VII: GOBLET ABLAZE

Track Seven: Mrs Magic, Strawberry Guy

  Hermione's face was blank, but her words carried with an edge of disapproval  "What do you mean you aren't going to tell her? She's your niece, she should know." Sirius shook his head, saddened by the turn of this conversation "Regulus hadn't been my brother for a long time before his death besides, I wouldn't want to endanger Nymphadora and Ted's position at the Ministry, imposing on them would be the only true crime I've committed in the last fourteen years." Harry looked between his Godfather and his best friend, nodding his head along with Sirius "He's right Hermione, as of right now distance is the best gift he can give her." Sirius looked on at Harry, a sparkle of reminiscence in his eyes as he ruffled his Godson's hair, leading the trio out of his cave. He thanked the three teens for their kindness and food, apologizing again for the condition of his current living arrangements. As they trekked back over the hill to Hogsmede, all Sirius could see was the ghost of his best friend traveling farther and farther away, and the ghost of his brother shaking his head. 

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Circe and Emrys were restless throughout their classes all day, Circe made sure to arrive early to most classes (Even Professor Binns raised his eyebrows) in order to snag the window seat, only to float notes to Emrys via the windows for the entire class. She was thankful that she didn't have Defense Against the Dark Arts this week, she'd been hearing some horror stories from other students' experiences with the unforgivable curses. Not to mention his creepy eye. The two had been waiting in anticipation all week after seeing the poster announcing the other school's arrival on Friday. Now that it was Friday, their anticipation intensified and they could hardly contain their bubbling excitement. The student's usual ninety-minute potions class had been cut to only sixty minutes and forty-five of those consisted of Emrys and Circe excitedly gossiping, not particularly caring where their toxic potions supplies landed this, unfortunately, led to them getting a T(roll) on their assignment and an added two scrolls of homework. Snape looked just as miserable per usual and Circe was just glad not to have a detention with him. Her last Snape detention was a horrifyingly slow four hours of sorting various twigs and leaves. 

She was so thankful when the bells rang, Emrys and Circe ran straight for the great hall doors in an effort to get the closest view as possible. They began excitedly talking about the possibilities for the rest of the year. The heads of houses were on edge today, and the duo was told to shush by multiple teachers. The students were soon herded onto the greenery of the Hogwarts lawn. They were unsure of what to expect, but Circe had overheard students suggesting that they could be arriving on brooms. This made her scowl. After a while, the first years had started plucking strands of grass and stomping on each other's hands, and frankly, Circe was getting annoyed at the amount of time the other schools were taking as well. She looked around at the other clearly bored teenagers and a certain bushy-haired Gryffindor with a clipboard caught her eye. Now, Circe knew what it felt like to be standing around with a petition with no one paying the slightest notice to you. One too many days at the Ministry advocating for anti-broom legislation and you begin to feel sorry for every other poor soul out there asking for signatures. Thus, obligation brought her over to the girl in red and gold robes, having forgotten the incident from the Hogsmede carriage. Circe observed the Gryffindor's oddly shaped moving pin fastened onto her shirt and watched as her eyes grew larger in excitement at the prospect of a signature, glancing at the girl's empty signature log book.

"Hello! I'm Hermione Granger and I'm the founder of S.P.E.W - The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare! I was go​ing to put Stop the Out​ra​geous Abuse of Our Fel​low Mag​ical Crea​tures and Campaign for a Change in Their Le​gal Sta​tus - but it wouldn't fit. So that's the head​ing of our manifesto. Anyways, If you'd like to sign up it would be two sickles! That's for funding to support our leaflets and pins, but I'm thinking of switching it to be optional because of the shortage of members. So you're welcome to donate whatever you'd like to the campaign!" She rushed this out with one long breath, her voice getting squeaky at the end from the lack of air. Hermione enthusiastically rattled a tin labeled "S.P.E.W FUNDS!" in Circe's face. 

Circe took a wary step back, feeling a bit rattled by the strong oncoming of this girl she hadn't known all too well besides her constant volunteering in class. "I'm sorry, I had just come over here to sign my name to the petition, I wasn't intending on joining anything." The girl's face deflated and she took a rather large breath as if she was preparing to go on another long rant. To save herself, Circe quickly pulled out her small pouch and planted two sickles in the tin. Signing her name as fast as she could, she uttered a quick "See you soon" and scurried off. Hermione called out behind her 

"The first S.P.E.W meeting is in the Transfiguration room, next Friday after dinner!"  Circe had no intentions of attending, but she wished the best for her. 

Circe had just returned to Emrys when they spotted a faint view of something flying in the sky. At first Circes, face turned into a frown as she thought it was a broomstick but it was something, much larger than a broomstick - or, indeed, a hundred broomsticks - was hurtling across the deep blue sky to​ward the castle, growing larger all the time.

