When you arrived in the entrance hall, you found yourselvesunable to proceed owing to the large crowd of students congregated there, all milling around a large sign that had been erected at the foot of the marble staircase. Fred and George, the tallest of the four, stood on tiptoe to see over the heads in front of them and read the sign aloud for you and Lee.
TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o’clock
on Friday the 30th of October. Lessons will
end half an hour early —
"That's brilliant!" said Lee. "It’s Potions last thing on Friday! Snape
won’t have time to poison us all!"
Students will return their bags and books
to their dormitories and assemble in front
of the castle to greet our guests before
the Welcoming Feast.
"Only a week away!" said a fourth year Hufflepuff, emerging from the crowd, his eyes gleaming. "I wonder if Cedric knows? Think I’ll go and tell him..."
"Cedric?" said Lee blankly as the young Hufflepuff hurried off.
"Diggory," George said "He must be entering the tournament."
"That idiot, Hogwarts champion?" said Fred as you all pushed your way through the chattering crowd toward the staircase.
"He’s not an idiot. You just don’t like him because he beat Gryffindor at Quidditch. I’ve heard he’s a really good student — and he’s a prefect." You spoke as though this settled the matter.
"You only like him because he’s handsome." said Fred scathingly and scoffed.
"Excuse me, I don’t like people just because they’re handsome!" You said indignantly.
—
When you went down to breakfast on the morning of the thirtieth of October, the Great Hall had been decorated overnight. Enormous silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts House: red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, and green with a silver serpent for
Slytherin. Behind the teachers’ table, the largest banner of all bore the Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger, and snake united
around a large letter H. You sat beside Fred and George and Lee opposite you when Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down beside you at
the Gryffindor table. Once again, and most unusually, you were sitting apart from everyone else and conversing in low voices. Ron led the way over to you all.
"It’s a bummer, all right," George was saying gloomily to Fred.
"But if he won’t talk to us in person, we’ll have to send him the
letter after all. Or we’ll stuff it into his hand. He can’t avoid us
forever."
"Who’s avoiding you?" said Ron, sitting down next to them.
"Wish you would..." said Fred, looking irritated at the interruption. You chuckled.
"What’s a bummer?" Ron asked George.
"Having a nosy git like you for a brother," said George.
"You two got any ideas on the Triwizard Tournament yet?" Harry asked. "Thought any more about trying to enter?"
"Aging potion." Lee and the twins said.
"George asked McGonagall how the champions are chosen but she
wasn’t telling," you said and George looked at you bitterly. "She just told him to shut up and get on with transfiguring his raccoon." Fred slightly pushed you playfully making you smile.
"Wonder what the tasks are going to be?" said Ron thoughtfully. "You know, I bet we could do them, Harry. We’ve done dangerous
stuff before..."
"Not in front of a panel of judges, you haven’t." said Fred.
"McGonagall says the champions get awarded points according to
how well they’ve done the tasks." Lee continued
"Who are the judges?" Harry asked.
"Well, the Heads of the participating schools are always on the
panel." said Hermione, and everyone looked around at her, rather surprised, "because all three of them were injured during the Tournament of 1792, when a
cockatrice the champions were supposed to be catching went on the rampage." She noticed them all looking at her and said, with her usual air of impatience that nobody else had read all the books she had, "It’s all in Hogwarts, A History. Though, of course, that book’s not entirely reliable. A Revised History of Hogwarts would be a more accurate title. Or A Highly Biased and Selective History of Hogwarts, Which Glosses Over the Nastier Aspects of the School."
"What are you on about?" said Ron, though Harry thought he
knew what was coming.
"House-elves!" said Hermione, her eyes flashing. "Not once, in over a thousand pages, does Hogwarts, A History mention that we are all colluding in the oppression of a hundred slaves!"
Harry shook his head and applied himself to his scrambled eggs. His and Ron’s lack of enthusiasm had done nothing whatsoever to curb Hermione’s determination to pursue justice for house-elves. You decided to speak up "Listen, have you ever been down in the kitchens, Hermione?"
"No, of course not," said Hermione curtly, "I hardly think students are supposed to —"
"Well, we have," said George, indicating Fred and you, "loads of times, to nick food. And we’ve met them, and they’re happy. They think they’ve got the best job in the world —"
"That’s because they’re uneducated and brainwashed!" Hermione began hotly, but her next few words were drowned out by the sudden whooshing noise from overhead, which announced the arrival of the post owls. You weren't expecting any letters from Sirius, yet here was your owl, with a letter on its beak, landing in front of you. You took the letter from its beak and fed it some bread. You opened the letter, which had a small poem inside it. Took you long enough to write a new letter, you thought. It said:
"To the perfect (Y/n),
Though the sun sets and finalises another day,
It leaves us with an array of colour and hope,
Hope that a new day will come,
Hope that life with you will continue to be as beautiful
As it is now.
It fills my heart with gladness knowing that
Though the sun is being replaced with night,
When I lay my head to rest,
You will be by my side,
Comforting me tonight.
By yours truly with love."
You would lie if you said that this letter hadn't made you blush and smile like a fool. This person's letters would create butterflies in your stomach. You held the letter to your chest and closed your eyes. When you opened them, the familiar three pairs of eyes stared at you. "What?" You asked, confused and a little bit scared.
"Who is it?" George and Fred said
"Who is what?"
"The person who's been sending you these letters, (Y/n)! Every time you get a letter from this person, you act as if you are the happiest girl on the planet." Lee said.
"Well, and what if I am? At least somebody is paying attention to me...even if I don't know them."
"Oh Merlin...this girl has fallen in love with a stranger." George sighed.
"Like, what weirdo sends love letters instead of coming up and confronting them?" Fred said with disgust.
