II - LOST
Leora throws a drachman on a little rainbow she made using one of her jewelry trinkets. "Drew Tanaka at camp half-blood." She said
A mist formed and she saw an image of cabin 10 and saw her sister painting her nails on top of her bed.
"Well hello beautiful!" Said Leora as Drew looked up and saw Leora there, the short hair asian immediately grinned before suddenly her grin melted and turned into a menacing scowl. "What? What did I do?" Asked Leora as Drew glared at her.
"You! How dare you not visit me this summer!" Snapped Drew as she pouted.
Leora laughs softly seeing her sister pout, she is so adorable, Leora's though. "Aww, I miss you too~ " Cooes Leora as Drew rolls her eyes exparatedly.
"Why didn't you visit me here?" Asked Drew, clearly sad and disappointed that Leora skipped this summer visit at camp half-blood. Drew really misses her older sister, Leora and Silena often take care of her, now both of them are not here with her.
Leora and Silena were inseparable, they were always together, the star and the moon. But death separated them last year, and Leora feels like half of her soul went with Silena that day.
"You know why…" Said Leora with a sad smile, "But I'll be with you, next year, don't worry."
"You promise?"
"With my heart, yes I'll be with you next year, Drew."
Drew finally smiles as she watches her sister fondly, "Anyway, what did I miss? Anything new? Gossip or something? Like someone finally dating somebody?" Asked Leora curiously, she sounds like a neighborhood lady right now and it successfully makes Drew laugh.
"Well, you already know about Percy and Annabeth who started dating after the war, two of them didn't visit the camp this year too, I heard they have some vacation with Annabeth's father in Texas. Our little Ellie dated Ryan from Ares cabin. The hunters visit the camp and the death boy also visit the camp for two days to talk something with chiron and—"
"Wait! Nico visited the camp?!" Asked Leora excitedly and Drew let out an annoyance huff.
Honestly, Drew is always jealous of Nico because sometimes Leora treats him like her own little brother and Drew is jealous because she loves being Leora favorit little sister. Leora knew about that and found the whole thing endearing because Nico also didn't like it when Leora gave Drew attention.
"Yeah, he didn't stop for too long tho, because of the hunters I presume." Explained Drew as Leora nods in understanding.
After that they talk for hours before eventually Leora waves the mist away and ends their talk.
Leora was about to leave her chamber and go downstairs for dinner, but a loud tap on her windows stopped her, and she saw her Crow there, Azriel.
Azriel is not an ordinary crow, actually he is one of the wind spirits who served Eros and Aphrodite. Azriel chose to serve her when she was 10 years old when Leora saved him from a cyclops.
The black crow immediately morphed into a young man with jet black hair and sunken eyes, the usual a pool of abyss in his eyes greet her starry gray one.
"My lady." He greeted as he bowed respectfully to her before he gave a message to her, "This is from Lady Greengrass and Lord Berkshire."
"Thank you Azriel, but you don't have to do this every time you know, I rather you treat me like a friend." Said Leora kindly as she took the letters from.
"Please my lady, I love serving you, don't worry. It's just the way of the wind spirits."
"Fine, if that's what you really want." Said Leora, at least Azriel didn't worship the ground she walks like what Zephyrus do to Eros, she shudders at the thought of Azriel makes the flower bloom whenever she walks. Nope.
Azriel then turned into a crow again and flew around her chambers before he perched comfortably on his bird perched.
Leora opened her letters, she started with Lorenzo's letter. He sends an enhanced magic pouch that attaches to the letter, when she opens the little pouch, a vintage looking book comes out from it with a little note.
'I came across this book about spell crafting in Shanghai and I thought you might like it and it will be amusing seeing you struggling to learn some mandarin with your dyslexia, good luck.'
The Black heiress immediately laughs, what a little piece of shit, it will be a headache learning a new language but Lorenzo knows she can't pass up a book about spell crafting. But Lorenzo didn't know she managed to devise a spell to help her dealing with her dyslexia, she no longer has that problem now.
