"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it." The corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched. He continued, "As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year." He paused.

"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

"What?!" Rubi exclaimed, standing up, "THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!"

Fred and George were mouthing soundlessly at Dumbledore, apparently too appalled to speak.

"Miss. Black!" McGonagall yelled strictly, "Sit down!"

Dumbledore fondly smiled, "I assure you Miss. Black, it is all for a good cause. If you would take a seat, I can explain."

Rubi reluctantly sat back down.

Dumbledore resumed talking, "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy- but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-"

But at that moment, there was a deafening rumble of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall banged open. A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black traveling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swung toward the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling.

He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark gray hair, then began to walk up toward the teachers' table. A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on every other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling.

Rubi gasped.

The lightning had thrown the man's face into sharp relief, and it was a face unlike any Rubi had ever seen. It looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. But it was the man's eyes that made him frightening.

One of them was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye- and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so that all they could see was whiteness.

The stranger reached Dumbledore. He stretched out a hand that was as badly scarred as his face, and Dumbledore shook it, muttering words. They conversed before Dumbledore nodded and gestured to the man to the empty seat. He sat down, shook his mane of dark gray hair out of his face, pulled a plate of sausages toward him, raised it to what was left of his nose, and sniffed it. He then took a small knife out of his pocket, speared a sausage on the end of it, and began to eat. His normal eye was fixed upon the sausages, but the blue eye was still darting restlessly around in its socket, taking in the Hall and the students.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Dumbledore brightly into the silence. "Professor Moody."

None of the staff or students clapped except Dumbledore and Hagrid, but the sound echoed dismally into the silence, and they stopped fairly quickly. Everyone else seemed too transfixed by Moody's bizarre appearance to do more than stare at him.

"Moody?" Rubi muttered to Fred. "Mad-Eye Moody? The one your dad went to help this morning?"

"Must be," said Fred.

"What happened to him?" Rubi wondered. "What happened to his face?"

"I'm not quite sure." Fred replied.

Moody seemed totally indifferent to his less-than-warm welcome. Ignoring the jug of pumpkin juice in front of him, he reached again into his traveling cloak, pulled out a hip flask, and took a long draught from it. As he lifted his arm to drink, his cloak got pulled up, several inches of carved wooden leg, ending in a clawed foot.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "As I was saying," he said, smiling at the sea of students before him, all of whom were still gazing transfixed at Mad-Eye Moody, "we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"You're JOKING!" said Fred Weasley loudly. The tension that had filled the Hall ever since Moody's arrival suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively. Rubi scrunched up her nose in confusion.

"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said, "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar..."

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly.

"Er- but maybe this is not the time ... no..." said Dumbledore, "where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament... well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely. The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities- until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

"Death toll?" Rubi murmured, slightly alarmed.

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament," Dumbledore continued, "none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger." He paused again.

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

"I'm going for it!" Fred hissed his face lit with enthusiasm at the prospect of such glory and riches. He was not the only person who seemed to be visualizing himself as the Hogwarts champion, as many others in the Great Hall had misty expressions on their faces. Rubi felt an unsettling feeling erupt in her stomach at that prospect. She didn't want Fred to participate in something that could be potentially dangerous and life threatening.

Dumbledore spoke again, and the Hall quieted once more.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," he said, "the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age- that is to say, seventeen years or older- will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This-"

Dumbledore raised his voice slightly, for several people had made noises of outrage at these words, and the twins were suddenly looking furious

"-is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion."

His light blue eyes twinkled as they flickered over Fred's and George's mutinous faces. "I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen.

"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!" Dumbledore sat down again and turned to talk to Mad-Eye Moody.

There was a great scraping and banging as all the students got to their feet and swarmed toward the double doors into the entrance hall.

"They can't do that!" said George, who had not joined the crowd moving toward the door, but was standing up and glaring at Dumbledore. "We're seventeen in April, why can't we have a shot?"

"They're not stopping me entering," said Fred stubbornly, also scowling at the top table. Rubi frowned. "The champions'll get to do all sorts of stuff you'd never be allowed to do normally. And a thousand Galleons prize money!"

"Yeah," said Ron, a faraway look on his face. "Yeah, a thousand Galleons..."

