Harry Potter and the Threstral guardian
Chapter 3: A New Wand
Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter, or the associated characters.
"Mr Potter, can I ask what you are doing here?" asked a old man with twinkling blue eyes, it was Mr. Ollivander. "is there a problem with your wand?"
"No - er - well, yes, the problem is I have no wand." replied Harry.
"What do you mean?" he asked sternly.
"Well, I was at the Quidditch world cup and it was either I stay and die or get the hell out of there." Harry replied.
"I see, well we best get to finding you a wand, I recall you being a very tough customer." Mr Ollivander replied. "well I may as well get all the phoenix feather wands, they seemed to react the best with you."
Harry nodded, he waited for Mr. Ollivander to retrieve the wand. He soon returned with a number of wand, of various lengths; obviously they had phoenix tail-feather cores. He tried all the wands only to receive almost no matches.
"Mr. Potter, tell me have you witnessed death?"
Harry nodded, he had seen his mother die. "My mother. . ."
"Yes - well," said Ollivander, obviously regretting his choice of question. "have you come to terms with her death, do you understand death?"
Harry thought about it for a moment, did he accept her death? Did he feel that he was ready to give up on that image he saw in the mirror of erised? Yes, he thought, the first step was attaining a new Patronus, he needed to let go of his mother and father, they were dead and magic couldn't bring them back.
"I have." he nodded, his expression calm and serene.
"Very well, my Grandfather crafted a series of wand, that were indeed powerful for those that were its chosen partners. I think they may match you, even more so than the phoenix core, and, given your heritage it wouldn't be surprising if it did."
Harry watched curiously as Mr. Ollivander returned to the back of his shop to retrieve the wands. He soon returned with a number of wands. "Well give them a try,"
Harry tried a few, there was something there, however, when he reached a twelve inch wand, that was light brown, he waved it and a cold, yet warm sensation raced up his arm, and silver sparks erupted from his wand.
"impressive, that's a pine wand. Twelve inches, sturdy." remarked Ollivander. "these types of wands are well known for producing silent casters."
"Is that so? Well let me give it a try." replied Harry, and then he thought. ' Lumos ' and his wand-tip was illuminated with light.
"Ah, wonderful! Non-verbal magic at such a young age!" said Ollivander in wonder.
"Yeah, and I would appreciate it, if that bit of magic stayed between you and I." said Harry.
"Your secrets safe with me, Mr Potter." Ollivander replied.
"So, want to tell me what exactly the core is?" asked Harry.
"Threstral tail-hair." Ollivander explained. "what is even more remarkable, is that tail-hair was said to belong to the Peverell family."
Harry nodded, not having much clue as to, what he was talking about. "Thanks, how much do I owe you?"
"Seven galleons, as per the usual price." Ollivander replied.
Harry paid him his fee and bid him farewell.
Gringotts
Harry stood at the entrance of giant, goblin bank, that looked as if it had been made from white marble. He had recently received a letter from the goblin bank. The letter didn't say much only that he needed to come and see the director, Ragnarok.
Harry entered the bank, passing various families on his way there, such as the Greengrass', the Nott's, Smith's and so on. Most of them were from his school, so they were easy to recognise.
He reached the teller and presented his letter to the goblin in-charge. "A meeting with director Ragnarok? Well I suppose I should escort you there."
The goblin got of his seat and began walking, Harry of course followed him, knowing that goblins hated time-wasting. "Please wait." said the goblin, as they reached the door.
He knocked the door twice and entered, he soon returned. "Please enter, Lord Ragnarok is waiting."
"Thank you," said Harry, gratefully as he entered.
Sitting behind a large oaken desk, was a fearsome goblin, with long silver hair, reminiscent of Lord Malfoy. His teeth looked, as if they were razor sharp and his eyes seemed as if they could pick apart all your secrets.
Behind the master goblin, a Bo-staff (that was likely made from goblin steel) hung as a warning to his enemies.
"Take a seat." said Ragnarok.
Harry followed his instruction and waited as the goblin went through a couple of files, it was a minute before he looked at Harry. "Harry James Potter?"
"Yes, Lord Ragnarok." replied Harry, smirking internally at the slight raise of the goblins eyebrows.
"You need to understand a few things; first the name that Dumbledore registered with the ministry is not your true name, your true name is Hadrian Romulus Potter." Ragnarok began, Harry's eyes widened slightly(only a skilled Occlumens would pick it up). " second, since you were not named heir, even though you are the only known heir, it has been claimed by another."
