Hermione shuddered as a cold wind whipped through the Entrance Hall. She was standing with Harry and Ron as they waited behind a large crowd to enter the Great Hall. It was a wet, cold night and Hermione, Harry and Ron had to wait for 10 minutes in the rain before they could find a free carriage. They had squeezed in with Luna who proceeded to tell them about her summer which included a trip to Belgium in the hunt for some ridiculous creature that Hermione hadn't bothered remembering the name of. They were entering their sixth year at Hogwarts and Hermione knew this year was extremely important in the lead up to their NEWT's. The thought of it made her nervous and she had poured over her subject choices all summer trying to decide what would have her most prepared for her seventh year. She had spent the majority of her summer at home with her family before staying the last two weeks at The Burrow. As always, it had been an extremely enjoyable time with the Weasley's, the highlight being when Fred had turned Percy's cornflakes into dungbeetles. Percy, being focused on a Daily Prophet article, had not noticed and took an exceptionally large bite. She didn't see much of Percy after that, with Fred happily taking the blame for his absence.

"What's the hold up?" exclaimed Ron, standing on his toes to see over the crowd. "I'm bloody starving. Surely if we just shove a bit we can get to the front… look there's a pack of second years, they'll be easy to push…" The words had no sooner left his mouth when the crowd began to shuffle forward. Ron glared at the second years who looked back, frightened. Hermione sighed, she was too cold to lecture Ron about setting an example as a prefect.

After 5 more minutes of slow shuffling, a wave to Hagrid, and a deft move to avoid Peeves circling overheard with dungbombs, they finally found their seats at the Gryffindor table. The Great Hall was filled with excited murmuring, not unusual for the start of the school year as students caught up on the summer gossip. Seamus and Dean sat across from Hermione, part way through an excited conversation of their own.

"…going to enter for sure, but I wonder if they've changed the rules?" said Seamus, running his hand through his hair, water droplets falling slowly down his face. The Sorting ceremony had begun behind them so they lowered their voices to a whisper.

"They would have to; things have changed since the last time. More safety laws and all that. The Ministry would have a fit if it goes to the dogs like the last one," said Dean, taking out his wand and waving it over his clothes to dry them. "Oh, hey Hermione!" he said, realising who was across from them. "Harry, Ron. How was your summer's?"

"Riveting," whispered Ron. "I ate food and did nothing. What were you guys just talking about?"

"The tournament," Seamus replied nonchalantly. His eyebrows rose when he saw the confusion on the trio's faces. "Surely you three know about the tournament!? It's the worst kept secret at Hogwarts!"

"We haven't heard shit," Ron shrugged. "Not a word. You wouldn't even think I had family members at the Ministry with the amount of information they don't tell me. Might as well live with Muggles."

Seamus opened his mouth to reply but Ginny shushed them from further down the table. The sorting finished to a round of applause and Dumbledore stood up. He was beaming and had his arms open wide and a hush went over the Great Hall.

"A very good evening to you all as we embark on yet another year of learning and adventure," said Dumbledore. "Before we start the feast, I have a quick announcement." Heads around the hall turned to Dumbledore inquisitively. Usually he kept his speeches until after they had eaten to maximise attention which was ironic as, due to this change in pattern, he now had every student listening with a keen ear. Dumbledore continued, "As some of you may already know due to the dreadful secret keeping of those friends and family you love the most, this year Hogwarts will be playing host to the Triwizard Tournament." There was a gasp in unison and muttering broke out immediately. Hermione frowned. She had never even heard of the Triwizard Tournament, something she was distressed about as her textbooks had obviously let her down.

"The what?" said Harry, turning to Hermione, expecting that she would know the answer. Hermione shrugged, more interested in the delicious food that would soon be filling their plates. She took no interest in these types of things. They were usually entered by arrogant or over-confident people who were determined to prove their self-worth to an audience of their peers. She didn't need to do that, she much preferred keeping her head down and avoiding as much attention as possible. That was difficult to do when you're friends with Harry Potter, but she tried her best. Dumbledore cleared his throat and the hall fell silent again.

