In Her Eyes Lies Her Heart

Over the next month, Harry managed to forget about the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The teachers had all introduced them to a new level of magic, which took all his concentration to perform, and the sheer amount of homework the fourth years were assigned each day ensured that they would not have any free time until next summer. He was especially exhausted after Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, because Moody insisted on putting Harry under the Imperious curse until Harry could successfully refuse to jump on to Moody’s desk.
However, as the arrival date for the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang delegations loomed closer, Harry could not escape the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The castle was being cleaned like never before, and Argus Filch, the caretaker, was prowling the corridors with Mrs. Norris, attacking anyone who tracked mud on the floor. All the teachers were tense too, and on more than one occasion, they used the other schools in class.
“Longbottom, kindly do not reveal that you can’t even perform a simple switching spell in front of anyone from Durmstrang!” Professor McGonagall barked at the end of one particularly difficult lesson, in which Neville had accidentally transplanted his own ears on to a cactus.
The day that the delegations were to arrive was pleasant. Nobody really paid attention in class, and even potions was bearable, because it was cut short when the bell rang early. Harry, Ron, and Hermione dropped their books off in the Gryffindor dormitory, and then filed into the entrance Hall with the rest of the Gryffindors. Professor McGonagall lined them all up by year, and then all of the students marched down the front steps to wait in the courtyard.
The evening was clear and cool, and as they waited anxiously for the first arrival, the moon had already risen above the lake. It was nearly six o’Clock when Dumbledore, from the back row with the other teachers, said “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 toward 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… It's a flying house!" said Dennis Creevey. Dennis’ guess was closer….As the giant black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden forest and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, they saw 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, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant. The front three rows of students drew backwards as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed – then, with an almighty crash that made Neville jump backwards into a Slytherin fifth year, the horses hooves, larger than dinner plates, hit the ground. A second later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large fiery red eyes.
Harry just had time to see that the door on the carriage bore a coat of arms (two crossed, golden wands, each emitting three stars) before It opened.
A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forward, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor, and unfolded a set of golden steps. He sprang back respectfully, and Harry saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from inside the carriage – a shoe the size of a child’s sled – followed, almost immediately, by the largest woman he had ever seen in his life. The size of the carriage, and of the horses, was immediately explained. A few people gasped.
Harry had only ever seen one person as large as this woman in his life, and that was Hagrid; he doubted whether there was an inch difference in their heights. Yet somehow – maybe simply because he was used to Hagrid – this woman (now the foot of the steps, and looking around at the waiting wide-eyed crowd) seemed even more unnaturally large. As she stepped into the light flooding from the entrance hall, she was revealed to have a handsome olive-skinned face; large, black, liquid looking eyes; and a rather beaky nose. 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 until applause too, many of them standing on tiptoe, the better to look at this woman.
Her face relaxed into a gracious smile and she walked forward toward Dumbledore, extending a glittering hand. Dumbledore, though tall himself, had barely to bend to kiss it.
"My dear Madame Maxime," he said. "Welcome to Hogwarts. "
"Dumbly-dorr" said Madame Maxime in a deep voice "I ‘ope I find you well?"
"In excellent form, I thank you," said Dumbledore.
"My pupils," said Madame Maxime, waving one of her enormous hands carelessly behind her. Harry, whose attention had been focused completely upon Madame Maxime, now noticed that about a dozen students, all, by look them, in their late teens, had emerged from the carriage and were now standing behind Madame Maxime. They were shivering, which was unsurprising, given that their robes seemed to be made of fine silk, and that none of them were wearing cloaks. A few had wrapped scarves and shawls around their heads. From what Harry could see of them, they were staring at Hogwarts with apprehensive looks on their faces
"’as Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked.
"He should be here any moment," said Dumbledore. "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?"
"Warm up, I think," said Madame Maxime. “But ze ‘orses –"
"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them," said Dumbledore.
“My steeds required – er – forceful ‘andling," said Madame Maxime, looking as though she doubted whether any Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts could be up to the job. "Zey are very strong…"
"I assure you that Hagrid will be well up to the job," said Dumbledore, smiling.
"Very well," said Madame Maxime, bowing slightly. "Will you please inform zis ‘Agrid that ze ‘orses drink only single-malt whiskey?"