Leora then read Lorenzo's full letter, it was mostly about his summer, how he and his family have a trip to China and told her about the wizard there, and also their interesting culture. It's very entertaining, maybe one day she will try to visit that place.
Next, Leora opened Daphne's letter and same with Lorenzo she also received a pouch. Leora opened the pouch and found a box the size of her palm, she opened it and saw a beautiful bracelet made from black pearls. There's also a little note in there.
'Black sea needs black pearls, don't you think?" Leora smiles fondly, as she puts on the bracelet. Daphne always refers to her hair as a black sea.
Leora then reads Daphne's letter who mostly talks about Harry and how she misses him and already prepares a long list of insults that she will use on him. She also talks about her summer in France and expresses her regrets for not watching the world cup because she found out Harry was there.
As usual she put the letters from her friends safely on a pearly wooden box. before she stood up and left her chambers.
***
It's September 1st,
Regulus fusses with her bow on her hair until Leora finally has enough of it, "I'll be fine, and I'll see you at Christmas." Leora said experatedly as she kissed her father's cheek.
"Are you sure? Can you just skip this year? I'm okay if you want to do that because our family is already rich. You don't even have to graduate or work and I'll give you everything." Regulus tried to convince him again but Narcissa nudged him, "Let's the girl see her friends and have fun at school, Reggie."
Leora laughed in amusement as she said, "I'll see you at Christmas father, it won't be long."
"No boyfriend allowed for you yet, actually you don't have to marry anyone at all. I can provide you for as long as you need me."
Leora then looks at Narcissa and shares a knowing look, "What? — What did I miss?" asked Regulus in confusion.
"Nothing, anyway, I'll go now, goodbye Father, and goodbye to you too, Aunt Cissa." She said as she grabbed Draco's hand, "Come Dray, we need to look for Teddy and the rest."
Leora pulled Draco towards the Hogwarts express as her father and Narcissa bid them goodbye and wished them a safe journey to Hogwarts.
"Teddy and the rest." Mimicked Draco mockingly, "So our friends are now, Theodore and et cetera?"
Leora blushes "Oh shut up!" Draco immediately chuckled and said, "Still no boyfriend for you, you are forbidden to have one."
"And who are you? My father?" Retorted Leora as she rolled her eyes.
"No, but I can snitch you on your father if you have a boyfriend." Leora looks at her cousin who smiles smugly in disbelief, she was about to say something snarky until she finally spotted him.
Him.
Theodore Alexander Nott.
"Theo!" Called Leora as the beautiful young man turned around and finally met her eyes.
Theodore immediately smiles as he hugs her and kisses her cheek fondly while Leora laughs. Leora was about to kiss his back on his nose but then suddenly Draco yanked her collar and threw her inside the compartment roughly. The Black heiress fell into Lorenzo's lap while Alois and Blaise snickering, Daphne glaring at Draco and Pansy tried to help her.
"What the hell, Dray?!" Shout Leora when she finally managed to sit properly beside Lorenzo.
"No snogging!" He shouts back and glares at Theodore, "And you, keep your hand out from my little sister."
Theodore playfully sits beside Leora and kisses her temple instead and looks at Draco who is fuming, Pansy also glares at Theodore now while Daphne seems amused by the whole situation and Alois whispering something to Blaise.
Draco is always protective of her because they grew up together, and they are related by blood. He sees Leora as his own little sister.
"I will tell your father about this." Said Draco to Leora as he sat beside Pansy.
Before Leora could retort to her cousin for being a traitor, Daphne shouts "All boys out! It's too crowded here. We barely fit here, we are not in our first year anymore. Get out."
The boys cannot argue because Daphne is right, the compartment feels so stuffy, Draco immediately gets up and drags Theodore with him as Blaise follows him.
"Wait, all boys except the gays!" Said Daphne immediately Alois grinned happily while Blaise debating to stay or leave
"What about Bi?" Asked Blaise, "Do you have some good gossip?" Asked Daphne back, "Of course I do, who do you think I am!" Answered Blaise as he looks so offended.
