Chapter 1
Like the rest of the school, Harry waited with bated breath for students from the Beauxbaton Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang School of Wizardry to arrive. His head swiveled on his neck, searching for any sign of an arrival on the school grounds.
“Can you see anything?” he whispered to Ron, who was on his toes beside him.
“No,” he whispered back. “You?”
On his other side, Hermione tugged his sleeve. “Look!”
Harry’s head snapped in the direction she pointed, high in the air. He couldn’t see anything other than a black dot in the sky, which he quickly realized wasn’t a dot. As he watched, the spot grew bigger and bigger, then multiplied, until Harry could see that it was really a dozen winged horses pulling a large carriage.
With a jolt, he registered where the horses were going to land as they flew closer and closer. Pulling his friends with him, he retreated backwards many paces, shouting to the other students, “Get back! Get back!”
He hadn’t noticed that a blonde had been standing behind him. He tripped over him but was caught. “Watch where you’re going.”
“S-sorry,” Harry stammered, looking up. Draco Malfoy was staring at him, holding him so he wouldn’t fall.
“Are you going to get up or not?” he asked after a few moments.
Immediately, Harry righted himself and stepped away with a muttered, “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” Malfoy growled back. Harry might have heard something unfamiliar about his voice but quickly forgot the matter as the carriage door opened and a large woman stepped out.
He thought an Enlargement Charm must have been set on the carriage because there was no way a woman that tall fit inside. Hagrid was twice the size of an average man and at least three times as wide, yet the woman was larger than him. Harry briefly wondered if the horses, winged palominos, would survive their trip back to France at the end of the school year.
Dumbledore and the large woman — Madame Maxine, Harry would later learn — exchanged pleasant greetings, and on her word, many boys and girls of several ages filed out gracefully and perfectly. There was definitely an Enlargement Charm on their transportation, but that wasn’t important. Harry had just caught sight of a familiar blond head among the Beaxbaton students.
It was impossible. He had just seen the same blond head behind him, and they’d been attending the same school for the past three years. When he turned to look, Malfoy was definitely behind him, but he was also somehow also amongst the Beauxbaton boys.
Harry’s friends hadn’t seemed to notice. When Harry followed their stares, he found them to be focused on the Black Lake. He couldn’t figure out why until he saw bubbles disturbing the once-glassy surface. Maybe the giant squid that lived in its depths had decided to emerge to greet the visitors, he thought, though he didn’t know how the eight-appendaged mollusk would know about them. But even as he watched, he knew it wasn’t the squid. A mast had risen, followed closely by sails and finally a large ship. It drifted slowly up to the bank a little ways from where the Hogwarts and Beauxbaton students were and docked, more students emerging from within and making their way towards them.
Once they arrived, Dumbledore greeted Drumstrang Headmaster and invited everyone into the Hogwarts castle for a feast, where more of the Triwizard Tournament would be revealed.