We listened, and heard a familiar drawling voice drifting in through the open door.

". . . Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore — the man's such a Mudblood-lover — and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defense rubbish we do. . . ."

Hermione got up, tiptoed to the compartment door, and slid it shut, blocking out Malfoy's voice. "So he thinks Durmstrang would have suited him, does he?" she said angrily. "I wish he had gone, then we wouldn't have to put up with him."

"Durmstrang's another wizarding school?" said Harry.

"Yes," said Hermione sniffily, "and it's got a horrible reputation. According to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe, it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts"

"That's far from the worst thing about it though" said Luna. "It's the Wifflesnifflers that you need to be really worried about. The Norwegian Ministry want to build a land invasion force using those, and Durmstrang is where they're bred. It's why neither me nor Daddy went there"

"Oh really, just like the Hogwarts Blagsburgs?" said Andrew, smirking and shaking his head

"Yes, but the difference is the Blagsburgs are purely defensive" replied Luna

"What creatures do Beauxbatons breed Luna?" I asked, deciding to humour her.

"They had a role in creating that hybrid creature France bought to that festival, but it's not their biggest priority. Rather, Beauxbatons are more interested in building inter-dimensional portals. That's the big story for the next edition of the Quibbler, I can get you all advance copies if you want!" She said this last part very enthusiastically, and we nodded politely, but we of course had no intention of taking her up on that offer.

"Durmstrang is in Norway then?" said Demelza

"Yes, we went there ourselves" said Stefan, indicating to himself and Magda. "Before we moved to England"

"What was that like? Hermione asked, fascinated.

"Unfortunately that Malfoy guy is not wrong, we were actually taught some of the dark arts. We never have and never will use them though"

"I should think not" Hermione agreed.

The rain became heavier and heavier as the train moved farther north. The sky was so dark and the windows so steamy that the lanterns were lit by midday. The lunch trolley came rattling along the corridor, and Harry bought a large stack of Cauldron Cakes for us to share. Several of our friends looked in on us as the afternoon progressed, including Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom, a round-faced, extremely forgetful boy who had been brought up by his formidable witch of a grandmother. Seamus was wearing his Ireland rosette. Some of its magic seemed to be wearing off now; it was still squeaking "Troy — Mullet — Moran!" but in a very feeble and exhausted sort of way.

Neville listened jealously to our conversation as they relived the Cup match. "Gran didn't want to go," he said miserably. "Wouldn't buy tickets. It sounded amazing though"

"It was," said Ron. "Look at this, Neville. . . ."

He rummaged in his trunk up in the luggage rack and pulled out the miniature figure of Viktor Krum. "Oh wow," said Neville enviously as Ron tipped Krum onto his pudgy hand.

"We saw him right up close, as well," said Ron. "We were in the Top Box —"

"For the first and last time in your life, Weasley." Draco Malfoy had appeared in the doorway. I quickly sat up at these words, and Neville left. Behind Malfoy stood Crabbe and Goyle, his enormous, thuggish cronies, both of whom appeared to have grown at least a foot during the summer. Evidently they had overheard the conversation through the compartment door, which Dean and Seamus had left ajar.

"Don't remember asking you to join us, Malfoy," said Harry coolly.

"You might want to make a swift exit too" I added, fingers curling around my wand in my pocket.

Malfoy ignored this, and instead decided to take a shot at Ron's dress robes.

"Weasley . . . what is that?" said Malfoy, pointing at Pigwidgeon's cage. A sleeve of Ron's dress robes was dangling from it, swaying with the motion of the train, the moldy lace cuff very obvious. Ron made to stuff the robes out of sight, but Malfoy was too quick for him; he seized the sleeve and pulled.

"Look at this!" said Malfoy in ecstasy, holding up Ron's robes and showing Crabbe and Goyle, "Weasley, you weren't thinking of wearing these, were you? I mean — they were very fashionable in about eighteen ninety. . . ."

I looked around at Harry and Hermione, who were clearly sharing my uncomfortable conflict of interest, as we'd mocked him for this very thing ourselves.

"Eat dung, Malfoy!" said Ron, the same colour as the dress robes as he snatched them back out of Malfoy's grip. Malfoy howled with derisive laughter; Crabbe and Goyle guffawed stupidly.

"So . . . going to enter, Weasley? Going to try and bring a bit of glory to the family name? There's money involved as well, you know . . . you'd be able to afford some decent robes if you won. . . ."

"What are you talking about?" snapped Ron.

"Are you going to enter?" Malfoy repeated. "I suppose you will, Potter? You never miss a chance to show off, do you?"

"Either explain what you're on about or go away, Malfoy," said Hermione testily, over the top of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4.

A gleeful smile spread across Malfoy's pale face. "Don't tell me you don't know?" he said delightedly. "You've got a father and brother at the Ministry and you don't even know? My God, my father told me about it ages ago . . . heard it from Cornelius Fudge. But then, Father's always associated with the top people at the Ministry. . . . Maybe your father's too junior to know about it, Weasley . . . yes . . . they probably don't talk about important stuff in front of him. . . ."

