The five of us went to the Great Hall for the feast. I knew that this one would be different from the usual feast considering what book we were in. They would also be introducing the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, which seemed to be a running theme amongst the books. They probably could saved a lot of effort by just hiring Snape as the teacher, but then they would lose a lot of plot since everyone to hold the position was important, except for Gilderoy Lockhart, whose only contribution was sheer incompetence. Seriously, what was Dumbledore thinking when he hired the guy?
We headed to the Ravenclaw table. I had no idea what they served at the feasts, but I assumed it wasn't anything weird. It was probably some kind of meat and probably something from a creature that wasn't endangered. It might have just been from a cow. I wondered what it would be like to be a magical chef. I found it hard to picture that a wizard would want to be a chef. As far as I knew they didn't teach any sort of cooking class at Hogwarts. Also cooking with magic seemed like cheating.
I took a seat next to my brother. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to talk to him during Dumbledore's speech or not, but I knew that I needed to get to know him especially since I didn't know anything about him. I just had to figure out how to do that without looking or sounding weird. It was also kind of awkward because I didn't really know how to act like a girl, but so far no one thought anything was different. I noticed that a lot of people didn't seem to be looking at me for some reason. My roommates seemed to think that I was okay, but for some reason people seemed to turn away when I looked at them.
"Good evening to you, girls." Michael greeted my roommates. It was then that I was hit with an idea. It probably wasn't the best idea, but it would let me know about him and probably something more about myself as well.
"Michael, please don't tell them any more embarrassing stories about me." I pleaded. If my general knowledge of older brothers in fiction was anything, he would do just that.
"Do you lot want to hear about the first time Adelaide used a wand?" Michael asked with a grin.
"No…" I remarked but the rest of them all nodded, including Upton. At that point, we started to be served. It seemed like they at least wanted us to start our meals before Dumbledore began to speak. It probably just wasn't mentioned since the dinner didn't really have anything to do with the plot. There was going to be a lot of exposition coming up.
"Well she was probably about seven. Mum was preparing dinner. She stepped outside to grab some carrots from outside and Addie went and grabbed her wand. She then proceeded to destroy the kitchen, somehow setting the oven on fire and spilling flour everywhere. It was so funny." Michael explained. I couldn't help but blush. Even though, it hadn't happened, I was still embarrassed about it. Mandy laughed so hard that milk started to come out of her nose. I couldn't imagine myself doing that.
Before Michael could say anything more, Dumbledore walked up to the podium. Part of me wondered if he would sound more like the first actor to play him who died after the second movie. There was a big difference in the two actors' tones.
"Good evening, students and professors." He declared. He sounded like the second Dumbledore. It was probably better because the first one sounded a little bit too lethargic. I always thought Richard Harris sounded like he was going to fall asleep. "Before we bring in the first-years for the sorting ceremony, I would like to make some announcements. For starters, I would like to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Alistair Moody."
There was a round of applause from the students, most of whom I was pretty sure were just extras. It was probably every British teenager's dream to be an extra in a Harry Potter movie. I also found out that Julianne Hough and her brother Derek were extras in the first movie. I couldn't help but wonder if I would see either of their characters. I was pretty sure that Derek was in Ravenclaw so it was possibly he could show up.
"Now, you may have noticed some changes around the school." Dumbledore explained as Filch started to run down the floor. "You see Hogwarts has been chosen…"
Filch then interrupted the speech to talk to him and several of the students giggled a little as the squib whispered something to him before he ran off again. I wasn't entirely sure what Filch had said to him, but I couldn't help but wonder why it couldn't wait until later. I didn't think we would be finding out either.
"Now then Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event." Dumbledore continued as several students turned to look at Filch as he ran off. "The Triwizard Tournament."
"I can't believe it." Mandy whispered. I was at least glad that I knew what was going on and how things were going to go.
"This is so incredible." Michael added.
