1ST SEPTEMBER 1994 - 08:00 PM

The sorting hat ceremony being particularly tedious this year as there seemed to be a lot of new first years this year at Hogwarts. Thankfully, Dumbledore had not chosen to make any pertinent announecements before the feast as everyone seemed to be just as hungry as Meera who had not eaten very much due to her prefect duties and had spent most of the sorting ceremony staring at the empty plates. Almost immediately after he'd uttered the words tuck in there was a great scramble over the food that appeared.

Meera stifled a yawn as she rested her chin on her hands, after moving the plate in front of her away. She was tempted to have a little more chocolate cake, but restrained herself from doing so. Almost everyone had finished eating and all the Ravenclaw wanted to do was go to her dormitory and collapse into her bed. As she began to doze off into a hazy fantasy she felt a sharp poke from behind and turned to glare at the person.

The person was Cedric Diggory.

"So you have chosen death?" she asked coolly, waiting for the Hufflepuff to explain himself as her hand clenched into a fist.

"You have to escort the first years and show them where they are sleeping, so you can't fall asleep yet. Plus, you need to set an example to the younger years." he replied. "Also, you have a bit of cake on your face by the way, near the corner of your mouth."

Meera snorted obnoxiously as she used the napkin to remove the remnants of cake "As if their going to notice me. I'm not you Diggory. Most people in this school don't care about how I behave. So I'm not changing my behaviour...these morons won't learn anything from me."

Luna Lovegood who was next to her looked at her with a slightly offended look. "I learn from you." she said.

"See?" Cedric said. "The cake's gone now by the way."

"Well you're not a moron." Meera told her putting the napkin down.

"It's worth a shot Meera." the younger girl persisted. Meera glared at Cedric.

"What did I do?!" he exclaimed raising his hands defensively.

"Started this conversation." she snapped.

"I was just trying to help." he said quietly looking a little abashed and guilty. His eyebrows then furrowed a little. "What do you mean by 'I'm not you.'?"

"She means that she's not popular unlike you or Harris. Popular people always overshadow their unpopular counterparts." Evie explained dryly after finishing her goblet of orange juice. Meera grinned.

However, Cedric did not find this amusing and averted his grey eyes with a sober expression on his face. Meera's smile fell and so she poked him "It's not your fault, Diggory. I'm used to it. Besides, being unnoticed has its advantages."

He tilted his head and rose his eyebrows at her. "Like what?"

"Like capturing embarrassing moments of people with Fred, George and Lee Jordan. We also ask for Colin Creevey's help...his camera comes in handy. " Meera replied.

Cedric shook his head disapprovingly. "Ok now I understand why part of Harris couldn't believe why you made prefect."

"Well Dumbledore thought I was worth it Diggory. And if Dumbledore thinks I can be a prefect then I can be a prefect...I don't care what you or Harris say." Meera declared crossing her arms across her chest.

Cedric regarded the younger girl with an undecipherable look and then turned away, silently admitting his defeat. He then chuckled shaking his head as if to say 'why do I even bother?'.

Just then the plates became clean and Dumbledore rose. The buzz of chatter ceased almost immediately and all eyes had turned to him.

"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.

He paused for a moment regarding the students through his half moon glasses and then continued.

"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 and he continued, "As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is 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." Dumbledore said.

"What?!" Evie burst out almost in sync with Cedric. The latter calmed down sooner than the former however.

"Patience, Evie." Meera murmured to her. Evie huffed and sat down still disgruntled.

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 -"

Just then the enchanted sky of the great hall was cracked by lightning and thunder echoed through the hall as the doors of the Great Hall opened.A man shrouded in a black travelling cloak stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark gray hair, then be­gan to walk up toward the teachers' table and an artificial, electric blue eye was on his face whizzing around and scanning every face in the Great Hall as the students watched the stranger. Meera swallowed uneasily when it landed on her. It lingered on her for a few moments before moving on.

A faint clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step as the long staff came in contact with the hard floors which did little to settle the student's nerves. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore.

Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling, causing Meera to flinch. The light revealed more of the man's features and she heard a few gasps around her.

Every inch of his skin appeared to be scarred and a sizable chunk of his nose was missing. He appeared to be forever snarling with a mouth that looked like a diagonal gash. But out of all of them his eye was the worst...the blue one continued to move ceaselessly even as its owner looked in the opposite direction.

Meera suspected that this was her new DADA teacher and almost grimaced at the idea, but feared that she'd be spotted by his eye. Then the all seeing eye rolled right back showing only the whiteness and she averted her gaze.

When she looked back up she saw the man briefly shaking hands with Dumbledore. The headmaster muttered a few undistinguishable words. In fact the only reason they can hear it is because even the quietest of sounds echoed in the vast room.

