"As the only recipient of the Order of Merlin in the school, you have to be front and center when our visitors arrive," Rowle said.

I scowled.

Being forced to wear the medal wasn't so bad. I disliked being forced to be out in front in a predictable position when strangers were coming. I'd have preferred to be at the back of the crowd where I could slip away.

The aurors were in full display, though. There were more here today than I'd ever seen in the castle. They were on high alert as well.

Moody was where I should have been; disillusioned and waiting by the side. I knew where he was by his smell, and because I had everyone here tagged with bugs.

Everyone called out, staring at the sky.

Humph.

A giant flying carriage.

It seemed gaudy and unnecessary considering what Wizarding tents were capable of. You could easily place the entire population of Hogwarts in one of the more expensive tents.

That was something we'd have to watch for. All someone would have to do was smuggle in a Wizarding trunk or suitcase with an army of Death eaters inside. That would be easy when students were returning from the Holidays.

It was possible that the only reason they hadn't done it already was my reputation as a Seer.

Learning how to undo a Wizarding space while people were inside might be very valuable. I'd have Hermione look into it.

Everyone gasped as the giant carriage landed. It was as large as a house, and it came in at an impressive speed. I kept my face impassive as it landed in front of us.

It was a royal blue and looked to be of excellent construction. Still, with the size, I figured they were trying too hard.

It wasn't until a boy jumped out and pulled out a step, and the Headmistress stepped out that I realized why the carriage had to be so large.

She was taller than Hagrid, which was impressive.

The size of the carriage made perfect sense; it didn't matter how large the interior was if you can't get through the door.

She headed straight for us, which was to be expected as Rowle was standing right behind me.

"Zis is ze girl?" she asked, staring at me. "Ze winner of ze Order of Merlin?"

"I am," I said in a clear voice. I stood with my best military posture.

"You are much smaller than I would have zought," she said.

"I'd have thought you'd think that about everyone," I said dryly.

A startled laugh was her response. I doubted that anyone else mentioned her sheer size. Now that I was closer, I saw that she was wearing high heels; her natural height was likely closer to Hagrid's after all.

It seemed like a strange choice, all things considered, although her sheer size likely gave her an intimidation factor.

I'd faced Leviathan in the past; I was hardly intimidated.

"I can see zat you are quite the handful," she said.

"You have no idea," Rowle said from behind me. "I sometimes wonder that I have a job at all, considering that she seems to be the one actually running things."

I glanced back at him, startled that he'd admit such a thing.

He shrugged.

"We don't have many troublemakers left in school, and that makes things easier for me. She keeps her people under control."

"I find that it is best to teach control from a young age," Madam Maxime said. "So that such measures are not necessary."

She gestured, and a dozen boys and girls emerged from the carriage. They were all shivering in the cold; wearing fine silks in the Scottish highlands was a poor decision.

"Maybe your charges would do with a warming charm," Rowle said. He looked irritated. "Perhaps Miss Hebert could..."

"I'd prefer that Miss Hebert not point a wand at my students," Madam Maxime said firmly. She gestured behind her, and the students immediately seemed to be doing much better.

She'd done that without a wand, and without speaking either. It was impressive.

Every sixth year learned to cast without speaking, but wandless magic was much harder. Wandless and nonverbal at once was much more difficult. Spells tended to be stronger when spoken; the same was true of using a wand.

I'd seen Dumbledore do things like that, but he was somehow different than other Wizards. You expected him to be the exception to a lot of things. No other Wizard even came close to him in power.

That didn't mean he was invulnerable, but it was impressive nonetheless.

"My horses?" Madam Maxime began.

"Will be well taken care of," Rowle said. He gestured and Hagrid stepped forward.

We'd thought he might not make the event; I'd been secretly breeding insects and feeding the Skrewts at night when Hagird was asleep. They were much larger now, and there were so many of them that they were becoming a handful.

I'd taken to controlling them to keep them pacified, although I could still feel their desire to eat each other.

She stared at him, and then nodded.

"They only drink single malt whiskey," she said.

I glanced behind her at the horses. Given their size and the amount of water a normal size horse usually drank a day, it was likely that each of the twelve horses was going to need eighty gallons a day.

That would be ruinously expensive without magic.

I only knew about how much water a horse needed a day because Unicorns needed a similar amount, and they were listed in our book.

Gesturing, Madam Maxime was followed by her charges into the castle.

Everyone stood staring, looking into the sky.

I detected the ship first; there were crabs in the water of the lake who detected the movement of something big. I immediately turned my attention that way.

Hermione was the first to notice, soon followed by Harry and some of the others.

"Is that a mast?" Ron asked.

We watched as the ship slowly came to the surface. It looked eerie, almost ghostly, and once it came to rest by the shore, a plant was thrown out.

