CHAPTER 7

ARRIVAL

Lyra left the second Moody's class ended. She trailed after Neville, who had ran halfway up the passage and was staring at the stone wall across from him with the same horrified expression.

"Nev?" She said, tentatively, "Are you alright." She didn't dare reach out to touch him again.

He looked up at her, his expression was still terrified, but his shoulders weren't as stiff anymore.

Suddenly, Hermione, Harry, and Ron were next to her. 

"Neville?" Hermione asked softly.

Her turned to look at them too. "Oh hello," he said, his voice was higher than usual. "Interesting lesson wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I - I'm starving, aren't you."

"Are you ok?" Lyra asked again. 

"Oh yes, I'm fine," He responded int he same unusually high pitched voice, "Very interesting dinner - I mean lesson - what's for eating?"

Then they five Gryffindors heard a loud clunking sound behind them and turned to see Professor Moody limping towards them. And in a must more gentle growl then they had heard before he said, "It's all right sonny, Why don't you come up to my office? Come on, we can have a cup of tea..."

Lyra broke at the frightened and desperate look on Neville's face at the offer. And at his pleading look reacted quickly and said, "Actually, professor, me and Neville were going to the library."  

Moody looked right at her with both eyes, as if he saw right through her lie. And Lyra had never regretted lying to a professor until that moment. 

"Knight is it?" He said, his voice gruff but still gentle, as if he knew that a louder voice would startle Neville.

Lyra swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.

"Yes, I know your father. How's he been?"

"He's alright, sir." She responded, she had to fight her hand from twitching

"Be sure to send my greetings." When she nodded again his eyes turned to Harry, "You all right, are you Potter?"

Harry stared numbly at him, "Yes."

"You've got to know. It seems harsh, maybe, but you've got to know. No point pretending... well... not to worry Knight, I'm just borrowing Longbottom for a few minutes. I have some books that might interest you."

Neville looked pleadingly at Lyra, then at the other three Gryffindors. When no one said anything he allowed himself to be steered by Moody's hand on his shoulder.

"What was that about?" said Ron, watching Neville and Moody turn the corner.

"I don't know," said Hermione, she looked pensive.

"Maybe I should follow. Make sure Neville is gonna be fine." Lyra said, preparing to walk after them.

"No Lyra," Hermione said, grabbing Lyra's elbow to hold her back, "He'll see you with the eye and you'll only get Neville and yourself in trouble."

"Some lesson, though, eh?" Ron said to Harry as they walked to the Great Hall. "Fred and George were right weren't they? He really knows his stuff, Moody, doesn't he? When he did Avada Kedavra, the way the spider just died, just snuffed it right out -,"

Lyra turned and saw the look on Harry's face, she assumed Ron saw it too and didn't speak after that. When the reached the Great Hall she said goodbye to the trio and headed to sit with Zara at the Ravenclaw table. 

"How were your classes?" Zara asked, the girl was most cheerful towards the end of the day, meanwhile, Lyra looked the most exhausted Zara had ever seen her.

"Oh, Moody showed us the three Unforgivable curses and Neville had a mental breakdown or something about one of them."

Zara gapped at her, "Seriously? I have him tomorrow, is he showing us all?"

Lyra nodded, and Zara turned to look at the Gryffindor table. "Well, where is Neville?"

"Moody took him to his office for tea after the lesson. I was gonna follow to make sure he was alright but Hermione stopped me."

"Good. He would have caught you, and then you both would have been in trouble."

"Yeah, she said that too."

Zara stared at the sad look on her best friend's face. "Was it that bad."

Lyra shrugged, "It was just really scary, sad. I don't know. I don't know why it's affecting me so much."

Zara rested a hand on her shoulder, "It's alright. Eat something, you'll feel better."

Lyra nodded and pulled food towards her plate, not as much as she would normally have, but enough where she would have something in her system.

When dinner was over Lyra went back to the Gryffindor common room. She felt a little better after having eaten but still couldn't shake that awfully, cold feeling in her chest.

She found Neville already in the common room, "Neville? Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm great. Professor Moody gave me a bunch of new books. Sprout told him I was good at Herbology." He smiled and pointed to a pile of books.

"That's great, Nev! I'm glad your feeling better."

"Thanks Lyra!" He smiled again before turning back to his books.

Lyra, feeling a lot better now sat with the Weasley twins, who have her a pile of Exploding Snap cards to play. She beat them easily before deciding to go to bed early.

The next few weeks flew by with a larger demand than Lyra was used to. A lot of her time was used for homework now and it made her restless that the only thing she could do to get her energy out was her usual morning runs.

One of her more stressing classes turned out to be Defence Against the Dark Arts. Today, Professor Moody had surprised them when announcing he would be putting the Imperius curse on them to see if they could resist it. 

"But - but you said it's illegal, Professor," Hermione said, uncertainly as Moody moved the desks. "You said - to use it against another human was - "

Moody interrupted, "Dumbledore wants you to be taught what it feels like. If you'd rather learn it the hard way - when someone's putting it on you so they can control you completely - fine by me. You're excused. Off you go."

Hermione turned pink and muttered something and Moody began nodding students forwards. 

Lyra, who had grown protective since the first class, stood next to Neville, who began jittering.

"You'll be fine, Nev. And if you don't want to you don't have to."

Neville squared his shoulders, "No, it's fine Lyra, thanks."

Lyra nodded and Neville stepped forward. Moody raised his want and growled, "Imperio!" And Neville began doing astonishing gymnastics that he wouldn't have been able to do in his normal state.

From behind her, Lyra heard a scoff, "Pathetic, why he's in Gryffindor I'll never understand."

