*flail*
This place was scary, but Ella definitely wanted to do it.

She eyed all the other people who were entering, or watching, whatever. Then she eyed the age line around the Goblet of Fire. She knew that she was allowed to go through, she was seventeen this year. But still, it was kind of daunting to look at. What if it didn't let her through? Just for lols?
....

But if she WAS chosen for this tournament, she'd be happy to represent Hogwarts rather than Beauxbatons. Ew. Was it worth it though? This tournament was dangerous. Deadly, in some cases. Although it might be good to take her mind off things, and Ella knew that she was definitely tough enough for it. Well, she though so anyway. With a DEEEEEEP breath, she took out a bit of parchment and wrote her name and school on it. Now it was time for... the mahoosive step. With another deep breathe, she shut her eyes and stepped her foot over the age line.

After that general terror was over, she took another glance of the parchment and tossed it into the Goblet of Fire. She watched the flames eat up the paper, and that was that.. right? Right, she turned after a moment of endless staring, then stepped back over the age line. PHEW, thank Merlin that was over.

She had watched.
Or had been watching for a short while now. For half an hour or so.

She had watched as students she knew well, or not so well gathered and watched as the of-age, or soon to be, approached the age line and stepped over it. Before placing their names into the goblet. It was ever so fascinating for her.

The prospect of fear.

If anyone could sense it, she was sensing it now. Lori was sensing just that people placing their names in that goblet were terrified that if they got picked, they could [like had happened previously] die.

... And now it was her turn.

The brunette was calm, or so as calm as she could be. After scrawling onto a piece of parchment, Lori had sat watching people, wondering why on earth she was intending to do this. And possibly just ... make a fool of herself.

Maybe the age line, had also been made to reject pink, glittery, Hufflepuff's.

But she went to do it.

After cautiously stepping over the age line, she had stopped for a moment, contemplating her decision, before just letting her hand place the parchment into the goblet. There. Done.

Oh, oh, she was too YOUNG AND PRETTY to diiieeeee!

Name? Come back please? She pleaded with her parchment and whatnot, before just leaving the inner of the age line, and resuming her place within the crowd to watch her peers, and this ...

spectacle.

Arabella-Marie watched fascinated as students she didnt know that well were walking up to the goblet and putting there names in it for contention for the champions and she hoped that while she was still at Hogwarts she got a chance to compete in something like the triwizard tourniment

He wasn't focusing. The staring eyes were a bit glazed, far away as he considered both sides, both options. To do it, or not to do it. It really couldn't hurt... wasn't like it was a sure thing he'd be chosen, after all.

He'd heard his own name, attention snapping back to present, and he looked over at Sabel. "Hey mate."

His eyes went back to the paper in his hands. It... didn't need to say seventh year, did it? It was something he wrote out of habit, especially since he was fairly sure most professors had no clue what year he was, most times. Brow furrowed, he tapped the parchment with his wand, and the words rearranged.

Raiden Jae Kururugi.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

They'd know, if it came out, that he was old enough.

When he noticed Nia stepping into the chalk circle, he straightened up a bit, watching intently. All fidgeting with his own slip of paper stopped, and when she approached, he gave her a sheepish sort of smile.

"That's all a matter of opinion, innit," he said, folding and unfolding his name. "I guess the Goblet gets to decide that in the end?"

She thought he should, though. It wasn't Neptune or Lexi or some other giggly person making eyes at him while egging him on to 'eternal glory'. Nia might have been smiling and excited, but her encouragement felt altogether different, and Raiden nodded.

He stepped over the line, up to the Goblet, and watched as the dancing flames devoured his name. Watching after it for a moment, almost amused, he wondered exactly how it chose. And who it would choose.

Stepping back across the line, he grinned at Nia and leaned toward her conspiritorially.

"If that thing somehow shoots one or both of our names out... let's make it fun, at least." He didn't know the chances of that happening, but if they ended up involved, then at least they should enjoy it, right? "Eternal glory be damned."

Who needed it. He glanced at Sabel again.

"If your name comes out... be careful?"

Gryffindor 'bravery' and all.

"But do you think the beard itched?" She looked over at the new face, momentarily distracted from her conversations about death. "I wonder how long they had the beards. Like was it present all term or just a few days." The stories never said. "I bet it was funny though." She said to both Treyen and the Ravenclaw girl, still wanting to see someone underage cross the line.

