Annabeth was staring at the floating candles, the colorful banners, and the weathered ceiling—everything. All things in the Great Hall was simply magical. She promised herself that she would allow herself to walk around the castle after dinner, and use it as further inspiration to redesign Olympus.

The castle's top notch architecture was better than any castle she had ever stepped foot into.

She was having a relatively good day—no near death experiences and everything was going by pretty smoothly.

That was, until—

"Annabeth, I think she's unto us." Her boyfriend whispered to her in Ancient Greek. Her eyes widened by a small fraction.

Already?

They were three minutes in.

Three minutes.

Annabeth had expected many things—questions, judgement, and hate were among them. Suspicion topped that list. Especially after Skeeter's article, it was nearly impossible not to expect such.

However, she didn't anticipate it to be this soon—three minutes upon arrival.

Dear gods, that must've been a record.

They were very careful.

They've watched their movements and rehearsed their landing.

They've even been given crash course lessons of wizarding culture and norms, and listened to them.

There was no reason any of them would or should arise suspicion this soon.

"Who?" Annabeth hissed.

"That girl with the brown hair beside me," Percy replied. "She's been asking a lot of questions..."

Annabeth discreetly leaned forward and looked at the girl beside Percy.

The girl's face looked at ease, without a gint of fear or suspicion against the Americans.

Unintentionally, Annabeth shot a glare her way by squiting her eyes.

Annabeth knew that she would have to befriend the girl and diffuse the situation before it became a problem.

They couldn't have a girl blabbering against them.

Harry Potter, who sat opposite to the blonde girl, saw her glare at his best friend. He told Ron quietly, slightly worried.

The girl with blonde hair looked very intimidating and powerful.

"I reckon she's just jealous she was talking with green eyes over there," Ron said dismissively.

Harry considered this. He looked at the handsome green eyed boy as he and Hermione laughed from across the table and nodded in agreement.

"Makes sense," he said. "After all, Hermione could be quite charming."

Ron looked at Harry weirdly.

Hermione?

Charming?

Not in this chance.

"Sure, for the blind."

They then concluded that the blonde girl was simply jealous, and thought nothing more about it.

But Harry could't shake the intimidating glare from the blonde, it scared him. It gave the feeling that made him want to avoid pissing her off as much as possible.

On the other side of the Great Hall, Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, stood up from his seat.

He looked over the chattering students and newcomers, glad to see them already socializing with each other.

The headmaster had a strong unspoken form of authority over every student. They all respected him without question.

An act as simple as clearing his throat could silence the entire student body.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts, and guests," His loud voice boomed, startling a few students up in front. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both enjoyable and comfortable."

"Is it ever?" Percy muttered, making Annabeth grin and swat his shoulder scoldingly.

"The tournament will officially begin at the end of the feast," Dumbledore continued, his gaze washing over every student, every guest, who were all filled with excitement. "I now invite you to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

Dumbledore quickly sat down, and engaged in conversation with the Durmstrang Headmaster.

The students followed his example, and soon, chatter and laughter filled the Great Hall once more, louder and fuller than before.

Piper gasped in surprise as plates of food suddenly appeared on the table.

To say it was a lot would be an understatement. It was enough food to feed two legions of hungry Romans and still have some to spare.

Half the dishes were very unfamiliar to Percy, whose diet mainly consisted of cheeseburgers and blue pancakes. There was a lot of foreign food—European food.

There was a lot of fancy food that Percy did not want to eat.

Luckily, he spotted a pile of sliders on a gold platter. That alone sated Percy, and he piled his plate with sliders and a side of fries.

A very pretty girl who seemed to catch the attention of almost all the males (and some females) in the Great Hall walked over to their table, asking for some bouillabaisse.

When she spoke, Ron forgot how to talk and his mind went blank. The only thing he knew was that he wanted to impress her.

She was pretty, and gave off a feeling that made him willing to do anything for her.

The beuxbaton was adorned in precious silk. Her silvery blonde hair and slim figure embodied beauty and grace.

Harry pushed the plate of food toward her, almost carelessly, and she took it away.

Leo, on the other hand, could not stop staring at her. Her mannerisms reminded him of Calypso.

Gods, he missed her.

He wanted to finish this quest right now, just so he could go back to Calypso, even though it had only been a few days of travel.

Piper, on the other hand, was convinced that the beauxbaton was a daughter of Aphrodite—an exceptionally charming one. Even the fact that she was French solidified her theory.

It was no secret that Aphrodite had a soft spot for the French.

Hermione, deciding to socialize with the Americans, turned to the girl sitting to the right of Harry. She had brown skin, and a peculiar hairstyle. Feathers were braided into her hair. It was weird, but it suited her well. It made her seem like tribal princess or Tiger Lily from Peter Pan.

"Hello," she said politely. "I'm Hermione Granger."

The girl smiled at her kindly. "I'm Piper Mclean."

