(sigh) Back home I am... those past ten weeks have been a blast for me with the school and everything. But now it's time to look for a job. Hopefully I'll find myself a good one soon. Anyway, let's keep going on this, shall we?
Disclaimers: I don't own Harry Potter or Vladimir Tod, as they belong to their respective owners.
Weeks passed and the five Hogwarts students were on the Express, Val sitting next to Draco as they read the paper with Hermione.
"Anything from the trolley?" The cart witch called out from the next section as Val and Ron put down what they were reading.
The witch appeared in the door. "Anything from the trolley, dears?"
"Packet of Drooble's and a licorice wand." Ron requested.
"I'll take a Blood Pop and a pack of Fizzing Whisbees." Val requested, paying for their food.
"Two Pumpkin Pasties, please." The Dhampir looked over and saw Cho Chang, smiling at her. "Hey, Cho. Had a good summer?"
Cho nodded to her. "Yeah, I had a great one... despite the elephant in the room."
Val nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I don't know what was up with that. My uncle told me there was a lot of security and yet it happened under their noses."
Cho sighed. "Be careful, okay? You and Harry." She turned and left with her friends.
Val smiled and took her treats, sitting next to Draco again and starting to suck on her Blood Pop as she looked at Hermione while the brunette spoke up: "This is horrible. How could the Ministry not know who conjured it?"
Ron looked at Hermione. "Well, you have to admit, the description Harry gave them was kinda vague. About six feet, dark hair? That could be anyone." He saw Val's surprised expression. "What? I studied the American measurements."
Draco heard Harry's hiss of pain and looked at him. "It's hurting you again, isn't it, mate? Your scar?"
"I'm fine." Harry shrugged like it was nothing.
Draco leaned in. "You know Sirius needs to hear about this. What you saw at the World Cup and your dream."
Harry considered it and nodded, knowing his new friend was right. And so with one quick letter, he sent Hedwig off to find Sirius and deliver the letter.
But as it turned out, the surprises weren't stopping there. The students watched in amazement as a carriage flew past the bridge and soared over Hagrid's head, the giant like man having to jump out of the way. Then another surprise rose from the Black Lake: A massive ship that unfurled its sails and showed a school logo as it slowly glided across the Black Lake.
Soon after, everything was in place in the Great Hall as the students were seated and Professor Dumbledore started speaking. "Well, now that we're all settled in and sorted, I'd like to make an announcement."
Val tuned out as she scanned the table, smiling as she saw Otis at the side and waving to him happily.
Otis smiled and waved back to her, his grin showing off his fangs slightly.
She kept looking before she saw a boy who looked about in his late teens, blonde hair covering his left eye, his outfit being an unusual uniform with a symbol she couldn't quite make out.
She refocused on the speech as Dumbledore spoke. "... the Triwizard Tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school, a single student is selected to compete. Now let me be clear: If chosen, you stand alone. And trust me when I say, these contests are not for.the faint of heart."
Her eyebrows shot up at that. She had heard of the Triwizard Tournament and how dangerous it was. The last tournament had a vampire student die and that had lead to it being cancelled for years.
"More on that later." Dumbledore dismissed. "For now, please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and their headmistress, Madame Maxine!"
As he spoke, the doors opened and out came a bunch of women in blue uniforms, performing for the Hogwarts students.
Val was impressed, as were some of the men as she heard Ron speak: "Bloody hell."
She saw the taller woman walk down the aisle and let out a low whistle at the height. "That is one big woman."
As Beauxbatons concluded their beautiful performance, Val joined the applause that the boys gave off, being more polite about it herself before she saw Hermione's look of disgust and patted her shoulder gently.
"And now our friends from the North, please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang and their high master, Igor Karkaroff!" Dumbledore introduced the other school.
Immediately, the Durmstrang boys marched in, moving their staffs in a militaristic like fashion as Val observed and nodded to herself. "Definitely militaristic in form."
A few of the boys ran forward and did an energetic dance as Karkaroff walked in, accompanied by someone Val and Ron recognized at the same time. "Holy Helsing, that's him!" "Viktor Krum!" This was already turning out to be interesting and it was only gonna grow from there.
Yeah, it is gonna get pretty dang interesting. Read and review as always.