A Desperate Prophecy (When Magic Interferes)

The Goblet of Fire (Why do they call it a casket?)

Beauxbatons had settled down on the Ravenclaw's table while the Durmstrang party followed the Slytherins to their table, led by Viktor Krum still who bid the two girls farewell before he followed the prince to the table, deciding that sitting with the most influential person in the hosting school was probably a good idea.

When all the students had entered the Hall and settled down at their House tables, the staff entered, filing up to the top table and taking their seats. Last in line were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime. When their headmistress appeared, the pupils from Beauxbatons leapt to their feet. A few of the Hogwarts' students laughed, they'd never show this much respect to their awful headmaster. The Beauxbatons party appeared unembarrassed, however, and did not resume their seats until Madame Maxime had sat down on Dumbledore's left-hand side (they'd had to squeeze a few seats together and some of the professors – the younger ones – decided to sit with the students to make space). Dumbledore remained standing, and a silence (begrudgingly) fell over the Great Hall.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and — most particularly — guests," Dumbledore said, beaming around at the foreign students (Hogwarts' students hoped they didn't fall for the act). "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," Dumbledore continued, ignoring the looks he was getting from the students (especially incredulous ones from the Slytherins and the Beauxbatons lot). "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

He sat down, and Karkaroff leaned forward at once and engage him in conversation. The plates in front of them filled with food as usual. The house elves in the kitchen seemed to have pulled out all the stops; there was a greater variety of dishes in front of them than Hogwarts had ever seen, including several that were definitely foreign.

"What's that?" Ron asked, pointing at a large dish of some sort of shellfish stew that stood beside a large steak-and-kidney pudding.

"Bouillabaisse," Ginny responded simply.

"Bless you," Ron said, getting laughs from their friends around them.

"It's French," Ginny explained, "I had it on holiday when I went to France with Libra. It's very good."

"I'll take your word for it," Ron shrugged, helping himself to some black pudding instead.

The Great Hall seemed somehow much more crowded than usual, even though there were barely twenty additional students there; maybe it was because their differently coloured uniforms stood out so clearly against the black of the Hogwarts' robes. Now that they had removed their furs, the Durmstrang students were revealed to be wearing robes of a deep blood red.

At that moment, a voice said, "Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"

It was the girl from Beauxbatons who had laughed during Dumbledore's speech, which had shocked the students around her. She had finally removed her muffler. A long sheet of silvery-blonde hair fell almost to her waist. She had large, deep blue eyes, and very white, even teeth.

"Yeah, have it," Kane said, pushing the dish toward the girl.

"You 'ave finished wiz it?"

"Yeah," Seamus Finnigan said breathlessly. "Yeah, it was excellent."

The girl picked up the dish and carried it carefully off to the Ravenclaw table. Dean and Seamus were still ogling the girl as though they had never seen one before. Ron and Kane, who hadn't reacted at all to the girl, started to laugh. The sound seemed to jog their two roommates back to their senses.