Moira | Harry Potter

Chapter Three

Story: Moira
Chapter Three: Testing Power

As the ship rose above the water, clashing with the tides, a loud rumble was heard awakening the students and the staff of another magnificent castle called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Students flocked to the grounds to take a view of the mighty ship which housed a few selected fifth and sixth years and the complete lot of seventh years. It neatly aligned itself to the Black Lake's bank and a stairwell popped out of the small door. The selected students were the first ones to get out, leaving the seventh years to the last.

Excited chatter filled the atmosphere as the sound of flapping wings was heard. Beautiful pastel blue carriages neatly lined up on the other side of the grounds – the Beauxbatons had arrived.

An aged woman led the entire energy-filled group inside the castle. It took a good ten minutes for everyone to pass through the entrance into the Great Hall. Harry's eyes looked forward. He was not concentrating on anything else. Unlike him, Ron and Draco were gasping in awe although the very same duo were commentating about Durmstrang's greatness over Hogwarts.

Once everyone was seated, the newly arrived at different house tables of Hogwarts, an old man took the podium and muttered the voice amplifying charm. "A very warm welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! I hope your stay here will be pleasant," the man said. He was seemingly the Headmaster of the school, but Harry knew better by the amount of power radiating off of him. He was the one who played with the strings and sent the letter containing the old newspaper articles about Voldemort to Harry. "I don't want to keep the guests hungry. The talk is for later, so I only have two words to say. Tuck in."

Several aromatic dishes appeared on the long tables. Ron's mood instantly changed from praising Durmstrang to hungrily savouring the dishes as if he hadn't eaten in years. Harry rolled his eyes at his beast-like table manners but a small smug smile was hidden underneath his emotionless face. Draco, on the other hand, was interacting with the students of Hogwarts, asking them about the extra-curricular activities they did.

Harry started his meal, slowly eating the food which he wanted. His eyes were as observant as ever, darting from person to person in the huge hall and judging them.

"Stay observant. Look at the things that usually are not alive. You can easily spot the alive ones without getting distracted."

Although the lessons he learnt from his Master were very valuable, he just could not forget them for the sake of turning good. He mentally shook his head and started to focus again. If he were to enter the tournament as wished by Ron and Draco, he had to get to know who he would be facing as opponents.

He did not spot many people who looked tough. For one, he spotted a boy with blonde hair who was flashing photos, using a muggle instrument, of the eating pupils. Harry's only reaction to that was rolling his dark emerald eyes.

A girl told off the photo boy to throw the 'damned can out and eat' and Harry could not help but smirk at the ignorance of the girl about muggle objects. Little does she know that the camera and a can are two different and unrelated objects. Another girl corrected the previous one. Judging by her looks and the way she was reading while eating, Harry assumed her to be a muggle born. Muggle-born witches and wizards always carried a book so as to not be thrown out of the magical community for lack of knowledge of the unique world. It was just a feared superstition by them.

However, what fascinated Harry, to some extent, was the previous girl. She had long red hair and she seemed oddly familiar. Harry could sense a small aura of power emanating from her; something that he only sensed when around his Master or the aged Headmaster, Dumbledore. This girl seemed to be casually chatting with the muggle-born bushy-haired girl. It did not even look as if she was observing anyone like he was doing, but when their eyes met, even from a far distance, the contact remained for a split second before she turned away to listen to the muggle born's ramblings.