A/N: The face-claim to Alexei Ivanov is Alex Høgh Andersen.

Chapter 3: The Triwizard Tournament

After a while on the train, things settled down and Granger looked through the Daily Prophet while Weasley looked through a book. Tracey was reading a spell-book, while Harry and I just looked at each other awkwardly.

Every now and then, I would look at the Dark Mark that was on the fWeasleyt page of the Daily Prophet.

Pepper had fallen asleep on Tracey's lap.

"Anything from the trolley? Anything from the trolley?" asked the Honeydukes Express Lady. She appeared at our door. "Anything from the trolley, dears?"

Tracey passed me some Galleons without looking up. I knew her usual; Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties, and Pumpkin Fizz.

She wasn't much of a sweets girl.

Harry, Weasley, and I went to the Honeydukes Express.

"Can I get a packet of Droobles and a liquorice wand?" asked Weasley.

The Honeydukes Express Lady gave him a packet. "On second thought, just the Droobles."

"Smart move," said the lady.

"Just the Droobles," repeated Weasley. He moved past me.

Harry looked at what they have and a girl said, "Two pumpkin pasties, please?" I had to move out of the way, crowding against the wall and the window to the door.

The lady handed Cho, I think that's what her name was, her pumpkin pasties.

"Thank you," Cho said.

Harry just stared at her.

I smiled at her and said, "Hi, Cho."

Cho looked at me and Harry, and gave a smile, "Hi, Mikania, Harry."

She walked away.

"Anything sweet for you two dears?" asked the Lady.

"Oh, no thank you, I'm not hungry," Harry said.

He went back inside the compartment.

I got my usual order, Chocoballs, Pumpkin Fizz, and Nougat Chunks. I got Tracey her usual order, and I bought a licquorice wand for Weasley (because I'm nice like that.)

I went back inside.

"Isn't there any security at all or…?" Granger was saying.

I tossed Weasley the licquorice wand when I walked past him. He grunted because it most likely hit him in the face.

"Thanks," Weasley grumbled. "And there were loads of security, according to Dad. That's what worried them so much. It happened right under their noses."

Harry started rubbing his scar.

"It's hurting again, isn't it?" asked Granger, "Your scar?"

"I'm fine," said Harry. "Right, Mikki?"

"I mean, it could just be a headache," I replied with a shrug.

I know that sometimes Harry gets prickles in his scar, but it really doesn't mean that it could be hurting. It could just be a headache.

"You should write to Sirius. He will want to hear about what you both saw at the World Cup, and the dream," said Granger.

I shrugged. She did have a point. Sirius was Harry's godfather after all.

After changing into our uniforms on the train, snagging a carriage for ourselves, and sitting down at the Slytherin table, we had to watch the sorting.

Tracey whispered to me, "What's with the carriage and ship?"

"It has something to do with the Triwizard Tournament," I whispered back to her.

During the sorting, I kind of zoned out, and then Dumbledore had to make an announcement.

"Now that we're all settled in and sorted, I'd like to make an announcement. This castle will not only be your home this year, but home to some very special guests as well. You see Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event. The Triwizard Tournament."

I had no doubt the Weasley twins would try to get in.

After everyone settled down, Dumbledore continued. "Now for those of you who do not know, the Triwizard Tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school a single contestant is selected to compete."

"I'm trying," said Malfoy immediately.

"Good," I said. "You can do everyone a favour when you die in the process."

It would be a lie if I said that I hadn't thought about competing. I wanted recognition and if I was chosen to be a champion, it would be a bonus.

"Now let me be clear, if chosen – you stand alone," said Dumbledore grimly. "And trust me when I say that these contests are not for the faint hearted—"

"That rules you out, bitch-boy," Tracey sneered at Malfoy.

"For now, please join me in welcoming the students of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and their headmistress, Madame Maxime."

Boys and girls in their late teens entered the Great Hall. The girls were doing some kind of hand wave-greeting-sigh thing that made me cringe a little. The boys just marched alongside the girl with their very tall headmistress.

I mean Madame Maxime was so tall, she dwarfed Hagrid.

A girl in a silver leotard did backwards cartwheels down the aisle of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

The Beauxbatons students finished off with conjuring bluebirds and sparks.

It was a little anti-climatic and everyone clapped. Tracey and Stephen were definitely checking out the French girls.

Dumbledore kissed Madame Maxime's fingers, before he got to the front, "And now our friends from the north. Please greet the proud students of Durmstrang and the high master, Igor Karakoff."

A series of older boys and girls in brown looking uniforms entered the Great Hall. They started hitting the ground with staffs, causing sparks. They tossed their staffs to their other hand, before hitting the ground, creating sparks again. They were chanting something. They twirled the staffs around and then they ran up the aisle. A guy and a girl did flips of some kind, before the lead guy did a dance of some sort.

The headmaster; excuse me, high master, came in with a guy, bloody hell, was that Viktor Krum?

A Durmstrang boy and girl ended the entire spectacle by blowing on their wands, causing phoenixes to form in the air, before going away.

I think I was the one who clapped the hardest.

