Wizard Scales

"Settle down, settle down!" called out the headmaster of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. "I have some very important announcements to make, one that would be in all of your best interests to hear. The first of which is that for the first time in history, Hogwarts will be holding the Quadwizard Tournament. The Quadwizard tournament is a four part competition between the three schools of Ironforge, Darnassus, and Hogwarts; each school has a champion chosen by the Goblet of Fire and the winner is granted fame, glory and fortune. A champion from each school will be chosen tomorrow night when the other schools arrive. The second piece of news is a Hogwarts first; for the first time in history, we will be playing host to foreign exchange student! His name is Erob Finch, and he is actually a self trained wizard, learning all of his magic from first hand experience and books. I have personally met him and luckily his age matches his skill level, and will be joining us as a 4th year in Gryphondor house, and I expect his fellows to show him around. He will arrive tomorrow, along with the other schools, and has the opportunity to take place within the tournament, along with a second student from each school. In a small qualification competition each student will compete for the fourth spot in the tournament, and if Erob loses one of the other schools will have two champions competing. When he arrives, the tournament will… begin!" Dumbledore then sat down and genially said, "Dismissed!" All night not a student wasn't anxiously discussion with their fellows what the tournament would entail; there were also some in gryphondor pondering what Erob would be like.

Erob was speeding down the lush, green countryside towards Hogwarts on hippogryph back. "I can't believe that old man talked me into coming to this blasted school" muttered an irritable Erob. "Well, I guess I couldn't go solo forever, the school will offer me some things that I could never learn alone. The library alone will be plenty worth it, if I can get into that restricted section, which I surely should be able to. Damn this thing is slow! I wonder how much farther it is?" and with that question he cast a foresight spell, and peered far to into the distance. "Are they all waiting out there for me?" he thought "well I guess I should give them something worth experiencing. He whipped out his invisibility cloak and whispered "Engorgio" and it grew large enough to cover him and the winged beast. Then as they drew closer he shot an explosion spell into the glittering, blue lake, causing a massive gusher to erupt. While the gusher attracted the attention of the crowd of schools, Erob quietly breathed "Sonarus!" and gently touched the ground with the hippogryph. Once the gusher calmed and the students settled down, Erob "ROARED" with a beastly vigor, causing many screams and several wands to shoot random spells and sparks. He even noticed a rather small professor, whom Erob believed Dumbledore refer to as professor Flitwick, wet himself while shaking from head to foot. All the while Erob just stood there smiling and laughing to himself. After half a moment or so everyone turned to see what had happened, many of whom continued to smile, although some seemed angry. Erob marked one in particular who seemed extra irritated; he was a very pale teen with sleek, blonde hair. "Well, well, well, that was quite an entrance Mr. Finch." noted professor Dumbledore.

Erob could feel every single eye ball from the students and teachers examining every inch of him, he felt like he was being physically pushed back from the weight of the stares. After a ten second life time he finally was able to spit out "uhhh… hi, I'm Erob" waving his hand over his head in the air like a child. "Well, now that the other schools and Mr. Finch has arrived, we can let the selection ceremony begin!" Erob mentally thanked Dumbledore with all his heart for saying something. "Like so many years before, the Goblet of fire will choose one student from each school who it feels is worthy to compete, but this year the other headmasters-" "Excuse me, but I am a HeadMISTRESS not a headmaster, thank you very much" bellowed the fattest, ugliest, biggest, most gigantic lady Erob had ever laid eyes on. It took every ounce of self control to keep Erob from busting out laughing, but somehow he kept it in. "I beg your pardon Madam Maxmine, the headmaster of Ironforge, myself and Madam Maxmine have decided to add a new qualification opportunity for one more student. Each principal will then choose a student who he or she finds worthy, and they and Mr. Finch will have a small duel for the final slot." Erob's jaw dropped, and with eyes rolling he mouthed "oh crap". And then a giant, gold cup with jewels surrounding it rolled you of the castle behind them and the moment it hit the grass, multicolored flames erupted. "Ah, here comes the goblet, and its choice. And then three glowing names shot into the air, Fleur Delacure, Victor Krum, and Harry Potter. If you three would please step up to me. And then the three headmasters privately conversed, but Erob could hear them. Dumbledore said "well, I know that Mr. Potter is younger than the age limit we agreed upon, but I personally don't question the goblet, do either of you?" "I have no opposition to a 4th year competing" said headmaster Karkoff. "Nor do I" announced Maxmine. Dumbledore then said "okay, now that that is settled, I choose Mr. Wood as my student." "And I choose Mr. Budro as mine" said Karkoff. "I chose Ms. Natti as my candidate" said Maxmine. "Well then" said Professor Dumbledore turning to face the students, "Let the duel between Mr. Budro and Mr. Finch begin!" And at that moment a large gap formed and Erob and Budro were standing right in the middle. With a very nervous glance they glanced at each other and made their way to the end of the gap. Dumbledore then yelled "One, Two, Three!"