"For those of you who do not know, the Triwizard tournament is an opportunity for our wizarding community to join together and engage in some friendly competition. It is a time for unity and global participation, to join us with those we do not usually get to meet. This year, the usual guests will be attending who happen to be the Beauxbatons Academy and Durmstrang. Due to the, ah, unfortunate events of the previous Triwizard Tournament, our impartial judge now expects four schools to enter instead of three. So, for the first time ever, we are delighted to announce that Ilvermorny will also be participating in the tournament." The Great Hall immediately broke out into excited whispers again.

"Ilvermorny? As in the American school?"

"How did they get an invite?"

"Americans?"

"I love their accent, do you think they'll be friendly?"

"Americans!?"

"Furthermore," said Dumbledore, bringing a hush again to the audience. "You will be sharing your classes with the students who brave the trip to Hogwarts. They are excited and curious as to what our wonderful school can teach them so we expect you to greet them with the utmost kindness and openness, as I'm sure you will. Now, enough chat, let us enjoy the feast!" The tables were suddenly groaning under dishes of food and the Great Hall burst into noise once again. Ron turned to Hermione and Harry, grinning.

"Wicked!" he exclaimed. "I've heard of this tournament before, there's always a huge amount of prize money AND we get to meet French girls!" Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Of course the only point you would take from Dumbledore's speech is that there will be French girls here," said Hermione, reaching for some mashed potatoes.

"Oh come off it Hermione," replied Ron, his mouth filled with chicken. "Don't tell me you aren't as excited to meet an American guy? Or a Durmstrang guy from, well, whichever country they come from?" Hermione didn't reply, instead surveying her mashed potatoes with more interest than they deserved. Ron mistakenly took Hermione's silence to mean that he was right and smiled as he shovelled more food in his mouth.

All conversations in the Great Hall revolved around the Twiwizard tournament as people excitedly speculated on who would enter. Luna had drifted over at some point, looking lost as always, and told Ginny she thought she would be an excellent candidate before turning to Ron and telling him he would be a terrible one. This got a laugh from the Gryffindor table and Ron's ears turned red as he awkwardly laughed along too.

The last dish finally vanished and Hermione felt pleasantly full, ready to head back to the dormitory for a much anticipated sleep. Dumbledore stood once more and again a hush fell over the students.

"Once again, we come to the end of a glorious feast. With your bellies full and your eyes heavy, I ask you once more for your brief attention. Our guests from Beauxbatons, Durmstrang and Ilvermorny will be arriving one week from today. They will each bring twenty students who they deem fit to enter the tournament. One week after their arrival, the impartial judge will decide who the champion for each school will be. One champion per school will be selected to participate in three challenges based on their courage, determination, strength and wit. The prize will be 1000 galleons and two tickets to the Weird Sister's concert in Luxembourg." The corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched. "All those over 16 are welcome to enter, and-" said Dumbledore, raising his voice over the outroar of the younger students, "I would advise you not to try to trick the judge. It will not work and will only allow your peers to have a good laugh at the resulting punishment. Now, enough of that, time for bed!"

There was a loud scraping of benches as students got up and walked towards the doors.

"What do you reckon? Think you'll enter?" asked Harry, turning to Hermione as they stood.

Hermione shook her head.

"We have our NEWT's next year Harry, this year is important to make sure we're ready for it. My class schedule is already packed and with Prefect duties on top of that I don't know how I'll cope."

"Says the girl who had a time turner so she could go to more classes at the age of thirteen," retorted Harry with a smirk. "You'll cope fine; the teachers would make sure you wouldn't fail. I can't think of someone more deserving of being the Hogwarts champion than you Hermione."

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"I certainly can," she replied. "You, Harry. All you do is be brave, it's like your MO."

Harry laughed.

"There's a very fine line between bravery and stupidity and I walk it every day," he said, smiling. "You, on the other hand, don't. I don't think you're capable of being stupid. There's more to bravery than running into a fight you aren't guaranteed to win. You should give it some more thought."

