Kathryn Winchester and the Goblet of Fire
by Lady Dawson
Chapter Seven: Her Sorting and the Tournament
It felt very strange and awkward to be walking with the first-years as she climbed up the steps to the castle and be sorted with the rest of them. Certainly, several of them were looking at her strangely, whispering amongst themselves and she fidgeted under their gazes, but fixed her gaze on the castle itself, taking the time to notice all of the beautiful decorations and the fine architecture, admiring the structural design until Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress, came into the hall to greet them.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said pleasantly, but severely, immediately reminding Kat of one of her old teachers, whom she had gotten on the wrong side of the first day of school and he hadn't like her since then. She decided there that she didn't want a repeat of that, so she would try to stay on this woman's good side. "Now, in a few moments, you will walk through these doors and join your classmates, but before you can take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.
"Now while you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule breaking and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will win the house cup."
She looked over the rest of the first-years before her gaze fastened on Kat.
"Now, line yourselves up. No, Miss Winchester, you go in front," she added to Kat. "As you're a transfer student, you'll be Sorted first." Kat nodded, shivering slightly, although she wasn't sure if this was due to nerves or just cold. She was soaked to the bone from riding on those little boats on the lake in the freezing rain. "Now, follow me."
Kat walked after the deputy headmistress, the first-years right behind her as they headed into the Great Hall. A few people were whispering and pointing at her, the strange unfamiliar fourth-year that was with the rest of the first-years.
"Students, quiet!" she barked, although there was no real need. They had all peered at her the moment that she entered the hall. She could see Faith giving her a curious look. "Seeing as we have a transfer student this year, we will begin the Sorting with her before we begin with the first-years." She looked at Kat. "Winchester, Kathryn."
It was the first time that she had ever been called first in her life—seeing as she was at the end of the alphabet—and Kat wished that she hadn't had those Chocolate Frogs that Cedric had offered her on the train as she climbed onto the stool and McGonagall set the Sorting Hat onto her head. Clear as a bell, she heard a voice inside her head.
"Hmm, interesting, very interesting. An excellent mind, you have with a heritage that I don't think that you even recognise yourself. Daughter of Jack Winchester and Rose Trudeau, you have a gift and that is you are true of heart, pure and sweet . . . HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat cried.
The Hufflepuff table roared with delight as McGonagall lifted the hat off of her and she raced to join the rest of them. Cedric was grinning at her as she took a seat with some of her fellow fourth-years.
"Well done!" a pleasant girl said with a smile at her. "Welcome to Hufflepuff! I'm Susan Bones," she introduced before nodding to the others in their year. "This is Hannah Abbott, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie Macmillian, and Jo McKinsey."
The last one was a pretty girl with short auburn hair that bounced as she turned around to look at Kat, her grey eyes focusing on her with a rogue smile. "Hey, Kathryn," she said. "It's about time that we had someone new around here. I'm getting tired of telling all these boys no all the time."
"It's Kat," she corrected automatically.
"Meow," Jo joked as the Sorting continued on behind them. "Anyway, don't look so worried, we don't bite. Well, Hannah might," she said, causing the girl in pigtails to glare at her half-heartedly. "But it's not poisonous."
Kat laughed as they turned to watch as the new Hufflepuffs joined the table, sitting at the far end, next to the second-years. When it was finally over, the food began to appear on the table and they began to dig in. "So, where'd you transfer from, anyway?" Jo asked her.
"Lerion Academy," she answered.
Jo looked impressed. "Wow, that's supposed to be one of the more prestigious schools," she said. "My mom wanted to send me there, but they said that I didn't possess certain abilities."
"Which ones?" Hannah asked.
"The ability to behave myself," Jo answered, causing laughter to break out across the table. Kat smiled. "Anyway, don't be shy, come on, tell us all about yourself," she encouraged.
"Jo, for goodness sake, the girl just got here," Susan laughed. "At least let her finish dinner, we're all hungry. Besides, it's a brand new school. Remember what it was like when we first came here?" she added, looking pointedly towards the first-years, who were looking around excitedly and nervously as they ate.
"No, it's okay, Hannah," Kat said. "But there's not a whole lot to tell about me. I'm not really that interesting."
"I'll bet that's not true," Jo argued. "I think you're probably a bit more interesting than you think. What do your parents do?" she asked.
"Uh . . . my dad was an Auror," Kat said, choosing the quickest way to get the conversation over with. "And my mom . . . mostly just looks after the household while my stepfather works with the Ministry."
"Oh . . . so your parents aren't married?"
"Not for a long time."
"That's too bad," Jo said as she took a bite of chicken. "Scary how many divorcees there are nowadays. Pretty soon, there's going to be more divorces than there are marriages."
"Isn't that the truth," Kat murmured as she bit into a roll. She never ate very much, even when she was little, and it didn't take much to fill her up. "What about your parents?"
"Dad works in the Ministry, the Department of Magical Transportation," Jo answered. "Mum owns a magical creatures shop in Hogsmeade. We don't live that far away, just on the other side of the village, but Mum insists on my riding the train every year. Says that it's an important rite of passage or some other junk like that," she said. "I stopped paying attention to her when I was eleven, so who knows what she actually said. So what's your favourite subject?"
"Charms," Kat said immediately. "That and Defence Against the Dark Arts. So who are all the teachers, anyway?" she asked as she glanced up at the row of teachers that were up on the table that sat in front of the four student ones, filled with teachers.
