**Thankyou everyone for reading Long chapter ahead - with quite a bit of dialogue... Also, a tiny part of it was taken from GoF, like part of Dumbledore's speech... and if you read GoF you might find Stan is actually "mentioned" ... but I tried to keep that to a minimum. I don't want to plagiarise or anything. Anyway, read, enjoy, & comment **

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Chapter 14 - Hogwarts

The view of the lake water slowly changed from deep blue to turquoise to a dark sea green as Amara watched from her bunk bed opposite the porthole.

There were three other girls in the room apart from Amara and Karina; all of whom were fast asleep, their snores sounding over the creaking of the ship as the currents worked on all sides of the hull and bent it to one side then to another. Fizzy was curled up in a ball at the end of Amara’s bed, spitting and hissing quietly even in slumber. It almost felt like a crib inside the room, but Amara couldn’t sleep; she’d spent the last two hours staring at the shoals of fish rushing past the porthole, the sunrays filtering through the water making their fins glitter. The light was slowly getting an orange hue as the sun started to set.

Every now and then Amara glanced at the twelve-handed alarm clock in her left hand, which currently read half past five. They’d been on duty from three in the morning, steering the ship and checking that everything was in order, and had only gone to bed late in the afternoon. It was now nearing dusk, and they’d soon be arriving at Hogwarts.

Amara tried closing her eyes again, hoping to get a few minutes of sleep even though they were less than an hour away – but just then something had to make a resounding BOOM and jolt her up out of the bed.

‘What the...’ Amara said, as the other four woke up with a start. She tiptoed across to the hatch leading out into the corridor and turned the wheel, peering outside.

‘Høy!’

A slightly overexcited Stan was standing outside, already dressed in uniform. Amara sighed and rubbed her eyes.

‘What do you want, Stan? Can’t you knock more quietly?’

‘Strict orders from Headmaster,’ he said loudly. ‘All students to report outside the captain’s cabin in fifteen minutes in full Durmstrang uniform.’

‘Yeah, thanks,’ Amara said, keeping her voice as quiet as possible. ‘Well, see you then.’

She closed the hatch and went to fetch her red Durmstrang uniform from her trunk as the others started changing with much grumbling. The colour of the lake had turned black suddenly and the only light coming in was from the grimy bulbs outside the porthole.

Soon they were making their way to the captain’s cabin, their uniforms feeling uncomfortably muggy in the warmer climate. The burning torches hanging on the walls weren’t strong enough to light their way so they took out their wands, muttering ‘Lumos’, as a shadow flitted across the wall.

A girl gasped, then let out a small scream. A large tentacle was waving at them outside the porthole.

‘It’s a Kraken!’ she said, making the other two scream as well.

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Karina said, peering through a porthole. ‘It’s just the Giant Squid, isn't it, Amara?’

‘Harmless, really,’ Amara added, moving on. The other three lingered a little longer before following them. They were the last ones to arrive outside the captain’s cabin, where Karkaroff waited, wearing his usual yellow-toothed smile.

‘Everyone here, at last? We will disembark in a few minutes, and I want to make clear a few things before we do. As you already know, the Goblet of Fire chooses the champions, and I will see to it that all of you enter your names into it by morning. There are no exceptions.

‘As I have already said, lessons and exams will still take place on the ship, and lastly, you are prohibited to speak about the whereabouts of Durmstrang Institute or its secrets to anyone. Are we clear?’

There was a unanimously dull agreement.

‘Get this ship up, then.’

A boy, who’d taken in stride the task of being captain all through the journey, quickly made to the captain’s cabin along with a few others, while the rest conjured up chairs to sit on while they waited. Slowly, the ship started to rise, accelerating as the pressure on it decreased.

There was an ear-shattering splash as the ship rose above the surface, shaking off the water from its sails as everything seemed to half in weight and everyone struggled not to fall off their chairs. Amara got up and opened a porthole as the ship glided a bit further.

‘Aah, that’s better,’ Karina said, getting up too and looking outside the porthole. ‘It was getting mouldy in here.’

‘Yeah, I’m definitely not taking the ship back,’ said Amara.

‘Why? Oh – yeah, since you live here. You could Apparate, I guess.’

‘Anything but that,’ Amara said. She’d barely scraped a pass in Apparating in their fifth year, and frankly, she hated it. ‘I could take the Hogwarts train.’

‘They have a train?’ Karina said, bumping her head on the edge of the porthole as she turned her head around.