"Now for those of you who don't know, The Triwizard Tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school, a single student is selected to compete. Now let me be clear, if chosen you stand alone and trust me when I say these contests are not for the faint of heart, but more of that later. Now please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and their headmistress Madame Maxime."
At that point, a bunch of girls who looked like models walked into the Great Hall. They all did some kind of…gesture, which I wasn't sure what the point of was other than stimulating the boys. They did look very sexy though. Behind them was a giant woman. I was pretty sure that she was an actual giant.
Everyone then clapped and several of the boys cheered. It was kind of pathetic. I was fairly certain that not a single student from Hogwarts was going to date any of those girls. However, Ron's brother was going to marry Fleur. I looked at my brother and rolled my eyes. Dumbledore then quelled the cheers. I wasn't really a person to have crushes on fictional characters. I then thought about if I would be having a love interest. I hoped that I wouldn't because I didn't want to date any boys.
"Enough." He declared. "Now please welcome our friends from the North, the proud sons of Durmstrang and their highmaster Karkaroff."
At that point, the men who looked more like soldiers than students entered. They all had the same haircut and buff physique that wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. Maybe it was because I didn't really like the military. I also wonder why of the three biggest wizard schools in Europe, only one was coed. It seemed kind of old-fashioned but then I remembered the wizarding world was very old-fashioned. The real reason was probably just a lack of foresight on Rowling's part, but she really didn't seem to have a lot of foresight. There were a lot of continuity issues that could have been solved by better worldbuilding without using companion stories as a copout.
Anyway, the men were very athletic. They were able to do cartwheels and backflips with perfect synchronization. There were also several gasps when Viktor Krum walked into the room. I was surprised that more people weren't concerned about the older man, considering that he was a former Death Eater. Maybe they just didn't know and knew more about the celebrity Quidditch player. I was also surprised that you were allowed to play Quidditch while still in school.
That night, I was in my room with the girls. You know I had to say that being at a girls' pajama party wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, but that also could have been because we were thirteen. Apparently for sleeping I had a sky blue short-sleeved button-up nightgown. It was something that was appropriate for a teen to wear. Upton was wearing a white tank and red plaid pajama pants. At least we didn't say anything embarrassing. I could only imagine what it was when we were first-years. I also still hoped that we were going to talk about something constructive. I wanted it to be something other than boys. I then decided to make the conversation constructive by starting one.
"So, this Triwizard tournament sounds like it could be fun." I remarked. I mean I knew that I wouldn't be in it and I also knew how incredibly dangerous it was, but I felt like it was a good conversation starter.
"Well I've already heard that we're not going to be able to be in it." Mandy replied. I didn't say that I wanted to be in it. "I've got people who apparently heard Dumbledore say that you have to be 17 to enter."
"I wouldn't want to enter." I stated. "It might be fun to watch, but it sounds like it would be dangerous to be in."
"I bet you could do it." Luna declared. I was glad that it was going to be Harry doing it.
"Well did you see those total hotties from Durmstrang?" Maria questioned. That was something that I wanted to avoid. We were not going to spend the rest of the night talking about boys.
"I don't know. I didn't that they were that cute." Upton replied. I hoped that the conversation wouldn't keep going from there. Fortunately, Upton changed the subject. "So, who's excited to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"
"I can't wait to see what they have there. I heard that there's a place that sells gags and there's also a place that sells butterbeer, but I can't wait to see everything there." I explained. I had seen Hogsmeade at Universal Studios, but I imagined that the real thing would be better, well as real as being inside a fictional story could be.
Of course, I didn't know what was going to go on at Hogsmeade, considering that there were no major events there in this book. It was possible that it could have been a completely uneventful trip.
In the morning, I prepared for the trip to the village. We were going to be chaperoned for our first visit, but we could travel there and back unaccompanied for any additional times that we needed to go. We would also be wearing our uniforms because we were being chaperoned.
"Everybody stay in line." Professor McGonagall ordered. "Now I needn't remind you that you need to be on your best behavior here at Hogsmeade and you also need to return before curfew. Now I will leave you to enjoy your stay. I hope you all have a good day."
