Charlotte Potter

Chapter two

The first thing I notice as we are presented into the Great Hall is the candles floating through the air. The walls were decorated with silk banners with four different colours on them along with four different sigils. There were four long oak tables where the students sat and all of them rose, applauding us in. At the front of the room, there was a small stage set and where another oak table was where teachers rose to their feet. In the middle of the table was a grander chair than all of them for it was covered in gold.

And of course standing in front of the entire school with his frail arms spread wide was the great Albus Dumbledore dressed in silver robes and a grey hat. His silver hair was still long and his beard was so long now it was tied at the front mid way. His blue eyes shown through his half moon glasses and I couldn't help but smile brightly at him.

He, however, didn't see me for he rushed over to Madame Maxime taking her hand and walking her to her seat before kissing her hand. Walking back to the stage he raised his hands so that the room fell silent as we all stood to the side.

"And now our friends in the north," Albus boomed the room quiet, "please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang and their High Master, Igor Karkaroff."

All eyes turned to the front as these beast of men strutted into the Great Hall like they owned the place, their chins up and their chests out. All of them looked so serious and I couldn't help but fight a giggle as they looked completely arrogant and ridiculous. Suddenly a Durmstrang student knelt to the ground and began to blow a huge bird that flies around the castle room once before evaporating into thin air. There are no applauses as their High Master Igor walks straight to Albus who greets him warmly.

We are seated at the front of the rooms, our tables simply added to the front of two of the end tables. I squeezed in next to Marius and Blair and quickly noted the chairs are extremely uncomfortable.

Without saying a word, food suddenly appears in front of us and everyone in the room begins to eat, their voices so loud it hurts my ears.

"Nousne sommes pas plus au Kansas Toto." We're not in Kansas anymore Toto. Lèa murmured to us and Blair and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. As we began to ate we chatted idly, it feeling extremely odd not to be hearing music while we ate.

Looking around as I chewed my food I tried to work out what the sigils were. There were four of them, one with a lion, a eagle, a badger and a snake all with different colours. I couldn't see the names of the houses but they looked quite grand.

I cleared my throat and leaned forward to see the nearest Hogwarts student, "Excuse me?" I asked politely and a boy with orange hair turned around, his blue eyes really bright as he stared at me confused.

"Are you talking to me?" He asked and I nodded smiling as I leaned over Marius.

"Yes I was wondering if you could explain to me what the sigils meant." I pointed to the banners and he nodded leaning forward, the girl next to him looked a little annoyed which I didn't care about.

"Well," he cleared his throat and I listened in still leaning on Marius, "there are four houses; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. They are all based around our founders and are based on their values."

"Oh okay, thank you!" I smiled at him showing my pearly whites at him and he flushed a little as I leaned away and relayed the information to an eager Blair whose eyes lit up with the new information. As we had been talking, four men had carried a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It was beautiful to look at and I stared in awe as Dumbledore stood there next to it as he gathered his thoughts.

"I'd like to say a few words..." Dumbledore called out and the entire room fell silence, "Eternal glory. That is what awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament. But to do this, that student must survive three tasks. Three extremely dangerous tasks. For this reason, the Ministry has imposed a new rule. No student under the age of seventeen shall be allowed to put forth their name for the Triwizard Tournament."