Destined| Goblet of Fire: Book 4

Announcements

Kiana

"It's not me you only have to apologize, you three made fools of yourselves in front of my band mates, apologize to them," I said in a whispered tone as the three apologized.

"We apologize," the boys said hurriedly.

"Let us guess, two over protective twin brothers, and this would be Harry, your best friend?" Josh asked and I nodded.

"Hello," they said shortly. "Forgive us?"

I rolled my eyes but nodded. Boys are weird.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and - most particularly - guests, I hope you enjoyed our welcome performance," said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students who clapped wildly. " I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

One of the Beauxbatons girls clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh.

"No one's making you stay!" Hermione whispered, bristling at her.

"Snap Mi, Snap," I giggled.

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," said Dumbledore. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

He sat down, and I saw Karkaroff lean 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 us than I had ever seen, including several that were definitely foreign.

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

"Bouillabaisse," I said.

"Bless you," said Ron.

"It's French," said Calvin, "We had it on tour, remember Ana? It's very nice."

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

"Ana?" Harry questioned.

"New nickname," I chuckled.

Harry hesitantly nodded and went back to his meal. The Great Hall seemed somehow much more crowded than usual, even though there were barely twenty additional students there; perhaps it was because their differently colored 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 bloodred. Hagrid sidled into the Hall through a door behind the staff table twenty minutes after the start of the feast. He slid into his seat at the end and waved at us five with a very heavily bandaged hand.

"Was it the Skrewts?" I asked.

Hermione nodded.

"Skrewts doing all right, Hagrid?" Harry called.

"Thrivin'," Hagrid called back happily.

"Yeah, I'll just bet they are," said Ron quietly. "Looks like they've finally found a food they like, doesn't it? Hagrid's fingers."

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

I felt my hair shift colors from black to blonde.

"Oh, you are Veela," She smiled.

I shrugged. It was the girl from Beauxbatons who had laughed during Dumbledore's speech. 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.Ron and Jake went purple. They stared up at her, opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out except a faint gurgling noise.