Chapter 5 – The Guests' Arrival

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does. But I do own my characters that you see in the story. By the way, I did actually break a wishbone with a friend and won. (Currently waiting for the wish to come true.)

Wow! This chapter was the longest I've written. I apologize for them not being the length that I said earlier they would be (5k) but I'm working on the goal.

Hope you enjoy!

Robert Harold whistled a brisk tune as he walked past the old abandoned manor. He was a retired veteran from the war and lived out his days alone except for the occasional visit from his son and his family. He had developed a nice piece of land beside the manor and was currently returning from a long walk. He had just visited the grave of his departed wife. He walked along the path and noticed a dim light coming from the manor as the sky darkened. Robert frowned and scratched his head, the manor should have been empty.

He sped up his pace and came upon a fork in the road. He paused and made the life-changing decision to take the one on the left. The right one led down to the small neighborhood and his warm house. His whistling stopped as he drew closer to the manor and he shivered, the night had gotten cold.

As he entered the manor's large broken gate the light shined from a second-story window. He carefully eased into the manor and looked around; it was bare and had layers of dust on the floors. Suddenly he noticed that a path in the dust had been cleared that led upstairs. Hesitantly he followed it and walked up a set of rickety stairs in the gaunt house. He came upon a long dark hallway and waited. After hearing nothing he slowly edged his way closer to a door that had light slipping out from under it. He stopped as he heard voices.

"The plan is set in motion My Lord." A man's voice said.

"Very good Crouch." A second voice wheezed. "The auror has been captured?"

Crouch, the first voice spoke again, "Yes My Lord. He is in the trunk as we speak. The first batch of the potion shall be ready by tomorrow."

Robert tilted his head, curious. What was an auror? Who was put in a trunk? Were these men criminals? He stopped thinking as more words were said.

"Good. Proceed as instructed. Soon my Inner Circle will be reunited once more."

There was a pause and floorboards creaked as if someone was walking on them. The wheezing voice spoke again; this time taking on a cold quality that made Robert tremble. "Do not lose sight of your goal Crouch. After all these years, you are the second to seek me out of loyalty. I commend that, you have earned my faith. Do not fail me now. My Lieutenant will be keeping an eye on you. He will be most… severe in your punishment should you veer from the path."

There was a distinct pause before Crouch spoke again, "Yes My Lord."

A hissing noise suddenly filled the hallway and Robert looked behind him in fright. A large dark green python stared at him, its yellow eyes glinting in the darkness.

"Wormtail, Nagini says there's an old muggle outside the doorway. Crouch, turn me to face the door; I want to greet our guest properly."

A rasping sound filled the hallway and then the door was opened. Robert blinked his eyes from the sudden rush of light before he saw a brilliant flash of green and then… no more.

In a Gryffindor bed miles away a sweat drenched red-haired girl woke up quickly out of fright.

Rose Potter rushed outside the castle along with the crowd of students. The enthusiasm of the other school's arrival hung in the air like a tangible creature; one ready to pounce in excitement. The professors walked in front of the students as they thronged together straightening their Hogwarts uniforms. Rose was jostled around and she found herself beside her brother and the small group of friends he had surprisingly made.

"Hey Ada (A-duh)!" she said using her child nickname for him.

"Rose!" Adrian looked at her startled. Then his face turned upset, "Don't use that name. If Daphne hears it she'll-"

"Yes, what will I do?" A blonde girl said from behind him.

"H-hey Daphne." Adrian stuttered.

"Hello Ada."

Adrian glared at Rose. Rose shrugged an apology and patted her brother on the back. They rarely got the chance to talk since they were in two different houses that completely hated the other. It had taken her almost the entire two weeks since the start of term feast to actually come to speaking terms with his new friends.

Rose had slowly learned that although Blaise and Daphne were both quiet, neither of them were afraid to speak their mind and the latter more likely to back it up with her wand. Tracey was altogether another matter. She loved to talk.

She said hi to Blaise and Tracey before the small group was joined by Ginny and Hermione. They made up the unique group of Slytherins and Gryffindors talking together. Tankfully, they weren't on the receiving end of too many stares as everyone was looking for the other schools.

"Hey Rose! My brother is looking for you." Ginny told her as soon as she was at her side.

"Which one?"

"Ron."

Rose made a face and out of the corner of her eye saw her own brother tense. "Does he still like her?" she heard him ask Ginny out of the corner of his mouth. Ginny nodded her head and blushed, not noticing how his face took on a sour expression. Rose rolled her eyes; he had started playing the role of over-protective brother ever since they had gotten back to school. Not that she wasn't grateful; Ron had been annoying her since the start of the semester. He had already asked her out twice only for her to turn each offer down.

