Disclaimer: All character and the world in this story belongs to JK Rowling. I own nothing.
A/N: This chapter onwards the story will have a few small changes. I should first clarify that it is not a redo of Harry Potter books rather it would follow the general story line. There will be major changes coming to the story towards the end of this chapter, there will be additions to the story but the storyline will remain more or less the same. Please Review (good-bad doesn't matter)
Chapter Four: Goblet of Fire
It was difficult enough to teach a difficult subject like ancient runes to a beginner, the job was made difficult by the disinterest shown by the said person towards it. Hermione was trying to teach the fundamentals of the subject to Harry to make sure that he passes his exam in the upcoming term but she could see that her effort was in vain at the moment. It has been two days since the 'World Cup Fiasco', as it was termed by the Daily Prophet. Hermione was certain that Harry was distracted, though she wasn't certain about the main reason but she knew that the events that took place two days ago, played a major role in it.
"Harry, what's on your mind?" Hermione asked after thinking about it for too long.
"Nothing." Harry replied, avoiding looking Hermione in the eye.
"It's not 'nothing' Harry, tell me what is it that has you so distracted."
He finally relented, "Okay. It's just some dreams, kind of nightmarish, I have been having over the summer. It's not a big deal." Harry replied with a sigh, his expressions turning a bit sad, his eyes having the look of confusion.
"It may very well be, tell me about these dreams of yours." Hermione asked, scooting closer to Harry.
Harry explained the dreams he had been having throughout the summer with all the details he could remember. He told her about the prickling he felt in his scar during these dreams. An expression of concern covered Hermione's face, she had been a part of all the adventures since the Halloween night in their first year but Harry had never had these kinds of dreams. This had her worried about her closest friend.
"Harry, you should talk to Sirius or may be Dumbledore. This does not sound normal to me." Hermione's voice dropped to the lever of whisper, laced with concern for the wellbeing of Harry.
Harry just nodded and diverted his gaze back to the book opened on his lap. Harry still wanted to ask Hermione if she knew anything about the Dark Mark or Voldemort's followers but was uncertain about the extent of Hermione's knowledge in this area due to her muggle upbringing.
"Hermione, what do you know about the Dark Mark?"
"Just that it was the mark of You-Know-Who and almost everyone was running like rats after it was cast."
"And what about his followers?"
"They are called Death Eaters. They hide their identity by the masks. Most of them are locked in Azkaban. The extent of my knowledge in this regard is quite small but I can do some in-depth research when we return to the castle, if you want?"
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. Mrs. Weasley poked her head in the room and then walked inside with a basket of washed cloths in her hands. She waved her wand over the basket and a pile of neatly folded cloths formed on Harry's trunk, at the foot of the bed.
"Harry dear, I took the liberty to repair your clothes and altered them a bit to fit you more properly." She pointed towards the pile with a smile.
Harry rose from his bed and gave a very warm hug to Mrs. Weasley, too emotional to say something at the moment. Molly just patted him on the back, she now realized that the boy has grown taller than her and was in a much better physical state then the day she first met him on the King's Cross Station. She broke the hug after a few moments and gave harry a pouch and a key.
"I went to Diagon Alley while you people were away. I got your books, supplies and some coins you will need during the term. Oh, I got you a formal dress robe as was requested in the letter. All that stuff is downstairs. Hermione dear, I hope you had already bought all the require items beforehand?"
Hermione nodded and Harry said his thanks to the Weasley matriarch, a big smile pasted on his face. He returned to his place on the bed to continue his studies. A few minutes later, he asked Hermione about the reason of being asked to bring a dress robe, just to quench the curiosity. Not unlike himself, she had no idea about it.
-X-X-
The day of their return to the castle arrived and the Weasley household fell into chaos. Like every year at the Burrow, Weasley family was busy in last minute packing, repacking, checking and rechecking of all the luggage of the four Weasley kids, Harry and Hermione. Harry had to pack his trunk last night due to incessant by his bookworm of a friend. He had packed everything last night before bedtime, checked it before breakfast and rechecked before leaving. Harry sent Hedwig to Sirius two days ago, hence the only thing he had to carry today was his trunk which was at the moment loaded with all his possessions.