"I agree," Ron piped up, walking over to them and accidentally shoulder checking Colin Creevey who went flying to the floor. "Oh sorry mate," he said, looking at Colin, "you should grow a bit and that won't happen again. Anyway," Ron said, turning back to Hermione and Harry, "Harry and I are going to enter and it wouldn't be right if you didn't. Plus, if we get it we would just go to you for help with the tasks anyway."

"What have I got to prove by entering this tournament?" replied Hermione, starting to move towards a group of confused first years who were awaiting her instruction as a prefect. "Which, may I add, is still called the Triwizard Tournament even though there are four schools involved which is just ridiculous. "

"You have nothing to prove Hermione, we all know that," said Harry. "But for once you can get the credit for your own genius and skill. 1000 galleons prize money would help towards any study you'd have to do after Hogwarts. Plus imagine the connections you would be able to make that could help you launch your career after our NEWT's."

Harry smirked as Hermione rolled her eyes. She knew he was goading her but begrudgingly knew he was right; this kind of thing did lead to great connections and would mean the results of her NEWT's wouldn't matter so much. She did also plan on doing extra study after she graduated from Hogwarts which cost money, money that her parents didn't have. It might not be a bad idea, Hermione thought to herself, but pushed it to the side. She would give it some more thought tomorrow.

"I'll think about it Harry," she finally said. Harry shrugged and walked off, Ron sneaking off behind him.

"Oi!" Hermione shouted after Ron. "Are you a prefect or what?" Ron slowly turned around, muttering to himself sullenly as he walked back to her. Hermione caught words like small gits and can find the common room themselves but chose to ignore this as she turned to the first years with a big smile, ushering them out of the Great Hall.

One week later, Hermione stood with Ron, Ginny and Harry on the lawn with the rest of the students around them. Beauxbatons, Ilvermorny and Durmstrang were set to arrive any moment and the staff had made them all stand outside to greet them. Hermione wrapped her robes tightly around herself; she wished they would hurry up. Eventually, a large noise from the lake signalled the arrival of a ship, rising above the water as if it had been beneath its surface all along. The students from Durmstrang disembarked the ship and walked to towards the Hogwarts students. Karkaroff greeted Dumbledore with an overly enthusiastic and not at all genuine greeting before leading his students inside. Ilvermorny were next; a loud noise announcing the arrival of two eighteen wheeler trucks. One moment the space had been empty, the next the two trucks were speeding into the grounds. The trucks had huge Ilvermorny logos donned on each side and they screeched to a halt in the soft earth.

"Subtle," Ginny remarked, eyeing the trucks. The pistons hissed and the back of the trucks were thrown open as twenty students descended out of it. At the front was who Hermione assumed was the headmaster. He stood tall with a genuine smile that put Karkaroff's to shame. He and his students wore robes of blue and cranberry, fastened by a golden Gordian knot and exuded confidence as they strode towards the castle. The Headmaster smiled as he took Dumbeldore's extended hand with two of his own.

"Albus!" the Headmaster boomed. "How glad we are to be here!"

"An easy trip, Professor Fontaine?" replied Dumbledore.

"Ah no need for formalities Albus, call me Agilbert!" Fontaine replied with laughter in his voice. "The trip was never going to be easy. Ran into a bit of trouble over the Atlantic Ocean, storms and whatnot, then had to make an unexpected detour to Ireland due to illness, but here we are now!"

Hermione got the impression that this Agilbert Fontaine liked attention very much. He was looking around at the Hogwarts students as he continued the story about their journey, now giving intense details about the storm and how he took control of the steering to ensure his students safety. Eventually he gestured his students to go indoors and with one last wave to the Hogwarts crowd, he disappeared.

"Nutter," muttered Ron, turning back to face the grounds once again. "Interesting they bought those big trucks though, I guess the students will be sleeping in there. Crazy those things can fly, huh?"

"We literally owned a flying car," Ginny retorted. Ron went silent.

