Triwizard Tournament
THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUXBATONS AND DURMSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER, LESSONS WILL END HALF AN HOUR EARLY-
"Brilliant!" Harry had interrupted, "It's Potions last thing on Friday! Snape won't have time to poison us all!"
STUDENTS WILL RETURN THEIR BAGS AND BOOKS TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORE THE
WELCOMING FEAST.
"Only a week away!" Ernie Macmillan said excitedly. His eyes were gleaming, "I wonder if Cedric knows? Think I'll go and tell him..."
"Cedric?" Ron said blankly as Ernie hurried off.
"Diggory, obviously," Lucifer answered him.
"He must be entering the tournament," Harry said.
"That idiot, Hogwarts Champion?" Ron said as they pushed their way through the chattering crowd toward the staircase.
"He's not an idiot, Ronald," Hermione said, "You just don't like him because he beat Gryffindor at Quidditch, and that was only because of the Dementors."
"You only-" Ron was cut off.
"Weasely," Lucifer's voice was clear, but it had an air of authority about it that caused Ron to stop talking, "How much money do you have on you?"
"I don't know... like... twelve Sickles?" Ron then pulled out his money pouch and confirmed it to be Thirteen Sickles.
"Alright, how about a bet?"
"What kind of bet?" Ron asked uneasily.
"Well, I'm going to bet that Diggory is the Champion for Hogwarts, and you're going to be betting that it's anyone else, fair?" Lucifer asked him.
"That's fair, I've got the Odds in my favor, but still," Ron was smiling cheekily.
"Alright, I'm going to place down Five Galleons that it will be Diggory, and you're going to place down Five Sickles that it won't be him," Lucifer made his offer.
"Deal. Easiest Five Galleons I'll have ever made," Ron stuck his hand out and they both shook on it.
"What are you doing?!" Hermione asked her boyfriend, looking at him as they got back to the Common Room.
"Making a friendly wager, why?"
"You have terrible odds on this!" Hermione practically squealed.
Lucifer only shrugged, "What else do you expect from me?"
Hermione only huffed and muttered something that sounded like
'Honestly now' but he only smiled.
xxxxxx
The appearance of the sign in the Entrance Hall had a marked effect upon the inhabitants of the Castle.
During the following week, there seemed to be only one topic of conversation, no matter where Lucifer went, the Triwizard Tournament.
Rumors were flying from student to student like highly contagious germs; who was going to try for Hogwarts Champion, what the tournament would involve.
And how the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang differed from themselves.
Hermione especially noticed that the Castle seemed to be undergoing an extra-thorough cleaning.
Several grimy portraits had been scrubbed, much to the displeasure of their subjects, who sat huddled in their frames muttering darkly and wincing as they felt their raw pink faces.
The suits of armor were suddenly gleaming and moving without squeaking, and Argus Filch was behaving so ferociously to any students who forgot to wipe their shoes that he terrified a pair of First-Year girls into hysterics.
Other members of the staff seemed oddly tense too, "Longbottom, kindly do not reveal that you can't even perform a simple Switching Spell in front of anyone from Durmstrang!"
Professor McGonagall had barked at the end of a lesson that most of the class had found to be difficult, during which Neville had accidentally transplanted his own ears onto a cactus.
When they went down to breakfast on the morning of the Thirtieth of October, they 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 them all bore the Hogwarts Coat of Arms, the Lion, Eagle, Badger, and Snake united around a large letter H.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lucifer sat down beside Fred and George at the Gryffindor table.
Once again, and most unusually, they were sitting apart from everyone else and conversing in low voices.
Ron led the way over to them.
"It's a bummer all right," George had said gloomily to Fred, "but if he won't talk to us in person, we'll have to send him the letter after all. Or we'll stuff it into his hand. He can't avoid us forever."
"Who's avoiding you?" Ron asked as he sat down next to them.
"Wish you would," Fred said, looking irritated at the interruption.
"What's a bummer?" Ron continued questioning.
"Having a nosy git like you for a brother," George said coldly.
"You two got any ideas on the Triwizard Tournament yet? Thought any more about trying to enter?" Harry asked the both of them.
"I asked McGonagall how the Champions are chosen, but she wasn't telling," George said bitterly, "she just told me to shut up and get on with transfiguring my raccoon."
"Since you both won't be able to compete anyway, probably for the better," Lucifer said without care.
"Says who?" Fred asked in a defiant tone.
"Says the age restriction," he answered.
"Fred and I have a way around that," George said with a smirk.
"If it helps you sleep at night," Lucifer said, ending the topic.
"Wonder what the tasks are going to be?" Ron asked 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," Fred said, "McGonagall says the champions get awarded points according to how well they've done the tasks."
"If any of us could do well and deserved to be the Champion based on magical power, well I have to agree with Katie, Lucifer is probably the only one of us who deserves it at that point," Hermione said, looking at him.
He was deliberately focusing on his food, "Of course, we all know that's not how the Impartial Judge chooses the Champions."
"Who are the judges, anyway?" Harry asked.
"Well, the Heads of the participating schools are always on the panel," Hermione said, and everyone but Lucifer 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 a rampage," Lucifer further explained.
Hermione gave him a grateful smile, since he was the only other one there who'd read Hogwarts: A History.
"If any of you besides Lucifer and I had read Hogwarts: A History, you'd have known that."
"I've read it... just... don't remember much from the one time I did read it..." Harry said, a hint of embarrassment in his voice.
"Not that it matters," Hermione said, "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?" Ron asked her.
"House-Elves!" Hermione said, her eyes flashing with anger, "Not once, in over a thousand pages, does Hogwarts: A History mention that we are colluding in the oppression of a hundred slaves!"
Hermione looked at Harry, Ron, Fred, and George, and saw that all four of them seemed entirely unenthused about it.
Of course, she didn't expect much from her fellow Gryffindor.
After some persuasion from Lucifer, she didn't corner people in the Common Room to try and coerce them into caring about their cause.
In fact, so far the only students to buy a badge outside of Harry and Ron because of Lucifer were Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff girls from Fifth and Sixth year, and Luna had also bought one.
Not all of them, but a few from each grade when they saw Lucifer wearing one.
Hermione was glad he was unashamed to wear his badge, which he was wearing almost every minute of the day.
To her surprise, Cedric had bought one, he explained that how his father treated Winky at the World Cup was unprofessional, and that he'd show his support.
Cedric getting one of the Badges had convinced his fellow Sixth Year Hufflepuffs to get badges as well if they hadn't already.
She was brought from her thoughts when the Owl Post had arrived.
Hedwig swooped down to Harry and had a letter on her left leg.
She had landed on Harry's shoulder and clicked her beak.
"Thanks, Hedwig," Harry said and offered her his plate of breakfast, which she began to happily devour.
He read the letter aloud when Fred and George were immersed in other topics.
'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.
Sirius'
"Why do you have to keep changing owls?" Ron asked in a low voice.
"Hedwig is a noticeable Owl, Weasely," Lucifer said with a sigh, "Being a Snowy White Owl, she stands out and will draw attention if she keeps going to the same place all the time."
Hedwig soon left, probably feeling exhausted, and went to go take a long sleep in the Owlery.
There was a pleasant feeling of anticipation in the air that day.
Nobody was very attentive in the
Lessons, except for the obvious few, being much more interested in the arrival that evening of the people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.
Even Potions was more bearable for the many who had trouble with it, as it was half an hour shorter.
When the bell rang early, the four of them hurried up to Gryffindor Tower, deposited their bags as they had been instructed, pulled on their cloaks, and rushed back downstairs into the Entrance Hall.
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