Mr. Weasley had last night informed everyone in the house that they will be directly going to the platform 9 and ¾ by floo-travel, the plan was to leave at 10:45. As Harry remembered the from his past experience that the set schedule won't be followed and they would need to make a run to catch the express.
They arrived at the platform, just in time for everyone to board the train but not enough for the farewells to spoken with a hug. The group of six started walking towards the back of the train to find an empty compartment, in the trio's case or their friends, in case of the other Weasley kids. Weasley twins left their group when they saw Lee Jordan sharing a compartment with their fellow Gryffindor Quidditch team chasers namely Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell. Ginny moved to walked away when she saw her year mates in a compartment halfway down the train. It was the trio that had to walk almost till the last compartment to find an empty one.
An hour later, the food trolley passed by their compartment and to no one's surprise, Ron was hungry. Thus, a heavy treat was purchased and the friends made himself busy while the other two immersed themselves in the ancient runes book. A few minutes later, Harry was distracted from his study by a group of giggling girls who crossed by their compartment. One of them caught Harry's attention, she was an Asian girl from Ravenclaw, as was evident from her school robes and a prefect, the badge on her left breast with a 'P' shining in the afternoon sunlight of the summer. She had an average height, big brown eyes and straight black hair which reached the top of her hips. He remembered that she played seeker on the Ravenclaw team last year. She gave him a smile and walked away with her friends.
Harry got an instant crush for the Ravenclaw seeker, she was beautiful. Harry returned to his books, there was more important things at the moment to be worried about and an upcoming exam was certainly one of them. The remainder of the train ride was spent in either studying or in general conversation. A few of their friends from their house came to greet the trio. Harry was a bit surprised when a certain Slytherin and his bunch of baboons did not show up for majority of the train ride and as every good thing this also came to an end when the said person opened the door of their compartment in the final half hour of their train journey.
"Ha, I knew this coach was stinking and now we have the reason sitting here." Draco said with an evil sneer pasted on his long face. The two troll-like figures of Crabbe and Goyle were laughing on the either side of Malfoy.
"Bugger off, Malfoy." Ron replied from his position near the window.
"You need to learn manners to talk to your betters Weasley, I would be willing to teach you." Malfoy replied while drawing his wand from his cloak. Harry wasn't too far behind in drawing the want.
"Step out Malfoy or will make you." Harry responded, raising his wand towards the blonde boy.
"You can do nothing to me, scarhead."
Without uttering anything further, Harry lowered his wand and fired a stinging hex towards Draco's groin. Draco yelped in pain and fell backwards on his bodyguards. Harry closed the door the moment Draco fell and set with his wand pointing towards the door. Crabbe-Goyle raised Draco back on his legs, the trio could not hear a word from Malfoy but they could recognize the lip-movement which was the 'Draco Malfoy's patent for comeback', 'My father will hear about this'. They three Slytherins left them alone afterwards for the short remainder of the ride.
"Harry, you shouldn't have done that. You could get into trouble." Hermione said in her worried voice.
"He won't Hermione, the ponce wouldn't want anybody to know that he got stung at his bits." Ron replied, laughing at his own wit.
-X-X-
The 'Start of the term' feast was, as usual, fantastic. The shear variety of the dishes had Harry stunned and Ron extremely delighted. Dinnertime was spend sharing the summer experience with their friends and after an hour since the beginning of the feast, headmaster Dumbledore stepped towards the podium which resembled an owl perched on tall perch, with its wings spread open.
"If you all had the fill of your appetite, may I have your attention! To all the new students, welcome. To the old ones, welcome back. The obligatory announcements need to be made, the forbidden forest is just that, forbidden. Our caretaker Mr. Filch has informed me that there are 412 items prohibited to brought in and used inside the castle, the complete list of such items is available in his office."
As Dumbledore was making the announcement, a new person entered the Great Hall from the anteroom behind the raised platform of teachers' table. Every eye turned towards the new entry, He was a talk man with a prosthetic metallic leg and an electric blue prosthetic eye which swirled in its socket seemingly uncontrollably. His face filled with scars and his nose missing a chunk on the right side. He looked like a monster came to earth from the hell. The design of his walking stick did nothing to dampening the effect of his appearance. An angry scowl permanently present o his face. As he came closer to Dumbledore, he extracted a flask from his robe, took a swill and replaced it back in his robes. Dumbledore turned towards the newcomer and gave him a respectful nod, backed with a smile.
