step *thunk*
step *thunk*
step *thunk*
"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts," Professor Moody paced along the front of the classroom. "Defense is one of the most important subjects in the Hogwarts curriculum, but it has been woefully neglected these past few years. But no more!"
He turned and faced the class, his magical eye peering -glaring- at each student in turn. "We will be covering a lot of advanced material, and the class will move quickly to make up for lost time. I expect there to be NO SLACKING in my class."
The Ravenclaws sat attentively in their chairs. This was promising to be a good class. Unlike second year, when it had seemed that they knew more than their professor.
step *thunk*
step *thunk*
Moody walked over to his desk, where there were several jars. "We will start off the year with a demonstration of the so-called Unforgivable curses." He picked up a jar. "Does anybody know why they are called 'unforgivable'?"
Almost all the hands in the class shot up.
"Yes? Simon, is it?"
"Yes, sir." the boy beamed that the professor knew his name, "The three curse, Cruciatus, Imperius and the Killing Curse, are collectively know as the Unforgivable curses because of the indescribable suffering that they cause to the target," he recited.
"Wrong." Moody barked. The smile slid off of Simon's face. "You can kill a man with the Reducto curse. You can inflict pain with Expelliarmus or many other charms. What separates out the Unforgivables is that they require a certain frame of mind to cast. They require anger for the Killing Curse, hatred for Cruciatus , and contempt for the Imperio." Moody continued with relish, as his eye spun to track what effect his words had on the students, "These curses are banned because of the effect they have on the caster, not the victim."
Moody removed the lid off of the jar and put it down on the floor on its side. "but these curse MAY be cast on non-human target. I, personally, dislike spiders." As a matter of fact, a spider was just then making it's way out of the jar. "Which is why I have no problem with - Crucio!" Moody cast the curse on the spider, which convulsed. All the Ravenclaws shifted in their chairs to see what was going on.
"I know those of you in the back can't see, so let me repeat the demonstration." Moody turned back to the spider, which had staggered back up to its feet, but it was somewhat unsteady. "Engorgio" the spider swelled in size until it was the size of a large dog.
"Crucio!" Moody pronounced vehemently. He stared intently at the spider as it convulsed again, each of its motions now exaggerated by its larger size. After a moment, he turned back to surveying the students.
"Uhm, sir?" Andrew Goldstein held up his hand tentatively, "What are we supposed to be learning here?" He was obviously uncomfortable with the display.
Moody ended the Cruciatus and Finite Incantatem'ed the Engorgio before sweeping the spider back into the jar. "You are learning what the Cruciatus curse looks like, and you are learning to not panic if you see someone cast it." Moody put the jar away and turned to stare intently at Andrew "Out there, on the street, if somebody casts Cruciatus, you won't have the luxury of panicking. You're going to have to act fast, or otherwise, you could be next, You understand?"
"Yes, sir"
"Very good." Moody turned back to the rest of the class, "You think I like casting the Unforgivables? No. Nobody in their right mind does, but I want you to see them in here" Moody pointed at the classroom, "So that if, Merlin forbid, you run into them out there, on the street, you know what to do."
The Ravenclaws listened raptly.
*Zero*Zero*
"On a final note, how are the returning students doing? Are there any new 'issues'" Dumbledore was finishing up a staff meeting dealing with the fourth year curriculum. The professors were all gathered in Dumbledore's office, It was a tight fit, and the professors had to write on their laps or levitate their scrolls, but Albus liked it that way - he felt it gave the meetings a more intimate feel.
"Well, Potter is still a little suck up." Snape replied. "I wish the boy would grow a spine."
"How is he doing academically, though?"
"Well, enough. He does not take any risks, letting his lab partner do much of the work in the practicum, but his written work is solid, if dull." Snape was somewhat conflicted. On the one hand, Potter was an annoying, spineless suck up, and James' son. On the other, he was the least incompetent at potions of his year-mates.
"Yes, I see the same problem in my class" McGonagall added. "He consistently makes his motions too small, too conservative. He may be able to get away with that in Charms, but in Transfiguration, he does not project enough will to enact the changes he has in mind."
"I see from my notes that Potter was receiving tutoring last year." Moody looked up from his notes, "I was wondering if I should work with him one on one, after class."
"I don't think that will be necessary, Alastor. I will have one of the sixth or seventh years tutor him."
"It's no trouble" Mad-eye insisted.
"Thank you for offering, but I prefer not to have the professors do the tutoring for their own classes - exposing the student to different teaching styles can sometimes help comprehension. And allowing the upper years to tutor strengthens their own understanding of the material." Albus turned to Flitwick "and how is he doing in Charms?"
"Oh, well, enough." the small professor chirped, "As Minerva said, his motions are too compact, too abrupt. He manages the spells, but they lack real power."
"Could it be a physical handicap?" Albus asked.
"I don't think so" replied Flitwick, "But I will ask Madame Pomfrey to pull his records.
Dumbledore shuffled some papers before looking up again, "Very good. Are there any other students that we should keep an eye on?"
"Longbottom is still a menace." Snape quickly injected, "I need a larger budget for wards to keep him from injuring himself or other students when he next explodes his cauldron."
