Duel Enrollment

Before the Bell Rings

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Cornelius casually slipped the gloves on so he could get ready to hold what was inside the bag and he did so just as Rita Skeeter walked into the room with her ever present drink ...

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"Hey, Draco. What's wrong?" Julian whispered as he sat next to an annoyed Draco at the tables for the Legerdemain students.

Draco glanced over his shoulder to look at Ron before turning back to Julian, "The last time we were here the redhead idiot got nasty. Sasha nearly ate his rat just to make him go away. We still ended up hiding from all the other gossip mongers." He said not happy that he spent that entire day basically hiding from certain Hogwarts students who wanted details on Julian, but didn't have the balls to ask directly. Of course, that might have been a good thing because it meant no one was in Julian's way as he searched for Dumbledore.

"That explains why I didn't see you all day! You never told me that. If anyone bugs you again just tell me- ..." Julian trailed off when he glanced over to the redhead and saw the rat. "Stay away from that rat."

The Malfoy frowned, knowing Julian was worried about something. "Why-" Unfortunately, there was no time to continue their talk because Severus stood tall to make an announcement.

"Today will be the day of the first round of the Tri-Wizard Tournament!" Severus announced and he waited for the cheers to quiet down before continuing. "The first round will begin in two hours. Right after breakfast the competitors will be escorted to a room where they can rest and mentally prepare. Also, if you see floating crystal butterflies you're seeing a camera from a different news organization. For those who don't know what I mean you will just need to watch the new screens when you watch the first round. You'll understand then. Now, everyone eat."

Draco ignored the food that appeared and immediately looked back at Julian, "What's with the rat?"

"It has a human soul." Julian whispered as he looked for the minister, who was nibbling at a danish while waiting for the students to finish their meal. When the high heeled 'Rita' went over to chat with the minister, Julian conjured up a tiny piece of paper and wrote something. He saw Obi watching from overhead and let Obi read the note from above before giving it to his tiny occamy who zipped away with it.

'I should've eaten it then.' Sasha growled as she hopped off Draco's lap and kept an eye on the rat.

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"Minister Fudge!" Rita called out and her high heels clacked as she walked over to him. "What's this about a different news organization being here?"

Cornelius finished the danish and wiped the stickiness off his left gloved hand with a napkin, "I do apologize about that, Rita. Once the Legerdemain students returned to their homes word got out and now everyone wants to know what's happening. To make things easier I allowed a couple different foreign news organizations to report on the tournament. This decision has nothing to do with you or your impeccable skills."

Rita smirked as her pride was stroked and took a sip of her drink, "Of course, Minister. I know it's not easy being the one everyone needs for guidance."

The minister mentally cringed at the meaning behind that comment. It really showed Dumbledore's arrogance. Thankfully, something distracted him so he didn't make a passive aggressive comment to the homicidal wizard hiding behind a curvy disguise. That something was a little occamy passing him a note.

"Thank you." Cornelius said as he took the note. As Tanzanite flew back to Julian, the minister opened and read the note. "Oh my." He said casually and immediately destroyed the note effectively disappointing Rita who tried, and failed, to sneak a peek. "I better talk to Severus about some children before this gossiping turns into a lawsuit."