"Come on," said Hermione, "we'll be the only ones left here if you don't move."

They set off for the entrance hall, Fred and George debating the ways in which Dumbledore might stop those who were under seventeen from entering the tournament.

"Who's this impartial judge who's going to decide who the champions are?" said Harry.

"Dunno," said Fred, "but it's them we'll have to fool. I reckon a couple of drops of Aging Potion might do it, George..."

"Dumbledore knows you're not of age, though," said Ron.

"Yeah, but he's not the one who decides who the champion is, is he?" said Fred shrewdly. "Sounds to me like once this judge knows who wants to enter, he'll choose the best from each school and never mind how old they are. Dumbledore's trying to stop us giving our names."

"People have died, though!" said Hermione in a worried voice as they walked through a door concealed behind a tapestry and started up another, narrower staircase.

"Exactly Fred! People have died, why throw yourself into something like this?"

"Yeah," said Fred airily, "but that was years ago, wasn't it? Anyway, where's the fun without a bit of risk? Hey, Ron, what if we find out how to get 'round Dumbledore? Fancy entering?"

"What d'you reckon?" Ron asked Harry. "Be cool to enter, wouldn't it? But I s'pose they might want someone older... Dunno if we've learned enough..."

"I definitely haven't," came Neville's gloomy voice from behind Fred and George. "I expect my gran'd want me to try, though. She's always going on about how I should be upholding the family honor. I'll just have to- oops..."

Neville's foot had sunk right through a step halfway up the staircase. There were many of these trick stairs at Hogwarts; it was second nature to most of the older students to jump this particular step, but Neville's memory was notoriously poor. Harry and Ron seized him under the armpits and pulled him out, while a suit of armor at the top of the stairs creaked and clanked, laughing wheezily.

"Shut it, you," said Ron, banging down its visor as they passed. They made their way up to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, which was concealed behind a large portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she said as they approached.

"Balderdash," said George, "a prefect downstairs told me."

The portrait swung forward to reveal a hole in the wall through which they all climbed. A crackling fire warmed the circular common room, which was full of squashy armchairs and tables. Rubi and Hermione bidding them good night, disappeared through the doorway to the girls' dormitory.

***

The next day at breakfast, the twins continued their ideas on how to enter the tournament. Lee helped encourage them but was not wanting to join himself.

"Can you guys stop with it already?!" Rubi exclaimed, her hands slamming the table. "Listen, I love you guys, truly. And as a friend, I am there to support you, but I'm not so keen on the idea of you lot trying to enter a tournament that poses hazards to an individual." She expressed.

The twins shared a look, their faces hardening.

"So, you don't want to encourage us and support us like a good friend?" George asked sharply.

Rubi's eyes widened, her hands curling into fists, "Oh so you're going to guilt trip me now?" She spat out, strands of red appearing in her black locks. "Oh forgive me for showing concern for the well-being of my friends!" Rubi yelled, waving her fists around.

Fred's face softened, "Love, that's not-"

"Oh save it!"

And with that, Rubi stood up, storming away and dropping into the space by Hermione, the trio of friends startled by the young Black's sudden and angered appearance.

"Fred, you're just driving her away, you tosspot!" Lee pointed out, frustrated by his friends.

Meanwhile, Rubi was ranting to Harry, Ron and Hermione about her friends.

"They're being real prats, you know? I mean, can't I at least show some concern and not be criticized as not being supportive? Stupid arses." She raged before dropping her head onto the table. "I'm too tired for this crap." She muttered.

Hermione rubbed her back, "Forget boys, instead try to save some energy for classes. We have a long year ahead of us."

"Unfortunately."

***

They were outside for the whole day, from Herbology to Care of Magical Creatures, which mind you caused Rubi to end up with a burn on her hand thanks to the Blast-Ended Skrewts they were to feed for the whole class. It was her love for Hagrid she even put effort into tending to those creatures, and nor did she try to complain about the burn.

They sat down to eat lunch and all stared in surprise at the bushy haired girl, as Hermione shoveled food down real quick.

"Er- is this the new stand on elf rights?" said Ron, referring to the obsession Hermione was having about House-Elves and not being paid and such. "You're going to make yourself puke instead?"

"No," said Hermione, with as much dignity as she could muster with her mouth bulging with sprouts. "I just want to get to the library."