She narrowed her eyes at Ginny. Just the day before Ginny had told her she didn't like hanging out with a bunch of 'snakes'. Toady she was obviously trying to be courteous to them so she could get an in with Adrian. She was even trying to make conversation with Daphne, the coldest person in the school. Daphne was conveniently pretending not to hear her over the noise of the yelling first-years in front of them

"So where do you think the schools will come from?" Tracey asked in an excited voice after a prefect had come by and calmed the first-years down.

"Beauxbatons School of Magic will fly in. One of their pamphlets had a large flying carriage on it." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

Rose rolled her eyes, leave it to Hermione to have a pamphlet on the other schools. "And Durmstrang?"

Hermione shrugged, "That one I couldn't figure out. There wasn't much information on the school in the library. Only that, wherever it is, it's very cold."

Everyone raised their eyebrows at her confession but Hermione missed them as someone shouted from the crowd, "They're coming from the sky!"

Rose looked up and sure enough, a large carriage was descending from the clouds being pulled by large horses. It pulled to a stop on the large expanse of grass in front of them and the largest woman Rose had ever seen walked out. Dumbledore, looking as dressed up as Rose had ever seen him, helped her down the carriage steps and then was pulled into a hug. Thankfully the crowd had quieted so that she was able to hear the two Head of Schools speak.

"Dumblydoor, a pleasure as always."

"Good evening to you Madame Maxime. I trust the trip was uneventful? Will your students be joining us now or at the feast?"

"At the feast Headmaster. They are cleaning up after the rather long journey. There were a couple… mishaps on the way."

"Carriage problems?" Dumbledore asked.

"Nothing to worry about Dumblydoor. Someone played a prank in our common room."

Dumbledore nodded his head but their conversation was interrupted as another student shouted that the lake was churning. Rose ran along with the others to see a large ship pop out from under the lake's surface. It turned towards them and slowly came to a rest beside the large dock.

"Everybody head inside please." the professors said as they ushered the children back to the castle. Rose followed the grumbling students as they made their way to the Great Hall.

"Where do you think they will sit?" Ginny asked her. Rose shrugged in reply.

"I don't know. Maybe a new table will appear."

Their question was soon answered as they entered the Great Hall to find that the large room and the house tables had been expanded.

"Students, please sit as far down at your house's respective table as you can." Rose's Mom, Professor Potter, ordered them as they walked in.

Rose, Ginny, and Hermione, were among the last to enter and, as a result, they were able to get the enviable seats that would put them next to the visiting students. Unfortunately, that meant Rose had to sit beside Ron who was with his group of friends. They had been in front of them hoping to be able sit near the foreign students as well. Ginny and Hermione took their usual places across from her and started to talk to each other. Rose ignored Ron and watched the Headmaster as he made his way to the staff table. Idly, she noticed that two other men had joined the staff at their table. She recognized one of them from the Quidditch World cup, Ludo Bagman. He had been the announcer.

Dumbledore stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat. The hall quickly quieted. "Welcome all to tonight's very special feast! Our guests have prepared special entrances for us. Please give a round of applause as the students from Beauxbatons School of Magic present themselves along with their Headmistress, Madame Maxime!"

Everyone looked to the doorway as it opened and two groups of girls dressed entirely in light blue uniforms rushed in. They ran lightly down the aisle way, pausing at intervals to lean toward the tables as the sound of flutes filled the air. Rose was noticing how many of the boys in the hallway were entranced with the new female students and nearly missed the two boys who walked in. The two boys strode in right behind their fellow students and were the source of the beautiful song that came from the flutes they held to their mouths.

Rose tilted her head curiously, "You said it was an all-girls school." she whispered to Hermione.

Hermione looked equally perplexed as the students drew closer to the staff table. Several of the boys in the room continued to crane their necks to look at the girls as they passed much to the annoyance of the Hogwarts girls. Ginny reached over and lightly punched Ron's shoulder as some drool fell out of his open mouth while he watched one particular blonde girl in the front.

"Ron!"

"Gin! She's a veela!" Ron responded, still mesmerized. His friend beside him, Seamus, nodded in agreement.

Ginny scowled but her own gaze was attracted to the two boys playing the flute. Rose looked at the two intriguingly. They both wore black pants and light blue button up shirts with a white tie instead of the traditional wizarding robes worn at Hogwarts. One of the boys was blonde and he winked at her as their eyes met causing her to blush lightly. Madame Maxime soon entered the hall and was flanked by another two boys dressed the same way. The three suddenly paused as the music continued to draw out on a final long note and looked at the flute players curiously. Many other students, seeing their expression, turned their heads to see what they were staring at. Some stifled laughs as they saw one of the boys, the blonde, blowing as hard as he could into the flute while the other one held his flute at his side. Rose stifled her own giggle as the hall fell silent except for the single outdrawn note.

