Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, that honor belongs to J.K. Rowling. Harrio Potter non fateor, qui honor ad J.K. Rowling.

"Talk"

'Thought'

"Phoenix telepathy"

~ quotes from the book ~

~~ letters or notes ~~

Later that night, the five met up in the Room. Harry looked worried and the look on Luna's face scared everyone else. They were all used to the happy, whimsical, smiling Luna, whose darkest look they had ever seen since meeting her was fierce disappointment; aka Hermoine. Harry was about to talk but an easel appeared in the room with a blank canvas. Luna turned to it and silently cast a spell at the canvas, shooting what appeared to be paint out of her wand that covered the canvas. When she was done, instead of the mess of paint everyone else expected, a rather dark painting took shape.

The painting depicted a jeweled goblet of gold, filled with fire. The goblet was placed atop a pile of skulls, their fleshless faces marred in agony. The sky around the goblet was blood red, with fire shooting in from one side. In all, the painting looked like it could have been painted in hell. All of Luna's friends looked at the painting in fear while she frowned at it, not pleased by it; the painting gave off a feeling of wrongness to it.

"Luna, what is that and why do I feel the need to burn it and run from the school?" Harry asked, getting a pout from Luna and weird looks from the others. While they might feel the same, they would never have said it as bluntly as that.

"That, Harry, is the Goblet of Fire, and I don't blame you for wanting to run. The painting came out darker than I intended, but the context is correct as I see it. The origin dates back near the founding of the school, after the danger of the witch hunts had died down and other schools for magic started popping up. The goblet started out as merely a trophy for the winning school, but soon developed a fire spirit within it, fed by the brutal competition and the burning desire of the competitors. As the competition fell out of favor for several decades with the rise of conflict with the muggles, the fire spirit starved, but refused to die out.

"When the competition was brought back, the goblet was brought out of storage, still burning. The new headmasters of the schools didn't know it wasn't supposed to, given enough time for some historical knowledge to be lost. The long period of isolation and starvation had corrupted the already hot-tempered spirit. When one of the competitors died, it took their magic to feed on. The death of a competitor led another to drop out, and the goblet claimed his magic as well. That is what happened to Guldric, great grandson of Godric Gryffindor. Since then, only those that are disabled in previous tasks in the Tri-Wizard Tournament forfeit." While everyone was still shocked from this, Luna continued.

"As the years went on, the spirit grew more powerful as it fed on the determination of the living and the magic of the fallen. The schools continued to host the tournament until the travesty of 1792. In the first task of the 1792 tournament, a cockatrice got out of control and killed the three heads of school, the champions, and half the crowd before it was killed. Since then, the goblet and spirit have been locked away, starving for more than 200 years. When they unleash it this October, the fire spirit will be ravenous." Luna said, scowling.

Harry then walked over to Luna and hugged her. "I can see that you're frustrated and feel that you're slightly scared, but we'll make it through this. I wouldn't want to take part in this tournament, and that's before that history lesson you gave us, but given what you Saw the summer after we met I know I won't be able to avoid this tournament. But with you and all our friends, I know we'll make it through this year. Remember, you said I'd be freer than ever before, right?"

Luna just nodded and hugged him back tighter. The rest of their friends then moved in to join the hug. After a minute of hugging, they gave Luna space to breathe and all smiled at her, which she gratefully returned. Ron, trying to be supportive, said, "That was really cool how you painted with just a spell, can you teach the rest of us?" At everyone's excited nods and requests for her to teach them, Luna smiled at them all and started teaching them magical painting.

Several hours later, there were dozens of amateur paintings and more paint on the floor and wall than on the canvases. In the center of all the paintings was Luna's latest work, nearing the level of a masterpiece, of Luna painting her friends painting; if you investigated the painted painting painted Luna was painting, you could see a several miniature paintings of the original, each smaller than the last. This is what Fawkes found when he joined them for Harry's mental training.

That was how their night went, with the painting of the Goblet of Fire shoved into a corner of the room like it was in their minds. It would stay there for the rest of the year before disappearing deep within the Room of Lost Things to never be seen again.

FG

The next morning, the group joined their classmates in the Great Hall for breakfast, where they got their first look at the new DADA professor, Alastor Moody. He appeared to be a grizzly old man with more scars on his face than smooth skin and a magical fake eye that moved on its own, constantly jumping focus from student to student. It shined with magic to Harry, even at the reduced level he had to keep his true sight at around the castle. From under the table, anyone who cared or dared to look would see a wooden leg.

