ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅʀᴀᴛᴛᴇᴅ ʟɪʟᴀ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇꜱ || ᴅʀᴀᴄᴏ ᴍᴀʟꜰᴏʏ x ᴏᴄ || ʏᴇᴀʀ 4

voulez-vous

No one applauded except for Dumbledore and Hagrid. This wasn't too surprising — apparently he'd been attacked by his own dustbins this morning. Mr. Weasley had to gone in to handle it himself. He'd been an incredible Auror in his prime, according to Bill, but was now old and paranoid.

"Moody?" Harry muttered. "As in Mad-Eye-Moody?"

"Must be," Ron said in awe.

"What happened to him?" Hermione whispered. "What happened to his face?"

"Bill said he had lots of enemies," Ron said quietly. "Clearly Moody's seen it all, done it all. Having a real Auror as our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? Imagine how amazing that'll
be."

Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat, regaining our attention.

"As I was saying," he smiled at us. "We are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

There were several gasps, including my own. I'd only ever read about the Triwizard Tournament once or twice — never would I have ever thought that I'd get to see it for myself. Clearly, several other students had the same opinion.

"You're JOKING!l" Fred shouted. Everyone began to laugh, and Dumbledore himself chuckled.

"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said, "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar. . ."

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat.

"Er — but maybe this is not the time . . . no . . ." Dumbledore said, "Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament. . . well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely."

As Dumbledore explained the premise of the Tournament, I let my mind do as such. Was this really such a great time for an event like this? If Trelawney's prediction was right, Voldemort was on the rise. Was all this fanfare meant to be a distraction?

And why had he hired Moody? Perhaps to protect us, but then again, he had been assaulted by his own garbage. If this was the very best Dumbledore could do after Lupin, perhaps I had every reason to be worried.

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their contenders in October, and stay with us for the remainder of the year. The selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

The excited whispers that erupted were soon to be put down by Dumbledore's mention of the age restriction. Apparently no one under the age of seventeen was meant to enter, and after Dumbledore sent us off, the Weasley twins were in a huff.

"They can't do that!" George said angrily as we left. "We're seventeen in April, why can't we have a shot?"

"They're not stopping me entering," said Fred. "The champions'll get to do all sorts of stuff you'd never be allowed to do normally. And a thousand Galleons prize money!"

"Yeah," Ron said dreamily. "A thousand Galleons. . ."

"Who's this impartial judge who's going to decide who the champions are?" Harry asked.

"Dunno," said Fred, "but it's them we'll have to fool. I reckon a couple of drops of Aging Potion might do it, George. . ."

"Dumbledore knows you're not of age, though," Ron reminded him.