"What?" said Ron in disbelief. "Hermione- it's the first day back! We haven't even got homework yet!"

Hermione shrugged and continued to eat fast. Then she leapt to her feet, said, "See you at dinner!" and departed at high speed.

"Damn," Rubi muttered, "There's no limit for the love of anything study related then I guess."

Harry and Ron cracked humorous grins. Fred, George and Lee headed into the Great Hall at that moment. They spotted Rubi but decided to head past, knowing the girl wouldn't talk just yet.

Unbeknownst to them, Rubi felt a bit upset over the fact they ignored her instead of actually trying to talk to her. In her rage, she also stood up, swinging her bag over her shoulder and headed off to the library, not noticing the sad pair of eyes that followed her all the way out.

When the bell rang to signal the start of afternoon lessons, Harry and Ron, with Rubi joining them mid-way, set off for North Tower where, at the top of a tightly spiraling staircase, a silver stepladder led to a circular trapdoor in the ceiling, and the room where Professor Trelawney lived.

The familiar sweet perfume spreading from the fire met their nostrils as they emerged at the top of the stepladder. As ever, the curtains were all closed; the circular room was bathed in a dim reddish light cast by the many lamps, which were all draped with scarves and shawls.

The three sat down at the same small circular table.

"Good day," said the misty voice of Professor Trelawney right behind Harry, making him jump.

Professor Trelawney was peering down at Harry with the tragic expression she always wore whenever she saw him. "You are preoccupied, my dear," she said mournfully to Harry. "My inner eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas... most difficult... I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass... and perhaps sooner than you think...." Her voice dropped almost to a whisper.

Ron rolled his eyes at Harry, who looked stonily back. Rubi yawned, already feeling herself about to doze off. Professor Trelawney swept past them and seated herself in a large winged armchair before the fire, facing the class.

She talked about stars and the movement of planets, their positions and what those may mean. Soon Trelawney rounded on Harry once again, as if she had no other choice of topic.

"What?" Harry muttered as Ron prodded him, as the young Potter's mind had drifted off.

"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn," said Professor Trelawney, a faint note of resentment in her voice at the fact that he had obviously not been hanging on her words.

"Born under- what, sorry?" said Harry.

"Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn!" said Professor Trelawney, sounding definitely irritated that he wasn't riveted by this news. "I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth... Your dark hair... your mean stature... tragic losses so young in life... I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?"

"No," said Harry, "I was born in July."

Ron hastily turned his laugh into a hacking cough, same for Rubi who let out a loud laugh before masking it as a cough, both of them grinning humorously at Harry.

Half an hour later, each of them had been given a complicated circular chart, and was attempting to fill in the position of the planets at their moment of birth. It was dull work, requiring much consultation of timetables and calculation of angles.

"I've got two Neptunes here," said Harry after a while, frowning down at his piece of parchment, "that can't be right, can it?"

"Aaaaah," said Ron, imitating Professor Trelawney's mystical whisper, "when two Neptunes appear in the sky, it is a sure sign that a midget in glasses is being born, Harry..."

Rubi chuckled. Seamus and Dean, who were working nearby, sniggered loudly, though not loudly enough to mask the excited squeals from Lavender Brown,

"Oh Professor, look! I think I've got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one's that, Professor?"

"It is Uranus, my dear," said Professor Trelawney, peering down at the chart.

"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" said Ron.

Rubi snorted loudly while Harry snickered. Most unfortunately, Professor Trelawney heard Ron, and it was this, perhaps, that made her give them so much homework at the end of the class.

"Real smooth, Ronald you wanker." Rubi deadpanned, whacking Ron on the head, as they headed off to the Great Hall after the class.

"Ow! Hey, can't I create some jokes without being insulted for it?" He retorted.

"While it was nice and all until we landed with this shit load of homework." Rubi replied bitterly, patting her bag.

"Lots of homework?" said Hermione brightly, catching up with them. "Professor Vector didn't give us any at all!"

"Well, bully for Professor Vector," said Ron moodily. They reached the entrance hall, which was packed. They had just joined the end of the line, when a loud voice rang out behind them.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

The quartet turned. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something. 

Hello!

So that was the latest update, and I'll be adding another chapter soon! 

-Serina