Author's Note: Who do you think should be the demigod champion? I mean, I have a plan, but I'm always up for suggestions.

A week before Halloween, a sign was erected in the entrance hall of the school.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were unable to pass after finishing classes for the day, as a large crowd had gathered around the sign. Ron, being the tallest of the trio, looked over the top of the other students' heads and read the sign aloud to his friends.

TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT

The delegations from Beauxbatons, Durmstrang and Delphi will be arriving at 6 o'clock on Friday the 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early. Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast.

"Brilliant!" cried Harry. "We've got potions last on Friday! Snape'll never be able to poison us all!"

Ron laughed, and him, Harry, and Hermione pushed through the crowd and made their way to the Great Hall.

Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason stood at Thalia's pine tree at the crest of Half-Blood Hill on the morning of October 29th. They'd already had to come to Camp in September for extra information and some annoying information about how the date they were leaving had changed.

They were now changed into the uniforms Chiron had ordered to make Delphi Institute for Magic seem more real.

They were awful. A long jedi-like robe/cloak-thing in the same orange as the Camp t-shirts was the main part. Underneath the demigods were all wearing white dress-shirts and ties of different colours: Percy's blue, Annabeth's silver, Jason's gold and Piper's red (she'd refused to have it be pink like her cabin). The girls looked uncomfortable in their dark grey knee-length skirts (Chiron had not intended for this, he'd simply messed up the order form) and Percy and Jason complained about the dress shoes, saying they weren't practical for monster fighting (Annabeth and Piper rolled their eyes, looking at their skirts).

Finally, Chiron arrived in his wheelchair, four long boxes lay across his blanket-covered lap. "These just arrived yesterday," he announced. He handed one box to each demigod, their names written across the front in fancy lettering.

"Great," Jason said flatly. "What are they?"

"Your wands."

The four heroes opened their boxes to plain black sticks. Well, they were polished and each had a different marking carved into the bottom; Percy a trident, Annabeth an owl, Piper a dove and Jason a bolt of lightning.

"Cool." Percy said, sarcastically. "So glad we can actually use them."

"You can." Chiron said. "They're enchanted. You say the spell, the wand does it. No magical blood required."

"Yeah, cause we don't have any of that." Jason smirked.

"Not at all." Percy said in the same sarcastic tone.

The girls laughed. Jason tried to remember the last time Annabeth and Percy had each laughed for real. Not since… No, he thought. Not gonna go there.

"So, when do we leave?" Piper asked.

"A half-hour. Say your goodbyes and meet back here at ten forty-five.."

"And, uh, how are we getting there?" Percy asked.

Chiron simply smiled. "You will see, soon enough."

When the bell rang early, Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurried up to Gryffindor Tower, deposited their bags and books as they had been instructed, pulled on their cloaks, and rushed back downstairs into the entrance hall.

The Heads of Houses were ordering their students into lines. "Weasley, straighten your hat," Professor McGonagall snapped at Ron. "Miss Patil, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair." Parvati scowled and removed a large ornamental butterfly from the end of her plait.

"Follow me, please," said Professor McGonagall. "First years in front . . . no pushing. . . ."

They filed down the steps and lined up in front of the castle. It was a cold, clear evening; dusk was falling and a pale, transparent-looking moon was already shining over the Forbidden Forest.

Harry and Ron were speculating how the schools were going to arrive, when Dumbledore called out, "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

"Where?" said many students eagerly, all looking in different directions.

"There!" yelled a sixth year, pointing over the forest.

Something large, much larger than a broomstick — or, indeed, a hundred broomsticks — was hurtling across the deep blue sky toward the castle, growing larger all the time.

"It's a dragon!" shrieked one of the first years, losing her head completely.

"Don't be stupid . . . it's a flying house!" said Dennis Creevey.

Dennis's guess was closer. . . . As the gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, they saw a gigantic, powder-blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant.

The carriage door opened and a giant lady emerged. Literally. She was about the same size as Hagrid, Harry guessed, but she seemed so much larger.

Dumbledore began to clap and the students, though still rather shocked by the sheer size of the woman, followed suit.

The woman smiled at Dumbledore and extended a hand. Dumbledore, as tall as he was, didn't have to bend to kiss it.

"Madame Maxime," he said. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-dorr." She said. Harry cringed at the pronunciation but Dumbledore didn't seem to mind. "I 'ope I find you well?"

"In excellent form, I thank you." Dumbledore replied.

"My pupils." Madame Maxime gestured behind her. Harry turned to see a group of students, male and female, all shivering from the cold. Harry could see why, considering their robes only seemed to be made of a fine blue silk. They were all in their late teens, obviously, and were staring up at the castle.

"'As Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime continued.

"He should be here any moment." Dumbledore said. "Would you like to stay here and greet him, or step inside and warm up?"

"Warm up, I think." said Madame Maxime. "But ze 'orses-"

"Our Care Of Magical Creatures teacher would be delighted to take care of them, as soon as he's finished dealing with another - er - slight situation."

Harry and Ron grinned at each other. The Skrewts, the creatures they'd been monitoring the growth of in class, were getting out of hand.

Madame Maxime seemed a bit skeptical about Hagrid's ability to deal with giant flying horses, but Dumbledore assured her all would be well and her and her students disappeared into the castle.

The school stood quietly, waiting in anticipation for Durmstrang and Delphi, speculating which would arrive first.

The silence was broken by an eerie rumbling.

"D'you hear that?" Ron whispered to Harry.

Harry nodded. It was as if a very large vacuum cleaner were approaching them, only Harry couldn't tell from what direction.

"The lake!" yelled Lee Jordan, pointing down at it. "Look down at the lake!"