"What do you mean claimed by another? I am the only direct descendant to the Potter line."he asked.
"That I cannot tell you, however since certain circumstances were required for your right to claim heir-ship to be superseded by another, it activated an ancient contract that the Peverell family had with the Potters." replied Ragnarok, calmly.
"What, exactly does this entail?" asked Harry wearily.
"I cannot give you the specifics, but what I can tell you is that you are now the heir of the Ancient house of Peverell, you've inherited their vaults, and properties and whatever business shares are left." said Ragnarok. "I have prepared the heir ring in anticipation of your arrival."
"Really? Is there a special ritual, or do I simply put the ring on my finger?" Harry asked.
"Just put it on your finger, magic has already recognised you as heir, you only need to fill in papers here, and update the ones at your ministry." replied the master goblin.
"What is the heir ring for? Besides identification as heir?" Harry asked.
"It assists in protecting your mind against Legilimency attacks, as well as memory charms. It can detect poison and can be used to control familial magic, which are basically the wards on your property, or any wards you create."
"That's some really, impressive magic." said Harry.
"Anyway, I have your ring here, all you need to do is place it on your finger, it'll resize to your finger." the goblin replied, while he took out a small wooden-box that had a reptilian horse-head, carved in the centre, was a vertical-line bisecting a circle and triangle that encompassed the circle and vertical line.
Ragnarok opened the small chest and a small silver ring rested within. Harry reached in and placed the ring on his left index finger, it glowed slightly before disappearing from sight. "You can call it to appear by mere thought, and you can make it permanently visible if you wish to."
Harry nodded, contemplatively. " Am I no longer a son of the House of Potter?" Harry asked.
Ragnarok, gave him narrow look. "Yes, until you fill in the paperwork here at the bank, and the ministry."
"in that case," said Harry, with a grin. "could you move the money from my trust fund, into whatever Peverell vaults there are?"
"It can indeed be done," Ragnarok replied. "but I want twenty five percent of your trust fund before the transfer is complete."
"fifteen percent," Harry said.
"twenty percent," the goblin, replied.
"Done." Harry replied.
Ragnarok opened his drawer and flipped through a few files before he pulled out a few sheaths of parchment. The first basically said that he wanted to transfer funds from the Potter trust fund account to the Peverell accounts.
"You will have to use a blood quill, that way the contact is binding(it uses your blood to seal the contract.) you may feel a slight sting on the back of your hand." Ragnarok explained.
Harry nodded in acceptance, and then he signed the blank spaces in the parchment, making sure to read all the words clearly. He hissed in pain a couple of times while signing the paper, because of the blood quill.
The vault he transported the funds to was a trust vault that the Peverell's had prepared in accordance with the contract that they had signed with the potters, for such a scenario as Harry found himself in.
"Are there any other vaults?" asked Harry, "Peverell ones I mean?"
"No, they were all absorbed by the Potter family, along with the properties. . ." Replied Ragnarok, there was a impatient undercurrent in his voice.
"Right, let me sign the the change of name paperwork."said Harry hurriedly, noticing the impatience in lord Ragnarok's voice.
Ragnarok handed him parchment; he read through it carefully. All it really said was that he accepted his role as the heir of the ancient house of Peverell, and his name change. He filled it in with the blood quill, he hissed sightly as he filled it in.
Harry's name was now: Hadrian Romulus Peverell. It wasn't as if he needed to tell everyone, since Harry was short for Hadrian anyway.
"Can you ask one of your employees to show me to my vault?"asked Harry.
Ragnarok nodded, before pressing a rune on his desk. "Please wait outside, there will be a vault keeper in a few minutes, that will escort you to your vault. Here is your key," Ragnarok handed him a golden key. "and your vault number is 387."
"thank you for your assistance." said Harry gratefully.
Harry stood in his vault, there was nothing remarkable about it, the only detail that was remarkable was the speed in-which they transferred all his coin. His vault balance was now about thirty thousand galleons, give or take.
Harry took about fifty galleons out.(he needed to restock his potions supplies, since he had been practising all his previous years potions, using various techniques he had learned from books in the Black library, they will simple things such as: crushing instead of slicing, and how to calculate the number of clockwise or anti-clockwise stirs, and how to calculate whether it should be stirred in a particular direction.)
Caught stuck in the act
Dear readers, this is Rita Skeeter reporting as correspondent to the daily prophet. I'm sure many of you have read my previous stories on the mayhem at the Quidditch World Cup.
