Tournament
You were sitting in the Great Hall, sipping piping hot tea and occasionally making faces to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. As it was the first day, all the students had to sit with their houses. Otherwise, you would be sitting with them, already laughing your asses off. Of course, you were sometimes sad, that you weren't in the same house, but you couldn’t do anything about it.
You watched as many new students sat in front of everyone, nervous, as the Sorting Hat rested on their heads. Two boys and one girl were sorted to Ravenclaw, so you just made a mental note to welcome them later. As you were thinking, lost in thought, you felt someone watching you, you turned around, and met with a burning eye contact with Draco. But nothing about his stare was mean. It was almost as if-
“And now, please my dear students, pay attention, as I have an announcement to make - a very special at this. I am sure that many of you are aware of the Triwizard Tournament. And I am very pleased to announce that this year's Tournament will take place here. At Hogwarts!“ and as soon as the words left Dumbledore's mouth, the kids started to squeal in excitement. The Triwizard Tournament was the best thing that could happen to any wizarding school. You immediately looked at your friends, who were already looking at you, grinning at you.
“Please, calm down kids. I am equally excited about this, as this means that students can connect with others from different schools, make new friends, and enjoy this whole tournament. But as you know, these tournaments can become difficult and very dangerous. With that, we decided that-"
Before he could finish, an earthshaking thunderstorm shook the whole Hall, and the door opened, revealing somebody there. That somebody was none other than Alastor “Mad-eye“ Moody, the arguably most famous Auror. You knew him really well, as he was at your family manor multiple times, searching the whole place. Even though he very much disliked your parents, you and him were sort of friends. He would have conversations with you about magic, and would even exchange letters with you. So you were quite shocked to see him standing there when in his last letter addressed to you, he wrote that he needed to go into hiding and wouldn’t be seen that much. He even wrote it could be for a year, so you had no idea why he was here after only two months. But maybe he changed his mind? You had no idea.
“Ah, my dear friend! A striking entrance as always!“ Dumbledore laughed as Moody made his way toward him, his eye moving in all directions. All of the students were quiet and shocked, some whispering to their classmates.
“Students! This is your new professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts, Alastor Moody!“ Some people started clapping, and after the initial shock wore off, everyone joined. You shared glances with Ron, and he grinned at you. Moody just sat down at the table and acted as if nothing happened. He seemed different, but you couldn’t tell exactly what. Or maybe it was just you?
“Thank you, Alastor for the dramatic entrance. But now, to the Tournament. For the two schools that are going to join us this school year, it's going to be delegations from the Durmstrang Institute and the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic!“ another wave of clapping and whispering filled the room. The world-class seeker, Viktor Krum, was the guy of the summer. It seemed that almost every girl had a thing for him, and you couldn’t judge them, because he was handsome. He was so young yet so famous. But not really your type. But now, when he would be in Hogwarts, the girls could try to shoot their shot, because who knows? After the students calmed down a bit, Dumbledore continued in his speech.
„But, as I started, because of the death rate, that occurred at the latest tournaments, we have decided, that the people that want to participate need to be at least seventeen.“ Just as he finished, the students started to yell, and talk over each other and some started booing. You actually weren’t even surprised at this decision, because the tournaments were really dangerous, and it seemed that everyone just overlooked it. You read many cases, where all of the students participating actually died, so no one won the prize. They could get brutal, so you were actually pretty grateful that at least they got this requirement. And there was no way that you would want to participate, so you were totally okay with that. But the others really weren’t.
„Please, kids, I know that this may be upsetting for others, but don't forget about the students who lost their lives. We did this so we could prevent this. At least a bit. The students that are actually seventeen or older can put their name into this goblet,“ with a flick with his hand, glorious, silver, and enormous goblet appeared beside him, “and after two weeks, the goblet will choose three names, one from each school. I’ve created a special field, so no young students can get close and throw in their name. With that, I would like to welcome the delegations!“
The big door opened, revealing a hoard of other students. The Durmsrtang boys had big red coats and had an intimidating and impressive performance with fire and wooden canes. But the star that everyone was looking at was Viktor Krum. One girl from the second year actually fainted and her friend had to pour cold water on her. It was insane.
The girls from Beauxbatons were the polar opposite. Their performance consisted of singing angelic songs and dancing. They were wearing blue costumes with hats, and now it was the boys' turn to swoon.
After that, Dumbledore spoke a bit more about these schools, but you weren’t really listening, because your mind was wandering from your parents to Draco and back. You just hoped that you would get a nice sleep. After it was finally over, you went to your room.
As Ravenclaws, you all had their individual room with a small individual bathroom. And you were so glad that it was like this. You loved your friends from Ravenclaw, but sometimes you were so tired, that you just wanted to be alone. And like this, you had more space for all your stuff and books and could take as much time as you wanted with showering. You went straight to the bathroom and had a long steamy shower. After that, you dressed to your light blue satin pajamas and started to unpack some of your things. Because of the system here, when you arrive here as a first year, you get assigned a room, which is yours until your seventh room, so you already have some things here, and have many photographs with your friends on the walls.
You were so exhausted from the way here that you didn’t want anything else but to go to sleep. But you could hear some scratching on your windows' colorful panes. You knew that it wasn’t your owl, because she would tap on the window with her beak. You carefully got closer and opened the window slowly. And as you did, a big beautiful owl flew into your room. Then she sat on your table and waited until you grabbed the note at her leg. As fast as she got here, as fast she left. You were confused as to who could be writing you, and after you opened the note, you were even more confused, as it contained only a small drawing.
A primitive drawing of a single eye.
You could tell that anyone who was drawing was in a hurry and that they were stressed. But now, you were stressed as well. This could mean anything and it could be from anyone. So now you wouldn’t even get a good sleep, as the whole night you were turning and tossing, hoping that the note was just from some student pulling pranks on you. But you had a gut feeling that that wasn’t the case.