GOBLET OF FIRE CEREMONY - THE CHOOSING - OPEN

[YORI OSHIRO]

To her credit, Yori had seemed to have managed a facade of calm throughout the entire ceremony, even when she was about a hop away from throwing up in her own seat. She couldn't believe she had let Aubrey talk her into putting her name in, especially after it was announced that there would be more than the traditional four champions that year. Wouldn't it be her luck to be among those surprises? Why in all that was sane did she let that gryffindor convince her into putting her name in? The hufflepuff was close, very close to just banging her head against the table in front of her. The dread was just driving her nuts.

Then of course, there was the slight inkling of actually wanting to be chosen. She wasn't stupid enough to ignore that bit of her that really did want to be a hero. She wanted to see the look on her friends' faces when she won the tasks and held the trophy in her hands for her entire house to see. The Okinawan wouldn't mind being the underdog story of the year, most certainly. It was just that the hufflepuff wasn't entirely sure that she wouldn't kill herself instead. Through all her stewing and nauseating emotions, Yori hadn't realized that the goblet changed colors and the headmaster was holding another slip of paper.

There was a silence, which was odd, and then-- wait, wasn't that her name being announced. ”SON OF A BITCH!” It was the immediate thought that escaped her as she stood ramrod straight from her seat, the thought sinking into her like a dead weight. It must have taken at least a few good moments to get her legs to work. She could feel eyes staring at her as her heart pounded in her ears. Ohhh... she was stuck between hugging Aubrey right there or killing her. How in sane hell did this happen?

With a shaky breath, the Okinawan resigned herself into going into the champions' room, trying to keep herself calm long enough to at least seem like the proper house champion.

[KINGSLEY AVIDORAS SHACKLEBOLT]

Kingsley was already getting tired and he had only just begun it seemed, of course it was drawing closer to the end of the ceremony. There were only two names left to be drawn, and the only two houses that hadn't been called yet were Gryffindor and Slytherin. Even so, he wasn't about to give away the results until all of the champions had been chosen, as he then started to notice the goblet acting up once more, but he merely looked at the perfect chalice as it sat there. Once more, the flame had spewed up just as the last champion left the room watching her go to the back with all of the others. It wasn't a surprise to Kingsley anymore, and he figured who the next two would be.

Either way, he would have to read out the names despite what the obvious results were, but as he looked down at the name, he curiously raised an eyebrow. The son of Draco, well, that was indeed interesting, and doubted anyone else could have pulled that off. Well, it was almost obvious by this point to the students who could put two and two together at least. That left the Gryffindor Champion, the mystery was going to be thrilling, but it would be ruined by anyone else shouting out their guess. The ceremony wasn't too predictable until more names had flown out of the cup.

Either way, he was now reading the name slowly aloud, and letting everyone hear it as he pronounced it to the tee, so that he could have everyone's attention. "SCORPIUS HYPERION MALFOY! Please make your way to the back room with the other champion, congratulations," he said to Scorpius, and nodded his head slowly as everyone from Slytherin started cheering except for a few groups again. Kingsley's eyes wandered over where the trio had sat down, Jacob, Chun, and Olivia. A twinkle in his eyes again as he turned to look back at the rest of the room as the flames from the goblet resumed to their natural blue....again.

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[SCORPIUS HYPERION MALFOY]

He watched the Ravenclaw champion's name called. A female prefect if he remembered correctly. Watching her walk past the professor's table and into a back room. It wasn’t long til the Slytherin champion was called and it was neither him nor Albus but Theia. Well at least it was someone he knew and he clapped loudly, a small smile upon his face. How could Slytherin loose if Theia was representing them? And then the other 2 champions were called. Surprisingly there was not a single Weasley or Potter in the mix, just Dunstable, a relative to the Potters. He wasn’t a bad kid either. He clapped for Dunstable.

Professor Shacklebolt announced there was to be a surprise. Another name floated out of the goblet. So there was more than one champion for each house, this was going to be interesting, he thought as he watched the head boy walk towards the back room and shortly after the Hufflepuff name was called, Yori.

It seemed to be taking forever before the next name was called. Scorpius turned, ready to congratulate Al for making it when he heard his name, well he thought he heard his name and turned to look up at the professor. Surely a Malfoy wouldn’t have beaten a favoured Potter in the goblet, but everyone was looking at him. He gave a faint smile to Albus, feeling sorry that he best friend wasn’t chosen before he stood and moved up and towards the back room, waiting for the last champion.

[KINGSLEY AVIDORAS SHACKLEBOLT]

It was almost a dilemma with how many students had been chosen, and many had been anticipating the name of the Gryffindor champion more than anything. Many people at the table weren't surprised at all, but he knew that there was much more at stake than just who was chosen. This was just the first part of the ceremony, and then the tasks would be next. There would be much more to discuss once he was finished with the ceremony and made his way into the back room to talk with the champions about the upcoming tasks at hand. Eventually he would give out a secret hint to them about a week or so later, but with the names flying out like nothing it was no surprise when the Goblet was already dishing out another name.