She turned and glared at Malfoy. "Right, because you can do any better. Besides, Neville deserved his spot in Gryffindor just as much as the rest of us, so why don't you shut up."

The Slytherins behind her gaped. Before Parkinson said, "Oooooh, does someone have a crush on Longbottom."

Lyra turned, ready to jump on the Slytherin girl when Dean and Lavender grabbed her arms to hold her back from killing Pansy.

"I can be friends with whoever i bloody want Parkinson without your opinion." She spat out, pulling against Lavender and Dean's surprisingly strong grip.

Parkinson opened his mouth to say something else when Moody said, "Knight, your turn."

She sent one more glare at the Slytherin group before shaking Lavender and Dean off and walking to the center of the class.

"Imperio!" Moody said and Lyra felt the curse take over her. It brought her a floating sensation and wiped her head completely, the tension from wating to kill Pansy and from being stuck indoors for so long began loosening.

Distantly, she could hear Moody's voice echoing in her brain. Do a cartwheel. 

A cartwheel? Her own voice said, Why a cartwheel?

Do a cartwheel.

Well alright then. A cartwheel it is.

She felt herself begin to do cartwheels around the room as Moody's voice continued. 

All of the sudden she stopped and the empty feeling of her brain disappeared, Moody looked disappointed but turned to the next student.

Lyra moved back to her spot and watched as the rest of the class went up. Only one person managed to fight the curse and Harry had to do it five time to throw it off completely. Moody had ended up giving them a reading assignment on top of all of Lyra's other homework, which had her huffing when class saw finally over.

She walked towards the entrance hall and was met with a large crowd at the foot of the staircase, everyone pushing around to look at the sign. 

"What's all this." Zara said, popping up next to Lyra. 

"No clue," she raised herself on her toes, "Can't see."

"Of course you can't, Little Lyra." George was on her other side and patted her head.

"Shut up," She said, slapping his hand away.

Fred chuckled from Zara's side, "It's about the Triwizards Tournament."

THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUXBATONS AND DRUMSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER. LESSONS WILL END HALF AN HOUR EARLY. STUDENTS WILL RETURN TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORE THE WELCOMING FEAST. 

"Oh how exciting." Zara squealed, "Frankly, I'm getting tired of your same, old faces."

"Och," Lyra laughed, throwing herself in a feigned faint onto George, who caught her and lifted her back up. "That hurt, Dougherty."

For the rest of the week, everyone spoke about the Tournament. Rumors and conversations seemed to focus on nothing but the schools that were coming and the event. 

When Friday arrived there was a buzz of excitement throughout the school. Everything had been cleaned, everyone was excited in the arrival of Beauxbatons and Drumstrang students. 

When the bell rang early, Lyra along with the Gryffindors ran to their tower to leave their bags, she grabbed a jacket before heading down to the entrance hall where the Head of Houses were ordering them in lines.

"Weasley, straighten your hat," McGonagall snapped, "Knight, clean the ink marks on your face, Patil, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair."

Lyra rubbed at her cheek as McGonagall continued, "Follow me, please. First years in front... No pushing."

They filed down to the steps and lined up in front of the castle. It was cold and Lyra wrapped her arms around her jacket. 

"How do you think they're getting here?" muttered Fay from beside her.

Lavender shrugged from her other side, "Maybe the train? Or broomsticks?"

"Or a Portkey."

"However they do it, I hope it's soon. I'm cold." Lyra said, her leg was jittering.

"Maybe you should have worn a sweater, not a leather jacket."

"Hey! I love this jacket. Besides, it's warm on the inside."

Fay rolled her eyes but before she could respond Dumbledore called out from the back row. 

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

"Where?" said many students eagerly, all looking in different directions.

"There!" yelled a sixth-year, pointing over the Forest.

Something large, much larger than a broomstick – or, indeed, a hundred broomsticks – was hurtling across the deep blue sky towards the castle, growing larger all the time. 

"It's a dragon!" shrieked one of the first-years, losing her head completely 

"Don't be stupid" Yelled another "It's a flying house!" 

The gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, revealing a gigantic, powder-blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring towards them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, each the size of an elephant.

The front three rows of students drew backwards as the carriage hurtled towards them, coming in to land at a tremendous speed. A coat of arms was visible on the door before it was burst open. A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forwards, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor and unfolded a set of golden steps. He sprang back respectfully.

Out came a large woman from the carriage and a few students gasped.  As she stepped into the light flooding from the Entrance Hall, she was revealed to have a handsome, olive-skinned face and large, black, liquid-looking eyes. Her hair was drawn back in a shining knob at the base of her neck. She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and many magnificent opals gleamed at her throat and on her thick fingers. 

Dumbledore started to clap; the students, following his lead, broke into applause too, many of them standing on tiptoe, to look at this woman. 

Her face relaxed into a gracious smile, and she walked forwards towards Dumbledore, extending a glittering hand. Dumbledore, though tall himself, had barely to bend to kiss it. "My dear Madame Maxime, Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-dorr," said Madame Maxime, in a deep voice.  "I 'ope I find you well."

"On excellent form, I thank you," said Dumbledore.

"My pupils," said Madame Maxime, waving one of her enormous hands carelessly behind her.

Lyra turned towards where Madame Maxime pointed and saw a dozen boys and girls all in their late teens. They were shivering, which was unsurprising, given that their robes seemed to be made of fine silk, and none of them were wearing cloaks. A few of them had wrapped scarves and shawls around their heads.

Dumbledore and Madame Maxine continued to discuss and after a bit of convincing from Dumbledore's part, Madam Maxine and her students were inside and Hogwarts waited for the Drumstrang arrival.

*****

i'm just gonna put the Drumstrang arrival on another chapter because this one is longer then i expected. 

cool. :)