Dreams of Stardom (Hollywood SI)

"Zoe!" A brunette girl dressed in Ravenclaw's robe shouted from across the street. "Stop walking at a turtle's pace, or we'll miss the movie."

"Calm your horses, Krissy," Zoe, who was wearing Hufflepuff, rolled her eyes. "We already have the tickets."

"And so do hundreds of others," said the third and final girl in the group, Riley, who was donning Gryffindor. "All the good seats will be gone if we aren't early."

Not wanting to hear her friends' complaints anymore, Zoe jogged until she was right beside the two. "Here I am, happy? I don't understand why you're so obsessed with the film. You both have read the books a hundred times. I should be the one more excited to know what will happen in this part."

"And whose fault is that for not being able to crack open a book?" Riley asked rhetorically. "You didn't even let us tell you the story."

"I want no spoilers," Zoe said resolutely.

"Wasn't Troy your favorite actor until last year?" Krissy asked curiously. "What happened now?" Then she gasped in mock surprise. "Don't tell me you're turning your back on Troy for Justin Timberlake or heaven forbid Shia Labeouf."

Finding the perfect opportunity to tease her friend, Riley said in a shrill voice, "Guys, I will totally marry Troy when I grow up." Then she dropped it back to normal. "Didn't you used to say that every time we saw one of his films?"

Zoe fought back the blush that was threatening to overtake her usual color. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, "That was when I was young and gullible. Also, he's dating Emma Watson now."

She wouldn't say it out loud to her friends, but she deeply loved Troy. Her heart had been shattered into a million pieces when the photo of him kissing Emma Watson surfaced. She had gone offline for days after that. She hadn't even seen the trailer for [Goblet of Fire]. Whenever it came on TV, she would change the channel because it hurt to look at Troy with another girl, and one of the early scenes in the trailer was Troy and Emma hugging.

Krissy chuckled. "Don't you know? They were never dating. There's this interview going viral on the internet where they say that they were shooting a film in which they had to kiss. It wasn't real."

Zoe stopped in her tracks for a moment. She really didn't know that.

"Hey, don't stop now," Riley complained and pulled Zoe along.

"Even then," Zoe tried to hide her shock, "why are you so excited to see the movie? You weren't this hyped for the third one."

Riley and Krissy shared a meaningful look before Riley asked, "You haven't seen the trailer, have you?"

Zoe shrugged. "I may have missed it."

Riley and Krissy laughed at that before Krissy said, "Oh boy. This will be good. She doesn't have any idea."

"About what?" Zoe asked in confusion.

"You'll see," Krissy said mysteriously, and then both girls remained quiet all the way until they were in the theater and had gotten some good seats.

"Come on, guys!" Zoe pleaded. "I need to know."

"Watch the film and find out," was the reply she got.

Zoe could only huff in irritation. Before the film started, a few commercials played out, which included trailers for some other movies as well, but there was one never-before-seen commercial that brought an instant smile to her face.

Troy was walking on a beach wearing a Hawaiian shirt, half pants, and Crocs. Then he was in a park, wearing tees, denim shorts, and Crocs. Then he was shooting a film, and you guessed it, he wore Crocs. The scene changed multiple times, from his bedroom to his living room, to playing tennis. In the final shot, he was wet head to toe, by a poolside, wearing just a pair of trunks and Crocs. Sunlight made him glow like a Greek god. His abs and pecs were to die for. If only Zoe could reach forward and touch him…

"Crocs," Troy said. "The only footwear you'll ever need."

And then the commercial ended. Zoe sighed in disappointment. That commercial ended way too soon. She looked down at her own Crocs that she was wearing at the moment, which she had purchased after watching Troy's first commercial, and she had to agree—they were the most comfortable footwear she could have bought. It was such a shame they had taken down the first ad within a month of its release. This was a new one, and the only one (besides the first) where Troy wasn't so shy about showing off his body.

"Don't sigh like that, Zo," Riley said. "You'll like what you'll see on screen when the movie begins."

Now Zoe was more than a little intrigued, yet she knew they wouldn't sate her curiosity, so she waited. Thankfully, the movie started soon enough.

It opened all dark and mysterious as an old man witnesses Peter Pettigrew and another man (who hadn't appeared in any of the prior movies) talk in a ghostly voice. It wasn't hard to deduce that the voice must be Voldemort, the villain of the story. Seeing that their plot was discovered, the old man was shot with a green spell accompanied by the incantation, "Avada Kedavra!" It was obvious that he had died.

In the next scene, Troy as Harry woke up suddenly from the nightmare, panting harshly. Hermione had come to wake him and Ron because they had to go to the Quidditch World Cup. They were joined by another boy, Cedric Diggory, and his father, Amos.

"Cedric is so hot!" Krissy commented from beside her. "I'd totally do him."

