Warnings: Mild fluffy yaoi if you really squint at the words, bad cursing!Bombs away! Mild violence
They landed gently on soft, spongy grass in the center of the ring of standing stones. It seemed to have rained recently as well, no surprise there Alex thought being informed by Talon about the frequent rain showers the United Kingdom usually always experienced.
"Wow so this is Stonehenge, it seems kind of appropriate that the spiral door would be here, huh Emily? It really gives off an ancient, magical vibe." Rylee said looking around the circle of large stones
"Yes it does seem appropriate; Stonehenge has always been at the center for many magical on goings such as Wiccan rituals, magical dances and stuff for hundreds of years," explained Talon
"I'd love to learn more about this place, its history must be fascinating," said Emily, in awe of the giant stone circle
It was early morning in England, though in Ravenwood it had been a late afternoon; it seemed as if there was a significant time difference between Wizard City and Earth. The sun was just reaching up towards the sky, painting everything in a soft orange and pink glow, while the air smelled of fresh rain and watered grass. The weather seemed to have just calmed down though a chill seemed to remain, on account for the shivering students but to Alex the temperature was just perfect, suiting to his taste.
"Well no reason to be lingering about in this place, we are right now in Amesbury and must get to Alnwick before the day is over." Said Headmistress Crisp
"How long will the journey take while flying?" asked Alex
"Not too long, just a few hours, thank goodness our destination is close. This country is known to have temperamental weather all throughout, if we fly for too long I expect we will experience plenty of rain showers during our journey," answered Headmistress Crisp
"Clouds are already rolling in again, look." Chase said pointing upwards
"Seriously? The ground is already really wet, it rained here recently; it can't really rain again so soon right?" asked Blaze, he hated rain
"The United Kingdom is known for its rainy weather, London gets many light drizzles throughout the day from what I remember," answered Talon
"Ugh why couldn't we get a quest in Cali or something if we had to visit Earth; then it would be clear skies and sunshine all day long." Complained Blaze
"Well too bad Red, just deal with it!" Alex taunted, getting pissed off with Blaze's obnoxious voice already
"Shut it snow white, I bet you just love all this rain and cold weather huh?" Blaze said back
"As a matter of fact I am enjoying the cold weather, mostly though because I know it's causing you to suffer!" Alex shot back, Blaze's stupid nicknames for him hitting nerves
"Ha! I knew you were a closet sadist!" said Blaze grinning back at him
"Why you stu-" Alex started but was cut off by Talon covering his mouth with a hand to stop what was probably a barrage of obscenities to be thrown at Blaze
"Okay you two, that is enough, we've just started our quest, I can't believe you guys have already started arguing over something as silly as the weather!" Talon said with a disappointed expression
Alex let his shoulders sink, feeling guilty for letting his temper get to him, but Blaze had always found a way to get on his nerves. Their parents had actually been friends in college and were still in contact with each other. Their mothers would usually visit frequently always dragging Blaze and Alex along with them; while Alex was a silent, quiet type Blaze was just the opposite, it seemed as if their personalities absolutely clashed and could not get along. Add to Blaze's jabs at Alex's odd hair color and pale albino pallor and you have tempers rising and fists flying. You see, when mentioning his hair or his paleness to Alex it was always assured to be able to hit a sore spot, this was because of all the teasing done to him at school and at social events; Blaze seemed to have picked this up at some point and always rubbed it in his face at every opportunity given to get a rise out of him; hence the nicknames. Then when they became more mature and older fist fights became competitions on who was better at what; their admittance into Ravenwood just furthering their rivalry.
"Everyone stop milling around and get ready to fly!" said Headmistress Crisp in an impatient tone
Alex summoned Sapphire, his beautiful blue dragon knowing that she would be more agreeable to the chilly weather than his red dragon Ruby. Sapphire greeted him happily with a warm snuffle to his cheek as he laughed and petted her snout. Blaze seemed to also have summoned a dragon to fly on as well it seemed, though his seemed to not be as happy to see him; snorting out fire and huffing a lot. It was a deep blood red color and very much larger than his sweet little Sapphire, Alex rolled his eyes; Blaze had probably summoned the dragon just so he could say "Yes I have a dragon also, and its way more awesome than yours. Look how puny and tiny your blue dragon is!"
