Happy 2021!
-Wildflower
Previously......................
"Is there any idea of who conjured the mark?" I questioned them.
"There is no idea." Fred shrugged.
"At least that our dad knows." George added looking at Draco.
"You are looking at me as if he tells me anything." Draco said. I gave him a look. "Fine, I eavesdropped on a meeting. However, not officially, he says Barty Crouch Jr."
"Isn't he in Azkaban?" I questioned.
"Peter Pettigrew was supposed to be in Azkaban too but he was able to escape." Draco retorted.
"I'm not saying you're wrong." I told Draco. "I'm just saying it's surprising. Sirius and Pettigrew escaped because they were Animgus."
When we made it to Hogwarts we watched flying horses, pulling a carriage, fly in. From the water you saw a ship emerge from the water. "I wonder what's going on." I stated.
"No clue." Draco shrugged.
Now.............................
We were all sat in the Great Hall, for the first time this year, as Dumbledore began talking, "Now we're all settled in and sorted, I'd like to make an announcement. This castle will not only be your home this year but home to some very special guests as well. You see Hogwarts has been chosen..." Dumbledore began and Filich ran up to him, whispered something then ran back down the aisle. "So Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event. The Triwizard tournament. Now for those of you who do not know, the triwizard tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school a single contestant is selected to compete. Now let me be clear, if chosen you stand alone. And trust me when I say these contests are not for the faint hearted, but more of that later. For now please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of magic and their headmistress Madam Maxime." Then a group of girls, dressed in blue capes, danced their way up the aisle, releasing butterflies into the air. When the bow, signifying they were done, we break out in applause.
"Blimey, that's one big woman." Someone commented after seeing the headmistress.
"And now our friends from the north, please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang and the high master Igor Karkaroff." Dumbledore announced. Then a group of older boys walk up the aisle brandishing bo staffs twirling them and pounding them into the ground in perfect sync with a spark effect.
"Blimey it's him, Viktor Krum!" I heard Ron say with excitement. Igor Karkaroff greets Dumbledore like an old friend, embracing. Everyone got sat down and the feast had begun. Soon after the feast, Dumbledore began to talk again.
"Your attention please! I would like to say a few words. 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." Dumbledore began.
"Wicked." Fred said out loud.
"For this reason the ministry has seen fit to impose a new rule. To explain all this we have the head of the department of international magic cooperation Mister Bartimus Crouch." The headmaster said before the ceiling began to thunder and rain leaks through the roof. Then a man who stood in the doorway casted a spell who put an end to that, putting it back to its original state.
"Bloody hell, it's Mad-Eye Moody." Ron identified.
"Alastor Moody? The aura." Hermione questioned.
"It would have to be." I said.
"He was a catcher. Half the cells in Azkaban are full thanks to him. He's supposed to be mad as a hatter though these days." The red-headed fanboy told us. He begins to limp further into his room and it becomes more apparent that he had a mechanical eye.
"My dear old friend, thanks for coming." Dumbledore said to Mad-eye Moody.
"That stupid roof." The newcomer said before taking a drink from his flask.
"What's that he's drinking do you suppose?" Someone asked.
"I don't know but I don't think it's Pumpkin Juice." Harry said. He was suspicious of him.
"After much deliberation the ministry has concluded that for their own safety no student under the age of seventeen shall be allowed to put forth their name for the triwizard tournament. This decision is final." Barty Crouch announced and I let out a sigh of relief. Maybe this year nothing bad will happen. But I was the only one to think so as everyone started booing.
"That's rubbish! You don't know what you're doing!" George shouted.
"Silence!" Dumbledore demanded, then revealing a goblet with a blue flame. "The goblet of fire. Anyone wishing to submit themselves for the tournament merely write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour on Thursday night. Do not do so lightly, if chosen there's no turning back. As from this moment the tri-wizard tournament has begun."
The next morning I walked to class with Draco. "Honestly, Draco, I'm kinda relieved that they put an age limit on it." I admitted. "Because maybe, just maybe, nothing bad will happen this year."
"I know a lot of people are upset about it but you and Harry have a good reason to be relieved." Draco agreed. We walked into Defense Against The Dark Arts and sat down next to each other. Soon the class started and Mad-eye began to introduce himself.
"Alastor Moody." Moody wrote on the chalkboard, "Ministry malcontent. And your new defence against the dark arts teacher. I'm here because Dumbledore asked me, end of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions? When it comes to the dark arts, I believe in a practical approach. But first, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?" Draco and I looked at each other in shock. Hermione was the only who raised her hand. Moody nodded at her.
"Three sir." Hermione answered.
"And they are so named?" He questioned.
"Because they are unforgivable. Use of any one of them will..." Hermione said, not wanting to finish the statement.
"Will earn you a one way ticket to Azkaban. Correct." He then turned to write on the chalkboard, "Now the ministry says you're too young to see what these curses do. I say different! You need to know what you're up against, you need to be prepared, you need to find somewhere else to put your chewing gum other than the underside of your desk Mr Finnigan!" The Professor said.
"Aw no way, the old codger can see out the back of his head." Someone said and Moody then threw his piece of chalk across the room out of anger.
"So, which curse shall we see first?" He questioned, "Weasley!"
"Yes..." Ron answered.
"Give us a curse." He told the Weasley.
"Well, my dad did tell me about one...The imperious curse." Ron told him.
"Ahhh yes, your father would know all about that. Gave the ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." He said then opening a jar with a spider in it. "Hello. What a little beauty." He then casts the curse on the spider and sends it around the room. "Don't worry. Completely harmless." We were all unsettled by this. "But if she bites... she's lethal!" Draco then laughed, I could tell it was one of those laughs that was out of awkwardness. "What are you laughing at?" he then sends it to Draco's face and he starts screaming. "Talented isn't she? What shall I have her do next? Jump out the window?" He slammed the spider against the window, "Drown herself?" He then has it over a water bucket. "Scores of witches and wizards have claimed that they only did you-know-whose bidding under the influence of the imperious curse. But here's the rub, how do we sort out the liars? Another.. another.. Come on come on. Longbottom is it? Up." Neville stood up, nervously. "Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for herbology." Neville nodded. "Give us a curse."
"There's the um... The cruciatus curse." Neville told him with a slight stutter.
"Correct! Correct! come come. Particularly nasty. The torture curse." Mad-eye said before casting on the spider, it was squealing. It bugged me but I knew it bugged Neville more, especially after what happened to his parents.
"Stop it! Can't you see it's bothering him, stop it!" Hermione finally snapped. He then stopped.
"Perhaps you could give us the last unforgivable curse Miss Granger." Mad-eye told her, she shook her head, refusing to say it, "The killing curse. Only two people are known to have survived it." He walked up the aisle, looking at Harry then me and I shook my head, "And one of them is sitting in this room."
"I thought Aria Potter was dead." Seamus questioned.
"We never knew what happened to her." He told him, "Her body was never found."
He knew I was Aria Potter. There was no doubt about it.
"What do you think happened to her?" The Irish student questioned.
"I think she's alive somewhere." He said, looking at me, then Seamus. Then he took a drink, walking back to his desk. We were then dismissed and Draco and walked out together.
"He knows." I simply said.
"I figured as much." Draco agreed.