Chapter 10: The Tournament and the Teacher
As their carriage moved, swaying in the wind, Asia watched through the window, the approaching Castle. The beautiful castle she had called her home ever since she stepped foot across these walls with her fellow first-years.
Hogwarts.
Her home.
She smiled and turned away, eager to get inside and faced Harry, who sat opposite her watching the approaching Hogwarts castle through the window behind him. He sensed Asia watching him, so he turned to look at as she smiled at him excitedly.
"What?" he said with a smile of his own.
"Nothing," she shrugged, "I am home, that is all."
A few minutes later, they were running up the stairs like all the other students, eager to get out of the heavy, pelting rain. They looked up only when they were safely under the torch-lit entrance hall. Asia glanced at the marble staircase and remembered her dream. Harry would ask the girl to be his date right over there. She felt her heart twist in pain, but ignored it when she heard Ron shout in fright.
She turned sharply with her wand pulled out, ready to attack, only to find that there was a some sort of red plastic sprawled over his head and he was spluttering, shaking water away from his eyes and ears. It took a few moments for her to realize what had happened. But when she did realize, another balloon had already been thrown at them. It missed Asia's head by an inch and burst next to Harry's feet. She turned back and found Peeves the Poltergeist floating about twenty feet above them concentrating on his next aim. People were screaming around them and pushed one another in order to get out of Peeves' next aim.
"PEEVES!" yelled an angry voice as Asia was pocketing her wand back, "Peeves, come down here at ONCE!" Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and head of Gryffindor House, had come dashing out of the Great Hall.
She was not watching the wet floor, as she skidded and grabbed Hermione around the neck to stop herself from falling.
"Ouch - sorry, Miss Granger -"
"That's all right, Professor!" Hermione gasped, massaging her throat, and glancing at Asia who was standing beside her, trying to stop her laughter.
She had not been here for more than three minutes and she was already having a good time.
"Peeves, get down here NOW!" Professor McGonagall barked, as she straightened her pointed hat and glared at the prankster through her square-rimmed glasses.
"Not doing nothing!" Peeves roared with laughter, while chucking another water bomb at several fifth-year girls, who screamed and ran into the Great Hall. "Already wet, aren't they? Little squirts! Wheeeeeeeeee!" And he aimed another bomb at a group of second years who had just arrived.
"I shall call the headmaster!" shouted Professor McGonagall. "I'm warning you, Peeves -"
Asia watched as he only stuck out his tongue at her before flinging his last bomb into the air and floated away laughing gleefully. She was busy chuckling at the Poltergeist to notice that the bomb was actually aimed at her and it was coming toward her in full speed. It was almost too late when she realised that the balloon was aimed straight at her ribs, where she was hurting the most, and her eyes widened in panic.
Oh dear! She thought I am dead…
Whatever happened next was a matter of a few milliseconds, but seemed like it took minutes to happen.
"Anya!" she heard Harry's shout, before she saw him standing in front of her, with his back facing the balloon and his eyes shut as he waited for impact.
And impact came.
The bomb hit Harry so hard on his back that he stumbled into Asia, resulting in her tripping. She felt herself fall and she shut her eyes too, waiting for her back to hit the hard and wet floor. Suddenly she felt arms wrap around her waist and she was twisted around.
The pain she felt after that was almost unbearable.
She had fallen on something hard, but yet softer than the floor with an "Uff!" She heard a groan below her and a few screams around her. She still had her eyes closed tightly but when she felt the soft thing move, her eyes immediately opened to meet green orbs staring right back at her with concern.
Harry.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
She realized that she was lying on him, on the wet floor. He had caught her before she could fall and turned them around so that he could take the greater part of the deal. His face, she noticed, was contorted in pain and he still had his arms around her waist.
She nodded before slowly rolling over and lying on her back beside him. Her ribs were hurting once again, and she was sure she felt blood seeping through one of her reopened wounds on the right side of her back. She closed her eyes as she concentrated on breathing and trying to control her expression, that she was sure looked pained. She felt the wetness on the floor soak through her robes and wetting her back.
"Ms Malfoy," she heard Professor McGonagall call her from above her, "Are you alright?"