She watched as the boy continued to hold the note as his face grew red from exertion. His counterpart looked at him and then surprisingly kicked him in the shin. The note stopped immediately as the boy looked up. He flashed a wide smile at his audience and nodded toward his Headmistress. Madame Maxime pursed her lips as the two boys behind her started to laugh. Everyone joined in, including Rose, as the blonde boy started to go into a deep bow only to be dragged away by his dark-haired friend. Rose watched as Madame Maxime stern face slowly morphed into an amused one as she shook her head. She continued towards the staff table as the Beauxbatons students started to separate. All of them seemed to head toward the Ravenclaw table when out of the corner of her eye Rose saw the blonde flute player point excitedly in her direction and elbow his friend. The two boys suddenly veered away from their school mates headed towards them. They were followed by two girls, one of them being the veela.

"It is her!" she heard the blonde boy say as they approached. Immediately she tensed, thinking that they were coming to sit by them because she was one of the famous twins. She hated her famous scar because it was so easy to notice and stood out. Adrian was lucky, he didn't have a scar.

"May we sit here?" the boy asked in a bright cheery voice as they drew closer. Rose tried to smile as the others nodded their heads. It wasn't too hard seeing that the boy was quite handsome and had on a cheerful face.

He immediately sat down beside Rose along with one of the Beauxbatons girls. His friend, who was asian, gingerly sat next to Hermione. For a quick second Rose thought she noticed he seemed a tad nervous before he sat down. The veela sat next to him.

The blonde boy turned to Hermione and then gestured towards her as he looked at the Asian boy, "I told you Jack! She's the one we saw at the World cup!"

Rose tilted her head curiously, half-relieved that the boy hadn't sat next to them because she was one of the Twins who Lived.

"E-excuse me?" Hermione stuttered.

Again she was interrupted as Dumbledore announced the Durmstrang students and their Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff. The doors opened once more and a troop of burly boys dressed in large fur overcoats marched in. They each carried staffs which they twirled and clanked against the floor in a fast but ominous beat.

"Wow, they all have staffs." Rose heard the blonde boy whisper to the girl beside him who immediately shushed him. The Durmstrang students' entry ended as a boy preformed aerobatic flips down the aisleway before blowing fire from a stick. All the students clapped politely as the Durmstrang Headmaster walked in followed by another boy. Whispers suddenly filled the hall.

"That's Krum!"

"Viktor Krum!"

Rose scrutinized the boy as he followed his headmaster. He had a scowling face as he looked straight ahead.

"Blimey! It is Viktor Krum!" Ron whispered in a hoarse voice.

Krum approached the staff table with his Headmaster. As Karkaroff and Dumbledore hugged Krum faced the two boys who had followed Madame Maxime in. Rose watched as the trio stared at each other and then suddenly broke into loud laughs. They exchanged hugs amid the shock of the entire hall and then the tallest one looked around the tables. The boy who had been called Jack stood up and waved to them. Seeing him, the three slowly made their way towards Rose and her friends.

Rose looked at the boys at her table only to find that many of the Gryffindors were staring with frank admiration at the trio, including Ron. Jack remained standing and grasped Krum's hand as soon as he came close enough.

"Viktor! It's good to see you! We weren't told you were going to be here!"

The blonde boy stood up as well and pulled Krum into a manly hug. Krum's face wasn't scowling anymore and it instead had lit up like a Christmas tree. "And here I vought that my days at this school would be filled with fans chasing me day in and day out. It's good to see you once more Lucas. I have missed your pranks very much!"

As Krum sat down at the table Rose watched as the two new boys took their places as well. The one on the right, the tall boy who had brown hair, sat down beside Jack and was joined by Krum. The other one, Rose did a double take after looking at him, sat down on the other side of the veela. He looked almost like her Dad in the photos they had of him when he was 16.

Puzzled, she scrutinized him and noticed that his eyes were a bright emerald green instead of the hazel-colored eyes she had inherited from her father. The boy tilted his head curiously at her and she looked down at her plate in embarrassment of being caught.

"Enjoy the feast!" Dumbledore's loud voice proclaimed as he clapped his hands. Immediately talk filled the air as food appeared on the tables.

"Who are you?" Hermione immediately asked the newcomers.

The boy who looked like Rose's father spoke to the blonde boy, "You didn't introduce yourself Lucas?"