"It will be attended to," said Dumbledore, also bowing.
"Come," said Madame Maxime imperiously to her students, and the Hogwarts crowd parted to allow her and her students to pass up the stone steps.
"How big do you reckon Durmstrang’s horses are going to be?" Seamus Finnigan said, leaning around Lavender Brown to address Harry and Ron.
"Well, if they’re any bigger than this lot, even Hagrid won't be able to handle them," said Harry. They stood, shivering slightly now, waiting for the Durmstrang party to arrive. Most people were gazing hopefully up at the sky. For a few minutes, the silence was broken only by Madame Maxime's huge horses snorting and stamping. But then –
"Can you hear something?" said Ron suddenly.
Harry listened; a loud and oddly eerie noise was drifting toward them from out of the darkness: a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, as if a vacuum cleaner were moving along the riverbed…
"The lake!" yelled Lee Jordan, pointing down at it. "Look at the lake!"
From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water – except that the surface was suddenly not smooth at all. Some disturbance was taking place deep in the center; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks – and then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake’s floor.... What seemed to be a long, black pole began to rise slowly out of the heart of the whirlpool… And then Harry saw the rigging…
"It's a mast!" he said to Ron and Hermione.
Slowly, magnificently, the ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes. Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship merged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide toward the bank. A few moments later, they heard the splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows, and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank.
People were disembarking; they could see their silhouettes passing the lights in the ship’s portholes. All of them, Harry noticed, seemed to be built along the lines of Crabbe and Goyle… but then, as they drew nearer, walking up the lawns into the light streaming from the entrance hall, he saw the their bulk was really due to the fact that they were wearing cloaks made of some kind of shaggy, matted fur. But the man who was leading them up to the castle was wearing furs of a different sort: sleek and silver, like his hair.
"Dumbledore!" he called heartily as he walked up the slope. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"
"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied.
Karkaroff had a fruity, unctuous voice; when he stepped into the light pouring from the front doors of castle they saw that he was tall and thin like Dumbledore, but his grey hair was short, and his goatee (finishing in a small curl) did not entirely hide his rather weak chin. When he reached Dumbledore, he shook hands with both of his own.
"Dear old Hogwarts," he said, looking at the castle and smiling; his teeth were rather yellow, and Harry noticed that his smile to not extend to his eyes, which remained cold and shrewd. "How good it is to be here. How good… Victor, come along, into the warmth… You don't mind, Dumbledore? Victor has a slight head cold…."
Karkaroff beckoned forward one of his students. As the boy passed, Harry got a glimpse of prominent curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He didn't need the punch on the arm Ron gave him, or the hiss in his ear, to recognize that profile.
"Harry – it's Krum!"
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The Hogwarts students made heir way back inside the castle, following their heads of houses, and in to the Great Hall. They all had a seat at their house tables and waited anxiously for Dumbledore to speak. Dumbledore was standing in front of the teacher’s table, and when the students had all been seated, and the noise had settled down, he spoke.
“Good evening, everyone. I’m sure you are all very excited from the recent arrival of our guests, and most likely very hungry as well.” He said, eyes twinkling.
“Too right,” said Ron, gazing wistfully at his empty plate.
“However, our guests deserve a proper introduction, and so, please join me in welcoming the young men and women of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and their Headmistress, Madame Maxime!”
The double doors of the great hall opened wide, and the silk clad students filed in. They walked in formally, each girl on the left arm of a boy. They marched in unison between the house tables, smiling and gazing around the great hall.
One student, however, did not have a partner. When the column had drawn level with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Harry saw, with a shock, brilliant scarlet eyes.
“Its Eve!” he hissed, nudging Ron and Fred at the same time.
As they finished their procession at the front of the Hall, they turned to watch their headmistress. Eve stood in the very center. Once Madame Maxime had joined them, they bowed and curtsied, and moved to the edge of the hall.
The students of Hogwarts applauded loudly, and Dumbledore signaled silence so that he could speak once more.
“And now, our friends from the north, the proud Men and Women of Durmstrang, and their headmaster, Igor Karkaroff!”