She opened her eyes slightly to see her standing over her, along with a huge crowd of students staring at her with curiosity. Hermione and Ron stood next to Professor McGonagall, worried for both her and Harry.
"Yeah," she whispered weakly, after struggling with evening out her breathing.
She felt Harry sit up beside her, "Can you stand?" he asked her.
"May… be…," she breathed out painfully.
"Let me help," he said before grabbing her arm and helping her up.
She slowly and painfully sat up and then glanced around the entrance hall to see so many students staring at her. She flushed in embarrassment and then heard Professor McGonagall shouting out to everyone.
"Well, move along, then!" she said sharply to the crowd, sensing her discomfort, "Into the Great Hall, come on! There is nothing to watch here!"
She sent her a grateful smile, but it immediately stopped when she heard Draco's voice.
"Nastya!" he shouted as he came rushing to her from within the Great Hall, "What happened to you? Are you alright? Get away from her, Potter! I know it was all your fault." He snapped at Harry before pushing him away and sitting next to Asia, trying to help her stand up.
Keyword being 'trying', she thought as he pulled at her arm to get her to stand up.
"Ouch!" she shrieked, as her ribs hurt, due to Draco's pulling.
"Stop it, Malfoy!" Harry whisper-shouted at him, before gently pulling Asia's arm out of Draco's grip, "Are you blind?! She's hurting. Let go of her. She'll stand when she sees it fit, you idiot!"
"Language, Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall said sharply, before saying to Draco, "Mr Malfoy, your sister is in safe hands. You can go and settle down in the Great Hall."
Her order left no space for argument. So Draco reluctantly left after throwing a glare at Harry.
"Do you need to go to Madam Pomfrey, Asia?" asked Hermione from Asia's left.
Asia shook her head and said, "I will be fine. It is just the shock from the fall. Give me a minute. Professor, you can go if you want. You too, Ron, Hermione. Harry, I will be inside in a minute. Go."
"I'm not leaving you," Harry said, stubbornly.
Professor McGonagall shook her head and said, "I am going inside. I have to get the Hat and the first-years ready for the Sorting. You lot should be inside when I bring the first-years in." With that, she walked into the Great Hall.
Asia noticed the dishevelled condition the other three were in, all wet and flushed because of the cold. She noticed that she herself was as tousled as them; her hair had come undone from her already messy bun and she was completely wet and was sitting cross-legged in the wet and cold floor.
She did not know why, but she found the entire situation completely amusing. She chuckled at her thoughts. What she found even funnier was the weird looks she got from the trio that caused her to break out into a loud, delighted laughter. She ignored the pain in her body and laughed.
Apparently, her laughter was contagious, as she felt the trio join in with her and laugh out loud as well.
She laughed for the happiness of being away from her foster parents, she laughed at the incident that just occurred, she laughed at the way Harry had snapped at Draco when he had come to her acting like a protective brother.
She did not know how long they laughed for.
She felt elated and happy.
After what seemed like hours, but was merely a couple minutes, she stood up with Harry's help and they slipped and slid across the entrance hall to get to the Great Hall through the large oak doors.
They were still chuckling when they entered the Hall and made their way by the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables toward the Gryffindor table. Harry was still holding on to Asia's arm, to avoid her from falling not only because of the pain, but also because of her continued laughter. She was highly aware of the stares they were getting, because they were the last students to enter before the first-years, and also because of how weird they looked laughing for no apparent reason.
The Great Hall looked its usual splendid self, decorated for the start-of-term feast. Golden plates and goblets gleamed by the light of hundreds and hundreds of candles, floating over the tables in mid-air. The four long House tables were packed with chattering students; at the top of the Hall, the staff sat along one side of a fifth table, facing their pupils. It was much warmer in here.
They sat down with the rest of the Gryffindors at the far side of the Hall, next to Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost.
"Good evening," he said, beaming at them.
"Says who?" said Harry, taking off his sneakers and emptying them of water. "Hope they hurry up with the Sorting. I'm starving."
Asia smothered her laughter when she saw Ron squeezing his robes and transferring the dripping water into a goblet next to him.