Daphne then nods and motions Blaise to stay, Lorenzo scoffing as he picks his book and leaves the compartment along with Draco and Theodore.
"I will visit you in the middle." Said Leora as she smiles at Theodore who immediately steals another kiss on her cheek that causes Draco to immediately whack his head and proceeds to drag him out by yanking his collar.
When the boys finally leave, Daphne immediately starts to talk about Harry. "I don't like his new hair, it's awful, it's cute he is cute but It's awful!" Stressed Daphne as Alois laughs and Blaise snickering.
"It does look awful, no offense tho but that's what you get from hanging out with the Weasley." Said Alois that caused Leora and Blaise gasp.
"But Fred is beautiful!" Protested Blaise
"Yeah and Bill too, it's just Ronald, well can't blame him, he has zero sense of fashion." Added Leora
"I don't care! Just help me to do something with his hair! Should I insult him until he is insecure about his hair? Or maybe jinx him? Drown him?" Said Daphne frantically as her friends looked at her in disbelief.
"What do you mean by drowning him?" Asked Pansy as she looked at Daphne like she just grew two heads.
"Can't you think of another method that is more gentle? Not abusive and violence included?" Asked Leora as she looked concerned by her friend's life, Daphne might really kill Harry one day because she is just that crazy.
"Poison?" Suggest Daphne and immediately all her friends groan.
"Seriously Daph, do you love him or actually hate him?" Asked Alois in confusion.
"I don't know? Maybe slightly both or mixed."
Leora grimaced, "Just try not to kill him okay. He is my friend too."
They continue to talk about Potter and then the conversation changes into some gossip about Ravenclaw girls and the talks about how they spend their summer. Leora kinda missed Theodore at the moment so she decided to go to his compartment.
Leora was walking down the hallway, looking for Theodore compartment but then she saw her cousin instead, leaning on a doorway. At first Leora thought it was the compartment where her cousin and Theodore are, but when she took a look from Draco back she found the Gryffindor instead.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know?” Draco said delightedly at Ron and the rest. “You’ve got a father and brother at the Ministry and you don’t even know? My God, my father told me about it ages ago . . . heard it from Cornelius Fudge. But then, Father’s always associated with the top people at the Ministry. . . . Maybe your father’s too junior to know about it, Weasley . . . yes . . . they probably don’t talk about important stuff in front of him. . . .”
Leora can't stop herself from whacking Draco Malfoy's big head from behind.
"Ouch!" Draco yelped as he turned around and found his cousin sending a chilling glare at him. "What the hell! Who?!— Leia?"
"Leave. I don't want to talk to you right now." Said Leora in a clipped tone as she pursed her lips into a thin line, Draco knew it's not the time to mess up with his cousin so he scoffed and left with Crabe and Goyle trailed behind him.
Leora then looks at Ron and offers a sheepish smile as she says, "Sorry about that, are you alright?"
"‘Father’s always associated with the top people at the Ministry.’. . . Dad could’ve got a promotion any time . . . he just likes it where he is. . . .” Ron scoffed angrily as he didn't even look at Leora when she sat beside him.
“Of course he does,” said Hermione quietly. “Don’t let Malfoy get to you, Ron."
"Arthur's love for muggle stuff it's endearing. I understand him because I was actually obsessed with guns too at some points in my life. Also, my uncle loves motorcycles, while my father is infatuated with star wars. So I understand why Arthur chose to stay, it's his dream job and it's admirable. And you should be proud." Said Leora as she smiled and Ron finally looked at her and let out a tired sigh but he cracked a little smile in gratitude.
"Are you sure you are not, Hufflepuff?" Asked Ron jokingly as Hermione grinned and Harry chuckled.
"I know what you mean, she is too kind for Slytherin." Commented Seamus, and in secrets he whispered to Neville, "And too damn pretty."
Leora laughed, "The houses didn't define who we are, Ron. Being a Slytherin doesn't mean you are mean, and not all Hufflepuff is kind too. I just care about you since you are my friend, and this is what I did for my friend."