‘Yeah, I never told you?’

‘I thought they Apparated or flew, like us,’ said Karina, rubbing her head.

‘Nah, they’re classier than that.’

‘Ooh, look!’ Karina said suddenly, pointing at something in the distance. ‘Is that the Forbidden Forest? Can we go there?’

‘It’s forbidden, Kar,’ Amara said. ‘But yeah, sure we can.’

‘Fred and George have been there, ja?’

Amara nodded, her hands folded as she stared out the porthole too.

‘Sounds good to me, then,’ Karina grinned, as if that settled the matter.

They felt the ship thud against the edge of the lake and a clunk as a plank landed on the ground. They couldn’t see the castle yet; it was on the other side, hidden away from the tiny view the portholes allowed.

‘Line up, we’re getting off,’ came the voice of their Headmaster from the door to the captain’s cabin. ‘Make yourselves look adequate,’ he added, looking at Stan, who had buttoned his cloak the wrong way.

Amara and Karina stood near the end of the line, their scarlet uniforms contrasting with their black cloaks and the falling dusk. Their boots knocked against the wood as they marched outside and down the plank, a breeze coming to meet them.

A thousand Hogwarts students were filed in rows a short distance away, waiting for them to arrive, their colourful House shawls and scarves glowing in the orange light emitting from the Entrance Hall. A few lights from the upper floors seemed to have been left on, the forest trees waved their branches in greeting up ahead, the lake water spilled over the bank behind them.

Apparently the students from Beauxbatons had already arrived; a great powder-blue carriage was parked not too far away, its steeds grazing and pawing at the grass beneath.

Karkaroff marched them up to where a tall, thin man with twinkling eyes stood, his silver beard so long it was tucked inside his belt.

‘Dumbledore!’ Karkaroff told him heartily. ‘How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?’

‘What’s gotten into him?’ Karina whispered in Amara’s ear.

‘Must be the change of air.’

Amara was peering over the top of Stan’s head, trying to catch sight of a strand of bright red hair... Sure enough, Ginny stood in the third row. She waved and grinned at Amara, who grinned back. The row behind her, a little to her left, stood Ron, who was totally unaware that Amara was there, and instead was gawping at Viktor Krum’s head. Fred and George were jumping up and down in the sixth row, waving frantically at them like a pair of ten-year olds.

Karkaroff was leading them into the Entrance Hall now, and they were ushered into the Great Hall soon after. They, along with the other Durmstrang students, stood there, unsure where to sit, as Hogwarts students joined them.

‘Hey – Amara!’ the familiar voice of Ginny came from the door. She was walking with a group of girls, who she told to go on before going over to where Amara and Karina stood.

‘Ginny,’ Amara grinned, grabbing her in a hug. ‘You remember Karina, right?’

‘Of course. How are you?’ she said rather politely, hugging Karina too.

‘Good, thanks,’ Karina replied.

‘So, you’re entering!’ Ginny said. ‘I heard there’s going to be an age limit, but they haven’t told us anything yet.’

‘It’s seventeen, if I remember right,’ Amara said, and noticed that Ginny’s eyes had suddenly widened. ‘Why?’

‘Well,’ Ginny giggled. ‘Fred and George were thinking of entering. Imagine the look on their faces when—’

‘What about us?’ someone said behind Amara. She turned around; sure enough, the twins stood at the door, grinning identically and standing a few inches taller than everyone else.

‘Nothing,’ Ginny said quickly, barely hiding her smile. ‘I think you’ll know soon enough, anyway. See you around.’

‘Know what soon enough? Hey!’ Fred called after her, but she just waved dismissively and went to sit down at the Gryffindor table. Shrugging, Fred and George walked towards Amara and Karina, who were the last Durmstrang students who hadn’t sat down yet.

‘Coming?’ George said, indicating the Gryffindor table. ‘Unless you’d rather sit with the Slytherins.’

‘Why’s that so bad?’ Karina asked as they crossed the Great Hall to the Gryffindor table.

‘Snotty gits, the whole lot of them,’ Fred said. ‘Pity Quidditch got cancelled now that—’

‘What?’ Amara cut in, jerking around so fast that her hair nearly smacked Karina in the face. ‘Cancelled?’

‘Yeah, and I was really looking forward to kicking some Slytherin—’

‘But we can still use the pitch?’

‘Sure,’ George said. ‘Just no actual Quidditch Cup this year.’