"Seriously, Ron," Asia said, rolling her eyes as she used her wand to dry his robes using the hot-air charm. Hermione had already done so for herself, so she flicked her wand at Harry, and even he was dried instantaneously. He paused, surprised at the sudden dryness, with one of his sneakers upside down in mid-air and then smiled at Asia before pulling them on again. Asia did the same for herself before putting her wand back into her pocket.
Just then, a highly excited, breathless voice called down the table.
"Hiya, Harry!"
It was Colin Creevey, a third year to whom Harry was something of a hero. Asia glanced down the table, to find him staring at Harry excitedly, which she really cute, so she smiled and waved at him.
"Hi, Colin," said Harry warily, making her and Ron chuckle.
"Hi, Asia! Guess what? Guess what, Harry? My brother's starting! My brother Dennis!"
"Err - good," Harry replied.
"He's really excited!" said Colin, practically bouncing up and down in his seat. "I just hope he's in Gryffindor! Keep your fingers crossed, eh, Harry?"
"Err - yeah, all right," said Harry. He turned back to Hermione, Asia, Ron, and Nearly Headless Nick.
"Brothers and sisters usually go in the same Houses, don't they?" he asked.
"Oh no, not necessarily," said Hermione.
"Parvati Patil's twin is in Ravenclaw and they are identical. You would think they would be together, would you not?" Asia said.
Harry nodded and looked up at the staff table. Asia followed his example and noticed that there were more empty seats this year than usual.
Hagrid, of course, was still fighting his way across the lake with the first years; Professor McGonagall was presumably supervising the drying of the entrance hall floor, but there was another empty chair too. Asia presumed that the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher had not yet arrived, which was strange in itself.
Where is the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher?
"Where's the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher?" Hermione voiced her thoughts.
Asia's favourite DADA teacher had been Professor Lupin, who had resigned last year, to all the students' disappointment. But the parents were delighted to hear that the werewolf was no longer teaching their kids. She looked up and down the table and found the regular teachers: Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, Professor Sinistra, Professor Snape, two empty seats for Professor McGonagall and Hagrid, and finally the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore.
"Maybe they couldn't get anyone!" Hermione said anxiously.
"That seems highly unlikely, Hermione," Asia said to her as she stared at Professor Dumbledore.
The tips of his long and thin fingers were joined together, as his chin rested on them and he stared up at the ceiling. He was lost in thought. His half-moon spectacles reflected the floating candles above them. Asia always adored the old Headmaster. He had told her during the beginning of her first-year about how the fear of a name could increase the fear of the thing itself. She had said Lord Voldemort's name fearlessly ever since.
"Oh hurry up," Ron moaned, beside Harry, breaking Asia out of her reverie, "I could eat a hippogriff."
"Do not let Hagrid hear you say that, Ron," she joked.
She had just said the words when the doors to the Great Hall opened and Professor McGonagall led a long line of nervous and scared first years over to the staff-table. Everything went silent as they waited for the Sorting to begin.
The kids were soaked to the bone. It seemed as if they had swum across lake rather than sailed. They were shivering with cold and nerves as they lined along the staff table and stopped after facing the rest of the school. One of the kids was wrapped in what Asia recognized was Hagrid's overcoat. He was excited and looked delighted rather than nervous like the rest of his peers. She saw as he mouthed something to Colin that looked close to 'I fell in the lake!' as if it was something to be absolutely proud and thrilled about.
Professor McGonagall now placed a three-legged stool on the ground before the first years and, on top of it, an extremely old, dirty patched wizard's hat. The first years stared at it. So did everyone else. For a moment, there was silence. Then a long tear near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and the hat broke into song:
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!
The Great Hall rang with applause as the Sorting Hat finished.
"That's not the song it sang when it Sorted us," said Harry, clapping along with everyone else.
"It sings a different song every year," Asia said.
"Yeah, it's got to be a pretty boring life, hasn't it, being a hat?" Ron joked, "I suppose it spends all year making up the next one."
They watched as Professor McGonagall unrolled a long piece of parchment.
"When I call out your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool," she told the first years. "When the hat announces your House, you will go and sit at the appropriate table."
