"I must inform all of you that the inter-house Quidditch matches will be canceled due to the fact that Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament," Professor Dumbledore told the listening students of Hogwarts. The already quiet hall was plunged into a deafening silence, only the soft crackling of the candles could be heard until…
"You're JOKING!" said Fred Weasley loudly, his voice ringing through the hall.
"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore went on. "In October, students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be coming to Hogwarts to participate in the tournament. Unlike the previous Triwizard Tournaments, the most talented and powerful student from Magic School will be coming here to train the three champions. This is to ensure safety."
All the Purebloods and Half-bloods looked shocked and excited, while the Muggleborns looked confused. Hermione and Harry looked at each other then looked at the Weasleys in question before turning back to Dumbledore for answers. The old wizard waited till everyone had calmed down slightly before continuing.
"For those that do not know about Magic School, I'll explain. Magic School was the one of the first schools created for witches and wizards ever made. Now, it only lets in Magical beings, such as Leprechauns, Centaurs, Fairies, and witches and wizards that have evolved to the point that they don't need wands," Dumbledore explained as the students that did not understand looked on in shock at the idea that someone their age was so powerful that they did not need a wand. "I have added a little treat for a handful of well behaved students. Your past behavior will not be held against you with this, but for those that are well behaved in class and out of class will get to come to Magic School when we go to select our trainer."
"No way, we have to try and go!" George exclaimed, a large smile on his face.
"They're not going to let you go," said Ron, bursting his brother's bubble of happiness.
"I've wanted to see Magic School all my life. I can be good till the end of October if it means I'll get to go to Magic School for a day," George replied, glaring at Ron with determination.
Fred and George started discussing with their friend, Lee Jordan, about how they were going to convince the teachers that they were well behaved and, at the same time, try to figure out how to enter the Triwizard Tournament, even though they were under age. Dumbledore went on to explain that the Triwizard Tournament was a game between three schools with a champion chosen from each. These champions would then participate in three dangerous tasks, which would result in the winner receiving eternal glory.
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Over the next two months, it seemed as though the Weasley twins and Lee were truly dedicated to going to Magic School. They were doing their homework, which they never usually did; they were answering questions in class and had not pulled any pranks for the whole two months. Teachers certainly noticed the change but weren't daft enough to believe it would last. Even if they had not been trying to be good, they still would not have pulled a prank in Defense Against the Dark Arts, which had become their favorite class. This was because the new teacher, Professor Moody, was an ex Auror and therefore had lived what they were learning.
"He's so cool! I hope he lasts for more than a year," Lee said as they sat in the Gryffindor common room on a late Sunday afternoon, doing their homework. The room was quiet as everyone lulled around doing homework or talking with friends. Every fiber in the pranksters' bodies told them to cause noise, but they couldn't.
"Yeah, and he's friends with Dumbledore, so he might help us get to Magic School," George replied, frowning over his unfortunately blank piece of paper.
"Have either of you had any ideas for the homework… or how we're going to get into the Triwizard Tournament?" Fred groaned in frustration, his quill suspended over his paper, which would be blank like his brother's if it was not for the black ink blots.
"No… and ino/i." George sighed, throwing his quill down and leaning back in his chair, closing his eyes.
"Who would have thought doing your homework would be so stressful?" Lee stated in disbelief. "We've been avoiding it for good reason!"
Just then, Harry and Ron came racing through the portrait hole and straight at the three sixteen-year-olds, destroying the serine atmosphere. "They're telling us the names of the people going to Magic School, and they want everyone in the Great Hall right now," Ron said in a fast pace that could rival Hermione's.
Wordlessly, Fred, George, Lee, Harry and Ron all ran for the portrait hole and down to the Great Hall. When they got there, they found that most of the school was already assembled, waiting eagerly to see who the lucky people were.
"I see that almost everyone is here, we will just wait a moment for the rest of the people to arrive," Dumbledore said, standing up at the head of the Staff Table. They did not have to wait long for everyone to get there and take their seats, news had traveled fast. "Very well, now that everyone is here, I will tell you now that there will be ten people from each house reserving the honour of visiting Magic School. The Heads of Houses will announce the lucky students. After your name is called, I wish you to go to the first classroom off the corridor to the right of the Entrance Hall."
Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher, walked up to stand in front of the Hall and smiled to the students. "The Hufflepuffs that are going to Magic School are: Zacharias Smith, Eloise Midgeon, Hannah Abbot, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones, Cedric Diggory, Kevin Whitby, Hazel Sibley, Rose Zeller, and Ernie Macmillian." As she spoke, a round of applause went out to the Hufflepuffs that got up and headed out of the hall. All ten had modest smiles on their faces.
