and would understand the reasoning behind Parvati’s abundance of caution when it came to their daughter, niece, and cousin.

Upon Neville’s introduction, Parvati filed into the chamber with the statuesque Annabeth Leonato and former Triwizard Champion Professor Samuil Delov just behind her. Immediately, she beamed at Anna and then waited politely as Annabeth introduced herself to the three students. For the announcement, she had chosen to dress up, as well, wearing metallic, copper-colored robes that glistened in the light. She had arranged her hair into a low bun at the nape of her neck, which showcased a large pair of dangling gold earrings.

When it was her turn to speak, Parvati took a small step forward and kept her shoulders back. “I’m Parvati Patil Macmillan, and it's my pleasure to be the Hogwarts representative for this Triwizard Tournament,” she stated calmly. Smiling once again at all three of the Champions, she lingered her gaze on Anna for a moment, then looked to Samuil.

@samuil

[Deleted]

When Samuil had learned about the Tri-Wizard tournament, he'd resigned himself to his fate. And that fate? Playing some sort of role in the tournament. It was only natural. There'd been a previous tournament, when he was a 7th year a Durmstrang, in which he'd been chosen as champion, and proceeded to win. So, naturally, he wasn't surprised when Durmstrang's High Master had owled him and asked him to be the Representative for the school.

As each champion was announced he couldn't help but smile. He didn't know the Hogwarts champion, Molly well, nor the Beauxbaton champion, but he knew Elias. Elias Greyback. Samuil had taught at Durmstrang previously, so he knew most of those that had been brought as prospective champions. It was a diverse trio, you could tell just by looking at them, and Samuil was actually excited to see how these vastly distinctive students would face each challenge. Finally the Representatives were invited in, Samuil bringing up the rear behind the women. Both looking quite stunning in their fashionable dress, and stark contrast against his midnight black robes. Thankfully, black suited him. He waited for both women to introduce themselves, before offering a polite nod to the trio. "And I will be Durmstrang's representative. Samuil Delov." Only after a moment did he offer the young Greyback both a smile. "It's good to see you again, Elias." He spoke softer, hoping that it'd be reassuring to the teenager.

@emile (you next boy-o)

[Deleted]

W hat had felt like a few minutes only had to have been seconds, because soon after Émile had settled into the side room the champions were directed to go into, the next one entered. It was quite clear that the long-haired boy was the Durmstrang champion. He watched closely, trying to get a read on the other boy, but as soon as he tried, the door opened again. The Hogwarts champion entered, and it was a red-headed girl. Émile had made a note early on that there seemed to be a lot of red-headed Hogwarts children. They had to have been from the same family, because there was no way there were that many from separate ones. She didn’t look entirely imposing, if anything, a little shaken up from everything. Now that he thought about it, the Durmstrang didn’t seem all that prepared either. This was going to be a lot easier than he had thought. The girl had said something to them when she entered, but Émile was too busy looking at the strange objects on the shelves around them. It was an interesting room to send everyone into after being picked, especially without any supervision. This was a competition now, who was to say one of them wouldn’t attack the others when there weren’t any adults around? Émile would never do that, of course. He wanted a fair competition, one that would prove how much better he was than everyone else. Finally the door opened again and the Hogwarts headmaster entered. He congratulated the three of them and started explaining the processes that they were to go through over the next couple of days. There were going to be interviews? He knew the tournament was a big publicity stunt, but had never imagined that there would be multiple interviews, maybe just one or two from the major newspapers. Émile could feel a grin starting to form on his face. He’d have to send an owl home and have his parents save all the different articles written about him so he could frame them up when he got home. During all of this, the headmaster finished his speech and had the representatives for each school come in and talk. His representative, which he assumed was basically a coach on what he could and couldn’t do, as well as preparing him for each of the tasks, was quite the attractive one, especially compared to the other school’s reps. He knew she would answer most of his questions a lot better than the headmaster would, so Émile stayed quiet during the introductions of the other representatives. He’d give the other champions the chance to voice their concerns over everything. 448 @jill6 ur next

credit to nat of adoxography.

[Deleted]

@annelise
@superluigi64
@annabeth
@samuil
parvati patil macmillan
@emile
<3

The girl walked in, who Elias assumed was the Hogwarts champion. Hm, she looked familiar, but then again, most of the redheads at Hogwarts looked the same. Ah! He knew. Lily, the girl who also winked at him. "Hello." Elias gave her a small smile, making note to ask her later if she was related to Lily.