Luna purposely avoids looking at him to avoid glaring. She can't reveal him yet and it would do no good to antagonize him. She took comfort in knowing he'd be gone before long. Once she got her class schedule from Professor Flitwick she left to join her friends at Gryffindor, which some with the house of the raven start to see. For her electives she took Care, Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy while Harry and the others kept their classes; aside from Hermoine who after a year of all the electives dropped Divination and Muggle Studies.

In fourth year, Ancient Runes, Professor Babbling announced they would be moving on to Egyptian hieroglyphs while still having an overview of Elder and Younger Futhark with the possibility of attempting minor warding at the end of the year. She then tempted us with what would come in our OWL and Newt years should we pass with at least an EE on our OWLs, Babylonian and Atlantic. From the course books she'd had us read, we all knew that's where the most powerful runic arrays came from. The class was determined to do well this year and next.

In Arithmancy, Professor Vector wasted no time on a quiz to see if the class had forgotten anything. Though she frowned at a few, she moved on to harder equations and the theories behind them. At the end of the lesson, she revealed a large equation and challenged the students to work it out by the end of the year. Harry and Hermione could only make out roughly a quarter of it but what they did work out made them excited.

In Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid pushed the boundaries of what was legal, or just wasn't aware of them, and crossbred a Fire Crab with a Manticore and made Blast-Ended Skrewts. They were slimy creatures with an exodermal shell, with no clear head. The Skrewts blast fire from both ends to move and its mouth was on its stomach, much to the alarmed surprise of the first student who found it, Draco Malfoy. By the end of class, everyone was wearing their dragonhide gloves and wondering how the blighters could see with no apparent eyes. Hermione suggested they could sense heat like snakes.

In Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall had them do a pop quiz with various transfigurations they'd done the last three years. Harry and his friends surprised her with their skill and she awarded them each ten points. She then assigned everyone to read the first three chapters in their new course book along with an essay on the importance of focus and visualization in transfiguration, an inch for every failed transfiguration.

In Charms, Professor Flitwick also gave them a pop quiz of what they'd covered in the last three years. At the end of class. He then displayed the summoning charm, Accio, before assigning an essay on the history and use of Accio. When Harry and his friends looked up the spell, they were surprised by how useful the spell can be.

Then came Defense Against the Dark Arts. The fourth years were the last to have Professor Moody as a teacher and everyone aside form Luna was excited about his class. The group, having learned to trust Luna's intuition, were all on guard as they made their way to fourth year DADA. Moody decided to start things off with a bang, literally, as he slammed the door shut as the last student entered, making several students jump in their seats.

After declaring the need for constant vigilance, he took roll, his magic eye shifting to look at each student as they called out. Once he verified everyone was in attendance, he began discussing what they had learned with the last three professors, and proclaimed they were woefully behind on curses and counter-curses. He then began to talk about the Unforgivable curses and called on students to name them, before taking a jar with several spiders from his desk, taking out a spider, and performing the curse on the spider after enlarging it.

First came the Imperious curse, Imperio. A curse that allows the caster complete control of a creature or person, allowing delayed reactions months after the curse was cast. Only a strong will can fight it off. He cast the curse on a spider and has it jump around the room. When the students find it amusing, aside from Ron who looks ready to run to the door, Professor Moody by taking the example to a darker turn. "What should I have him do next?" Professor Moody asked. "Leap down your throat, jump out a window, drown himself?" Professor Moody continues as he positions the spider to follow through with what he says. "Make no mistake, students. The Imperious curse is no laughing matter. And there is no way to tell who's under one until after they act."

Second was the torture curse, Crucio, a curse that causes all the nerve endings in a body to flare up causing extreme pain. When Professor Moody cast Crucio on the spider, it triggered a flashback for Neville of the night his parents were tortured by the curse; Harry and Hermione see the pain it's causing Neville, so Harry puts a hand on Nevilles arm while Hermione begs the professor to stop. The professor looks at Neville and relents, sending the shaking spider back to the jar.

The third curse spelled instant death for all but one, which Professor Moody was more than happy to single Harry out for. Nobody answered when Professor Moody asked the students the name of the third curse before he'd cast it on the spider; even Hermione was biting her lip to keep silent. It didn't matter, once he was tired of waiting he cast the spell, Avada Kedavra, and the spider dropped dead in a flash of green light. The flash of green brought back memories of Harry's worst nightmares; of the night his parents were murdered. This caused him to tighten his grip on Neville causing him to hiss in pain before seeing the look in Harry's eyes and realizing what was happening. He placed his free hand on Harry's and squeezed back, which brought Harry's attention back to the present. With an appreciative nod from Harry, they both let go to focus on the rest of the lesson.

Hermione saw what happened but said nothing. She would talk to them both that night. After the lesson was over and they left, they found Dobby waiting for Harry outside with a jar of bruise-be-gone salve and a hug for Harry. They ducked into an empty classroom to apply the salve before heading to the library to meet up with Luna, given DADA was their last class of the day. Luna gave both Harry and Neville a sad look before she hugged them and pulled them to a table.

FG

That night, they both talked about their flashbacks, with the others there for them. Neville finally opened up to his friends about his parents' condition. Everyone silently wished they could help their friend, when suddenly there was a flash of light in the room and a book appeared named Treating the Untreatable by Myrddin Emrys. Hermione was about to open the book when it opened itself and started flipping pages until it stopped half way through. Hermione quickly read what was written and wrote it down in case the book disappeared. Just as she finished writing down the passage the book flashed and disappeared to its hiding spot. After blinking the spots out of her eyes, Hermione read what she'd copied down.

The brain and mind are delicate and quite difficult to heal when damaged, infinitely more so when damaged by dark magic.

With much costly trial and error, I managed to find a remedy for almost any illness of the mind.

It is the work of two very rare magical materials from light aligned creatures.

Tears of a Phoenix freely given

Blood of a Unicorn freely given

Phoenix Tears can cure or heal nearly anything and make a remarkable catalyst for medical alchemy. But try to force a Phoenix to cry and you'll get not but liquid ash.

Unicorn Blood is known to cure most anything, but leaves a lingering curse on the body and soul of the taker unless freely given. Freely given Unicorn Blood has a purifying effect and amplifies any healing potion.

To heal the brain and mind of one cursed by dark magic boil five ounces of Phoenix Tears with one drop of Unicorn Blood in a golden cup and have the afflicted breath the vapor until it's all gone. Keep the cup before them, for they will expel the curse, catching it in the cup will keep it contained until the cup can be purified.

Everyone looked at each other in surprised amazement. A means to heal Neville's parents, written in a book by Merlin himself. Not that the cure was easy, freely given tears of one of the rarest magical birds and blood freely given by one of the most protected creatures in the magical forest. But now there was hope, especially since they regularly interacted with a Phoenix. Just as Neville was wondering how he'd even manage to approach a unicorn, given they were protected by the centaurs, Luna spoke up. "Don't worry Neville, by the end of the year you will have what you need. The real challenge will be getting the grandmother and the healers to allow you to try. Some may see this as blood magic, despite it being alchemy."

"I'll get her to understand, it's a chance to finally get my parents back. I'm not the scared little boy who will let her dictate my life anymore." Neville says, before flinching and looking at Harry. Knowing what Neville's thinking he smiled at him and waves off his worries. "If I had the chance, I'd be excited about it too."

With the painful memories brought to bear by the day's lessons put to rest and new hope for the future kindled in Neville, the group knuckled down on the assignments of the day and their drive to improve. The arithmancy project displayed for a long project to work on around everything else.

FG

After the first week of September passed, the friends all found their stride for the new year and were making headway through their studies. With the advanced studying they had done the year before, they blazed through this year's curriculum while leaving their peers and teachers none the wiser. As October began, they were already half way through their studies for the year. The Arithmancy array was becoming easier to understand, except for Ron who wasn't taking it and Luna who could already understand it. She would wait to take advantage of it until the others understood.

On the first of October, the headmaster reminded them that the foreign students would arrive for the tournament on the evening of the 30th of October. During the month of October, the teachers were extra strict while Mr. Filch and the elves were extra busy cleaning the castle and keeping things in order. The tension in the castle as the 30th approached was so tense that an incident happened that would automatically go down in the records of Hogwarts Legends; where caretaker Filch took a mop to the Potions Master Snape after he caused some first years to wet themselves after a dressing down. The thunderous expressions on the headmasters' and deputy heads' faces was quietly talked about by all the students.