"Well, Professor McGonagall you know, that's the Transfiguration teacher," Jo answered, nodding towards the stern witch. "Professor Dumbledore next to her is the headmaster. And there's Professor Sprout, Herbology teacher and head of Hufflepuff house. You'll go to her if you get in trouble or anything," she added. "Then there's Professor Flitwick, Charms, Hagrid, Care of the Magical Creatures, Sinistra, Astronomy, Vector, Arthimancy, and Burbage, Muggle Studies. I'm not sure who's teaching Defence this year . . ." she added, scanning the teachers carefully.
"What do you mean?" Kat inquired.
"Well, we haven't had the same teacher two years in a row," Ernie explained. "There's been all kinds of stuff . . . one was possessed by You-Know-Who, another had his memory erased, the last one, Professor Lupin, was sacked because he was a werewolf," he added. "Personally, he was the best one that we've had so far."
"A werewolf?" Kat repeated, startled. "I'm surprised that Dumbledore even let him teach. Not that I've got anything against it," she added quickly, "but I wouldn't think that the school board would find it appropriate."
"Probably why they kept it quiet until Snape let the cat out of the bag last year," Jo told her. "Oh, great, here comes the speech," she added as Dumbledore got to his feet. "Sue, wake me when it's over, okay?" She put her head onto the table.
"So now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention while I give out a few notices. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises of some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anyone would like to check it. As ever, I would like to remind you that the forest on the ground is out of bounds, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third-year.
"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."
He had to pause as several cries out outrage echoed throughout the Great Hall. Jo was still half-asleep on the table, not at all intrigued by these words, as she continued to sleep on. Ernie, however, looked positively outraged upon hearing this.
"This is due to an even that will be starting in October," Dumbledore continued, "and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy—but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts—"
Before he could continue with his announcement, the door flew open and a man stepped inside. Kat sucked in her breath upon seeing the man. She had seen photographs in her dad's album of him.
"Alastor Moody?" she breathed incredulously. He had been her father's mentor during his early years as an Auror, but the pictures of him had been when he had been far younger and less scarred.
She could hardly believe that it was the same man. The man in the pictures had been handsome, even rugged, but now he was so scarred that he was hardly even recognisable. Parts of his skin were missing and he was missing an eye. Instead, he had a magical one in its place, which moved incessantly, never stopping.
"Mad-Eye Moody?" Susan whispered, looking at her. "The Auror?" Kat nodded wordlessly.
"He worked with my dad, once," she whispered. "I've never met him, but I've seen pictures. He looks a lot different in them, though," she added as Moody reached Dumbledore, shaking hands with him as they spoke in undertones before Moody joined the teachers' table.
"May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "Professor Moody."
The applause for the new teacher was short and brief and only by Dumbledore and Hagrid. Kat was too stunned to see her father's old colleague there to even consider applauding and everyone else seemed shocked by his appearance.
"As I was saying," Dumbledore continued. "We are to have the honour of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."
"You're JOKING!"
Kat couldn't help but giggle at Fred Weasley's outburst, but she wasn't the only one. Laughter broke out across the hall and Dumbledore actually smiled, chuckling. Jo actually banged her head as she woke with a start, staring up at Dumbledore in shock.
"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," he assured the redhead, but he was still smiling with great amusement. "Though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go to a bar—"
McGonagall cleared her throat and he switched the subject.
"Maybe this is not the time, no . . . where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament . . . some of who will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation and allow their attention to wander freely.
"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities—until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."
"Awesome," Jo breathed, looking thrilled and excited as she looked towards Dumbledore.
"There have been several attempts over the years to reinstate the tournament, none of which have been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger.
"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the Glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons prize money.
"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction this year. Only students who are of age—that is to say, seventeen or older—will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This—" Here he had to raise his voice to be heard above the roars of protest—"is a measure that we feel is necessary, given the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion." Kat noticed his eyes moved onto the Weasley twins at this comment.
"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know you all will extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop, chop!"
"That's not fair!" Jo complained as she stood up with the rest of them, heading towards the Hufflepuff common room. "We should be allowed to have our chance, too!" She looked extremely sulky.
"Oh, don't be daft, Josephine, you can barely even point your wand the right way," Elaine said as she came up from behind them, the prefect badge clear from where she was standing. "Hi, Kat," she added, smiling at the new Hufflepuff. "Glad to see that you joined us."
"Thanks," Kat said, smiling at her while Jo just glared at the older girl.
"I see you've met my kid sister here," she said, giving Jo's red hair a playful tug. "Whatever you do, don't listen to anything that she says, she'll only get you into trouble."
"I'm not that bad," Jo said snippily. "And I can't wait until you graduate," she added under her breath while Kat smiled, amused by the sisters' antics.
"Anyway, I'd better get the first-years," Elaine added. "The new password is 'pritzfield,'" she added. "Be a dear and show Kat where to go, won't you?"
She swept off to join Cedric, who waved to Kat with a grin at her before they headed to show the new students the way to the common room. Kat waved back to him before she followed Jo and the others towards the Hufflepuff common room.
It was decorated in yellow and black, not Kat's favourite colours, but she had to admit that they worked well together and a painting of a badger was above the fireplace, squeaking merrily as she headed up to the dormitory that she was sharing with the other girls.
"There's your bed, Kat," Susan said, pointing towards the one nearest the window. "Unless you'd prefer not to have a window view. I'll switch," she offered.
"No," Kat said happily, laughing. "It's perfect."
Susan smiled as they all changed into their robes and Kat climbed into her bed, looking out of the window with the rain splattering against the pane. The only thing that would've made this better, she thought, was if her father was alive to tell him about it.