Once again they waited quietly. Hermione was very cold now and was starting to feel annoyed; these French guests were already late, she wished Dumbledore would tell them to head inside. Suddenly, they heard a great beating of wings and two horse-drawn carriages appeared in the distance. They came closer at a quickening speed and landed elegantly on the lawn next to the Ilvermorny trucks; an extreme contrast to the way the American guests had arrived. The door was flung open and out stepped the tallest woman Hermione had ever seen. Her students followed quickly, dwarfed by her height. Hermione couldn't see them clearly as they approached but heard muttering break out among the Hogwarts students. Dumbledore greeted the tall woman named Madam Maxime and invited them in promptly to the Great Hall. As they walked past, Hermione dropped her gaze from Madam Maxime to a girl walking next to her. The girl's hair was long and sleek, a silvery shimmer emanating from it. She was slim and walked with an extremely straight posture; a slight smile on her face that appeared rather forced. Everyone in the Hogwarts crowd who had got over Maxime's height had noticed this girl as, there was no other way to put it, she was the most beautiful person Hermione had ever seen. She stared slightly transfixed as the rest of the Beauxbatons crowd walked past and the girl turned briefly, making eye contact with Hermione. She had the most astonishingly blue eyes and her stare was intense, but a moment later it was over and she walked past. Hermione continued to stare, only snapping out of it when Harry gently nudged her. She turned around and saw Ron was also gawking.

"That girl," said Ron, facing Hermione and Harry, his mouth still slightly agape. "The one next to Maxime, she's got to be a Veela. Has to be. Nobody human can look like that unless they have some Veela blood in them. Bloody hell, I didn't think there were any of them left."

Hermione quickly nodded. That had to be it, the girl had to be a Veela who was turning on her natural charm to enchant the crowd around her. That's why Hermione couldn't take her eyes off of her, no other reason.

Hermione followed the Hogwarts crowd back into the Great Hall, lost in thought. From a million miles away Hermione heard Ginny say, "Urgh, why did we have to get them?" and she pulled herself back to the present. The students from Durmstrang had elected to sit at the Slytherin table, Beauxbatons at Ravenclaw's and, to Ginny's annoyance, Ilvermorny at Gryffindor's. Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny found a spot across from two Ilvermorny students and proceeded to sit. One of the Ilvermorny boys immediately stood up and stuck out his hand. He had dark hair, light eyes and strong cheekbones. Hermione could see the girls around them admiring him and assumed that he must be good looking.

"Hey, how ya doing?" said the boy, shaking Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny's hand in turn. "My name's Cedric Diggory, pleased to meet you." The boy next to Cedric stayed quiet and stared at his hands, apparently much shyer than Cedric. They introduced themselves to Cedric and struck up polite conversation until Dumbledore stood up and a hush fell over the hall.

"Welcome all!" said Dumbledore, smiling around at the now packed Great Hall. "We at Hogwarts are so pleased to have you here to join us once again in the Triwizard Tournament. As our castle is your new home, we urge you make yourselves comfortable."

Agilbert Fontaine was nodding enthusiastically; Karkaroff and Madam Maxime looked glumly at their surroundings, apparently unimpressed with their home for the next nine months.

"As of tomorrow morning," Dumbledore continued, "the Goblet of Fire will be lit. This is an impartial judge and will require you to write your name and school on a piece of parchment and drop it into it. The Goblet will be active for one week and will then announce the champions at dinner. I will reiterate, only those students over sixteen may enter." A muttering filled the hall at these words. Hermione saw Ginny mouth a crude word in Dumbledore's direction; she was not sixteen in time to compete.

"As of tomorrow," Dumbledore said, "we will have the pleasure of our guests joining us in our classes. After the feast, if the Hogwarts students will remain behind to collect their timetables. But enough from me, get to know our guests and enjoy the feast!"

"Here, here!" said Fontaine a little over-excitedly and the tables were once again filled with food. The selection of food was varied and Hermione assumed it was due to the larger cultural diversity their school now held.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Cedric, reaching for a dish of macaroni and cheese. Cedric's friend took some too but did not speak.

