The next day, Felix opened his eyes from the bed and yawned broadly.
The air outside the window is damp with the smell of earth. After finishing the washing up, he checked the time and prepared to go to the great hall for breakfast.
“Valen, come on, let’s go and eat.” He called out.
On the bassinet bed, the fluffy velvet blanket twitched slightly and then fell still.
“Valen?”
A small hand stretched out from the blanket and waved at him twice impatiently.
“Kiki!” She got tired from watching the film last night and didn’t want to get up at all.
“… Well, there are cookies and cakes in the office.”
Felix walked out of the room and made his way to the great hall. To his surprise, he noticed an extra school emblem in the great hall, as he glanced at it – the shield symbol of Hogwarts, the flower petal symbol of Ilvermorny, the crossed wands symbol of Beauxbatons, the two-headed eagle symbol of Durmstrang, and the last one –
A conical peak is hidden in the clouds, and upon closer inspection, a magnificent building stands halfway up the conical peak.
Mountains of the Moon, Uagadou.
“Has Uagadou arrived too? Could it be last night or early this morning?” Felix glanced at the great hall and didn’t find any unfamiliar faces, but he saw Durmstrang’s star student, Krum.
It was only yesterday that he had learned that the talented Seeker, who had twice toyed with the Irish national team’s Seeker in the Quidditch World Cup final and ultimately caught the Golden Snitch at the end of the game, is still attending Durmstrang.
Had to say that his Quidditch training would have been too hard with the storm all day, right?
At the long Slytherin table, Krum sat alone instead of being with his teammates, preferring a solitary meal. A dozen pairs of adoring gazes constantly peeked at him, but he seemed to have long got used to it and ate his breakfast in silence.
When he finished eating, he got up and left. Unlike his posture on the flying broom, he is now rather silent, with two eyebrows furrowed habitually, as if he is in deep thought all the time.
At the breakfast, Felix finally met Uagadou’s students.
They all had dark skin, and their precise behaviour differed. And there is one student whose skin is as dark as the bottom of a kettle, looking like a walking block of pure darkness. If he wasn’t wearing brown leather clothes, it would be hard to differentiate the different parts of his body. The rest of the Uagadou students were much more normal-also dark-skinned, but at least you could distinguish their eyes and noses.
While passing the Ravenclaw House table, he heard a young girl mutter in a small voice: “Coffee, brown, dark brown, chocolate, dark …”
He smiled and sat next to Madame Maxime at the faculty table, and on the other side of the table from her is Ilvermorny’s Headmaster with his eyes closed.
After a couple of moments of conversation, Felix detected a heavy gaze and looked back to find Hagrid in the corner. He got startled, Hagrid’s dress is much different from the past, he wondered where he rummaged out a handmade suit, his beard and hair carefully groomed, at least for the first time Felix could be able to distinguish the difference between the two.
At the moment, Hagrid is looking at him blankly, no, looking at Madame Maxime next to him.
“Is he the professor of the Care of Magical Creatures class Dumbledore mentioned?” Madame Maxime asked softly.
“Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts, the Care of Magical Creatures class professor, born in 1928, passionate about Raising and Taming all kinds of magical creatures, was once expelled from Hogwarts for raising dangerous magical creatures and murder charge, but later proved to be an innocent and got his name cleared last year. He is the first Magizoologist to successfully tame thestrals, and most of the magical creatures in the forbidden forest have a close relationship with him. A warm and sincere person with a straightforward personality …”
Madame Maxime rolled her eyes, stretching out her large fan-like hand to pat Felix, Felix hurried to put on a layer of humanoid shield charm on himself, “Bang!” His body jolted.
The eyes of Hagrid, who is seven or eight seats away, went wide.
Today’s great hall is particularly crowded, probably because four foreign school students are scattered among them, the sight is dazzling.
Hogwarts students were asked to change into their standard uniforms even during relatively informal occasions.
Hence, in the middle of a group of black wizard robes, there were touches of blue and cranberry of Ilvermorny, the light blue of Beauxbatons, the scarlet of Durmstrang, and the brown of Uagadou.
Dumbledore is flanked by four headmasters sitting around the table. Felix glanced twice at the short witch, who immediately looked back at him, Felix smiled lightly, and the witch scrutinized him twice before turning her head to speak to Dumbledore.
She used an odd language, fast and rapid, Felix could only understand a few sounds, but Dumbledore listened carefully and then responded in the same language.
Karkaroff, who is next to the witch, doesn’t look very happy as he kept fiddling with a golden goblet, deliberately making a lot of noise.
The faculty table is nearly occupied, with only the last two empty seats left, and after another seven or eight minutes, a short, chubby, red-faced male wizard appeared from the main entrance of the great hall, his face brimming with an enthusiastic smile.
