Piper watched as the Durmstrang students walked over to the Slytherin table. Her eyes scanned the crowd.

"Are they an all-boy's school?" she asked Pansy. Pansy shook her head.

"They're probably just sexist," she muttered. "They think boys have a better chance of surviving the tournament."

"What buttheads-- hello!" she smiled pleasently at the Durmstrang student that had just sat between her and Draco. He turned to her and gave a quick smile back.

Pansy caught her breath. "That's Viktor Krum!" she hissed not-so-subtly to Piper. "He's only the best seeker in the world!"

"Good for him." Piper turned her attention back to the Beauxbaton students who were sitting in the Ravenclaw table next to them. Several of the girls were speaking rapid-fire French but before Piper could eavesdrop, Pansy elbowed her.

"Did you not hear me?" she asked in awe. "It's Viktor Krum!"

"Yes, I heard you," Piper said back. "Hello to you, Viktor. Pass the peppermint humbugs, will you?"

Viktor passed her the peppermint humbugs.

"How are you taking this so calmly?" Pansy whisper/shrieked. "It's--"

"--Viktor Krum," Piper finished for her as she passed the humbugs back. "Give the guy a break, will you? Imagine how he must feel right now."

Piper was suddenly aware of Viktor's eyes on her and wished she had whispered. Surprisingly, Viktor smiled at her before turning back to his dinner. Piper wrinkled her nose at the scent of steak. Even though it smelled delicious, memories of that meat-processing plant still infiltrated her nose.

"He's a man of few words, isn't he?" Pansy sighed before turning to her own plate.

More French floated into Piper's ears.

--cold and drafty here.

What is this food? At least they have some of our own food.

Is there a ceiling? Why can I see the stars? Piper turned to the girl that spoke, who was eyeing the ceiling with a strange fascination, though it was well hidden behind a bored facade. Her hair was long and silvery, and she had a natural glow of beauty around her. Piper would not be surprised if she found out she was a daughter of Aphrodite.

It's enchanted, she said to them in fluent French. The girls' gaze snapped to hers.

You are French? The girl who complained about the temperature asked her incredulously.

Piper fought to keep her eyes from rolling. No, I speak Greek, she said completely poker-faced.

The boy complaining about food tilted his head. He looked remarkably like Jason, though his hair had a brownish tint. If you are French, why are you in this school?

Maybe I wanted to be in this school, Piper challenged him.

Ridiculous, the silver-haired girl said. Beauxbatons is the best wizarding school in France.

In France, maybe, Piper replied. But we're not in France, are we?

Pansy elbowed Piper. "You speak French?" she asked. "What're they saying?"

Piper grinned. "They just called you a turtle headed monkey. Pretend you called her a turtle headed monkey," she whispered to the three students in French. They all laughed, except for Pansy, who looked a bit more than miffed.

"I'm kidding," Piper said. "We're talking about Hogwarts."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Real good friends, you all seem to be," she said. "You never told me you were French."

"I'm not," Piper said. "I'm half Greek half Native American."

"You are Greek American zen?" the silver-haired girl asked. "Zat is fascinating."

Piper shot her a lopsided grin. "I wasn't lying when I said I spoke Greek."

Pansy shook her head. "You are just full of surprises, aren't you?"

"You have no idea," Piper said as she helped herself to some bouillabaisse.

The next night came exceptionally slow. Piper stared blankly at the game of wizards chess she was supposed to be playing with Pansy. The Slytherin girl moved a pawn.

"Come on, now!" Piper's knight shouted. "Get a move on! No, don't do that!" he said sharply as Piper made a move that would result in him getting captured. "Move him! We can afford him!"

Piper made the move anyways and, like the knight predicted, Pansy's bishop took him out. The little stone statue shouted curses after Piper as he was dragged away.

"C'mon, Piper," Pansy scolded. "You're not this bad, are you?"

Piper shrugged. "I'm not a very good thinker," she admitted. "I leave that to Annabeth."

Pansy raised her eyebrows. "The Gryffindor? Why on earth would you do that? Didn't she punch Draco in first year?"

