October 30th came quickly enough. At forty-five minutes past five I joined the rest of Hogwarts in full uniform on the grounds. While we waited for other schools to arrive the Heads of House were walking through the crowd of students inspecting uniforms and making sure everyone looked respectable. Once they finished we were lined up in alphabetical order by year, and last name.
"How do you think they'll arrive?" Padma Patil asked her twin sister Parvati.
"Maybe the train?" Parvarti suggested.
"Unlikely." I told them.
"Maybe by broom?" Harry suggested looking up at the sky.
"Not from that far away!" Ron called from further down the line. "A Portkey maybe. Or they could Apparate, maybe they're allowed to do it under seventeen wherever they come from?"
"Ron, you can't Apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds, How many times does someone have to remind you of that?" It was a few minutes past six now and the sky was beginning to darkening quickly, and then Professor Dumbledore called out from the back row where he stood with the other Professors.
"Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches."
"Where?" Harry whispered in my ear.
"There." I answered pointing over to the Forbidden Forest. From the tops of the trees a gigantic powder blue horse drawn carriage the size of a large house soared towards us, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses each the size of an elephant. Horse hooves the size of dinner plates landed on the ground, and within seconds the carriage landed too. A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage and unfolded a set of golden steps. The carriage door opened and from it emerged a high-heeled black shoe the size of a child's sled. The great size of the carriage was immediately explained by the giant woman who exited it.
"She can't be much larger than Hagrid." Ron whispered from down the line. Dumbledore started a slow clap which was quickly taken up by the rest of Hogwarts. A smile spread across the giant's face as she extended her hand to Dumbledore. Dumbledore though tall himself barely had to bend to kiss it.
"My dear Madame Maxime." Dumbledore began. "Welcome to Hogwarts."
"Dumby-dorr, I 'ope I find you well." Madame Maxime said in a deep voice.
"In excellent form, I thank you." Dumbledore told her smiling.
"My pupils." Madam Maxime said waving one of her enormous hands. About a dozen students stood behind her both boys and girls. They were shivering which was no surprise as their robes were made of a fine silk and none of them were wearing traveling cloaks. Many of them were staring at the Hogwarts castle with apprehensive looks on their face.
"As Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked again.
"He should be here any moment." Dumbledore answered her. "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?"
"Warm up I think." Madame Maxime answered him. "But ze 'orses…"
"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them." Professor Dumbledore gestured in Hagrid's direction and he stepped forward to introduce himself to Madame Maxime.
"My steeds require forceful 'andling and zey will only drink single-malt whiskey." Once Madame Maxime was satisfied with Hagrid's ability to care for her enormous horses she instructed her students to follow her inside the castle. Now that night had fallen the temperature had dropped a few degrees I almost envied the students of Beauxbatons who were certainly much warmer than us.
"Anyone else hear that?" George Weasley called from the line of 6th years.
"Sounds like it's coming from the lake, George." Fred answered on the side of him. Students began craning their necks trying to listen for any watery sounds.
"It is the lake!" a first year called out pointing downhill towards the lake. The usually smooth surface of the lake was suddenly not smooth at all. Large bubbles were splashing over on the muddy banks of the lake, and then in the middle of the lake a whirlpool appeared. A long black pole began to rise slowly out of the heart of the whirlpool. "It's a mast!" someone called out. Slowly a magnificent ship rose out of the water gleaming in the moonlight. There was a great sloshing noise and the ship emerged completely, bobbing up and sailing towards the banks of the lake. This was followed by the slash of an anchor being thrown down and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank. People were disembarking , and soon we were greeted by a group of students covered in Shaggy fur cloaks.
"Dumbledore!" Came a hearty call from the Durmstrang headmaster. "How are you my dear fellow, how are you?"
"Blooming thank you, Professor Karkaroff." Like Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff was tall and thin, but his white hair was short and where Dumbledore had a full beard, he had only a small goatee. When he reached Professor Dumbledore, he took one of Dumbledore's hand and shook it with two of his own.
