September 1st rolled in once more, as the Hogwarts Express rolled by the neat fields that turned into woods.
Brooklyn, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all got a compartment together. Hermione held a newspaper in her hands for the Daily Prophet that read Terror at the Quidditch World Cup. Brooklyn frowned a little at the skull and snake Dark Mark on the paper. Did the reporters really have to put that disgusting image on the front page?
The trolley rolled by, pushed by the old witch with the usual train snacks. Brooklyn decided he needed to eat more, so he got a small pile of Pumpkin Pastries as well as chocolate frogs and Cauldron Cakes, because he knew that the Sorting took about an hour, and that's the time when stomachs rumble.
While he ate, his friends discussed what had happened.
"But how could the Ministry not know who had conjured it?" Hermione asked. "Wasn't their any security?"
"Loads," Ron replied, chewing on Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. "That's what worried dad the most, it happened right under their noses!"
Brooklyn narrowed his eyes while eating a Cauldron Cake. "The whole security at the Ministry stinks, in my opinion," he huffed. "Heck, they even accused me of setting off that Dark Mark. Plus I was forced to fight three of those Death Eaters who eventually took me out with some sort of sedative spell. And did I see any security coming to help? No!"
Harry was at the moment rubbing his scar, until it got to the point of him suddenly transforming into his gargoyle form. Luckily Ron had closed the compartment when this happened, to prevent anybody from seeing it.
Hermione looked concerned for Harry, who felt somewhat relieved after being back in his gargoyle form, which stopped his scar from hurting. "It was hurting again, wasn't it? Your scar?" Hermione asked. Harry raised his brow, wings flapping. "I'm fine now, thanks to my Animagus ability. It seems to lessen the pain."
But Brooklyn didn't think this would help. "Harry, you shouldn't use it all the time whenever your scar hurts, it might drain your strength, since you're still learning."
Harry glared. "Well, does Dumbledore know? Did you tell him last year?" He demanded, making Brooklyn wince, rubbing his neck awkwardly.
"Er...uh, I guess I forgot," he responded in a nervous voice, having to admit that Harry's glares were a lot fiercer when he was a gargoyle. "I will plan it out, and have you show him whenever I get the chance this year."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Oh, this is nice, not telling the Headmaster right away! To make things even nicer, he's a bloody unregistered Animagus, and I bet my owl that the Ministry hasn't seen a gargoyle Animagus before! It will be chaos if Harry accidentally reveals himself to the whole school, reporters will flood in! Harry's gargoyle face will be on front pages! Here's the headline: The boy who lived turns into a gargoyle and doesn't tell the Ministry about his well kept secret—ow!"
Harry took the liberty of slapping Ron's arm with his tail, eyes now glowing, hissing, making his friend cower away, gripping Hermione's arm.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I just panicked. Now, could you please return to your normal form? You're scaring Hermione here."
"He is not! Now let go of my arm!"
Harry then settled, turning back to normal, and Ron relaxed, though he still didn't like the glares from the brothers.
But Ron got brave and asked something else. "What about you, Brook? Has Dumbledore figured out that spell that Puck person had put on you yet? When will you be able to go back to your Clan?"
Brooklyn looked down, feeling a little homesick again. "I honestly don't know what goes on with Dumbledore when he says he'll help me. As long as I am able to protect Harry, he'll exchange it to help me get home. But… it's been three years already. And I feel like Dumbledore isn't as powerful or sound minded as everybody thinks."
Hermione's eyes grew round. "But why would you say that? He could help you, right?"
"If he doesn't keep his word, I may very well be stuck here until time zones return to normal and I can message them, or find the London gargoyle Clan who might still be living there that Goliath met on his Avalon World Tour," he muttered, now wondering if the London Clan could possible be a better solution than Dumbledore altogether if it ever comes to it."
Harry stared. "I didn't know London had gargoyles!" He exclaimed in surprise. Brooklyn nodded, smiling at Harry's excitement.
"Yeah, there were three of them that lived there since World War II. If things don't get better, maybe you and I can try to find them to help me, depending on how my guardianship duties are going," he offered. Harry looked excited at the idea of meeting other gargoyles that had lived out of plain sight from him for so many years! But then something else nagged his thoughts, something he didn't tell him earlier.
"Brook, I didn't tell you before, but when I had that nightmare earlier, I saw Voldemort, Wormtail, his snake, an old man who was murdered by him, and two others. A young man and-a strange winged person there with red eyes. It was female, and they kept talking about you and me." Harry then said in a nervous voice, gripping his hands.
Brooklyn tensed, his heart thumping. The very idea of Voldemort and her working together made him want to vomit. If she had somehow found her way to this world already, and found him… he shook his head.
"It will be alright, Harry. We've got powerful allies here, and you have a godfather you could write to about all this," he answered gently, smiling a little. Harry frowned.
"I don't want to bother Sirius—."