"There is a change in staff this year, your ne Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher will be Alastor Moody". Dumbledore stepped towards the new DADA professor and gave him a hug as he was an old friend, afterwards returning to the podium.
"This year, this historic castle will be the host for not only you but some very special guests as well. The guest will be arriving on the first of October, they will grace this great school with their presence for the remainder of the school year. I would expect a great deal of fun and excitement from this year to last majority of your school life. But everything comes at a cost, there will be no Quidditch this year."
This announcement was met by voices of protest, angry shouts and loud groans. The noise level in the Great Hall has suddenly risen to such an extent that even an angry dragon roar would have gone unnoticed. It took better part of the minute for the headmaster to bring order to this chaos, using a canon blast charm.
"It is, as of now, a surprise for you which be revealed next month. Now you may proceed towards your dormitories, I don't want professors complaining about students falling asleep on the first day of the school year. Goodnight!"
-X-X-
The castle was abuzz with the speculation regarding the surprise in waiting for the students for the last two weeks. Dumbledore has a habit of being too cryptic and Harry has made a habit of not pondering too much about it. He had more pressing issues at the moment to deal with. His life at Hogwarts had fallen into a boring schedule, sharing DADA and Potions with Slytherins, Transfiguration and Charms with Ravenclaws and Herbology and Astronomy with Hufflepuffs. His other two classes, namely Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes, were shared with all the other houses. The time not spent in classes was consumed by the preparation for his upcoming exam, Hermione had prepared a timetable and a work schedule but Harry felt that he will fail the exam even with all the efforts.
The only interesting thing that happened these past two weeks, apart from the interesting insults (according to Slytherins, especially Malfoy) hurled towards him by none other than professor Snape, was the first DADA lesson with the 'Moody Guy'.
It was the second day of their classes and Gryffindor and Slytherins shared double DADA in the morning. The students were assembled outside the classroom five minutes prior to the class timing, everyone feeling a combination of confusion-excitement-fear.
At sharp 9 o' clock, the door to the classroom open on its own with the professor sitting alert in his seat behind the table. As the students were walking in, he shouted 'Shields up' and fired four stinging hexes towards the students.
Only four students got their shields up in time, Harry, Draco, Hermione and Daphne Greengrass. One of the hexes impacted on Draco's shield and shattered it. Three of the remaining students were not so lucky. Crabbe, Neville and Lavender Brown were hit with the stinging hexes, there were sniggers and a few laughs mixed with the cry of pain coming from the three hit students.
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE. Get to your seats, NOW!" Moody roared, his voice a bit stronger than expected. As everyone was settling down, Moody turned towards the black board and started writing something.
"Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, Ex-Auror, twice expelled from Ministry and your New Defence Against Dark Arts teacher. End of the story, goodbye, the end." He turned back towards the class and stared at the students with a menacing look.
"My job is to train you to defend yourselves against dark arts, only a few of you will have the required ability to do so. When it comes to dark arts, I will bloody demonstrate it."
Every eye was fixed on the professor, there was silence in the class. Each and every face had a hint of fear present and the rotating blue eye giving everyone the feeling of nausea. Moody turned back towards the board and wrote two words 'Unforgivable Curses'.
"Who can tell me, how many unforgivable curses are there and why they are named so?"
A few hands shot up in the air, one of them was obviously belonged to Miss Granger. With a nod in her direction, Moody signalled her to answer.
"Three sir, they are named so because they are unforgivable. The use of any one of them will..."
Moody cut her off mid-sentence. "Earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban. Correct. Now, the Ministry says you are too young to see what these curses do. I say different! You need to know what you're up against! You need to be prepared!", and again turned towards the board to write the curses, "And you should find a different spot to stick your chewing gum Mr. Finnigan."
"Blimey, he can see behind his back", he whispered to the person sharing the desk with him and in response he received a chalk piece to the head, curtesy to the professor.
