The Marauders and the Triwizard Tournament

The Marauders and the Triwizard Tournament

By Naycit and Celena Lupin

Chapter 6: The Weighing of Wands and Allies

Dumbledore waited until everyone had taken a seat and had been served tea before addressing them all. He cleared his throat to call their attention. Mademoiselle Maxime and Dimitri O'Doherty threw him a glare, but if looks could kill, Clarisse would've beaten them all to it.

"Now that we all are comfortably seated," he began, "I would like to call your attention toward the seriousness of the current circumstances. I will not lie to you; we are facing the brilliant work of a Dark Wizard. My assuming this is based in the fact that it would require powerful Dark Magic to tamper with a device as magical and powerful as the Goblet of Fire."

"Are you sure it was 'tampered with'?" Clarisse interrupted. "'ow do we know you didn't tamper with it?"

"Clarisse, s'il vous plait!" Maxime scolded. "Ce n'est pas le moment! N'oublies pas qui est il!"

The young French girl shut up at once, but she continued to glare at Dumbledore and his students.

"Clarisse has a point, however," Dumbledore continued. "It was someone within Hogwarts who did it."

"How?" O'Doherty interjected icily. "Is this a confession, Dumbledore?"

"How dare you!" Professor McGonagall hissed.

"Peace, Minerva!" the Headmaster claimed. "O'Doherty has a strong base for his deduction. Only a powerful wizard would be able to befuddle the Goblet."

"So what ees your point, exactly?" Maxime asked.

"My point is that somebody within Hogwarts must be the culprit. It has been under the heavy custody of the school's safest vaults. It was in perfect working order last night. The only assumption I can make is that it was tampered with in the course of this day."

"By whom?" Andrew asked. "Only the students have been close to it. I've had Prefects guarding it all day! My only assumption can be that somebody used some sort of device, like an Invisibility Cloak to--"

"Are you implying that my friends had something to do with it?" Sirius spat.

"Who else?!" Andrew threw back.

Sirius drew out his wand and pointed it at Andrew. "How dare you!"

"Sirius! Andrew!" Dumbledore roared. The two boys stopped their quarrel at once.

"No seventh year student would've been able to do this. It requires Dark Magic, which I firmly believe that Mr. Black and his friends do not use."

"Of course not!" Sirius muttered, looking pointedly toward Andrew.

"Anyway," Clarisse interrupted again. "Ze problem 'ere ees that only one champion per school ees allowed, eesn't that so?"

"Right you are," Dumbledore politely agreed.

"So vat are you going to do?" Alexei asked.

"You need to declare only one champion," O'Doherty said.

"'Oo will you choose?" Maxime inquired.

"I personally consider that both should be allowed to compete."

"WHAT?" the three champions exclaimed at the same time. Maxime and O'Doherty looked at Dumbledore indignantly.

"Zat is unfair and you know eet, Dumbly-dorr!" Maxime bellowed.

"I demand that if it's so, at least we also are allowed to have two champions!" O'Doherty declared. "It's just what it's fair, Dumbledore!"

"But my dear Mademoiselle and Professor, this is not how the Goblet of Fire works. Its flames have died already, and they won't come back into life until the next Tournament has to take place."

"And why would you let 'er compete?" Clarisse hissed, rudely pointing her finger toward Lily. "Eet is unfair, and she 'as no right!"

"Watch your manners!" Sirius snapped, lowering her hand with his. She glared at him.

"I need to explain," Dumbledore continued. "Sirius, calm down." Sirius looked over at his Headmaster, raised an eyebrow and nodded, sitting back down.

"Explain what, exactly?" O'Doherty demanded.

"You all know that although we are safe and carefree within these walls, the world is at war. Lord Voldemort--" Some of them flinched. "-- is at large. I have reasons, and I believe that so do you, to think that he is somehow connected to this incident. It comes as no surprise, then, that Lily here is a Muggle-born. She's an appealing target."

"So vat do you propose?" Alexei asked.

"Let her compete, let her play the game. With her help, we may be able to track down the culprit and, hopefully, contribute to Voldemort's defeat." Everyone went silent. "That in the case she agrees to help, of course," Dumbledore added, looking at Lily.

"Er... I..."

"You don't have to if you don't want to, Lily."

"But I... I want to help," she stammered.

Sirius looked at her in disbelief. "Are you mad? You'll get killed!"

"She will be protected, Sirius," Dumbledore assured him. "However, I must ask that none of you mentions this particular plan to anybody, not even your best and most trusted friends. We cannot risk the culprit to learn about it."