"Bombarto!" shouted Erob, pointing his want at the ground between them, and dust exploded from the ground eliminating any clear sight. While Budro was getting over the shock at what was happening, Erob jumped and levitated six feet into the air while thinking about what was going on. Budro seemed to get over it as Erob began to see flashes of light shoot through the dust. Then the dust began to rush toward Budro, Erob then floated back down and waited for Budro to become visible again. When the dust finally lifted Budro and Erob stared at each other, and without even saying it they agreed to say "One, two, three" and the duel then officially began. Budro began with "Serpentortia!" and a large python began racing toward him, and Erob pointed at it and shouted "Wingardrium Leviosa" and the snake floated into the air under his control and Erob threw it back at Budro. Budro then yelled "Disipatia" and the snake evaporated into thin air. Erob then waved his wand in the air several times and shot a continuous line of fire balls in the opposite direction. Many gasps and screams echoed from the crowd while Budro frantically tried to block the fire balls blasting toward him. After a dozen balls he fired two disarming spells at Budro, which traveled much faster than the blazes and while Budro blocked those a fire ball slammed into his face. Erob then shot a final disarming spell at Budro that flew his wand out of his hand and sent him spiraling through the air. When he landed he hands began examining his face for burns, though he found none. Then everyone again turned to look at Erob, and he said "what? They were just illusions." And he waved his fingers through the air.

And with that Erob just fell back and lied down. Then he gathered the strength to turn his head and see victorious Natti hugging Maxmine. He was even too tired to smile at the fact that Natti couldn't even curve her arms to get around the Maxmine. She then too sat down, though much more gracefully, and Erob thought "that snoody little-" "Congratulations Erob and Natti for winning their first task!" shouted Dumbledore. "I will allot 5 minutes to regain your strength before you tackle your next challenge!". "Great!" Thought Erob "She seems to have a lot more energy then I do."

5 minutes later

"Erob, I will be assigning your task", bellowed the fat lady. "And I you miss Natti" announced Karkoff. "Miss Natti, your task is to bring me the poison tip of this Manticore, Begin!" And with a swoosh of his want the beast appeared. The beast had the head of a growling lion and a long dangerous tail of a scorpion, and to top it off was a giant pair of wings. The startled Natti quickly leapt into action, but Erob didn't get a chance to watch because a few seconds later big mamma said "and your task Erob is to…-" she waved her wand a 2 car sized spiders appeared "Survive!"

"HOLY SH" thought Erob. "Stupify" "Expelliarmus" but they just bounced off the resistant skin of the spiders. "Gusto" and a large gale began blowing from the tip of his wand. The spiders were pushed back into the forest, giving Erob time to think. If they resisted the other spells there's no reason for others to work. Erob could hear the spiders charging through the forest. Erob's mind was completely blank; he had no idea what to do. And the spiders burst through the forest and lunged through the air toward him. "CRAP" he shoved his wand into the air and flames erupted through the air and engulfed the spiders, burning them alive.