"And can hear that too. Now who is going to tell us about the first unforgivable? Nott, stand-up and answer!"
"Well, father told me one, the Imperius Curse."
"Ha, he would know lot about it. He was under You-Know-Who's Imperius, at least that's what he told to the Wizengamot."
He demonstrated the curse on a spider by moving it around the class room, there were sniggers and supressed laughter. He cancelled the curse after a few moments. "The curse controls the will of a person, makes them to abide by the will of the caster unless his will is stronger than the caster's."
"Now, who is going to tell us about the second one." To everyone's surprise, Neville raised his hand.
"You are Longbottom, right? Professor Sprout told me, you have a talent for Herbology."
"The second unforgivable is the Cruciatus curse", Neville answered with a stuttering voice which was barely audible at the back. Moody put the spider down on his desk and said the word 'Crucio' with his wand pointed on the spider. There was a painful screeching voice coming from the spider, the voice itself was like a torture to ears. Neville's face turned red, his lips pursed together, a few tears coming down from his closed eyes.
"Stop it! Can't you see it's bothering him, STOP IT!" Hermione shouted from her seat at the front of the class.
Moody finished the spell, picked up the spider and moved towards her. He dropped the spider in front of her and asked her.
"You might know the last one Miss Granger." She violently shook her head to say no.
"Avada Kedavra", the words were followed by a green flash and the spider dropped dead on Hermione's desk. "The last one is the killing Curse and there is only one person who has survived it." He turned towards Harry with an unidentifiable expression on his face.
"Submit a two feet long essay on Unforgivables by the end of the next week. Class Dismissed!".
Everyone started to pack their bags and began to leave the class. Before anyone could step out of the room, Moody shouted.
"Longbottom, stay behind. I want to talk to you."
-X-X-
Tomorrow is the exam for ancient runes and Harry had the feeling that he is going to screw things up. It was after curfew, the common room was almost empty excepts for a few students who were either busy in amorous activities before going to their separate dorms or in the case of Harry and Hermione, studying. Hermione was trying her best to pump up Harry's confidence, they were doing the 'last revision' according to Hermione. They had already done the revision once and Hermione was certain that Harry will score, at the least, an acceptable.
"Harry, I think we have done enough. You should sleep six hours before the exam, you definitely need the rest. Everything tomorrow will be alright."
"How do you know, I might flounder the test."
"No you won't, I know because I taught you these last few weeks. Now go or else I would have to stun you and send to your dorm."
"Ok ok, I will leave in a minute." He rose from his place on the couch in front of the fireplace, collected his books and other stuff and turned to leave the common room.
"Goodnight Harry, try to relax." Hermione gave him a peck on the cheek and left for her Dorm.
It was odd even for Harry but he blamed it on the exam, he need to keep his wits and try to relax. He went to his dorm. Kept his stuff on his trunk, changed into pyjamas and climbed into his four-poster. His mind was still running a revision cycle, he was unable to sleep then after a few minutes he finally drifted to sleep.
Harry woke up early with a start, the nightmares still bothered him but they have been less frequent since he returned to the school. He checked the time and decided to get ready and go for an early breakfast as it was already half past 6. He looked around the dorm, all his dormmates were fast asleep, nothing unusual as they don't have to worry about a test. By seven, he was ready to go to the Great Hall but remembered that it was Hermione's birthday. He opened the trunk where a gift box was hidden underneath his school stuff. He picked up the gift and moved went down to the common room expecting to meet Hermione, she was the early riser in their group. As Harry reached the bottommost stair he saw the bushy haired witch sitting on the couch, reading something. He moved towards her without making any noise, as he reached the couch, he bent forward so his face was inches away from Hermione's ear, he wished her happy birthday in the most excited voice he could muster.
Hermione jumped out of the couch with the surprise interruption and fell on her backside on the ground. Harry was laughing hysterically on the success of his prank and the hilarity of Hermione's reaction.
"Don't you ever do that, Harry Potter or I will hang you from your ears." She said with the angriest expression but it was useless as a smile came to the front. Their laughter subsided a minute later, Harry wished her happy birthday with a hug and gave her the birthday gift. She hurriedly opened the gift to find a leather-bound magical daily planner. Hermione mumbled her thanks, "Thanks Harry, I wanted one of these."
