Aries entered the Great Hall of Hogwarts with carefully concealed awe. Despite his misgivings about Hogwart's education standards, he could admit that it was a beautiful castle.

He observed the five tables which segregated the four houses and teachers of Hogwarts. The Gryffindors were looking at them with barely concealed contempt, Raveclaws with curiosity, Hufflepuffs with welcome expressions and Slytherins with calculating gazes. How cliché.

Their contingent made an silent unanimous decision to sit with the Slytherins, while Aries heard a shout of "That's Krum." from the Gryffindor side. A Quidditch fan, apparently.

As soon as they were seated, the doors opened to allow entry to the Beauxbaton contingent. About twenty girls dressed in blue summer dresses, followed a fairly tall women, who could be none other than Madame Maxime. Aries saw a familiar blonde among the girls, who waved at him enthusiastically, despite the disapproval of her classmates.

Aries felt himself smile back. Perhaps this year wouldn't be as terrible as he had imagined.

Beauxbatons seated themselves at the Ravenclaw table, as Dumbledore announced the triwizard tournament, which, it seemed like, was a surprises to most of the Hogwarts students. He mentally grimaced himself at the age restriction of being of age before new years. The clause was specifically changed because of him. Karkaroff knew that he was the best student in Durmstrang and wouldn't be seventeen till Christmas.

The age restriction, as expected, brought groans from the younger Hogwarts population, who didn't understand the dangers of a tournament which had death rate higher than honor duels.

He felt his attention shift back to Louise Delacour. She was sitting with an older girl, her sister, by the looks of it, giggling uncontrollably at some joke. She was incredibly beautiful, and possibly had veela heritage, judging by the attention she was receiving from the male populace. But that wasn't what attracted, Aries' attention. He found her interesting, smart and unafraid to speak her mind and above all she didn't judge him because of his heritage.

Aries knew that as the future Lord of his house, he would have to marry someday, despite his grandfather not arranging his betrothal (Probably due to the results of the last betrothal he arranged). He had resigned himself to spend to spend his life with some pureblood women, who he'd have nothing in common with. But looking at Louise, he found hope that he could do his duty to his house and be happy doing so.

"You are not interested in that half breed, are you?" asked his cousin, who was sitting at his side.

Aries frowned. It seemed Lord Malfoy had been successful molding Draco into a miniature clone of himself, while Aries was away.

"Don't you know the Malfoy's have veelas in their ancestry, Draco?" he asked.

"What? Of course not. Malfoys would never associate with such riff raff."

"Maybe you should read your geanology books more carefully. From where do you think the silvery blonde hair came from?" He returned to his food, while his cousin spluttered protests.

Aries watched Louise enter her name in the goblet alongside her sister, as the Hogwarts populace filtered out through the door. She walked up to him as she noticed him.

"Not going to enter your name?" she asked, tilting her face to a side.

"I wouldn't if it had been up to me. There would be too much to do once I get my Lordship, without this tournament hanging over my head. But Karkaroff has many copies of my freely given signature on school assignments, and the Goblet is magically binding."

" Isn't that dangerous? They didn't even mention a magical bond. Anyone can enter anyone's name that way. Shouldn't they use something less archaic for selecting the champions? "

"It was Dumbledore's idea." he offered.

Her features turned to a scowl. "Should have guessed."

"We are free to leave the school tomorrow. Will you allow me to escorts you to Hogsmeade?" he asked, hoping to start his courtship.

She blushed prettily. "I would have loved to come but I've already promised Fleur that I'd spend the day with her."

Aries tried to not let his disappointment show.

"You could join me in the evening, before the feast. I'll be performing a Samhain ritual. Fleur doesn't like to perform it, says it feels like death." she continued.

"It would be my pleasure." he said, smiling at her as she went back to her sister.

He hadn't performed a Samhain ritual since he was three. After the imprisonment of the three Lestrange, grandfather had been reluctant to do anything that would make them appear dark. Aries wondered if he would feel grandfather's spirit tomorrow.