𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗦

𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘛𝘙𝘐𝘞𝘐𝘡𝘈𝘙𝘋 𝘛𝘖𝘜𝘙𝘕𝘈𝘔𝘌𝘕𝘛

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The ride with the horseless carriages was short and before they knew it, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Alina were already dashing on the stone steps and into the castle, along the rest of the students.

Not much has changed since the last time they've been there. Well, not much can change in a couple of months, right? That was something that applied to both the Hogwarts Castle and the people who lived and studied in it. They were making their way to the Great Hall and admiring the view of the Great Lake when a red balloon fell from above, landing onto Ron's head and exploding, splashing everybody around him.

Everybody looked up to see who was at fault for this—Peeves the Poltergeist. The ghost was floating right above their heads and he had a malicious smile on his face as he took aim to throw another balloon. Professor McGonagall's angry voice echoed from the Great Hall and through the hallway, asking Peeves to stop throwing balloons at the students and come down, and quick enough, her silhouette was wandering down the corridor. She slipped when she stepped in a puddle and she grabbed Hermione by the neck to stop herself from falling, then sincerely apologized for it. Once again, Professor McGonagall asked Peeves to stop harassing the students and come down, and when he refused to do so, she threatened to tell the Headmaster about this incident, which earned a chuckle from Harry and his friends.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, everybody," Alina said, scrunching up her nose a little bit as she laughed.

"I'd rather be pranked by ghosts than see the Dursleys again," replied Harry.

"Good point," Alina admitted. She wanted to ask Harry when he plans to move out, but then she got reminded that he was supposed to move with his godfather, Sirius, but he was forced to go on the run, so the girl decided against saying anything.

They reached the Great Hall and slid across the entrance, taking in the view as they made their way to the Gryffindor table. Just as expected, the Great Hall was beautifully decorated for the start-of-term feast. When they passed by the Slytherins, Alina's name was called out.

"Hey, van Blumenthal!" said Crabbe. "Why are you so wet? And what did you say to Draco after you shoved us off on the train? He's been sulky ever since—"

The boy shut his mouth when Draco Malfoy's elbow collided with his arm, and he started whining instead. Alina rolled her eyes and continued to walk, looking away from the Slytherins.

"That's right," Harry said. "I saw you talking to Malfoy on the train and he looked pretty offended. What was that about?"

"Nothing," Alina replied. "Really, it's not even worth mentioning."

Alina never told her friends about what happened at the campsite, about how Draco saved her by pulling her out of that crowd and directed her to the woods. It wasn't because she didn't want to mention it, but because she didn't know how to explain the whole thing. And after it happened, her mother advised her to stay away from Draco Malfoy and the rest of his family, so she chose not to bring it up to her friends either.

"Whatever you say," Harry said, not really believing what Alina said.

They sat down near the rest of the Gryffindors, next to Nearly Headless Nick, who was wearing an extra-festive ruff. Before the feast could begin, the Sorting had to happen.

"Look!" Hermione said, looking up at the staff table. "I wonder who's going to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year! I don't see any new faces."

Hermione's comment made everybody look in the same direction as she did, noticing that there were more empty seats than usual.

The door of the Great Hall opened, revealing Professor McGonagall, who was leading a long line of first-year students, all of them soaking wet. Thanks to Peeves, they looked like they have swum across the lake, rather than sail. Professor McGonagall placed a stool on the ground and put the Sorting Hat on top of it. Silence fell for a short moment, then the hat began to sing a song. As the dreadfully long song finally came to an end, everybody clapped their hands.

And so, the Sorting began. Students were invited, one by one, to take a seat on the wooden stool and wait for the Hat to pick their House, then they were invited to their designated seats. Alina smiled when she saw the combination of nerves and enthusiasm on the first-year students faces, as she was reminded of her own sorting. That felt like it happened an eternity ago, even if, in fact, it was only her fourth year of being at Hogwarts.

Every time the Hat announced a new Gryffindor, their table started to proudly clap, offering a very warm welcome to the newcomers. Even though they were all starving and looking forward to the feast, the Sorting festivity was lovely nonetheless, and it was an important moment for everyone, as it marked a new beginning for the students who joined the Houses, and it was a moment of freshness for the older students to see the new faces.

After the last student was Sorted, Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet and announced the beginning of the feast. The empty dishes magically filled with food right in front of their eyes, impressing everyone, particularly the first-year students.

"You're lucky there's a Feast tonight," said Nearly Headless Nick after hearing Ron's comments about being incredibly hungry.

"Why? What happened?" asked Harry.

"Just the usual—Peeves wanted to attend the feast, but we all know he couldn't have done it without causing a mess all around the place, so the Ghost Council was summoned. Some of them wanted to give him a chance, but the Bloody Baron didn't share the same opinion, so Peeves made a scene in the kitchens."

"What did he do?" Ron said, taking a bite of his steak.

"He wrecked havoc and mayhem, of course," said Nearly Headless Nick, shrugging. "Pots and pans everywhere. Place swimming in soup. Terrified the house-elves out of their wits."

"There are house elves here?" Hermione asked, knocking over her golden goblet. "At Hogwarts?"

"Certainly," Nearly Headless Nick said. "There are over a hundred, I think. The largest number in Britain!"

"That's strange," Hermione said. "I've never seen one."

"That's because they hardly ever leave the kitchens. And when they do, they do a bit of cleaning, see to the fires, and so on."

"But they do get paid, right?" she asked. "They get holidays and sick leave and pensions, right?"

"Sick leave and pensions?" Nearly Headless Nick started to laugh and shook his head. "House-elves don't want any of that!"

The girl threw her fork back on the table. "Slave labor!" She exclaimed. "That's what made this dinner, slave labor."

And she refused to eat another bite.

