CHAPTER THREE

The fourth years all shared a horseless carriage up to the castle, and Harry was extremely happy he'd been on the Quidditch team for so many years. It was pouring down raining and most people arrived soaked, while he had mastered the water-repellent and warming charms years ago. The great hall was just the same as ever, and nothing was drastically different, so whatever Draco had been going on about couldn't start straight away, there wasn't even a new Defence teacher yet. It felt good to be back.

Thankfully Harry forgot to remove these charms, as they were soon introduced to one of the castles constants.

"It's nice to be- ARGH!" Ron screamed as a large red water bomb exploded over his head. Apparently Ron had removed the charms, as he was standing dripping, hair plastered to his head. Harry couldn't help himself and burst out laughing.

"Nice welcome you've got there Peeves. Have a good holiday?" Harry yelled, alerting other students to the danger. Peeves just stuck out his tongue and pelted a balloon at Harry. Harry ducked and it hit a group of girls behind him, who squealed and headed off to their house table.

"Oh come on." Said Hermione dragging them closer to the front of the room. She then proceeded to dry off a grumbling Ron. They sat close to Fred and George, who Harry couldn't help but notice, were rather dry.

"Nice balloons boys. Where did you get them?" Harry asked.

"From Tra-… HEY!" Said one of the twins, both turning to glare at Harry.

"We supported you."

"Yeah, even gave up some of our…"

"…more precious secrets."

"And this is what we get."

"Terrible." They said in unison, shaking their heads in opposite directions. Harry just laughed.

"Don't panic, I won't give up the biggest pranksters in eleven years." Harry laughed.

"ELEVEN!" They replied in unison. "More like ever." Harry just grinned.

"What about the owners of a certain bit of parchment?" He wiggled his eyebrows. The twins jaws dropped.

"You figured out when…"

"And who…"

"They were!"

"How?"

Harry hit his palm to his face, he'd completely forgotten that they'd be interested in last years adventures more than most. He was so used to keeping his secrets close.

"Crap. Sorry, I forgot."

"YOU FORGOT!" One of them yelled, gaining a lot of attention.

"You forgot!" The other, probably George, added, pulling his twin back to a sitting position, "We have spent hours researching that and you just… forgot!?"

"You… research... Ha! That's a funny one." Said Ron, tuning into the end of their conversation now that he was dry.

"What does Harry know that you don't?" Hermione added. Harry was about to answer, but the twins beat him to it.

"Nothing."

"Nada."

"Absolutely zilch."

So Harry just rolled his eyes and turned to see a very wet Hagrid making his way to the staff table.

"Sorting should be soon." He said, ignoring the glares. This was the first sorting he'd seen since his own, having been battling with the Whomping Willow in second year, and being called aside to check his health after the Dementors in his third. "At least I made it to the feast this year." He muttered to himself as McGonagall lead the drenched first years to the front. At the back of the group one very small boy was wearing Hagrid's moleskin coat, which was half dragging along the floor.

"That's my brother." Said an excited Colin Creevy from next to Harry, "Keep your fingers crossed for Gryffindor!" Harry only just managed to keep the groan silent, as he crossed his fingers… for anything other than Gryffindor.

"It's going to be great! He's really excited!" Colin continued, oblivious to Harry's response. "I've told him all about the castle. And you. He already wants an autograph of one of the pictures I have of you and Lockheart."

This time Harry's groan was out loud, however thankfully the ghosts appeared and Colin was distracted. He turned to find Nearly-Headless Nick next to him.

"Siblings are usually together in the same house aren't they?" Harry asked.

"Not always, but a lot of the time."

Harry groaned again, but tried to focus across the table on Parvati Patail. Her twin wasn't in Gryffindor. There was still hope.

Harry turned back to the front to find the first years lined up and McGonagall explaining what to do. The little boy in Hagrid's coat turned and made eye contact with Colin, two thumbs up he mouthed 'I fell in the lake'. Surprisingly this made Harry feel a bit better, being rather accident-prone himself, at least he hadn't gone that far. Maybe Colin would invest interest in his brother instead of hero-worshiping Harry all year. One could only hope.

The sorting hat began:

'A thousand years or more ago,

When I was newly sewn,
There lived four wizards of renown,

Whose names are still well known:

Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,

Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,

Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,

Shrewd Slytherin, from fin.

They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,

They hatched a daring plan

To educate young sorcerers
Thus Hogwarts School began.

Now each of these four founders

Formed their own house, for each

Did value different virtues
In the ones they had to teach.

By Gryffindor, the bravest were

Prized far beyond the rest;
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest

Would always be the best;

For Hufflepuff, hard workers were

Most worthy of admission;

And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition.

While still alive they did divide
Their favourites from the throng,
Yet how to pick the worthy ones

When they were dead and gone?

'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,

He whipped me off his head

The founders put some brains in me

So I could choose instead!