Everyone else seemed to have summoned their mounts also; Talon had added dark Swift-Shadow wings onto himself and Tara had gone with the same approach as well attaching Renaissance wings onto her back. Emily was on a large grey owl and Rylee had chosen a red and black Nighflame Pegasus, while Chase was lying back on a floating magic carpet looking as if he was just about to fall asleep. Then as Headmistress Crisp gave the signal they were all off at once, in the crisp chill morning air, heading north to Alnwick where Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was located.
The journey to Hogwarts was hardly arduous and absolutely unexciting; eventless one might call it. About three hours of silent flying, with Blaze trying to outfly him on his red dragon though both their mounts were evenly matched. The only interesting thing that had seemed to happen was when they had passed by the Hogwarts Express, waving at the curious children who peered through the windows of the train as they flew by.
Harry had finally gotten used to walking through the barrier dividing King's Cross and Hogwarts Express; it was a simple matter of walking straight through the supposedly solid looking brick wall dividing platforms nine and ten. After his second year at Hogwarts, Harry had always felt wary when going through the barrier, awaiting the moment he would slam into a hard unrelenting brick wall. Though today it was easy, Ron, Hermione and himself went through together, chattering unconcernedly, sliding smoothly through…and as they did so, platform nine and three quarters materialized in front of them.
The Hogwarts Express was standing on the platform, gleaming scarlet and billowing clouds of stem; surrounded by parents, students, and pets; milling around, chatting and hopping onboard. The Golden Trio set off to find seats and drop off their luggage in a compartment halfway along the train. They then hopped back out onto the platform saying their goodbyes to Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie.
"I might be seeing you sooner than you think" said Charlie smiling that little smile that said I-know-something-you-don't-know
"Why?" asked Fred
"You'll see soon enough." Said Charlie with a smug grin on his face
"Yeah, I wish I was still in Hogwarts this year." Said Bill with a wistful smile on his face
"Why?" asked George impatiently
"You're all going to have a very eventful year." Said Bill, "I might just come by to visit and see a bit of the action…"
"A bit of what?" asked Ron incredulously
But suddenly the whistle of the train blew, shrill and loud; demanding for all students to board and Mrs. Weasley ushered them all to get on onto the train.
"Thanks for having us stay, Mrs. Weasley." Said Hermione as they climbed on board, and leaned out of the window to talk to her
"Thanks for everything, Mrs. Weasely." Said Harry
"My pleasure dears," Mrs. Weasely said. "I'd invite you for Christmas, but well, I expect you're all going to want to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays, what with one thing or the other."
"Mum!" said Ron irritated at not knowing that the elders were talking of
"You'll all probably find out this evening, don't worry," said Mrs. Weasley smiling "This is all very exciting, though I'm very glad they've changed the rules-"
"What rules?" asked Harry, Ron, Fred, and George together loudly
"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will tell you…" said Mrs. Weasely
Then the train billowed more steam out and the pistons whistled loudly and the Hogwarts Express began to move.
Harry, Ron and Hermione went back to their compartment, thick rain was splattering on the windows drumming a lulling beat, and thick gray clouds were up in the sky obscuring the sun from view. From another compartment they suddenly heard a very familiar smug and haughty voice.
"…Father actually considered sending me to Drumstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. But mother doesn't like the idea of me going to a school so far away. Father says that Drumstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. The students actually learn them, not just the defense rubbish we do…"
Hermione got up, tiptoed to the compartment door, and slid it shut, blocking out Malfoy's voice.
"So he thinks Drumstrang would have suited him better, does he?" she said angrily. "I wish he had gone, and then we wouldn't have to put up with him."