Next up was Professor Flitwick, the tiny Charms teacher. "The Ravenclaw students are: Terry Boot, Luna Lovegood, Roger Davies, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, Stewart Ackerley, Marietta Edgecombe, Cho Chang, Bridget Corey and Lisa Turpin." Once again, applause was heard as the ten teenagers got up and left the hall.
The Gryffindors held their breath as they saw Professor McGonagall, the head of Gryffindor and Transfiguration teacher step up. To them, it seemed to take her years to reach her destination. "The Gryffindor students are: Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Colin Creevey, Katie Bell... and surprisingly, Lee Jordan, Fred Weasley and George Weasley." Fred, George and Lee all grinned to themselves as they headed out of the Great Hall, with the people clapping and whistling behind them.
The Gryffindors walked into the first classroom on the corridor off from the Entrance Hall. The room was rather dusty and looked as though it had not been used in years. The other students were standing in groups, talking to one another. Fred and George led the Gryffindors off to the side and sat down on two of the student desks, not caring that they would have dust on their behinds.
"There are five boys and five girls from each house here," commented George, looking around at the students. "Except for ours."
"Yeah, looks that way. Wonder who the Slytherin students are going to be…" Ron replied, sitting down on one of the dusty chairs. They ignored the groan of protest from the chair at the weight it was not used to.
"Well, we'll find out in a minute. I think I can hear them now," Hermione stated, sitting down next to Ron and looking towards the door.
Everyone sat in silence as they listened to the obvious sounds of footsteps heading their way. The door opened and in walked Adrian Pucey, Steven Montague, Blaise Zambini, Daphne Greengrass, Miles Bletchley, Millicent Bulstrode, two seventh-year girls they didn't know the names of, Pansy Parkinson, and, much to the Gryffindors' displeasure, Draco Malfoy.
The four Heads and Professor Dumbledore followed the Slytherins into the room, lighting candles as they went to brighten and diminish the dreary quality the overwhelming shadows created.
"Congratulations," Dumbledore said once everyone had assembled around him and the room was alight with the glow of the flickering candles. "We will be going to Magic School on the twenty-eighth. That way, the chosen trainer has a whole day to pack. You will have the whole day off to explore Magic School and will not have to catch up on the classes you miss, but I must stress that you have to be on your best behavior. The students there will not take kindly to you coming in and destroying their school." Dumbledore's gaze fell on the Weasley twins for a moment, but there was a friendly twinkle in his eyes. "You have permission to sit in any classes you wish and watch, as well as permission to walk around alone, but do not try to pull pranks on the students. Seeing as how these students do not need to waste time reaching for wands, you may find they have much quicker reflexes and a larger array of spells at their disposal."
All the students were listening attentively except for Malfoy, who was leaning back against a desk and looking bored. George noticed and nudged Fred, nodding towards the Slytherin fourth-year.
"Git," Fred muttered to his brother, who nodded in agreement.
"We will be travelling by doorway, but you'll find out more about that on Wednesday and we will be leaving at eight o'clock sharp. Just stay in the Great Hall after breakfast and we will take you to the doorway," Dumbledore explained. "Any questions?"
George looked around and the moment he saw Colin's soft blonde hair, a question popped into his head. "Are we allowed to take photos?"
Dumbledore thought for a moment before replying, "Yes, I believe you are allowed. Are there any more questions?" When everyone just shook their heads Dumbledore went on, "Very well, you may return to your common rooms." Dumbledore paused and turned towards the Gryffindors. "I heard something about Gryffindor throwing a party to congratulate you all, so that should be fun." He gave them all a small wink.
The Gryffindors smiled and headed out of the room, followed by the other houses heading back to their own common rooms.
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There was indeed a party going on in the Gryffindor common room when they returned. The room was packed with students of all ages. They were all talking, laughing, and munching on some food that seemed to have been sent up by Dumbledore, with the help of various house-elves.
"You all weren't planning on having a party without the Weasley twins, were you?" Fred and George yelled over the voices the moment they entered.
As many laughed and others yelled, "Wouldn't dream of it," Katie Bell headed over to her two best friends, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson who were sitting off to the side at a table.
"Congrats," both of them said to her, getting up and hugging her.
"Thanks," Katie replied, sitting down at the vacant chair.
"So when are you going?" Alicia asked innocently.
"Wednesday. We're going for the whole day and we don't have to catch up on the work we miss," Katie answered, looking over her shoulder at Fred and George entertaining the crowd, like always.