"As if he'd let you do him," Riley retorted.

"Shh!" Zoe hissed, and thankfully her friends complied.

The group used a device called a portkey to reach the Quidditch World Cup, where they got to see how diverse and vast the wizarding world was. Wizards of different nationalities and ethnicities were everywhere, doing magical things. The group stayed in a tent that was much bigger on the inside. And then the World Cup began: Bulgaria vs Ireland.

It was quite a beautifully choreographed sequence. It wasn't as detailed as the games in the first two movies, but they showed the scores and the live reactions of the group. It was the first match shown in the series where the team that caught the Snitch (Bulgaria) didn't win the game.

Everyone was in a happy mood after the game. They were teasing Ron about his man crush on Viktor Krum and being like kids in general, until suddenly there was a boom, and everyone quieted down.

"It must be the Irish," one of the twins noted idly.

But it wasn't. Their father rushed them out of the tent to safety, only for the camera to pan out and reveal that the camp was under attack by people in long black capes and silver masks. Chaos ensued, almost causing a stampede, leaving Harry to get knocked out. Someone cast a dark green skull mark with a snake coming out of its mouth in the sky.

They all suspected Harry and his friends of being behind it, but he was quickly acquitted because he didn't even know what the Dark Mark was or that Voldemort's followers were called Death Eaters. Moreover, he was Harry Potter. Why would he summon the mark of Voldemort?

As the story progressed, the three went to Hogwarts on the train. Harry was shown to have developed a crush on a girl named Cho Chang.

Delegations from two other European schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, arrived at Hogwarts to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. Their entrances were quite a stunning event, showcasing their magical capabilities.

A retired Auror named Alastor Moody joined the staff to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, and he taught the students the three Unforgivable Curses: Imperio, Crucio, and Avada Kedavra. The last one is the same curse Voldemort used on the old man at the beginning of the film to kill him.

Later that day, everyone over 17 started entering their names in the Goblet of Fire. Fred and George tried entering their names as well using an aging potion (since they were only 16) but got turned into old men. Everyone laughed out loud at that scene as they started wrestling on the floor.

Then it was time for the champions of the three schools to be chosen. For Durmstrang, it was the burly Viktor Krum, while for Beauxbatons, it was the beautiful Fleur Delacour.

Zoe had a feeling that Hogwarts' champion would somehow be Harry. She knew how these stories worked.

"Cedric Diggory," announced Dumbledore.

Then, in a shocking twist of fate, the Goblet spewed out a fourth name—Harry Potter. Everyone, from students to teachers to Dumbledore to Harry himself, was shocked by this turn of events, but Zoe loved every moment of it.

In the following scenes, everyone turns against Harry, including his best friend Ron. Zoe loved Ron so much. He was her second favorite character in the films after Harry, but this betrayal didn't sit right. Harry was all alone, tormented by his fellow students and even reporters.

But Harry was still the good guy. When he found out what the first task was from Hagrid, he told Cedric to level the playing field. And what a magnificent task it was—dragons.

Harry went last and faced the biggest dragon of the lot. Zoe's breath hitched when she saw the dragon breathing fire at Harry, but luckily, Troy ducked behind a rock and summoned his broom before taking the battle to the air. He showed expert maneuvers and outflew the dragon. It was quite a thrilling scene where Harry performed all sorts of dives and rolls on his broom before snatching the golden egg. But not before the end of his robes got burned.

Then came a very touching scene between Ron and Harry.

"Harry," Ron began quietly, "whoever put your name in that goblet—I—I reckon they're trying to do you in!"

"Finally caught on, have you?" Harry smiled tiredly. "It's okay."

"No, it's not!" Ron retorted hotly. "At home, I have five older brothers to compete against. I'm never good enough. Sometimes, I think you're my brother too. For that, I'm sorry."

"Who said we aren't brothers?" Harry grinned back, clasping hands with Ron.

Hermione, meanwhile, wiped away her tears. "Boys."

As the film progressed, when Harry opened the egg later that day, it let out a screeching sound, deafening everyone. Neither Harry nor anyone around him had any clue how to open the egg successfully.

During Christmas, the three schools held a Yule Ball, where the boys, being boys, started embarrassing themselves by asking girls out on dates. Harry was rejected by Cho Chang, so he ended up going with Parvati Patil instead, while Ron took her twin sister, Padma.

The dance sequences were beautiful to watch, but the star of the evening was Hermione, who stole the show in her periwinkle blue dress. She looked like she stepped straight out of a Disney fairy tale and accompanied Viktor Krum to the dance.

Ron and Hermione had a huge fight, showcasing Ron's jealousy once again. But if you looked closely, anyone could see that it was because Ron liked Hermione and didn't like her going out with someone else.

Sometime later, Cedric Diggory approached Harry and told him to take his egg to the prefects' bathroom.