Her eyes flicked from the Ravenclaw girl to Kellen when he told a shortened version of the story. She knew what had really killed Cedric, and his retelling didn't convince her that Sabel should be a Triwizard Champion. "Just because he didn't die from the tournament doesn't mean he couldn't have." She mumbled eyes floating back to the cup.

The girl also knew that if Sabel was chosen he would have to participate, whether he had a change of heart or not. There was no point in her trying to convince him that the tournament was too dangerous.

Besides it wasn't guaranteed that Sabel would be one of the champions picked. Lots of students were entering their name into the cup, so his chances were slim.

Arya looked around them when Sabel gave introductions, but who was he giving them to? The Ravenclaw girl? No, he was speaking to Treyen, and it made her grin a little. "I already know Treyen." He was her soon to be skating buddy. Hehe.

Her eyes drifted over to Raiden, curious as to what had brought him to the cup. Was he here for the reasons Kellen was or Sabel's. Apparently Sabel's as she watched the boy walk the line and enter his name in the cup. That was two of her friends willing to risk their life for eternal glory and a shiny cup. The chances of one of them getting picked were getting higher.

Slipping from in between Sabel and Kellen, she moved over to Raiden to give him hugs. "Both of you should be careful." She wasn't to keen on losing any friends this term.

Eli approached the cup, standing just back from the age line. Thinking, and listening to the gossip of the other students. Growing beards, even death was considered. But they were right- no way would Tate kill a kid for putting their name in, right? He thought some more, then began speaking to anyone-who-was-listening:

"I was reading about age lines. It says if you cross the age line when you aren't of-age, the charm goes into effect. And the Goblet requires your parchment to be dropped directly from a hand, so simply levitating it won't work. But I wonder. D'you think putting it into the hands of another would do the job? I mean, like if I gave my parchment to an older student... or..."

He took a small mouse out of his pocket. "What if I gave a parchment to this little guy and levitated him up into the goblet? Do you think that would work? I think it would deflect the effects of the age charm onto him, as he's obviously not of-age. But the parchment would make it in." He glanced around at the older students. "Do you think that would work?"

"That settles it," Kellen faux-scoffed at Sabel's words, "if they ever want the Goblet re-designed, I'll be sure to put my name in for the design team. For the sake of all future Sabels."

He turned at Sabel's call and grinned at Raiden. Another of his friends was putting their name in! Suddenly he was conflicted, and he tapped a finger off his chin as he considered his options, "Well now I'm not sure what to do... maybe you two could decide on a common pompom colour." Because he didn't think it would be possible for him to shake four at the same time.

"Just because our train didn't crash on the way here, doesn't mean it couldn't have," Kellen returned cheerfully to Arya. Though really, he was pretty sure the Hogwarts Express had about a billion charms on it to prevent such a thing.


Interesting theory. Kellen considered it before answering, "I don't think so. The Goblet probably has some modified charms on it to ensure that the name on the parchment came from that same person's hand. Even if it did select your name, it might magically bind the mouse into the contract of champions, and not you."

As far as the levitation went, Kellen had a theory about that too, "It might, that's true, but it's also possible that the Age Line will pick up on the levitation charm and backfire the effects of crossing it onto the caster of the spell."

Maybe he was over-analyzing it, maybe not.

Sigh. Perhaps Arya was right and no one will be trying that.

They'll never know.

Unless...his eyes went over to a girl who spoke about Harry Potter's times. True, that had happened.

On the other hand, Treyen eyed the Ravenclaw boy while he spoke of Cedric, "He was still competing in the Tournament" whether if was Voldemort who killed, that was another thing, but he was still competing.

But, ooooh, lookit! It was the dog!boy, and the dog!boy was also thinking of entering his name? Was the Head Boy thinking that Arya was the Goblet of Fire? Because the Goblet was the other way around, and his eyes seemed rather lost in thought. Maybe he got confused, the dog!boy.

Ack! Treyen didn't enjoy being reminded of that class. Pixie!Diggy was mean. And still owed him a butterbeer.

Introductions! The little Huffie boy had his eyes on the Gryffindor one as he introduced them all. Ahhhh, so the dog!boy was named Raiden...oh, well, that explains it, Professor Kingsley had called him by his name in that class, and Treyen thought he only meant the boy was a Raider.

"I already know Arya" he said, almost at the same time as Arya told Sabel that she knew him. Haha. Funny.

And then Raiden placed his name between the blue flames of doom.

Awesomeness!