"Albus," greeted Igor.

"Igor," greeted Albus.

Then they hugged each other.

The Beauxbaton students sat at the Ravenclaw table, maybe because of the blue theme.

"I'm entering the tournament," Malfoy announced.

I tried to ignore him, because he was just looking for attention.

The Durmstrang students sat down at our table and I was actually excited by this.

One of the girls sat across from me. She looked she could kick Dudley down Privet Drive if she so wanted. Actually, I doubt Dudley would mess with her.

A Durmstrang guy sat next to me. I looked at him. "Hi, I'm Mikania Potter. Who are you?"

"Viktor Krum!" Malfoy greeted in a smug tone.

Oh. I was sitting next to Viktor Krum.

It dawned on me.

I was sitting next to Viktor Krum!

This pleased me.

Krum ignored Malfoy and looked up at the ceiling. The girl across from me did too. I looked at it too.

"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside," I told them.

"We do not have something like this back at Durmstrang," said the girl in a thick Russian accent. She sounded like she was in awe. I later learned her name was Anastasia. The Durmstrang boy who was sitting next to her was Alexei. "It's pretty."

Krum nodded in agreement and looked at the plate and goblet in front of him.

Tracey was to busy staring at the French lot.

I refrained from kicking her to get her attention. She needed some new candy.

Stephen was now looking at his plate.

I looked at the Head Table, having to look at an angle to look past Krum. Dumbledore was talking to Madame Maxime again.

"Oi, do you think Dumbledore has fancies Maxime?" I asked Tracey and Stephen.

Tracey looked over, "Maybe. I think Hagrid does too."

"No," said Stephen flatly.

"But Hagrid accidentally stabbed Flitwick in the hand with a fork," I said.

"I meant Dumbledore," said Stephen. "I don't think he does. I think he fancies McGonagall."

It was amusing watching Malfoy try to interact with Alexei, Krum, and Anastasia, trying to act like he was hot-stuff, but they were snubbing him.

Malfoy seemed to give up on trying to impress them.

Ha! That's what you get for thinking you're hot-shit, I smirked at him.

The food finally came through, though there was clearly foreign food among the regular one.

After eating and the puddings arriving, Dumbledore stood up and went to stand next to a fancy looking box. Dumbledore called out, "Your attention please! I would like to say a few words. Eternal glory – that is what awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament. But to do this, you have to complete three extremely dangerous tasks. For this reason, the Ministry has seen fit to impose a new rule. To explain this, we have the head of the department of international magic cooperation: Mister Bartimus Crouch."

I felt water drip onto me and I looked at the ceiling.

It was leaking!

Thunder crashed and lightning struck a few times.

People screamed and I shrieked in surprise as well.

A man pointed his wand at the ceiling, red tendrils shooting out from the end and clearing up the worst of the bad weather.

I looked to see who it was.

He was a tall, rounded man who walked with a bad limp and holding a staff. He was dressed in casual wizard-wear. The one thing that stuck out to me was how left eye was larger than the other. He walked down the aisle.

"Who is zat?" Krum asked.

"Alastor Moody," Stephen said. "He was a top Auror at the Ministry, but he got too paranoid to be of any use. He was supposed to be retired."

"He's the reason why half the cells in Azkaban," I told Krum.

"He's probably our Defence teacher," said Tracey.

"At least it'll be a step up from the first two," I said, "A traitor and a magician that Dumbledore picked up off the streets."

"Don't forget the werewolf," Tracey added.

"Lupin was the best, so he doesn't count," I countered. "You can duel me on that."

"Pass," replied Tracey. "You'll kick my arse anyway."

Moody took a drink from a flask.

Oh, great. We have a paranoid drunk for a professor.

Hopefully he's a step up from a traitor and the fraud.

"What do you reckon he's drinking?" asked Stephen.

"Probably nothing legal for us," I said.

Crouch stepped up to talk. "After due deliberation, the Ministry has concluded that for their own safety, no student under the age of seventeen shall be allowed to put forth their name for the Triwizard Tournament. The decision is final."

On one hand, I felt slighted because I wanted a chance to get some glory, but on the other, I felt relieved because I didn't have to risk my life for greatness. On Tracey's hand, I was relieved because Harry wouldn't end up dead if he decided to compete, as if he didn't have a waiting list on people who wanted his head on a pike.

"That's rubbish! That's rubbish!" yelled the Weasley twins. "You don't know what you're doing!"

On the contrary, Crouch definitely knew what he was doing.

I read (Merlin, I sounded like Granger) in the Triwizard Tragedies that there was a very high death toll.

At least the Ministry played it smart by having an age-limit. Seventh-year students had a chance of, you know, surviving.

"Silence!" yelled Dumbledore. He used his wand to dissolve a highly decorative golden box, revealing a goblet. A blue flame ignited in it and it was oddly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

He continued, "The Goblet of Fire. Anyone wishing to submit themselves for the tournament merely write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour on Thursday night. Do no do so lightly, if chosen, there's no turning back. As from this moment, the Triwizard Tournament has begun."