Laughing once more, Malfoy beckoned to Crabbe and Goyle, and the three of them disappeared.

Ron got to his feet and slammed the sliding compartment door so hard behind them that the glass shattered.

"Ron!" said Hermione reproachfully, and she pulled out her wand, muttered "Reparo!" and the glass shards flew back into a single pane and back into the door.

"Well . . . making it look like he knows everything and we don't. . . ." Ron snarled. " 'Father's always associated with the top people at the Ministry.'. . . Dad could've got a promotion any time . . . he just likes it where he is. . . ."

"Of course he does," said Hermione quietly. "Don't let Malfoy get to you, Ron —"

"Him! Get to me!? As if!" said Ron, picking up one of the remaining Cauldron Cakes and squashing it into a pulp.

I decided I had to come clean. I wasn't going to let Malfoy have that advance knowledge on them for much longer.

"Guys, it's the Triwizard Tournament that's happening this year at Hogwarts" I said

"Wow, seriously?!" said everyone else except Demelza and Amy. I nodded.

"How do you know?" asked Andrew

"Hagrid let it slip at the creatures festival. You know what he's like"

"That hasn't been held in centuries!" said Hermione "it was cancelled cause people kept dying! Why are they bringing it back, it's so dangerous!"

"Clearly there will be extra safety measures in place this time" Magda said "So, any of you going to enter then?"

I had a vision of myself holding the Triwizard Cup aloft in front of the whole school, and I could tell that Harry and Ron were thinking the same.

"I might do, if there's no age limit" I said "as far as I'm aware there never used to be"

"Well I certainly won't!" snapped Hermione

"Why not? Mate, out of all of us, you're by far the most likely to actually win it!" said Amy

"I would rather not, given the choice, put myself in harm's way" Hermione replied.

"Where's your Gryffindor bravery gone?" Luna said "Perhaps the Sorting Hat made the wrong choice, I've always thought you were more suited to my house. Plus, you play Quidditch, which is a dangerous game"

Hermione snorted. "It's much less dangerous than whatever the Triwizard tasks will be" she spat.

"I definitely will enter, and come to think of it, I could probably find some way around the age limit, if there is one. What about you, Harry?" said Ron

"Yeah, maybe" Harry said

"None of you know anywhere near enough magic to handle whatever they're going to throw at the champions" Hermione said, "even I'm not convinced I do myself"

"I second what Ron says, and I'd love to enter. It would mean I can surpass anything Ludo did, were I to win!" Amy said excitedly. "Plus, I could solve our family debt problems with the prize money! Come to think of it, Ludo will probably expect and encourage me to enter! You agree, D?" she added, turning to Demelza, who sighed.

"Look" she said "as much as I get what you're saying, and believe it would be incredible to win, I agree with Hermione. None of us know enough magic for it, and I don't want to take risks like that. I'll gladly watch it but I'm not getting myself involved"

"Thank you" said Hermione. "I'm happy there's someone else in this compartment who can think sensibly"

"D, you're no fun sometimes, you know that?" I said

"Oh but you need me, both of you do" she replied, indicating to me and Amy. "So often I'm the voice of reason out of the three of us. You two wouldn't survive otherwise"

"I think I'll wait and see who else enters before deciding" said Andrew

"You better hope not many people think like that, or there might not be many entrants at all" Amy said

"Which would be a good thing" came from Hermione. "I don't approve of the tournament's return at all"

"If there's any creatures involved, I'd give it a shot" Luna said

"I would expect that there would be, for at least one of the tasks" I told her

Luna's eyes lit up "Oooh, I'll enter then"

"Come on Hermione, even Luna wants to do it" Ron said, nudging her

"Even Luna? What's that supposed to mean?" Luna replied, but no one answered. Everyone was looking at Hermione, who was gnawing on her lip, seemingly considering.

"No" she said finally, and we all deflated.

"Stubborn naysayer" Ron muttered.

As the train doors opened at Hogsmeade Station, there was a rumble of thunder overhead. Hermione bundled up Crookshanks in her cloak and Ron left his dress robes over Pigwidgeon as we left the train, heads bent and eyes narrowed against the downpour. The rain was now coming down so thick and fast that it was as though buckets of ice cold water were being emptied repeatedly over our heads.

"Hi, Hagrid!" Harry yelled, seeing a gigantic silhouette at the far end of the platform.

"All righ', Harry?" Hagrid bellowed back, waving. "See yeh at the feast if we don' drown!"

First years traditionally reached Hogwarts Castle by sailing across the lake with Hagrid.

"Oooh, I wouldn't fancy crossing the lake in this weather," said Hermione fervently, shivering as we inched slowly along the dark platform with the rest of the crowd. A hundred Thestral pulled carriages stood waiting for us outside the station. We climbed gratefully into one of them, the door shut with a snap, and a few moments later, with a great lurch, the long procession of carriages was rumbling and splashing its way up the track toward Hogwarts Castle.