"Harry Potter!"
Harry jerked awake. He was drenched in water. His pajamas were soaking and his sheets looked like they had just come out of the washing machine.
"Wha…why am I all wet?" Harry asked no one in particular.
"Beats me mate!" Fred replied, tossing a bucket behind the dresser. "And don't mind that. It was…Ron's shoe. Big feet. McGonagall wants you on up stairs for breakfast."
"What?" Harry asked. He rubbed his eyes and put on his glasses. What the heck happened last night? He wondered, staring at the room around him.
Okay…it was wet. It was raining and we had to walk up to the castle…why? Never mind. We went into the Great Hall for dinner, saw the sorting, had dinner, went to bed—oh! Dumbledore had that speech!
Indeed, Dumbledore had had that speech. As it had turned out, the members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team (lots had been drawn to decide which team they would be sending) and house-appointed manager (Hermione Granger; go figure) would not be able to sleep in their beds that night. They would be boarding a rather impressive carriage drawn by seven Hippogriffs ("One for each member of the team!" Hagrid had said as they were leaving): with a pinto named Buckles taking up the lead.
They would be 12 schools, two from every continent—except Antarctica. They would all be arriving at a secret location thought up by the school headmasters that afternoon, which had been specially set up for this very event.
Harry pulled on his trousers, grabbed a towel and ran upstairs, trying to get his hair as dry as possible. He entered the dining room; he hadn't seen it last night. The floor was covered in red carpet, and crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The tables were very much occupied, seeing as it was three people to a table.
The food was served on a long buffet table and was very much like the food back at Hogwarts; only the portions were considerably smaller.
Harry sat down at a table with Ron and Hermione. They had already set up a plate for him, mounted with pancakes and sausages and bacon.
"I wonder how long it will be till we get there," he asked, grinning excitedly.
"Professor McGonagall said we should be landing in an hour," Hermione replied, buttering a piece of toast.
"Really?" Harry asked. "I thought we weren't setting down until this afternoon?"
"The winds have changed. The Hippogriffs aren't flying against it anymore, which gives us a couple hours advantage."
Ron looked out the window. "Looks like that hour's changed into seconds!" he said excitedly, pressing his nose against the glass. "Look! Isn't that the Durmstrung ship?"
Hermione shoved him aside. "It is!" she said. "And we're heading…that small island? Is that really appropriate for an event like this?"
Harry looked out his window. The Durmstrung ship was far ahead of them, but it was so enormous, it was recognizable even from such a great distance. It was docking now, pulling into the temporary harbor the headmasters had had constructed.
McGonagall stood up from her seat at the faculty table. She raised her arms and the room fell silent.
"Good morning. I trust all of you had a good sleep?" she started. "Good. I'll be brief. We will be landing in a few moments time so everybody stay seated. Today will be a day for meeting our competitors—there will be no classes or Quidditch matches until tomorrow. Yes, Mr. Weasley, classes will continue."
Fred and George groaned and banged their heads against the table.
"We will all be gathered at the Hall of Nations immediately after we land, where we a ceremony will be held in honor of this event. You will be given your cabin keys, etcetera." She sat down in a hurry and they began to dive.
Harry thought he would loose his breakfast. He held a hand over his mouth just in case.
A second later, one of the Hippogriffs screeched and they touched ground on a cement runway.
"Leave your bags here. You needn't worry about them; they will be taken to your separate...all right. Everybody out!" Professor McGonagall rushed them all out and into the grass as a giant yellow and orange Asian dragon came drifting down on to the tarmac. On its back was a little house that was made of sculpted glass.
A minute later eight boys and girls dressed in traditional Chinese clothing (The girls dressed in orange and the boys dressed in dark red) stepped lightly out of the house, laughing as they skipped down the marble staircase. The youngest boy ran up to the dragon's head and scratched it above the eye, whispering something and pointing to a girl on his team. The dragon snorted and shoved the boy with his head.
"Whoa…" Ron whispered, staring at it. "I didn't think dragons like that existed!"
"You'll find, Mr. Weasley, that many of the creatures arriving you may have never seen," McGonagall said, smiling.
No sooner than she had finished, a six-wheeled carriage came out of the forest. It was pulled by four scaly yellow creatures with the body of a deer. Its tail was like a cows, and it's hooves like a horses, while on its head was mounted a set of large antlers. The stripes on its back were red, blue, yellow, purple and green, and its eyes were a deep grey.
"What the hell is that?" Ron asked as the creatures came to a stop.
"It's called a Kirin," Hermione replied. "I've ad so much about them, but I never thought I'd actually see one. They're extremely rare. They only live in Asia, near….are you two listening to me?"
"Let's go, everybody!" Professor McGonagall shouted, clapping her hands for attention. "Hurry! To the Hall! Alicia, would you drag Fred and George away from the dragon, please? Thank you."