"Ackerley, Stewart!"
A boy walked up and sat on the stool, while he trembled.
"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat.
Stewart Ackerley took off the hat and hurried into a seat at the Ravenclaw table, where everyone was applauding him.
"Baddock, Malcolm!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Branstone, Eleanor!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Cauldwell, Owen!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Creevey, Dennis!"
Dennis walked forward with a flabbergasted look on his face and tripped over Hagrid's coat. Asia saw Hagrid walk in himself right at the moment. He winked at them before sitting down at the end of the staff table. Dennis Creevey sat on the stool and put on the Sorting Hat, and after a moment it yelled "GRYFFINDOR!" making beam widely and hurrying over to join his brother after placing the hat back on the stool.
Everyone clapped for him and the Sorting continued.
"Colin, I fell in!" he said shrilly, throwing himself into an empty seat beside his brother. Asia watched the two brothers with a smile, "It was brilliant! And something in the water grabbed me and pushed me back in the boat!"
"Cool!" said Colin, just as excitedly. "It was probably the giant squid, Dennis!"
"Wow!" said Dennis, enthusiastically.
"Dennis! Dennis! See that boy down there? The one with the black hair and glasses? See him? Know who he is, Dennis?"
She looked at Harry, as he pretended to be interested in the Sorting that continued before them. She smirked and shook her head and also turned to front, watching as the nervous first-years met their fate.
"Oh hurry up," Ron moaned, massaging his stomach, after a few slow minutes of Sorting passed.
"Now, Ron, the Sorting's much more important than food," said Nearly Headless Nick as he clapped for the students being Sorted.
"Course it is, if you're dead," snapped Ron.
"I do hope this year's batch of Gryffindors are up to scratch," said Nearly Headless Nick, still applauding as another student joined the Gryffindor table, "We don't want to break our winning streak, do we?"
Gryffindor had won the Inter-House Championship for the last three years in a row.
"Pritchard, Graham!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Quirke, Orla!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
And finally, with "Whitby, Kevin!" ("HUFFLEPUFF!"), the Sorting ended.
Professor McGonagall picked up the hat and the stool and carried them away.
"About time," Ron said as he seized his knife and fork and looked expectantly at his golden plate.
But Asia was more interested in what Professor Dumbledore had to say than in the forthcoming food. She looked ahead, as he stood up with his arms wide open in welcome and a big smile on his face.
"I have only two words to say to you," he said in his deep voice that echoed around the Hall, "Tuck in."
"Hear, hear!" said Harry and Ron loudly as the empty dishes filled magically before their eyes, making Asia laugh out loud. Before she touched the food, though, she glanced up once again at the staff table. She was surprised to see Professor Dumbledore staring back at her with an affectionate smile.
She smiled at him as he raised his goblet of what she guessed was Pumpkin Juice as a toast and drank from it. She had no idea what the toast was for but she followed him and raised her goblet and drank from it too before turning back to the table and filling her plate with some food.
Nearly Headless Nick watched mournfully as Harry, Ron, Asia, and Hermione loaded their plates.
"Aah, 'at's be'er," said Ron, with his mouth full of mashed potato.
"Ron, seriously," Asia said with a disgusted look on her face.
"You're lucky there's a feast at all tonight, you know," said Nearly Headless Nick. "There was trouble in the kitchens earlier."
"Why? Wha' 'appened?" Harry asked as he chewed on a piece of steak, to Asia and Hermione's disgust.
"Peeves, of course," Nick replied while shaking his head, "The usual argument, you know. He wanted to attend the feast - well, it's quite out of the question, you know what he's like, utterly uncivilized, can't see a plate of food without throwing it. We held a ghost's council - the Fat Friar was all for giving him the chance – but most wisely, in my opinion, the Bloody Baron put his foot down."
The Bloody Baron was the Slytherin ghost and was the only person at Hogwarts who could really control Peeves.
"Yeah, we thought Peeves seemed hacked off about something," said Ron darkly.
"So what did he do in the kitchens?" Asia asked before taking a bit of steak with her fork.