Albus sighed and wrote something down, "I will see what I can get you. Is that all the issues for the fourth years? Very good." he collected his papers, "Remember, on Thursday we will be having a double-header: we will be covering the fifth years and going over any remaining issues with the integration of the incoming Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students." The professors had been meeting over the summer to ready for the Triwizard Tournament, but with something so involved, there were always last minute issues that cropped up.
*Zero*Zero*
"Today, we will be covering the Imperius Curse" Moody stood at the front of the class, eyeing the students. All of the Ravenclaws sat attentively, quills poised. Even if they weren't naturally inclined to be studious (most of them were), Moody was not one to brook slacking in his class. "This curse was widely used by Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters to use weak minded civilians to cause mischief."
Moody's eye panned across the room as several of the Ravenclaws squirmed uncomfortably at Moody's use of Voldemort's chosen name. "If you can't even say the name, then how can you discuss what happened 15 years ago? We must think on what lead to the rise of Lord Voldemort, so that we are prepared if another Dark Lord arises."
"But that is off topic." Moody continued, "the Imperius curse is the only one of the three Unforgivables that can be successfully resisted, so this class we will be practicing throwing off the effects." Moody scanned the class, "do I have any volunteers?"
"To have the Imperious curse cast on them?" Squeaked Andrew.
"Correct."
There was a resounding silence. Several of the students hunched down, in the hopes that Moody wouldn't call on them.
"Miss Patil, please come to the front of the class." Padma walked nervously to the front.
"Imperio!" Moody intoned, with a flourish of his wand "now, unless Miss Patil can throw off the effect of the Imperius curse, I can have her to whatever I ask."
"Miss Patil, tap dance please."
Padma started dancing awkwardly. Several of the Ravenclaws stifled snickers.
"You think losing control of yourself is funny, do you?" snarled Moody. "Mr Boots, You are next."
Alastor went through the whole class, putting the students under The Imperius and having them do some silly antic or other. About half way through, the process started to lose it's shock value, and the students drew silent, as they became more and more uncomfortable with what they were seeing.
"You didn't like that, hmmm? Well, you weren't supposed to." Moody stomped through the middle of the classroom. "We will repeat this drill once a week. Hopefully at least a few of you will learn how to resist the effects of the spell by the end of the year.
*Zero*Zero*
"Ok class today we will be working on our star charts" Trelawney warbled. Her classroom was overheated as always, and Harry had to concentrate to keep from falling asleep, "You will be working with partners to first chart the significant celestial bodies at the time of your birth, and then to interpret what that means for your future. Those of you who HAVE one," She looked meaningfully at Harry.
"Ok, go ahead and pair off, and I will hand out materials" She picked up a handful of packets as the students got up and used the opportunity to chat. The classroom was crowded, since it was a double class, Ravenclaws and Gryffindors.
As Neville turned to look at Harry, Harry quickly darted towards the front of the room, only to pause awkwardly. "Uhm, hi, uhm. Parvati?"
The attractive indian girl turned to look at Harry, "Yes" Harry noticed that she had taken to wearing perfume similar to Trelawney's.
"Uhm, would you like to uh, work with me?" Harry blurted out.
"Sorry, Harry," She did not look the least bit sorry, "but I am already working with Lavender." She turned quickly away, to face her friend.
Defeated, Harry made his way to sit next to Neville. "She's out of your league, dude."
*Zero*Zero*
"Too bad Moody's not actually teaching the Imperius," Crabbe quipped as he slouched in a chair, "it would be a great way to get girls naked." He passed the marijuana cigarette to Goyle.
"Yeah. and then you'd go straight to Azkaban. No thank you." Goyle replied as he took a drag and promptly coughed.
"Yeah, this stuff is pretty good stuff." Draco said as he pounded Goyle's back. He had his own cigarette, while Harry and his two loutish Slytherins shared a second (Harry had provided a very limited amount of weed after all, and if they didn't conserve, it would all run out. Or so Drake's explanation went)
The four boys were lounging around after dinner in 'their' classroom. Earlier, Harry had retrieved some of the marijuana that he had had Neville grow for him, and showed Draco how to roll it into a cigarette. The end result was fairly sloppy, but the boys were well pleased.
"Potter, I gotta admit you did good," Draco took a small drag - he didn't want to embarrass himself by coughing like the neophyte that he was.
After a moment, after he got himself under control, he continued, "But you know, watching Moody cast the Imperio, it doesn't look that hard to do. I bet I could figure it out."
"I don't think that's a good idea, unless you want to go to jail" Harry interrupted, trying to act nonchalant. His experience with the Imperius curse had bothered him extremely. He was used to not having much control over his life, living with the Dursleys, but it was the little rebellions that kept him sane. The Imperius didn't allow even that.
"Yeah, well, Moody casts it whenever he wants, and Dumbledore hasn't said a word." Crabbe countered
"Moody's pretty hard core," Draco nodded approvingly. "Hard to believe he was in Gryffindor."
The boys sat quietly as some smoke drifted around the room. All four of them were feeling a little light headed.
"You know, I think the whole house system is wrong" Goyle interjected. The other boys looked puzzled, but nobody could work up any indignation at him challenging the status quo.
"What? What else would we use? Bunks?" Crabbe asked, puzzled.
"Or homerooms?" Harry tittered.
