A few notes before you start reading:
Throughout this story I make very brief reverences to characters belonging in other movies/books/shows/manga etc. See if you can figure out who they all are - consider it a game of "Where's Waldo."
I borrow several large paragraphs (particularly at the beginning) directly from the American version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Lastly, in case it throws anyone for a loop, I did some small rearranging of the book's time-line.
Dumbledore stood up and a hush fell over the students. He began, "So-"
Before he could go further was a deafening rumble of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall banged open.
A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black traveling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swiveled toward the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark gray hair,
then began to walk up toward the teachers' table.
A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore.
The stranger reached Dumbledore. He stretched out a hand that was as badly scarred as his face, and Dumbledore shook it, muttering words Harry couldn't hear. He seemed to be making some inquiry of the stranger, who shook his head unsmilingly and replied in an undertone. Dumbledore nodded and gestured the man to the empty seat on his right-hand side.
The stranger sat down, shook his mane of dark gray hair out of his face, pulled a plate of sausages toward him, raised it to what was left of his nose, and sniffed it. He then took a small knife out of his pocket, speared a sausage on the end of it, and began to eat.
"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Dumbledore brightly into the silence. "Professor Moody."
It was usual for new staff members to be greeted with applause, but none of the staff or students clapped except Dumbledore and Hagrid, who both put their hands together and applauded, but the sound echoed dismally into the silence, and they stopped fairly quickly. Everyone else seemed too transfixed by Moody's bizarre appearance to do more than stare at him.
Moody seemed totally indifferent to his less-than-warm welcome. Ignoring the jug of pumpkin juice in front of him, he reached again into his traveling cloak, pulled out a hip flask, and took a long draught from it. As he lifted his arm to drink, his cloak was pulled a few inches from the ground, and Harry saw, below the table, several inches of carved wooden leg, ending in a clawed foot.
Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"As I was saying," he said, smiling at the sea of students before him, all of whom were still gazing transfixed at Mad-Eye Moody, "we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."
"You're JOKING!" said Fred Weasley loudly.
The tension that had filled the Hall ever since Moody's arrival suddenly broke.
Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.
"The Triwizard Tournament. . . well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely. There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament," Dumbledore concluded, "none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. 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."
After the uproar to subsided he added, "Hogwarts will also be receiving diplomats from various magical communities around the world. Our visitors will be here to view the tournament, but their primary purpose is to strengthen the ties between our various communities. It is likely that they will be sitting in on various classes in order to gain a deeper understanding of the English wizarding community. That being said, I must ask all of you to be respectful and on your best behavior at all times."
Dumbledore sat back down as students immediately began talking to each other, voices escalating to near deafening levels. Harry saw Snape scowl at the noise but Dumbledore merely smiled and turned to talk to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
All too soon October was upon them. The excitement from students became palpable as preparations for their Triwizard guests became apparent. The general sprucing up of the castle and appearance of a new table parallel to the teachers' were the most apparent changes, but Harry noticed added tension in the teachers as well.
The thirtieth of October dawned, bright and sunny with a bite to the air. Classes carried on as usual, but no one was really paying that much attention. When the bell rang early, Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurried up to Gryffindor Tower, deposited their bags and books as they had been instructed, pulled on their cloaks, and rushed back downstairs into the entrance hall. The Heads of Houses were ordering their students into lines.
The short wait on the Hogwarts grounds in the brisk fall air seemed to stretch for an eternity. Students, and even some teachers, stared impatiently at the lake, the Forbidden Forest, the night sky, anything. Some, like Ron, started grousing about the delay (Harry could not decide if Ron was more eager to see the new students or if he simply wanted his dinner), while others keep fruitlessly peering around for the a glimpse of their elusive guests.
Finally, Dumbledore called out, "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"
A giant carriage, pulled by a dozen winged horses, came into view over the tops of the Forest's trees. The Beauxbatons had barely alighted from their carriage when a tall ship erupted from the lake. Durmstrang had arrived.
