Year Four: The TriWizard Tournament

Part 5

There was a definite end-of-the-holidays gloom in the air when everyone boarded the Hogwarts Express. Harry, Anne, Ron, and Hermione went to their usual compartment in the back. The thick rain was splattering the windows making it difficult to see out.

"This is horrible," said Hermione clearly upset. "How can the Ministry not know who conjured the Dark Mark? Isn't there any security?"

"That's what I like to know," Anne said. "Also, who were those people that attacked all those innocent witches and wizards at the World Cup?"

"Don't know but they were pretty creepy," replied Ron as he munched on some snacks.

Anne looked over at Harry who was rubbing his head. "Harry, is your scar hurting again?"

"I'm fine," he muttered.

Hermione though was concerned. "You know Sirius will want to hear about this. What you saw at the World Cup, and the dream."

"I'll write to him then." Harry gets out some parchment and quill to write his letter.

They had just stepped out of the carriages when the sound of horses came from out in the distance.

"Wow! That's something you don't see every day!" Anne turned to see Cedric standing right behind her staring out at a very large black shape that was skimming over the treetops of the Dark Forest.

Everyone watched in awe as they saw a gigantic powder-blue , horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house soaring toward the ground, pulled by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant.

"Do you hear something?" said Ron suddenly.

Anne listened; a loud and oddly eerie noise was drifting toward them from out of the darkness; a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, as though an immense vacuum cleaner were moving along a riverbed...

"The lake!" someone shouted, pointing toward it.

Some disturbance was taking place deep in the center of the lake; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were washing over the murky banks---and then, out in the middle a whirlpool appeared.

What seemed to be a long black pole began to rise slowly out of the whirlpool.

"It's a moat!" Harry said.

Slowly, magnificently, a ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck. Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide toward shore.

Anne so enraptured with the dramatic entrances of these two vessels, stepped back not realizing Cedric was behind her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she cried clearly embarrassed. "I didn't mean to step on your foot!"

"That's all right," said Cedric kindly. "No harm. It's just too crowded due to the excitement with the foreign schools arriving for the big event Hogwarts is hosting this year."

"Big event?" asked Anne curious.

"Yes. It was supposed to be announced at the World Cup.... but after what happened...... Anyway, my dad told me that Ludo Bagman was going to announce at the World Cup, as well as improvise in this special event that Hogwarts would be hosting this along with the two other schools. It's called the TriWizard Tournament," Cedric explained. He saw a couple of his friends heading up to the Great Hall. "Well, gotta go. See you later,....Anne."

Anne watched him go surprised and curious by what he told her. A TriWizard Tournament? What exactly was that?