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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 38: Tri-Wizard Tournament
Several weeks passed, and the preparations for the tournament continued.
Hogwarts students returned to the castle and soon received the news about the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
Tonight, everyone was at the Great Hall, waiting with excitement for the arrival of the two guest schools.
"What do you think it's under that tarp?"
Neville felt someone tapping on his shoulder. It was one of his classmates, Seamus Finnigan, who was pointing at the object placed at the end of the hall.
"I don't know, but it's very big," Neville responded.
"I know what it is," someone said proudly from the other side of the table.
Neville glanced at the girl with bushy hair. "You know?" he decided to ask. She always seemed to know the answer to everything and liked to talk a lot, but no one paid much attention to her, and she was always alone, so Neville felt sorry for her.
A smile appeared on Hermione's face. "I do! I read all about the Tri-Wizard Tournament in the library. They always used an artefact called the Goblet of Fire to select the champions. I bet that is what is hidden beneath the tarp."
"Goblet of Fire?" Dean Thomas leaned closer. "A goblet is going to choose the champions? How does that work?"
"Ehm…" Hermione was not used to being asked questions. Most would try to ignore her when she was giving them some interesting facts that she had read about. "From what I have learned, names are written on parchment and then put inside the flam—"
"Hey guys! You know what I heard?" Seamus interrupted Hermione's explanation. "I heard that every student in Beauxbatons is a pretty girl."
"That is impossible," said Dean. "Not every girl can be pretty. They must also have ugly ones." He gave Hermione a side glance as he said this.
Neville sighed, seeing the downcast expression on the Muggle-born girl, and wished he had the guts to call the two boys out for hurting her feelings.
Thankfully, they were soon distracted from this conversation, because just then, the gates of the hall burst open and a tall woman walked inside.
The Headmaster immediately walked to the wooden platform and began to speak loudly, telling everyone to welcome their first guests, the students from Beauxbatons.
Cheers erupted in the hall as a group of beautiful girls dressed in light blue robes strolled into the room while singing and dancing.
"See? I told you they were all pretty," Seamus exclaimed.
"Maybe, but they are not all girls. Look at the back," Dean pointed, and they could all see that there was also a group of male students walking behind.
At the end was their Headmistress, a gigantic woman with short brown hair. She made her way to the other side of the hall and greeted Dumbledore with a warm hug.
Soon after this came the other school, Durmstrang.
Their mood was different from the jovial girls of Beauxbatons. They were all boys with short hair and were dressed in thick dark cloaks. They walked into the hall while carrying heavy staffs, and sparks would fly all over when they used them to hit the ground at the same time.
Their Headmaster was a tall man with long black hair called Igor Karkaroff. He also went to greet Dumbledore, although their hug was much shorter and more composed.
After that, the guest students sat down at the tables along with the rest of the Hogwarts students.
The tables had been enlarged so there would be no lack of space for everyone.
A few of the Durmstrang students went to the Gryffindor table.
"May I sit here?" a tall boy with short black hair asked Hermione.
"Oh! I mean… yes?" she panicked.
The boy sat down next to her, and some of his classmates also sat close by.
"You have a pretty school. Very bright," the boy said.
"Bright?" Hermione sounded confused, not very sure of what he meant by that.
"Wait a minute. I know you." One of the Weasley twins pointed at the tall boy.
"You are Viktor Krum, aren't you?" the other twin asked.
There were loud gasps at the table when the name of the famous Quidditch player was spoken.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore was giving a very long speech, in which he also explained the rules of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
The Headmaster then revealed the Goblet of Fire and told them how the artefact worked.
"See? I was right," Hermione said proudly.
"So we just have to write our names and put them in there?" Seamus asked.
"You are not seriously thinking of entering the tournament, right?" Neville stared at his classmate as if he were crazy.
"I don't lose anything by putting my name in, right?" Seamus shrugged. "And hey, if I become one of the champions, I bet I can get a date with one of those Beauxbatons girls."
"Gross…" Hermione mumbled.
However, the Headmaster's next words would kill the chances of most students to join the competition.
"No one under seventeen can participate?" George Weasley sounded outraged.
"That is completely unfair!" Fred added.
"Were you actually planning on joining?" Their brother Percy threw them a look of disapproval.
"Are you two insane? Did you not hear what people said about the tournament?" Now it was their sister, Ginny, who spoke next. "People have died in that competition."
Fred and George looked at each other and decided not to say anything. The death of their brother, Ron, had affected them all, but most especially Ginny, who had been very close to her brother when he was killed and had seen the whole thing.
The Headmaster ended his speech and was then approached by Barty Crouch, who was going to remain at Hogwarts for the duration of the tournament.
"Look at that," he pointed at the hall. "This is going to be a success, don't you think?"
"Oh, I really hope so…" Dumbledore's eyes were locked onto the Goblet of Fire.
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