Alina curiously looked at girl. She could understand why she was upset. The van Blumenthal had a house-elf too, but they have gifted him clothes since the very beginning, because her mother insisted that she doesn't want to force somebody to work for them, and that it should be the elf's decision if he wants to come back to work for them or not. And as a reward, he gets paid in coins and gifts. And lots of secrets and love. Before Friedrich and Alina were born, he and his well-being were the main focus for the van Blumenthals. Maybe it was something that Muggles insisted to do, and even if Alina couldn't understand her mother entirely, she agreed that it was only natural to reward the house-elf for their loyalty and their services, instead of forcing them to work for free. Their job wasn't easy.

There was a thunderstorm going on outside and the rain was heavily drumming against the glass windows, the lightning illuminating them from time to time.

Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet, and everybody went silent.

"Now that you're all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices."

He started with telling everyone that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has been updated and that it can be found in Mr. Filch's office, that the forest is off-grounds for every student and so was the village of Hogsmeade, the only all-wizarding village in Britain, to all the students below third year.

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

"What?" Alina said, her eyes widening. "Why?"

She wasn't the only one complaining about this, the Great Hall was filled with whispers after Dumbledore's last announcement. It was needless to say that the Quidditch team wasn't happy with the news, and neither were their supporters.

"This is due to an important event that is going to be starting in October, and continuing through the entire school year. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts—"

Before Professor Dumbledore could announce what event could be so important that they would cancel Quidditch for the entire year, a loud rumble of thunder was heard at the exact same time as the doors of the Great Hall opened once again.

In the doorway, there stood a man, whose figure was hidden by the traveling coat he was wearing, and he leaned on a long staff. His face was illuminated by the strike of lightning, and at first, Alina wasn't sure if he was human or not. His face certainly didn't look like it.

The man's skin was scarred everywhere, and a part of his nose seemed to be missing. And that was not the scariest part about the stranger's face—it was his eyes. One of his eyes was black, and the other was blue, but it looked.. mechanical. It was ceaselessly moving, it didn't blink and at some point, it rolled to the back of his head, showing nothing but whiteness.

When he began to walk forward, there was a clunking noise on his every step, meaning that one of his legs must have been wooden. He finally reached Dumbledore and shook his hand, then whispered something to the headmaster. After that, he took a seat at the staff table, right next to Professor Dumbledore.

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

Nobody clapped. All the students had their eyes glued to their new teacher, and they were too busy and too shocked to do anything else but to stare at him.

"Moody?" said Harry to Ron. "Mad-Eye Moody? The one your dad went to help this morning?"

Mad-Eye Moody. The name sounded familiar to the van Blumenthal girl and she was sure that she has heard her parents mentioning him before, but it took her a while to remember anything about him.

"What happened to him?" Harry asked. "What happened to his face?"

"I don't know," Ron replied.

"I think I know," said Alina, curiously watching the man from afar. "He is an Auror, one of the feared ones. So his job must be the reason why he looks like this."

Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"As I was saying, we have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century," he said. "It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"No way," Alina said, gasping.

"You're joking!" said Fred Weasley, loudly.

"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," Professor Dumbledore admitted, then, as a short history, he explained what the Triwizard Tournament meant, how it was held in the past and what it involves. When he mentioned that over the years, some students perished during the trials of this tournament, whispers filled the Great Hall.

As exciting as it first sounded, Alina couldn't help but wonder if the promise of eternal glory was worth the danger. For a moment, she imagined herself as a contestant and then, she asked herself whether she would be able to hold the Cup proudly, knowing that somebody gave their life away in order to win this tournament, and they have failed. The answer was no. As brave and reckless as Alina van Blumenthal was, she had a bad feeling about this tournament.

Professor Dumbledore announced that students from two other magic schools, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, will soon arrive at Hogwarts and after that, the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. All around them, people started talking: they were all visualizing themselves as Hogwarts' champions, as the ones who could bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, but their dreams were quickly ruined by the next announcement. To sign up, students had to be of age, seventeen or older.

The students whose dreams had just been crushed were furious.

"Come on," Hermione urged them to get up after the students were dismissed from the Great Hall, "we'll be the only ones left here. Let's go."

Harry, Ron, Alina and the Weasley twins finally rose from their seats and headed to Gryffindor common rooms, discussing ways to convince the impartial judge to let Fred and George sign up, even if they were not yet of age.

"I think it's pointless," said Alina, "Dumbledore knows you two are not seventeen yet and even though he's not the one to pick the champions, he will have a say in this. You two probably won't even be allowed anywhere near the impartial judge." She chuckled.

"Oh, yeah?" Fred scoffed. "We'll see about that, van Blumenthal. You might be cheering for either me or George on Halloween."

"Hopefully not," Alina muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" George asked. "You don't want to see us winning?"

"It's not that," Alina corrected him. "I just have a bad feeling about this tournament. People have died in the past and even with this age rule, I don't see how that'd protect the champions. So I'd rather not have any friends competing."

As soon as they reached the Gryffindor Tower, the fat lady asked for the password.

"We'll see you guys tomorrow," said Alina, waving at the boys right before heading to the girl's dormitory with Hermione.

"Do you think they'll do it?" asked Hermione.

"Hm?" Alina hummed. "Do what?"

"Fred and George, I mean," she said. "Do you think they'll find a way to sign up for the Triwizard Tournament?"

"They're Fred and George, Hermione," Alina pointed out. "They will find a way. But I don't think it will work."

"Let's hope it doesn't."

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as promised, here is another update! thank you for all the love and support you've shown to this story, it warms my heart to see your votes and read your comments! i'm eternally grateful!

i hope you enjoyed this chapter! we're slowly digging through the plot of the first act. there will be a lot of similarities to the books, but watch out for all the differences and the hints!

until next time, don't be a stranger! 🥰