To Hell ~ Fred Weasley

Chapter 43.

TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT

The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o'clock on Friday the 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early and students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast.

"But I already had my Transfiguration work done," whined Helena. "Maybe I can find McGonagall and hand it in..."

"For once, Hell, don't worry about bloody boring school work!" Fred said with a bit of annoyance.

"Please, Rosemund," pleaded George as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "this will probably be the only time something as amazing as the Triwizard Tournament will happen—

"At Hogwarts," finished Fred.

"While we're here!"

"Don't ruin it!" they both nagged.

"Fine, fine!" the girl said throwing her arms up, almost knocking a second year student's glasses off. "I'll jump in on the fun trolley with you and promise to enjoy the tournament."

"That's all we wanted to hear," the twins said in unison with enormous grins.

The three sixth years then heard more people coming their way to read the sign up close.

"Brilliant!" they heard Harry say a few heads away. "It's Potions last thing on Friday! Snape won't have time to poison us all!"

"Only a week away!" said Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff, another fourth year. Helena remembered him from the times she went to sit on their table at the Great Hall. "I wonder if Cedric knows? Think I'll go and tell him. . . ."

Of course he'll know.

The announcement had done its duty.

Every single student could only talk about the Triwizard Tournament during that week, speculating what occurs in a tournament like this. The hype for this event could only be compared to that of the Quidditch World Cup. There was even bigger excitement at the mention of the other two wizarding schools coming to Hogwarts to participate, wondering how students from other magical schools were like. Plus, every conversation about the Triwizard Tourment lead to the big question: who would get chosen as the Hogwarts champion?

The castle was being cleaned more thoroughly than normal, wanting to impress the expecting foreign visitors. Every portrait and statue gleamed as they were polished daily, making Helena feel as if she were in a museum. The caretaker, Argus Filch, had an eye on every student, specifically their shoes so that no one would get mud inside the castle. Professor McGonagall had even warned the Weasley twins not to pull any pranks that involved ruining all the cleaning that was being made, telling them they would get detention every day for the rest of the school year if they did.

"Ah, a Weasley prank-free world!" Nina sighed with glee, "Thank you Triwizard Tournament!"

The twins chuckled.

"McGonagall didn't ban us from pranking," they both said.

"Just no pranks..." added Fred.

"That can ruin the castle," finished George as they both smiled mischievously.

The morning of the thirtieth they went down to get breakfast and were surprised to see the Great Hall decorated overnight. Enormous silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts House: red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, and green with a silver serpent for Slytherin. And right behind the teacher's table at the end of the room was a banner with the Hogwarts crest with the memorable lion, eagle, badger and snake on it, along with the letter H in the center.