Scorpius wouldn't have been in ear shot anymore as he watched him walk off, grinning slightly, and then started to nod his head in return for a change. It was fitting really, especially since that was Draco Malfoy's boy. The disturbance earlier when Professor Longbottom had exited the hall was still fresh in his memory, and he honestly wanted to know what happened. Hopefully that there wasn't too much of a problem with the many goings on right now. Especially during just the start of the school year, and he wasn't going to give up on just figuring out who it was at all.

Soon the flames shot up brilliantly with their deep pink and it seemed that something strange had happened with this paper. It had been scorched a little on the side as if someone had tried to burn it before it was entered, except it was just a portion of blue flame having stuck to it. Kingsley blew it out waving the paper in the air as it somehow reformed. Everyone here loved magic, and he had just done some without much effort with just a flick of his wand. Soon as he looked at the name, he blinked a few times at first as surprise was evident, but he no longer worried about it. "We have our last champion! JAMES SIRIUS POTTER!!" he shouted out to the hall. Sure it wasn't enthusiastic, but he had said all of the champions names with the same tone.

It was really hard to tell if he was rather excited that one of the Potters had actually gotten accepted into the cup...too bad none of the other Weasley's had. Directing James to head back towards the champion's room by just gesturing his hand to him as he didn't wish to prolong the speech any longer. "That concludes the choosing of the champions, please keep your seats as they are now, and we'll discuss an announcement as well," he noted, wondering when Professor Longbottom would return.

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[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

James was seriously disapproving of the way that Ivan was ogling his sister, and tried to ignore it as best he could until he decided to speak up. "Knock it off will you? Not around me," he said callously even as his blue eyes looked up towards the center of the Goblet. Those swirling flames had mesmerized him since he had first entered the hall way, but thoughts of Hugo Weasley roamed through his mind. That damned toad of his was probably making him late again as he probably hopped out the window after seeing a puddle. The thought was amusing, but he decided to keep that one to himself. Mean as the idea was, he would never have wished that, but he glanced over at Albus for a moment.

Curious as to what his reaction would be after having realized that James was the only one of the potters that had been chosen in the long run. Not feeling any shame or guilt as he realized that his name had been called. Just spacing out a little as name after name had been read. Utter shock and disbelief seemed to cascade upon his features as he soon wanted to scream out literally in joy. James would have felt rather silly if he did, and was about to be congratulated by many when he realized he also had to make his way to the back room. What was so disturbing about this scenario? Was there something going on in the school he didn't know about, flashing a smile in Albus's direction.

Then walking off with a proud look on his face as he managed to finally start acting more serious too. This was the real deal, and he was about to actually meet with the other champions. There was just a few problems he'd have to deal with, one his cousin, but he would gladly take them all down a notch. James wasn't too worried about that Yori girl, whatever her name was, but he was sure if she was a challenge he could easily best her. It was time to put himself to the test and enjoy the many prolonged events of waiting. James Sirius Potter had been named champion and his ego was getting to his head right now.

Even as he stood up from the Gryffindor table, dramatically walking towards the entrance of the back room, he looked back at everyone. Gave a light wave to his table and then took one last glance at the Ravenclaw table to see if he could spot Isabella. Kingsley ushered a warning to him to not dawdle, and he soon smartened up, moving his tuckus into the next room where the other champions awaited to be addressed.

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[NEVILLE FRANK LONGBOTTOM]

Now that he had gotten Hugo to the Hostpital wing and Owls sent out to Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Draco, it was now time for him to head to the Great Hall and tell Kingsley about what happened as well as have all of the students go to their common rooms. Hopefully they could get a staff meeting set up the next morning to try and figure out what was going on, and he had a feeling that the minister might show up as well.

Neville was walking swiftly through the hallways towards the Great Hall, the current events heavy on his mind. He was sure that the students will want to wait for the champions after they’ve been talked to, but in light of recent events they’ll just have to wait until the champions returned to their respective common rooms.

The doors to the Great Hall swung open soon after Kingsley had announced the next champion and Neville made his way to the front of the Great Hall. Heads were turning to look at him as he walked between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw house tables. He knew many of them wondered why the deputy headmaster was late to the Goblet of Fire Ceremony, but he had his reasons. Once he got to the front he whispered to Kingsley swiftly about the recent attack before turning to face the students. “All students are to return to their common rooms at once. You can congragulate your champions once they’ve returned as well. You’re Head of House will inform you of recent events tomorrow morning, Prefects you are in charge of making sure your house members return to the common room” and with that him and Kingsley had turned and exited to the room that the champions were waiting in.

***NOTE: this is the last post for the thread.