"I beg your pardon, ma'am?" The chill in Heri's voice could have brought on the next Ice Age. She only just refrained from baring her teeth. "I'd like to know what you think you know of my character that you believe that you can just call me a liar without a care or hesitation!"
Her eyes were glowing with ire. She remained seated only because of the two on either side of her that were holding onto her.
"I don't take such accusations lightly, ma'am!"
"Here now, Heri," murmured Cedric, visibly disturbed by her unusual show of temper. He rubbed her back in a soothing motion. "No need to get worked up about it."
"Cedric, I've just had a tussle with a ball of fire hot enough to melt flesh that came out of a cup that's supposed to judge worthiness for a competition, and then I had my name come flying out for the aforementioned competition which I have no business being involved in." Heri's tone was uncompromising. "I want answers, not pointed fingers."
"Miss Potter is quite right," said Professor Sprout, frowning at the French headmistress. "She has never been known to flout the rules and doesn't deserve to be accused for something she is the victim of."
"Mr Crouch . . . Mr Bagman," said Karkaroff, his voice unctuous once more, "you are our — er — objective judges. Surely you will agree that this is most irregular?"
Mr Crouch spoke in his usual curt voice.
"We must follow the rules, and the rules state clearly that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament."
"I insist upon resubmitting the names of the rest of my students," said Karkaroff. He had dropped his unctuous tone and his smile; his face wore a very ugly look indeed. "You will set up the Goblet of Fire once more, and we will continue adding names until each school has two champions. It's only fair, Dumbledore."
"But it doesn't work like that," said Bagman. "The Goblet of Fire's just gone out — it won't reignite until the start of the next tournament —"
"— in which Durmstrang will most certainly not be competing!" exploded Karkaroff. "I have half a mind to leave now!"
"Empty threat, Karkaroff," growled a voice from near the door. "You can't leave your champion now. He's got to compete. They've all got to compete. A binding contract, like Dumbledore said. Convenient, eh?"
Moody had just entered the room. He limped toward the fire, and with every right step he took, there was a loud clunk.
"Convenient?" said Karkaroff. "I'm afraid I don't understand you, Moody."
"Don't you?" said Moody quietly. "It's very simple, Karkaroff. Someone put Potter's name in that goblet knowing she'd have to compete if it came out."
"Evidently, someone 'oo wished to give 'Ogwarts two bites at ze apple!" said Madame Maxime.
"The Goblet's been tampered with and all you care about is the fact that another student had been chosen?" asked Professor McGonagall, the lines on her face deepening with her displeasure.
"What evidence is zere of zat?" said Madame Maxime, throwing up her huge hands.
"A very powerful magical object has been hoodwinked!" roared Moody. "It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the tournament . . . I'm guessing they submitted Potter's name under a fourth school, to make sure she was the only one in her category . . ."
"We all know that Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn't discovered six plots to murder him before lunchtime," said Karkaroff loudly. "Apparently he is now teaching his students to fear assassination too. An odd quality in a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dumbledore, but no doubt you had your reasons."
"Are we all just going to ignore the fact that a fireball exploded out of the Goblet and nearly killed nearby students?" Heri cut in impatiently. "I assumed that was unusual behaviour, but it must be a regular thing to cull the crowd if you're all just going to gripe about an extra champion instead of the maiming."
"Quite right," Professor Dumbledore said, his face unhappy. "Our first priority should be the safety of the children. I think it's been made obvious that the Goblet has been tampered with, and it is clear that whoever did so has little care for anyone that might get injured in the meantime."
"We have yet to disprove that the girl somehow entered herself and mucked it up enough to cause disaster," said Karkaroff, a sneer on his face.
Heri had had enough.
"Come off it!" she snapped, her enunciation becoming noticeably less civil. "I'm fourteen years old for Merlin's sake! What d'you expect me to do against an enchantment of a fully trained wizard near a hundred years my senior?"
Madam Pomfrey had finished with her hand, so Heri got to her feet and went over to Professor Dumbledore. She took a breath through her nose and released it before holding out her hand.
"May I see the parchment if you please, sir?"
The headmaster handed the singed scrap to her.
Heri looked at it and scoffed.
"There are so many things wrong with this thing. There's no school written down next to my name for one. This isn't even my handwriting either!" She gave a significant look to the two ministry officials. "Surely it can't be binding if it wasn't me that put my name in or even wrote the name?"
Mr Bagman punctured that small hope.
"It was quite common back in the beginning for people to submit the names of others. Often it was the people who were nominated that were chosen to represent their school."
Heri sighed.
"This is ridiculous!"
There was a moment of agitated silence.
"How this situation arose, we do not know," said Professor Dumbledore at long last, speaking to everyone gathered in the room. "We will have to remove the Goblet of Fire from the school to be checked over for its malfunctions, but it seems to me that we have no choice but to accept its decision. Both Cedric and Heri have been chosen to compete in the Tournament. This, therefore, they will do."
"Ah, but Dumbly-dorr —"
"My dear Madame Maxime, if you have an alternative, I would be delighted to hear it."
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