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FOUR.
"MAY I have your attention please?" Dumbledore shouted over the chatter in the room, bringing the focus to him and the large gold ornament he stood beside. Arabella had no idea what it was, but she guessed it must have been something valuable by the way that it glistened valiantly off the candlelight. "I'd like to say a few words."
"Eternal glory - that is what awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament. To do this, this student must survive three tasks; extremely dangerous tasks. For this reason, the Ministry have imposed a new rule. To explain all this, we have the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement--"
Just as the man stepped into view, who Bella recognised as Bartemius Crouch Senior, a storm began to brew within the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall. People began to scream, but the Ravenclaw just rolled her eyes. Storms never affected her; she couldn't comprehend how people could be scared of them. To her, they were not frightening at all - just endlessly fascinating.
A flash of red light flew into the air, calming the grey thundering clouds until the ceiling returned to its normal night sky scene. Mad-Eye Moody discreetly tucked his wand back into his robe pocket, looking around when students' eyes turned to him in the dark corner of the room. "Bloody hell, that's Mad-Eye Moody." Bella heard Ron exclaim from the Gryffindor table.
"Alastor Moody, the Auror?" Hermione corrected.
"He's a wizard-catcher. Half the people serving time in Azkaban are thanks to him. He's supposed to be mad as a hatter these days."
Moody hobbled down the steps, his one leg limping with the support of his cane. He glanced around the room before greeting Albus Dumbledore with a pat on the arm. "My dear old friend, thanks for coming." The Professor welcomed, a warm smile present on his face.
Mad-Eye took a long sip from a small flask bottle, wincing and shaking his head seemingly from the unpleasant taste. "What's that he's drinking?" Bella asked her friend and roommate, Deanna Quinn, who she sat beside. Out of her three roommates, Deanna was the only one that she found sufferable to be around. The other two she loathed completely; always bitching behind other people's backs, sneaking bottles of Fire Whiskey into the room, and staying up late, which would always keep Arabella awake from their obnoxiously loud laughing.
Even after the six years she had to share a room with them, she still couldn't bring herself to like them. But she was sure that the hatred was mutual.
She always thought it was a miracle that they got into Ravenclaw too, because they weren't smart at all. She was convinced that the Sorting Hat got it wrong on those two.
"I don't know, but I don't think it's pumpkin juice." Deanna replied, pushing her glasses further up her nose.
Bartemius Crouch stepped onto the stage-like platform, clearing his throat with a loud cough. "After much consideration, the Ministry has concluded that for their own safety, no student under the age of seventeen will be allowed to put forth their name to enter the Triwizard Tournament."