O'Doherty huffed and shook his head with a lopsided grin.

"I still zink zis ees unfair," Maxime said.

"But I think it is necessary," Dumbledore replied. "So, seeing as we have reached an accord, you three may go back to your common rooms." He gestured toward Sirius, Lily, and Andrew. "The House of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor will be delighted to have a reason to make mayhem."

Clarisse snorted angrily and left hurriedly with Mademoiselle Maxime.

"C'est impossible!"

"Ce n'est pas juste!"

"Ils verront ce que nous ferons!"

"Oui!"

Sirius and Lily watched them exit the little room, bewildered. Andrew shot them a nasty glare and departed, closely followed by Alexei and O'Doherty, who left in silence. Soon after, they said their good nights to Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"How could this happen?" Lily asked as they climbed a staircase.

"Dunno," Sirius replied, shrugging. "Who did it is what I'd like to know."

"And why," she added. "Do you think You-Know-Who has something to do with it?"

"Something dark's going on, Lily. Nowadays, anything Dark always has some sort of connection with him."

"Oh..."

She felt silent after that and dropped her head. Her face was paler than usual, and Sirius noticed that she was breathing rather raggedly.

"Listen, Lily," he began. "It's very brave what you're doing."

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"Don't worry," he added, fondling his arm around her shoulders. "We'll take care of you."

"We?"

"Yes, we! Me, Moony, Prongs, and Wormtail."

She shot him a mystified look. "Why do you call yourselves that?"

"Er... they're our nicknames," he replied hastily.

"Yes, I could guess that much," she said with a grin. "But why did you choose that? It's just odd."

"Sorry, Lils, can't tell you."

"You called me Lils."

"Yes, I... what?" Sirius stared at her with and arched eyebrow. "What does that have to do with anything?" She smiled. "Well... if it bothers you, I--"

"It's okay," she cut him off. "It's just..."

"Just what?" he queried.

"Nobody calls me that..."

Sirius blushed. "Oh..."

"My dad used to, when I was little," she continued, oblivious to his tomato-red face. She turned to him suddenly and gave him a beautiful smile. "You can call me that if you want."

Sirius relaxed a bit. "Okay..."

"Just don't tell James."

"Er... sure..." Why she didn't want him to tell James, he had no idea.

They continued to walk in silence, Sirius particularly conscious that he was holding her shoulders and she was not complaining. James had gotten a slap at the very least whenever he'd tried to do that. As they reached the entrance to the common room, Lily muttered the password. At once, a loud wave of cheers deafened them. Several girls were coming down to congratulate Lily and stopped dead when they saw that Sirius was with her, his arm around her shoulders.

Quickly noticing the odd looks they were getting, he removed his arm and left her to be cornered by the entire Gryffindor House. He scurried up and into his dormitory just to find his three friends already there, playing Gobstones.

"Hey, Padfoot!" Peter greeted.

"We were just wondering where you were," James said.

"I was with Dumbledore and Lily, you dumb ass," he replied, annoyed.

"So what happened?" Remus interjected. "Who did they choose for Hogwarts champion?"

"Both Andrew and Lily."

"What?" James asked. "Why?"

"I was told not to tell," Sirius said simply.

"Not even to your bestest of friends?" James pleaded. "Pretty please?"

"Don't do that, Prongs. You sound like a girl," Remus said.

"Bestest of friends?" Peter asked.

"Game of words, Wormtail," James scoffed. "Anyway, so Evans is competing as well?"

"Yeah..."

"Hmmm. I bet Dumbledore's got something up his sleeve," Remus mused.

"Bet he does," James and Peter chorused.

That night, the four Marauders went to bed after an in-depth discussion of the Triwizard Tournament, the possible tasks, the chances of Hogwarts champions, and just how pretty the Beauxbatons girls were. Sirius disagreed with them all. "They do them fairly good at Hogwarts," he told them. The other three only laughed. When the last light in the dormitory went off, Sirius was still rolling on his bed, unable to conciliate sleep. Although he'd never admit it in front of his friends-- in front of anybody for that matter-- he was dead with worry for Lily. He knew she was a capable witch, talented, and smart. And still, he still felt very protective. He wasn't sure he liked the alien feeling, but he just couldn't get rid of it.

Long later than midnight, he finally drifted off to sleep. On the opposite side of the tower, a girl with red locks at last succumbed to sleep as well.

***

"Padfoot, don't be ridiculous. You're not the one who's going to compete!" James was scolding. "Stop badgering us about that accursed Tournament and eat something for Merlin's sake!"

