An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Twenty-Nine

A/N: Hey guys, just a heads up, we're going to follow the books over the movies whenever there's differences. So for example, with Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, they're both coed schools in the books and we're going to stick with that. Also, like before, Italics mean the person is speaking in Bulgarian 😄

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I managed to wake up in time for my morning run the next day, which was honestly pretty amazing if you asked me. I went to breakfast, and my friends gave me a bit of a hard time for being so obsessed with the Imperius Curse that Jackson and I stayed in Hogsmeade so late yesterday, but I just laughed them off. I didn't want to get into the why behind that obsession, and I knew Jackson didn't either. I'd rather take a little teasing than have the Battle of New York conversation.

After breakfast, my friends were getting ready to head back to Hogsmeade, but all I really wanted to do was take a nap. So, that's what I did. I went back to the dorm and took a nap, and I woke up about an hour before lunch, just in time to knock out some homework before joining back up with my friends. The system was working, and I managed to stay on top of my work, despite everything I had going on.

All the other schools were arriving for the Triwizard Tournament at the end of October, and the weeks leading up to their arrival had the entire castle buzzing. The teachers were getting insanely uptight, stalking around the hallways trying to make sure everything was absolutely perfect. I was starting to get into rivalry mode myself, what with all the excitement in the air.

The week before the schools arrived was Angelina's birthday, so we all came together to celebrate that. She decided she wanted another movie marathon, so we revisited some of her favorites from the one last year in Gryffindor Tower. The twins had been a little weirdly distant and preoccupied lately, but they were back to their normal, fun-loving selves for Angelina's birthday. I caught her and George exchanging a few looks too, and now that Cedric and I were officially dating I thought it might be my turn to play matchmaker.

Finally, we got to the end of October. On Friday the 30th, lessons got out half an hour early so the whole school could line up on the stairs to greet our visitors. Of course, I didn't have a fifth or sixth period on Fridays, so that didn't have much of an impact on me, but all my friends were thrilled to get out of History of Magic early.

We all met up in the Entrance Hall after everyone else had time to put their stuff in the dorms. We were being organized by House, and then by year, so I stood between Lee and the twins with Angelina and Alicia on the other side of Lee.

By the time we were all lined up outside, it was almost six. It was cold, and I bounced up and down on my toes to keep warm as I looked around. I hoped the other schools would show up soon.

We waited and waited, but no one showed up. Nothing on the grounds was even moving. Then, from the back where the teachers stood, Dumbledore called out.

"Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

Everyone started moving around, scanning the grounds excitedly for whatever Professor Dumbledore had seen. Finally, someone in our section shouted "There!" and pointed to the sky. I looked up to see what they were seeing, and my eyes locked on a large dark object hurtling through the evening sky towards the Hogwarts grounds.

I whipped my Stark glasses out of my pocket and put them on, then refocused on the object in the sky. It was moving incredibly fast, getting closer and closer, but I still couldn't make out what it was.

"Ana, magnify," I said. She did, and even though I could see the object clearly it took me a minute to understand just what I was looking at.

Four elephant-sized horses were pulling a massive, powered-blue carriage through the sky towards the school. They swept over the top of the Forbidden Forest, illuminated by the light of the castle as the house-shaped carriage came in for a touchdown in front of the castle.