However, in that brief exchange she saw the man shake his head and reply in an undertone and suspected he maybe answering a question. Dumbledore nodded and gestured to the seat on his right.

He sat down and then shook out his dark grey hair. He pulled a plate of sausages and sniffed it. He then reached into his pocket and fished out a knife and speared a sausage on the end of it before beginning to eat it. But his blue eye still darted around the hall scanning the faces of the students.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Dumbledore said brightly into the silence. "Professor Moody."

Over the 4 years Meera had been in at Hogwarts she'd heard the teachers applaud for all new teachers.No w however the staff and students alike seemed to be too transfixed by Moody's appearance to clap. Only Dumbledore and Hagrid applauded him and the sound echoed dismally, and they stopped fairly quickly.

Moody seemed indifferent, not even looking up to acknowledge the sparse applause. Ignoring the jug of pumpkin juice in front of him, he reached into his travelling cloak and pulled out a hip flask. As he lifts his arm to drink his cloak moves and reveals a wooden leg that had claw like feet.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "As I was saying," he said, smiling at the sea of students before him, most of whom were still staring at Mad-Eye Moody, Meera had quickly turned back to Dumbledore, along with Evie who was fidgiting endlessly silently demanding why Quidditch was cancelled?

"We are to have the honour 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!" Fred Weasley exclaimed loudly.

This outburst caused many in the hall to laugh and Meera glanced at the Gryffindor table for a moment. She and Evie were both frowning. However, Cedric appeared just as surprised as his head jerked up and his eyes became alight with excitement. He also seemed to have had a realisation after this announcement as he uttered a barely audible oh.

"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, giving Dumbledore a pointed look.

"Er - but maybe this is not the time ... no ..." Dumble­dore said almost regretfully, "where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament ... well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short expla­nation, and allow their attention to wander freely."

Meera wishes she was one of the students who knew now as then she could simply doze of in her seat. She stifled a yawn and forced herself to be awake.

"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 normally, 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."

That last sentence startled the Ravenclaw prefect right out of the doze she had fallen into. "What the actual fuck? How could he say that there was a death toll with such nonchalance?" Meera whispered to Evie.

Evie shrugged. "It does sound quite interesting though. Apart from the death toll part."

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament," Dumbledore continued, "none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of Interna­tional Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find themselves in mortal danger. "

"I'm sorry, but why the fuck would you want to reinstate this?" Meera whispered exasperatedly. She heard several shushes from the students on her table including Roger Davies (the Ravenclaw Quidditch team's Captain).

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money for the winning champion of champions." Dumbledore continued.

A set of fervent whispers erupted across the Great Hall several people's eyes wide at the mention of the prize. Evie appeared pensive and was watching Dumbledore intently patiently waiting for him to say more. This change in demeanor worried Meera a little as she was hoping that her best friend was not consisting entering a tournament with a fucking death toll.

"I don't think I'll enter it." Evie said finally. "I mean I like winning but this tournament sounds like it needs some strong magical ability. I mean it should if there's a death toll right...and I'm too young to die."

If Meera had a thousand of galleons she'd get her friend anything she'd ask for right now. The best broomstick out there? Sure. A puppy? Definitely.

Evie notices Meera's relief and rose an eyebrow. "You didn't think I'd actually enter did you?"

"Well I wasn't sure... you do like to do daring things." Meera shrugged. "If you'd chosen to do this I'd do anything to talk you out of it...anything. But if I couldn't I'd support you unconditionally and make you train so hard that you'll probably grow to hate me."

Evie smiled gratefully at her friend knowing that everything she'd just said was absolutely true...except the part about growing to hate her...sure they'd jokingly say 'I hate you.' To each other but neither was serious.

Evie leaned over and ruffled her hair. "Aww you worry too much Meera? Relax! Everything will be just fine."

This returned Meera to her usual spirits and she glared at the amused blonde.

Throughout the Great Hall a few conversations were like this...students expressing concerns about the tournament...others were of imagining what they'd do with a thousand galleons.

Then Dumbledore spoke again and it all subsided almost immediately.

"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 cries 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 was right." Evie said.

However, at the mention of the age restriction and 'sixth year'. Meera had quickly turned to the Slytherin table scanning for Harris She noticed him and saw that he was sat between Malfoy and Pansy and she could see a strange light in his blue eyes.

Surely he's not going to enter...

Meera knew that Harris was an able wizard and quite an intelligent one. He was not one tempted by the primitive concepts of glory and wealth like some others. He's one who had quite a strong will (discounting the encounter with the veela, but come on even adults were affected by them). Harris noticed her looking at him and smiled at her. He then looked somewhere behind her. She turned to find Diggory beaming widely talking with some others.