The headmaster then entered and began speaking. Elias listened intently. He wasn't afraid of the interviews, he had been questioned many times in his life and he was sure this wouldn't be any different, just more personal. No exams, even better. Less studying he'd have to do and even more less stress on his plate. The one thing he was concerned about though was why they'd need to inspect and weight their wands? What did that have to do with anything? Although he wanted to know, he kept his mouth shut as the representatives walked in one after the other.

Thankfully, his representative was Samuil Delov. Elias had already had him as a Professor while at Durmstrang, so he wasn't a stranger. Elias felt as if this was a pro for him, as well as the fact that Samuil had won the last tournament. He didn't think he'd give him answers to everything as that would be considered cheating, but hints wouldn't be bad...right? Elias nodded and gave a small smile, taking a breath. "You as well, Professor Delov."

[Deleted]

Anna smiled at Elias when he said hello back. She had the advantage of knowing the other champions' names, since she was the last one to be chosen. It looked like Emile didn't care or was just bored with the situation or something. Not like Anna let him get to her. She was too excited to see what came next. 

As Anna listened to Headmaster Longbottom, she nodded. None of these things were news to her, since she'd heard about them from her own father. Quite honestly though, she was worried about the interviews. She'd never been interviewed before and wasn't really sure how to act. Obviously like herself, but was she supposed to watch what she said or something to make it harder for people to twist her words. She wasn't sure and that worried her a bit, but she decided to not focus on it.

Anna grinned when Madam Macmillan was chosen as her representative. She wasn't super close with the woman, but she knew her and knew that she was close with Anna's family, which was nice. Anna nodded at her, just in case the smile wasn't enough. This was definitely going to be a learning experience, but she felt like it was working in her favor. Once the representatives were done introducing themselves, Anna turned her attention back to the Headmaster, waiting for whatever was supposed to come next.

@superluigi64 (not sure who goes next so I'm just assuming ...)

[Deleted]

He waited for a moment after the representatives introduced themselves, letting each student greet their mentor as they wished. After a moment, though, he cleared his throat, looking at the three kids.

“Glory. It’s a five-letter word that means highly coveted and no value.”

“I cannot speak for Mr. Delov here, but I was there for the tournament before last. Harry Potter’s ‘glory’ was forgotten within a month. Today, many people know he won the Triziward Tournament, but few care. It simply…does not matter to most people.”

“But Carcer and RJ are only here today because Hagrid met Madame Maxime during that tournament. The British Minister of Magic is only here today because Fleur Delacour met Bill Weasley during that tournament. And people made friends all around, friends that they were able to count on later in life, because of that tournament.”

He glanced around the room, smiling a bit when he looked at Parvati. He still remembered her finally getting fed up and dumping Harry for a boy from Beauxbatons at the Yule Ball. Granted, Harry was competing with Ron for title of most boring date, so it was deserved. “Glory is a fleeting thing, and it cannot save you in your time of need. I encourage all of you to try and win. You each entered your name for a reason, and you should not lose sight of that reason as you compete. I do not wish to make victory seem undesirable. But if you want to take something real away from this tournament, you must remember its true purpose: to forge bonds, to make friends and share lives with people from other countries, to create things that can stand the test of time. Win or lose, that will be more valuable than the title of champion by far.”

“Now, the first task will take place during November. If you have any questions, you may ask me or your representative. I have notified the press that you may not be interviewed without your rep’s knowledge and consent. Do not allow yourself to be sucked into giving an unauthorized interview. Your reps are here for good reason. Not only are they alumni of each school, but they all have knowledge of how publicity and popularity work. Mr. Delov is a former champion, he has seen this already from your side. Miss Leonato’s career has given her plenty of experience with popularity and the international stage as well. And Madame Macmillan is very aware of how perception affects things, in addition to having experienced much of the tournament before last from a very close perspective.”

By which he meant she knew exactly how nasty things could go when someone really wanted to screw with your public image. But he wouldn’t say Rita Skeeter’s name out loud. He would not do a thing to give that woman even a single ounce of recognition.

@champions and Reps [Okay, we can wrap this thread up with your next round of posts if you wish. ]

[Deleted]

As the other representatives introduced themselves Annabeths eyes were on her champion, Emile. She smiled at him, that dazzling model smile and had a feeling that this was going to be very, very fun. He reminded her of the people she used to spend time with in school. The pretty boys and snobby girls who ruled Beauxbatons back in the day. She had grown out of that, for the most part, but the memories of her little tyrant crew still made her chuckle, and this kid was clearly that type.

Neville Longbottom went on to explain the system and what they were there for as well as talking about interviews and whatnot. Annabeth nodded slightly as Neville mentioned her career and, once he was finished, she moved forward to greet Emile. "Lovely to meet you," she said, offering a hand to him. "And congratulations," she added with that dazzling smile.

parvati patil macmillan's turn <: