Rose Dursley: The Girl Who Lived

7. New Arrivals

When they got to the castle, Ginny saw some of her other friends, so she rushed over to say hello. As the others entered the courtyard, they noticed some kind of commotion off to the side.

Ron saw Neville looking at something outside. "What's going on?" Ron asked.

"Not sure, there's something in the sky flying towards us," said Neville.

Rose and Hermione went over to see what was happening. There, high up in the sky, was a group of flying horses. Behind them, they were pulling a large carridge. It was light blue, and about the size of a small house.

As they all watched, the carridge swooped down low over the forbidden forest and came to land on the grass nearby.

"Who is that?" Rose asked.

"I don't know," said Ron. "It's not something I've seen before."

Everyone was waiting to see who comes out from the carridge. Before the doors opened, a voice cried out from the other side of the courtyard. "There's something in the lake."

Everyone turned and rushed over to the other side of the courtyard. They could see a what looked like a barrel with a flag pole. As they watched, the pole started to rise up from the lake. The flag pole grew larger, until they realised it was actually the mast of a ship. It kept rising higher and growing, until an entire ship had come up through the surface of the lake.

All the students were confused about what was happening in their school. After the initial excitement, everyone started to quiet down. Eventually they started to walk into the Great Hall for the welcome feast.

Once everyone was seated and settled down, Dumbledore stood up to give his welcome speech.

"Now, I have an announcement. As you may have noticed, we have been joined by students from two other schools for this year," said Dumbledore. "That is because this year, Hogwarts has been chosen to host the Triwizard Tournament."

There was some excited murmuring among the most of the students. Rose and Hermione looked at each other and shrugged.

"For those who don't know, this brings together three schools to compete in a magical tournament," said Dumbledore. "One student will be chosen to represent each school in a series of magical trials to decide the winner."

"Cool," said Ron.

"Now, let us give a warm welcome to the lovely ladies from Beauxbatons Academy," said Dumbledore.

The doors of the Great Hall swung open, and in walked a large group of young witches. They were all dressed in a light blue uniform, and they all looked very pretty as they skipped through the door.

All the boys in the room got excited when they saw the girls walk in through the Great Hall.

Ron sighed as they walked past where he was sitting. "Bloody hell," he said.

Rose also watched the girls as they walked past. Her eyes were drawn to one of them. She had long silvery blonde hair, striking eyes, and was the most beautiful person that Rose had ever seen. Rose sighed and felt a flutter in her belly that she did not understand. Rose felt drawn to this girl in a way she had never experienced before.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Urgh, typical boys," she said. "They're all pigs."

Rose blushed beside her. "Err, yeah, terrible," she said.

The boys cheered and wolf whistled as the Beauxbaton girls made their way to the front of the Hall.

Dumbledore held up his hands to quiet everyone down. "And please welcome, from the north, the sons of Durmstrang."

The doors opened again, and this time a group of boys entered. They were all dressed in dark clothes and carried staffs, which they banged on the floor as they marched in.

As the Durmstrang boys marched past, Ron recognised one of them. "Bloody hell, that's Viktor Krum," he said.

Once they had finished their entrance, and everyone had quietened down again, the doors opened again. This time a large ornate box was brought in and taken to the front of the hall.

Dumbledore stepped forward again to address all the children. "Eternal glory awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament," he said. "To do this, they must complete three dangerous tasks. Because of this, no one under the age of seventeen is allowed to put their name forward to enter."

A lot of moaning and grumbling erupted throughout the hall. Most of the younger children were angry that they would not get the chance to prove themselves.

"Quiet down," said Dumbledore.

Once everyone was silent, Dumbledore pulled out his wand and pointed it at the box. The box the opened to reveal a large cup with flames coming out the top.

"The Goblet of Fire," said Dumbledore. "Anyone who wishes to enter the tournament needs to write their name on a piece of parchment and throw it into the flames."

Dumbledore paused and waited for a moment while everyone thought about what he had said.

"And lastly, as a final piece of news, I would like to introduce our new defence against the dark arts teacher. Professor Moody," said Dumbledore.

From the back of the room, a strange looking man hobbled forwards. He used a cane to walk, and had a false eye that looked around by itself. His appearance caused gasps of fear from the younger children.

"That's Mad-eye Moody," said Ron.

"Do you mean Alastor Moody, the auror?" Hermione asked.

"What's an auror?" asked Rose.

"A dark wizard catcher," said Ron.

"I suppose he would know a lot about defensive spells then," said Rose.

Once all the announcements are over, Dumbledore sat down, and the feast began. As they ate, most of the conversations were about the Triwizard Tournament. Rose picked at her food and kept glancing over at the table where the girls from Beauxbatons were sat.

"So who do you think should represent Hogwarts?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," said Hermione. "I don't really know many seventh years."

"Well, apart from Cedric," said Ginny.

Hermione blushed slightly.

"What did you think, Rose?" Ginny asked.

Rose flicked her head up at the mention of her name. "Eh, what?" she said.

"Do you think Cedric would win for Hogwarts?" said Ginny.

"Umm, I wouldn't know. I don't really know much about him," said Rose. "But I'm kind of tired, I might get an early night."

"Yeah, me too," said Hermione. " I think I will come with you."

"Are you not staying for dessert?" said Ron. "They've got a pavlova."

"Mmm, tempting, but not this time," said Rose.

Rose and Hermione said goodnight to all their friends, then they walked out towards their common room. As they walked, they did not talk. Rose was distracted by her thoughts, and Hermione was watching her.

When they reached their dormitory, Hermione sat on her bed and turned to Rose. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Rose.

"Are you sure? You look worried," said Hermione.

"No, it was just something about one of the girls from Beauxbatons..." said Rose. "But it's nothing, don't worry about it."

"Well okay, let's just get some sleep then," said Hermione.

Rose and Hermione then got undressed and put on their pajamas. Rose had a long sleeve pajama set she liked to wear, and Hermione had a thin nightie. Once she had her nightie on, Hermione gave Rose a quick hug, then they both climbed into bed and went to sleep.