Chapter 1
Another Year Begins

"Now you're sure you have everything you'll need!" Adele's mum asked for the fourth time that morning.

"Oh for goodness sake! Yes, we only went over t he list 45 times!" she yelled.

"Well I just want to make sure you're prepared sweetheart!"

"I know." Adele said as she gave her a hug. "I swear sometimes you make it seem as if it's my first year off to school."

"It never gets any easier to watch you leave." Her dad chimed in.

"All aboard! Last call for Hogwarts Express! Last Call! ALL ABOARD!" yelled the conductor as he prepared the train for departure.

Her parents hugged her tightly, almost to the point she was unable to breathe. In between gasps of air she managed to say, "Mum, dad, I've got to go, I'm gonna miss the train!"

"Oh alright!" her mother said with one last tight hug before Adele pushed her mother away and walked onto the train. "Be sure to write us when you get there!"

"Oh I will, I wouldn't want you to send me another howler like you did last year!" she yelled. She made her way down the train's long hallways looking for a compartment when she finally found Luna Lovegood sitting alone in one. Luna said hello and Adele quickly threw her bag onto the seat and stuck her head out the window; determined to say goodbye to her parents one more time. She was finally able to find them in the crowd and as she waved at them she heard her mother yell, "Well I wouldn't have to send a howler if you would just write us a little more often!!"

"Alright, alright!!!" she yelled back as the train began to pull away. Adele continued to wave at her parents until they were out of sight. She went to sit down and heard, "Adele!" She jumped up out of her seat, and turned to see that she had almost sat on Luna.

"Op, sorry Luna!" Adele exclaimed as she looked around to make sure she wasn't going to sit on anyone else. Her bum had barely touched the seat before Luna asked, "So how was your summer Adele, you didn't go to the Quidditch World Cup did you?"

"My summer was great. My parents and I spent it in Scotland, in our small cottage. It's amazing Luna it's right off the coast and it's got a great view of the ocean and…"

"Thank goodness you didn't go to the World Cup!" Luna chimed in.

"Why, what happened?" Adele asked.

"You didn't hear?" she said.

"No, my parents and I don't follow the wizard papers when we're on vacation…Luna what happened!"

"Why don't you follow the papers? That's not a very good idea, you could miss something very important and…"

"Luna! What happened at the world cup?"

"Adele, it was horrible! Death eaters showed up and destroyed everything. Then, someone conjured the dark mark." Luna explained.

Adele looked at her, stunned and somehow managed to say, "Did they find who conjured it?"

"No. At one point they even thought it was Harry Potter who had summoned it."

"What?! Why on earth would Harry Potter conjure the mark?"

"He was cleared of suspicion of course."

"Oh hell! I told mum and dad we should keep in contact with someone from the ministry; or that we should at least get the daily prophet."

"The daily prophet! Why on earth would you read that! My father is the editor of The Quibbler you know. It's a really good paper, why last issue he ran an article on…"

Adele laughed, Luna loved talking about her father and his paper, "Luna, I know your dad runs The Quibbler."

"Oh of course you do." She said. "But wait, do your parents work for the ministry? You mentioned something about them keeping in contact with someone from the ministry."

"Oh, yeah…my parents used to work for the ministry. They retired a few years back though."

"What did they do?"

"Luna this is thee most talkative I have ever seen you." Adele said laughing.

"I'm sorry. I won't ask you anything else." She quietly replied.

"No, Luna that's not what I meant. It's just fun to have you talking so much!"

"Oh alright….So what did your parents do at the ministry?" Luna asked again.

"They were Aurors'."

"Oh how exciting!" she exclaimed.

"Sure, if that's what you'd like to call it." Adele quietly mumbled.

Luna stared at Adele looking more dazed and confused than ever.

"I'm sorry Luna, it's not something I talk about often."

"Attention all First Year students; Please make sure you have changed into your robes before we arrive! You have time until we get there, but be sure you are ready by the time the train arrives at the school!" We heard a woman yell as she walked up and down the hallway of the train.

