The morning of October 30th arrived, with huge anticipation in the air for the arrival of the Beuxbatons and Durmstrang students. When we went down to breakfast, we found that the Great Hall had been decorated overnight. Enormous silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts House: red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, and green with a silver serpent for Slytherin. Behind the teachers' table, the largest banner of all bore the Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger, and snake united around a large letter H.
"Not showing off at all are we?" said Amy, smirking.
"Well we need to show some pride and confidence in ourselves" I replied.
We sat down next to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George.
"You two got any ideas on the Triwizard Tournament yet?" Harry asked. "Thought any more about trying to enter?"
"I asked McGonagall how the champions are chosen but she wasn't telling," said George bitterly. "She just told me to shut up and get on with transfiguring my raccoon."
"Quite rightly too!" said Demelza "It's only fair that everyone goes in on the same page, and she wouldn't want anyone trying to work out ideas of how to get past it!"
"Wonder what the tasks are going to be?" said Ron thoughtfully. "You know, I bet we could do them, Harry. We've done dangerous stuff before. . . ."
"Not in front of a panel of judges, you haven't," said Fred. "McGonagall says the champions get awarded points according to how well they've done the tasks."
"Also, let's be fucking honest, you were very lucky to get out of those situations alive" Demelza added.
"Oh shut up!" said Ron angrily.
"That's your only response, because you know it just as well as I do"
"Who are the judges?" Harry asked. "Well, the Heads of the participating schools are always on the panel," said Hermione, and everyone looked around at her, rather surprised, "because all three of them were injured during the Tournament of 1792, when a cockatrice the champions were supposed to be catching went on the rampage."
She noticed us looking at her and said, with her usual air of impatience that nobody else had read all the books she had, "It's all in Hogwarts, A History. Though, of course, that book's not entirely reliable. A Revised History of Hogwarts would be a more accurate title. Or A Highly Biased and Selective History of Hogwarts, Which Glosses Over the Nastier Aspects of the School."
"What are you on about?" said Ron.
"House-elves!" said Hermione, her eyes flashing. "Not once, in over a thousand pages, does Hogwarts, A History mention that we are all colluding in the oppression of a hundred slaves!"
Even my patience with Hermione on this topic had worn off now, and I, like Harry and Ron, ignored her and returned to eating.
"Listen, have you ever been down in the kitchens, Hermione?" said George
"No, of course not," said Hermione curtly, "I hardly think students are supposed to —"
"Well, we have," said George, indicating Fred, "loads of times, to nick food. And we've met them, and they're happy. They think they've got the best job in the world —"
"That's because they're uneducated and brainwashed!" Hermione began hotly, but her next few words were drowned out by the sudden whooshing noise from overhead, which announced the arrival of the post owls. Harry looked up at once, and saw Hedwig soaring toward him. Hermione stopped talking abruptly; she, Ron and I watched Hedwig anxiously as she fluttered down onto Harry's shoulder, folded her wings, and held out her leg wearily.
"That from, you know..." I said to Harry, and he nodded. He read out the letter to us in a whisper.
"Nice try, Harry. I'm back in the country and well hidden. I want you to keep me posted on everything that's going on at Hogwarts. Don't use Hedwig, keep changing owls, and don't worry about me, just watch out for yourself. Don't forget what I said about your scar"
"That was never going to work Harry" I said sadly "He may claim to be well hidden but all it takes is one mistake"
"Tell me about it" he replied
"Why d'you have to keep changing owls?" Ron asked in a low voice.
"Hedwig'll attract too much attention," said Hermione at once. "She stands out. A snowy owl that keeps returning to wherever he's hiding . . . I mean, they're not native birds, are they?"
"Thanks, Hedwig," Harry said, stroking his owl. She hooted sleepily, dipped her beak briefly into his goblet of orange juice, then took off again, clearly desperate for a good long sleep in the Owlery.
Nobody was very attentive in lessons, being much more interested in the arrival that evening of the people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang; when the bell rang early, Demelza, Amy and I left our bags in Gryffindor Tower, pulled on our cloaks, then rushed down to the entrance hall to join the welcoming party.
"Follow me, please," said Professor McGonagall. "First years in front . . . no pushing. . . ." We 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. We stood in the second row from the front, right behind Dennis Creevey, who was literally shivering with anticipation.
"I wonder how they'll be arriving" said Amy "You can't apperate in or out of this castle, they're coming way too far for brooms or thestrals, and I doubt they'd want to use that many portkeys"
"To be honest, they could just use the floo network, couldn't they, there's no real need for this extravagant welcome" I said
"I reckon they'll both have their own unique methods. They'll want to show themselves off too. All 3 schools will want to try and gain that early mental advantage" said Demelza
"True, the mental advantage can be crucial in competitions" I agreed.
We scanned the darkening grounds excitedly, but nothing was moving; everything was still, silent, and quite as usual. I was beginning to grow impatient, wishing they'd hurry up, I was feeling cold and hungry now. Just as I was about to voice this however, 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 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, we saw a gigantic, powderblue, 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.
"Oh wow, not too different to thestrals in the end then" I said
The front three rows of students drew backward as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed — then, with an almighty crash, the horses' hooves, larger than dinner plates, hit the ground. A second later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes. The door of the carriage bore a coat of arms (two crossed, golden wands, each emitting three stars)
A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forward, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor, and unfolded a set of golden steps. He sprang back respectfully. Then we saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from the inside of the carriage — a shoe the size of a child's sled — followed, almost immediately, by the largest woman we had ever seen in our lives. The size of the carriage, and of the horses, was immediately explained. A few people gasped.
We had only ever seen one person as large as this woman in his life, and that was Hagrid; we doubted whether there was an inch difference in their heights. Yet somehow — maybe simply because we were used to Hagrid — this woman (now at the foot of the steps, and looking around at the waiting, wide-eyed crowd) seemed even more unnaturally large. As she stepped into the light flooding from the entrance hall, she was revealed to have a handsome, olive-skinned face; large, black, liquid-looking eyes; and a rather beaky nose. Her hair was drawn back in a shining knob at the base of her neck. She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and many magnificent opals gleamed at her throat and on her thick fingers. Dumbledore started to clap; the students, following his lead, broke into applause too, many of them standing on tiptoe, the better to look at this woman.
"Bloody hell, I never thought I'd see another person as big as Hagrid" I said
"I don't think any of us did mate" Demelza added.