Lucas shrugged, "Sorry." He turned to the Hogwarts students and with another unbelievably wide smile said, "I'm Lucas Featherstone, pleased to meet you."

The girls laughed as Ginny answered. "Ginny Weasely."

"Hermione Granger."

Ron was able to stutter out his name before all the faces turned to Rose. "Um I'm Rose. Rose Potter."

The asian boy, Jack, looked at her curiously, "Rose Potter? One of the Twins who lived?"

Rose nodded her head slowly before taking a bite of food.

"Jack Handle, pleased to meet you." he said as he held out his hand. Surprised, Rose took his hand and gently shook it. Jack responded with a grin.

"Viktor Krum." the famous quidditch player said as he piled food on his plate.

"Geez Viktor, hungry?" Lucas said with a grin. Krum just answered with a quick nod. Lucas pointed his fork at the tall boy beside Krum, "That's Grant."

The tall boy snorted and glared at Lucas before turning to Rose, "Lucas is playing another joke, again. That's one of the nicknames he has come up with ever since he learned it was my middle name. I'm Gavin. Gavin Luxor."

Rose felt Lucas twitch as the girl beside him poked him. "Don't believe half the things Lucas tells you." The girl said smiling at Rose. "I'm Kathryn, but you may call me Kat."

Rose smiled back and noticed that Kathryn had taken off her hat to reveal light purple hair that was tied up in a bun. "Did you dye it?"

Kathryn laughed, "No, I'm a metamorphmagus."

"I know an Auror who's a metamorphmagus." Ginny said excitedly.

Kathyrn smiled at her as the other Beauxbatons girl spoke. "I'm Fleur Delacour." Suddenly Fleur frowned slightly as she looked down the table. Rose followed her gaze and noticed that Ron's and Seamus's expressions had completely glazed over. She gave Ron a sharp kick which bumped him into Seamus. The two quickly shook their heads and the Irish boy started to eat as Ron looked at everyone curiously.

"Um did I do something wrong?"

"You're fine." The emerald eyed boy sitting beside Fleur said in a slightly cold voice. His voice changed and it grew brighter as he turned to face the group, "And finally, I'm James Ravencroft."

Rose continued to look at the boy who said he was James as she ate. There were slight differences that he had than her father in the pictures. He had higher cheekbones, was more muscular, and bulkier than her father. She started to talk to Kathryn beside her when Hermione asked another question, this time to Gavin and James. "Why did you and Gavin come in with Madame Maxime?"

James looked at Gavin who then spoke, "We're the Senior and Junior Head Boys for the school."

"Do you have prefects?" Rose asked.

Gavin shook his head. "No. Just Junior and Senior Head Boys and Girls. Normally one of each from 6th and 7th years."

"Though James is a special case." Lucas chimed in.

The attention was shifted to James who looked at Lucas pointedly before answering the curious stares, "I'm 16. I skipped a year at Beauxbatons but I'm still young enough to be the Junior Head Boy."

Herrmione gasped, "How? The amount of work it would take!"

James shrugged, "It made my father really proud that I had followed in his footsteps."

"So you're the Junior Head Boy even though you're in your seventh year?" Ginny asked. James nodded before he grabbed his goblet of pumpkin juice. "Who's your Junior and Senior Head Girls?"

"There's a girl named Emily who's the Senior Head Girl." Kathryn spoke. "Lucy Waldrop is the Junior Head Girl. They're both sitting at the other table."

"It's time for a question of our own," Lucas interjected with a laugh. "What are you're your best classes?"

"Oh um I'm really good at potions." Hermione answered. She then added proudly, "I get really good marks in all of my classes."

Ginny shook her head and shrugged, "I'm good at quidditch."

"Quidditch is awesome!" Jack agreed. "Though of all of us, James is probably the best, besides Krum."

Everyone looked at Krum who just shrugged and continued to eat. Jack continued, "What position do you play?" he asked Ginny.

Oh, chaser!" Ginny said brightly, "but I'm also training to be the house seeker when Rose here graduates."

James looked up interestedly, "You're a seeker?"

Rose replied with a nod of her head. James smiled, "We'll have to all play sometime."

"Boy's will be boys." Fleur said with a laugh. "They're already talking about playing quidditch. Pay up." she said to Kathryn.

Rose laughed at all the dumbfounded expressions the boys gave Fleur. James was the first to speak.

"You bet on your boyfriend and his friends on bringing up the topic of quidditch? That's a given."

Fleur laughed again, "No. We bet on how long it would take you to bring it up. I bet 5 galleons on an hour. Kat bet on two hours."

James blinked his eyes and then joined the others as they laughed out loud.