The students of Durmstrang were apparently all male, or at least those were the only ones who'd come. They all wore heavy furs.

Their leader wore fine silver furs. He had a goatee, and silver hair.

As he walked forward, he ignored me, speaking only to Rowle.

"Headmaster Rowle," the man said. "It is good to be here."

He sounded like he was lying. His face looked almost constipated, as though he'd rather be anywhere but here.

"It is good to see you, Headmaster Karkaroff," Rowle said. He sounded, if anything even less pleased. "May I introduce you to our Order of Merlin Winner, Miss Hebert?"

Karkaroff glanced at me contemptuously.

"In my day, the Order of Merlin actually meant something. Standards have clearly fallen."

"It's good that your day is long past, then," I said pleasantly.

A flash of anger appeared on his face, only to be quickly smoothed out.

"Take care," he said to Rowle. "Teach your students respect, or someone else will teach them for you."

"I'm assured that Miss Hebert treats everyone with the respect that they deserve," Rowle said pleasantly.

"Hmph," Karkaroff said. He gestured, and his students followed him into the castle.

"Be careful of him," Rowle said in a low voice. "He was a Death Eater who turned state's evidence and then left the country."

"Rather stupid of him to come back now, then," I said.

"It's possible that he's made some sort of deal to get back in his old master's good graces. I'll do my best to keep an eye on him, but beware."

The fact that he would be in the school until the tournament was over was concerning, especially if he had the kind of power that Madam Maxime had.

"I'd prefer that he not have any kind of accident on school property, though," Rowle said in a contemplative voice. "It could cause an International scandal after all, and it's possible that he really is reformed."

"He may think that he's made a deal with the Dark Lord," I said. "But I think the Dark Lord is the type to hold grudges."

"Just do your best," Rowle said.

He dismissed all of us, and we all headed for the Great Hall; dinner was waiting.

We sat down, and I saw that the students from Beauxbatons sat at the Ravenclaw table.

While Millicent was at one side of me, I found a Durmstrang student sitting on my other side, with two sitting in front of me.

I'd gotten used to a certain distance by the Slytherins at mealtime, and found the hulking boys sitting near me to be a little uncomfortable, especially after just being told that their Headmaster was a Death Eater.

"You have won the Order of Merlin," the boy in front of me said. "We have all heard about this."

He was the oldest looking of the three.

"Yes," I said.

My wand was in my left hand; I'd practiced using it with both; I'd lost an arm once before, and I wasn't going to be crippled by something like that in the future.

"How could a little girl win such an honor? Our Headmaster says that it is proof that Britain is weak."

I shrugged.

"I didn't nominate myself."

Millicent spoke up.

"She helped create a cure for people driven mad by the Cruciatus."

The boy sitting across from me stared at me, his eyes narrowed.

"And she defended her entire class from a large group of dementors."

"That's..." the boy said.

"She invented a way to determine if somebody has been affected by the Imperius spell."

"Oh," the boy said. He sounded surprised.

"She killed a troll when she was a first year by stabbing it in the bollocks."

"That didn't win me the Order of Merlin," I said. I was still staring at the boys.

They seemed more impressed by the last thing than any of the others.

"We have plenty of trolls where we come from," the boy beside me said. "Did you use a magic knife?"

I shook my head.

"I was a first year, and spells didn't seem to be working, so I had to kill it the muggle way."

The boys looked at each other.

"Do you play Quidditch?" they asked.

I shook my head.

"It wouldn't be fair for me to play."

"Oh?"

"I'm something of a Seer; enough that I'd always know where the snitch was. I could play beater, but I don't like to hurt people."

They looked contemptuous at that last.

Draco leaned around and said, "You should ask her why she doesn't like to hurt people."

"Why?" the boy asked.

"Because I sometimes don't know when to stop," I said. It was a lie, of course. I always knew when to stop; I simply didn't always choose to do so.

It was better to establish my reputation quickly with these boys; otherwise I might be forced to start an International incident.

"It is difficult," the boy in front of me admitted. He said, "I am Alek Wronski."

He spoke as though I should recognize the name.

Draco spoke from the other side of Millicent.

"As in the Wronski feint?"

"It was created by my uncle Josef," he said proudly. "The most innovative seeker in the world."

"I've heard of you," Draco said. "Aren't you in line to go professional next year?"

The boy nodded.

"I'm already signed up with the Grodsisk Goblins," he said. "Starting next year. I'll be playing with my uncle."

"As a beater?"

Alek nodded. "I'd be seeker, but I'm five stone heavier than my uncle already, and seekers need to be small."

"I'd heard that Viktor Krum already went professional. I'm surprised he's not here."