"No, I don't mean that. I mean the way kids are assigned to the Houses. I think a lot of kids are assigned to the wrong House. Maybe... I don't know why." Goyle's mouth was emptying his reservoir of ideas faster than his brain was re-filling it. "I just think... I mean, look at Harry here - he hangs out with us, or that doofus Neville. Harry, when was the last time you spent time with your housemates?" Goyle brain finally managed to pull him out of the hole that his mouth had dug.
"Don't know, don't care" Harry shrugged. "They spend all their time doing homework. Hanging out with them is mind numbingly boring." Harry watched Draco struggle to roll another marijuana cigarette. His first was only half way done. "Uhm, Draco, I should probably bring some over to Neville, he did grow the stuff, you know.
Draco looked askance at Harry. "Pay be the 10 Galleons you owe me, and I'll hand it over," Draco smirked.
"What do I owe you the money for?" Harry asked defensively
"For the pleasure of my company." Draco smirked.
"That's cheap!" cackled Crabbe, "girls charge a lot more than that for 'pleasure'."
The other boys stopped and gaped at Crabbe.
"Are you calling me a prostitute?" Drawled Draco.
"No, dude. I didn't mean that. It came out wrong." Crabbe flushed in embarrassment.
"So what did you mean?" seeing Crabbe on the defensive, Draco asked more aggressively.
"Nothing. it was just a joke?" Crabbe grabbed up his books, "I got some homework I got to do. I'll see you" he walked off with make-believe urgency.
*Zero*Zero*
"Oh, man. I hate the Imperius drill" Neville groaned as he sat down at next to Harry at the Ravenclaw table. Luna edged over to make room
"Tell me about it." Harry said around a mouth full of roast beef, "It was kind of cool at first. Now it's just embarrassing. Has anybody in Gryffindor managed to beat the Curse yet?"
"Actually, yeah. Ron Weasley did, and then Seamus claims he has, just as Moody was ending the spell anyways, but I think he was just blowing hot air." Neville took a sip of pumpkin juice and started loading his plate.
"Ron? Really? I thought he was a slacker." This was from Terry, who was sitting a couple of seats down and on the other side.
"Yeah, mostly, but he's gotten real serious about DADA since his sister, you know, died." Neville took a bite of his lunch. "Are you certain the House Elves serve you guys the same food? The food at your table always tastes more bland."
"I heard a rumor that the Weasley twins were bribing the House Elves." this was from a sixth year at the end of the table. He had to almost yell to be heard over the general din of teenagers talking and eating lunch.
"Yeah, right" Terry snorted, "Who did you hear that from, one of the Slytherins? The Weasley's can't afford to bribe anybody. Not even a House Elf."
"Hey, they're not _that_ poor" Neville interrupted to defend his housemates.
"They could always offer to make a mess for them to clean up." Luna quietly inserted, but nobody except Harry heard her.
Harry turned to look at her with a speculative expression "That might work." he replied with dawning appreciation. "That just might work" Harry's eyes glazed over as he considered if there was anyway to use that tidbit to his advantage. Maybe having one of the House Elves spill some pumpkin juice on Parvati. No, that wouldn't work.
*Zero*Zero*
The following weeks went by in much the same pattern. It was setting up to be a regular school year, if a little less exciting than the previous two, when the workmen arrived to expand Hogwarts for the arrival of the foreign students.
Now, Harry, Terry and Crabbe stood at the entrance to what used to be an unused classroom as two wizards were expanding it into a common room for the Durmstrang students.
Terry was making note of what spells the wizards were casting.
"So, you going to go into construction, after you graduate?" quipped Harry.
Terry spared him a quick glance, "Probably not, but I noticed that the spells that they are using are not particularly complicated. I bet I could cast them, with a little practice. And it would be cool to have a larger bedroom, or a walk-in closet at home." he gave Harry a thin smile, "I'm going to give it a shot over winter break" He jotted down a couple of more spells to look up, as well as the order they were cast in, before adding, "Though Crabbe here looks like he may want to make a career of it."
The larger boy had been staring fixedly at the wizards as they manhandled and stretched the walls, which had been rendered oddly malleable with spells.
He glanced guiltily at the others, "What, it's honest work" he turned wand walked off.
Before Harry could also depart, Luna glided up to his side, "Harry, Dumbledore would like to see you."
Harry sighed and followed the blond girl to Dumbledore's office
"Ah, Harry, Luna, please take a seat." Dumbledore was seated at his desk, and Cedric, who, had momentarily stood up as the other students entered, sat to one side, "You are here because you both have been assigned to receive some tutoring, to work on a few areas where you are having a little difficulty." he smiled, to take the bite out of his words, but he continued on in a serious tone, "You both are experiencing similar deficits in your basic spell casting, which if not remedied now, will hamper your learning more advanced material" To Harry, this was nothing new - he had received a variant of this speech last year.
"To this end, you will be working with Mr. Diggory for the remainder of this semester" Harry nodded. Cedric wasn't too bad, for a Hufflepuff.
After the three teens had, with Dumbledore's input, worked out a tutoring, schedule, the two younger students left for dinner. "So, what do you need tutoring for?" Harry asked awkwardly as they walked back to the great hall. He wasn't particularly curious, but it was very uncomfortable walking next to somebody without acknowledging their presence. And since he wasn't really friends with Luna, he didn't know what else to say.
"I have difficulty focusing on the intent of the spell, so my wand motions tend to be distracted and imprecise."
"Oh," Harry replied, somewhat taken aback at the clinical self-diagnosis, "Uhm, I'm getting tutoring because I can't get the wand motions right."