"I really don't see how that's fair considering we have an international quidditch star sitting with us." James said as he hugged Fleur and talked into her hair.

Fleur giggled and pushed him away lightly.

"What about you Rose?" James asked. "What's your best subject?"

"Charms."

"Ahhh that's Fleur's and Kat's as well."

"My best is Ancient Runes." Jack spoke.

Lucas spoke up, "Yes! Jack is very good with wards."

The others seem to miss the emphasis on the last word but Rose noticed that Lucas suddenly flinched as if he had been kicked. Rose watched as he looked across at James who shook his head slightly. 'What was that about?' she wondered.

"I'm very good with transfiguration, specifically with metal." Gavin interrupted, taking Rose's attention away from James and Lucas.

"Metal?" Hermione said skeptically. "What do you mean?"

Gavin looked around and grabbed Lucas's cutting knife.

"Hey I was about to use that!"

Gavin grinned and stared at the simple knife. It slowly elongated and grew two branches in the middle which shot straight out to the side. Suddenly the shape became coherent and he was holding a simple dagger. Ginny slowly clapped as Rose stared, amazed at what he had done.

"Y-y-you did that wandlessly." Hermionie stammered.

Gavin nodded, "This is one of the first tricks I learned."

The knife was taken out of his hand as Lucas used it to enthusiastically cut his desert causing more laughter to erupt from the group. They were interrupted as Dumbledore stood up.

"Welcome all to Hogwarts! I hope you ate well. As you all well know our three schools are competing in the Tri-Wizard tournament. A Champion from each school will be chosen by an impartial judge, The Goblet of Fire!"

Ludo Bagman unveiled the large artifact which was giving burning with a blue fire. Dumbledore introduced the unknown ministry official as Barty Crouch who stood up and walked to the podium. "As per the Ministry and due to other unfortunate circumstances which have happened previous years there is a new rule which will be enforced. Only those who are not under-aged will be able to submit their names in the Goblet of Fire for choosing."

Immediately protests rose as students shouted how it was unfair. Dumbledore was forced to shout for silence.

"Enough!" Dumbledore said with a loud but firm voice. "I myself will draw the age-line around the artifact."

Dumbledore took a deep breath and then continued with his announcements. "A fair warning to future participants, the tasks will not be easy, but eternal glory to the winner and their school awaits!"

After telling the new schools that the Forbidden Forest was off limits and how they would be taking classes along with the Hogwarts students he dismissed everyone.

"Where will you sleep?" Hermione asked Kathryn as they all stood up.

"In the Carriage. It's a lot bigger inside than the outside."

"Yup! It's the perfect size for more pranks!" Lucas said with a laugh.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Gavin said with a laugh. "By the way, great job with the flute."

The entire group started laughing as Lucas mimicked playing it again. Rose noticed James pull Krum to the side. Sidling closer she heard him ask Krum if he wanted to join the group in the morning. Krum nodded and they returned to the main group but not before James sent a knowing stare at her. Rose smiled innocently back at him but she knew she had been caught listening in.

The group continued to talk until they reached the entrance where they parted ways. After the new friends all said their goodbyes they each headed to their separate dormitories.

Rose wasn't the only one to notice how similar James looked like her deceased father. Lilly Potter almost couldn't believe her eyes when she had seen the almost exact copy of her husband in his younger years standing before her. As soon as the feast had started she had started a conversation with Madame Maxime about the boy.

Much to her surprise the boy even shared her husband's first name. His last name had been Ravencroft. Lilly hesitated, that name sounded familiar but she couldn't place it. She filed away the thought in her mind, intent on figuring out why the name stood out.

Madame Maxime had been quite tight-lipped about the boy in general but Lilly had been able to learn that the boy's only family was a widowed father, currently head of the Auror branch in France. The boy was smart, having been able to skip a year in schooling, and was very proficient in his studies. He was a prodigy in dueling and also their school's current Junior head Boy.

Lilly stared at the boy as he hugged the girl beside him as the entire group laughed. Her heart panged and she had to brush away a tear. James had used to do that. He used to hold her as he made all the marauders laugh.

The marauders, a broken group: one dead, one a traitor, one falsely accused and roaming the countryside or in hiding, one struggling to hold his own in today's world, and the last member teaching at the school where their group had begun. Lilly blinked the tears out of her eyes and stood up. She asked Dumbledore to be excused under the pretence that's she wasn't feeling well.

At his sincere nod from seeing her in distress, she had almost fled out of the Great Hall using the back door so no one would notice her. She ran to her quarters and landed on the bed sobbing. She reached for the picture on her night stand and clung to it as she fell asleep. An entire family of five waved happily from the frame to the arm covering it.

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~Фverwatch