And he agreed with Arya, "Whether we all know that death could be around somewhere..." he couldn't help to think of Durmstrang, "...the most important thing is that you do what feels right, whether for fun or knowledge..." or eternal glory, and a pretty shiny cup, yes, cups were shiny, "...and try to think of the best possible way to gain life experience from the challenges" he said, with a smile, to both the boys who'd put their names in the Goblet, "And possibly win, because we all want Hogwarts to win" yeah, he wasn't entering, so all he wanted was that, seeing Hogwarts win, no?

"I think we should try it. Strictly for the sake of academics, of course." Eli said with a sly grin. "We should use three underaged students, one should get an of-age student to put his name in, one should try to levitate the name in and one should try to use good ol' Puck here." He held up the little white mouse, who blinked at them nervously with its black oilspot eyes. "Come now, who is in this with me? It's educational!"

Nathan stood glaring at the age line. He hated competitions where you had to be of age to enter. He knew that it was probably for they're own good and they hadn't learned enough magic yet to be properly prepared.

But Still...

He wanted to enter. But he wasn't allowed, so he stood watching the other people enter thier names into the Goblet. Deciding who he would support if they were chosen.

He almost missed the last step of the platform when someone shouted his name. He snatched at the railing to keep himself vertical. That was a close one, he looked around to find the source of the voice and smiled when he saw the tiny Grayson smiling at him. "Thanks." he told her with a smile. "Did you put your name in?" he asked her as he held on to the railing.

And the good mood just had to be ruined by that bully from the gumball machine. He turned slowly to the look at the boy. "Yes I'm allowed to enter the tournament. I will be 17 in January." he told the boy. Just because he was small and skinny didn't mean he didn't have what it took to be a Triwizard Tournament. "You can cross the age line if you're going to turn 17 during the tournament," and that was that. He didn't have to explain himself to that boy. He could be the Hogwarts champion just the same as anyone else.

He smiled as Grayson defended him. "Thanks Grayson. That means a lot to me," and it really did. People always wrote him off because he liked hugging his mother and comic books and he was shorter than the average 12 year old. But Diggy knew what he could and couldn't do and he go be the Triwizard champion. He gave her a slight bow and a wink before he disappeared into the crowd of milling students. He didn't want to get into anything with that gumball bully.

Iris walked into the entrance hall, mainly to go outside... but she figured that she should at least go and watch a few people put their name into the Goblet. So she did. Stepping towards the crowds of people, Iris looked at the Goblet.

It really sucked that she was too young. Doing this would have just been amazingly awesome. Even just entering would be awesome.

Continuing to tug Kingston along, the two of them finally made it to where the goblet thingy was. Well, it was definitely different then what she had been expecting. Not the fact that there were people standing around and watching others put in their name, but the goblet thing. Why couldn't the fire looking part be green, hmm? Blue was so...blue-ish. Meh.

Letting go of the young Gryffindor, Evelyn leaned up against the wall and crossed her arms, staring at the goblet. "I so wish I could put my name in." she muttered, sighing at the idea of being Hogwarts Champion. Why couldn't the tournament take place in a few years?

Arabella-Marie nodded and said "Yeah i am wishing the same Evelyn but hey it will be fun to watch the tourniment who do you think will be the Hogwarts champion" Arabella-Marie wasnt sure who from Hogwarts had put there name in the goblet

Did all Gryffindors have the same question on theirs minds? Josh had asked her the same thing. Then again though, now she had time to actually think about it. "I don't know.." she muttered, leaning her head against the wall. "If Raiden entered his name though, I vote for him." Since, he was a Slytherin after all, and that's who she wanted to be the Hogwarts Champion. A slytherin.

Actually, he was the only Slytherin she knew was old enough that could enter their name. Hehe, so obviously, that would be her choice. "Do you know anyone who's entering their name?"

Arabella-Marie shook her head and said "I don't actually i still haven't met a lot of people so i have no idea who is going for champion but i will support whoever is hogwarts champion no matter what house they are in"

Hmm she was one of those kinds of people that didn't care about the past house rivalry thing. Or, maybe she really would just cheer on whoever the Hogwarts Champion was. Really, it would be the Hogwarts Champion.

Staring at the goblet, Evelyn triiieeed to think of anyway the thing would know if someone entered their name. Surely the paper would be burned up right? How did it know who to choose? Were their others that chose the names? "Do you know how the name is going to be chosen?" she asked, not bothering to turn her head towards Kingston. "I mean like...how does it know?"

