The Big Dipper

The Arrangement

The next morning, it seemed as if everyone had gotten up early to watch their classmates put their names into the Goblet of Fire. There were about twenty people milling around it, some of them eating toast, all examining the Goblet of Fire. It had been placed in the center of the hall on the stool that normally bore the Sorting Hat. A thin golden line had been traced on the floor, forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction. Cassius had put his name in just before dawn, and Ursula was there to watch as Hadrian stepped through the Age Line and submitted his name, along with the rest of the Durmstrang students.

Someone laughed behind Ursula. Turning, she saw Fred, George, and Lee Jordan hurrying down the staircase, all three of them looking extremely excited.

"Don't tell me you've cooked up something to enter?" said Ursula, striding over to them. "An Aging Potion, perhaps?"

"Jealous, Black?" said Fred.

"One drop each," said George, rubbing his hands together with glee. "We only need to be a few months older."

"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins," said Lee, grinning broadly.

Ursula rolled her eyes.

"It'll never work," she said.

"Just you wait," said George.

"Ready?" Fred said to the other two, quivering with excitement. "C'mon, then — I'll go first —"

Ursula walked back to Hadrian as Fred pulled a slip of parchment out of his pocket bearing the words Fred Weasley — Hogwarts. Fred walked right up to the edge of the line and stood there, rocking on his toes like a diver preparing for a fifty-foot drop. Then, with the eyes of every person in the entrance hall upon him, he took a great breath and stepped over the line.

For a moment, it might have worked, — George certainly thought so, for he let out a yell of triumph and leapt after Fred — but next moment, there was a loud sizzling sound, and both twins were hurled out of the golden circle as though they had been thrown by an invisible shot-putter. They landed painfully, ten feet away on the cold stone floor, and to add insult to injury, there was a loud popping noise, and both of them sprouted identical long white beards.

The entrance hall rang with laughter. Even Fred and George joined in, once they had gotten to their feet and taken a good look at each other's beards.

"I did warn you," said a deep, amused voice, and everyone turned to see Professor Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveyed Fred and George, his eyes twinkling. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours."

Fred and George set off for the hospital wing, accompanied by Lee, who was howling with laughter, and Ursula and the others went into breakfast.

The decorations in the Great Hall had changed this morning. As it was Halloween, a cloud of live bats was fluttering around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of carved pumpkins leered from every corner.

"Who else do we know who's entering?" said Adrian, grabbing a few slices of toast.

"Cedric, of course," said Ursula.

"Looks like Angelina just did," said Lilian, pointing to the entryway.

People were cheering out in the entrance hall. They all swiveled around in their seats and saw Angelina Johnson coming into the Hall, grinning in an embarrassed sort of way.