Julia Swan-Black

Chapter 4

A while later they were proceeding to the entrance hall after a long day only to find themselves struggle to enter due to the large crowd of students congregated there. They seemed to be milling around a large sign which had been erected at the foot of the marbled staircase. Blaise the tallest of the group stood on tiptoe to see over the group and read the sign aloud to the others. 

Triwizard Tournament

The Delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 0' clock on Friday 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early.

Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the welcoming feast. 

"They will be arriving in a week this will be interesting. Time for everything to start. It better be worthy enough to not get to play quidditch this year." Draco said grumpily to the group of friends. Julia looked at Daphne with a slight smirk as they giggled a little. Harry consoling Draco as he pouts slightly too. 

"We can still play quidditch as friends just not competitively with teachers and stuff. Come on boys it's fine." Julia says, smiling at them as she leads them around the crowd into the great hall for food. 

The appearance of the sigh in the entrance hall had a marked effect upon the inhabitants of the castle. During the following week, there seemed to only be one topic of conversation. The Triwizard tournament, rumours were flying around from student to student like crazy highly contagious germs: who was going to try for Hogwarts champion, What the tournament would involve, How the students from the other schools differed from themselves. 

Julia noticed, too, that the castle seemed to be undergoing an extra thorough cleaning. Several grimy portraits had been scrubbed clean, much to the displeasure of their subjects, who sat huddled in their frames muttering darkly and wincing as they felt their raw pink faces. The suits of armour were suddenly gleaming and moving without squeaking. Argus Flinch, the caretaker, was behaving more ferocious than usual about cleanliness too. Other members of staff seemed oddly tense too. Especially during classes as well as just around the castle. 

When they went down to breakfast on the morning of thirtieth of October, they found the great hall decorated overnight. It was magnificent, enormous silk banners hung from the walls. Each of them representing different Hogwarts houses.  Red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, Blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, Yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, And finally Green with a silver serpent for Slytherin. 

Behind the teachers table the largest banner of all hung. It bore the Hogwarts coat of arms; lion, badger, eagle and snake united together around the letter H. Breakfast was mostly uneventful other than the murmur of excitement and anticipation in the air. Nobody was really very attentive in the following lesson, just looking forward to that evening. When the early bell rang for end of that days lesson, people were almost exploding in excitement. 

When the bell rang early, the group dropped of their bags in the Slytherin dorm before following Snape's instructions going to the entrance hall. The head of houses were ordering their students into lines. Snape got everyone into lines depending on their years before leading them outside to wait for the incoming school students. 

They filed down the front steps and lined up in front of the castle. It was a cold, clear evening; dusk was falling and a transparent-looking moon was already shining over the forbidden forest. Harry was holding Julia's hand tightly as she shivered slightly in the cold air as they stood in the fourth row from the front. "It's nearly 6, not much longer Julia." Draco said comfortingly without dropping his pureblood façade.