"So Drumstrang is another wizarding school?" asked Harry
"Yes," said Hermione sniffing daintily "and it's got a horrible reputation for putting a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts, according to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe."
"I think I've heard of it," said Ron vaguely. "Where is it, in which country?"
"Well, nobody knows, do they? But I think Drumstrang must be somewhere far north," said Hermione thoughtfully "Somewhere very cold, because they're got fur capes as part of their uniforms."
The rain finally had cleared up to a light drizzle as they moved farther out away from London, and by midday the sky had cleared up again, leaving only soft patches of snow white clouds. The lunch trolley had then come rattling along the corridor, and Harry bought a large stack of Cauldron Cakes for them to share.
As the afternoon progressed several of their friends popped in on them and they passed the time with playing exploding snap and talking excitedly of the World Cup Quidditch match. Everyone was getting along amiably, that is until Malfoy and his enormous, thuggish cronies, both of whom appeared to have grown at least a foot during the summer; decided to butt in. They appeared to have overheard the conversation through the compartment door, which Dean and Seamus had left ajar.
"Don't remember you being invited Malfoy." Said Harry coldly
"So…going to enter Weasley? Going to try and bring a bit of glory to the family name?" said Malfoy sneering at the redhead
"What are you talking about?" snapped Ron
"Are you going to enter?" repeated Malfoy an irritated tone in his voice "I bet you will, won't you Potter?"
"Either explain what you're going on about or leave, Malfoy," said Hermione testily over the top of her chosen reading material
"Don't tell me you don't know? Really? Weasley, you have a father and brother in the Ministry and you don't know? Maybe your father isn't important enough to know about it, yes, they probably don't talk to him about much…" said Malfoy with a gleeful smirk on his face
Laughing, Malfoy beckoned Crabbe and Goyle, and the three of them walked out of the compartment to their own.
Ron got to his feet and slammed the sliding compartment door shut harshly and then sat back down growling.
"Dad is just fine where he is, he loves his work." Ron snarled
"Of course he does," said Hermione quietly. "Don't let Malfoy get to you Ron-"
"Um, you two, look out the window!" exclaimed Harry pointing at what looked like a small group of people flying alongside the Hogwarts Express
"Bloody hell! Are those dragons, two of them are riding dragons! Are you guys seeing this also, or am I going loony here?" shouted Ron in a shocked voice
It seemed as if the entire train had noticed the out of ordinary occurrence happening outside along the Hogwarts Express, shocked and awed voices rang throughout the gleaming scarlet vehicle. The flying group consisted of eight people; two seemed to be riding on one blue and one red dragon, while another two seemed to have wings attached to their backs, yet another was on what appeared to be a flying magic carpet, one was on a dark Pegasus, one on a giant owl, and the leader of this mysterious group was on a broomstick that let out red sparks from the end.
"T-two of them have wings…," pointed out Hermione in a faint voice, not being able to comprehend what she was seeing
"Who cares about that, two are riding on dragons!" said Ron
"I-I would say the wings are more shocking Ron, Hermione's right." Pointed out Harry
"A-anyway, do you think this could be what all the excitement was about with Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, and whatever Malfoy was going on about?" asked Hermione
"Probably, it's too much of a coincidence not to be, you know." Said Harry
"Hey, hey look one of them is waving at the train!" exclaimed Ron
Hermione and Harry quickly moved to the window where Ron was looking up and pointing one of the boys on the blue dragon waving cheerily at the people on the train.
"Blimey…" said Harry
And it was in this way that the rest of the train ride commenced, the three friends looking up at the odd group flying alongside the train until the strangers passed them by and conversing amongst their selves to what this occurrence could mean.
Through the gates, flanked with statues of winged boars, and up the sweeping drive the carriages trundled, swaying dangerously in what was becoming a fast gale. Leaning against the window, Harry could see Hogwarts coming nearer, its many lighted windows blurred and shimmering behind the thick curtain of rain. Lightning flashed across the sky as their carriage came to a halt before the great oak doors, which stood at the top of a flight of stairs. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville jumped down from their carriage and hurried up the steps, looking up only when they were safely inside the cavernous, torch-lit entrance hall, with its magnificent marble staircase.