Erob then bent over and began panting heavily, relieved that that was over. He turned his head just in time to see the Manticore slash Natti with giant claws, sending her back through the air several feet, blood gushing from her wound. While the students were all watching horrified, Madam Maxmine and some other lady that was wearing a nun hat and cloths like the 1800s, who Erob assumed must have been the nurse or something, rushed to Natti and began performing a complex array of spells. About thirty seconds later they finished and the nun lady began caring Natti back to the castle. Professor Dumbledore then walked over to Erob and announced "Erob is the winner!" there was a brief few seconds of silence and then a small applaud broke out among the students. Embarrassed and unsure what to do Erob said "No allusions this time" and at least some of the students chuckled. Dumbledore then told the school "I would like to remind Erob and the other contestants that this was just a small qualification test, and that the following tasks will be much more difficult. Then Erob thought "well, isn't my life full of great little surprises!" and looking up at the castle, all he could do was think that this was going to be a looong year.

At this point everyone was making their way up to the castle, and not one person wasn't chatting extensively about what had just occurred. Erob was about to take one step forward when he realized that the hippogryph, Ysera, that he had borrowed from his friend needed attending to. He turned to where he had left the beast and saw that there was a huge man, at least 10 feet tall, was leading it toward him. When the man got to Erob he bellowed "This here be a fine good hippogryph, one o' the best I've seen in quite some time!" "Oh thank you, he's actually my friend's but I've been traveling with it for quite some time." Replied Erob. "Oh by the way, do you know where I could leave him?" and the man said "I'm sorry I fergot ter properly interduce meself! My name is Hagrid and I'm the games-keeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher here at Hogwarts, so I can feed and show him and you where he can stay." With a smile Erob said "Well Ill be in your class I guess, don't have my schedule yet but ill see you then, and if you planed on taking Ysera now just lead the way." Hagrid chuckled and said " oh, she cn' go wherever she pleases on da' grounds da' forest" and he waved a hand to his side and Erob peered around him and saw that the forest next to the school was much more massive than he realized, stretching as far as the eye could see left and right. Hagrid added with a much more grim expression " but there are a few places within da' forest that she would be best avoidin, but I wont bother tellin you as yer not allowed within da' forest alone anyhow, but ill show Ysera in a bit." Remembering that Dumbledore told him about not going in the forest, he decided to ask Hagrid for the hope of getting a little more information about it. Putting on a confused expression, Erob asked with the honest curiosity of a toddler "why aren't students allowed in there, are there like "dangerous creatures" or something?" although Erob already knew that there were dangerous creatures, he just hoped for a few more specifics. "Oh yes, there's most defiantly dangerous creatures." And Erob asked " well, how dangerous?" and Hagrid raised his eyebrows and said "well, lets just say that those spiders Madam Maxmine summoned were perty common pray of plenty of other creatures roamin the forest, whether by strength, numbers or brains." Though desperately intrigued, Erob knew that he would get no more out of Hagrid today, which he could respect him for.

