Broken But Beautiful~Dramione

Chapter seven

Draco and Hermione cut the long line waiting to go through security to get scanned quickly, and walked up to the castle. Filch hurried them in so he could lock the door before the other students could enter. The two made their way up the grand stairs and into the Great Hall.

"Hermione! Draco!" Humfrey greeted as he hopped up from his seat. "To make sure there are enough seats and such, the back of each chair is labeled with a name. That's where you can find out where you will be sitting. The security is out and the Professors are mingling amongst themselves, so feel free to talk to whoever until the students are let in."

"Okay." Draco nodded and they found their seats in the front row. He decided that was the nicest he was going to get for now.

Hermione sat at the far right, and Draco was to her left. The Durmstrang Headmaster was next, then Humfrey, Madam Maxime, Professor McGonagall, and finished off with the new Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Andrea Miles.

"I'm going to talk to Professor McGonagall. I'll be back." Hermione excused herself. Draco swirled his straw in his drink, pretending like he was doing something important and didn't feel completely out of place.

"Professor McGonagall?" Hermione decided to take Madam Maxime's spot temporarily.

"Ms. Granger! How wonderful to see you again."

"It's great to see you too! How have you been?"

"I've been doing quite alright. I may be getting older but I am still spry enough to take on all of the other Professors on in a duel. Except perhaps Humfrey as he is quite talented in spells." she added as an afterthought.

"Huh. Maybe I should challenge him sometime." Hermione joked.

"You always were quick to prove how talented you are. My top student." Professor McGonagall looked with great pride down at one of her favorite students she's ever had the pleasure of teaching.

"Why didn't you take over as Headmistress? You were in line to after all, and have the respect of the whole wizarding world."

"You flatter me. I'm too old now, and Hogwarts needs someone fresh and young. Well younger than me I suppose. I don't mind staying as my old position."

"I see." Hermione nodded and saw the logical point of view, however still had a part of her wish that McGonagall took the Headmistress position.

"They're coming! Take your places." Humfrey said as he skipped around the tables with a wide smile spread across his face. His bubbly personality was so obnoxious it could make anyone smile. Hermione said goodbye and returned to her seat.

The thundering of steps echoed outside, and the doors opened. In a mere second, the volume increased ten times what it was, and all the students went to their respective tables.

"So are you ready to manage 600 students?" Draco asked casually, attempting to make a conversation. He had over heard someone else talking about that and hoped it was something that normal people talked about.

"600?!" Hermione momentarily forgot her disdain of Malfoy as she wrapped her mind around the number. After her quick calculations of remembering there were about 40 students a class, and when multiplied by eight that would be 320. Leaving both the other schools to contain 140 students each. Well now that she thought about it, it seemed more reasonable.

"That's what Humfrey said. Oh and also we won't be able to take as many classes this year. There's just not enough room for those extra classes, or teachers that won't have to teach classes for Beauxbatons or Durmstrang. On top of that, they need more people to be in charge. Oh and there's one more thing-"

"But-" Hermione and Draco both got cut off by the doors opening once again to reveal the new first years. Their bug eyes reminded her of the first time she set foot into the massive halls. The amazement she felt of how much better it was than the pictures.

This year, Professor Sprout requested the honor of leading the first years in, even though Professor McGonagall would still be the one to call them up so they can be sorted, as it was the duty of the Deputy Headmistress. The two traded places after Professor Sprout explained what would happen.

"John Abretian."

A small scrawny looking boy made his way up the platform to take a seat on the stool. After a little bit the hat decided to sort him into Hufflepuff.

"Mariel Brown."

Hermione found it quite amusing to be sitting at the staff table and to look out at the students. She noticed every last detail from the shaking first years, to the new intricate paintings on the sides of the halls. There were a couple of extra tables to seat the other two schools, so the room was a lot bigger.

The more she looked at the room, the more things she noticed. At the front of each table, laid a crest. Whether being a house crest, or for a school, it symbolized who would sit where. The side walls showed who won the previous house cup, and the current standings underneath. However she noticed that Harry had disappeared from the Gryffindor table.

"Now please let us have one more round of applause to the new first years!" Humfrey said, snapping Hermione out of her thoughts. She politely joined in, and scanned the tables for the returning seventh years.

"You can call me Professor Humfrey, and I'll be your new Headmaster. As some of you have probably figured it out on the train, it is the fourth year since the last Triwizard tournament meaning it's time to hold one again. There'll be more of an explanation later. For now, let's welcome the school of Durmstrang!" Humfrey announced dramatically, and gestured for the doors to be opened.

Filch opened both and just managed to jump out of the way before the students stormed in bearing their traditional school color of red. All of them did crazy gymnastic moves in a routine between all the tables down the hall. At the end the students cast spells into the air creating mini explosions to resemble fireworks.

The hall filled with applause and the Headmaster stepped out from the center of the group. He was a strong man, who looked to be Korean. His jet black hair was combed to the side and his dark brown eyes flickered to look around the room curiously. Thankfully, Hermione didn't get a bad feeling from him like she did from their previous Headmaster.

"Chris Lee." The man offered his hand.

"Blake Humfrey." Humfrey shook it firmly. It seemed as if this was their first meeting, and left Hermione to question how thought out the tournament was.

Chris took his seat to the left of Draco, and once the students were settled down at their tables, the doors opened once more.

Beauxbatons' performance had been slightly intriguing. Most of the students were dancing in their light blue dresses/suits, and the rest were making fake snow shoot out of their wands towards the ceiling. Madam Maxime entered at the very end of her students and towered over everyone else in the room. She was very graceful for a giant, and couldn't take her eyes off of Hagrid as she walked down to the front of the room; who in turn also couldn't take his eyes off of her.

Madam Maxime almost walked straight past Humfrey as her eyes were still locked on Hagrid. She just managed to catch her mistake, and paused. Humfrey smiled and kissed the top of her hand. She nodded in turn, and continued on to sit down in her enlarged seat.

"As you know we are all gathered for the Triwizard tournament. However the Head of the Department Of Magical Law Enforcement, Andrea Miles, will explain all of that later. For now, let the feast begin." Humfrey said. In an instant the empty plates were filled with food, and the goblets filled with drinks.

Nobody knew of the chaos that was about to take hold of the school.