Alek sniffed.

"He is still too young for something like this," he said. "If it had been held next year, then I would have graduated and he'd have had a chance. As it is, he was not in the running."

The professors showed up to the head table, along with both Headmasters. The Beauxbatons students all stood as their headmaster entered.

Before we could continue, the meal appeared before us.

Usually Hogwarts meals tended to be very heavy and very English. I saw some French dishes and I happily took some of them, after my bugs had smelled for poison.

The boys spent the whole meal talking about Quidditch; they seemed even more mad for it than Harry and Ron. Draco seemed happy to bask in his knowledge of the subject with them.

I kept quiet but alert, ready to stun any of them who made a move on me.

The next meal, I'd be sure to sit with Draco on one side and Millicent on the other.

Two men appeared at the end of the meal; they seemed to be Ministry officials, but I didn't know either of them.

"Who are they?" I asked.

"Ludo Bagman and Bartemius Crouch," Draco said. "They were the ones who arranged for all of this."

My eyes narrowed.

It was possible that the timing was innocent, but it was just as likely that this whole thing had been orchestrated by the Death Eaters. If that was the case, then one of both of the men were likely compromised.

Master Stranger protocols couldn't identify simple bribery, and they were too onerous to constantly check every member of the government.

Instead, checks had to be made when there were suspicions the someone had been mastered, and random spot checks had to be made just to keep everyone on their toes.

That left Karkaroff, twelve Durmstrang students and these two men as likely candidates for people who wanted me dead.

Madam Maxime was likely a half-giant, which meant that she probably had at least some of the magic resistance that the troll I'd fought had.

She had no reason to want me dead, but I'd still be on my guard. It was always possible that I'd killed one of her friends.

Rowle stood up and clapped his hands.

A dozen house elves entered the chamber, carrying a casket covered in jewels. The crowd suddenly got quiet.

"The tasks for the Tournament have been set," Rowle said, "And ratified by the Ministry."

He nodded toward the two men.

"Three tasks, designed to test the bravery, skill and ability to deal with danger of the champions involved. Students have died in these tasks in the past, so choose wisely as to whether you choose to participate."

He was quiet for a moment.

"Despite my warnings, I know there will be more applicants than there are champions. Only one champion can be chosen per school. Therefore, the choosing will be done by an impartial judge... the Goblet of Fire."

He rapped the box, and it slowly opened revealing a plain wooden cup from which blue flames emerged.

"I have enchanted the cup so that any application from someone under the age of seventeen will simply be disintegrated before entering the cup. Anyone who is of age can place their names in the cup and the cup will choose the best candidate."

I glanced over at Alek, who seemed supremely confident. Considering that he only had eleven competitors from his school and presumably he knew their capabilities, he might be right in his assessment.

"Applicants have twenty four hours to place their names in the cup. Tomorrow night on Halloween the cup will reveal the three champions."

Rowle was silent for a moment.

"You all know how I feel about this. Do not apply unless you are utterly certain that you can survive almost anything the Wizarding world has to offer."

"You are all dismissed," he said.

I found myself surrounded by the sixth and seventh years in my group almost immediately.

"Do you think it would be all right if we applied?" one of them asked.

"We could use the thousand galleons," I said. "And it would look good for a muggleborn to win. I'm not telling anyone to apply, though. We can do without the money, and I don't want to put anyone in danger unless we absolutely have to."

They looked confused.

"So is that a yes or a no?"

"Choose for yourselves," I said. "If you do choose to do it, I'll do everything I can to support you, including helping with training."

They nodded.

I noticed Alek staring at us.

Apparently he'd overheard our conversation.

"She is a third year," he said to one of the other Durmstrang students.

"She'll murder a troll to protect you," I heard Draco say. "That means she's worth listening to. I know a muggleborn who's got a bunch of the pictures if you're interested."

Was he helping people who wanted to kill me, or was he trying to warn them off of me? Maybe he was just trying to curry favor with popular Quidditch stars?

I couldn't be sure, which meant that he was doing his job as a double or triple agent well.

I checked my foe glass as soon as I got to my room.

I saw some unfamiliar faces; one looked like a younger version of the Ministry official I had seen at the table; I couldn't remember his name.

There were so many that the fact that I couldn't see Draco didn't mean that he wasn't lost in the crowd somewhere, although if he'd meant me serious harm he'd have been at the front of the crowd.

Karkaroff was close to the front. Madam Maxime wasn't there at all, and given her height she'd have been visible even from the back.

I didn't see any of the Durmstrang boys, which meant they didn't currently intend me harm. That didn't mean that couldn't change if their headmaster commanded it.

I found myself hoping that the Tournament would be over quickly. Unfortunately, I knew that wasn't going to be the case.