"Hurry up you two!" said Sue, trying and failing to make her way through the throng of students making their way back up to the castle.

Satomi noticed that some of the students (the majority being girls) were gushing over the fact that THE Viktor Krum was still a student that attended Durmstrang.

"It's funny," said Lisa, as they made their way back into the entrance hall, "that us and Hermione are the only ones not gushing over Krum." she gestured to a group of sixth-year girls, who were squabbling over asking Krum to sign their hats using their lipstick.

I don't believe it!" the trio heard Ron say, in a stunned voice, as they passed by the golden quartet filing back up the steps behind the party from Durmstrang. "Krum, Harry! Viktor Krum!"

"Yup, Ronald Weasley is officially in love with Victor Krum!" said Sue, snickering as they made their way into the great hall.

As they recrossed the entrance hall with the rest of the Hogwarts students heading for the Great Hall, the trio saw many boys jumping up and down on the soles of their feet just to get a better look at the back of Krum's head.

As the Ravenclaws walked over to their table, they found that the Beauxbaton students had chosen seats at the Ravenclaw table. Seeing Victoria wave to them, the trio made their way to sit next to her. Satomi noted that most of the other Beauxbaton students had glum expressions on their faces whilst clutching their scarves and shawls.

Victoria couldn't look any more different, in her light blue cloak and looking around in awe as she waved to her cousin and her friends.

"Victoria!" exclaimed Sue, as she ran up to her cousin and hugged her. "It's been so long!"

"It has!" said Victoria, "it's great to see you two as well, Lisa and Satomi." she said as she also hugged the two girls.

As they sat down, Victoria said "ignore the students from my school, they all just think that Hogwarts is lackluster." she finished shrugging.

"What do you think about Hogwarts then Vic?" asked Sue, sitting with Victoria across from Satomi and Lisa.

"Honestly, I think it's a lot more normal than Beauxbatons, in a good way. It's always so posh at school 'cause everyone is French." she said shrugging," I guess that I like that it's a lot more down to earth."

Looking over towards the Gryffindor table, Satomi saw, Saori, Ron, Harry, and Hermione looking over towards the group of Durmstrang students, who seemed unsure as to where they should seat.

As Viktor Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students had settled themselves at the Slytherin table. Satomi saw Harry's eyes look towards the Ravenclaw table where the trio and Victoria sat, as Ron and Saori scowled, watching Malfoy speaking with Krum.

Satomi could see Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle looking very smug about this. As she watched, Malfoy bent forward to speak to Krum.

"I must say, the Durmstrang lot look a lot happier than the majority of the Beauxbatons students," said Lisa from next to Satomi. Facing the Slytherin table, Satomi saw the Durmstrang students pull off their heavy furs and looking up at the starry black ceiling with expressions of interest; a couple of them were picking up the golden plates and goblets and examining them, apparently impressed.

Up at the staff table, Filch, the caretaker, was adding chairs. He was wearing his moldy old tailcoat in honor of the occasion. Satomi noticed that he added four chairs, two on either side of Dumbledore's.

"Who are the other two people coming other than the heads of the two schools?" Satomi asked outloud.

When all the students had entered the Hall and settled down at their House tables, the staff entered, filing up to the top table and taking their seats. Last in line were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime. When their headmistress appeared, the pupils from Beauxbatons leapt to their feet. A few of the Hogwarts students laughed. The Beauxbatons party appeared quite unembarrassed, however, and did not resume their seats until Madame Maxime had sat down on Dumbledore's left-hand side. Dumbledore remained standing, and silence fell over the Great Hall.

"What was that for Victoria?" asked Sue, as she finally sat down.

"It's customary for us at Beauxbatons to stand before our school head takes their seat," said Victoria in a matter of fact tone, "that's why I think our school is too uptight, too many customs."

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and - most particularly - guests," said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh.

"I apologize on behalf of my school" whispered Victoria, "that's Fleur Delacour, she's half-veela so she's always rather full of herself to be honest." she finished, rolling her eyes.

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," said Dumbledore. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

As Dumbledore sat down, Satomi saw Karkaroff lean forward at once and engage him in conversation.

The plates in front of them filled with food as usual. The house-elves in the kitchen seemed to have pulled out all the stops; there was a greater variety of dishes in front of them than Satomi had ever seen, including several that were definitely foreign.

"What's that?" said Satomi, pointing at a large dish of some sort of shellfish stew that stood beside a large steak-and-kidney pudding.

"Bouillabaisse," said Victoria.

"I'm sorry?" said Satomi, tilting her head.

"It's French fish stew," said Victoria, "It's a very nice dish."

"I'll take your word for it," said Satomi, as she helped herself to the Bouillabaisse.

The Great Hall seemed somehow much more crowded than usual, even though there were barely twenty additional students there; perhaps it was because their differently colored uniforms stood out so clearly against the black of the Hogwarts' robes. Now that they had removed their furs, the Durmstrang students were revealed to be wearing robes of a deep bloodred.

Hagrid sidled into the Hall through a door behind the staff table twenty minutes after the start of the feast. He slid into his seat at the end and waved at Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Saori with a very heavily bandaged hand.

"Skrewts doing all right, Hagrid?" Satomi overheard Harry call.

