Secrets Revealed

Chapter 30

Nova sat down in her usual seat at the professors' table in the Great Hall with a tired sigh. Today had been a long day between grading papers and stabling the giant horses after the schools had arrived. She rubbed her temples gently as she felt the first few aches of a migraine bouncing around her skull.

"How'd those horses treat you, Nova?" Severus smirked besides her. Nova gave him a sharp glare before speaking.

"Hush you." She grumbled. "I almost get my head taken off by that giant woman's carriage, then her horse startles for bloody reason, and now I am sitting here in the loudest room of Hogwarts with more loud people than usual with a migraine."

"Oh. come now, Nova. It's a new day, a new hour, a new minute! The moon is shining and the stars are out!" Severus mocks with fake enthusiasm in his monotoned voice. Nova gave him a quiet growl and looked forward again. He dug into a pocket in his robes and pulled out a small vial filled with a sea blue potion. "Here. This should help with the migraine."

"Thanks, Sev." Nova offers a small smile and quickly takes the potion. "Please tell me why potions that are meant to heal always taste horrid."

"I'm afraid I do not know the answer to that, Nova." Before Severus could say more, Dumbledore stood and walked up to his podium.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and guests," said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreignstudents. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. Ihope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable andenjoyable. The tournament will be officially opened at the end of thefeast, but for the moment, invite you all to eat, drink, andmake yourselves at home!"

The plates in front of everyone filled themselves with food and Nova began piling her plate as per usual. Nova was holding a conversation with Severus before there was a tapping on her shoulder. She looked over to Argus Filch looking to her with his usual scowl.

"Yes, Mr. Filch?" Nova inquired as she fully faced him. He leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"Erm, Hagrid's preoccupied at the moment," the grumpy old man looked to where Hagrid was trying to talk to Madame Maxime, "and one of those giant horses has gotten out-" He started before he was cut off by Nova.

"What?! You have got to be kidding me!" Nova exclaimed in frustration. The Great Hall had suddenly grown silent. Students and staff alike were looking at her in a mixture of concern and surprise at her outburst. "Sorry everyone. Er, back to your feast."

"Everything alright, Nova?" Severus asked as he caught a glimpse of her irritated facial expressions.

"Oh, yes! Everything's just fantastic! This night can't possibly get any better!" Sarcasm dripped from every word that came out of Nova's mouth. "I'm getting too old for this. Bloody horses. I'll be back momentarily. Do not steal my food. Remember: it's your choice. Live or die. Pick one."

After that she quickly jogged out of the room and into the courtyard. She sniffed the air before cathing the horse's scent.

Meanwhile in the Great Hall

"Did she say the situation had something to do with one of my horses?" Madame Maxime asked Hagrid beside her.

"Erm... yes. Appears so." Hagrid responded with a small shrug. All of the Hogwarts staff knew about Nova's background. He knew she could handle the horse by herself and then she'd probably go into the forest to smack some of the trees around to cool off.

"Will she be okay? Zey are not exactly normal 'orses." Madame Maxime asked as she looked to where Nova had disappeared moments prior.

"She'll be fine, Madame Maxime." Professor McGonagall replied. She had been listening to their conversation since the first question. "Beleive me. She is more than capable of dealing with those horses. I, myself, have seen how she excelled in her Care of Magical Creatures class back when she went to Hogwarts a while back."

Twenty minutes later, Nova did return, looking more irritated than when she had left. Grumbling to erself something along the lines of 'Why can't everyone just travel by train?'. She finished her meal quickly as Dumbledore explained how the tournament would work.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournamennt. One from each of the participatingschools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of theTournament tasks and the champion with the highest total aftertask three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire." Dumbledore took out his wand and tapped three timesupon the top of the casket that contained the Goblet as Nova had been informed weeks prior. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn woodencup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been fullto the brim with dancing blue-white flames.Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully ontop of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall.

 "Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must writetheir name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop itinto the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions havetwenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrownight, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three ithas judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet willbe placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete. 

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," saidDumbledore, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet ofFire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under theage of seventeen will be able to cross this line. 

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to competethat this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged tosee the tournament through to the end. The placing of your namein the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can beno change of heart once you have become a champion. Please bevery sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to playbefore you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is timefor bed. Good night to you all." With that Dumbledore exited the room. 

Nova stood up quickly and winced slightly. While trying to get the horse back in its stable, the horse had pushed her into one of the many trees in the forest. Along with bruising her back, she had also gained multiple small, but deep gashes and one long, deep gash from a particular sharp branch. She looked down and saw thatsome blood from the aformentioned gash had seeped through her shirt.

"Damn." She muttered and quickly retired to her room. The gash had taken longer to heal than the smaller cuts and the bruising, but it would fully heal shortly. Nova just hoped that tomorrow was a better day than this day had been.