"I'm glad we don't have to deal with that anymore." Adele quietly said. Luna nodded her head in agreeance but remained silent. Adele felt bad for snapping at Luna, but it wasn't something she had spoken about in a long time, and she didn't want to start now.

The two girls slowly began to talk to each other, discussing their summers and expectations for the new school year. It is very surprising, but once Luna opens up, she's actually quite entertaining.

"Luna, your earrings are amazing." Adele said.

"Oh, thank you. My mother made them for me when I was younger."

"They're brilliant." Adele said as she raised her hand to grab a hold of her necklace, only to discover that it wasn't there. She panicked slightly for a moment and quickly asked Luna, "Have you seen my necklace, I think it fell off when I was taking off my sweater." They searched their cabin, looking in every nook and cranny they could find.

"Here it is!" Luna said as she grabbed the necklace and handed it to Adele

"Oh, thank you." Adele said relieved. Her mother had given her the lion necklace just before her first year at Hogwarts. It was a golden lion that had two red jewels for eyes. Her mother told her that she would for sure get into Gryffindor, she was right. Her first year at Hogwarts, the sorting hat had barely been placed on her head before it yelled out, "Gryffindor!"

That was such a long time ago, Adele thought. So much has changed. Thoughts raced though her head as she felt the train pull to a stop and heard the compartment doors all throughout the train fly open and began to see students walking out. She grabbed a hold of her bag and followed the crowd out of the train.

"Hey Adele! How was your summer?" she heard a voice ask from behind her. She turned around to look and see who it was, and to her pleasure it was Neville Longbottom.

"Hey Neville!" Adele replied as she gave him a hug, which caused Neville to turn bright red; she had forgotten how shy he was around girls. "My parents and I spent it in Scotland."

"That's great! Hey I'll see you at the banquet later tonight!" Neville said as he ran to catch the carriage he had been about to get on.

"Yeah, see you." Adele replied as she climbed into a carriage of her own and within around 5 minutes arrived at the castle.

They arrived at the castle and as Adele was getting down from hers, she dropped her bag, and sent papers flying. As she bent down to pick things up, her head collided with another's, "Ugh." She grunted

"Oh I'm sorry." she heard someone say.

She looked up to see Neville looking down at her, "Thanks Neville." she said as he handed her, her bag and together they walked through the giant wood doors leading into Hogwarts School. After getting settled in their dormitories they all headed into the banquet hall and get ready for the beginning of the school year feast. On the way into the hall, Adele ran into some friends she had made and joined them at the Gryffindor table.

"Wow you look great Adele!" one of the girls squealed.

"What are you talking about?" Adele questioned.

"Adele, you look fantastic! You look amazingly different." she said.

Adele nodded as she shyly looked down at the table, she didn't like people complimenting her. She didn't have time to dwell on this though, as the doors to the hall swung open and Professor McGonagall walked in, a line of scared first-years behind her. The sorting hat did what it did best and sorted the new students into their new houses. Then the feast began and halfway through it Dumbledore, as aged and gray as ever stood up and silenced us, "We are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, and event that has not been held for over a century. It is my pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE JOKING!" a familiar voice yelled. Closer inspection revealed that Ron Weasley was the culprit.

"I am not joking Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore commented as he then began to try and tell us a joke concerning a troll, hag, and I think a leprechaun. He continued with, "The Triwizard tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host it once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities until that is the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

The hall was filled with whispers of shock at hearing the mention of death, and Dumbledore then continued with, "There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament, none of which has been very successful. However, our own department of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time; no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger. The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

Dumbledore concluded his speech by telling everyone that an age limit had been put in place, and that only students aged 17 years and older could compete. Loud outbursts came from the students and Dumbledore only had to raise his hands to silence them. Then he excused the students for the night and told them to be sure and sleep fast, as their first day of classes was the next day.

Anything with a next to it means that it has been taken directly out of JKR's books. The cited quotations are used merely to keep things going, plus her writing is just amazing, so some of the speeches I just can't bring myself to change. I am NOT claming for those sections to be mine.