Knowing that Ysera was safe, Erob began trudging his way back up to the castle, suddenly very aware that he was starving. He hurried up to the back of the crowd making there way into the castle and looked for Harry Potter. He felt lucky that he was his age and in the same house as him, who better to make friends with? He began making his way toward the table that the other Gryphondors were seating themselves at, when an incredibly pale boy with sleek blonde hair that was gelled so tight against his head that he appeared bald at a distance over 10 feet away approached him. Erob noticed that he was accompanied by two oafs, who he assumed must have been "body-guards" of some sort. He sustained a laugh as the boy stalked up to him and said "Hi, my names Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." with an arrogant smile. "Hi" retorted Erob with a shrug. Erob had begun to wonder what kind of cruel being could name their child Draco when the boy said "My father is Lucius Malfoy." Using every ounce of willpower, he held back a look of absolute disbelief and said "uhhh, good to know" while bobbing his head. He wondered why the heck he would give a crud about who his father is when Malfoy said "You do know who Lucius Malfoy is right?" While wondering what was up with this kid he replied "Sure I do, he's your father." While clearly un-amused, Draco told him "The Malfoys come from a very powerful, pure wizard blood line, and my father is one of the most powerful and influential wizards alive." "Okay, and is that supposed to intimidate me, make me want to like you, or what? Because my father is a giant inhuman lunatic who kills foes, friends or even family if they ever try to get in his way or even disagree with him. And I think that that fact shouldn't affect what you think of me." Taken aback, he replied "Well, Ill ask my father if he knows a powerful wizard named finch and ask him to take care of him, because it certainly seems that you wouldn't mine." Wondering just how desperate this kid was to want his friendship, he told Draco "Well my father isn't a wizard, so your father can do little about it." And then Draco looked at Erob as if he were a giant pile of rotten eggs, and then muttered "UGH, you deceiving little mudblood!" and then he turned and marched off. Erob just stood there bewildered for a second, and assuming that a mudblood must have meant that he wasn't a pure wizard, said "Freak" and continued down to where Harry and his fiends, who he had just realized had seen the whole… whatever that was.

Erob then walked up to the seat across from Harry and his friends, and asked "Do you mind? Ravenclaw's seats are filled up with the witches from Darnassus, I can't say Hufflepuff without laughing, and, well, I just don't like Slytherin. Oh and I'm in Gryphondor so it kinda makes sense anyway." Laughing Harry said "Yeah, sure, it's nice to meet you." Then a freckly red haired boy said "I'm Ron Weasley" and a bushy haired, buck toothed freak said "I'm Hermione Granger. I must say that was a very… interesting display of magic you showed." She was eyeing him with a funny look in her eye, like she knew something about him. "Thanks, there were several moments where I didn't think I'd win." Then Harry asked "what spell did you use to blast fire out like that, I've never even heard a spell like that?" "It was a family spell my father was an expert at using, I just picked it up from him." "Can you show us how one of these days?" asked Ron "Well, it's more of a family heirloom that I'd rather keep sacred; it's the only thing that I really have." "What a greedy, nosy little pest!" thought Erob, "I guess I can deal with him later" already thinking of some ways to have… fun.

Gryphondor's first class was transfiguration with the Ravenclaws, Erob's first choice of houses, and he still wasn't sure why Dumbledore insisted on him going into Gryphondor.

Erob was waiting in class when this black cat waltzed in and jumped up on the desk, and just stared at them all. Then Erob blurted out "Is that an animagus or just a dumb old cat?". Then the cat jumped off the desk and transformed into an old lady who looked like she had a lemon in her mouth and something foul lying under her nose, probably her upper lip he thought. "I am by no means a mangy old cat, and that was your first question. The second little test I'd like for you to do is transfigure the book bag in front of you into a bird." "What kinda bird?" Erob asked. She simply replied "Whatever you can". And with a flick of his wand and the words "mefowlairdo" and the book grew into a big, colorful parrot which caused Professor McGonagall to give a slight nod and say "very nice". Then the parrot replied "Very Nice, Very Nice!", followed by laughter from the class. Then McGonagall said "Very funny Mr. Finch-" "Veeeery Funny, veeerry funny Mr. Finch" screeched the bird. "Put the bird awa-" "Puuuuuuuut the bird away, put the bird!" and with that the old B whipped out her wand faster than Erob had ever seen someone do and with a simple flick made the parrot dissipate. "Well, what about my book?" asked Erob, and with a stern look she tapped her wand and his book appeared. The he asked " Is this my same book or a new one, cause I really liked that one, it had my name in it, and some doodles that took like, three minutes each. "Mr. Finch! If you disrupt my class one more time I will transfigure you self into a tea cozy. Do you understand me?" "Ok I'm sorry." After that she continued teaching the class, and a minute later he leaned over and asked Harry "What the hell is a tea cozy?" and it was all he could do to keep from keeling over and laugh out.