Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the chamber off of the Great Hall, behind the staff table. There were seven other students in there with them. Tenshi, Selene, Amanda, Tai, Malfoy, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Azalea Kinohota.
When the four of them had come back into the building, Harry and Ron still attired in Quidditch robes, Professor McGonagall and Professor Olivetta told them to go to the room where Tai and Selene already were. In the past few minutes, others had joined them and now the teachers arrived: Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Headmistress Olivetta, and Professor Olivetta.
Those who were sitting stood up when the teachers entered the room.
"I see some of you have already been informed of why you're here," Dumbledore said, eyeing the Evening Prophet that Hermione was still holding. She pinkened and put the paper in her pocket.
"My students know that they were chosen for their avid interest in promoting international relations as well as making foreign friends. And also for their own abilities," Headmistress Olivetta said with emphatic glances at a few of her students.
"And the Hogwarts students were chosen not only because of their ability but their personal traits as well," Professor McGonagall said.
"You must understand though—once we cast a binding spell, then you will no longer be able to refuse to participate. Now is your last chance to back out," Professor Olivetta said quietly. No one moved or said anything. They all seemed determined to continue.
"Very well, then, line up there," Headmistress Olivetta said. "Hogwarts students on one side, Academy on the other—oh, my mistake, not all of you know who your partners are. Miss Granger, you're with Miss Chiba, Mr. Annoya, you're with Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Weasley is with Mr. Kamino, Mr. Finch-Fletchley, you're with Miss Kinohota, and Mr. Potter, you're with Miss McGonagall. Now, line up!" She said a little more urgently. The Hogwarts students lined up, facing their partners. "Now, shake hands, and don't let go," she instructed. Dumbledore stepped forward with her, looking down the line of students. Harry gripped Selene's hand, and he noticed something on her wrist—a tattoo of some sort. It was a red dragon, twisting around her wrist and reaching for sun. But she slid the hem of her sleeve down, with a warning look at him. Headmistress Olivetta and Dumbledore had their wands out; they were pointing them down the row, muttering something. Harry couldn't quite make out the words. When their wand tips touched, flowing silver light flowed down the row, wrapping itself around their hands. And then it disappeared. Harry had no idea what had just happened.
"There is no longer any possible way you may back out of the competition now, you are now bound to it by a magical contract," Dumbledore said.
"The first round will be on Halloween. It's simple, and you will know exactly what's coming. You will simply be dueling with each other. There will be restrictions given to you at a later time. Obviously, one of them is you may not use the Unforgivable Curses," Professor McGonagall said sternly.
The students nodded, except Malfoy, who frowned. But none of the teachers seemed to notice and they were dismissed—the rest of the night went quickly, almost as if the world was in fast-forward. Dumbledore announced to the entire school who was chosen. Many Academy students looked very sour when Amanda's name was said, and to Harry's surprise, many Hogwarts students mumbled words to their friends when his was said. He knew what they were saying—"favoritism"—no doubt. Not to mention, Ron, Hermione, and he had been treated a little specially for a long time. He didn't care though, unlike the Triwizard Tournament that seemed hundreds of years ago, he had his friends in this one, and also a new friend who, although supposedly Hermione's enemy, seemed to find a common ground with her, and she and Hermione shared a secret smile when they were announced.
Sunday passed quickly, Harry and Ron slept in to find Amanda and Hermione chatting excitedly about the first round. Harry was surprised at how laid back Hermione was about it all, being the new Head Girl, he thought she would have been frantic about it, with N.E.W.T.S coming up, and all the homework they would undoubtedly have. But she didn't seem worried, she was gossiping with Amanda as if she were Parvati Patil and not the girl genius Hermione Granger. At least the Gryffindor seventh-years had their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class to look forward to.
* * *
First thing Monday morning after breakfast half of the seventh-years headed for the DADA classroom. The Slytherins seemed to have DADA with the Gryffindors. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Amanda took seats near the back of the classroom.
"Three classes with Slytherins? This is going to be an interesting year..." Ron groaned.
"Slytherin's not so bad," Harry and Amanda said at the same time as Tenshi and Selene entered.
"Hey chica," Tenshi said with a smile to Amanda. He sat down in front of Amanda and Selene in front of Hermione. The bell rang, but Professor Furuhata did not show up. Students started chatting and goofing off after a few minutes.
"So, does this guy know any Dark Arts stuff?" Ron asked.
"Dunno, he's the Mortal Courses teacher at the Academy," Amanda replied.
"It's a disgrace the people Dumbledore's hiring these days," Malfoy sneered to his Slytherin friends. "Honestly, two Muggles in three years. And that first one was pathetic—"
Malfoy had touched a nerve in Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Lysandra Leonessa had been their friend. "Nobody insults Professor Leonessa in front of us!" Each of them performed a different hex at the same time.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
"Rictusempra!"
"Tarantellegra!"
Each of the curses hit a different person, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.
"Expelliarmus!" Someone called from behind them. Harry, Ron, and Hermione's wands flew out of their hands and landed in Professor Furuhata's. "Finite Incantatem!" Malfoy could move again, Crabbe stopped laughing, and Goyle stopped dancing. "For your information Mr. Malfoy, I'm not a muggle. Five points from Slytherin."
"What about them?" Malfoy said indignantly.