"I know" Luna answered, "That is why we both prefer less Hermetic subjects, which don't make as much use of our wands" she smiled tentatively at Harry, and adjusted her radish shaped hair clip.
"Uh, yeah" Harry wasn't quite certain what she had said, and there seemed to be some weird undertone for WHY she said it, but despite usually being good at reading people, he couldn't make sense of that either.
They walked the rest of the way in silence.
*Zero*Zero*
"Pass me the twine" Neville held out his hand as he used his other to hold the rot vine against against a stake that would help support it. The stakes had to be replaced weekly, as they tended to rot.
It was after dinner, Harry and the Gryffindor boy were working on their herbology homework down in the greenhouse, or at least Neville was - he had undertaken a more challenging project then Harry for his independent study.
"So I took a look at the marijuana plant that you had me grow. According to what I was able to find on it, it's not legal in muggle Britain." Neville was careful to not sound accusatory. Harry was his friend, but he really, REALLY didn't like doing something that was against the rules. His grandmother had instilled that value very deep in his psyche, all the way back in in his lizard hind-brain.
"It's not illegal in wizarding England, though" Harry scratched his head sheepishly over having sort of deceived his friend.
"True." Neville finished tying up the vine and adjusted its position so that wouldn't get too much sun, "I did some calculations, and I think there are some potions it could be used in."
"You're supposed to smoke it." harry replied.
"We agreed that half of the plant is mine, and I can use it however I want. If I want to sell it for potion components, that's my business" Neville replied, a trifle sharply.
"Uh, about that..." Harry continued hesitantly. Neville stopped and looked at him, "Uhm, I'm not certain if half of the stash is still left."
"What? Harry, the muggle book I read said that it could be dangerous to take in large quantities..."
"I didn't smoke it" denied Harry.
There was a pause.
"Draco's kind of been selling it to the other Slytherins." Harry finally admitted.
Pause.
Pause.
"How much did he make?" Neville asked in morbid curiosity.
"Uhm", Harry looked even more embarrassed,"I don't know - he said the amount would cover my debt to him. But I don't remember borrowing money from him" Harry finished in a rush.
Neville stared at his friend before shaking his head with a bemused smile, "Harry, You're an idiot. And an asshole, but that I'm used to." Harry looked relieved, "You got to stop letting Draco treat you like shit. People will start thinking you're his girlfriend, or something"
"Don't be gross!" Harry frowned.
"I didn't mean to imply anything! Or to imply that it's ok to treat girls badly" Neville quickly backpedaled, "But you know that if Draco ever gets a date, it will be because of his dad's money, not his personality."
"Hey, he's not so bad, when he's not showing off for the other Slytherins."
Neville declined to comment that Draco never went anywhere without his Slytherin audience - Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber.
"Anyway, what do you think about the exchange students? I think they're coming at the end of the week." Neville began cleaning up his work area.
Harry shrugged, "I hear that they are mostly going to be sixth and seventh years, so I don't expect to have much contact with them." Harry paused, "Though, it's been fun watching the work crews expanding the castle. Is enlarging a structure always so easy with magic, or is it because Hogwarts is already heavily enchanted?"
"Magic makes everything easier," Neville replied nonchalantly. Of course, since he was from a wizarding family, his opinion was not the most objective, "I don't know if Hogwarts was intentionally enchanted, per se. I know that any house that wizards live in will absorb magic. That's where House Elves come from, after all. So with so many students maybe..."
"Wait a minute" Harry interrupted, "You mean that a house that wizards live in will spontaneously generate a House Elf?" He was rather skeptical.
"Yeah. I think so. It's got something to do with a magical family and their home, and the House Elf is like some sort of manifestation or nature spirit or something" Neville hunched a little in uncertainty, "Look, you're the Ravenclaw. Ask one of your housemates - I bet they know a lot more about it than I do."
*Zero*Zero*
It was early the next morning when the whole school was in an uproar - the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were due to arrive today. Most of the student population was either milling outside or up on the overlooking castle walls. Dumbledore and the heads of house were waiting in the front courtyard.
Harry was sitting with Neville on a jutting block of stone by the main entrance to Hogwarts as they watched the flying coach descend.
"That's cool. I wish we had that instead of the Hogwarts express." Harry gawked. He liked flying, but he felt self conscious doing it when other people were around, so other than during broom class, he hadn't spent much time in the air.
Neville snorted. "You just like anything that flies. You should try out for quidditch"
"I would have this year, if they hadn't canceled it." Harry replied defensively.
"Well. the Weasley twins were saying that they were going to organize some informal games, just for fun. Talk to them."
Harry started to say something as the large carriage landed, but stopped as the door opened and the huge headmistress of Beauxbatons stepped daintily down the steps. "wow - she's hideous" Harry recoiled.
"Oh, I don't know. she's not bad if you like them large. " Draco had appeared at Harry's elbow, for once without his two cohorts. "I bet Crabbe's drooling on himself."
Neville snorted, "You mean that's something new?"
Draco paused, but decided not to get into an argument with Harry's other friend just to defend his pet thug.
As Madame Maxine, the headmistress, greeted Dumbledore in a typical Gaelic fashion, the rest of the Beauxbatons contingent filed out. Most of the students were dressed in light summer robes, and were not prepared for the cool Scottish autumn.