As many of you know the ministry was found to have done almost nothing, however that does not mean that nothing was done. There were four drunk wizards and witches in hoods found literally stuck to the ground at the Quidditch World Cup camp-site. I'm sure many of you want to know who was responsible for this?
I myself, do not know who was responsible, only that he, yes, he was a young man, between thirteen and fifteen, years of age, and he had dark hair. The "Victims" (or as I prefer to call them the "suspects") will remain unnamed, however what I can tell you, is that a simple "Finite Incantatem" was not able to remove the spells that were cast, it will surprise you when I tell what the spells were. I had interviewed spell analysers and this is what one of them said. " The spells cast were basic spells, spells that are taught to first and second years, yet on this occasion they proved to be incredibly useful and dangerous for the "victims" that were involved. The spells used, the ones that I can tell you for sure is the Leg-locker curse, the full-body bind, the hair-loss curse, pimple jinx, tooth lengthening hex, tongue tying curse, freezing charm and the stick-fast hex, we also suspect that the jelly-brain hex was used, along with some type of spell that bonded the spells together in the same fashion as one would create protective wards around a property."
The "victims" conditions were all reversed, do not fear, the ever talented medi-witches and wizards at St Mungo's - who as you know just recently received a generous donation from Lord Lucius Malfoy - but, what we need to ask ourselves is this, do we honour this vigilante? Or condemn him? That is the question you need to ask yourself, do we honour this mystery boy who protected those that he could? Or honour those who would do nothing and give no answers?
Harry put the paper he had just finished reading down, a grin marring his face, at the not so thinly veiled insult.
"Master Hadrian, Dobby has packed your trunk it will be ready for you before you leave for school." explained Dobby, a calm serene smile gracing his face.
"Dobby, come and sit down please."asked Harry.
"What is wrong, Master Hadrian?" Asked Dobby, he had become so accustomed with Harry treating him as he would another wizard.
"Nothing bad Dobby, I just want you to work at Hogwarts while I'm there, can you do that?"asked Harry.
"Yes, of course Master Harry, but what about the House?"asked Dobby.
"I'll ask Kreacher to take care of that, its almost finished anyway, and I just want to say that you did a excellent job on cleaning up the house, and decorating." grinned Harry.
"It was my pleasure master Hadrian," Dobby bowed, before disappearing to attend to another part of the house.
"Kreacher!" called Harry.
"Master calls?" Kreacher appeared with a pop, and bowed while he spoke.
"Yes, come and sit down wont you?"said Harry, while rolling his eyes at Kreacher's insistence at bowing to him all the time.
"Kreacher would be okay to stand, if that is fine with you master?"replied Kreacher.
"Yes, whatever you like," replied Harry, there was slight hint of an annoyed undertone to his voice. "Now, while I'm gone, I want you make sure the house is kept clean, can you do that?"
"Yes, master. Kreacher will not fail you,"replied Kreacher.
"Also, if Sirius shows up here, I want you to treat him respectively like you would treat any scion of the House of Black." ordered Harry.
"Y-yes master."Replied Kreacher, Harry could tell that he was having a little trouble accepting the order.
"Also, while I'm gone I want you to get new tea towels for yourself and Dobby, and I want you to have the Black family insignia on yours, as well as the Peverell family insignia, and I want you to get Dobby one with the Peverell family insignia." said Harry.
Hogwarts Express
September 1, 1994
Harry was apparated to the Hogwarts by Dobby at about half past ten. That way there wouldn't be anyone to witness him appearing with a house-elf. He found a compartment and waited.
At eleven Ron and Hermione found him in his compartment. "Harry, I was so worried about you, where were you?" she embraced him, while frantically asking him questions.
"I was at one of Padfoot's houses." Harry replied, returning her embrace.
"Really? Was he there?" asked Hermione, in a softer tone.
"No, I'm not sure where he is." replied Harry.
Harry then turned to Ron, "Ron, you okay?"
"Yeah mate, you?"
"Brilliant." grinned Harry.
"Harry, since when did you stop wearing glasses?" Hermione asked, Harry thought it was strange that she didn't notice sooner.
"A while back, my eyes are fixed. . .so I don't need them any more." Harry replied.
"O- er - shh." she pressed her finger to her lips, while leaning towards the door.
Harry suddenly became keenly aware of a conversation that Malfoy was participating in. ". . .Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore - the man's such a Mudblood-lover - and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riff-raff. But mother doesn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the dark arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defence rubbish we do. . ."
