stardust ⋮ george weasley

twenty-four :

T W E N T Y - F O U R

⋮✰⋮

The days following the Quidditch World Cup were thankfully much less eventful. All four girls spent the rest of the summer holidays at the Badin house, minus a day where they traveled to Diagon Alley to pick up all their supplies for the school year. Mr. Badin was rarely seen in those days, working long hours at the Ministry to try and make sense of the disaster and horror that happened at the World Cup.

Well, that's what he had told the girls. But Estelle happened to overhear her parents discussing quietly about some sort of event that would be happening that year at Hogwarts. While Mr. Badin seemed excited for it and was eagerly awaiting for it to start, Mrs. Badin seemed nervous, claiming that it was too dangerous to be brought back to Hogwarts.

So of course, when Estelle ran back to the girls and immediately told them everything she had heard, the room seemed to burst as they tried to think what sort of event this could be. Ophelia seemed keen to take part in it, especially after learning that Estelle's mother had described it as "dangerous." Adeline tried to rack her brain thinking of any sort of dangerous events at Hogwarts that had happened in the past, but if she knew what it was, she couldn't seemed to remember it. The girls spent hours trying to figure out what Estelle's parents were talking about, but by the time the sun came up that next morning, none of them even had a clue.

But by then they had ridden the Hogwarts Express and were stuffing their stomachs in the Great Hall, thoughts of a mysterious dangerous tournament had nearly disappeared from their minds. All anyone could talk about was how good the food was and the events of the Quidditch World Cup, which was still fresh in everyone's minds given how recent it was.

That was, until, Professor Dumbledore stepped up to the owl podium to give his annual speech.

His speech had a dramatic start with the arrival of Mad-Eye Moody, who would apparently be taking over as the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Adeline had only heard wild rumors about the famous Auror and the dark wizards he had spent years capturing, but now that she was seeing him in the flesh, she was finally starting to believe those stories.

But the arrival of Professor Moody was nothing compared to his next news.

"Hogwarts will have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century." Professor Dumbledore smiled in an almost knowing way down at the sea of students. "It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"You're joking!"

Professor Dumbledore had to wait for the students to stop laughing before he spoke again, although he didn't seem too annoyed with Fred's exclamation. "I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," He chuckled. "Although, now that you mention it...I did hear an excellent one over the summer about  troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar."

Adeline heard Professor McGonagall clear her throat loudly, and the Headmaster went a little sheepish under her stare over how off-track he had gotten. "Where was I? Ah yes...the Triwizard Tournament. 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 Great Hall had gotten the most silent Adeline had ever seen as Professor Dumbledore explained the event, each and every student wanting to know exactly what this famous tournament would be.