From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water — except that the surface was suddenly not smooth at all.

Some disturbance was taking place deep in the center; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks — and then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake's floor...

What seemed to be a long, black pole began to rise slowly out of the heart of the whirlpool... and then Harry saw the rigging...

"It's a mast!" he said to Ron and Hermione.

Slowly, magnificently, the ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes. Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide toward the bank.

There was a splash as the anchor was thrown, a thud as a plank was thrown down. They could see silhouettes of Crabbe and Goyle-like figures; bulky.

As they drew nearer, Harry realized that the bulk was due to the fact that they were all wearing a sort of cloak made of thick fur. But the man in front was wearing a different kind: sleek and silver like his hair.

"Dumbledore!" he called heartily as he walked up the slope. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied.

Karkaroff looked up at the castle. He smiled. "Dear old Hogwarts." he said. "Come along Victor." Karkaroff looked at Dumbledore. "He's got a slight head-cold. You don't mind if we go into the warmth?"

Dumbledore stepped out the way of the doors, "Not at all."

"Is Maxime here?"

"Yes, she arrived shortly before you."

"And Professor… Brunner? Is that his name?" Karkaroff looked a little stumped.

"Yes, Brunner and his students should be arriving shortly."

"Excellent." Karkaroff beckoned his students to follow and he led them inside.

Harry felt Ron's sharp intake of breath. The student at the front looked familiar. A picture flashed before Harry's eyes. He knew what Ron was going to say before he even opened his mouth. "Harry - it's Krum." Harry nodded.

Slowly, all of Durmstrang filed into the castle.

The Hogwarts students were beginning to get restless. Delphi hadn't arrived yet and they were getting cold.

"There!" came a sudden shout. "At the gates!" A second year was pointing down towards the front gates of the school. A large black car, like the kind Harry had seen the Queen ride in on television, had pulled up to the gates. Harry suppressed laughter as Filch scrambled to open them.

An audible gasp came from the crowd as the car drove up towards them. Surely a car counted as a muggle device and shouldn't be able to operate in the grounds. But the car didn't seem to know or care about that rule and it continued up the drive.

It slowed as it approached the winged horses and maneuvered around them, coming to a stop just beside the carriage.

Suddenly, the horses heads all snapped up, they watched the car with an intense interest.

The Hogwarts students seemed to hold their breaths as the back door of the car opened. Two students got out, both girls. They quickly ran around to the back and extracted a large object that reminded Harry of a folding chair. Two more students stepped out of the car then, boys this time.

The giant horses began kneeling. One of the boys with misbehaving black hair turned suddenly to the horses. Panic shot across his face before he controlled himself. The horses stopped kneeling, but carried on watching the car.

One of the girls, a beautiful blonde, nodded to the boys. One of them, also blond, opened the passenger door to the car. The girls unfolded the thing they were carrying.

It was a wheelchair. They pushed it to the door. The next few moments were blocked from view, but Harry heard a count of "1… 2… 3!" and then a man was pushed out, in the wheelchair, from behind the door by the blonde girl as the other girl, an even more beautiful brunette with a feather braided into her hair, closed the door.

The window rolled down. She smiled at the driver, blocked by the tinted windows. "Merci, Jules." she said. "Et le dit à Nico aussi.*"

The window rolled up and the car pulled away. Behind it was a pile of duffel bags, all in the same orange as the students uniforms.

"Albus!" the man in the wheelchair said. His accent was strange: a combination of British, American and something else.

"Annabeth?" he said.

The girl let go of the chair and the man wheeled himself towards the headmaster.

Harry looked back at the students. They looked uncomfortable in their uniforms (who didn't?) and they kept shifting from foot to foot.

"Ah, Brunner, my old friend!" Dumbledore shook the man's hand. "How was your flight?"

"Ah, well," Brunner said, smiling, "It was alright. We survived."

Harry saw the students share a smile. It was obviously an inside joke.

"And the drive?" Dumbledore said.

"Interesting. Albus, remind me to never put four ADHD wizards in the same car for 5 hours ever again."

Harry wondered why a bunch of of age wizards would even need to use muggle transportation systems. They could've even just apparated in front of the castle and walked up the drive, but they'd chosen to take a flight from North America into maybe Edinburgh and drive up to the Scottish Highlands. How strange, he thought.

Dumbledore chuckled. "What can be done?"

"Yes, I suppose."

"Go along inside." Dumbledore said. "I'll have someone collect your bags."

"Thank you."

The crowd of Hogwarts students parted as the Delphi students made their way into the castle. They were followed by whispers and murmurs. Harry knew exactly why.

They were all ridiculously good-looking.

"Wow." Ron breathed beside him. "What's in the water in North America?"

Harry chuckled.

The Hogwarts students filed back into the school.

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down at the Gryffindor Table. The Durmstrang students stood around apparently unsure of where they should sit. Beauxbatons had already chosen to sit at the Ravenclaw Table.

"Over here! Come and sit over here!" Ron hissed. "Over here! Hermione, budge up, make a space —"

"What?"

"Too late," said Ron bitterly.

Viktor Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students had settled themselves at the Slytherin table. Harry could see Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle looking very smug about this. As he watched, Malfoy bent forward to speak to Krum.

That left only the Delphi students. They walked with their professor.

The blond boy said: "Where should we sit, Professor Brunner?"

"This table here." The teacher replied. "Gryffindor for the brave? Yes, quite fitting." He winked.

The students groaned. "Ha ha very funny." said the boy with black hair, but they took a seat just down the table from Harry, Ron and Hermione.

*"Thanks, Jules. Say that to Nico, too." (I hope. I didn't check grammar or anything. I should know, but oh well)