Death is but the Next Great Adventure

No Time For Losers, 'Cause We Are the Champions

In the last chapter: Harry's fourth year begins and Moody/Crouch Jr. begins teaching as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. They learn more about the Unforgivables, as well as the Triwizard tournament taking place later on in the year.

A/N: Just a quick note, in the last chapter, I mentioned that Draco was in the same class as Harry for DADA, but he's actually in the other one with the Gryffindors. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

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The night of October 30th was charged with the frantic anticipation of the arrival of the two challenging schools: Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. They were expected to arrive just after dinner. Harry didn't think he'd ever seen the students of Hogwarts finish their dinner so quickly before. He was reminded of the welcoming feast two months prior, though the wait seemed to only rile the students up even more. He vaguely wondered how any of them would manage through the year—having to attend classes and live with these students all year round if they acted like this.

He just didn't understand it. But then again, Harry wasn't one to easily excite.

Hagrid, who'd left partway through the meal, returned through the staff entrance and quietly relayed something to Dumbledore before sitting back down in his seat with a beaming smile on his face. A moment later Dumbledore stood, dessert disappeared, and the room fell silent as they watched their Headmaster step out in front of the staff table.

"Let us all give a warm welcome to the ever accomplished and elegant students of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and their lovely Headmistress, Madam Maxime!" Dumbledore exclaimed as the doors suddenly opened. A group of powder blue uniformed students strode in with chins high, backs straight, hands folded behind them, and unified, near-silent steps that barely brushed the ground. A sigh of fluttering skirts and impeccably tailored blazers as they swept into the Great Hall. Every student was mesmerized by their graceful movements and breathtaking displays of wandless magic in the form of winking blue lights and little blue butterflies. They all moved in sync, bodies looking too light and defying all logic.

Halfway down the aisle, several at the back broke away—two guys and two girls—to take the performance even further by dancing together. The boys—if they could truly be considered 'boys' since they were all likely of age—effortlessly lifted the girls into the air and then they shot them forward, as one would toss a bird into open air so that it could take flight, the two girls lifted their legs before and behind them in a beautiful arch of streaming fabric before landing with little more than a soft thump and a few graceful turns before they made it to the end of the aisle with their male partners.

The towering—yet no less poised—Madam Maxime followed her students with a proud gleam in her eyes. The applause that followed was near deafening, with many male students standing up with brilliant grins as they took in the beautiful and elegant Beauxbaton girls, while the female students were a little less rowdy in their appreciative gazes on the equally impressively attractive Beauxbaton boys. Harry didn't put any thought into the way his gaze may have lingered on the broad shoulders, narrow waists, and sharp aristocratic features of the boys.

Next, Dumbledore introduced the students from Durmstrang. The Scandinavian school was nearly a polar opposite to Beauxbatons. They burst through the doors with a deep and aggressive shout as their boots echoed loudly on the stone followed by the sharp clash of their wooden staffs striking the ground in a small explosion of sparks. If Beauxbatons was soft summer rain, then Durmstrang was deep rolling thunder with flashes of lightning. Everything about them seemed hard and intimidating.

Their performance was full of harsh cries, thumping staffs, wild displays of fire-magic, and incredible feats of athleticism as they flipped and tumbled to the end of the aisle with streams fiery blaze racing alongside them. The Durmstrang students were not at all shy about releasing their magic into the room to demand the respect of everyone near. Even Harry could feel it, sitting nearest the center aisle with the other Ravenclaws and Gryffindors framing each side.