"Dear old Hogwarts." He said looking up at the castle and smiling. Though Professor Karkaroff was smiling his eyes remained cold. It reminded me of how Severus never truly smiled, which only made me wonder what this man has seen to earn such a cold view of the world. "How good it is to be here, how good. Viktor come along, into the warmth. You don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold." Turning towards his students Karkaroff called forward one of them. I expected Ron to let out a squeal when Viktor Krum passed by to enter the castle. The rest of Durmstrang followed behind Krum and his headmaster. Once all the visiting students were inside, Professor Dumbledore ordered us inside to our house tables. While we waited to file into the school Ron ran over and punched Harry in the arm with excitement.
"Krum Harry! Viktor Krum!" Ron was bouncing on his toes trying to see through the crowd.
"Ron, he's already inside you won't see him from here." Emily tried reasoning. "Besides he's only a quidditch player."
"Only a Quidditch player? Emily he is only the best seeker in the world. I had no idea he was still in school."
"Really? Ron I'm sure he just wants to be treated like any other student." Poor Emily didn't see she was fighting a losing battle with Ron.
"I'm sure that when you're famous you love to be the center of attention!" Harry and I exchanged a disapproving look that Ron didn't seem to notice. Emily opened her mouth again trying to rebuttal Ron's last point. I placed my hands on her small shoulders and tried to direct her towards the Slytherin table.
"Come on Em, I'm starved."
"Me too Ron, let's see if we can get Krum to sit at our table." Harry smiled try to move Harry towards the Gryffindor table.
"Oh Ron is not going to like this." Emily whispered as she pointed to the other end of the table.
"Is that, Krum sitting with Draco?" I asked her as we sat down.
"Looks like it." She answered. "I wonder where they're all going to sleep."
"I don't know. Hey Em check out Filtch."
"Ew gross Alice you like him!" Emily squealed.
"No, no!" I squirmed shaking my head. "I meant look at what he's doing. There's only two visiting headmasters, so why is Filtch adding four chairs to the head table?" Emily simply shrugged.
"Maybe they're for the judges of the tournament?" The students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang began to fill into empty spaces at any of the Hogwarts house tables. Once students from all three schools were seated, Professor Dumbledore, Madame Maxime and Professor Karkaroff came walking in. When their Headmistress appeared the students from Beaubatons leapt do their feet and did not sit down again until Madame Maxime had sat down on Dumbledore's left-hand side. Dumbledore remained standing as the Great Hall fell silent.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and most particularly, guest. I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hgowarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable. The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feat. I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!" As always happened at any Hogwarts feast food magically appeared on serving plates along the five long wooden tables, and students began digging in as if they had never seen anything so wonderful. Several courses later Professor Dumbledore stood again to address the hall. An exciting tension filled the room as he began to speak. "The moment has come. The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few worlds of explanation before we bring in the casket. Just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first let me introduce, for those of you who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."
"That explains the extra chairs then." Emily chirped as if she had solved the greatest mystery of all time.
"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament. And they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts. The casket then, if you please, Mr. Filtch." Filtch who had been lurking in a far corner of the Great Hall now approached Dumbledore carrying a large wooden chest encrusted with jewels, it looked extremely old. "The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman." Dumbledore said as Filtch placed the chest carefully on the table before him. "And they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways. Their magical prowess, their daring, their powers of deduction and of course, their ability to cope with danger. As you know three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: The Goblet of Fire."
Dumbledore now took out his wand and tapped three times on the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, wooden chalice which would have been mistaken as any ordinary cup if it weren't for the fact that the Goblet of Fire was literally filled to the brim with blue-white flames. Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on top of it, where it could be seen by the entire Hall. "Anyone wishing to submit themselves as a champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet. Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween night the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy of representing their schools. The Goblet will be placed in the Entrance Hall tonight where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to complete. To ensure that no underage students yield to temptation," At that Dumbledore paused and looked directly at Fred and George Weasley. "I will be drawing an age line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the Entrance Hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line. Finally I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obligated to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure therefore, that you have wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now I think it's time for bed. Goodnight to you all."