Harry Potter: The ghouls awakening

Chapter 97

No one's POV

After that extremely confusion encounter with Technoblade, they want about their day as they normally would.

The next day they had heard that the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o'clock on Friday the 30th of October which meant it was only a few days away.

"I heard that Cedric Diggory might be entering the tournament." Keith said as he had his hands behind his head a he sat with the others in Slytherin common room.

"Where did you hear that?" Harry asked as he read a book.

"Ernie Macmillan, he's a Hufflepuff that I heard when everyone was gathering in the Great Hall reading it.

"I heard that there was talk of a special guest arriving to watch the tournament as well." Tracey said while doing some homework.

"Special guest? Who could that be?" Malfoy wondered as he had just finished a report he had to hand in about the traits of mandrake and what it can be used for in potions for Herbology.

Harry shook his head as he went back to his book.

"Perhaps a ministry wizard?" Daphne guessed as she walked over to them as she sat down next to Harry.

"We will know on the day so let's not worry about it." Harry said simply.

During the week there seemed to be only one topic of conversation, no matter where Harry had gone:

The Triwizard Tournament.

Rumours were flying from student to student like highly contagious germs: who was going to try for Hogwarts champion, what the tournament would involve, how students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang differed from themselves.

Harry could say that he was getting fed up with that quickly but what he had also noticed was that the school seemed to be undergoing an extra-thorough cleaning.

Kyle had had told him that he saw several grimy portraits had been scrubbed, much to the displeasure of their subjects, who sat hudled in their grams muttering darkly and wincing as they felt their raw pink faces.

Jessie said that she heard Flich was behaving so ferociously to any student who forgot to wipe their shoes that he terrified a pair of first-year girls into hysterics.

He had even heard that other members of the staff seemed oddly tense, too.

"Longbottom, kindly do not reveal that you can't even perform a simply switching spell in front of anyone from Durmstrang!" Professor McGonagall barked at the end of one particularly difficult lesson, during which Neville had accidentally transplanted his own ears onto a cactus.

Finally Friday came as they went down to breakfast that morning, thy found that the great Hall had been decorated overnight.

Enormous silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts house- red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff and green with a silver serpent for Slytherin.

Behind the teachers table, the largest banner of all bore he Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger and snake United around a large letter "H".

Harry, Daphne and Malfoy spotted Fred and George at the Gryffindor table.

Once again, and most unusually, they were sitting apart from everyone else and conversing in low voices.

Harry turned his head to see Jessie shaking her head as Kyle just chuckled.

Shaking his head as well, he decided it was best that he didn't ask because he probably didn't want to know.

The rest of the day went on before it came time for the students to gather into the Great Hall as the teachers were moving them as orderly as they could.

"I wonder how the other schools are going to get here." Tracey wondered.

They all watched the darkened grounds excitedly but nothing was moving, everything was still, silent and quite as usual.

Harry wished they'd hurry up...then he thought that maybe the foreign students and guest were preparing a dramatic entrance.

It was then that Dumbledore called out from the back row, where the other teachers stood.

"Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

"Where?" Many of the students asked eagerly, all looking in different directions.

"There!" A sixth-year yelled, pointing over to the forest.

Something large, much larger than a broomstick or, indeed, a hundred broomsticks were hurtling across the deep blue sky towards the castle, growing larger all the time.

"It's a dragon!" Shrieked one of the first years, losing her head completely and Harry was glad it wasn't a Slytherin because that was just disappointing.

"Don't be stupid...it's a flying house!" Dennis Creevey said.

Dennis's guess was closer...as the gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, they saw a gigantic, powder blue, horse drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring towards them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant.

The front three rows of students drew backwards as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed – then, with an almighty crash that made Neville Juno backwards onto a Slytherin fifth-years foot – the horses' hooves, larger than dinner plates, hit the ground.

"Wow...that just seems like overdoing it." Technoblade commented before Professor McGonagall swatted his shoulder.

"He's not wrong." Snape agreed.

A second later the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed there enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes.

A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forwards, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor and unfolded a set of golden steps.

He sprang back respectfully.

It was then that Harry saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from the inside of the carriage – a shoe the size of a child's sled – followed almost immediately, by the largest woman he'd ever seen in his life.

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