"I can't believe it's really him!" Blaise said, in a stunned voice, as the Hogwarts students filed back up the steps behind the party from Durmstrang
"Blaise it's really not that deep , calm down" said Enzo
"No Enzo" he replied "it is really that deep, he is one of the best seekers in the world"
"I didn't even know he was still in school" said Iris
As they recrossed the Entrance Hall with the rest of the Hogwarts students, heading for the Great Hall, they saw many people jumping up and down trying to get a look at the famous seeker. Many girls were huddled in groups asking questions like "Do you think he has a girlfriend?" Or "I left my quills in my room...do you think he will sign my shirt in lipstick?"
They reached the Slytherin table and sat down. The students from Beauxbatons had chosen seats at the Ravenclaw table. They were looking around the Great Hall with glum expressions on their faces.
Suddenly Iris' head lifted up and her eyes widened "Uh guys"
"What?" Amy asked
"Krum may or may not be on his way to sit at our table"
"WHAT?" hissed Blaise as he turned around to see that she was telling the truth, Krum was approaching their table, and their group.
He had taken a seat in between Iris and Malfoy where both of them were internally freaking out. It was obvious that he was going to seat there as them two always left a huge space between them, wanting to be as far apart as possible.
Amy and Iris were looking at each other, silently freaking out over the Bulgarian to their left.
Viktor pulled off his heavy fur and looked up at the starry black ceiling with an expression of interest.
The group were all just watching him silently.
They were pulled out of their gazes when he turned to face them.
"Excuse me" he said, with a very strong accent.
Iris turned to him and acted as though she had only just noticed him.
Amy tried hard not to laugh at the girls attempt.
"Is the ceiling real?" He asked sounding genuinely intrigued.
Iris didn't answer for a second, she was just in shock of him speaking to her.
Amy cleared her throat and spoke up "No it just bewitched to match the sky" she answered
He turned his gaze to her, he studied her words for a second before speaking up again.
"That makes more sense now" he said with a small chuckle. "Thank you miss?..."
"Oh just uh call me Amy" she said with a smile
"Thank you Amy" he said with a smile and turned to his golden plate and goblet, picking it up and examining them, looking impressed.
Amy looked up to see all of her friends staring at her
"What?" She asked
"Give me that knife" Iris said to her
"Uh why?" Amy said, with zero intention of giving it to her
"I'm going to stab myself" she said, clearly disappointed at the fact that she just blew her chance of talking to Viktor Krum
Amy just laughed at the girl.
Dumbledore suddenly stood up and everyone fell to silence.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and - most particularly - guests" he said, 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. I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!" He sat down, and Amy saw Karkaroff lean forward at once and engage him in conversation.
The dishes in front of them filled with food as usual. The house elves in the kitchen seemed to have pulled out all the stops; there was a greater variety of dishes in front of them including foreign ones.
"What's that?" Said Blaise, pointing at a large dish of some sort of shellfish stew that stood beside a large steak-and-kidney pudding.
"Bouillabaisse" said Amy
"Bless you" said Iris
"It's French" the blonde said. "I had it on holiday once, it's very nice."
"I'll take your word for it" said Blaise, helping himself to a steak pie.
The Great Hall seemed somehow much more crowded than usual , even though there were barely twenty additional students there; perhaps it was because of the different coloured uniforms scattered around.
"Excuse me" a voice suddenly said "are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"
A Beaubaxtons student was standing behind Blaise.
She was gorgeous. A long sheet of silvery blonde hair fell almost to her waist. She had large deep blue eyes, and a very pretty face.
Amy saw that Theo was starting at her in complete awe. The girl suddenly felt very insecure.
Blaise was speechless. All the four years of knowing him, Amy had never seen him left wordless because of a girl.
He opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out.
"Yeah, have it" said Mattheo, pushing the dish towards the girl
Amy saw Iris suddenly share the girls feeling of insecurity.
"You 'Ave finished wiz it?"
"Yeah" said Blaise breathlessly. "Yeah it was excellent"
The girl picked up the dish and carried it carefully off to the Ravenclaw table. Blaise was still goggling at the girl as though he had never seen one before. Mattheo started to laugh. The sound seemed to jog Blaise back into his senses.
"You're right" he suddenly said, looking at Amy "she's a Veela!"
"No she isn't." Said Iris stubbornly "I didn't see anyone else staring at her like an idiot."
Amy quickly flicked her gaze to Theo who was laughing at their friends stubbornness.
But she wasn't entirely right about it. As the girl crossed the Hall, many boys heads turned, and some of them seemed to have become temporarily speechless like Blaise.
"I'm telling you that's not a normal girl!" Carried on Blaise, leaning side ways so he could keep a clear view of her. "They don't make them like that at Hogwarts!"
Iris scoffed and rolled her eyes at the boys insensitivity.
"There's a special few" said Theo, looking down at his food with the same smirk he had earlier.
Amy looked up immediately at the boy what did he mean by that? Does he have a crush on someone?
Amy suddenly felt her heart drop. She didn't know why she was feeling like this and why Theo's words had effected her so much.
Before she could dwell on it much longer Iris spoke up.
"Well Blaise when you've put your eyes back in, you'll be able to see who's just arrived" she said, still clearly annoyed at the boy.
They looked to the front and saw that the two empty teachers seats had just been filled by none other than Ludo Bagman and Mr Crouch.
"What are they doing here?" Asked Enzo
"They organised the Tournament didn't they?" Said Amy. "I suppose they wanted to be here to see it."
Once the golden plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up again. A pleasant sort of tension filled the Hall now. "The moment has come" said Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket-"
"The what?" Amy muttered
Iris shrugged
"- just to clarify the procedure which we will be following this year. But firstly, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr Bartemius Crouch, head of department of international magical Co-operation" - there was a smattering of polite applause - "and Mr Ludo Bagman, head of department of magical games and sports."
There was a much louder round of applause for Bagman than for Crouch, perhaps because of his fame as a beater, or simply because he looks so much more likeable. He acknowledged it with a jovial wave of his hand. Crouch did not smile or wave when his name was announced.
"Mr Bagman and Mr Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament" Dumbledore continued "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime on the panel which will judge the champions' efforts."
At the mention of the word "champions", the attentiveness of the listening students seemed to sharpen.
Perhaps Dumbledore had noticed their sudden stillness, for he smiled and said, "The casket, then, if you please, Mr Filch."
Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore, carrying a great wooden chest, encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old. A murmur of excited interest rose from the watching students. A first year, sitting next to Mattheo stood up to get a better view but was pulled straight back down by the Riddle boy.
"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr Crouch and Mr Bagman" said Dumbledore, as Filch place the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaces throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways....their magical prowess - their daring - their powers of deduction - and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."
At this last word, the Hall was filled with silence so absolute that nobody seemed to be breathing.
"As you know, three champions compete in the Tournament" Dumbledore went on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector ....the Goblet of Fire."
Dumbledore now took out his wand, and tapped three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it, and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable, had it not been full to the brim with dancing, blue-white flames.
Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the Goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall.
"Anyone wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment, and drop it into the Goblet" said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty four hours in which to put their names forwards. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the Goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The Goblet will be placed in the Entrance Hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete. To ensure that no underage students yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the Entrance Hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross the line."
"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this Tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the Tournament through to the end. The placing of your name into the Goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are whole-heartedly prepared to play, before you drop your name into the Goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Goodnight to you all."
"So who do you think is actually going to put there name in?" Asked Enzo as they made their way across the Hall to the doors in the Entrance Hall.
"I don't know but it should have been me" said Blaise stubbornly.
They all rolled their eyes at him really not in the mood for another one of his rants