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CHAPTER SEVEN: Something Different
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OCTOBER THIRTIETH COULD NOT HAVE ARRIVED FASTER. The season had turned from the warm summer to cool autumn, and Tara had not enjoyed the change in weather at all. She had huddled with her siblings and friends by one of the many archways of the Clock Tower Courtyard, they had all been eagerly awaiting the arrival of students from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang Institute.
"Look! In the sky!" Tara heard a younger student yell, she squinted to try to get a glimpse of what they had seen, and then she saw it. Although it only looked like a small speck in the sky when she first saw it, it was a giant flying carriage being pulled by enormous winged horses and Tara realised that they were most likely Abraxans. Hagrid was then spotted on the ground near the Black Lake, he was attempting to guide them in for a landing but he had to jump out of the way as the Abraxans were more than slightly out of control. A series of laughs were heard from the group of students watching.
"The Black Lake!" another student called out and Tara immediately turned her attention from the carriage to the lake. A derelict sailing ship was then seen surfacing from the depths of the Black Lake, Tara thought that it was quite pretentious of the two schools to arrive in such a way and wondered as to why they didn't just use a portkey like she had to get to the Quidditch World Cup.
"That's something you don't see every day!" she heard Fred and George yell together and she then decided that she had seen enough and that it was far too cold to be standing outside looking at a half-broken ship and a fancy carriage, although she did like that something different and exciting was about to take place at Hogwarts.
Tara had left just in time as all those that had waited outside to see the arrival of the other schools had then been directed into the Great Hall so they could properly welcome the international students. Professor Dumbledore was already prepared to give his brief speech as the students took their seats.
"The Triwizard Tournament was first established about seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities, that is until the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued for the safety of the students," Professor Dumbledore explained and many students started murmuring to their friends at the mention of a death toll.
Tara was largely unfazed by the news though as she had absolutely no intention of entering the tournament (she was still extremely irritated by it as it was the reason that the Quidditch Tournament was cancelled for this year), unlike her twin brothers who were still very eager to enter the Triwizard Tournament.