Piper then began to introduce her friends, Leo, Percy, Annabeth and Nico. They all waved politely, except for Nico, who merely grunted with his mouth full of mashed potatoes.

Social interaction was not his forte.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were especially suspicious of Nico.

It wasn't just his attire and seemingly evil attitude. There was something sinister about the boy, he seemed to radiate...death.

If Death Eater had a physical stereotype, it looked exactly like Nico Di Angelo.

Hermione pointed to two of her friends, who sat right in front of her.

"That's Harry and Ron."

Percy, still chewing, looked up in interest.

They usually weren't this lucky to have made progress so soon.

Harry? As in Harry Potter?

Percy's head slowly turned to face the boy, trying to find any signs of his famed Lighting Scar. "Are you the Harry Potter?"

Percy spotted it nestled behind a layer of bangs.

Harry squirmed uneasiely in his seat. The way Percy has said it—the Harry Potter, made it him sound too legendary.

"Yes." Harry braced for the usual star struck reaction, maybe even a 'can I see your scar?'. But instead, Percy let out a simple nod.

"That's cool," Percy said waith a small smile, and went back to merrily devouring his plate of sliders.

Harry was glad not to receive that 'Oh my god, it's Harry Potter!' treatment from them. Quite frankly, he hated the attention, it had always made him feel very uncomfortable.

The rest of the dinner went smoothly, with the Americans treated Harry like any other person.

By the end of the feast, Harry had decided that he liked the fact that these Americans couldn't give a rat's ass about who he was or his past.

Dumbledore stood up for the second time this evening, making the silent room fill up with excited tension.

Harry himself felt a thrill of exitement. He sneaked a glance at the Americans.

Percy and Nico didn't really seem to care, whereas Piper, Leo and Annabeth were on the edge of their seats.

Leo was especially excited. His fingers eagerly shuffled a rubik's cube below the table. The colorful object got a lot of odd looks, but some looks of recognition and approval from muggle-borns who were familiar with it.

Dumbledore walked, frustratingly slowly to the front of the Ravenclaw table. "The moment has come," He announced, with his wand to the sea of students brimming with interest.

He took his time pronouncing each word, building up the students' interest.

"The Quadwizard Tournament shall start soon. But beforehand, I would like to give a few announcements and words of instruction. This is Mr. Bartemius Crouch"—he guestured to a grumpy looking man with a perfectly trimmed mustache and expensive robes—"and Mr. Ludo Bagman."

The students applauded for Bagman, who waved like a child on a sugar rush.

"Without whom, the Quadwizard tournament would surely be impossible." He added. "They will be joining the panel of judges—Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, and I."

With all Headmasters and Headmistresses as Tournament judges, it seemed suspicious that Chiron isn't judging.

This fact seemed to fly over the heads of everyone else except for Annabeth.

The professor turned to his right, addressing the caretaker. "Bring out the casket, Mr. Filch."

Flich, who had managed to blend in the shadows, stepped into the light and approached Dumbledore, carrying an old chest encrusted with jewels looking older than Hogwarts itself.

"The three tasks have already been approved by the Ministry of Magic. During the remainder of the School Year, there will be tasks to test the champions from each school."

"These champions shall be judged based on their overall performance. The champion with the highest mark by the end of the third task shall bring home the Quadwizard Cup as the Grand Champion." He beamed widely at the students, who smiled at the dream of being Champion.

"It's time I show the selector of Champions," he said, smile widening.

Dumbledore took his wand out, and tapped three times on the old chest, and the top slowly creaked open. The old professor reached down and grabbed a wooden goblet. A collective gasp of awe spread across the Hall as they saw the goblet on fire.

Though small, it was doubtlessly a magnificent sight.

Blue flames danced merrily inside the ageless cup, mirroring the students' excitement and innocence regarding the matter.

With a few squeaks, the chest closed. Carefully, he placed the small flaming goblet atop it, where it would be visible to everyone in the Hall.

"I present to you, the Goblet of Fire!" He exclaimed.

Students craned their necks and raised their heads, taking in the sight of a small goblet on fire like children starved of vision.

"Students who wish to join must place their name and school on a sheet of parchment and drop it inside. You have the next twenty-four hours to place your name in the Goblet, which would be situated at the Entrance Hall. Tomorrow night, the goblet shall show the four champions it has chosen." He added.

"As my final instruction, I would like to stress that once you have been chosen, you have to see the tournament to the end—no backing out. Placing a name is a magical contract, binding and permanent. Failure to comply will result to consequences beyond my control. And as my final warning, I would advise the younger students under 17 not to place their names. I will draw an age line to prevent such." He continued.

A few hundred students groaned, angered that they couldn't join.

"Now, I would like to wish everyone a good night for I believe it is time for bed." He finished, beaming at the students.

An excited chatter filled the hall once more as students dispersed. Nobody was tired. They were all too excited, because it was official—

The Tournament has begun.