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The sorting ceremony went as usual. This year, no new teacher was introduced, courtesy of Remus still being the DADA professor.
During announcements, Dumbledore kept it short and sweet, letting the students know of the rules that had to be followed in the school.
However, nearing the end of his speech, he dropped the bomb.
"As many students above the fourth year would have noticed, you all were required to bring in a Dress robe.
Now, there is a very special occasion that is going to be held in Hogwarts this year.
In the past 700 years ago, Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts had been competing every five years with each other as a way to built international relations between the students.
This competition was called the Triwizard tournament. However, in recent years, the event had been discontinued due to a very high death toll.
However, after a lot of considerations, it has been decided that this year, Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament.
Students that have reached the age of majority will be allowed to participate.
Placed outside the Great Hall, the students are to drop a piece of paper with their name written on it inside the flame. But be careful, those that are selected will be bound by magical law to compete, so don't put your name in if you are not a hundred percent sure.
On the day of the Halloween feast, the goblet of fire will choose the most competent participants from each school who will be allowed to take part in the tournament.
Seeing as our school will be hosting the tournament, a few students from the participating schools will be staying with us from the end of October.
I hope that all our students will make the guests welcome and feel at home.
Now, I believe all of you will be very hungry and excited, so I will finish my speech here."
As soon as Dumbledore mentioned the tournament, the crowd went wild. However, some magic in the air calmed the students down temporarily until dumbledore finished his speech, when once again, the energy returned to the students who jumped in excitement over the fact that there would be a chance they could participant in the in/famous tournament.
"What's this tournament all about?" Hermione asked. If one looked around, similar confusion could be spotted on almost every muggleborn or halfblood.
"It's a quite interesting tournament that was held in the past, but as dumbledore said, they cancelled it cause one time, all the participants died for 3 consecutive years. But now, they seem to have changed a few things and bought it into the light once again." Harry explained as he chomped down a piece of steak.
'That's horrible. But seeing the track record of the past wizards, it doesn't really surprise me anymore." Hermione just shrugged it off.
If it was the hermione that had been friends with the previous harry, she would have just invoked her extreme SJW side and tried to cancel it once again.
But ever since the reality check on the day of the troll incident, she had changed.
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Excitement was in the air. The whole month went by with most of the students discussing who would be representing the school.
Cedric Diggory, the prefect of Hufflepuff was a fan favourite. Alicia Spinnet from Gryffindor was closely following. Roger Davis from Ravenclaw was considered for his rather good looks and book smarts. And finally, Gideon Hyde from Slytherin for his rather remarkable following.
It was a fun filled month. Students gossiping. Fan favourites sometimes clashing. A lot of fans straight out fighting to defend the honour of their bias, and a lot more.
However, a tragedy occurred in the first week of the second month of school.
A first year Slytherin accidentally triggered an artifact that was attached to his book bag in his history class.
At first, the whole classroom was doused with a bright white light. This surprised the sleeping students in the classroom, as the bright light woke them up instantly.
However, a few minutes later, a few students picked up that something was wrong.
The usual droning voice of Professor Binns was no longer echoing in the classroom, talking about goblin wars of the past.
Instead, it was dead silent.
Some clever students picked up the reason for this.
The bright white light had exorcized the ghost of the history professor.
This was a tragedy for the reputation of the school.
Never before had a ghost on Hogwarts lands been exorcised before. While it may have been a relief for the students as they no longer had to listen to the same goblin wars again and again, the professors were panicking.
Soon, the cause of the incident was revealed, when Flitwick examined the charm stuck to the slytherin student's book bag.
It was a timed charm that would trigger when in presence of the particular ghost and exorcise it.
However, the student was not aware of the charm's true intent.
He had claimed that he had picked it up in diagon alley when shopping for his supplies when he saw that it looked quite cool.
A week later, the incident was still under review, but a new professor had taken over the class.
Going by the name of Bartholomew 'Bart' Cross, he was a middle-aged man with a very brainy vibe. With a magical equivalent of a PhD in History of British Magic, he was a very suitable candidate for the job, and he was coincidentally also applying to nearby magical schools for the same position.
However, there was nothing out of the ordinary of him. For those that didn't know, he would be no different than a wizard one might pass by on the road.
But to the eyes and senses of Harry Potter, it was very easy to see through the disguise of the Polyjuice potion.
Soon, the month passed once again, and it was time for the different schools to arrive.
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Standing in front of the school, all of the students above the fourth year were present, shivering slightly in the chilly afternoon.
The professors might have forgotten that there were no space warming charms present outside of the castle walls, which led them to bring the students out to stand in the chilly winds.
But the wait was not long.
Just a few minutes after, a loud roar of horses was heard from the sky.
Looking up at the cloudy sky, a dot could be seen approaching from the horizon.
Slowly, the dot grew bigger and bigger before turning into a massive carriage pulled by a dozen Abraxans.
Just as it was getting too close too fast, the winged horses dropped down and broke into a run on the bridge.
Thundering hooves kicked up the dirt, creating a small dust cloud which was pushed away by the massive and beautifully decorated carriage.
Stopping a few metres away from the entrance, the doors to the carriage opened up, revealing a human figure standing in the doorway.
"Welcome, Olympe. Its so good to see you. I hope the journey from Beauxbatons was a smooth one." Dumbledore approached the carriage and helped the half-giantess down from the doorway, who was followed by a large number of beautiful ladies all wearing white, blue and grey uniforms.
"AH, Dumblydore, its very nice to see you as well. What a nice gentleman you are, helping a lady out of her carriage." The headmaster of the all-girls school commented.
"I aim to please, Olympe." Dumbledore replied.
By now, the ladies had all dismounted the carriage and stood in the chilly winds, drawing a lot of lustful eyes from the male population of Hogwarts while getting a slight look of envy and jealousy from the females.
"Ah, Albus my boy. You won't help you teacher down. Where have your manners gone boy." A familiar and old voice sounded from the doorway of the carriage, which made the Hogwarts headmaster look up in surprise.
"Professor Flamel, it's a surprise seeing you here. Welcome." Surprised, Dumbledore lent a hand to help the fragile old man down the steps of the carriage, which was followed by another round of ohhs and ahhs. After all, its not everyday that one gets to see a living legend of more than 660 years.
Soon, the girls and accompanying professors were ushed to the waiting area besides the waiting Hogwarts students, where they continued to shiver slightly.
Seeing this, harry discreetly waved his hand and sent out a powerful space warming charm wandlessly around the whole outside of the castle walls.
Instantly, the chill in the air disappeared, replaced by a comfortable warmth, as if sitting next to a fireplace in the winter.
While harry thought no one saw him, a certain old skeleton man happened to notice the familiar magical fluctuations spreading from the green-eyed boy.
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