"Look" Neville pointed - an astonishingly beautiful seventh year had just exited the carriage, accompanied by a coterie of hangers on. The eyes of all the male students in third year and above snapped to her with an almost audible 'crack' and stayed glued.
Harry glanced at the stunning girl and then looked at his friends. Draco was even worse off than Neville - his mouth was slack, and he was starting to drool. "Guys? Neville? Draco?" he gave his friends a gentle shake snapping them out of their fugue
"She's gorgeous. I'm going to go talk to her." Draco started towards the carriage. Harry rolled his eye,"Draco, She's a seventh Year. She's so out of our league. There's no point."
Draco ignored him and kept walking. Harry sighed. He jumped down to follow his friend. Neville stayed rooted in place, blushing furiously as he stared at his feet.
"Hi, I'm Draco Malfoy, of the English Malfoys" He introduced himself to the beauty. He had to almost yell to be heard over the dozen or so other boys who were trying to introduce themselves as well.
The girl in question didn't even bother to stop, just marching regally through the crowd. One of her hangers on, a girl with her hair pulled back into a sever bun, dressed in formal but warm looking robes gave the lot of them a small apologetic smile and a shrug before following her friend.
"She didn't even stop!" Draco sounded heartbroken."
"Did you see that other girl with her? She looked familiar. And unless she's really short, I don't think she's a seventh year."
"Uhm, no." replied a confused Draco as he stumbled back towards Hogwarts.
Before he had gone more than a few steps, the lake started to bubble. All of the students turned to look, and fell silent. Some fingered their wands nervously. Into this ominous silence a sailing ship burst up from below the water.
"Oh, That must be the Durmstrang students!" Draco said, as the tension eased away, "I heard that they travel by ship."
The rest of the afternoon was spent gawking and talking to the visiting students
*Zero*Zero*
Harry was on his way to supper. He was pretty excited - word was that Dumbledore would be announcing who the Triwizard champions would be. He was taking a short cut through one of the musty third floor corridors - they were closed for renovation his first year, but it seems they were never re-opened, when he saw a Beauxbatons girl strolling, through the otherwise empty corridor.
"Uhm," Harry racked his brain for the gentlemanly thing to do in such a situation, "Are you lost, miss?" He said, trying to appear mature.
The girl turned and looked at him quickly for a moment - it was the sever looking girl who had been with Fleur. "Thank you, but I know my way around." she replied coolly as she turned to continue on her way.
"Uh, it's dinner time," Harry replied nonplused, "just so you know." harry added awkwardly.
The girl nodded, "I guess I did lose track of time. Thank you. I will be down shortly."
Harry considered hanging back and making sure the aloof girl wasn't going to get lost, but she seemed confident, and he felt awkward intruding, so he nodded and continued on his own.
*Zero*Zero*
During dinner, conversation revolved around the Triwizard Tournament, and about the odd chalice that was resting on a pedestal next to the staff table. As dinner was winding down, Dumbledore stood up.
"This is it - he's going to announce the competitors!" Simon whispered excitedly to Terry.
"Can I have your attention Please," Albus began, " First of all, I would like to welcome our gusts from the continent - the students and staff from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. They will be having classes with some of you, so please make them feel at home."
Albus paused to look around the hall in a grandfatherly way, "In addition Headmaster Karkaroff has kindly volunteered to teach a seminar on spell design to interested seventh year students," Dumbledore turned to the somewhat dour looking Durmstrang headmaster, who made an effort to smile and inclined his head, "and professor Loew from Beauxbatons will teach a seminar on Runes from other magical traditions." Albus turned to another visiting professor - a huge, dark skinned man sitting next to Hagrid. He stood up and bowed. He was oddly dressed, and was wearing a hat of some sort. The clothing looked like the sort a muggle worker might have worn in the late 19th century.
"Geeze, what do they feed them Frenchies?" Simon gawked "Are all the professors in Beauxbatons that large?"
"But the item that I imagine that you are all waiting to hear about is the Triwizard Tournament" the hall quieted as Albus spoke, "The way that the Champions will be chosen is that anyone who wishes to compete will place a parchment with their name into the Goblet of Fire" He pointed to the cup that was Harry had noticed earlier. Now that he looked closely at it, it did seem that there were small flames licking out of the top, "and on Monday evening, the cup will pick the best qualified student to represent the three schools. Every student 16 years and older is welcome to enter their name. To prevent underage wizards from putting in their names, the professors have inscribed an age line around the cup. Thank you for your attention. please enjoy the rest of your fine repast." Dumbledore sat down.
The hall exploded into noisy chatter.
"If the cup chooses the most qualified student, then why do you need an age line?" Harry asked, "There's no way a younger student would be as qualified as a seventh year."
"Liability" Terry poured himself some Pumpkin juice as he answered, "The Tournament can be pretty dangerous, and the cup is really old. Heck, it hasn't been used since the last Triwizard tournament. What if it doesn't work right and somebody gets hurt? Imagine the liability." Terry took a sip, "My father is a lawyer, and he's told me some pretty horrid stories about people getting sued for stuff that wasn't their fault, all because they weren't smart enough to avoid the liability. Trust me, Dumbledore is being smart."
"Well, the Weasley twins are already plotting on how they can get around the age line.." Neville slid into an empty seat next to Harry and grabbed a tart as the dessert trays appeared.