Finally, it was the 30th of October, all the students were excited for the arrival of the visiting students, that it would be a half day of lessons was caused to be excited about by itself. The students were told to wear their best and assemble on the front lawn of the castle, where they would be lined up by year, then by house. As the sun touched the western peaks of the nearby mountains, the students were assembled, though none of the teachers thought to cast a warming charm on the students as dusk approached. Fortunately for them, Harry naturally generated heat around him, which pushed back the freezing winds.

It was half an hour later when the first of the visitors arrived, with an arrival that would make a certain Disney princess jealous. It was Dumbledore who spotted them coming, though one first year thought it was a dragon and started to panic. It was Dennis Creevey that identified it the closest as a flying house. As they drew nearer over the Forbidden Forest, the students could see it was a giant powder-blue horse-drawn carriage, pulled by a dozen Abraxan. As the horses landed with thump and a clop as they continued running up the courtyard slowly slowing, the carriage they pulled through the sky landed with a loud thump and bounced for several seconds before gravity once more took hold and the wheels blurred with the speed of the steeds, until the team of Abraxan and the carriage stopped before the assembled students.

When they came to a stop, a young man in blue quickly descended the drivers' seat and made his way to the large door on the school facing side. On the door was the crest of Beauxbaton, two wands crossed and producing three stars each. The young man quickly had a latch beneath the door free before lowering the stairs and opening the door, from where the largest women any of the students or staff had ever seen stepped out. Hooked nose and dressed in satin black, adorned with black opals around her neck and fingers, the Headmistress of Beauxbaton Madam Maxime cut a striking figure in the darkening light. As she approached, she smiled at Dumbledore and held out her hand, palm down, and Dumbledore barely had to lean to kiss it before saying, "Madame Maxime, welcome to Hogwarts." Leading his students to clap behind him.

Smiled and waved to the carriage and announced, "My students." On her announcement the students exited the carriage, all in powder-blue and none of them dressed for the Scottish weather. They walked with strength and poise, but it was clear that they were already starting to shiver as they lined up behind their Headmistress. "Are we the first to arrive, Dumbledore? I hope we will not be made to wait long in the cold." Madame Maxime asked, noticing her student's attempt not to shiver in the freezing wind.

Dumbledore's smile dropped slightly as he said, "You are the first to arrive, though I suspect Igor will be here any moment. If you'd like, I can have Minerva here guide your students into the Entrance Hall to warm up while we wait." Madame Maxime frowned at this but relented with a slow nod. With a polite command to follow and a motion from Madame Maxime, the Beauxbaton students followed Minerva past the Hogwarts students and into the hall. As they passed, Professor McGonagall noticed the warmth and nodded to Harry, who seemed to be the source. Harry merely raised a brow and nodded. As she led the students into the Hall, Minerva mentally berated herself for not casting warming charms on the students; it was bloody 30 degrees out there and they were made to stand out there for a half hour already.

On her way back she nodded deeper to Harry and conveyed with a measure of apology in her eyes before she rushed back to join the headmaster, only Harry caught the look in her eyes before she was past. She arrived back with the heads of school as Madame Maxime was asking about the care of her Abraxan during their stay. Dumbledore assured her that Professor Hagrid would be able to hand them. As Hagrid was leading them away, she called out a reminder that they only drank single-malt whiskey. A few of the older students taking CoMC discussed quietly what they did before malt whiskey was created. Madame Maxime, overhearing this, commented loud enough for them to hear that the Abraxan were much fouler tempered before they gave them whiskey.

A few minutes later, after the moon had already risen, they could all hear a disturbance coming from the Black Lake. Lee Jordan was the first to notice it and called it to everyone's attention. A whirlpool engulfed the whole lake, the giant squid could be seen grabbing on to several trees by the bank to not be pulled in. After a minute, and some very angry screeches from the inhabitance of the lake, a mast broke the surface of the whirlpool, slowly followed by what appeared to be a wrecked ship from the Middle Ages, all the portholes along the ship were alight. When the whole ship cleared the whirlpool, the sails were released, and the ship coasted up to the bank nearest the school. As it neared, the sails were pulled up and an anchor was dropped, followed shortly by a gangplank.