"He's right, Padfoot," Remus backed up. "You look a bit ill."

"I'm not hungry, Moony," he replied with grogginess. "I'm just tired."

"You didn't sleep well, did you?" Peter asked.

"Of course I did, Wormtail," he replied.

"No, you didn't," he said, brandishing his fork in his direction with each word. "I heard you rolling and cursing all night until I fell asleep."

Sirius was about to retort when Remus said, "We'd better hurry and get down to Potions."

They finished their breakfast and hurried off toward Slughorn's classroom. They bumped in their way with Heather Hewitt and Yolanda York. They were on their own, to their astonishment.

"I wonder where they left Lily," said James. They entered the classroom and went to their usual seats. Just as the bell rang, Lily came into the classroom... on her own. She occupied her usual seat beside Sirius, not uttering a word. Sirius realized with a start that her eyes were bloodshot and swollen.

As Slughorn began with his explanation of the Potion they were working on, Sirius leaned to his left and whispered in Lily's ear, "What's the matter?" She just shook her head, evading his question.

"You got into an argument with those two, didn't you?"

"Pass the chamomile," she snapped, avoiding his eyes. Resignedly, he did as she told her and concentrated on his Potion for the rest of the class.

***

"And don't forget your essays!" Slughorn called as the students filed out of his classroom.

"Great! Now we have a free period," James said happily. "What do you think we should do now?"

"Anything, but let's avoid bullying Snivellus, please," Remus said.

"It's getting boring," Peter added. "I say we go to play Exploding Snap."

"Good idea," James said. "What do you think, Padfoot? Padfoot?"

The three of them looked around, bewildered. Sirius was gone.

As Lily made her silent way toward the library, somebody caught up with her.

"Hey, Lily!"

"What do you want, Black?" she snapped.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. He was beginning to suspect that whenever she called him by his last name it was because she was angry. "Hey, no need to be that snappy," he joked. She continued to walk, her eyes firmly on the ground. Sirius strutted beside her, smiling slightly. "So," he said after a while, "care to tell me what's the problem?"

"No," she spat.

"You rowed with Yolanda and Heather, didn't you?"

He expected her to yell at him to mind his own business or continue to ignore him. He certainly didn't expect her to burst into tears, least of all bury her head in his chest. Not sure of what he was supposed to do, or if he'd said something bad, he wrapped his arms around her in a comforting sort of way and rested his chin on top of her head. He let her cry in his arms, inwardly enjoying the warmth of her body against his. It pained him to see her so miserable, but he just didn't seem to find what to tell her.

"T-they are j-just j-je-jelous," she stuttered between sobs, "a-about t-this T-tournament thing!"

"Oh Lils..." He really had no idea of what else to say.

"T-they t-told me many h-hurtful things... I've never--"

"That's enough now," he cut her off with his finger. "Don't give it more thought, okay? They'll come around after their jealousy wears off."

"Y-you think so?" she asked, wiping away some tears.

"Of course," he replied with a smile. "It happens all the time between James and me. We always make up in the end."

She smiled weakly, and without warning, she rested her head in his chest again. Sirius gulped nervously as he tightened his grip around her. "It will be okay, Lils."

"You're a good friend, Sirius," she said. Sirius sighed with contentment. They stood there for a while until Lily felt better. When she lifted her head a bit, her sparkling, green eyes met Sirius's steel-gray ones. Without real conscience of it, his gaze dropped to her rosy lips. He leaned closer to her, feeling her ragged breathing in his chin.

"Hem, hem."

Sirius could've hexed the girl ten times into her next life if he'd had enough neurons available to command his hand to take out his wand.

"Excuse me," the little girl said timidly. "Professor Dumbledore sends this for Miss Lily Evans." She took out a purple envelope and handed it to Lily.

"Thanks," she muttered. Her face was bright red. Lily disentangled herself from Sirius arms and tore the envelope open. She read the message and let out a sigh.

"Dumbledore wants me in classroom eleven for something called 'Weighing of the Wands'" she said. Sirius nodded. "You can come if you want," she added shyly. Sirius blushed again but nodded.

***

"Lily, thanks for coming. And you brought young Sirius here, too." Dumbledore stood aside and let them both in. Clarisse, Alexei, and Andrew were already there.

"Don't you go anywhere without your Marauder tail?" Andrew asked Lily scornfully.

"She needs somebody to tell you the nasty things she'd like to say but her well-mannered lips won't," Sirius retorted heatedly. "Like for example: Why don't you just bugger off?"

