How It All Goes Down
Beauxbatons and Durmstrang
- Harry writes to Sirius to try and convince him, no, "There's no point coming back, everything's fine here" (15.1).
- In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Moody puts each of his students under the Imperius Curse.
- Moody justifies: "Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like" (15.13).
- When Moody casts this curse on each student, no one shows any signs of being able to fight it off.
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- None of them, that is, except Harry.
- Harry hears Moody's magical suggestions in his head, but he tries to fight them (with mixed success).
- Still, Moody is pleased: "Potter fought! He fought it, and he damn near beat it! [... V]ery good, Potter, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling you!" (15.29).
- All of the fourth-years' classes are getting harder and harder, and they're starting to feel the strain.
- They get news that the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students will be arriving Friday afternoon.
- Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff who happens to be nearby when the notice is posted, runs off to tell Cedric Diggory that the Triwizard Tournament testing is going to start soon.
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- The whole school seems to be filled with anticipation (and stress, especially among the teachers).
- Amid all of this, Fred and George are still acting weird.
- They keep writing these letters and ducking into corners to discuss something.
- But they won't tell Ron what's going on.
- Hermione is still campaigning for S.P.E.W.: "You do realize that your sheets are changed, your fires lit, your classrooms cleaned, and your food cooked by a group of magical creatures who are unpaid and enslaved?" (15.76).
- She still won't listen to anyone who tells her the house-elves are happy.
- Hedwig arrives with a letter from Sirius, who tells Harry, "Nice try" (15.83).
- He's not fooled by Harry's second letter and he's still coming north to check up on his godson.
- On Friday afternoon before six, the Heads of each Hogwarts house bring their students to the front gates of the school.
- The Beauxbatons students arrive first in a "gigantic, powder blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house [...] pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses" (15.108).
- The headmistress of Beauxbatons is an enormously tall woman named Madame Maxine. She's richly dressed, handsome, and is as tall as Hagrid.
- Her students are all dressed in thin silk robes and are (unsurprisingly) shivering in the cold.
- The Durmstrang students arrive in a "strangely skeletal" ship that rises from the depths of the lake in front of Hogwarts.
- The headmaster of Durmstrang is an oily guy with a slightly weak chin named Professor Karkaroff.
- Among the Durmstrang students, Ron is amazed to see the Bulgarian national team's Seeker, Viktor Krum.