The first thing that I noticed was that there didn't seem to be a place that sold cats or other animals. I frowned because I was really looking forward to one. I wondered if it was possible to have one sent to me. I seriously didn't know how that would work. My cat Malia was probably what I missed most right now and while another cat wouldn't replace her, it would help me miss her less, especially since I had no idea how to get back to my own world. I might have to wait until the book was over.
Among the shops were: a magical item repair shop, an herbology shop, a shop that sold magical instruments, a clothing store, a hair salon, a post office, Honeyduke's Sweet Shop, a potion shop, a tea place that I really didn't know much about, a branch of Ollivander's, two cauldron shops, a quill shop, a sporting goods place that sold quidditch supplies, a radio station, a bookstore, Zonko's, two pubs, and the Shrieking Shack where Lupin turned into a werewolf. I probably was going to get food and not at the tea shop because I didn't really like tea, though I probably wouldn't be able to avoid it considering that I was British now. I was pretty sure that you didn't have a choice to like tea if you were British. I began to walk with Upton down the road.
"So, have you gotten many chances to talk to Hermione yet?" I asked. Hermione could probably help explain some of her life to her.
"Well, it's not very easy for us to talk considering we're in different houses." She pointed out.
"I don't think that you would really have a problem with that." I commented. "I know this whole thing is weird, but don't you think that she'll find it strange if she thinks that you're avoiding her. I get that she's the smartest student not in Ravenclaw, but you have to try to find things to talk about. Plus, you may be able to find out more about yourself as well."
"Are you going to try to have a relationship with Michael?" She questioned.
"Yes, I think that we have to. We have to interact with other people and there's also a reason why we have siblings instead of just keeping our own names." I explained. I still hadn't been able to figure out why we were girls yet. I knew a lot of the protagonists of young adult novels were girls, but that was not the case with this story and also neither of us were the protagonist.
"Well I don't suppose that you have a plan to get us out of here." She suggested. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to do that. I couldn't help but wonder floo powder would be able to do it, but I also wasn't sure if we would be able to obtain any.
"Why do we have to leave right away?" I challenged. "We could just try to enjoy things right now. I mean when else are we going to get a chance to go to Hogwarts and be real witches?"
"Addie, you know how dangerous this place is, don't you?" She countered. "People get killed in these books and it could happen to us. Also I don't really want to be a girl."
"None of the students die this early in the series." I argued. Well, except for Cedric. "Things are going to be fine,"
"Well look who decided to come." A voice interrupted. I saw a Slytherin girl with brown hair across from us. "Still hanging out with this mudblood, I see, Adelaide. You could be so much more with the right friends."
I had no idea who the girl was, but I felt angry when she said that about my friend. Also why did she look so much like Dua Lipa? You know this was the first time that I had seen an act of racism up-close.
"What did you call her?" I asked angrily.
"You heard what I said. Maybe if you weren't so batty about her, you would ditch her." The girl responded. I didn't even know what that meant, but I knew that I didn't like it. I could tell by her tone that it wasn't a good thing.
"Don't you ever get tired of being a racist bitch, Daphne?" Mandy interrupted. This was Daphne Greengrass? I didn't know a lot about the characters who weren't in the books, but that was one name that I did recognize. Apparently, her sister married Malfoy.
"No, not really." Daphne responded. I was a bit surprised how Slytherins could be so blatant with their racism.
"Well why don't you go do it somewhere else?" Mandy replied before she zapped Daphne's feet causing her to fall on her butt. "Nice knickers, Daphne."
Daphne then walked away angrily. I had a feeling that I would be seeing her again. I was also starting to really like Mandy. She seemed like she was loyal to her friends.
"Come on, let's go to the Hog's Head." Mandy said before taking us there.
So we're learning a little bit more about the girls and they ran into Daphne Greengrass. Please don't forget to review