Chapter 142: Performance and Goblet of Fire (1/2)
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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What followed after was similar to the movie version; Beauxbatons delegation put on a magical performance. The only difference was that Beauxbatons was co-ed instead of an all-girls school.
”Durmstrang delegation, please be ready. The Beauxbatons delegation is almost over,” notified Quinn to the gruff-looking boys and girls of Durmstrang and their posh-looking headmaster.
Karkaroff raised his hand, and immediately the Durmstrang students got into two lines, both lines a mix of boys and girls (each of them separated by the other gender).
'I wonder if this is how all of Durmstrang students act,' thought Quinn. He wondered whether Karkaroff could control a school whose students were only from pureblood families, and where pureblood dogma was a substantial part of their culture.
Quinn's eyes, then, found a well-built late-teen who was leading the left row. Viktor Krum was thin, had dark hair, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He looked like an overgrown bird of prey. It was hard to believe he was only eighteen.
The future champion looked surly, moody, and a bit grumpy. Krum didn't look very enthusiastic about the show of magic that was about to happen. It made Quinn think about Krum's personality from the original works: reserved and not fond of the attention he garnered due to his celebrity status.
If Quinn was honest, he was quite interested in the Durmstrang students. Out of the three schools, Durmstrang students were the ones who shared closer affinity with him. They practiced the Dark Arts just like him and the school didn't exclude those magics from their studies. To Quinn, in some way, Durmstrang was a more complete school of magic than either Hogwarts or Beauxbatons.
His thoughts wandered to the most well-known fact about the school. 'Durmstrang... the school where Gellert Grindlewald studied, huh.'
”Beauxbatons' performance is over,” notified Quinn. He placed his hand on the door while listening through his earbud. Dumbledore was praising Beauxbatons' performance. He then moved onto the introduction of Durmstrang. Quinn once again started the countdown. At one, he pushed the door. Durmstrang's delegation entered the Great Hall, and immediately started the performance with a show of fire.
He stood in front of the Great hall door, and a peculiar thought about this entire ceremony entered his mind. ”Three schools, three heads, technically three champions, three representatives... so 'three' should continue, shouldn't it?”
A scenario morphed into his mind as he continued to hear the faint ooh-aahs from the Hogwarts students through his earbud. When Durmstrang's performance ended and Dumbledore took the podium again, Quinn finished his plan and took his fake wand into his hand.
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Inside the Great Hall, Dumbledore watched the students of two schools sitting together with his own students, and it brought a smile to his face thinking about the new experience they would have.
”I would like to thank Beauxbatons and Durmstrang for those exhilarating performances. They have been an absolute delight to experience. With great pleasure we welcome you to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable... The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast. Now, I'd like to invite you to -”
Dumbledore was about to open the feast, but his words stopped when he himself and everybody in the Great Hall saw silk banners hanging from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts House: a gold lion, a bronze eagle, a black badger, and a silver serpent, shiver and shake. The animals started to shimmer with dazzling lights. The banners started to sway as if they were moved by a light wind.
The sudden change in the banners caused everyone to quiet down. Just before the hustle-bustle returned in the form of whispers and talks, the green banner with the silver serpent glowed brighter before a shimmering green serpent silhouette burst out from the banner. The serpent silhouette didn't have any defined features and was wholly made from solid shades of green. It slithered around in the air above everyone's heads. After circling the hall, the serpentine form emitted a deep hiss and the silhouette moved over the Slytherin table, its lower body curling with its head standing tall. The Slytherin students exclaimed and cheered when the serpent that stood above them majestically.
But their cheers subsided when the red banner with the gold lion similarly shimmered with a red lion silhouette walked out with its four legs stepping on air. The featureless lion face made up from solid reddish hues seemed to alert the green serpent. With its tail swinging gently, the lion stood above the Gryffindor table. Then the lion figure seemed to tense its body as a fierce roar shook the hall. The Gryffindor table exploded in cheers as their house animal roared against the green serpent. After the roar subsided, the lion stood tall with its head raised in pride.
Just when it looked like the lion and serpent were going to fight, the yellow banner of the black Hufflepuff badger on the banners glowed harshly and a yellow badger form stepped out with clawed paws and a short tail behind its back. The low pitch growl from the badger stopped the lion and serpent from jumping at each other. The Hufflepuff students, like the other two tables, also cheered for their mascot animal. The badger silhouette seemed to be pleased that the threat he posed had stopped the two other figures. The three figures now looked at each other in warning, and with slight movements, they stood equidistant to each other.
By now, everyone knew what would happen, and they eyed the Ravenclaw banner. The Ravenclaw students were looking at their flag in heightened excitement. Even the three animal forms had their eyes on the blue banner.