"What are you grinning at Diggory?" she asked.

"Nothing, just the tournament." He said. Meera frowned. "I'm surprised you disapprove. This requires some brains, Meera. You like it when intelligence goes hand in hand with championships."

"Yeah...sure. When there isn't a death toll. I don't know about you, Diggory, but I'm too young to die." Meera told him.

"You are." he agreed.

She rose her eyebrows at him. "You're too young as well Diggory...we all are...we have a lot to achieve and live for in this world." He nodded but he did not look her in the eye.

Before she could question his lack of response Dumbledore recommenced his announcements. "I will personally be ensuring that no under­age student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hog­warts champion." His light blue eyes twinkled as they flickered to the Gryffindor table and Meera noticed the mutinous faces of the twins.

"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 champions when they are 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 seated himself and began conversing with Moody. The students had risen and Meera exhaled heavily. All of the students were excited by the announcements including the first years.

"Good luck." Cedric muttered to Meera before hurrying over to help one of the new Hufflepuff prefects. Evie also left soon after bidding the Ravenclaw good night.

Meera noticed a huddle of little children by the edge of the Ravenclaw table. She recognised, Stewart Ackerly, Emma Dobbs and Orla Quirke, quickly running over to them. They looked up at her a little scared.

"Hi, I'm Meera. I'm a prefect of Ravenclaw and if you follow me I'll show you where you're sleeping and how to enter the dormitories." she told them, she'd crouched to their level so they didn't have to look up at her. Meera remembered quite well how intimidated she felt when the prefect towered over her.

They all nodded and Meera led them towards the West taking the main staircases up to the fifth floor. They then reached the spiral staircase and Meera warned the first years to hold onto the railings and walked slowly to avoid getting dizzy.

Surprisingly, this wasn't too hard. In her first year her prefect was given a very hard time rounding them up. However, this year's first years were much calmer. When she looked at the Ravenclaws going up the stairs in front of her she smiled as she realised why they were so quiet. They were exhausted and the journey up the stairs was a very laborious one.

"Are you going to enter the tournament?" one of them asked. It was Emma Dobbs. Meera shook her head. "I'm too young and it sounds too dangerous. I don't think its a very good idea. I will warn you however, that Hogwarts will almost always have dangerous things going on because magic can be dangerous. It's normal and you'll get used to it I promise."

She chose to be honest with them as in the long term her honesty is what's going to help them.

"I don't know anything at all about magic, I'm muggle born. What if I completely fail?" a little boy asked anxiously.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Johnny." he replied.

"Well, Johnny, I am muggle born too and look at where I am now? I'm a prefect...someone who represents my house. You will make mistakes...trust me you'll definitely make mistakes, but you'll improve and become a great wizard...I'm sure of it." she reassured him.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes...in fact my friend managed to not only learn magic but also a wizard sport called Quidditch by the end of her first year. Now she's one of the best players. Trust me, Johnny, you'll do just fine and you'll grow to love Hogwarts...even though it is utterly ridiculous sometimes." she told him.

By the time she finished they'd reached the top.

"Now...you must answer the riddle asked by the eagle knocker correctly...that's the password. When I was new to Ravenclaw I always tagged along with older students or students who were good at riddles. Then I got used to it, by learning how to solve them, by my third year." she told them. They nodded.

Meera knocked and the eagle knocker asked. "Feed me and I live. Give me a drink and I die. What am I?"

Meera pondered about it for a few seconds and then realised. "A fire."

The door opened and Meera allowed the first years to go in before following. They looked up at the ceiling that was midnight blue and covered in stars, mirroring the floor. A small fire crackled in the corner of the common room that was sparsly populated.

"Now those are the first year dormitories. The left are for boys, the right are for girls. Your trunks will be in there."

Finally, the first years entered their dorm rooms, yawning widely and rubbing at their eyes as they sleepily made their way to their dorms. Meera followed the sign that said fifth year and entered her dormitory. She smiled as she saw the four poster beds with sky blue eiderdowns and the faint sound of whistling wind. The deep blue curtains were drawn shut and Meera could just make out the Ravenclaw crest in the dim light.

Most were settling into bed and Cho waved at her, smiling tiredly. "What took you so long?"

"Prefect duties. I had to ensure the first years didn't go up too quickly and get dizzy." Meera replied, she went to grab some night clothes from her backpack and entered one of the two bathrooms to get changed.

After doing so she exited and yawned, she stumbled over her own feet and almost fell on her face. She yawned again before collapsing onto her bed after removing her glasses and pulling the curtains down. She smiled to herself.

Despite all the crazy things that happen here at Hogwarts it is her haven. She always feels safe and protected here. She's with people who care about her and who she cares about.

She's home.