"So," continued Cedric, as if they had just been mid-conversation when in reality no one had been speaking, "you guys have a great place here. Beautiful castle, can't believe we've been invited to compete."

"Me neither," said Ron which got him an elbow in the ribs from Ginny. Cedric smiled, assuming Ron was being sarcastic which Hermione knew was an inaccurate assumption. Suddenly a squeal filled the Great Hall, making most students look towards the noise. Hermione turned around and saw the beautiful silver-haired girl from Beauxbatons run towards a dark-haired girl from Ilvermorny and give her a hug. They held on tightly and Hermione felt a strange pang of envy toward the girl from Ilvermorny. Must be the Veela charm being put on again she thought.

Hermione looked around the Great Hall and noticed the Durmstrang students were all staring at the silver-haired girl too. Most had looks of intense admiration, but she was surprised to see some were showing extreme disgust on their faces. These reactions were not in line with the admiring looks from the other students; they were at a much higher intensity which had nothing to do with a Veela charm. Hermione wondered what may have prompted this as she slowly turned back to her plate, which was now loaded with dessert. Cedric and Ginny were in a discussion about Quidditch, Harry shooting dark looks at them both.

Eventually the feast ended and Cedric said his goodbyes, heading out of the Great Hall with the rest of his classmates. The Ilvermorny students were extremely loud as they walked out, waving at the Hogwarts students and shouting their goodbyes. This received glares from the students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang; they did not appear to be pleased with their rambunctious neighbours.

McGonagall walked down the Gryffindor table handing out their timetables for the year. Hermione glanced down at it; it didn't look as full as she thought. Maybe she did have the time to enter the tournament after all…

"Fuck this!" Ron exclaimed loudly, resulting in a glare from McGonagall and a promise to hex his lips together if he used that language again. Once she had walked away, Ron leant closer to Harry and Hermione, keeping his voice down but not adjusting his language.

"Look who we have Defence Against the Dark Art with! Durmstrang! That school is the reason we have Dark Arts, their students created half the fucking curses!"

"That's not fair," said Hermione. "Every school has their fair share of evil wizards who come from evil families. They had Grindelwald and then that incident a couple of years ago with the Grindelwald sympathisers-"

"And we had Voldemort," interrupted Harry. "Plus half of the Death Eater's kids go here, we aren't innocent."

"Yeah but the other half of the Death eater kids go there!" argued Ron.

"I don't think we should judge them until we know them," said Hermione. "Plus, a moment ago you loved them when you saw that Krum goes to that school."

Ron's ears reddened.

"Well I don't trust them," he retorted. "And I absolutely will not be working with any of them in Defence class. Atleast we have Beauxbaton's in Charms, maybe that girl will be in there, you know, that one…" Ron trailed off but yes, Hermione knew exactly which one he was talking about. She didn't know her name but there was something about that girl. It had nothing to do with being a Veela; Hermione didn't hold appearance in high regard. It was the way she walked, confident yet still closed off. The way she had a slight smile on her face when she knew the crowd was watching her, as if she had dealt with this for years and knew it best to smile until it was over. Hermione knew what that was like. Her adventures with Harry and Ron and granted her her own fair share of staring and whispering and she didn't like it either. Hermione realised Harry and Ron were talking again and willed herself to focus on the conversation.

"…look, we have Potions with Ilvermorny," continued Ron. "Hopefully that pretty boy Diggory isn't in the class. He looks like he'd be stupid. I think the accent's fake as well."

"Yeah," said Harry nodding profusely, "absolutely no brains. Seems a bit full of himself I reckon."

Hermione rolled her eyes as the boys continued to slam Diggory to inflate their own egos. She noticed the Great Hall was emptying and stood up, leading Harry and Ron out of the Great Hall. As they reached the staircase to start the climb to Gryffindor Tower, she glanced out at the grounds. Near the Beauxbaton's carriage she noticed what looked like a dog shaped patronus casually walking alongside Madam Maxime. It had an elegant gait though, one that a patronus couldn't have. She decided to wonder what it may be tomorrow; her tired brain was sick of the over thinking for one night.