"Couldn't they just have an older student put their name in?" Simon asked, his mouth full of fudge.
Neville rolled his eyes, but Harry interrupted before he could say anything, "It's _Magic_, Simon" Honestly, even he knew the answer to this one. "It's all about intent." Harry knew he wasn't the best student in his year, but he sometimes wondered how Simon ended up sorted into Ravenclaw. He was an embarrassment.
"Shove it Potter. At least I can casts the spells" Simon growled.
"Guys, chill" Terry interrupted quickly, hoping to avoid a fight. Before anybody could say anything more, Andrew plopped down next to Terry, "Guys, you'll never guess who's with the Durmstrang students! Victor Krum! I can't believe I didn't see him when they arrived."
"That's because you were staring at that half-Veela, Fleur." Terry quipped.
"And you weren't?"
"Yeah, but all the guys were. At least the straight ones. I bet she's going to go to be a super-model or something when she graduates"
"Hey, Harry, were _you_ looking at Fleur?" Simon snarked (He didn't bother to ask his muggleborn friend what a 'super model' was. He was used to the weird terms that Terry used sometimes)
"Of course I looked!" Harry defended himself, "But I didn't make a fool of myself. Not like Draco."
"Draco doesn't need to 'make' a fool of himself" muttered Neville, but Harry didn't catch it. Dinner continued in a similar fashion, with the excitement almost palpable as the older students worked up their courage to put their names in, and the younger ones argued over who would get picked.
*Zero*Zero*
"Move you arm, not just your hand" Cedric instructed. Harry and Luna were at their weekly tutoring session with Cedric. The classroom was otherwise empty, with most of the desks piled neatly against one of the walls.
"PROTEGO!" Harry tried the spell again.
Cedric winced at Harry's yell, but decided not to say anything and concentrate on the real issue. "Now you stuck your elbow out. but it still wasn't moving. Here, watch Luna"
"Protego" The third year obliging pronounced, with a loose swish of her wand. A sparkling blue shield appeared in front of her. After a moment, the shield broke apart into myriad twinkling lights.
Cedric, who was sitting on a desk, turned back to Harry, "try it."
"Protego!" Harry jerked his arm abruptly through the correct motion. An intense blue light appeared centered on the tip of his wand.
"Hmm. Better, but not quite there yet." Cedric forced a smile, keeping his exasperation to himself. "Ok, Luna, lets see if we can increase the power of your spells. Lets try a Wingardium Leviosa on this chair"
The blond girl brushed back her hair, glanced quickly at Harry and then jutted her head forward like a bird before pronouncing the spell with an artistic swish of her wand.
The back corner of the chair lifted up. For a moment, it looked like the rest of the chair would follow, but then it started to pivot on one leg. Luna's face broke into a radiant smile as it spun like a ballerina.
"Concentrate"
After a quick glance at Cedric, Luna tried to regain control of the chair. It obediently, if somewhat wobbly, floated upwards,
"Good! Very good!" Cedric beamed "This is progress. Slow and steady wins the day".
*Zero*Zero*
"I don't see why they don't allow fourth years to put their names in," Whined Draco. "it should be based on magical power, not age." The champions would be announced that evening, and the excitement was palpable.
"And you think you are a better mage than the seventh years?" Harry asked. They were sitting in the DADA classroom, waiting for professor Moody.
"Of course. Magic is in the blood, and the Malfoys have a pure lineage going back centuries. And you know that Father has been giving me lessons over the summer, so I am technically far advanced of my peers."
Since Draco was in fact better than him in most subjects, Harry accepted the statement at face value, but Terry, who was sitting behind Harry (and was in competition with Su Li for the top spot in their year), quirked an eyebrow at this statement. "Then why are you in all fourth year classes?"
"Because Father wishes me to continue my education with my peers - social connections are very important. So he mostly tutors me in subjects not covered in the Hogwarts curriculum." Draco smirked arrogantly.
"Class, we will be hosting one of the visitors from Beauxbatons," Mad-eye Moody stomped in, followed by the severe looking girl that Harry had seen wandering the halls. "Miss Hermione Granger is a fourth year, but she is taking most of her classes with the upper classes, so you will only be seeing her in Defense Against the Dark Arts" Moody pronounced "please make her feel welcome."
Hermione nodded her head by way of acknowledgment and made her way to an empty seat in the front of the class.
"Oh, I heard about that one. Supposed to be one of the brightest witches in her year at Beauxbatons." Whispered Terry, obviously seeing this as a challenge.
"Is there something you would like to share with the class, Mr Boots?" Mad Eye Moody asked without turning from the blackboard.
"Err, no sir."
"Very well then. you just volunteered to practice with the Imperius first today."
*Zero*Zero*
Harry watched as one of the Weasley twins walked into the great hall for lunch on Monday. "What's with the beard" he asked Neville.
"The twins tried to circumvent the age line on the Goblet last night by taking an aging potion they made up." Replied neville, cutting himself a piece of quiche. "It didn't work"
Harry rolled his eyes. He was sitting at the Gryffindor table today, "Duh. A disguise isn't going to work. Dumbledore isn't a simpleton"
Neville snickered as he watched the bearded twin. Whichever one it was, he was making the most of it until the potion wore off, hamming it up as 'old man Weasley'.
"Neville, can I count on you to support SPEW?" Asked Parvati, shoving a glowing button towards the boy.