"Vill you stop it?" Alexei piped in. He was accompanied by a pretty girl with bushy, black hair and bushy eyebrows. He stood up, the girl following him closely. He stretched a hand toward Sirius.

"Ve veren't introduced last night. I'm Alexei Romanov." Sirius took his hand.

"Sirius Black," he replied good-naturedly.

"This is Olga, my girlfriend," Alexei said, gesturing toward the girl beside him.

"An honor," she replied stiffly but smiling. Sirius and Lily nodded toward her.

"You vill forgive her, she can't speak English very vell," Alexei added. "She vanted to come vith me for this veighing thing although out Headmaster told her no."

"Alexei Romanov? Are you related to the royal family or something?" Lily asked suddenly. Sirius turned to her with an arched eyebrow. Alexei chuckled.

"No, Miss, I am not."

"Just call me Lily," she said gently. "So you're not from the Czar's family?"

"Not at all, Lily. Ve have never had anything to do with them. I get that question a lot."

"Hmmm," Lily mumbled as she sat down and slumped slightly in the high back chair that she had found. Sirius sat down on a stool and stretched out his long legs as Clarisse sat with her headmistress. Clarisse looked a little paler than usual and she was holding a tissue to her nose, sniffling a little.

"Vat is the matter?" Alexei asked as he looked over at the girl. Clarisse mumbled something about a cold and horrible British weather. Andrew rolled his eyes and leaned against the fireplace, shaking his head as he watched the other two Hogwarts students.

"All we have to do now is to wait for Mr. Ollivander. He is our wand maker, and currently, wand weigher ," Dumbledore explained to the other champions, who had a look of confusion on their faces.

A few seconds later, the elderly Ollivander entered the room and sat down near the window, but he soon got up when Dumbledore began to tell the tale of weighing the wands. Before Mr. Ollivander could say anything, a reporter with bright, blonde hair and sharp, brown eyes entered the room with a man who held his large camera close to his chest. "I'm Arnold Smithers, reporter for the Daily Prophet." Lily, Andrew and Sirius looked at each other and groaned slightly, knowing the reporter from the newspaper who could turn any happy situation into a bad one.

"Damn," mumbled Sirius as he looked at the two men.

Dumbledore held back a smile as he looked towards Sirius and simply asked Smithers what he wanted. "Why, of course, an interview with the four champions. Everyone wants to know who the winner will be and all that. So, whose up for sharing?"

No one said anything but Ollivander stepped up and smiled slightly, "I'm afraid Mr. Smithers that I must weigh the wands first. Then you may take your photos and do your... interviews." Smithers didn't look happy at this but nodded anyway as he sat down and looked at everyone.

"Well, guests and ladies first," Ollivander said.

Clarisse went first and held out her wand, which Ollivander took and looked at it closely before twirling it between his long fingers. "Hmm, almond, twelve and a half inches. Good for Charms."

He brandished it slightly. "Unicorn hair, am I right?" Clarisse nodded. He produced a few sparks from the wand and then a pink rose, which he handed to Clarisse. Satisfied with the state of the wand, he gave it back and called Alexei.

"Mr. Romanov, you next."

Alexei stepped forward and handed the strange man his wand.

"Hmmm, maple, twelve and three quarter inches, and dragon heartstring," he declared. Alexei nodded, apparently mystified by the way Ollivanders was examining his wand. "Very good for charms and protection against the Dark Arts. Yes, perfect." Ollivander produced some sparks as well and then conjured a cushion. He placed the wand on its velvety surface and gave it to an amused Alexei.

"Mr. Banks, yours now."

Andrew handed Ollivander the wand, which was very shiny. "Someone loves his wand too much," Sirius mumbled to Lily, who grinned slightly and pulled out her own wand. It wasn't nearly as shiny as Andrew's, but it was definitely in better state than Sirius's, who had never in his life polished it. Ollivander produced a flock of yellow canaries from Andrew's wand and pronounced himself satisfied.

"Now our last, Miss Evans, please," Ollivander called. Lily gave him her wand hesitantly. "Willow, ten and a quarter inches, excellent for Charms, and as pretty as the owner; may give her limitless power," he added with a wink. "That is, as long as the owner never sets herself any limit." Alexei, Lily, and Sirius' eyebrows went up. Andrew and Clarisse scoffed. Ollivander produced some lilies from the wand and gave them to Lily, who smiled amusedly. She quickly sat down as the reporter stood and grinned.

"Ah, my turn now. I think... Miss Evans should be first. Beauty first, of course." Clarisse narrowed her eyes as Lily stood and swallowed hard. Sirius had to fight hard the urge to laugh.