All too soon Beauxbatons and Durmstrang followed the Hogwarts students back into the Great Hall, exclaiming loudly over the decorations, before finding seats amongst the Ravenclaws and Slytherins.
Conversation spread among the students like wildfire as visiting students were accosted by the curious Hogwarts population till the headmaster, tapping his wand on his goblet, regained everyone's attention.
"Now that everyone has found a place to sit, I would like to introduce the visiting dignitaries." Once again the doors to the Great Hall opened as students turned in their seats, craning their necks to get a glimpse of these newcomers.
Harry felt his eyebrows rise in amazement at the spectacle in front of him. He had never seen such an eclectic, and well colorful, crowd before. He was not the only one staring in shock. As the first party went by Harry heard one Gryffindor whisper "Pink!? That can't be her natural hair color." Her neighbor's response was just as puzzled: "But what about the guy next to her? How old do you think he is with hair like that?"
Similar discussions were taking place at the other House tables.
"Look at his robes! I think they are more colorful than Dumbledore's!"
"Are those robots? I thought electronics couldn't work in Hogwarts?"
"Better hope Hagrid doesn't find out she has a dragon."
"Blimey her hair's green!"
"Think she would tell me where she got her tattoos?"
"Wait, is that a metal hand?"
As the group walked down the Great Hall to the table set up below the headmaster's, the last party caught Harry's eye. There was nothing terribly special about them, especially in this crowd. In fact, they looked the most mundane out of all the people Harry had seen since being introduced to the wizarding world. They were dressed in Medieval-style garb, complete with an entourage of knights. They would not have looked too out of place at a muggle Renaissance festival, but their obvious comfort in their attire, their ease of movement in cumbersome chain mail and dresses and casual hand to sword hilt, lent an air of credibility to the scene.
As everyone settled down Harry turned to Hermione, intending to learn what he could about these newcomers. He could see Ron on her other side attempting the same thing.
"Oh, be quiet you two. I can't answer both at once," Hermione said in exacerbation. Ron and Harry immediately fell silent. "Honestly I don't know that much more than you. I have read about other wizarding communities, but the books were hardly in depth." Hermione stopped talking, apparently thinking, before muttering: "These groups must be awful secluded if they weren't mentioned in Farr's Compendium of Magical Communities … I wonder how Dumbledore talked them into coming?"
Ron and Harry glanced at each other over Hermione's head. If Hermione hadn't read about them what chance did they have of learning more?
Even with all the visitors, life at Hogwarts carried as usual. Maybe students went to class with more anticipation, but professors still gave out detentions and homework, no matter how distracting the classroom guest.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had yet to have a class with one of the foreigners in it. Though they had heard plenty of stories from students who had. Apparently the group with the colorful hair liked being surprised about as much as Mad-Eye Moody and responded in a very similar fashion. Something to do with sharp knives and broken cameras, at least if Harry understood Colin's babbling correctly. The girl with the dragon caused a huge disruption in Care for Magical Creatures and was even seen talking to Ms. Norris, who actually seemed to like her. Several someones were very fond of smoking. Whatever room this group deigned to visit quickly became wreathed in a pungent smoke that seemed to defy any attempts to banish it. The only group nobody had any gossip about was the medieval party.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked into Moody's class, taking seats towards the middle of the classroom. As they were sitting down, Harry saw Hermione's eyes widen in surprise. Looking around he soon saw what had attracted her attention. The medievals, as Harry had taken to calling them, were sitting in the back of the classroom talking. Hermione was not the only one to notice their visitors. The rest of the Gryffindor fourth years were gazing at the pair with curiosity; Some attempting to be subtle while others were so blatant it bordered on rude.
Harry studied them. The man was swarthy with curly hair. His handsome face showed many laugh lines. In fact, he was laughing now at something the woman had said. His companion was fairer with shoulder length brown hair and a mischievous grin on her face.