Now slip me snug about your ears,

I've never yet been wrong,

I'll have a look inside your mind

And tell where you belong!'

"Well that's something." Harry said quietly, as the rest of the hall cheered.

"What's that?" Asked Nick, looking morosely up at the hat.

"There's been times I've wondered if I was sort right. At least now I know the hat still thinks not. 'I've never been wrong' is definitely promising."

Nick smiled at him. "Well, regardless, I'm glad you're here. And I've yet to regret having someone in this house."

Harry wondered if that would include Peter Pettigrew. But then Nick didn't know the truth. Hardly anyone did. Harry frowned, but the sorting had begun, so he shook of the thought and cheered the new Gryffindors. Although looking over at the Ravenclaw table he saw the Ravenclaw seeker Cho Chang greeting the new arrivals, and for a brief moment he had the strange desire to join the Ravenclaws as well.

Dennis Creevy inevitably joined the Gryffindors, which Harry tried not to bemoan, clapping just as loudly. He was certainly enthusiastic, excitedly telling how he had fallen in the lake, and something had pushed him back into the boat.

"It was probably the giant squid." Colin said, also grinning.

"Wow!" said Dennis, as though nobody in their wildest dreams could hope for more than being thrown into a storm-tossed, fathoms-deep lake, and be pushed out of it again be a giant sea monster.

Harry couldn't help but grin and agree with Nick. Despite their rather annoying enthusiasm, he had never met a Gryffindor he wasn't glad was Gryffindor either. Although it was pushing it a little as he stared very hard at the sorting, ignoring Colin loudly pointing out Harry and his scar.

With a simple 'Tuck in' from Dumbledore the feast appeared much to Ron's loud delight. Unfortunately Nick wasn't so excited, even less so when Ron pointed out it was easier to be excited about food if you weren't dead. Unsuprisingly this put Nick in a bad mood.

"You're lucky to be getting a feast at all. Havoc in the kitchens."

"What started that?" Hermione enquired politely.

"Peeves got it. Pots and Pans everywhere, place swimming in soup. The usual mess. But he really upset the house-elves."

There was a loud clang as Hermione knocked over her goblet, filling Ron's plate with pumpkin juice.

"You're not telling me there are house-elves here?" She demanded.

"Of course. Over a hundred. Largest number in any dwelling in Brittan." Nick said proudly as Harry's head sunk to the table.

"But they get paid?" she said. "They get holidays, don't they? And sick leave, and pensions, and everything?"

Nick laughed so hard his head fell off. "Why they'd get offended at the thought." He said, still chortling to himself as he drifted off to worry some more first years. "Pensions indeed."

Hermione looked down at her meal and pushed it away.

"Slave labor." She said firmly, and refused to eat another bite. Ron seemed to take this as a challenge, waving all the different foods under her nose. Harry just wondered what she was planning to eat, starving herself wouldn't help the elves. Neville was now on his left, as Nick had left, so he just asked him about the elves.

"Do you know much about it Neville?" Neville seemed a bit shocked to be asked, but in the end just shrugged.

"We used to have an elf. She always seemed happiest when she had something to do… Actually she used to get annoyed at Gran for making me do chores, seemed to think she might loose out on the job."

Harry thought about Dobby, even in a house where he was obviously treated poorly he seemed inclined to go out of his way to help. Ignoring the battle between Ron and Hermione he was a bit curious. Living at a boarding school didn't tell you much about the other students home lives.

"So you live with your gran. What's that like?" He asked. Neville seemed to blanch a bit. "You don't have to tell. I'm just curious. My home life wasn't so great. I've spent a few weeks at Ron's and a wizards house is really interesting."

"Oh…" Neville seemed to calm a bit. "Oh, the house is great. It's my parents. Three stories, Gran lives mostly on the second floor, but my bedroom and a library is on the top floor, as well two spare rooms. But the best bit is the greenhouse!" He grinned.

"Of course! Herbology." Harry grinned back, and image of Neville in an indoor Amazon in his mind.

"Gran's Dad started the collection, it's actually bigger than the house now, although there is a whole level which is mostly taken over by devils snare." Neville grinned, "The heating broke. Without magic in the holidays I can't do much about trimming it, so we've just locked it off for now."

"Levels? How do you have levels in a greenhouse?" Harry asked.

"Magic." Said Neville, rolling his eyes.

"Right, right… that stuff." Harry laughed. "It sounds really cool."

"Yeah, it is. You should come over some time. Maybe Christmas even?"

"Yeah, that would be good. I'd invite you over but my Aunt and Uncle would have a fit." Harry sighed.

"Right. They're muggles aren't they?" Neville asked.

"Yeah. They don't really like magic." Harry shrugged.

"How does that work?" asked Neville, but Harry was saved from answering as the food disappeared and Dumbledore stood up to make his speech. Harry wasn't sure how he would have answered. 'Not very well' would have been the truth, but he didn't like to share his home life. Ron, Fred and George were the only ones who had an inkling of an idea, after breaking him out in second year, but they'd thankfully never mentioned it.