As they went down to the Great Hall, Hermione kept quizzing Harry with questions related to the exam that afternoon. To her surprise, Harry answered majority of questions right. As they were inching closer towards the end of their breakfast, Ron entered the great hall, still looking a bit sleepy. He plopped down across from Harry and started to fill his plate with as much food as he can reach from his position.
"Good morning mate." Ron said, his voice a bit hoarse after the sleep.
"Good morning." Both Harry and Hermione chimed in unison. "Ron, aren't you forgetting something?" Harry asked after a minute of silence in which Ron stuffed his mouth to its limit, with food. In response, he just shrugged, not even looking up from his plate and busied himself with the breakfast.
"Let it be, Harry. I wasn't expecting a birthday greeting from him this early in the day anyway." Hermione said while giving an icy glare to Ron who missed it completely.
"Hmm? Oh, Happy birthday Hermione." His voice muffled by the food stuffed in his mouth, finally looking up from his plate.
"Prepared for the test Harry?" Ron asked.
"The best I can be, I will just revise the notes during lunch. Test does not start till half past one." Harry responded, worry clearly seen on his facial features. A few minutes later they rose from their seats to collect their bags from the common room before the classes.
When Harry entered the examination room, he realized that he was not the only student who was changing their respective elective. Anthony Goldstein, a fourth year Ravenclaw, was changing both his electives from Magical Creature and Divination to arithmancy and Ancient Runes. A few minutes later the bell rang, indicating the start of three-hour long exam. The examination was easier than Harry expected but was tedious nonetheless. Harry left the examination room 10 minutes earlier then the scheduled time after answering all the questions whose answers he could remember. He was now confident that he would get an acceptable which was required to continue classes. The result for today's exam would be announced tomorrow morning before the classes.
The evening was spent in the common room, celebrating Hermione's fifteenth birthday. The twins smuggled food and juice from the kitchen for the small party where only a handful of Gryffindors were present. It was the first birthday party Hermione received from her friends and her emotional response was evidence enough that she was grateful for it.
-X-X-
October 1, 1994
Every Hogwarts student and staff was waiting on the ground in front of the entrance to the great hall for the arrival of their guests. They were facing the black lake on their right side of the castle. They were standing there, in their best school uniform robes for fifteen minutes. When it looked like there was no end to their waiting period, a distant rippling noise was heard. Everyone stepped closer to the lake to get a better view of the reason behind the noise. An old, wooden sail ship rose from below the surface and came into view, water splashing everywhere as it ricocheted from the surface once. Then it moved slowly towards the port where the 'first year boats' were kept. People in brown, fury robes were disembarking from the ship.
As they started walking towards the castle, a sound resembling horse neighing was heard overhead. Every eye shot towards the sky. The view they saw was breath-taking, a horde of pale blue Abraxan was carrying a carriage towards the castle. The carriage jerking one way then the other as the beast swerved in the best position to land on the castle grounds on the side of the castle, near the forbidden forest.
Around twenty teenagers, mostly girls, in pale blue silk uniforms, stepped out from the carriage, led by an exceptionally tall woman in an aristocratic looking robe. The tallest person Hogwarts students had met was Hagrid but the woman was taller than their gamekeeper but her walk was as graceful as a model. Professor Flitwick stepped towards her to escort her towards the assembly of Hogwarts students. The scene was a bit funny due to the huge height difference but every boy in the castle was looking towards the beautiful girls in the entourage. The entourage stopped on the right side of the castle. At the same time professor Snape escorted the entourage from the ship who enter the castle from the front. Now all the girls were swooning over the muscular boys, clad in brown military-esque uniform and a furry cloak.
A few moments later, a bright golden glow came into view at the left side of the castle, near the bottom of the hill. The next moment a distinctly Japanese styled ornate pyramidal wooden cottage appeared. A group of people in pale golden cloaks with red lining stepped out of the main door of the cottage. Professor McGonagall led the group towards the assembly, a short bald Japanese man with sharp facial features and dark red robes was walking on her right-hand side.