"Oh the usual," Nearly Headless Nick said, shrugging. "Wreaked havoc and mayhem. Pots and pans everywhere. Place swimming in soup. Terrified the house-elves out of their wits—"
There was a "Clang" and Asia looked beside her to see Hermione had knocked over her goblet of Pumpkin juice that now stained the white tablecloth orange. But Hermione paid no attention to the mess she had just created.
"There are house-elves here?" she said, staring at Nearly Headless Nick, horror-struck, "Here at Hogwarts?"
"Of course, there are," Asia said, surprised at her lack of this particular knowledge.
"The largest number in any dwelling in Britain, I believe. Over a hundred," Nearly Headless Nick said, seemingly as surprised over her reaction as Asia was at her sudden outburst.
"I've never seen one!" Hermione said.
"They hardly ever leave the kitchen by day," Asia responded, cautiously.
"They come out at night to do a bit of cleaning… see to the fires and so on… I mean, you're not supposed to see them, are you? That's the mark of a good house-elf, isn't it, that you don't know it's there?"
Hermione stared at them.
"But they get paid?" she asked suddenly, "They get holidays, don't they? And - and sick leave, and pensions, and everything?"
Nearly Headless Nick chortled so much that his ruff slipped and his head flopped off, dangling on the inch or so of ghostly skin and muscle that still attached it to his neck.
"Sick leave and pensions?" he said, pushing his head back onto his shoulders and securing it once more with his ruff. "House-elves don't want sick leave and pensions!"
Asia knew where this was going. She was highly aware of Hermione's opposition of the current elf rights and laws concerning house-elves. Hermione pushed away her plate and put her fork and spoon beside it refusing to eat anymore from the food the elves had prepared.
"Oh c'mon, 'Er-my-knee," said Ron, again with his mouth full, as he sprayed Harry with bits of Yorkshire pudding, "Oops — sorry, 'Arry —" He swallowed at last and said, "You won't get them sick leave by starving yourself!"
"Slave labour," said Hermione, breathing hard through her nose. "That's what made this dinner. Slave labour."
Asia simply shook her head and continued eating, knowing that any sort of argument would not get her to eat anything at the moment. It was not that Asia supported the wizarding laws that gave the house elves lesser right s than they deserved. But she knew that she could not do anything for them while she was still a student at Hogwarts. No wizards from the Ministry would ever listen to kids their age and the house-elves would protest against any new laws at the moment, due to the habits they had developed.
She silently ate as she thought of the different laws concerning magical beings other than wizards and witches. Another clap of thunder shook the windows, and lighted up the ceiling, before the golden plates were emptied of the remains of the main course and were replaced with puddings of every sort.
"Treacle tart, Hermione!" said Ron, deliberately wafting its smell toward her. "Spotted dick, look! Chocolate gateau!"
But Hermione gave him a look so reminiscent of Professor McGonagall that he gave up. Asia chuckled before she passed a dish of treacle tarts to Harry, knowing all too well how much he liked them. And then continued eating some chocolate pudding, which was her favourite.
After all the food had vanished, the last crumbs leaving the plates sparkling clean, Professor Dumbledore stood up once again. The entire Hall went silent almost instantaneously and only the whistling wind and the pelting rain could be heard.
"So!" said Professor 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-yos, 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."
Professor Dumbledore's mouth twitched as an amused smile threatened to break over his face. He continued, "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."
"What?" Harry and Asia gasped. She looked at him in shock and stared ahead at Professor Dumbledore who was looking at them, this time he had an amused smile on his face as his eyes swept over the surprised and appalled faces before landing on Asia. He winked before continuing, "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy - but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts -"
He was interrupted with a sudden rumbling of thunder overhead and at the same moment the doors to the Great Hall opened. A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black traveling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swivelled toward the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark grey hair and then began to walk up toward the teachers' table.
A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling. Hermione gasped.
The lightning had thrown the man's face into sharp relief, and it was a face unlike any Asia 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 that 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 the students could not hear. He seemed to be making some inquiry of the stranger, who shook his head unsmilingly 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 grey 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 upon 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."