"A whole day hanging out with…" Angelina smiled and nodded towards the boys.
"Shut up!" Katie demanded, going red as she looked back at her friends.
"You have to tell him before he goes after a girl. You don't want to blow your chance do you?" Alicia asked. "You should tell him at Magic School. After all, it iis/i called Magic School—magic could happen."
"Yeah. I tell him, he feels awkward, and he doesn't speak to me the whole time we're there," Katie muttered sadly, slumping down in her chair.
"George is your friend, if he doesn't like you he won't just stop talking to you. He'll let you down gently," Angelina reassured her.
"You think?" Katie asked.
"Well, let's find out," Angelina stated, but then seeing Katie's frightened face, went on, "Don't worry, I won't make it obvious you like him."
As though sensing the girls wanted to talk to them, Fred, George and Lee headed over with a Butterbeer for each of them.
"Drink?" George asked, holding a bottle out to Katie. Katie ducked her head, letting her hair hide the pink tinge to her cheeks as she took the drink. She tried not to gasp as their fingers brushed against each other.
"Boys, we want to ask you a question," Angelina informed them.
"Yes, we are as big as everyone says," Lee said. Fred chuckled as George smiled and sat on Katie's armrest.
"iHa ha/i. No, we wanted to ask a serious question. If one of your female friends told you that they liked you—as more than a friend—and you didn't like her that way, would you stop talking to her or would you just tell her nicely you don't like her and act as though nothing happened?"
"Let her down nicely. Why? Have you fallen for the Weasley charm?" George asked with a wink at Angelina as Lee and Fred nodded in agreement to the girls' question.
Angelina merely rolled her eyes and said, "You wish."
"What type of girls do you hope will fall for your charm?" Alicia asked with interest, smiling up at the tall boys.
"One with a sense of humor," all three boys replied in unison.
"No duh, but what else?" Alicia pressured.
"Well, Lee and I both agree we like girls that don't blush and go shy… strong girls, but at the same time are girly girls. They have to gossip with their friends and stuff so we have time to prank. George, on the other hand, likes innocent girls, you know? The girls that blush and go shy when things get intimate and don't realize just how great they are. He doesn't like the girls that walk around, knowing that they're good looking. Not that that means their full of themselves. He likes very modest girls, but girls that can fight. He also likes the girls that like to be romanced and take things slow."
"Shut up," George muttered to Fred, although they all heard, before taking a sip of his drink.
"George, you shouldn't be embarrassed to be the romantic type. I think it's sweet," Katie commented, looking up at him with admiration in her eyes.
"I'm not embarrassed. I'll tell you I don't like rushing a relationship and that I like doing romantic things for the girl and I find the shy type that can hold her own attractive. I just don't like the way Fred says it. He makes out that I'm some kind of sap," George answered truthfully, looking down at Katie.
"He likes the inexperienced, shy types because ihe's/i inexperienced," Fred added. When George glared at him, he exclaimed, "What? You are! I'm surprised you are, but you are!"
"Wait till we tell everyone. Before we just assumed it but now we know it's true," Lee said as Fred smiled devilishly at George, not denying the fact that he had never even kissed a girl. George just deepened his glare, ignoring the red that was undeniably tinting his ears.
"I wouldn't do that," Angelina sang before taking a sip of her drink.
"Why not? The guys would get a laugh out of it," Fred asked.
"Yeah the guys might, but the girls are going to love it. You'll find that all the girls will want to be with George and none of them will want to be with you two," Alicia answered as George looked at the two boys smugly.
"I'm bored, let's make a light show," George said suddenly, getting up off the armrest. "Ladies, thank you for this little chat. I hope which ever boy one of you were referring to doesn't turn you down, because he'll be making a ibig/i mistake."
"Bye, boys," the girls chorused as they watched them walk away.
"They'll be making a big mistake, he likes romantic types and he'd let the girl down nicely. Katie, he's so sweet! You should go for it," Alicia squealed, clapping her hands.
"I don't know… I'm not the inexperienced shy girl he likes - I have kissed guys!" Katie told them.
"Yeah but just because he ilikes/i those types of girls doesn't mean he's precisely ilooking/i for that type of girl," Angelina reminded Katie.
Katie gave in with a sigh. "Okay, okay, I'll tell him at Magic School - but towards the end of the day; I don't want to be sad all day if he turns me down."
"Or you could be happy all day when he doesn't turn you down," Alicia commented before the girls changed the subject to the Triwizard Tournament and what the trainer's powers might be.