Dumbledore was on his usual rant (forbidden forest: forbidden. Filch's list of doom), when a new bit caught his attention.

"It also pains me to tell you that the inter-house Quidditch competition has been cancelled this year."

"WHAT!?" Harry yelled, and he wasn't the only one. The Weasley twins had actually fallen off the bench.

"This is due to another event starting in October, which I'm sure you will enjoy. It is my pleasure to announce that Hogwarts…"

But at that moment there was a loud interruption. Looking Back Harry had to wonder if the timing had been planned. At the same time as loud rumble of thunder from the raging storm the doors burst open revealing a very scary looking man. Pirate was Harry's first thought. He had a long dark cloak on, still dripping from the rain, not quite hiding the bottom of one wooden leg. Leaning on a tall crooked staff, and his wooden leg clunking along the stone floor, his face came into light. Under fine, wet, brown hair was a face missing various parts. A chunk of his nose was missing and his face was littered with scars, but the creepiest thing was one of his eyes. It was mechanical and seemed to have a mind of it's own, spinning all around the room while its clear blue counterpart stared straight on ahead.

The man made his way through the silent hall up to Dumbledore, who shook his hand and said some quite words which Harry couldn't catch, before sitting down to a full plate of food. He stabbed a sausage with a knife from his pocket, rather than use the cutlery off the table, sniffed it carefully, then dug in.

"May I present our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody." Said Dumbledore smiling.

"Moody!" Said Ron in a harsh whisper, "That's Mad-Eye, the one dad went to see this morning." He said, whisper getting louder. Fortunately he wasn't the only one as Harry couldn't help but feel calling the man Mad-Eye might be the last thing you ever did.

As only Dumbledore and Hagrid seemed to come out of their trance enough to applaud the new teacher, he continued on.

"As I was saying, it is my pleasure to announce that Hogwarts will be hosting the Tri-Wizard Tournament this year." This quickly gained everyone's attention.

"YOU'RE JOKING?" Fred yelled, breaking the tension in the room as a few people laughed.

"No Mr. Weasley, I shall have to leave the jokes to you." Dumbledore chuckled. "Although I did hear an excellent one over the holidays about a troll, a hag and a…" Professor McGonagall coughed loudly and Dumbledore trailed off.

"Ah yes, never mind. The Tri-Wizard Tournament has not been held in over a century, so we are quite excited. A few of you might know a little on how it's run, so bare with me for a few moments.

The Tournament is a competition between the three premier schools in Europe: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Drumstrang. One champion is selected from each school to compete in three magical tasks. The schools take it in turn to host the Tournament, and it was considered an excellent way of establishing ties between the youth of different nationalities – that is, until the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

"Death toll?" Hermione whispered.

Harry groaned as everyone else cheered. What's the bet I get caught up in this? He thought grumpily. Just one normal year would be nice. Everyone else, however, seemed more than pleased about hosting the event.

Dumbledore continued, "As such the three schools have been working together with their governments to ensure that the return of the tournament will be a much safer event, with no students finding themselves in mortal danger. Beauxbaton and Drumstrang will be arriving in October, with the champions being selected by an impartial judge on Halloween. The prize is eternal glory for your school, along with a more physical element of a thousand Galleons prize money."

"I'm going for it!" Fred whispered loudly, and didn't seem to be the only one thinking the same thing. Harry spent a short moment picturing himself standing accepting the prize, his school cheering for something he actually had a say in. Harry Potter, Tournament Champion, as opposed to Harry Potter, Boy-who-lived. It was intriguing, however the thought was soon interrupted by the more practical part of his brain, picturing the Basalisk and Dementors, as well as a good dose of giant chess sets and Devil's snare. Maybe not. Harry thought. There was also Sirius to consider. He had promised himself to do anything he could to help, which was going to involve a lot of research. He'd also promised himself to improve his grades this year, in the hope his exams wouldn't be interrupted by the more violent end of term he was getting used to. Fortunately the choice was taken away from him.

"As eager as I'm sure you all are to bring the Tri-Wizard Cup to Hogwarts, The heads of the three schools, along with the Ministry, have agreed to put a limit on the age of those entering. You must be of age- that is seventeen, in order to enter."

This announcement was not met with as much cheer, as everyone underage made loud complaints, the twins especially.

"This is for your own safety," Dumbledore continued over the racket, "and I will be personally ensuring that no one under age gives their name to the impartial judge. This tournament is not to be taken lightly, and will involve great skill and risk to the champion.

The delegations from Beauxbaton and Drumstrang will be staying with us from October through the duration of the tournament, and I know that you will extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are here, as well as you whole-hearted support for the Hogwarts champion. More news will go up on your in-house notice boards.

You must all be quite exhausted, so off to bed with you. Chop! Chop!"