"Blimey," said Ron, shaking his head and sending water droplets everywhere, "if that keeps up the lake's going to overflow. I'm soak-ARRGH!"
Large water filled balloons started dropping from the ceiling drenching a few unlucky students, one of them happening to be Ron. Shrieks and yells started filling the entrance hall, students pushing one another in their efforts to evade getting even more wet after their journey from the front stairs to the entrance hall. Harry looked up and saw floating twenty feet above them, Peeves the Poltergeist, a little man in a bell-covered hat and orange bow tie, his wide malicious face contorted with concentration as he took aim again.
"Peeves come down here at once!" shouted Professor McGonagall
"Not doing nothing," cackled Peeves, "Already wet, aren't they? Little squirts!"
"I shall call the headmaster!" shouted Professor McGonagall, "I'm warning you Peeves-"
Peeves stuck out his tongue, threw the last of his water balloons into the air, and zoomed off up the marble staircase, cackling insanely.
"Well, move along then, into the Great hall, off you go!" said Professor McGonagall sternly to the bedraggled crowd
The Great Hall looked its usual splendid self. Golden plates and goblets gleamed by the light of hundreds and hundreds of floating candles. Though instead of only four long House tables, there seemed to be five, the last one was empty garnering much curious attention from students already seated.
"Do you reckon that last table is for those people we saw earlier today?" asked Ron as they moved along to the Gryffindor table
"Most likely they couldn't have been flying anywhere else; I wonder when they'll get here, soon probably." Said Hermione with a thoughtful expression
Harry looked up at the staff table. There seemed to be more empty seats than usual. Hagrid, of course, was still fighting his way across the lake with the first years; Professor McGonagall was presumably supervising the drying of the entrance hall floor, but there were four more empty chairs, and Harry couldn't think of who else could be missing.
"Where's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Hermione, who was also looking up at the teachers. Harry looked up and down the staff table. There was definitely no new face there.
"Oh hurry up," Ron moaned, beside Harry, "I could eat a hippogriff."
The words were no sooner out of his mouth than the doors of the Great Hall opened and silence fell. Professor McGonagall was leading a long line of first years up to the front of the Hall. If Harry, Ron, and Hermione were wet, it was nothing to how these first years looked. They appeared to have swum across the lake rather than sailed across it. Professor McGonagall now placed the usual three-legged stool on the ground before the first years and on top of it the Sorting Hat. For a moment there was silence, then a long tear near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and the hat broke into song. Singing of its creation, and the differences of the four great wizards; the founders of Hogwarts, and how Gryffindor whipped the old hat off his head and imbued it with the power to sort young wizards into their rightful houses. Everyone applauded at the end, and then the sorting started; boys and girls with varying degrees of fright on their faces moving one by one to the three-legged stool, the line dwindling slowly.
"So!" said Dumbledore, smiling around at them all. "I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list compromises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anyone would like to check it." The corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched and his eyes twinkled with mirth
"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest is out of bounds to students, as is the village to all below third year. It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not be taking place this year."
"What?" Harry gasped. He looked around at Fred and George, his fellow members of the Quidditch team. They were mouthing soundlessly at Dumbledore, looking too appalled to speak. Dumbledore went on, "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy-but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-"
But at the moment came a deafening bang of the Great halls doors bursting open. A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black traveling cloak. A dull clunk echoed as he made his way up to the teachers' table, shook Dumbledore's hand whispering something to the wizened wizard and then sitting down on one of the empty chairs.
"Hmm, I'm guessing that old man is probably our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," said Ron his expression seeming to be immensely proud as if he had deduced something extremely difficult
"As always Ron your powers of stating the obvious is magnificent," congratulated Hermione, as Ron threw a glare her way
"Ah, well it seems that first I will be introducing some new faces to everybody; may I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Dumbledore. "Professor Moody."