"Thank you, Leia." Said Ron in appreciation, Leora nodded and said, "Well we almost arrived at Hogwarts so I will make a quick trip to where Theo is, I'll see you guys later, bye!"
Leora slid the compartment door open, when she saw Theodore she immediately sat beside him and hugged him fondly as he chuckled and hugged her back. Draco immediately groaned while Lorenzo didn't care and continued reading his book.
They always like this, intimate with each other, both are very physical and vocal about it. The first time Leora meets Theodore is when she was seven, at Victoria Nott funeral. He was crying all by himself inside his manor maze, at that time Leora accidentally got lost in that maze because she's following somes silly butterfly that sounds like a little bell whenever the wings flap.
She lost the butterfly that day but she found Theodore instead.
"Did you read the book that I gave you, Leia?" Asked Lorenzo curiously as he watch Leora lay her head on Theodore's shoulder who happily strokes her hair fondly.
"Gee, I need to learn Mandarin first, thanks to you." Said Leora as Lorenzo chuckles in amusement.
"You gave her a Chinese book?" Asked Theodore curiously
"It's another spell crafting books." Answered Leora.
"What? You know you can't learn spell crafting, Leora! Your father forbids you to do that. it's dangerous!" Said Draco as he looked at her in concern.
Spell crafting is dangerous, wrong formula and wrong spell could lead to major injury or even worse, permanent death. We will never know what we accidentally create is a beautiful charm or a horrifying curse. And the reason Regulus forbids Leora to learn spell crafting is because he lost Pandora when she experimented with spell crafting too.
"I'll be fine, trust me I know my way, look at this." Said Leora as she took her wand and murmured a spell, "lefkilou."
A swarm of white little butterflies gushed out from her black and silvery wands and whenever the butterflies flap, they could hear a faint bell sound from it.
"Pretty, but what is it used for? A party decoration?" Asked Lorenzo as Leora chuckles, "No, did you hear the bell?" Said Leora.
Theodore then gasps in amazement, "It's a morse code…" He then looked at Leora in adoration, "You are brilliant." He praised
"What is morse code?" Asked Draco, clearly confused, "It's a muggle code, wait did the butterflies just call me stupid?" Said Lorenzo as he looked at the butterflies in disbelief.
"Well, you just insult them by calling them a party decoration while I used them for spy equipment." Said Leora as she waves her wand and the butterfly instantly goes into a spark of silvery dust.
"Holy shit, Leia. That's some advanced charms spell, it's a communication type of spell, I hate your genius brain, I hate it." Said Lorenzo who grinning at her from ear to ear, "Are there any more interesting spells that you like to show us? I will allow you to show off just for today."
"Shivsei." Whispers Leora's as she flick her wand instantly the compartment darkens as five blue bell fire orbs forming and swarming Leora, the fire whispering something in ancient greek. "It's a Will O Wisp isp." Explained Leora.
"I can use this to attack, to light the room, but the most amazing thing is to hear the whisper from the ghost."
"That crazy!"
"Salazar! You are really brilliant."
".... Holy shit…"
The boys looks at Leora in amazement as she start to feel pride swell in her heart, well she know kinda cheating in some way because her advance in magic mostly due to her being demigod and as Aphrodite daughter language is one of her forte because language is also a form of love so it's easy for her devised spell. "I also devised a spell to help me with my dyslexia."
"Alright, alright I wont tell uncle Regulus about this, but you have to promise me to be careful, all right?" Said Draco.
"Deal."
They talk about the spell crafting for some awhile until they finally arrive at Hogwarts.
***
The Great Hall looked its usual splendid self, decorated for the start-of-term feast. Golden plates and goblets gleamed by the light of hundreds and hundreds of candles, floating over the tables in midair. The four long House tables were packed with chattering students; at the top of the Hall, the staff sat along one side of a fifth table, facing their pupils. Leora greets Luna when she walks past Ravenclaw table who in turn also beams and waved back at her.
When they arrived at the Slytherin table, Leora sat there along with all her friends. Theodore sits on her right side while Pansy Immediately takes her left side. Draco was in front of her, beside Draco is Lorenzo and Blaise. Daphne sits beside Blaise, while Alois sits beside Pansy.