‘Makes a nice change, though, doesn’t it?’ said Karina, taking off her cloak as she sat down, heaving a huge sigh. ‘I’m starving,’ she added. ‘Where’s all the food at?’

‘Got to wait until Dumbledore says the magic words,’ Fred said, sitting next to George, opposite Karina.

‘Think they’ll have that tickle tart you told me about, Amara?’

‘Treacle tart?’ Amara said.

‘Yeah, that, and some kleppfisk would be good too.’

George grinned slightly. ‘Honestly, you’re worse than Ron at the start of term.’

The staff had finally taken their seats at the top table, all except Dumbledore, who remained standing as the Hall fell silent, except for a few Beauxbatons students, who were complaining quietly about the uncushioned benches. Fred and George eyed them peculiarly.

‘Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and – most particularly – guests,’ he said, his eyes twinkling at all the students in red and blue. ‘I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable. The Tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink and make yourselves at home!’

The golden plates were suddenly piled with all food imaginable: roast beef, cottage pie, corn, pork chops, chicken, mashed potatoes, about ten types of sauces; Karina filled her plate with Smørbrød, a kind of open sandwich with beef, olives and tomatoes, Amara fancied some Kavarma, a Bulgarian stew she liked having back at Durmstrang, but threw sausages, eggs, and a piece of shepherd’s pie into the pile. There were some dishes Amara couldn’t recognise, which she guessed were French (and which the Beauxbatons students criticised earnestly since they were ‘pas professionnel’ and not cooked well enough), but after finishing her shepherd’s pie she was so full she barely managed to cram down some crepes before putting her fork down. Karina was still trying out a variety of British and French cuisines though, long after Amara had finished eating and some of Fred and George’s classmates had come over, interested in their foreign friends. Most were surprised when they realised Amara wasn’t foreign at all, but didn’t remark too much about it.

‘Is it true you have yetis guarding the main gates?’ asked Alicia Spinnet, a Chaser on Gryffindor’s Quidditch team. ‘And someone told me you train dragons?’

Karina chortled. ‘No yetis, no dragons. We do have a Kraken in one of the lakes, though.’

‘A Kraken?’ Lee Jordan said, eyebrows rising and disappearing in his dreadlocks. ‘I thought those didn’t exist.’

‘They almost died out a few centuries ago,’ Amara said, eyeing the twins, who were sneaking toffees into puddings for some reason. ‘Giants kept killing them. I reckon only a couple are left.’

‘Woah,’ Angelina Johnson said. ‘I mean, we have vampires and Acromantula in the forest, but a Kraken...’

‘So how’s Quidditch there?’ Alicia asked earnestly. All of them were sitting with their hands folded on the table and were listening intently.

‘Well,’ Amara said, poking at her plate of cherry cake, 'we’re used to bad conditions, I guess, but that just makes the game more exciting.’

Karina nodded, gulping down a mouthful of ice cream. ‘Ja, we never cancel a match, even if there’s a blizzard or a hailstorm.’

‘So it shouldn’t be a problem over here, eh?’ George said, his hands now empty of toffees. Fred turned to Alicia. ‘Think we can book the pitch for tomorrow?’

‘Think so,’ Alicia replied, reaching for some crème brûlee. ‘The other teams are slacking a bit, without the Cup and everything.’

‘I wouldn’t try that if I were you, Alicia,’ Fred said, sweeping the plate of crème brûlee away and piling all sorts of French cuisine onto it. ‘Special order for the Ravenclaw table,’ he indicated the Beauxbatons students.

‘Just testing some new Skiving Snackboxes,’ George explained, getting up while balancing trays on both hands.

The two mingled with a number of students who were making their way out of the Hall, walked past the Hufflepuff table and towards the blue-robed students on the Ravenclaw table.

‘I hope those aren’t Nosebleed Nougats,’ Alicia said, who, along with the others, were watching Fred and George presenting the Beauxbatons students graciously with dessert. ‘I tried one once, trying to avoid detention,’ she told Amara and Karina. ‘I ended up in the Hospital Wing for a week before they could find a counterspell.’

‘Don’t worry, they’re just Puking Pastilles,’ George said as the two returned to the Gryffindor table.

‘New variety,’ Fred added. ‘Lasts for a few minutes, just enough to get you out of class.’

But the Beauxbatons students seemed to be well fed and weren’t touching any of the food left on the table. Fred and George looked rather disappointed.

‘You could advertise for testers,’ Lee suggested.