"Spew?" Harry asked in confusion, thinking about Dudley that one time he tried Petunia's cooking sherry.
"The Society for Preservation of Elvish Welfare. S.P.E.W. it's a student organization I am forming to fight for the rights of House Elves." Parvati threw her hair over her shoulder and looked proudly down at Harry.
"Parvati, there is no way that could work." Neville replied, shaking his head in confusion.
"Padma said the same thing, but it's because your both indoctrinated by the system. Only a freethinker will realize how unfairly we treat our minority populations."
"Padma, they're not a 'minority population'" started Neville when Harry interrupted.
"I'll help! What do I do?"
Parvati looked acidly at her only volunteer before giving a sigh of resignation. "Here: take the box of materials. I'm going to talk to the other houses." She flipped her hair over her shoulder and flounced of. Harry picked up the big box of brochures and staggered after her.
*Zero*Zero*
"Shove off, Patil" growled a seventh year Slytherin before turning back to the essay he was busily writing between bites of chicken.
"Humf" Parvati gave an offend huff as she took a step back,
"Where next?" asked Harry around the box he was holding. He could see that the Slytherins were uninterested in what Parvati had to say. Many of the boys were stealing glances at the Beauxbatons table that was next to theirs. Or at one Beauxbatons girl, to be specific. "Maybe we should talk to Fleur Delacour?"
Parvati turned to look skeptically at harry. "Her?" her voice dripped venom.
"Yeah. She's a leader. Whatever she does, her friends will follow. So if you can convince her, you get more bang for your buck" Harry nattered on, obliviously to the intricate female hierarchy that he was trampling through in his oblivious male fashion..
Parvati turned to look consideringly at Harry before a smile broke out on her face, "I guess there's a reason you sorted into Ravenclaw. Come on"
*Zero*Zero*
"You are a stupid girl" Fleur's words were accented, but easily comprehensible.
Parvati gaped at such a direct rebuttal, "but I didn't finish..."
Fleur didn't bother turning around, but several of hangers-on watched Parvati with amusement, smiling into their hands.
"Patil, I can see why you didn't make the cut for Ravenclaw with your sister." Harry peered around the box to look who was speaking - it was Hermione, sitting at Fleur's side. "A little preliminary research would have shown you that House Elves are NOT independent sentient creatures. They are constructs. i.e. 'things'" Hermione sneered, "though given your worship of all things materialistic, I am not surprised you can't make the distinction."
Hermione turned back to join in Fleur's conversation, leaving, a flabbergasted Parvati standing open mouthed.
The Gryffindor girl snapped her jaw shut, pivoted on her heels and stormed out of the hall, leaving Harry standing in confusion.
"Why don't you put the box down. It looks heavy." Harry looked to see Hermione had turned back around, "She'll come back for it if she wants it."
"I agreed to help her out."
Hermione rolled her eyes before replying gently "There is no need for you to get caught up in that girl's craziness." She paused with a frown, "Unless you agree with..."
"No!" Harry quickly denied, putting the box down, "I was just being nice. You know, it seemed like a good idea."
"Being nice is over rated. You can be nice all you want, but nobody will be nice back to you" There was a note of bitterness to Hermione's tone. Harry considered her words for a moment. He really didn't know how to reply: what she said made sense, but he knew that there had to be something wrong with her idea. He shrugged and followed Parvati.
*Zero*Zero*
"So how come you aren't mooning over Fleur like Draco and the rest of the idiots?" Harry asked as he and Neville re-entered the castle. They were walking back from Care of Magical Creatures.
"Uhm," Neville blushed before replying quietly, "It's because there's someone I already like."
Harry's face broke out in a mischievous grin, "anybody I know?"
"She's in Hufflepuff. " muttered Neville.
"So, you asked her out yet?"
Neville shook his head vehemently, "no way. I got to do it right!"
Harry was about to ask what Neville meant when the two boys ran into Ron Weasley, "Hey, Potter - you taking the Foreign Runes seminar with Professor Loew?"
"Yeah, it looked interesting," Harry replied, not mentioning that any class that didn't require a wand was a chance to bring up his abysmally low grades, "you?"
"Yeah. I think the classroom moved down this way." The youngest Weasley pointed.
Harry sighed, "stupid Hogwarts. Ok, I guess I'll see you later, Neville."
Harry joined Ron as the two boys turned to track down the rogue classroom.
*Zero*Zero*
"Welcome to Foreign Runes" rumbled the huge professor. He stood at least seven feet tall, and was dressed oddly in what looked like outdated muggle clothing, with a trenchcoat in place of a robe, and 1930's dockworkers cap pulled down low on his bald head. His skin was a rich brown.
"My name is Adam Loew, and I will be teaching about the uses of written magic in non hermetic magical traditions. We will also delve into some arithmancy, as the two subjects are often tied together. Don't worry - we aren't going to get too technical - this is more of a survey class, to broaden your perspectives." He smiled, "That is one of the advantages of a class like this - I don't have to follow a set curriculum, and I can teach whatever I like."
Ron and Harry had made it to the class just in time. Professor Loew did not interrupt his introduction as the pair slid into the only open spots in the small classroom - right up front, with Hermione Granger.
The strict girl gave them a quick scowl before turning back to hear what the teacher had to say. The class was made up of a mix of fourth years from all the houses.