Hermione stepped in. "You know he would want to hear about all this, what you saw at the World Cup and the dream. Please write to him Harry. Please?"
Harry gave in eventually, writing a quick message for Sirius and having Hedwig deliver, just in time as the Express pulled into Hogsmeade station, and proceeding the usual carriage ride up to the castle. Before the feast started, there were two unusual things that had shown up: and even Brooklyn couldn't believe his eyes. When did they get visitors?
It started with a flying carriage pulled by eight large winged Abraxan horses. Brooklyn was amazed at the sight as the carriage came to a landing, nearly crushing Hagrid who tried to guide them down.
Next was a ship coming out of the water, complete opposite of the Titanic sinking from Brooklyn's point of view. But he wondered now if the ship had been enchanted so the people on board survived being underwater with the pressure.
It left Brooklyn wondering what all that was about by the time the Sorting was done, as Dumbledore rose for the announcement.
"Now that we've been settled in and Sorted, I'd like to make an announcement: Hogwarts will not only be your home this year, but home to some very special guests as well!"
Harry and Brooklyn glanced at one another, confused. Was that why two mysterious transports came? Who were these visitors?
Filch then ran up to Dumbledore, whispering something urgent to him before running back, a hand on his chest.
Brooklyn rolled his eyes a bit at how the man ran. He definitely needed his exercise, that's for sure.
Dumbledore continued the announcements, telling them all about Hogwarts hosting a legendary event that hasn't happened in so many years: The TriWizard Tournament. Brooklyn now was interested. A world event for Wizards? Fred and George seemed quite excited about it, for certain!
"But now, let us welcome our guests! First, the Beauxbaton French Academy of Magic, with their Headmistress, Madame Maxime!" Dumbledore then announced as the door opened, revealing a group of beautiful young women wearing periwinkle blue dresses, all mostly dancing down the aisles and sighing in sing song voices, causing most of the boys to stare, especially Ron.
Brooklyn found himself unable to look away from one particular girl, dressed the same as the others. But her long flowing blonde hair, entrancing figure, and enchanting eyes with her smile was enough to make anybody fall for her. The gargoyle was so ensnared by her beauty that he forgot everything else. There was something about this girl that didn't seem completely human.
Hermione snapped her fingers in his face, snapping him out of it after sighing in annoyance.
He blinked, confused. What the heck was going on with me? Was I really staring at a human female? He thought, feeling embarrassed, heating up in his cheeks. He could see Harry smirking at him.
"Not a word, get me?" He growled, Harry snickering at the red in his cheeks.
Dumbledore was approached by the headmistress, who was the biggest woman Brooklyn had ever seen. She was possibly bigger than Hagrid himself!
Next came the students of Durmstrang, a school from the far reaches of Norway. The men came in, slamming their sticks to the ground and sending up sparks, wearing red and black uniforms. They seemed to be well built with muscle, too. The headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, had a look that had Brooklyn think he wasn't gonna like him so much, but he greeted Dumbledore like an old friend, shocking him a little.
To make things even more interesting, one of the students was Viktor Krum from the World Cup, and Ron was staring just like how Brooklyn stared at the Beauxbaton girl.
Karkaroff took his seat at the High Table before he spotted Brooklyn, watching him with a steely look. The gargoyle didn't want to know what the Durmstrang headmaster thought of him as he tried concentrating on his food that had appeared on the table.
No sooner he started eating, though the door opened again, revealing the craziest looking human Brooklyn laid eyes upon, he had a metal leg, carried a staff, and had an electronic blue replacement eye that looked around the room, glancing at both him and Harry once before greeting Dumbledore and sitting down.
"No bloody way, that can't be our new Defense teacher!" Gaped Dean in disbelief.
"Who is that guy?" Brooklyn asked, never seeing such a disheveled looking human man before as he took a drink from his flask, the mechanical eye rolling about afterward.
"You don't know? Seriously? It's Mad-Eye Moody! The famous Auror! He's the one who filled up most of Azkaban!" Ron gaped, staring at Brooklyn as though he'd gone nuts.
Brooklyn himself now wondered how long this guy would last here, since the last three teachers never stayed longer for one term so far.
Dumbledore then talked more about the Triwizard tournament, which involved three tasks that were said to be very dangerous, causing Brooklyn to frown, hoping now that they had some kind of safety guidelines for this.
Barty Crouch had stood up for that, announcing that no student under the age of 17 wouldn't be allowed to enter, which caused an uproar, mostly from Fred and George. But Brooklyn himself was somewhat grateful that no younger students would be in this thing, meaning Harry hopefully wouldn't be foolish enough to enter.
After Dumbledore silenced everybody, he showed them the Goblet of Fire, a tool used to enter people into the tournament, and then ushered everybody to bed, leaving Brooklyn wondering what lay ahead with this strange TriWizard Tournament.