The next scene made Zoe's breath hitch. Harry—no, Troy—dove into a bathtub nearly naked. While the camera didn't linger too long on his body, and there were plenty of bubbles in the way, Zoe knew that as soon as the DVDs were out, she would definitely buy it for this scene alone and pause it in just the right places.

Neville gave Harry something called gillyweed, and then Zoe felt as if she might die. Harry, Cedric, and Krum all stood in front of the lake, wearing only swimming trunks. Fleur looked quite fetching in a silver bathing suit as well, but the boys were the real eye candy for Zoe. Especially Troy. While he wasn't as broad or tall as the other two actors, anyone with eyes could see that he had the most defined muscles—especially those abs, which could double as a cheese grater.

"Why couldn't I have gone to the ball with him?" Krissy commented beside Zoe, who could only nod in agreement.

For the next ten or so minutes, while Troy was underwater and shirtless, Zoe's brain was not functioning clearly. She just knew that he saved Ron and a little girl from drowning, only to come out and receive a kiss—Harry's first kiss.

In the following scene, Harry stumbled upon the body of a Ministry official, casting doubt on a few mysterious figures, namely Severus Snape and Igor Karkaroff, both of whom had been former Death Eaters.

Then it was time for the final part of the tournament—the maze, which was honestly quite a thrilling ride. From the Boggart to the Sphinx to the Acromantulas, everything was jaw-dropping. The VFX was done beautifully, making everything look hyper-real. Then came the climax when Harry and Cedric dove for the cup together after Harry saved the taller boy.

And then, Cedric died.

Zoe sat in her seat with her mouth wide open like a fish. She had not expected someone to die in a [Harry Potter] movie—let alone Cedric, who was turning out to be such a great character.

Voldemort was resurrected by Peter Pettigrew after sacrificing his hand and forcibly taking Harry's blood, and what a chilling scene it was. The actor who played Voldemort scared the living daylights out of Zoe. When he tortured Harry, Zoe looked away for a brief moment, overwhelmed by Troy's superb acting.

Harry and Voldemort fought briefly in what was quite an epic duel, with their spells connecting. But it wasn't meant to be the finale. Harry managed to escape with Cedric's body. A beaten and battered Harry appeared on the field as everyone around him started celebrating—everyone except Harry, who was crying his eyes out while clutching Cedric's body.

Zoe shed a tear herself due to the intensity of the scene.

Then came the biggest twist of the story. Harry was led away by Alastor Moody, who turned out to be a Death Eater himself. Most of the audience gasped in shock as the revelation hit them like bricks. Non-book readers hadn't expected Moody to be an impostor.

The school year ended, and all the foreign students returned to their respective schools, leaving the Golden Trio behind, all sad and gloomy because now everything would change with Voldemort's return.

And then the credits started rolling. It was such a good film that Zoe knew for sure she would have to watch it at least two more times.

"Shall we go?" Riley asked, standing up as most people did the same and began leaving the theater.

"Wait," Krissy stopped her. "The last film had a post-credit scene. Maybe this one will have one as well."

"It did?" Zoe asked, amazed. "I didn't see it."

Krissy shrugged. "I saw it on the DVD. It was basically a trailer for this film."

Zoe's eyes glimmered. "Then we definitely have to wait for it."

Riley groaned in defeat but sat back down dutifully. After what felt like forever, the post-credit scene finally played, and it was quite a surprising one.

In the scene, Dumbledore argues with Fudge in an official-looking room about Barty Crouch Jr. and how Voldemort had returned.

"He has not returned!" Fudge hissed. "That's final. As for Crouch, you know the punishment for breaking out of Azkaban."

"You can't mean—"

"Dementor," Fudge commanded, and immediately one hooded black figure descended upon Barty and kissed him, essentially killing him. Dumbledore could only stare in shock at the turn of events before Fudge said, "If I were you, I'd make sure not to spread any more lies to the public. Tell that to your boy wonder, Potter, as well."

Then a final line came on the screen:

"Harry Potter and his friends will return to Hogwarts."

And then the movie was finally over.

"Holy shit!" Zoe cursed out loud. "That last scene was so intense."

"I know, right!" Krissy and Riley said in unison before turning to each other and grinning.

Zoe turned to her two friends and narrowed her eyes, "What exactly was in the trailer that you two were sure I'd like?"

Krissy grinned, "It showed a lot of footage of Troy underwater. So anyone who had seen it would have known about it. It was good, wasn't it?"

"He is one hot fella," Zoe said as a matter of fact. "Harry's school girls were all blind to not see his beauty. I'd kill someone to go on a date with him."

Riley nodded, "True, but that's because he's Troy. He's perfect in everything he does."

Zoe could only nod as they made their way out of the cinema. 

"I can't wait for the fifth film!" She announced to no one in particular.

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