Hermione softly closed the door.
"So, he thinks Durmstrang would have suited him, does he?" she said angrily. "I wish he had gone, then we wouldn't have to put up with him."
"His not wrong, I mean it would be better to learn the dark arts. . .that way we would have experience at defending ourselves against those who use it." Harry replied.
"you do have a point. . ." said Hermione thoughtfully.
"Durmstrang's another Wizarding school? I think I've heard of it."said Ron.
"Yes," said Hermione sniffily, "and its got a horrible reputation. According to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe, it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts."
"Where is it? What country?"
"Well nobody knows, do they?"said Hermione, raising her eyebrows.
"I suppose they have some sort of concealing wards?"said Harry.
"Yes, there's traditionally been a lot of rivalry between all the magic schools. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons like to conceal their whereabouts so nobody can steal their secrets," said Hermione matter-of-factly."
"But, Durmstrang's got to be about the same size as Hogwarts - how are you going to hide a great big castle?"
"But Hogwarts is hidden," said Hermione in surprise. "Everyone knows that. . .well, everyone who's read Hogwarts, a history, anyway."
"Just you, then,"said Ron. "so go on - how'd you hide a place like Hogwarts?"
"Its bewitched," said Hermione. "If a muggle looks at it, all they see is a moldering old ruin with a sign over the entrance saying DANGER, DO NOT ENTER, UNSAFE."
"So Durmstrang'll just look like another ruin to an outsider too?"
"Maybe,"said Hermione, shrugging, "or it might have Muggle-repelling charms on it, like the world cup stadium. And to keep foreign wizards from finding it, they'll have made it unplottable -"
"Come again?"
"Well, you can enchant a building so its impossible to plot on a map, cant you?"
"Well, yes but its not as if its difficult to find it, now is it?" asked Harry, his eyebrow raised.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, if you place two maps alongside one another, an old one and a recent one, and if there is an unplotable charm on the building or property, Muggles will not find it anyway, unless they're keyed into the wards - which is unlikely - so by comparing the two maps, you will find pieces of land missing, that Muggles would simply ignore or replace with ideas like tectonic or raise of tide, fact is, with these maps you could find multiple pieces of land that are missing, such as the two schools in Europe." explained Harry.
"Eh- How do you know so much about wards?" asked Hermione, in surprise.
"I read a few books," Harry shrugged.
"Anyway, I think Durmstrang must be somewhere in the far north," said Hermione thoughtfully. "Somewhere very cold, because they've got fur capes as part of their uniforms."
"Ah, think of the possibilities," said Ron dreamily. "it would've been so easy to push Malfoy off a glacier and make it look like an accident. . .shame his mother likes him. . ."
The compartment was silent for a while, until Neville locked on the door. "Neville, come on in,"
"How are you, Harry?"asked Neville timidly.
"I'm brilliant thanks," grinned Harry. "How about you?"
"I'm okay, I guess." Neville replied.
Harry ignored most of their conversation, until Ron said. "We were in the top box. . ."
Harry noticed Malfoy was about to come through the door, that Neville left open. He was not, however in the mood to listen to Malfoy's diatribe.
Harry whipped out his wand and pointed it at the compartment door. "Colloportus!" and the door instantly snapped shut, he followed it up with. "Colloportus Duo." and the door was bolted shut.
Draco Malfoy stood with his face pressed against the glass of window. His pale face was visibly fuming. While Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville were laughing uproariously.
"How'd you do that?"asked Ron, after he got over the amusement.
"Locking charm, and a locking charm modifier." Harry grinned.
"Where did you find the modifier?" asked Hermione.
"It was mentioned in one of the books I came across," Harry replied, "it was in this book about wards, there were even silencing charms in it, I haven't practised them yet, but I will soon."
"Sorry, what's a modifier?" asked Ron.
"It alters a spell, either by making it more powerful, multi-directional or some other manner of additional functions to the original spell." said Hermione and Harry in unison.
"woah, what the bloody hell have you done with Harry Potter?"said Ron, this was directed at Hermione. "You've gone and put the imperious on him!"
"I have not! Ronald Weasley!" said Hermione, going pink.
"I was only having you on." laughed Ron.
"Oh, right. ." replied Hermione embarrassingly.
"Right, well anyway. . .Neville, how was your holiday?"
"It was okay, I guess. Nothing like going to the Quidditch world cup. . .but I got to work in the greenhouse, so that's okay I guess.." shrugged Neville.