Leora talks and jokes around with her friends as Mcgonagal runs the sorting hat ceremony for the first year.
"I'm starving, why are there so many first years?" Said Alois as he glared at the empty golden plate in front of him.
"They are rather adorable tho, I always want a lot of children when I become a mother one day… maybe about ten children?" Commented Leora as Theodore choke and coughing with Blaise and Alois immediately guffawed and Lorenzo snickering.
Leora of course is completely oblivious and goes back watching the first year as she cooes on them.
And finally, with “Whitby, Kevin!” (“HUFFLEPUFF!”), the Sorting ended. Professor McGonagall picked up the hat and the stool and carried them away.
Professor Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was smiling around at the students, his arms opened wide in welcome.
“I have only two words to say to you,” he told them, his deep voice echoing around the Hall. “Tuck in.”
Leora being the lady from a noble house, eats her food gracefully without any unnecessary sound, well, actually most of her friends are like that too because they were raised that way as a pureblood noble.
"Do you think Dumbledore will announce 'it' after dinner?" Asked Lorenzo curiously as he exquisitely cut his steak.
Draco sips his pumpkin juice before answering, "He might, I can't wait to see the Weasley look so surprised when he hears the prize, thinking that maybe he has a chance to win some galleons to buy his fat mother some new dress robe."
Hearing what Draco said, Leora bite her mollar in annoyance, holding back some insult that was about to lash out from her mouth the moment Draco shit talked Molly Weasley. Walburga Black voices about table manners keep repeating in her head like a broken record. Her starry gray eyes still glare at Draco, warning him for his choice of words, her cousin soon immediately drops the talk about the Weasley while gritting his teeth in agitation.
When the puddings too had been demolished, and the last crumbs had faded off the plates, leaving them sparkling clean, Albus Dumbledore got to his feet again. The buzz of chatter filling the Hall ceased almost at once, so that only the howling wind and pounding rain could be heard.
“So!” said Dumbledore, smiling around at them all. “Now that we are all fed and watered,I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch’s office, if anybody would like to check it.” The corners of Dumbledore’s mouth twitched.
He continued, “As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the
grounds are out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year.”
Leora could hear some students start to protestind and Harry let out a shock 'what' that made Daphne gushed at him. The black Heiress knows the reason why Quidditch canceled this year is due to The Triwizard tournament. Regulus, her father, may not work in the ministry officially but he is still part of Wizengamot as Lord Black.
Dumbledore went on, “This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers’ time and energy — but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts —” But at that moment, there was a deafening rumble of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall banged open.
A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black traveling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swiveled toward the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark gray hair, then began to walk up toward the teachers’ table.
A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling.
And Leora was reeled back into the past, sometimes these things happen as Demigods. Mostly in a dream, a demigod can see the glimpse of the past and even future, but Leora is a tad bit more special because she often sees them when she is not dreaming when fate warned her, because love is entangled with fate in a complicated way.
And at this moment, Leora was in the past. Still seated at the Slytherin table, but what's in front of her is not Draco, rather a handsome young man with dark brown messy hair, sharp jawline and beautiful dark eyes.
"Did you see Potter's face when you beat him in potions? it was priceless Reg, he looks so freaking turned on." He said as another young man who strangely looks like Alois snickering.
"That's disgusting, Barty. He didn't look like that!" Said a voice beside Leora, and Leora looks to her side and immediately surprised to find her Father there, looking younger and annoyed with a deep scowl and faint blush on his face.
A feminine chuckle rang on her left side and she saw a beautiful blonde young witch, and immediately know she is Pandora Lestrange or in the future will be known as Pandora Lovegood, Luna's mother.
"It's alright, Reggie. We will be supporting you in everything." Said the young woman as she smiles gently and Leora can see her father's eyes soften when he looks at her.
"Uhh… The problem is not us, Dora. No offense Reg, but you know your mother might disown you if you really start dating Potter." Said the one that looks like Alois and eventually Leora notices him as Evan Rosier, Alois's father.