It was usual for new staff members to be greeted with applause, but none of the staff or students chapped except Dumbledore, Hagrid and Asia, who put their hands together and applauded, but the sound echoed dismally into the silence, and they stopped fairly quickly. Everyone else seemed too transfixed by Moody's bizarre appearance to do more than stare at him. Harry looked at her in surprise because she was the only one to clap out of all the students.
Asia just shrugged and looked back at Professor Moody whose blue eye was now fixed one her. She smiled slightly at him before turning to Harry who muttering something to Ron.
"Moody?" he said, "Mad-Eye Moody? The one your dad went to help this morning?"
"Must be," said Ron in a low, awed voice.
"What happened to him?" Hermione whispered. "What happened to his face?"
"Dunno," Ron whispered back, watching Moody with fascination.
Asia looked questioningly at Hermione and Harry, to which the former replied with a "Later."
Professor Moody seemed totally indifferent to his less-than-warm welcome. Asia watched with interest as he ignored the jug of pumpkin juice in front of him, and reached again into his traveling cloak, to pull out a hip flask, and took a long drink from it. As he lifted his arm to drink, his cloak was pulled a few inches from the ground, and Asia saw, below the table, several inches of carved wooden leg, ending in a clawed foot.
Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"As I was saying," he said, smiling at the sea of students before him, all of whom were still gazing transfixed at Mad-Eye 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.
His comment made the tension, created by Professor Moody's arrival disappear as everyone laughed at the sudden outburst. Even Professor 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 summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar."
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly. And Asia laughed at Professor Dumbledore's expense.
"Err - but maybe this is not the time… no…" said Dumbledore while discreetly winking at Asia, "where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament… well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who 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 a 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."
"Death toll?" Asia whispered feeling alarmed.
But her anxiety did not seem to be shared by either Harry or Ron. They seemed far more interested in hearing about the tournament than in worrying about the deaths. She turned to Hermione and was pleased to see that she was one of those in the Hall who were more concerned about the mortal peril than the thrill the Tournament brought.
She suddenly remembered her dreams.
Champions…
"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."
"I'm going for it!" Fred hissed down the table, his face lit with enthusiasm.
He was not the only person who seemed to be visualizing himself as the Hogwarts champion. Asia glanced around to see that at every House table, people either gazing attentively at Professor Dumbledore, or whispering excitedly to their neighbours. She risked a glance at Harry's face, sure that even he was thinking of taking part in the Tournament, and saw that he was already looking at her with an excited smile. She returned it with a small one of her own.
Then Professor Dumbledore spoke again, and the Hall quieted once more.
"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 forward their names for consideration. This" — Dumbledore raised his voice slightly, for several people had made noises of outrage at these words, and the Weasley twins were suddenly looking furious, but Asia sighed in relief - "is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion." His light blue eyes twinkled as they blinked over Fred's and George's defiant faces. "I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen.
"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"
Dumbledore sat down again and turned to talk to Professor Moody. Asia made to stand up with the rest of the students to head over to their common rooms, and the scraping sound from her chair was drowned with that of hundreds of others'.
"They can't do that!" said George, as he glared at Professor Dumbledore, still standing next to the seat he was sitting at, "We're seventeen in April, why can't we have a shot?"
"They're not stopping me entering," Fred said stubbornly, as he and George scowled at the top table, "The champions'll get to do all sorts of stuff you'd never be allowed to do normally. And a thousand Galleons prize money!"
"Yeah," said Ron, a faraway look on his face. "Yeah, a thousand Galleons…"
Asia shook her head at the three Weasley brothers and started to walk over to the doors, forgetting for a moment that her legs would hurt if she walked too fast, and that her ribs were still sore. She was reminded of her aching body as soon as she had walked only a few feet from her chair. She instantly slowed down and quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed her sudden halt. She sighed in relief to see no one had.
"Come on," she heard Hermione say to the boys, "we'll be the only ones left here if you don't move."
Harry, Ron, Asia, Hermione, Fred, and George set off for the entrance hall – Asia slower than the others – Fred and George debating the ways in which Professor Dumbledore might stop those who were under seventeen from entering the tournament.
"Who's this impartial judge who's going to decide who the champions are?" asked Harry.