The door opened again and Harry heard the thump of Mad-Eye's leg as he cleared his throat, barking "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" recalling his students' errant attention. Lavender squeaked and turned around quickly. Neville fell out of his chair in his surprise at Moody's appearance.
"Longbottom, get back in your seat. Everyone, eyes up front. I know we have visitors, but don't let
them distract you. Good way to get yourself killed," he growled. "As a continuation of our lesson on the Unforgivable curses I will be putting each of you under the Imperius Curse. Let's see if any of you can resist it."
"But - but you said it's illegal, Professor," said Hermione uncertainly as Moody cleared away the desks with a sweep of his wand, leaving a large clear space in the middle of the room. "You said - to use it against another human was -"
"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," said Moody, his magical eye swiveling onto Hermione and fixing her with an eerie, unblinking stare. "If you'd rather learn the hard way – when someone's putting it on you so they can control you completely - fine by me. You're excused. Off you go."
He pointed one gnarled finger toward the door. Hermione went very pink and muttered something about not meaning that she wanted to leave. Harry and Ron grinned at each other. They knew Hermione would rather eat bubotuber pus than miss such an important lesson.
Moody began to beckon students forward in turn and put the Imperius Curse upon them. Harry watched as, one by one, his classmates did the most extraordinary things under its influence. Dean Thomas hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem. Lavender Brown imitated a squirrel. Neville performed a series of quite astonishing gymnastics he would certainly not have been capable of in his normal state.
Not one of them seemed to be able to fight off the curse, and each of them recovered only when Moody had removed it.
"Potter," Moody growled, "you're next."
Harry moved forward into the middle of the classroom, into the space that Moody had cleared of desks. Moody raised his wand, pointed it at Harry, and barked, "Imperio!"
It was the most wonderful feeling. Harry felt a floating sensation as every thought and worry in his head was wiped gently away, leaving nothing but a vague, untraceable happiness. He stood there feeling immensely relaxed, only dimly aware of everyone watching him.
And then he heard Mad-Eye Moody's voice, echoing in some distant chamber of his empty brain: Jump onto the desk. . . jump onto the desk. . .
Harry bent his knees obediently, preparing to spring.
Jump onto the desk...
Why, though? Another voice had awoken in the back of his brain.
Stupid thing to do, really, said the voice.
Jump onto the desk...
No, I don't think I will, thanks, said the other voice, a little more firmly. . . no, I don't really want to.
Jump! NOW!
The next thing Harry felt was considerable pain. He had both jumped and tried to prevent himself from jumping - the result was that he'd smashed headlong into the desk knocking it over, and, by the feeling in his legs, fractured both his kneecaps.
"Now, that's more like it!" growled Moody's voice, and suddenly, Harry felt the empty, echoing feeling in his head disappear. He remembered exactly what was happening, and the pain in his knees seemed to double.
"Look at that, you lot. . . Potter fought! He fought it, and he damn near beat it! We'll try that again, Potter, and the rest of you, pay attention – watch his eyes, that's where you see it – very good, Potter, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling you!"
After putting Harry through his paces four more times, Moody turned his attention to the class' wide-eyed guests, asking "How about you two?"
The man shared a long look with his counterpart before nodding a hesitant yes and stepping forward.
"Imperio!"
After a minute or two the man burst into an Irish drinking song, cartwheeling around the room as he went. Smirking slightly, Moody turned his wand on the woman.
Nothing …
Moody frowned, furrowed his brow, a look of concentration appearing on his face.
Nothing …
The woman didn't even appear to be daunted. Finally, almost lazily, she said "No." In a clear, calm, voice as if she were doing nothing more than commenting on the weather. The man started laughing.
Giving her companion a knowing glance, the woman curtseyed to Moody, thanked him for the demonstration, and left. Leaving Moody and the rest of the Gryffindors staring in shock.