All the Hogwarts students watched in interest as the students from Durmstrang disembarked the ship and made their way up to the castle; as they neared, the students saw they all wore matted furs over their uniforms of a dark burgundy. As the High Master of Durmstrang, Igor Karkaroff, approached he laughed heartily and shook Dumbledore's with both of his own before asking how he was. After a quick greeting, he ushered his students in, retroactively asking if Dumbledore minded and stating one of his students had a head cold.

With a smiling nod from Dumbledore, the silver fur clad Karkaroff motioned once more for his students to enter the Entrance Hall. As they passed, all the quidditch fans gasped in shocked excitement to see Victor Krum among the students. Victor Krum ignored the antics of the quidditch enthusiasts and continued through the door. With all the visiting students finally in the castle, the professors motioned the students into the castle with instructions to be seated in the Great Hall. Shortly after the Hogwarts students are seated, the guests are led in by their school heads; the Durmstrang students choosing to sit with the Slytherins, much to Ron's disappointment, and the Beauxbaton students joining the Ravenclaw students. The school heads joined Dumbledore and the Professors at the Head Table with two guests from the Ministry, Bartimaeus Crouch Sr., and Lodo Bagman.

The headmaster tapped his glass to get all the student's attention before announcing, "Students of Beauxbaton and Durmstrang, I welcome you to your stay in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Thank you all for making the long journey to witness, and for one lucky and skilled student of each school participate, in the reawakening of the Tri-Wizard tournament." Professor Dumbledore stopped for a moment while every student clapped. "Yes, thank you, but I hope you have more for our two Ministry guests, Bartimaeus Crouch from the Department of International Cooperations and Ludo Bagman from the Department of Games and Sports." Professor Dumbledore had to stop again as the Hall erupted with applause for the two, Ludo Bagman more than Bartimaeus Crouch.

"Thank you for that amazing display of support. Now, I'm sure you are all hungry, especially our guests, so for now enjoy!" Professor Dumbledore exclaimed with a clap, the food appearing on all the tables. On each of the tables there were new meals available for the Hogwarts students, foreign dishes that would be found at the other schools. All the students quickly loaded their plates, though most weren't adventurous enough to try the new dishes, while the foreign students enjoyed the familiar dishes. As desserts were being finished, an ornate container was brought in and placed before the Head Table. After the feast to welcome their guests, the heads of school all rose for attention.

"I hope you all enjoyed, and I thank anyone who tried some of foreign meals; in fact, a point for each of you who did." Professor Dumbledore stated the house hourglasses showing the new points. With a smile, Professor Dumbledore continued, "Now that your hunger is sated and thirst quenched, it is time for the big announcement. I present to you, the Tri-Wizard cup!" Professor Dumbledore motioned with his wand and the ornate container seemed to flow into the base, revealing a jewel encrusted golden goblet, which as soon as it was revealed ignited with blue fire. When the fire ignited, Harry could feel the malevolent pressure of the fire spirit, as if it sensed him and hungered for his magic. Around the Hall everyone who saw it looked on in awe and/or greed. Except for Harry's friends, Luna looked at it with loathing.

"The Tri-Wizard Cup, the end prize of the tournament and our impartial judge for the selection of a champion for the three schools. Any who are able and wish to enter need only put their name and the school they represent on a piece of parchment and drop in in the goblet before the start of tomorrow's feast. After the meal, the goblet will then reveal the selected parchment and form a magically binding contract with the selected champions. I hereby impress upon you all to think carefully before entering, for once selected there is no backing out; the consequences of doing so would be your magic. And so, I wish you all a good night, and more importantly good luck; for if you are chosen it will most likely be the most challenging endeavor you shall ever attempt."

As all the students left the Hall, most chatting eagerly about who would enter and what the challenges would be, Harry couldn't help the feeling of anticipation and fear that assaulted him. And that the next day would be the start of trouble…

A/N: Thank you all for reading this chapter; and for those who have been waiting for its release, thank you all so much for your patience. When my computer chair broke back several months ago, my muse threw a fit and refused to work with me, even after I got a replacement. This story is only halfway done, I promise I will see it through to the end. It is my New Years Goal to finish this story before the next year ends.

To those that enjoy the accents for the foreign students, I'm sorry to say I won't be doing that; I think my word processor would revolt. Massive kudos for those writers that actually take the time to do so.

In the next chapter or two, I will finally be able to share a scene with you all that inspired me for this story and the true extent of Fawkes Gift will be revealed for those who haven't worked it out yet. For those following along as I release this story, thank you for your patience and for reading.