"Moody? Well, he sure seems to be, with that growl on his face," muttered Ron
Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"As I was saying," he said smiling merrily, "we have the honor of hosting a very exciting event this year, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts. As you all know, a Triwizard Tournament consists of three magical schools, yes? Well, this year my dear students, not three but four magical schools will be competing," Dumbledore said smiling ever more merrily
"Merle's beard! Can't we go in already? I'm tired of just standing here!" complained Blaze, pacing up and down the hall in an agitated pace
"Please have patience Mr. Moonflame, such behavior is rather unbecoming of a representative student of Ravenwood," said Headmistress Crisp, sniffling primly
"You forget Headmistress, students of fire, such as Mr. Moonflame here do not even understand the meaning of patience," said Alex
"It seems to be the case…" muttered the Headmistress, thinking about her own headstrong fire students
"Oh, I bet you know all about patience, don't you Alex?" asked Blaze, sneering at the ice mage
"As a matter of fact, yes I do. Patience is an innate talent of ice students, hence our motto '…with Persistence. Victory is assured,'" answered Alex smugly
"More like, with tank like armor, victory is assured," muttered Blaze
"I'll have you know, I spend forever and a day, crafting my "tank like" armor!" retorted Alex, irritated that Blaze would bring up that old argument again
"All you icicles ever do is just sit there behind your pretty shields and you're freaking large resistance," said Blaze
"Well, I'm sure if other schools worked on it, they could have large resistance too."
"That doesn't matter; ice is useless in a battle anyway!"
"Don't-don't you dare go insulting my school," said Alex, barely audible, it was a whisper but held a horrible dangerous tone to it, promising pain
"What are you going to do about it, snow white," said Blaze smirking down at the shorter enraged albino
In the background, Emily was giggling at their antics while Rylee was heard asking Headmistress Crisp, "Um, Professor aren't you going to do something about them?"
"No dear, this is much too amusing to stop," was the answer the storm student got back
"Why are they always like this?" sighed Talon
"They're fire and ice, what should you expect?" said Tara
"Nothing, I shouldn't have expected anything…"
"I hate you! Argh!" screamed Alex as he lunged at the smirking redhead; the stupid nickname always got to him
Blaze's smirk fell short as a small pale fist came swinging its way to his nose and connecting, he had been expecting the usual missiles of large ice chunks or a spamming of annoying twittering ice birds; not the small albino physically attacking him but then again he had been annoying the crap out of Alex all day long, they were all tired from the ride and horrible weather, this would have happened sooner or later.
"Why do you have to be such a fucking asshole!" screamed Alex, as he tried to land another punch, but Blaze being the stronger of the two caught his fist with his hand
"Calm down, snow white, if you blow a fuse you might melt!" snickered Blaze, wondering if he might be a masochist because his words only further enraged the small albino on top of him. Instead of snickering and laughing at the wrathful ice mage, Blaze should have been watching out for Alex's left arm which was free to do whatever its owner wished. Right now its owner really wanted to smash an annoying redheads' nose in.
"What the fuck, you cadaverous bastard!" came the shocked and pained yell
"Damn that felt good, I should punch you more often," was happy reply
"I think you broke my fucking nose!" It seemed to be the case actually, not that Alex could really tell; having only basic knowledge in Life magic, all he knew was that was a lot of blood pouring out. He didn't feel guilty in the least, he knew this wasn't anything near to the worst of the injuries Blaze had had in the past.
"It was your own damn fault," said Alex, standing up and stretching his hand out of Blaze to take, which the redhead did after a moment's hesitation
"Now that you two are done releasing sexual tension; it seems we will be due to go in soon," said Talon, amber eyes twinkling as he smirked at the indignation he received to his first comment
"Emily, heal me, please," begged Blaze, pulling out his sad little puppy dog face. "I don't wanna go in there with a broken nose."