The students of Durmstrang also came in pairs, though they did not walk arm in arm. They too looked around at the Hall, but in amazement, rather than apprehension. They were an impressive sight in their red robes and fur cloaks, but Harry was not much interested. He was too busy trying to understand why Eve was with the Beauxbatons Academy than to watch Victor Krum march past. The Durmstrang students bowed as well and moved to the edge of the hall.
“Excellent, now, my dear guests, take your place anywhere you like. Since the purpose of the tournament is to instigate bonds between the different schools, I believe we should all eat together, don’t you?” Dumbledore gestured the visiting students to take their seats, and pulled out the chair beside him for Madame Maxime.
The students from Durmstrang looked around for a moment, seeming unsure of where to go, then went to the closest table, which happened to be Slytherin. The ones from Beauxbatons were a little quicker, and they all sat with the Ravenclaws. All but one.
Eve made her way, alone and purposefully, across the hall, ignoring the many stares that followed her. She was headed straight for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who quickly made a space on the bench for her. As she approached, Harry could not help thinking that she looked very good in the blue silk dress and robes of Beauxbatons. She took a seat across from him, between George and Hermione.
“Hullo, everyone.” She smiled, then turned to listen to Dumbledore, who had requested silence once more.
“Now that we are all settled in, let the feast begin!”
The plates in front of them filled with food as usual. The house elves in the kitchen seemed to have pulled out all the stops; there was a greater variety of dishes in front of them than Harry had ever seen, including several that were definitely foreign. But Harry paid no attention to the food. He immediately leaned over his plate to address Eve.
“What are you doing in the Beauxbatons party?” he asked.
“I told you I was a friend of Madame Maxime.” She said, loading her plate with roast and potatoes. “Dumbledore wanted me here, and Madame Maxime was most kind as to allow me to masquerade as one of her students.”
“Why does Dumbledore want you here?” asked Hermione quickly.
“To keep an eye on you lot, of course.” She winked at them. “Dumbledore believes my presence to be necessary, so I won’t question his reasons.”
“But why not bring you in as a student at Hogwarts?” asked Hermione.
“It would raise too many questions if I just showed up, and I would have to be sorted, which would just draw attention to me. I think Albus wants me here to keep my eyes open, so therefore I have to be as inconspicuous as possible.”
Harry wondered how a girl with red eyes could ever be inconspicuous, and said so.
“What are you talking about, Harry?” asked Ron through a mouthful of black pudding.
“Her eyes-“ Harry began, but Eve caught his eye and shook her head slightly. He dropped it, and continued eating.

Once the golden plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up again. A pleasant sort of tension seem to fill the hall now. Harry felt a slight thrill of excitement, wondering what was coming. Fred and George were leaning forward staring at Dumbledore with great concentration.
"The moment has come," said Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturn faces. "The tri-Wizard tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket –"
"The what?" Harry muttered.
Ron shrugged.
"– Just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation" – there's a smattering of polite applause – "and Mr. Ludo Bagman, head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports." There was a much louder round of applause. "Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the tri-Wizard tournament," Dumbledore continued, “and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions’ efforts."
At the mention of the word "champions," the attentiveness of the listing students seem to sharpen. Perhaps Dumbledore had noticed their sudden stillness, for he smiled as he said, "The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."
Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in the far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old. A murmur of excited interest rose from watching students.
"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, that will test the champions in many different ways… Their magical prowess – their daring – their powers of deduction – and of course, their ability to cope with danger." At this last word, the Hall was filled with the silence so absolute that nobody seem to be breathing. Eve was picking at her fingernails, seeming uninterested.
"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "One from each of the participating schools. They'll be marked on how well they perform each of the tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the tri-Wizard cup. The champions will be chosen by impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire." Dumbledore now took out his wand and tapped three times on the top of the casket. The lid creaked open slowly. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would've been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with twinkling, dancing, blue-white flames. Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the Goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be entirely visible to everyone in the Hall.
"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the Goblet," said Dumbledore. "The aspiring champions have 24 hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the Goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most ready to represent their Schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.”
"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," said Dumbledore, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of 17 will be able to cross this line.”
"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete, that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you're wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all." And they all stood to leave.
Eve walked with them to the entrance hall, and then said, “I’ll see you all tomorrow morning, good night.” And she walked off in to the dark grounds.