‘We don’t feel particularly murderous yet,' Fred said. ‘Best test them on ourselves for now - and the Slytherin lot, of course.’

The Hall had fallen silent and the food had disappeared suddenly; a shiver of anticipation ran through everyone as Dumbledore stood up to speak. Fred and George were staring at him attentively opposite Amara and Karina, who glanced at each other knowingly.

‘The moment has come,’ Dumbledore smiled. ‘The Triwizard Tournament is about to start...’

He went on to introduce the judges to everyone, and then a casket was brought from the antechamber, holding the Goblet of Fire.

‘...To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the Entrance Hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line...’

Fred, George, and Lee jerked their heads around at Amara and Karina, who couldn’t help but feel a little guilty at the looks of indignation and surprise on their faces. The others were deep in conversation by now, discussing their odds of getting chosen.

‘You knew about the age limit!’ Lee accused them.

‘Well,’ Karina started, looking at Amara for backup, who shook her head. ‘We... might have - uh - heard about it...’

This only made Lee fume more.

George recovered first. ‘Well,’ he said, clearing his throat. ‘We can easily sort that out. A charm or a potion could do the trick.’

‘An Ageing Potion?’ Amara suggested, one eyebrow raised.

‘Yeah – that!’ Fred said, then paused and turned to George. ‘Er – but we've never brewed it before, right?’

‘I don’t know how much it will work, though,’ Karina said doubtfully.

‘Rubbish, it will,’ Fred said, getting up. ‘Just wait and see. Tomorrow morning, our names will be in.’

And the two sped off towards the doors leading out to the Entrance Hall. Amara sighed, the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile, and looked over at the other Durmstrang students.

‘We should go, Kar, they’re leaving for the ship.’

Grabbing their cloaks, they crossed the Great Hall and levelled up with the Slytherin table, where Karkaroff was ushering the Durmstrang students to go while fussing around Krum, who seemed to have caught a cold.

‘...Viktor, how are you feeling? Did you eat enough? Should I send for some mulled wine from the kitchens?’

‘Professor, I vood like some vine,’ Stan was saying.

‘I wasn’t offering it to you, Poliakoff,’ Karkaroff snapped.

‘D’you think Fred and George will really do it?’ Karina told Amara. ‘It’s a bit impossible, nei?’

‘I dunno. Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past them.’

Something seemed to be blocking the door because they had stopped moving, and so had about thirty other students. Amara and Karina looked over the heads of the students, trying to see what was causing the delay.

Amara’s eyes fell on a head of ash blonde hair which belonged to a pale boy with a pointed face, not much younger than her. His eyes were haughty and grey, and he was flanked by two large boys, who were helping him push aside first-years as they made towards the door.

‘Hey – Amara.’ Karina was tugging at her sleeve. ‘Come on, we’re going.’

The burning torches in the Entrance Hall were one by one being extinguished as the remaining students left for their Common Rooms. The Durmstrang ship stood waiting at the lake, which was glistening in the moonlight. They marched down to it and then made for their different rooms once they were inside.

‘Still wish they’d let us sleep in the castle,’ Karina said wistfully, as she changed into her pyjamas. ‘Look, I think that’s the Gryffindor Common Room, there,’ she pointed out the porthole next to her bed. ‘Ah, their fireplace is on.’

‘We could make one ourselves,’ Amara said, sitting up on her bed opposite Karina’s. ‘Have you got a jar?’

Karina searched in her trunk for a jar; she usually kept a few for when she came across some strange little creature she’d want to keep. She opened one and handed it to Amara, who reached for her uniform and dug inside the pockets for her wand.

Pointing her wand inside the jar, Amara whispered the incantation, ‘Caeruleus Inflamarae,’ and a ball of blue flames appeared inside it.

‘Nice one,’ Karina said, putting the lid back on and placing the makeshift fireplace in the middle of the room. She turned to her bed and plopped onto it. ‘That’s better,’ she said, smiling and closing her eyes.

‘’Night,’ said Amara.

‘God natt.’

Turning over and pulling her covers up to her chin, Amara thought about that boy she’d seen earlier. Yet another familiar face she couldn’t quite place.

Tomorrow, she’d try out the Hogwarts library first thing after entering her name into the Goblet, and search anyone linked with the surname Lestrange, which she’d been meaning to do since Professor Vert had let slip the name. But before that, some well-deserved sleep...

Just then something rapped against the porthole next to Karina’s bed, and Amara turned over and squinted at it, trying to make out what was making the noise.

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