"We will start by studying Japanese Onmyodo, but we will also go over Hebraic and Egyptian magics in the second semester." Professor Loew held up what looked like a stack of note cards held together by a round metal loop at one corner. "these are O-Fuda, Japanese mages who follow the Onmyodo tradition use these in place of a wand. Here, I am going to pass these around. Please handle them carefully." He handed one stack of O-Fuda to Hermione, and another to Harry, "as you can see, each slip of paper has several pictograms written on them. Each one goes with a particular spell." Adam held up a full sized sheet of paper with two pictograms on it, "For instance, this one is part of a spell that acts like the Wingardium Leviosa spell. To cast the spell, the mage would tear off this sheet and throw it into the air, at the same time pronouncing the proper word."
Ron's hand shot up like it had been hit by a Wingardium Leviosa itself, "Professor, wouldn't that make it impractical to cast spells in a hurry? The Japanese mage would have to spend a long time flipping through to the correct page before he could cast a spell."
"No - the binders are enchanted to present the correct page based on what spell the wizard is pronouncing. Many newer ones are also enchanted to duplicate the sheets, so that the same spell came be cast as often as the wizard desires without running out of O-Fuda."
Harry and the other students scribbled notes as the professor spoke.
*Zero*Zero*
The great hall was filled with noise as the whole school waited to hear who the Goblet would select. "Why are we using an oversized Norman beer mug to make an important decision." Except for Luna, apparently. The odd girl was sitting opposite Harry and staring intently at him as she mused, "I know that it is traditional, but you have to wonder how it started. Were the headmasters of the three schools sitting around a table, having a drinking contest, when one of them had the brilliant idea of pitching their students into a deadly competition?"
Harry continued to look at his plate as he ate, trying to avoid the intense stare from Luna's oversized eyes. "so your theory is that they enchanted the goblet because it was handy?" Harry asked with bemusement. Despite being socially awkward, Luna was entertaining.
"Exactly - they needed some way to pick the best candidates, and in their inebriated state, a goblet made a lot of sense. Of course, that raises the question of the Sorting Hat. Either the founders spent a substantial amount of time drinking as well, or the Wrackspurt population in England at the time must have been out of control."
"Oh, shut up, Looney" Draco sat himself down next to Harry, "you want to put some galleons on who get selected as the Hogwarts Champion? I'm running a pool. The current contenders are Graham Montague, Cedric Diggory and Pamela McClursky. Though the smart money is on Montague."
"Sorry, Draco, but I don't have any money." Harry accepted Draco's scorn of Luna without comment.
"Don't worry, I'll put it on your tab, with the rest."
"No. And I've never borrowed money from you" Harry replied vehemently.
"Says you" said Draco as he got up to go find more last minute victims.
Luna nodded, "an an overabundance of Wrackspurts caused their food supply to become greatly diminished, and the Wrackspurt population collapsed down to its present level." She glared at Draco's back. "because there is nothing left for them to eat."
"What?" Harry looked up in confusion.
"Never you mind," Luna patted his hand condescendingly, "go back to your food, and remember, chew first, *then* swallow" she got up and drifted away.
Harry was still confused when Dumbledore stood up, "can I have your attention, please. As you may have noticed, we have several guests today. On my left is Ludo Bagman, The Triwizard Tournament is his brainchild. And this is Bartemius Crouch, the head of Department of International Magical Cooperation. They will be managing the competition. Mr Bagman."
"Thank you, Headmaster," a small, balding man stepped forward, "It is time to call on the Goblet of Fire to select the Champions for this grand competition between the three preeminent wizarding schools in all of Europe. This Tournament will give you an opportunity to meet your peers from the other schools, and make connections that will stand you in good stead throughout your careers. I don't want to take up to much of your time - I know you are all as excited to see who will be competing as I am, so without further ado, lets see what the Goblet has to say!"
The three headmasters and two ministry officials walked over to the goblet, and Crouch tapped it twice with his wand.
Flames shot up two feet into the air, then fell back and died out.
Nothing happened
Karkaroff looked quizzically at the Goblet, and started to draw his wand to check for any problems when, with a loud spitting sound, a piece of paper was ejected from the goblet.
Bagman snatched it from the air with an impressive show of reflexes and carefully unrolled the slightly damp parchment.
"For the Durmstrang Academy, the Champion will be Victor Krum!"
Cheering broke out, but was interrupted as the Goblet flared up again, and then extinguished.
A second sheet of paper shot up.
"For The Hogwarts School of magic, the Champion will be Cedric Diggory!"
Loud cheering broke out again, especially from the Hufflepuff table, who had all placed large bets in support of their housemate with Draco. The blond boy in question was at the Slytherin table, calculating something furiously on a the back of a napkin.
"And last, but certainly not least, we have Fleur Delacour, representing Beauxbatons!"
More applause, which was interrupted as the Goblet flared a fourth time. This time the flames shot at least four feet in the air with a loud 'whoosh', where they hung in the air for several moments before fading away. Before the students could decide what to make of that, the goblet made a loud vomiting sound and propelled a fourth wad of paper that shot into the back of Dumbledore's head, knocking his hat off.
As he bent to pick up his hat, Madame Maxine retrieved the paper.
"What iz thiz!" the never-demure Headmistress interjected, "This says that one Harry Potter is ALSO a Hogwarts Champion!"
END
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