"Dunno," replied Fred, "but it's them we'll have to fool. I reckon a couple of drops of Aging Potion might do it, George…"
"Dumbledore knows you're not of age, though," Ron pointed out.
"Yeah, but he's not the one who decides who the champion is, is he?" Fred said wisely, "Sounds to me like once this judge knows who wants to enter, he'll choose the best from each school and never mind how old they are. Dumbledore's trying to stop us giving our names."
"People have died, though!" Hermione said, worriedly as the group walked through a door hidden behind a tapestry and started up another, narrower staircase.
"Yeah," said Fred carelessly, "but that was years ago, wasn't it? Anyway, where's the fun without a bit of risk? Hey, Ron, what if we find out how to get 'round Dumbledore? Fancy entering?"
"What d'you reckon?" Ron asked Harry. "Be cool to enter, wouldn't it? But I s'pose they might want someone older… Dunno if we've learned enough…"
"I definitely haven't," came Neville's gloomy voice from behind Fred and George. "I expect my gran'd want me to try, though –"
"No," Asia snapped, stopping them from continuing the conversation, "None of you are entering, and that is final!"
With that she tried to speed up and walk past them, but her aching ribs made her wince and slow back down.
Why are these stupid ribs hurting more than usual today?! They never hurt when I am at the Manor! She thought angrily.
Hermione walked up next to her and put an arm around her waist, careful not to hurt any of her wounds and bruises. She ignored the surprised looks on the faces of the Weasley boys, Harry and Neville and kept walking, while leaning on to Hermione.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the Hospital Wing?" Hermione whispered to her.
"Yes, I am sure," she replied, "I need to sleep. I am sure I will be fine by tomorrow. They have never hurt like this before. I think it was because of the fall earlier in the entrance hall. I will be fine." She repeated.
"Oops…!"
They heard a yelp from behind them and they turned around. Neville's foot had sunk right through a step halfway up the staircase. It was second nature to most of the older students to jump this particular step, but Neville's memory was especially poor. Harry and Ron seized him under the armpits and pulled him out, while a suit of armour at the top of the stairs creaked and clanked, laughing wheezily.
"Shut it, you," Ron said, banging down its visor as they passed, making Asia chuckle slightly.
They made their way up to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, silently, as they reached the portrait entrance.
"Password?" the Fat Lady said as they approached.
"Balderdash," said George, "a prefect downstairs told me."
The portrait swung forward to reveal a hole in the wall through which they all climbed. Hermione muttered "Slave labour" as she cast the dancing flames in the fire place a dark look. Asia glanced around the circular common room and saw all the squashy armchairs and tables that brought back the memories of her late night study sessions in the chair close to the window in the far corner next to the fireplace.
Hermione and Asia muttered a goodnight to the boys before they walked through the doorway that led to the girls' dormitory. Asia, Hermione and Ginny had shared a dormitory ever since second year. Before Ginny had joined them, the third bed had stayed empty.
When they reached their dormitory, Ginny was already getting comfortable in her bed, pulling the comforter over her. They exchanged a smile before Asia walked over to her trunk and pulled out her night dress.
I have to get my stuff from the Room of Requirement… she thought as she changed slowly, to avoid any more episodes of severe pain.
Someone had placed warming pans between the sheets, making the bed ten times more comfortable than it already was. Her body sighed in relief as she laid down between the sheets and listened to the thunder raging outside. She could hear the soft snores of Ginny and Hermione's deep breathing as she waited for sleep to take her. Asia was expecting a peaceful sleep for the first time in weeks, and she was sure she would get it tonight. The bed was way more comfortable than her bed back at the Manor and she was dreading the day she would have to return to it.
Forget that, Anastasia… You have… an amazing bed right…here…stop thinking…
She found herself drifting when she heard Hermione whisper something to her.
"You don't think, the boys would really try to enter, do you?"
"Mm… I would kill them first, Mione… before they would get the chance to get themselves killed by dragons… and merpeople… and …and whatnot," Asia mumbled, already half asleep.
I will die before letting Harry entering this madness…if that is what it would take… was the last thought she had before she completely drifted off to sleep.