"Why didn't you go? I'm sure the most noble and ancient house of Longbottom has enough in its coffers to buy a ticket or two."replied Harry.
"Oh, we do, we have more than enough - sorry Ron - but Gran didn't want to go."Neville replied, although there was a sad undercurrent to his voice.
"Oh, well it was for the best I suppose." replied Harry.
"Yeah Harry's right, what happened at the Quidditch world cup wasn't pretty, mate." Ron replied.
"Yeah, I read about it in the daily prophet." Neville replied.
"It didn't cover everything, especially the Mr. Crouch treats his house-elves, not surprising since its his slave!"exclaimed Hermione furiously.
"What do you mean? What happened?" asked Harry, now curious since he had only met crouch about two days ago.
"He treats his house-elf like a slave," said Hermione, as she turned to the rainy skies of the window.
"What happened exactly?"asked Harry.
"He gave his house-elf, Winky, clothes, because she was found with a wand, and near the location of the dark mark." replied Hermione. "but he made her go to the top box, even though she is scared of heights, and he gave her clothes because she was hiding during the world cup and was found with a wand. I cant believe wizards treat house-elves - like -like - slaves! They don't even pay them."
"While that is bad, house-elves are paid Hermione. . .just not in the way you think. . ."replied Harry.
"What do you mean?" she said, with her eyebrow raised. "We pay elves in magic, when they are bonded to us it creates a symbiotic relationships between the witch or wizard and his or her house-elf or house-elves, and what are they going to buy with money anyway? They live to serve, I'm sure the only thing they would buy would be gifts for their owners on Christmases and birthdays."
Hermione simply huffed and opened her copy of the standard book of spells, grade four. She didn't speak for the remainder of the journey.
Hogsmeade station
1 September, 1994
Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville ran speedily, while slipping and sliding through the thick rain. They finally reached the carriages and Harry nearly stumbled when he saw the silvery, skeletal, winged-horses. Harry knew instantly that they were Threstral's, he hurried into the carriage and waited for the others to get in.
Then he remembered that Threstral's could only be seen by those who had seen death. He had only read about them in passing, but that fact had remained with him.
(Hogwarts)
The trio and Neville exited the carriage, and quickly marched towards the doors.
"Blimey,"said Ron, shaking his head and sending water everywhere, "if that keeps up the lake's going to overflow. I'm soak - ARRGH!"
A large, red water-filled balloon had dropped from out of the ceiling onto Ron's head and exploded, drenched and spluttering, Ron staggered sideways into Harry, just as a second water bomb dropped - narrowly missing Hermione, it burst at Harry's feet sending a wave of cold water over his shoes and into his socks. People all around them shrieked and started pushing one another in their efforts to get out of the line of fire. 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 too aim again.
Harry withdrew his wand in one swift motion and took aim at peeves, he was dimly aware of Professor McGonagall sliding out of the entrance hall.
"Skurge!" exclaimed Harry, the spell instantly took effect, and sent peeves fleeing from the scene in fright.
When he looked down, he became keenly aware of professor McGonagall's near collision with Hermione, he swiftly pushed her out the way and pointed his wand at McGonagall. "Immobulus!" her movements froze, and she fell toward the ground slowly, unable to stop herself, he then went through another wand motion and said. "Windgardium Leviosa!" using his wand, he stopped her fall and then readjusted her position, until she was at standing position. "finite incantatem." finished Harry, returning professor McGonagall's range of motion to her.
"Mr. Potter in most cases you would be receiving points for your efforts, unfortunately the term has not yet began." McGonagall said, with slight upturn of her lips. "Now! Into the great hall, come on!"
They entered the Entrance Hall, Harry pointed at his shoes and muttered. " Tergeo." all the water in his shoes were siphoned away by the spell. "Calor" he muttered and his feet warmed up, he repeated it on the rest of his clothes, drying and warming himself.
"what did you just do?" asked Ron.
"Drying charms and warming charms, want me to use them on you lot too?"asked Harry, however he was taken aback by the all of his house mates(in his year) lining up to be warmed and dried.
He repeated the same spells on everyone else, leaving them much happier than they were, however he was now considerably more hungry. Although he noticed a boy in the corner with dark hair, he seemed like much frailer version of Neville, his back was facing him, but he could still see the deathly pale skin of the boy, his hair was soaking with water, along with the rest of his person.
Harry pointed his wand at him and muttered. "Tergeo - Calor" the charms took effect immediately. The boy turned his head and nodded towards Harry.