“Dumbledore, I’m late, Barty is temporarily occupied, I’m the only one …” Bagman said quickly, looking around him, “Ah, you’re all here, great, I’ve been worried that the Uagadou team would probably be late.”
The short witch said in a hoarse voice, “Mr. Bagman, we won’t drag our feet on the major event.”
“Ah, of course …” said Bagman, wiping the sweat from his face as he glanced at the only two empty seats left and finally sat down next to Professor McGonagall.
Dumbledore stood up, and the great hall gradually quieted down as everyone focused on him.
“Welcome! Students from all five schools of magic are gathered together like never before in a thousand years.” He said cheerfully, “On this solemn occasion, I would like to say thanks to the house-elves in the kitchen; who have gone to great lengths to satisfy the different tastes …”
“So, enjoy the food, it’s the most important thing tonight.”
He sat down, and the empty plates in front of them were suddenly piled high with all kinds of food. In addition to the French dishes that had appeared last night, today there were some more strange and exotic dishes laid out in front of them in a diverse assortment.
At the Gryffindor table, Ron’s eyes swept over the French-style mishmash of fish soup, yellow egg cheese, and white mozzarella, when he saw a pile of slimy stuff, and he reached out his spoon-
“Don’t!” Hermione called out.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re not going to like it.” Hermione said holding her breath, her face turned with an unnatural paleness, “I didn’t think they’d add this dish to the menu.”
“What is it?” Harry asked, he didn’t smell anything weird.
“Camel fat.” Hermione said, she made a dry heave and immediately turned her head, “Trust me, you guys are not going to like it.”
Ron pushed that plate far away with his fork and Seamus smoothly plunged a slice of bread into it, “Is this some kind of jam?” He stuffed it into his mouth, and Harry and the others stared at him unblinkingly.
“Uh, why are you looking at me …” Visible to the naked eye, Seamus’s face turned into a pig’s liver colour as he swallowed it whole, then he snatched Dean’s pumpkin juice and downed it in one gulp.
His eyes turned red, and he frantically glanced around as Neville shuddered as he handed him his pumpkin juice.
“What the hell is this stuff?!” Seamus said in exasperation after he chugged Neville’s pumpkin juice as well, “It’s almost more stomach-churning than the mucus from a Firetrail Snail.”
Ron happily stuck up a greasy sausage and ate it merrily.
As the golden plates were cleared, Dumbledore stood up again. An excited and nervous mood filled the air of the great hall.
“The moment has finally arrived,” Dumbledore said, “the tournament is about to begin. Mr. Filch, please bring the box in, and in the meantime, I would like to explain a few things–”
“First, I would like to introduce you to our important guests today, starting with the Headmasters.”
“The Headmistress of Beauxbatons, Madame Olympe Maxime;”
“The Headmaster of Durmstrang, Professor Igor Karkaroff;”
“The Headmaster of Ilvermorny, Professor Agilbert Fontaine;”
“The Headmistress of Uagadou, Lady Hariya Mignot Nagy;”
Dumbledore paused, and winked as he smiled, “And of course, myself, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.”
Everyone, including the students from the other four schools, stared at him in disbelief.
“Hasn’t anyone noticed that this is actually a subtle joke,” Dumbledore said regretfully, “I’m going in order of the length of the names …”
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat very hard.
“Well, in addition to the five headmasters, there are two others who must be mentioned, Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch, two gentlemen who have worked tirelessly and diligently over the past few months, and unfortunately, Mr. Crouch is not present today, but we can see him on Halloween – thank you, Mr. Filch, just put it right here.”
Dumbledore smiled at Filch – who at the moment is placing a large wooden box on the table in front of him, and he tapped his wand on the lid three times, as the lid slowly creaked open.
Dumbledore reached in and pulled out a large, roughly carved wooden goblet.
The cup itself is not impressive, but it contains a blue & white dancing flame.
Everyone looked at the goblet of fire with fascination.
“As you should have known by now, in the next twenty-four hours, that is, by the end of the Halloween dinner; the goblet will choose the names of the three students it thinks would be best to represent their corresponding schools.
Tonight, the Goblet of Fire will be placed in the entrance hall, and all students who wish to participate in the competition should drop their names in.”
He waited quietly for a moment until everyone had heard him before he continued, “There are two things to note; first, for Hogwarts students, there will be an Age Line placed by me -”
The murmur buzzed, and he had to raise his volume.
“Secondly, and this is a sincere piece of advice,” Dumbledore’s expression turned extra serious, “I must remind everyone here that the Tournament of Champions is not a child’s play, it is a magical, Unbreakable Vow. Once a champion has been chosen by the Goblet of Fire, he is obliged to fight to the end. Therefore, please think twice about it.”
“Have a good night, everyone.”
As he sat down, the great hall exploded with excitement.
————
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