"Somebody who clearly likes her and is just self-conscious! I find it romantic, (Y/n). Don't listen to them. Boys are just stupid. Never thinking straight." Hermione put a comforting hand on your shoulder. You smiled at her, thankful that somebody has sided with you.
—
Something large, much larger than a broomstick — or, indeed, a hundred broomsticks — was hurtling across the deep blue sky toward the castle, growing larger all the time. "It’s a dragon!" shrieked one of the first years, losing her head completely.
"Don’t be stupid...it’s a flying house!" said Dennis Creevey. Dennis’s guess was closer...As the gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, they saw a gigantic, powder-blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant. The front three rows of students drew backward as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed — then, with an almighty crash that made Neville jump backward onto a Slytherin fifth year’s foot, the horses’ hooves, larger than dinner plates, hit the ground. A second later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes.
For a few minutes, the silence was broken only by Madame Maxime’s huge horses snorting and stamping. But then —
"Can you hear something?" said George suddenly.
The rest of you listened; a loud and oddly eerie noise was drifting toward them from out of the darkness: a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, as though an immense vacuum cleaner were moving along a riverbed...
"The lake!" yelled Lee, pointing down at it. "Look at the lake!" From your position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, you had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water — except that the surface was suddenly not smooth at all.
Some disturbance was taking place deep in the center; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks — and then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake’s floor...What seemed to be a long, black pole began to rise slowly out of the heart of the whirlpool...and then you saw the rigging...
"It’s a mast!" You said to the boys.
Slowly, magnificently, the ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering
at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes. Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide toward the bank.
—
When all the students had entered the Hall and settled down at their House tables, the staff entered, filing up to the top table and taking their seats. Last in line were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime. When their headmistress appeared, the pupils from Beauxbatons leapt to their feet. A few of the Hogwarts students laughed. The Beauxbatons party appeared quite unembarrassed, however, and did not resume their seats until Madame Maxime had sat down on Dumbledore’s left-hand side. Dumbledore remained standing, and a silence fell over the Great Hall. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and — most particularly — guests," said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable. The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast." said Dumbledore. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"
The Great Hall seemed somehow much more crowded than usual, even though there were barely twenty additional students there; perhaps it was because their differently colored uniforms stood out so clearly against the black of the Hogwarts’ robes. Now that they had removed their furs, the Durmstrang students were revealed to be wearing robes of a deep bloodred.
At that moment, a voice said from behind Lee "Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?" It was the girl from Beauxbatons who had laughed during Dumbledore’s speech. She had finally removed her muffler. A long sheet of silvery-blonde hair fell almost to her waist. She had large, deep blue eyes, and very white, even teeth. Lee went purple. He stared up at her, opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out except a faint gurgling noise.
"Yeah, have it," you pushed the dish toward the girl.
"You ’ave finished wiz it?"
"Yeah," Lee said breathlessly. "Yeah, it was excellent." The girl picked up the dish and carried it carefully off to the Ravenclaw table. Some Gryffindor boys, including Ron and the twins were still goggling at the girl as though they had never seen one before. The sound seemed to jog Lee back to his senses. "She’s a veela!" he said hoarsely to turning to face you and the twins.
"Of course she isn’t!" You said tartly. "I don’t see anyone else gaping at her like an idiot!" But you weren't entirely right about that. As the girl crossed the Hall, many boys’ heads turned, and some of them seemed to have become temporarily speechless, just like Lee.
"I’m telling you, that’s not a normal girl!" said Ron, leaning sideways so he could keep a clear view of her. "They don’t make them like that at Hogwarts!" You scoffed and picked up a carrot and threw it at Ron.
"You boys are such pigs." Hermione said and you agreed.
—
Next evening, you were currently sitting with Hermione at the entrance hall, watching everyone who was of age putting their name in the Goblet of Fire, a sign that they wanted to participate in the tournament. Cedric Diggory was pushed by his friends, signaling him to put his name in the Goblet. His hair and clothes were soaked (from the typical English weather) yet he still managed to make girls around him swoon at every move he took. He out his name in and looked at you, winking and smiling. You returned the smile, hoping Hermione wouldn't notice. Before she could say anything, three familiar faces came to view holding a bottle each of aging potion.
"Lads, we did it!" Fred said.
"Cooked it up just this morning—or, erm, (Y/n) and Astrid did." George said.
"It's not going to work!" Hermione said in a sing-song voice. The twins looked at each other before crouching beside you and Hermione, George on Hermione's left and Fred on your right.
"Oh yeah? And why's that Granger?" George said.
"You see this?" She gestured to the age line around the goblet. "This is an age line. Dumbledore drew it himself!"
"So?" Fred asked
"So!" Hermione closed ger book and scoffed. "A genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by a dodge as pathetically dimmed witted as an aging potion!"
"Yeah but that's why it's so brilliant" Fred said.
"'Cause it's so pathetically dimmed witted." George said, chuckling and standing up beside Fred. They shook their bottles.
"Ready Fred?"
"Ready George!"
"Bottom's up!" They said in unison, crossing their arms like married couples do and drinking the potion and jumping inside the circle avoiding the age line. Surprisingly, nothing happened and the twins cheered. "Ready?" Said George and both placed their names in the goblet. For a second nothing happened before the fire from the goblet hit them both, sending them flying to the other part of the hall. They looked at each other, touching their faces. Apparently they now had white long beards and long white frizzy hair. "You said!" "You said" was heard from both of the boys before they started fighting in the ground. Everyone was now around them chanting "fight" to the twins. You basically ran to them trying to get them away from each other with the help of Lee. Suddenly, Krum came to the Hall to put his name in the goblet before of course looking at Hermione and smiling a bit. You were definitely going to tease her later about it.