Harry belatedly realised that it was Theodore Nott, and when he looked back to where he saw Theodore Nott standing, he was gone.
Great hall
Gryffindor table
"About time," said Ron, seizing his knife and fork and looking expectantly at his golden plate.
Professor Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was smiling around at the students, his arms opened wide in welcome.
"I have only two words to say to you," he told them, his deep voice echoing around the hall. "Tuck in."
"Hear, hear!" said Harry and Ron loudly as the empty dishes filled magically before their eyes.
Nearly Headless Nick watched mournfully as Harry, Ron, and Hermione loaded their own plates.
"Aaah, 'at's be'er," said Ron, with his mouth full of mashed potato.
"You're lucky there's a feast at all tonight, you know,"said Nearly Headless Nick. "There was trouble in the kitchens earlier."
"Why what happened? Said Harry, after swallowing a piece of steak.
"Peeves, of course," said Nearly Headless Nick, shaking his head, which wobbled dangerously. He puled his ruff a little higher up on his neck. "the usual argument, you know. He wanted to attend the feast - well, its quiet the question, you know what he's like, utterly uncivilized, cant see a plate of food without throwing it. We held a ghosts council - the fat friar was all for giving him the chance - but most wisely, in my opinion, the bloody baron put his foot down."
"Yeah, we thought peeves seemed hacked off about something."said Ron darkly, then he brightened. "But Harry got him, so what did he do in the kitchens?"
"Oh the usual," said nearly headless nick, shrugging. "wreaked havoc and mayhem. Pots and pans everywhere. Place swimming in soup. Terrified the house-elves out of their wits -"
Clang
Hermione had knocked over her golden goblet. Pumpkin juice spread steadily over the tablecloth, but Hermione paid no attention.
"There are house-elves here?"she said, staring horror-struck, at Nearly Headless Nick. "Here at Hogwarts?"
"Certainly,"said Nearly Headless Nick looking surprised at her reaction. "the largest number in any dwelling in Britain, I believe over a hundred."
"So!" said Dumbledore, smiling around at them all. "Now that we are all fed and watered," ("Hmph!" said Hermione) "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 this year been extended to include screaming Yo-yo's, Fanged frisbees, and ever-bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr filch's office , if anybody would like to check it."
"As ever I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third-year."
"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch cup will not take place this year." said Dumbledore. "this is due to an even 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 that moment, there 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 travelling cloak. Every head in the great hall swivelled toward the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightening 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 very other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling.
The lightning had thrown the man's face into sharp relief, and it was unlike anything Harry had ever seen. It looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. But it was the man's eyes that made him frightening.
One of them was small, dark and beady. The other was large, round as a coin and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye - and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so all they could see was whiteness.
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 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. His normal eye was fixed on the sausages, but the blue eye was still darting restlessly around in its socket, taking in the hall and the students.
"May I introduce our new defence against the dark arts teacher?"said Dumbledore brightly into the silence. "Professor Moody."
"We are to have the honour 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 filled the hall ever since Moody's arrival suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.
"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley,"he said, "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar. . ."
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly.
"Er - but maybe this is not the time. . .no. . ." said Dumbledore, "where was I? Ah yes the Triwizard. . .well some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those that do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely."
"The Triwizard tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be the most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities - until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued." said Dumbledore, " There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament," Dumbledore continued, "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. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger."
"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."
"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard cup to Hogwarts," he said, "the heads of the participating schools, along with the ministry of magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age - that is to say, seventeen years or older - will be allowed to put their names forth for consideration"
Skurge charm - (Skurge) can be used to scare ghost, and clean ectoplasm.
Freezing charm - (Immobulus) renders living objects immobile and disables electronic devices.
Full-body bind curse - (Petrificus totalus) - causes the target to become paralysed, their arms snap to their sides and their legs to each other.
Stick fast hex - (Colloshoo) - sticks shoes to the ground.
Leg-locker curse - (Locomotor Mortis) - sticks her legs together.
Pimple jinx(Furnunculus) - causes the users face to erupt in boils.
Tooth-lengthening hex - (Densaugeo) - increases the length of front teeth to monstrous proportions
Jelly-brain hex - (Sensus Immobulus) - affects brain functions.
Spell weaving spell - (Innecto) - binds multiple spells together.
Tongue tying curse - (Mimble wimble) binds the targets tongue so that they cannot speak about a certain subject, or make incantations.
Hair loss curse(Calvorio) removes the victims hair.
Warming charm- (Calor) - warms the target