"Five points for each hex you used against Mr. Malfoy and his friends," he handed them their wands back. "But since this is Defense against the Dark Arts, Ten points each for the effectiveness of them." Malfoy made a look that clearly said that this was unfair. "Don't try Mr. Malfoy, or I'll take ten points from Slytherin for each of those simple hexes you were not able to block." This shut Malfoy up. Two minutes into class and Gryffindor had already received fifteen points.
"It seems you've had a pretty good background in curses and hexes, as Miss Granger and Messrs. Potter and Weasley have demonstrated, as well as a lot of Dark creatures. Kappas, Red Caps, vampires, boggarts, Grindylows, werewolves. But for the most part, none of it leaves Europe. You haven't looked at creatures and human curses or otherwise that exist outside of Europe. Can anyone in here recite the Melandrian Curse?" Hermione's hand shot up as usual, but so did Amanda's and Selene's. "Miss Granger, you look eager enough."
"Born from evil, living in hate.
If not true love's first kiss,
death shall be thy fate.
If not true love's pure hearted kiss given,
curse and power shall never be risen."
"Very good, take another five points," he replied. Hermione was glowing. "Melandrians are commonly found in Asia, have a Japanese background and look quite similar to each other. Most have dark, violet eyes, and black hair. Most commonly straight. A wizard can never be a Melandrian, only a witch can. Throughout history, Melandrians have often been treated as werewolves are. Though not dangerous to girls and women, with just a single kiss, a Melandrian could kill a man. Not just wizards, but muggles too…" but Harry was lost in thought. He had noticed that Hermione was not taking her usual notes but instead, staring at the back of Selene's head, who was staring at her desk, grasping the edge of her notebook so tightly that her knuckles were white, and she looked even paler then he had seen her yet. And Amanda seemed to be sitting in the same rigid, tense position, only she was staring at the professor.
* * *
The rest of September seemed to pass uneventfully, except for Quidditch practice. Harry had watched the Kane-Hi team play (they had once again been invited to scrimmage), and he had first-hand experience with Selene's flying. She was good, but whether it was because she was letting him or she was not quite so fast as he had thought, he caught the Snitch before her. Harry had a feeling that the entire team was holding back, merely to fake them out, and take them by surprise at the match against them.
October came and a week before Halloween found Harry, Ron, and Hermione growing nervous. Harry and Ron hadn't exactly been tactful about looking up hexes, and Hermione was becoming temperamental about homework and research, just as she did before exams.
"You know, instead of wasting your time, you three could be doing your homework," Hermione commented, looking over the top of her book at Harry and Ron, who were playing chess, and Amanda who was sitting upside-down in one of the armchairs watching.
"I've been done with my homework for hours," Amanda said with a yawn. "I did it at lunch."
"Professor McGonagall's entire essay?" Hermione asked. "I'm only half done and I've been working on it for at least an hour!"
"That's because you go about it the wrong way," Amanda replied, sitting up. "You look to books, instead of what's already in your head. Of course, your Hogwarts classes are a bit odd; we've learned most of things that you're doing. Put a smile on your face when you're doing homework and think about something to look forward to when you finish, you'll finish much faster."
"I don't need tutoring on how to do my homework, thank you," Hermione said a little haughtily as she began reading her book. Amanda stuck her tongue out at her and went back to watching Harry and Ron's game.
"She gets like that when you tell her to relax--N.E.W.T.s coming up and all," Ron said.
"What are N.E.W.T.s?" Amanda asked.
"Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. Don't you take them at the Academy?" Harry asked.
"Nope, we do have Graduation Exams though. Somebody dies every year. It's kind of creepy," Amanda said with a shudder. "Nobody knows what happens either because everyone who's taken the exams before is sworn to secrecy."
"You know, even if you are done with your essay, you could be looking up hexes for the first round," Hermione said, looking crossly at them.
"We could," Ron said.
"Hermione's right," Amanda said. "At least as far as you two go. I mean, Selene is like the master of curses, and I know Tai knows some nasty ones--Halloween is only a week away. And I'm already prepared Hermione. Perhaps it is you who should be looking up hexes?" Amanda was smiling and Harry wondered if Hermione knew it was meant as a joke. He knew she did when he noticed she was smiling into her essay. "Honestly, is this all you people do for fun around here? I mean, I know I don't live at my school or anything in Japan--but even if you do, you're allowed out of the castle on weekends!"
"Tomorrow is a Hogsmeade day," Hermione said, setting her book on Amanda's feet, scaring her. She fell out of the chair, onto her head. Hermione sat down in the chair with the disdain that only a seventeen-year-old girl could have. Amanda sat up and looked ruefully at her new friend as she rubbed her head. Hermione smiled. "We can go shopping. I'll show you around Hogsmeade," she offered.
"Suteki," Amanda replied, her hand still resting on her head. "Hard to believe in just one week the first round will be starting."
"Hard to believe that in just one week, we'll be twenty feet apart staring each other down. I've tried dueling once, and it landed me in a head-lock," Hermione said with a grimace.
"I'm not going to put you in a head-lock…"Amanda said, trying not to laugh. "I might turn you upside-down and use a Tickling Charm on you--" All of them laughed. The thought of Hermione being hung by her ankles was ridiculous, but then again, very possible.
* * *