Emily sighed, looking horribly put upon, rolling her light blue eyes at Blaze's face but healed the fire mage anyway; Tara also made sure everyone looked as tidy as possible; drying everyone up with a quick clean up spell and snapping at Chase to lose his slouchy posture and to stop dying his hair in so many colors. "Hey it's an expression of freedom and rebellion!"
After that they were all quiet again, they could hear an old wizened voice speaking of the tournament that their school also was to be a part of.
"...my dear students, not three but four magical schools will be competing…may I please introduce to you all-to the students of Ravenwood School of Magical Arts!"
The great doors finally opened revealing, the great hall with its hundreds of floating candles, invisible ceiling, and chattering students. They all walked in, blinking at the hundreds of new faces all looking back at them with curiosity and interest. Headmistress Crisp led the procession, with her sparkling wand in her hand; they all got the cue and strode in as confidently and professionally as they could, wands held high and eyes looking straight forward.
"Blimey, there they are, the people we saw flying!" said Ron as he looked upon the procession of new wizards
Harry looked himself; they were an odd group, seeming to have an air of great strength and childishness about them also. The lady leading seemed to have a haughty, strict air about her, reminding him almost of Professor McGonagall though younger. The boy behind her had wavy midnight black hair the ends reaching past his ears and when he turned his face to look around Harry had noticed amber eyes. Harry had never seen eyes that color ever before; he wondered where the guy was from. The girl behind the teen, was very pretty with ash brown hair and dark chocolate eyes, she looked to have a nice tan probably from being out in the sun often. The girl held an air of maturity and leadership, same as the boy in front of her; they both seemed to be the elder ones of their group probably here to look after the others.
"Blimey, Harry do you see the bloke with white hair!" said Ron with astonishment, looking at another teen behind a redhead with emerald green eyes
"He must be an albino," hypothesized Hermione, staring also at the group
"An albino?" asked Ron with a quizzical look on his face
"You know, a person without any color pigments in their skin or hair?" informed Hermione in exasperation
"I'll just pretend I understood that," said Ron
"Honestly Ronald, don't you know anything?" sighed Hermione
"Well, I'm not a bookworm like you, 'mione," he retorted back
"Oh whatever Ron."
Harry tuned out his friends again to look back at the odd group in front of them, there seven students all together; four boys and three girls. The last boy looked like a punk with black hair that had pink, blue, green, and purple highlights; he also had what seemed like red eyes. The other two girls were also very pretty, the shorter one had pale blond hair and brown eyes, and she seemed very excited and was smiling at their audience. The last girl had light blonde hair and light blue eyes; she seemed to be the calmest of the group with a light smile and happy air about her.
The small procession made it all the way up to the front of the hall and stood to face the five tables in front of them.
"So! These are our friends all the way from Wizard City; unfortunately the Ravenwood students' headmaster could not be here himself for they are involved in a war against some very dark forces. Headmaster Ambrose in his steed has appointed Headmistress Belladonna Crisp from Pigswick Academy to be here for the tournament. Now Headmistress Crisp has a few words to say to us and then we will move to the front of the school to greet the students of Durmstrang and Beauxbaton, I hear that the rain has lightened some which I say is a good sign for the year," said Professor Dumbledore and then he gave way to Headmistress Crisp
All students quieted even more to hear this new Headmistress from a place they had never heard of before speak for the first time.
"As you have already heard, these students are from the world of Wizard City, a city made especially for Ravenwood students to live and learn and practice their magic. I am from another world altogether, from the world of Wysteria which is also made especially for my students to learn. Now let's let the students introduce themselves to you," Headmistress Crisp said pointing to the boy beside her, with the amber eyes who stepped up out of the line and introduced himself
"Good evening, I am Talon Nightshade, a student from the school of Death; I hope through this competition our two schools can become great friends and learn from each other," said the amber eyed boy with a flourish
"Hello, I am Tara Ravenspear from the school of Balance, if anybody has any questions about Ravenwood or wishes to learn more about Wizard City, you can come to me or Talon," the girl with ash brown hair said
"You're defiantly speaking to her later aren't you 'mione?" asked Ron
"Of course Ron, I have about a million questions for them, though that guy Talon seems a bit intimidating," said Hermione
"Hi people, my names' Blaze Moonflame, I'm from the awesome school of Fire and I have only one thing to say. Hogwarts is going dow-Argh!" and before he could finish his sentence he was elbowed by the guy with snow white hair next to him
"Ahem. Hello everybody, my name is Alex Darkthorne and I am from the school of Ice; I look forward to this tournament and wish the best of luck to all."