"If your mother disowns you, you can start to live in my house, just go for it. We know you love him Reg, it's frustrating." Said the one her father called Barty.
"No offense to you Barty, but your father is also crazy. And definitely not your family too, Dora." Said Evan as he smiled sheepishly, "And mine is not a good option either… our families is fucked up in their mind so, let's just wait untill we graduate and start our own business together and be rich so we don't have to live with our families anymore."
"That's a big dream, but I love it. I love the idea of the four of us living in the same house. I want a greenhouse with a muggle science laboratory." Said Pandora wishfully.
"I want a band studio." Said Barty as he grinned. "And definitely a bar."
"Let's have some video game rooms too, you know the thing that we try in muggle world when we try this place called Arcade? we can install that telly vision—"
"Television." Regulus said, correcting Evan.
"Yeah, Telefusion, that one so Reggie can watch his Star Wars."
Barty laughs wholeheartedly, "Oh that's good, imagine our families see our dream house, they will have cardiac arrest with lots of muggle stuff in there."
They all laugh, imagine it and continue to talk about their dream house until the memories finally start to fade and Leora comes back to the present.
“May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?” said Dumbledore brightly into the silence.
“Professor Moody.”
It was usual for new staff members to be greeted with applause, but none of the staff or students clapped except Dumbledore and Hagrid, who both put their hands together and applauded, but the sound echoed dismally into the silence, and they stopped fairly quickly. Everyone else seemed too transfixed by Moody’s bizarre appearance to do more than stare at him.
Leora could hear her friends talk about their new Professor and Draco saying things like the Professor is known to have some screws loose on his heads.
"Are you alright? You lost again, where are you this time?" Asked Theodore in concern as he noticed Leora was out for a moment.
"I…I was in the past…" Said Leora,
Theodore knows how Leora always lost in the future or the past sometimes like a seer. He knows how hard it is for her because some of the things that she sees are disturbing. So, Theodore holds her hand and kisses the back of her hand softly and tries his best to comfort her.
"It's alright, I'm here, I will always be here with you. Do… Do you want to talk about it?" Asked Theodore,
"Maybe… but not now…" Said Leora
Theodore nods as he said, "Whenever you ready, princess." And kiss the top of her head.
Dumbledore cleared his throat.
“As I was saying,” he said, smiling at the sea of students before him, all of whom were still gazing transfixed at Mad-Eye Moody, “we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year.”
“You’re JOKING!” said Fred Weasley loudly.
The tension that had filled the Hall ever since Moody’s arrival suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.
“I am not joking, Mr. Weasley,” he said, “though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar . . .”
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly.
“Er — but maybe this is not the time . . . no . . .” said Dumbledore, “where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament . . . well, Some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I — The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities — until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued.”
Some students murmured worriedly when Dumbledore mentioned a "Death toll" but mostly just ignored it and were more interested in the tournament.
"This year tournament will be different because it will be no longer Triwizard tournament but more Septwizard Tournament, this mean there will be seven champion, each school will have the opportunity to have two champion but the lucky school got to send three champions!"
The students were excited when they heard this, thinking they may have a chance to enter the tournament.
“I’m going for it!” Fred Weasley hissed down the table, his face lit with enthusiasm at the prospect of such glory and riches. He was not the only person who seemed to be visualizing himself as the Hogwarts champion. At every House table, people either gazing raptly at Dumbledore, or else whispering fervently to their neighbors. But then Dumbledore spoke again, and the Hall quieted once more.
“Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts,” he said, “the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age — that is to say, seventeen years or older — will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This” Dumbledore raised his voice slightly, for several people had made noises of outrage at these words, and the Weasley twins were suddenly looking furious — “is
a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champions.” His light blue eyes twinkled as they flickered over
Fred’s and George’s mutinous faces. “I therefore beg you not to waste
your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen.
“The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!”
Dumbledore sat down again and turned to talk to Mad-Eye Moody. There was a great scraping and banging as all the students got to their feet and swarmed toward the double doors into the entrance hall.