As everyone expected, the banner shimmered, and a blue eagle flew out of the bronze. Unlike the other three animals, the eagle was fast and, unlike them, small. The eagle flew high, above the charmed hovering candles of the Great Hall. As everyone watched, a shrill shriek pierced everyone to their core, and they noticed the eagle growing larger till it was the same size as the other three. What had started as a normal-sized eagle was now a majestic creature of prey. It flapped its wings and glided above the Ravenclaw table. It then shrieked for the Ravenclaw table to be backed by loud cheers from the students of the wittiest house.
The four creatures stood above their tables in a square formation, and just when everyone thought they were going to fight, the four animal figures started to shine brightly in green, red, yellow, and blue.
Their forms started to change.
The green serpent turned into a bald man in a long robe holding a long staff. The man was standing straight, and even though it had no features, he struck a cunning figure. The red lion with a short roar morphed into a man with a bear-belly and, as the human became complete, it took out a great sword, and with two hands on the hilt, the sword tip was slammed down to the ”ground” with a loud ting. The badger stood up on its two hind feet and began the transformation into a figure of a homely woman with a round and plump figure dressed in a dress. She crossed her arms, and in one of her hands was a darker yellow outline of a wand. Then, with a fierce flap of its wings, the blue eagle turned into a tall woman dressed in flowing robes with wide sleeves. She had a book in her right hand; in the other, she twirled a dark blue wand.
Whereas the students and teachers alike had been dazed by what was happening, the four house ghosts, including the Bloody Baron, had all come to the Great Hall for this event. Of the four house ghosts, except the Gryffindor ghost, Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, three had had strong connections to the figures.
Friar, the Hufflepuff ghost, looked at the yellow figure. His eyes started tearing up with the memories he suddenly remembered of his childhood. A throaty whisper escaped him: ”Oh, Helga...” He looked at the matronly lady, which couldn't be anyone other than his own teacher and mentor, Helga Hufflepuff.
Helena Ravenclaw, the Ravenclaw ghost, stilled as she stared at the blue outline. Emotions from her mortal life flooded her ghostly mind. The feelings she had become numbed to came back in full force, and the regret of not meeting her mother at her deathbed brought tears to her ghostly eyes. She wanted to go away, but her ethereal body didn't move. She could only continue to stare at the blue silhouette of Rowena Ravenclaw.
The Bloody Baron, the recluse Slytherin ghost, stared at the familiar figure of the man who had taught him the magical arts. The man who had tried to teach him the importance of restraint and not to let his violent, uncontrolled anger take the best of him. Nevertheless, he had ignored the man's teachings. If he had just listened to his mentor, the Baron wouldn't have become Bloody. The noble Baron, after a millennium, bowed to the figure of his mentor, Salazar Slytherin.
The final red figure, the fourth founder, Godric Gryffindor, raised his wand to the sky while tapping his sword down. In his life, he had had a versatile mindset as he chose to wield a sword as well as a wand, making him a rather dynamic man who deferred the dueling style to his opponent, were they magicals or non-magicals.
Following his lead, the other three founders raised their staff-slash-wands. Four beams of lights, green, red, yellow, and blue, zapped out into the center of the Great Hall. Then, everyone began to see a structure start to build itself, and before they knew it, a scaled-down Hogwarts castle was standing in the sky. The four figures turned into orbs of shining light and flew towards the castle for it to glow in a bright flash, almost blinding everyone, causing many to shield their eyes.
When it subsided, they saw a burning coat of arms with the Gryffindor lion, the Slytherin serpent, the Ravenclaw eagle, and the Hufflepuff badger, all circling the letter H. And below the coat arms, it could be seen the motto, ”Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus,” in an escroll beneath the shield.
”... Welcome To Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” A voice reached everyone in the hall, and with it, the entire student body of Hogwarts got up from their seats with loud cheers, claps filled with the hall, and fists were pumped up. The applause was so loud that one would have heard it from outside. The applause startled various creatures, such as owls, roosters and pigs, among other animals that lived in Hogwarts grounds.
Among all the commotion and cheering, the Professors seated on the Head table tried to find the one who had cast the magic, while the few who weren't trying to calm the students down had their eyes attracted towards the hall entrance. There they saw a familiar figure decked in Hogwarts robes with blue trims, pocketing a wand into his clothes.
He seemed to notice their gaze as he looked up at them with his stone-gray eyes. A smile bloomed on his face as he bowed to them and, as if it was a performance ending, the burning coat of arms in the air above blew up with a sound and turned into golden glitter dust, raining down on everybody, but disappeared before anyone could touch them.
Hogwarts had been appropriately represented. And it had been represented with style.
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