"Hmm, the bloke doesn't seem all that bad," snickered Ron
"You shouldn't judge someone based on appearance Ron," lectured Hermione
"Yea, yea, 'mione," sighed Ron
"The redhead seems like a handful," said Harry
"Sounds like someone else we know," said Hermione, looking pointedly at Ron
"Hey!" But his friends just ignored him, and put their attention back to the people introducing themselves in the front. Next up was a girl with light blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Hi, I'm Emily Stardust, a student from the school of Life, I hope we can all get along and have fun in this competition," she said sweetly with bright smile
After Emily, came the boy who looked like a punk who barely said anything.
"The names Chase Spiritstone, from Myth," was all he said; this gained him a dark glare from Tara Ravenspear, an eye roll from Talon Nightshade, and an exasperated sigh from Headmistress Crisp
"You know," said Harry, "I've never heard of these schools, Hogwarts doesn't teach these classes, not that I know of anyway. Have you heard of other schools teaching them, Hermione?"
"No, not at all; this is the first time I'm hearing of them also. I think I can understand Life and Death, Ice and Fire, but Myth and Balance; I have no idea what they could be," said Hermione with a quizzical expression
"I don't want to know what that bloke, Talon, learns in that Death school of his. It's probably made just for little Death Eaters to learn and grow up," sneered Ron throwing a glare at the Death students' way
"Ronald, what did I say about not judging a person like that? They're from a totally different place, didn't you hear them? They probably don't even know about what's happening over here!"
"But that bloke had a British accent, he's from around here, he knows probably!" argued Ron
"But didn't you hear the others, Blaze Moonflame and Alex Darkthorne were American, Chase Spiritstone has Asian features, and Emily Stardust sounds German or something. They all go to the same school and they probably haven't been in their own countries for a long time, Ron."
"Hermione has a point, mate," agreed Harry
"Fine, but I still don't trust that guy."
The last one up, was another girl, she seemed younger than the others by about a year. She had pale blonde hair and light brown eyes.
"Hi guys! I'm Rylee Rainshard, from the school of Storm and I hope we all have a good time during this tournament!" she said with a happy wave and a brilliant smile
"Ah, it seems that we are right on schedule. Our other visitors have just begun to arrive, let us head out and greet them. The rain has seemed to have stopped now as well, isn't that wonderful?" remarked Professor Dumbledore
Then there was shuffling and moving, as all Hogwarts and Ravenwood students made their way out through the great doors and to the front of the school, to meet the other set of students that Hogwarts would be hosting for the year.
They scanned the darkening grounds excitedly, but nothing was moving; everything was still, silent, and quiet. Harry was starting to feel cold. He wished they'd hurry up…Maybe the foreign students were preparing for a dramatic entrance…He remembered what Mr. Weasley had said back at the campsite before the Quidditch World Cup: "always the same-we can't resist showing off when we get together…"
"There!" yelled a sixth year, pointing over the forest.
Something large, much larger than a broomstick-or, indeed, a hundred broomsticks-was hurtling across the deep blue sky toward the castle, growing larger all the time.
"It's a dragon!" shrieked one of the first years
"That's not a dragon; they look like a bunch of winged horses!" Blaze Moonflame shouted
As the gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the lights shining from the castle windows illuminated it, they saw a ginormous, powder-blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses. The front three rows of students moved backwards as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at tremendous speed. A second later, the carriage landed, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery eyes.