Arabella-Marie shrugged and said "I have no idea actually i think i need to re-read Hogwarts A:History again cause i am sure that it says a bit about the triwizard tourniment that was held here during Harry Potter's years at Hogwarts"

"I already read it..." she muttered, continuing to stare at the goblet. Really, there was nothing in there on how the goblet actually worked. Perhaps it was just...magic!

Hehe, even that sounded ridiculous in her mind. There had to be some way it knew who to choose. And, there had to be someway to beat the system. Something she needed to look into later on in the day, and perhaps get Destiny to help her. She was good at finding stuff in the library. Plus, it'd get her away from Marie and her wrath. "So, anyways." Finally turning towards Kingston, Evelyn put on a fake smile and....well yea. "Your first year here. The lucky year." First years never got into trouble most of the times. Pfffft. "Have you wandered much around the castle yet?"

Oh jeeez, she was being rather nice. OMG! She was becoming a Huffie! Quick! She needed to trip someone! On accident of course. Hehe.

Arabella-Marie thought and said "A bit but there is still a lot of the castle i need to explore and i still need to meet all of the professors"

Hearing this, Eli sauntered closer to the girls, Puck the white Mouse still in hand. "Do you really wish that? Then let's do it. I was just telling some other students that we should try to put our names in. Just for the sake of 'academics, to understand fully how the age line works, of course." He winked at them, his free hand ruffling his purple hair. "I had a thought, that we should do a test with three students. One should give their name to an of-age student to put into the cup, the next should try to levitate their parchment in and the third would use Puck here to carry it up into the cup. See what happens. Want to?" he grinned. "By the way, I'm Eli. Eli Jarod, Ravenclaw." He said this last word as though it his house made it evident that the plan was brilliant. He was a 'claw, after all! How could it fail?

Releasing Raiden from her hold, she turned her attention to another new face who seemed as intrigued by the consequences of an underage student crossing the line as they were. His ideas seemed logical enough, but she wasn't sure if they would work or not.

Arya was liking Treyen more and more, he knew exactly was she meant. Something bad always happened in the tournament, and something bad was always happening at Hogwarts. The two were just a bad combination.

"The chances of someone getting hurt in the tournament are greater than the chances of the train crashing." She responded cheerfully, though not as cheerfully as he had. There was no changing her opinions about the tournament, and there was no way she was gonna stop worrying about her friends that entered.

"....I do want Hogwarts to win." She added belatedly, looking at Treyen. Just not at the expense of her friends.

Musing over Kellen's words about the Goblet, she almost missed the bit about using the mouse to test out the line's charms. Almost. "Don't use to mouse," She frowned slightly at the boy before her expression softened, settling on the white mouse. Educational or not, it was cruel. "We need to find some willing underaged student to test out line, not a cute little mouse."

Hmm that was true. Even Evelyn herself hadn't explored the whole castle yet and it was her fourth year here. That should definitely change.

Smiling at the thought, the girl was juuuuust about to reply but...

O...M...G...

Purple head was talking to her.

Raising a brow as he spoke, and continued to speak, Evelyn stood up to her full 5 foot 4 inches height (so scary i know), arms still crossed, and stared at the kid. Did he forget who he was talking to? Him being a Ravenclaw an all, this was a pretty stupid move.

"Why don't you yourself just walk up and stick your name in? Use an aging potion or something." Hehe, of course, it would be highly unlikely that it would work. The headmaster wouldn't be stupid enough to overlook a simple aging potion. Besides, she really wanted to know what would happen to someone too young that crossed the line.

Arabella-Marie smiled as Evelyn told that boy off and said "I wouldn't want to try it anyway Evelyn because well i am sure the Headmaster has put an age line in for a reason"

OMG!

Why was she deciding to put her life in danger and enter this thing? She had read about this at school back in the US and she was totally freaked out now. Sadie stood by herself in front of the line. She saw Beaxbaton and Durmstrang student's around, talking amongst themselves and having a good laugh at something someone had just said. She caught a glimpse of familiar faces like Fletcher and Cosette.

That means only one thing was left to do....

With a piece of purple parchment reading:

She crossed the age line and waited for something bad to happen. But it didn't. She was safe. Phew... Her birthday was in March next year and she'd be 17 so if she was correct then this was totally acceptable. She took a deep breath and shut her eyes, throwing the piece of parchment into the flames. No turning back now right?

*sob*

She walked off and sat down on one of the benches in the Great Hall, probably the Gryffindor house table, and waited to see who else was going to be brave enough to enter.