The days drew by quickly, and the next school year was approaching them soon. At nights, Jenna usually curled up on the couch at the Burrow, sleeping in her cat form. But it was the week before the start of the new school term that she was joined in the living room that night by Bill, Charlie, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

The younger kids had already gone to bed, meanwhile the others were gathered in the living room in the quiet of the night, speaking. And of course, Jenna — supposedly being a cat — remained curled up on the couch, listening to their conversation with amusement.

"So now that the kids are asleep," Mr. Weasley started, taking off his glasses to clean the with the hem of his robe, "I've got some news that I've heard from the Ministry."

"What did you hear, dear?" Mrs. Weasley questioned, busy knitting.

"Well, from the looks of it, something exciting is taking place at Hogwarts this year," he said with a knowing smile.

"What's the news, Dad? You're killing us here." Bill chuckled, stretching his legs up on the table in front of the armchair he was seated on. Although he had to put his feet back down when Mrs. Weasley shot him a glare.

Mr. Weasley then smiled, finally saying, "The Triwizard Tournament."

Mrs. Weasley gasped, placing her knittings down on her lap as she turned to look at her husband. "Really?"

"Yes." Mr. Weasley nodded excitedly.

Crookshanks was now looking between them with confusion, never having heard of such thing before and hoping that he would explain it.

"Yes, I've received an owl from my colleagues at Romania," said Charlie, nodding. "Apparently they've been approached by the Department of Magical Games and Sports, by Ludo Bagman himself, for the tournament."

Jenna was growing more and more curious by each passing moment, yet she still had no idea what was going on. A tournament involving dragons, perhaps? What kind of a madness was that?

"Well, this better remain between us. The kids shouldn't know about this just yet," said Mr. Weasley. "You know how Percy's going to get if he finds out that we've mentioned it to them.

"Yeah," Bill snorted mockingly, "he'll probably say it's 'classified information'."

***

The morning on which they had to leave for Hogwarts was pouring rain, which made it even harder to get to the King's Cross station with so many trunks. Hermione looked extremely guilty and uncomfortable for having to put Crookshanks in her cat basket and to carry her around.

One by one, they all passed the barrier between platform 9 and 10 once they reached the station, soon finding themselves in platform 9 3/4.

The Hogwarts Express, a gleaming scarlet steam engine, was already there, clouds of steam billowing from it, through which the many Hogwarts students and parents on the platform appeared like dark ghosts.

Pigwidgeon became noisier than ever in response to the hooting of many owls through the mist. Meanwhile Crookshanks laid in her basket, looking bored.

"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," said Charlie, grinning, as he hugged Ginny good-bye.

"Why?" said Fred keenly.

"You'll see," said Charlie. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it... it's 'classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it,' after all."

"Yeah, I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year," said Bill, hands in his pockets, looking almost wistfully at the train.

"Why?" said George impatiently.

"You're going to have an interesting year," said Bill. "I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it..."

"A bit of what?" said Ron.

But at that moment, the whistle blew, and Mrs. Weasley chivvied them toward the train doors.

"Thanks for having us to stay, Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione with Crookshanks's basket in her hands as they climbed on board, closed the door, and leaned out of the window to talk to her.

"Yeah, thanks for everything, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry.

"Oh it was my pleasure, dears," said Mrs. Weasley. "I'd invite you for Christmas, but... well, I expect you're all going to want to stay at Hogwarts, what with... one thing and another."

"Mum!" said Ron irritably. "What d'you three know that we don't?"

"You'll find out this evening, I expect," said Mrs. Weasley, smiling. "It's going to be very exciting — mind you, I'm very glad they've changed the rules —"

"What rules?" said Harry, Ron, Fred, and George together.

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will tell you... Now, behave, won't you? Won't you, Fred? And you, George?"

The pistons hissed loudly and the train began to move.

"Tell us what's happening at Hogwarts!" Fred bellowed out of the window as Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie sped away from them. "What rules are they changing?"

But Mrs. Weasley only smiled and waved. Before the train had rounded the corner, she, Bill, and Charlie had Disapparated.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione went back to their compartment. The thick rain splattering the windows made it very difficult to see out of them. Ron undid his trunk, pulled out his maroon dress robes, and flung them over Pigwidgeon's cage to muffle his hooting.

Meanwhile Hermione opened Crookshanks's basket and let her out with an apologetic look, which thankfully went unnoticed by the two boys.

***

As the night covered the sky with a black cloak, the train finally came to a stop when they had arrived, though it was still pouring rain outside. Crookshanks willingly got into her basket to make it easier for Hermione.

      She still wasn't used to the fact that her cat was in fact a witch, and was Harry Potter's long lost aunt whom everyone thought was supposed to be dead.

       But as they left their compartment, they came to a stop when from afar they saw Malfoy, talking angrily to a girl they had never seen before.

      "What's going on?" Hermione mused, trying to get a closer look.

      They then heard Malfoy snarling at the girl, "I would watch my mouth, if I were you. You don't want me on your bad side."

He then started to walk away, but they were all caught off guard when the girl retorted back wittily, "I don't want you on none of my sides!"

     Damn... Jenna thought to herself proudly.

     At that, Ron went forward and patted her on the back of her shoulder. "Nice one," he said with a proud grin.

     The girl turned around, her smile widening at his sight for some reason. She had light brown hair which were curled into beautiful waves, and her eyes were dark grey.

      For some reason, as Jenna watched her through her basket's holes, she found the girl extremely familiar. There was something about her eyes that reminded her of someone...

"I don't think I've seen you around before," Hermione said to the girl. "Which year are you in, again?"

"Actually, I'm a new student," the girl answered softly. "I used to be in Ilvermorny until now."

"Ilvermorny?" Harry frowned in confusion.

"That's the magical school in America," Hermione explained.

     "What was your name again?" Ron mused, turning to face the girl again.

      She smiled rather nervously, before finally saying, "I'm Lexi Hooper."