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The twin's light show had been the hit of the party. All the Gryffindors were still talking about it when Wednesday rolled around. The white, pale blue and pale pink balls of light shaping themselves into anything the twins commanded was rather breathtaking.
"The party was heaps of fun. That was some pretty good magic you preformed," complemented Ginny as they ate their breakfast. "What did you think Hermione?"
"It was okay… where did you learn it anyway?" Hermione asked the twins, eyeing them suspiciously.
"Oh, well, when we were doing our History of Magic homework about the hippy witches and wizards and the spells they used to do… we thought they sounded interesting and would give them a try. Plus, it's pure white magick - can't do any harm to anyone," George admitted with a shrug.
"Now I am impressed," Hermione stated.
Fred and George looked up at her, their mouths gaping open in shock. Hermione was very good at magic—the top of her year. To get a complement from her meant you had done some ireally/i good magic.
"Thanks, Hermione," Fred and George replied before going back to their breakfast.
Just then Katie, Angelina, and Alicia walked up to them, all three giggling. "Hey, you lot, can I hang with you when we're at Magic School?"
"Sure, Katie," Ginny answered with a smile. She didn't talk to Katie often, but when she did, they always got along. "Colin's hanging out with us too. He got his camera out of the bottom of his trunk and promised to take lots of photos and give us copies."
"Doesn't he still take pictures like he did in his first year?" Ron asked, having to swallow a large mouthful to do so.
"Do you see him walking around, shoving his camera in my face?" Harry asked back.
Ron thought about it for a moment before shaking his head and going back to his breakfast.
"Speak of the warlock — hey, Colin," Ginny said when Colin joined them.
As Colin nodded in recognition towards his greetings, Hermione said, "This is going to be wonderful. I've been reading up on Magic School and it seems amazing. Did you know that it's not actually called Magic School? Well it is—but it was originally in another language and it translated into Magic School. I wonder what kind of powers the trainer will have." Hermione thought for a moment and then asked, "You don't think they'll use them against the champions do you?"
"They might, but only to help them. I asked Professor McGonagall what the trainers are going to do and she said there's a class the Magic School students can take that will teach them how to fight with Muggle weapons like swords and stuff and the trainers are going to teach the champions things like that. Apparently, it will help the champions with reflexes. They will also teach them to act on instinct and to move faster and think on their feet and things like that. It's pretty amazing how much Muggle combat can teach you," Katie informed them. Katie was a year older than Hermione, Harry, and Ron but a year younger then Fred, George and Lee, so none of them knew what McGonagall had told her.
"Wow, that's cool. Hope we get to watch some of the training," Neville said. He was sitting next to Ron and had been listening to the conversation with interest.
"Oh shit, Angelina, we have to get to class. The bells going to ring any moment now," Alicia informed her friend, looking at her watch.
"Bye, have fun," the two girls said as they headed out of the Great Hall.
Looking up and down the Gryffindor table, the group was startled to find they were alone. Looking around the Great Hall, the only ones still at the other tables were the ones who were also going to Magic School.
"Shouldn't be long now," Colin commented, looking at his watch.
Colin was right, it was not long before Dumbledore stood up from his position at the middle of the Staff Table where he and the Heads of Houses were, and addressed the handful of students in the hall. "It seems as though we should be heading off to the doorway. Follow me."
The students all looked around excitedly before getting up and following their Headmaster out of the hall. Dumbledore took them on a long journey through the halls of Hogwarts, into the South Tower.
"I've never been in this section of the school before," Colin acknowledged, looking around at the old, rather decayed rocks. They did not seem to have the magical glow the more frequently used corridors of the school had. The students would have feared some of the rock breaking away and hitting them in the head if it wasn't for the magical residue within the wall.
"Neither have we. No one uses this section so there's no point," Fred told him.
"We're here," Dumbledore stated, stopping in front of a blank wall. Before anyone could question him about it, he started speaking in an ancient Latin dialect. The students watched in silent awe as a rectangular shape in the wall began shimmering like it was nothing but water. The next second, the shimmering stopped and instead a solid gold door with an opal door handle surfaced.
Dumbledore grasped the door handle firmly and spoke the words, "I am Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, grant me entrance into the depths of iSkit-nay-ataoyua/i." Dumbledore turned the opal handle and opened the door. The hallway was bathed in early morning sunlight before Dumbledore stepped in the doorway, blocking the light from the students and teachers. He walked wordlessly through the doorway, not bothering to make sure the others followed for he knew they would.
There were collective gasps as everyone surveyed their surroundings…
