Eagle's Flight // Frarry

Year 4.4

Upon entrance, Harry was nearly hit with a water balloon. He jumped sideways, careening into Fred. "Sorry!"

"What's with you and falling for me these days?" Fred joked as he righted Harry back up. He laughed when Harry slapped his arm.

"Peeves!" Professor McGonagall shouted. "Stop this at once!"

Peeves just cackled and threw another water bomb.

"Move along!" McGonagall said. "Into the Great Hall."

Harry took a seat at the Ravenclaw table and looked up at the staff table. He spotted Professor Snape, who caught his eye and seemed to do a double take. Harry grinned at the surprise the potions professor had not managed to completely hide, then slid his gaze to the other seats. Professors Flitwick, Harry's own Head of House, and Sprout, who was speaking to Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy department. Two seats were empty; Professor McGonagall was most likely drying off the second years. He guessed that the other one was for the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

A pang shot through him. It would've been nice to have Remus come back, but he had to admit that perhaps it was for the best. Some people were still voicing their concerns over Harry's living arrangement.

The Sorting passed and Headmaster Albus Dumbledore stood to give his announcements. The usual was said- Filch's list of forbidden objects, the forest was out of bounds- but then he informed everyone that Quidditch would not be taking place. Cries of outrage answered back. "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy- but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-"

At that moment, the doors of the Great Hall burst open and a man came in, limping heavily. Lightning illuminated his face, which was horribly scarred, and an electric-blue eye that was clearly fake, rolling around at the students and even into the man's head.

He came to a stop in front of Dumbledore. A quick hushed exchange happened, then Dumbledore said, "May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? Professor Moody."

Only he and Hagrid clapped, but they quickly stopped as no one else joined in.

"As I was saying," Dumbledore went on, seemingly unaffected by the unusual response, "we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"You're JOKING!" said Fred loudly.

The tension that had filled the Hall ever since Moody's arrival suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.

"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said, "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar."

McGonagall cleared her throat.

"Er- but maybe this is not the time... no... " said Dumbledore, "where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament... well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely.

"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities- until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

Death toll? Harry felt queasy at those words and could not understand why anyone would want to compete. Looking around, he caught Hermione's eye and raised a skeptical eyebrow as he flicked his gaze to the enthusiastic students surrounding him. Hermione shrugged, clearly sharing his uneasiness.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said, bringing Harry back to focus, "the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age- that is to say, seventeen years or older- will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration." With that, Dumbledore dismissed the students to bed.

"A thousand Galleons..." Ron was saying dreamily from the Gryffindor table. "That would be amazing."

Harry shook his head. A thousand Galleons sounded great and all, but at the risk of death? Not worth it in his book.

He looked up as Professor Snape passed, cloak billowing behind him.

"How do you manage to look so damn graceful?" Harry grumbled.

"Language, Mr. Potter. How was your summer?"

Harry grinned enthusiastically, eyes lighting up in that way so much like Lily. "It was great! Sirius is a bit of a drama queen at times, but-"

"At times?" Snape echoed with an undignified snort that was quite unlike himself. "Black has always been a drama queen. Especially with your father." He managed to keep his contempt of James out of his voice for once.

"And Remus isn't a whole lot better in that regard. In school, did he curse a lot?"

"Not that I know of. Why?"

"Because a few days before the full moon, he was wondering where the chocolate was and he swore. Sirius put him in timeout."

Snape pinched the top of his nose. "I cannot believe you are living with two overgrown children."

Harry shrugged. "Me, neither. Goodbye, sir."