"Thrivin'," Hagrid called back happily.

Turning around to face the Gryffindor table, Satomi saw, at that moment, Fleur Delacour, the girl from Beauxbatons who had laughed during Dumbledore's speech seemed to be talking to Ron. She had finally removed her muffler. A long sheet of silvery-blonde hair fell almost to her waist.

From her position two tables away, Satomi saw Ron, and even Saori go purple. They both stared up at her, Ron opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out.

"The veela effect," said Victoria, looking in the direction of the Gryffindor table, explaining to the three girls, "they have this beauty that entices all people, she isn't even a full veela."

As Fleur made her way to the Ravenclaw table, it was apparent that the veela charm was strong, as many boys' heads turned, and some of them seemed to have become temporarily speechless, just like Ron.

"Look!" said Sue, waving her hand in front of Lisa and Satomi, "Isn't that Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch?"

Sure enough, the two remaining empty seats had just been filled. Ludo Bagman was now sitting on Professor Karkaroff's other side, while Mr. Crouch, Percy's boss, was next to Madame Maxime.

Once the puddings have disappeared, Dumbledore stood up again. A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall now. Even Satomi felt a slight thrill of excitement, wondering what was coming. Several seats down from them, all of the Beauxbaton students were leaning forward, staring at Dumbledore with great concentration.

"The moment has come," said Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket -"

"The casket?" muttered Lisa.

Victoria, Satomi, and Sue all shrugged.

"- just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation" - there was a smattering of polite applause - "and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

There was a much louder round of applause for Bagman than for Crouch, perhaps because of his fame as a Beater, or simply because he looked so much more likable. He acknowledged it with a jovial wave of his hand. Bartemius Crouch did not smile or wave when his name was announced.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."

At the mention of the word "champions," the attentiveness of the listening students seemed to sharpen. Perhaps Dumbledore had noticed their sudden stillness, for he smiled as he said, "The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."

Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old. A murmur of excited interest rose from the watching students; Terry Boot who sat at the back of the hall actually stood on his chair to see it properly.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch 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."

At this last word, the Hall was filled with a silence so absolute that nobody seemed to be breathing.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament 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 upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames.

Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," said Dumbledore, "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 obliged 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 are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

"Okay you three, I'll see you all in the great hall in the morning tomorrow okay?" said Victoria, getting to her feet, "we're staying in our carriage."

"How does that work?" asked Sue, looking confused.

"Undetectable extension charm, genius." said Satomi exasperatedly.

"See you tomorrow then Victoria!" said Lisa, as the Beauxbaton students trooped out of the entrance hall.

As Satomi was assuming that the Durmstrang students also slept back at their ship, her assumption was confirmed, as the trio drew level with the Slytherin table with the golden quartet, and Karkaroff had just bustled up to his students.

"Back to the ship, then," he was saying. "Viktor, how are you feeling? Did you eat enough? Should I send for some mulled wine from the kitchens?"

Harry saw Krum shake his head as he pulled his furs back on. "Professor, Ivood like some vine," said one of the other Durmstrang boys hopefully.

"I wasn't offering it to you, Poliakoff," snapped Karkaroff, his warmly paternal air vanishing in an instant. "I notice you have dribbled food all down the front of your robes again, disgusting boy -"

Karkaroff turned and led his students toward the doors, reaching them at exactly the same moment as the golden quartet and Ravenclaw trio. Harry stopped to let him walk through first.

"Thank you," said Karkaroff carelessly, glancing at him.

And then Karkaroff froze. He turned his head back to Harry and stared at him as though he couldn't believe his eyes. Behind their headmaster, the students from Durmstrang came to a halt too. Karkaroff's eyes moved slowly up Harry's face and fixed upon his scar. The Durmstrang students were staring curiously at Harry too. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw comprehension dawn on a few of their faces. The boy with food all down his front nudged the girl next to him and pointed openly at Harry's forehead.

Satomi could literally feel the waves of embarrassment coming off Harry, as he shrunk ever so slightly under the number of stares coming from Karkaroff and the Durmstrang students.

"Yeah, that's Harry Potter," said a growling voice from behind them.

Professor Karkaroff spun around. Mad-Eye Moody was standing there, leaning heavily on his staff, his magical eye glaring unblinkingly at the Durmstrang headmaster.

The color drained from Karkaroff's face as Satomi watched. A terrible look of mingled fury and fear came over him.

"You!" he said, staring at Moody as though unsure he was really seeing him.

"Me," said Moody grimly. "And unless you've got anything to say to Potter, Karkaroff, you might want to move. You're blocking the doorway."

It was true; half the students in the Hall were now waiting behind them, looking over one another's shoulders to see what was causing the holdup.

Without another word, Professor Karkaroff swept his students away with him. Moody watched him until he was out of sight, his magical eye fixed upon his back, a look of intense dislike upon his mutilated face.

A/N:
HOLY MOLY DID I JUST DO AN THING?! (grammar intended)

it's been forever since I wrote and updated, this is originally meant to be part of a longer chapter but for now I've decided to post something to keep me motivated to write more in the future (ie during the holidays) and I do need a way to destress, I've been playing the drums more but I need more to destress (final season is upon me sadly)

until next time!