"It's a dragon!" shrieked one of the first years, losing her head complete​ly. "Don't be stupid...it's a fly​ing house!" said Den​nis Creevey.

Den​nis's guess was clos​er....As the gi​gan​tic black shape skimmed over the tree​tops of the For​bid​den For​est and the lights shin​ing from the cas​tle win​dows hit it, they saw a gi​gan​tic, pow​- derblue, horse-​drawn car​riage, the size of a large house, soar​ing to​ward them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged hors​es, all palomi​nos, and each the size of an ele​phant.

The front three rows of stu​dents drew back​ward as the car​riage hur​tled ev​er low​er, com​ing in to land at a tremen​dous speed - then, with an almighty crash that made a clumsy Gryffindoor jump backward on​to a Slytherin fifth year's foot, the hors​es' hooves, larg​er than dinner plates, hit the ground. A sec​ond lat​er, the car​riage land​ed too, bounc​ing up​on its vast wheels, while the gold​en hors​es tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes.

Circe just had enough time to see that the door of the carriage bore a coat of arms (two crossed, golden wands, each emit​ting three stars) before it opened.

A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the car​riage, bent for​ward, fumbled for a mo​ment with some​thing on the car​riage floor, and un​fold​ed a set of gold​en steps. He sprang back re​spect​ful​ly. Then Circe saw a shin​ing, high-​heeled black shoe emerg​ing from the in​side of the carriage - a shoe the size of a child's sled - fol​lowed, al​most im​me​di​ate​ly, by the largest wom​an she had ever seen in her life. 

The size of the carriage, and of the horses, was im​me​di​ate​ly ex​plained. A few peo​ple gasped. Circe had on​ly ev​er seen one per​son as large as this wom​an in his life, and that was Ha​grid; she doubt​ed whether there was an inch dif​fer​ence in their heights. Yet some​how - maybe sim​ply be​- cause she was used to Ha​grid - this wom​an (now at the foot of the steps, and look​ing around at the wait​ing, wide-​eyed crowd) seemed even more un​nat​ural​ly large. As she stepped in​to the light flooding from the entrance hall, she was re​vealed to have a hand​some, olive-​skinned face; large, black, liq​uid-​look​ing eyes; and a rather beaky nose. Her hair was drawn back in a shin​ing knob at the base of her neck. She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and many magnificent opals gleamed at her throat and on her thick fin​gers.

Dum​ble​dore start​ed to clap; the students, follow​ing his lead, broke in​to applause too, many of them stand​ing on tip​toe, the bet​ter to look at this wom​an.Her face re​laxed in​to a gra​cious smile and she walked for​ward to​ward Dum​ble​dore, ex​tend​ing a glit​ter​ing hand. Dum​ble​dore, though tall him​self, had bare​ly to bend to kiss it. "My dear Madame Maxime," he said. "Wel​come to Hogwarts."

Circe was thoroughly impressed by the show that the Beauxbatons Academy had put on and she was just beginning to wonder how it would be possible for Durmstrang to even attempt to put on just as much of an entrance. Before she could turn to Emrys and comment on the grand entrance of their rival school, she heard an off-putting eerie noise rising up from the lake. The waves seemed to be crashing harshly onto the muddy banks and a slight circular motion was being generated in the middle of the black lake. A whirlpool was forming and a tall black mast rose above the surface at an alarming speed. As the rest of the hull rose from the dark waters, Circe couldn't help but marvel at the size of the skeletal ship. A large symbol decorated the canvas flapping in the wind and the tiny windows peeking out of the rocky waters looked like ghostly eyes staring back at her. 

She heard the splash of an anchor and the thud of a dock. The Hogwarts crowd collectively drew in a breath as they watched rows of identically shaven heads march off the boat in neat rows. Their long tailored coats scraped the ground as they trudged up the hill, where the Beauxbatons and Hogwarts students carefully observed them. 

The sun was slowly setting over the Scottish countryside, dancing over the ancient arches and towers of the school as it settled behind the impenetrable trees of the forbidden forest. Circe's ears perked up when she heard the presumable headmaster of the school begin to speak to Dumbledore. 

"Dear old Hogwarts," the man said, looking up at the castle and smiling; his teeth were rather yellow, and Circe noticed that his smile did not extend to his eyes, which remained cold and shrewd. 

"How good it is to be here, how good. . . . Viktor, come along, into the warmth . . . you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold. . . ." It took Circe a moment to realize that the headmaster was not referring to his bald head.

Karkaroff beckoned forward one of his students and as soon as he stepped forward, Circe overheard Ron Weasley whisper-shout something about him being Viktor Krum. She vaguely recalled the name from the World Cup. Emrys excitedly shook Circe from behind "It's Krum! He caught the snitch at the cup!". Circe rolled her eyes and hurried up the steps to keep in pace with the rest of their house. 

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apologies for the length of this chapter!