As the group was walking towards the assembly, there was a rumbling sound coming from the ground. A few seconds later, a stonewalled three storeyed castle emerged from the ground with a maroon flag on the top. The doors opened and a group of people in blue and cranberry coloured uniform stepped towards the castle with a dark-skinned witch with an interesting hairdo in lead, the group was escorted by Professor sprout.
Dumbledore asked the Hogwarts students to enter the great hall escorted house wise by their respective head of house and afterwards he led the guests in the entrance hall where they had to wait for their introduction before they entered the great hall. Dumbledore walked in the great hall and assumed his place behind the podium. All eyes were now fixed on the old wizard in purple robe.
"Tonight, we have some special guests. I know you want to be introduced them without any further delay, so let's welcome the beautiful ladies and handsome boys from Beauxbaton Academy of Magic and their headmistress, Madam Maxime."
The group of students in blue uniforms entered the great hall, with the tall woman named Madam Maxime in lead. Every boy was watching the movement of the French students like a hungry child looks at a chocolate bar, a few of them drooling like idiot and some staring lecherously. The students walked up to the raised platform where Madame Maxime stepped towards Dumbledore who kissed her knuckles, the students joined Hogwarts students at Ravenclaw table. Their Headmistress assumed her place on the left-hand side of Dumbledore on the teachers' table.
"Now, please welcome our guests from the far north, the brave sons of Durmstrang Institute and their Master teacher Igor Karkaroff."
The brown-cloaked boys walked in the great hall with the air of superiority with their Master teacher in the lead, each member of their group held a bronze staff with two eagle heads on the top in their right hand. Karkaroff stepped on the platform and shook hands with the headmaster and sat on the right side of the headmaster's seat. His pupils sat at the Slytherin house table.
"Now, I would like to introduce you to our guests from the eastern corner of the world, students from Mahoutokoro School of Magic and their headmaster Sensei Roshi Kami."
The group moved towards the platform, students entered in two rows, each of them holding a Japanese folding fan. The group joined the Hufflepuff house table, their sensei stepped on the platform and gave a traditional bow to Dumbledore, which Dumbledore reciprocated before shaking hands. Sensei joined Karkaroff on the right side.
"Last but not the least, let us welcome our brothers and sisters from the new world with open arms. The students from Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and their head of institute, Madam Adlynn Picquery."
The group entered into the great hall with their head of institute in lead. The students joined the Gryffindor table and Madam Picquery occupied the seat next to madame Maxime.
"Excellent! Tonight, it's an honour for me to announce that this year, Hogwarts will play host for 'Wizards' Quintuple Cup', where one student from each school will participate in this glorious championship."
The response to the announcement was overwhelming, it looked like every Hogwarts student was on his or her feet, clapping and whistling. The guests were also responded with claps. It took a minute for everyone to settle down.
"It was beyond time that the traditional Triwizard Cup be revamped. Thus, after the gap of a century, we present you the 'Wizards' Quintuple Cup'. To introduce you to the new guidelines, I would invite the Director of Department of International Magical Cooperation, Mr. Bartemius Crouch."
The man Harry met at the Quidditch World Cup took Dumbledore's place on the podium with a curt smile on his face. His demeanour reflecting his no-nonsense attitude.
"After great deliberation, Ministries for the five participating countries have reached the decision that only the students above the age of seventeen on the eve of Halloween will be eligible for participation. There will be no leniency in the age barrier and this will be final decision."
This announcement was met with voices of protest and dissent. Angry shouts from the Hogwarts students could be heard well beyond the walls of Hogwarts. After a few seconds and a canon blast later, normalcy returned to the great hall. Four men carried a golden statue around 3 feet high which looked like bishop chess piece from muggle chess. It was placed in front of the podium, Dumbledore tapped his want and the golden façade dissolved to reveal an ornate wooden chalice no bigger than two and a half feet. The chalice had intricate designs on the outside, beginning from the rim and ending at the stem. The base of the stem as wide as troll's leg. Blue flames dancing in the goblet, giving it an ethereal feel.
"The Goblet of Fire! Anyone wishing to submit themselves to the tournament need only write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour on the night before Halloween. Do not do so lightly! If chosen, there's no turning back. As from this moment, The Tournament has begun."
A/N: Please review. I hope you like it.