Piper grinned at the memory. "He was asking for it."

"Not really." Pansy shrugged. "He was just commentating."

Piper shot Pansy a sardonic look.

"Okay, maybe he was being kinda mean," Pansy admitted. "But you have to admit, Weasley's life is just sad."

"Which is exactly why Draco shouldn't do that," Piper argued back. Then she glanced at a clock on the side. "Come on, let's get to the feast."

"It's the second one in two days," Pansy said as she dragged a finger through her layered black hair in an attempt to smooth out the tangles. Piper unconsciously fiddled with the emerald green feather in her hair.

"C'mon, I want good seats," Draco said as he hurried down the boy's dormitories. "It's not everyday the Triwizard tournament comes around, you know."

Piper ignored Crabbe and Goyle behind him, as she was used to now. They were large, stupid, and pretty much just creepy.

They were about half an hour early. Pansy thought it was a bit much, but she had to admit, as the swarms of students came in, that they got good seats.

After the feast, in which most of the students that entered their names didn't eat much, the plates returned to their spotless states.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," Dumbledore said. "I estimate it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and enter into the next chamber where they will be receiving their first instructions."

"Any second now," Draco muttered, his eyes fixed eagerly on the Goblet. He looked like a child at Christmas, and Piper realized that, despite how mean he was to the Gryffindors, Draco had that sense of anticipation and excitement that everyone else had. He was, after all, just a fourteen year old boy.

Suddenly, the flames inside the goblet turned bright red. Sparks flew from it, The next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of paper fluttered out of it, and the entire room gasped. It was quite a ghastly sound, really.

Dumbledore caught the parchment and held it at arm's length, the goblet's firelight illuminating his face with an odd, blueish white light.

"The champion for Durmstrang," he read in a strong, clear voice. "Will be..." everyone leaned forward. "Viktor Krum!"

Piper grinned and clapped as the burly Quidditch player stood up and walked down the path Dumbledore instructed.

The clapping and chatter died down, and everyone's attention was fixed on the goblet once more. Seconds later, it turned red again, as if it were waiting for everyone to be silent. Piper had a sudden vision of a teacher hiding inside the goblet with the chosen papers. It was certainly large enough for Professor Flitwick.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," Dumbledore said. "Is... Fleur Delacour!"

Everyone's smiling eyes were drawn to the silver-haired beauty, who glided down the aisle, down the high table, and into the chamber beyond. Piper remembered their conversation earlier and hoped Fleur wouldn't die.

Again, the goblet turned red as silence fell. Then sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and a charred piece of parchment fluttered out.

A moment's hesitation showed on his face as feigned surprise danced over his features. He turned to the crowd. "The Hogwarts champion," he called. "Is... Nico di Angelo."

(For those of you who are reading to hear Percy in the triwizard tournament, I will have an extra book specifically with Percy instead of Nico. But the rest of this book is with Nico, and I will continue this series with the events that happened when Nico was the champion. Look for Percy Jackson The Hogwarts Champion)

Everyone was silent. Then cries of outrage were heard from every corner of the Great Hall as people stood up to yell.

"What?" Draco screeched as he caught the Son of Hades' eye.

"He's not even of age!" Another person yelled.

Dumbledore waited patiently for silence, which didn't come. Finally, he thrust his wand in the air and several tongues of fire shot from the tip, extending nearly to the end of the hall. Silence fell.

"I do not know how young Nico di Angelo's name was placed in the Goblet of Fire," he said, blue eyes flickering over to where Nico sat. "But the rules of the tournament are clear-- the champions chosen by the Goblet are the ones that are to compete."

Roars of outrage exploded again, then suddenly it all fell silent once more. Piper turned to see why.

The Goblet of Fire was burning red again. Another slip of paper shot out of it, and on instinct, Dumbledore caught it and scanned the name. This time, shock did echo on his features though he extinguished it as fast as Percy had to extinguish Leo's tofu tacos when it all went wrong.

But all memories of flaming tofu tacos were ripped from Piper's mind as Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out--

"Harry Potter."

So three updates in one :) consider the last two the chapters I was supposed to update the last two times