A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage and opened the door, bent forward and fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor; unfolding a set of golden steps. Then the expectant students were greeted by the sight of a shining, high-heeled black shoe-a shoe the size of a persons' head-followed immediately, by the largest woman they had ever seen in their lives.
"Well, that explains the size of the carriage, huh?" whispered Blaze into Alex's ear, causing the ice mage to shudder as the warm air from the fire mage hit his cold ear
"S-shut up and be polite, she's probably Beauxbatons headmistress," Alex whispered back
"If she's the headmistress, I don't wanna see the stude-OW!" yelped Blaze as a black, small heeled boot stomped on his toes
After a few pleasantries between the Hogwarts headmaster and and the two headmistresses, the students from Hogwarts, Ravenwood, and Beauxbatons were now again waiting for the last school to arrive; a mix of black, pale blue, and multi-colored robes. They stood, shivering slightly, waiting for the Durmstrang party to arrive, most looking up at the sky.
"Hey, do you hear something?" asked Rylee
"Ja," said Emily, nodding her head
They listened; a loud and oddly eerie noise was drifting toward them from out of the darkness.
"The lake!" yelled someone, pointing down at it, "Look at the lake!"
Some disturbance was taking place deep at the center; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks-and then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared.
"Damn, we should have done a cool appearance also," said Chase in a miffed tone
"Dude, I don't know about you, but I totally came here in a cool way…I came here on a dragon," said Blaze with his arms crossed in front of him
"But everyone has a dragon nowadays, ne?" said Chase
"But my Zara is ten times more awesome than any other dragon!"
"Sure, sure…"
They turned their attention back to the lake to see a ship rise out of the inky black water, gleaming in the pale moonlight. Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide toward the back. The people, who were disembarking from the gleaming ship, were clad in heavy furs, reminding some of the Ravenwood students of their escapades in the freezing realm of Wintertusk.
Blaze and Rylee groaned impatiently, muttering and complaining about being hungry and cold, as the four heads handed out more pleasantries to each other.
And then finally, finally they were let inside, back to the warmth of the Great Hall to eat dinner after such a long day. Alex smiled, thinking that this seemed to be a nice way to end such an odd day; a nice dinner with new faces and old friends and then back home to sleep. This was what he told exactly to Talon and Tara, both of whom agreed that all in all the day was fine and that they were looking forward to tomorrow, for of course this was just another school, albeit an odd one.
Though, you see; what Alex, Tara, and Talon didn't know was that a cute little pair of tiny pointed ears had heard their taunting words through the breezy wind and had accepted their challenge with a cheeky smirk.
A demonic little fairy, Ironic Overpower was on her way; they should have known not to challenge her…Maybe they should pray for Lady Luck to be on their side tonight, then again wherever she goes her twin Lady Bad Luck is sure to follow…
Author Note:
Yea, I don't know if this chapter was any good…though it was long, most of it consisted of all four schools coming to be acquainted with each other. But I promised you guys something interesting, yes? I'm sorry to say, that my promise fell a little flat here, but now that all this getting to know everyone is out of the way, I will be making this story more interesting.
The thing is school is about to start for me, no more summer, I'm so sad! Updates will be a little slow, but I promise not to let you guys down and I will update as fast as I can.
Also, the yaoi in this story is going to be absolute fluff and the rating will never go any higher. One warning though is that there will be cursing and a little bit of violence here and there, so be ready for that. I have warned you guys, so please don't complain and tell me that I didn't say anything.
Warnings from now on will be on the beginnings to all my chapters and at the ends too for the next chapter, so yea…You can see that I am a little paranoid, yes?
Warnings for next chapter: Cursing, seriously mild violence, and fluffy yaoi if you squint
Thank you for reading, please feed the author by leaving a review! But not leaving a review is totally okay, please don't worry; I promise not to even think about setting the sisters of Bad and Good Luck on you, I totally promise! *evil cackle in the background*
